Today in History - - - November 24

Lee Harvey Oswald.
While the world was still reeling at the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, we saw the alleged perpetrator of the crime, caught and killed only two days later, and on national TV!
And these many years on we can only marvel at the speed with which his apprehension for the crimes happened. And the positive assertion that Oswald was undoubtedly the lone killer of Officer Tippit and Kennedy.
All these instant conclusions would be astounding even in todays era of nanosecond web communication. Yet over these years so many nagging doubts still evoke questions.

Oswald was supposed to have shot Kennedy from a 6th floor coign of vantage in the Texas Schoolbook Depository, with a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle. But first it was identified as a 7.65 Italian Mauser, by sherrifs and FBI Special Agents. Affidavits were signed. Then it became a 6.5 Carcano rifle. Why? Because the FBI discovered that Oswald HAD purchased a Carcano, but NOT a Mauser. And even other rifles are now mentioned. And it took a world class marksman from the Army to nearly duplicate the 3 shots in 4.5 second feat! Other trained US Marine snipers said it could not be done.
And an almost perfect bullet 'appeared' on the stretcher bearing the President's body. A bullet that went through TWO bodies. That looks as if the Lone Ranger put it there!

Oswald was even identified by someone who SAW him up there from across the street! Is that believeable today?

Oswald was supposedly seen being questioned by Tippit shortly after leaving his job and taking to the streets. Witnesses said they saw him shoot Tippit. They even saw him REloading his handgun while fleeing! Does that sound like a frightened killer? Yet other witnesses said another car pulled up, a man got out and shot Tippit and then roared away! Someone else saw two men who were NOT Oswald. Witnesses even identified a different assailant as heavy set, wearing a long overcoat. Many witnesses claimed intimidations and threats about their testimonys. Several eye-witnesses died soon after.
The Warren Commission ignored most of it.

And what was Officer Tippit up to on the hour before he died? Why was he far out of his patrol area? Why did he suddenly rush to 10th Street and stop to make a phone call in a cafe but only listened and said nothing? Why did he seem panicked when he made the call? He left his car radio at a crucial time. Then he was seen cruising very slowly. Why was Tippit known in the area he died in? Some witnesses thought he lived nearby. But it was miles from his patrol area and his home?

How did anyone know Oswald's path of exit? Was it coincidence? Happenstance? Or enemy action? Officer Tippit was directed exactly where to go, minutes after the murder. Then radioed back when he was in position. Why was Tippit directed to 10th St? Was he? The Dallas police lieutenant who may have directed Tippit that day, Harry Dean Thomas, married his widow three years later.
The shells from the shooting were gathered by policeman, J.M. Poe, and he marked them with his initials, however the shell casings eventually entered into evidence had no such markings.

Oswald went to his rooming house first. Who were the two policemen who stopped in front, gave two horn honks and went away? Then he went to a movie theatre. Why did he go there instead of staying on a bus and getting far away? Was he under a prearranged instruction to go to that theatre? Part of a plan to have him where someone wanted him? Did someone give him a revolver there? Perhaps the very revolver just used to kill Tippit? Perhaps by the very person who DID kill Tippit? The revolver in his possession was fully loaded with no empty chambers. And he had no additional ammunition with him. So if Oswald shot Tippit four times, and REloaded, then he must have had only had four extra bullets with him? Seems too odd, doesn't it?

Oswald was constant in his claim that he was a patsy. He was innocent. He never shot anybody. And more than one scholar who has gone through the whole case has said the Mexico and Soviet Union implications could have easily pointed to Oswald being a CIA spy.
Alas, all these years later we are still suspicious, yet nowhere near advanced in our factuals about how it happened. The circumstances seem just too complex. The evidence now too scattered. Diffused. Lost. Misinformation and disinformation. Indeed, but we have more questions than ever.
His actions seem to be a response to suddenly realizing he had been set up. Confusion, desperation, the compounding of events leading him to take a predetermined escape route as his only hope. A route designed by who?

Lee Harvey Oswald was never actually charged with killing the Presdient.