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Show TheSalt Lake Tribune THE JFK LEGACY AZ Saturday, November 22, 2003 Polls find most Americansstill do not buy the Oswald-alone conclusion By James ToEDTMAN Newsday WASHINGTON — Theclouds had lifted. What was left was a clear, sun-filled fall morning. Perfect for a visit from the young president and his glamorous wife. But within a few hours the perfect day would become the defining momentofa generation. The assassination of Presi- dent Kennedy 40 years ago jarred the country. A normally stoic Walter Cronkite paused to compose himself as he delivered the news. Men and women wept openly on the streets upon hear- ing. Then there was Jacqueline Kennedy’s tear-streaked face and blood-stained suit. The images becameingrained in America’s collective conscious. America began to lose its innocence that day. And trust was the first thing to disappear. Overnight on Nov. 22, 1963, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover concluded that Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas had been the isolated work of a down-and-out loner — Lee Harvey Oswald. That message was conveyed to the new president, Lyndon B. Johnson, the next day when Hoover telephoned White House adviser Walter Jenkins and told him: “The thing I am concerned about is having something issued sO we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin.” Even now, however, many members of the public remain unconvinced that Oswald was not part ‘of a conspiracy. In the 40 years since, virtually every fact has been questioned and examined, fueled by what the Warren Commission’s chief counsel called “assassination revisionis*s poised like scavengers.” Despite formal inquiries by three presidential commissions, two select congressional committees, federal law enforcement and the National Academy of Sciences, polls over the years have shown that most Americans believe Oswald was part of a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy. But noneof the investigations has found sufficient evidence to discredit the Warren Commission’s central conclusion: Oswald acted alone. The only surviving member of the Warren Commission, former President Ford, insists that time has vindicated the commission’s work. “I have no reservations about the commission’s basic conclusions,” he said last year. “I still firmly believe that the commission was rightin saying that Lee Harvey Oswald committed the assassination, and that we as a commission found no evidence of a conspiracy —foreign or domestic.” None of the subsequent national investigations has uncovered new evidence to challenge the conclusion that Oswald acted alone. Similarly, an ABC-TV special also reportedly validates the commission’s key conclusions. “The problem is you can’t prove a negative conclusively,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the investigator who developed the most controversial aspect of the Warren Commission’s work, the so-called “single-shot theory,” in which one bullet struck both Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally, who was seated in front of him. Another factor ir. the enduring belief in conspiracy theories is the passage of time. “Sixty percent of America’s population was born since Kennedy’s death in 1963,” said Max Holland, researchfellow at the University of Virginia and author of a forthcoming book on the Warren Commission.“People are getting their history second hand, and that forum has been dominated by Oliver Stone movies andtelevision docudramas.” The Warren Commission never assigned a motive to Oswald. But Holland said the motive was clearly political: Oswald was enamored of Fidel Castro and believed the Cuban leader was threatened by U.S.policies. Oswald was “a 1960s version of Timothy McVeigh —a politicized sociopath and a politicized psychopath who was not crazy enough to be committed,” Holland said. Nothing upsets defenders of the Warren Commission more than Stone and his 1991 movie, “JFK,” which highlighted New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s failed prosecution of small-time hood Clay Shaw and raised the spectre of Oswald’s involvement with foreign intrigue and organized crime. In part, experts and historians now agree, the public misgivings stem from the hasty investigation of Stokes’ congressional committee in 1979 and flaws in the original investigation four decades ago. The FBI and CIA withheld information,in particular the CLA’s involvement in assassination plots of foreign leaders, which was not discovered until 1975. U.S. District Court Judge John R. Tunheim, whochaired the JFK Assassination’ Records Review Board, responsible for reviewing and releasing to the public millions of previously secret documents, said: “Critical gaps in the assassination story remained unfilled, and critics rushed in to explain the gaps with conspiracy theories that soundedplausible.” nockOfls GWesrgn PRE-GRAND OPENING THE BEST SELECTION AT THE LOWEST PRICES & CUSTOM ORDERS TOO WE SELL FACTORY SAMPLES AND OVER-RUNS. BUY DESIGNER HOME FURNISHINGS AT WHOLESALEPRICES. WEEKLY SHIPMENTS AND SPECIAL ORDERS n o c k O / s APesifigagn Over 100 Styles In Stock “We Know The Way You Love To Live inside-Out” Leisure Living 3142 South Highland Drive Sait Lake City, UT 84105 www.leisurelivinginc .com 801-832-9400 2208 So. 900E. moncar In Sugarhouse Hours: Tues - Sat 10-6 —~ 10am - 6pm ee 487-3289 |