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JFK Files: J. Edgar Hoover Said Public Must Believe Lee Harvey Oswald Acted Alone
NBC News ^ | 10/27/2017 | by Alex Johnson

Posted on 10/27/2017 6:13:08 AM PDT by Red Badger

"There is nothing further on the Oswald case except that he is dead."

J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, dictated that line in a memo he issued on Nov. 24, 1963, the day Jack Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald as Oswald was being transported to the Dallas County Jail after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The memo is one of at least 52 records never previously made public that were included in the release Thursday of about 2,800 unredacted government documents related to Kennedy's murder in Dallas two days earlier. President Donald Trump approved withholding an undisclosed number of other documents pending a 180-day national security review.

Scholars and other experts have repeatedly said it's unlikely that there's anything groundbreaking in the documents. But as journalists and historians pored through the enormous database of material Thursday night and Friday morning, some interesting nuggets were turning up, among them Hoover's Nov. 24 memo.

Hoover appeared to be particularly concerned that the public would have to be compelled to believe that Oswald was a lone actor — not part of a larger conspiracy.

In the 1964 Warren Report on Kennedy's assassination, Hoover was firm in stating that he hadn't seen "any scintilla of evidence" suggesting a conspiracy — a sentiment he expressed in other public forums, as well, but not in words as blunt as those he used the day Oswald was killed.

Referring to Nicholas Katzenbach, the deputy attorney general at the time, Hoover dictated: "The thing I am concerned about, and so is Mr. Katzenbach, is having something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin."

It's not clear from the memo whether Hoover thought there might have been a conspiracy but didn't want it to be known or whether he sincerely believed Oswald acted alone and hoped to head off public fear and confusion.

Hoover also indicated that his concern may have been influenced, in part, by diplomacy, dictating that there could be serious international complications if the public thought Oswald might have been part of a larger plot.

Katzenbach is known from previously released documents to have shared Hoover's concern, writing in a memo the next day, on Nov. 25, 1963, that "the public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large; and that evidence was such that he would have been convicted at trial."

In the memo, Hoover excoriated the Dallas Police Department for not having prevented Oswald's killing by Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner. The FBI had warned the police that Oswald's life was in danger, but nothing was done, he complained.

"Oswald having been killed today after our warnings to the Dallas Police Department was inexcusable," Hoover dictated. "It will allow, I am afraid, a lot of civil rights people to raise a lot of hell because he was handcuffed and had no weapon. There are bound to be some elements of our society who will holler their heads off that his civil rights were violated — which they were."

Hoover argued against appointing an independent commission to review the evidence, contending that the matter should be left to the Justice Department, the FBI's parent agency. Lyndon Johnson, the new president, announced the creation of the Warren Commission a few days later.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: jfk; lbj; oswald; tx
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To: Red Badger
Agree - but we really aren't privy to what may be staying Trump's had at this time. The fact that he personally ordered the FBI/DOJ to remove the gag order on the FBI witness tells me something - he wants the truth to come out but he also wants to ensure it is done intelligently.

I have it on good authority that Mary Owens hired Booth to off Lincoln because Abe jilted her for Mary Todd, ....;-)

Hence the saying, "A woman scorned......" or maybe, "Mary Mary, quite contrary" - one of them for sure.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

41 posted on 10/27/2017 6:45:49 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: txrefugee

“We, the people, must be kept in the dark, so we can trudge to work in order to pay our taxes and finance those in government. “

It is so important that this is repeated to everyone and everywhere we go. Even progressives who work may rebel against the idea that they go to work so that they have to surrender their hard-earned money to fund a corrupt government!


42 posted on 10/27/2017 6:46:11 AM PDT by Antipolitico
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To: Red Badger

JEdger sounds just like weasels Comey and Mueller...


43 posted on 10/27/2017 6:46:57 AM PDT by Paladin2 (No spelchk nor wrong word auto substition on mobile dev. Please be intelligent and deal with it....)
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To: Az Joe
If it were that easy, why the secrecy, after almost 54 years? The USSR is gone, as is Castro, and, for all practical purposes, the Italian-American Mafia. The Warren Commission members are all gone, as are LBJ, J. Edgar Hoover, Nicholas Katzenbach, and Jackie, Bobby, and Ted Kennedy. The only significant player still around is Marina Oswald. Who is left to be embarrassed?

If it is so easy, why not release everything?

44 posted on 10/27/2017 6:48:25 AM PDT by Wallace T.
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To: Red Badger

The FBI trying to manipulate facts to fit a narrative... Things haven’t really changed much have they?


45 posted on 10/27/2017 6:48:31 AM PDT by wiseprince
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To: Red Badger
LBJ
Cliff Carter
Bobby Baker
Edward Clark
Malcolm Wallace

46 posted on 10/27/2017 6:49:31 AM PDT by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrat's John Dean])
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To: Michael.SF.

Probably because it was the CIA’s roll to take him out and the FBI’s roll to cover it up.


47 posted on 10/27/2017 6:51:58 AM PDT by wiseprince
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To: Red Badger

I was in Dallas - 9th grade, study hall, when the announcement came over the speaker console that JFK had been shot. And saw the broadcast a few days later when Oswald was shot by Ruby. For years this shameful Dallas episode was a black stain on the city. From that time since, government was never to be trusted again. They have certainly lived down to my expectations.


48 posted on 10/27/2017 6:52:43 AM PDT by V K Lee (DJT: "Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war. ")
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To: Wallace T.

GHWB is still alive.


49 posted on 10/27/2017 6:54:31 AM PDT by Mamzelle
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To: Red Badger

“..All the adults around were convinced LBJ did it.............”

The facts are as publicized. However, people speculated it was LBJ because they knew he was capable of doing it.


50 posted on 10/27/2017 6:54:35 AM PDT by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said theoal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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To: elpadre

He had motive and opportunity..................plus he a was an asshole...............


51 posted on 10/27/2017 6:55:25 AM PDT by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: Paladin2

Vice versa................


52 posted on 10/27/2017 6:55:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: Wallace T.
Who is left to be embarrassed?

This guy.

Image result for george bush wheelchair

53 posted on 10/27/2017 6:58:30 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

Ruby was friendly with cops and had some kind of pass to get him into police headquarters where the general public would not be allowed, if I recall correctly. He wouldn’t have been considered a security risk.


54 posted on 10/27/2017 6:58:54 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: Midnitethecat

They were old...............60’s+...............


55 posted on 10/27/2017 7:00:09 AM PDT by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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To: marktwain

Was he saying Oswald should have been uncuffed and given a weapon?


56 posted on 10/27/2017 7:06:48 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: Big Red Badger; Az Joe

The scientific evidence proves that Oswald shot Kennedy from the 6th floor window of the TSBD. Case closed.

1st bullet hit the traffic signal arm and then hit a curb with pieces of the curb and/or bullet injuring a bystander in the cheek, second hit Kennedy in the upper back/neck area and then hit Connelly and the third bullet was the fatal head shot.

Easy case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!


57 posted on 10/27/2017 7:15:28 AM PDT by angryoldfatman
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To: Obadiah
Hoover seemed genuinely concerned about conspiracy theories and that the public might believe some malevolent group was at large.

Well, the thing is that this was 24 hours after the JFK assassination. There was, at that time, no investigation conducted yet. They had a gun, they had a suspect, they had other evidence but there were many, many unanswered questions. Even if you believe all of those questions were eventually answered and prove Oswald acted alone, there was no way Hoover could know that unless (a) he had knowledge of the case that predates the events of 11/23/63 or (b) there was some "smoking gun" evidence that has never come out but he knew it at the time. Otherwise, he's stating it is necessary to convince the public that his opinion is fact.

What we've learned is that the FBI never changes. If a muslim walks into a crowd, shouts "Allahu Akhbar!" and detonates himself the FBI will rush in and, to quell public fear I guess, announce it was a lone wolf and had nothing to do with Islam well before they know a damned thing about the guy other than he shouted it was for Islam.

58 posted on 10/27/2017 7:20:08 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie
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To: Red Badger

Sorry to disagree, Red, but I do - completely.

Once he died, the left colored him with every evil thing possible - all fabricated.


59 posted on 10/27/2017 7:20:55 AM PDT by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said theoal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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To: elpadre

He was THEIR guy.

I wouldn’t be surprised if all the pouring on after he died was to hide some really egregious stuff............


60 posted on 10/27/2017 7:23:58 AM PDT by Red Badger (Road Rage lasts 5 minutes. Road Rash lasts 5 months!.....................)
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