[NOTE: This article is an edited version of a chapter in my manuscript MORE THAN A REASONABLE DOUBT.]
HOW ACCURATE IS THE MOVIE "JFK"?
Michael T. Griffith
1996
@All Rights Reserved
All observers would agree that Oliver Stone's movie "JFK" prompted a national discussion on the assassination. The film pushed Congress to hold hearings on bills to release all of the sealed assassination files. Several documentaries on the shooting were aired following the movie's release. "JFK" posits a powerful, high-reaching conspiracy in President Kennedy's death. Warren Commission defenders attacked the movie even before it was released, claiming it was sensationalist and largely fictional. To be sure, the movie definitely has its problems. However, in my opinion, "JFK" is substantially correct in what it says about the how and why of the assassination, and in its portrayal of Oswald's activities before, during, and after the shooting.
In fact, the film presents dozens of claims and observations that are supported by credible evidence. I have already discussed a number of these items in previous chapters, including the following:
* The fact that sharpshooters hired by the Warren Commission were unable to duplicate Oswald's alleged marksmanship.
* The fact that the sixth-floor gunman would have had less than six seconds to shoot.
* Oswald's poor marksmanship ability.
* The negative results of the nitrate test on Oswald's cheek.
* The evidence that Oswald was on the second floor of the TSBD at the time of the assassination.
* The initial identification of the sixth-floor weapon as a German Mauser, not a Mannlicher-Carcano.
* The fraudulent nature of the backyard photos showing Oswald holding a Mannlicher-Carcano and some radical newspapers.
* The fact that Army ballistics tests contradicted the single-bullet theory.
* The highly suspicious Oswald impersonations.
* The questionable "discovery" of Oswald's palm print on the barrel of the alleged murder weapon.
* The presence of phony Secret Service men in Dealey Plaza before and after the assassination.
* The questionable nature of the autopsy x-rays and photographs.
* The weakness of the case against Oswald in the killing of Officer Tippit, and the evidence that Oswald did not kill Tippit.
* The fact that, according to Lt. Col. Fletcher Prouty, the 112th Military Intelligence Group at Ft. Sam Houston was not permitted to provide additional presidential security for the Texas trip, over the objections of the unit's commander, Lt. Col. Rudolph Reich.
Below is a list of some of the other valid points made in "JFK." After each of the points, I cite some of the sources which document their accuracy:
1. A nightclub dancer with Mafia associations, Rose Cheramie, warned of the assassination before it occurred. She said she did so on the basis of information she had received from individuals in the Mafia. She also said it was common knowledge in the underworld that President Kennedy was about to be assassinated. Rose Cheramie was later killed in a suspicious car accident on a remote Texas highway.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE: THE PLOT THAT KILLED KENNEDY, pp. 401- 402; Davis, MAFIA KINGFISH: CARLOS MARCELLO AND THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN F. KENNEDY, p. 194.
2. Former FBI agent Guy Banister was involved in CIA-controlled anti-Castro activities. Banister had U.S. intelligence connections. Oswald and David Ferrie worked out of Banister's New Orleans office prior to the assassination.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 99-100, 235-237; Garrison, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS, pp. 27-28, 41-43, 112-113, 208-209; Summers, CONSPIRACY: THE DEFINITIVE BOOK ON THE JFK ASSASSINATION, pp. 290-298; Russell, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, pp. 34-37, 394-408, 426, 431-432, 452, 517, 562.
3. Guy Banister pistol-whipped a man named Jack Martin.
Sources: Davis, MAFIA KINGFISH, pp. 205-206; Garrison, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS, p. 3.
4. Guy Banister's New Orleans office was located in close proximity to the offices of various U.S. intelligence agencies.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 236; Garrison, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS, p. 46.
5. While in the custody of the Dallas police, Oswald told journalists he was just the patsy for the assassination.
Sources: Lane, RUSH TO JUDGMENT, p. 160; Lane, PLAUSIBLE DENIAL: WAS THE CIA INVOLVED IN THE ASSASSINATION OF JFK?, p. 15.
6. During a Dallas police press conference, Jack Ruby corrected Dallas district attorney Henry Wade on the name of the pro-Cuban committee with which Oswald had been involved.
Sources: Scheim, THE MAFIA KILLED PRESIDENT KENNEDY, p. 163; Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 415-416; Davis, MAFIA KINGFISH, p. 224.
7. Oswald and David Ferrie were in the same civil air patrol unit in Louisiana.
Sources: Davis, MAFIA KINGFISH, p. 217; Marrs, CROSSFIRE, p. 99.
8. David Ferrie made a suspicious trip to Houston shortly after the assassination and provided a false story as to why he made the trip. While he was in Houston, he spent a long time making calls from various pay phones.
Sources: Davis, MAFIA KINGFISH, pp. 204-205, 211-224; Scheim, THE MAFIA KILLED PRESIDENT KENNEDY, pp. 53-54.
9. Jack Martin, the man who was pistol-whipped by Guy Banister, indirectly notified the New Orleans district attorney's office that he believed David Ferrie was involved in the assassination.
Sources: Davis, MAFIA KINGFISH, pp. 205-206; Garrison, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS, pp. 3-4, 32-36; Russell, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, p. 396.
10. Oswald's interrogation sessions by the Dallas police were not properly recorded, and no detailed record or tape of the interrogation has ever been made available.
Sources: Smith, JFK: THE SECOND PLOT, p. 151; Summers, CONSPIRACY, p. 54.
11. Lee Bowers, a Dallas man who worked in the railroad signal tower in the railyard behind the grassy knoll, said he saw two men by the picket fence prior to the assassination. In addition, Bowers saw three cars drive slowly through the parking lot behind the fence during the thirty minutes before the shooting, and one of the drivers seemed to be holding a microphone up to his mouth.
Sources: Summers, CONSPIRACY, pp. 28-29; Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 75-78.
12. The fight between Oswald and an anti-Castro Cuban in New Orleans was staged; the New Orleans police even suspected the incident was contrived.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, p. 146; Smith, JFK: THE SECOND PLOT 244-246; Summers, CONSPIRACY, pp. 271-273.
13. An FBI agent visited Oswald while he was being held by the New Orleans police.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 146-147; Smith, JFK: THE SECOND PLOT, pp. 245-246.
14. Oswald's defection to Russia and his pro-Castro activities were most likely staged and were probably designed to establish a phony left-wing profile for him.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 114-130, 189-196; Summers, CONSPIRACY, pp. 111-151.
15. Oswald's income tax files were classified and thus unavailable for examination during the Garrison investigation.
Source: Lane, RUSH TO JUDGMENT, p. 280.
16. The people who arranged for Oswald to get a job at the TSBD had U.S. intelligence connections.
Sources: Garrison, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS, pp. 71-72; Lane, RUSH TO JUDGMENT, p. 300; DiEugenio, DESTINY BETRAYED, pp. 342 n 22, 364 nn 11, 13.
17. A Dallas resident named Sam Holland, who was standing on the railroad overpass overlooking Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination, said shots were fired at the President from the wooden fence on the grassy knoll. Holland told investigators he saw a puff of smoke, which he believed to be gun smoke, by the fence, and that after the shooting he found footprints and cigarette butts behind the fence in the spot from which he thought the shots were fired.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 56-59; Summers, CONSPIRACY, pp. 27-28; Scheim, THE MAFIA KILLED PRESIDENT KENNEDY, pp. 26-31.
18. A witness named Julia Ann Mercer said she saw a man who looked like Jack Ruby driving a truck next to the grassy knoll prior to the assassination. Mercer also said that a man carrying a rifle case jumped out of the truck and went into the grassy knoll.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 18-19, 324-325; Smith, JFK: THE SECOND PLOT 76-81; Garrison, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS, pp. 16-17, 251-253.
19. Jack Ruby was a Mafia man and an important Dallas mobster.
Sources: Davis, MAFIA KINGFISH, pp. 156-160, 180-184, 282-297; Scheim, THE MAFIA KILLED PRESIDENT KENNEDY, pp. 112-305.
20. Ruby and Oswald knew each other.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 402-414; Lane, RUSH TO JUDGMENT, pp. 131, 165-66 n.
21. Oswald knew David Ferrie.
Sources: G. Robert Blakey and Richard Billings, FATAL HOUR: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY BY ORGANIZED CRIME, pp. 374- 376; Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 98-100; Davis, MAFIA KINGFISH, pp. 212-218.
22. Ruby told Chief Justice Earl Warren he wanted to be taken to Washington, D.C., because he feared for his safety if he spoke freely in Dallas. Ruby also told the chief justice that if the Commission would not give him the opportunity to tell all he knew, a new form of government might come to power in the U.S.
Sources: Scheim 195-212; Davis, MAFIA KINGFISH, pp. 299-300; Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 426-429.
23. Clay Shaw had CIA connections and was involved with two shady companies, Centro Mondiale Commerciale and Permindex.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 498-515; Garrison, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS, pp. 100-104; Lane, PLAUSIBLE DENIAL, pp. 220-224.
24. New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison said his offices were bugged. He also had informers on his staff who compromised his investigation.
Sources: Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 494-517; Garrison, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS, pp. 220-223, 266; Lane, PLAUSIBLE DENIAL, pp. 220- 221.
25. Numerous witnesses in Dealey Plaza said shots were fired from the grassy knoll.
Sources: Summers, CONSPIRACY, pp. 22-29; Lane, RUSH TO JUDGMENT, pp. 36-45, 109-113.
26. As a result of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, Kennedy fired the director of the CIA and other high-ranking CIA personnel.
Sources: Lane, PLAUSIBLE DENIAL, pp. 96-99; Livingstone, HIGH TREASON 2, pp. 480-481.
27. President Kennedy intended to pull U.S. forces out of Vietnam after the '64 election, and shortly before his death he ordered the withdrawal of the first 1,000 troops.
Sources: Livingstone, HIGH TREASON 2, pp. 471-503; Newman, JFK AND VIETNAM.
28. Very soon after the assassination Lyndon Johnson nullified Kennedy's plan for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam. Johnson's Vietnam policy was a complete reversal of Kennedy's.
Sources: Livingstone, HIGH TREASON 2, pp. 487-503; Marrs, CROSSFIRE, pp. 306-311.
29. Highly placed military and civilian officials attempted to prevent Kennedy from knowing the true state of affairs in Vietnam.
Source: Newman, JFK AND VIETNAM.
30. An Air Force colonel who was working as a Pentagon-CIA liaison officer, and who had previously undertaken presidential security assignments, was needlessly sent on a trip to the South Pole twelve days before the assassination. As a result, this officer, Lt. Col. Fletcher Prouty, who also happened to be a strong military/security supporter for President Kennedy, was not in Dallas on November 22. If Prouty had been on hand for the presidential motorcade, he might have prevented the assassination, for he would have immediately noticed the dangerously lax security arrangements and would have taken steps to correct them.
Source: Lane, PLAUSIBLE DENIAL, p. 103.
For those interested in more information on the movie "JFK," I would strongly recommend the documentary BEYOND "JFK"--THE QUESTION OF CONSPIRACY, which can be ordered from JFK-Lancer Productions at jfklancr@flash.net. In addition, I would recommend the book "JFK": THE DOCUMENTED SCREENPLAY, also available from JFK-Lancer Productions.