PSC482G, Spring 2000
Answers to Assignment 11
Pre-WCR Reactions by the Left: New Times
(N.B. This assignment is for your guidance only. It need not be turned in.)
Read: “The Dallas Investigation,” by B. Izakov and “Assassin or Fall Guy?” by Victor Perlo, both from The Soviet Union’s New Times weekly.
Answer these questions (briefly):
1. In the first section of “The Dallas Investigation,” Izakov states that Kennedy was murdered to get at “his policy.” How does he know this? He doesn’t. It’s just an assertion.
2. He then states that Oswald was a godsend to those who meant to exploit Kennedy’s murder to foment hatred of Russia. Who were those people, and how does he know their motives? The right-wing “reactionaries” from the wilds of Texas who made up the story, and the others throughout the U.S. who believed it. He guesses at their motives.
3. What evidence does Izakov offer for conspiracy? (a) The Dallas police prepared Oswald as a suspect beforehand. (b) One man could not have fired all the shots. (c) Oswald made anti-Soviet statements when he returned from the U.S.S.R. (d) He wrote a book “strongly hostile to the Soviet system.” (e) He hinted at being an American secret agent. (f) No evidence that he joined the Communist Party. (g) U.S. ultrareactionaries considered JFK the most dangerous man in America. (h) They would have no trouble finding marksmen to kill him. (i) Texas was the home of many radical organizations, especially on the Right. How do you rate this evidence? All is weak, circumstantial, or wrong. Proves nothing.
4. Whom does he think is behind the assassination, and why did they do it? “The trail leads to the camp of the ultras.” They did it because they considered JFK a very dangerous person.
5. What evidence does Izakov offer for identifying the forces behind the assassination? The last three points from question 3: (g) U.S. ultrareactionaries considered JFK the most dangerous man in America. (h) They would have no trouble finding marksmen to kill him. (i) Texas was the home of many radical organizations, especially on the Right.
6. What was Oswald’s role in it? Scapegoat. Unclear how or if he participated.
7. Describe Joesten’s view of the assassination. Conspiracy with Oswald as a fall guy who may or may not have participated in it. The conspirators were ultra-Rightists in and out of government. What does he use as evidence? (a) The true route of the motorcade, which allowed a deadly crossfire, was never published. [False] (b) Initial statements from the Parkland doctors, plus other evidence, appeared to prove that some of the shots came from the front. [That may be true, but the early ideas were soon disproven. Big difference between “appeared to prove” and “proved.”] (c) The Dallas police fabricated most of the evidence against Oswald and assigned their pal Ruby to kill him. [Pure imagination—undocumented.] (d) The police showed two different rifles as the alleged murder weapon. [Untrue—an early report of a Mauser was soon corrected but stayed in the “system” longer.] (e) A man with a rifle was arrested in the railroad yards immediately after the assassination but the story was kept secret. Other people were also secretly held. [No evidence to support these stories, even after 36 years.]
8. How did Perlo test the veracity of Joesten’s ideas? He asked two friends who believed Oswald was guilty to read Joesten’s book, and they both reversed their feelings. What do you think of his approach? Not sound statistically, and even if it were, the arguments are based on feelings rather than on proof.
9. What will one of the unintended consequences of the assassination be, according to Perlo? It awoke the American people to the dangers from the ultra-Right (i.e., those who most strongly opposed Communism).
10. How does Perlo tie the assassination to nuclear war? Political assassinations, if misunderstood, can raise the danger of nuclear war. This is why everyone must understand that the Soviet Union did not kill Kennedy.