PSC482G, Spring 2000
Assignment 10, for Friday 11 February 2000
Pre-WCR Reactions by the Left: M. S. Arnoni
(N.B. This assignment is for your guidance only. It need not be turned in.)
Read: “Who Killed Whom and Why?”, by M. S. Arnoni and the introduction to this article on the summary page for Pre-WCR Reactions by the Left. Be prepared to discuss these questions in class Friday.
Answer these questions (briefly):
1. What does Arnoni believe about the American people’s viewpoint on conspiracies at home and abroad? How would this affect our ability to understand the assassination?
2. How does Arnoni propose to approach the question of lone gunman versus conspiracy? Give some examples of questions he considers to resolve this question. How does his approach compare with the approach of this class?
3. What does Arnoni believe about conspiracy versus nonconspiracy in the assassination? If conspiracy, what specifically does he believe about the conspiracy and their motives? How did he actually decide this question?
4. Arnoni has strong opinions on how fast an official investigation could answer the major questions of the assassination versus how long the Warren Commission was projected to function and what this said about the Commission’s investigation. What were those opinions? Are they justified?
5. How does Arnoni think that President Johnson’s foreign policy may differ from Kennedy’s? Why?
6. Why does Arnoni think that Cuba is in “mortal danger”?
7. What does he think will happen with respect to Cuba in the near future?
8. Take the facts and the questions that Arnoni uses to reach his conclusions and use them with our procedure for reasoning. What kind of answers about the assassination would we get? Be careful!