End of Days

by James L. Swanson

  214 Meeting of Lee with his brother. This conversation is recounted by Oswald’s sibling. See Robert Oswald, Myrick Land, and Barbara Land, Lee: A Portrait of Lee Harvey Oswald by His Brother Robert Oswald (New York: Coward-McCann, 1967), pp. 142–46.

  215 There is no complete transcript of all the statements Oswald made in the hallways during the time he was moved from room to room while he was in custody. I have listened to several newsreels and TV and radio recordings of these encounters, and the quotations from Oswald and the reporters are verbatim from these recordings.

  217 Sale of Zapruder film. On November 25, 1963, Life magazine purchased the rights to the film plus royalties for $150,000, of which Abraham Zapruder donated $25,000 to Officer Tippit’s widow. In 1975, the rights to the film, which was stored at the National Archives, were transferred back to the Zapruder family for the price of one dollar. In 1999, a special arbitration panel awarded the Zapruder family $16 million in compensation for the government’s possession of the film. Later that year, the family donated all the copyrights of the film to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. For the timeline of the activities concerning this historical film, see the Web page of the museum at www.jfk.org/go/collections/about/zapruder-film-chronology. See also Richard B. Trask, National Nightmare on Six Feet of Film: Mr. Zapruder’s Home Movie (Danvers, MA: Yeoman Press, 2005); Oyvind Vagnes, Zaprudered: The Kennedy Assassination Film in the Visual Culture (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011); and David R. Wrone, The Zapruder Film: Reframing the Kennedy Assassination (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2003).

  218 LBJ, national day of mourning. See Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, bk. 1, Nov. 22, 1963–June 30, 1964 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965), p. 2.

  218 Curry tells reporters about transfer. See Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, pp. 240–41 (citing newsreel footage in the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas). For a three-part series on the interviews of Jesse Curry with the press on November 22 and 23, 1963, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=htgn-ZH1_oQ&list=PLAA712DECA2E71AC9, www.youtube.com/watch?v=4goKpDybUmY&list=PLAA712DECA2E71AC9, and www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVnw5lnf8AI&list=PLAA712DECA2E71AC9.

  219 Oswald death threats and Newsom reporting threats. See FBI Report of November 24, 1963, WC 19, CE 2013, p. 429; FBI report of Milton L. Newsom, Nov. 25, 1963, telephone call to Dallas sheriff’s office, WC 24, CE 2018, p 434; WC 19, Frazier Exhibit 5086, pp. 770–71; and WC 19, Frazier Exhibit 4086, p. 772. Also see the testimony of Sheriff J. E. (“Bill) Decker, WC 12, pp. 48–51, 110 (complete testimony, pp. 42–52); the testimony of Captain Cecil E. Talbert of the Dallas Police Department, WC 2, p. 110 (complete testimony, pp. 108–28); and the testimony of Captain W. B. Frazier, WC 2, pp. 52–58, 69–78.

  221 Last interview with Oswald. See generally WC 20, Kelley Exhibit A, pp. 440–46 (memorandum of interview with Lee Harvey Oswald); testimony of Postal Inspector Harry D. Holmes, WC 7, pp. 289–308, 525–30; and WC 24, CE 2064, pp. 488–94 (FBI report on Postal Memorandum from Harry D. Holmes).

  222 Questioning about P.O. boxes and guns. See WC 24, CE 2064, p. 489, and the testimony of Harry Holmes, WC 7, pp. 298–99.

  223 Questioning about use of name A. J. Hidell. See WC 24, p. 489; the testimony of Harry Holmes, WC 7, pp. 299, 303; and the testimony of Dallas Police Detective James R. Leavelle, WC 7, pp. 267–68.

  223 Curry’s last statement to press. For the transcript of this interview, see WC 24, CE 2147, pp. 771–79 (KRLD-TV broadcast of Nov. 24, 1964, interview with Jesse Curry).

  224 Oswald’s comments about Cuba. See WC 24, CE 2064, pp. 489–90, and the testimony of Harry Holmes, WC 7, p. 301.

  224 Oswald’s involvement with the FPCC. See WC 20, Kelley Exhibit A, p. 443.

  225 Oswald’s views on Johnson and Kennedy. See testimony of Dallas Police Detective James R. Leavelle, WC 7, p. 267; WC 20, Kelley Exhibit A, p. 443; and WC 24, CE 2003, p. 269.

  225 Questioning on whether Oswald is a communist or a Marxist. See WC 24, p. 490, and testimony of Postal Inspector Harry Holmes, WC 7, p. 298.

  225 Questioning about Oswald’s subscriptions. See WC 24, Kelley Exhibit A, p. 443.

  226 Questioning about Oswald’s discharge from the Marines. See WC 24, p. 490.

  226 Questioning Oswald about his map. See WC 20, Kelley Exhibit A, p. 444, and WC 24, CE 2064, pp. 490–91.

  227 Questioning about the sack Oswald carried into the Book Depository and his activities immediately prior to and following the assassination. See WC 24, pp. 490–91.

  227 Questioning about Oswald’s movement at lunch and immediately after the assassination. See WC 24, CE 2064, 24 H pp. 490–91.

  229 “We’ll be through in a few minutes.” “I never used the name of Hidell.” See the testimony of Secret Service Agent Forrest Sorrels. WC 7, p. 357.

  229 Oswald’s use of the Selective Service card and the name A. J. Hidell with Oswald’s photograph attached. See WC 24, p. 491.

  CHAPTER 9: “LEE OSWALD HAS BEEN SHOT!”

  231 The transfer of Oswald from city to county jail. See generally the testimony of Captain J. W. Fritz, WC 15, pp. 144–50, and the testimony of Jesse E. Curry, WC 12, p. 38.

  231 Leavelle’s suggestion on moving Oswald. See the testimony of James Robert Leavelle, WC 13, p. 17 (complete testimony, pp. 13–21).

  232 Oswald changes clothes. See generally WC 24, CE 2003, pp. 270–71; the testimony of Harry Holmes, WC 7, p. 300; and the testimony of Detective L. D. Montgomery, WC 13, p. 27.

  232 “I would not move . . .” See the testimony of Forrest V. Sorrels, WC 13, p. 63 (complete testimony, pp. 55–83).

  233 Oswald’s interaction with Leavelle, joking about being shot. These quotes are taken from Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, p. 269 (citing interviews of James. R. Leavelle by Dale K. Myers, April 7, 1983, and Nov. 13, 1999, and Leavelle’s statement on Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination—Beyond Conspiracy, ABC News special, Nov. 20, 2003.

  233 Oswald’s last words, “I’d like to contact . . . representative of the American Civil Liberties Union.” See WC 21, Pappas Exhibit 4, pp. 23–24.

  234 Reporter comments, Pappas, “Now the prisoner . . . ,” “Do you have anything to say in your defense?” See Trask, President, p. 207.

  234 “Jack, you son of a bitch, don’t!” See WC 19, Combest Exhibit 5101, p. 350 (FBI report of interview with Dallas police detective Billy H. Combest).

  Jack Ruby was well known by the Dallas Police Department and frequently visited the station. He was seen standing with the press during Oswald’s brief news conference. However, the actual shooting resulted from a series of coincidences that placed Ruby in the building when he made the impulsive decision to shoot Oswald. Oswald’s transfer was delayed by the last interrogation and the decision to change his clothes. Ruby’s contact with a stripper and his desire to send her money placed him in the nearby Western Union office late that morning. He waited in line just a few minutes before his encounter with Oswald. So a longer line would have delayed him, and he would have missed the transfer of Oswald. In addition, the decision to move Oswald in an unmarked car gave Ruby the opportunity to jump in front of this vehicle just as it was backing up, actually blocking others and giving him a better opportunity to lunge forward. Finally and perhaps most important, Ruby left his beloved dog, Sheba, in his parked car. Given Ruby’s strange obsessive love for this dachshund, he would have never left his dog in a car, if he intended not to return. Some of the dogs Jack Ruby owned he called his children, and sometimes he referred to Sheba as his “child” or his “wife.”

  234 There were several cameras in the basement of the Dallas Jail when Jack Ruby shot Oswald (still, film, and videotape—NBC was the only network that broadcast the incident live). Robert Jackson of the Dallas Times Herald won a Pulitzer Prize for his photo capturing Oswald the moment he was shot. For a very good documentary covering this shooting, see JFK: The Ruby Connection, Discovery Channel, 2009.

&n
bsp; For background material on the life of Jack Ruby, see Melvin M. Belli and Maurice C. Carroll, Dallas Justice: The Real Story of Jack Ruby and His Trial (New York: David McKay, 1964); Elmer Gertz, Moment of Madness: The People vs. Jack Ruby (Chicago: Follett, 1968); Garry Wills and Ovid DeMaris, Jack Ruby: The Man Who Killed the Man Who Killed Kennedy (New York: New American Library, 1968); and John Kaplan and Jon R. Waltz, The Trial of Jack Ruby (New York: Macmillan, 1965). For reminiscences by two strippers who worked for Jack Ruby, see Diane Hunter and Alice Anderson, Jack Ruby’s Girls (Atlanta: Hallux, 1970).

  235 “I hope I killed the son of a bitch.” See the testimony of Dallas police officer Don Ray Archer, WC 12, p. 400 (“I hope I killed the son-of-bitch”); and the testimony of Dallas police detective Lewis D. Miller, WC 12, p. 308 (“I hope the son of a bitch dies.” “It will save you guys a lot of trouble,” or “It will save everybody a lot of trouble”).

  235 “Oh hell! You guys know me, I’m Jack Ruby.” See the testimony of Dallas police detective Lewis D. Miller, WC 12, p. 308 (complete testimony, pp. 297–314). For similar remarks, see the testimony of Dallas police captain Cecil E. Talbert, WC 12, p. 120 (“I’m Jack Ruby. Everybody knows me. I’m Jack Ruby”; complete testimony, pp. 108–28); testimony of Dallas police reserve captain Charles Oliver Arnett (occupation truck driver), WC 12, p. 153 (“I am Jack Ruby. All of you know me”; complete testimony, pp. 128–58); and Dallas police officer Don Ray Archer, WC 12, p. 400 (“You all know me, I’m Jack Ruby”).

  235 Pettit, “He’s been shot! He’s been shot! . . .” Ibid., p. 209.

  237 “Do you think I’m going to let the man who shot our president get away with it?” See WC 24, CE 2002, p. 105 ((interview of W. J. Harrison, Dallas Police Department file on the Investigation of the Operational Security Involving the Transfer of Lee Harvey Oswald, November 24, 1963; complete file, pp. 48–194).

  237 Ruby shooting Oswald, “Somebody had to do it.” See the testimony of Dallas Police Detective Barnard S. Clardy WC 12, pp. 412–13 (complete testimony pp. 403–14); the testimony of Dallas police officer Don Ray Archer, WC 12, p. 401 (complete testimony, pp. 395–403); and the testimony of District Attorney Wade, WC 5, p. 245 (complete testimony, pp. 213–54).

  237 Pappas, “Now the ambulance is being rushed in here . . .” Ibid., p. 214.

  237 “Ladies and gentlemen, Lee Harvey Oswald has been shot and is on his way to Parkland Hospital.” See Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, p. 278.

  240 “He cry.” See the testimony of Marguerite Oswald, WC 1, p. 162.

  240 “I think someday you’ll hang your heads in shame.” Ibid.

  240 Dallas guilt. Some individuals viewed Dallas as a city dominated by right-wing extremists and Kennedy-haters. The climate in preassassination Dallas, which made it a likely place for JFK’s assassination, was captured in the early work by Warren Leslie, Dallas: Public and Private (New York: Grossman, 1964). Most recent, see Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis, Dallas 1963 (New York: Twelve, 2013).

  Many civic leaders were faced with the challenge of repairing the national perception of somehow the entire city being responsible for JFK’s death. On New Year’s Day 1964, Stanley Marcus, whose father founded the Dallas-based department store Neiman-Marcus, purchased a full-page ad appearing in national newspapers with the store’s logo. The message, with the headline what’s right with dallas, was signed by Marcus. See Stanley Marcus, Minding the Store: A Memoir (Boston: Little, Brown, 1974), pp. 257–58.

  241 Chief Justice Warren, climate of hate. John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Eulogies to the Late President Delivered in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, November 24, 1963. (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964).

  For Earl Warren’s reaction to the assassination and his experience of being appointed to head the presidential commission to investigate JFK’s death, see Earl Warren, The Memoirs of Chief Justice Earl Warren (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977), pp. 351–72.

  242 Opening of casket for last time. See Manchester, Death, pp. 516–17.

  243 Trip to Capitol. Ibid., pp. 529–43.

  244 Mansfield’s comments. For Senator Mansfield’s “took a ring” eulogy and other speeches in the U.S. Congress, see U.S. Senate, Memorial Addresses in the Congress of the United States and Tributes in Eulogy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Late a President of the United States (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964).

  245 Crowds in line in front of Capitol. For an account of the long lines, forty blocks long and four abreast, of people waiting to pay their respects to the fallen president, see the comments of CBS News reporter Roger Mudd in Trost, President, p. 238.

  246 The comments of Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who one day would be senator. See Trost, President, p. 236.

  248 Dignitaries walking and concern about LBJ’s safety. See Melville Bell Grosvenor, The Last Full Measure: The World Pays Tribute to President Kennedy (Washington, DC: National Geographic, 1964), p. 346.

  249 St. Matthew’s. “Where’s my daddy?” See Manchester, Death, p. 584.

  249 Cushing’s comments and St. Matthew’s ceremony. Ibid., pp. 584–90.

  249 John Jr. salute. See the account, “A Little Soldier’s Salute,” by Robert M. Andrews, a UPI correspondent, in United Press International, ed., Four Days: The Historical Record of the Death of President Kennedy (Rockville, MD: American Heritage, 1964), pp. 114–15.

  251 Eternal Flame. Robert McNamara was Jackie Kennedy’s personal representative at Arlington National Cemetery when the site of JFK’s final resting place was chosen. Lieutenant General Walter K. Wilson Jr., as chief of the Army Corps of Engineers, was responsible for carrying out her wishes for the creation of the eternal flame, and Colonel Clayton B. Lyle was actually assigned this task. For an account of how the corps responded to Jackie’s wishes, see Lieutenant General Walter K. Wilson Jr., Engineer Memoirs (Washington, DC: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of the Chief of Engineers, May 1984), EP 870-1-8, http://140.194.76.129/publications/eng-pamphlets/EP_870-1-8/toc.htm), pp. 194–96. See also recollections at both Arlington National Cemetery and Army Corps of Engineers websites, www.arlingtoncemetery.net/eternalflame.htm and www.usace.army.mil/About/History/HistoricalVignettes/CivilEngineering/060JFKsEternalFlame.aspx.

  252 Jackie’s comments about meeting visitors (reception of foreign guests). See Manchester, Death, pp. 605–15.

  252 Tippit’s funeral. The Tippit family maintains a website with comprehensive information on Officer Tippit’s life and death at www.jdtippit.com. For a short video clip on his funeral go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiDXCktjvAw.

  Also, for video coverage of Tippit’s funeral, Oswald’s funeral, and President Johnson’s telephone call to Tippit’s widow, Marie Frances Gasway Tippit, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFP9a8LeuvA. A special fund was established for Marie Tippit and his three minor children, which received over $600,000 in contributions.

  253 Oswald funeral: For AP reporter Mike Cochran’s retelling of his volunteering to be a pallbearer and other reminiscences of the funeral, see Trost, President, pp. 254–57. For a more in-depth interview that weaves in the timeline of the three funerals, of John F. Kennedy, Officer J. D. Tippit, and Lee Harvey Oswald, which occurred on Monday, November 25, 1963, see Nov. 22, Twenty-Five Years Later, pullout section (Dallas Morning News, Nov. 20, 1988), www.writespirit.net/wp-content/cache/supercache/www.writespirit.net/soulful-tributes/political­figures/president-kennedy/funeral-timeline-kennedy-john.

  In addition to the few photographs published in T. Thompson, “In Texas, a Policeman and an Assassin Are Laid to Rest,” Life, Dec. 6, 1963, pp. 52B–52E, the Warren Commission hearings volumes contain several photographs of the funeral. See WC 16, CE 165–168, 170–179, pp. 522–24, 526–29. Marguerite Oswald also published a magazine. See Marguerite Oswald, Aftermath of an Execution: The Burial and Final Rites of Lee Harvey Oswald as Told by His Mother (Dallas: Challenge Press, 1965).

  253 Oswald’s exhumation. This exhumati
on was assented to by Oswald’s wife, remarried as Marina Oswald Porter, after the persistent urging of author Michael Eddowes, author of The Oswald File (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1997). Lee Harvey Oswald’s brother, Robert, had opposed this action, and after a more-than-two-year legal battle, the exhumation occurred early in the morning of October 4, 1981. Shortly after this event, a press conference was held, which indeed confirmed that the corpse was Lee Harvey Oswald. His identification was based largely on dental records and other forensic evidence. See Linda E. Norton, James A. Cottone, Irvin M. Sopher, and Vincent J. Dimario, “The Exhumation and Identification of Lee Harvey Oswald,” Journal of Forensic Sciences 29, no. l (Jan. 1984): 19–38 (the Norton Report).

  Several years later, Oswald’s deteriorated casket from this exhumation was sold in 2010 for $87,468 by Nate D. Sanders Auctions in Santa Monica, CA. See http://natedsanders.com/viewuserdefinedpage.aspx?pn=LeeHarveyOswaldCasket­Consignment.

  Today, the Shannon Rose Hill Cemetery in Fort Worth still discourages visitors to Oswald’s burial site. Since the cemetery was not providing any help with directions to Oswald’s grave, a living comedian purchased the plot adjacent to the plot where Lee and his mother are buried. This adjacent tombstone has the inscription nick beef to aid individuals trying to find Oswald’s grave. See Jack Douglas Jr., “A JFK Mystery: Who Is Nick Beef?” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, March 13, 2005, www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/A-JFK-mystery-Who-is-Nick-Beef-1475555.php. While today the cemetery refuses to provides directions to this tombstone, for those so inclined there are several written and video sources of directions.

  The original headstone: This original, more ornate headstone contained Oswald’s complete name and years of birth and death. After it was stolen and returned shortly thereafter, Marguerite Oswald removed it and replaced it with the current headstone, a slab with only the word “Oswald.” She stored the original in her basement, where it was forgotten until found by a new owner of her house. It subsequently was sold to a museum in Illinois, but the ownership of this item was being challenged. See, Steven Yaccino, “A Macabre Tussle over a Historic Slab,” New York Times, Apr. 11, 2012, p. A16, www.nytimes.com/2012/04/11/us/a­dispute-over-lee-harvey-oswalds-tombstone.html?_r=0.