Now!
Those who wish to go on believing in the second-floor lunchroom encounter are perfectly free to do so. That fiction was
designed to meet just the eventuality that has transpired here (six damn decades later!): proof of Mr. Oswald's front steps alibi coming to light.
Law enforcement knew within a very few hours of the assassination that Mr. Oswald had a front steps alibi. They knew he was telling the truth:
At first they were going to go all in on the Tippit murder, and nail Mr. Oswald as an accomplice in the JFK murder. But a political decision was made on high: LHO must be identified as the lone wolf assassin of Dealey Plaza. This edict meant that there was no way he could be allowed to live and stand trial--------------the case against him as the sixth-floor shooter was just too pathetically weak.
Put yourselves in the shoes of those tasked with putting Mr. Oswald up in the SN window. They had to
--------------suppress his claim in interrogation to have gone outside to watch P. Parade
--------------put a substitute, fake story in his mouth about his movements around the time of the motorcade
--------------have him seen inside the building just after the shooting in a place where EITHER a man who has just been up on six OR a man who has just been out front could have made his way to: second-floor lunchroom
--------------give him to believe that his claimed alibi had checked out, but that he was on the hook as an accomplice (if you make a man believe his alibi is confirmed you neutralize the risk of his shouting it to the newsmen)
--------------control any available image of the front doorway that gave the game away
--------------pressurize Officer Baker, Mr. Billy Lovelady and others to give false recollections
They had three major things in their favor in all this:
1. Mr. Billy Lovelady, a man with a passing resemblance to Mr. Oswald, had also worn a red shirt over a white tshirt in the doorway: he could take Mr. Oswald's place where necessary
2. Mr. Oswald, not being one for social small-talk, had left it until the very last moment to go out front, and had left the steps very quickly after the shots: few will have noticed him, their entire attention being on the motorcade, the loud bangs and the ensuing mayhem
3. Mr. Oswald was dead.
However, even with all these cover-up efforts and advantages, and more, they knew just how vulnerable the official fairytale was to falsification. Just one citizen who had a camera in Dealey Plaza that day could come forward at any moment and blow everything up. There had to be reputational insurance for the 'investigating' authorities in case that happened: the lunchroom story was a key element in this insurance scheme. 'Shucks, we came to the wrong conclusion about where Oswald had come from.........'
The whole Altgens-Doorwayman controversy must have caused them to chuckle. Here were the conspiracy theorists going crazy trying to turn Mr. Billy Lovelady into Mr. Lee Harvey Oswald, oblivious to the fact that the real Mr. Oswald was somewhere else on the west side of that doorway! Let them at it--------------they're just going to make fools of themselves, and bring ridicule down on anyone else who might in the future try to put Mr. Oswald in the doorway.
Some folks have argued that Officer Baker and Mr. Truly's description of Mr. Oswald in the lunchroom as not out of breath, not agitated, not sweating is an odd way to incriminate the guy. They are missing the point: the lunchroom encounter had to be EQUALLY consistent with Mr. Oswald's having just come down from six and his having just walked up from the front entrance.
Some folks have argued that the second-floor lunchroom is a lousy place to put Mr. Oswald if you want to incriminate him. Why not put him walking away from the rear stairway several floors up the building? Again, these folks are missing the point: an Oswald walking away from the rear stairway several floors up would NOT be EQUALLY consistent with his having just come down from six and his having just walked up from the front entrance.
The lunchroom story, in short, was a far from ideal way of putting Mr. Oswald inside the building just after the shooting---------------but no other realistic location offered itself.
Too many Warren Critics, in pointing with excitement to the lunchroom incident as indicative of Mr. Oswald's innocence, have shown that they have merely taken the desired bait. The fact that so many Warren Critics have over the years joined the Warren Gullibles on
Team Keep LHO Off Them Steps, and have been viscerally hostile to the research effort of those who have now finally succeeded in proving Mr. Oswald's front steps alibi, is a sad testament to the effectiveness of the cover-up 'investigating' authorities' choice of the lunchroom for a fictionalized LHO-Baker-Truly encounter.
Thankfully, however,
Team Keep LHO Off Them Steps is now toast:
