The Book Depository as a Potemkin Village

[Walt Cakebread]

If it’s true that the KGB did not consider Oswald a CIA spy, then its possible that Castro would NOT have been warned and therefore Walts theory Is not completely shot down just yet

However, how much should we trust former USSR KGB concerning Oswald?

Maybe they feigned having concern and let Oswald exit the USSR without any further torture than the electric shock “therapy” that caused his hair to change color,  in order to infiltrate Marina as a KGB spy into the USA

If it’s true that the KGB did not consider Oswald a CIA spy,

No intelligence organization trusts it operatives completely.... All intel organizations keep their spies under watchful eye....

[Jerry Freeman]

.... how much should we trust former USSR KGB concerning Oswald?

Concerning Oswald?----Concerning anything...about as far as you can throw the Kremlin.

[Dan O'meara]

Getting back to the thread...
The limited research I've done on this subject has convinced me that various employees were involved in the assassination.
This involvement seems 'supported' by the investigating authorities and, to some extent, the Warren Commission itself.
This begs the question - to what extent was the TSBD a 'front'?

[Walt Cakebread]

Getting back to the thread...
The limited research I've done on this subject has convinced me that various employees were involved in the assassination.
This involvement seems 'supported' by the investigating authorities and, to some extent, the Warren Commission itself.
This begs the question - to what extent was the TSBD a 'front'?

Hi Dan, IMO the TSBD was a vital part of the plot.   The Plotters realized that Dealey Plaza was an ideal site for the assassination. ( It probably had been recognized as such by the Secret Service Long before JFK visited Texas) And After they suckered Lee Oswald into taking the potshot at general Walker they knew they had a patsy... and they needed to get him a job inside the TSBD after they had talked JFK into making the "fence mending" trip to Dallas.

So IMO the TSBD was a crucial part of the Plot.     


After they suckered Lee Oswald into taking the potshot at general Walker they knew they had a patsy... and they needed to get him a job inside the TSBD

Detective Jack Revill said that Hosty told him that " We (the FBI) knew that he (LHO) was capable of assassinating the President, but we didn't dream that he would do it."

Question:... HOW did the FBI know that Lee could easily be made a scapegoat?    Lee had NOTHING in his background on which the FBI could have formed such an idea.  IMO, The FBI knew that Lee had been suckered into firing a bullet through general Walker's window.

[Pat Speer]

There are serious problems with a scenario that has Dougherty going back to work after the shooting. In the scenario you are proposing Dougherty is on the fifth floor when he hears Baker and Truly coming down from the roof. This seems to be supported by Truly's recollection of seeing Dougherty collecting stock on the fifth floor as he and Baker descend to the first floor. The problem is that by the time Truly and Baker reach the first floor the situation seems quite chaotic:

Mr. TRULY. When I got back to the first floor, at first I didn't see anything except officers running around, reporters in the place. There was a regular madhouse

In your scenario, Dougherty then comes down into this 'madhouse', searches out Eddie Piper who tells him about the assassination after which Dougherty calmly returns to the elevators, presumably elbowing police officers, reporters and stunned TSBD employees aside, and returns to work on the sixth floor.
This seems highly unlikely.
He also mentions that when he finishes his lunch he wanted to see the President but there were too many people on the steps:

Mr. DOUGHERTY - Well, I would have loved to have went out and watched him but the steps were so crowded---there was no way in the world I could get out there.

This is surely a description of the steps before employees started flooding back into the building in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

"They needed Dougherty to be the one bringing the elevator down as Baker and Truly ran up"

There is nothing to suggest the elevator came down from the fifth floor as Truly and Baker ran up and plenty to suggest it didn't. It seems more likely the missing elevator was on the sixth floor when Truly and Baker reached the fifth.

It's been awhile since I wrote that chapter, but I'm pretty sure this makes sense.

12:32 Baker and Truly look up and see the west elevator on sixth and the east on fifth. They run upstairs, seeing Oswald on the second, and then take the east elevator up to the seventh, and the ladder to the roof.
12:34 Dougherty, who was in the bath room when the shots were fired, is confused by the hubbub in the building, and goes back to work, taking the west elevator back up to the sixth. He gets some stock and goes back down to the fifth. While there he hears Baker and Truly slam the hatch to the roof as they come back down the ladder.
12:37 As Baker and Truly descend in the east elevator, Truly spots Dougherty on the fifth floor.
12:38 Dougherty follows them back down. Upon his arrival on the first floor, he goes over to Eddie Piper, who has been told to watch the back door, and asks him what has happened.

The advantages of this theory.
1. It explains why Dougherty heard but one loud sound and thought it came from above him.
2. It explains why Dougherty failed to see or hear Williams, Jarman and Norman on the fifth floor.
3. It explains why Williams, Jarman and Norman failed to see or hear Dougherty on the fifth floor.
4. It explains how Dougherty, who in the official story was standing by the west elevator for a few minutes after the shooting, failed to see or hear Oswald run down the stairs and cross the floor directly in front of him.
5. It explains why Ball never asked Dougherty if he had to call the west elevator, or if it was there on the first floor.
5. It explains why Ball failed to ask Piper when and where he saw Dougherty, and why Ball turned around and trashed Piper's credibility in the Warren Report.
6. It fits in with J.C. Price's claim he heard a loud noise minutes after the shooting.

I'm sure there's more.

The problem with this theory (for LNs):
1. It means someone descended in the west elevator just as or just after Baker and Truly ran up to the fifth floor.

[Walt Cakebread]

It's been awhile since I wrote that chapter, but I'm pretty sure this makes sense.

12:32 Baker and Truly look up and see the west elevator on sixth and the east on fifth. They run upstairs, seeing Oswald on the second, and then take the east elevator up to the seventh, and the ladder to the roof.
12:34 Dougherty, who was in the bath room when the shots were fired, is confused by the hubbub in the building, and goes back to work, taking the west elevator back up to the sixth. He gets some stock and goes back down to the fifth. While there he hears Baker and Truly slam the hatch to the roof as they come back down the ladder.
12:37 As Baker and Truly descend in the east elevator, Truly spots Dougherty on the fifth floor.
12:38 Dougherty follows them back down. Upon his arrival on the first floor, he goes over to Eddie Piper, who has been told to watch the back door, and asks him what has happened.

The advantages of this theory.
1. It explains why Dougherty heard but one loud sound and thought it came from above him.
2. It explains why Dougherty failed to see or hear Williams, Jarman and Norman on the fifth floor.
3. It explains why Williams, Jarman and Norman failed to see or hear Dougherty on the fifth floor.
4. It explains how Dougherty, who in the official story was standing by the west elevator for a few minutes after the shooting, failed to see or hear Oswald run down the stairs and cross the floor directly in front of him.
5. It explains why Ball never asked Dougherty if he had to call the west elevator, or if it was there on the first floor.
5. It explains why Ball failed to ask Piper when and where he saw Dougherty, and why Ball turned around and trashed Piper's credibility in the Warren Report.
6. It fits in with J.C. Price's claim he heard a loud noise minutes after the shooting.

I'm sure there's more.

The problem with this theory (for LNs):
1. It means someone descended in the west elevator just as or just after Baker and Truly ran up to the fifth floor.

12:32 Baker and Truly look up and see the west elevator on sixth and the east on fifth. They run upstairs, seeing Oswald on the second, and then take the east elevator up to the seventh, and the ladder to the roof.

The problem with this theory (for LNs):
1. It means someone descended in the west elevator just as or just after Baker and Truly ran up to the fifth floor.

Baker would certainly have noticed the elevator descending ( the elevators were very noisy)and ordered the person aboard, to stop descending .

[Dan O'meara]

It's been awhile since I wrote that chapter, but I'm pretty sure this makes sense.

12:32 Baker and Truly look up and see the west elevator on sixth and the east on fifth. They run upstairs, seeing Oswald on the second, and then take the east elevator up to the seventh, and the ladder to the roof.
12:34 Dougherty, who was in the bath room when the shots were fired, is confused by the hubbub in the building, and goes back to work, taking the west elevator back up to the sixth. He gets some stock and goes back down to the fifth. While there he hears Baker and Truly slam the hatch to the roof as they come back down the ladder.
12:37 As Baker and Truly descend in the east elevator, Truly spots Dougherty on the fifth floor.
12:38 Dougherty follows them back down. Upon his arrival on the first floor, he goes over to Eddie Piper, who has been told to watch the back door, and asks him what has happened.

The advantages of this theory.
1. It explains why Dougherty heard but one loud sound and thought it came from above him.
2. It explains why Dougherty failed to see or hear Williams, Jarman and Norman on the fifth floor.
3. It explains why Williams, Jarman and Norman failed to see or hear Dougherty on the fifth floor.
4. It explains how Dougherty, who in the official story was standing by the west elevator for a few minutes after the shooting, failed to see or hear Oswald run down the stairs and cross the floor directly in front of him.
5. It explains why Ball never asked Dougherty if he had to call the west elevator, or if it was there on the first floor.
5. It explains why Ball failed to ask Piper when and where he saw Dougherty, and why Ball turned around and trashed Piper's credibility in the Warren Report.
6. It fits in with J.C. Price's claim he heard a loud noise minutes after the shooting.

I'm sure there's more.

The problem with this theory (for LNs):
1. It means someone descended in the west elevator just as or just after Baker and Truly ran up to the fifth floor.

Other problems:

Both Truly and Baker report seeing thr elevators on the same floor when they look up

Dougherty fails to mention any kind of 'hubbub' on the first floor, although he does state that the front steps were crowded, presumably with employees waiting to see the motorcade

Dougherty makes no mention of the 'madhouse' of police, reporters and stunned employees when he returns to the first floor

But the main problem is the notion Dougherty calmly goes back up to the sixth floor to resume his work after talking to Piper, ignoring the chaos ensuing on the first floor.