As stated, I find Oswald the man the most interesting aspect of the JFKA. I’ve read everything there is about him, and my sister-in-law and her husband worked in the Minsk factory at the same time. I think I “know” him about as well as he can be known.
I’m a provisional Lone Nutter but troubled by several aspects of the narrative, including the one I’ll describe here. The standard LN response is, “The evidence says he did it. It doesn’t matter who he was, why he did it, or what was going on inside his head.” Well ...
When he took a shot at Walker (we’ll assume he did), he left behind a detailed note, and Marina said he arrived home in a state of considerable agitation. Compare the JFKA.
1. I’m puzzled by his behavior at the Paine home the evening before the JFKA. He begs Marina to join him in Dallas, makes promises, and gives absolutely no clue he is contemplating the JFKA. He leaves no note.
2. He has long been convinced he is destined for a place in history and has written fairly extensively about his views, but he leaves no explanation or manifesto concerning the JFKA. There is nothing like this in his room on Beckley.
3. He shoots JFK, stashes the rifle, scurries down the stairs, hears Baker and Truly coming up – but then is utterly calm and collected when Baker confronts him and sticks a gun in his stomach.
4. He exits the TSBD, boards a bus, leaves the bus and hails a taxi – but then offers the taxi to an older woman who approaches.
5. He is grilled by Fritz, who is a legend for wheedling confessions out of suspects – but he is so cocky and unflappable that Fritz not only fails to break him but emerges speculating that he has been trained to avoid interrogation.
6. In custody, he tells his brother Robert, “Don’t believe the so-called evidence.”
7. In custody for more than 36 hours, and despite the seemingly compelling evidence against him, he never cracks or gives anything other than flat denials of his involvement in the JFKA and Tippit shooting.
I at least find this all bizarre enough to contemplate that “something more” than the LN narrative may have been going on. It seems to me inadequate to say, "The evidence says he did it and nothing else matters." Yes, Oswald was a massive liar even when lying served no purpose, but all of the above is extremely odd and gives me pause about Oswald as a Lone Nut who just snapped. The problem is, I have no real theory as to what the “something more” might be that would explain his behavior. "He was a wholly innocent patsy" would do it, of course, but that just doesn't fit the evidence unless one postulates a conspiracy so elaborate as to be comical.
Fascinating.
1. Where Marina was when Oswald shot at Walker was very different, the Walker note was a list of instructions on what to do after his arrest because she was alone but this time Marina had Ruth. I've previously thought that if Oswald did in fact leave a note, Marina wouldn't want it to be found, obviously, so like one of the backyard photos, I think she would have destroyed the note as well?
2. Oswald didn't have much time to plan, much less leave a detailed explanation, I figure that by his choice of defence, Abt, Oswald knew where this was going to go. A big court case where he was the sole focus and where he could finally be given a platform to espouse his political beliefs was finally going to happen, like his New Orleans attempt, well, till Ruby rained on his parade.
3. I never really understood this? All Oswald had to do was just stand there and say nothing, not that difficult. I may suggest that this atypical behaviour is a huge red flag, Oswald who was all about rights and if innocent would have been screaming that how dare a Police Officer shove a gun in his guts and what is this all about!
4. Whaley's 2nd day affidavit said that he told the lady that another cab was close behind and that Oswald may have repeated this.
5. Under normal circumstances and if Fritz had Oswald all alone he may have had a better opportunity to extract something but at the time it was a circus and there was a stack of people interfering in the interrogation room. When Oswald came back from Russia he set out in his mind how he would handle the reporters questions but no one was there to greet him but regardless, in Oswald's mind he played out many situations and how he was going to respond.
6. But we know the evidence was anything but made up or planted. Oswald owned the murder weapon, the backyard photos were authentic, Oswald owned the revolver that killed Tippit and Oswald tried to kill more Police when arrested. Under similar circumstances I can imagine anyone trying to put their brothers mind at ease.
7. This isn't that unusual, there are many murderers that go to their graves without spilling the beans, Here in Australia we had a serial killer Ivan Milat who had a stack of evidence against him and even on his deathbed never confessed, and Martin Bryant who was one of the worst mass murderers of all time, plead innocence for 7 months and finally just before his trial and a helping hand from his mother, plead guilty.
JohnM
