16 Questions on the Assassination
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A MESSAGE TO AMERICANS FROM PROFESSOR ARNOLD TOYNBEE: 16 QUESTIONS ON THE The Mark Lane brief gives strong reasons for thinking that there is something wrong ASSASSINATION about the way the assassination is being in- By Bertrand Russell vestigated, and I am sure that the right re- A reprint from the September, 1963 action to this is the setting-up, in the United issue of The Minority of One. States, of the Citizens' Committee of Inquiry. The Minority of One is an independ- ent monthly published at 77 Penning- The Citizens' Committee of Inquiry has, ton Avenue, Passaic, N. J. 07055. since its inception in March 1964, sent teams of investigators to Dallas, arranged meetings New York Office: 154 Nassau Street, discussing the assassination at scores of cam- puses across the U.S., and assembled and New York, N. Y. 10038. Tel. CO 7-1740. made available to the people of the U.S. and the world the facts in the case. The sixteen BOARD OF SPONSORS: questions raised in this pamphlet by Bertrand Russell have answers, but those answers are obscured by false statements, contradictions Dr. Gunther Anders and official suppression of the evidence. Prof. Daniel M. Berman The Citizens' Committee of Inquiry has Dr. Jerome Davis over two hundred leads that have not yet been followed tip and many capable investi- W. H. Ferry gators willing to go to the Dallas area. Lack of funds is the only obstacle to intensifying the Prof. D. F. Fleming investigation already under way. If you be- Rev. Stephen H. Fritchman lieve that the answers to the questions must be secured, then we invite your participation Maxwell Geismar in this historic effort. one dollar will permit us to mail this pamphlet to a dozen libraries; Brig. Gen. Hugh B. Hester, U.S.A.(Ret.) 5250 will send to and maintain in Dallas a Ava Helen Pauling trained investigator for one week. Please make checks or money orders payable to: Prof. Linus Pauling CITIZENS' COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY Bertrand Russell Dr. Albert Schweitzer Prof. Pitirim A. Sorokin Prof. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi CITIZENS' COMMITTEE. OF INQUIRY T. H. Tetens 156 Fifth Ave., Room 422 Prof. Ernest B. Zeisler New Iork, N. Y. 10010 EDITOR: M. S. Arnoni Please, accept my contribution of $ Copyright, 1964 Name The Minority of One, Inc. Street & No. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: City State Zip 1 yr. 2 yrs. 3 yrs. t. U.S.A. $5.00 $ 9.00 $12.00 Foreign $6.00 $11.00 $15.00 ,yeado v01 16 QUESTIONS ON THE ASSASSINATION By Bertrand Russell STATEMENT BY BERTRAND RUSSELL: The official version of the assassination of President Kennedy has been so riddled with There is no precedent for Mark Lane's contradictions that it has been abandoned remarkable attempt to investigate the and rewritten no less than three times. Bla- truth regarding the assassination of tant fabrications have received very wide- President Kennedy. When Zola sought spread coverage by the mass media, but de- to uncover the truth concerning Dreyfus, nials of these same lies have gone unpub- lished. Photographs, evidence and affidavits he had the advantage that Dreyfus was have been doctored out of recognition. Some alive. Oswald has been murdered, and of the most important aspects of the case this cause celebre concerns the assassi- against Lee Harvey Oswald have been com- nation of a President in the nuclear age. pletely blacked out. Meanwhile, the F.B.I.. the police and the Secret Service have tried Mark Lane's evidence comprises one to silence key witnesses or instruct them of the most remarkable documents I have what evidence to give. Others involved have seen and is an unanswerable indictment disappeared or died in extraordinary cir- cumstances. of the Government's attempt to suppress the truth and conceal the circumstances It is facts such as these that demand atten- tion, and which the Warren Commission surrounding the death of the President. should have regarded as vital. Although I There has never been a more subversive, am writing before the publication of the conspiratorial, unpatriotic or endanger- Warren Commission's report, leaks to the ing course for the security of the United press have made much of its contents pre- dictable. Because of the high office of its States and the world than the attempt by members and the fact of its establishment the United Stales Government to hide by President Johnson. the Commission has the murderers of its recent President. been widely regarded as a body of holy men appointed to pronounce the Truth. An im- Mark Lane must have the support of partial examination of the composition and everyone who wishes the peace of the conduct of the Commission suggests quite world to be preserved and who values otherwise. the truth, in an age which has shown it The Warren Commission has been utterly contempt. I wish to give him every pos- unrepresentative of the American people. It sible support. consisted of two Democrats, Senator Russell of Georgia and Congressman Boggs of Lou- isiana, both of whose racist views have brought shame on the United States; two Republicans, Senator Cooper of Kentucky and Congressman Gerald R. Ford of Mich- igan, the latter of whom is a leader of his local Goldwater movement and an associate of the F.B.I.; Allen Dulles. former director 2 3 of the Central Intelligence Agency, and ernment is so certain of its case, why has it Mr. McCloy, who has been referred to as the conducted all its inquiries in the strictest spokesman for the business community. secrecy? Leadership of the filibuster in the Senate against the Civil Rights Bill prevented Sena- At the outset the Commission appointed tor Russell from attending hearings during six panels through which it would conduct this period. The Chief Justice of the United its enquiry. They considered: (1) What did States Supreme Court, Earl Warren, who Oswald do on November 22, 1963? (2) What was Oswald's background? (3) What rightly commands respect, was finally per- did Oswald do in the U.S. Marine Corps, suaded, much against his will, to preside over and in the Soviet Union? (4) How did Ruby the Commission, and it was his involvement kill Oswald? (5) What is Ruby's back- above all else that helped lend the Commis- ground? (6) What efforts were taken to sion an aura of legality and authority. Yet protect the President on November 22? This many of its members were also members of raises my fourth question: Why did the those very groups which have done so much Warren Commission not establish a panel to to distort and suppress the facts about the deal with the question of who killed Presi- assassination. Because of their connection dent Kennedy? with the Government, not one member would have been permitted under U.S. law All the evidence given to the Commission to serve on a jury had Oswald faced trial. has been classified "Top Secret", including It is small wonder that the Chief Justice him- even a request that hearings be held in pub- self remarked that the release of some of lic. Despite this the Commission itself the Commission's information "might not leaked much of the evidence to the press, be in your lifetime." Here, then, is my first though only if the evidence tended to prove question: Why were all the members of the Oswald the lone assassin. Thus, Chief iVarren Commission closely connected with justice Warren held a press conference after the U.S. Government? Oswald's wife, Marina, had testified. He said, that she believed her husband was the assas- If the composition of the Commission was sin. Before Oswald's brother Robert testi- suspect. its conduct confirmed one's worst fied. he gained the Commission's agreement fears. No counsel was permitted to act for not to comment on what be said. After Oswald, so that cross-examination was bar- he had testified for two days, the newspapers red. Later, under pressure, the Commission were full of stories that "a member of the appointed the President of the American Bar Commission" had told the press that Robert Association. Walter Craig, one of the Oswald had just testified that he believed supporters of the Goldwater movement in that his brother was an agent of the Soviet Arizona, to represent Oswald. To my knowl- Union. Robert Oswald was outraged by this, edge he did not attend hearings, but satisfied and said that he could not remain silent himself with representation by observers. while lies were told about his testimony. In the name of national security, the Com- He had never said this and he had never mission's hearings were held in secret, there- believed it. All that he had told the Com- by continuing the policy which has marked mission was that he believed his brother the entire course of the case. This prompts my was innocent and was in no way involved second question: If, as we are told, Oswald in the assassination. was the lone assassin, where is the issue of The methods adopted by the Commission national security? Indeed, precisely the same have indeed been deplorable, but it is im- question must be put here as was posed in portant to challenge the entire role of the France during the Dreyfus case: If the Goy- Warren Commission. It stated that it would 4 5 not conduct its own investigation, but rely After the assassination and. Oswald's ar- instead on the existing governmental agen- rest, judgment was pronounced swiftly: Os- cies—the F.B.I., the Secret Service and the wald was the assassin, and he had acted Dallas police.