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 discussing the assassination at scores of cam- New York Office: 154 Nassau Street, 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 questions raised in this pamphlet by Bertrand BOARD OF SPONSORS: 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 over two hundred leads that have not yet Dr. Jerome Davis been followed tip and many capable investi- gators willing to go to the Dallas area. Lack W. H. Ferry of funds is the only obstacle to intensifying the Prof. D. F. Fleming investigation already under way. If you be- lieve that the answers to the questions must Rev. Stephen H. Fritchman 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 trained investigator for one week. Please Ava Helen Pauling 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 New Iork, N. Y. 10010 Prof. Ernest B. Zeisler Please, accept my contribution of $ EDITOR: M. S. Arnoni Copyright, 1964 Name The Minority of One, Inc. Street & No. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: City State Zip t. 1 yr. 2 yrs. 3 yrs. U.S.A. $5.00 $ 9.00 $12.00 Foreign ,yeado v01 $6.00 $11.00 $15.00 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) rightly commands respect, was finally per- What was Oswald's background? (3) What suaded, much against his will, to preside over did Oswald do in the U.S. Marine Corps, the Commission, and it was his involvement and in the Soviet Union? (4) How did Ruby above all else that helped lend the Commis- kill Oswald? (5) What is Ruby's back- sion an aura of legality and authority. Yet ground? (6) What efforts were taken to many of its members were also members of protect the President on November 22? This those very groups which have done so much raises my fourth question: Why did the to distort and suppress the facts about the Warren Commission not establish a panel to assassination. Because of their connection deal with the question of who killed Presi- with the Government, not one member dent Kennedy? 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, If the composition of the Commission was that she believed her husband was the assas- suspect. its conduct confirmed one's worst sin. Before Oswald's brother Robert testi- fears. No counsel was permitted to act for fied. he gained the Commission's agreement Oswald, so that cross-examination was bar- not to comment on what be said. After he had testified for two days, the newspapers red. Later, under pressure, the Commission appointed the President of the American Bar were full of stories that "a member of the Commission" had told the pr Association. Walter Craig, one of the ess that Robert supporters of the Goldwater movement in Oswald had just testified that he believed 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 instead on the existing governmental agen- After the assassination and. Oswald's ar- r cies—the F.B.I., the Secret Service and the est, judgment was pronounced swiftly: Os- Dallas police. Confidence in the Warren wald was the assassin, and he had acted Commission thus presupposes confidence in alone. No attempt was made to arrest others, no road blocks were set up round the area, these three institutions. Why have so many liberals abandoned their own responsibility and every piece of evidence which tended to to a Commission whose circumstances they incriminate Oswald was announced to the refuse to examine? press by the Dallas District Attorney, Mr. It is known that the strictest and most Wade. In such a way millions of people elaborate security precautions ever taken were prejudiced against Oswald before there for a President of the United States were was any opportunity for him to be brought ordered for November 22 in Dallas. The to trial. The first theory announced by the city had a reputation for violence and was authorities was that the President's car was the home of some of the most extreme right- in Houston Street, approaching the book wing fanatics in America. Mr. and Mrs. depository building, when Oswald opened Lyndon Johnson had been assailed there in fire. When available photographs and eye- 1960 when he was a candidate for the Vice- witnesses had shown this to be quite untrue, Presidency. Actlai Stevenson had been phys- the theory was abandoned and a new one ically attacked when he spoke in the city only formulated which placed the vehicle in its a month before Kennedy's visit. On the correct position. ,Meanwhile, however, D. A. morning of November 22, the Dallas Morn- Wade had announced that three days after ing Yews carried a full-page advertisement Oswald's morn in Dallas had been searched, associating the President with Communism. a map had been found there on which the The city was covered with posters showing book depository building had the President's picture and headed "Wanted been circled and dotted lines drawn from the building to for Treason". The Dallas list of subversives a vehicle on Houston Street. showing the comprised 23 names, of which Oswald's was alleged bullet trajectory had been planned the first. All of them were followed that in advance. After the first theory was day, except Oswald. Why did the authori- proved false, ties follow many persons es potential assas- the Associated Press put out the following story on November 27: sins and fail to observe Oswald's entry into "Dallas authorities announced today that there the book depository building while allegedly never was a map." carrying a rifle over three feet long? The second theory correctly placed the The President's route for his drive through President's car on Elm Street, 50 to 75 yards Dallas was widely known and was printed past the book depository, but had to con- in the Dallas Morning L'Vetes on November tend with the difficulty that the President 22. At the last minute the Secret Service was shot from the front, in the throat. How changed a small part of their plans so that did Oswald manage to shoot the President the President left Main Street and turned in the front from behind? The F.B.I. held into Houston and Elm Streets. This altera- a series of background briefing sessions for tion took the President past the book depos- Life magazine, which in its issue of Decem- itory building from which it is alleged that ber 6 explained that the President had turn- Oswald shot him. How Oswald is supposed ed completely round just at the time he to have known of this change has never was shot. This too. was soon shown to be been explained. Why was the President's entirely false. It was denied by several wit- route changed at the last minute to take nesses and films, and the previous issue of him past Oswald's place of work? Life itself had shown the President looking 6 forward as he was hit. Theory number two in front of the President's vehicle. On first was abandoned. running in that direction, Weitzman was In order to retain the basis of all official informed by "someone" that he thought the thinking, that Oswald was the lone assassin, shots had come from the building, so he it now became necessary to construct a third rushed back there. Truly entered with him theory with the medical evidence altered to in order to assist with his knowledge of the fit it. For the first month no Secret Service building. Mr. Jesse Curry, the Chief of Po- agent had ever spoken to the three doctors lice in Dallas, however, has stated that he who had tried to save Kennedy's life in the was immediately convinced that the shots Parkland Memorial Hospital. Now two came from the building. If anyone else be- agents spent three hours with the doctors lieves this, he has been reluctant to say so and persuaded them that they were all mis- to date. It is also known that the first bul- informed: the entrance wound in the Presi- letin to go out on Dallas police radios stated dent's throat had been an exit wound, and that "the shots came from a triple overpass the bullet had not ranged down towards in front of the presidential automobile". In the lungs. Asked by the press how they could addition, there is the consideration that after have been so mistaken, Dr. McClelland ad- the first shot the vehicle was brought almost vanced two reasons: they had not seen the to a halt by the trained Secret Service driver. autopsy report—and they had not known an unlikely response if the shots had indeed that Oswald was behind the President! The come from behind. Certainly Mr. Roy Kel- autopsy report, they had been told by the lerman, who Secret Service, showed that Kennedy had was in charge of the Secret Service operation in Dallas that day, and been shot from behind. The agents, how- travelled in the presidential car, looked to ever, had refused to show the report to the the front as the shots were fired. The Secret doctors, who were entirely dependent upon Service has had all the evidence removed the word of the Secret Service for this sug- front the car, so it is no longer possible to gestion. The doctors made it clear that they examine it. What were not permitted to discuss the case. The is the evidence to sub- stantiate the allegation that the President third theory, with the medical evidence re- was shot from behind? written, remains the basis of the case against Photographs taken at the scene of the Oswald at this moment. I by has the mediesi..l evidence concerning the President's death clime could be most helpful. One young been altered out of recognition? lady standing just to the left of the presi- dential car as the shots were fired took pho- tographs of the vehicle just before and dur- Although Oswald is alleged to have shot ing the shooting, and was thus able to get the President from behind, there are many into her picture the entire front of the book witnesses who are confident that the shots depository building. Two F.B.I. agents im- came front the front. Among them are two mediately took the film which she took. reporters from the Fort Words Star Tele- Why has the FAL refused to pu&lish what gram, four from the Dallas Morning News, could be the most reliable piece of evidence and two people who were standing in front in the whole case? of the book depository building itself, the hi this connection it is noteworthy also director of the book depository arid the vice- that it is impossible to obtain the originals president of the firm. It appears that only of photographs bearing upon the two people immediately entered the build- case. When Time magazine published a photograph of ing: the director, Mr. Roy S. Truly, and a Oswald's arrest—the only one ever seen— Dallas police officer, Seymour Weitzman. the entire background was blacked out for Both thought that the shots bad come from reasons which have never been explained. 8 9

tr It is difficult to recall an occasion for so much falsification of photographs as has lawyers were in Dallas requesting to see happened in the Oswald case. Oswald and were not allowed to do so. By The affidavit by Police Officer Weitzman, interrogating Oswald for 48 hours without who entered the book depository building, access to lawyers, the F.B.I. created condi- stated that he found the alleged murder rifle tions which made a trial of Oswald more on the sixth floor. (It was at first announced difficult. A confession or evidence obtained that the rifle had been found on the fifth from a man held .18 hours in custody is like- floor, but this was soon altered.) It was a ly to be inadmissable in a US. court of law. German 7.65 mm. Mauser. Late the follow- The F.B.I. director conducted his interro- ing day, the F.B.I. issued its first proclama- gation in a manner which made the use of tion. Oswald had purchased in March 1963 material secured in such a fashion worth- an Italian 6.5 mm. Mannlicher-Carcano. less to him. This raises the question of D.A. Wade immediately altered the nation- whether he expected the trial to take place. ality and site of the weapon to conform to Another falsehood concerning the shoot- the F.B.I. statement. ing was a story circulated by the Associated Several photographs have been published Press ott November 23 from Los Angeles. of the alleged murder weapon. On February This reported Oswald's former superior 21, Life magazine carried on its cover a pic- officer iii the Marine Corps as saying that ture of "Lee Oswald with the weapons he Oswald was a crack shot and a hothead. used to kill President Kennedy and Officer The story was published widely. Three hours later AP sent out a correction deleting Tippitt." On page 80, Life explained that the photograph was taken during March or the entire story front Los Angeles. The April of 1963. According to the F.B.I.. Os- officer had checked his records and it had wald purchased his pistol in September 1963. turned out that he was talking about another man. He had never known Oswald. To The New York Times carried a picture of the alleged murder weapon being taken my knowledge this correction has yet to be by police into the Dallas police station. The published by a single major publication. rifle is quite different. Experts have stated The Dallas police took a paraffin test that no rifle resembling the one in the Life of Oswald's face and hands to try to estab- picture has ever been manufactured. lish that he had fired a weapon on Novem- The New York Times also carried the same pho- ber 22. The Chief of the Dallas Police, Jesse tograph as Life, but Ieft out the telescopic Curry, announced on November 23 that the sights. Ott March 2, Newsweek used the same result of the test "proves Oswald is the photograph but painted in an entirely new assassin". The Director of the F.B.I. in the rifle. Then on April 13 the Latin American Dallas-Fort Worth area in charge of the edition of Life carried the same picture on investigation stated: "I have seen the paraffin its cover as the U.S. edition had on Febru- test. The paraffin test proves that Oswald ary 21, but in the same issue ott page 18 it had nitrates and gunpowder on his hands had the same picture with the rifle altered. and face. It proves he fired a rifle on Novem- How is it that millions of people have been ber 22." Not only does this unreliable test misted by complete forgeries in the press? not prove any such thing. it was later dis- The authorities interrogated Oswald for covered that the test on Oswald's face was nearly 48 hours without allowing him to in fact negative, suggesting that it was un- contact a lawyer. despite Isis repeated re- likely he fired a rifle that day. Why was the quests to do so. The director of the F.B.I. result of the paraffin test altered before in Dallas was a man with considerable ex- being announced by the authorities? perience. American Civil Liberties Union Oswald, it will be recalled, was originally 10 arrested and charged with the murder of Patrolman Tippitt. Tippitt was killed at Reynolds had heard shooting in the street 1:06 p.m. on November 22 by a man who from a nearby room and had rushed to the first engaged him in conversation, then window to see the murderer run off. Reyn- caused him to get out of the stationary po- olds himself was later shot through the head lice car in which he was sitting and shot him by a rifleman. A man was arrested for this with a pistol. Miss ffelen L. Markham, who crime but produced an alibi. His girl-friend, Betty Mooney McDonald, told the police she states that she is the sole eve-witness to this crime, gave the Dallas police a description had been with him at the time Reynolds was of the assailant. After signing her affidavit, shot, according to Mr. Considine. The she was instructed by the F.B.I.. the Secret Dallas police immediately dropped the Service and many police officers that she was charges, even before Reynolds had time to not permitted to discuss the case with any- recover consciousness, and attempt to identi- one. The affidavit's only description of the fy his assailant. The man at once disappear. killer was that he was a "young white man." ed, and two days later the Dallas police ar- Miss Markham later revealed that the killer rested. Betty Mooney McDonald on a minor had run right up to her and past her, bran- charge and it was announced that she had dishing the pistol, and she repeated the hanged herself in the police cell. She had description of the murderer which she had been a striptease artist in Jack Ruby's night- given to the police. He was, she said, club, again according to Mr. Considine. "short, a little heavy, and had somewhat Another witness to receive extraordinary bushy hair." (The police description of treatment in the Oswald case was his wife, Oswald was that he was of average height, Marina. She was taken to the jail while her or a little taller, was slim and had receding husband was still alive and shown a rifle fair hair.) Miss Markham's affidavit is the by Chief of Police Jesse Curry. Asked if it entire case against Oswald for the murder were Oswald's, she replied that she believed of Patrolman Tippitt, yet District Attorney Oswald had a rifle but that it didn't look Wade asserted: "We have more evidence to like that. She and her mother-in-law were prove Oswald killed Tippitt than we have in great danger following the assassination to show he killed the President." The case because of the threat of public revenge on against Oswald for the murder of Tippitt. them. At this time they were unable to he continued, was an absolutely strong case. obtain a single police officer to protect them. Why was the only description of Tippitt's Immediately after Oswald was killed. how- killer deliberately omitted by the police ever, the Secret Service illegally held both from the affidavit of the sole eye-witness? women against their will. After three days Oswald's description was broadcast by the they were separated and Marina has never Dallas police only 12 minutes after the Pres- again been accessible to the public. Held ident was shot. This raises one of the most in custody for nine weeks and questioned extraordinary questions ever posed in a almost daily by the F.B.I. and Secret Service, murder case: Why was Oswald's description she filially testified to the Warren Commis- in connection with the murder of Patrolman sion and, according to Earl Warren, said Tippitt broadcast over Dallas police radio that she believed her husband was the assas- at 12:-13 p.m. on November 22, sin. The Chief Justice added that the next when Tip- day they intended to show Mrs. Oswald the pitt was not shot until 1:06 pm? murder weapon and the Commission was According to Mr. Bob Considine, writing fairly confident that she would identify it in the New York Journal American, there as her husband's. The following day it was had been another person who had heard the announced that this had indeed happened. shots that were fired at Tippitt. Warren Mrs. Oswald, we are informed, is still in the 12 13 custody of the Secret Service. To isolate a lawyer who was appointed Counsel for Os- witness for nine weeks and to subject her to repeated questioning by the Secret Service wald by his mother, for much of the informa- tion in this article. Mr. Lane's enquiries, in this manner is reminiscent of police be- which are continuing, deserve widespread havior in other countries, where it is called support. A Citizen's Committee of Inquiry brainwashing. The only witness produced has been established in New York, at Room to show that Oswald carried a rifle before the assassination stated that he saw a brown 422, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. paper parcel about two feet long in the back (telephone: YU 9-6350) for such a purpose, and comparable committees are being set seat of Oswald's car. The rifle which the police "produced" was almost 31/2 feet long. up in Europe. How was it possible for Earl Wan-en to In Britain, I invited people eminent in forecast that Marina Oswald's evidence the intellectual life of the country to join a would be exactly the reverse of what she "Who Killed Kennedy Committee", which had previously believed? at the moment of writing consists of the following people: Mr. John Arden, play- After Ruby had killed Oswald, D.A. Wade wright; Mrs. Carolyn Wedgwood Benn, from made a statement about Oswald's move- Cincinnati, wife of Anthony Wedgwood ments following the assassination. He ex- Berm, M.P.; Lord Boyd-Orr, former director- plained that Oswald had taken a bus, but general of the U.N. Food and Agricultural he described the point at which Oswald Organization and a Nobel Peace Prize win- had entered the vehicle as seven blocks away ner; Mr. John Calder, publisher; Professor from the point located by the bus driver William Empsom, Professor of English Lit- in his affidavit. Oswald, Wade continued, erature at Sheffield Unirversity; Mr. Victor then took a taxi driven by a Darryll Click, Colima, publisher; Mr. Michael Foot, Mem- who had signed an affidavit. An inquiry at ber of Parliament; Mr. Kingsley Martin, the City Transportation Company revealed former editor of the that no such taxi driver had ever existed New Statesman; Sir Compton Mackenzie, writer; Mr. in Dallas. Presented with this evidence, J. B. Priestley, playwright and author: Sir Herbert Wade altered the driver's name to William Read, art critic: Mr. Tony Richardson, film Whaley. The driver's log book showed that director; Dr. Mervyn Stoekwood. Bishop of a man answering Oswald's description had Southwark; Professor been picked up at 12:30. The President was Hugh Trevor-Roper, Regius Professor of Modern History at Ox- shot at 12:31. D. A. Wade made no mention ford University; Mr. Kenneth Tynan, Lit- of this. Wade has been D.A. in Dallas for erary Manager of the National Theatre; 14 years and before that was an F.B.I. agent. and myself. How does a District A ttorney of Wade's great experience account for all the extraordinary We view the problem with the utmost seriousness. U.S. Embassies have long ago changes in evidence and testimony which he has announced during the Oswald case? reported to Washington world-wide disbe- lief in the official charges against Oswald, These are only a few of the questions but this has scarcely been reflected by the raised by the official versions of the assassina- American press. No U.S. television program tion and by the way in which the entire or [MSS circulation newspaper has challenged case against Oswald has been conducted. Six- the permanent basis of all the allegations— teen questions are no substitute for a fun that Oswald was the assassin, and that he examination of all the factors in this case, acted alone. It is a task which is left to the but I hope that they indicate the importance American people. of such an investigation. I ant indebted to Mr. Mark Lane, the New York criminal

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