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The great debate: How many shots? Some Americans question the findings about the scs.-tcsination of President John F. Kennedy In Dallas on Nov. 22. 1963. The commission, appointed to investigate the murder. reported Shots heard that , a lone aqsassin, fired 3 shots from the Texas School Book Depository. Some independent researchers disagree, basing a case for other gunmen and/or shots on some of the following information: 'round the weird Commisilon report: gunman, 3 shots 1 or 2 enters Kennedks back; exits Conspiracy theorists whose ideas range throat; enters Connally's back, through chest„ right wrist from almost mainstream to bizarre and Into left thigh 2 or 3 enters and get another chance at the spotlight Kennedy's head y}~ I or 2 or GinOUSIne By GaJlOwaig,'" 's film -JFK- • resorts to cheap emotional n' Nov: 44-9.62edohn appeals, Dave Kehr says. Judge was a 1b1 ,-. old Review inside. junior in high'ifkiol in Falls Church, Va., a Mark Lane makes a per- suburb of Washington. suasive case against the 0He wept that afternoon when CIA. Book review, pg. 3. he heard that John F. Kenna dy had been shot to death in sion concluded otherwise, Dallas. Judge has decided that the Today, at 44, Judge, a 35th president of the United typesetter and fundraiser, is States was the victim of a One conspiracy theory: gunmen, 6 shots* among a legion of amateur conspiracy. • sleuths who have devoted This means he is often de- .1 enters Kennedy's throat hundreds of hours to studying scribed in a way that rankles. 2 enters Kennedy's back the Kennedy assr•qsination, a "Because I make connec- 3 enters Connally's baCk coterie that ranges from ob- tions between certain facts 4 scars curb; wounds . sessive cranks to credible re- and certain events, I'm called bystander searchers. 'a conspiracy theorist,' " he 5 and 6 enter He has read the 26 volumes said in a telephone interview from his home in Washing- Kennedy's head of the Warren Commission , report, the minutes of the ton. "That's better than 'as- commission meetings, thou- sassination buff' or 'conspira- sands of articles and between cy nut,' which I've also been 300 and 400 books on the called. Subject-. (Life magazine re- "But notice that people cently estimated that the who support the Warren Commission are usually book total on the accacsina- you're tion exceeds 600; only a few called historians. If going to be fair, either they endorse the Warren Commis- 'Theo an many inerent nestles. sion.) See Conspiracy, pg. 2 Even though the commis- 10'mb:41e:der Tribune News C ALIC-4 G-O ref 84K'

Both were prompted to study the assassination by books, Judge Focus on Stone Conspiracy in 1968 by lawyer Mark Lane's Indeed, there has been a, lot of "Rush to Judgment" and Stone in light—and heat—on Stone. Since COntinued from page 1 1988 by "On the Trail of the As- beginning - production of "JFK," sassins," by , whose the filmmaker has been the focus should be called 'coincidence character would be central to of numerous newspaper and maga- "JFK" theorists' or all of us should be zine articles. historians." Even their bleak outlooks jibe. In some instances, he has By whatever name they are "We have a fascist security state seemed more a target. Perhaps the running this country," Stone told known, you can bet all are aware harshest criticism has been aimed they have a conspicuous new the Los Angeles Times, at his decision to make former member in the club, namely Oliver "We live in a police intelligence I New Orleans District Atty. Jim Stone with his $40 million movie state," Judge said. Garrison (played by Kevin Cost- "The assassination was Ameri- ner) the hero of his movie and to John Judge is among those ca's first coup d'etat," Stone writes embrace a collection of conspiracy pleased that Oliver Stone has in the current issue of Premiere theories, from the plausible to the joined the ranks. magazine. weird. For one thing, the two mesh on "My analysis was that the assas- Washington Post reporter most major points. sination was the result of a covert George Lardner Jr., who covered Both believe that the Warren military coup d'etat organized at Garrison's unsuccessful attempts Commission investigation was a top levels by the Joint Chiefs of in the late '60s to prove a conspir- Staff," Judge said. coverup and that its finding that acy, read the first draft of the 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald He believes that ever since, the script for "JFK," observed filming killed Kennedy, "acting alone and country "has been in the death of assassination scenes on location without advice or assistance," was grip" of the "military-industrial in Dallas, then rebuked Stone in a a lie. complex that Eisenhower warned May article in the Post headlined For another, Judge thinks "JFK" us against. They didn't just kill "On the Set: Dallas in Wonder- is likely to reach an audience too Kennedy; they killed hundreds of land, How Oliver Stone's Version young to know much about the others. They have mounted geno- of the Kennedy Assassination Ex- assassination or the controversy cidal wars across the world for ploits the Edge of Paranoia." surrounding it, which will enable profit. They see the population By using Garrison, Lardner Stone "to move them along from here as the enemy and expen- wrote, "Stone is chasing fiction. dable." thinking the crime was committed Garrison's investigation was a by a lone gunman to understand- The oligarchy that runs the fraud." ing it was an organized conspira- country, he further believes, is cy composed of two main groups of Also in May, Tribune columnist " wealth and power on the East and Jon Margolis, informed that the It shouldn't be an overwhelming original script suggested President challenge. Polls indicate that a Lyndon Johnson had been in- majority of Americans are already West Coasts, which usually coop- volved in the assassination of his convinced_ erate but sometimes contend. He predecessor, weighed in: believes George Bush and the "Simple-mindedness has always Public needs no persuading Eastern group mandated the assas- been Stone's weakness. ... There sination attempt against President is a point at which intellectual A Washington Post survey con- Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley ducted in the spring found 56 per- Jr. "Reagan quickly got the mes- cent of respondents believed in a sage the Bushes were behind it. myopia becomes morally repug- conspiracy and only 19 percent The families represent different nant. Stone's new movie proves went along with the Warren Com- money sources and positions on that he has passed that point." mission. A Gallup poll commis- issues." The combative Stone cried foul. sioned by Stone found those per- The implications are that this is He said the script had been revised centages to be 73 and 16, an ... Evil Empire. several times and many objec- respectively. Judge laughed. "That's right," he tionable scenes cut. And though some details may said, "this is the real Evil Em- "There's a thousand and one differ, Stone and Judge share simi- pire." vultures out there crouched on lar visions about this conspiracy, So why don't "they" rub Out their rocks [waiting for mei," he which, in their view, is as- Stone? Stone told the Texas told Texas Monthly. "They want tonishingly vast Monthly, "I got a lot of light on to come down and peck out my According to the Time magazine me. To kill me would point the eyes and rip my guts out. ... I review, "JFK" incriminates "high finger at something a little bizarre, think the press is motivated, in officials in the CIA, the FBI, the wouldn't it?" part, by fear. Fear of new facts." Dallas constabulary, all three But Garrison remained the armed services, Big Business and champion of "JFK," a concern the White House." also for Hugh Aynesworth, who Judge also indicts the Mafia, for- covered the Kennedy assassination mer Nazis and anti-Castro Cu- for and bans. the Garrison investigation for Newsweek. "I don't think a normal guy could be around Garrison without ing of Dallas Police Officer J.D. realizing what he was doing, that Tippit. The arrest of Oswald in c? Y fee-p4 he's crazy, a strange man, a the Texas Theater. The killing of megalomaniac," Aynesworth said. Oswald on Nov. 24. "I personally discredited 60 or 70 Questions. Why did the head of his witnesses. He could change shot, if it came from behind him, his theory in a moment. He made cause Kennedy's body to jerk rap- six or seven major changes. When idly backward? Were there only better stuff came along, he'd aban- three shots? The House Select don the witnesses he had been Committee on Assassinations in hanging the old theory on." 1978 said a police Dictabelt tape Rosemary James, who covered showed four, which "probably" Garrison's inquiry for the New suggests a conspiracy. A re-exami- there is any element of Orleans States-Item, told by ever nation of the committee's tape mystery in such dramatic events, Newsweek, "He went from a the National Academy of Sciences highly intelligent eccentric to a misconceptions often result from said there was no fourth shot. sensational speculations." lunatic in the period of a year." Dave Perry, a Dallas insurance Stone acknowledges that Gar- Perhaps what hat' stimulated man who has researched the assas- much disbelief that Oswald acted rison has flaws but says his inten- sination since the '70s, said that if tion in "JFK" is to portray him as alone is the reluctance to believe one combines all theories, there that nobodies can kill kings. an Underdog, an Everyman who were 33 assassins in and around Dr. James W. Pentiebaker, pro- fights the system to seek the truth. , where Kennedy was fessor of psychology at Southern "In the end," Stone writes in shot. Methodist University, has re- Perry predicted that "JFK" will searched the waccination. have people who claim to have Premiere, "the importance of a desperately need to un- knowledge of the assassination "People historical truth is not just its fac- derstand their world," he said. tual content but its emotional and .storming TV talk shows-for expos- ure. "There's nothing more threatening ethical significance as well." than chaos or random violence, • Aynesworth concurred: "The as- Still, the finished movie has and here was this mammoth event drawn fire. sassination makes people come out of the woodwork to say any- with this piddling explanation. A In last Sunday's New York seriously disturbed guy, a loser, Times, Tom Wicker declared that thing to get them publicity. I've never seen anything like it." who did it by himself, transfor- "JFK" was marked by "wild asser- ming history. We can't handle Was there a conspiracy? tions," paranoia and fantasy, and this. We need a cause commen- "You can't prove a negative," treated `matters that are wholly surate in size with the effect. Aynesworth said. "I think the speculative as fact and truth, in ef- Conspiracies are much more com- Warren Commission got it right. fect rewriting history." forting." The cover of Newsweek blared, Its report is the same as any re- "The Twisted Truth of `JFK'- port of a crime that's put to the Why Oliver Stone's New Movie scrutiny the assassination was. Can't Be Trusted." "In any case this big, you'll get "What Stone has done is irre- conflicting statements from wit- sponsible," Aynesworth said. nesses, ineptitude and jealousies "People will think this movie is among investigative agencies. The real." report has all kinds of holes, but in one way, that's its strength. If Getting the teas they wanted to cover up, they'd Yet one can sympathize with throw out the inconsistencies and anyone who tries to unravel the disagreements. But they dumped conundrums attached to, in the everything in, and all the conspira- commission's words, "the tragic cy theorists begin there. developments of Nov. 22-24, "1 think some researchers are 1963." truly honest. Some aren't too Stone has called the case a "la- bright. Some are opportunists. The byrinth," and author John David, problem with some theories is you who wrote a book on the Kennedy have to go farther than I and 1 is assassination, sees it as "a swamp ' 3. You have to believe I and I is ("you get sucked into it and your 16 or 17." Warren never get out"). Newsweek lists the One must become familiar with Commission findings that do not a host of sites, events, witnesses, appear in Stone's movie: Physical exhibits and hypotheses: evidence linked the weapon that The window on the sixth floor killed Kennedy to Oswald; the au- of the orange-brick Texas School topsy found that Kennedy's Book Depository where the com- wounds came from the rear, sever- mission said Oswald fired his al witnesses "identified Oswald as Mannlicher-Carcano rifle three the man who shot Officer Tippit"; times, missing one shot, striking and the shell casings found at the Kennedy and Texas Gov. John scene came from Oswald's Connally with one round and handgun, which he carried when blowing Kennedy's head open with arrested. another. The Warren Commission tried Dealey Plaza. The grassy knoll. to address the loose ends in Ap- Badge Man. The . pendix XII, "Speculations and The . The Three Rumors." ,Tramps. CE-399, the so-called It began: "Myths have tradition- pristine bullet that wounded Con- ally surrounded the dramatic as- nally and Kennedy. Oswald's kill- sassinations of history. ... Wher- pal,t V/ert

CE-399: The magic bullet Commission Exhibit 39t or CE-39g was 'magic bullet was found on a 'found to be in near stretcher at Parkland Hospital. 1 perfect condition so The contends that a test was per- this bullet, virtually undamaged, formed. Same type pasSed through Kennedy and 10 of bullet, fired once Connally. causing 7 separate through a cadaver's wounds. Researchers contend wrist, was severely the zigzagging fiightpath, deformed shop below, was impossible

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