Review by Giles Hugo
THIRTY years after the event, there's been a swag of new books on the
assassination of John F. Kennedy, and in the last year I have read half
a dozen, ranging across the spectrum from Gerald Posner's Case Closed:
Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of JFK (Warner Books), which
doggedly supports the 'lone nut', theory, to Jim Marrs' much more convincing
Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy (Pocket Books, Simon
& Schuster).
The JFK assassination- theory industry is sui-generous - books, movies,
CD-ROMs, conspiracy conventions, university courses... Even fictional
satire, such as the play MacBird, a Macbeth parody, or Terry
Southern's short story The Blood of the Wig, a definitive bad-taste
apocalypse.
Further investigations of the Kennedys' tragic and bizarre history will
probably provoke new angles and macabre possibilities. Recently it was
claimed that Jacky had had a five-year affair with Robert Kennedy, which
only ended when he, too, was assassinated. However, only the most cynical
would suggest that this might mean that Bobby did a Cain on brother Abel
to score the lady, before being struck down by Avenging Angel Sirhan Sirhan.
The sky's the limit. How about this one: Elvis Presley's 'Memphis Mafia'
did it, acting on The King's orders, because the Human Cheeseburger believed
- quite rightly - that his crown was being usurped by four Liverpool lads
and he wanted to the blame to fall on them when Oswald confessed that
the song She Loves You had subliminally programmed him to shoot JFK. Of
course, it all fell apart when Jack Ruby, a 'known Beatles fan', according
to J Edgar Hoover, stepped in to protect his idols and claim his Quixotic
place in history...
Weird enough? Of course, Charlie Manson later used a similarly warped
justification when he Helter Skeltered Sharon Tate et al. So, where was
Charles 'Tex' Watson on November 22, 1963?
But, seriously, the most intriguing new contribution to the Kennedy
debate, to my mind, is undoubtedly Robert J. Groden's The Killing
of a President. The sub-title - 'The Complete Photographic Record
of the JFK Assassination, the Conspiracy, and the Cover-up' - spells
out its chief attraction - more than 650 pix, many in colour, which conclusively
trash any lingering 'lone nut assassin' or 'magic bullet' fantasies. The
graphic evidence presented by Groden points to one conclusion: JFK was
butchered in a brilliantly conceived and ruthlessly executed act of extermination.
Period.
It makes the Warren Commission's findings appear more than just ridiculous
- in fact they would seem to cloak deeply sinister motives and bizarre
operations. The perpetrators of the assassination have effectively escaped
justice for three decades, and in the cover-up process many individuals
have been harassed or even 'terminated with extreme prejudice'.
It is fitting that the foreword to Groden's book is written by Oliver
Stone, whose JFK movie reminded millions around the world that power,
violence and corruption are inextricably linked in American political
culture. Groden was a consultant for the film, and Stone writes in the
introduction: 'Robert assisted the art department in setting up many scenes
with his photographs and files - the world's largest collection of visual
material relating to the assassination.'
His collection includes 'a legitimate, first-generation mechanic's copy
of... Abraham Zapruder's film of the Kennedy assassination' - indeed it
was the TV screening of an optically enhanced print of this crucial evidence
which led to the formation of the US House of Representatives Select Committee
on Assassinations, which in 1979 reported: 'The Committee believes, on
the basis of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy
was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.'
The material presented includes some stunning images, which are worth
more than millions of the words already spent on the subject. For instance:
* Enhanced and stabilised footage from the 8mm Zapruder film - which
shows the Warren Commission accepted a re-edited frame sequence to support
the 'rear-attack only' theory (Lee Harvey Oswald firing from the Texas
Book Depository).
* Full-colour autopsy photos of JFK's gaping rear-exit head wound contrasted
with the doctored shots given to the Warren Commission, which show the
back of the head intact - in one shot it looks as if a doctor's gloved
hand might be holding a flap of skin to cover the wound. This is also
supported by side- by-side quotes from Jaqueline Kennedy: '...I was just
down and holding him. [Reference to wounds deleted]' - Warren Commission
Report; and the full text - 'I was trying to hold his hair on. But from
the front there was nothing. I supposed there must have been, but from
the back you could see, you , you were trying to hold his hair on, and
his skull on.'
* CIA photos of a man posing as Oswald who visited the Cuban embassy
in Mexico city, trying to get a visa - the man bears no resemblance in
features, colouring or age to Oswald.
* Various images - some enhanced - of shadowy figures, on the grassy
knoll and in the Book Depository windows, who might have been participants
in the hit-squad team.
* Photos supposedly showing Oswald in his backyard holding the Mannlicher-Carcano
rifle he allegedly used - and a shadow and lighting analysis which shows
these were probably faked.
* Remember the shot of Jackie climbing over the boot of the limo? It
was presented as 'trying to help a Secret Service agent aboard' - other
pictures from different angles clearly show that she was reaching away
from the agent, apparently to retrieve a portions of JFK's skull. In fact,
the agent, Clint Hill, testified: 'Mrs Kennedy had jumped up from the
seat and was, it appeared to me, reaching for something coming off the
right rear bumper of the car... I noticed a portion of the President's
head on the right rear side was missing and he was bleeding profusely.'
She later gave the fragment to Dr Marion Jenkins at Parkland Hospital.
* Analysis of multi-angled pix and Zapruder film frames indicate that
up to six bullets were fired from various directions in the 'killing-field'
fusilade. Groden writes: 'The debate over the number of shots fired, their
points of origin, and the number of gunmen still continues, but this discussion
pales against the realization that even a single shot fired from the Knoll
proves a conspiracy...'
* Photos of Lyndon Johnson taking the oath of office as president aboard
Air Force One, everyone around him including Jackie looking grim, then
a shot of Johnson turning to look at Representative Albert Thomas (Democrat,
Texas) who appears to be smiling and winking at the new president.
The only fault I can find with Groden's book it is that a small proportion
of the evidence presented seems trivial or just highly improbable - I
am a bit dubious about the relevance of some of the entries from the 'Mysterious
Death Project', a listing by writer Penn Jones of over 300 people 'associated'
- some very obscurely - with the assassination, who have since died or
disappeared. But even while picking through such minor dross, some absolute
gems emerge, such as: '(Warren) Commission member Congressman Hale Boggs
did not believe the single bullet theory and said, "I had strong
doubts about it." In a speech in 1971, Boggs accused the FBI of tapping
his phone... and publicly denounced the Bureau's "gestapo tactics".
Boggs disappeared, never to be found, while on a flight to Alaska.'
As Lou Reed sang on Berlin: 'It's so cold in Alaska...' Of
course, Reed also wrote The Day John Kennedy Died, expressing
the shock and hurt of a generation at what at the time seemed an isolated
but monstrous act of violence. What millions have come to realise since
is that the evil intent behind that act was more than just the glory-seeking
of a lone assassin.
Groden's fascinating compilation of photographic evidence does not provide
a definitive answer to the questions: Whodunit and why? However, it does
strengthen the main strands of various conspiracy theories: that John
F. Kennedy was assassinated by conspirators including elements from the
CIA, Secret Service, FBI and the Mafia who, collectively, had means, opportunity
and motive; that all three federal security agencies were involved in
the cover-up and the propagation and perpetuation of the 'lone assassin'
myth via the Warren Commission; that powerful entities in the oil business
and/or the military-industrial complex and the security establishment
wanted Kennedy dead. Mafia figures have confessed to involvement, and
Jack Ruby undoubtedly had links to both the Mafia and the FBI. The Camelotish
myth has it that he silenced Oswald out of pity for 'Jacky and the kids'
- to save them the trauma of a murder trial. It seems more likely that
he, like Oswald, was a silencer who probably did not know the full extent
of the plot and his part in the cover-up.
Now Jacky is dead, and one wonders who she came to suspect. Perhaps
the JFK assassination mystery will never be solved in our lifetimes -
the cover-up, destruction of crucial evidence and committed myth-making
over the decades have been too effective. But the intrigue remains: some
of the plotters and assassins probably still live, and some will eventually
spill the beans in a manner convincing enough to dispel all doubt.
And the most intriguing question is still not just 'Who pulled the triggers?',
but 'Which individuals and groups conceived the plot and ordered the hit?'
'JFK, November 22, Dealey Plaza, Dallas... Do it!'
Review by Giles Hugo
|
