The Book Depository as a Potemkin Village

[Dan O'meara]

FWIW, I dived into the statements and testimony of Oswald's co-workers a few years back, and came to a quite different conclusion.

My discussion of this evidence is presented on patspeer.com in Chapter 4: Pinning the Tale on the Oswald.

In short, the villains here were not Oswald's co-workers, but Warren Commission Counsel Joseph Ball and David Belin, who were determined to make it look as though Oswald was the assassin, and ignore or smear anyone, e.g. Eddie Piper and Vickie Adams, who presented a problem.

As far as Dougherty, it became quite clear to me that Dougherty went upstairs AFTER the shooting, and that the one sound he heard from above was not a shot fired from far to his east on the floor above, but Truly and Baker coming down from the roof, most logically slamming the hatch door near the elevator shaft.

This, of course, was a huge problem for Ball and Belin. They needed Dougherty to be the one bringing the elevator down as Baker and Truly ran up, or else they'd have to admit there was someone who'd escaped undetected. So THEY made a point of not asking any of Dougherty's co-workers if they saw him after the shooting.

Their most egregious "oversight" was Piper. Dougherty said he talked to Piper after returning to the first floor. It would have been a simple matter, then, of asking Piper the time he spoke to Dougherty. But Ball didn't ask Piper about this on the record.

So why put the quotes on "oversight"? Because I don't believe for one second Ball "forgot" to ask Piper about Dougherty, You see, some years back I discovered within Howard Willens' memos a memo from Ball to Liebeler--who was supposed ton perform the second interview of Piper--in which Ball told Liebeler he needed to ask Piper about Dougherty. But no, instead, Ball interviewed Piper himself, and failed to, at least officially, ask Piper about Dougherty.

As Vickie Adams, among others, complained about Ball's partner Belin's habit of running through the questions off the record, and then going on the record, and asking the same questions, with the exception of those to which he'd received unsatisfactory answers, it's clear to me that Ball asked Piper about Dougherty, and received the answer he was hoping he wouldn't receive--that Piper talked to Dougherty 10 minutes or so after the shooting--and that Ball then kept this from the transcript when he went back through the questions "on the record".

There are serious problems with a scenario that has Dougherty going back to work after the shooting. In the scenario you are proposing Dougherty is on the fifth floor when he hears Baker and Truly coming down from the roof. This seems to be supported by Truly's recollection of seeing Dougherty collecting stock on the fifth floor as he and Baker descend to the first floor. The problem is that by the time Truly and Baker reach the first floor the situation seems quite chaotic:

Mr. TRULY. When I got back to the first floor, at first I didn't see anything except officers running around, reporters in the place. There was a regular madhouse

In your scenario, Dougherty then comes down into this 'madhouse', searches out Eddie Piper who tells him about the assassination after which Dougherty calmly returns to the elevators, presumably elbowing police officers, reporters and stunned TSBD employees aside, and returns to work on the sixth floor.
This seems highly unlikely.
He also mentions that when he finishes his lunch he wanted to see the President but there were too many people on the steps:

Mr. DOUGHERTY - Well, I would have loved to have went out and watched him but the steps were so crowded---there was no way in the world I could get out there.

This is surely a description of the steps before employees started flooding back into the building in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.

"They needed Dougherty to be the one bringing the elevator down as Baker and Truly ran up"

There is nothing to suggest the elevator came down from the fifth floor as Truly and Baker ran up and plenty to suggest it didn't. It seems more likely the missing elevator was on the sixth floor when Truly and Baker reached the fifth.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Oleg Nechiporenko was one of the three KGB agents/Soviet Embassy officers who talked with Oswald when he, Oswald, went to the Embassy in Mexico City in search of a visa. Nechiporenko (and the others) said Oswald was hysterical, emotional and erratic. He described the meeting in his book "Passport to Assassination"

This is part of it (pgs. 77=78): "[During the discussion] Oswald suddenly became hysterical, began to sob, and through his tears cried, "I am afraid...they'll kill me!" Repeating over and over that he was being persecuted and that he was being followed even here in Mexico, he stuck his right hand into the left pocket of his jacket and pulled out a revolver, saying, "See? This is what I need to defend myself!"

"I was dumbfounded and looked at Pavel [Yatsov, his fellow KGB agent], who had turned slightly pale but then quickly said to me, "Here, give me that piece." I took the revolver from the table and handed it to Pavel. Oswald, sobbing wiped away his tears. He did not respond to my movements. Pavel, who had grabbed the revolver, opened the chamber and emptied the bullets..."

After the assassination, Nechiporenko discussed Oswald with his fellow agents. He read the files on Oswald compiled by the KGB. The KGB had concluded that Oswald's traits included:

1. Strongly individualistic, conflicts with society
2. Psychological [problems], nervous instability
3.Inertia when he has no interest in the matter
4.Lack of organizing skills
5. Lack of any professional skills

The Cubans who met Oswald at the Cuban consulate in Mexico City said he was hysterical and aggressive and had to be physically escorted out the building. Oswald was told that "the Revolution doesn't need people like you" and was told to leave.

To me, this is not the right behavior of someone that the Cubans or Soviets are going to allow into their country. Why risk letting this disturbed person into your country? If Oswald was a CIA officer/asset, I don't think he would be instructed to act this way. Not if they wanted him to get into Cuba and certainly not if they wanted to get him close enough to Castro to kill him.

[Walt Cakebread]

Oleg Nechiporenko was one of the three KGB agents/Soviet Embassy officers who talked with Oswald when he, Oswald, went to the Embassy in Mexico City in search of a visa. Nechiporenko (and the others) said Oswald was hysterical, emotional and erratic. He described the meeting in his book "Passport to Assassination"

This is part of it (pgs. 77=78): "[During the discussion] Oswald suddenly became hysterical, began to sob, and through his tears cried, "I am afraid...they'll kill me!" Repeating over and over that he was being persecuted and that he was being followed even here in Mexico, he stuck his right hand into the left pocket of his jacket and pulled out a revolver, saying, "See? This is what I need to defend myself!"

"I was dumbfounded and looked at Pavel [Yatsov, his fellow KGB agent], who had turned slightly pale but then quickly said to me, "Here, give me that piece." I took the revolver from the table and handed it to Pavel. Oswald, sobbing wiped away his tears. He did not respond to my movements. Pavel, who had grabbed the revolver, opened the chamber and emptied the bullets..."

After the assassination, Nechiporenko discussed Oswald with his fellow agents. He read the files on Oswald compiled by the KGB. The KGB had concluded that Oswald's traits included:

1. Strongly individualistic, conflicts with society
2. Psychological [problems], nervous instability
3.Inertia when he has no interest in the matter
4.Lack of organizing skills
5. Lack of any professional skills

The Cubans who met Oswald at the Cuban consulate in Mexico City said he was hysterical and aggressive and had to be physically escorted out the building. Oswald was told that "the Revolution doesn't need people like you" and was told to leave.

To me, this is not the right behavior of someone that the Cubans or Soviets are going to allow into their country. Why risk letting this disturbed person into your country? If Oswald was a CIA officer/asset, I don't think he would be instructed to act this way. Not if they wanted him to get into Cuba and certainly not if they wanted to get him close enough to Castro to kill him.

Pavel, who had grabbed the revolver, opened the chamber and emptied the bullets..."

OPENED THE CHAMBER ( Cylinder ) AND EMPTIED THE BULLETS.....   THAT is the way both  the spent shells, and live cartridges are removed from a S&W revolver.   The shells are NOT removed ONE AT A TIME.....  However...  Virtually ALL of the witnesses at the scene of Tippit's murder reported that the killer removed the spent shells ONE AT A TIME.... They were describing the action of a man who was NOT holding a S&W revolver....   And the man was NOT Lee Oswald.

[Zeon Mason]

 If it’s true that the KGB did not consider Oswald a CIA spy, then its possible that Castro would NOT have been warned and therefore Walts theory Is not completely shot down just yet

However, how much should we trust former USSR KGB concerning Oswald?

Maybe they feigned having concern and let Oswald exit the USSR without any further torture than the electric shock “therapy” that caused his hair to change color,  in order to infiltrate Marina as a KGB spy into the USA

[Walt Cakebread]

If it’s true that the KGB did not consider Oswald a CIA spy, then its possible that Castro would NOT have been warned and therefore Walts theory Is not completely shot down just yet

However, how much should we trust former USSR KGB concerning Oswald?

Maybe they feigned having concern and let Oswald exit the USSR without any further torture than the electric shock “therapy” that caused his hair to change color,  in order to infiltrate Marina as a KGB spy into the USA

If it’s true that the KGB did not consider Oswald a CIA spy,

No intelligence organization trusts it operatives completely.... All intel organizations keep their spies under watchful eye....

[Jerry Freeman]

.... how much should we trust former USSR KGB concerning Oswald?

Concerning Oswald?----Concerning anything...about as far as you can throw the Kremlin.

[Dan O'meara]

Getting back to the thread...
The limited research I've done on this subject has convinced me that various employees were involved in the assassination.
This involvement seems 'supported' by the investigating authorities and, to some extent, the Warren Commission itself.
This begs the question - to what extent was the TSBD a 'front'?

[Walt Cakebread]

Getting back to the thread...
The limited research I've done on this subject has convinced me that various employees were involved in the assassination.
This involvement seems 'supported' by the investigating authorities and, to some extent, the Warren Commission itself.
This begs the question - to what extent was the TSBD a 'front'?

Hi Dan, IMO the TSBD was a vital part of the plot.   The Plotters realized that Dealey Plaza was an ideal site for the assassination. ( It probably had been recognized as such by the Secret Service Long before JFK visited Texas) And After they suckered Lee Oswald into taking the potshot at general Walker they knew they had a patsy... and they needed to get him a job inside the TSBD after they had talked JFK into making the "fence mending" trip to Dallas.

So IMO the TSBD was a crucial part of the Plot.     


After they suckered Lee Oswald into taking the potshot at general Walker they knew they had a patsy... and they needed to get him a job inside the TSBD

Detective Jack Revill said that Hosty told him that " We (the FBI) knew that he (LHO) was capable of assassinating the President, but we didn't dream that he would do it."

Question:... HOW did the FBI know that Lee could easily be made a scapegoat?    Lee had NOTHING in his background on which the FBI could have formed such an idea.  IMO, The FBI knew that Lee had been suckered into firing a bullet through general Walker's window.