I Will Kill

[Charles Collins]

In the hours after the Kennedy assassination, a Secret Service officer named Mike Howard was dispatched to Oswald’s apartment. Howard found a little green address book, and on its 17th page under the heading “I WILL KILL” Oswald listed four men: an FBI agent named James Hosty; a right-wing general, Edwin Walker; and Vice President Richard Nixon. At the top of the list was the governor of Texas, John Connally. Through Connally’s name, Oswald had drawn a dagger, with blood drops dripping downward. Special Agent Howard turned the address book over to the FBI and, ultimately, to the Warren Commission. Only some time later did he learn that the list with its hugely important insight into the killer’s motive had been torn out of the book.

This claim is covered in this online article: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-reston-jfk-assassination-target-20161122-story.html

The question is: How true is this story? Page 17 of Oswalds address book is indeed missing. But having said that I find it difficult to believe that Oswald hated Hosty and Connally so much as to want to kill them. He had political motives for the other two (Nixon and Walker) but to want to kill Hosty and Connally paints Oswald as a psychopath which there is no evidence that he was. Is this just another manufactured myth in the Kennedy case?

The LA Times “OP-Ed that you cite was written by James Reston Jr.. Here is a link to another article written by him:

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2013/11/lee-harvey-oswalds-final-steps-where-jfks-killer-walked-after-the-shooting.html

If you will, read this article and note all of the incorrect aspects of some of the basic information in his account. You will likely conclude (as I did) that James Reston Jr. actually knows very little about this case.

If you want to give this line of thought any credence whatsoever, you need to cite what Mike Howard says about it.

[Richard Smith]

I don't buy it.  And why would Oswald need to write down those four names?  It's not like he couldn't remember who he wanted to kill.  Oswald was a sneaky and paranoid guy who knew the FBI was watching him.  Doesn't seem to fit his MO to keep such a list.  Of course that is merely my "speculation."  I'm sure CTer contrarians will want to entertain every possibility since this can't be disproven to their subjective satisfaction.   They would not apply that standard just for matters that exonerate Oswald but also for claims like this one.  Maybe some rube juror would believe it as in the OJ trial and convict Oswald on that basis.  Thereby somehow making it relevant.

[Gerry Down]

I don't buy it.  And why would Oswald need to write down those four names?  It's not like he couldn't remember who he wanted to kill.  Oswald was a sneaky and paranoid guy who knew the FBI was watching him.  Doesn't seem to fit his MO to keep such a list.  Of course that is merely my "speculation."  I'm sure CTer contrarians will want to entertain every possibility since this can't be disproven to their subjective satisfaction.   They would not apply that standard just for matters that exonerate Oswald but also for claims like this one.  Maybe some rube juror would believe it as in the OJ trial and convict Oswald on that basis.  Thereby somehow making it relevant.

The drops of blood seem a bit OTT. But if that was not what was on page 17, then what was? Did Oswald tear that page out or was it someone in authority?

[Jerry Freeman]

I don't buy it.  And why would Oswald need to write down those four names? 

I can agree with those lines of that post.
Why write the word "spaseeba [спасибо]" on what is deemed page 19? It means thank you... one of the first words you would naturally learn in any foreign language so why would Oswald make a note of such a common word? Here is the copy of various pages of the address book from Commission Exibt 18----
https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh16/pdf/WH16_CE_18.pdf
You will see this torn leaf at the top of Commission page 43. All this would necessarily mean that page 18 is also missing. I wonder what was all written there?

[Louis Earl]

If true, this would be some evidence that LHO was not shooting at JFK, but instead was shooting at JBC.  The RC did not want JFK's death to be accidental, even though under Texas law LHO could still be charged with murdering JFK.

[Gerry Down]

The RC did not want JFK's death to be accidental, even though under Texas law LHO could still be charged with murdering JFK.

Who is the "RC"?

[Martin Weidmann]

Who is the "RC"?

Best guess... Royal Commission

[Louis Earl]

My bad, should have been WC.