The Walker Case

[Zeon Mason]

Question about the newspaper article portraying JFK as  contemplating taking out the Castro regime: Did Oswald read that paper or would that same news have been in a Dallas paper that Oswald would have read?

If JFK was perceived by the Joint Chiefs of Staff like Curtis Lemay as being compromised and weak towards the USSR, and the CIA considered JFK a national security threat, and the view of some media was that  JFK had basically sold out to Kruschev in the 62 missile crisis, and the Cuban Americans were angry about JFKs BOP fiasco, and the right wing extremists like Milteer were calling JFK a traitor , then it seems that a Marxist  (as Oswald described himself) , would have considered JFK favorably as all the opposition that Oswald also opposed was against JFK?

But I guess there is the “Kook” factor that a person who may have been prone to bipolar disorder might go into some kind of rage over reading a newspaper article that makes JFK seem to be caving to his right wing critics ( whom were Oswald’s nemesis) , thus Oswald decides he needs to kill JFK for being a “flipflopper”?

[Charles Collins]

Question about the newspaper article portraying JFK as  contemplating taking out the Castro regime: Did Oswald read that paper or would that same news have been in a Dallas paper that Oswald would have read?

If JFK was perceived by the Joint Chiefs of Staff like Curtis Lemay as being compromised and weak towards the USSR, and the CIA considered JFK a national security threat, and the view of some media was that  JFK had basically sold out to Kruschev in the 62 missile crisis, and the Cuban Americans were angry about JFKs BOP fiasco, and the right wing extremists like Milteer were calling JFK a traitor , then it seems that a Marxist  (as Oswald described himself) , would have considered JFK favorably as all the opposition that Oswald also opposed was against JFK?

But I guess there is the “Kook” factor that a person who may have been prone to bipolar disorder might go into some kind of rage over reading a newspaper article that makes JFK seem to be caving to his right wing critics ( whom were Oswald’s nemesis) , thus Oswald decides he needs to kill JFK for being a “flipflopper”?

John Myyton’s post (#79) in this thread says that article is from the Dallas Times Herald on 11/19/63. And I am assuming from the 1A note written on the article, that it was a front page article. The DTH was one of the two main newspapers in Dallas at that time. LHO reportedly regularly read the newspapers that others brought into the domino room and left there. I think that the chances are excellent that LHO read that article.

[Jon Banks]

Question about the newspaper article portraying JFK as  contemplating taking out the Castro regime: Did Oswald read that paper or would that same news have been in a Dallas paper that Oswald would have read?

If JFK was perceived by the Joint Chiefs of Staff like Curtis Lemay as being compromised and weak towards the USSR, and the CIA considered JFK a national security threat, and the view of some media was that  JFK had basically sold out to Kruschev in the 62 missile crisis, and the Cuban Americans were angry about JFKs BOP fiasco, and the right wing extremists like Milteer were calling JFK a traitor , then it seems that a Marxist  (as Oswald described himself) , would have considered JFK favorably as all the opposition that Oswald also opposed was against JFK?

But I guess there is the “Kook” factor that a person who may have been prone to bipolar disorder might go into some kind of rage over reading a newspaper article that makes JFK seem to be caving to his right wing critics ( whom were Oswald’s nemesis) , thus Oswald decides he needs to kill JFK for being a “flipflopper”?

There’s zero shreds of evidence that Oswald read those newspaper articles.

All available evidence on the matter shows that Lee liked and admired JFK. Hence why a potential motive in his alleged role in killing Kennedy remains inconclusive…

[Zeon Mason]

Oswald had to have known that LBJ was the CONSERVATIVE anti communist Democrat whom JFK did not particularly like, and whom JFK had picked as a VP only to appease the staunch Military Industrialist advocates in the Democrat party.

So beside it being illogical for the Marxist Oswald to be opposed to a President to whom virtually ALL the anti Communist and /Segregationists were angry at, it’s even more so , considering that killing JFK only places the MORE  conservative more warmonger  anti communist LBJ in charge.

[Jon Banks]

Oswald had to have known that LBJ was the CONSERVATIVE anti communist Democrat whom JFK did not particularly like, and whom JFK had picked as a VP only to appease the staunch Military Industrialist advocates in the Democrat party.

So beside it being illogical for the Marxist Oswald to be opposed to a President to whom virtually ALL the anti Communist and /Segregationists were angry at, it’s even more so , considering that killing JFK only places the MORE  conservative more warmonger  anti communist LBJ in charge.

True. At the time, Johnson was viewed as more Hawkish than Kennedy. And no one could’ve predicted that Johnson, who formerly supported segregation, would’ve passed the greatest Civil Rights legislation in US history (after the Emancipation Proclamation).

So it’s not easy to reach the conclusion that Oswald had a political motive for shooting Kennedy.

[Richard Smith]

True. At the time, Johnson was viewed as more Hawkish than Kennedy. And no one could’ve predicted that Johnson, who formerly supported segregation, would’ve passed the greatest Civil Rights legislation in US history (after the Emancipation Proclamation).

So it’s not easy to reach the conclusion that Oswald had a political motive for shooting Kennedy.

Shooting the president is not a rational act.  Therefore, there cannot be one tidy motive or explanation to explain it.  There were likely a host of political and physiological motivations that led Oswald to commit this act.  Some which were probably not known even to him.  He was an angry guy who wanted to be noticed. He had strong political beliefs.  He defected to the USSR.  JFK, as President, was representative of a society that marginalized Oswald and opposed his political system (Marxism).   He did not target JFK specifically.   He took advantage of a quirk of fate.  JFK's motorcade passed directly by his building.  I don't think he otherwise would ever have sought out and killed JFK.  But he shoots any person who is president under that circumstance.  If it had been Nixon, LBJ, or someone else riding by in the car as President of the United States, Oswald would have assassinated them.  It was a convergence of various factors.  The evidence proves beyond any doubt that he did so even if his motive can never be known with certainty.

[Martin Weidmann]

Shooting the president is not a rational act.  Therefore, there cannot be one tidy motive or explanation to explain it.  There were likely a host of political and physiological motivations that led Oswald to commit this act.  Some which were probably not known even to him.  He was an angry guy who wanted to be noticed. He had strong political beliefs.  He defected to the USSR.  JFK, as President, was representative of a society that marginalized Oswald and opposed his political system (Marxism).   He did not target JFK specifically.   He took advantage of a quirk of fate.  JFK's motorcade passed directly by his building.  I don't think he otherwise would ever have sought out and killed JFK.  But he shoots any person who is president under that circumstance.  If it had been Nixon, LBJ, or someone else riding by in the car as President of the United States, Oswald would have assassinated them.  It was a convergence of various factors.  The evidence proves beyond any doubt that he did so even if his motive can never be known with certainty.

Amazing what "Richard" actually thinks he "knows" about Oswald.

Not bad for a guy behind a keyboard who is making stuff up as he goes along....

[Jon Banks]

Shooting the president is not a rational act. 

In no way am I saying that I condone political violence but there can be rational arguments to justify assassinating heads of state in some circumstances.

The people who think Oswald was motivated by politics have failed to establish what he possibly hoped to achieve by assassinating JFK. Based on the testimony of Capt. Will Fritz, Oswald was aware that US policies towards Cuba were unlikely to change under Lyndon Johnson. So we can conclude that Oswald was politically savvy enough to know that assassinating JFK wouldn't have helped Fidel Castro.

There were likely a host of political and physiological motivations that led Oswald to commit this act.  Some which were probably not known even to him.

There's no evidence that Oswald suffered from mental illness or was experiencing a psychiatric episode at the time of the JFK assassination. What was most disturbing to the people who investigated Oswald after the assassination was how calm he was given the circumstances. No one claims that he acted erraticly at any point after he was in police custody after the assassination.

So it's difficult to conclude that he did it because he was suffering from some sort of mental condition at the time.