David Harold Byrd

[Lance Payette]

You simply don't want to see your own confirmation bias.

Oswald did not hang around and gossip with his coworkers.  About anything.  Ever.

Mrs. REID. I went into the office.
Mr. BELIN. You went into your office?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. And then what did you do?
Mrs. REID. Well, I kept walking and I looked up and Oswald was coming in the back door of the office. I met him by the time I passed my desk several
feet and I told him, I said, “Oh, the President has been shot, but maybe they didn’t hit him.” He mumbled something to me, I kept walking, he did, too.

There ya go: Oswald didn't discuss baseball games, the weather ... or the President being shot. They're all fungible, right? He wasn't even interested when he stepped outside into utter chaos, heard the news on the bus, or rushed past Earlene Roberts watching the news coverage on TV. He was in a really big hurry to get his pistol and go see a movie. Just Oswald being Oswald - ya think?

Come on, you gotta do better than that.

[Lance Payette]

One question, Lance:
What was it about Buchanan's theory that you found plausible?

Sorry, didn't see this.

I didn't say I found it plausible. I said I found it the most plausible of the conspiracy theories. There are serious conspiracy theorists who think Buchanan nailed it.

The best of all possible motives, I believe, is $$$$. Both the Texas oilmen and the Mafia had this motive in spades. Both also had ancillary motives - the right-wing oilmen despised pretty much everything about JFK, and RFK was the proverbial stone in the shoe for the Mafia. The Texas oilmen certainly had the $$$$ and connections to hire a professional hitman, and doing so would have been business-as-usual for the Mafia. Hence, in the abstract I could easily see a tight, focused, get-the-job done assassination conspiracy hatched by a handful (or less) of Texas oilmen or Mafiosos.

The hang-up for me is that no such conspiracy would have involved, even as a patsy, a goofball like Oswald and all the unnecessary risks this would entail, nor would it have looked anything like Dealey Plaza. My respect for professional hitmen is such that I am confident JFK would simply have been disposed of with a single shot, no one would have had the faintest idea as to what had just happened, there would have been precisely no clues left behind, and that would have been that.

[John Mytton]

Mrs. REID. I went into the office.
Mr. BELIN. You went into your office?
Mrs. REID. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. And then what did you do?
Mrs. REID. Well, I kept walking and I looked up and Oswald was coming in the back door of the office. I met him by the time I passed my desk several
feet and I told him, I said, “Oh, the President has been shot, but maybe they didn’t hit him.” He mumbled something to me, I kept walking, he did, too.

There ya go: Oswald didn't discuss baseball games, the weather ... or the President being shot. They're all fungible, right? He wasn't even interested when he stepped outside into utter chaos, heard the news on the bus, or rushed past Earlene Roberts watching the news coverage on TV. He was in a really big hurry to get his pistol and go see a movie. Just Oswald being Oswald - ya think?

Come on, you gotta do better than that.

I've worked with one or two people who share this similar trait with Oswald, they are simply not interested in having a conversation about anything that doesn't interest them, but when you find that one special magic ingredient, you can't shut them up. Reading some of the TSBD workers testimony, some workers tried to get Oswald involved in a conversation about his kids and even then it seems that all Oswald would say is something to the effect of "they're alright" then he moved on.
It becomes clear that Oswald didn't want to waste his time with mere trivialities, even though there is the odd example of Oswald conversing about his time in Russia etc., but there was a couple of ways to really ignite him and light his fire and that was weapons and politics, a combination that ended up defining his life.
Anyway getting back to the point, it's somewhat odd that Oswald didn't want to find out about what was happening, even if he didn't shoot the President he must have been aware of shots being fired, the surrounding "commotion" and the potential impact that this would have on the political stability of the country.

Now let's assume Oswald was JAFO.

First of all he is confronted by a cop with a gun, and doesn't say a word, obviously I can't speak for Oswald but wouldn't anyone else say "what's going on?"
Next he sees Truly, someone Oswald knows and who he can ask questions, yet Oswald still keeps quiet, why is Oswald so disinterested?
Seeing Reid race by and her not knowing exactly what happened was perhaps reason enough not to engage.
On the bus, someone coming to the door and saying the President had been shot was starting to paint a picture.
In the taxi Whaley asking what the heck was going on with the Police cars crisscrossing the city, and Oswald didn't volunteer a single word, even though by this time he had accumulated some info about the most important man in America may have been shot?
And finally and what I find to be most incriminating, Oswald at his rooming house is near a television an object that doesn't require friendship but it's sole purpose is to entertain and provide information yet Oswald doesn't even stay to watch for even a minute, all Oswald wanted to do was get out of there with his revolver.

Now the reason for his 'obliviousness' is obvious, Oswald knew exactly what happened because he saw the future change when while looking down his rifle he pulled the trigger and saw the President's head explode.

JohnM
 

[Charles Collins]

I've worked with one or two people who share this similar trait with Oswald, they are simply not interested in having a conversation about anything that doesn't interest them, but when you find that one special magic ingredient, you can't shut them up. Reading some of the TSBD workers testimony, some workers tried to get Oswald involved in a conversation about his kids and even then it seems that all Oswald would say is something to the effect of "they're alright" then he moved on.
It becomes clear that Oswald didn't want to waste his time with mere trivialities, even though there is the odd example of Oswald conversing about his time in Russia etc., but there was a couple of ways to really ignite him and light his fire and that was weapons and politics, a combination that ended up defining his life.
Anyway getting back to the point, it's somewhat odd that Oswald didn't want to find out about what was happening, even if he didn't shoot the President he must have been aware of shots being fired, the surrounding "commotion" and the potential impact that this would have on the political stability of the country.

Now let's assume Oswald was JAFO.

First of all he is confronted by a cop with a gun, and doesn't say a word, obviously I can't speak for Oswald but wouldn't anyone else say "what's going on?"
Next he sees Truly, someone Oswald knows and who he can ask questions, yet Oswald still keeps quiet, why is Oswald so disinterested?
Seeing Reid race by and her not knowing exactly what happened was perhaps reason enough not to engage.
On the bus, someone coming to the door and saying the President had been shot was starting to paint a picture.
In the taxi Whaley asking what the heck was going on with the Police cars crisscrossing the city, and Oswald didn't volunteer a single word, even though by this time he had accumulated some info about the most important man in America may have been shot?
And finally and what I find to be most incriminating, Oswald at his rooming house is near a television an object that doesn't require friendship but it's sole purpose is to entertain and provide information yet Oswald doesn't even stay to watch for even a minute, all Oswald wanted to do was get out of there with his revolver.

Now the reason for his 'obliviousness' is obvious, Oswald knew exactly what happened because he saw the future change when while looking down his rifle he pulled the trigger and saw the President's head explode.

JohnM

If I remember correctly, LHO had a similar reaction on Thursday evening at Ruth Paine’s house when they tried to engage him in conversation about the president coming to Dallas. Marina and Ruth indicated he didn’t seem to want to discuss it.

[Lance Payette]

FWIW, Buell Frazier did tell the WC that Oswald would become chatty on their rides when talking about his kids.

Clearly, Mrs. Reid should have said "Oh, they shot the President - and how are those cute babies of yours, proud papa?"

[John Mytton]

FWIW, Buell Frazier did tell the WC that Oswald would become chatty on their rides when talking about his kids.

Mr. BALL - On the way back and forth did you talk very much to each other?
Mr. FRAZIER - No. sir: not very much. He is. probably in your line of business you have probably seen a lot of guys who talk a lot and some don't and he was one of these types that just didn't talk. And I have seen, you know, I am not very old but I have seen a lot of guys in my time, just going to school, different boys and girls, some talk a lot and some don't, so I didn't think anything strange about that.
About the only time you could get anything out of the talking was about babies, you know, he had one and he was expecting another, that was one way he had him get that job because his wife was pregnant and I would always get something out of it when I asked him about the babies because it seemed he was very fond of children because when I asked him he chuckled and told me about what he was doing about the babies over the weekend and sometimes we would talk about the weather, and sometimes he would go to work and it would be cloudy in the morning and it would come out that afternoon after work, sometimes during the day and it would turn to be just one of the prettiest days you would want anywhere, and he would say some comment about that, but not very much.
He would say a few words and then he would cut off.


Mr. BALL - I see. Did he pay for any part of the trip, buy your gasoline?
Mr. FRAZIER - No, sir; he didn't. I never did ask him. Because like I said I drove over there anyway and it doesn't take any more to drive one guy than it does to drive a carload.
Mr. BALL - Did he offer to pay any time?
Mr. FRAZIER - No, sir; he never did.
Mr. BALL - At any time coming back after a weekend did you ever stop at a restaurant for breakfast?
Mr. FRAZIER - No, sir; we never did.
Mr. BALL - Did you ever stop on the way home on Friday night and buy anything?
Mr. FRAZIER - No, sir; stopped one time and bought some gas, I remember.
Mr. BALL - Did he pay for it?
Mr. FRAZIER - No, sir; he didn't.
Mr. BALL - Did he offer to?
Mr. FRAZIER - No, sir; he didn't.

JohnM

[Steve M. Galbraith]

If I remember correctly, LHO had a similar reaction on Thursday evening at Ruth Paine’s house when they tried to engage him in conversation about the president coming to Dallas. Marina and Ruth indicated he didn’t seem to want to discuss it.

Yes. And Marina gives this account that occurred after the Walker shooting: the DeMohrenschildts were visiting - this is two days after the attempt - and all George wanted to talk about was the attempt on Walker's life. Oswald wasn't interested.

More confirmation bias by us Oswald haters <g>. After all, lots of people weren't interested in anything having to do with Walker. Was Oswald one of those "lots of people"? Proceed with hand waving and attempts to distract.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

And here is DeMohrenschildt's account of the meeting. This is after Oswald showed him his rifle and he asked why he had one. Note as well Oswald told Walker he took the rifle to target shoot. This supports, to me, Marina's account about Oswald being reticent to discuss the shooting.

Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. He said "I go out and do target shooting. I like target shooting." So out of the pure, really jokingly I told him "Are you then the guy who took a pot shot at General Walker?" And he smiled to that, because just a few days before there was an attempt at General Walker's life, and it was very highly publicized in the papers, and I knew that Oswald disliked General Walker, you see. So I took a chance and I asked him this question, you see, and I can clearly see his face, you know.
He sort of shriveled, you see, when I asked this question.
Mr. JENNER. He became tense?
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Became tense, you see, and didn't answer anything, smiled, you know, made a sarcastic--not sarcastic, made a peculiar face.
Mr. JENNER. The expression on his face?
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. That is right, changed the expression on his face.
Mr. JENNER. You saw that your remark to him----
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Had an effect on him.
Mr. De MOHRENSCHILDT. Had an effect on him. But naturally he did not say yes or no, but that was it.

For some reason Oswald no longer wanted to talk about Walker.