Blueprint of murder - The Plot Sickens

Edwin Walker

In one sense to say that Oswald had a plan for the assassination of JFK would be to give a lot more credit to the plan than it was warranted. Oswald had a generic plan which he used on several occasions. He ordered a cheap gun with a scope from a mail order catalogue

Much has been made of his choice of rifles and we will deal more with that in a future chapter. He also obtained a handgun and had these weapons shipped to a post office box under the alias A. Hidell. The mailbox was rented by Lee H. Oswald demonstrating that Oswald was no Einstein. It took the FBI only a few hours to connect both guns to Oswald. Oswald's plan was to kill Kennedy, what to do after he killed the most powerful man on Earth was somewhat less elaborate. We can see the plan in action the first time he used the plan . What many people don't know is that Lee Harvey Oswald had already attempted at least once to assassinate an American leader. In the late dusk hours of April 10, 1963 Oswald crept into a Dallas alley behind the home of retired Major General Edwin A. Walker. He was carrying his recently received Manlicher Carcano rifle. He rested it on a fence to steady his shot and waited. When the chance presented itself, he missed. The bullet smacked into the wall and Oswald fled.

One thing that the Warren Commission got right was its' understanding of the importance of the attack on General Walker. Some have called it the "Rosetta Stone" of the assassination and I don't think this is an overstatement. Understanding the events of late March and early April of 1963 make the events of November 22nd a lot clearer. As the Commission noted "...there are differences between the two events as far as Oswald's actions and planning are concerned, there are also similarities that should be considered." Only when we fully understand how and why Oswald tried to kill Walker can we understand how and why he tried to kill Kennedy. The events are links in the same chain. Are there other links? Did Oswald try to kill anyone else? Maybe like Richard Nixon? As bizarre as it seems this is he may have considered this too. You don't need to weave a web of fiction to find the bizarre, you have but to stick to the facts, truth is way stranger than fiction, believe me!

Oswald planned the assassination attempt on Walker for more than a month prior to the attempt. Marina Oswald testified before the commission that he kept a notebook with the plans in it and frequently read the notebook. He also studied bus routes as this was his method of traveling to and from the scene. Oswald left a note for Marina to read in the event his attempt on Walker was successful. The note tells her that the rent is paid and that she should check the mailbox for his last paycheck. It tells her to throw away all his clothes and to give his papers to the press. He had left the notebook and a series of photos for posterity. Clearly he had a vision of himself as a world famous assassin. He mentions that Marina should send newspaper clippings about Walker's assassination to the Soviet embassy to enlist their help. he was thinking ahead to his legacy. This for the killing of a virtually unknown right wing apologist.

The Walker assassination attempt proves a number of things. It shows that Oswald was capable of planning and executing (no pun intended) a plan that would involve the killing of another human being. It shows that he was thinking ahead of how he would be judged, by the public, if he was caught or killed in the process of committing such an act. When you examine the often inexplicable events leading up to April 10th a pattern emerges. Take the now infamous backyard photo of Oswald cradling the rifle, wearing the handgun and holing two communist newspapers, this photo was Oswald's gift to the reporters. he figured it would run on newspaper front pages after he had successfully killed General Walker (it in fact later ran in newspapers after he killed Kennedy). Conspiracy theorists will argue until the end of time that the photo is a fake but it clearly is not. He had Marina take the photo to prove what he was about to do. Oswald was laying the factual chain of events that would prove that he did this. The presence of the note, the fact that Oswald did not destroy the notebook full of plans and photos until after he was unsuccessful at killing Walker, these things clearly indicate that he had little interest in covering up his role in the attempted killing. I am not saying that Oswald wanted to be caught or killed. Obviously if he wanted to guarantee his guilt he never would have used an alias nor would he have destroyed the notebook. He wasn't trying to be caught, he was trying to establish his bona fides as a "Hunter of Fascists" (Marina had written this on a copy of the backyard photo which Lee had given to George De Mohrenschildt). Oswald still had illusions of returning to the Soviet Union, this time as a hero. In fact Oswald had visited the Soviet embassy in Mexico in September of 1963 and had been told his application for a visa might take three months. No doubt a famous freedom fighter who had struck a blow against fascism would get a warmer response.

Marina Oswald had testified before the Warren Commission in June of 1964 that Lee had, in late April of 1963 read an article about Richard Nixon in the Dallas newspaper and then put on a suit and took his handgun. When Marina asked him where he was going he said that Nixon was in town and he was going to meet him. Marina pleaded with him not to go and reminded him that he had promised her not to do this again after the Walker shooting. Oswald did not leave the house. The Commission notes that Nixon was not in town at the time specified, however a headline and article did appear on the front page of the Dallas Morning News Sunday April 21 which reads "NIXON CALLS FOR DECISION TO FORCE REDS OUT OF CUBA. Open US Support Of Rebels Urged". Marina claimed she felt that Oswald was testing or perhaps punishing her with these threats. The threat however hollow reinforces the behaviour and pattern of behaviour against persons of authority in the United States. Oswald seems fixated on killing someone famous, someone who represented the anti communist forces. Kennedy was a cold warrior and certainly fit the bill.

Oswald certainly had a plan for the Walker killing. He had planned the route he would take to and from the scene, he had planned a place to hide the rifle. He had taken photos of the scene and had planned where he would stand to offer the best shot and yet evade detection while committing the crime. He knew the whereabouts of his victim and that he would be in town at least at the time of the attempt. He had made plans for what would happen to Marina should he succeed. He had left his plans and the letter to Marina as well as the photo given to George De Mohrenschildt. He had practised with the rifle, on range and dry firing in his apartment.In fact had the bullet not hit a divider in the window and been redirected he might be known only as the assassin of General Edwin A. Walker, a mere footnote in history.

As far as the plan for the Kennedy assassination we can only judge it by the parts of the plan that he actually carried out. This time he left no notebooks full of photos, no note to Marina, nor did he spend any great amount of time discussing the plot with anyone. Marina and he were not speaking at the time of the assassination. She testified before the Warren Commission that on the night before the assassination

A. I was angry, of course. He was not angry he was upset. I was angry. He tried very hard to please me. He spent quite a bit of time putting away diapers and played with the children on the street.

Q. How did you indicate to him that you were angry with him?

A. By not talking to him.

It is not likely that he would have told Marina what he was about to do. If the threat to kill Nixon had been a test, Marina had failed. She had reacted by crying, by locking him in a bathroom and doing anything she could to keep him from leaving the house. Nixon was not even in town. Kennedy was coming. The very next day. Oswald spent the night with Marina, went to bed early, said nothing when she came to bed although she knew he was awake. Rose early, before anyone else, went to the garage took the rifle from a rolled up blanket, took it apart, put the two pieces in a paper sack he had previously made from materials from the mail room at the Texas School Book Depository and left for work. He told the neighbor who gave him a lift that the package was a curtain rod.

The motorcade route had been proposed November 18, and accepted and publicized in the local papers on the 19th. Oswald, a voracious reader of newspapers could not help but see it. His job at the TSBD (Texas School Book Depository) afforded him access to the first and sixth floors. The first floor would be near useless, but the sixth floor, with less traffic and deserted at the time of the assassination was perfect. Oswald hid the rifle and worked the morning sad usual.. While most people were busy he constructed the "sniper's nest" out of cartons that had been moved due to floor repairs. No one could see him at the sixth floor window including a fellow employee eating luncha short distance away. Oswald reassembled the rifle and waited for the motorcade.

Upon firing the last shot Oswald took an elevator to the second floor where he encountered Dallas motorcycle patrolman Marion Baker who was accompanied by Oswald's supervisor Roy Truly. Truly identified Oswald as an employee and Baker, with pistol drawn let Oswald pass. Oswald bought a coke from a vending machine and walked out the main entrance of the TSBD on Elm St. less than ten minutes after shooting Kennedy Oswald boarded a bus driven by Cecil McWatters by stopping the bus mid block. Oswald didn't drive and was comfortable riding the bus. This day though it must have seemed far too public for him. He got off the bus early and took a taxi to a point a few blocks past his boarding house. He doubled back and was spotted by cleaning woman Earlene Roberts who described him as moving very fast almost running. He recovered his revolver and a tan zippered jacket from the boarding house then crossed the street and waited at a bus stop. He still had the bus transfer in his pocket. He paced nervously a few moments then left on foot in the direction of the next bus stop. He was within a few blocks when he was stopped by Dallas patrolman J.D. Tippit. Tippit had heard the general description broadcast at 12:45 pm Oswald fit the description so presumably he wanted a word with the man who was hurrying down the street. Tippit pulled up to Oswald at the corner of Patton Ave and 10th st. As he approached Oswald he was hot four times. His service revolver lay unholstered under his body. He died instantly. Oswald Emptied the revolver and reloaded as he walked. Oswald said either,"poor dumb cop" or "poor damn cop" according to a taxi driver who witnessed the shooting.

Oswald then proceded toward Jefferson street ditching the jacket under a car in a parking lot, where it was later recovered. Oswald walked along Jefferson ducking into the doorway of a shoe store then sneaking into the Texas theatre without paying. The manager of the shoe store watched the suspicious, sweaty man and told the clerk at the ticket booth who called Dallas police. Oswald continued to act suspiciously changing seats several times. Dallas police descended on the theatre and entered the theatre turning on the house lights. Oswald yelled I am not resisting arrest when officer M.N. McDonald asked him to stand. Oswald punched McDonald and drew his revolver and pulled the trigger. McDonald had grabbed the pistol and the hammer came down on the webbing between his thumb and palm, the pistol did not discharge. other officers grabbed Oswald and led him from the theatre where a crowd had formed. The time was 1:50pm. John Fitzgerald Kennedy had been officially dead for less than an hour. Jacqueline's clothes were soaked in the still wet blood from her husbands head wound. She handed a piece of his brain to a member of the trauma team. She was stunned, too stunned to fully grip what had just happened to her husband, in front of her eyes.

If Oswald had an escape plan we will never know what it was. Likely he would have put as many miles as possible between himself and the crime. How he would have gotten very far with only $13.87 in his pockets is hard to figure. That he did not want to be captured is obvious. He was willing to kill at least two police officers to stay at large. McDonald was lucky, Tippit was not. Unlike the Walker assassination he left no detailed instructions. Like the Walker assassination he did leave the photos, he left behind the rifle which he had to know was going to be traceable within a few hours. Perhaps he only wanted a few hours. If I may speculate, he may have only wanted enough time to reach a Soviet or Cuban Embassy. Perhaps he thought that with his name made they would not refuse him asylum. In any event he could not have gotten far with only two sets of I.D. both of which would tie him to the weapons and the killing. In all likelihood he may not have thought through the whole scenario. He had to know that unlike the Walker attempt they would never let him rest.

In summary the plot was this:

• build an alias. This is useful to hide ownership of the murder weapon and possibly to evade capture.
• order a rifle and a pistol under the alias. The rifle for the actual assassination and the pistol to help evade capture.. (the Nixon threat seems to show that he would consider using the pistol in a face to face meeting to assassinate someone) That he was capable of face to face killing is clear from the Tippit murder.
• plan the actual shooting using resources available. In Walker killing he obviously scoped out the scene thoroughly including photos. In the Kennedy murder he knew the TSBD well and had picked out his snipers nest and his escape route from the building in advance.
• plan what will happen to his family after he has commit ed the crime. In the Walker affair he left the note with instructions on how she was to behave and where she would get money. In the Kennedy assassination he left her $170 and his wedding ring in a cup by there bed. He knew he could not trust her to be quiet (after the Nixon test) so no note this time just the cash and the knowledge of his prior instructions.
• an escape route of sorts from the building to his apartment then on to a bus, foiled by Tippit. From here we do not know what he planned.

That was the plan as we understand it. poorly conceived but well executed for the first half anyhow. The next thing we will look at is the motive. Why would Oswald do this? Of all the enigmas surrounding him this is by far the most puzzling.

coming soon WHY???????????