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5 comments about The Texas Connection.

1. Zirbel provides the most convincing and logical
   theory. His writing is tight and compelling.
   Though it is possible he paraphrased or took out of
   context some comments from the Warren Report,
   Johnson was indeed the only person in a position
   to connect the dots.
   Granted, some of his critical observations are not
   cited. For example, who actually observed
   Marina Oswald going into Hunt's office? Another example: who were the witnesses who claim Earl Warren had tears in his eyes

   after a 30 or 40 minute discussion with Johnson? What evidence is there that Warren was reluctant to serve on Johnson's commission?
   Nonetheless, having lived in Texas and worked here
   several years in journalism, I have a gut feeling this explanation is the clearest
   and most likely scenario.




2. Craig I. Zirbel read almost every book, article, or newspaper dealing with the JFK assassination for 25 years. This book is the result of his studies. If it happened in a foreign country, 11/22/1963 would be viewed as a coup d'etat. If finding a motive for murder exposes the killer, then motive could explain why JFK was killed. This book explains why the Warren Commission and others are not credible. The most likely solution may be the most obvious, not the most complex (p.4).

   After JFK's death LBJ refused to leave Dallas until JFK's body was placed on the plane. The Warren Commission decided there was no conspiracy; Oswald was a lone gunman. Page 17 tells of the faults in the autopsy of JFK. The Warren Commission was created to investigate the crime (p.23). They would examine the evidence developed by the FBI. LBJ was never called as a witness (p.27). Chief Justice Warren would not listen to Jack Ruby (p.29)! LBJ created and controlled this Commission, when he was one of the logical suspects (p.33).

   Page 35 explains why political assassinations occur, and why some are covered up. Page 37 explains why Oswald did not fit the pattern of assassins (not insane, no motive). His quick elimination hints at a wider conspiracy. Page 43 tells of the problems in that mail-order rifle. Page 47 tells of the failures with a stationary target. (A telescopic sight adjusted to shoot "high and to the right" would have the built-in lead exactly needed for the shots fired that day! But was this done before that day?)

   Chapter 7 analyzes various assassination theories, and tries to discredit them all in a few pages. (You may not agree with it once you've read other books.) Does the photograph on page 82 resemble the villain in "From Russia With Love"? Chapter 8 discusses his theory of "right hand man assassinations". I don't think his examples prove his theory. Chapter 9 announces that he will try to pin it on LBJ alone (p.95). The big problem in this is the lack of any defender who may dispute his charges. Being dead, there is no way LBJ can defend himself. So his arguments are one-sided. Is that fair?

   Chapter 11 tells of LBJ's moral rules. Chapter 12 tells of his support by Big Business, page 113 tells how the NASA Space Center was built. How did LadyBird buy those radio stations? See pages 117-8. Page 122 tells of the crash of LBJ's airplane. Chapter 18 hints at the reason why LBJ didn't run in 1968: a strenuous campaign could cause a heart attack (he died in 1973). Chapters 22-23 describes the three major scandals of the Vice-President. Chapter 27 explains how the unsafe detour past the Schoolbook Depository was done against Secret Service wishes. Chapter 29 list the mistakes and problems in Oswald's capture. Chapter 31 tells of Oswald's activities; these may be explained as that of a secret agent who is controlled by others. Could the failure to record Oswald's interrogation be explained by the knowledge that he was doomed? Chapter 35 relates various strange acts: LBJ bought "presidential china" (p.256) in the fall of 1963! Chapter 37 lists 9 reasons for a conspiracy (p.282). Chapter 38 provides a parallax view to the events. Chapter 39 asks you to form your own conclusion. Do this after reading other books, such as Mark North's "Act of Treason".




3. To say that the Kennedy assassination is a "C.I.A. thing" is the equivalent of saying a tornado is a "weather thing."
   
   No kidding.
   
   But me-doubts that the C.I.A. would try to pull this off on its own without some "assurances" that it would not get caught.
   
   After all, it would need help in controlling the Secret Service, the DPD, the Bethesda autopsy and, especially, any subsequent investigations.
   
   That is to say, the cover-up would begin not with the soon-to-come Warren Commission but would have to commence with the firing of the first shot.
   
   I'd say that the tandem of LBJ & J. Edgar Hoover could accomplish all of that, maybe with a bit of "local" assistance from an H.L. Hunt sort.
   
   And it is this idea of people at the very top of our government knocking each other off like gangsters that is troubling to say the least, the angle that has kept this whole affair under the tightest of wraps for almost 45 years and 15 years after the end of the Cold War, to boot.
   
   Scary ... but as we (almost) all know by now, America is a very scary place.



4. What a wonderful book this was! Author Craig Zirbel does a great job of doing one of the most important things: analyzing the motivations of one of the most powerful figures in the Kennedy Assassination Investigation.
   
   After reading the book, I have no doubt that Lyndon Baines Johnson was, at a minimum, involved in covering-up the killers of Kennedy and, at maximum, actually orchestrated the entire plot in conjuction with wealthy businessmen as his backers.
   
   This book brought out one of the most important points, which that Kennedy and Johnson DID NOT get along and Kennedy was going to drop Johnson from the Democratic ticket before the next election. Johnson was also: profane, an adulterer, in bed with big business interests, politically ruthless and absolutely obsessed with becoming the president of the USA. Zirbel points out correctly in the book, that we the people, instead of sending this man to an elected office, should have been sending him to jail.
   
   One of the other things this book does is also suggest (though not actually say) why it was that Bobby Kennedy had to be killed later on, which is that Bobby Kennedy, if he had become president, would have had the power to reopen the investigation and hold LBJ accountable for murder.
   
   It's also hard to believe that a president that signed the Freedom of Information Act into law would be okay with the Warren commission sealing all the evidence in the Kennedy case until 2039. To say this stinks of cover up would be putting it mildly.
   
   I highly recommend that anyone with an interest in the Kennedy assassination get and read this book!



5. I found this to be a very interesting book, and thought provoking. At times I would read some of it to my girlfriend who was a young girl when this happened, and she would ask me to not read any more as it angered her so bad. I used this book along w/ other sources for a final paper in College. The thing I found most interesting was the fact the Mr. Zirbel never really states his opinion. He does make you think. And although we will never be told the truth behind JFK's untimely demise, this does give food for thought. I will have to buy myself another copy as the first ones I bought(in hardcover) I ended up giving away as presents. Perhaps I should buy more than one. Kudos Mr. Zirbel

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5 comments about Six Seconds in Dallas: A Micro-Study of the Kennedy Assassination.

1. This book belongs with a short list of excellent books published in the 1960's. These include Weisberg's "Whitewash" series, Lane's "Rush to Judgement", Sylvia Meagher's "Accessories After the Fact", James Hepburn's "Farewell America", and Leo Sauvage's "The Oswald Affair". This book broke new ground in that it was the first commercially published book to describe the actual assassination plot, and not merely take pot shots at the wretched Warren Commision Report.
   It has since been superceded, however, by the brilliant research group headed by Professor James Fetzer, who has edited three books concerning the JFK assassination: "Assassination Science", "Murder in Dealey Plaza", and his latest, "The Great Zapruder Film Hoax". These books should be ordered from Amazon before the government pulls them from circulation.



2. Pity it's out of print. It is a must-have for any serious researcher. Its theories are more than probable, much more than Fetzer's nutty theories of Zapruder film alteration.



3. With dozens upon dozens of far-fetched theories about the JFK assassination, this book above all others is the most sane, the most rational, and the most logical. Using eye- and ear-witness testimony, drawings made from stills of the Zapruder film (which may have been tampered with but is NOT a fabrication, puh-LEEZE, Mr. Fetzer!), and expert analysis, Josiah Thompson's SIX SECONDS IN DALLAS remains the best study of the assassination--and the best proof of a conspiracy--to have emerged from the 60s, or any other decade for that matter.
   
   Don't look for Cuban-exile/CIA/FBI/KGB/Vinnie-Goombatza-crime-family conspiracy theories here. This book is not interested in the whodunnit aspect of the case. It is solely interested in those moments--those six seconds--between the first and last shots that murdered President John F. Kennedy. And in his analysis of them, Josiah Thompson proves beyond a reasonable doubt that a second shooter, and probably a third, took part in the assassination.
   
   Sometimes, after reading some of the more disappointing books about the JFK assassination (and there are TONS of them), I shake my head and really wonder if anything beyond the Warren Commisssion's conclusions had really occurred. Then I pick up SIX SECONDS IN DALLAS and turn to any page. And there is no longer any doubt that a conspiracy murdered our president. It's a shame that this book is out of print. I hope that some of the publishers who have made a fortune out of the glut of conspiracy books--like Thunder's Mouth Press or Carroll & Graf--will pick up the rights to this great book and publish it for a new generation of JFK assassination researchers. That new generation will need it!



4. As an American who believes in his heart that President Kennedy was assassinated as the result of a conspiracy, it pains me to see so many half-baked and flat-out irresponsible studies of the assassination. These run the gamut from the ridiculous defenses of the Warren Report (Gerald Posner, in particular) to the most outlandish conspiracy books hawking absolutely ridiculous theories (James Fetzer's books claiming that the Zapruder film is a fake is the latest). Both the Warren Commission's defenders and the way-out conspiracy theorists do the search for the truth a great disservice. Both groups pick and choose whatever evidence suits their needs. Warren Commission apologists suspend the natural laws of forensics and physics and brand every anti-Commission witness as a nut and every conspiracy believer as a paranoid lunatic. The extreme conspiracy theorists see assassins in every photograph, including, they claim, James Milteer (a right wing activist of the day, Charles Harrelson, a professional hitman and the father of Cheers star Woody Harrelson and even Watergate figure Howard Hunt).
   
   Thankfully, in 1967, Josiah Thompson provided a study of the assassination which is, in my opinion, still the best book ever published about the assassination. Six Seconds in Dallas breaks down the evidence and, using a scientific approach to the investigation, shows conclusively that President Kennedy was fired upon by three assassins, not just Lee Harvey Oswald. Warren Commission proponents love to point to the fact that Governor John Connally defended the Warren Commission -- they just ignore the fact that the Governor testified that he was certain he was hit by a separate shot from the one that hit President Kennedy in the back. Using the Zapruder film, however, Thompson pinpoints the exact moment when Connally was shot, showing conclusively that he and the President were struck by separate shots. Using the FBI tests of Lee Harvey Oswald's rifle, he shows conclusively that Oswald could not have possibly shot Kennedy in the back, recycled the rifle and then shot Connally. Therefore there was another shooter.
   
   Thompson also analyzes the much studied Moorman polaroid photograph. This is the photo that allegedly shows an assassin dressed as a Dallas Police officer (Badgeman) firing on JFK. However, using the testimony of a witness, S.M. Holland who saw a puff of smoke come from the grassy knoll, Thompson concludes that the shot to President Kennedy's head was actually fired to the left of where Badgeman stood. Thompson asked Holland to stand where the smoke came from. Sure enough, when the photo is blown up, what looks like the top of a man's head appears at that exact spot -- a shape that does not appear in Thompson's re-creation of the photo.
   
   Those are just two of the investigative threads Thompson follows in Six Seconds in Dallas. No matter what part of the assassination he investigates, however, his conclusions come as the result of exhaustive investigation and scientific analysis. He even debunks some claims made by the more extreme conspiracy theorists, like the claim that a photo shows Oswald standing in the doorway of the Texas School Book Depository at the time of the shooting or that the Nix film shows an assassin firing from the top of a station wagon. Thompson does not make the wild claims of the irresponsible conspiracy books. He does not make a claim that he cannot back up with conclusive evidence. Had every book regarding the assassination been this thorough and responsible, Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, Arlen Specter, Gerald Posner and other defenders of the Warren Commission would have a much tougher time dimissing the conspiracy theorists.
   
   A friend of mine once asked me, "Why are we still talking about Kennedy's assassination? It was a long time ago." This made me livid. If there was other assassin(s) who participated in the murder of John F. Kennedy, they must be identified and brought to justice -- whether it takes 40, 50, 60, even 100 years. The American electoral process is sacred. It's flawed, it's antiquated in many ways, but it expresses the will of the people to choose the person who will lead the country. That a select few who hate the person elected could subvert the will of the people and assassinate the President should be offensive to every American. We, as Americans, have the responsibility to seek the truth and do so responsibly, no matter what skeletons the truth might shake loose. The Warren Commission's defenders continue to stick their heads in the sand. The far-out conspiracy theorists hurt the cause, exploiting, in many cases, the murder of President Kennedy for attention or monetary gain. Josiah Thompson does neither -- he seeks the truth and so should we all.



5. Josiah Thompson studied at Oxford, Copenhagen, and Yale. He was an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Haverford College. He worked as a member of the 'LIFE' magazine team that investigated the JFK assassination using the photographs and movie films taken at that time. The purpose of this book is to use the available evidence to investigate the unsolved assassination. Critics of the Warren Report said it could not have happened that way (a lone gunman). This 1967 book uses the evidence to answer how it happened. Lawyer Vincent Salandria was the first to list the misrepresentations and contradictions in the Warren Report (p.viii).
   
   Chapter 2 notes the differences among witnesses as to the number, direction, and quality of the shots heard. [Years later a discovered recording would present objective evidence.] If two shots were "bunched" there were two shooters. Chapter 3 explains why the first shot hit JFK in the back (p.35). The Bethesda autopsy said this had a downward trajectory of 45-60 degrees downward (p.41). Chapter 4 explains why the second shot hit Governor Connally (p.67). Chapter 5 tells about the third and fourth shots that hit JFK (p.87). A piece of skull was found 10 to 15 feet to the left of the car's path (p.100). This suggests a shot from the right front of the car (p.101). A neurosurgeon said the head injury was a tangential wound (p.106). Note the difference between the head wound observed at Parkland (p.107). And that at Bethesda (p.111). It is as if two different bodies were observed!
   
   Who was that man with Secret Service credentials (p.125)? The bullet that struck Governor Connally likely came from the roof of the Dallas County Records Building (p.130). Two shots came from the School Book Depository (p.136). Pages 143-145 tell of the problems with the four shells found in the TBSD. There is a problem with CE 399 (p.147). What bullet was found in the hospital (p.156)? CE 399 could not have come from Kennedy or Connally (p.158). Chapter 8 has a reconstruction of the assassination: 4 shots, 3 shooters (p.178). Note the comments on page 190. The Warren Commission went wrong because of uncritical acceptance of the single bullet theory (p.196). [But if they said more than one assassin that would be proof of the conspiracy they said did not exist!] Pages 203-204 analyze the "ramshackle case". Experts said Connally was hit by "two different bullets" (p.206). The Warren Report was "hearsay and contradiction" (p.209). There was "contradictory
   evidence" buried in the Warren Report (p.213). Who was in the doorway (pp.226-227)? Who owned the jacket discarded by Tippit's assailant (p.229)? Did Oswald shoot the President (p.233)? That can't be proved or disproved.
   
   Appendix D has a critique of the Autopsy by Cyril H. Wecht M.D., L.L.B. They did not use an experienced forensic pathologist as they had mistakes of procedure and technique. There was not mention of the adrenal glands, and a failure to adequately inspect the brain. The body was not X-rayed and the films inspected before the autopsy. The entrance wound in the back is substantially lower than the purported exit in the throat. Wecht does not agree with the essential findings of the Warren Report or the autopsy on which it was based (p.283). Another problem is CE 399.
   
   In 1974 George O'Toole's book "The Assassination Tapes" provided the physical evidence to question Oswald's guilt. A Congressional committee concluded in two shooters. More books were published afterwards. The majority of Americans today do not believe the Warren Report.

3 comments about Winter Kills.

1. though the plot is complicated ... the book is enjoyable. Condon makes a complex plot of killing the president of USA. he sometimes confuses the reader.yet the book makes a good read and the climax is unexpected. ofcourse not one of the best of Condon.....



2. This novel solves the assassination of "President Tim Kegan" during a motorcade in "Hunt Plaza". The details follow the very real assassination of JFK. Was this published too soon after the event? The House Select Committee later brought out many facts used by this novel, which explains the assassination as the revenge of organized crime. But it doesn't explain why the ruling circles covered up the assassination. Haven't corporate powers used organized crime to perform those actions which can't be done by lawyers and accountants?
   
   One person in this book is "Lola Camonte", an international hostess and Washington lobbyist and fixer. Could this be a reference to the famous widow of a Governor? "President Kegan" asks her about appointing a member of organized crime to the Court of St. James. This could never happen in real life, could it? This book explains how the media is used to portray fiction as fact. (Remember how President Carter was cut off the air when he began to speak about the assassination of JFK in March 1977?)
   
   When the assassination is planned, they order an independent team as back-up. Since the back-up team was not used they are quickly eliminated as potential witnesses. Many innocent bystanders, who saw more than they needed to know, are also eliminated. But this would never happen in read life, would it?



3. The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon was and is a masterpiece of Cold War fiction if there ever was one. For that reason alone, other novels written by Condon both before and since are worthy of attention. Winter Kills was written many years after The Manchurian Candidate and is also about political assassination.
   
   Except in this case, the narrative takes place a full 14 years after the assassination in question has already occurred. President Tim Kegan was murdered on February 22, 1960 while riding in a motorcade in Philadelphia. Quite a few of the details parallel those of the assassination of President Kennedy.
   
   Nick Thirkield, President Kegan's half brother, serves as the novel's protagonist. It's now 1974 and Nick becomes witness to a deathbed confession by a man claiming to be one of the triggermen in his brother's death. In a frantic attempt to find out who ordered the killing, Nick must navigate a labyrinth of facts, half-truths and out and out lies.
   
   Winter Kills tells a complex story using frequent flashbacks to earlier times. As the plot unfolds, Nick, along with the reader, becomes aware that almost nothing is as it appears with layer upon layer of subterfuge obscuring the shocking truth.
   
   This is a very complex work of fiction containing a host of way over-the-top scenarios. Plenty of actual Washington based rumor, folklore and myth is appropriated to flesh out the narrative. Cynical and darkly funny with a number of unexpected twists, Winter Kills rates 4 stars. Recommended to political junkies as well as fans of convoluted mysteries.

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2 comments about The assassination please almanac.

1. Tom Miller's Assassination Please Almanac was an extremely valuable reference work when first published in the '70s. Its chronology and other features remain unique and valuable today. It is good to see it available again!!



2. I lost this book years ago and no used dealer can keep it in stock. To see it reprinted is a dream come true.

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