Book Review: The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union by Peter Savodnik

An over-hyped book of little substance...

As soon as I discovered that a book was being published on Lee Oswald’s Russian period I started to speculate how the author might handle the notion of Oswald defecting to be operative there.  The book blurbs on Amazon showed it was going to be yet another, lone nut book.  True enough, author Peter Savodnik states in the introduction says that Oswald acted alone and we can see how he did so by studying his life in Soviet Russia.  As he stated on page xi:

“It is the facts of his life (Oswald’s), and especially his life in the Soviet Union, that tell us what we need to know to conclude that he alone was responsible for killing President Kennedy.”

Good!  No need for an investigation then.  Towards the end of the page he follows up with this whopper:

“The Interloper is an attempt, at long last, to make sense of this person we have we have never known.”

At long last?  As if nobody else ever tried?  As if Peter Savodnik knows him by interviewing his friends.  At this point I’m wondering if Savodnik is having an attack of advanced hubris to spit this line out or the marketing department jammed it in.  Of course, there are plenty of researchers have delved into Lee Oswald, his character, and exploits before the guns went off.  Authors such as Norman Mailer, Oswald’s Tale (1995); John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee (2003); John Newman, Oswald and the CIA (2008), and space does not permit a listing of many others. 

The course is set from here and what evaluation we will find of Oswald’s character and actions could just as well come out of the well-worn pages of the Warren Report.  

Time Spent in Russia

Peter Savodnik credentials including writing for the New York Times, Harper’s, Time, Atlantic Monthly and other northeastern liberal yankee publications.  He was based in Moscow for a number of years and wrote extensively about Russian issues.  Since Savodnik spent a lot time living and working in Russia he at some point–never explained–developed an interest in Lee Oswald’s life and was able to interview a lot of people that knew Lee Oswald during his time there. The picture Savodnik paints of Oswald is a one of a sad, pathetic, and often angry figure; an out of place young man that isn't very bright, struggles with the native tongue of his newfound homeland, and is ignorant of the culture he has just landed in.

Probably most surprising, is Savodnik's assertion that Oswald was a poor Russian speaker.  In fact, I know of no other book written on Oswald that ever doubted his ability to speak, read, and write the Russian language competently.  Even the Warren Report with its faults admits to his Russian speaking abilities which he supposedly learned from a Marine officer.  According to Savodnik, Oswald needs tips and lessons from co-workers and an interpreter at some phases of his work at the Minsk TV factory.  This fits in with Savodnik's angle of Oswald being a guy that isn't very clever, troubled in mind and intellect–only it’s not true.  The author is not being honest with his readers at this point.

Why? Because there is a lot of evidence that Oswald was a very good Russia speaker, good enough for his future wife Marina to comment that upon their first meeting she thought he was a local because he spoke with a Baltic accent.  While it is true that Oswald rarely spoke in Russian while there, the idea that this could have been a cover for his true identity is contrary to Savodnik's narrative.  Arriving back in America in 1962, Lee and Marina were befriended by the White Russian community there, and George De Mohrenschildt in particular.  De Mohrenschildt testified to Lee speaking Russian competently and reading Russian literature written in Russian.  Another Russian speaker who know Oswald said that his language skills were good enough to be a translator.  But Savodnik never tells his readers this.

Mistakes in the Narrative

For a writer good enough to be published in noted literary journals and travels the world doing research, Peter Savodnik can sure makes some goofs.  

One of the biggest involves the early days of Oswald’s life and the constant moving around he and his siblings endured.  Savodnik states that the shortest time the Oswald’s spent at a residence was six weeks in Manhattan.  Well, they never lived in Manhattan!  They lived in the Bronx.  Even the address Savodnik lists, E. 179th St., implying Manhattan, is a Bronx location (Google maps).  In actually, after getting kicked out of older brother John Pic’s apartment after Lee threatened Mrs. Pic with a penknife, they moved to 1455 Sheridan, Apt F.  They later moved to their final residence in New York at 325 E. 179th St.  Both residences are in the Bronx.  John Pic and family lived in the Bronx as well.  Marguerite Oswald did work odd jobs in Manhattan and Lee briefly attended PS117 in Manhattan, but they never lived there.  

Do publishing houses hire fact checkers anymore?

The length of time in New York is wrong too.  Lee and his mother arrived there in August of 1952 and Savodnik contradicts his tale by having them returning to New Orleans in January of 1954.  Obviously a lot more than six weeks passed here.

Of course herein lies one of the problems with the narrative.  Under the official account Lee is supposed to be attending PS44 in the Bronx in fall of 1953.  However, there is another set of educational records showing Lee attending part-time at Beauregard Junior High School in the fall of 1953 as well!  Researcher John Armstrong (see links) found this oddity in volume 22 of the collected Warren Commission hearings.  And there are more than just documents, there are a host of important events going on as well in 1953.  For example, Lee going truant, being evaluated by two psychologists, being sent to a youth home for a while, and his mother being interviewed by probation officer John Carro.  By the fall of 1953 things heat up with Carro attempting to get Marguerite and Lee in family court for counseling services and other issues, but he is checkmated every step of the way.  All of these events are happening in New York while another Lee Oswald is in school in another state in New Orleans.  Strange, huh?

As you can see, by taking the conservative approach with a simple narrative from the Warren Report, and staying out of those pesky 26 volumes of collected hearings and evidence, one can eliminate great difficulties in exploring the case.  One can direct the flow away from conspiracy very easily.  Especially if somebody doesn’t want that reported.  Logically, Savodnik can’t discuss it anyway because it disrupts his “Lee is a nobody” story.

The False Defector Program

A major omission by the author is the False Defector Program being run out of Nag’s Head, North Carolina with the sole purpose of placing operatives behind the Iron Curtain.  It’s too hot to handle because Peter Savodnik makes no mention of it.  One would think this issue should be properly explored if one were doing an honest investigation into Oswald’s Russian period.  But if you are a hack, then by all means, ignore it and type away!

Senator Richard Schweiker who had seen the classified files said,  “We don’t know what happened (in Dallas), but we do know Oswald had intelligence connections. Everywhere you look with him, there are the fingerprints of intelligence.” He further stated to author David Talbot that Oswald–“...was the product of a fake defector program run by the CIA.”  Former CIA officer Victor Marchetti stated this as well (Peter Janney, Mary’s Mosaic). 

Otto Otepka, Deputy Director of the United States State Department's Office of Security, uncovered the false defector program soon after JFK’s election. A security file listed Lee Oswald as a “tourist.” to the Soviet Union.  And while in the Soviet Union Oswald came into contact with Michael Jelisavcic, a known CIA operative at American Express.  A declassified document lists Jelisavcic as a CIA asset. 

Notwithstanding, if Oswald were a false defector this would greatly add to what his real motivations were during his Russian phase.  There is a great deal of bias for the official story that blinds the author to any other alternatives.  Oswald as false defector is an important part of the story if true, and the author finds it not worth mentioning or looking into.  He has to avoid the subject or else it messes up a nice tale.  

And it should be noted that Oswald was not the only defector.  Robert Webster (a dead ringer for Oswald in looks) was another who left the same year, 1962, that Oswald did (Lee knew him and Webster knew Marina, facts the reader isn’t told either).  There were in fact, a whole host of American defectors, many leaving that year as well.  

Another Important Point Omitted
However, what is commonly left out of the story is who exactly decided to allow Oswald to stay after his suicide attempt.  According to Joseph J. Trento in his book, The Secret History of the CIA, it was the most powerful woman in the Soviet Union, Yekaterina Furtseva.  The first female member of the Politburo, who took a personal interest in this hapless American defector and gave the order to let him stay.  According to Soviet defector Yuri Nosenko, it was Furtseva that ordered the KGB not to recruit Oswald as a possible KGB mole.

One would think this a very important point.  But Savodnik totally ignores Furtseva’s control of this issue.  It shows that Oswald’s entry as a defector into the Soviet Union was closely watched and made the hierarchy of Soviet government very suspicious.  The Russians have a long history of espionage and are very successful at it.  They probably spotted Oswald early on as an operative and someone not to be trusted.  

The idea that Savodnik would ignore this crucial fact is a serious lapse of judgement and good research.  He has to have an Oswald that is so unimportant, and such a failure in life, that nobody would have an interest in him.  But people of great import did.

The Real Interloper

The Interloper is the standard tale of the disgruntled loser with delusions of grandeur arriving at the Socialist Worker’s Paradise only to grow disillusioned there too.  Then later, the bad thing happens.  Hey, hasn’t Norman Mailer already written that book?  At last he gets a few mentions but Savodnik treats Mailer like a grumpy old uncle, capable of committing embarrassing disruptions, and whose insights are best ignored.  Might as well be, since Mailer wrote the better book on the subject of Lee Oswald and his time in Russia.  Mailer’s research includes KGB transcripts from the Oswald’s bugged apartment in Minsk, and while basically being the bickering of a young couple, it at least offers insights into their relationship.  The Interloper adds nothing to the mix.  Even the word “interloper,” used as a mantra in this book, is just a literary device Savodnik uses to propel along a well-trodden story.  

In the end, the real interloper in this book is the author himself.  His stuffy dismissal of conspiracy or its believers shows that his search for the truth is one reined in by the Gatekeepers that praise his book on the back cover blurbs.  Peter Savodnik’s portrayal of Lee Oswald as being out of place unstable misfit, unable to find a niche in wherever he travels, has been made so many times before it’s a yawn.  Some men seek the truth and other men just go along to get along.

Savodnik, like his subject, he has no sense of place either. He acts as if the Warren Report was the only investigation and nothing has happened since.  The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in their final report that there was a possibility of a conspiracy but they had not the time or finances to pursue any leads.  You will not see that mentioned in this book.  He considers Oswald's lack of motive as unimportant, dismisses conspiracy all too easily with a wave of a hand, travels the world for research only to restate old details, gets simple facts wrong or important ones omitted, he interviews only the people that will tell him what he wants to hear, and the author depends on the incomplete research and record of the Warren Report for his bedrock truth.

So what new revelations is the reader going to find?  Not much.  If you have an interest in biographies of Oswald’s friends and acquaintances in Minsk, or how long it took him to walk from his apartment to his job at the TV factory, then this book is for you.  

Otherwise, this tome features nothing new, much of which is rushed and summarized to begin with.

The Interloper serves as yet another vehicle for the Establishment to maintain their stranglehold on the mainstream media’s unyielding devotion to the long gunman myth.  Conspiracy...such a naughty word these days for this bunch of true-believing herd thinkers.

Hardcover: 288 pages

Publisher: Basic Books (October 8, 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0465021816

ISBN-13: 978-0465021819

Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 9.2 inches

Addendum #1 
Although I didn’t give Norman Mailer’s Oswald’s Tale high marks, it is in retrospective a far better account of Lee Oswald’s life and search to find out the inner man, than The Interloper is.

Addendum #2 
Easy made it to my list of worst JFK Books.  LINK

Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, iBooks/iTunes

7 Of The Worst JFK Books

There are so many bad books on the JFK assassination it wasn’t hard picking the eight.  What follows is a mix of different styles and angles, with Family of Secrets selected for its JFK section.  For the most part the books listed here mostly feature the pro-government account. Why?  Because the government’s official story is flawed and those authors ignore that fact for a variety of reasons only known to them. In some instances, such as Gerald Posner’s Case Closed, the book is deceptive in its narrative and deeply flawed in its accounting of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. 

#7 The Interloper by Peter Savodnik
Apparently rushed out for the 50th year anniversary of JFK’s death,  this dreck of a book by Peter Savodnik is awful in so many ways I could almost make it #1 on the list.  For a guy that traveled the world doing research there is literally nothing new in this book but another reframing of Oswald as the hapless, disgruntled loser with delusions of grandeur. Made even worse are the many mistakes in the book, such as Savodnik stating that Lee and mother lived in Manhattan for 6 weeks.  Not only did they never live there, but the address listed is one they never lived at.  They actually lived in the Bronx for over a year.  Even more importantly, the author totally ignored the CIA/ONI false defector program to the Soviet Union.  It’s a well documented piece of the story and the author can’t bare to mention it at all.  Logically, he can’t because it disrupts his fiction of Oswald being a misguided loner hoping desperately to fit in.  Certainly not worth a purchase for the same old song and dance in a different package.

#6 Oswald’s Tale by Norman Mailer 
As I have said in the past, the trouble with books by Norman Mailer is there is too much of Norman Mailer in them.   A man who was truly a legend in his own mind, Mailer is another man that started out a conspiracy believer to later throw in the towel and side with the status quo.  With an ego so huge that hardly any books can bear the weight of it, the great man of American Letters tackles the character of Oswald in his usual infuriating way.  Infuriating, meaning at certain junctures he injects metaphors better suited for fiction.  He refers to Oswald as a ghost, the First Ghost he says.  Oh brother, I cringe.

Unfortunately, it’s all the same old song and dance with the same old tired conclusions.   Mailer makes a valiant attempt in trying to peer into the soul and consciousness of Lee H. Oswald despite his lack of psychiatric credentials.  Mailer offers his reader the standard account of the shiftless, troubled loser with delusions of grandeur dreaming of making his mark on history.  However, there is one stumbling block Mailer trips over as many others have before him–that stumbling block is motive.  There basically isn’t one and everybody knows it.  Oswald never expressed any dislike or ill will towards Kennedy.  So Mailer will have to put on his Dr. Phil hat and soldier on with the delusions of grandeur profile.  And like Bugliosi, Posner, and O’Reilly, he ignores the controversial events of Oswald’s life, including what if he was being impersonated, what if he was a possible government operative, and what was going on with the Mexico city trip? He instead opts for the standard accounting, albeit with literary flourishes that only an author like Norman Mailer can type up. 

#5 Blood, Money & Power by Barr McClellan
Barr McClellan’s book covering the LBJ did-it-theory.  There have been many written on this angle, and this one is among the worst. McClellan states up front that we can never know the exact details for the conspiracy hatched between Johnson and his attorney Edward Clark.  So he tells his readers that he will make use of “historical fiction” for those parts.  Isn’t that special?  This is the main reason one should never use this book as a source. Unfortunately, many LBJ conspiracy authors do. 

Lyndon Johnson is indeed a character worth considering in conspiracy as he was one of the most conspiratorial men that ever lived.  A supreme manipulator of people and events he was a master of everything that crossed his path.  He did so many bad things in his life, and was such a disreputable character totally devoid of scruples that it boggles the mind in regards to what he got away with.  Or for that matter, how he could live with himself. (Apparently not an easy thing with his psychotic breaks covered up as “exhaustion.”) If there was ever an unindicted criminal running loose it was LBJ.  But karma works and it all came grinding to a halt when the Marines landed in Vietnam.  Knee deep in big muddy and Big Fool says to push on, sang Pete Seeger.  A classic case of having the chickens come home to roost.  Oh boy, did they ever!

Barr McClellan’s account is pairing of Lyndon Johnson with his co-conspirator attorney Edward Clark, the only man the author says that Johnson ever trusted.  The duo starts their alliance early on in the careers of each with Clark being instrumental in keeping Johnson out of his various predicaments, especially the major vote rigging in the 1948 senate race.  McClellan gets hired by the Clark law firm so his intent here is to provide the reader with inside information on how it all went down.  But as stated above, some of this narrative is going to be made up by the author since he doesn’t have access to all the facts.  He claims he is told cryptic statements from law firm partners, John Coates and Don Thomas, about how Clark arranged the assassination of Kennedy.  Well, that would let LBJ largely off the hook if he is not scheming too.  If it happened this way, boy, did the CIA and other enemies get lucky.

The actual details of the assassination are a mixture of fact, fiction, and nonsense.  In this scenario, Oswald is paired with another shooter, one Malcolm Wallace.  McClellan alleges he is LBJ’s personal hit-man and there is some truth to that.  Wallace was arrested for the murder of a local golf pro and told a detective he had to return to Washington as he worked for LBJ.  Later, he got off with a slap on the wrist, never serving any time for the homicide.  Even in terms of Texas law that was a blatant misuse of justice.  Anyway, according to McClellan, Wallace sneaks in the school book building and makes his way to the sixth floor to team up with Oswald.  Here things get out of kilter. McClellan has Oswald taking the first shot that misses, but strangely, not the one you might think.  Meanwhile, Mac Wallace shoots and hits Kennedy in the back, with the bullet passing through to break up and incredibly, send a fragment to wound James Tague standing on Commerce street.  Wow, more crazy physics than the Magic Bullet Theory!   Oswald’s second shot hits Gov. Connelly in the back causing all of his injuries.

But he’s not done yet!  McClellan has an anonymous character named “Junior” available from the grassy knoll for the kill shot.  Not much on this guy other than Junior is supposed to be a crack shot.  He pulls the trigger and the assassination is completed.  Junior disappears into history, or rather, into McClellan’s fantasy world. Malcolm Wallace sneaks out wearing a dark suit and flashes his Secret Service credentials to anybody nearby in another make-believe incident.  And Oswald, well, we all know what happens to him. 

So there you have the essentials of this awful book.  Presenting stories as history, complete with invented dialog, is absurd and the real facts get lost in the clutter.  So much is left out, particularly Oswald’s life and the employment of Jack Ruby to silence him.  It’s all LBJ and his crooked lawyer and few others have a play in this, especially the usual suspects–Mob, CIA, Russians, Cubans, and so on.  So few people are involved, there’s hardly a plot to muster up.   And the bit about Mac Wallace’s bullet disintegrating resulting in Tague’s wounding is weird and not supported by any facts or any other research.  McClellan doesn’t cite anything on this improbable happening for proof.  And Junior?  Could he be one of the good ole’ boys working down at the local Jiffy Lube?

To think what Barr McClellan could have written on LBJ’s involvement, if any, in the assassination.  He was given the opportunity to be employed by Johnson’s law film but apparently, did not have enough access to properly research the subject.  When it comes down to it, he’s really out of the loop.  He does mention one tantalizing thing–the top floor of the law firm is where the files of the clients are stored.  And way in the back, under a special lock, are all the files pertaining to Lyndon Baines Johnson.  Oh, what a treasure trove lies concealed there!

#4 Ultimate Sacrifice by Lamar Waldron
I feel sort of sorry for Lamar Waldron. He’s sort of a Don Quixote figure in the annals of JFK research.  Like Quixote, he suffers from serious lapses of judgement in both professional and personal life.  Billed as the “Ultimate JFK Historian” Waldron has co-authored several books on the JFK assassination from the “Mob did it” angle making him the leading authority.  His books are filled with unnamed sources, questionable scholarship, and poor citing of references.  Probably his most remarkable claim, along with co-author Thom Hartmann, is of an alleged second planned invasion of Cuba set for December 1st, 1963 called “C-Day.”  This C-Day plot is not alluded to by any other researchers and there isn’t any documentation that I know that has been cited on this. It’s a bunch of hokum.  David Talbot, author of Brothers, asked Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara if he was aware of such an event and he said he was not. 

One troublesome area of Waldron’s version of the Kennedy assassination is the notion that JFK and Bobby were deeply involved in this Cuban plot; either turn Castro by peaceful means or send in people to knock him off.  So if they are in league with the anti-Castro Cubans and the Mob to accomplish this, then why would they murder JFK a few days before the invasion?  It doesn't make sense.  The proof for this and other scenarios is flimsy at best.

For Lamar Waldron, the Mob is responsible for many conspiracies from the JFK assassination to Watergate.  While many have documented a lot of CIA machinations, they always get a pass from Waldron. His recent book on Nixon and Watergate, the Mob pops up again to ensnare Nixon, although Nixon is supposed to be good buddies with them going back years. 

Picking on the Mob does have its advantages.  For example, Lamar Waldron gets very good reviews for his books in the mainstream media while virtually all conspiracy authors of JFK books get largely ignored.  As we know from the Church Committee hearings the CIA spent millions of dollars–under the table money–to buy off editors and writers in mainstream media outlets.  No wonder Waldron gets such high praise.  The CIA will never get their dirty linens exposed. 

In the end, Lamar Waldron blows a lot of smoke with his Mob fantasies not to mention creating cooked up scenarios that are inadequately documented.

#3 Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly
I remember the days when Bill O’Reilly was a reporter for Inside Edition and did some hard hitting pieces on the JFK assassination.  I wish the old Bill O’Reilly that looked into this case with a critical eye would have returned here for an encore.  Sadly, that’s a thing of the past.  Now being a major media figure on FOX he’s gone to the dark side of the Force.  Do they have some pictures on this guy?  Anyway, this book, co-authored with Martin Dugard (who probably did all the work) is another rehashing of the assassination from the Warren Commission perspective of a lone gunman and no conspiracy.  It follows the standard path of Poser and Bugliosi which is to cherry pick the evidence and in O’Reilly/Dugard’s exposition, ignore everything that has happened since the Warren Report was issued in 1964. That would include Ramsey Report, the Rockefeller Commission, Jim Garrison’s investigation and trial of Clay Shaw, the Church Committee hearings, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) investigation in the late 1970’s, the late 90‘s Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) release of files and sworn witness testimony, and the other released documents gained from FOIA requests made by independent researchers.  I should also add the 26 volumes of Warren Commission hearings and collected evidence as well since documents there contradict the final report.  Of course, the lone nut gang must take this path to make sure the lone gunman theory appears viable.  They treat the Warren Report as if it’s a holy document; the Word of God comes down from the mountain top, above reproach.

It’s really a bad book because it is agenda driven and leaves out any evidence that points to a conspiracy, or for that matter, anything that gives us insight to a different Lee Oswald than what we’ve been told. Talk about beating a dead horse, O’Reilly/Dugard even have Oswald proclaimed as a “crack shot” for heaven’s sake!  Even a first grader knows that’s a joke.

It’s a huge bestseller mainly because Bill O’Reilly used his position on a top rated cable news show to send it to the top of the charts, otherwise this empty suit of a JFK book would be in the discount bin with Reclaiming History and Case Closed.  It will probably be the best selling t​ome ever for the official government sanctioned account.  But that will be its only claim to fame. 

#2 Reclaiming History by Vince Bugliosi

Vince Bugliosi, the man who single handedly changed the image of peaceful, harmless hippies into demonic, zoned-out crazies, tries his hand at Warren Commission defense in this 1,600+ page tome. Weighing in at around 5 pounds don’t drop it on your foot–I did and it hurt! Commonly referred to as a door-stop, it certainly fulfills this purpose. As far as reframing Oswald for John Kennedy’s murder it serves that purpose as well, though Bugliosi has to pull a host of clever lawyer tricks out of his hat and constantly move the goalposts around to score his points. The Straw Men get the hell beat out of them forcing these fellows to wish they were made of stronger stuff. The book starts out reasonably well but it’s not long before the nasty Bugliosi shows up to insult and ridicule critics of the official story in every way imaginable. So obsessed with lampooning critics as “conspiracy theorists” at times he goes off the rails and starts accusing people of conspiracy theory who don’t even invent theories. People such as Dr. David Mantik who simply went to the National Archives and discovered that some of the x-rays of JFK were apparent frauds. That is not a theory but a fact. Never mind, Dr. Mantik is labeled a theorist anyway.

The trouble with Bugliosi’s arguments is they look good at first till you start digging deeper. A good example, goal post shifting is when he states that if there is a shooter on the grassy knoll his angle is off, meaning his shot would pass through Kennedy’s head from ear to ear–not from front to back. This seems logical. However, the only way he accomplishes this is by placing the shooter at the wrong place behind the picket fence to begin with. He has to do this since he has dumped all witness testimony, over 50 witnesses, who heard shots coming from the knoll. All nice and tidy tricks till you ponder it. 

As many have said, Reclaiming History is a prosecutorial brief. “Oswald is guilty as sin,” begins the esteemed prosecutor. And that indeed, is all this book is ever going to be. It’ll never be an objective investigation into what happened or the possibility that Oswald was innocent. History in this book is a backdrop to the linear path to Oswald’s guilt. There is no drama to take place here as Bugliosi has let his reader know what the end result will be. He tries to convince the reader that the Magic Bullet Theory really does make sense. That the Zapruder film really does show Kennedy shot from the back, despite what your lying eyes tell you. And if you don’t believe him, you aren’t very bright. The contrary evidence and witness testimony has to be dumped to make all of this plausible. However, the members of the Lone Nut crowd all do this. Anything that looks suspicious is just coincidence or a fluke. 

Reclaiming History is a book to fool the people that haven’t studied the Kennedy assassination in any depth. I have the sense that Vincent Bugliosi is a devious character. He was sued for slander in the early 1970’s and had to pay a $12,500 settlement to his former milkman. Bugliosi used the powers of his office to stalk the guy, get his unlisted phone number, and generally badmouth him all over. Why? Because he thought the milkman was shagging his wife. Whoa there! So if you want to believe anything this peculiar man has to say, it’s up to you.

Vince Bugliosi, the man who single handedly changed the image of peaceful, harmless hippies into demonic, zoned-out crazies, tries his hand at Warren Commission defense in this 1,600+ page tome. Weighing in at around 5 pounds don’t drop it on your foot–I did and it hurt! Commonly referred to as a door-stop, it certainly fulfills this purpose. As far as reframing Oswald for John Kennedy’s murder it serves that purpose as well, though Bugliosi has to pull a host of clever lawyer tricks out of his hat and constantly move the goal posts around to score his points. The Straw Men get the hell beat out of them forcing these fellows to wish they were made of stronger stuff. The book starts out reasonably well but it’s not long before the nasty Bugliosi shows up to insult and ridicule critics of the official story in every way imaginable. So obsessed with lampooning critics as “conspiracy theorists” at times he goes off the rails and starts accusing people of conspiracy theory who don’t even invent theories. People such as Dr. David Mantik who simply went to the National Archives and discovered that some of the x-rays of JFK were apparent frauds. That is not a theory but a fact. Never mind, Dr. Mantik is labeled a theorist anyway.

The trouble with Bugliosi’s arguments is they look good at first till you start digging deeper. A good example, goal post shifting is when he states that if there is a shooter on the grassy knoll his angle is off, meaning his shot would pass through Kennedy’s head from ear to ear–not from front to back. This seems logical. However, the only way he accomplishes this is by placing the shooter at the wrong place behind the picket fence to begin with. He has to do this since he has dumped all witness testimony, over 50 witnesses, who heard shots coming from the knoll. All nice and tidy trick till you ponder it. 

As many have said, Reclaiming History is a prosecutorial brief. “Oswald is guilty as sin,” begins the esteemed prosecutor. And that indeed, is all this book is ever going to be. It’ll never be an objective investigation into what happened or the possibility that Oswald was innocent. History in this book is a backdrop to the linear path to Oswald’s guilt. There is no drama to take place here as Bugliosi has let his reader know what the end result will be. He tries to convince the reader that the Magic Bullet Theory really does make sense. That the Zapruder film really does show Kennedy shot from the back, despite what your lying eyes tell you. And if you don’t believe him, you aren’t very bright. The contrary evidence and witness testimony has to be dumped to make all of this plausible. However, the members of the Lone Nut crowd all do this. Anything that looks suspicious is just coincidence or a fluke. 

Reclaiming History is a book to fool the people that haven’t studied the Kennedy assassination in any depth. I have the sense that Vincent Bugliosi is a devious character. He was sued for slander in the early 1970’s and had to pay a $12,500 settlement to his former milkman. Bugliosi used the powers of his office to stalk the guy, get his unlisted phone number, and generally badmouth him all over. Why? Because he thought the milkman was shagging his wife. Whoa there! So if you want to believe anything this peculiar man has to say, it’s up to you.

Vinc​ent​ Bugliosi RIP, 1934-2015

#1 Case Closed by Gerald Posner 
They seem to promote guys like Gerald Posner every decade.  He was the 90’s poster boy for Warren Commission defense.  Vincent Bugliosi was picked for the role in the first decade of the 21st century.  Bill O’Reilly gets the honor for the second decade.  Posner still has his boyish looks all these years later though his face has been resharpened so many times he’s developed that plastic look of an android.  Looks aside, his book takes the Numero Uno slot as the worst book ever in JFK assassination literature.  Why?  ​L​et me count the ways.

Posner had no background in JFK research and it shows.  Like the others that have followed, Posner uses the same sleight of hand tricks to insure Oswald’s guilt. (Yes, he’s another lawyer.)  He omits facts, has easily proven errors in evidence and logic, and generally makes stuff up.  There are wrong dates, erroneous names, even geographical locations are misapplied.  His book is in effect, an attempt to discredit everybody or anything that reeks of conspiracy in the case.  And with a lap dog press he got away with it for a while till the Internet appeared to unveil the trickery.

One of Posner’s worst acts is to claim interviews with people that later state they never spoke to him, such as star witness James Tague who Posner has three citations on.  Tague said he never met or spoke to him.  Tague was one of many people that have come forward outing Posner on bogus interview claims.

Basically, Posner is a hack, brought on board with promises of unprecedented access to CIA files.  The CIA being the duplicitous bunch they are, used him for a foil.  One silly flub was when Posner stated on a cable TV documentary that he had documents proving that Oswald and David Ferrie were not in the CAP together at the same time.  He states the same thing in his book as well.  Then later a picture emerged of both of them at a CAP outdoor meeting.  Oops!  Posner was fooled about Ferrie getting kicked out of the CAP in the mid 1950‘s, ignoring that Ferrie started his own branch in another town which apparently the 14 year-old Oswald joined.  Actually, Posner’s mistakes got so bad even Bugliosi had to take him to task in his book for numerous errors. 

One more thing.  Posner resorts to using computer aided studies conducted by Failure Analysis Associates, to prove the lone bullet theory.  He makes it appear he commissioned the firm to do this work for him.  FAA in turn, refutes any of these claims. It was actually data created for the American Bar Association's mock trial of Oswald, and both sides used it.  Oh, and by the way, Oswald was not convicted in the mock trial.

In later years Posner got in trouble for plagiarism and had to hire an attorney  (Mark Lane of all people!).  None of this is surprising considering Posner’s machinations committed in Case Closed.  It all finally caught up with him.  Karma is a lady not to be trifled with.


And there you have it.  My eight of the worst JFK assassination books of all time.  I could have enlarged greatly, such as JFK and UFOs and so on but decided to pass on wading through that cesspool.  I’ll update the list in the future should I find books that are even more offensive than the ones listed here.  There probably are.