Sixty Years Ago

I don't think Oswald or Ruby were acting as part of a larger conspiracy, but I think they probably imagined they were.

I was reminded of Ruby with the Rockford Files episode some 15 years later, "Just A Couple of Guys from Jersey," in which two loser-schmuck wannabe gangsters come up with the bright idea of killing some other schmo, because they think it will impress the big crime boss (who is decidedly less than impressed when he becomes a "person of interest" in connection with the murder).

I don't think anybody higher up told Ruby to kill Oswald, I think he thought he would be doing somebody a big favor by doing so. As noted, because of the details of the killing, I don't think he probably put a lot of detailed thinking into it.

While I do remember the events of 11/22 in great detail, I don't think our family was watching the Oswald shooting on live TV on 11/24 as many say they were.

First of all, the only live coverage of the shooting was on NBC, and we didn't get NBC on our home TV until later in the 60s -- we could only get NBC on a very fuzzy and hazy station, and then only after fooling with the antennas for 20 minutes.

Second, at the time of the Oswald shooting, we would almost certainly have been at church or coming back home.

What I remember of the Oswald shooting was, we learned of it essentially after the fact -- we turned on the TV to reports, "Oswald has been shot, he's dead." They showed the video clips later in the day.

As I remember there was somewhat of a fractured shouted conversation between my parents, one in the living room, the other in the kitchen:
"My god. There was a shooting involving Oswald when they tried to move him between jail buildings."
"What, Oswald shot somebody else? Did he try to escape?"
"No, Oswald was the one who got shot."

Remember, in the reports that came out Saturday about Oswald's arrest and attempted escape involving the killing of Dallas cop Tippit, the public perception was that Oswald was some kind of soldier of fortune gunman -- capable of anything. So it was probably imaginable he would try to grab a gun and shoot his way out. The truth we quickly learned was significantly less dramatic.

 

One other story that I remember a college professor told us:

The night JFK was shot, LBJ went to the Oval Office and asked that the stationary be updated with his name as President. JFK’s staffers were like, “the son of a bitch couldn’t even wait until he’s in the grave first?”

Then the staffers found out later that LBJ wanted the updated stationary so he could write a condolence letter to JFK’s kids.

 

"The thrust of it [the series] was for me to make my case as to what I believed happened. In putting it all together, we found that our discussion, because we fundamentally disagree, didn’t move my interpretation of the events forward."

 

Visited Dealey Plaza this year. It's remarkably compact, and easy to see how a trained shooter with a scope could hit the mark. It's less than a hundred yards from window to target.

 

The thought of Mike Lombardi being in this discussion with Posner makes me laugh really hard.

“Mike Lombardi is going to unmask the Illuminati…but first, Pearl Jam.”


https://x.com/mlombardiNFL/status/1727443819191579116?s=20

 

Yep. He was right on top of the motorcade.

 

Kennedy staffers as a whole were assholes to LBJ. Who was a much-more competent President than JFK. The amount of life-changing legislation passed by the Johnson administration is absolutely staggering.

 

Wow. At least he’s candid in gutting his credibility.
In the first episode, the podcast calls out a memo from a deputy AG that essentially says, “The Warren Commission’s job is to conclude that Oswald acted alone.” Turns out that the podcast was doing the same thing.

 

I do not think Jack Ruby just woke up on a Sunday morning and decided, "You know what, I think I'll infiltrate a police station and shoot Oswald."

 

It was. But then, the 1965 Congress did begin with a 68-32 Democratic Senate and a 295-140 Democratic House. You could have passed Medicare for all and a drag queen in every pot if you wanted to with that makeup.

Even better, picture the 1937 Senate today:

 

He was at the police station many times before that, including when Oswald spoke to reporters the day before the shooting.

 

He did not, however, shout Oswald's name as he shot him (like in JFK). He didn't speak.