The Engineer Who Knew Lee Harvey Oswald

I remember seeing a serious investigative program about it which showed that he was a perfectly good shot...it showed his score cards or targets and suchike. It also showed that it was very easy to get off all the shots from one rifle in the alloted time thus debunking the myth that 'there had to be a second gunman'

Del

A question about your post. How long in advance before the assasination did Oswald know of the President's route (so that he could plan the event)? I remember at the time (on that day) that there were questions as to what the actual route was going to be since time constraints emerged during the last few hours.

The route was published in two Dallas newspapers on Nov. 19. Before that it had also been mentioned that the route would follow Main Street for part of the way, and the turn from there onto the free way requires the short detour down Houston Street and onto Elm, directly between the Texas Book Depository and the "grassy knoll".

These facts about the route are discussed on a webpage that is part of a larger website debunking JFK assassination conspiracy myths.

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/route.htm

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/home.htm

Thanks, STL Engineer. Glad to have you aboard for this discussion.

Thanks, Moose. But get a load of this....really weird stuff....

Oswald reported for Marine Corps Basic Training on Oct. 26, 1956.....ONE DAY AFTER I WAS BORN!

Oooooooh, spooky! I get chills up my spine just thinking about it!

ROFL

I need to correct one thing I said in my earlier post about Oswald getting work at the place that was directly along the President's route. Oswald had no way of knowing when he was hired on Nov. 15 that the route would take the President's motorcade directly past his place of employment. However, he would find out about this on Nov. 19 when the route was published in the newspaper.

It appears to be, as one writer put it, a "crime of opportunity", with Oswald discovering his "good fortune" in plenty of time to plan the deed.

However, no one living in Dallas, then or now, could have failed to guess correctly that the motorcade would pass by the book depository.

For one, it is the only westwardly exit from the downtown area except one, and that route would have been through a two-lane tunnel (choke point) and an "industrial" area (something the SS [and city leaders trying to show off] would never have allowed.

For another, the leaders and movers and shakers of Dallas have always had a great inferiority complex about how outsiders view their city--still do--and always will. For that reason the route was calculated to keep anything other than "optimal vistas" away from the President's and Jackie's view. Dealy Plaza being one of the more scenic areas of the central business district, it stood to reason that the motorcade would pass through that area.

The only part of the motorcade route that would ever have been in doubt--newspaper report or no--was the route from Love Field to the downtown area. And even that was, for the most part, a no-brainer. There simply wasn't any alternative route which could have accomodated large crowds--and provided rapid evacuation if the need arose.

So it is likely that Oswald could have/would have been prepared and positioned even without reading the newspaper.

What about the meeting between Jack Ruby, Lee Harvey Oswald, Carlos Marcello that took place at a motel dining room in Morgan City, La the week before the assassination? FBI agents interviewed a few people who witnessed the meeting, but I guess that information was buried.

The myth that Jack Ruby did not know and had not ever met Oswald before he shot him was preferred by 'the powers' I guess.

"...a few people who witnessed the meeting,..."

Think it through. Can you not see how such a circumstance—a few (anonymous) people—would have strained even the most naive's credulity? Not to mention that of "hardened" investigators?

Unbeknown to some of you, a private discussion has been taking place via "Mail Messages" regarding, primarily, whether or not LHO had the ability to actually make the shot that killed JFK. Some argued, as have many conspiracy theorists, that Oswald did not have the skill to make such a difficult shot and gave plenty of reasons, including personal marksmanship experience, why it was unlikely that Oswald killed JFK, although he likely participated in the conspiracy. Others argued that, given Oswald's prior training and practice, and other factors, he could easily have made the shot that took the life of the President.

After reading both sides, I decided it was pretty much a moot point, and posted the following comment in a Mail Message to the little group:

First, despite all the arguments on both sides of the question, "Could (or did) LHO make the shot(s) that killed JFK", I would just like to point out that sometimes the only difference between a successful assassin and an unsuccessful one is.....LUCK!

Yes, maybe it WAS a difficult shot. Maybe, all of you experienced riflemen who say the LHO could not do it, or that it was a "once in a lifetime" shot, because YOU could not easily make the shot, were just not lucky, and he was! Maybe, if LHO tried to do it over again, he could have put only one shot out of ten, or one out of one hundred into the target. But then, in his schizophrenic overconfidence, LHO probably did not know that. But then again, that one shot was all he needed! Any other time, or any other day, he might have failed. MIGHT HAVE FAILED! On the other hand, if you think about it, he MIGHT HAVE SUCCEEDED, despite the odds. "Nothing succeeds like success", is the old saying. Think of the unsuccessful assassination attempts, on Gerald Ford, on Ronald Reagan, possibly many other we will never know, BECAUSE THEY WERE UNSUCCESSFUL!

Maybe, if he had missed, LHO might never have been caught. He had bungled an earlier attempt to assassinate right-wing activist and retired Army General Edwin Walker, getting away cleanly and giving the Dallas police no leads to go on. He even got away cleanly from the JFK assassination, and was only arrested after he killed a Dallas police officer, who stopped him because he fit a vague description given by a witness at the JFK assassination. If Oswald had not panicked and shot the officer, he might have been able to talk his way through the routine stop. After all, he had talked his way out of the Texas Schoolbook Depository past two other police officers shortly after the shooting.

Sometimes, it's just a matter of luck, good or bad.

Actually probably not that difficult a shot: shooting downward; and the sniper's nest being well chosen—other windows would have placed the target closer—such that the target moved directly away from the muzzle. Having set the gun pivot and fixed the first shot to a "spot on the street" while lying in wait for the target to pass under the scope (over the street spot), there was essentially no need to "lead the target" (as would have been the case with a traversing target), only to elevate the muzzle in the same vertical plane to deliver the coup-de-grâce round. More than likely, the final shot was easier, in more ways that one, than the first. Moreover, judging by the first shot (which, from an elevated angle could have been intended for the heart), the last could likewise well have been a near miss that found a mortal body organ by happenstance. If this is what really happened, it could be said that the assassin thought it through well when choosing and setting up his "perch," but had a tendency to shoot high. (Whether he himself knew of this tendency and acted accordingly when preparing the deed...another point of fascination that can never be known; even so, there is much evidence to suggest that Oswald was, by habit, a thorough and meticulous planner.

I own the same Carcano rifle, same vintage, same construction and am an experienced shooter. This rifle is one of the worst pieces of junk ever produced. European soldiers who were issued this rifle threw them into the bushes as soon as they could retrieve a different weapon from a dead comrade or enemy.

If I had the money, I would offer a million dollars to an marksman who could duplicate the shot EVEN ONCE. My money would be quite safe.

Why would an intelligent (as many people have described LHO), motivated man, capable of planning out all the other details so well, use a $12 Italian war surplus gun to carry out the most monumental act of his life?

Why would this man, who surely knew he would be captured at some point, and who wanted his "place in history", DENY having done it? John Wilkes Booth stood on the stage in full view of everyone and declared "Death to all tyrants!" THAT is the behavior of this type of assassin.

I have not the slightest idea who shot JFK. But I would stake my life that it WAS NOT Lee harvey Oswald.

T. Caraccio

TCaraccio@Juno.com

"I own the same Carcano rifle, same vintage, same construction and am an experienced shooter. This rifle is one of the worst pieces of junk ever produced."

"I have not the slightest idea who shot JFK. But I would stake my life that it WAS NOT Lee harvey Oswald."

Hmmm....if you are an "experienced shooter" and the rifle owned and used by LHO was such an awful POS (and I am not arguing that it isn't), why the heck would you want to own such a crappy weapon? Probably because you are one of those "conspiracy theorists" who are pre-disposed to believe that LHO did not kill JFK. It sounds like you did not buy this rifle to improve your scores at the range or to make deer-hunting success more likely! Therefore your "expert opinion" is invalidated by the prejudicial mindset you had already developed.

LHO may have been intelligent, motivated, and "capable of planning", but it is plain that he also lacked a certain amount of common sense, suffered from extreme hubris and political naivete, and basically lived in a fantasy world of his own making. He was also, by many accounts, not very well off financially, and the "$12 Italian war surplus gun" may have been the only thing that he could afford. Also, I am no gunsmith, but I do know that a decent scope, properly sighted-in, can make amazing improvements in the accuracy of just about any rifle. Besides, the FBI determined that this particular Carcano was fairly accurate, and at least one other "expert" argues that Oswald could even have made the shots over the iron sights, without the aid of the scope, which would decrease his sighting time, due to the angle of the shot and the direction of the motorcade. For more info on the assassination weapon see the Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination_rifle

This article also describes several tests, both with the LHO gun and with other similar Carcano rifles, which showed that it was NOT impossible to make those shots.

So, my dear Caraccio, your argument just doesn't hold water and I have to say, "No kudos for you. NEXT!"

Damn! Thats Oswald allright! I seen him once when we was doin some trainin out at 29 Palms!

At that time he was one of the fellers that spoke russian! (I never could get the hang of that russian talk). But he was a wiz at it and said it was gonna come in handy after he finished his trainin.

He seemed like a gung ho Marine to me and we all looked at him like he was some kind of 007 in trainin. They even showed him how to drive a car real fast with out gettin killed!

After a while, we had to say good by an he gave my partner a pocket nife as a keepsake and about a week later I won it offa him in a poker game! It's a right nice knife and says on it, "Cadet Airman Lee Oswald, Cadet of the year. Civil Air Patrol." Aint that somethin?! Dont ask me cuz I aint sellin! Fact is Its a right handy nife an I plan on handen it down to one o my grankids.

Well, About whether he actually did it? Hell sure he could have...anybody that trained with him knows that...but I think he was just what he said he was, a Patsey...maybe the patsey of the century but just that and no more.

Think not? Just ask yourself how many times you been one.....

Your Obt. Svt.
Col Korn,
Former WW-2 and Cold War sneaker and peeker,
Now, Chief of Waste removal and security and What not,
OXOjamm Studios, www.OXOjamm.com