Warren Commission (02 of 26): Hearings Vol. II (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (02 of 26): Hearings Vol. II (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
I think that an openminded investigating and prosecuting agency would
have found, at the outset, in view of the medical evidence available
at the outset, that the President was shot from the front while
facing slightly to the right, and after passing the book depository
building--an openminded investigating body in Dallas, the district
attorney's office or the police, or others who were associated in that
investigation, might have considered abandoning their theory that
Oswald was the assassin and that he acted alone, and might have been
led by the factual data to investigate in other areas as well--clearly
something that they did not do.
I have been informed by reporters, for example, that--reporters from
foreign countries covering the trial, that some of them were very
concerned about the fact that they would now not be able to leave
Dallas, that clearly the airports would be closed, there would be
roadblocks placed on many of the streets, the trains would be stopped
or searched, in order that the assassin or those who assisted him,
or those who assisted the assassins, might be prevented from readily
leaving the entire area.
I am informed by the reporters in the area that there were no such
roadblocks, that planes continued to leave, trains continued to leave,
and that the prosecution continued with its theory that Oswald was the
assassin, that he acted alone, and they had secured his arrest, and
there was nothing more to be done other than to prove as conclusively
as possible, utilizing the press as we know, and the television, and
the radio media for that purpose.
And while I am on this question, I wonder if I might ask the Commission
to give consideration to--although I don't believe that it is
present in any of the six panels which have been established by the
Commission--but to give consideration nevertheless to the 48 hours
in which Oswald was in custody, in reference to what happened to his
rights as an American citizen, charged with a crime in this country.
The statement by the National Board of the American Civil Liberties
Union, that had Oswald lived he could not have secured a fair trial
anywhere in this country.
The CHAIRMAN. You may be sure, Mr. Lane, that that will be given most
serious consideration by the Commission, and the Commission has already
appointed as an act in that direction the President of the American
Bar Association, with such help as he may wish to have, to make an
investigation of that very thing. I assure you it will be done by the
Commission.
Mr. LANE. Getting back to the evidence, Mr. Chief Justice, the
spectator closest to President Kennedy, a Mrs. Hill, who was a
substitute teacher in the Dallas public school system, stated to me
that she was in her view the closest spectator to the President, and
was standing alongside a Mary Moorman, who resides in Dallas.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you have the date of this interview, Mr. Lane?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account