The Rise of the Fourth Reich - ThereAreNoSunglasses

230 THE RISE OF THE FOURTH REICHreleased in 1977 stated that Hoover had concluded that Lee Harvey Oswaldwas the assassin and was “a mean-minded individual . . . in the categoryof a nut.” The evening of the assassination, Hoover told LyndonJohnson’s aide Walter Jenkins, “The thing I am concerned about . . . ishaving something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is thereal assassin.”Within days of Kennedy’s death, the same forces opposing his policiesbegan to promulgate the official theory for his death—a lone assassin sufferinga “strain of madness and violence” fired at the president from thesixth floor of a book warehouse, striking him twice out of three shots firedwithin six seconds, despite the fact that the target was 265 feet away, movinglaterally and downhill away from the shooter, and an evergreen treeobscured the line of sight.“Within a couple of days, Alan Belmont of the FBI was pushing the‘Oswald did it alone’ conclusion and shortly thereafter McCloy and Dulleswere settling the dust with the same conclusion,” wrote Gibson. Based onWhite House telephone transcripts released only thirty years after theassassination, Gibson noted a cohesive effort on the part of prominentpeople to push for a presidential commission that would cement thelone- assassin theory: “Between November 25th and 28th, LBJ was transformedfrom opponent of to promoter of a commission. It is clear that anumber of people acted to bring about this change. [Dean of Yale LawSchool] Eugene Rostow brought up the idea initially, to both [presidentialspecial assistant] Bill Moyers and [deputy attorney general Nicholas]Katzenbach. Rostow discussed this with at least one unidentified personin the minutes immediately following Oswald’s death. [Journalist] JosephAlsop applied pressure to LBJ less than 24 hours later. If Alsop is to bebelieved, and there is no reason to doubt this, Dean Acheson was also involvedin developing and promoting the idea [Alsop said he had discussedthe matter with Acheson apparently in an effort to impress Johnson thathigh-level people thought well of the idea of a commission]. Other immediatesupporters appear to include both [Washington Post managing editor]Alfred Friendly and [Post owner] Katherine Graham.”“The venue for the McCloy-Dulles work was the [Warren] Commissioncreated at the instigation of Rostow, Alsop, and Acheson. The cover-