Media Coverage of the Arrest of Oswald
From: blackburst@aol.com (Blackburst)
Date: 10/23/00 11:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id: <20001023233615.04543.00001256@ng-fb1.aol.com>
Here are a few "first mentions" from the NBC book "Seventy Hours and Thirty Minutes". Times are converted to CST:
1:36 "The shots came from a building called the Texas School Book Depository"
1:45 "The shots came from the right rear and struck the President's head"
1:49 "A Dallas policeman has been shot to death two miles from the scene of the assassination. A suspect is now in custody"
2:00 "The assassin fired shots from a fourth floor window...The President was struck in the right temple by the bullet"
2:13 "The weapon which was used to kill the President and which wounded Governor Connally has been found in the Texas School Book Depository on the sixth floor - a British 303 rifle with a telescopic sight. Three empty cartridge cases were dound beside the weapon."
2:15 "A white man in his early twenties has been taken into custody for the shooting of a Dallas policeman in the Riverside section of Fort Worth...Reports now indicate that a German Mauser has been found."
3:15 "The police received a tip that the man who shot and killed the policeman entered a movie theater...The man has been captured."
3:23 "There is little doubt that 24-year old Lee Oswald, the suspect picked up earlier, is the slayer of the Dallas policeman. Eyewitnesses report that Oswald brandished a pistol and shouted 'It's all over now'. Oswald worked as a stock man at the Depository and is reported to be a defector. He is the same man picked up earlier in the theater."
3:26: "Lee Harvey Oswald, the man picked up in the theater, applied for Russian citizenship on Nov. 1, 1959. He is married to a Russian woman. Dallas Police say the 24-year old Oswald shot and killed Officer J.D. Tippit and might be connected to the assassination of President Kennedy."
3:54 "Lee Oswald seems to be the prime suspect in the assassination of John F. Kennedy."
4:36 "Photograph: Lee Harvey Oswald, the prime suspect in the murder of President Kennedy."
4:44 "Suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was a member of a pro-Castro committee in New Orleans, and had renounced his US citizenship. In a gunfight with two Dallas policemen, he shot and killed one of them, saying 'It's all over now'. Oswald was an employee of the building where the sniper's nest was discovered...All circumstantial evidence points to the guilt of the suspect Lee Oswald."
6:00 "Tape (audio only): Interview with Lee Oswald in New Orleans held August 21, 1963 at station WDSU-TV
Huntley: "Oswald had become involved with the police because of his activities with the 'Fair Play for Cuba Committee'. He called himself a Marxist."
6:45 "Tape repeat: Interview with Lee Oswald, station WDSU-TV, New Orleans, this time with sound as well as video...Oswald goes on to explain what he feels are the difference between Marxism and Russian Communism, and outlines the aims of the 'Fair Play for Cuba Committee'."
Should I continue quoting parts of this book?
David
From: blackburst@aol.com (Blackburst)
Subject: Re: Question for anyone
Date: 18 Oct 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <20001017204914.12492.00000094@ng-fx1.aol.com>
[...]
The book "Seventy Hours and Thirty Minutes", an edited presentation of NBC news coverage of the assassination includes this under the 11/22/63, 7:00pm listing:
"Tape (audio only): Interview with Lee Oswald in New Orleans held August 21, 1963 at station WDSU-TV
"HUNTLEY: Oswald had become involved with the police because of his activities with the 'Fair Play for Cuba Committee.' He called himself a Marxist."
At 7:45pm, NBC played the filmed interview with Oswald in New Orleans where he appears as a representative of the FPCC.
The 1993 rebroadcast of "The Kennedy Tapes" on WFAA in Dallas contains several references to the FPCC. While the times are difficult to determine with precision, they occurred several hours before midnight.
Henry Wade's press briefing containing the Ruby correction occurred just after Oswald's midnight press conference. So the news mentions of the FPCC occurred at least 5 hours earlier.
WR342: "Oswald was taken from the room after a brief appearance, and Ruby remained to hear reporters question District Attorney Wade...In answer to one question, Wade said that Oswald belonged to the 'Free Cuba Committee.' A few reporters spoke up correcting Wade and among the voices was that of Jack Ruby."
Oswald identified himself as and FPCC representative in New Orleans to the police, the FBI, the Times Picayune, the States Item, WWl-TV, WDSU radio and WDSU TV. The WDSU materials included a short sound film clip, a 45 minute interview, and a debate. OF COURSE these news organizations came up with this material on the afternoon or evening of 11/22/63, before Wade's comment.
[...]
David