ight-page article by New Orleans writer recalls promise of Garrison investigation and its unravelling. Places blame on Garrison’s ambition and elusiveness that continued even after the Shaw trial. Explains Garrison and Oliver Stone’s motivation based on “restoring” innocent pre-Dallas-America that, Lemann contends, wasn’t that innocent. Misguided linking of JFK removal to the escalation in Vietnam disingenuous attempt to make Kennedy’s death into something more than it was. Companion eight-page article “The Man Who Shot JFK” by Jennet Conant concentrates on Oliver Stone and his soon-to-appear JFK movie. Notes Stone’s “cinematic overkill” style, absence of “gray areas” and Capraesque simplification; and with JFK the Rashomon technique. Miscast Costner believes in “emotional truth of the movie, the aspects above and beyond Garrison.”

Author of Inquest and Counterplot recalls firsthand Jim Garrison’s abuse of office in attempt to frame Clay Shaw. Uses recent advances in research to deflate Garrison’s suspicions. Garrison preferred “to focus on the evidence that was missing rather than on what had been revealed … since he could without fear of refutation sketch out on the former whatever design he envisioned.” See Epstein’s take on Oliver Stone. (lead-off page shown)

pecial Double Issue showcases massive 32-page cover story promoting Gerald Posner’s much-anticipated Case Closed. Abridged excerpts from the book are entitled “The Sniper’s Nest” and “The Magic Bullet.” Introduction “The Man With the Deadly Smirk” by Gerald Parshall profiles Oswald and overviews Posner’s efforts to reconcile the evidence to conspiracy allegations. Side-boxes (themed “Debunking the Myths”) cover “The Lunchroom Debate,” “A Shaggy-Dog Story,” “Three Men in a Green Pickup,” “The Umbrella Man” and “The Numbers Game.” Other boxes describe “Lee and the KGB,” “The Wrath of Sheba’s Master,” “The File Clerk From Hell,” “Radio Daze on Capitol Hill,” “The Corsican Connection,” “The Puff of Smoke” and “The Jet Effect.” Large cutaway graphics explore “The Getaway,” “The $12 Rifle,” “The Three Shots” and “The Shattered Myths.” Good number of familiar photos and a few Zapruder stills.

mpressive 27-page cover story by staff of Newsweek and CBS Reports that probes self-serving actions of government agencies and principals in the week following the assassination. Ramifications launched 30-years of public suspicion about “cover-up” over murder involvement. Includes “The Day That Changed America” by Michael Beschloss, “The Real Cover-Up” by Evans Thomas, “The Mind of the Assassin” by Melinda Beck, “I Wanted to be a Hero” (on Jack Ruby) and “True Disbelievers” (on JFK conspiracy theorists). Two-page Dealey Plaza aerial overlays route and projects shots; two-page chart quantifies “The Conspiracy Theories.”

Fort Worth researcher re-creates the events in Dealey Plaza through computer-generated 3-D animation based on frame-by-frame interpolation of the Zapruder film. Using the “correct” wound sites as determined by the HSCA Pathology Panel, Myers confirms the Single-Bullet Theory and dismisses a head shot from the front. Myers effectively exposes the Dillard/Powell box-shifting at the corner window as a simple difference in perspective. Myers wrote the 1998 book With Malice about Oswald’s murder of Officer Tippit.

Concise 17-page article dismisses Stone’s JFK movie as “a dubious piece of scaremongering” and concedes the Single-Bullet Theory “phenomenon can occur.” Presents only anecdotal evidence of “conspiracy” and a wound “more at the back of the head than the side.” Rehashes old conspiracy positions on Oswald’s rifle, marksmanship, alibi, lack of motive, New Orleans, etc. Includes John Newman’s comments on the files releases by the ARRB. Anthony Summers wrote the 1980 book Conspiracy. (lead-off page shown)

our-page academic review of Norman Mailer’s book Oswald’s Tale. Manner of intrusive writing mimics that of Theodore Dreiser, author of 1925 An American Tragedy, utilized as the subtitle of Mailer’s book. Minutia over secret police, Soviet morales and sex border on obsessive but fascinate. Lunacy of Soviet world intermingles with lunacy of Oswald’s psyche. Marina’s exposure to both lunacies explains her casual compliance with taking photos of Lee posing with weapons and his confessing to her shooting at Walker. Mailer’s blending of “fact-accumulation” and lunacy places the Kennedy assassination, in Cold War context, as “merely an exceptional nutty episode.” Berman ponders rationale for dangling Marina’s supposed promiscuity and dismisses allusion to Oswald’s homosexuality as “guesswork.” Oswald’s Tale first “novelistic” dismissal of conspiracy, true to its subtitle, which more-conventionally ought to have read “An American Mystery.” (inside page shown)

even-page article by California researcher concerning conspiracy revelations in documents released through the Assassination Records Review Board. The medical evidence receives the most attention. San Franciso physician Dr. Gary Aguilar cites newly-available HSCA interviews with Bethesda witnesses that indicate the gaping head wound was behind the right ear. Since the official autopsy photos and X-rays, authenticated by JFK autopsists Humes and Boswell in 1966, contradict that location, Aguilar concludes fear compelled the pathologists to “knowingly sign a false declaration.” Other material revealed the CIA placed Oswald on their “watch list” following his 1959 defection to the Soviet Union. Maryland historian Dr. John Newman explored such leads in his 1995 book Oswald and the CIA, concluding Oswald became operational within the CIA. A Hoover memo released in 1992 warned the State Department of the possibility that Oswald, then overseas, was being impersonated. (lead-off page shown)

ritish magazine series that shadowed the success of the US TV hit The X Files. Mostly UFOs, paranormal, “faked” moon landings and corporate suppression. Lead article of this issue featured six pages on the Kennedy assassination, for which conspiracy “is no longer in doubt.” Presents Best Evidence theory, along with claims by McClelland and Custer; and a color Left Profile autopsy photo from the “Robert Groden Archives.” Concedes Garrison failed to link Shaw to Dallas or the mob (“who are now considered key players in the assassination”) but death of Ferrie pointed to CIA, and Garrison exposed Commission’s inadequacies. Presented are CIA/Mafia plots (William Harvey), Trafficante/Marcello vendettas and HSCA findings on Ruby’s mob ties. Ron Lewis (Flashback) interviewed in box about Oswald disclosing plot to him in new Orleans months before assassination. Zapruder frame on cover reprinted larger inside, with caption on Life’s restrictive acquisition, Dan Rather’s mix-up and printing transposition in Hearings. Nice overview of compelling conspiracy evidence that’s not distracted by over-sensationalism.

hree pages showcase color Zapruder frames from “new, digitally enhanced version,” referring to the (unacknowledged) Image of an Assassination video just released. Largely concerning the Single-Bullet Theory, as frames of the head strike and explosion were not published “out of respect to Kennedy family.” Robert Groden and Prof. David Wrone offer their analysis, concluding JFK was hit by bullets from the front and rear. First shot came at frame 164 (most place the missed shot a few frames earlier), narrowly missing JFK but averting his attention from waving to the crowd. Three frames (183, 199, 204) pinpoint Philip Willis taking his photo, suggesting his recollection was right that he had heard the first shot before bringing his camera up. Frame 189 shows the President react to a bullet from the front hitting him in the throat; frame 225 reveals his face contorted in pain. A shot from behind hits JFK at frame 230; at 238, Connally is hit causing his shoulder to buckle and cheeks to puff. No mention of the Governor’s lapel flip at frames 223/224 as highlighted in Groden’s 1993 The Killing of a President, which termed Connally’s 238 reactions a continuation from 224, not an initial strike. Groden contends frame 273 (274 was used in 1993) shows Connally’s wrist unbloodied, suggesting a bullet had yet to strike it; however, the wrist is unnaturally bend indicating paralysis and most of the blood would have initially appeared at the exit site away from Zapruder’s view. Wrone uses three frames showing Jackie on the limo deck to demonstrate “her remarkable courage and presence of mind,” suggesting Jackie reached for bone fragments and sought help from the agent climbing aboard. Cover photo colorized version of that taken on Main St. by AP photographer James Altgens.

ennsylvania forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht comments on recent medical disclosures uncovered by the Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board. Among claims: Finck’s handwritten autopsy notes disappeared; autopsy photographer John T. Stringer believes brain photos not taken by him; film developer Saundra Spencer suspects official photos may be substitutions; autopsy covered-up Kennedy’s Addison’s disease. “This is dynamite stuff,” says the bombastic Wecht. The left-profile autopsy photo accompanied the nearly full-page article. (full article shown)

a one-page article, Stolley recounts his role in the purchase of the Zapruder film, honoring Zapruder’s fears that it not be exploited in a “crude and tasteless way.” Finds ironic the Zapruder family’s demand for $18.5 million from the federal government in compensation for turning over the ownership of the original film to the National Archives. Four pages given to color frame enlargements that show some of the neglected sprocket-hole information. One jarring artifact is an “actual size” strip showing just how much enlargement of the 8mm film is necessary. (inside page shown)

uarterly magazine from the Skeptics Society, formed to challenge pseudo-science and speculative knowledge, devotes 20 pages to two opposing views on the Kennedy assassination. “Tragedy on Elm Street” by Nick Gerlich examines and refutes some of the major conspiracy contentions, including Zapruder film alteration, opposition to the Single-Bullet Theory, the Garrison case, and Oswald as counter-intelligence agent. The various conspiracy theories as to motive are dismissed as “basic innuendo.” Blames Oswald’s “questionable mental state” and the Kennedy family’s secretness for much of the loose ends that fueled the speculation. Conspiracy theories flourish in absence of a burden of proof, with infighting and wild speculation undermining effort. “Case Still Open” by Arthur and Margaret Synder concentrates on exposing inconsistencies and failings in Posner’s Case Closed, whose appearance of credibility rests on evidence that was “cut-to-fit.” Disputes Posner’s tendering neuromuscular spasm, and Luis Alvarez’s jet-effect and Zapruder “jiggle analysis.“ The Synders endorse Phil Willis’ claim that the first shot occurred as he was taking his Z202 photo (but the photo captured individuals already turned sharply behind in response to the first shot, which Posner reasonably placed at about Z160). Semantic nitpicking abound, as well as the implication that Posner was too selective; for example: not assigning a shot to all blur episodes in the Zapruder film, no matter how minor. Single-Bullet Theory, neutron activation analysis and autopsy issues also examined.

leven-page article taken from Mallon’s book Mrs. Paine’s Garage, released the following year. Mallon updates researchers on the Quaker housewife who sheltered Lee Oswald’s family in the fall of 1963. Ruth Paine—now 69 and living in St. Petersburg, Florida—tells Mallon of her relationship with the Oswalds and the decades of suspicion towards her that followed. Ruth admits to some gullibility, as when she never thought Lee might have been a defector when they first met or just what she was getting into when she offered Marina help. Paine was the one responsible for getting the lead that turned into Oswald working at the Depository. Right up until the moment she answered the door for police on the day of the assassination, Ruth suspected nothing. But, with her usual eloquence and political awareness, Paine endured the shock of the full knowledge and displayed stamina in the glare of police and press. The point is made that Robert Oswald, a Southwesterner, was struck with the Paines “as very odd characters for these parts.” Mallon goes on: “And what yesterday had looked merely eccentric, now seemed decidedly sinister.” Marina’s abrupt estrangement from Ruth is put down to Robert’s influence; which developed into a brief affair. Mallon writes: “Marina was now subject to both Robert’s viewpoint and her own shame; the two conditions conspired to lock out her old friend.” Of Marina’s current conspiratorial views, Ruth laments “I thought she was a better thinker than that.” But Ruth should had known from her own brushes that Marina was easily manipulated; or is Paine the ultimate realistic optimist? (inside page shown)