I can remember thinking to myself many years ago....if I could choose just one person on the face of the globe whom I would want to have write an in-depth book on the JFK assassination, that one person would be Vincent T. Bugliosi.
"Reclaiming History: The Assassination Of President John F. Kennedy" was published by W.W. Norton and released on May 15, 2007. (The release date was moved up two weeks from the originally-announced publishing date of May 29, 2007, which would have been JFK's 90th birthday.)
Written over the course of a 21-year period by former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi, "Reclaiming History" was a daunting project indeed.
This massive 1,664-page book is accompanied by a CD-ROM, which contains an additional 958 pages of endnotes and another 170 pages of source notes. So the total number of pages adds up to a mind-blowing 2,792. (And that figure can be increased still further if the 32 unnumbered pages of photos are figured into the total; so that would put the final page count at 2,824.)
When counting the endnotes on the CD-ROM, this mighty publication logs in at 1,535,791 total words....an impressive stat by anyone's standards. (I didn't count every word myself, mind you; Bugliosi provides that statistic in one of the book's footnotes.) And what makes that seven-digit figure even more impressive is the fact that almost all of those 1.5-million words were written out in longhand by Mr. Bugliosi on Vincent's ever-present yellow legal pads.
In this era of computer word processors, I cannot imagine an author writing a gigantic book like this one (or any book, for that matter) in longhand with a #2 pencil. But evidently Mr. Bugliosi did just that....which, in my view, makes me respect Vince's dedication to this JFK subject all the more. (And the company that supplied Vincent with all those yellow legal pads must be in 7th heaven now. Because Vince probably kept that company afloat for two solid decades all by himself, with his large refill orders!)
The endnotes are essential reading, containing many excellent anti-conspiracy arguments put forth by the author. The nearly 1,000 pages of endnotes on the CD-ROM also include several "clickable" Internet weblinks, providing still more information about certain sub-topics, although some of the links are non-functioning ones, being broken via the line structure used on the PDF document on the CD, necessitating a copy-and-paste into a separate browser.
An Audio-CD edition of "Reclaiming History" is also available (produced by Simon & Schuster). The audio version includes 15 compact discs, which contain approximately 18 hours of abridged material from the book, very nicely read by actor Edward Herrmann. The CD-ROM full of notes is not included with the audio package, however.
A five-minute excerpt of the "Audiobook" version of "RH" can be accessed for free at this webpage.
And as of this writing, Tom Hanks' production company (in conjunction with Home Box Office) is working on finalizing a deal that will bring "Reclaiming History" to the TV screen, in the form of a 10-part television miniseries.
In addition to the HBO miniseries, a companion documentary special is also in the works, wherein Mr. Bugliosi will appear on camera to thoroughly debunk all of the various conspiracy theories.
Bugliosi told "Daily Variety": "Many more people will see the miniseries than will read the book. With the integrity that Tom [Hanks], Gary [Goetzman] and Bill [Paxton] bring, I think that we will finally be able to make a substantial dent in the 75% of people in this country who still believe the conspiracy theorists."
This book, which was originally going to be titled "Final Verdict", was delayed for several years after its November 1998 release date was postponed. As of 1998, the book was slated to have only 992 pages. Obviously, Mr. Bugliosi found a lot more to say about the case during those interim nine years....and found a few more conspiracy theories to destroy in the process.
If I were being forced to come up with a very brief two-word description of this book, I think I would probably choose the words "Staggeringly Comprehensive". For example, "Reclaiming History" contains more than 10,000 source citations, including 1,557 in the first chapter alone ("Four Days In November"), plus another 1,627 in the "Lee Harvey Oswald" chapter.
To illustrate the grandness of that number, the 888-page Warren Commission Report (which is stocked with an extremely large number of citations) has approximately 6,500 source references in it. But that number is dwarfed by Bugliosi's five-digit stat.
In addition to receiving many positive reviews in major U.S. newspapers and other publications, "Reclaiming History" became an award-winner on May 1, 2008, when Mr. Bugliosi's book won the "Edgar Allan Poe Award" for "Best Fact Crime" book of 2007. The "Edgars" are given out annually by "Mystery Writers of America".
This marks the third "Edgar Allan Poe Award" captured by Vince Bugliosi. His previous victories were for the 1974 best-seller "Helter Skelter" (which is still to this day the top-selling true-crime book in publishing history), and 1978's true murder mystery, "Till Death Us Do Part".
Mr. Bugliosi has meticulously examined and scrutinized the entire JFK assassination case here -- from Lee Harvey Oswald, to Jack Ruby, to J.D. Tippit (despite the lack of a specific chapter with Tippit's name attached to it; however, the details of the Tippit murder are chronicled very nicely in Chapter 1 and also over the course of several endnotes located on the CD-ROM disc), to all of the physical and circumstantial evidence, to the witnesses, to the autopsy, to the Warren Commission, to the HSCA, to the ARRB, and also to the enormous number of inaccurate conspiracy theories that have populated the landscape since 1963.
And Vince Bugliosi (who I'll refer to as "VB" many times throughout this review) has assessed this massive amount of information with his usual style of common sense, logic, thoroughness, and fairness....and has reached the conclusion (which I have fully agreed with for many years) that Lee Harvey Oswald, alone, shot and killed President Kennedy and Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.
Given the evidence that VB has sifted through (again and again), there is no alternate conclusion even possible, other than to accept the original 1964 conclusion of the Warren Commission, i.e., Oswald was the sole assassin that day in Texas so many years ago.
Mr. Bugliosi has done something that no one else has done prior to the release of "Reclaiming History" -- he has taken each major conspiracy theory (and many minor ones too) and has looked beyond just the SURFACE ALLEGATIONS of conspiracy to dig deeper into them and reveal the inherent illogic, inconsistencies, and internal contradictions that exist in EVERY THEORY (without a single exception). It's a magnificent accomplishment by Bugliosi, in my opinion.
I've been interested in the JFK assassination since reading the first book I ever owned on the subject, David Lifton's "Best Evidence" (1980), which is a pro-conspiracy book that Mr. Bugliosi so thoroughly demolishes in Chapter 21 of "Reclaiming History" that it will make everyone wonder how on this Earth Lifton's book ever made it to the New York Times Best Sellers list.
In any event, during those many years since perusing Lifton's nonsense-filled tome, I've amassed a pretty decent amount of knowledge with respect to the events of November 22nd, 1963. But even with a fairly vast amount of information stored up in my memory about the case, I still learned many additional details pertaining to that tragic day in Dallas by reading "Reclaiming History".
One such example being Vincent's "discovery" of a second soft-drink machine within the Texas School Book Depository (see pages 957 and 958 for details; and also check out this official Warren Commission Document: "CD496; Photo #7", which provides verifiable proof of the existence of this long-overlooked Dr. Pepper machine).
"Reclaiming History" could almost be considered more of a "John F. Kennedy Assassination Encyclopedia", rather than a mere JFK "book". The heft and all-encompassing scope of this tome are certainly "encyclopedic" in nature, to be sure.
For years to come, these individual chapters are bound to serve as useful reference material for researchers regarding specific sub-topics within the vast landscape of the JFK case. Hence, some redundancy can be found throughout the book's text. But, in my opinion, it's required repetition.
Vincent's extensive and far-reaching knowledge of this whole case, coupled with his rational mind and logical way of evaluating evidence, is pretty much akin to turning a kid loose in a candy store.
I get the sense that VB is having a ball as he works his way from one unsupportable conspiracy theory to the next in the second half of this book, thoroughly reducing each and every theory to a pile of dust. And in most instances, even the dust doesn't stand a chance, as Vince blows that away as well.
When conspiracists go about the formidable task of attempting to dismantle Mr. Bugliosi's 21 years' worth of lone assassin-favoring research, I get the feeling that those "CTers" will, in essence, be trying to put out the Great Chicago Fire with a Dixie cup full of hot water. Such meager conspiracy-rescuing attempts won't be of much use at all.
Bugliosi began writing this book shortly after he successfully "prosecuted" President Kennedy's accused murderer during a 21-hour "Docu-Trial" produced in 1986 for the Showtime cable-TV network, "On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald".
The webpage linked below features many interesting verbatim text excerpts from the "mock" LHO trial, including almost every single word of Mr. Bugliosi's "final summation" to the jury:
The Showtime Docu-Trial featured a real judge, a real jury from Dallas, two real lawyers battling it out in court (Bugliosi vs. famed defense attorney Gerry Spence), and real assassination-related witnesses as well, including Ruth Paine, Wesley Frazier, Marrion Baker, Cyril Wecht, Johnny Brewer, Charles Brehm, and many others.
Bugliosi believes that the '86 Docu-Trial is "the closest thing to a trial that Lee Harvey Oswald ever had or will have" (a VB quote from late 2005).
For me personally, another extraordinarily-informative and entertaining part of "Reclaiming History" is when author Bugliosi puts on display his amazing ability to (as the publisher [W.W. Norton] phrased it) "draw startling inferences" from certain facts surrounding the JFK case. I like to refer to these types of VB inferences as "Why Didn't I Think Of That?" moments. And Vince does this many times throughout the book, too (some examples provided below in my chapter-by-chapter analysis).
I'm a bit disappointed by the overall minimal number of photographs that appear in this massive book (there are two "slick" sections of pictures in the book, totalling 32 pages; and Vince has also included 6 extra pages of charts and diagrams as well, placed on unnumbered pages).
The JFK assassination was the most-photographed murder in history, and many hundreds of pictures were taken which would succeed, all by themselves, in telling a rich photographic tale. And I would have liked to have seen Vince augment his text here with more of the wealth of pictures that exist surrounding those four dramatic days in November 1963. Especially considering the author's boast about "Reclaiming History" being the "book for the ages" on the JFK case.
Although, to be fair to the author, I'm guessing that Vince probably didn't want to add still more girth to this heavy 6-pound volume; and filling up the book with pictures would obviously have tacked on many additional pages.
Another factor that might have kept the number of photos to a minimum is the very thin paper that has been used for these pages (the thin paper obviously also helping to minimize the volume's size).
I'm not an expert on such matters, but I'm guessing that printing photographs on extremely-thin paper stock is not a very good idea. And there are no assassination photos printed on any of the regular (numbered) pages within this stout publication. That's a shame, in my opinion. But it is understandable I guess, given all factors combined.
I do agree with Vincent, though, about this being a "book for the ages" on the assassination. But some more photographs within this tome would have, indeed, been nice, too. Although, the 32 pages of pictures and illustrations that are supplied do offer up a few rarely-seen snapshots.
"RECLAIMING HISTORY" CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS AND VERBATIM VINCENT BUGLIOSI QUOTES AND EXCERPTS:
I'd like to think of these excerpts as a kind of "The Best Of The Best" when it comes to Vincent Bugliosi's impressive literary achievement known as "Reclaiming History".
Some of my comments have been inserted as well, denoted by a "DVP" reference. Related Internet weblinks have been included in various spots too. In addition, several of the photographs in this 3-part review serve as clickable links, with a few of those links providing access to some rarely-seen video and film clips pertaining to the assassination.
[NOTE -- The quoted passages from "Reclaiming History" that appear throughout this review are reprinted here with the express written permission of the book publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, N.Y.]
FROM THE 36-PAGE "INTRODUCTION":
"I can assure the conspiracy theorists who have very effectively savaged [Gerald] Posner in their books that they're going to have a much, much more difficult time with me. As a trial lawyer in front of a jury and an author of true-crime books, credibility has always meant everything to me. My only master and my only mistress are the facts and objectivity. I have no others." -- VB; Pages xxxviii-xxxix
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"The conspiracy community regularly seizes on one slip of the tongue, misunderstanding, or slight discrepancy to defeat twenty pieces of solid evidence; accepts one witness of theirs, even if he or she is a provable nut, as being far more credible than ten normal witnesses on the other side; treats rumors, even questions, as the equivalent of proof; leaps from the most minuscule of discoveries to the grandest of conclusions; and insists that the failure to explain everything perfectly negates all that is explained." -- VB; Page xliii
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"Waiting for the conspiracy theorists to tell the truth is a little like leaving the front-porch light on for Jimmy Hoffa." -- VB; Page xiv
DVP: Vincent's brand of humor has always been a favorite of mine (in every Bugliosi book I've ever read). And I'm very glad to see that that humor is alive and well in "Reclaiming History" too, with the above jab at "CTers" being the first of many such witty remarks interjected by the author during his non-stop assault on the conspiracy theorists. That Hoffa one was a real goodie too.
"The Warren Commission critics and conspiracy theorists have succeeded in transforming a case very simple and obvious at its core--Oswald killed Kennedy and acted alone--into its present form of the most complex murder case, by far, in world history.
"Refusing to accept the plain truth, and dedicating their existence for over forty years to convincing the American public of the truth of their own charges, the critics have journeyed to the outer margins of their imaginations. Along the way, they have split hairs and then proceeded to split the split hairs, drawn far-fetched and wholly unreasonable inferences from known facts, and literally invented bogus facts from the grist of rumor and speculation.
"With over 18,000 pages of small print in the 27 Warren Commission volumes alone, and many millions of pages of FBI and CIA documents, any researcher worth his salt can find a sentence here or there to support any ludicrous conspiracy theory he might have. And that, of course, is precisely what the conspiracy community has done." -- VB; Page xxvi
"And, of course, we know that humans, for whatever reason, love mysteries (which, to most, the JFK assassination has become), whether fictional or real, more than they do open-and-shut cases. For example, who killed JR?" -- VB; Page xxvi
DVP: Oops. It seems that perhaps Vince isn't an avid fan of the TV series "Dallas". He thinks J.R. Ewing was "killed" by Kristin's bullets in March 1980. (J.R. was only wounded, of course; he wasn't shot dead.)
Vince should have said "Who shot JR?" above (instead of saying "killed"). That's one of only a handful of minor mistakes I found in "Reclaiming History", so I'm quite satisfied with the book's overall accuracy. (Conspiracy theorists will no doubt disagree with me on that point, however. No surprise there, though, huh?)
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"I am unaware of any other major event in world history which has been shrouded in so much intentional misinformation as has the assassination of JFK. Nor am I aware of any event that has given rise to such an extraordinarily large number of far-fetched and conflicting theories." -- VB; Page xxix
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"In my opinion, the Warren Commission's investigation has to be considered the most comprehensive investigation of a crime in history. Even leading Warren Commission critic Harold Weisberg acknowledges that the Commission "checked into almost every breath [Oswald] drew"." -- VB; Page xxxii
DVP: Mr. Bugliosi also points out in this extensive "Introduction" to the book that the 888-page Warren Report volume contains a "131-page chapter (by far the longest chapter in the report) dealing exclusively with the issue of conspiracy".
In addition, I was also glad to see Vince mention "the thirty-one-page appendix XII to the report", in which "the Commission responds to 126 speculations and rumors, some dealing expressly with the allegation of conspiracy, most dealing in one way or the other with the allegation".
To be perfectly technical, Vince has even slightly understated the matter (but by just a couple of pages). The lengthy chapter of the Warren Report titled "Investigation Of Possible Conspiracy" actually takes up 132 total pages (inclusively). While the "Rumors" appendix Vince mentioned is actually 32 total pages in length.
This means, by pure percentages, that almost ONE-FIFTH of the entire Warren Commission Report (18.5%) is devoted solely to the topic of possible conspiracy in the JFK case (164 of 888 pages). Most conspiracy promoters either don't have any knowledge of this impressive statistic, or they simply ignore it altogether.
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"Not the smallest speck of evidence has ever surfaced that any of the conspiracy community's favorite groups (CIA, mob, etc.) was involved, in any way, in the assassination. Not only the Warren Commission, but the HSCA came to the same conclusion. ....
"But conspiracy theorists, as suspicious as a cat in a new home, find occurrences and events everywhere that feed their suspicions and their already strong predilection to believe that the official version is wrong." -- VB; Page xlii
DVP: This book's first chapter is a spectacular one. It runs for more than 300 riveting pages and includes a comprehensive narrative of events, written in the present tense (for the most part). This extensive and ultra-detailed chapter has a palpable "as it's happening" feel to it.
The narrative proceeds chronologically, beginning at 6:30 AM (CST) on the fateful morning of Friday, November 22, 1963, and continues through those shocking "four days", culminating with JFK's funeral on 11/25/63.
Per the source notes on the CD-ROM, Mr. Bugliosi garnered much of the detailed information for this chapter from William Manchester's excellent 1967 book "The Death Of A President", which contains practically a minute-by-minute account of the last day of John Kennedy's life. Jim Bishop's book "The Day Kennedy Was Shot" (1968) was also a source for this chapter's richly-textured material.
The following section of this "Four Days" chapter is one I was particularly intrigued by, as Vince tells the story of the chaotic and confused scene at the assassination site, with NBC newsman Robert MacNeil desperately searching for a ride to Parkland Hospital:
"Outside again, MacNeil rushes over to a policeman listening to the radio on a motorcycle. [MacNeil:] "Was he hit?" [Policeman:] "Yeah. Hit in the head. They're taking him to Parkland Hospital." ....
"MacNeil dashes out into the street, dodging the police cars whose wailing sirens are pulling up from all directions, bouncing over curbs, flowerbeds, and lawn. Not a taxi in sight. Traffic is beginning to jam. He sprints across Dealey Plaza to Main Street and leaps out in front of the first car that comes along. ....
"[MacNeil:] "This is a terrible emergency," he tells the driver. "The president's been shot. I'll give you five dollars to take me to Parkland Hospital." ....
"The driver, about thirty, not too swift, smiles and says, "Okay." The car is filled with packages that look like cake boxes. "Yeah, I heard something about that on the radio a couple of minutes ago," he says. ....
"[MacNeil:] "Where's the radio?" [Driver:] "I put it in the backseat." ....
"MacNeil grabs the little transistor and holds it out the window to clear the antenna. They are already bogging down in the rapidly jamming traffic. He begs the driver to speed, take risks, run red lights, anything--MacNeil will pay the fines. All the police cars are headed in the opposite direction, back toward the Texas School Book Depository." -- VB; Page 49
DVP: Click on the images below for extra-large, expandable views of these thumbnail pictures, including the second one from the left, which is a seldom-seen photograph showing spectators running toward the "Grassy Knoll" shortly after the assassination in Dealey Plaza:
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"Officially, the president is logged into the hospital register at 12:38 p.m. as "No.24740, Kennedy, John F."" -- VB; Page 55
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"The oft-stated belief is that since the bubble top was plastic and not bulletproof, it wouldn't have made any difference if it had been used in Dealey Plaza. But that presupposes that Oswald would have shot Kennedy if the bubble top was on the car, and we don't know that. The limousine being a presidential one, he may have assumed the top was bulletproof and therefore concluded that he could not shoot and kill Kennedy." -- VB; Page 22 of Endnotes
DVP: This topic of the limo's bubbletop roof comes up in the following discussion I had with a conspiracy theorist in late April 2007, where I hint at the same thing VB hints at above:
"Other than [conspiracy author Sylvia Meagher] and her colleagues' insatiable passion for pointing out normal (not to them) inconsistencies in the recollections of witnesses, nowhere does Meagher tell her readers what the relevance of these inconsistencies was.
"Was it her point that [Bonnie Ray] Williams was lying, that the chicken eater was the assassin in the sniper's nest (who wasn't, Meagher would assure us, Oswald), or Williams was not lying, but the assassin in the sniper's nest was also eating chicken while he waited to kill the president?
"I wish the theorists would tell us the relevance of the many inconsistencies they cite in the Kennedy case instead of feeling that the inconsistencies are an end in themselves and nothing else has to be shown or argued." -- VB; Page 23 of Endnotes
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"Critics have questioned whether Howard Brennan was really the source of [Dallas Police Inspector J. Herbert] Sawyer's detailed description [of the TSBD assassin] and the dispatcher's subsequent broadcast. .... The affidavit that Brennan gave at the sheriff's office within an hour of the shooting includes [a] description of the gunman...nearly identical in language to Sawyer's [12:44 P.M.] broadcast. .... There can be little doubt Brennan was, in fact, the source." -- VB; Pages 35-36 of Endnotes
"Hugh Aynesworth...covered the assassination story from ground zero [and] said that he went out to [Lee Oswald's] rooming house right after the police had searched Oswald's room on the afternoon of the assassination and interviewed [housekeeper Earlene] Roberts in depth. "She never said a word about any police car honking its horn outside the rooming house around the time Oswald was there earlier in the day."
"In fact, Aynesworth said he interviewed Roberts at least two more times thereafter and she never said a word about the alleged incident. [Jim] Ewell, he said, had also interviewed Roberts separately and she never mentioned the incident to him either." -- VB; Page 40 of Endnotes
DVP: It's also worth mentioning here, with respect to Earlene Roberts, that Roberts told the Warren Commission that it wasn't all that uncommon for a police car to stop in front of the Beckley Avenue roominghouse and toot its horn. Roberts claimed that such an event had occurred on other occasions prior to November 22, 1963.
So, the very fact that police cars had a pre-11/22/63 habit of stopping in front of 1026 North Beckley and honking the car horn should tell a reasonable person that even if a similar occurrence did take place on the day of the assassination, it probably wasn't any kind of a "conspiratorial" event. Instead, it can practically be considered a normal thing to have occurred at that location (assuming Roberts was being truthful about the pre-November 22 horn-honking incidents).
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"[Jack] Tatum sees a man in a light tan-gray jacket start off in Tatum's direction, hesitate at the rear of the police car, then step back into the street and fire one more shot, right into the head of the officer [J.D. Tippit] on the ground. .... [Mr. Bugliosi's Footnote:] I asked Tatum at the [1986] London trial ["On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald"] if he got "a good look" at the man who shot Tippit and whom he identified at the trial. "Very good look," Tatum responded. I asked if there was "any question in your mind" that the man was Oswald. "None whatsoever," he answered. (Transcript of On Trial, July 23, 1986, p.200)" -- VB; Page 79
DVP: The above book passage turned out to be quite surprising to this writer, because I had no idea (until reading page 79 of this book) that Jack Tatum had testified at the TV Docu-Trial in 1986. And that's because my video copy of the 5.5-hour trial does not include Tatum's testimony at all.
But, considering the fact that nearly 75% of that 21-hour mock trial was not seen by the general public on television, it's not too surprising to learn of some portions of the trial that I had previously been unaware of.
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"The doors to the theater are slammed open as a wedge of officers bursts into the sunlight [with suspected police killer Lee Harvey Oswald in handcuffs]. .... The suspect complains that the handcuffs are too tight. Detective Paul Bentley isn't too sympathetic, thinking to himself that Oswald was in much better shape than Tippit was. He reaches back and tightens the cuffs even more." -- VB; Pages 106-107
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"[Dallas medical examiner Earl] Rose sees the casket bearing the president's body being pushed out of Trauma Room One, Mrs. Kennedy at its side. .... A crush of forty sweating men are clustered around the wide doorway as curses fly back and forth. One of them looks like he might belt the medical examiner at any moment. .... "In a homicide case, it's my duty to order an autopsy," [Theron] Ward says. .... Ken O'Donnell pleads with him, "Can't you make an exception for President Kennedy?" Incredibly, Ward tells him, "It's just another homicide case as far as I'm concerned." O'Donnell's response is instantaneous. "Go fuck yourself," he yells. "We're leaving!"" -- VB; Page 110
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"[Quoting LBJ:] "We'll get as many people in here as possible. If anybody wants to join in the swearing-in ceremony, I would be happy and proud to have you." .... UPI reporter Merriman Smith wedges himself inside the door, and for some reason begins counting. There are twenty-seven people in the room." -- VB; Page 117
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"The unmarked squad car pulls up in front of the rooming house on North Beckley in Oak Cliff and four men, armed with a search warrant, climb out. .... Over the next hour and a quarter, they nearly strip the room [that Lee Harvey Oswald rented under the alias "O.H. Lee"], using the pillow cases and one of Oswald's own duffle bags to carry everything to the waiting patrol cars. Only a banana peel and some uneaten fruit are left behind when they leave just after 6:00 p.m." -- VB; Pages 135-136
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"The doorbell rings [at Ruth Paine's home in Irving at 9:40 PM on 11/22/63] and two men from Life magazine appear unannounced. .... Marguerite [Oswald] is fuming...because she's beginning to realize that Life magazine is going to do a "life story" segment and she wants to be paid. In her paranoid mind, Marguerite is beginning to suspect that Ruth Paine invited Life magazine to come over and that she and Marina, while speaking in Russian, have conspired to sell Lee's life story without her." -- VB; Page 168
DVP: The above passage had me laughing aloud. I think Vince has probably hit the nail on the head here too. Marguerite Oswald was a strange and rare bird, to say the least.
The above speculation by VB re. the Life magazine thing puts me in mind of another classic "Marguerite Moment" -- her spectacularly-ludicrous (although tearful) "cemetery declaration" about her recently-murdered son, Lee Harvey. Mrs. Oswald actually said this to the rolling cameras and reporters at the cemetery:
"Lee Harvey Oswald, my son, even after his death, has done more for his country than any other living human being." -- Marguerite Oswald
(I'll understand if any readers need to take a five-minute laugh break after having read the above verbatim quote from the lips of Marguerite. If you'd like to see and hear Mrs. Oswald as she makes that statement about her son, you can click HERE.)
By the way, the remainder of page 168, and also page 169, of this book are also quite intriguing, as they reveal additional details I had never heard before regarding the visit of the Life magazine reporters to Ruth Paine's home on the evening of November 22, 1963. Marguerite evidently put on quite a show that night at the Paine residence. Go to pages 168 and 169 to read the rest.
ABOVE: RUTH, MARGUERITE, AND MARINA
(IN RUTH PAINE'S LIVING ROOM ON THE
NIGHT OF THE ASSASSINATION)
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"He [Jack Ruby] called his sister Eileen, in Chicago [on Friday afternoon, 11/22/63], and was crying. .... "Maybe I will fly up to be with you tonight," he suggested, but she reminded him that Eva [another sister of Jack's], who had just returned home from the hospital from abdominal surgery, needed him now more than she did. "You better stay there," she told her brother." -- VB; Page 172
DVP: Now, the above conversation between Lee Harvey Oswald's eventual murderer, Jack Ruby, and Ruby's sister is quite illuminating (in a "non-conspiratorial" sort of way). Because if Jack Ruby had been a "hit man" for the Mob (or whoever) and had been assigned to "rub out" Oswald (as many people firmly believe was the case), then why is he offering to fly to Chicago on the night of the assassination to be with his sister? It doesn't add up.
And, per page 172 of VB's book, Ruby might very well have gone to Chicago too, if his sister, over the phone, had not persuaded him not to make the trip.
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DVP: Vincent Bugliosi's incredible attention to the smallest of seemingly-unknowable details concerning the events of November 22-25, 1963, borders on the supernatural.* Such microscopic details are utterly fascinating to me. Here's one such example, among literally hundreds sprinkled throughout this publication:
"On an impulse he [Jack Ruby, at around 10:15 PM on November 22] stops at Phil's Delicatessen on Oak Lawn Avenue and tells the counterman, John Frickstad, to cut him ten corned beef sandwiches with mustard. And ten soft drinks--eight black cherries and two celery tonics. He chats a bit with the owner, Phil Miller. .... The sandwich bill only comes to $9.50 plus tax--Frickstad made only eight sandwiches instead of the ten Jack ordered." -- VB; Pages 174-175
* = Upon doing a little additional research of my own regarding Ruby's purchase of the sandwiches and drinks on the night of November 22, I discovered (by way of Mr. Bugliosi's ultra-complete source notes on the CD-ROM that comes with this book) that Vince obtained the detailed information about the type of sandwiches and exact flavors of the cold drinks from Warren Commission Exhibit #2252.
CE2252 (viewable via the link provided above) also gives additional information about Ruby's late-night deli order that VB doesn't have in the book. Quoting from CE2252: "He [Ruby] also ordered three cups of butter, one-half loaf of bread, and some extra pickles. Potato salad and pickles were provided with each sandwich".
That is just one of many examples of the thoroughness of the Warren Commission's investigation (and, of course, exemplifies the comprehensive nature of Mr. Bugliosi's research for this book as well).
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"Conspiracy theorists, eager to find an extra fourth bullet...and hence a conspiracy, got very excited when they learned that the receipt for the two fragments turned over to FBI agents Sibert and O'Neill on November 22, 1963, and signed by the two agents, refers to a "receipt of a missle [sic]."
"But the HSCA concluded that "the receipt was in error." Chester H. Boyers, the navy corpsman who typed the receipt, gave HSCA investigators an affidavit under penalty of perjury that contained his handwritten notes at the time of the autopsy, in which he jotted down during the autopsy that "there were bullet missile FRAGMENTS recovered."
"Both Agents Sibert and O'Neill confirmed to the HSCA that they received two bullet fragments, not a missile." -- VB; Pages 76-77 of Endnotes
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"The Dallas police have done an incredible, some would even say a near-impossible job over just the last eleven and a half hours. In that short span since the president's murder, they have apprehended the man they believe is responsible, and amassed evidence against him that is destined to withstand years of intense scrutiny.
"Despite the thousands of government man-hours yet to come, the basis of the case against Oswald is collected and assembled by the Dallas police in these first crucial hours. It is a feat the world would soon forget." -- VB; Page 182
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"11:05 a.m. [Sunday, November 24]...Altogether, there are around 70 members of the Dallas Police Department in the basement [of the Dallas City Jail] to make sure there are no problems." -- VB; Page 265
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"11:10 a.m. [Sunday, November 24]...Fritz realizes that Oswald is only clad in a T-shirt. "Do you want something to put over your T-shirt?" he asks. "Yes," Oswald says." -- VB; Page 267
DVP: An interesting quote by DPD Captain Will Fritz there. I had always thought it was Oswald who had asked for the additional clothing, thus delaying his jail transfer just a little longer. But, evidently, per Mr. Bugliosi's chronology of quotes above, it was actually Captain Fritz who initiated the slight "clothing delay".*
Well, perhaps that will be something else for conspiracy theorists to sink their teeth into....as they can now claim (if they haven't already) that Captain Fritz deliberately delayed Oswald's transfer until "hit man" Ruby got into position in the basement.
But to think that 30-year police veteran J. Will Fritz was a part of some kind of conspiracy to "silence" his prisoner is to believe in a silly fairy tale that would have had Fritz intentionally subjecting his very own police department to public ridicule for years to come, due to a Presidential assassin being killed right inside the Captain's own police station while surrounded by dozens of armed officers.
That's a theory that doesn't sound very realistic to this writer.
* = On page 1073, Vince tells the flip-side to this clothing tale, with Oswald being the one who requests the wardrobe adjustment, instead of Fritz. In an endnote, however, Bugliosi acknowledges the ambiguity of the situation with the following remarks:
"The recollections of those present are in conflict as to whether Oswald was asked if he wanted to put something on over his T-shirt or whether Oswald himself made the request." -- VB; Page 104 of Endnotes
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"11:21 a.m. [Sunday, November 24]..."BANG! The shot [from Jack Ruby's Colt revolver into Lee Harvey Oswald's abdomen] reverberates through the basement garage. .... The Ike Pappas tape recording is available at the National Archives [and can also be heard HERE] and reveals that the shot was fired 1 minute and 58 seconds after Oswald left the third-floor Homicide and Robbery office." -- VB; Page 273
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"Are we just left with conjecture to reach a conclusion on the issue of how Ruby entered the police basement? No, there is evidence, common sense, and Ruby's knowledge of events that prove he entered through the Main Street ramp. ....
"The virtual proof that Ruby came down the Main Street ramp is that within a half hour of his arrest, and right after he was taken from the basement to the jail on the fifth floor (which was long before [DPD officers] Pierce, Putnam, Vaughn, and Maxey had been interviewed and given their statements), Ruby told Dallas police detective Barnard Clardy and other detectives that he had entered through the Main Street ramp and had seen Pierce driving out of the ramp.
"How could Ruby possibly have known this if he hadn't, in fact, been at the entrance to the Main Street ramp? I mean, Pierce himself didn't even receive instructions to drive out of the Main Street ramp until around 11:15 a.m., just six minutes before Ruby shot Oswald." -- VB; Pages 108-109 of Endnotes
"Approaching midnight [on Monday night, November 25th], Bobby Kennedy, alone with Jacqueline on the second floor of the White House, says quietly, "Should we go visit our friend?" .... They arrive at the cemetery at 11:53 p.m. in their black Mercury. .... The attorney general and former First Lady drop to their knees and pray silently. .... Together, they turn and walk down into darkness and into lives that would never be the same." -- VB; Pages 313-314
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DVP: A "Four Days" Footnote --- Clicking on the three images below will link to a 3-part video that originated from the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth on the morning of 11/22/63, where President Kennedy delivered the last speech of his life:
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DVP: Before I move on to Chapter 2, I'd like to add another semi-related footnote to this top-notch "Four Days" chapter of VB's book by putting in a plug for another production titled "Four Days In November", that production being the 1964 motion picture which features the exact same title as the first chapter of Mr. Bugliosi's book.
In fact, I was somewhat expecting Vince to use portions of that exquisite "Four Days" documentary film (which is an excellent chronicle of the events surrounding JFK's death) as reference material throughout his book, but the film isn't mentioned at all in VB's book.
That Academy Award-nominated movie, which is generally based on the Warren Report, could have been used by author Bugliosi to cite various quotes from witnesses, including unique references to Johnny Brewer, Wesley Frazier, Linnie Mae Randle, and William Whaley. Each of those witnesses provided information and direct quotes during the movie's intriguing "re-created" scenes.
None of the above witnesses said anything in the movie that could be considered a bombshell or something strikingly different from their Warren Commission testimony, but their individual statements made on film could have been cited by Vince as an extra source of information to back up certain lone-assassin-leaning assertions.
One good example: The scene where cab driver Whaley says in the film that he positively dropped Oswald off at "Neely and North Beckley" (instead of "Neches") on the day of the assassination. In earlier statements, Whaley was confused about the street names, as he mixed up the two similar-sounding streets, "Neely" and "Neches".
In any event, even though the Richard Basehart-narrated documentary feature film "Four Days In November" isn't referred to in "Reclaiming History", I'd still recommend it very highly to people who want to take a two-hour visual tour of the sad events of November 1963. The film was released by MGM on VHS home video in 1988 and again in 2000, and it was also made available on DVD by EarthStation1.com in June 2008.
Much more information concerning that motion picture can be accessed by clicking the two links below:
"The [Warren] Commission [quoting Arlen Specter]..."chose men of outstanding reputation, like Joe Ball of California, a leader of the California bar for many years...Similar selections were made...from New York and Chicago and Des Moines and New Orleans and Philadelphia and Washington, so that every conceivable pain was taken to select people who were totally independent, WHICH IS HARDLY THE WAY YOU SET OUT TO ORGANIZE A TRUTH-CONCEALING COMMISSION"." [Bugliosi's emphasis.] -- VB; Page 342
DVP: I couldn't agree more, Vince. And another thing that goe
Obviously, Mr. Bugliosi found a lot more to say about the case during those interim nine years....and found a few more conspiracy theories to destroy in the process.
Vincent's brand of humor has always been a favorite of mine (in every Bugliosi book I've ever read). And I'm very glad to see that that humor is alive and well in "Reclaiming History" too, with the above jab at "CTers" being the first of many such witty remarks interjected by the author during his non-stop assault on the conspiracy theorists. That Hoffa one was a real goodie too. 
