Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK

I went looking for a conspiracy....I wanted to find one. However, Mr. Posner does a great job in debunking the most popular conspiracy theories. I did not take his word as the gospel truth, but also read it along side the Warren Commission's Report, The House Select Committee on Assassinations Report, and about 8 other books offering up such conspirators as: anti-Cuban Castro exile groups, the CIA/FBI, The KGB, LBJ, and the Mafia. However, there is not one that can make its case without huge gaps and holes. I spent months piecing together controverted testimonies from the SAME PERSON. No doubt in my mind that Oswald and Ruby acted alone.

Picked this one up at the used book store at my local library for a dollar. Came out in 1993, not long after Oliver Stone's film homage to the conspiracy nuts.

Poser wades bravely into the fever swamps of JFK conspiracy theories with an extraordinarily well-documented account of Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, explaining how Oswald came to kill Kennedy and Ruby came to kill Oswald. I suspect you all know the facts -- they're essentially as the Warren Commission determined them -- so I'll focus on the few exceptions, some other things that were new to me, and some observations on why the conspiracy theories have such tenacity even though they lack any credibility.

The Warren Commission erred in some of its sketches of Kennedy's neck wound show more location, and in its estimation of when the shots were fired. Better evidence puts the wounds consistently in the same location, supporting the autopsy report, and a modern analysis of the Zapruder film gives Oswald considerably longer to fire his shots than the Warren Commission estimated.

That's it. That's pretty much all they got wrong. Which is remarkable, considering that Warren pushed the Commission to complete its report in something approaching great haste, before the assassination could trigger World War III.

I had not realized just how deeply Oswald was involved in Marxism. He wasn't just a loony who somehow found his way to Russia; he was a committed Trotskyite from about age 15. (Which does not, of course, contradict him being a loony. May even be considered corroborating evidence.) After returning disillusioned to the U.S., Oswald made a determined effort to then defect a third time to Cuba, which he was hoping was the Marxist paradise Russia had turned out not to be, but even Cuba didn't want him. He then returned to Houston and the opportunity to assassinate JKF.

Marina, Oswald's wife, married him essentially because he had his own apartment in Russia, then stayed with him after he returned to the U.S. essentially because she found she liked life in the United States. In spite of the fact that Oswald refused to teach her any English, as a way to control her.

I had not realized what a loser Ruby was. The conspiracy theories that he had mob connections founder on the reality that no mobster with any instinct for survival would have touched him. Ruby was an unbalanced individual who had to be where the action was, and his murder of Oswald was arguably so impulsive and happenstance that he could very well have copped a 5-year "murder without malice" plea if his attorney, Melvin Belli, hadn't gambled on getting him off completely ... by arguing he was delusional. The world can do without lawyers like that.

Finally, I was surprised how many of the "witnesses" used by conspiracy buffs are obvious nut-cases. A surprising fraction (or maybe not) have spent time in mental institutions. It's a little incredible these folks are given any credibility by anyone at all.

An interesting side story is that of New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison, who conjured up a case against Clay Shaw essentially out of thin air. Shaw vaguely resembled a "Clay Bernstein" made up by a flamboyant New Orleans attorney notorious for his tall tales. Garrison was afflicted by a positively Stalinesque case of paranoia, and even most of the conspiracy buffs have tried to distance themselves from him. (Though not Oliver Stone.) Garrison was actually dropped from the National Guard after being diagnosed as suffering from severe psychopathology, but somehow this didn't derail his political career.

So why do conspiracy theories have such traction? It's really hard to beat the explanation first offered by William Manchester and quoted by Posner, that it just isn't possible for a lot of people to accept that a popular President could be offed by a complete nobody. Yet that's what the facts say. This is just too much cognitive dissonance for a lot of people, apparently. I find myself wondering if the same dynamics aren't behind the 9/11 Truthers: That a handful of young Muslim losers could kill thousands and bring down two great works of civil engineering is just too much cognitive dissonance to accept.

Anyway, Posner's book is highly recommended for anyone who hasn't read it already and is not already burned out on the JFK assassination. show less

I am not a conspiracy theorist (anymore) but I always had questions about the JFK assassination. Stories I heard and facts I thought I knew made the assassination and the conspiracy fun and interesting. A friend recommended I read this book.

Case Closed is, at its core, a biography of Lee Harvy Oswald but it is also much more. After covering different aspects and times in his life, the Posner then tackles all the different theories, lies, and half-truths that have been told and repeated through books and movies.

Posner tells the story of an unreliable and unstable Oswald that assassinated JFK with no help, backing, or knowledge from Russia, mob, or US Government. To do this, he uses facts, eyewitness accounts, technology and reasoning. show more

I found this very informative and enjoyable. show less

Interesting and thought provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It really cuts through the fog of misinformation and conjecture, presenting the basic facts from many of the original sources and recently (at the time of its publication) declassified documents.

If nothing else, this book is worth a read for the wealth of research delving into Lee Harvey Oswald's childhood and teen years.

As Posner sorts through it all, dissecting the relevant from the irrelevant, the likely from the unlikely and the possible from the just plain ridiculous, it's disturbing to learn how many facts have been mangled, misquoted or carefully edited to fit one agenda or another over the years.

I had no idea of show more the lengths that New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison had gone to to try and fabricate -- there is truly no other word for it -- a conspiracy case that would keep him in the headlines. If you've ever seen the film JFK then you simply MUST read the section of this book dealing with Jim Garrison to get the counter perspective on things!

I am aware of some of the criticisms that have been made against both this book and Gerald Posner himself (The copy I read was printed sometime after the original hardcover printing and the author addressed some of those criticisms in a new forward added to the book) and while he does occasionally seem to cut a few corners when it comes to explaining away contradictory information I found (from my admittedly limited knowledge on the subject) much of what he says to have the ring of truth to it.

Two sections of particular interest are the two appendixes. One has illustrations and diagrams that deal with the ballistics and science behind the shooting explaining everything very simply and convincingly, and the other deals with all the so called "mystery deaths" on a brief case by case basis putting them all in a new perspective.

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend. show less

A few years ago I went on a toot of Kennedy assassination books, convinced that there was an evil conspiracy or two or three. The books got more and more bizarre and I got more and more confused. Then I read this one, and it was a "I coulda had a V-8" moment. This one made sense.

A masterful investigation into the assassination, required reading for anyone who wants to know what really happened. The chapter on the forensics of the shooting alone would make this a masterwork. But the author also delves deeply into who Oswald was, who Ruby was, and why they acted the way that they did. He also addresses the common conspiracy theories, including showing who Jim Garrison (hero of the movie JFK) really was and why he shouldn't be trusted.

2562 Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, by Gerald Posner (read 31 Dec 1993) This is a superlative book, which demolishes the conspiracy buffs and leaves one absolutely convinced that Oswald acted alone and killed Kennedy. The book told me much I had not known before, though the information has been there if you spent enough time digging through the millions of words that have been written. Posner says 2000 books have been published on the assassination, though his bibliography doesn't list anywhere near that number. Oswald was really a nut, and Ruby was a weirdo too. Incredible that a guy like Oswald was around--but there are criminals all over. This has been an exceptionally absorbing book.