JFK and the CIA: Part 2

By Cory Franklin

May 31, 2023

My recent column on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his fever dream of CIA involvement in the assassination of his uncle, John F. Kennedy, generated a Substack response from Jefferson Morley, one of the premier authorities on the JFK assassination.

I have nothing but respect for Mr. Morley as a reporter and researcher. I know he sincerely believes the CIA was responsible for the assassination.  I also believe he is not in the conspiracy business for money, like many others.  However, belief and sincerity do not translate into reality, and his response reveals how JFK conspiracy theories, when taken to their logical conclusion, defy credulity and ignore commonly accepted facts. And as in most conspiracy theories, the inconvenient sticking point is the mendacious Lee Harvey Oswald, who in these mistaken narratives, must be written out of the script or, at best, relegated to a minor role.

I agree with Mr. Morley that the Warren Commission was ignorant or deceived on key points, though this was not as true with the other three committees who rigorously investigated the CIA . To his credit, Mr. Morley does not try to rehabilitate RFK Jr.; he merely agrees with the conclusion about CIA involvement. But Morley’s answers to the ten questions in my article lead to a blind alley of incredulity and impossibility. Here are excerpts of his answers, italicized  (with my comments in parentheses).

Who authorized the assassination?

“We don’t know for sure that any CIA officer or official ‘authorized’’ JFK’s assassination…(it was) the result of a tightly held covert operation known to a handful of men who did not act with official authorization.”  (implying a rogue operation).

Who recruited Oswald?

“The day after the assassination Oswald denied killing Kennedy, claiming he was ‘a patsy.’ That indicates that he was not recruited as a gunman.”

Did that recruiter help Oswald kill the president or was another agent involved?

“We think it more likely that he was set up to be what he said he was: ‘a patsy.’ The evidence that other people were involved in the shooting of the president is strong,”

Where is the tangible evidence – paper trail, money trail, phone calls, corroborating eyewitnesses of any contact between Oswald and any specific CIA agent (did Oswald work for free, and if not, where did the money go)?

“There’s no evidence Oswald was paid by the CIA (although we cannot be certain because Oswald’s tax returns are still classified)… CIA operations often involve the use of unwitting persons who are not paid. This might have been the case with Oswald.” (Most of Oswald’s tax returns are available except for his 1963 return – never completed for understandable reasons – and unlikely to have included CIA income in any event).

Why did Oswald’s family, friends and acquaintances never mention anyone who turned out to be a CIA agent? “Oswald’s mother Marguerite did suspect her son was some of kind of agent or asset of the CIA and said so both before and after JFK’s assassination. “ (Marguerite Oswald was quite possibly the least reliable character in the whole affair.)

Why would a self-admitted Marxist and supporter of Fidel Castro’s Cuba collaborate with the agency that attempted to overthrow Castro (Bay of Pigs) and also planned his assassination?

“Oswald did not wittingly collaborate with the Agency…  His denial is also evidence that he did not collaborate in JFK’s assassination.” 

Why would the CIA collaborate with an itinerant, chronic ne’er do-well, who was intermittently surveilled by the rival FBI?

“The evidence does not indicate that the CIA collaborated with Oswald”

Why is there no physical evidence of how the CIA actually carried out the assassination?

“The best answer to this question comes from Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a voice of experience when it comes to covert operations.

‘A rogue CIA operation to kill the president will be indistinguishable from a lone gunman scenario, to the extent it was planned and carried out flawlessly by experts in the craft of intelligence.’” (A non-answer to the most important evidentiary question.)

Why did the CIA allow Oswald to be captured and interrogated for two days by the Dallas police?

“There’s no evidence the CIA allowed Oswald to be captured.”

Why didn’t Robert Kennedy (RFK Jr.’s father), attempt to uncover a CIA plot to kill his brother, whom he idolized and was his best friend?

“He did not believe the official theory of a lone leftist gunman, not for a minute, not ever.” (While we can never know Robert Kennedy’s mindset, in all likelihood he did not pursue it because, after the bulk of evidence emerged, it was obvious to him Oswald killed his brother.)

If we believe the Morley answers, his claims amount to a rogue CIA effort with multiple anonymous gunmen who left absolutely no physical trail (and no ballistic evidence – the bullets recovered were from Oswald’s gun). Oswald, not acting as a gunman, was not involved other than to be an unwitting fall guy, something there is absolutely no evidence he agreed to do, nor was paid to do. Oswald’s capture was independent of the CIA. And according to this, any chatter about the CIA monitoring Oswald for years turns out to have little to do with what actually happened.  And everything about this has been covered up for six decades.

Why would Oswald even think of doing this? Of what benefit is it to him? How would he do this? How could he become an unwitting CIA accomplice or collaborator without his consent?

Come on. Surely, if true, someone in the whole affair, at some point, would have sold reliable information to the tabloid press for a generational fortune.

If this is not enough to strain credulity, it gets worse. None of this explains established facts: Oswald did bring his rifle to the Depository that day, it was fired around the time of the assassination, he did flee the building – the only employee to do so.  He was seen by multiple witnesses killing a policeman, and he did resist arrest and try to fire at the arresting officers. Not your typical patsy.

Morley’s theory fails to explain the physical evidence of the shooting, including the improbability of  a shot from the front and the even greater improbability of multiple gunmen. I have discussed these issues elsewhere. Despite opinions to the contrary, the established facts about Oswald’s skill as a shooter, the forensic evidence, and Jack Ruby’s murder of Oswald are all consistent with Oswald as the gunman.

A document or witness revealing exactly what happened will never magically appear and some things will never be known, including the timing and actual interval between shots, and Oswald’s intended destination after the assassination. These are admittedly limitations of the “lone gunman” theory. But these do not require the suspension of disbelief that Morley’s answers generate.

The thing about valid conspiracy theories is that they must explain facts, not create them.

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About the author:

Dr. Cory Franklin

Cory Franklin, physician and writer is a frequent contributor to johnkassnews.com.

He was director of medical intensive care at Cook County Hospital in Chicago for more than 25 years. An editorial ng the pathologists who studied it intently but had no idea what body part it could be. This was before it was known as trolling.)

There is a lesson here. The next time someone tells you, with unmistakable conviction, that he believes in “the science,” gladly offer to discuss science with him over a sandwich. Give him a choice, chorizo or perhaps kosher salami. board contributor to the Chicago Tribune op-ed page, he writes freelance medical and non-medical articles. His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Jerusalem Post, Chicago Sun-Times, New York Post, Guardian, Washington Post and has been excerpted in the New York Review of Books. Cory was also Harrison Ford’s technical adviser and one of the role models for the character Ford played in the 1993 movie, “The Fugitive.” His YouTube podcast “Rememberingthepassed” has received 900,000 hits to date. He published “Chicago Flashbulbs” in 2013, “Cook County ICU: 30 Years of Unforgettable Patients and Odd Cases” in 2015, and most recently coauthored, A Guide to Writing College Admission Essays: Practical Advice for Students and Parents in 2021.

Comments 25

  1. Not saying you are wrong, just still wondering why so much surrounding the investigation is still classified.

    Sunshine is the best disinfectant. The govt should clean out the abscesses by declassifying everything

    1. The definitive work on this subject is Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi, a 1500 page doorstop. The book is heavily researched that includes a CD ROM of research. The first 400 pages is exciting as any book I have ever read,

      1. Greg,

        Bugliosi’s JFK book is little more than an unreliable lawyer’s brief for the prosecution, as I demonstrated in the longest book review ever published in the official journal of the Justice Department, the Federal Lawyer.

        (Check Bugliosi’s index for my name; he has nice things to say about me, though he was livid at my trenchant review, one that was approved by the attorneys running the Federal Lawyer.) It’s available here: https://www.fedbar.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/bookrev-nd2007-pdf-1.pdf

  2. Our “Deep State” is corrupt and serves its own interests over those of the American people.

    Let’s just look at some relatively recent events that give great cause for concern:

    The Herald Square bomber was a classic case of entrapment. By lazy feds who let the real perpetrators, the Saudis, off the hook entirely.

    The “kidnapping” conspiracy of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was total bullshit and the defendants were exonerated,

    There were feds in the crowd on Jan 6th, and instead of helping the mysteriously few capital police who at their posts actually try to keep the peace, they were egging on the crazies and making things worse.

    Doc, the CIA brings drugs into this country to fund their clandestine operations. Our elected officials are afraid of them. What did they have on Trump? He never lifted a finger against them. He just tried to use them to help him? Obama the same.

    Im not going to say they planned and executed the killing of Kennedy, but can we be so naive to not entertain the fact that they KNEW something was up and they backed off and let it happen?

    I don’t trust them. I don’t trust any of them. Democrat, Republican, especially the unelected officials who have been empowered by our cowards in Congress who will not govern.

    Kennedy asked too. Any questions. He was trying to govern. Trump, doofus that he is, also asked too many questions, and he wanted to know where the money was going and he wanted to make sure his people got a taste of whatever they were into. Trump also had a problem with the federal government selling the nation down the river, repeatedly, for so little.

    That’s the thing Doc. Our officials will give away billions of OUR MONEY for a few thousand dollars each, pennies on the dollar. And they do this repeatedly, and it’s bipartisan.

    How can we not entertain the fact that they stood by and let JFK get shot? The Warren Commission swept too much under the rug, and every one of them get rich beyond their wildest dreams.

    Coincidence?

  3. Great piece Doctor Franklin. Conspiracy theories have and always will continue to swirl around every major catastrophe. I don’t mind listening and looking at things from different view points and perspectives, but when the evidence just isn’t there to support these things, it’s time to move on and accept the reality of what happened. I think some people who perpetrate these theories like to play the game of “ gotcha” or “ told ya so”, if any one of their theories has just a hint of possibility or truth. The Internet just exacerbates the problem, and people will just get swept up in their own alternative reality.
    Again, I appreciate the guest articles and columns.

    1. Jeff,

      Do events like the Gulf of Tonkin (non)Incident mean anything to you? The American coups that toppled the democracies in Iran in ’53, Guatemala in ’54, Indonesia in ’64-5, Brazil in ’65, Chile in ’73, the US-backed coup in Bolivia, etc., etc., etc. mean anything to you? That’s just a partial list of CIA-abetted conspiracies that were stridently denied when they occurred, with the “legacy” media joining in supporting the early denials, only to later be proven in declassified files.

      The so-called “Marxist,” Oswald, learned to speak Russian as a Marine. He then defected to Russia and promised to turn over state secrets to the commies (which he had, given he was a radar operator at Atsugi, a CIA spy base from which U-2 spy flights were dispatched). He did this at the height of the cold war. His return to the US 20 months later was paid for by the US State Department, and he wasn’t arrested? Whom do you suppose he was working for?

      And why did this “Marxist” have no known, even leftist friends, to say nothing of commie friends? Instead, he surrounded himself solely with folks clearly right wing and anti-Castro.

      It’s obvious to anyone who thinks about it that Oswald was just another one of the low-level, “false defectors” that the USA sent into Russia during the Cold War as “dangles,” hoping to get whatever info they could.

      The medical autopsy evidence, that Dr. Franklin seems blissfully unaware of, totally demolishes the lone nut scenario, as renowned forensic authority Cyril Wecht and I proved in pieces published in the Association of Firearms and Toolmark Examiners Journal, available here: https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews/nova-s-cold-case-jfk-junk-science-pbs

  4. I get it.

    For some reason, you are compelled to be an apologist for the deep state vis-à-vis the assassination of JFK.

    Your judgement in virtually all other matters is impeccable, however, so I’m inclined to overlook this massive error.

  5. Still too many documents classified. Why? What is reasoning behind all this secrecy? Could it be the CIA acutally knows who did it and won’t tell? Or the CIA was involved? Or was it the mob in cahoots with the CIA? More questions than answers, and I doubt we’ll ever know the truth due to the depth of the deep state in DC.

  6. Oswald shot Kennedy because he thought he could escape and make it to Cuba where he would be welcomed and celebrated. If there was any other person involved, there would be at least some compelling evidence. The proliferation of competing conspiracies shows that there is no logical narrative with enough evidence that even makes sense. The idea that the CIA was involved is ridiculous. They were trying to figure out ways to kill Castro FGS. And even if we consider the remote possibility that there was a rogue former CIA operative tangentially involved, it really doesn’t change the fact that Oswald did it for his own personal reasons. He hated the USA and loved Marxism. He loved Castro and the Cuban Revolution. He did it. Case closed, even though too many careers depend on it being open forever.

    1. Trump’s most despicable moment in that campaign. That’s why I’m supporting DeSantis. I will vote for Trump if he wins the nomination, but that type of stuff should sicken every one of his supporters.

  7. Just ask why Bush hired a guy seen in a newspaper photo with Oswald in New Orleans shortly before the assassination was moved to Canada shortly after the assassination to work in Bushes CIA front Oil company. The guy’s name was Raphael Cruz. This story was recounted by presidential candidate Trump during his campaign. The next day Ted Cruz had a public meltdown and withdrew from the race.

  8. I also believe there was no federal involvement in the Jan 6 events at the Capitol. No involvement by the CIA or FBI in the Russian collusion hoax to oust Donald Trump. I also believe that FBI head James Comey had no involvement in this scheme to overthrow a duly elected president by leaking information to the media.Trump knew his campaign was being spied on and info was being leaked and was loudly mocked as being a “conspiracy theorist”. There were also no federal operations to influence social media as well as mainstream media in the cover up of the Biden family business. As far as we know “Deep State” operations do not exist. They never have. Nope. It’s just you’re overactive imagination. Now take your meds and go back to sleep.

  9. It’s difficult to decide what’s fact a what’s fiction as both sides of the issue present opinions that sound logical and could be legitimate. What bothers me is it’s been 59 years and there is still is a lot of documentation still classified. I find it hard to believe that there are still legitimate reasons to keep the info secret. I believe most of the people involved are gone now and the public deserves to see all the documents. Keeping the information secret is what makes us think they’re hiding something.

  11. We just finished watching the HBO mini-series: The White House Plumbers. At the end of the series, there was postscript about E. Howard Hunt. During the series hints were dropped that Hunt was involved in the J F K assassination. The postscript stated that Hunt, may have or may have not, admitted his participation in assassination.

  12. So you agree that the Warren Commission was “… ignorant or deceived on key points …” You are aware that the published Report of the Warren Commission is merely a summary of their findings and that the total report (evidence, documents, testimony) is well over 10, 000 pages. I’m wondering did you ever examine the “real” report? It’s available as a CD. Seems like the only one who actually took the time and effort to do so was Vincent Bugliosi (as pointed out above BY MR. CAMERON).

    Mary’s Mosaic by Peter Janney (son of a high level CIA operative) postulates that Mary Pinchot Meyer – long term lover of JFK and diarist of those trysts – was also assassinated by the CIA because she “knew too much.”

  13. Not saying I agree or disagree with you Doc, but you stated, “A document or witness revealing exactly what happened will never magically appear…” Well if we can have a magic bullet, why not a magic document? Just saying.

  15. I drive a 2021 Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, which weighs about 4,000 pounds. I trust what the government says about anything about as far as I could throw my truck. And even on my best day that isn’t very far. And the saddest part is that they have brought that mistrust on themselves.

  17. “Despite opinions to the contrary, the established facts about Oswald’s skill as a shooter,…”

    Doc, you keep singing that same song and nobody with real trigger time is going to dance to your tune.

    You ignored my comments in your last article on this subject (19-20 May) which tells me you flat don’t want to learn anything new.

    (https://johnkassnews.com/memo-to-rfk-jr-tucker-and-mark-steyn-the-cia-did-not-kill-jfk/)

    Oswald was a mediocre shooter in Boot Camp, and almost all Marines shoot their best ever scores in that highly disciplined environment.

    His one time of qualifying after Boot Camp was a miserable two points above being “Unqualified”.

    Oswald had neither the time, money, nor facility to develop into a high level expert. I am fully willing to believe that he fired from the Book Depository, but firing three rounds in six seconds with outstanding accuracy is just not something he could reasonably do.

    “The thing about valid conspiracy theories is that they must explain facts, not create them.”
    You need to follow your own advice. Your ‘non-conspiracy’ theory doesn’t begin to pass the smell test. Oswald literally could not have been the lone shooter.

  18. A couple of years ago I watched a documentary on the JFK assassination which debunked all the conspiracy theories. Towards the end of the program, someone stated that human beings have a hard time processing that someone so small (Oswald), could do something so big to change history. That really stuck with me.

  19. I think human beings also have a hard time accepting just how fragile and totally chaotic life can be. Tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us. It doesn’t matter what we do, who we are, or how we live our lives. We could all be gone in an instant.

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