The Warren Commission was doubted very early on, even though such doubt really wouldn't be spoken in polite society until after the death of MLK and RFK. Perhaps, sharing the name, gave me an urgency to know more or perhaps it was the call on my life, even back then; to seek truth.
In 1967, we were taking a family vacation to Texas. I was so excited for three reasons. One, we were going with Grandpa and Grandma, and mom and dad behaved better on those trips. Two, I was going to see the Gulf of Mexico and three, we were going to Dallas. At the age of nine, recent history, was definitely of interest.
I was surprised, however; when my Grandpa took a stern voice with me, as we were heading toward Dealey Plaza. As I mentioned in another article, Kennedy is my maiden name, which I of course shared with my parents and paternal grandparents. His words raised a thought that day that has never been relinquished. Here we are, brown skinned tourists in Dallas, a people of very prominent proboscis, and actually looking far from wealthy white or of Irish descent. My Grandpa, very sternly and seriously stated, "Don't tell anyone your last name." I knew then, that statement would prove significant on more levels than my 9 year old mind could comprehend. If the shooter was dead, and the shooter of the shooter was dead, what was still unresolved?
Lo, these many years later, I can look back and realize this fact. Less than four years after the death of President Kennedy, and not a full three years following the official declaration of the Warren Commission, the idea that the murder was solved already did not resonate with at least one average citizen. If Lee Harvey Oswald had lived to stand trial, clearly in the heart and mind of some average Americans, there was already a reasonable doubt.
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