That ever elusive "smoking gun"
davidemerling
as more and more information comes out on the Kennedy assassination,
it has only served to solidify what most rational people have known
for a long time - there simply was no conspiracy in the Kennedy
assassination.
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Boxes of JFK assassination papers soon may be headed for Sixth Floor
Museum's new reading room
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/051410dnmetjfk.3bfd64d.html
11:10 PM CDT on Thursday, May 13, 2010
By DAVID FLICK / The Dallas Morning News
dfl...@dallasnews.com
A little more than two years ago, when Dallas County District Attorney
Craig Watkins announced that 15 long-hidden boxes of materials
relating to the Kennedy assassination would go to the Sixth Floor
Museum at Dealey Plaza, it seemed like a big win for the local team.
Sixth Floor officials say they are still waiting to collect the prize.
"We still don't have them," said museum spokeswoman Deborah Marine.
"As far as I know, nothing has been finalized about when we might get
them."
When asked about the documents related to the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy, Jamille Bradfield, Marine's counterpart in
Watkins' office, sent a brief e-mail:
"Regarding the status of our donation, the district attorney's office
has made a commitment to the Sixth Floor Museum to donate the JFK
memorabilia and we anticipate it will become part of the collection in
the museum's new reading room."
The reading room, which will allow researchers easier access to museum
documents, is scheduled to open next month on the first floor of the
former schoolbook depository.
Bradfield did not explain why the transfer had taken two years, other
than saying that timing the donation to coincide with the opening of
the reading room "couldn't be more perfect."
Marine said museum officials would be delighted to finally be getting
the materials and were not bothered by the delay.
"It sometimes takes at little bit longer to prepare something like
this," Marine said.
Besides, officials already know what's in the boxes. Marine noted that
The Dallas Morning News posted the entire collection online within a
week of Watkins' original announcement in February 2008.
His announcement of the existence of the boxes, which had been stored
in an old safe in the courthouse for decades, stirred nationwide
attention at the time.
The memorabilia was gathered by the legendary Henry Wade, district
attorney at the time of the assassination, and kept from public view
by his successors.
The boxes included some of Wade's personal correspondence, official
records from the Jack Ruby trial, and letters and photographs of both
Ruby and alleged Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
Most intriguing was what appeared to be a transcript of a conversation
between Ruby and Oswald plotting to kill the president at the Mafia's
behest.
The "transcript" was quickly identified as part of a script for a
proposed movie that Wade briefly supported. The movie was never made,
but the story of its stillborn production was the most interesting
revelation in the unearthed materials.
The initial reaction to Watkins' announcement was a spirited
competition between the Sixth Floor Museum and supporters of the
National Archives to be the final repository for the materials. When
Watkins announced the materials would stay in Dallas, it was
interpreted as a victory for a respected local institution.
By that time, however, there already were doubts about how significant
the collection was.
Although Watkins predicted at the time that the collection "will open
up the debate again about whether there was a conspiracy," researchers
and conspiracy theorists who studied the documents were mostly
unimpressed.
One amateur researcher, Steve Thomas, who posted extensively about the
files, said at the time that they added some insight into Wade's view
of the Ruby trial, but otherwise contained no revelations.
"If you're looking for a smoking gun," he said, "you're not going to
find it."
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David Emerling
Memphis, TN