In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in
assassinating Kennedy, firing three bullets.
Marina told the Warren Commission that she believed Lee Oswald shot JFK.
But she later recanted without any specific
evidence being presented to support her charge.
In time, Marina Oswald-Porter, she remarried, not only changed her story, but
began insisting on payment for interviews. She indicated to some of
the people trying to interview her that she
was very flexible about what she would say.
Depending on what they wanted, and what the prices for the interviews would be.
Another Oswald who frequently changed her story and
demanded money for interviews was Lee's mother, Marguerite.
On the day of the assassination, she called the Fort
Worth Star Telegram newspaper looking for a ride into Dallas.
CBS's Bob Schieffer
was then a cut reporter for the Star Telegram, and he
just happened to pick up the phone when Marguerite Oswald called.
Not wanting to miss the opportunity for a great story,
Schieffer and a colleague drove her all the way to Dallas.
Of course, he interviewed her the whole way,
and he got some incredible statements out of her.
In the years that followed, Schieffer says that
Marguerite occasionally contacted him to see if CBS
would pay her for an interview, but CBS consistently refused.
Exposure to the truth about Oswald's very unusual mother and upbringing and life
make it easier to understand why Oswald may have undertaken the assassination.
Although the word lie presumes a underlying rationality that
might not have existed in this deeply troubled individual.
In it's final conclusion,
the Warren Commission said one
bullet apparently missed Kennedy's limousine entirely.
Another struck Kennedy in the back of his neck, and another struck him in the head.
That was the fatal bullet.
Despite forensic and ballistic evidence supporting the
theory of Oswald as the lone gunman,
most of the US public, then and now, according to our poll for the book.
Three quarters of all American's believe
that there was a conspiracy to kill the president.
That Oswald may have been involved, or
was involved, but that others participated as well.
We conducted one of the most extensive public polls ever about a historical
figure and found that most Americans just don't believe Oswald acted alone.
As I said, three-quarters of Americans believe there was a conspiracy.
There are more details in The Kennedy Half Century about that poll.
In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations
concluded that Oswald fired the shots that killed Kennedy.
But the House Committee claimed that audio
recordings by the Dallas police department established a
very high probability that two gunmen fired
at President John F Kennedy in Dealey Plaza.