After spending all of Friday, November 21, indoors at the JFK Lancer conference, I was eager to get away from the Dallas Grand Hotel, at least for a little while. So I emerged from the building on Saturday morning around 7:45 and began sauntering west down Commerce Street.
First stop was at the cenotaph a few blocks from Dealey Plaza, the official JFK memorial. (My online dictionary defines cenotaph as "a monument erected in honor of a dead person whose remains lie elsewhere.") The area was deserted, but a stop there seemed appropriate. As an agnostic, I was unable to offer a sincere prayer, but my thoughts were very much on the slain President.
My actual destination was the Paramount hotel, site of the COPA regional meeting, where I was due to meet up with a trio of researchers. But I detoured over to Dealey Plaza, where I found a man scotch-taping paper signs around the area:
The man declined to identify himself, and grew testy when I asked him his name a second time. "Sir --- will you please respect my privacy?" he said. It isn't often I'm called "sir."
I strolled over to the National Historic Landmark plaque along Elm Street, at the base of the hill below the concrete pergola. A small shrine had been erected there: a cross bearing the words, "JFK/Only the truth shall keep us free." The cross was draped in a garland of flowers.
The emotional impact of President Kennedy's murder, even thirty-four years on, was evident that morning. A lone woman stood before the small shrine. Her head was bent, and she crossed herself; a single tear rolled from one eye, and she wiped it away.
From Elm Street I walked a few blocks to the Paramount, and met up with my researcher companions. One of these was a retired Dallas police officer who has maintained an active interest in the Kennedy case. He drove us across the Trinity River to Oak Cliff, our general destination being Austin's Barbecue. But we detoured to 1026 N. Beckley, Lee Oswald's old rooming house.
This house appears small from the street. But the retired officer drove us around back to demonstrate that the house is really quite large, extending all the way back to the alley behind the place. There were 24 units to the rooming house. It was not one continuous structure: there was at least one "outbuilding" that may have served as a CIA safehouse in 1963. The premises are unchanged, the officer said, since Oswald lived there.
After breakfast we drove to nearby Laurel Land cemetery. The retired officer didn't tell us why we were headed there. He was searching for a particular grave, and we wound around until he found it.
It was the final resting place of Officer J.D. Tippit. Someone had arranged to have a wreath placed there in his memory. Our escort, who had known Tippit, did not know who, but did observe the wreath had probably been placed there the day before, as its flowers were beginning to wilt.
This was our last stop. From here we went back to the Paramount, where COPA's Regional Meeting was being held. I hitched a ride back up to the Lancer conference at the Grand, making it back just in time for Mary Ferrell's keynote address. Unfortunately, my tape recorder malfunctioned during her speech, so I can only quote what she said before my machine conked out.
"We are all asked, repeatedly --- and I don't know what the news reporters want us to answer --- but they ask why we assemble at least once a year to discuss the same [circumstances], and argue with each other about possible answers to the many questions that have puzzled us for thirty four years," she said. "I know I come to Lancer, and many conferences like this, to share any knowledge that I have ... and I come to learn from you. And I never fail to take something away from these conferences ... I think we all benefit from getting together this way."
By this time, my recorder was beginning to stop for no apparent reason. So I left, hoping to find a nearby electronics store where I could replace it. Brad Parker was gracious enough to drive me around in what proved to be a futile search.
We arrived in Dealey Plaza together and scoped out the area. Crowd estimates are not my specialty but there were several hundred people on hand --- perhaps as many as five hundred.
The remembrance ceremony began with Beverly Oliver, who might be the so-called "Babushka Lady," singing "America the Beautiful." She possesses a fine clear voice and did a commendable job on a difficult song.
Regrettably, I was unable to tape the comments of Roger Peterson. But in remarks published in Lancer's conference program, he said: "The momentum is building. The disclosures are increasing. The government's case is unraveling. If we manage our efforts to several objectives and stick together, I believe we will bring closure to the JFK assassination in the next 24 months. With the JFK case fully solved, I believe closure will then quickly be reached on the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.
"Or, we can blow it. It's up to us.
"Why? Because the makers of the lies are gradually dying off, and the liars' heirs are unaware of how tangled the lies are or where they are buried. We, on the other hand, have been placing tiles in this mysterious JFK mosaic for years. We have nothing to hide ... and our numbers are growing, not dying.
"Nonetheless, we must stick together. Petty arguments about conferences and unpleasant disagreements about opposing interpretations only lengthen the time the lies will stand as official."
He urged that all interested parties focus on three main objectives in the next two years: Amend the JFK Records Act to permit the declassification of Lee Oswald's and Marguerite Oswald's income tax returns; persuade at least two surviving participants in the conspiracy to "come clean" --- offering immunity to prosecution if necessary; and finally, recruit two prominent media personalities --- one print, one broadcast --- to the cause.
Several speakers followed Roger Peterson. I was fortunate to obtain a videotape of the remaining speakers from Michael Nurko, who was attending the Lancer conference. The following is drawn from that video.
Ian Griggs, the noted British researcher, said that this was his tenth visit to Dallas. "I don't want to come back next year ... Let's get this thing solved. Let's get to the bottom of it. Get these things finished! This is an Englishman talking to you --- we care as well. So keep digging! Those of you who research, keep researching. Keep writing! Keep talking to the witnesses! Okay --- they've been spoken to before. Ask them questions --- ask them the questions that weren't asked before! You can't interview a name on a tombstone."
It was remarkable to see a Kennedy in Dealey Plaza. Kerry McCarthy, JFK's cousin, was introduced as the Kennedy family historian. "Dallas has been in our thoughts for over thirty-four years," she said, "and to see this many of you come out today, to remember my cousin, touches me deeply. I am honored to be in Dallas today. Those words do not come easily to me but they are heartfelt."
She said that those responsible for JFK's death would never have believed he would still be remembered as fondly as he was. And in an obvious reference to Seymour Hersh, whose book The Dark Side of Camelot was recently published, she said, "Authors and historians who now drag [JFK's] name, and his achievements, and his family through the mud of inaccurate innuendo and cruel falsehood are the modern day assassins. They tell us, in essence, that he was not worthy of our respect, therefore is not worthy of our concern this many years after his death. They attack a man unable to defend himself. Today I stand in defense of a cousin loved and remembered, and done so with a sense of humor, for Jack was not perfection." His record as President --- as a leader --- is what's important, McCarthy said, not his personal life.
"His death in no way negates his accomplishments, but it did diminish this country. He would never want Dallas to be blamed for the acts of cowards who took his life. For his last moments on earth were with the citizens of this city.
"His loss is to be mourned, his life to be celebrated, his examples to be emulated, and his murder, someday, to be solved. Today, thirty four years after his passing, we can be assured that the hope that we felt in the early 1960s truly did exist ... the challenges that my cousin hoped to face still call out for leaders of integrity. And in the tears that we have shed, and the warm memories that we share collectively, John Fitzgerald Kennedy's dream still continues. Thanks to you, that dream continues in each of us."
The final speaker was George Michael Evica, the Program Chairperson of the Lancer conference. "We must never forget that John F. Kennedy could change, and could grow, and as we remember his capacity to transform, we perceive him as the model of our own transformation. He will not have died in vain. For President John F. Kennedy died for all of us who treasure the principles embodied in the Declaration of Independence; for all of us who value life, for all of us who value liberty, for all of us who value the pursuit of happiness."
He paused briefly before continuing: "Up there ---" and here, he pointed to the roof of the former TSBD --- "the clock on the Depository roof --- 12:29. And the President's limousine turned the corner --- and turned again --- and the awful noises --- and then the terrible loss --- and the terrible time began.
"So let us remember him now --- as he is with us."
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