The ARRB's Successes

• Ensured that the famous home movie of the assassination shot by Abraham Zapruder was transferred from private hands to the government.

• Found evidence that a second set of autopsy photographs -- their whereabouts still unknown -- was made of the wounds suffered by President Kennedy.

• Expanded the medical record of Kennedy's autopsy and his treatment at Parkland Hospital in Dallas by getting statements under oath from 10 autopsy participants, five Parkland physicians and conducting numerous interviews with other medical personnel.

• Uncovered financial records showing that the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged Kennedy assassin, sent her son money after he defected to the Soviet Union. The records reveal the extent to which the FBI was tracking Oswald after the defection and also brought to light the U.S. government's work monitoring cash flows between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

• Learned that Gerald R. Ford inserted a few words -- "at the back of his neck" -- in a key Warren Commission report sentence describing where a bullet struck Kennedy. The effect was to strengthen the commission's conclusion that a single bullet killed Kennedy and wounded Texas Gov. John Connally, a finding crucial to the conclusion that Oswald acted alone. In an interview, the former president, who served on the Warren panel, said he inserted the words in "at attempt to be more precise."

• [revealed] Four pre-assassination documents showing the extent of the government's preoccupation with getting rid of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. One proposed flooding Cuba with faked photos of an overweight Castro "with two beauties and a table brimming over with the most delectable Cuban food" in an attempt to undermine Castro's support.

• Secured the release of records relating to New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's unsuccessful prosecution of businessman Clay Shaw for his alleged role in killing Kennedy.

• Obtained the full release of FBI documents that describe the FBI's attempts to track Oswald's activities in Europe before the assassination.

• Acquired two sets of original notes from Oswald's interrogation in the Dallas Police Department taken by FBI Agent James Hosty and Dallas Homicide Division Captain "Will" Fritz.

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