Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Investigation of Other Activities

Oswald opened three post office boxes between 1962 and 1963: box No. 2915 in Dallas on October 9, 1962, closed May 14, 1963; box No. 30061 in New Orleans on June 3, 1963, closed September 26, 1963; and box No. 6225 in Dallas on November 1, 1963, used to receive FPCC and ACLU mail. All were rented in Oswald’s true name, with no evidence of clandestine communications. His use of aliases “A. J. Hidell,” “O. H. Lee,” and “D. F. Drittal” was traced to antisocial tendencies and the need to acquire weapons without tracing. The Commission found no conspiratorial significance.

The Commission also investigated reports that Oswald owned a second rifle. A repair tag from Irving Sports Shop bearing Oswald’s name was presented to the FBI by employee Dial D. Ryder on November 25, 1963, suggesting a telescopic sight had been mounted on a rifle in early November. The tag’s authenticity was doubtful: Ryder’s account was inconsistent, neither Ryder nor his employer recalled Oswald as a customer, and the tip came from anonymous phone calls. Corroborating testimony from Mrs. Edith Whitworth and Mrs. Gertrude Hunter, who claimed to have seen Oswald at a nearby furniture store, was undermined by Oswald’s inability to drive, Ruth Paine always accompanying Marina when she left the house, and Mrs. Hunter’s history of fabricating connections to high-profile events.

Several witnesses reported seeing a man resembling Oswald practicing with a rifle at the Sports Drome Rifle Range in Dallas in the weeks before the assassination. Malcolm H. Price Jr., Garland G. Slack, and Sterling C. Wood expressed confidence the man was Oswald. However, other range witnesses did not identify him as Oswald, and Price and Slack described characteristics—blond hair, a Texas-style hat, chewing tobacco—not matching Oswald’s known appearance. The Commission was unable to conclude Oswald was the person seen.

Possible Conspiracy Involving Jack Ruby

The chapter’s final section considers whether Jack Ruby was part of a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy. The Commission explored Ruby’s background and activities before the assassination—particularly the two days after—and assessed assertions that Oswald and Ruby knew one another prior.

The Commission examined an allegation that Bernard Weissman had met with Jack Ruby and Patrolman J. D. Tippit at Ruby’s Carousel Club on November 14, 1963. The allegation was first made on March 4, 1964, when New York attorney Mark Lane testified that an undisclosed informant told him of the meeting. Lane declined to name the informant but said he would attempt to obtain permission. On July 2, 1964, after repeated Commission requests, Lane testified again but still declined to reveal the name, citing his promise. Lane repeated the allegation on radio, whereupon Weissman twice demanded the informant’s name. As of the report’s date, Lane had failed to reveal the informant and offered no supporting evidence. The Commission investigated the alleged Weissman-Ruby-Tippit meeting and found no evidence it took place anywhere at any time.

Chapter VIII. She did not then know Oswald’s address in Dallas.[C6-367] (Part 3 of 6)

The Commission’s examination of Oswald’s alleged rifle practice at the Sports Drome Rifle Range in Dallas produced substantial evidence that the man witnesses observed was not Oswald himself. Sterling Wood, his son Gregory, and range employees William Price and Pat Slack all claimed to have seen a person resembling Oswald practicing with a bolt-action rifle during September and November 1963. However, multiple inconsistencies undermined their identifications. Price adjusted the scope for the individual on September 28, 1963, the very day Oswald was demonstrably in Mexico City. Slack believed he saw the same man on November 10, when persuasive evidence places Oswald at Ruth Paine’s home in Irving. The man Price assisted drove an old car, possibly a 1940 or 1941 Ford, yet Oswald could not drive at that time and had no access to such a vehicle. While the witnesses likely reinforced their own identifications through knowledge of Oswald’s Mannlicher-Carcano, the weapon they described differed in significant respects: the barrel had been shortened through “sporterizing,” certain pieces were missing from the top, the weapon spouted flames when fired, and the scope appeared different. The Commission also examined Albert Guy Bogard’s claim that Oswald visited his Lincoln-Mercury dealership on November 9, 1963. Although Bogard received partial corroboration from colleagues Frank Pizzo, Eugene Wilson, and Oran Brown, important details conflicted, no paper bearing Oswald’s name was found in the showroom’s refuse, and witnesses testified Oswald was elsewhere that day. The investigation into Oswald’s alleged associations with Mexican or Cuban individuals centered on Sylvia Odio, a Cuban exile and JURE member who testified that three men, including one introduced as “Leon Oswald,” visited her Dallas apartment in late September 1963. However, the Commission established through bus records, immigration documents, and witness testimony that Oswald could not have been in Dallas on September 26 or 27, 1963. Although the FBI identified Loran Eugene Hall as a possible visitor, accompanied by Lawrence Howard and William Seymour, who resembled Oswald, the Commission concluded Oswald was not present. Similarly, testimony from bartender Evaristo Rodriguez about seeing Oswald with a Latin-appearing man at the Habana Bar in New Orleans proved unreliable, as did attorney Dean Andrews’s account of Oswald visiting his office accompanied by a Mexican.