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

Depository Employee Witness Testimonies

Depository employee witness testimonies are drawn from Billy Lovelady, William Shelley, T. L. Baker, Roy Truly, Jack Dougherty, Eddie Piper, Bonnie Ray Williams, Harold Norman, James Jarman, Charles Givens, Frankie Kaiser, Nat Pinkston, Victoria Adams, John Howlett, and Mrs. A. C. Johnson, with supporting exhibits CE 485, 486, 490, 492, 494, 498, 506, 1118, 1381, 1966, 3141, and the Depository deposition exhibits. The testimony establishes the movements, locations, and lunchroom arrangements of Depository employees on November 22, 1963, the time required to travel from the sixth floor to the second floor, and the absence of the south elevator during the period in question, corroborating the placement of the assassin on the sixth floor.

KAPITEL IV.

Chapter IV continues the Commission’s examination of the assassination of President Kennedy and the related murder of Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit, drawing on testimony from witnesses, law enforcement officers, and the extensive documentary record established by the Warren Commission. The chapter addresses Lee Harvey Oswald’s movements, the collection and forensic analysis of physical evidence, Oswald’s interrogation by Dallas police officials, the investigation of the Tippit killing, eyewitness accounts of the suspect’s flight and arrest, Oswald’s background, and the testimony of Marina Oswald, Robert Oswald, Ruth Paine, and others concerning Oswald’s activities in the weeks before the assassination. Citations support the Commission’s findings regarding the rifle and its ownership, Oswald’s employment at the Texas School Book Depository, his encounter with General Edwin Walker, the identification of Oswald in the Texas Theatre, and the chain of custody for documentary and physical exhibits.

KAPITEL IV. Footnotes

The footnotes supporting Chapter IV cite testimony and exhibits drawn primarily from the Hearings volumes of the Commission proceedings (designated by volume and page number, e.g., “6 H 329”), Commission Exhibits (CE numbers), and the depositions of various witnesses (designated “DE”). Witnesses whose testimony is most heavily cited include William Shelley and Ted Lovelady (who found the rifle on the fifth floor of the School Book Depository), Mrs. Reid (a secretary), Marina Oswald, Eugene Kaiser, Seymour Weitzman, Tom D. McWatters (a fellow employee), Mrs. A. C. Johnson, Mrs. Bledsoe, Roger Craig, and William Whaley (all witnesses to portions of Oswald’s flight from the Depository), Captain Will Fritz and other Dallas police officers involved in the investigation, Domingo Benavides, Helen Markham, Barbara and Virginia Davis, Ted Callaway, Sam Guinyard, William Smith, William Scoggins, and Warren Reynolds (Tippit murder witnesses), Gerald Hill, Captain Jesse Curry, James Leavelle, L. C. Graves, Forrest Sorrels, and Captain J. W. Fritz, as well as other officers connected with the assassination investigation. The footnotes also reference the testimony of Robert Oswald, Ruth Paine, George and Jeanne De Mohrenschildt, Major Eugene D. Anderson, Sergeant James A. Zahm, Ronald Simmons, and Bobby M. Patterson and L. J. Lewis (regarding the discovery of CE 399), Michaelis (a Babushka lady witness), and various documentary exhibits relating to the rifle, the palm print, the backyard photographs, Oswald’s Selective Service card, the revolver, and other physical evidence. Cross-references to earlier portions of the Report and to Chapter III are noted, and citations include Commission Exhibits 1 through 2964 and pages from the CE series of documents.

KAPITEL V.

This chapter examines the events following the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald at the Dallas Police Department, including his interrogation, the security arrangements for his transfer, and his fatal shooting by Jack Ruby. The investigation draws upon extensive testimony from Dallas police officials, FBI agents, and other witnesses, along with numerous Commission Exhibits documenting the procedures, communications, and circumstances surrounding these critical events.

References

The primary sources for this chapter include testimony before the Warren Commission from Dallas Police Chief Jesse E. Curry (4 H 152, 12 H 30, 15 H 125, 15 H 131, 15 H 167, 15 H 171, 15 H 191-192), Captain J.W. Fritz (4 H 207-211, 4 H 215-232, 4 H 238-240, 4 H 246), and numerous other officers including Bob K. Carroll, Gerald Hill, Elmer L. Boyd, Richard Sims, James W. Bookhout, Manning C. Clements, and Harry Holmes. Additional testimony comes from FBI agents Winston G. Lawson and James P. Hosty, Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade (5 H 218-250), and various other law enforcement officials and witnesses. Commission Exhibits referenced include CE 701, CE 1353, CE 1359, CE 1999, CE 2002-2003, CE 2010-2186, with specific exhibits providing documentation of police reports, audio recordings from WFAA-TV, KRLD-TV, NBC-TV, and WBAP Fort Worth, and depositions from numerous witnesses.