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

Oswald’s Trip to Mexico City

This section examines seven major speculations concerning Oswald’s trip to Mexico City in late September and early October 1963. The Commission found no credible evidence that Oswald traveled to Mexico pursuant to an assassination plot, received related instructions, or obtained large sums of money. Specific findings rebut claims that Oswald received his June 1963 passport through special intervention (24 other passports were authorized simultaneously), that the Walter-McCarran Act required an affidavit he did not file (the Act contains no such requirement), and that he lacked funds for the trip (a 7-day journey costing less than $85). The Commission also refuted allegations that Oswald traveled with companions, made a clandestine flight to Havana, or returned with $5,000. A claim that Fidel Castro’s November 27, 1963 speech contained a revealing slip about Oswald’s visits to Cuba was disproven by USIA monitoring of the actual tape, which showed Castro merely misspoke about the “Cuban Embassy” before correcting to “Cuban consulate.”

Oswald and U.S. Government Agencies

This section addresses suspicions that Oswald was an agent, informant, or operative of the FBI or CIA, as well as claims about government surveillance and knowledge prior to the assassination. The Directors of both agencies testified that Oswald was never employed or used by their organizations, and the Commission’s own investigation of federal files confirmed he was not an agent of any U.S. government agency aside from his Marine service. Specific findings rebut Marguerite Oswald’s claims that her son was an agent, Pauline Bates’s alleged “secret agent” statement (Bates denied the report and explained her assumption about the State Department), and speculation that the FBI tried to recruit Oswald (Agent Hosty’s name and number were provided to Oswald through Ruth Paine for contact purposes). The Commission also found that Dallas police did not know Oswald’s address before the assassination, that the FBI had no policy of informing employers about suspected Communist employees, that the FBI did not regard Oswald as a potential killer, that the rifle was successfully traced within 24 hours with no prior information, and that the last FBI interview with Oswald before the assassination occurred in New Orleans in August 1963.

Conspiratorial Relationships

This section examines rumors of conspiratorial relationships involving Oswald, Jack Ruby, Patrolman J.D. Tippit, General Edwin A. Walker, and Bernard Weissman. The Commission conducted intensive inquiries into backgrounds and relationships but found no credible evidence linking these individuals in any plot. Specific findings establish that the three men’s residences were miles apart, that there was no evidence Ruby lent Oswald money (an IRS analysis showed Oswald could repay his State Department loan from earnings), and that television and film evidence showed no recognition between Oswald and Ruby before the shooting. A German newspaper allegation that the FBI intervened to prevent Dallas police from arresting Oswald and Ruby for the Walker attack was traced to a fabricated statement by a newspaper editor. Claims of Oswald being seen at the Carousel Club with Ruby, of prearranged meetings between Tippit, Weissman, and Ruby, and of Eva Grant’s statement that Ruby and Tippit were “like brothers” (denied by Grant) were all investigated and found baseless. The Commission also found no evidence Ruby was active in organized crime, and no connection between Warren Reynolds’s shooting and the assassination.

Other Rumors and Speculations

This section addresses miscellaneous rumors that did not fit into the preceding categories. The Commission found no evidence linking Oswald to the January 1958 death of Marine Pvt. Martin D. Schrand at Cubi Point, Philippines, despite Oswald’s presence at that station; the official Marine investigation had ruled the death an accidental discharge. A claim that the Texas School Book Depository was municipally owned (making Oswald a city employee requiring official sponsorship) was disproven, as the Depository was a private corporation and Oswald obtained his position through Ruth Paine’s arrangement of an interview with Superintendent Roy Truly. Finally, the Commission found that neither the Dallas police nor the Secret Service had searched other buildings along the motorcade route or elsewhere in Dallas prior to the President’s visit, contrary to speculation, and that such building searches were not Secret Service practice.