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

Post-Oswald Shooting Shift in Police Media Policy

After the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald shocked the Dallas police department, the force largely halted public media appearances. Chief Curry made only one additional television appearance: a 1:30 p.m. announcement of Oswald’s death where he refused to answer reporter questions and ended the press conference in less than a minute. When District Attorney Wade asked police brass to share case evidence for a public statement to address public doubts and criticism, Curry refused to speak per his promise to the FBI, and other senior police declined to provide Wade with additional case details.

Public Myths and Rumors from Disclosure Inaccuracies

The unchecked, inaccurate public disclosures from Dallas authorities formed the core of the widespread myths and rumors about the assassination that emerged soon after President Kennedy’s death. The repeated need for authorities to correct misinformation generated public criticism of the DPD’s competence and doubts about the truthfulness of police statements, and skeptics used the early inaccurate police claims to cast doubt on later verified evidence and promote their own alternative theories of the assassination.

Wrongful Harm to Depository Employee Joe R. Molina

Joe R. Molina, a Dallas-born Navy veteran and long-term credit manager at the Texas School Book Depository, was wrongfully harmed by the DPD’s public disclosures. Due to his Depository employment and membership in the American G.I. Forum (which Dallas police considered potentially subversive), Molina’s home was searched with his permission at 1:30 a.m. on November 23, and he was interrogated for 6 to 7 hours at police headquarters about his G.I. Forum membership and ties to Oswald, though he was never arrested, charged, or held in custody, and no evidence ever linked him to Oswald (he stated he had never spoken to Oswald). The FBI confirmed it had no file on Molina and never shared information about him with DPD, and DPD admitted it had no file on Molina, only a file on the G.I. Forum. Public statements and television reports incorrectly framed Molina as a second suspect in the assassination, leading to him losing his job in December (officials cited automation, but Molina believed the unfavorable publicity was the cause), and he struggled to find new employment at a lower salary until assisted by a church contact.