Case closed, again?

Monday, 14th May 2007

After reading Gerald Posner's magisterial book on the assassination of JFK, back in the early Nineties, I'd assumed we'd heard the last of the conspiracy theories. Not so, obviously, as you can tell from some of the more bizarre programmes that have turned up on the cable channels. Perhaps Vincent Bugliosi's new door-stopper (1,600 pages and 1,000 pages more of end-notes on CD-ROM) will put an end to the more unhinged speculation, although that's unlikely as long as Oliver Stone's movie - a beautiful piece of film-making with a reckless agenda - remains in circulation. Bugliosi, author of the Charles Manson study, Helter-Skelter, gets a rave from the LA Times: "

"It's significant not just because it is comprehensive — surely, no one will deny that. It is essential, first and foremost, because it is conclusive. From this point forward, no reasonable person can argue that Lee Harvey Oswald was innocent; no sane person can take seriously assertions that Kennedy was killed by the CIA, Fidel Castro, the Mob, the Soviets, the Vietnamese, Texas oilmen or his vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson — all of whom exist as suspects in the vacuous world of conspiracy theorists.... Those who come to Bugliosi's book with sympathy for conspiracy theories may wince at the punishment he inflicts across so many pages. He suffers no fools.

Meanwhile, the NY Times interview with Bugliosi offers an example of how screen images can trump the written word: In 1992, less than a year after the debut of Oliver Stone’s conspiracy-minded film “J.F.K.,” Mr. Bugliosi was addressing a group of trial lawyers when a member of the audience asked him about the assassination.
Mr. Bugliosi asked for a show of hands of how many people did not accept the findings of the Warren Commission, which had investigated the assassination and concluded that Oswald was the killer. Close to 90 percent of the 600 lawyers raised their hands, he recalled. Then he asked how many had seen “J.F.K.” or read an account that argued in favour of a conspiracy; a similar number raised their hands. Finally, he asked how many had read the Warren Commission report. Only a smattering of hands went up.