[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

writing that letter to you.” 271 In the end, there is no way to confirm Hosty’s account of
what the note said because he destroyed it allegedly on the orders of his superiors after
Ruby killed Oswald. apparently to avoid any embarrassment to the FBI. Some
conspiracy theorists claim Oswald made some sort of threat in the note. Hosty avoided
criminal prosecution over the destruction of the note when it became publicly known in
the 1970’s.
Hoover placed Hosty on probation after the assassination because his “handling of
a security-type case [Oswald] was grossly inadequate” and “slipshod.” 272 When the
Warren Commission criticized the FBI in its report, Hoover went further and suspended
Hosty for 30 days without pay and transferred him to Kansas City, which apparently in
those days was like the KGB sending someone to Siberia. Hosty goes on at length about
his bureaucratic struggle with the FBI leadership, his testimony before the Warren
Commission and later congressional probes, and his own theories about the assassination,
which provide an insight into the netherworld of Cold War espionage. In the end, Hosty
accepts the official version of Oswald’s life, with the caveat that perhaps he told the
Soviets or Cubans of his plans and they may have provided “tacit encouragement” or
support of some kind. 273
Although Hosty accepted the Warren Commission’s “lone gunman” thesis and
what he called the “simple truth” of Oswald’s guilt, the FBI agent showed how much
espionage and counter-espionage activities revolved around Oswald, and at a certain
271 Hosty, 20, 22.
272 Hosty, 101.
273 Hosty, 249.
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