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

Blakey explained that the Committee accepted much of the Warren Commission’s
view of Oswald’s motivations in the assassination, especially his political views. He
wrote, “We had to believe…that the plot to assassinate the President, for Oswald at least,
was rooted in his fundamentally leftist political beliefs.” 444 Blakey theorized that either
Oswald’s uncle “Dutz” Murrett or David Ferrie could have told the mob about Oswald’s
political beliefs and his inclination to act violently and rashly, specifically in his alleged
attempt to kill General Walker. Both Murret and Ferrie had ties to New Orleans mafia
boss Carlos Marcello. Oswald was reported together with Ferrie and with anti-Castro
Cubans, including in the Odio incident. Blakey acknowledged the Committee was “at a
loss to find a fully satisfactory explanation for the contractions of Oswald’s anti-Castro
and pro-Castro activities.” The most logical explanation, according to the former chief
counsel, was that the anti-Castroites posed as Castro supporters for “Oswald’s benefit.”
445 Another logical explanation would be that Oswald was posing as a pro-Castroite, but
that would lead into the intelligence labyrinth, which Blakey and the Committee seemed
determined to avoid. In the end, Blakey surmised, there were “the elements of the
conspiracy in New Orleans” in the summer of 1963: “knowledge of an expected
presidential trip to Texas; a violence-prone, pro-Castro Oswald; and an alliance of anti-
Castro and underworld figures whose common bond was a hatred of the U.S.
President.” 446
444 Blakey and Billings, 363.
445 Blakey and Billings, 177-178,
446 Blakey and Billings, 365.
198