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

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the Justice Department, with the slain president’s brother, Attorney General Robert<br />

Kennedy, in agonized mourning. Katzenbach argued that “The public must be satisfied<br />

that he [Oswald] did not have confederates who are still at large, and that the evidence<br />

was such that he would have been convicted at trial.” “Speculation about Oswald’s<br />

motivation,” he went on, “ought to be cut off, and we should have more basis for<br />

rebutting thought that this was a Communist conspiracy or (as the Iron Curtain press is<br />

saying) a right-wing conspiracy to blame it on the Communists.” 26<br />

Katzenbach concluded by writing that, “We need something to head off public<br />

speculation or Congressional hearings of the wrong sort” by releasing the FBI report and<br />

possibly taking the other step of forming a “Presidential Commission of unimpeachable<br />

personnel.” 27 Although Katzenbach stated that “all the facts” should be made public, he<br />

was clearly assuming that Oswald was solely responsible, and that the Johnson<br />

administration had an interest in ending discussion of a possible conspiracy, rather than<br />

probing any evidence of a conspiracy. A presidential panel would prevent any<br />

26<br />

History Matters Archive (www.history-matters.com/archive). Because of the public<br />

interest in the Kennedy assassination and political assassinations in the 1960’s in general,<br />

many documents related to these controversial events are available online, including at<br />

the History Matters Archive, which describes itself as a site dedicated to shedding<br />

“needed light on the darker aspects of post-World War II American politics.” Another,<br />

more extensive archive is available from the non-profit Mary Ferrell Archive<br />

(www.maryferrell.org), which is “dedicated to the exploration of the deeper stories<br />

behind the national crises and tragedies that shape our society.” The documents at these<br />

sites have been scanned from the National Archives and other official sources, and the<br />

supposition of these organizations that the Kennedy assassination was a conspiracy does<br />

not affect the validity of the documents.<br />

27<br />

History Matters Archive.<br />

21

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