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

was impersonating Oswald. “There is overwhelming circumstantial evidence that the
CIA covered up proof of an Oswald impostor at work,” according to Melanson. 636 All
the evidence of the double Oswald in Mexico and Dallas formed “a consistent pattern in
which each contributes to the false portrait of a violence-prone, left-wing hothead who is
increasingly frustrated and out of control.” 637
Oswald as Secret Agent, according to Melanson, is central to understanding the
assassination. He blamed “Elements of the CIA’s anti-Castro network” for framing
Oswald as the centerpiece of their conspiracy. 638 These elements – who may have been
renegades – did not need a large conspiracy to succeed. Instead, Melanson wrote, they
could count on the authorities to cover-up evidence of the conspiracy to protect the secret
of Oswald’s ties to U.S. intelligence. “Conspirators could have correctly calculated that
the possessors of such files [on Oswald] would attempt to freeze out or stonewall any
official investigators….Thus the cover-up could be quite extensive while the conspiracy
could be rather small and tight-knit.” 639 However, Melanson added that the conspirators
could have had the support of people higher-up in the government.
Melanson’s work is much more convincing than the study by his fellow political
scientist, Peter Dale Scott, whose 1993 book Deep Politics and the Death of JFK blamed
the assassination, not only individuals, but a systemic problem in American society.
636 Melanson, 92.
637 Melanson, 106.
638 Melanson, 145.
639 Melanson, 147.
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