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

oth because of his controversial message and, more importantly, because he presented
his message through a wide-release, major studio film that reached millions of
Americans. Film and television shows about the assassination, especially JFK, raised
questions about who has the authority to present a historical argument. Stone used a
popular medium associated more with entertainment than historical debate to argue that
Oswald was a secret agent and set up to take responsibility for an assassination
conspiracy and cover-up that reached to the highest levels of U.S. government. Stone
was criticized both for his message and his medium.
A popular way in American culture to examine the Kennedy assassination
controversy has been to imagine Oswald on trial. There have been television programs
and films in which Oswald has been put on trial to determine for the viewer whether he
killed the president or there was a conspiracy. There is also a novel by conspiracy
theorist Walt Brown, The People v. Lee Harvey Oswald, in which Oswald survives
Ruby’s attempt on his life to stand trial for the murder of John F. Kennedy in a Texas
courtroom. Brown had the legal teams agree to move forward with the trial even though
there were many reasons for a mistrial concerning the lack of a proper chain of custody
for the physical evidence and the fact that the autopsy was not performed on Kennedy in
Texas as required under Texas law. At the time of the assassination, there was no federal
law on killing a president. Brown used the novel to examine real controversies over the
evidence, and to have much of the testimony of the Warren Commission subjected to
cross-examination. The novel is heavily weighted toward a finding of conspiracy. The
novel ended with the trial judge directing a verdict of “Not guilty.” Oswald is treated
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