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

its version of Oswald’s life: a brief sketch in the summary and conclusions, a full
biography in the report itself, and further biographical information in an appendix. The
summary, which undoubtedly was the most read section of the report, interweaves
Oswald into the assassination in a way that hides significant questions or doubts about the
evidence. The summary appeals to the readers’ sympathies by declaring the assassination
a crime “against a man, a family, a nation, and against all mankind.” 88 The narrative
begins with Kennedy’s arrival in Dallas, the motorcade, and then the assassination.
Suddenly, a shift is made: a police officer in the Texas School Book Depository building
confronts a man in the lunchroom – none other than Lee Harvey Oswald. After Oswald
is identified as an employee, he is allowed to go about his business, and Oswald
eventually leaves the building. The narrative does not describe those police officers who
rushed to the so-called “Grassy Knoll,” or any confusion about where the shots were fired
from. The narrative now follows Oswald as he takes a taxi to his apartment, and leaves
with a pistol.
The narrative shifts to witnesses who see a man gun down Officer J.D. Tippit, and
later a mysterious individual who sneaks into the Texas Theater to watch a movie. 89 The
police are called and once again, we are face to face with Lee Oswald. The Commission
ties this together by quoting witnesses who identify Oswald as the gunman who killed
Tippit who seeks to hide in the theater, but left unanswered is the accuracy of those
88
WC Report, 1.
89
Warren Commission critics found many weaknesses in the Commission’s forensic
evidence, in both the Kennedy assassination and the Tippit slaying. Experts could not
conclusively match the bullets in Tippit’s body to Oswald’s pistol.
53