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

Oswald was more of a “nut” than a “Red” – although the two categories overlap. This
interpretation of Oswald’s life makes the assassination more like an act of god than a
reflection of deeper societal problems and nefarious conspiratorial forces active in the
nation. Who can protect the president from one deranged individual with a gun? There
is some overlapping in the categories of “Oswald the Nut” and “Oswald the Red,” but
many authors emphasize one facet over the other.
One of the Commissioners, Congressman (and future President) Gerald Ford, and
his aide John R. Stiles, wrote one of the first books defending the Warren panel’s
portrayal of Oswald’s life. The authors organized Warren Commission testimony and
exhibits in Portrait of the Assassin. Published in 1965, “in the style of a novel,” it was an
effort to reach a popular audience that did not have the time to review the official
report. 100 Ford and Stiles portrayed Oswald as a man who yearned for greatness, but
was constantly frustrated and not equipped emotionally and intellectually to face reality.
Their portrait of Oswald reflected the conclusions of the Commission. The book was
designed more to convince the public that Oswald alone killed Kennedy than to explain
the reasons why. Ford and Commission staff member David Belin would become two of
the foremost defenders of the panel, even as public belief in its conclusions eroded.
Portrait of the Assassin reflected contemporary Cold War attitudes, hinting at a secret
world of espionage while claiming that Oswald was not an agent either of the United
States or the Soviet Union.
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Gerald Ford and John R. Stiles, Portrait of the Assassin, (New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1965), vii.
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