Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

At the mock trial of Lee Harvey Oswald in Houston, defense attorneys Bill Simpich and Larry Schnapf claimed that Oswald was in the 2nd floor lunch room during the shooting, and I shall explain why that is impossible. 

It is based on the claim of a Dallas reporter, Earl Golz, who claimed in 1978 that he spoke to Carolyn Arnold, and she told him that she saw Oswald sitting at a table in the 2nd floor lunch room, apparently eating lunch, and this was about 12:25. 

It was over 5000 days after her original statement that she saw Oswald at the doorway, so did she recant? I'm not even sure Earl Golz spoke to Carolyn Arnold at all. He may have been the victim of an elaborate ruse. 

But, it definitely wasn't true, no matter whom he talked to, and what gives it away is the reference to Oswald eating there. Oswald said that he ate in the 1st floor lunch room, commonly known as the domino room. He ALWAYS ate there, and for three reasons:

1 It is where the warehouse workers ate. The 2nd floor lunch room is where the office workers ate. 

2 They had a shelf there where you could put your lunch in the morning when you arrived, and Oswald had the habit of doing that. He did it on November 22. 

3 There was usually a newspaper there which Oswald liked to read.

Oswald was very specific about where and when he ate lunch. He said he ate in the 1st floor lunch room, and several of his interrogators reported that he said that, including Fritz, Bookhout, and Hosty. And he said he did it when James Jarman (who went by Junior) and Harold Norman (whom he referred to as 'short negro') were there or in view. But, that was definitely early in the lunch break because they wound up going outside to watch the motorcade, and after  standing around a while, they decided to go upstairs and watch from the window. So, they walked down the entire length of Houston Street, going around the building, then thru the back door, then taking the elevator up to the 5th floor, and then having to walk the expanse of the 5th floor from the southwest corner to the northeast corner. It was a lot of walking, and it took time. And all that happened after they ate lunch. 

So, it was definitely early in the lunch-break that Oswald saw Jarman and Norman, as he was eating his lunch, and it was definitely the 1st floor lunch room in which he ate. He didn't kill Kennedy or Tippit, so he wasn't going to lie about where he ate lunch? 

So, there is NO CHANCE that Carolyn Arnold saw Oswald eating in the 2nd floor lunch room at 12:25. Whoever made that story up (and I doubt that it was her) didn't think about those things.     

So, there is no reason to put any stock in the claimed hearsay story of Carolyn Arnold or whoever it was. 

But, let's return to what Attorney Bill Simpich told the jury.  He told them that Oswald ate in the 2nd floor lunch room and was seen there by Carolyn Arnold at 12:25, a claim that Professor Gerald McKnight thoroughly debunked in his excellent book, Breach of Trust. 

But, Oswald definitely knew that the President and First Lady were driving by. He didn't know it before getting to work, but when he saw people gathering on the sidewalk, he asked James Jarman why they were doing that, and Jarman told him why.  So, why would Oswald prefer to sit in the dank lunch room alone at 12:30 on this beautiful day in which the leader of the Free World and his glamorous wife were riding by? He wouldn't. He couldn't. He didn't. 

Furthermore, Oswald was no doubt hungry by Noon because he hadn't eaten any breakfast. Ruth Paine said that he only had coffee at her house.  And he worked all morning. They broke for lunch at 11:45, so why would Oswald wait until 12:25 to eat? He wouldn't. He couldn't. He didn't. He ate at the commencement of the lunch break, and it doesn't take that long to eat a cheese sandwich and an apple. He was surely done eating long before 12:25. 

But, there is more. There is absolute, solid, iron-clad proof that Oswald was NOT in the 2nd floor lunch at 12:30 when JFK passed, as Bill Simpich claimed. And it is derived from the testimony of Officer Marrion Baker who said that OSWALD WAS JUST ENTERING THE LUNCH ROOM WHEN HE FIRST SAW HIM AT 12;31. 

Baker first saw Oswald thru glass in the window when Oswald was moving through the anteroom to enter the lunch room. He hadn't entered the lunch room yet. He hadn't even gotten there yet. So, since Oswald was just reaching the 2nd floor lunch room at 12:31, and we have that from a police officer, and one whom there is no reason to suspect of lying, how could Oswald have been there 6 minutes before?  

Now, I realize that it is physically possible to be there, and then get up and leave, and then do a 180 and go back, but there is no reason to assume that Oswald did that. It looks like he was just getting there at 12:31, and there is no reason to doubt it. 

And if you are going to claim that Oswald was there, left, and then went back, there is a friar named Occam whose got this razor, and let's just say that O.J. Simpson has got nothing on him. Occam could give O.J. lessons. 

So, it looks like Oswald was just getting to the 2nd floor lunch room when Baker first  saw him. Ipso facto, you can't claim that he was there 6 minutes before. 

And knowing, as we do, that Oswald was aware that the President was coming, why would he put off eating lunch for 45 minutes only to miss the historic motorcade? He wouldn't. He couldn't. He didn't. 

What did Oswald have to do that prevented him from eating right away when lunch broke? There's nothing. He had no phone calls to make. He had no love letters to write- to Marina or Judyth Baker, depending on which you fancy. He had no crossword puzzles to work. He had no oragami to make. Get the picture? Lunch broke and Oswald ate. Period. 

Oswald was NOT in the 2nd floor lunch room at 12:30. He did not decide to skip laying eyes on JFK and Jackie. Why would he? He wouldn't. He couldn't. He didn't. He was standing in the doorway at 12 :30, and he saw them. 

We have to defend Oswald. We- you and I- have to do it. We have to do it like we are his lawyers. He was an innocent man, and he had an alibi. His alibi was that he was "out with Bill Shelley in front." That is what we have to say because if we give him a bogus alibi, it will only hurt him. You might as well say that he was up on the 6th floor shooting at Kennedy. 

Lee Harvey Oswald was standing in the doorway of the Texas Book Depository when President John F. Kennedy drove by and got shot.