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

Why did they ever hold the Midnight Press Conference? Name one other time in the history of law enforcement that a press conference was called to give an infamous prisoner a microphone. I can't think of any other time. They didn't give Timothy McVeigh or Jeffrey Epstein a press conference. So, why Lee Harvey Oswald?

And, Oswald did a lot of damage at that press conference. He got to profess his innocence, and he did it quite eloquently. He came across as as being as sane and stable and civilized as anyone in the room- nothing at all like a mad dog killer. They added a lot of background noise, including a guy yelling, "At ease"which sounds to me like a military command. What comes to mind is a firing squad: "Ready. Aim. Fire. At ease." 

Besides getting to profess his innocence, Oswald got to say that he was being denied an attorney. And that did so much damage, they had to remedy it Saturday evening by claiming that he was brought an attorney who offered him legal representation which he turned down. If you didn't know that I deny that H. Louis Nichols ever visited the real Lee Harvey Oswald, you know it now. 

But, what I am wondering now is: why did they hold that press conference?  And how did it even come up? Whose idea was it? 

Here is something else that is bad that came out at the press conference: Oswald got to say that police never questioned him about the JFK shooting or told him that he was being charged with it. And he wasn't lying. There is nothing in the Fritz Notes about it, nor about the Tippit shooting, although Oswald did say that he knew he was accused of killing a policeman. And obviously, they asked him where he was during the motorcade since it's in the notes that he said he was "out with Bill Shelley in front." But, they must have asked him that without accusing him of doing it. To this day, don't we all ask each other, where were you when Kennedy got shot? I was in my 7th grade classroom at Good Shepherd School in Uptown Manhatten. The principal, Brother Anthony, announced it on the loudspeaker. 

I think it gets back to what I have said before, that the one really in charge of the interrogations was James Bookhout. He must have told Fritz what to ask. Seriously: how could Will Fritz, whom they kept saying was the greatest and most renowned and revered homicide investigator in the country, not question Oswald about the JFK shooting and inform him that he was the one and only suspect?

The plotters knew that Oswald didn't do it, and therefore, they knew that no real interrogation was needed, that all that could come from it was his exoneration. So instead, they asked him about Russia and about the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. So, if they knew that he could say something damaging (to them) at the interrogations, they had to know that they were taking a big chance giving him a microphone to speak to the world. Yet, they did it. And it wasn't even on time delay. So, why did they do it? Why did they allow it? 

We know that Jack Ruby went to the MPP, but do we? We know that he went to the PD to deliver sandwiches to the detectives. And when Sims expressed no interest, he gave them to the radio crew. By the way, how did he transport all the sandwiches? Did he walk in carrying a big bag? I think it was a radio crew and not television. So, he supposedly just stumbled into the press conference. He definitely did not go to the DPD expecting to see Oswald that night, and the same was true Sunday morning.  

Ruby was at the PD at the time of the MPP, but was he in the room? This is a photo of Ruby in the hall at the MPP. For a long time, I suspected it was a Ruby double because we were told, and are still told, that it was from Friday afternoon, 2 PM, when Oswald was brought in, and Ruby definitely wasn't there then. There is ironclad evidence (phone records) that Ruby was at the Carousel Club then, making calls. It was Amy Joyce who noticed that that newspaper was the Saturday morning Dallas Morning News, which came out late Friday night/early Saturday morning and was certainly not available at 2 PM on Friday afternoon. 

So, that really is Ruby. Notice how bald he was. Look at the mane of hair Ruby had on Sunday. Fake. 

But, what about the Ruby at the Press Conference?

There are different versions of that image, including one in which he looks a lot younger.

Let's go with that one, since it exists.

How can those two be the same guy? Doesn't the guy on the left look older, a lot older? Isn't his suit much lighter? And what is that in the guy's pocket on the right? Don't tell me it's a press badge. Ruby wasn't a reporter. Is it supposed to be a handkerchief? But, that's the pocket in which Ruby kept his glasses on Sunday and right during the shooting. If he had the habit of keeping his glasses there, he wouldn't keep a handkerchief too. Ruby's left index finger was partially amputated. But, look at his left hand, which seems to be holding something. I don't see that index finger as being amputated, do you? 

And even if we use the older version of the guy on the right, it's still not a very good match. We're talking about the same day, same time. I don't see these two as being the same guy. 

He still looks a bit younger on the right. His hair is night vs day different. His head is different; it's shorter, squatter, and his face is puffier. He seems to be built heavier in his upper body. And look at the glasses, how weird they are. The frame on top has got clear plastic on top on our left. How did that happen?  

Look how small his ear is on our right. Ruby's ears weren't like that. 

But, let's go back to the original question: Why did they hold the Midnight Press Conference? It was the only time in the history of law enforcement that it's been done, and on the very night of the crime, no less. Timothy McVeigh was eventually interviewed by Ed Bradley of CBS, but that was months later. Sirhan Sirhan eventually started doing interviews from prison, but that was years later. 

They could not have done it for Oswald's sake. They didn't do anything for Oswald's sake. Did they do it for the press? Bull shit. That's just the excuse for doing it; not the reason. They had to have their own reason for doing it.

And after all that fanfare, look how short it was. From the time Oswald began talking until the time Hall started pulling him away it was almost exactly 1 minute. So, would someone actually plan a press conference for one minute? If so, it was not for the purpose of the press conference.

So, what reason could they have had to do it, and could it have involved Ruby? I am pondering this, and I am going to ask some respected associates to weigh-in on it before saying any more.