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JFK Book Reviews - Presumed Guilty By Howard Roffman · The Lone Gunman Podcast : JFK Assassination

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: What's up everybody, and welcome to JFK Book Reviews. I'm
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: but one of your hosts, the Triple B Big Bad Bob,
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  Speaker 1: along with Joe Barelli. As usual, today we're gonna be
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  Speaker 1: starting a new series doing JFK related book reviews, and
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  Speaker 1: the first one we're going to do is Presumed Guilty
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  Speaker 1: by Howard Roffman. Now, this book here was published in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six by as Barnes and Company out of Cranberry,
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, clocking in It three hundred pages, nine chapters,
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  Speaker 1: three sections, six appendices and index sources of bibliography conclusion
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  Speaker 1: all kinds of good stuff in here. Now, the author,
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  Speaker 1: Howard Roffman, was a relatively young book at the time
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  Speaker 1: this book was published. Joe, he was only twenty three
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  Speaker 1: years old. Can you believe that he was born and
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  Speaker 1: raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His interest in the assassination began
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  Speaker 1: at the tender age of fourteen, Joe, and by eleventh
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  Speaker 1: grade he had saved up money and managed to buy
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  Speaker 1: every volume of the Warren Commission Report, all twenty six volumes.
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  Speaker 1: He would also go to the National Archives and study there.
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  Speaker 1: And he was the youngest researcher to ever do so,
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  Speaker 1: and while there he would make friends with people like
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  Speaker 1: Harold Weisberg and Vince Solandria. Alarmed at what he discovered,
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  Speaker 1: he says, I can't think of anything more threatening than
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  Speaker 1: when the government lies about the murder of its leader.
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  Speaker 1: He completed his understudies as a history manager at the
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  Speaker 1: University of Pennsylvania, graduated with honors in nineteen seventy four,
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  Speaker 1: and at the time his book was published, he was
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  Speaker 1: attending the Holland Law Center in Gainesville, Florida, and he
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  Speaker 1: is also the author of his second book that he wrote,
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  Speaker 1: called Understanding the Cold War, which at my age I
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  Speaker 1: still don't understand. So a very interesting book to start
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  Speaker 1: us off. Joe That's presumed guilty by Howard Roffman.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, for sure. And what did the author hope to
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  Speaker 2: achieve in this book? Well, luckily he stated his goals
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  Speaker 2: in the introduction. To set the record straight is the
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  Speaker 2: purpose of this book. Here I present documented proof of
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  Speaker 2: two points essential to any understanding of the assassination and
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  Speaker 2: this official investigation. Number One, Lee Harvey Oswald did not
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  Speaker 2: fire any shots in the assassination. Number two, the Warrant
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  Speaker 2: Commission considered no possibility other than that Oswalt was the
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  Speaker 2: lone assassin and consciously endeavored to fabricate a case against Oswalt.
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  Speaker 2: So in the introduction he kind of starts it off.
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  Speaker 2: He details the timeline of the Warren Commissions, starting with
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  Speaker 2: early correspondents from Jay Lee Rankin and quotes other conversations
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  Speaker 2: in private sessions between members of the Commission. He then
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  Speaker 2: discusses the public's initial acceptance of the war and Commission's findings,
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  Speaker 2: and then details the early criticisms and publications that started
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  Speaker 2: to come out at the end of nineteen sixty five
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  Speaker 2: by first generation researchers. He felt that Garrison's investigation hindered
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  Speaker 2: earlier progress made by researchers, with his unethical behavior and
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  Speaker 2: conspiracy theories, resulting in bad press and leaving the public
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  Speaker 2: and media more suspicious of Warren Commission criticism. He thought
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  Speaker 2: that books about conspiracy only are somewhat counterproductive. I can
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  Speaker 2: only imagine what he thinks today. The book has three
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  Speaker 2: major sections. Part one deals solely with the evidence alleged
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  Speaker 2: to prove Oswald's guilt, and without taking a stance on
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  Speaker 2: the evidence. He criticizes the narrow focus of the FBI,
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  Speaker 2: the Dallas Police Department, and the Warrant Commission's investigations because
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  Speaker 2: they only fixated on one subject, which is, of course,
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  Speaker 2: the rvy Oswald. Part two is titled Suppressed Spectography, which
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  Speaker 2: I look up the meaning of. It's a study that
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  Speaker 2: includes physics, material science, and chemistry. He methodically and an
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  Speaker 2: incredible detail dismantles the ballistic and medical evidence. One thing
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  Speaker 2: I found fascinating was how the Atomic Energy Commission offered
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  Speaker 2: as a third party to analyze the ballistic evidence using
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  Speaker 2: a process called neuron activation analysis, which probably could have
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  Speaker 2: settled any doubts on if the fragments found in the
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  Speaker 2: Presidential limo and in JFK came from the rifle found
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  Speaker 2: on the sixth floor of the Texas School book Pastor
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  Speaker 2: Hoover Jagar. Hoover not surprisingly did not accept their offer
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  Speaker 2: to help and was satisfied with the incomplete analysis of
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  Speaker 2: his agent's tests. Part three goes through the rifle found
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  Speaker 2: in the building, was Oswald out the window, Oswalt's alibi
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  Speaker 2: and actions after the shots, and Oswalt's rifle capability, which
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  Speaker 2: I know we have talked about on the show many times.
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  Speaker 2: The book is incredibly well written. Well, I had to
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  Speaker 2: go to the dictionary a couple of times to look
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  Speaker 2: up the definition of a couple words. Author does a
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  Speaker 2: great job of laying out the facts of the case
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  Speaker 2: and successfully articulates the problems with the evidence and how
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  Speaker 2: the investigation could have been done differently. I could tell
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  Speaker 2: it was written by a lawyer by the way he
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  Speaker 2: methodically tears apart the logic and reasoning that the Warran
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  Speaker 2: Commission used to make their conclusions. So how did he
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  Speaker 2: source his evidence? Because, of course that is very important.
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  Speaker 2: The author used primary sourced evidence from the Warren Commission,
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  Speaker 2: as you mentioned, went to the National Archives himself to research,
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  Speaker 2: referred to news articles of the time, and quoted books
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  Speaker 2: like Accessories after the Fact by Sylvia Maher and Whitewash
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  Speaker 2: by Harold Weisberg. Six appendencies A through F, which includes
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  Speaker 2: memorandums of letters from lead counsel Jayley Rankin to other
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  Speaker 2: Warren Commission lawyers and FBI reports. So, Rob, what are
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  Speaker 2: your thoughts on the book and your rating? Please?
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  Speaker 1: Yes, Joe, Well, you know, we were talking about this
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  Speaker 1: book on the show recently and just happened to come
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  Speaker 1: up and figure to make a good first book, because
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people never heard of this book, and
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  Speaker 1: I said, I think I surprised you and a lot
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  Speaker 1: of other people by saying that this book is probably
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  Speaker 1: in my top five all time Kennedy assassination books. And
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  Speaker 1: it may seem weird, but once you read it, you
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  Speaker 1: understand what I mean. He has a very no nonsense
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  Speaker 1: approach with his book. The way he analyzes his evidence
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  Speaker 1: and supports it is top notch. He wrote this book
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  Speaker 1: at a time where there were not many conspiracy leaning
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  Speaker 1: books coming out on the case. This was of course
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  Speaker 1: pre HSCA, when everything kind of got kicked off again
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  Speaker 1: in the late seventies and early eighties. But more surprise
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  Speaker 1: to me is in this genre of book or subject matter,
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  Speaker 1: for Howard Roffman, it was a one and done. He
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  Speaker 1: would never return to the subject matter again or be
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  Speaker 1: involved in any Kennedy assassination research. I don't believe ever again.
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  Speaker 1: So pretty fascinating, But given my reaction to everything, Big
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  Speaker 1: Bad Bob is going to give this book a whopping
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  Speaker 1: generous Nine guns up, Joe, bang bang bang bang bang
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  Speaker 1: bang bang bang bang bang bang main bang nine guns up.
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  Speaker 1: What was your impressions of the book.
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  Speaker 2: Sarah, Well, you know that this is not a book
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  Speaker 2: about JFK. Who did it? Conspiracies. Mister Roffman had two
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  Speaker 2: goals of the book, which I mentioned earlier, and I
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  Speaker 2: think he successfully accomplished both those goals. I think the
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  Speaker 2: third goal not stated was he was supporting a movement
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  Speaker 2: to a new investigation, and he said, but the vital
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  Speaker 2: question now concerns what should be investigated. A congressional reopening
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  Speaker 2: of the case should focus on those areas which will
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  Speaker 2: yield meaningful findings and serve a constructive national purpose. And
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  Speaker 2: the HSCA was established only months after this book, so
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  Speaker 2: I definitely think he helped in that effort to bring
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  Speaker 2: about a new investigation. And despite the book being fifty
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  Speaker 2: years old, I learned a lot of new things. So
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  Speaker 2: considering his stated goals the time the book was written,
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  Speaker 2: the evidence that was available at the time, I think
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  Speaker 2: he was extremely effective and thorough in every argument he made.
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  Speaker 2: And I give this book and I didn't know you
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  Speaker 2: were rating before also a nine out of ten. Nine
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  Speaker 2: guns up sweet.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for that, Joe. And if you enjoyed our
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  Speaker 1: little book review, here me on the lookout for these
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  Speaker 1: every week. You can also check out our show, our
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  Speaker 1: podcast that we do live every Friday night at seven
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  Speaker 1: pm Eastern right here on YouTube. Check out our channel,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: make sure to subscribe and get note of when we drop.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you folks, We'll see you on the next one.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.