Article on Richard Rogge, FBI supervisor on "murder investigation" of the president

[Myra Bronstein]

"...

The retired FBI agent served as a supervisor on what he calls the "murder investigation" of the president.

It has made him and a legion of G-men who probed the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President Kennedy among the most second-guessed people in history. And in some quarters, the most maligned.

Their efforts provided the bulk and heft of the 888-page "Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy" — otherwise known as the Warren Report. The report concludes Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24-year-old nobody, had single-handedly killed the leader of the free world.

A Gallup Poll taken shortly thereafter indicated more than half of all Americans didn't buy the lone-assassin story. Then came the books whose authors had theories. It was the Cubans, the anti-Cubans, the CIA, the military, the mafia.

But all these paled to Oliver Stone's 1991 film, "JFK," which essentially implicated every government agency except the Census Bureau. The only person not involved, according to Stone's fractured telling of events on that crisp Dallas day in 1963, was pretty much Oswald himself.

And now, as the 45th anniversary of Kennedy's death approaches and as Rogge's colleagues in the investigation are dying, 81 percent of all Americans believe it was a conspiracy, according to Gallup.

It is a statistic that just does not compute with this affable, 81-year-old former lawman.

"We were open to the idea Oswald did not act alone. We investigated every rumor, every lead, and found no evidence," he said.

...

But there was no time for his grief. On Nov. 25, he boarded President Johnson's Air Force jet at Andrews Air Force Base. He remembers it was on the runway — fueled up, engine running — awaiting agents to board for the flight to Dallas.

Once on the ground there, the G-men received a police escort to FBI headquarters.

That's when the glamour ended. Soon, Rogge was putting in 16-hour days and summarizing each day's investigation for reports that had to be waiting on the desk of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover when he arrived at 6 in the morning.

Hoover was notoriously demanding, Rogge said, and the agents believed he would catch any flaws in the investigation.

So not one of them anticipated the public skepticism after the Warren Commission released its findings.

And the bureau's official position to detractors was "no comment."

Rogge told me only one conspiracy theorist has ever interviewed him, although he is willing to talk to anyone about the investigation.

The years have faded Rogge's memories about the timeline of 11-22-63, but his descriptions of Lee Oswald's personality are vivid.

And to the lawman, Oswald's character is the strongest argument against conspiracy.

"Oswald wanted to create a name for himself because he had nothing going for him in life," Rogge said. "If he had lived, he would have said, I made history and I did it myself.'"

Rogge wants to be clear about this. Yes, there could have been a conspiracy in the killing of the president. But the investigation turned up zero evidence of collusion.

Because I am with the majority of Americans who believe Oswald did not act alone, I peppered Rogge with questions.

What of the reports, I asked him, of a shooter on the so-called grassy knoll? Credible people such as police officers and Secret Service agents reported they believed the assassin fired from that locale.

Investigators, he told me, found absolutely no physical evidence of a weapon being fired.

He remembers well the efforts made to do just that.

Accusing a man does give you a window into his soul.

But as long as Richard Rogge survives, we have a window of opportunity to reach better informed conclusions about what happened that day in Dallas.

— E-mail this Star columnist at ccason@VenturaCountyStar.com."

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008...-in-the-dark-g/

Once again, that quote is:

"We were open to the idea Oswald did not act alone. We investigated every rumor, every lead, and found no evidence," he said.

But hey, he's open to being interviewed. FWIW.

On the other hand I'm pleasantly surprised that a Colleen Cason seems to be a journalist who is open to the truth.

(http://www.venturacountystar.com/staff/colleen-cason/contact/)

[Dawn Meredith]

"...

The retired FBI agent served as a supervisor on what he calls the "murder investigation" of the president.

It has made him and a legion of G-men who probed the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President Kennedy among the most second-guessed people in history. And in some quarters, the most maligned.

Their efforts provided the bulk and heft of the 888-page "Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy" — otherwise known as the Warren Report. The report concludes Lee Harvey Oswald, a 24-year-old nobody, had single-handedly killed the leader of the free world.

A Gallup Poll taken shortly thereafter indicated more than half of all Americans didn't buy the lone-assassin story. Then came the books whose authors had theories. It was the Cubans, the anti-Cubans, the CIA, the military, the mafia.

But all these paled to Oliver Stone's 1991 film, "JFK," which essentially implicated every government agency except the Census Bureau. The only person not involved, according to Stone's fractured telling of events on that crisp Dallas day in 1963, was pretty much Oswald himself.

And now, as the 45th anniversary of Kennedy's death approaches and as Rogge's colleagues in the investigation are dying, 81 percent of all Americans believe it was a conspiracy, according to Gallup.

It is a statistic that just does not compute with this affable, 81-year-old former lawman.

"We were open to the idea Oswald did not act alone. We investigated every rumor, every lead, and found no evidence," he said.

...

But there was no time for his grief. On Nov. 25, he boarded President Johnson's Air Force jet at Andrews Air Force Base. He remembers it was on the runway — fueled up, engine running — awaiting agents to board for the flight to Dallas.

Once on the ground there, the G-men received a police escort to FBI headquarters.

That's when the glamour ended. Soon, Rogge was putting in 16-hour days and summarizing each day's investigation for reports that had to be waiting on the desk of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover when he arrived at 6 in the morning.

Hoover was notoriously demanding, Rogge said, and the agents believed he would catch any flaws in the investigation.

So not one of them anticipated the public skepticism after the Warren Commission released its findings.

And the bureau's official position to detractors was "no comment."

Rogge told me only one conspiracy theorist has ever interviewed him, although he is willing to talk to anyone about the investigation.

The years have faded Rogge's memories about the timeline of 11-22-63, but his descriptions of Lee Oswald's personality are vivid.

And to the lawman, Oswald's character is the strongest argument against conspiracy.

"Oswald wanted to create a name for himself because he had nothing going for him in life," Rogge said. "If he had lived, he would have said, I made history and I did it myself.'"

Rogge wants to be clear about this. Yes, there could have been a conspiracy in the killing of the president. But the investigation turned up zero evidence of collusion.

Because I am with the majority of Americans who believe Oswald did not act alone, I peppered Rogge with questions.

What of the reports, I asked him, of a shooter on the so-called grassy knoll? Credible people such as police officers and Secret Service agents reported they believed the assassin fired from that locale.

Investigators, he told me, found absolutely no physical evidence of a weapon being fired.

He remembers well the efforts made to do just that.

Accusing a man does give you a window into his soul.

But as long as Richard Rogge survives, we have a window of opportunity to reach better informed conclusions about what happened that day in Dallas.

— E-mail this Star columnist at ccason@VenturaCountyStar.com."

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008...-in-the-dark-g/

Once again, that quote is:

"We were open to the idea Oswald did not act alone. We investigated every rumor, every lead, and found no evidence," he said.

But hey, he's open to being interviewed. FWIW.

On the other hand I'm pleasantly surprised that a Colleen Cason seems to be a journalist who is open to the truth.

(http://www.venturacountystar.com/staff/colleen-cason/contact/)

Thanks Myra. Colleen Cason's words made my day! How has she avoided being mockingbirded I wonder? (Then again tomorrow she may not have a job).

Dawn