Warren Commission awards second floor first place

Before we proceed further, let's review the Second Floor lunchroom encounter and see why the official conclusions absolutely depend on this event having occurred.

To claim Oswald fired the shots from the Sixth Floor "sniper's nest," there has to be a sequence of events that gets him off of the Sixth Floor and eventually out of the building in a few minutes. This sequence of events doesn't have to be plausible—most things associated with the JFK assassination are not. No, the sequence of events only has to be theoretically possible. And this sequence must have some degree of support via witness statements and testimony. And if those statements must be revised over time to achieve the desired results, then so be it.

So what is this basic, "official" sequence?

1.) Using a rifle (carbine), Lee Oswald fired three shots in about 7 seconds from the southeast window on the Sixth Floor at 12:30 p.m.

2.) He then ran over to an area on the opposite side of the Sixth Floor to hide the rifle. After this he proceeded to the rear stairs in the northwest corner of the building and ran down to the Fifth Floor.

3.) He came out onto the Fifth Floor and then entered the door leading to the stairs to the Fourth Floor. He continued doing this, i.e., coming down each flight of stairs to the next floor landing, then reentering a door leading further down, until he reached the Second Floor (see diagram above).

4.) Oswald then walked 20 feet over to a door leading to a small foyer with a door leading south to an office area and east to the Second Floor lunchroom.

5.) A second or two after having passed through the door to this foyer, Police Officer Marrion Baker, who was coming up the rear stairs from the First Floor with TSBD Superintendent Roy Truly, "caught a glimpse" of a man going away from him into the lunchroom as Baker came out onto the Second Floor landing.

6.) Baker then stopped his ascent, went through the door into the foyer and with gun drawn, commanded the man (Oswald) to "come here." At that time, Oswald had nothing in his hands.

7.) Baker asked Truly if he knew this man and Truly said yes. Both Baker and Truly noted Oswald was calm and not out of breath.

8.) Baker and Truly then continued up to the higher floors.

9.) Oswald bought a coke from the Second Floor lunchroom Coke machine, went through the office area and down to the front of the building where he left at 12:33 p.m.

Later time trials showed that items 1-5 occurred in just 90 seconds.

As we continue our review of the book, we'll see how the Second Floor lunchroom encounter is the only scenario that even remotely works to make Lee Oswald appear guilty. We'll also see how the witness statements and testimony evolved to support this as well. In short, we'll show how the Second Floor lunchroom encounter never happened.