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Amid the shock, grief and horror of the first reactions to Kennedy's brutal murder a question which had to weigh heavy upon us all concerned who killed him, and why. An amazingly quick solution was in the possession of the military- too quick: If one wishes to see lightning quick action where in fact no action is justified, the scene is Air Force Ohe en route from Dallas to Washington. Pulitzer prize winner, Theodore H. White, in his book, The Making of 1 the President 1964, has recorded the making of history for us, and in so doing makes us raise some crucially important questions. He informs us: "There is a tape-recording in the archives of the government which best recaptures the sound of the horrors as it waited for leadership. It is a recording of all the conversations in the air, monitored by the Signal Corps Midwestern center "Liberty, between Air Force One in Dallas, the Cabinet plane over the Pacific, the Joint Chiefs Communications center in Washington. The voices were superbly flat, calm, controlled. one receives the ETA- 6:00 P.M. Washington. It is a meshing of emotionless voices in the air, per- forming with mechanical perfection. " (p.20) Later, we are further illuninated by White with the following statement: " On the flight the party learned that there was no conspiracy, learned of the identity of Oswald and his arrest; and the President's mind turned to the duties of consoling the stricken and guiding the quick. "(p.48) On the contrary, it would seem the quick were guding the President. "Flat, calm, controlled, emotionless voices" knowing before six o'clock on November 22, 1953 there was no conspiracy! That's a bit too much. Are we to believe it was already known Oswald was the lone assassin? If so, that would surely have been an impressive understanding of what happened since Oswald was not. even charged with assassinating the President until -3- 1. White, Thendore H. The Making of the President, 1964, p. 20. Nev. York; Anthéneum, 1965. 3