JFK: The Case for Conspiracy

New York: Manor Books, Inc, 1976. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Mass market paperback. Good. 299, [5] pages. Illustrations (some with color). Index. Cover has some creases, wear and soiling. Some page discoloration. Introduction by Congressman Thomas N. Downing. F. Peter Model was a business magazine journalist, author, and editorial consultant. A 1952 graduate of Syracuse University, he was on staff of, or contributor to, many business, trade and consumer magazines. He also was an author of several books, including JFK: The Case for Conspiracy, The Company Image (with Joseph Selame), From the Desk of: (with Sid Lerner and Hal Drucker), Play Money (with Laura Pedersen). Robert J. Groden (born November 22, 1945) is an American author who has written extensively about conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. His books include The Killing of a President: The Complete Photographic Record of the JFK Assassination, the Conspiracy, and the Cover-up; The Search for Lee Harvey Oswald: A Comprehensive Photographic Record; and JFK: The Case for Conspiracy (shorter version than his 1975 co-authored book). Groden is a photo-optics technician who served as a photographic consultant for the House Select Committee on Assassinations. A harsh critic of the Warren Commission, he also testified at the 1975 United States President's Commission on CIA activities within the United States (sometimes referred to as the Rockefeller Commission). Thomas Nelms Downing (February 1, 1919 - October 23, 2001) was a lawyer, politician, and Democratic Congressman from Virginia's 1st congressional district for nine terms. Downing was appointed Chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations by Carl Albert, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.[1] The Committee was tasked to look into evidence that was not available to the Warren Commission during its investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Upon his retirement from Congress in 1977, Louis Stokes succeeded Downing as Chairman. Downing stated before and after the HSCA's investigation that he believed there was a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy. He pushed for a House committee to investigate the assassination nearly two years before its formation. In August 1976, he released affidavits from two men who stated that Richard Nixon approved the plan of a right-wing Cuban exile to "eliminate" left-wing Cuban exiles after the Bay of Pigs invasion. Downing said that their statements raised the possibility that right-wing Cubans killed Kennedy. Downing said that he was skeptical that Lee Harvey Oswald could accurately fire a bolt-action rifle within a short span of time, and he believed video footage of the assassination showed that Kennedy was struck from the front and the rear. According to a theory provided by Downing, one which he said was without evidence and based on speculation, anti-Castro Cuban exiles killed Kennedy due to his failure to support them after the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. Downing stated that they expected pro-Castro Cubans would be blamed for the assassination in retaliation for the attempted assassination of Fidel Castro by United States agents. Downing said: "I am firmly convinced, I am sincerely convinced, that more than one person was shooting at President Kennedy in Dallas that day. It is so obvious to me." Downing described JFK, Oliver Stone's 1991 film about the assassination of Kennedy, as "implausible". He said: "It's impossible to tell where fact stops and fiction starts, it blends in so well." Prior to the investigation, James J. Kilpatrick described Downing as "a man of exception integrity and common sense" yet "not altogether unbiased in the matter of Kennedy's assassination". Robert P. Gemberling, head of the FBI's investigation of the assassination for thirteen years after the release of the Warren Commission's report, said in 1976 that Downing and his successor, Henry B. Gonzalez, had "preconceived conspiracy theories"