C H A P T E R   1

You never know what's hit you. A gunshot is the perfect way. --John Kennedy, asked how he would choose to die

I can remember where I was. And I can prove it. I have witnesses. And unlike many of the men and women who inadvertently became witnesses in Dallas that day, my witnesses are still alive.

You see, at the very moment snipers were busy making Jack Kennedy's wish come true (see quote below), I was taking aim on a grassy knoll . . . behind the gymnasium at Dean Junior College. I was in archery class and I was shooting a bow and arrow. Valerie Palucci was watching me. And I was trying to impress Valerie Palucci's breasts. The rest of Valerie didn't exist for me at that age. Nothing else existed. I always directed all of my communication skills directly to her breasts.

Anyway, it was my turn to shoot, and just as I was pulling the bow back the president of the student body ran out to me and said, "Belz, the president's been shot." My body tensed and I instinctively released the arrow. I'm lucky I didn't hit one of Valerie Palucci's breasts. I guess she's lucky, too.

I also missed the target. Just the same way we all missed the target about who shot JFK. Most of the country worshiped Jack the way I worshiped Valerie Palucci's breasts. They both symbolized our hopes for the future.

In case you have a clear memory of where you were on 11/22/63 but you're a little murky on what else happened that day, here's a clue:

The president of the United States was killed by rifle fire while riding in an open car in broad daylight. It was an event that was witnessed by hundreds but investigated by a panel of seven men, none of whom was anywhere near Dallas that day, and it was decided that Kennedy

Factoid: There were three known attempts on the life of JFK in the fall of 1963. In late October, right-wing extremist and Kennedy-hater Thomas Arthur Vallee was arrested by the Secret Service in Chicago days before a scheduled visit by Kennedy. He was discovered to have stockpiled an M-1 rifle, a handgun, and three thousand rounds of ammunition. Days later, the Secret Service received another threat: Kennedy would be ambushed in Chicago by a Cuban hit squad. The Chicago trip was hastily canceled without explanation. On November 18, four days before the assassination in Dallas, Miami right-winger Joseph Milteer outlined the details of the upcoming Texas attempt to a police informant named William M. Somersett. Curiously, none of these threats was ever forwarded to authorities in Dallas.

was assassinated by lone nut Lee Harvey Oswald, who was--among other things--"not an agent of the US Government." (The commission felt compelled to throw that factoid in--not that there was any reason to suspect that Oswald had links to the federal government or anything, but . . . In fact, newly released information in Oswald's "201 File" reveals that he was involved in espionage for the CIA and apparently the FBI.)

The FBI reported to the commission that Oswald fired three shots at his target. The first bullet hit the president below the shoulder and penetrated less than the distance of a finger length. The second bullet struck Governor Connally. The third bullet struck the president's head and fragmentized. The commission, however, did not accept all the details of the FBI reports.

Oswald was later shot and killed by another lone nut, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby. There was no conspiracy. Case closed. Thank you and good night.

But the case is only closed if you ignore the evidence . . .