“That Day in Dallas”: Robert Tanenbaum Says the Government Lied—Oswald Didn’t Kill JFK
For decades, the American public has lived under the official story about JFK: that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22,…
381091 23: President John F. Kennedy laughs during a press conference August 9, 1963. (Photo by National Archive/Newsmakers)
For decades, the American public has lived under the official story about JFK: that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. But according to former prosecutor and congressional investigator Robert Tanenbaum, that narrative is a cover-up of historic proportions.
The front page of the New York American Journal, announcing that President John Kennedy has been shot and is reportedly dead. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)
Tanenbaum’s new book, That Day in Dallas: Lee Harvey Oswald Did Not Kill JFK, presents not only an alternative theory but a direct indictment of the CIA, the FBI, and the structure of government accountability itself.
“The truth of Dealey Plaza was that there were not three shots from the back. That would be an impossibility. The government's case is based upon a pack of lies to the extent that the government knowingly contrived the predetermined conclusion through the pretense of an investigation.”
“This was not a fluke... this was an operation.”
Tanenbaum doesn’t pull punches. He believes the evidence—scientific, acoustic, medical, and testimonial—points to a conspiracy, and more importantly, to an inside job.
“This was not a fluke. This wasn’t somebody just jumping up in the book depository. This was an operation within the U.S. government to kill JFK.”
Tanenbaum worked as the Deputy Chief Counsel on the House Select Committee on Assassinations and led the JFK murder investigation. At first, he had no agenda—just the facts.
“We had no brief going down to Washington. We were unprepared to say it was Oswald or anyone else. We told them, whatever the facts are, we’re going to tell the American public. And they said, ‘Oh sure, sure, sure.’ Four months later, when we started finding things out, the majority pulled support. Why? Because we weren’t supposed to find anything.”
The fatal shot came from the front, not the back
One of Tanenbaum’s most explosive claims comes from analysis of the Zapruder film, particularly frame 313.
“The shot that hit JFK came from the front area—above his right ear—and it blew out the back of his head. You can see JFK’s head snap violently backwards. If he was shot from the back, that’s a scientific impossibility. And the X-rays showed a rectangular wound track and minute metallic fragments that traced the direction of the shot—from the front.”
That alone, he says, should have been enough to challenge the narrative. But even more damning are the forensic inconsistencies, including the timing of the shots and the discrediting of “neutron activation analysis,” once cited by the FBI as scientific proof of a single bullet theory.
5th January 1960: John Fitzerald Kennedy (1917 - 1963), 35th American president. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
“The Manlicher-Carcano rifle could not have fired the shots in the time window—1.9 seconds between JFK and Connally’s injuries. The bolt-action rifle takes 2.3 seconds to operate. So it’s physically impossible. Yet that was still the murder weapon in the official story.”
Was Oswald a patsy?
So what about Lee Harvey Oswald?
President John F Kennedy's alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald is hurried into an ambulance after being shot at Dallas City Prison by night club owner Jack Ruby. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images)
“Oswald was an agent of both the CIA and the FBI. Moreover, the persons involved in the assassination were in the employ of the CIA and FBI. That’s a major, major admission of guilt.”
Tanenbaum points to former CIA director John McCone and even President Truman expressing regret over what the intelligence community had become.
“President Truman said he had major misgivings that he permitted the Office of Strategic Services, our intel agency in WWII, to morph into the CIA. Why? Because it became operational, it had its own policy, and it wasn’t accountable to anyone.”
Why won’t Americans believe it?
When asked what it would take for the public to accept that Oswald didn’t do it, Tanenbaum said it’s not about politics—it’s about accountability.
“If the public saw what we saw during the investigation, there would be no more debate.”
He testified before the Assassination Records Review Board, pushing for the full release of files, and fought against decades of government secrecy, sealed evidence, and faulty forensic science.
“They sealed the evidence for 50 years. They closed the only lab doing comparative bullet testing in 2005. And they banned agents from ever testifying that Neutron Activation Analysis was valid—because it wasn’t. It was junk science used to prop up a lie.”
Bottom Line: The Official Story Doesn't Hold
Tanenbaum’s conclusion is clear and damning:
“We don’t know who murdered our president. But we know it wasn’t Lee Harvey Oswald. And Dealey Plaza was wide open at 12:30 in the afternoon. This was a planned operation. And the people behind it were inside the system.”
That Day in Dallas is more than a book—it’s a case file, a challenge to authority, and a roadmap for reexamining one of the most pivotal moments in American history. Whether you agree with Tanenbaum’s conclusions or not, his work forces the question: If this wasn’t the truth we were told—how much else isn’t?
And if you want to know why people still don’t believe the official story… maybe it’s because the official story was never meant to be believed—only accepted.
