Assignment: Oswald
Hosty, as Kennedy assassination buffs know, was the Dallas FBI agent delegated to investigate Lee Harvey Oswald before Nov. 22, 1963, and who later became the center of a firestorm over whether Oswald should have been under surveillance as a likely assassin. He is also the man who, following instructions from his supervisor, destroyed a note from Oswald warning him to lay off Oswald's wife, Marina (whom Hosty had interviewed in early November about Lee), thus giving rise to all sorts of dire conjectures among conspiracy theorists. Hosty, a sturdy, no-nonsense type who is finally telling his own story with the help of his lawyer son, has no truck with them. He remains convinced that Oswald was the sole shooter, though he also feels there was tacit approval of his action in certain Cuban and Soviet quarters, and that Oswald, who expected to get away, probably acted to bolster his position with his foreign handlers. Hosty's book is interesting more for its facts, however, than for his theorizing. He was present during Oswald's interrogation, conducted early post-assassination interviews with Marina (who he suspects was a Soviet agent) and is full of intriguing details about the pecking order at Hoover's FBI, the frantic efforts to shift blame, the jealous guarding of their own turf by police, FBI, Secret Service and CIA with the result that no one ever had a clear, complete picture of events before or after the killing. Hosty's book is therefore a valuable addition to the assassination bookshelf-as well as the self-portrait of a likable family man whose first thought after the shots were fired was for the safety of his wife, who was in the vicinity. Photos not seen by PW.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.