J. Edgar Hoover
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Hours after the assassination, all the available evidence, weapon, clothing, and the Zapruder film were either on their way to Washington, or under the control of the FBI or the Secret Service. 3 days after the murder, the Presidential limousine was taken to a specialized workshop. Johnson arranged the virtual hijacking of the crime scene so he could take control over events. He was only able to do that with the help of another major public figure, his good friend J. Edgar Hoover.

It was publically affirmed by Hoover that the murder of President Kennedy was not the result of a conspiracy, but rather the work of a lone, deranged gunman. But Hoover knew otherwise as on November 9, the FBI received a report from one its informants, a man called Bill Somersett, who had tape recorded a threat against the life of the President, which was one of many the FBI kept secret. This had been made in Miami by a Joseph Miteer, a Georgia racist and rightwing extremist. He had said that the President would be killed in the near future by a rifleman firing from a tall building and that someone would be picked up within hours of the act to “turn the public off.” Hoover never informed the Kennedys of this threat, although the information was also passed on to the Secret Service, who also never informed the President and may not have acted on it.

Hoover knowingly allowed the Zapruder film to be doctored to allow a “one-killer” scenario appear plausible, there was a manipulation of evidence relative to the shell casings found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository and the FBI was happy to accept that the murder of Police Officer Tippit was the work of Oswald, when ballistic and testimonial evidence indicated that probably two guns, therefore two killers, were involved in the shooting. In a conversation with President Johnson on November 29, 1963, Hoover agreed that separate shots had hit Connally and Kennedy, pointing to at least two gunmen, hence a conspiracy. He withheld this information from his testimony before the Warren Commission.

On November 22, 1963, the FBI had documents that would indicate the probable involvement in the Dealey Plaza shooting with Gerry Patrick Hemming and a group of right-wing extremists financed by members of the wealthy, elitist oil industry barons of Texas. The FBI suppressed these documents and they were never forwarded to the Warren Commission for examination.

It is quite possible that Hoover supplied Johnson with incriminating evidence against John Kennedy, which enabled LBJ to blackmail his way alongside Kennedy on the 1960 ticket. Hoover must have realised towards the end of 1963 that he was living on borrowed time and that he would be out of the FBI once Kennedy was re-elected in 1964. Hoover could only have been relieved when Kennedy was assassinated and his friend Lyndon Johnson took over. He used all of his significant power to ensure the assassination investigation was directed in one direction and one only - the one the Warren Commission, based significantly on evidence supplied by the FBI, would determine that Oswald was the sole killer.

If Hoover did manipulate evidence and help in the cover up, it is unlikely that he was actually directly involved with the assassination. Hoover was the master of blackmail, and he was very aware of the darker side of Camelot. While Hoover didn't agree with all of JFK's policies, Hoover had enough dirt on JFK to protect his vital interests. While Bobby may have been more anti-mob than Hoover cared for, JFK's death only enhanced RFK's stature, and made blackmail of the Kennedy family for their moral failings almost impossible. An RFK administration with a martyr brother to ward off attack would have been Hoover's worst nightmare.