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Nat Pinkston

 

Nat Pinkston, was a special agent for the Dallas F.B.I. for more than 20 odd years when the assassination of J.F.K. happened. In the W.C. report he is mistakenly referred to as a TSBD worker, and this has not gone unnoticed to the F.B.I. either. Pinkston was inside the T.S.B.D. on the 6th floor at 16:30 according to a report by him on the day after Nov 23 1963. He was heavily involved in taking statements of T.S.B.D. workers that day and after. Especially Roy Truly on multiple times since Nov 22nd 1963. I share a set below.

During his Warren Commission interview not much is brought up about these interviews, which is rather strange. Pinkston is sent by a supervising agent whose name is not disclosed to go to the T.S.B.D. and to investigate, what exactly is to be investigated gets no mention either. The only thing that is discussed is the “find” of a clipboard on Dec 2nd 1963 allegedly belonging to Oswald and where three orders are mentioned. Franklin Kaiser is the one responsible who found this particular clipboard ten days after the assassination. Think about it many people walking around that 6th floor investigating and searching and not noticing it. A suspicious person would describe this type of find ten days(!) after the fact highly suspicious.

The other thing that does not really rhyme is that Pinkston went there to talk with Roy Truly but again there is no further elaboration on this at all during his WC testimony. I get the feeling that this interview is heavily edited, especially due to its short length.

From: DMN Archives. Thanks to Steve Roe.

Nat Pinkston  took a statement of Roy Truly on Nov 22nd 1963. Pinkston can be seen as a co-creator of the Second Floor Lunch Room Encounter fakery. In this document below it shows that Pinkston is aware of Oswald’s statement that the only rifles he saw in the building were two days prior when Warren Caster popped round and showed the hardware to Roy Truly and others. This matter was discussed during the first interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Oswald is pointed out as the only one missing which is complete rubbish, as Charles Givens was gone as well. And that is just from the TSBD workers. Several people from the upper floor were absent as well. Being a manager or a female seems to make you exempt from being a suspect for some strange reason.

What was also discussed is that Oswald got a coke for his lunch, and not after, but that got twisted somehow with the fairy tale below.

Nat Pinkston Nov 22 1963 FBI Report. With thanks to Malcolm Blunt. Click to enlarge.

The so called ‘fact’ that Oswald was the only one missing from the TSBD is hogwash as well. Charles Douglas Givens, a fellow TSBD worker, was missing too and so were employees from the publishing companies that resided inside the building. Some of them did not return until 2 PM or did not show up back inside at all and had gone home. I mean why would it have to be a TSBD employee doing the shooting? Furthermore the Revill List shows that Oswald was the first employee to leave the TSBD after leaving his details with the Elsbeth address which he had on his library card that was called out inside the car that took him to the DPD after his arrest in the Texas Theater. This document is a total fix and contradicts the joint Hosty & Bookhout report a few hours later already.

The Sixth Floor Museum has an Oral History interview, almost one hour’s worth, with Pinkston in which he states the following regarding Oswald & TSBD.

  • He started working for the FBI in 1940 and worked the New York harbour area during WW2 on espionage, sabotage and intelligence cases.
  • He worked in Dallas from 1947 until 1968 after which he retired.
  • On the morning of the 22nd he was at the DPD on the third floor.
  • He leaves the building to go to the DPD auto pound to do some investigating ( he was working on interstate automobile theft)  and while being there he is called by the Dallas FBI office and ordered to make his way towards the TSBD after JFK has been murdered. He arrived there about 30 minutes after the shots had been fired.
  • He claims he was the first FBI agent in the building.
  • Gordon Shanklin was his boss.
  • Even though the FBI had no jurisdiction in this case they were told to find out.
  • Upon arrival at the TSBD he meets Roy Truly who takes him to the sixth floor where he saw some DPD and laboratory men (Carl Day-BK) already at the scene.
  • Carl Day had already lifted some fingerprints of some of the books that were wrapped in heavy paper.
  • He takes down the rifle make and serial number and goes to Honest Joe’s and speaks to Ruben Goldstein. He then speaks to another sporting goods department store and this leads to Chicago where they submit the info to investigate further. He then returns to his office and calls the FBI in Chicago.
  • He brings up the Hidell name and states that the ID was found on Oswald at the time of his arrest, which is not true.
  • He received this info after he sent the rifle info to Chicago. That is also not true.
  • On the 23rd Pinkston is back at the TSBD on the sixth floor and is assisted by a TSBD employee. He does not remember the man’s name, it is Franklin Kaiser-BK. And mentions the find of the clipboard. The problem with this is that the clipboard was not found by Kaiser until a week later.
  • He knew Will Fritz quite well and said that he maintained strict control over Oswald.
  • When discussing the palm and fingerprints on the sixth floor he thinks that Oswald’s were the only ones there. That is wrong as well.
  • Pinkston then states, mistakenly, that Oswald’s assignment that day would be just on the sixth floor. According to him no other employees would be assigned on that particular floor.
  • On Nov 22nd the only employee he talked to was Roy Truly. As soon as he had the information on the rifle his principle object would be to identify the owner of the rifle and it took him the rest of the day to do it. That doesn’t ring true either since his report from the 22nd shown earlier on this page was made after the end of Oswald’s first interrogation which ended at 16:00.
  • According to him Truly believed that Oswald was the man on the sixth floor who did the shooting. Truly and other employees did not see any strangers in the building.
  • Pinkston used a metal detector to comb the grassy area between Elm and Main St for bullets. They found nothing of evidentiary value.
  • The FBI interviewed anyone who had a relation with the TSBD , Jack Ruby, DPD or Oswald over a three month period.
  • He was at the office when Jack Ruby murdered Oswald. His boss (Gordon Shanklin) and Sheriff Bill Decker discussed their dislike for the transfer as planned.  He then states that Fritz had custody of Oswald and was not going to hand that custody over except to the sheriff when Oswald was killed. That by itself is odd since it was the Sheriff’s department that was usually responsible for jail transfers.

*****

From an interview with Nat Pinkston in 2007.

Pinkston: Well, the manager of the School Book Depository was a fellow named Friendly (he means Truly-B.K.). And I interviewed him at length and I also interviewed quite a few of the employees. The Agents interviewed every employee of the School Book Depository. And we were able to prove where everybody was except Oswald. Every employee was with other employees and their location was definite with reputable witnesses to prove it.

Hollstein: Um-hmm. Yeah, ‘cause you couldn’t be sure that they weren’t part of it; or somebody wasn’t part of it anyway.

Pinkston: But we had substantiated witnesses of every employee of the School Book Depository, except Oswald.

Hollstein: Uh-hmm. Well, it was very thorough.

Pinkston: And also a few days after the investigation, and after Oswald was killed, one of the employees of the School Book Depository called me and told me that he had found Oswald’s clipboard, which contained all of the orders that Oswald was supposed to be filling on the morning that he killed Kennedy.

Hollstein: Oh. What do you know?

Pinkston: It had been thrown on the floor close to where the gun was. Now, all of the employees there used homemade clipboards. And each employee had made his own. And all of these
employees said that they could look at this of Oswald’s and swear that it was Oswald’s clipboard. Now the orders on the clipboard were to be filled on the sixth floor on that day. He was the only one who had orders for the sixth floor.

Hollstein: So he was all alone up there.

Pinkston: Yeah.

Hollstein: Um-hmm.

Pinkston: He was the only one up there and the only one that had any business up there.

Hollstein: Quite a time and we’re still reeling from it. And still plenty of theories and people thinking it over, but it seems to have quieted down now. You don’t hear so much about it.

Pinkston: Well, there’s still a lot of comment about it.

Hollstein: Yeah. Yeah. But most of the, you know, the fringe people have been fairly well, you know, people have decided the fringe people aren’t right.

Pinkston: Yeah.

Hollstein: You know, with all of the conspiracy theories and what have you. So, hopefully it’ll go away.

 

At a later date after the assassination Pinkston is mentioned in Assignment Oswald by James Hosty that he has placed a wiretap underneath the house of Marina Oswald.

 

Nat Pinkston passed away on Sept. 4th 2011.

More: Nat Pinkston and the Snack Room Encounter.