Lunsford Richardson Preyer
was born in Greensboro, Guilford County, was born on 11th January,
1919. During the Second World War he served in the United States Navy.
After the war he attended
Princeton University and Harvard Law School and in 1953 became a city
judge. He also served as a North Carolina State Superior Court Judge
(1956-1961), United States District Court Judge (1961-1963).
A member of the Democratic
Party
Preyer was unsuccessful
in his bid to become Governor of North Carolina in 1964. However,
he was elected to Congress and took his seat in January, 1969.
In 1975, Frank
Church became the chairman of the Select Committee to Study Governmental
Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. In
its final report, issued in April 1976, the Select Committee to Study
Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities concluded:
“Domestic intelligence activity has threatened and undermined
the Constitutional rights of Americans to free speech, association
and privacy. It has done so primarily because the Constitutional system
for checking abuse of power has not been applied.”
The committee also reported
that the Central Intelligence Agency had
withheld from the Warren
Commission, during
its investigation of the assassination of John
F. Kennedy,
information about plots by the Government of the United States against
Fidel Castro of Cuba;
and that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had conducted a counter-intelligence
program (COINTELPRO) against Martin
Luther King and
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
As a result
of Church's report Congress established the
House Select Committee on Assassinations
in September 1976. The resolution authorized a 12-member select committee
to conduct an investigation of the circumstances surrounding the deaths
of John
F. Kennedy
and Martin
Luther King.
Louis
Stokes was named
chairman of the committee. Two subcommittees were created - a subcommittee
on the assassination of President Kennedy, with Richardson Preyer
of North Carolina as its chairman, and a subcommittee on the assassination
of Dr. King, with Walter E. Fauntroy,
Delegate of the District of Columbia, as its chairman.
In 1979 the House
Select Committee on Assassinations reported
that there
was "a
high probability that two gunmen fired at President John F. Kennedy"
in Dallas.
Lunsford Richardson Preyer
died on 3rd April, 2001.
House
Select Committee on Assassinations
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
(1)
House
Select Committee on Assassinations
(1979)
Findings of the Select Committee on Assassinations in the Assassination
of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963.
Lee
Harvey Oswald fired three shots at President John F. Kennedy. The
second and third shots he fired struck the President. The third shot
he fired killed the President.
President
Kennedy was struck by two rifle shots fired from behind him.
The
shots that struck President Kennedy from behind him were fired from
the sixth floor window of the southeast corner of the Texas School
Book Depository building.
Lee
Harvey Oswald owned the rifle that was used to fire the shots from
the sixth floor window of the southeast comer of the Texas School
Book Depository building.
Lee
Harvey Oswald, shortly before the assassination, had access to and
was present on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository
building.
Lee
Harvey Oswald's other actions tend to support the conclusion that
he assassinated President Kennedy.
Scientific
acoustical evidence establishes a high probability that two gunmen
fired at President John F. Kennedy. Other scientific evidence does
not preclude the possibility of two gunmen firing at the President.
Scientific evidence negates some specific conspiracy allegations.
The
committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it,
that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result
of a conspiracy. The committee is unable to identify the other gunman
or the extent of the conspiracy.
The
committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it,
that the Soviet Government was not involved in the assassination of
President Kennedy.
The
committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it,
that the Cuban Government was not involved in the assassination of
President Kennedy.
The
committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it,
that anti-Castro Cuban groups, as groups, were not involved in the
assassination of President Kennedy, but that the available evidence
does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have
been involved.
The
committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it,
that the national syndicate of organized crime, as a group, was not
involved in the assassination of President Kennedy, but that the available
evidence does not preclude the possibility that individual members
may have been involved.
The
Secret Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence
Agency were not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.
Agencies
and departments of the U.S. Government performed with varying degrees
of competency in the fulfillment of their duties. President John F.
Kennedy did not receive adequate protection. A thorough and reliable
investigation into the responsibility of Lee Harvey Oswald for the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy was conducted. The investigation
into the possibility of conspiracy in the assassination was inadequate.
The conclusions of the investigations were arrived at in good faith,
but presented in a fashion that was too definitive.
The
Secret Service was deficient in the performance of its duties.
The
Secret Service possessed information that was not properly analyzed,
investigated or used by the Secret Service in connection with the
President's trip to Dallas; in addition, Secret Service agents in
the motorcade were inadequately prepared to protect the President
from a sniper.
The
responsibility of the Secret Service to investigate the assassination
was terminated when the Federal Bureau of Investigation assumed primary
investigative responsibility.
The
Department of Justice failed to exercise initiative in supervising
and directing the investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
of the assassination.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation performed with varying degrees of
competency in the fulfillment of its duties.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation adequately investigated Lee Harvey
Oswald prior to the assassination and properly evaluated the evidence
it possessed to assess his potential to endanger the public safety
in a national emergency.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a thorough and professional
investigation into the responsibility of Lee Harvey Oswald for the
assassination.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation failed to investigate adequately the
possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the President.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation was deficient in its sharing of information
with other agencies and departments.
The
Central Intelligence Agency was deficient in its collection and sharing
of information both prior to and subsequent to the assassination.
The
Warren Commission performed with varying degrees of competency in
the fulfillment of its duties.
The
Warren Commission conducted a thorough and professional investigation
into the responsibility of Lee Harvey Oswald for the assassination.
The
Warren Commission failed to investigate adequately the possibility
of a conspiracy to assassinate the President.
This
deficiency was attributable in part to the failure of the Commission
to receive all the relevant information that was in the possession
of other agencies and departments of the Government.
The
Warren Commission arrived at its conclusions, based on the evidence
available to it, in good faith.
The
Warren Commission presented the conclusions in its report in a fashion
that was too definitive.
(2)
House
Select Committee on Assassinations (September 28, 1978)
Richardson Preyer: Did you ever suspect that Lee might be a spy of
some sort for either the Soviet KGB or for the U.S. CIA?
Marina Oswald:
It did cross my mind sometime during our life in Russia; yes, because
he will be sitting with those papers and writing something in English,
and I don't know. Maybe he was making reports to somebody and didn't
want me to know.
Richardson
Preyer: When it crossed your mind, did you think he was a spy for
the United States or for the Soviet Union?
Marina Oswald:
For United States.
Richardson
Preyer: And you based that on the fact that he often was writing notes
in English which you did not understand.
Marina Oswald:
Yes.
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