The JFK 100

Oswald's "backyard photos" faked

Were photographs forged to poison Oswald's image?

One of the enduring myths of the JFK assassination is rehashed in Oliver Stone's JFK: that photos of Lee Harvey Oswald with his rifle were forged in order to convince the public that he was JFK's assassin.

Those who believe the photos are fake ignore the exhaustive scrutiny the photos underwent at the hands of the House Select Committee's expert photographic panel in 1978. Using a variety of sophisticated techniques, such as stereoscopic viewing and grain analysis (see below), the panel determined that the photos contain no evidence of forgery.

Read the panel's complete report here.

Oswald's widow, Marina, has confirmed to the Warren Commission, the House Select Committee, and numerous independent researchers that she herself took the photos, which the House Select Committee panel determined were made with Oswald's own Imperial Reflex camera, to the exclusion of all other cameras.

As author Gus Russo has demonstrated, several people saw one of the backyard photos before the assassination.⁽¹⁾

It also defies common sense that conspirators would waste hours of their time meticulously forging evidence that has no forensic value, that is to say, fails to incriminate Oswald in any way.

From Gerald Posner, Case Closed (New York: Random House, 1993)