"Conflicting Conclusions" Program

As of 2025, this is the first and only Kennedy assassination debate presented as a public program at The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. As someone who has maintained a lifelong fascination with the subject matter, far beyond my quarter century of employment here at the Museum, it was an incredible honor to work with Howard Willens and G. Robert Blakey to develop and execute this special event in 2018. No question, this was one of the most personally rewarding and challenging programs I have ever moderated. Preparation for this began months in advance, including working out the structure of the debate with both speakers, outlining and agreeing to specific time limits for answers and rebuttals, and preparing the visuals that each speaker wanted to share as part of the program. What an experience, sitting between these two distinguished gentlemen and doing my best to keep the peace and focus on moving this lively conversation along for two full hours. And what a joy to have several special guests in the audience that evening, including my longtime friend (and key assassination eyewitness) Bill Newman. On the frequent occasions when I have been asked to name my most memorable or favorite Museum program over the years, outside of the ongoing Living History series, this is usually the program I most frequently cite. It was a remarkable and truly historic experience. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

A little more than a month after this public program, G. Robert Blakey participated in a two-part audio oral history interview with me for the Oral History Project. In addition to the final report of the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations, the Museum's Library includes copies of his 1981 book, The Plot to Kill the President, and the republished version, Fatal Hour: The Assassination of President Kennedy by Organized Crime (1992). The Museum's Library Collection also inclues a DVD of Blakey's apperance on the William F. Buckley, Jr. program Firing Line in 1981. All of these can be found here: Bibliovation | Catalog Search Results.

The Firing Line episode, which was recorded on September 10, 1981, is quite interesting. In it, Blakey participated in a somewhat similar debate-like discussion with another Warren Commission assistant counsel, the late David W. Belin (1925-2008). In addition to the DVD in the Museum's Library Collection, this one-hour program may be found here on the Hoover Institution Library & Archives YouTube channel: Firing Line: Does the Warren Report on the Kennedy Assassination Hold Up?.

Mr. Blakey passed away on May 1, 2026. - Stephen Fagin, Curator

As of 2025, and likely for the foreseeable future, Howard P. Willens holds the record for the longest oral history interview in the Museum's Collection. In 2018, prior to this debate program with G. Robert Blakey, Mr. Willens participated in a 90-minute audio interview, recorded by telephone, and then sat down with me a few months later for an extraordinary three-day video session that totaled approximately eleven hours. That multi-part videotaped interview was uniquely structured, taking the two of us day-by-day through Willens' 1964 journal in which he outlined the work of the Warren Commission in minute detail. This entire record-breaking oral history, divided into forty-eight video segments, may be viewed on the Museum's YouTube channel here: Howard Willens Oral History - YouTube.

After this series of recordings in 2018, Howard P. Willens returned to Dallas the following year to take part in a panel discussion at the Texas Theatre, presented in partnership with The Sixth Floor Museum. At the world premiere of the feature-length documentary, Truth is the Only Client (2019), Willens was joined by fellow Warren Commission assistant counsel Burt Griffin and David Slawson, Oswald family friend Ruth Paine and conservative activist Bernard Weissman. That half-hour conversation may be found here: "Truth Is The Only Client" Premiere Panel Discussion - YouTube.

Howard P. Willens' book, History Will Prove Us Right (2013), may be found here in the Museum's Library Collection: Bibliovation | Details for History will prove us right. - Stephen Fagin, Curator