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            Introduction to the book "The Taking of America, 1-2-3,"  by
                             Richard E. Sprague

This  book  is  not  about assassinations, at  least  not  solely  about
assassinations.   It  is  not  just  another  book  about  who  murdered
President  Kennedy or how or why.  It is a book about power,  about  who
really controls the United States policies, especially foreign policies.
It  is a book about the process of control through the  manipulation  of
the  American  presidency and the presidential  election  process.   The
objective  of  the  book is to expose the  clandestine,  secret,  tricky
methods and weapons used for this manipulation, and to reveal the degree
to which these have been hidden from the American public.

Assassinations  are  only one of many techniques used  in  this  control
process.   They have been important only in the sense that they are  the
ultimate method used in the control of the election process.  Viewed  in
this  way, an understanding of what happened to John or  Robert  Kennedy
becomes more important because it leads to a total understanding of what
has  happened to our country, and to us, since 1960.  But the  important
thing  to  understand  is  the control and the  power  and  all  of  the
clandestine methods put together.


Two  men  named  Richard Sprague have been  involved  in  examining  the
assassination  of John F. Kennedy and its ensuing cover-up  through  the
years.    Richard  A.  Sprague,  the  former  district   attorney   from
Philadelphia,  and the fearless prosecutor of the  Yablonski  murderers,
was  named on October 4, 1976, by Congressperson Thomas Downing,  to  be
chief  counsel  of  the  just-then forming  House  Select  Committee  on
Assassinations.   Richard  E.  Sprague was a pioneer  in  the  field  of
computers   starting  in  the  1940s.   His  involvement  studying   the
photographic  evidence  in the assassination of President  Kennedy  goes
back to 1966:

  From the day it happened I was skeptical about what was being said  on
  the  TV  and radio with regard to how the president was  killed.   But
  when  the  "Warren  Report"  was issued  I  became  non-skeptical  and
  accepted  it  pretty  much as it was.  However, when  the  26  volumes
  became  available in late 1964 and I started reading through  them,  I
  became  skeptical again because I could not find confirmation of  most
  of the so-called facts presented by the "Warren Report" and  purported
  to  be  backed  up by the evidence in the 26  volumes,  or  any  other
  evidence.

  So  I started work again, which caused me to need an index to  the  26
  volumes.  This in turn lead to my contacting Sylvia Meagher and asking
  where I could get her index having discovered that she had created and
  published  one that the Warren Commission hadn't seen fit to  provide.
  She  told me where I could get it and suggested we have  lunch.   This
  was  in early November, 1966.  She asked, "Why don't you do some  real
  research?"  and I said, "like what?" and she responded "how about  the
  photographic evidence?  A couple of people have started work on it but
  haven't finished."  I asked her who and she said "Harold Weisberg  and
  Ray Marcus."  I contacted both men and that's more or less how I stuck
  my foot in the quicksand.

  At  the  time the 26 volumes became available there  were  only  8,000
  copies printed for the whole country.  The time I managed to get  hold
  of  one  of these sets of all 26 volumes was when I had moved  to  the
  University  Club in New York City and they had a complete set  donated
  to  the  University Club by non other than John J. McCloy.  So  I  was
  using  John  J.  McCloy's personal copies for  the  beginnings  of  my
  research.

  Now,  the most important thing initially that happened in finding  the
  photos  was  discovering  a number  of  photographs--films  and  still
  photos--that  showed the sixth floor window empty with nobody  in  it.
  This  is what originally convinced me that we had a different sort  of
  conspiracy  going than one involving Lee Harvey Oswald, because if  he
  wasn't  in  the  window--and  nobody  was  in  the  window--then  what
  happened?  Who fired the shots?  And where from?

  Confirming that the films and photographs I was looking at were  taken
  at  the critical time the shots were fired, or immediately  before  or
  after that, involved a lot of work: work with plat maps, other photos,
  and  other  materials.  I got hold of a map made by the  surveyor  for
  Dealey Plaza (I believe his name was Clarence West) which was drawn to
  scale, and Bob Cutler helped me draw onto it all of the various things
  that  happened  including all the vehicles that were  moving  through.
  And  I  managed  to lay a set of films end-to-end  starting  with  one
  rounding the turn onto Houston Street all the way through Dealey Plaza
  so  I could track any vehicle that was in view  eighteenth-of-a-second
  by  eighteenth-of-a-second (Zapruder film speed) all the  way  through
  Dealey  Plaza.  This enabled me to determine where Kennedy was at  all
  times and where anybody else was that showed up in any of the photos--
  particularly  moving pictures--at times Kennedy was at spot  so-and-so
  or spot such-and-such.

  By  doing  this, with some triangulation, I was able to pin  down  the
  exact  timing  of two particular sets of photos:  a  film--the  Hughes
  film--the  last frame of which shows the sixth floor window empty  and
  ends  5.7  seconds  ahead  of the first  shot--the  first  shot  being
  fired/tied  down  at frame 189 of the Zapruder film;  and  two  photos
  taken after the shots were fired by Dillard and, believe it or not, an
  intelligence  man from Navy intelligence named Powell.   Powell's  and
  Dillard's photos were taken almost at the same time, 3.5 seconds after
  the fatal and last shot (Z-313).

  So that total time span is less than 17 seconds--if you add up the 5.7
  seconds  after  the end of the Hughes film, plus  the  6-plus  seconds
  while the shots were being fired, plus the 3.5 seconds before  Dillard
  and Powell's photos were taken--of blank, non-coverage of that  window
  and  there's no way Oswald could have gotten into the  window,  aimed,
  fired  three shots, and gotten out of the window so you that  couldn't
  see him in 17 seconds.

  But  anyway there was another film taken by Beverly  Oliver  otherwise
  known  as the Babushka lady that was confiscated by News  Orleans  FBI
  agent  Regis Kennedy, and a still photograph taken by Norman  Similas,
  confiscated  by  the  Royal Canadian  Mounted  Police  from  "Liberty"
  magazine  (which was going to publish the photo), who then turned  the
  photo and its negative over to the FBI.  I interviewed Similas and the
  "Liberty"  magazine  editor both of whom told me  they  had  carefully
  examined  the  photograph  and  had seen  no  one  in  the  photograph
  appearing  in the eastern-most sixth floor window, which I  calculated
  had been taken about half-way into the 17-second interval.

  I made two attempts soon after the Freedom of Information Act "viewing
  room" in the FBI office in Washington, D.C. was created, to request to
  see the Similas photograph and Beverly Oliver film, but each time  the
  FBI person assigned to me was not able to find these photograhs.   But
  the  testimony  of  the  people involved was good  enough  for  me  to
  conclude that there was nobody in that window ever.

  Once  I  got to that point I started looking for other  evidence  that
  would  show  where the shots did come from and I started  finding  all
  kinds of evidence of shots from the grassy knoll, and from the Dal Tex
  building, and from the roof or the seventh floor of the western end of
  the   depository  building--both  photographs  as  well   as   witness
  testimony--and  that  lead  me  to decide that  this  was  a  powerful
  conspiracy which had involved at least four gunmen firing shots.  This
  then  lead  me  to decide that I should pursue the  whole  pattern  of
  conspiracy    including,   eventually,   the   Martin   Luther    King
  assassination, the Bobby Kennedy assassination and the George  Wallace
  attempt.  And that led to the book.

  Through all of this, I just know I never would have concluded that  it
  was  a  powerful and well-planned conspiracy if I had  not  determined
  that  Oswald wasn't in that window--nobody was in that  window.   That
  was the first key.

  There's one other thing I'd like to point out.  The title of the  book
  has  more  than just simple significance and it shows up  in  all  the
  chapters  that  link  all these assassinations  and  their  cover-ups.
  Namely, our country has been taken from us.  Us being the citizens  of
  the  United States as of 1963, and any time after that, by robbing  us
  of  our  capability  of electing a president we wanted  for  at  least
  three, and more likely four, elections.  One way of taking the country
  away, is to control the elections and that's really, at least part  of
  the  essence of the book.  It's close to what Henry Gonzalez  proposed
  in his original bill.  He wanted the Congress to look into all four of
  the major assassinations--the fourth being the attempted assassination
  of George Wallace--and find the links between and among them, and  the
  cover-ups,  and  particularly  the  links  between  the   intelligence
  agencies  and the cover-ups that he was sure were involved in  all  of
  them.   And if we had had a committee which had done that, well  then,
  we'd have been a lot further along than we are 13 years later.

            -- phone interview with the author, June 3, 1992





The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was the most photographed
murder  in  history.   Approximately 75 photographers took  a  total  of
approximately 510 photographs, either before or during or within an hour
after the events in Dealey Plaza, and either there or nearby or  related
to  those events.  The word "photograph" in this context  includes  both
still  photos  and  movie sequences.  The number of frames  in  a  movie
sequence  ranges  from about 10 to about 500;  and in the count  of  510
photographs,  given  above,  the  10 to 500 frames  of  a  single  movie
sequence  are  counted just as *one* photograph.  The  total  number  of
frames is over 25,000.

The  Warren Commission examined 26 photographs, about 5 percent  of  the
510.   The FBI examined about 50 photographs, or about 10 percent.   The
most famous of all the photographs is the Zapruder film, which had  over
480 frames.

Many of the photographs were taken by professional photographers.  About
30  of the photographers were professionals who worked  for  newspapers,
television networks, and photographic agencies.

The Warren Commission did not interview a single one of the professional
photographers, nor did the Warren Commission see any complete, uncropped
copies of their photographs.

Fifteen  of these professionals were actually in the Kennedy  motorcade,
no  further  than 6 car lengths behind the Kennedy car.  Five  of  these
photographers were television network cameramen.  The Warren  Commission
looked at none of their photographs.

[.....]

Because  the professionals used movie cameras of  professional  quality,
their films are exceedingly revealing and valuable as primary  evidence.
The Warren Commission looked at none of these films.

During  the past several years, I have collected copies of over  200  of
these  photographs, and I have looked at and taken notes of another  200
of  these  photographs, without obtaining copies of them.  Some  of  the
remaining  100  have  either not been found or have been  locked  up  or
destroyed  by the owners, who are fearful of the information they  show.
Or  they have been locked up by the FBI, who have either placed them  in
files inaccessible to the public or possibly have destroyed them.

         from, "The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy:
                The Application of Computers to the Photographic
                Evidence" Richard E. Sprague, "Computers and
                Automation," May, 1970, p. 34.