Many of the books we read regarding the JFK Assassination don’t always take into consideration the history of the times. People in Dallas were not a modern-day right wing terrorist city, but they were very conservative. Religion, segregation, the KKK, the John Birch Society and a complete obeyance to all authority was commonplace. On the other side, seedy strip clubs like The Carousel Club, the Colony Club, the Silver Spur and others were thriving. Dallas was a city of polar opposites. The Dallas Police Department was in the middle of all of it.
Also in the middle were people like my family, the family of Orville Nix and people like Joe Molina, Acquilla Clemmons and A.J. Millican among others. These people would be harassed by threatening phone calls, surveillance and intimidation. Some lost their jobs, including Joe Moliana. Was it fair? I know that many in the JFK community feel there’s more to Joe Molina than the official record shows. But here’s what we do know:
- Molina worked for the Texas School Book Depository for over 16 years. He was the Credit Manager for 4 years.
- He was married and had 3 children biologically and adopted a son.
- He was a former member and chairman of the G.I. Forum and helped Spanish speaking veterans read and better themselves through education. He didn’t renew his membership after 1962.[i]
- On the morning of the assassination, Molina went to his 2nd floor office. He never saw Oswald that day. He went to the 3rd floor lunchroom, ate lunch and about 12:15 went out to watch the parade on the front steps with Mr. Williams, Bill Shelley, Mrs. Stanton, Mr. Reed, Mr. Sanders and Eddie Piper. He heard 3 shots and saw DPD officers closing the gates to the parking lot behind the building.[ii]
- He didn’t know Lee Harvey Oswald personally, had never even spoken to him.
- His wife couldn’t get through the traffic to pick him up at the TSBD after the assassination, so he met her at Sanger-Harris Department store on Main St. There he again saw the TSBD porter, Eddie Piper who told him Oswald could not be accounted for. [iii]
These facts don’t seem circumspect do they?
But later we find that DPD officer R. W. Westphal, through Jack Revill is reporting to Captain Gannaway of the Special Services Bureau that Molina’s home is being watched and describes cars parked in his driveway along with the following comment:
SUBJECT is a member of the AMERICAN G.I. FORUM, an organization which in the past has been dominated by suspected Communists.[iv]
Suspected Communists? The American G.I. Forum? Why the suspicion of Molina? Because of the Communist literature they found at Oswald’s rooming house? Were they trying to find out if the TSBD was a subversive hotbed of communists? The answer is in the interview of Virgie Mae Rackley, the 18 year old bookkeeper of the TSBD who worked in Molina’s department. The Special Services Bureau officer, this time, T.O. Trotman, says Rackley stated:
During the interview, we asked her if she had any suspicions of any of the employees she worked with. She states, “no”. After a few moments she stated, “it may sound silly and I shouldn’t say anything at all, but my boss, Joe Molina, has had a number of strange phone conversations. I never have listened to the conversations, but recently I heard him say something about he was going to help someone “do it”. I shouldn’t suspicion (sic) Joe because he is a very religious man and a very fine man”.
Later in the interview Rackley states:
..Mr. Molina ate lunch with Rackley and 2 other employees of the department. She found that unusual as usually he eats between 12:30 and 1:00 pm alone. Mr. Williams and Mr. Molina are very good friends.[v]
So what can we learn from this? Here’s how I see it. The first thing that jumps out to me is that Molina obviously called his wife. Where are the phone records from the TSBD that day? Secondly, if we are to believe 18 year old Rackley’s suspicions (though seemingly unfounded) shouldn’t we believe that she saw bullets hitting the street behind the president’s car as well? Also, where is the evidence to suggest the American G.I. Forum was dominated by suspected Communists? Why aren’t there interviews with members of the KKK? The John Birch Society? The DPD? Why was the DPD watching Molina’s home but not George Senators? Or Larry Crafards? Or any of the Hunts? To this day I don’t understand why the DPD investigated this murder in the way they did. It seems that being a Communist was the worst thing you could be in Dallas at the time. Or was it? I think being intimidated was the worst thing you could be in Dallas at the time.
What do you think?
[i] Molina, Joe Rodriguez. [Affidavit by Joe Rodriquez Molina, November 23, 1963], Legal Document, November 23, 1963; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth190086/ : accessed February 08, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives , Dallas, Texas.
[ii] Senkel, B. L. [Report - Joe Molina, #4], Legal Document, ca. 1964; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth190248/ : accessed February 08, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives , Dallas, Texas
[iii] Senkel, B. L. [Report by B. L. Senkel, concerning an interview with Joe Molina #2], Legal Document, n.d.; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth340634/ : accessed February 08, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives , Dallas, Texas.
[iv] Dallas (Tex.). Police Dept. [Report to W. P. Gannaway by R. W. Westphal, November 30, 1963], Report, November 30, 1963; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth340096/ : accessed February 08, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives , Dallas, Texas.
[v] Trotman, T. O. [Memorandum concerning statements made by Virgie Mae Rackley], Legal Document, November 23, 1963; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth337787/ : accessed February 08, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives , Dallas, Texas.
