Josiah Thompson

Josiah "Tink" Thompson is an American writer, professional private investigator, and former philosophy professor. He wrote Six Seconds in Dallas: A Micro-Study of the Kennedy Assassination (ISBN 0394445716). He also wrote a biography of the early 19th-Century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (ISBN 057501718X) (ISBN 0394470923) in 1974, and a well-received book about his own, post-academic life as a private detective, Gumshoe: Reflections in a Private Eye (ISBN 0316841757) in 1988.

Early life

Thompson is originally from East Liverpool, Ohio.^[1] As of November 2013, he lived in Bolinas, California.^[2]

Thompson graduated from Yale University in 1957. He entered the Navy, serving in Underwater Demolition Team 21. Then he returned to Yale for his M.A. in 1962 and Ph.D. in 1964. After receiving his doctorate, he taught at Yale as Instructor of Philosophy and then moved on to teach at Haverford College, where he remained until 1976, resigning to begin a career as a private detective. In 1967 he published The Lonely Labyrinth (ASIN B0006BQ5G6), a study of Kierkegaard's thought, and in 1972, Kierkegaard: A Collection of Critical Essays (ISBN 0385019785). In 1973 he published, Kierkegaard (ISBN 0394470923), a biography of the Danish thinker.

Six Seconds in Dallas

In Six Seconds in Dallas, Thompson argued that there was a conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.^[3] Based on an examination of the Zapruder film, Thompson claimed in the book that three men fired four shots at Kennedy in Dealey Plaza: the first shot was fired from the Texas School Book Depository and struck Kennedy in the back; the second shot was fired from the Dallas County Records building and struck Governor John Connally; the third and fourth shots were fired from the Texas School Book Depository and the "grassy knoll" and almost simultaneously struck Kennedy in the head.^[3]

In November 1967, prior to the publication of the book, Thompson stated that the Dal-Tex Building may have been the location of the second shot.^[4] He said that a young man was arrested within minutes after the shooting in that building, taken in for questioning by police, then disappeared in the confusion.^[4]

In 1991, Bob Hoover of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that Six Seconds in Dallas "remains one of the most plausible explanations for the line of fire in Dealey Plaza."^[1]

Thompson and his publisher were sued by Time, Inc. for infringement of copyright because of Zapruder frames sketched in the book. A federal court gave summary judgment to Thompson and his publisher ten months later in a landmark decision stressing fair use rights (Time Inc. v. Bernard Geis Assoc., et al., 293 F. Supp. 130, S.D.N.Y. 1968)^[5]

The Umbrella Man

In 2011, The New York Times posted a short documentary film by Errol Morris featuring Thompson's commentary about the "Umbrella Man", a man holding a black umbrella during the assassination of Kennedy.^[6][7][8]

References