Memo from CIA to FBI says senior reporter at Cambridge Evening News was told to call the American embassy for ‘some big news’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A reporter on the UK’s Cambridge Evening News received an anonymous call telling him to ring the US embassy for some big news, 25 minutes before the murder of John F Kennedy in Dallas, newly released documents say.

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A memo written to the director of the FBI from the deputy director (Plans) of the CIA tells of the strange phone call made to the unnamed senior reporter on the paper.

Dated four days after the president’s death, it reveals how far the investigation into the events in Dallas reached.

The memo reads: “The British security service (MI-5) has reported that at 18:05 GMT on 22nd November and anonymous telephone call was made in Cambridge, England, to the senior reporter of the Cambridge News.

“The caller said only that the Cambridge News reporter should call the American embassy in London for some big news and then hung up.

“After the word of the president’s death was received the reporter informed the Cambridge police of the anonymous call and the police informed MI-5.

“The important point is that the call was made according to MI-5 calculations, about 25 minutes before the president was shot. The Cambridge reporter had never received a call of this kind before and MI-5 state that he is known to them as a sound and loyal person with no security record.”

Timeline JFK's assassination Show Hide

President John F Kennedy is shot dead by a sniper while his motorcade moved through Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US marine and Soviet defector, is arrested. Oswald is shot dead by a Dallas nightclub owner, Jack Ruby. The newly sworn in president, Lyndon Johnson, orders an investigation of the assassination, named after its leader, chief justice Earl Warren. The Warren Commission determines that Oswald acted alone, without help from Cuba or Russia. The panel also finds that Ruby acted alone. A new investigation by four medical experts reaffirms the commission's finding that two bullets killed Kennedy from behind. Clay Shaw, a New Orleans businessman, is acquitted of charges of conspiracy in Kennedy's murder, after 50 minutes of deliberation. He is the only person prosecuted over the assassination. After two years of investigation, a House committee accuses previous investigators of failing to explore sufficient leads. The panel found it "likely" that conspiracies were behind Kennedy's murder, including a possible second gunman on "the grassy knoll" in Dallas. The committee also believed organized crime was "probably" involved. Oliver Stone premieres JFK, his film about the Shaw trial and the possibility of a CIA conspiracy, motivated in part to keep the US in Vietnam. A few months later, Seinfeld parodies the elaborate conspiracy theorizing around the Zapruder film and "magic bullet" theory. Congress enacts the JFK Records Collection Act and orders the release of 3,100 secret documents in an attempt to quash conspiracy theories. The documents are ordered released with a 25-year deadline. Donald Trump accuses the father of Ted Cruz of involvement in the assassination. He cites the National Enquirer, a tabloid, as his source.

The memo somewhat cryptically also states that “similar anonymous phone calls of a strangely coincidental nature have been received by persons in the UK over the past year” particularly in the case of a Dr Ward.

It ends: “The British Security Service stated its desire to assist in every way possible on any follow-up investigations required within the United Kingdom.”

The memo is signed by the deputy director James Angleton.

On Friday, reporters at the Cambridge Evening News said they were sifting through its archives to try and find any references to the call.

Josh Thomas (@JoshThomasCN) Scenes in the @CambridgeNewsUK newsroom this morning. We'll get to the bottom of this #jfkdocuments pic.twitter.com/sWx5RNQdNZ

Kennedy was assassinated as his motorcade passed through Dallas on 22 November 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US marine, was charged with his murder. Oswald himself was shot dead two days later by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.