James Patrick Hosty Jr. (August 28, 1924 – June 10, 2011) was an American

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

known for unofficially investigating

Lee Harvey Oswald Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963. Oswald was placed in juvenile detention at age 12 for truan ...

in the months before the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Biography

Hosty was born on August 28, 1924, in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He was one of seven children of Charlotte Irene and James Patrick Hosty Sr., an executive in a sugar company in Chicago. Hosty served in the United States military during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

from 1942 to 1946 and graduated from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

. Hosty was assigned by FBI Headquarters to investigate ultra-rightists like members of the KKK and

General Edwin Walker Edwin Anderson Walker (November 10, 1909 – October 31, 1993) was a United States Army major general who served in World War II and the Korean War. Walker resigned his commission during 1959, but Eisenhower refused to accept his resignation and ...

along with "his alker'sMinutemen in Dallas." Hosty himself said so on page 4 of his book ''Assignment Oswald'' (1996). In June 1962,

was allowed to return to the United States after his 1959 defection to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He brought with him a wife and his infant daughter, both born in the Soviet Union, and FBI agent John Fain was assigned to investigate him. Fain interviewed Oswald twice – once in June 1962 and once in August 1962. After the second interview, Fain along with FBI Headquarters closed the FBI casefile on Oswald.

was a well-known anti-communist in his day, many US anti-communists were outraged that a defector to the Soviet Union would be allowed to return to the Dallas area with a Russian bride. They demanded that the FBI continually investigate Oswald. Yet the FBI casefile was officially closed. In early November 1963, Hosty made contact with Oswald's wife

Marina Oswald Marina Nikolayevna Oswald Porter (; born July 17, 1941) is a Russian–American former pharmacist who was the wife of Lee Harvey Oswald. Born in the Soviet Union in 1941, she immigrated to the United States after marrying United States Marine C ...

in order to interview her about her entry into the United States 17 months previously. Oswald wrote Hosty a hostile note to protest what he considered harassment of Marina. Oswald also had Hosty's name, phone number, and car license plate number in his address book. Hosty told the

Warren Commission The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President of the United States, President Lyndon B. Johnson through on November 29, 1963, to investigate the A ...

the truth about Oswald's hostile letter and he had destroyed it, on his superior's orders. His superior, Gordon Shanklin, denied this. Because of this, Hosty attracted speculation as a possible conspirator in several

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

. The

attorneys often asked how the FBI could either (1) be unaware of the dangers of

; or (2) be aware of Oswald's danger and yet fail to warn the Secret Service in Washington DC about this threat to JFK in Dallas.

J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau o ...

was asked this question numerous times in his own

testimony, with ambiguous replies (which fed different JFK conspiracy theories). After those hearings, Hoover transferred Hosty to the FBI's Kansas City office until his mandatory retirement in 1979. Hosty later wrote a memoir about the Kennedy assassination, titled ''Assignment: Oswald''. Hosty received an unsigned note from Lee Harvey Oswald about two weeks before the

Kennedy assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline, Texas gove ...

. The note asked Hosty to stop questioning Oswald's wife. Hosty filed it away. He first met Oswald on November 22, 1963. It was while he was interrogating Oswald on November 22 that he realized that the unsigned note he had received two weeks prior was from Oswald. He said that, on orders from his supervisor, he destroyed the note after Oswald was killed on November 24, 1963. Notes taken down by Hosty during his interrogation of Oswald on November 22, indicate that when Oswald was asked to account for himself at the time of the assassination, he claimed to hav
"went outside to watch P. Parade"
(referring to the presidential motorcade). The newly discovered Hosty interrogation notes, unearthed at NARA by former British Intelligence agent and JFK researcher
Malcolm Blunt
were recently featured for the first time in the 2020 NHK World-Japan documentar
Oswald and JFK - Unsolved Cases, Part II: The Chessmaster
(at 35:00 - 36:10). Hosty retired from the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

in 1979. He died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

on June 10, 2011, in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

Portrayal in fiction

Hosty was portrayed in the 1991

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born ) is an American filmmaker. Stone is an acclaimed director, tackling subjects ranging from the Vietnam War and American politics to musical film, musical Biographical film, biopics and Crime film, crime dramas. He has ...

film ''

JFK John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until Assassination of John F. Kennedy, his assassination in 1963. He was the first Catholic Chur ...

'' as having a central role in a government conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy and frame Oswald. In the 2011

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

novel ''

11/22/63 ''11/22/63'' is a novel by American author Stephen King about a time traveler who attempts to prevent the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963 (the novel's titular date). It is the 60th b ...

'', Hosty questions the protagonist Jake Epping, a time traveler who has just narrowly prevented Oswald from killing the president. Hosty is suspicious of Epping because of what he knows about Oswald and his investigation by the FBI, but assists Epping in his efforts to quietly disappear, so that he may return to 2011. The

television adaptation An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another. Some common examples are: * Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography, ...

has Epping returning to 2016, and

Gil Bellows Gil Bellows (born June 28, 1967) is a Canadian actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. Upon graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he began acting in films and television. Bellows also earned critical acclaim for his stage p ...

briefly appears as Hosty. Actor

Ron Livingston Ronald Joseph Livingston (born June 5, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Peter Gibbons in ''Office Space'' (1999) and Captain Lewis Nixon III in the miniseries ''Band of Brothers (miniseries), Band of Brothers'' (2001). Liv ...

portrays Hosty in writer and director

Peter Landesman Peter Landesman (born 3 January 1965) is an American screenwriter, film director, producer, journalist, novelist and painter. He wrote a number of cover stories for ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''The New Yorker'', ''The Atlantic Monthly'' an ...

's 2013 film '' Parkland'', which recounts the subsequent events that occurred at Dallas' Parkland Hospital on the day JFK was assassinated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hosty, James 1924 births 2011 deaths Federal Bureau of Investigation agents University of Notre Dame alumni Military personnel from Chicago People from Kansas City, Missouri Deaths from prostate cancer in the United States People associated with the assassination of John F. Kennedy American military personnel of World War II Deaths from cancer in Missouri