JFK Lancer Announces a New Editor for KAC

ROBERT CHAPMAN

Robert Chapman was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1949. His parents moved shortly thereafter to Houston, Texas where he spent his childhood and early teen years. He finished high school in Memphis, Tennessee, and then entered the University of Memphis. He graduated from the U of M in 1972, earning a BA in art history.

In 1975, he attended a researcher's conference in New York City held at NYU. There he met Penn Jones, Jr.. Penn was very kind to him and invited him to call anytime to discuss the assassination, and to come and visit in Texas should Chapman ever find himself headed to Dallas. A subsequent telephone conversation resulted in an invitation to come in November of 1975 ("You can't understand this case until you take the tour, Penn drawled). Once there Penn did indeed take him on the tour, and equally important, to a party at Mary Ferrell's house.

Mrs. Ferrell, who needs no introduction to any student of this subject, encouraged Chapman's research and offered to host him should he care to return sometime and see her archives. It was not necessary to repeat the offer. A friendship developed which led to an association that has lasted to the present day. From 1975 until 1982 Mrs. Ferrell would periodically call and announce the pending arrival of a large batch of recently de-classified documents. Usually these were documents pried from CIA or whomever under FOIA by the late Bud Fensterwald and sent directly (and often only) to Mrs. Ferrell. Chapman would drive or fly to Dallas on the agreed upon day and he and Mrs. Ferrell would spend three or four (nearly non-stop) days reading, analyzing, and indexing the documents. Sleep, when it occurred, consisted of maybe a four-hour nap.

While from time to time he did contribute essays to Penn Jones' Continuing Inquiry, Chapman's primary focus as a researcher has been document analysis. Years of kind mentoring by Mrs. Ferrell, and exposure to her tens of thousands of pages of documents, aided immeasurably in that pursuit.

In 1982 Chapman was presented with an opportunity to enter the restaurant business by purchasing an existing business and expanding it. He has remained in the restaurant business to this day. His interest in the JFK assassination research never waned, however, and his relationship with Mrs. Ferrell and other researchers continued as well. Chapman attended all of the ASK conferences, as well as the JFK LANCER conferences working with and assisting Mrs. Ferrell. He also spoke at many of the conferences, or assisted the organizers in some official capacity.

Chapman is married to the former Jamie Goree, and they have one daughter, Amanda. He writes fiction and is an inveterate reader of not only JFK material, but of many subjects far afield from that.

12 Mar 1999
Robert Chapman

Taking over a project that has been ably and intelligently run for years by someone like George Michael Evica is a daunting task. George Michael is a friend of mine, and I have long respected his work, his passion, and his abilities. I hope that I can continue this work in a manner that approaches his standard.

When Debra Conway first asked me about taking this position I was not sure how to answer. After all, I had never edited any magazine, and now was being offered the position in a magazine that is sent not only across America but also around the world. Debra and I talked about it, and I soon realized it was a project that I would enjoy. I was right.

I have recently read through the back issues of this magazine and am very impressed with the steady growth in scope and quality over the years. The hard work of Debra, George Michael, and Tom Jones has paid off. This magazine is a first rate journal of research into the single most important crime (or political event) in the history of our country. This magazine, and others like it, is concerned with the free discussion and presentation of ideas and data that advances the cause of all Americans who care about our history, our justice, and our freedom.

This magazine exists because of the failure of the national and local news media to allow independent investigative journalists to actively (much less aggressively) pursue the obvious mountain of evidence demonstrating that a conspiracy killed John F. Kennedy. This failure is a heavy burden that the media now bears, and I believe it is the primary reason for their continued promotion of nonsense published by those who would apologize for the Warren Report and its defenders. The result of this abnegation of responsibility by the media is that thousands of ordinary citizens, led by such first generation researchers as Mary Ferrell, Harold Weisberg, Penn Jones, Jr., and David Lifton (to name just a few) have taken it upon themselves to investigate this heinous crime and remarkable cover-up.

We have in this issue a great group of researchers, and future issues will see even more. From its inception this magazine has been a forum for researchers to exchange ideas and information in the hopes of one day understanding the truth about what really happened in Dallas and how it was covered up. That is truly the bottom line: how it was covered up. We may never know who really pulled the trigger on the gun that murdered John Kennedy, but there can be little doubt that we are very, very close to having proof about those responsible for the most obvious proof of the conspiracy-the cover-up.

Kennedy Assassination Chronicles Magazine
Senior Editor: ROBERT CHAPMAN editor@jfklancer.com
Managing Editor: DEBRA CONWAY
Layout: JAMES SAWA
Distribution: TOM JONES
4 Issues annually
http://www.jfklancer.com/Chronicles.html

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