Fifty Years Ago Today

You know how it plays out.  A handsome, charismatic President and his lovely wife are in a motorcade touring through the heart of Dallas when shots ring out and the young man collapses into his wife’s arms.  The promise that was, dies and the America we live in today, the one with the softly eroding liberties, arrives from this event.  

It really is amazing how much has changed.  We were freer then.  Kennedy’s staggering death, the killings of RFK and MLK, to the attacks of 9/11, have produced a litany of lost liberties.  Ten years ago all I needed to get my driver’s license renewed was to show up with the old license.  Now I need four different documents to prove who I am.  Something nobody needs to present to run for the office of President.  All of the paperwork is scanned and uploaded to some mysterious place in the belly of the beast.  Boarding a plane used to be a simple process. Now TSA security personnel with dubious backgrounds, rummage through my checked luggage every time I fly, an event that has happened five times now.  As if searching the bag of a non-terrorist is going to keep our country safe from terror.  I would think after two or three times they would finally conclude I’m no threat to National Security.  It may be more a circumstance of intimidation.  Maybe the blogging about JFK is a red flag for them. My fourth Amendment rights have been violated here but a complaint would deliver me into dead zone where our liberties have gone.  This must mean the only real terror a citizen faces now is the terror from an out of control and bloated Federal Government.  

John F. Kennedy represents a man who was the last real President.  He governed as if he was in control, the top man. No American President since governs like John Kennedy did and mostly likely none ever will.  By doing so, he collected a vast array of enemies.  He stood up to a large grouping of powerful forces such as the Military/Pentagon, military contractors, the Mob, the CIA, the Texas oil barons, the Cubans, and various other interest groups.  Kennedy threatened the power of these entities and in the process hastened his own demise.  

Rather than trace shots fired around Dealey Plaza and debunk the lame single bullet theory, just take a look at the policy changes, both foreign and domestic, that occurred upon JFK’s death.  Everybody Kennedy said no to, Lyndon Johnson said yes to.  That’s not a coincidence.  I find it hard to believe that all of these divergent groups found themselves the beneficiaries of such good fortune.  That a ne'er-do-well shows up on the parade route to take care of their enemy and they get to celebrate their grand luck.  Imagine Allen Dulles calling up his buddy Clint Murchison to gloat over what charmed men they were, that a long nut showed up in Dallas and got rid of that awful Kennedy boy.  Brandy and cigars gentlemen!  It’s been business as usual ever since.  

Other than expose a Machevillian window into the heart American politics, the Kennedy assassination exposed a wound in the National Press and their reporting of such events.  The early reporters learned that lasting careers could be made if one went along with the whole thing.  Notice how many local Texas boys evolved into millionaires working for CBS.  Even the current set of Media Darlings are on the payroll.  From conservative Rush Limbaugh to the liberal Chris Mathews, they all spout the same exact party line:  Kennedy was killed by a communist.  I guess one has to, if one wants to get out of the dirt and play in the Big Leagues.  This is the other half of the disgust and disappointment of the Kennedy assassination.  It is in a sense, a betrayal of the truth.  We were lied to about what happened 50 years ago and the media is a big part of the Big Lie.  They keep it going.  They give it an unduly long life.  And if you don’t believe them?  You are called a pejorative name–a conspiracy theorist.  

I hope something like this never happens again.  But you know?  It probably will.  

The Far East

“It would have been a blessing for us if he had used it, say, in the sense that the assassination might not have taken place, if he had taken the passport and gone to the China as he may have contemplated.”

Allen Dulles, Volume 5, page 318.

(10/30/13)

Researcher Jones Harris pointed out to me the above quote by Allen Dulles.  Needless to say, Dulles’ statement to Secret Service agent Chayes at the Warren Commission hearings in regards to Lee Oswald’s passport and Oswald thinking of traveling to China is so far out of left field, one has a hard time sussing it out.  What was he referring to exactly?  Nowhere in any testimony or files released at the time, or since, has it been logged that Oswald had a mission to get to China.  He had no background in China studies or the languages. Of course he started his Marine career in Asia, first in Japan and for a while in Taiwan.  In 1963, during his mysterious and ill-fated trip to Mexico City, his stated purpose was in returning to the Soviet Union, not China.  Dulles may have been thinking out loud regarding operations that were of a concern to him as Director of the CIA and simply interjected Oswald into them. Who knows?  

History records that the Kennedy admin had its hands full with the Soviet Union, Cuba, and Vietnam, China was lurking behind the scenes.  The main concern was the Chinese nuclear plants.  Neither the U.S. nor the Soviets wanted China to have nuclear weapons.  The idea was floated of a Russian/American alliance to take them out but nothing ever came of that, since the Russians did not like the idea of harming a fellow communist state.  The Soviets however, would not supply China with the technology to produce nukes.  China was on its own but did succeed in setting off its first nuclear detention in October of 1964.

While the U2 spy flights over the Soviet Union are well known, with one pilot, Francis Gary Powers being shot down, captured and put on public trial, there were many flights also conducted over the Chinese mainland throughout the 1950's and 1960's by CIA trained Chinese pilots.  Most were flown out of Taiwan.  We know of at least 5 U2's shot down over China.  There may have been more. 

  

Here is the list:

September 9, 1962.  Pilot, Chen Huai-sheng.  Killed.

November 1, 1963.  Pilot, Yeh Chang-di. Captured.

July 7, 1964.  Pilot, Lee Nan-ping.  Killed.

January 10, 1965.  Pilot, Chang Li-yi.  Captured.

September 8, 1967.  Pilot, Huang Jung-Bei. Killed.

In a fascinating article translated from a Chinese news website (link below), a detailed and largely hidden history emerges from this era of U2 flights over China.  The U2 squadron for China surveillance was based in Taiwan and was called the Black Cats.  At first, the Chinese found it impossible to target and shoot down U2s.  But in time they learned there was an 18 second delay after the target was "painted."  They learned to fire their missiles under the 18 second window.  

Reconnaissance flights continued until 1972 when president Richard Nixon visited China and halted the flights.  The Black Cats flew a total of 102 missions when they were officially disbanded in the spring of 1974.

China and its attempts to enter the nuclear club was of concern at the highest levels of government and military.  When president Kennedy was shown the plan for an all out nuclear strike, China was targeted as well.  Kennedy wanted to know why since at the time they had no active nuclear weapons and was told it was part of the overall strategic plan.  The generals knew that China was developing weapons.  

So what did Lee Oswald have with any of this?  The idea that Oswald was contemplating going to China is so far out there as to hamper proper analysis;  unless he was an operative with lots of missions on the schedule and Dulles got them mixed up.  He did start out his service in the Marines stationed in Japan and later they were moved to Taiwan.  Oswald did work for a time at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall, a company that processed U2 photographs which also included the China surveillance.  

Is there something greater going on here?  There is always something greater going on here!  Needless to say, it’s a mystery and one collecting dust in the Warren Commission‘s 26 volumes.  

Sources

The Lost Black Cats (non secure site)

http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20051102_1.htm

Speculation regarding Lee Oswald and the Far East

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2022/104-10066-10006.pdf

Books

Profile of Power: Presdient Kennedy by Richard Reeves

The Missing Chapter by Jack R. Swike

Allen Dulles And The Doppelgängers

Allen Dulles, former Director of the CIA

As told me by longtime JFK researcher Jones Harris, it was known around Washington that CIA Director Allen Dulles had an interest in utilizing doubles for intelligence work.  The first opportunity, the story went, came when Dulles was at a party and met a young man at a party that was fresh out of college and spoke fluently in both Russian and Chinese.  Dulles reportedly learned that this young man also had a twin brother who was also fluent in both languages.  Dulles is  said to have remarked, “I must have this pair.”  

If true, this is an interesting confirmation to bolster the doppelgänger theory which has been explored on this blog and by others, such as John Armstrong in his book, Harvey and Lee.  It shows that Dulles knew more about the assassination than anybody else on the Commission and probably, as Jones Harris told me, knew the most about what really happened regarding the assassination of John Kennedy.

It is not unheard of for intelligence agencies to employ identical twins in operations.  Fidel Castro did when he utilized the DeLaGuardia twins.  The famous spy Mata Hari had a double that danced for her while she was doing espionage work for the Germans during World War I.  Hence, is it not unknown for intelligence agencies to use doubles.  One man can be out on operations and if plans go unfavorably, then there is an alibi; just make sure the double is seen in a public place such as work, restaurant, a party, and so on.  When it comes to “plausible deniability,” the CIA are experts at it.

Another indication occurred during the Warren Commission hearings when Lee’s older brother, Robert Oswald was giving testimony and when it came to the summer of 1947, Dulles abruptly broke in and called for a break.  When the testimony continued, they picked up from the summer of 1948, which surprisingly, Robert Oswald went along with.  Was he coached to go along with this ignoring of the timeline?  Some researchers think so.  Regardless, his older brother John Pic, in earlier testimony, stated the Oswald family was living in Fort Worth, Texas, when other evidence points to an Oswald residence in the town of Benbrook, which was 18 miles west of Fort Worth.  Was Allen Dulles concerned about Robert mentioning the Fort Worth address as well?  Is Dulles familiar with two Oswald’s being involved in intelligence operations?  

This is murky area of the Kennedy assassination and deserves further research.

Sources

Books:

Armstrong, John, Harvey and Lee;  Douglass, James, JFK and the Unspeakable

What Did Robert Oswald Know?

(Updated on my SubStack site:  https://georgebailey.substack.com/p/what-did-robert-oswald-know)

A number of researchers have wondered if Lee Oswald's brother Robert knew more than he ever admitted to.  Indeed, his half brother John Pic told the FBI that Robert knew more that he was letting on.  As one researcher told me, Robert wasn't going to be doing any talking from early on to this day.  Robert did publish a book in 1967 regarding his relationship with his brother (Lee: A Portrait of Lee Harvey Oswald by His Brother) and did appear in several documentaries.  Publicly, he has always stood by the official story and kept a low profile over the years.  

However, his testimony to the Warren Commission, conducted in 1964, reveals Robert's contradictory accounting of events.  A careful reading of the transcript makes it apparent that Robert is not being forthright regarding many issues and this opens up other unexpected mysteries.

The Oswald Trust

Early on, much attention is given to a trust fund set up to accommodate donations given to Marina Oswald, Lee's widow after his death.  The amount was $25,000, supposedly donated from people around the country.  Robert was one of the signatories to the trust.  However, this was not the only amount of money Marina received.  Before she was called to give testimony,  in February of 1964, Marina signed a contract with Tex-Italia Films and Cinema International Productions, to appear in a movie about her life.  She was paid a flat fee of $132,350.  Soon after signing the contract, the Tex-Italia Film company shut their doors in Hollywood, never to be heard from again.  No movie about Marina was ever made.  How's that for taking care of the star witness in the case?

However,  it's unlikely that Robert would not have known something about the details of this transaction as close as he was to Marina. He was, in fact, with her when she was working out the details of the contract.  In fact, it's hard to see how the Commission lawyers didn't know about it either.  FBI Director Hoover must have known as he told lead counsel, J. Lee Rankin, that the FBI was not going to be investigating any of Marina Oswald's financial dealings.  Rankin must have breathed a sigh of relief!  So the kibosh was put on this from the beginning and was never to be mentioned again.   

It's unknown what Marina Oswald did with this large amount of money or for that matter, where the mysterious men of Tex-Italia Films acquired the funds. 

Marina Speaking English

Robert told the Warren Commission that his sister in law Marina had "limited knowledge" of English and he would communicate with her via hand signals.  As we shall see in the section, this is not true–Marina was a very good English speaker and before he spoke to the Commission, Robert Oswald actually admitted to it.

In December of 1963 Robert gave the FBI S.A. Barnwell Odom a 15-page statement and in it he notes meeting with Marina to discuss a management contract she was about to sign with Jim Martin (who briefly became her lover).  There was a discrepancy in the contract that Marina noted–since she could read English–and discussed this issue in English with Robert with no translator present.   He'll deny her language skills later.  It should be noted that Jim Martin told the HSCA in 1978 that Marina could understand English quite well (Armstrong p. 340-341). 

And there are other sources regarding Marina and her English speaking.  Robert’s mother Marguerite Oswald said in her Commission testimony that Marina could speak English.  Lee wrote Marina letters in English while in the Soviet Union (Armstrong, p. 339). The so-called "other defector" Robert Webster (who I might add is the spitting image of Lee) said he met Marina while in Moscow in 1959-60 and she spoke in English to him (she denies knowing him).  Also, Marina’s stenographic notebook (CE100) that was found by the Dallas Police is written in English.  They also found other notebooks with her English writing that are now in the National Archives (Armstrong p. 340-341).

So why is Robert Oswald obviously covering for Marina?  He's speaking under oath and perjuring himself in the process.  And no one on the Warren Commission or their staff attorneys outs him on this.  Marina meanwhile, requires the use of an interpreter to answer questions from the Commission during her testimony.  Many researchers consider Marina to be a KGB agent and speaking English too well would be a dead giveaway to the CIA.  Conversely, Lee spoke excellent Russian yet rarely spoke it in Russia.  Likewise, that would give him away to the KGB if he were operating as an agent.  

Basically, Marina had excellent English language skills and was allowed to pull the wool over everybody's eyes.  Robert helped facilitate this charade.   

The  Strange 1947 to 1948 Jump

During the Robert Oswald's questioning by assistant counsel Albert E. Jenner, Jr., the following happens:

Mr. Oswald.  No, sir. I would say at no time it was. In moving up perhaps there to the time of the divorce and everything, I don't remember when Mr. Ekdahl moved out of the house. At that time we were living on Eighth Avenue in Fort Worth. This was during a summer period there. And I think this was the summer after the second year that we attended there this would be the summer of 1947.

Mr. Dulles.  If it is agreeable, I think we will adjourn for just a minute. It is now 11 o'clock.

Coming back from the break, the Commission starts qualifying the exhibits.  When finished, they resume the testimony: 

Mr. Jenner.  At the recess, Mr. Oswald, we were dealing with excuse me. We were dealing with the period of time that you and your mother and your two brothers lived in Benbrook, Tex. This brought us through the summer of 1948, I believe. Am I correct?

Mr. Oswald.  That is correct, sir.

So, a year is lost from the summer of 1947 to the summer of 1948.  It’s odd that Robert is going along with this.  How could he not recall 1947, the year they left off at?  Or, could have it been a conflict of addresses?  Robert’s older brother, John Pic, in earlier testimony listed their address at this time as 1505 8th avenue in New Orleans.  But there is evidence to show that there was an Oswald family living at 101 San Saba at the same time, in the summer of 1947.  As noted by researcher Jones Harris, Allen Dulles was the most informed member about the assassination on the Warren Commission.  Harris pointed out to me that it was Dulles that called for the break.  Was Dulles trying to prevent a mishap here?  It was known in Washington circles that Dulles had an interest in doubles and had once met a young man at a party that was fresh out of college and spoke fluently in both Russian and Chinese.  Dulles learned that this young man also had a twin brother who was also fluent in both languages.  Dulles reportedly said, “I must have this pair.” So if the former CIA Director had this interest in doubles and Oswald was part of a doppelgänger scheme, then by ordering the break in testimony, Dulles averted a possible exposure of intelligence operations.  

And this flew over everybody’s heads.  

Stripling Junior High

Probably the most controversial part of Robert Oswald's testimony to the Commission.  While talking of Lee's early life, and school attendance, Robert mentions Lee attending W. C. Stripling in Irving, Texas.  However, under the official story, neither Lee nor his mother are supposed to be living there at that time and existing school records have him attending Beauregard Junior High in New Orleans in the fall of 1954.  And this is not the first time Robert makes a mention of Stripling.  In fact, he mentions it three times.  The first is in 1959 to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram upon Lee's defection to the Soviet Union; the second instance is to the Star-Telegram in 1962 upon Lee's return, and the final time in front of the Warren Commission.

In fact, it would have been difficult for any one to have known of this except for Robert mentioning it three times.  Researcher John Armstrong started digging into this and ran across Frank Kudlaty, the assistant principal at Stripling.  When asked, Kudlaty said he remembered Lee Oswald attending because he was called by the Principle to head to the school Saturday morning (the 23rd) and hand over all records pertaining to Lee Oswald to the FBI agents who were on their way.  This he did, but did not get a written receipt nor did he have the ability to make a photostat of the records.  Lee Oswald apparently was only there for about six weeks in the fall of 1954.  Kudlaty noticed an interesting fact–there was no letter stating where the records were sent upon Lee Oswald leaving.   Also, there was no loss of six weeks from his records at Beauregard in New Orleans during this time (Armstrong, p. 97-101).).

Frank Kudlaty wasn't the only witness either, faculty and former students remembered Lee Oswald attending Stripling.  He lived across the street from the school.  It's easy to remember the kid that gets to go home for lunch. 

It's quite surprising that the attorney  Albert Jenner allowed Robert to pass this by without correction.  The Commission and staff had the records and they knew the answers beforehand; that’s basic lawyering.  Robert was never corrected.  Nevertheless, it's not the only instance of Lee's school records contradicting.  His records from the fall of 1953 do as well.  One set has him in PS #44 in New York and the other set has him in Beauregard Junior high in New Orleans at the exact same time.

Evidence of Lee Oswald being doubled?

Thanksgiving 1962

This is also known as "family reunion" before the Big Event that occurs a year later, to the day.  It's also an example of odd family behavior.  Gathering for the holiday dinner are Robert, his wife Vada and kids, Lee and Marina and their child June, and half brother John Pic, his wife Margret, and their kids.  Robert would say in an interview years later that it was a "Typical Thanksgiving day for any family."  But there is one person missing.  Their mother, Marguerite.  As Robert stated to the Commission, their mother was not invited, never knew of the gathering, and according to him, her name was never mentioned at the gathering.

Imagine you have one living parent, she lives nearby and you never invite her to Thanksgiving day dinner, nor mention her name with your siblings.  This has the appearance of deeper levels of family intrigue.  

There are other instances before and after showing Robert's aloofness for his mother.  For example in the summer of 1956 he was engaged to Vada.  He never introduced her to his mother or Lee before the wedding. Vada only met them a few years later.  When Robert was being interviewed in 1959 by Star-Telegram, he was asked where they could get in touch with his mother.  Robert was evasive saying that Marguerite was in seclusion and under a doctor's care.  This is not true and there is no evidence to support this.  The reporter eventually found her and she wasn't tucked away.  

Through these actions, Robert displays an apparent aversion to talking about his mother or associating with her.  It's as if he is ashamed of her.  Others who believe that Marguerite was being impersonated (along with Lee) believe Robert's aversion is to an impostor.  And it's not just his mother, in later years he will have nothing to do with Lee's two daughters either.  

Visiting Lee In Jail

Robert going to visit Lee in jail will be the first time he has seen him since the Thanksgiving gathering from the previous year.  Robert had also experienced more than one shock this day.  Other than seeing his brother arrested for the murder of a police officer and the President of the United States, he also was to learn that Marina had given birth to a second child, Rachel.  Robert never knew that Marina was pregnant, let alone had given birth to a new child.

Most striking is Robert's comments when he finally got to speak to Lee.  He noticed that Lee seems to speak in a "mechanical" way with little visible emotion.  That eerie calm that he possessed, that all around him noticed.  Robert did too.  Even more striking is Robert's observation, "I was not talking to the Lee I knew."  That Lee was long gone, replaced by another spirit.  Maybe even a different Lee altogether that wanted to be called Harvey.  And maybe it dawned on Robert at some point what had happened.

Lee Driving
Robert Oswald states in his testimony that he never saw Lee drive a car or even wanted to learn to drive.  Michael and Ruth Paine testified to the same, as did Marina.  However, researchers over the years have found numerous witnesses to Lee driving.  For example Cliff Shasteen, the barber who owned his own shop in (Irving, Texas) had cut Lee's hair numerous times and told the Warren Commission that he and the other barbers saw him driving up to the shop 6 or 7 times in the summer of 1963. Which it should be noted, was the time period of Oswald living in New Orleans, spending most of his time unemployed. Researcher John Armstrong reports at least 27 people saw Oswald driving a car and 3 others report seeing his driver's license.  In fact, more witnesses attest to Lee Oswald driving a car than not.  Only four, Michael and Ruth Paine, Marina Oswald, and of course, Robert Oswald, say Lee could not drive an automobile. 

So What Did Robert Know?

There are hints here and there which are never followed up on such as Robert admitting that he thought Jack Ruby knew Lee before he shot him on live TV.  An interesting line of thought never explored.  Odd things stick out.  Such as in his book on Lee, Robert stated that Lee came home on leave in February 1958 and they went hunting.  But his released Marine leave records show no such occurrence in February of that year.  It’s quite telling when Robert speaks of Lee seeming like a different person altogether.  The brother who he had grown up with, suffered hardships with, who had idolized him, following in his footsteps into the Marines and beyond, was now a totally different man sitting on a barbed-wire fence.

These brothers loved each other.  The drift probably started when Lee went to the Soviet Union, what Robert would later say with a grin as "sowing his oats."  As a former Marine, and no doubt a patriotic American, Robert should have been appalled at this event.  If he was, he's not telling us.  

So Robert Oswald remains a mystery in this affair.  If he has been charged with retaining secrets, along with the burden that must have been, he has done his job well.  Like a good soldier does.

Sources

Book:  Harvey and Lee by John Armstrong

Testimony pages:  The Oswald Trust, p.290; Marina speaking English, p.338; The 1947 to 1948 Jump, p.282 & 291; Stripling Junior High, p.299; Thanksgiving, 1962 p.388; Visiting Lee In Jail, p.455-456 & 462.

Testimony Sources:

http://www.acorn.net/jfkplace/00/oswald_r.html

http://www.history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh1/html/WC_Vol1_0138b.htm

Hard Copy interview with Robert Oswald (11.26.90).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DVQgFeUiuM

Robert Oswald's handwritten report to Bardwell Odum regarding Marina

https://digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com/Documents/Detail/fbi-bardwell-odum/680562

Book Review: Destiny Betrayed - JFK, Cuba, and the Garrison Case

Vincent Bugliosi in his End Notes for his book, Reclaiming History, calls Jim DiEugenio “a sincere conspiracy theorist.”  When reading DiEugenio’s second edition of his book, Destiny Betrayed, one is struck with just how little theory is involved.  It’s all a solid mix of history, fact, and proper historical context for the events that are to follow.  Jim DiEugenio said in a recent interview on Black Op Radio that he didn’t want to caught up in the minutia of details regarding the assassination in this new volume, but instead wanted to pursue an examination of how and why it happened and how it got covered up.  And that is what readers  will experience as they read this book.  

Destiny Betrayed begins in the Cold War shadow wars, a mix of skullduggery and dirty deeds where even the President is kept in the dark in regards to what is going on.  As DiEugenio shows, CIA Director Allen Dulles was attempting to dupe Kennedy into foreign policy and military actions he was not wanting to be a part of.  Dulles took the Central Intelligence Agency far from its original intent of intelligence gathering to a machiavellian, duplicitous outfit overthrowing democratically elected governments under the guise of combating communism, replacing them with controllable right-wing dictatorships, and for the most part, setting the stage for the profiteering of American corporations.  So manipulating Presidents for CIA objectives has become the modus operandi of the Agency that lasts to this day.  Meanwhile, the American public sleeps through these affairs being distracted with the communistic threat, the baby boom, pop culture, sports and so on.  The National Security State descends and much of American history becomes a secret locked away in warehouses.

As DiEugenio’s documents in the first part of his book, the leaders of the National Security State knew early on they had a problem with John Kennedy.  He wasn’t for war mongering, turning down attempts to pump troops into Vietnam and launch preemptive nuclear strikes.  Kennedy was not a believer in the Domino Theory.  The Bay of Pigs fiasco, well detailed in Destiny Betrayed, is a CIA run military op destined to fail so American troops could be called in it finish the job. Kennedy found out none of this till he ordered an inquiry into what happened and  the ever duplicitous Allen Dulles and other top CIA officials lost their jobs. 

The Pioneers Get All The Arrows

The star of the book is Jim Garrison.  His coming around from true believer in the Warren Report to a believer in conspiracy and pursuing a trial against an alleged conspirator is an compelling story.  He was flawed man, but a brave man who paid a terrible price for seeking the truth with his future career in politics destroyed.  The full weight of the federal government fell on his head like a ton of bricks.  His reputation was pillared by a hostile press, some of whom were government informants, who were to attack and expose his every move in the national media.  Kennedy bagman Walt Sheridan (former ONI, FBI, and NSA) was sent down to harass witnesses and later put together a slanderous, over the top attack on Garrison on NBC (which was so bad they had to let Garrison have an on-air rebuttal). And the attacks on his character raged from 1967 to this very day. (For example, Gerald Posner in his 1993 book named Garrison a child molester and Vince Bugliosi in his 2007 book labeled him, “symptomatically psychotic.”)  After the trial of Clay Shaw was over, and lost, Garrison was indicted twice and acquitted.  As you can see, charging headlong into the Status Quo is not for the faint of heart.

As Jim DiEugenio points out, in actuality, Jim Garrison’s attempt to prove conspiracy in the Kennedy assassination was flawed before it started.  Even his staff advised against it after lead witness David Ferrie died.  But Big Jim decided to press on. It didn’t help his cause much by trusting people that he should have left alone.  Men such as Bernardo Detorres, William Gurvich, and Gordon Novel. These men were not rubes–they were all experienced operatives and functioned as spies embedded within his investigative operatus, funneling information to Garrison’s chief tormentor, Walter Sheridan, and journalist/government shills such as Hugh Aynesworth and James Phelan.  DiEugenio documents in great detail how the FBI and CIA were formally engaged to see this Louisiana state trial of Clay Shaw fail.  

And this of course raises the biggest question of them all–if the Warren Report is correct and Lee Oswald is the only assassin, and there is no conspiracy, then why does the government, along with allies in the press, have to take these extreme measures to make sure a conspiracy verdict is not reached in a state trial?  The Justice Department sent down their lawyers to coach witnesses in how to answer questions at taxpayer expense, bug the District Attorney’s phones and transcribe everything said, plague his operation with informants, and have the DOJ successfully killed off subpoenas to top officials. It was a Federal government takedown from top to bottom.  If Garrison is wrong then why not let him fall on his own sword if their account of the President’s death is true?  What would they have to fear?

Plenty apparently.  It appears they overplayed their hand.

The Shaw Trial

Destiny Betrayed does a good job in describing the intricacies of the trial, the legal wrangling, and what Garrison could of done in hindsight.  Important witnesses either died or faded away; other witnesses were assaulted or intimidated into changing their stories by the Sheridan Machine.  Lots of witnesses were never called such as the 16 people Garrison had in regards to Clay Shaw’s Bertrand alias (something that he was never allowed to prove in court). 

While too intricate to go into here, there were some highlights.  One important incident was when autopsy physician Dr. Pierre Fink admitted that he, and the other two other physicians present at the Kennedy’s autopsy, were under control of another military authority, whose name he couldn’t remember.  Another was a screening of the Zapruder film that Garrison had to wrestle from Time-Life.  A film up to that point few had seen, and it was a shock for all witnesses present in the courtroom.  Too bad it took till 1975 before the general public got to see it on Geraldo Rivera’s TV show.  

The End

Jim DiEugenio paints a vibrant world of 1960's New Orleans, a place of clandestine activity, informants, intelligence operatives, down and outers, sexual adventurers, conspirators, Cubans, hookers, misfits, and suspicious entanglements.  It's quite a contrast to the worlds envisioned by the Warren Report defenders where everything suspicious is an illusion, where every contrary witness is wrong, and everything is conveniently explained.  Their selective harvesting of the details strips the soul out of how fascinating all of this is and how a conspiracy to murder a President could really take shape.  

Destiny Betrayed is fascinating work, well paced, expertly organized, and properly sourced.  New document releases from the ARRB and other sources bolster the narrative and explain who is telling the truth and who is not.  It’s the definitive book on Jim Garrison and how tantalizingly close he came to blowing the case wide open.

Available now in bookstores and online at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and in ebook format for the Kindle and iPad. 

Details

ISBN-13: 9781620870563

Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing

Publication date: 11/15/2012

Edition description: Second Edition

Edition number: 2

Pages: 496

OSS Links For Researchers

Cyrptome.org has long been one of my favorite sites for declassified intelligence information, documents, and generally fascinating reading. It’s a great site for giving us outsiders a glimpse into the clandestine world of spy-craft. Some very interesting material to read though some of it does get a bit obtuse.

Recently, I found some new listings for OSS information that is quite readable and interesting. What follows is batch of links listing of summaries of OSS documents and memos from 1940 to 1946. Of interest to JFK researchers is the mentioning of such characters as Richard Helms, James Angleton and Allen Dulles. Their names come up quite often and there are references to their activities and interactions with other agents and intelligence related issues.

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-211.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-212.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-213.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-214.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-215.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-216.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-217.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-218.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-219.htm

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-220.htm

These links give a good peek into intelligence operations during the war and even more, a survey into what our allies were up to as well. We spied on them and they on us. As stated in #214:

“Memorandum to all field stations on the need to report on all of the intelligence systems in their area, September 27, 1945, 2 pp. Germany and Japanese intelligence services were the obvious focal points during the war. With the end of the war, however, "all foreign intelligence services, and personnel connected thereto, now become the legitimate object of observation and study. . . ." [WN#24834]”

Lots of interesting stuff here from WWII to post-WWII operations to a UFO report! One intriguing reference is in regard to interviews with workers that allege they helped in the transport of tons of Nazi gold from Swiss bank vaults to an unknown location outside of mainland europe via Spain and Portugal. Now there’s a mystery for some enterprising soul to track down.

Okay, so lots of trivia here but you never know where it all might lead.

OSS Personel List on PDF

Also of interest, a complete listing of OSS personnel during the war. Names, ranks and serial numbers. The usual suspects are here including noted CIA alums Dulles, Helms, Angleton, Hunt, Colby and so on. It’s known in recent years that TV chef Julia Child also served in the OSS during the war. She is listed under her maiden surname, McWilliams. Robert K. Wilcox, who wrote Target Patton, the book that alleges that General George Patton death was a concealed assassination, lists OSS agent Joseph Bazata as the perpetrator. Bazata’s name does appear in this personnel list, adding some additional credence to the author’s theory.

Do you have a relative that did intelligence work in WWII? You might find their name listed here in this PDF. Good luck.

http://cryptome.xxx/2012/04/oss-personnel.pdf

Or, get it from the National Archives web site:

http://www.archives.gov/iwg/declassified-records/rg-226-oss/personnel-database.pdf

Addendum

Though widely reported on the Internet and in some JFK books, Clay Shaw was apparently not an OSS agent.  His name is not to be found on the OSS agent list. 

Who Was Tom Slick?

An interesting article Texas oilman Tom Slick by author Lauren Coleman. Coleman has guested numerous times on various radio and TV programs and largely investigates cryptozoology.

Tom Slick was one of those guys that knew many of the players in the JFK saga. He either knew or was known by, Prescott Bush, George de Mohrenschildt and Allen Dulles. Died 14 months before JFK when his plane exploded mid-air. As stated in the piece by Loren Coleman, "Tom Slick and his family worked closely with the OSS and the CIA for years, anywhere there was oil, air freight to ship, or adventures to serve as covers (like hunting for Yetis in Nepal/Tibet)."

Link HERE.

http://copycateffect.blogspot.mx/2012/03/tom-slick-jfk.html

Ten Reasons Why The Warren Commission Failed

"...the Warren Commission was not, in some respects, an accurate presentation of all the evidence available to the Commission or a true reflection of the scope of the Commission's work, particularly on the issue of possible conspiracy in the assassination."

The Final Report of the House Select Committee on Assassinations 

Actually, I got this idea from Len Osanic of Black Op Radio when he called for 50 reasons why the Warren Commission is wrong in its final conclusion that Lee Oswald acted alone and was the sole killer of the President of the United States. I decided to slash it down to ten reasons for the purpose of brevity here, but certainly one could strive for many more than just ten.

Off we go....

#1. Dr. Joseph Dolce’s test disproves the Single Bullet Theory.

Dr. Joseph Dolce was the Army’s chief ballistic wounds expert and chairman of the Army’s ballistic wounds committee. He was tasked by the Warren Commission, along with another expert, Dr. Fredrick Light Jr., to test the single bullet theory using Oswald’s rifle to replicate CE399, the so-called “pristine” bullet. After shooting ten cadaver radial bones (the same bone struck and broken in Gov. Connelly’s wrist wound), the experiment did not replicate any bullet resembling CD399 at all. As Dr. Dolce stated in an interview in 1986, each of the ten test fired bullets were in his words, “markably deformed.” Dr. Dolce was not called to give testimony to the Warren Commission, much to his surprise, and his findings were buried in a report, published by the U. S. Army Edgewood Arsenal in March of 1965, that was classified “confidential” for 8 years before being placed in the NARA. 

Drs. Dolce and Light conclusively disproved and demolished the government’s case regarding the SBT, which resulted in the covering up of their findings. (If refusing to take the sworn testimony of Dr. Dolce, taking his and Dr. Light’s names off the final report, and classifying it for eight years is not a cover-up, then what is?)

Source: Gerald McKnight, Breach of Trust, Chapter 8, p.187. Chapter notes page 417 (note 18) and page 418 (note 25).

Report: Wound Ballistics of 6.5- MM Mannlicher-Carcano, Drs. Oliver and Dziemian, NARA. 

#2. 26 Volumes of collected evidence contradict the Warren Report.

During the course of the investigation, the Warren Commission was handed a wealth of material from various government agencies such as the FBI, CIA, Secret Service and so on. The report is based on this evidence and hearings they conducted and stored in the 26 volumes which constitutes over 50,000 pages. 

As stated on History-Matters.com, “Volumes 1-5 are hearings conducted by the Commission members in Washington DC. Volumes 6-15 are hearings conducted by staff attorneys on location in Dallas, New Orleans, and other locations. Volume 15 also contains an index to names and exhibits. Volumes 16-26 contain photographed Commission Exhibits, usually abbreviated to CE.”

At least one Warren Commission member, Hale Boggs, expressed his concern about releasing this information to the public. But fellow member Allen Dulles told him not to be concerned as the American people would have little interest. For a time the 26 volumes were only accessible to a select few so that almost came to pass. With the arrival of the Internet, the volumes are all scanned and online (links below).

It should be noted that many investigations in recent years no longer include such an abundance of information. Because it shows how testimony is assembled and what is ignored to form a consensus for a report. There is for example, enough witness testimony gathered to form a conclusion of extra shooters and hence, a conspiracy. However, there is not enough evidence to name the shooters. 

Numerous conflicts occur between the Warren Report and the included testimony. In the same cases, the evidence collected contradicts itself. For example, two sets of educational records for Lee Oswald have him attending two different schools at the same exact time period. One set has Oswald enrolled in PS #44 in New York; the other set has him enrolled in Beauregard Junior High in New Orleans also in the fall of 1953. Which one is correct? If one is false then what is it doing here? Yet another mystery the WC never addresses.

Another glaring example of an evidentiary conflict between the compiled evidence volumes and the Warren Report, is whether or not Lee Oswald could take delivery of any mail/packages under his alias, Alek Hidell. From the Warren Report: “It is not known whether the application for post office box 2915 listed ‘A. Hidell’ as a person entitled to receive mail at this box.” They even went as far to state that the application had been disposed of when the box was closed in May 1963 (WC Report p.78). This is a blatant deception. A copy of the application is published in Volume 19 in the 26 volumes. It listed Lee Oswald’s name only on the form. (Armstrong, pp.476-477; Vol. 19, p.286.)

Sources:  John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee; The Warren Commission

Report.

Links: http://history-matters.com/archive/contents/wc/contents_wh.htm

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/docset/getList.do?docSetId=1006

#3. Single Bullet Theory created by lawyers, not ballistic experts.

The STB, long thought to be the invention of then staff attorney Arlen Specter, was in reality, cobbled together by the staff lawyers. This was admitted to in a telephone interview conducted by Vince Bugliosi with Norman Redlich on 9/20/05. Redlich stated that the meeting included, besides himself, Arlen Specter, David Belin, Howard Willens and Mel Eisenberg. It was decided to let Specter be the lead husky on the STB and run with it. He also stated in his book Passion For Truth that when researcher Edward Jay Epstein declared Specter as the inventor of the STB that he was “glad to take on the mantle of authorship...” As Bugliosi points out in his Endnotes, one doesn’t have to take on the mantle if one is truly the author of it. Indeed. (Bugliosi, Endnotes, #461, pp.303 & 306)

So, a group of non-ballistic experts, lawyers, got together in a cabal of their own and came up with the Single Bullet Theory. This represents another flaw in the investigation because when it’s tested by experienced and qualified ballistic experts, such as those mentioned in reason #1 above, it cannot be replicated in any meaningful way. This in turn, has sparked the endless debate down through the decades, which lasts to this very day.

The single bullet in effect, never happened. But it makes for a good story.

Sources: Vince Bugliosi, Reclaiming History, Endnotes; Arlen Specter, Passion For Truth, p.82

#4. Resolved early on not to investigate Oswald’s background.

Every so often a researcher will obtain documents through a FOIA request and it’s apparent why the files were classified to begin with–something needs to be buried. Legendary researcher Harold Weisberg uncovered such gems as the 1/22/63 closed-door secret meeting where the Commissioners decided not to pursue any leads on Oswald being a government informant/agent (despite what they said in public to the contrary). Their fear–that if they discovered Oswald was a government agent, then the public might not believe the lone gunman story. This shows how politicized the investigation was at this point. Notice their concern about this issue and not any desire expressed to follow all leads wherever they may go (McKnight p.89).

The Commission members feared what they were discussing was so explosive they ordered all records of the meeting to be destroyed. However, some good soul preserved the stenographer’s tape which lay hidden in the National Archives till Mr. Weisberg’s FOIA lawsuit dislodged it (McKnight pp.133-134; p.402, note 1).

Also of note, is seeing how much Hale Boggs feared J. Edgar Hoover finding out what they were talking about. Actually, unbeknownst to Boggs, Hoover had an informant, Boggs’ fellow Commission member Gerald Ford (Gentry, p.557). And Hoover was so hacked off he sent the Commission a letter to read on the 27th informing them that Oswald was never used as an informant by the FBI. Hoover did this at the risk of exposing his inside man, Ford.

So if Lee Oswald was a spy or a government agent, as his mother said in her sworn testimony and to researchers in later years, the Warren Commission was never going to find out.

Sources:  Gerald McKnight, Breach of Trust, Chapter 4, p.89. Chapter 6 note 1 (Harold Weisberg’s FOIA). Curt Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets, p.555; Ford as informant, p.557.

#5. Spent little time investigating a conspiracy. 

As Gaeton Fonzi reported in his book, The Last Investigation, the Warren Commission lawyers had established six major areas of inquiry and four of them were centered around Lee H. Oswald (Fonzi p.18). As former staff attorney Judge Burt Griffen added, “We spent virtually no time investigating the possibility of conspiracy. I wish we had.” (See link below.)

The dogma of lone gunman was established early on by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and shortly after the assassination. As detailed in #7 Hoover strong-armed and guided the Commission on the path of lone gunman behind the scenes till it soon became ingrained in the deliberations of Warren Commission members. However, some never did get on board with the theory, with Sen. Richard Russell being chief among them. Later Lyndon Johnson would tell Walter Cronkite in an interview that he never believed in the lone gunman theory. After second thoughts he asked CBS to delete the comment, under the grounds of National Security. David Talbot in Brothers, recounts how many media insiders had their doubts as well, but they did little about it.

Later, a "hegemony" would develop in the mainstream press supporting the lone gunman concept as well, one that it would never recover from, no matter what facts are presented to the contrary. The CIA had developed and implemented Operation Mockingbird in the late 1940s to control the media with shills planted in the mainstream press. They came in handy with Warren Commission critics. Early on, there were opposing voices, but they were regulated to publishing books or writing articles for obscure publications. Only in the past 10-15 years with the advent of the Internet has a striking amount of dissenting views been allowed and widely discussed. 

Sources:  Gaeton Fonzi, The Last Investigation; David Talbot, Brothers

Link: Burt Griffen quote. http://www.ctka.net/pr900-holland.html

Links:  Ross Frank Ralston 1999 doctoral dissertation on hegemony in the media. http://www.geoarts.com/docs/jfk_dissertation.pdf

Operation Mockingbird

https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKmockingbird.htm

#6 Did not utilize independent investigators. 

Unlike Gaeton Fonzi, Eddie Lopez and many others that were hired as investigators for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, the Warren Commission had no such investigators on staff. The Commission raised the ire of Hoover when lead council J. Lee Rankin floated the idea (McKnight p.93; Gentry p.553). After all, investigation was the modus operandi of the Bureau and Hoover was simply not going to allow that. This made the Commission wholly depend upon the FBI and other agencies to supply them all investigative materials who in turn, did not supply them with everything they needed. In some instances, the FBI edited out information (or ignored requests) that might be perceived as embarrassing to the Bureau and hence, Director Hoover personally. This compromised any attempt to uncover the truth as to what happened.

Sources:  Gerald McKnight, Breach of Trust; Curt Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets.

#7. Warren Commission bullied and dominated by J. Edgar Hoover.

“From its inception, Hoover treated the Warren Commission as an adversary,” Curt Gentry observed in his biography of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. People today do not know how feared Hoover was. He was one of the meanest, vindictive public servants to ever serve in government. He was known to break many a man, using any means at his disposal, which were immense. Of course Hoover is famous for his blackmail files on everybody he considered a rival and that was part of his leverage he had over others, which included numerous 

Presidents. He had plenty of dirt on all of the WC members and their staff. 

Besides being under pressure to produce a report at a specified time for Lyndon Johnson, the Warren Commission had to contend with Hoover’s tactics which included stalling documents and other evidence and then as the deadline approached, deluging the materials at the last minute, knowing the staff wouldn’t have the time to adequately examine everything. He also instructed his agents not to volunteer anything other than what was requested by the Commission or their staff lawyers (Gentry p.552).

It was J. Edgar Hoover’s notion that Lee Oswald acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy. He determined this within 24 hours of the assassination and it remains a mystery as to how and why this conclusion was reached before the Agency had a chance to investigate the crime. It’s a common occurrence in many other tragic events like this. Remember Bin Laden being credited with the 9/11 attacks a few hours after they occurred? Whatever the reason, Hoover constantly bullied, intimidated and steered the Warren Commission in the direction he wanted–away from any conspiracies and towards the sole culprit–Lee Oswald. 

And in the end, he got the result he wanted.

Sources:  Curt Gentry, J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets; Gerald McKnight, Breach of Trust.

#8. Repeatedly used faulty or unauthenticated evidence.

Since the lone gunman is the only game in town, only evidence that completes the theory is allowed. And if that evidence or witness testimony is flawed it didn’t seem to matter to the Warren Commission. It starts out with Gerald Ford moving Kennedy’s back wound to the back of the neck to devise a believable single bullet theory, to the Ida Dox illustration (F-20) of a tiny hole in the back of the President’s head, supposedly drawn from the original autopsy photograph, that is not seen in the original image. She apparently used “artistic license” and made it up to please the Commission. We now know that something as simple as Oswald buying the alleged murder weapons can be shown to be based on a forged paper trail (Armstrong pp.431-486). Even the most famous piece of evidence, the so-called “pristine bullet” labeled CE399, has no FBI FD-302 file in existence (Bugliosi, Note 979, p.545). 

Sources:  John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee; The Warren Commission

Report; Vince Bugliosi, Reclaiming History Endnotes.

Link:

Ida Dox Illustration.

http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/images/7/73/Photo_hsca_ex_48.jpg

#9 Allowed top government officials to exonerate themselves.

Top officials such as CIA Director John McCone and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover were allow to submit testimony first as pro forma affidavits and later in person with the Commission. Hoover’s appearance was the only session of a witness being filmed (150 minutes, McKnight p.148). Both were allowed to state that Lee Oswald had not been employed by either agency. The Commission made no effort to verify the truthfulness of these statements and to be fair, it would have been troublesome to do with no independent investigators on staff and little access to documents that both Agencies were dribbling out a drop at a time.

Sources:  Gerald McKnight, Breach of Trust.

#10. Concealed too much evidence from the press and public. 

Despite the efforts of legislation such as the JFK Records Act, and the work of the ARRB in the late 1990’s, there are still a lot of files regarding the Kennedy assassination remain classified for reasons of “National Security.” It seems that every investigation from the Warren Commission, the various smaller ones down through years to the final one, the House Select Committee on Assassinations, adds to the growing hoard of evidence withheld from public scrutiny. This breeds suspicion among the citizenry and a growing sense of mistrust that they were not told the truth by the government. If people don’t believe their story of lone gunman, it is their own fault for being so secretive–and at times, unnecessarily so.

A few examples: Marguerite Oswald’s tax returns from 1956 to 1962 are still sealed (Armstrong pp.197 & 274). Lee Oswald’s tax returns are still being withheld from the years 1957, 1960 and 1961. So is his certificate of live birth. DA Jim Garrison discovered in his investigation that Michael and Ruth Paine’s tax returns from 1956 to 1958 were classified for reasons of National Security (during years of supposedly being farmers). Garrison also reports Some 29 files on Michael Paine’s family were classified by the Warren Commission as well as Ruth’s sister, a known CIA agent. Lee’s cousin Marilyn Murret had all 23 pages of her testimony to the HSCA in 1977 classified. (It should be noted that the HSCA had to get permission from the CIA before taking her testimony, an indication of previous involvement with the Agency.)

All of those hidden documents, including those just mentioned, are still concealed to this day. Oswald’s mother’s tax returns are still kept from public scrutiny. Why? Why is this necessary? Unless of course, her tax returns tell a totally different story of her actions and movements during the aforementioned time period. Which would of course, breed more distrust if known. 

Sources: Jim Garrison, On The Trail of the Assassins, p.315, note 63 -- Heritage of Stone, pp.115-116 (hardback, pp.134-135); John Armstrong, Harvey and Lee.

Links: 

LHO tax records. http://www.jfklancer.com/LHOtax.html

Dallas Police Department files

https://georgebailey.substack.com/p/a-tour-of-the-dallas-police-department

Additional Notes and Errata

Some page numbers listed for references may not jibe between the paperback and hardback editions. For example, the quote from the Warren Report in #2, is from the large format paperback edition published in 2007 and may be in variance with hardback editions subsequently published. The same is true and noted in #10, in regards to Jim Garrison’s Heritage of Stone.