Meredith Gardner

[Jim Root]

Several months ago Ron Ecker shared information with this Forum about Meredith Gardner. I was surprised to read that Gardner, as an NSA employee, had written a report for the Warren Commission on Oswald's possible intelligence connections that was then censored by Frank Rowlett. Both these men had worked with John B. Hurt, a man who, at a minimum, shares a name with a person that Oswald attempted to contact after the assassination of JFK.

Today one of my students asked if Gardner's work had anything to do with the trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenber. Not only did I realize that Gardner did have something to do with the discovery of the Rosenberg's as Soviet spies it also places Gardner's work in the middle of US attempts at understanding of Soviet Nuclear capabilities, a subject that greatly concerned John J. McCloy and Maxwell Taylor.

Some excerpts from information about the Venona Project and the work of Meredith Gardner:

In 1943 America was at war with the Axis Powers. At Arlington Hall, outside Washington, D.C., Army code breakers were trying to penetrate enemy communications. One day they received a surprising order, "Start spying on America's ally the Soviet Union."

Robert Louis Benson a Historian with the National Security Agency recently made this statement: "The Army General Staff were concerned that Stalin might cut a deal with Hitler and get out of the war. So we wanted to see if we could find anything, any evidence of this, in Soviet diplomatic communications."

John B. Hurt, in his post war account of the work he did during WWII (250+ pages of declassified material), makes reference to the fact that it was information that he had decrypted that was sent from Tokyo to Moscow that sparked this interest.

We learn from the National Security Agency, “Introductory History of VENONA and Guide to the Translations” that: "In the summer of 1946, Meredith Gardner, an Arlington Hall analyst, began to read portions of KGB messages that had been sent between the KGB Residency in New York and Moscow Center. On 31 July 1946, he extracted a phrase from a KGB New York message that had been sent to Moscow on 10 August 1944. This message, on later analysis, proved to be a discussion of clandestine KGB activity in Latin America. On 13 December Gardner was able to read a KGB message that discussed the U.S. presidential election campaign of 1944. A week later, on 20 December 1946, he broke into another KGB message that had been sent to Moscow Center two years earlier which contained a list of names of the leading scientists working on the Manhattan Project -the atomic bomb!

In late April or early May 1947, Gardner was able to read two KGB messages sent in December 1944 that showed that someone inside the War Department General Staff was providing highly classified information to the Soviets. These two messages are currently undergoing declassification review.

U.S. Army intelligence, G-2, became alarmed at the information that was coming out of Arlington Hall. An Arlington Hall report on 22 July 1947 showed that the Soviet message traffic contained dozens, probably hundreds, of covernames, many of KGB agents, including ANTENNA and LIBERAL (later identified as Julius Rosenberg). One message mentioned that LIBERAL's wife was named "Ethel."

General Carter W. Clarke, the assistant G-2, called the FBI liaison officer to G-2 and told him that the Army had begun to break into Soviet intelligence service traffic, and that the traffic indicated a massive Soviet espionage effort in the U.S.

In October 1948, FBI special agent Robert Lamphere joined the VENONA Project full time as the FBI's liaison and case controller for the VENONA espionage material. Also, by 1948 the British joined the VENONA effort; in particular, their signal intelligence service assigned full-time analysts to Arlington Hall. There was excellent cooperation between the two U.S. agencies and the U.K. over the many years of VENONA, in large measure a result of the early efforts of Robert Lamphere and Meredith Gardner."

From a PBS broadcast dated: February 5, 2002 we learn that: "The decodes reveal that a massive Soviet spy network penetrated the U.S. government during World War Two. Even more incredible, the government knew about these spies as early as 1948 but kept the information secret until the end of the Cold War. "

ROBERT LAMPHERE (Retired FBI Agent): "There is no question that the Communist Party USA, through the highest levels, was deeply involved in espionage against the United States."

My cunundrum; Since the Venona Project was still in operation in 1963 and John B. Hurt provided the information that began the project and Meredith Gardner was involved in it from the start why did the NSA choose Meredith Gardner to research Lee Harvey Oswald's phone book etc. for possible intelligence connections? Seems Gardners specialty was Venona and Atomic spies not Presidential assassins.

Does this seem strange to anyone else? I ask again, what possible reasons would the NSA have for assigning Meredith Gardner the task of researching Lee Harvey Oswald's intelligence connections?

Jim Root

[Stephen Roy]

Interesting. I, too, am historically fascinated by Venona: I was convinced that the Rosenberg and Coplon cases were phonies until I heard about Venona. The first place I recall hearing about it was in Chapman Pincher's Their Trade Is Treachery, as "Vanosa", as I recall.

Just a guess: There was certainly a fear that Oswald's time in the USSR, his trip to MEXI and the whole Golitsyn-Nosenko MIGHT point to some kind of KGB or DGI plot. I recall hearing somewhere that code experts were called upon to examine Oswald's address book and other writings for any evidence of codes or secret writing. (Certainly, the FBI did a job on them by soaking them in chemicals, ostensibly for fingerprints, but more likely for secret writing.) Maybe Gardner was called upon for his expertise in detecting any kind of codes in those writings. Why Rowlett might have stopped it, I don't know, unless it was the whole "Never Say Anyhting" mentaility.

[Jim Root]

Stephen

Thank you for keeping this thread alive. The Venona Project was one of the most important intelligence operations of the Cold War. I cannot help but feeling that Meredith Gardner being assingned to look into Oswald's potential intelligence connections is significant for two reasons:

1. Gardner's association with John B. Hurt who is associated with Edwin Walker, John J. McCloy, Maxwell Taylor, Frank Rowlett and whose name is also associated with Lee Harvey Oswald as is everyone else on the list with the possible exception of Maxwell Taylor.

2. With thousands of employees why would the NSA assign a person (Gardner) who is so involved with the Venona Project to take time away from an obviously important job to address the simple question of, "was Oswald associated with any intelligence organizations, foreign or domestic?"

It leads to the question that I must ask, "how important was Lee Harvey Oswald within the intelligence world?" It could be argued that since Oswald was accused of killing the President, the highest echelons of NSA, CIA and FBI personal would be assigned to investigate this man. But I do not see where the FBI or the CIA used people on the same level as the NSA. I come back again to the fact that the NSA not only used men near the top (Rowlett was a Special Assistant to the Director and a former employee of the CIA as well) but they used men who were associated directly with John B. Hurt. Coincidence?

Of the five original members of William Friedman's Team (from 1930) four members, Friedman, Solomon Kullback, Abraham Sinkov and Frank Rowlett are all enshrined at the National Security Wall of Fame. Information can be found about the work that each did until the end of their respective careers. Of the original five man team, only John B. Hurt's career remains classified to this day, yet, as a Japanese linguist his role in the original accomplishments seem to be played down and that work is reported as less significant than the role of the others. Why then is his and only his work (of the original five) still totally classified?

You brought up Yuri Nosenko, who is another "coincidence" in the picture that seems to surround the assassination story. Nosenko first made contact with the CIA in the same week that Oswald departs from the Soviet Union on his return trip to the United States. Within weeks of the assassination Nosenko defects to the US via Geneva were new Arms negotiations are taking place and where John J. McCloy is in attendance. Nosenko has first hand knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald and is willing to share that knowledge with the CIA. Either this is all just coincidence or Lee Harvey Oswald was an important individual to both the East and the West.

As Edwin Walker said in his last interview:

"How do you younger people explain it? The policy was wrong. I couldn't prosecute a communist because he knew Khrushchev and because he knew Kennedy, and in my opinion Oswald was a ward of both states. You know bloomin' well he was a ward of the Kennedy state and a ward of the Khrushchev state."

After more than ten years of study I believe strongly that Major General Edwin Anderson Walker was himself involved in military intelligence throughout his entire career. The triple coincidence of Walker's overlaping travel to Europe, at the same time as Oswald, the Warren Commissions failure to identify flight records that could have varified both Oswald's travel and who else might have been on the plane/s with Oswald and Walker's sudden involvement with the "Pro Blue Program" (that begins in the same week that Oswald applies to return to the United States) and leads to Walker's resignation from the military are too many "coincidences" for comfort. Walker's phone call from a German newspaper (while he is in a hotel room in Shreveport, LA) the morning after the assassination and the story which was published the following Wednesday is just another coincidencee in a series of coincidences that are to many to be coincidental! Walker' close association to Maxwell Taylor, the letter that he received from John J. McCloy five months before the assassination only adds to the "coincidences."

One of the methods used by the Codebreakers was to search for the coincidence of occurance of encrypted words in relationship to the coincidence of occurance in a native language. Perhaps we would do well to observe the factual coincidences that surround the people mentioned above.

It seems that everything and everyone is associated with intelligence and potential intelligence operations, except of course, the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Jim Root

[Ron Ecker]

Either this is all just coincidence or Lee Harvey Oswald was an important individual to both the East and the West.

Jim,

Oswald would certainly have been important to Western intelligence if Armstrong's thesis is true that there were two Oswalds, brought up from an early age for intelligence work. And he would be important to the Russians if they knew there were two Oswalds. (Armstrong cites the case of a Russian spy named Molodi, whose preparation for intelligence work began at the age of 7, and who as an adult assumed the identity of a dead American.) It wouldn't have been too hard for the Russians or anyone else (except the Warren Commission) to determine there were two Oswalds by simply checking Oswald's background (assuming all the conflicts that are in Armstrong's book).

I don't know how well the two-Oswald theory might fit your own, but I think it's certainly worth considering, as Armstrong presents a strong case.

Ron

[Robert Howard]

I wholeheartedly submit that the thesis is true, and that there are undercurrents of this aspect of the saga that pop up from time to time. Just scattershooting but I would bet that there is a connection as well between Ruby and Oswald in this regard, even though that is speculative, to be more specific check out WC Testimony concerning individuals in Muncie, Indiana rumors about Jack Ruby being a communist, as laughable as that may seem, (I am not a proponent of any theory in this regard) and a new bit of information (at least to me) regarding 'international calls being made from a pay phone on Zangs Blvd. in the timeframe of fall 1963. Hint: Lee Harvey Oswald not only has been cited as making pay phone calls, from time to time, but there was an Army Intelligence Agent who lived 'in the neighborhood, as well.'

Jim Root should be applauded for his interest in the John Hurt connection, as I believe behind this element of unsolved history is one of the last pieces of the puzzle.

Another hint: The topic being discussed cannot be resolved without concentrating on the 'White Russian' elements in Dallas, I submitted a post recently about this and could not believe the lack of interest that was displayed, but that is just my opinion.

Edited February 22, 2006 by Robert Howard

[James Richards]

One of the methods used by the Codebreakers was to search for the coincidence of occurance of encrypted words in relationship to the coincidence of occurance in a native language. Perhaps we would do well to observe the factual coincidences that surround the people mentioned above. (Jim Root)

For some historical context, here is Gardner talking about codes in natural language. Smart cookie this guy.

FWIW.

James

[Lee Forman]

Jim,

I can't help but keep wondering about why Phil Graham, the man who history will remember as the one who essentially sealed the deal on pushing Johnson as Kennedy's runningmate, owner of the Washington Post, son-in-law of Eugene Meyer [who was engaged in the World Bank at that time], 'Intelligence Officer for the Far East Air Force,' would be permitted to learn of Venona.

http://www.borrull.org/e/noticia.php?id=16519

Their broad picture also contains intriguing footnotes. In 1948, for instance, accusations that Hiss and White were Soviet agents touched off a harsh political war over the issue of "communists in government." For security reasons, the existence of VENONA was tightly held. (The Schecters convincingly dash arguments, by Mr. Moynihan and others, that President Truman was never told of the intercepts.) When the Hiss and White names showed up in VENONA, Col. Carter Clarke, the head of Amy intelligence, feared that the program might be embroiled in politics.

As a prophylactic measure, he dispatched aide Oliver Kirby to "brief a small select group that included House Republican leader Les Arens and Washington Post publisher Philip Graham."

The revelations "deeply concerned" Mr. Graham. According to what Oliver Kirby told the Schecters, "Graham knew that the Democrats were in trouble. VENONA was a time bomb that could explode and destroy the party of the New Deal . . ." So his staunchly liberal paper did not endorse a candidate in the 1948 presidential election, and in 1952 he campaigned for Eisenhower over Adlai Stevenson. Mr. Graham never revealed that he knew the VENONA secret.

- lee

[Ron Ecker]

I didn't realize that Gardner was a Texan (native born?) till James posted the clipping re Gardner of "Austin, Texas."

Could this be a reason (or excuse) why Gardner was chosen to look at Oswald's phone book and other material? Oswald being a Texan, perhaps a fellow Texan might notice something that others wouldn't. Just a thought.

[Robert Howard]

namebase.org listing for Meredith Gardner

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb01?Na=Gardner%2C+Meredith

namebase.org listing for Frank Rowlett

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb01?Na=Rowlett%2C+Frank

namebase.org listing for Gordon Blake

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb01?Na=Blake%2C+Gordon

BLAKE GORDON AYLESWORTH

Gordon Blake, a NSA Employee was also involved in the NSA/Oswald information/Warren Commission situation, as Gardner was I believe.

[Robert Howard]

As Edwin Walker said in his last interview:

"How do you younger people explain it? The policy was wrong. I couldn't prosecute a communist because he knew Khrushchev and because he knew Kennedy, and in my opinion Oswald was a ward of both states. You know bloomin' well he was a ward of the Kennedy state and a ward of the Khrushchev state."

After more than ten years of study I believe strongly that Major General Edwin Anderson Walker was himself involved in military intelligence throughout his entire career.

Jim, I completely agree with your perception about Walker, but as far as the above quote, do you think it is reliable as a factual statement on his part, or his own 'spin' on the Oswald lone nut scenario?

Also, I have done some digging on my own and discovered some individuals in the government circa 1963 who had, at one time or another served in Army Intelligence, their names may surprise you.

Dean Rusk and William Bundy!

According to William Gill’s ‘The Ordeal of Otto Otepka’ Dean Rusk, who was a member of Pres. Kennedy’s Cabinet served beginning in 1940 “as a captain in the 3rd Infantry Division.” Some of his fellow officers were dispatched to the Philippines where they fought through Corregidor, suffered the death march from Bataan, and endured nearly four years in Japanese prison camps…..About this same time, he [Dean] was plucked out of the 3rd Division and ordered to Washington. He was assigned to G-2 (Army Intelligence) in the British Empire Section.” – page 73

According to the New York Times obituary of William P. Bundy (Douglas Martin – October 7, 2000)

http://www.mishalov.com/Bundy.html

“His father, Harvey Hollister Bundy, a lawyer who had been a clerk for Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, was an aide to Henry L. Stimson, President Herbert Hoover's secretary of state and President Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretary of war.

His mother, the former Katherine Lawrence Putnam, was from the bedrock of Boston tradition. She was closely related to the Cabot’s, the Lowell’s and the Lawrence’s. His wife was the former Mary Eleanor Acheson, the daughter of the former secretary of state.

The family was talkative and so intellectually animated that the father coined a family motto: "Don't talk while I'm interrupting." William and McGeorge were products of Groton, Yale and Harvard. Their friends and mentors included the journalists Walter Lippman and Joseph Alsop, Justice Felix Frankfurter and Judge Learned Hand, and officials such as Allen Dulles, director of central intelligence.

He [William] earned a master's degree in history from Harvard in 1940 and then entered Harvard Law School. In 1941, he enlisted in the Army Signal Corps, working in Britain to decoded intelligence intercepts. He reflected on his work at Bletchley Park, the headquarters for the code breakers, in a 1999 BBC interview, saying "Although I have done many interesting things and known many interesting people, my work at Bletchley Park was the most satisfying of my career." He left the Army as a major, and was awarded the Legion of Merit and was made a member of the Order of the British Empire.After finishing his law degree in 1947, he worked for three years with the Washington firm of Covington and Burling, but became bored. The Korean War had begun, and he was considering returning to the Army when one of his Harvard professors called to ask if he was interested in joining the Central Intelligence Agency. He was, and quickly became chief of the staff preparing "national intelligence estimates," as efforts to judge situations and policies in other nations are called. He prepared and coordinated papers for meetings of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's National Security Council.In 1953, William was singled out by Senator Joseph McCarthy for having contributed $400 to the defense fund of Alger Hiss, who was being tried as a Soviet spy. William explained that a junior partner of his former law firm was David Hiss, Alger's brother, and that he wanted Alger to get a fair trial. Allen Dulles and Vice President Richard M. Nixon defended Mr. Bundy and the matter was dropped.”

In citing this information it is not my intention to do so in an accusatory context, but merely to consider the backgrounds of individuals with regards to the central topic of the Forum, and should certainly be known to everyone in order to study matters with as many facts as one can rely on.

Edited February 23, 2006 by Robert Howard

[Jim Root]

Robert

Thank you for the interesting addititions to this thread.

"Gordon Blake, a NSA Employee was also involved in the NSA/Oswald information/Warren Commission situation, as Gardner was I believe."

Gordon A. Blake was the head of the NSA in 1963. He was a classmate of Edwin Walker's at West Point and they attended flight school in San Antonio together immediatly following their graduation. Blake continued in the Air Corp while Walker would focus on Artillery. There paths would almost cross again at Fort Monmouth in 1935. Blake would take the first classes offered by William Friedman's group on cryptology and Walker would be assigned to Fort Monmouth when the second class began.

Blake and Walker would both be in Hawaii in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor. In a rather mysterious manner Walker was suddenly pulled out of Hawaii within hours of the time that Friedman's "codebreakers" dycrypted a message that suggested that there would be a Japanese surprise attack somewhere in the Pacific by the last week in November.

"How do you younger people explain it? The policy was wrong. I couldn't prosecute a communist because he knew Khrushchev and because he knew Kennedy, and in my opinion Oswald was a ward of both states. You know bloomin' well he was a ward of the Kennedy state and a ward of the Khrushchev state."

After more than ten years of study I believe strongly that Major General Edwin Anderson Walker was himself involved in military intelligence throughout his entire career.

Jim, I completely agree with your perception about Walker, but as far as the above quote, do you think it is reliable as a factual statement on his part, or his own 'spin' on the Oswald lone nut scenario?

At present I tend to believe that Walker was not a part of the assassination conspiracy. I believe this to be true because of his actions in the minutes and hours following the assassination. When the assassination was first announced Walker was on an airplane traveling to Shreveport, LA. As I have heard the story, Walker got out of his seat, upon hearing the news, and identified himself to everyone on the airplane. It seems that Walker knew he was recognized as an enemy of Kennedy and his first reaction to the news was to make sure everyone knew where he was (not in Dallas).

Early the next morning Walker receives a transatlantic telephone call from a German Newspaper that then prints a story about Oswald attempting to assassinate Walker on April 10, 1963. In his Warren Commission Testemony Walker "dances" around questions dealing with this call and denies that he provided all the information used but the story reflected in the German publication mirrors the Warren Commissions conclusions about the incident.

In a signed statement distributed in November of 1991 Walker wrote:

"The President went to Dallas knowing and protecting his November assassin Lee H. Oswald from prosecution for his April Crime "Attempted Assassination of the former General working at his desk in his Dallas home, 9:00 p.m. April 10.

The Kennedy protection included an early-morning secret release of the prime suspect Lee H. Oswald, from Dallas Police Custody on Kennedy orders, April 11.

The President did not live to know that he knew his assassin but everyone else lived to know that he did and that his assassin could not be prosecuted for the November Crime of his Kennedy protection from prosecution for his April Crime."

Walker's personal papers are stored at the University of Texas at Austin. They are "restricted" from researchers with no release date.

I tend to believe that when Oswald's face appeared on television, Walker, sitting in his room at the Captain Shreve Hotel, recognized him. Walker, I believe, knew then that Oswald was not a "lone nut" assassin but rather an intelligence asset that could be tied to Walker via his "defection" to Russia. I believe that Walker was scared and that he could be associated with the plotters. I believe that he could also assume who the conspirators were, especially since he had received a letter from John J. McCloy just a few months before.

Gerry Hemming has posted:

"I clearly stated in my post that: When the FBI 302s were raised by me in the federal courtroom, a day or two before I examined Lou Conein as a "defense witness" -- I stated to the judge (during a sidebar) that "T-1 & T-2" must have been telephone taps, and/or room "bugs" placed inside Walker's home at that time. I was told later (during 1963) that he had "grown a brain", and had paid to have his residence swept by countermeasure experts on more than one occasion."

If true Walker did in fact know who Oswald was and may have known that Oswald shot at him seven months before the assassination of JFK. If true Walker then lied during his Warren Commission testimony when he said that he did not know who Oswald was.

According to FBI Agent James Hosty (WC Testimony):

"It says, "On April 21, 1963, Dallas confidential informant T-2 advised that Lee H. Oswald of Dallas, Tex, was in contact with the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New York City at which time he advised that he passed out pamphlets for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. According to T-2, Oswald had a placard around his neck reading, 'Hands Off Cuba, Viva Fidel.'"

If T-2 was either a bug at Walker's home or Walker himself we have a very significant piece on information that fits into the scenario I have been discribing over the past year.

Jim Root

[Ron Ecker]

When the assassination was first announced Walker was on an airplane traveling to Shreveport, LA. As I have heard the story, Walker got out of his seat, upon hearing the news, and identified himself to everyone on the airplane. It seems that Walker knew he was recognized as an enemy of Kennedy and his first reaction to the news was to make sure everyone knew where he was (not in Dallas).

Jim,

I've heard this story too, but can it be verified? It really doesn't make much sense. First, as a resident of Dallas, there would have been nothing at all suspicious about Walker being in Dallas. And while some might suspect him of being complicit in the plot, if he had been in Dallas I don't anyone would suspect him of being down at Dealey Plaza personally pulling a trigger.

Second, if he in fact was on a commercial aircraft with other passengers, he would have no trouble proving it if he needed to. He would do so by the airline's records, and not by trying to find people who were on the same flight and heard him announce himself.

But if the story is true I guess it wouldn't be the only nutty thing that Walker ever did, whether he was actually nuts or not.

Ron

[Greg Parker]

When the assassination was first announced Walker was on an airplane traveling to Shreveport, LA. As I have heard the story, Walker got out of his seat, upon hearing the news, and identified himself to everyone on the airplane. It seems that Walker knew he was recognized as an enemy of Kennedy and his first reaction to the news was to make sure everyone knew where he was (not in Dallas).

Jim,

I've heard this story too, but can it be verified? It really doesn't make much sense. First, as a resident of Dallas, there would have been nothing at all suspicious about Walker being in Dallas. And while some might suspect him of being complicit in the plot, if he had been in Dallas I don't anyone would suspect him of being down at Dealey Plaza personally pulling a trigger.

Second, if he in fact was on a commercial aircraft with other passengers, he would have no trouble proving it if he needed to. He would do so by the airline's records, and not by trying to find people who were on the same flight and heard him announce himself.

But if the story is true I guess it wouldn't be the only nutty thing that Walker ever did, whether he was actually nuts or not.

Ron

Ron,

according to his testimony, Walker had a speaking engagement in Hattiesburg on the 18th or 19th of Nov, leaving there for a two or three day stay in NO, and was on a flight from there midway to Shreveport when the pilot announced the assassination. I believe the reference to Walker asking others on the plane to remember he was on it, comes from Crossfire. I don't have it, and don't know what/who Marrs' source was.

According to a DPD report, Walker's Little League Nazis aka the Young Peoples Republican Club from North

Texas State University were one of only two extremist groups planning on picketing jfk. The other was the Indignant White Citizen's Council. The IWCC did do just that, but Walker and band of merry knuckle-draggers were a no-show. A "reliable source", according to the report, indicated this bovver of boy scouts planned to "rub the President's dick in the dirt". The source also claimed Walker did not leave Dallas until 11/21.

A few tings can be said with some confidence:

Walker may have been a lot of things, but unless his war record was bogus, one thing he wasn't, was a coward.

CUSA was trying to infiltrate various r-w groups in order to take them over. Those groups included Walker's group, the IWCC, JBS and YAF.

A number of power players and power brokers on the right had close ties two or more of the above groups.

One member of CUSA - Larry Jones - was said by Bernard Weissman in testimony to have left Dallas prior to the assassination. An FBI document has strong evidence Jones was very much in Dallas on that day.

Weissman, in testimony, all but accused Jones of double-crossing CUSA.

If I were to write a novel on what I think may have happened on 11/22, I'd have a character based on Jones informing some of the rightist upper echelon of what CUSA was doing. Said right wingers then hatch plan to take Kennedy and CUSA down. Walker and his boys (some of whom may have played a part in the assassination) are warned not to picket. Walker makes 11th hour plans to be interstate for a "speaking engagement". Rightists convince CUSA that a Jewish name is needed for newspaper ad (Since there was no Fact Finding Committee, why didn't they just make up a Jewish sounding name to head it -- one reason might be to specifically implicate, embarrass or otherwise destroy Weissman and Schmidt and their grandiose plans). The plot would then have someone like Jones as one of the shooters -- he did fit the vague police description of the suspect better than LHO - even though he was only 21 - he apparently looked 30, was slim, etc etc.

[Jim Root]

Ron Ecker asked, "I've heard this story too, but can it be verified?"

I do attempt to cloak my remarks in vague terms at times. The closest I have come to a verification for the story was from Gary Mack but even he related it as something less than a proven fact. Perhaps he could be more specific with information he has at his disposal.

Greg Parker stated, "Walker may have been a lot of things, but unless his war record was bogus, one thing he wasn't, was a coward." From everything I have learned of General Walker the above is a true statement. Since I believe the above to be true how could I then believe that this war hero became "scared" upon realizing that it was Oswald that was the accused assassin. This is a legitimate question and deserves an answer.

First, I believe even the bravest person can still feel fear and that the difference between what we consider bravery and cowardice is how a person handles or reacts when put into a fearful situation. If the direction of my research has merit it leads me to believe that Walker was up to his neck in intelligence and counter intelligence throughout his career. Walker had always accepted any assignment and always performed in a manner that any soldier of any age would find admirable. His loyalty to his superiors and to his country is above reproach until just a few days after Oswald applies to return to the United States from Russia. It is at this point that I believe Walker is "assigned/ordered" to infiltrate the far right movement in America. I believe that Walker was both unaware of Oswald's attempts to return to the US or that his "assignment" was tied to this fact. I believe that "Ted" Walker, when given this assignment, clicked his heals as he snapped to attention and saluted whoever ordered him to perform this task.

Fast forward to the day of the assassination. Now imagine Edwin Anderson Walker, whose "cover" has him viewed as an enemy of Kennedy's, realizing that Kennedy has just been assassinated. Now imagine that on the television screen in front of him is the face of the accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. If, as I believe, Walker had in fact been the person who supplied Lee Harvey Oswald with the information about how to attain a visa from the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki, Walker would know that Oswald was a US intelligence asset. Walker would also know that he could be tied to Oswald and Walker would know who had ordered him to pass information to Oswald (Oswald's handlers) and who had ordered him to infiltrate the "Right Wing" in America. If those two assignments were ordered by the same person or persons, Walker could resonably guess at who was behind the assassination of President Kennedy.

Please continue to follow my train of thought. Imagine a man whose whole life had centered around "Duty, Honor, Country." Now imagine a man who had willingly sacrificed his personal "honor" to do his "duty" for his "country." Then imagine that this same man realized that his personal sacrifice may have been used in a plot to assassinate the Commander and Chief.

I can imagine a type of fear that might overwhelm Edwin Walker if he suddenly realized that everything and everyone that he had believed in and served so faithfully throughout his career had just carried out the assassination of the President of the United States. Walker would know what they were capable of because he had been involved in their activities for years. Walker would understand the power that the conspirators held and he would know that they had positioned him to be the "patsy."

How would Walker handle that situation? Is it reasonable to believe that he might attempt to make contact with the foreign press and disseminate a stroy that could be used to protect himself by focusing light upon his role in the life of Lee Harvey Odwald? Did Walker believe or know that the US Press might be controlled and unwilling to report this story? How did the German newspaper know where Walker was staying? Walker had no scheduled appearence planned, that I have been able to uncover, in Shereveport, LA yet he received a call directly to his room at exactly 7:00 am the morning following the assassination. The story then reported in Germany was essentially the same story later reported in the Warren Commission Report.

A few facts are true. The Warren Commission was offically established on the day the German news story was published. The US Government took the investigation away from the City of Dallas where the crime had been committed. The FBI did not become aware of the Walker assassiantion attempt until a week after the assassination of Kennedy.

Here is another strange or coincidental fact. Something had to have the distinction of being Warren Commission Exhibit Number 1. CE 1 was in fact the letter, alledgedly written in Russian by Oswald, which instructed Marina in what to do if Oswald were captured or killed after assassinating Walker.

I would suggest that the biggest problem facing the conspirators after the assassination of Kennedy was not eliminating Oswald (that could have been planned for in advance) but rather how to handle the fact that Oswald (after the German news story) could now potentially be tied to Walker!

I believe it is this "bump in the road" that required John J. McCloy to become involved in controlling the investigation of the Warren Commission. I also now believe very strongly that the "Raleigh Call," Oswald's attemt to contact John Hurt, may be the one known link that can tie Oswald to US Intelligence.

Considering that Oswalds "Walker" letter became CE 1, we can speculate that this was the most important item that had to be dealt with by the Warren Commissioners!

Jim Root

[Robert Howard]

Ron Ecker asked, "I've heard this story too, but can it be verified?"

I do attempt to cloak my remarks in vague terms at times. The closest I have come to a verification for the story was from Gary Mack but even he related it as something less than a proven fact. Perhaps he could be more specific with information he has at his disposal.

Greg Parker stated, "Walker may have been a lot of things, but unless his war record was bogus, one thing he wasn't, was a coward." From everything I have learned of General Walker the above is a true statement. Since I believe the above to be true how could I then believe that this war hero became "scared" upon realizing that it was Oswald that was the accused assassin. This is a legitimate question and deserves an answer.

First, I believe even the bravest person can still feel fear and that the difference between what we consider bravery and cowardice is how a person handles or reacts when put into a fearful situation. If the direction of my research has merit it leads me to believe that Walker was up to his neck in intelligence and counter intelligence throughout his career. Walker had always accepted any assignment and always performed in a manner that any soldier of any age would find admirable. His loyalty to his superiors and to his country is above reproach until just a few days after Oswald applies to return to the United States from Russia. It is at this point that I believe Walker is "assigned/ordered" to infiltrate the far right movement in America. I believe that Walker was both unaware of Oswald's attempts to return to the US or that his "assignment" was tied to this fact. I believe that "Ted" Walker, when given this assignment, clicked his heals as he snapped to attention and saluted whoever ordered him to perform this task.

Fast forward to the day of the assassination. Now imagine Edwin Anderson Walker, whose "cover" has him viewed as an enemy of Kennedy's, realizing that Kennedy has just been assassinated. Now imagine that on the television screen in front of him is the face of the accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. If, as I believe, Walker had in fact been the person who supplied Lee Harvey Oswald with the information about how to attain a visa from the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki, Walker would know that Oswald was a US intelligence asset. Walker would also know that he could be tied to Oswald and Walker would know who had ordered him to pass information to Oswald (Oswald's handlers) and who had ordered him to infiltrate the "Right Wing" in America. If those two assignments were ordered by the same person or persons, Walker could resonably guess at who was behind the assassination of President Kennedy.

Please continue to follow my train of thought. Imagine a man whose whole life had centered around "Duty, Honor, Country." Now imagine a man who had willingly sacrificed his personal "honor" to do his "duty" for his "country." Then imagine that this same man realized that his personal sacrifice may have been used in a plot to assassinate the Commander and Chief.

I can imagine a type of fear that might overwhelm Edwin Walker if he suddenly realized that everything and everyone that he had believed in and served so faithfully throughout his career had just carried out the assassination of the President of the United States. Walker would know what they were capable of because he had been involved in their activities for years. Walker would understand the power that the conspirators held and he would know that they had positioned him to be the "patsy."

How would Walker handle that situation? Is it reasonable to believe that he might attempt to make contact with the foreign press and disseminate a stroy that could be used to protect himself by focusing light upon his role in the life of Lee Harvey Odwald? Did Walker believe or know that the US Press might be controlled and unwilling to report this story? How did the German newspaper know where Walker was staying? Walker had no scheduled appearence planned, that I have been able to uncover, in Shereveport, LA yet he received a call directly to his room at exactly 7:00 am the morning following the assassination. The story then reported in Germany was essentially the same story later reported in the Warren Commission Report.

A few facts are true. The Warren Commission was offically established on the day the German news story was published. The US Government took the investigation away from the City of Dallas where the crime had been committed. The FBI did not become aware of the Walker assassiantion attempt until a week after the assassination of Kennedy.

Here is another strange or coincidental fact. Something had to have the distinction of being Warren Commission Exhibit Number 1. CE 1 was in fact the letter, alledgedly written in Russian by Oswald, which instructed Marina in what to do if Oswald were captured or killed after assassinating Walker.

I would suggest that the biggest problem facing the conspirators after the assassination of Kennedy was not eliminating Oswald (that could have been planned for in advance) but rather how to handle the fact that Oswald (after the German news story) could now potentially be tied to Walker!

I believe it is this "bump in the road" that required John J. McCloy to become involved in controlling the investigation of the Warren Commission. I also now believe very strongly that the "Raleigh Call," Oswald's attemt to contact John Hurt, may be the one known link that can tie Oswald to US Intelligence.

Considering that Oswalds "Walker" letter became CE 1, we can speculate that this was the most important item that had to be dealt with by the Warren Commissioners!

Jim Root

Jim, I am just trying to understand your perception of Edwin Walker. Are you saying that you believe that Walker's history (distributing John Birch literature to troops under him in W. Germany, assertions that both the US Government and the military were under Communist control and his resignation from the Army in 1961,) was an occasion of creating a 'legend' for a counter-intelligence assignment?

If so do you believe that his assertion that Oswald was arrested after the Walker shooting and that the Kennedy's were responsible for his release is true?

I am not being condescending, it's just that I haven't heard that premise presented before, (not that that means anything, negative in relation to your comments.) Actually, I believe it is obvious that there is still so much that is 'in question' specifically, of the 'what's behind the door variety.'

For what it's worth I have a great deal of respect for your outlook, and have alway's felt the Raleigh Call is one of those aspects of the assassination that is a key in finding out what's behind the proverbial door.

I believe that the 'stories, and rumours re: an association between Oswald and Ruby are on target, and ascertaining what the esence of that relationship was would help clarify matters significantly.

Although it is just an opinion, if as much progress had been made in regards to the Oswald/Ruby connection as there has in other areas, I think we would have things tenuously albeit, close to resolution. My own view is that there are significant areas of the big picture that are not given a fair share od research, there seems to be an underlying attitude that the 'White Russian Community' is something of a dead end, whereas I feel the opposite is true, although I think his work is a little sloppy, Bruce Campell Adamson has written extensively about this area and the Texas Right Wing and Oil and Gas interests, which seems to be dismissed pretty much out of hand. I also believe John Armstrong's work is very important and a lot of researchers are not aware that he actually did his own investigating for his book, I don't accept the Harvey and Lee premise in toto, but I think it is a huge mistake to 'throw the baby out with the bath water.'

That is to say, one can garner very credible IMO information from his work without accepting the Harvey and Lee view de facto. Anyway, I didn't mean to get off topic, but thought I might mention some of those items.