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Was Lee Oswald in Montreal in 1963?


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Hi Thomas,

There is a similarity with J.T. Masen but this guy also resembles the character who was helping Oswald hand out the Fair Play For Cuba leaflets in New Orleans.

Check the attachment below. I am referring to the dude in the middle. Add sunglasses and maybe.

FWIW.

James

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Hi James,

I see what you mean, James. IMHO, however, the ears of the guy wearing the sunglasses in post #1 are quite distinctive and look a lot like Masen's. They certainly jut out at a weird angle, don't they? And their faces look very similar to me, too. "Mr. Sunglasses" is the only person in photo/post#1 who's got his head turned away from the camera somewhat. Is he trying to minimize the recognizability (is that a word? LOL) of his ears?... And speaking of sunglasses, why is he the only one wearing them, and large ones at that? Overly-sensitive eyes? Trying to look "cool?" I doubt it. Looks to me like he's trying to be unidentifiable, and it would appear that he has succeeded.

Would it have made any sense to have Masen participate in this march in Canada? Masen does look somewhat like LHO. So I guess the question is, could Masen have been impersonating LHO in Canada? If so, to what end?

FWIW, Thomas

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Edited by Thomas Graves
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Hi Thomas,

There is a similarity with J.T. Masen but this guy also resembles the character who was helping Oswald hand out the Fair Play For Cuba leaflets in New Orleans.

Check the attachment below. I am referring to the dude in the middle. Add sunglasses and maybe.

FWIW.

James

_________________________________

Hi James,

I see what you mean, James. IMHO, however, the ears of the guy wearing the sunglasses in post #1 are quite distinctive and look a lot like Masen's. They certainly jut out at a weird angle, don't they? And their faces look very similar to me, too. "Mr. Sunglasses" is the only person in photo/post#1 who's got his head turned away from the camera somewhat. Is he trying to minimize the recognizability (is that a word? LOL) of his ears?... And speaking of sunglasses, why is he the only one wearing them, and large ones at that? Overly-sensitive eyes? Trying to look "cool?" I doubt it. Looks to me like he's trying to be unidentifiable, and it would appear that he has succeeded.

Would it have made any sense to have Masen participate in this march in Canada? Masen does look somewhat like LHO. So I guess the question is, could Masen have been impersonating LHO in Canada? If so, to what end?

FWIW, Thomas

_________________________________

Hi Thomas,

IMO, Masen's skill was with weapons and if he was to be recruited on any level, it would be in that field. I don't believe he was involved with what happened north of the border.

I also do not believe Lee Oswald, the man shot by Jack Ruby was in Canada. I do leave open the possibility that he was impersonated by one or maybe more skilled operators though.

James

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Let me get this straight. The Boarder Cops hot onto Cuba positively identified LHO as handing out FPCC leaflets - and obtained one from him - in Montreal in April, 1963. In addition, a number of others somehow affiliate LHO with handing out leaflets during the QWG Walk during the Summer of 1963 - in Montreal - Allentown and Philadelphia, Pa. in August, 1963.

If that is wrong, please correct me.

In order to get the QWG timeline down, here's excerpts of Brad Lyttle's autobio, parts of interest about the QWG Walk and where the walk was at various times, which should be pumped into the Joint Chronology.

Compliments to Brad Lyttle for sharing this with us.

Bradfrord Lyttle – Autobiography.

Chapter 4. The Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA)

The latter part of 1962 I spent at Polaris Action Farm, trying to recover more from the exhaustion and lack of togetherness that I had begun to feel at the end of the Walk to Moscow…. The Quebec-Washington-Guantanamo Walk for Peace (QWG Walk), that took place in an 18-month period from May 1963 to December 1964, was by far the longest continuous direct project I engaged in…. Realizing the most difficult part of the Walk would be in the South, in April I undertook an advance trip from Washington to Miami….Late in May, part of the team that began the Walk left the farm for Montreal. I don’t know exactly who made the trip but believe the group included: Erica Enzer, 37 years old; myself, 35; Dennis Jameison, 23, a professional interviewer, Fred Moore, 21, a University of California student; and Lynn Moss, 27, a secretary who had worked with West Coast CNVA….. In Canada, we stayed initially at the home of Michael Chartrand, a printer and activist in the Canadian separatist movement…One of his daughters Marie-Andree, 18 decided to join the Walk…Another French Canadian who gave us a great deal of help was Dan Daniels, a playwright, and separatist activist.

The Walk began in Quebec City at 1 p.m., May 26. Michael Chartrand gave a send off speech. Considerable media was on hand. The initial team that started the walk was international, including, besides those already mentioned: Marilew Babcock, 29, a painter from the U.S.; Alfred Friend, 28, a civil servant from Toronto; Bruce Henderson, 22, a student and construction worker from Vancouver, British Columbia; Lon Hill, Jr., 23, a Georgetown University graduate student; and Philip Lord, Jr., 21, a New England CNVA staff member from Gilbertsville, NY.

The Cleveland-Rome (NY), Boston-Rome branches of the Walk also began May 26. From the beginning, the Walk received a rough reception in Quebec. At the time, members of the Quebec independent movement (FLQ) were resorting to terrorist bombing to try to make their point. Political tension was high in the province, and all public demonstrations were under suspicion….The evening of May 28 we…were attacked by young hoodlums, locally called “Teddy Boys”,…. On the 31st, the Walk was joined by Fleming Jenson, 20, a chemical lab technician from Denmark. Fleming liked to use the bicycle for advance work. Every day we were visited and interviewed by media representatives….

We arrived on the outskirts of Monttreal June 6, and were joined by more than 70 members of the Movement for Disarmament and Peace, the Committee of 100, and other Peace groups. We held a public meeting in a major park in Montreal….We took a caravan of seven cars 100 miles….to demonstrate at La Macaza, location of a base for Bomarc surface-to-air missiles…In all we stayed four days in Montreal….Ottawa on June 20…. Greyrock…Kingston…. Fort Henry….Watertown…July 1 at Camp Drum,….Rome, Griffiss Air Force Base….July 4…A.J. Muste and others arrived from New York City. John Morris, a Quaker and photography editor on the staff of Magnum Photography Agency in New York City, sent a photographer to cover the Griffiss demonstration.

…July 17 Harpur College…. July 26 Mt. Pocono….In the evening, walkers spoke to open-air meetings in Easton, Allentown, and Bethlehem. We stayed overnight at the home of Art Ravitz…. July 28 we walked through the Delaware Water Gap, and spent the night at St. Francis Acres, the community of which David Dillinger and his family were co-founders and members….. August 2 we crossed the George Washington Bridge and passed through Spanish Harlem. Eric Robinson was kicked by an irate Cuban. I spoke at the Catholic Workers center. The Ridgewood, New Jersey Friends organized an evening hootenanay for the walkers…CBS TV interviewed me and Marie-Andree. We stayed at the First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn Heights.

Forty three left New York with the Walk…..meeting at Douglas College,…. Plainfield Friends Meeting,… We prepared a petition to President Kennedy and Dean Rusk to permit us to enter Cuba…. Princeton…. Several newspapers and radio stations carried reports of the project.

In the Philadelphia area, Quaker sympathizers strongly supported the Walk. They organized evening meetings, and arranged for us to stay in the Byberry Friends Meeting House. The police were friendly and helpful, once driving a walker to meet the project. Friends arranged several days of open-air meetings at City Hall Square, and Rittenhouse Square that, were attended by 2-300 people.

Walkers demonstrated at the New York Shipbuilding Company, in Camden, where nuclear attack submarines were being built. Quaker peace activists George Lakey and Tom Colgan spoke to the walkers. One evening the Haverford Friends Meeting provided supper: another evening, the Germantown Meeting.

While doing advance work for the Walk in Washington, Marv Davidov met Ray Robinson. Ray was an African-American prize fighter with a bohemian life-style, and interest in nonviolence. He visited us in the Philadelphia area, and eventually joined the project. A tall, strong, person, he liked to carry the lead sign.

There were 52 walkers when the project left Philadelphia…. Chester…. Baltimore…In Washington, we held a rally at Lafayette Park, at which I spoke, and picketed the White House that afternoon and the next. Also we vigiled at the Pentagon, and picketed the CIA. When we reached Washington, all of the walkers were encouraged to visit their Senators and Congresspeople about going to Cuba…. My final interview in Washington was with Robert Follestadt, then Chief of the Cuban Desk…a Harvard graduate…State Department....who said there “are dark policies” related to Cuba, “But you know, there is no such thing as morality in international relations. There is only the lesser of two evils.

I was surprised…two years before Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. had told members of the Moscow Walk, ‘Morality is irrelevant to international relations.

The members of the Walk were on the fourth day of a fast in a Mecon, Georgia jail on November 22, 1963.

… In the course of the Walk, William Moore was assassinated, the church in Birmingham was bombed and four children killed, Medgar Evers was assassinated, and President Kennedy was assassinated. Countless other civil rights workers were beaten up and nearly killed. It was an honor to have been associated with the brave people on the Walk.

xxx

Edited by William Kelly
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Will someone please post the Murray photo of the front of the TSBD with the person from the QWG March?

And will Mr. Wood please tell if he knows it is the same person or if he is speculating that they look alike?

I'd also like to narrow down when the LHO sighting in Montreal was and hope that Lyttle's chrono helps.

Thanks,

BK

bkjfk3@yahoo.com

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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 years later...

This thread has not been updated in awhile, I thought it may be a good idea to make sure everyone knew that the Warren Commission maintained a fairly extensive collection

from the "Cuba Peace Marchers." The URL is below

http://www.maryferre...e_Marchers_-_p1

These photos are from Warren Commission Documents CD 87 and CD 729

Additionally, I also found what is a photo of "a" Dennis Jamieson; There is a 50-50% chance this is, or isn't the Dennis Jamieson associated with the Peace Marchers.

If I am mistaken, my apologies. But I felt it was worth a shot.

See

http://picasaweb.goo...8YqmLCROpxDqO4Q

I would also like to direct attention to a document dated the day after the Assassination, referenced with the following cryptonyms below.

Home/Archive/Documents/JFK Assassination Documents/JFK Documents - Central Intelligence Agency/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 17/

NARA Record Number: 104-10077-10113

DIRECTOR CABLE RE GARFAT IN CANADA

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=19553

concerns GARFAT, PELLETIER & AMLUNY and the Green Mansions Hotel, and is dated November 23, 1963.

Edited by Robert Howard
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Guest Tom Scully

This thread has not been updated in awhile, I thought it may be a good idea to make sure everyone knew that the Warren Commission maintained a fairly extensive collection

from the "Cuba Peace Marchers." The URL is below

http://www.maryferre...e_Marchers_-_p1

These photos are from Warren Commission Documents CD 87 and CD 729

Additionally, I also found what is a photo of "a" Dennis Jamieson; There is a 50-50% chance this is, or isn't the Dennis Jamieson associated with the Peace Marchers.

If I am mistaken, my apologies. But I felt it was worth a shot.

See

http://picasaweb.goo...8YqmLCROpxDqO4Q

I would also like to direct attention to a document dated the day after the Assassination, referenced with the following cryptonyms below.

Home/Archive/Documents/JFK Assassination Documents/JFK Documents - Central Intelligence Agency/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection/HSCA Segregated CIA Collection, Box 17/

NARA Record Number: 104-10077-10113

DIRECTOR CABLE RE GARFAT IN CANADA

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=19553

concerns GARFAT, PELLETIER & AMLUNY and the Green Mansions Hotel, and is dated November 23, 1963.

So, what is AMLUNY, and what went wrong with it? Links to related documents:

11/27/63

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=19211&relPageId=2

12/01/63

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=400404

Mention of "amluny case"

12/04/63

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=40929&relPageId=2

12/04/63

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=411464

12/07/63

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=400466

12/09/63

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=40723&relPageId=2

12/10/63

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=487545

12/12/63

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=400596

12/13/63

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?mode=searchResult&absPageId=400616

Who is "Jentons" and "Ambassador Brus"...maybe Brussels?

]http://www.acorn.net/jfkplace/09/fp.back_issues/11th_issue/arrb_batch8.html

The Eighth Batch - ACORN Home Page So who is Jentons and why is this an assassination record? Document # 104-10018-10047 is a one page cable from Mexico City to Director, CIA. ...

Edited by Tom Scully
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Hello Robert and Tom,

Many thanks for reviving this thread, just when I was thinking about it too.

Tom, I can't answer your questions but I hope someone can.

And Robert, thanks for the Quebec to Guantamano Peace March photos.

In the meantime, I learned that Will Weston wrote an article about all this that was published in Probe, a article that I missed, but got Weston to send to me. I also sent it to Jimmy D., and if he posts it I will run links to it, and will also mention what issue of Probe the article appeared in.

In any case, this is a very important article for a number of reasons, some of which Weston himself doesn't know, but he brings out some very interesting items - like the first march went through Minsk when Oswald and Marina were there, and after the appearances of "Oswald" with the marchers in Canada, there's TWO sightings of "Oswald" in Scranton and Philadelphia, and guess who gets to Philly at the same time as the marchers? Ruth Paine. Too much. There's more to this than meets the eye, but you'll have to digest this first.

Thanks to William Weston and Jim DiEugenio.

BK

Oswald: Peace Activist in Pennsylvania?

By William Weston

About two weeks after the assassination of President Kennedy, a 47-year-old minister named Irwin Tucker entered the police station in Scranton, Pennsylvania and spoke with Anthony Batsavage, the Superintendent of Police. Tucker had just returned from a three-week tour of missionary duty among the Indians in Ontario, Canada. He said that he had been staying at the home of a relative in New Liskeard, when he had heard about the shooting in Dallas. That same night he was watching the evening news for further details, when he saw a picture of the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Tucker immediately recognized that face. He was certain that he had seen this man about five months previously in downtown Scranton with a group of peace demonstrators. [1]

The demonstration was located on a street corner of Courthouse Square. Tucker had been listening to the demonstrators for a considerable period of time, because he was interested in hearing their views. Oswald was among this group passing out leaflets. He remembered him in particular, for he got into a heated discussion with him. As he would later put it, the young man kept "running down our country" and he was arguing that "President Kennedy was not doing right by Cuba." Tucker lost his patience with this unpatriotic tirade and told the young man that if liked Castro's Cuba so much, he ought to move over there.

When a Scranton reporter heard about this story, he went to Batsavage to ask for his opinion regarding the clergyman's credibility. The superintendent said that he had personally known Tucker for many years and that he regarded him as "a serious, reputable man."

The Scranton peace demonstrations that had taken place from July 22 through July 25, 1963 consisted mostly of young people, about forty in number. They carried signs, which bore the peace symbol - an upside-down broken cross within a circle - and messages such as "Your conscience demands it - REFUSE to serve in the ARMED FORCES." Other signs reflected a concern for the problem of Cuba: "Soviet Troops and U.S. Marines: Leave Cuba" and "Demand Freedom to Visit Cuba."

The rally on Monday evening began with folk singing and then proceeded into speeches. A crowd of about 200 to 300 people came out to listen to them. As the rally went on, hecklers in the audience became more hostile and disruptive. Some of the hecklers protested that the demonstrators were desecrating the memory of "our boys" who have died in Vietnam and if they don't love America they should leave it. The intensity of the hostility would have turned ugly had not the police moved in to break up the demonstration. [2] It was a scene that would become a familiar sight on television newscasts during the Johnson and Nixon Administrations.

The First Hippie

The peace demonstrators in Scranton were the forerunners of the "hippie" movement ©- a phenomenon that would later become a prominent feature of the American cultural landscape. It is interesting to note that Oswald's friend, George de Mohrenschildt, once made the statement that Oswald was ahead of his time and that if the course of events had been different, he would have been among the first hippies. [3] While the image of Oswald as a longhaired, pot-smoking flower child may seem incongruous, I believe de Mohrenschildt was right. Oswald would indeed have been among them, but not as a true believer. As his close ties to such right wing fanatics as Guy Banister and David Ferrie indicate, he would have been an informant or an agent provocateur. His leftist political activity was really a masquerade to subvert the cohesion and integrity of the organizations he claimed to be serving.

J.H.C.

The story of his presence at a peace rally in Scranton becomes even more interesting in light of another report that he was meeting with members of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) at another peace rally in Philadelphia. Someone who only identified himself as "J.H.C." had dropped off a postcard at radio station WPEN in Philadelphia shortly after the assassination and had addressed it to talk show host Red Benson. As indicated below, the hand-written message contained several errors in punctuation and spelling.

Why, has no one checked out this. Lee Oswald [underscored by the writer] was at our meeting this summer here at. Rittenhouse Sq. Check this by Fairmont guards who know about out F.P.T.C meeting. They saw Lee

J.H.C.

In an envelope postmarked "Philadelphia, November 26, 1963" and addressed to "Special Att. Dis. Atty HENRY WADE, Dallas, Tex." the following letter was enclosed:

Phila. Pa.

Mr. Wade:

Will this help you?

Read it:

This summer, we had a meeting of "Fair Play" at Rittenhouse sq. this city. (Check by the guards of Fairmont park. they will recall such.

Lee was, there with us. I have pictures of this meeting to prove such. Lee needed some money, and he got some from a night club party, called "Sparky in Dallas, and so help us, if Ruby says he did not know us, he lies.

A copy of this is being given Sec. Service, as we have photos to prove such Lee. was here this summer and I know Ruby enough to get [missing copy here] Mr Red Benson WPEN, can tell you about Fair play meeting, at park this summer.

Apparently this letter arrived anonymously, yet it must have been written by the same person who wrote the postcard to the Philadelphia radio station. To determine the identity of J.H.C., the FBI checked with the producer of the Red Benson Show. He said that neither he nor Benson knew who J.H.C. was. Of the documents that I could find, there is no mention of whether or not the FBI had been successful in locating J.H.C. Neither do these documents reveal whether or not Benson, the producer, or the Fairmont guards were questioned about what they knew concerning Oswald's presence at a pro-Castro meeting in Rittenhouse Square. One document however does record a statement by the inspector of the Fairmont guards who said that, according to their records, "the only affair held in Rittenhouse Square that could in any way pertain to Cuba, the Cuban situation, or the Fair Play for Cuba Committee was a demonstration on August 15, 1963 put on by the Quebec-Washington-Guantanamo Walk for Peace." [4] This was the same group of peace demonstrators that was in Scranton a few weeks before.

From Canada to Cuba

Both rallies in Scranton and Philadelphia were part of a grand project of a pacifist organization called the Committee for Non-Violent Action (CNVA). The man in charge of CNVA was A.J. Muste, a renowned pacifist, whose ideals of non-violent civil disobedience profoundly influenced such civil rights leaders as Martin Luther King and CORE leader, Bayard Rustin. [5]

To dramatize the need to end the Cold War by unilateral nuclear disarmament and also to reduce tensions with Cuba, the CNVA had conceived the idea of delivering its message via a transcontinental walking tour from Canada to Cuba. The Quebec-Washington-Guantanamo Walk for Peace was strictly a long-distance foot march, accompanied only by a pickup truck to carry sleeping bags, food, water and supplies. It would begin in the city of Quebec and was expected to reach Miami, Florida in seven months. From Miami, a boat would be taken to Havana, Cuba - either with or without the permission of the United States. From Havana they would walk 700 miles to the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo, where they would hold their final demonstration, calling for the closure of the base. Covering an average of 15 miles a day, they would stop at various towns or cities along the way, where they would give speeches or pass out leaflets. Any local people sympathetic to their cause would be invited to join the walk for as far as they wanted. Any organizations, which had similar goals (such as the FPCC), were invited to participate. [6]

The project opened with a brief public meeting in a central plaza in historic Quebec City on May 26. By June 9 they were in Montreal, where they spent several days doing demonstrations. It was here that the walkers had Oswald among them for the first time. According to a lead provided to the FBI by an attorney in Windsor, Ontario, Oswald participated in a "ban-the-bomb" protest in Montreal. [7] Another citizen in Seattle said that Oswald was in Montreal with the head of the FPCC. [8] There is also a March 26, 1964 report of a letter from the senior customs representative in Montreal in which it was stated, "several persons had contacted his office and stated that Lee Oswald had been seen distributing pamphlets entitled `Fair Play for Cuba,' on St. Jacques and McGill Streets in Montreal during the summer of 1963." [9]

In an attempt to counter the customs official's letter regarding the Oswald sightings in Montreal, an April 8, 1964 letter was written to the Warren Commission from J. Edgar Hoover, which said: "For your information, the records of the William Reily and Company, Incorporated, New Orleans, Louisiana, reflect that Oswald was on the job Monday through Friday of the week June 3 through 7, 1963, and that he was also on the job all of the following week, June 10 through 14, 1963." As I have pointed out in another article last year, Oswald's attendance records at the coffee company were falsified to conceal the fact that he hardly ever came to work. [10] The job was really a cover to hide his wide-ranging political activities.

After the peace walkers left Montreal, they reached the border of the United States by the latter part of June. In the next two months they crossed the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. By the end of August they were in Washington, D.C. where they participated in the massive civil rights demonstration led by Martin Luther King. This event marked a turning point for the peace walkers, for after their departure from the capitol, their focus shifted from issues of foreign policy to that of racial equality. As they advanced deeper into the southern states, their racially integrated ranks aroused an increasing antagonism among deeply committed segregationists. While passing through Georgia, their progress was interrupted in three towns, where they were put in jail for violating segregation laws. They were frequently insulted, harassed, or pelted with debris.

When they finally reached Miami, they spent several months besieging a State Department office in the city, trying to get permission to go to Cuba. When all legal avenues were finally exhausted, six of the remaining walkers got into a powerboat on October 27, 1964 and started for Havana. They were stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard, which seized their boat and kept it impounded. This defeat put an end to the peace walkers' efforts to get to Cuba.

From start to finish the Quebec to Guantanamo Walk for Peace was organized and led by CNVA coordinator, Bradford J. Lyttle. Two years earlier he had led an even more ambitious Walk for Peace that began in San Francisco on December 20, 1960 and finished up in Moscow on October 3, 1961. Strangely enough, it was while the peace walkers were going through Russia, that they might have been seen by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was living in Minsk at the time. It would therefore be relevant to go into some detail regarding the first Walk for Peace. [11]

The First Walk for Peace

A group of about twenty walkers, more or less, began its walk south towards the city of Los Angeles. There they heard an address by Nobel Prize laureate Linus Pauling, who was also a leader in the peace movement. From Los Angeles, they walked through thirteen states, stopping at towns, cities or military bases to hold demonstrations. When they reached Washington, DC a delegation of the peace walkers was granted a 45-minute interview with White House political advisor, Arthur J. Schlesinger. From Washington, they went to New York City, where they took a plane flight to England. After joining with British peace organizations in a big nuclear disarmament rally in London's Trafalgar Square, they took a boat to Belgium (France having denied them entry).

Their march across the European continent advanced unchecked into the Iron Curtain countries. The effect of these peace walkers upon the Communist-controlled populace must have been electrifying. It marked the first time that anyone was allowed to carry placards and distribute leaflets urging young men to resist the draft or demanding that the Soviet Union stop the development of nuclear weapons. Whenever they stopped in a town to hold a rally, as many as 1000 to 1500 people would come out to welcome them.

On September 22, 1961 they arrived in the city of Minsk. In the center of the city they saw one of the few monuments to Josef Stalin remaining in the Soviet Union. The huge, 10-ton, bronze statue was a city landmark and it was near the Oswalds' apartment building. Marina used to pass by this statue while riding on a bus to work. One of the peace walkers later wrote down the following words regarding his impression of Minsk:

The streets were filled with serious, silent, humbly friendly, almost shy people . . . Most people reacted with noncommittal fascination and amazement. But there was, as in every other country, every other variety of reaction. Some people grasped our hands and shook them heartily, or beamed admiration. Others refused leaflets. . . . A few people walked along with us. Quite a few officials who were with us seemed apprehensive that the crowd might grow to unmanageable proportions, and they kept things circulating, according to reports. Nevertheless, there were large numbers all along our route through the broad streets and past the massive, classic buildings . . . [12]

That same evening, they held a meeting at the Friendship House. A Newsweek reporter from Moscow was also in attendance and the following is an excerpt from his report:

Jerry Lehman of Mokena, Ill., speaking through an interpreter, told an audience of boisterous Russians: "We hope you'll say to your leaders what we said to ours - that no government which urges development of nuclear weapons and tests them is sane." This struck the Russians as funny and they roared with laughter. But after Lyttle had followed Lehman on the speaker's stand there was a different reaction. "I went to jail," Lyttle said, "because I refused to serve in the U.S. Army. I have protested against American rockets aimed at your cities and families. There are Soviet rockets aimed at my city and my family. Are you demonstrating against that?" There were murmurs in the crowd and a dark-haired girl shook her head. Obviously she had not heard anyone publicly ask that question in quite that way before. [13]

It is hard to believe that Lee and Marina was indifferent to this intrepid band of American pacifists, especially since America was so much on their minds at this time. Lee was making repeated visits to bureaucratic agencies in order to speed up the process of getting exit visas to return to the United States. His mother was sending copies of Time magazine, which he pored over eagerly. Yet despite the momentousness of the arrival of the peace walkers, they receive no mention in any of the Oswald sources. It is not as if this period of time is unrecorded. In a letter to the American Embassy dated October 4, 1961, Oswald said that his wife Marina had been hospitalized for a five-day period beginning September 22. This was the same day the peace walkers came into Minsk. In the letter, Oswald demanded that the Embassy launch an official inquiry, for he claimed that Marina's hospitalization was due to a nervous condition, resulting from intimidation by local authorities, who were trying to get her to withdraw her application for an exit visa.

The statements in the above mentioned letter were later contradicted by Marina when she denied to the Warren Commission that she had ever been hospitalized in 1961. This denial was reversed in Priscilla MacMillan's book, Marina and Lee, in which Marina said that she remembered going to the hospital "around September 20." It was not the result of intimidation, but rather she had been riding a bus to work and she had succumbed to the exhaust fumes. [14] These conflicting statements in combination with the complete silence regarding the peace walkers themselves raise questions marks about the importance of this episode in the lives of the Oswalds. The changing stories, especially in light of Priscilla McMillan's and the peace walkers presence, need to be explained.

After spending a few days in the vicinity of Minsk, the peace walkers resumed their march on Moscow. On October 3, they stumbled footsore and utterly exhausted into Red Square, where an enthusiastic crowd awaited them. It was an extraordinary triumph. 3900 miles across the United States and 1750 miles across the continent of Europe. In Russia alone, over 80,000 leaflets were distributed. It could hardly have been possible without the shuttle diplomacy efforts of A.J. Muste, who regularly performed miracles in shepherding the walkers past bureaucratic roadblocks.

In the ensuing years of the 1960's Muste continued to use his energy and talents in the cause of world peace. In February 1967, at the age of 82, he died a few days before he was to launch an anti-war campaign called the Spring Mobilization against the Vietnam War. This massive demonstration drew to the UN Plaza of New York over 300,000 people. On this occasion Martin Luther King gave an address denouncing American policy in Vietnam.

The official commemoration service of Muste's death was held at the Friends Meeting House in New York. Although Muste was technically a Presbyterian minister, his real spiritual home was among the Quakers. The Quakers were the most active supporters of Muste's CNVA. To those participating in the peace walks, they provided food, lodging, assistance, publicity, and meeting places. [15]

The Quaker Connections

Muste's ties to the Quaker church leads us to consider the Quaker connections of one of the most visible figures to emerge from the events surrounding the JFK assassination. Ruth Paine told the Warren Commission that she first became interested in the Society of Friends in 1947. In 1955 she was a chairman of the Young Friends of North America Committee, a student exchange program between the Soviet Union and the United States. [16]

What gives the connection even more weight is the fact that Wesley Liebeler asked Ruth's non-Quaker husband Michael a startling series of questions about the walk during the Warren Commission hearings. The queries reveal that Liebeler and the Commission knew and were interested in the march, its organizers, and the Quaker connection.

Mr. Liebeler: Are you acquainted with an organization known as the Friends Peace Committee?

Mr. Paine: It is a familiar name. I guess not, though. I don't think I have been to a meeting of theirs.

Mr. Liebeler: Do you know if it is connected in any way with the Young Friends Committee of North America?

Mr. Paine: I take it to be a Friend, you know, a Quaker committee, but I believe it is connected.

Mr. Liebeler: Do you know a gentleman by the name of Dennis Jamieson, who I believe is active in the Friends Peace Committee? Mr. Paine: I don't think so.

Mr. Liebeler: Or George Lakey.

Mr. Paine: For particle purposes, no. The names seem a little familiar but I can't place them.

Mr. Liebeler: Do you have any recollection of the connection in which it is familiar to you?

Mr. Paine: No.

Mr. Liebeler: Are you familiar with the Committee for Non-Violent Action?

Mr. Paine: Many of these things sound familiar. I don't - I really am saying no. [17]

In typical double-talk fashion, Michael Paine avoided giving straight yes or no answers to Liebeler's questions. Had Liebeler addressed these same questions to Ruth, he might have gotten more interesting responses. Yet as far as the public record is concerned, she was never asked.

Nevertheless, Michael's admission of a connection between the Young Friends of North America Committee and the Friends Peace Committee is sufficient ground for putting Ruth in association with those who were actively involved in the Walk for Peace. The George Lakey mentioned above was the executive secretary of the Friends Peace Committee and he served as the principal host for the peace walkers during their stay in Philadelphia. [18] The Dennis Jamieson mentioned above was the chairman of the Friends Peace Committee and he served as chief publicist for the march as it went through Pennsylvania. In a Scranton news photo of a group of peace walkers on the steps of the YMCA, he could be seen next to Bradford Lyttle, holding a sign that read "Quebec-Washington-Guantanamo Walk for Peace." [19]

It is quite possible that Ruth Paine had joined with her Quaker friends to give assistance to the peace walkers. During her cross-country summer vacation trip with her two children, her wide-ranging itinerary landed her near Philadelphia precisely two days before the peace walkers got there. [20] She was visiting Michael's mother and stepfather, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Young, who lived in Paoli, a town about 30 miles west of Philadelphia. During her month long stay in Paoli, she had visited with her Quaker friends in Philadelphia. Whether or not she got involved in Walk for Peace meetings during these visits, she did not say. [21]

A second instance of an opportunity to join in peace walk activities occurred in Washington, DC during the big civil rights demonstration. Ruth Paine had come to the capitol for a few days to visit her sister and also a family known as the Houghtons. According to the Houghtons, she had actually attended the demonstration during her stay in Washington. [22] Once again Ruth's itinerary had crossed paths with the peace walkers' route of march.

Since Ruth considered herself a pacifist, it would be natural to assume that she would be among those professing sympathy for the peace walkers. Certainly there would be no reason for her to reject an invitation to join them for the peace rally at Rittenhouse Square on August 15 or the Washington civil rights rally on August 28.

If Ruth Paine found reason enough to be attracted to the peace walkers because of their activism in promoting world peace, her friend Lee Harvey Oswald would have been drawn to them for the same reason. He was an advocate of peaceful coexistence between the United States and the Soviet Union and he fully approved of President Kennedy's efforts to bring peace to the world and to end the cold war. "If he succeeds," he once said to his friend George de Mohrenschildt, "he will be the greatest president in the history of this country." [23]

Another reason why he would have been interested in the Walk for Peace was its emphasis on improving relations between Cuba and the United States. He certainly would have approved of their positions regarding American policy toward Cuba. As stated in a Philadelphia newspaper, "The peace walkers ask the U.S. to give up an intention to support an invasion of Cuba, stop reconnaissance flights over the island, end travel and trade restrictions, guarantee economic and technical assistance to Cuba through the UN." It is quite probable that Oswald would not even have objected to the demands directed toward Cuba. "They ask Cuba for withdrawal of foreign military personnel and weapons, renounce all intention of military intervention in other nation's affairs, end restrictions on the political freedom of Cubans, encourage its people to visit the U.S." [24]

A third reason why he would have been sympathetic to the peace walkers is their strong stand against racial injustice. According to de Mohrenschildt, Oswald said "It hurts me that the blacks do not have the same privileges and rights as white Americans." He admired Kennedy's efforts to end segregation and he also "greatly admired Dr. Martin Luther King and agreed with his program . . . he frequently talked of Dr. King with a real reverence." [25]

Overshadowing these noble sentiments on world peace and racial equality is the reference to Jack Ruby in J.H.C.'s letter to Henry Wade. What is the true nature of the association between the salacious night club owner and the virtuous political activist? It is common knowledge that Ruby's friends in the criminal underworld hated Castro for closing down the Havana gambling casinos. It is also known that Ruby served as the paymaster for anti-Castro operations. Why then would Oswald solicit money from Ruby?

The letter from J.H.C. strips off the leftist masquerade and exposes Oswald's true intentions. The man who supposedly grieved over racial inequalities was the same one who continued to have a working association with such fanatical segregationists as Guy Banister. The man who professed sympathy for Castro was the same one who stamped on his leaflets the address of an anti-Castro center, 544 Camp Street. And finally, the man who said that he admired President Kennedy for his efforts to bring peace to the world and to end racial segregation was the same man who willingly served as the lynchpin in a conspiracy that ended the President's life.

If Oswald's professed ideology turned out to be a sham, what does that tell us about the professed piety of the Quaker woman who sheltered him and his family during the six critical weeks prior to the assassination? Was Ruth Paine really just a simple housewife, who had no inkling of the unsavory characters that Oswald had been spending a lot of his time with? Are there hidden motives behind the amiable Quaker facade? In a highly important article for Probe, authors Carol Hewett, Steve Jones, and Barbara LaMonica reveal how Ruth Paine has been suspected of being a government informant by her peers in the peace movement. [26] It is relevant to mention at this point that Sylvia Hoke, the sister whom she stayed with during the 1963 Washington civil rights demonstration, was an employee of the CIA - an agency that has no scruples in violating the civil rights of public and private citizens. It is also noteworthy to mention that the tax returns of Ruth and Michael Paine still remain closely guarded classified secrets.

The Quebec-Washington-Guantanamo Walk for Peace, as well as the predecessor that went to Moscow, are mostly forgotten in historical works dealing with the 1960's. They hardly rate even a footnote. Yet the power of this small band of peripatetic pacifists must have worried some major political interests enough to bring upon them the full encumbrance of such undercover heavyweights as Lee Oswald, Jack Ruby, and Ruth Paine.

ENDNOTES

1. The Scranton Times, December 11 and 12, 1963. The second newspaper article mentions a local resident named Gloria Glickman who said that she had been among the peace walkers and she was sure that Oswald was not among them. But since the peace walkers were in Scranton for several days and since they sometimes split up into teams to protest at different warmaking industries around the city, it is quite possible that Glickman was not at the right place and time to see Oswald.

2. The Scranton Times, July 22, 23, 24, 25, 1963.

3. Dick Russell, The Man Who Knew Too Much (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1992), p. 277.

4. FBI report dated 12/5/63 of letter to Henry Wade in Dallas by SA James Bookhout and SA George W.H. Carlson; FBI report dated 12/4/63 of an interview with Theodore Reinhart, producer of the Red Benson Show in Philadelphia by SA Mason P. Smith; FBI report dated 12/3/63 of an interview with Inspector Philip Cella, Fairmont Park Guard, Philadelphia by SA Edward A. Smith. There is a difference of only a single day between Oswald's appearance in Philadelphia on August 15 and his appearance in New Orleans on August 16, where he was seen passing out FPCC leaflets in front of the International Trade Mart. To travel the 1225 miles between the two cities in one day could only have been accomplished by airplane.

5. Jo Ann Robinson, Abraham Went Out: A Biography of A.J. Muste (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981), p. 117

6. Robinson, Abraham Went Out, pp. 125-128, 185-186.

7. CD 45, p. 3.

8. CD389, 349.

9. CD 729.

10. See "Budreau's Music and Appliance Store" in the July 1996 issue of The Fourth Decade.

11. The most detailed account of this march is Bradford J. Lyttle's book You Come with Naked Hands: The Story of the San Francisco to Moscow Walk for Peace (Raymond, New Hampshire: Greenleaf Books, 1966).

12. Lyttle, You Come with Naked Hands, p. 196.

13. Newsweek, October 8, 1963.

14. Priscilla MacMillan, Marina and Lee (New York: Harper and Row, 1977), pp. 155-157, 592.

15. Robinson, Abraham Went Out, pp. 220-223.

16. WC Vol. III, pp. 133-135.

17. WC Vol. II, p. 388.

18. The Philadelphia Daily News, August 13, 1963.

19. The Scranton Times, July 22, 1963.

20. WC Vol. XVI, p. 280.

21. WC Vol. III, p. 3.

22. Information provided by researcher Steve Jones in a presentation at the COPA Conference, October 21, 1995.

23. George de Mohrenschildt, I Am a Patsy! an unpublished manuscript in HSCA Vol. XII, pp. 133, 147.

24. Philadelphia Daily News, August 13, 1963.

25. de Mohrenschildt, I Am a Patsy! pp. 127, 146, 198.

26. "Ruth Paine: Social Activist or Contra Support Networker" by Carol Hewett, Barbara LaMonica and Steve Jones in the July-August 1996 issue of Probe.

Edited by William Kelly
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I usually don't make such claims, but after reading the following, I believe I have discovered some new information regarding names I have hitherto not been aware of, regarding the Mexico City aspect of the Quaker connection.

340. Commission Document 339 - FBI John P. McHugh Report of 20 Jan 1964 at San Francisco, California re: Oswald/Mexico....

Bureau File # 62-109090

SYNOPSIS: Allegation recieved that one Amo Algozar, a student at the University of Mexico Law School, reportedly talked to Lee Harvey Oswald

and unknown American, who was with Oswald in Mexico City, when latter individuals were planning to go to Cuba.

DETAILS: On January 15, 1964, SF-T1 advised that she had received the information from Miss Barrie Millman, who is a student at the University of

California at Berkeley, California.

Millman is reportedly engaged to a graduate law student at the University of Mexico, in Mexico City. SF-T1 did not know this individual's name

at the time she initially contacted this office.

Barrie Millman visited her fiance during Christmas time, 1963, at which time he told her that he had met Lee Harvey Oswald during Oswald's

"last trip to Mexico City."

Elaborating further, SF-T1 related that Millman explained that at the Friends Service Center, Mexico City her fiance met an American, name unknown

who wanted to go to Cuba and make a first-hand report on the situation there.

Later Miss Millman's fiance again met this unknown American at Sanford's Restaurant, Mexico City and on this occasion the unknown American

was accompanied by a person Millman's fiance later realized was Lee Harvey Oswald.

On the occasion of this visit the unknown American and Oswald reportedly that they were working together to get visas to go to Cuba and that they

planned to go to Cuba together.

On January 16, 1964, SF-T1 advised that she had just learned the identity of Miss Millman's fiance who is studying at the University of Mexico

Law School. She identified this individual as one Amo Algozar, and indicated he is due to graduate from the University of Mexico Law School

sometime during February, 1964, and has a grant for study in France.

All sources, (except any listed below) whose identities are concealed in referenced communication have furnished reliable information in the past.

SF-T1 with whom contact has been insufficient to judge the reliability of this source, but who is a neighbor of Barrie Millman, Berkeley, California.

Robert: Those familiar with the habit of the Warren Commission reports mistaking names and places will not be surprised to observe

that Sanford's Restaurant is actually Sanborn's Restaurant, and that almost certainly Amo Alcozar was actually Homobono Alcaraz Aragon who was interviewed twice

he lived at least at the time at Calle Anaxagoras #232 Apartment #22 Colonia Narvarte Mexico D F. [This locale of Mexico also has some other interesting names

which could be very close to Alcozar's residence.]

Alcozar was indeed engaged, to Barrie Millman, according to the information Alcozar gave during these interviews.

(whether they actually eventually married I am not aware.)

When he was interviewed he stated that the photograph he was shown of Lee Harvey Oswald was not the same person whom he had seen with Steve Keenan.

See CD 1084 e

http://www.maryferre...0&relPageId=237

and equally important

http://www.maryferre...30&relPageId=79

Regarding AMLUNY, and the various URL's posted by Tom Scully, I would like to thank Tom who is a very astute researcher, and I am very grateful

he is here at the Forum. I've looked at some of these documents and there are several mentions of diplomatic pouches, BRUS, which is Brussels and Cuba.

I cannot give a qualified opinion if there is a inter-relationship, but I wouldn't disregard anything at his point. What interests me very much is that SF-T1 is

an FBI designation, and I am hoping that there is a good chance that there is a CIA designation for SF-T1, at this point considering that the persons

listed in the FBI's Warren Commission Document # 339 are also included in Oswald's 201 File, I don't see how there wouldn't be overlapping designations

of FBI and CIA, even if they were not sharing information.

Also, there is a Judith Gordon who is part of the picture, in all of this

See

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=57755&relPageId=76

(And I don't even know, what to make of this blurb.)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0589799/

Edited by Robert Howard
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Philadelphia Quakers - With Oswald in Mexico City

by Bill Kelly

Of the many Philadelphia connections to the assassination of President Kennedy, few stand out as more interesting or suspicious as Lee Harvey Oswald's Quaker connection in Mexico City.

As the story filtered back to the FBI, it was alledged that Oswald was seen at a restaurant in Mexico City with an American who also wanted to go to Cuba. This source further related later that this same American may have given Oswald a ride to the Cuban and Russian embassies on the back of a motorcycle. This American was later identified as a Philadelphia Quaker student, possibly named "Steve Kennan or Keenan."

The first part of this story came to the FBI's attention thru the fiance of Homobono Alcaraz Aragon, a friend of an informant for the FBI's San Francisco office and led back to Mexico City. The trail of information contained in FBI reports is somewhat confusing, so I defer to Professor Jerry Rose, as he published the first part of the story in the Fourth Decade [Volume 5 #4, May, 1998].

Rose wrote about the FBI's investigation of The Casa De Los Amigos, a Quaker camp or hostel in Mexico City whose residents apparantly had knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald's activities. Prof. Rose wrote: "Given the Bureau's propensity to try to associate Oswald with Friends [Quaker] groups like the New Orleans Council for Peaceful Alternatives, this `information' aroused the intense interest of headquarters, which conveyed this information along with directives to interview [Alcaraz] and give the appropriate attention to the matter in view of the fact that, `Mrs. Ruth Paine of Irving Texas, who has befriended Oswald and wife, has been prominently associated with the activities of the Friend's organization.'"

The Mexico City Quaker connection was first developed by the San Francisco Bureau of the FBI, whose undercover informant Judith Gordon, notified them on January 15, 1964 that Barrie Milliman, a female student at the University of Califorinia (Berkeley), learned of some of Oswald's movements and contacts while visiting her fiance Homobono Amo Alcaraz in Mexico City.

Before they got to Alcaraz however, the FBI interviewed the Acting Director of the Casa del Los Amigos, Von Peacock, who speculated that the "unknown American" may have been Robert Kaffke of San Francisco, who had been one of 58 students who made an illegal trip to Cuba in the summer of 1963. While it was determined that Kaffke was not registered at the Casa De Los Amigos until Oct. 25, 1963, weeks after Oswald had left, he was familiar to the FBI since he was also an undercover informant of the San Francisco FBI office. He was not now suspected as being the "unknown American" seen with Oswald in Mexico City.

Kaffke told the FBI that when he stayed at the Casa de Los Amigos in late October 1963 the residents were still talking about Oswald's visit. When Oswald was there he had "a lot of money" and "persons at Casa de Los Amigos are really scared when the name of Oswald is mentioned." [b.K. -- Note that they were scared in October, 1963 -- Before the assassination].

When the FBI caught up with Alcaraz, he verified much of what had been reported by Barrie Milliman, thru her friend Judith Gordon, which was that he had seen Oswald with an unknown American at Sanford's restaurant and that they were "working together to get visas for travel to Cuba and that they planned to go there together."

According to the FBI report, Alcaraz mentioned that Oswald may have been associated with `Steve Kennan', identified as a "pro-communist American," who had been in Mexico in 1962 and 1963, although he "stated emphatically," that he had never seen Oswald with "Kennan".

Then, according to Rose, there is the reference in the FBI reports to an "Arnold," who "begins to assume human shape and identity as `Steve Kennan' moves into limbo."

Arnold Kessler of Detroit had also been at the Casa de Los Amigos (in February), and like Barrie Millman, had attended the University of California at Berkeley. He worked temporarily as a journalist in Mexico City before moving on to Brazil, where the FBI found him. Kessler denied meeting Oswald, but stated that it was Alcaraz who told him that he -- Alcaraz had met Oswald.

As a former student radical who dropped out of college, and was not an FBI informant, Kessler's draft board was subsequently informed of his circumstances so he could be inducted into the military.

The FBI Legal Attache in Mexico then concluded there was "no real basis for inquiry" and "no further investigation is being conducted."

But others did investigate, and found out more about the mysterious American Quaker from Philadelphia, "Steve Kennan".

In Live By The Sword, Gus Russo (Bancroft Press, Baltimore, MD., 1998) gives an historically deceiving perspective of Kennedy's murder that still tries to sell the original cover-story for the operation -- that Fidel Castro was behind the assassination. There is however, an interesting footnote under the allegation that there are no photos of Lee Harvey Oswald in Mexico City because, as Russo would like us to believe, Oswald was possibly accompanied by Cuban agents. The note (from Chapter 19 - 8, p. 579) reads:

"In 1994, . . . [Anthony and Robbyn] Summers also interviewed Homer Bono, who told them that he met Oswald at Sanborn's Restaurant outside Mexico City in 1963. Oswald left in the company of a Quaker from Philadelphia named Steve Kennan [sic?]. Oswald was a passenger on Kennan's motorbike as the two drove off to the Cuban Embassy to try to secure a visa for Oswald. Kennan has never been found or interviewed."

The idea that Oswald could have been ferried about Mexico City on a motorbike by "a Quaker from Philadelphia" is certainly an interesting possibility, especially since the Warren Report makes note of the fact (p. 735):

"Although the Soviet and Cuban Embassies are within two blocks of each other, they are some distance from Oswald's hotel. He must, therefore, have traversed a substantial portion of the city on more than one occasion." So, "A Quaker from Philadelphia" with a motorbike would have done very nicely, and he could be a valuable witness to Oswald's activities there.

Anthony Summers, in Not In Your Lifetime (Marlowe & Co., N.Y., 1998 p.441), wrote in a footnote:

"In 1994, in Mexico City, the author interviewed Homobono Alcaraz Aragon, a lawyer. His name featured in reports indicating that he claimed he had met Oswald in Mexico City before the assassination. In the 1994 interview, Alcaraz said he had encountered Oswald at Sanborn's restaurant, in the company of two or three other American students -- all Quakers, like Alcaraz himself. The talk centered on efforts to get to Cuba, and Alcaraz said `Oswald' eventually left with one of the Americans -- whom Alcaraz recalls as being named either Steve Kennan (or Keenan) from Philadelphia. As Alcaraz recalled it, Keenan drove Oswald on his motorcycle to go to the Cuban consulate. Alcaraz seemed sincere, and abhorred publicity. He named a friend, Hector Gastelo (now a farmer in Sanoro State) as probably having been present during the encounter with Oswald. (Interview with Alcaraz, 1993; CE 2121; and multiple FBI reports -- available at the Assassinations Archive and Research Center, Washington D.C.; Miraba: HSCA III.177)."

In a footnote to the footnote, Summers also makes note that, "As this book went to press, the author became aware of information that the CIA ran an agent in Mexico, code named LICOZY -- 3, who was a student from Philadelphia (Philip Agee, Inside the Company, Stonehill, 1975, p. 530).

The plot thickens as Agee reported (Inside the Company):

"The [Mexico City] station double-agent cases against the Soviets, LICOZY-1, LICOZY-3 and LICOZY-5, are all being wound up for lack of productivity or problems of control. One of these agents, LICOZY-3, is an American living in Philadelphia who was recruited by the Soviets while a student in Mexico City, but who reported the recruitment and worked for the Mexico City station. He worked for the FBI after returning to the US -- the Soviet case officer was a UN offical at one time -- but recently Soviet interest in him has fallen off and the FBI turned the case back over to the Agency for termination." [Emphasis added -- where?].

Sanborn's Restaurant, where Alcaraz and Kennan reportedly met Oswald, is also mentioned by Richard Case Nagell, who according to Dick Russell (in The Man Who Knew Too Much, Carroll & Graf, 1992, p. 354), wrote a letter to his friend Arthur Greenstein refering to Sandborn's restaurant as a meeting place. While Sandborn's Restaurant is reported in one reference (Russo) to be "just outside" Mexico City, Mary Ferrell's index notes that, (Steve) "Kennan was seen several times in Sanborn's Restaurant next to the American Embassy bldg. in Mexico City."

[b.K. Note: If Sanborns Restaurant is next to the American Embassy, Larry Happanen questions whether Oswald visited the American Embassy as well as the Cuban and Russian Embassies while he was there.]

It seems quite possible, even probable, as Summers' suspects, that "Steve Kennan -- or Keenan" -- a "Quaker from Philadelphia," who gave Oswald a ride around Mexico City on his motorbike, could be LICOZY-3, a "student from Philadelphia who was recruited by the Soviets while a student in Mexico City."

The whole "Quaker" connection to the assassination reaches right to the heart of the matter of who was behind Oswald's movements and how he was being directed in his clandestine operations -- his advocacy of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans, his mission to the Cuban and Russian Embassies in Mexico City, his intention to move to Philadelphia, his relocation back to Dallas and his job at the Texas School Book Depository.

Central to everything is Ruth Avery Hyde Paine.

According to Priscilla Johnson McMillan, in Marina and Lee (Harper and Row, N.Y., 1977, p. 314):

"Ruth Avery Hyde grew up in the Middle West, the daughter of parents who felt strongly about the value of education and good works. When she was only thirteen, Ruth spent a summer on a truck farm in Ohio as her way of contributing to the effort to win World War II. The next summer she was with a traveling Bible school, teaching in Ohio and Indiana. At nineteen, as a student at Antioch College in Ohio, she became a Quaker, a convinced Quaker, often the most dedicated kind. She wanted to be a teacher, and by the time she graduated had an astonishing array of jobs. She had taught in elementary schools in the East and Middle West and had been a recreation leader at Jewish community centers in Ohio and Indiana, at a club for elderly immigrants in Philadelphia, and at a Friends' work camp in South Dakota. Whatever the job, Ruth was liked and respected, and was always asked to come back. . . . She was later a teacher, aged twenty-five, at the Germantown Friends' School in Philadelphiawhen she met and married Michael Paine . . . They moved to Texas, and in September 1962, they separated . . ."

Not mentioned in this biography is the fact that Ruth Hyde Paine's father and sister both worked in various capacities for federal agencies that have provided cover for the CIA. Another anomoly is Maria Hyde, an elderly American lady whom Oswald met in both Moscow and Minsk, and whose photo of Oswald in Minsk turned up in CIA files, reportedly from the files of the Domestic Contacts Division of the CIA, which routinely debriefs American tourists and business people who travel abroad. [it has never been determined if the Marie Hyde that Oswald met in Russia is in any way related to Ruth Hyde Paine or the international Quaker community. It however, seems to be a question that could be reasonably answered].

Ruth Avery Hyde Paine is a pacifist who harbors Quaker beliefs, studied the Russian language, wrote letters to pen-pals in the Soviet Union, helped arrange east-west exchange students and became Marina Oswald's guardian. She first took Marina into her home as a guest while Oswald went to New Orleans to obtained work and an apartment.

Ruth H. Paine then drove Marina from Texas to the Magazine Street apartment in New Orleans and then notified a local Quaker, Mrs. Ruth Kloepfer, of the Oswald's presence in New Orleans. She requested Kloepfer contact and assist the Oswalds, and Mrs. Kloepfer and her two college age daughters, who were also learning the Russian language, then visited Lee and Marina at the apartment.

According to the Warren Report (p. 726):

"Ruth Kloepfer was a clerk of the Quaker Meeting in New Orleans whom Ruth Paine had written in the hope that she might know some Russian-speaking people who could visit Marina. Mrs. Kloepfer herself visited the Oswalds but made no attempt to direct any Russian-speaking people to them." [Other than her daughters, who were never interviewed].

Oswald then embarked upon his trip to Clinton, LA., and pro and anti-Castro Cuban operations in New Orleans, which continued until September 22, 1963, when Ruth H. Paine arrived in New Orleans from Philadelphia. Arriving after a long summer trip that took her to visit relatives in Massachusetts and Philadelphia Ruth Hyde Paine had spent some time with her husband's mother, Ruth Forbes Paine Young and her husband Arthur Young, the inventor of the Bell Helicopter. Both Ruth F. P. Young (Michael Paine's mother) and Arthur Young were pacifists, professed Quaker beliefs and were associated with the Philadelphia Friends community.

Oswald had told a few acquaintences, including Ruth H. Paine, that he intended to relocate to Philadelphia, and in his notebook are five Philadelphia addresses and the notations:

· Philidelphia (sic)

· Russ-Amer. citizenship club 2730 Snyder Av.

· Russ. Lan. school 1212 Spruce

· Russian Daliy (sic) Paper Jefferson Bldg.

· Russian Lan. Trn. 216 S. 20 / Russ. _ _ _ _ _ -- Ho_ _ Organ. 1733 Spring Grdn. [WC Exhibit 18].

Philadelphia is the headquarters of the world Quaker community, which maintains close ties to nearby Main Line colleges Swathmore College and Haverford. Michael Paine attended Swathmore after leaving Harvard, and journalist Priscilla Johnson McMillan matriculated at Haverford. Both Priscilla Johnson and Ruth Forbes Paine were active in support of the World Federalists, the organization founded by Cord Meyer, who later became head of the CIA's International Organizaitons and Domestic Contacts Divisions.

Also in downtown Philadelphia is the headquarters of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which operates Casa de los Amigos, the "camp" or youth hostel for America students studying the Spanish language in Mexico City, where the "unknown American," Philadelphia Quaker student "Steve Kennen -- or Keenan" is alledged to have stayed.

Instead of going to Philadelphia however, Oswald went to Mexico City, while Mrs. Ruth H. Paine took Marina, the kids and all of the Oswald's belongings -- including his rifle -- to Texas.

It is possible that "Steve Kennan -- Keenan" and his Quaker friends knew Oswald in Mexico City and were associated with Casa de los Amigos, which is still operational today.

In response to an email querry, Ruth Hyde Paine said that while she received a newsletter from the Casa de los Amigos, the Quaker hostel in Mexico City, she has never been there, and was not familiar with a Philadelphia Quaker student named "Steve Kennan or Keenan."

Identifying and locating a "Philadelphia Quaker student" who was in Mexico City in the summer of 1963 named "Steve Kennan or Keenan," should not be such a difficult task for any good researcher worth his salt, and I put out a challenge to others interested in this subject to help try to find this guy.

Among those who assisted in the search, Stu Wexler, myself and others looked in the extensive Quaker records at all the various Quaker institutions in Philadelphia, but came up empty for any "Steve Kennan," or "Steve Keenan."

Australian researcher Greg Parker however, noticed a smilar name in Priscialla Johnson McMcillan's book Lee & Marina (p. 68), in which she notes, on October 31, 1959, former U.S. Marine Corps defector Lee Harvey Oswald left the Hotel Metropole in Moscow and took a taxi to the American Embassy. There he told a receptionist he wanted to "disolve his citizenship."

In the office of U.S. consul Richard E. Snyder, Oswald "slapped his passport down on Snyder's desk and demanded to take the oath renouncing his American citizenship that very moment. And he handed Snyder a letter formally requesting that his American citizenship be revoked and affirming his allegiance to the U.S.S.R. He added that he had been a radar technician in the Marine Corps and would make available to the Soviet government such knowledge as he had acquired."

According to PJM, "Richard Snyder was in a dilemma, for Lee Oswald appeared to be sane and he was within his own rights . . . glancing at Oswald's passport and noting that he was still a minor, the boy ought to have time to think it over . . . The exchange lasted less than an hour, but it had so nasty a tone that it was remembered long afterward by three Americans, besides Snyder and Oswald, who were present during parts of it -- John McVicker, the vice-consul, Marie Cheatham, the receptionist, and Edward L. Keenan, a graduate exchange student down for the weekend from Leningrad."

Could "Edward L. Keenan," the graduate exchange student in Leningrad and Moscow be the mysterious, "unknown American" Philadelphia Quaker student who also rode Oswald around Mexico City on the back of his motorcycle in the fall of 1963?

Parker took his hunch to the internet and came up with one Edward L. Keenan, professor of linguistics at the Univeristy of the City of Los Angeles (UCLA), whose Curricululm Vitae includes a BA degree in Philosophy and Religion from Swathmore College in Philadelpia in 1959 and the Sorbonne (1962), as well as work as an "Escort Interprter" (French-English) for the U.S. Department of State in 1962-64 (summers).

A Quaker student from Philadelphia named Edward L. Keenan!

Is this the guy? If so, it is even more remarkable that he would meet Oswald at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow on the day he defects in 1959 and then hooks up with him again in Mexico City in the fall of 1963, a few months before he is accused of being the assassin of the President of the United States.

[bK Notes: I have initiated an internet email querry with all major Quaker organizations and am getting a good response from librarians who are very helpful.]

It is also possible Oswald learned of this Quaker "camp" before he went to Mexico City from either Ruth H. Paine or Ruth Kloepfer, although both would later deny that they knew of Oswald's intention to visit Mexico.

It has long been speculated that any CIA photographs of Oswald entering or leaving the Cuban or Russian embassies, on any of ten known occassions, were not made public because of other persons who are in the photographs, which would expose on-going covert operations.

In his book Gus Russo speculates that any person photographed with Oswald in Mexico City was possibly Cuban, or at least a Communist agent, but if LICOVEY-3 ferried Oswald around, he was being transported about by a KGB-CIA double agent under the control of the CIA Counter-intelligence unit (James J. Angleton -- Win Scott), the same ones who kept the CIA files on Oswald "very close to their vests." (paraphrase of John Newman -- Oswald & the CIA).

With the Quaker connection, there seems to be an underlying thread of detached financial and administrative assistance from a number of "non-profit" religious oriented charity organizations such as the American Friends Service Committee, the "Red Cross" that subsidized Oswald's soujourn in Minsk, the Russian Orthodox Church in America and the Catholic Cuban Welfare and Refugee Relief organizations.

Some of them were supported financially by the Catherwood Fund, a non- profit foundation established the same month in 1948 as the CIA, and located in Paoli, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia on the Main Line, in the same small town as Michael Paine's mother, Ruth Forbes Young and her husband Arthur Young.

The CIA funding of such organizations has long been established and the roles of CIA officials Tom Braden and Cord Meyer have been widely published, and in light of the Quaker connections, should be reviewed to see if there are any more concrete connections.

Edited by William Kelly
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Any info on what happened to Kessler?

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Any info on what happened to Kessler?

Yes, Kessler worked in South America as a journalist and then returned home.

He's dead now, but lived an interesting life.

His son posted a web site about his his dad that I can't seem to find a link to anymore.

I have a few photos of him.

I think he is the one that is sometimes refered to as "the beatnick Oswald."

BK

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