Rex Bradford

The Mary Ferrell Foundation has put Gaeton Fonzi's The Last Investigation back in print, available for $29.95 directly from the Foundation (http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/MFF_Store), or from amazon.com who takes all the money for their troubles. :-) The book is updated with a new Epilogue by Fonzi as well as a new Preface by his colleague Bernard McCormick. For those who don't need a 2nd copy or have spent all their money on gas (Bill Maher: "If Colonel Sanders was president, and the price of chicken tripled, wouldn't we be a little suspicious?"), the MFF site has a page of abundant resources related to the book, including audio of a 1993 Third Decade keynote address by Fonzi. Follow the link below: http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...t_Investigation Rex

John, Very good question, which I will throw back at you. I know less than I should about the organization of RFK documents; on the FBI LAFO docs Jim Lesar just handed me 4 boxes full of volumes. I haven't finished processing and uploading them yet (they should all be online by tomorrow), but there are no volumes 7-10 in them. Do you know what is up with that? (I am planning to talk to Jim Lesar about it too) Rex

Bill, Thanks very much for the history behind the Lantern Spike report, which I wasn't aware of (yet another book to add to the in-pile!). Do you know what happened to the documents received by the Memphis Commercial Appeal? Rex

I wanted to alert forum members to a set of new document collections on the Mary Ferrell site (http://www.maryferrell.org). These come courtesy of the AARC: MLK Assassination - http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...ation_Documents * HSCA appendix volumes on MLK * FBI MURKIN Files (partial collection) * Army Lantern Spike after action report RFK Assassination - http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...ation_Documents * Sirhan Sirhan trial transcript * Appeal documents * FBI Los Angeles Field Office Files (coming online over the next few days) Still to come are the voluminous LAPD Special Unit Senator files (about 50,000 pages), plus misc. other docs such as the late Larry Teeter's Writ of Habeas Corpus, which summarizes much of the RFK case in asking for a new trial (courtesy of Janet Clark). As always, these are all free for browsing, emailing links, etc. The search system now allows a few search click-throughs per session, before we beg for a few dollars. I hope people find these useful, that they stimulate informed discussion of the 1968 murders, and that new information emerges from having them online. If you know of other documents related to these assassinations, please let me know at info@maryferrell.org. Rex

Interesting, I had missed that. Rex

To all MFF users, The bad behavior should be fixed now; apologies again. The new behavior of the site is now somewhat more open than before: 1. Browsing, as always when we aren't breaking things, is completely free, as is following email links, etc. 2. Searching, from within the site, and from outside (Google, Yahoo, etc.) allows a few clickthroughs to the site before the big bad message demanding payment shows up. This is to allow more people to see what the site has to offer. Obviously if you are doing active research using the search engine, a paid membership would still be necessary. I remain happy to explain the policy if it's not clear, thanks. Rex

PETER. I WILL PAY YOUR FEES. ALTHOUGH I DO NOT ALWAYS AGREE WITH YOU RESEARCH AND CONCLUTIONS. HOWEVER, I RESPECT YOUR DEDICATION AND TIME ON THIS SUBJECT IN SEARCH FOR TRUTH. PERHAPS REX CAN MAKE THE ARRANGEMENTS VIA EMAIL TO ME AND WE WILL GET YOU A MEMBERSHIP. To all, My apologies and forebearance is requested. We just yesterday implemented an opening of the archive which backfired. The pre-yesterday behavior was that all searches were limited to members, and browsing free to all. The intended behavior as of today is to allow a limited number of searches for non-members, and keep browsing free. A programming bug has caused browsing to be limited as well. This will be fixed asap. Please be patient while this is resolved. When the bug is fixed, hopefully later today, this will be the behavior of the MFF site: 1. All browsing (i.e., following links on the site, email links, etc.) remains free and open to all, whether member or anonymous visitor or whatever. 2. Searches from within the site or from outside (i.e., google) will allow a few "free pass" clickthroughs, before a message appears requiring membership to continue using search access to the site. The intent is to make the site even more open than previously, not the other way around. Rex

One never knows, but my personal view is that Trafficante was a very smart man who knew how to handle congressional committees. His public testimony is similar to this previously-withheld testimony in his smooth deflection of questions and his obvious lack of candor and general closed-mouthedness. Rex

On a trip to NARA last year, I noticed that 5 documents in the HSCA Immunized Testimony boxes remained withheld in full. Most prominent were Santos Trafficante's immunized testimony of 14 Nov 1977, and a lengthy memo written later in preparation for his public testimony. I made inquiries, and all 5 documents are now open in full, and last week I went to College Park and scanned them. See the page below for links to all of them, as well as other HSCA testimony I got while there (Priscilla Johnson McMillan and William Walter). http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...timony_Released Trafficante's testimony contained no bombshells that I could see - he did name Tony Varona as being hired into the anti-Castro plots, which I don't believe came out as such in his public testimony. But mostly Trafficante played dumb, pretending that the only reason he was brought into the plots was as an interpreter. Presumably no one else in Florida could be found who spoke both English and Spanish. Trafficante did himself bring up the British reporter in jail (Hudson, though not by name), but denied that Ruby visited him there. I don't know why this and other testimony was withheld in full - I was told they simply "fell through the cracks." Maybe someone else will find a tidbit that I missed. Rex

Charles, The answers I give below may be inadequate because of my desire to respect privacy concerns of a benefactor of the MFF. Here goes: 1. Where are the Ferrell archives? I understand that security and related matters may legitimately preclude you from being specific. Perhaps not. I and others are concerned that, while your intentions clearly are noble, parties who could benefit from the culling of Mary's immense collection are abroad in the land. I do not want to be specific on this one, sorry. I have visited the collection on several occasions. It is under padlock and I do not believe accessible by untrustworthy people. Obviously no private collection can be completely secure in the fullest sense - the AARC for most of its tenure was pretty insecure. But I'm personally satisfied, for what it's worth. 2. Are the archives safe from the ravages of climate and insect/rodent infestation? Yes, the collection is protected from the elements, though subject to the normal paper degradation process. 3. Will the archives ever be directly accessible to credentialed researchers? The MFF has offices in Ipswich, Mass, and certainly if someone has a legitimate need for access to some particular portion of Mary's archive, I can arrange to make it accessible there. The full collection is not currently available for browsing. 4. What motivated Mr. Curme to go to the considerable expense to buy the archives, care for Mary, and make the MFF a reality? My considered belief is that this was truly done for altruistic reasons based on a longstanding interest in the case and the larger issues of government deceit, accountability, etc. I base this on many personal interactions. Ultimately, I think the best answer to this question is the quality and contents of the website, which continues to grow and become more complete and useful. As far as Jack White's comments regarding copyright, my understanding of copyright law is that it does not afford nearly so comprehensive a blanket protection for those involved in education. If there is a copyright lawyer in the house who would like to weigh in on this issue, I'm very interested. Google could argue that they are involved in education with their project of scanning books and making them searchable online (in a much fuller search engine than ours). But they are the defendant in a billion-dollar lawsuit brought by the publishers. Rex

I'd like to try a second time to describe the state of affairs with Mary Ferrell's collection and the Foundation. As many people may know, I started the History Matters website (www.history-matters.com) and am also Vice-President of the Assassination Archives and Research Center (AARC - www.aarclibrary.org), which Jim Lesar heads. I have for the nearly 3 years now been devoting considerable attention to building the Mary Ferrell Foundation's website, which a few weeks ago passed 750,000 pages of JFK-related documents, along with photos, audio, video, and various special projects. I of course encourage everyone to check it out if you haven't already. All documents and other materials are free for browsing by anyone with an internet connection. We do have $39.95 paid memberships for those doing active research - these memberships are required to do full-text searches, plus other specialized searches, of the archive. But the materials are also well organized and accessible by point-and-click browsing by anyone. The materials on the site include documents, books, and other materials from Mary Ferrell's collection, which is in the possession of the Foundation and kept intact. However, much more of what we have comes from the AARC. I am the person who chooses what collections to put online and, given very limited resources, in what order. My priority is to put up what I think will be of the greatest use for those studying the JFK case and related topics. The website was never meant to be an archive of Mary's materials only. It is true that only a portion of Mary's materials have been put online. What we have put online includes hundreds of books (with limited "fair use" search excerpting), several thousand pages of documents, Mary's full Database and her Chronologies, and miscellaneous other materials. What we have not put online are: * Thousands upon thousands of books. Given that our "fair use limited search" is really limited, it just hasn't been worth the trouble to scan books on early Soviet history and the many other topics Mary had tons of books on. We scanned over 300 of her books, mostly JFK-related, along with about 100 other books she didn't have. * Dozens of boxes full of newspaper clippings and magazine articles. She was a prolific clipper. Our problem is copyright. While most news sources probably don't care anymore, we haven't been willing to take the chance on this. * Documents. We have not put up all of Mary's document collection. In some cases, like the Warren Commission Documents, Mary's collection was incomplete and in some disrepair - many missing pages, etc. So we got a microfilm collection and used that instead, and then I went to the National Archives and scanned what was missing from the 1986-era microfilm. Similarly Mary's FBI and CIA files were not very voluminous and massively superceded by the AARC's much larger and more recently acquired collection. I did put up Mary's 1980-era FBI Mexico City file, though I've started a project of getting from the National Archives a much-less-redacted set. I also found a transcript from an HSCA critic's conference and put that online. * AudioVideo. Mary did have several boxes with audiotapes and videotapes of various kinds. Some of these clearly suffer from the same copyright issues, but not all. It continues to be a goal of mine to go through these and make some available. There are also some folders of slides with the same issues. * Miscellaneous. There is a stack of phone books from 1963 and other years of that era, which may or may not be of use to anyone at this point, and miscellanous items like that. Mary also received several manuscripts from various people - books that never made it into print. In general, there is more from Mary's collection that I intend to make available online, though prioritized with other materials from the AARC, National Archives, and other sources. For example, I am going to NARA very shortly to get a copy of Santos Trafficante's HSCA Immunized Testimony, which I discovered last year was withheld in full (after making some inquiries and complaints, I am told that it has now just been released). In contrast, what I've been able to get from the AARC includes several hundred thousand pages of FBI and CIA documents processed in the late 1990s (read: fewer redactions), Church Committee reports and transcripts of all Church Committee depositions, and much more. I have also obtained a few thousand pages of JCS files directly from the National Archives, as well as cherry-picked documents from the voluminous HSCA Numbered Files, and other misc. collections such as the papers of Capt. Will Fritz, Rockefeller Commission files, and more. We will soon begin processing some new AARC document collections and I'll post here when that begins. I would not dream of sanitizing materials taken from Mary's collection. I do not own any "black highlighters." I hope the above overlong response clarifies things a bit. I am always open to input on what materials related to the case would be of most use to people, as the website is intended as a public service. In this contentious matter, I expect criticism on the tone of the writing I do on the website, topics chosen, etc. I would hope that people would recognize the seriousness with which I take my role, however. Again, www.maryferrell.org is meant to be a useful resource for people who use this forum and others out there. If there are suggestions people have for particular document collections or other resources that you think we should add, please email me at info@maryferrell.org. If you got this far, thanks for your patience in reading this. Rex Bradford

I posted this at the end of a long discussion but then decided it merited a new topic, so here goes: The Mary Ferrell Foundation just today published Morley and Talbot's piece on the RFK-Ambassador story, entitled "The BBC's Flawed RFK Story." As the title implies, after 6 weeks of interviewing dozens of people, they conclude that the photo identifications don't hold up, though the Joannides one is the most mixed. They also verified that Gordon Campbell died in 1962. The piece is accompanied by new photos of Morales and the first-ever published photos of Joannides (assuming you discount the Ambassador one). I did a phone interview with Jeff Morley and David Talbot yesterday, and the audio and transcript of that interview is up on the site as well, along with links to the original BBC story and related resources. The home page at www.maryferrell.org currently features the story - for those coming across this post after the home page changes, here are some direct links: The BBC's Flawed RFK Story: http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...lawed_RFK_Story "Unredacted" Interview with Morley and Talbot : http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...ted_-_Episode_8 Let the commentary begin..... Rex

So now we are awaiting on Shane to complete this and find an outlet in USA and for Jeff Morley and David Talbot to give their new photos of Morales and update on inquiry to Rex and MFF? BK Bill et al, The Mary Ferrell Foundation just today published Morley and Talbot's piece on the RFK-Ambassador story, entitled "The BBC's Flawed RFK Story." As the title implies, after 6 weeks of interviewing dozens of people, they conclude that the photo identifications don't hold up, though the Joannides one is the most mixed. They also verified that Gordon Campbell died in 1962. The piece is accompanied by new photos of Morales and the first-ever published photos of Joannides (assuming you discount the Ambassador one). I did a phone interview with Jeff Morley and David Talbot yesterday, and the audio and transcript of that interview is up on the site as well, along with links to the original BBC story and related resources. The home page at www.maryferrell.org currently features the story - for those coming across this post after the home page changes, here are some direct links: The BBC's Flawed RFK Story: http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...lawed_RFK_Story "Unredacted" Interview with Morley and Talbot : http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...ted_-_Episode_8 Let the commentary begin..... Rex

It would cost about $5000 to replicate the Mac setup I have, including all new programs, scanner, printer, etc. Not worth it. My present setup does 95% of what I need. Expensive conversation piece. Jack Jack, Very sorry to hear you can't access the MFF site - I'll see if we can do a little more testing. Do you have trouble with many websites, or just this one? If your problems are more general, an alternative to a $5000 replacement might be to get a 2nd inexpensive notebook computer just for web use or other things that don't work on your Mac. I got one at Staples for about $600 (PC, from Averatec), Mac laptops cost a little more. Rex

Don Thomas has written a new essay, not on acoustics this time. It discusses the issue of Oswald and the 6th floor "sniper's nest", particularly focused on the testimony of black TSBD employees including Charles Givens and Bonnie Ray Williams. Entitled "Rewriting History: Bugliosi Parses the Testimony," it dissects Vincent Bugliosi's handling of this matter in addition to that of the Warren Commission. This essay is published on the Mary Ferrell site. Lots of pictures, and many reference links for the obsessive among us. http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/...s_the_Testimony Rex

Rex, did you see this question? John and Bill, I did just now. I will definitely send a link re: the Morley and Talbot update; stay tuned. Rex

Redactions and all, and there are many, the CIA family jewels documents are now available in the MFF document archive: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=60409 We added a hotlinked table of contents to make browsing and navigation a little easier. Enjoy, if that is the right word here.... Rex

I would like to clarify the policies of the Mary Ferrell Foundation if I may, because there seems to be a bit of continuing confusion. There is not a single document page, video clip, audio clip, photograph, or anything else on the Mary Ferrell Foundation website which is "off limits" to anyone. A well-organized (well, I hope it is, I tried hard) browsing system makes as accessible as possible more than 500,000 pages of documents as well as over a thousand photos, hundreds of audio and video clips, etc. If you find a page you like, you may also email a link to that page to anyone, and they will be able to view it without restriction. Here's the deal on memberships: 1. A free membership afford the ability to make comments. 2. A paid membership ($39.95 per year) affords the ability to use the search tools. The above system was the best way I could think of to make materials fully accessible to everyone, and still have a mechanism for generating a little revenue from serious users of the site. People obviously have differing opinions on this decision. My personal biased view is that paid membership is a steal for the ability to search and use an archive of this scale. Your mileage may vary. In any case, if anyone is confused about what I mean by "browsing", here's a quick tutorial: 1. Go to www.maryferrell.org 2. Click on the ARCHIVE tab near the top of the screen 3. Select a type of material to browse: Browse Documents, Browse Multimedia, etc. 4. If documents, you will then get a listing of high-level "document sets," organized somewhat similarly to the National Archives - Warren Commission, HSCA, FBI, CIA, ARRB, etc. Clicking on any one gets you to a further level of detail. After a few steps, you get a list of documents. 5. Click on a document title to view it. There are then controls for advancing through pages, viewing a table of contents if available, changing page rotation or size, etc. If the above is not clear, and anyone would like to learn more about how to find materials on the website, I'm happy to help explain further either here on this forum or in email. Rex Bradford Mary Ferrell Foundation

Rex , How do define "expert' or, what passes as an''expert" -Bill Bill, That's a good question that I don't really have a good answer for. I'm not that big on credentials, being a UMass graduate with a degree in Psychology who became a largely self-taught computer game programmer who stumbled onto the JFK assassination and became a historian and archivist. So you don't need a degree in Assassinology. I guess expert is as expert does, or writes in this case. I like anything that I take responsibility for publishing to be serious and thoughtful, well-written in terms of spelling/grammar and general writing style, and best if it has linkable "backup" in terms of documented references and places to go for more information. It takes time to review essays, suggest and review modifications, etc. and I like that time to be well spent. That said, I think much of the writing on the assassination in journals such as the Third/Fourth Decade, Probe, etc. has been quite excellent and I don't mean to be snobby here. I just think the larger world out there takes Bugliosi seriously and the counter-arguments need to be well-presented. Short pithy pieces devoted to a single focused topic or a single argument Bugliosi makes are great too. Does this help? In the case of this blog, unlike History Matters or the MFF site, the venture is a group one involving Gary Aguilar and a few others, and I am sharing decisions on what goes on it. Despite the above which I hope is taken the right way, I do welcome submissions and would love to have a real undertaking made to counter the book. The parts I've read so far are curiously unimpressive despite, or maybe because of, Bugliosi's incessant chest-thumping. Don Thomas has written a piece on Bugliosi's treatment of the acoustics which makes mincemeat of his approach, whether you agree with Thomas or not. That will be on the blog shortly. Rex

The Henry J. Sloman 11-22-63 document may be viewed here: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=2 The JWAVE-to-DIR cable says that "Henry J. Sloman arriving MEXI 22 Nov...." I found it kind of funny that Bugliosi misread MEXI as "next", and thus writes: A CIA document dated the day of the assassination and released by the CIA in 1997 under the JFK Act reads, “Henry J. Sloman arriving next 22 Nov [which, literally, would be the following year] ....." If this is typical of his scholarship, well.... Rex

Myra, Thanks for the link - looks fine. I would kindly ask you to fix the spelling of Mary Ferrell (with two e's, very common mistake). Also if you have an inclination to include my humble History Matters offering (www.history-matters.com) I wouldn't complain. Great list of links you have. Rex

I have launched a new blog devoted to commentary on Vincent Bugliosi's Reclaiming History: http://www.reclaiminghistory.org It will feature short pieces, as well as excerpts and links to lengthier essays and reviews of the book. I'm looking for experts to take a particular part of the case and address Bugliosi's treatment of it, as well as discuss the book as a whole in a critical but not-too-diatribey way. If you have written something you'd like to submit, you can contact me at info@maryferrell.org. Rex Bradford

I think I have to do a better job of getting the word out about all the materials on www.maryferrell.org, admittedly perhaps too hard to find among almost 500,000 pages. Ten of Doug's memos have been online for some months now: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...o?docSetId=1113 The one in question here is #6, though I recommend reading them all. Rex I will ask Rex Bradford if he might be able to obtain a copy and post it on maryferrell.org

Ron, An excellent project, and there is a set of issues (complete?) in Mary's collection. Does anyone know if there is a copyright holder who would object? I know that Baylor University has its Penn Jones collection, which includes the journal, but not available online. http://www3.baylor.edu/Library/BCPM/JFK/Jones/PennJones.html Is there anyone who knows definitively how many volumes of the journal there were, to determine whether what I have access to is complete? Rex

Pat, Is this the Olivier report you're looking for?: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=31996 If not, check the other Rockefeller Commission files I copied while at NARA some months back: http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...o?docSetId=1105 As for HSCA transcripts, there are indeed a great many which are not available anywhere online. Most of them are in the HSCA Numbered Files collection I alluded to in my post. Rex