Ruth Paine

[Paul Trejo]

Let's continue to look closer at what James DiEugenio wrote in the second edition of his book, Destiny Betrayed (2012), specifically attacking Ruth and Michael Paine as being CIA operatives in a plot to frame Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder of JFK -- without a STITCH of material evidence.

And then something really strange happened. Ruth had known Marina for less than a month. They had seen each other three times. Yet, on April 7th, Ruth wrote a note to Marina (which she claims she never sent) inviting Marina to come live with her. This is surprising not just because of the speed with which it was done, but also because the Paines were Quakers. But here Ruth is essentially trying to split off a wife, who she barely knew, from her husband. (DiEugenio, DB2, 2012, p. 155)

Well, there's the first error -- the Paines were not Quakers -- only Ruth Paine was a Quaker; Michael Paine was a Unitarian.

But more seriously, James omits critical details which would easily explain the note that Ruth wrote to Marina but never sent. Let's review: On 22 February 1963, Ruth met Marina for the first time, and got Marina's address. The next day Ruth wrote to Marina. Ruth waited, however, until Friday March 8th to get a reply -- because the Oswalds had moved from their Elsbeth Street apartment to their Neely Street apartment. Ruth responded on Friday night, asking for a visit, and Marina wrote to Ruth on Saturday with her approval. Ruth Paine visited Marina Oswald's home on Tuesday March 12th, while LHO was at work. The young mothers walked to a nearby park with their three young children, who played on the park playground equipment.

That is when Marina told Ruth that she was pregnant, and to please keep this a secret from the White Russian community in Dallas. That was easy, because Ruth didn't associate socially with any of the White Russians (except that 74-year old Dorothy Gravitas was Ruth's paid Russian tutor). But Ruth just assured Marina that she wouldn't say anything about it to anyone. Then Marina told Ruth that LHO was preventing her from learning the English language. Ruth thought that LHO was being rude and selfish. Ruth began forming a negative opinion about LHO at that first visit to Marina's house.

Marina and Ruth exchanged further letters in March, and then Ruth visited Marina once again on March 20, 1963. Let's read Ruth Paine's WC testimony on this (WC vol. II p. 430):

---------- BEGIN EXTRACT OF RUTH PAINE WC TESTIMONY OF 18 MARCH 1964 -------------

Mr. JENNER. Now, chronologically...what was the next occasion? The next time it was under circumstances in which you went to her home in your station wagon, picked her up and brought her to your home?

Mrs. PAINE. It was probably then that she mentioned to me that Lee wanted her to go back to the Soviet Union, was asking her to go back.

Mr. JENNER. He mentioned this subject as early as that, did he not?

Mrs. PAINE. This was still in March...She did, yes; and said that she didn’t want to go...She said she did not want to go back, that he asked her to go back, told her, perhaps, to go back...He told her he wanted to send her back with June...to the Soviet Union...She said that she had written to the Soviet Embassy to ask about papers to go back, and received a reply from them saying, “Why do you want to go back?” And she said she just didn’t answer that letter because she didn’t want to go back, and that that was where the matter stood at that time....

Mr. DULLES. Did she say whether or not she showed that answer from the Soviet Embassy to her husband?

Mrs. PAINE. No; she didn’t say...I will state again that she felt she was being sent back to stay back, that he would stay here, that this amounted to the end of the marriage for them, but not legally done.

Mr. JENNER. I see. And did she express any opinion of opposition to that?

Mrs. PAINE. She particularly was opposed to going back. It was leaving the United States that she was opposed to.

Mr. JENNER. She wanted to stay here, did she?

Mrs. PAINE. Yes: very much so.

Mr. JENNER. I ask you this general question, then, Mrs. Paine: During all of your contact with Marina Oswald, did she ever express any view other than that one of wanting to remain in America?

Mrs. PAINE. No: she did not.

Mr. JENNER. What did she? Was she affirmative about...wanting to stay in this country?

Mrs. PAINE. Very.

Mr. JENNER. Now, what did you say when she related that her husband wanted her to return to Russia, and she thought to remain in Russia. Did it elicit some curiosity from you?

Mrs. PAINE. Curiosity? It elicited anger at Lee that he would presume to drop his responsibilities so peremptorily.

Mr. JENNER. Did you discuss it with her?

Mrs. PAINE. I wrote a letter to her in an effort to gather my words. I couldn’t just discuss it with her. My language was not that good. What I wanted to do was offer her an alternative to being sent back, an economic alternative, and I thought for some time and thought over a week about inviting her to live with me. I was alone with my two children at the time, as an alternative to being sent back. If he thought he couldn’t support her or didn’t care to or whatever reason he had, I simply wanted to say there was an alternative to her going back, that she could stay and live with me if she wanted to. I wrote such a letter, really, to gather...

Mr. JENNER. Do you have it?

Mrs. PAINE. Yes; I do. This letter was never sent.

----------- END EXTRACT OF RUTH PAINE WC TESTIMONY OF 18 MAR 1963 --------------------

This is a plainly logical motive for Ruth's behavior, yet James hides these facts from his readers. Here's what Ruth goes on to testify: (1) Marina's worry that LHO would send her back to the USSR without him also worried Ruth; (2) Ruth began thinking of ways to keep Marina in the USA just in case LHO sent her away; (3) Ruth considered calling Quakers around the USA for help and ideas for Marina; (4) Ruth considered the large Russian Exile community in New York City, in which a Russian Refugee could earn a good living and raise two children as a single mother, without needing to speak English; (5) if Marina needed a place to stay for a short while to have her baby and then get on her feet, Ruth would be glad to help; (6) but Ruth's conversational Russian was very poor; therefore; (7) Ruth decided to write her thoughts in a letter to Marina -- a letter she wouldn't mail, but would use as a starting point for a face-to-face conversation, should the need ever arise.

James DiEugenio refuses to believe this. He isn't clear about why, but he can't accept that Ruth's Quaker sense of charity had anything to do with it. Ruth was "trying to split off a wife, who she barely new, from her husband," James insists. And then he jumps to this conclusion:

In light of the above, there can be little doubt that, almost from the beginning, Ruth was intent on separating the Oswalds. (DiEugenio, DB2, 2012, p. 156)

Only by omitting these central facts of the relationship of Ruth Paine to Marina Oswald could James jump to his bizarre conclusion of a CIA plot. But his CIA plot theory makes no sense -- what possible motive would the CIA have for splitting the Oswalds apart? NONE.

James is just making stuff up -- omitting key facts to sensationalize his story.

(To be continued):

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

Edited February 11, 2016 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

Let’s continue to look closer at what James DiEugenio wrote in the second edition of his book, Destiny Betrayed (2012), specifically attacking Ruth and Michael Paine as being CIA operatives in a plot to frame Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder of JFK -- without a STITCH of material evidence.

In the section of his book entitled, The Baron, the Paines, and Dulles, James begins by repeating Jim Garrison’s early suspicion that George DeMohrenschildt made a CIA hand-off of LHO to Michael and Ruth Paine. Ruth testified that she’d met George only once in her life, and James claims this is perjury. James writes:

One of the most interesting things that the Baron did was to introduce the Oswalds to Ruth and Michael Paine. This occurred as George was preparing to leave the country for Haiti. It was arranged for the Paines to meet the Oswalds at a gathering at the home of Everett Glover on February 22, 1963...The official story has it that Ruth never met George until then, and she never had contact with him afterwards. When Garrison questioned her on this point before a New Orleans Grand Jury, this previous tenet of hers was shown to be in error. Garrison managed to get her to admit that she and Michael were dinner guests at George’s house in 1966. (DiEugenio, DB2, 2012, p. 194)

Here is the obvious error: James takes Ruth’s 1964 WC testimony that she never saw George DeMohrenschildt before 22 February 1963, and never saw him after that, and James says this statement “was shown to be in error,” because in 1966, two years LATER, she and Michael went to dinner with George and Jeanne DeMohrenschildt.

Can James read? Can James count? There’s NO ERROR in Ruth’s testimony. You can’t take a LATER dinner date and use that to falsify an EARLIER statement. Geez. But James will not give up on this wrong turn. James writes:

As author Steven Jones notes: Why would George invite a couple to dinner in 1966, if he had only briefly met them once three years earlier? Further, in his manuscript, I’m a Patsy, I’m a Patsy, George wrote that he only discussed this backyard photograph with close friends. The question then seems to be: Why did it appear that Ruth was trying to conceal the true nature of her relationship with George DeMohrenschildt? (DiEugenio, DB2, 2012, p. 194)

Probe magazine raised this question: “Why would George invite a couple to dinner in 1966” that he had only met once in 1963? The very question contains an error -- Michael Paine never went to that party, so George didn’t meet “a couple,” he only met Ruth in 1963.

But that's minor -- let's look at the major presumption -- that George would never invite near-strangers to dinner. Well, James doesn’t know George DeMohrenschildt very well, because George was a flamboyant peacock. What would cause George to invite the Paines to dinner? That's easy -- in 1966 Jim Garrison’s case was exposed to the world, and the JFK murder was again national news. George, Jeanne, Ruth and Michael had all been WC witnesses. Ruth Paine’s garage was the site of the infamous BYP which some anonymous source had shared with LIFE magazine for their 21 February 1964 issue.

Jim Garrison leaked his intent to subpoena Ruth Paine and George DeMohrenschildt in 1966, so when George and Jeanne came to Dallas, they invited the Paines to dinner. There's nothing fishy about that -- and there's no CIA plot there for normal readers. The fact that the four discussed the BYP is hardly a surprise, because LHO was really the only person they all had known in common. What else could they talk about? Also, the fact that George wrote that he only discussed the BYP with his ‘close friends’ is easily explained insofar as George’s idea of ‘close friends’ included anybody with well-born social graces – like the Paines.

Yet James asks, “Why did it appear that Ruth was trying to conceal the true nature of her relationship with George DeMohrenschildt?” The answer is obvious in this case – James is bending ordinary events to forge a CIA plot. James has presented no material evidence, and no material contradiction of the Paines' WC or Grand Jury testimony. Yet he attempts to destroy them.

(to be continued...)

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

[Gene Kelly]

If there are ways I can help I shall be glad. I was struck by your passionate concern for Man, and by the intense grief you feel over the loss of President Kennedy. I, too, feel that loss acutely. He was a most remarkable person, and extremely valuable to our country. Besides his charm and brilliance as a man he also was a president inoculated by the experience of the Bay of Pigs. He had taken the measure of the "expert advice" of generals (and the CIA) and had found it wanting. He was a man prepared to do his own thinking in a framework of the highest regard for man, for life and for civilization. For myself, I have given up wondering when the sharp sting of my grief over his loss will wane. I have concluded it never shall, and in that I found you kindred. – April 1968 letter from Ruth Paine to Jim Garrison

[David G. Healy]

If there are ways I can help I shall be glad. I was struck by your passionate concern for Man, and by the intense grief you feel over the loss of President Kennedy. I, too, feel that loss acutely. He was a most remarkable person, and extremely valuable to our country. Besides his charm and brilliance as a man he also was a president inoculated by the experience of the Bay of Pigs. He had taken the measure of the "expert advice" of generals (and the CIA) and had found it wanting. He was a man prepared to do his own thinking in a framework of the highest regard for man, for life and for civilization. For myself, I have given up wondering when the sharp sting of my grief over his loss will wane. I have concluded it never shall, and in that I found you kindred. – April 1968 letter from Ruth Paine to Jim Garrison

now THAT'LL get you to movement, a bowel movement!

[Paul Trejo]

Why in the world should it surprise anybody that Ruth Paine sent Jim Garrison a nice letter, praising him for his courage in finding the TRUTH about the JFK murder?

Is it because of your bias, following James DiEugenio in blaming Ruth Paine for telling the world that LHO was occasionally mean to Marina, and that LHO kept his rifle in Ruth's garage without telling her? But she only told the TRUTH. What's the big deal?

As Ruth Paine consistently said -- she failed to see what LHO could possibly gain for himself by killing JFK.

Ruth and Michael Paine agreed on 11/22/1963 -- LHO will be blamed for it, but the real JFK murderers were the ones who published the Black-bordered Ad and the WANTED:JFK handbills.

They were so right.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited February 12, 2016 by Paul Trejo

[Gene Kelly]

Ruth Paine and Jim Garrison .... kindred spirits? I wonder if the "sharp sting of her grief" at JFK's loss has finally waned after 50 years?

Regarding being "occasionally mean" to Marina, another nice letter (from another gentle soul) was sent to Janet Auchincloss, mother of Jackie Kennedy, painting the same mean-spirited picture of Oswald. George De Mohrenschildt wrote form Haiti to Janet - one of his many 'acquaintances' - on December 12^th:

"Both my wife and I tried to help poor Marina who could not speak any English, was mistreated by her husband; she and the baby were malnourished and sickly. We took them to the hospital. Sometime last fall we heard that Oswald had beaten his wife cruelly, so we drove to their miserable place and forcibly took Marina and the child away from the character. Then he threatened me and my wife, but I did not take him seriously. Marina stayed with the family of Russian refugees for a while, keeping her baby, but finally decided to return to her husband. Somehow then we lost interest in the Oswalds. It is really a shame that such crimes occur in our times and in our country. But there is so much jealousy for success and there is so much desire for publicity on the part of all shady characters that assassinations are bound to occur. Better precautions should have been taken. Remember our discussion one day on the plane from Dallas to Washington? We spoke of criminal children and of the terrible problem of delinquency in the South ... Oswald is just an expression of that cancer which is eating American youth.”

Birds of a feather ...

[Paul Brancato]

I think this letter shows us the real George, and makes his I am a Patsy manuscript a self serving lie. George cared more about his connections to high society than anything else, and this makes his so called friendship with The Oswalds a lie as well. With that in mind everything that he supplied which incriminated Oswald, any story he told about the rifle, the 'hunter of fascists' photo, the Walker incident, all suspect. It also puts his letter to George Bush while the latter was CIA director in a clearer light. Yes, George was afraid, as he should have been. Yes he was being watched because he knew way more than he had ever told about the nature of his involvement.

[Gene Kelly]

Seems to me that George was a con artist .... a guy who could sell ice to the Eskimos. When Gary Taylor, who had been married to De Mohrenschildt’s daughter Alexandra, was asked by a Warren Commission counsel if he thought DeMohrenschildt had any influence over Oswald, Taylor replied that there seemed to be a great deal of influence. At the end of his questioning, Taylor was asked if he had any further comments:

"Well," he said, "the only thing that occurred to me was that -- uh -- and I guess it was from the beginning -- that if there was any assistance or plotters in the assassination that it was, in my opinion, most probably the DeMohrenschildt’s."

If I had to make an educated guess, George had ties to the Gehlen Organization which spied on Russia. After the War, the Gehlen Organization was assimilated (by Allen Dulles and others) into CIA operations to maintain spying on Russia. One writer stated that De Mohrenschildt appears as more of a triple agent, with ties to both Gehlen and the CIA. George initially 'babysat' Lee and family - handed them off to the Paines - and then went off the grid in Haiti for four years. Jeff Morley stated that George would have made a splendid character in a Graham Greene novel. As for kindred spirits, here is what George thought of Jim Garrison:

"As it stands now, Oswald was a lunatic who killed President Kennedy. Ruby was another lunatic who killed the lunatic who killed the President - and now we have the third lunatic, supposedly Garrison, who tries to investigate this whole case. I think it is extremely insulting to the United States, the assumption, that there are so many lunatics here."

I find it interesting that in 1954, an oil lawyer named Herbert Itkin arranged a meeting in Philadelphia with Allen Dulles, who in turn set him up for a meeting with de Mohrenschildt - described as "that man in Philadelphia" and that his name was Philip Harbin ... an alias used by George, obviously derived from his wife, Jeanne, was from Harbin, China. Bill Simpich believes that George was provided to Allen Dulles by James Angleton. You just simply can't make this stuff up ... talk about Six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

[Paul Trejo]

Seems to me that George was a con artist .... a guy who could sell ice to the Eskimos. When Gary Taylor, who had been married to De Mohrenschildt’s daughter Alexandra, was asked by a Warren Commission counsel if he thought DeMohrenschildt had any influence over Oswald, Taylor replied that there seemed to be a great deal of influence. At the end of his questioning, Taylor was asked if he had any further comments:

"Well," he said, "the only thing that occurred to me was that -- uh -- and I guess it was from the beginning -- that if there was any assistance or plotters in the assassination that it was, in my opinion, most probably the DeMohrenschildt’s."

If I had to make an educated guess, George had ties to the Gehlen Organization which spied on Russia. After the War, the Gehlen Organization was assimilated (by Allen Dulles and others) into CIA operations to maintain spying on Russia. One writer stated that De Mohrenschildt appears as more of a triple agent, with ties to both Gehlen and the CIA. George initially 'babysat' Lee and family - handed them off to the Paines - and then went off the grid in Haiti for four years. Jeff Morley stated that George would have made a splendid character in a Graham Greene novel. As for kindred spirits, here is what George thought of Jim Garrison:

"As it stands now, Oswald was a lunatic who killed President Kennedy. Ruby was another lunatic who killed the lunatic who killed the President - and now we have the third lunatic, supposedly Garrison, who tries to investigate this whole case. I think it is extremely insulting to the United States, the assumption, that there are so many lunatics here."

I find it interesting that in 1954, an oil lawyer named Herbert Itkin arranged a meeting in Philadelphia with Allen Dulles, who in turn set him up for a meeting with de Mohrenschildt - described as "that man in Philadelphia" and that his name was Philip Harbin ... an alias used by George, obviously derived from his wife, Jeanne, was from Harbin, China. Bill Simpich believes that George was provided to Allen Dulles by James Angleton. You just simply can't make this stuff up ... talk about Six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Interesting take on it, Gene. By the way, Bruce Cambpell Adamson spent years to offer a comprehensive CD of George DeMohrenschildt, which has been on sale now for years.

I bought a copy years ago. I recommend it.

George was a pathetic character, it seems, who put on a happy face, but also grabbed for all the sensation that he could in this life. He was known as a playboy by the White Russians in Dallas, and most of them avoided him. He was a geologist by education, and he wanted get RICH.

George was born rich, but when he was a small boy the Communists (1917) took his family's estate there in Minsk, and he always wanted to get it back. He supported the Nazi Party for a while in Europe, because he hoped that if they won the war, he could get his family Estate back.

When the Nazi's were utterly destroyed, George and his brother decided to move to the USA. They were both extremely well educated, with just about perfect social manners and graces (having been raised as European nobility), so they did fairly well for themselves, especially George's older brother. (George himself became a friend of the family of a young girl who later became Jackie Kennedy).

George decided that Oil was going to be his game -- so he became a Professor of Geology, and taught for awhile at UT Austin, I've heard. Yet he never had enough money, and he could never settle down with just one wife -- until he moved to Dallas and met Jeanne, a beautiful ballet-dancer who also had a lot of money. They would live on her money, they agreed, until he made his millions in Oil.

As a former Nazi-turned-OSS informant, George was also valuable to the CIA, and he did supply them with information, by moving in suave circles and asking the right questions to people drinking martinis. George was smooth.

One day, when the CIA offered George a deal for a lucrative Oil-exploration contract in Haiti (worth $250,000 to George alone, which, adjusted for inflation is $2.5 million today) George jumped at it, and took whatever conditions they CIA wanted.

The condition was simple -- figure out if LHO was a KGB spy, with his true allegiance to the USSR. George said, "No problem; piece of cake."

Unfortunately for George DeMohrenschildt, he was also an arrogant meddler, and he interfered with LHO's life to an extraordinary degree. It even surprised his wife and friends. George sort of "liked" LHO. Of course, George pitied LHO who was doomed to poverty -- but George liked the fact that LHO had moxy and actually wasn't a total ignoramus about Marxist Economics -- the way his own children were.

George thought his own kids were spoiled and ignorant -- but he really despised his son-in-law, Gary Taylor, who offered only a lower standard to the hopes George had for his own daughter. Gary didn't like George, either, and even tried to make George look like a Communist in his own WC testimony. Gary was a dunce.

Anyway, George DeMohrenschildt meddled with LHO's life. The first blunder was allowing George Bouhe, a rich White Russian in Dallas, to meet Marina Oswald. Bouhe went gaga. Bouhe, in the guise of charity, acquired for Marina what both George and Jeanne DeM called, "a hundred dresses." Also a baby crib, and also paid for Marina's dental work.

This made LHO very, very jealous. He threatened Bouhe, who admitted to George DeM that LHO frightened him. LHO told George DeM that he wanted to "tear up the dresses and smash the baby crib." But Marina liked George Bouhe, who was a deacon or some official of the local Russian Orthodox Church in Dallas, and behind LHO's back (IIRC) Marina and Bouhe had baby June Oswald baptized into the Church. There was something going on between them, some suspected.

Anyway, this was the period when several WC witnesses reported seeing bruises on Marina's face. Even Marguerite Oswald herself admitted she saw bruises on Marina's face. That is unquestionable, IMHO. But it was only during this period. LHO never struck Marina while in Russia, nor while in New Orleans. Only during the George Bouhe period -- and George DeM was partly to blame.

Also, what George DeMohrenschildt did against LHO was to help George Bouhe get new places for Marina to live, apart from LHO, there in Dallas. So, Marina stayed a few weeks with Anna Meller, and a few weeks with this or that White Russian -- and just drove LHO insane.

Another way George DeMohrenschildt meddled in LHO's life was to help Volkmar Schmidt convince LHO that General Walker was "as bad as Hitler." This is in George's manuscript, I'm a Patsy! I'm a Patsy! George would call General Walker, "General Fokker" to LHO, and LHO would laugh. George and LHO would call Volkmar Schmidt, "Messer Schmidt."

This was shortly before the period that LHO allegedly tried to murder General Walker. George DeM acted as though he was really to blame for that. This was his dirty little secret all though the WC investigations. The main role that George DeMohrenschildt played in the JFK saga, is that he turned LHO against General Walker -- or that's how George himself portrayed it in his manuscript: I'm a Patsy! I'm a Patsy!

George DeM also turned his back on LHO in his WC testimony, and called LHO "a fool" and other harsh words. When the WC asked George if he thought that LHO was working for the CIA or the KGB, George said, "I never would believe that any government would be stupid enough to trust Lee with anything important."

After the Walker shooting, George DeM acted worried and guilty, so that at 10pm on Saturday 13 April 1963, George and Jeanne got the Oswalds out of bed on the pretense that they wanted to deliver a toy rabbit to baby June for Easter Sunday. In truth, Jeanne really wanted to search for a rifle with a scope -- and she found it. George made the joke -- "Lee did you try to shoot General Walker?" LHO and Marina just froze in silence, looking back and forth at each other. Then George laughed, and then LHO laughed and they all laughed and it was all over.

After that night, George and Jeanne never saw the Oswald's again in their lives.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited February 15, 2016 by Paul Trejo

[Gene Kelly]

Paul:

In April 18, 1968, Ruth Paine was questioned about George DeMohrenschildt by the Orleans Parish Grand Jury. She described a dinner that she and Michael had with the De DeMohrenschildts, where they discussed the inscribed backyard picture:

Q - You mentioned the de DeMohrenschildts, did you ever have occasion to talk to them much at the first party (February 1963)? A- No.

Q - Did you see them subsequent to the party? A - I have seen them only once again, it was in Dallas, maybe a year ago, it was long after the assassination.

Q - What as the occasion? A - They called and asked Michael and me to come have dinner with them. Understand that this was the second time I had met them, the first time Michael met them, he was invited to dinner also, but Michael had not been at this party in February of ' 63, and I think they came back to this country ' after having been away for quite a while, how long they were away I don't know...

Q - Did you discuss the assassination or Lee or anything? A - Yes

Q - What was the general tenor of that conversation? A - One thing I remember, I guess they packed and left, some- where they went, subsequent to that meeting at Glover's, and it was after they arrived he said he found in his luggage the same picture that appeared in Life Magazine of Oswald holding the rifle and the gun on his hip, and it gave him such a turn, it was afterward, after the assassination, and we just talked generally of the events.

What's your read on this dinner meeting. Why would George want to talk with the Paines?

Regards,

Gene

[Paul Trejo]

Paul:

In April 18, 1968, Ruth Paine was questioned about George DeMohrenschildt by the Orleans Parish Grand Jury. She described a dinner that she and Michael had with the De DeMohrenschildts, where they discussed the inscribed backyard picture:

Q - You mentioned the de DeMohrenschildts, did you ever have occasion to talk to them much at the first party (February 1963)? A- No.

Q - Did you see them subsequent to the party? A - I have seen them only once again, it was in Dallas, maybe a year ago, it was long after the assassination.

Q - What as the occasion? A - They called and asked Michael and me to come have dinner with them. Understand that this was the second time I had met them, the first time Michael met them, he was invited to dinner also, but Michael had not been at this party in February of ' 63, and I think they came back to this country ' after having been away for quite a while, how long they were away I don't know...

Q - Did you discuss the assassination or Lee or anything? A - Yes

Q - What was the general tenor of that conversation? A - One thing I remember, I guess they packed and left, some- where they went, subsequent to that meeting at Glover's, and it was after they arrived he said he found in his luggage the same picture that appeared in Life Magazine of Oswald holding the rifle and the gun on his hip, and it gave him such a turn, it was afterward, after the assassination, and we just talked generally of the events.

What's your read on this dinner meeting. Why would George want to talk with the Paines?

Regards,

Gene

It's a good question, Gene. Here's my read on it:

Q - You mentioned the de DeMohrenschildts, did you ever have occasion to talk to them much at the first party (February 1963)?

A- No.

The party was at Everett Glover's apartment in Dallas on the evening of Friday 22 February 1963. Ruth wanted to learn conversational Russian, and Everett told her that the famous Oswald's would be there, direct from Russia. Everett, a Unitarian and an engineer, had known Michael Paine for many years. MIchael, Ruth and Everett belonged to an amateur Madrigal singing group together for years. Everett was sad when Michael separated from Ruth in September 1962. Everett invited them both to this party, hoping he could get them back together, possibly.

As it turned out, Michael had a cold, so he didn't go. Ruth drove alone in her light-green 1955 Chevy station wagon. She had seen some of Everett's room mates before, like Volkmar Schmidt, but mostly she didn't recognize anybody. There were a lot of young Dallas engineers there.

Soon after Ruth arrived, the guests of honor arrived -- LHO and Marina were chauffeured there by George and Jeanne DeMohrenschildt. It was very informal -- there were no formal introductions. Ruth testifies consistently that she never saw the DeMohrenschildts before in her life -- neither before nor afterwards (until after the Jim Garrison case became public).

As the party carried on, most of the people surrounded LHO in the living room, and asked him endless questions about the USSR. Why did he go? How did he like it? Why did he leave? Was it hard to leave? And many more. Apparently, LHO loved being the center of attention.

But this didn't interest Ruth Paine. Her main interest was to practice her conversational Russian. Marina Oswald, also, wasn't interested; for one thing, she spoke no English at all, and nobody at the party spoke Russian except for LHO (who only wanted to speak English now) and George and Jeanne DeMohrenschildt. So, Marina was clingy with the DeMohrenschildts, and they spoke Russian with her. Ruth attached herself to this small group, and tried to chime in with some broken Russian here and there. At least she tried.

What was charming to Ruth Paine was how kind and friendly Marina was, i.e. Marina didn't criticize Ruth's broken Russian, but gave her friendly advice, in a gentle and encouraging manner. Ruth immediately liked Marina for this kindness. Then, baby June started to get cranky, and Everett let Marina and Jeanne take baby June to his bedroom, to try to get her to sleep. Ruth Paine joined that party. Again, Ruth saw how gentle and kind that Marina was to baby June, and as a young mother herself, she appreciated Marina's patience. Jeanne and Marina spoke rapid Russian, and Ruth still chimed in only here and there in her broken Russian, but Ruth really enjoyed herself.

At the end of the party, Ruth Paine asked Marina for her phone number. Marina said (in Russian) we don't own a telephone. So, Ruth asked Marina for her address, and Marina wrote down her Elsbeth address. From that point in late February, through the month of March, Ruth and Marina would write to each other and meet at Marina's neighborhood, and their children would play together, and Marina would confide in Ruth Paine.

Q - Did you see them subsequent to the party?

A - I have seen them only once again, it was in Dallas, maybe a year ago, it was long after the assassination.

The dates are not locked down by Jim Garrison or by Ruth, but it's roughly like this. Ruth never saw the DeMohrenschildt's again until after the Jim Garrison case was exposed to the public. The JFK murder became news again. Both the Paines and the DeMohrenschildts had been Warren Commission witnesses -- and they had this in common. (But they didn't meet each other during the WC hearings.)

The Jim Garrison Grand Jury was in 1968 and Ruth said she met the DeMohrenschildt's again "maybe a year ago" which would have made it 1967. But again, the date is "maybe" and no month was given in this Q&A.

Q - What as the occasion?

A - They called and asked Michael and me to come have dinner with them. Understand that this was the second time I had met them, the first time Michael met them, he was invited to dinner also, but Michael had not been at this party in February of ' 63, and I think they came back to this country ' after having been away for quite a while, how long they were away I don't know...

Here's what you're asking Gene -- what would be the motive for this dinner party -- presumably in 1966 or 1967 -- years after the JFK murder and the WC hearings? As I noted, the Jim Garrison case had been made public (against Jim's wishes) and it was all over the world news. Jim Garrison made plain that he wanted to re-open the JFK case, and to re-call various witnesses, including the Paines and the DeMohrenschildts.

Now, if this was in 1967 (which seems likely based on this Q&A) then it conforms to George's manuscript, I'm A Patsy! I'm A Patsy! in which George says that he and Jeanne "accidentally" found another LHO Backyard Photograph (BYP) in their record collection at their storage room in Dallas, in February 1967.

Jim Garrison was very hot on the topic of the BYP, and he was going to go after the Paines (and perhaps the DeMohrenschildts) on this topic.

Therefore, in my reading, the reason for the DeMohrenschildt's inviting the Paines to dinner was to become more friendly with people who already had a lot in common -- namely, LHO, the JFK assassination and the WC hearings -- and now, Jim Garrison on the war path.

Q - Did you discuss the assassination or Lee or anything?

A - Yes

Yes, not only did the Paines and the DeMohrenschildt's talk about the JFK assassination and LHO, but basically that's ALL they talked about, because that was the ONLY thing they had in common. (Also, Jim Garrison's team didn't ask, but the implication is that this was Michael Paine's first meeting of the DeMohrenschildts, because he had a cold for that 22 February 1963 party, so he didn't show up.)

Q - What was the general tenor of that conversation?

A - One thing I remember, I guess they packed and left, some- where they went, subsequent to that meeting at Glover's, and it was after they arrived he said he found in his luggage the same picture that appeared in Life Magazine of Oswald holding the rifle and the gun on his hip, and it gave him such a turn, it was afterward, after the assassination, and we just talked generally of the events.

Now, here's a longer story. When Ruth Paine began packing up Marina Oswald's property to take Marina and baby June to New Orleans on 10 May 1963, Marina noticed the record player and English-learning records that Jeanne DeMohrenschildt had loaned to her in early 1963. Marina told Ruth that she didn't want to take these items to New Orleans, and also that she knew that the DeMohrenschildts were now living in Haiti. Yet Marina also knew that Everett Glover had taken over the DeMohrenschildt home in Dallas, and that he was keeping a storage unit at that house for the DeMohrenschildts.

So, Ruth Paine gave the record player and records to Michael Paine, to give to his friend Everett Glover, so that Everett could store them in the DeMohrenschildt's storage room. So, that's what Michael did.

Everett Glover put the record player and box of records into the DeMohrenschildt storage unit. Then, as George DeMohrenschildt says, in February of 1967, when he and Jeanne visited Dallas from Haiti, they went through their storage room, which had lots of items, and when going through the record set, Jeanne let out a shriek. George went to go see -- and to his surprise (so he says) Jeanne had found another BYP, and it was signed by LHO himself, with the inscription (by another handwriting) "Hunter of fascists, ha-ha."

George then made a deal with LIFE magazine for this photo, as I recall. (He was always sniffing around for money.) But that means it became public fairly quickly, and Jim Garrison would have heard about it.

If the dates are right (and I have little confidence in George DeMohrenschildt's dates) then the discovery of a new BYP would have been part of the reason that George DeMohrenschildt wanted to have a visit with the Paines. They were all going to face Jim Garrison, perhaps, and George wanted to find out what the Paines knew about Garrison -- was he a mean fellow? Something to that effect. That's my reading of it.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited February 15, 2016 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

A FEW SIDE ISSUES:

(1) Probe magazine's Carol Hewett claims that Ruth Paine "must have" known the DeMohrenschildt's if she knew that her friend Everett Glover was living at their house. But actually, it was Marina who told Ruth this. Marina knew the DeMohrenschildt's very, very well. Anything Ruth knew about the DeMohrenschildt's in 1963 she learned from Marina.

(2) Probe magazine's Carol Hewett claims that Ruth Paine was a tight member of the White Russian community in Dallas. But Ruth denied that, and her story is believable on multiple counts. (I) Ruth spoke very broken Russian -- while all the White Russians of Dallas were *born* Russian speakers; (II) Ruth was not born in a Russian-speaking country -- while all the White Russians of Dallas were; (III) Ruth spent her Sunday's at a Quaker Church -- while nearly of all the White Russians of Dallas spent their Sundays at a Russian Orthodox Church; (IV) Ruth entered Marina's life AFTER all the nastiness of the White Russian conflict with LHO in Dallas was over with.

And many more reasons. Ruth had asked Professor Ilya Mamantov for private Russian lessons, but he turned her down, and instead had her sign up with his mother-in-law, Dorothy Gravitas, 74, who would just drill Ruth with a text-book, and charge a lot of money. This wasn't what Ruth wanted. Ruth was asked, point blank, in her WC hearings, about each and every name of the White Russians in Dallas, and she testified that she didn't know *ANY* of them, except for Professor Mamantov (slightly) and Dorothy Gravitas her tutor. Period.

Michael Paine was also read this list of White Russians, and he didn't know any of them *AT ALL*.

In March 1963, when Marina would confide in Ruth, Marina thought that Ruth knew all the people that the Oswald's knew in Dallas, but that wasn't the case. For example, Marina told Ruth that she was pregnant, "but please don't tell the White Russians." Ruth only told Marina, "I won't say anything to anybody," but Ruth testified that she also wanted to say -- but couldn't find the Russian vocabulary -- that she couldn't tell them if she wanted to because she didn't know any of them!

(3) Probe magazine claimed that the Paines "must have" known the DeMohrenschildts because Everett Glover was a good friend of both couples. Common sense tells us that this isn't necessarily the case.

Nor was Everett Glover close with anybody in the White Russian community of Dallas except for professional contacts like George DeMohrenschildt (who was an oil exploration engineer) and possibly other engineers in that community. This is because Everett Glover, the engineer, spoke no Russian at all, and had no interest in learning Russian.

(4) Probe magazine suggests that Marina Oswald could have written the "Hunter of fascists. ha-ha" on the back of that BYP. Not only did the WC ask Marina, and not only did Marina deny it, but the FBI put handwriting experts on this, and determined that the hand-writing was not Marina's.

Yet Marina openly admitted that the phrase, "ha-ha" was something that she often wrote in her letters. So, whoever forged that inscription certainly knew Marina's writing, and was possibly trying to frame Marina for this inscription.

IMHO, George DeMohrenschilldt himself wrote this inscription -- he never liked Marina Oswald very much. Besides, it seems to me that George always blamed himself for the Walker shooting, just as Volkmar Schmidt blamed himself for a long time.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited February 15, 2016 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

Let’s continue to look closer at what James DiEugenio wrote in the second edition of his book, Destiny Betrayed (2012), specifically attacking Ruth and Michael Paine as being CIA operatives in a plot to frame Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder of JFK -- without a STITCH of material evidence.

In the section entitled, The Baron, the Paines, and Dulles, James often cites Carol Hewett, Steven Jones and Barbara LaMonica as his sources – without telling us they all wrote for Jame's Probe magazine in the 1990’s. In the whole decade not one of these writers found one solid bit of evidence against the Paines (because if they had, it would be famous by now). Instead, they merely cast around insults, suspicion and innuendo.

For his second edition of Destiny Betrayed (2012), James decided to combine all their material into this section to publicly slap the Paines in the face – evidently to entertain his readers. To begin, James promises to reveal what he calls, “the hidden associations of the Paines.” These "hidden associations" are supposed to show how the Paines were really working for the CIA. James reveals:

(1) That Michael Paine was wealthy. He was part of the “Eastern Establishment” (which are fighting words for Southern politicians, like the WC’s Richard Russell).

(2) That Michael was related to the wealthy Forbes family.

(3) That the wealthy, well-connected Frederick and Nancy Osborne wrote a letter of good character to the US Government to vouch for the Paines regarding their “religiosity, good character, and innocence in having anything to do with the assassination of President Kennedy.”

(4) That Frederick Osborne had gone to college with Allen Dulles, and had served in World War 2 with Allen Dulles, and had started an organization with Allen Dulles, named, “Crusade

for Freedom,” which eventually merged with “Radio Free Europe” in 1962.

This presupposes that James' readers already hate Allen Dulles, so at the very mention of his name readers would quickly conclude that Fred Osborne was working for the CIA. James wrote:

But this is not the only connection to Allen Dulles and his circle that the Paine family had...As an OSS officer operating out of Switzerland during World War II, Dulles got to know a woman named Mary Bancroft...He ran her as an agent, and he had a continuing sexual affair with her...Bancroft’s best and longest lasing female friend was Ruth Forbes. Or as she said, she “knew the mother of Michael Paine where Oswald stayed. She was Ruth Forbes, a very good friend of mine.” (DiEugenio, DB2, p. 195)

This mere gossip – that in the 1940’s a girlfriend of the Michael Paine’s mother had a love affair with Allen Dulles during World War 2 – this stupid little fact is supposed to prove to the reader that Michael Paine was a CIA agent?! The stupidity of this link doesn’t seem to phase James; as long as he can spread suspicion.

(5) When Michael’s mother remarried, her new husband was the wealthy Arthur Young, the very inventor of Bell Helicopter.

(6) As often happens in wealthy families, the elders find good jobs for their children with the companies in which they have influence. So, Arthur Young got his step-son Michael, a job at Bell Helicopter – an engineer's job with a real security badge. For James DiEugenio, this just has to be a CIA plot. James continues:

When asked by the Commission about his security clearance, Michael said he did not know what the classification was. This is another statement made by the Paines that lacks credibility. (DiEugenio, DB2, p. 196)

Actually, many jobs in tech companies require security badges – and many engineers only use them to get to their cubicles, and don't know all the details of their security clearance -- that's the manager's job. But for James DiEugenio, this must be part of a CIA plot to kill JFK. James continues:

...One of the greatest failures of the American media was its showing in the Kennedy assassination...its acceptance of Ruth and Michael Paine at face value. The “Good Samaritan” Quakers were in fact extensions of the Eastern Establishment in Dallas. Michael Paine’s ancestors are Boston Brahmins of the Forbes and Cabot first families of America. (DiEugenio, DB2, p. 196)

As we've already seen, during March 1963, Marina Oswald complained to Ruth Paine that LHO was threatening to send Marina and baby June back to the USSR without him. Ruth believed her, and suddenly Ruth's desire to learn conversational Russian became secondary – Ruth's patriotic drive to save Marina Oswald from the USSR inspired her Quaker charity.

But James DiEugenio mocks Ruth’s Quaker charity! No, the Paines were wealthy – part of the so-called “Boston Brahmins” – a Yankee – which for James seems to be a crime all by itself. So James digs deeper into the Paines’ wealthy family tree to seek more “dirt”. James continues:

...Michael’s grand uncle, Cameron Forbes, was both governor and later ambassador to the Philippines. Prior to his death in 1959, he joined his Cabot relatives on the board of United Fruit. Thomas’ brother, John M. Cabot, was also in the State Department around this time, and was exchanging information with Maurice Gatlin about the preparations of the CIA-United Fruit overthrow of Jacobo Arbenez. (DiEugenio, DB2, p. 196)

By going back to the 1950’s, James finds Michael Paine’s grand-uncle, a politician, and also some cousins who worked for United Fruit! Now, anybody who knows the history of Fidel Castro knows about his struggle with United Fruit. So, there must be a CIA link here! James digs:

In the early sixties, Thomas [Cabot] was President of the Gibraltar Steamship Corporation... which leased...Swan Island....a CIA front...It was on that island, through the Gibraltar front, that David Phillips established Radio Swan, the CIA radio station broadcasting into Cuba, Mexico, and Central America. (DiEugenio, DB2, p. 196)

And there we have it. James has linked Michael Paine to the CIA through his cousin’s business deal with a known CIA Agent, David Atlee Phillips. Case closed! Right? Right? Well, not really.

Honestly, if there was anything more to James’ case than blaming Michael’s family for being wealthy, or for one of Michael’s cousins making a business deal with a CIA Agent, James would have surely shown it. But these weak facts are all James and his whole crew had to show.

So these are the “hidden associations of the Paines’ that James promised us: their relatives!

(To be continued) …

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

Edited February 20, 2016 by Paul Trejo

[James DiEugenio]

In the section entitled, The Baron, the Paines, and Dulles, James often cites Carol Hewett, Steven Jones and Barbara LaMonica as his sources – without telling us they all wrote for Jame's Probe magazine in the 1990’s.

What a pile of PT baloney.

Ever hear of footnotes Paul? See the long one on page 419 in which I write the following: "Much of the material I will use in this book about the Paines originates in a series of landmark articles for Probe Magazine, by Carol Hewett, Steve Jones, and Barbara LaMonica. This series was so compelling that Thomas Mallon wrote a book--Mrs. Paine's Garage--in which he tried to counter their work in part, ridiculing the authors."

And I directly name Hewett, LaMonica and Jones on page 195.

As I also said Marina was pregnant on page 163.

Now, when did Marina deliver? And when did Ruth first write her note? Can you do the math, or do you need a Ruth Paine calendar to figure it out?

Keep these cheap, unfounded character smears up and see what happens. Because I do not believe that you missed those things.

Edited February 20, 2016 by James DiEugenio

[Paul Trejo]

In the section entitled, The Baron, the Paines, and Dulles, James often cites Carol Hewett, Steven Jones and Barbara LaMonica as his sources – without telling us they all wrote for Jame's Probe magazine in the 1990’s.

What a pile of PT baloney.

Ever hear of footnotes Paul? See the long one on page 419 in which I write the following: "Much of the material I will use in this book about the Paines originates in a series of landmark articles for Probe Magazine, by Carol Hewett, Steve Jones, and Barbara LaMonica. This series was so compelling that Thomas Mallon wrote a book--Mrs. Paine's Garage--in which he tried to counter their work in part, ridiculing the authors."

And I directly name Hewett, LaMonica and Jones on page 195.

As I also said Marina was pregnant on page 163.

Now, when did Marina deliver? And when did Ruth first write her note? Can you do the math, or do you need a Ruth Paine calendar to figure it out?

Keep these cheap, unfounded character smears up and see what happens. Because I do not believe that you missed those things.

You're not reading my posts clearly enough, James.

Nobody denied that you mentioned that Marina Oswald was pregnant, but the key issue is that Marina Oswald complained to Ruth Paine in March 1963 that she was both PREGANT and also that LHO was threatening to send her back to the USSR without him.

That is what Marina testified, and that is what Ruth testified.

It was that CRISIS in the life of Marina Oswald that drove Ruth Paine to go out of her way to take care of Marina Oswald.

But you DON'T say that anywhere in DB2, James, and you know it.

These aren't character smears -- these are TRUTH about your unfounded attacks on Ruth Paine, and you know it, James.

You mock Ruth Paine's Quaker charity, and you insinuate that "Russian language" was not her original interest in Marina Oswald, and so you try to insinuate a CIA plot to "isolate" Marina from her husband -- which is ridiculous -- it makes no earthly sense whatsoever.

I'm going to keep this up, James, until I've covered every sentence in DB2 in which you smear Ruth Paine's character -- and then I'm going after your latest book -- Reclaiming Parkland (2013), because you continue to jab at Ruth Paine in that book as well!

You call your group, Citizens for Truth in the Kennedy Assassination (CTKA), well, I'm a citizen for TRUTH, and I'm only finding character smears on Ruth Paine in your works, and in the 1990's articles in Probe magazine that you still extol to this very day.

It's all about TRUTH, James. Nothing more.

Regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited February 20, 2016 by Paul Trejo