Michael Paine dies at 89

[Douglas Caddy]

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8118362-181/michael-paine-debated-politics-with

[Karl Kinaski]

Quote: HIDDEN HISTORY, by Don Jeffries

 

Edited March 17, 2018 by Karl Kinaski

[Paul Trejo]

Michael Paine was one of the final surviving witnesses of the behavior of Lee Harvey Oswald during the final weeks of Oswald's life.

Michael Paine knew very well what a loose cannon Lee Harvey Oswald presented to his family, especially to Ruth Paine.

Lee Harvey Oswald was -- in the words of George De Mohrenschildt --- "unstable."   

The wealthy Michael Paine (his mother was closely connected to old money on the East Coast) was also very well educated, actually brilliant -- and was an engineer for Bell Helicopter for most of his career.   He was also a capable singer in Church choir.  He was a Unitarian.

More to the point, Michael Paine was somewhat of an expert on Marxism.   His biological father was a dedicated Communist of the Leon Trotsky variety.  His father had a very arge home in Los Angeles, and would hold enormous meetings at his home, with Communists from all over the world.   Young Michael would soak it all in, noticing the sects and the in-fighting, and the points in common, and the points in dispute.

Young Michael Paine knew Marxism like the back of his hand.   He decided it wasn't for him.   He joined the Democratic Party.

One thing that Michael Paine knew in 1963 when he first met Lee, who loved to talk about Marxism (with people who knew what they were talking about) was that Lee Harvey Oswald never a genuine Marxist of any stripe.   Lee Harvey Oswald was a big talker, and a big Fake.   A genuine Marxist would always find like-minded people and join their organization, and start working in the streets for the kind of justice that their group demanded.  There was no exception to that rule.

Lee Harvey Oswald liked to read and talk -- but that's all that he liked to do.  He would never ACT.   He would never DO anything or JOIN any group to get off his butt and DO something.    

Michael Paine first met Lee Harvey Oswald at Lee's apartment on  214 West Neely Street in Dallas on April 2, 1963.   Michael drove his car there from Irving, Texas, to pick the Oswald's up for dinner at Ruth Paine's home.   (Michael and Ruth were separated.   Michael lived in an apartment near his office, while Ruth lived with their two children in a small house in Irving.)  Ruth had begun a personal friendship with Marina Oswald starting on February 22, 1963.  They mostly talked about children.   Marina had told Ruth her secret -- she was pregnant again.

When Michael went to pick them up, Marina was not yet ready with Baby June and her things.    Instead of helping her, Lee would bark orders to her in an impatient manner.   This was between talking non-stop to Michael Paine.

The most remarkable event that occurred on April 2, 1963, there at  214 West Neely Street, was that Lee Harvey Oswald proudly showed Michael Paine one of his "Backyard Photographs."  In this photograph, Oswald was standing by the backyard stairs of the Neely apartment, holding his rifle and wearing his pistol, and holding two Marxist newspapers (from opposing Marxist organizations, though Lee evidently didn't know that). 

We know that Lee showed Michael this photograph now, because Michael Paine told Dan Rather this fact in a historical, face-to-face interview in 1995.

Michael Paine looked at Lee's Backyard Photograph and was not impressed.  It looked posed and phony.  It fit the type of person who liked to talk and show off about Marxism, but never really joined a Marxist organization to DO ANYTHING.   Pathetic, thought Michael.

I fervently hope that Michael Paine left a written memoir about the JFK Assassination.   No doubt this was the biggest event in this engineer's life -- being so close to the reputed John Wilkes Booth of his generation.  Michael Paine -- in my humble opinion -- knew more about the Walker shooting than any other living person.   I hope he left a memoir.   It could change US History.

Best regards,
--Paul Trejo

Edited March 17, 2018 by Paul Trejo

[Lawrence Schnapf]

of course,  this assumes he would tell the truth. given that the government could have charged them as accessories or that his employment could have been at risk, I consider anything he said to have little veracity. he is simply not to be trusted to tell the truth.

 

[James DiEugenio]

Nice one karl.

Is there any time stamp on the comment by Paine?

[Joe Bauer]

In several interviews Michael Paine would describe Oswald.

And not in understanding and compassionate humanitarian ways.  It was a cold and hard criticism of Oswald and everything about him.

Now, Michel Paine was supposedly a person with a very liberal/humanitarian social view and conscience.

He was raised around a family that valued this perspective.

But what always bothered me about Michael Paine's was how often his stated personal feelings and assessments of Oswald were void of this sentiment and insultingly derogatory.

I sensed an intellectual snobbery and arrogance with Paine in this regards.

Here are just a few of Paine's judgmental put-downs of Oswald.

Oswald was not really anything. He was stupid. He read some books and thought he knew what he was talking about.

Basically, Oswald was an ignorant and "uneducated" fool. A loser.

Paine seemed to personally dislike Oswald this much from the first time he met him.

IMO in large part because he ( Oswald ) dared to act as if he was on Michael Paine's intellectual level ... even a little. 

But let us look at Paine with the same level of criticism he dished on Oswald.

Paine was a spoiled person. He never saw a poor day in his life. 

Paine had a failed marriage himself. He made mistakes.

He did poorly in college.

He had flaws. 

He says Oswald "never did anything" about his stated Marxist beliefs.

Where as Paine joined groups, sang in choirs, and who knows what other endeavors to spread his humanitarian concern for others.  Is this the great "doing something" actions Paine is referring to in knocking down Oswald in this regard?

People forget Oswald had just turned 24 when he was killed by Ruby. That is very young.

How much could Oswald have given of himself up to that age? Especially when he was consumed with just making enough money for his wife and babies to survive in the poverty side of town after town his entire time ( after Russia ) back here in the states?

If Oswald from a very young age had the nurturing, privileges and opportunities that Michael Paine was blessed with, I would not doubt that Oswald would have gone to college and done very well in so many areas of regular life.

And that he wouldn't have had the bitter cynicism chip on his shoulder as an adult.

And If Micheal Paine had instead been born to the awful Marguerite Oswald with no father and lived Oswald's totally neglected childhood and teen years...I don't think Michael Paine could have made it through emotionally.

Oswald should at least be given credit for making it through that rough and neglected childhood life.

I stand corrected regards Michael Paine's military service. Should have fact checked this more thoroughly. Also his Unitarian Church doctrines.

 

Edited March 20, 2018 by Joe Bauer

[Ron Bulman]

I hope he rests peacefully.  Too bad a competent attorney knowledgeable about the case never got to interview him in an adversarial situation.   

[James DiEugenio]

I really regret the last.

During the phony London trial, Spence did his "best work"--a completely relative term-- neutralizing Ruth Paine.

But he never broke through to the second layer.  In other words, he did OK with the cheap imputation of personal characteristics to Oswald which could have been explained otherwise.

Yet, since Spence did no real research he could not then say for example: "Now, Mrs. Paine, you smiled when I suggested you worked for the CIA. But is it not true that your sister did work for the CIA on some top secret projects?  And is it not also true that you tried to hide this from New Orleans DA Jim Garrison when he questioned you about it before a grand jury?"

Man, what you could have done with Michael?  Especially with that whole Minox camera charade they did for Hoover. I would have loved to have seen Bugliosi's face collapse during that cross examination.

[Rob Couteau]

Jim, 

7 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Man, what you could have done with Michael?

Ruth and Michael Paine always struck me as two of the most odious figures related to the assassination. I remember reading somewhere that the call identifying Oswald as the so-called murderer came from a telephone located in corporation where Michael was employed at the time. Both Paines were well-protected by the powers that be.

[Paul Trejo]

1 hour ago, Rob Couteau said:

Jim, 

Ruth and Michael Paine always struck me as two of the most odious figures related to the assassination. I remember reading somewhere that the call identifying Oswald as the so-called murderer came from a telephone located in corporation where Michael was employed at the time. Both Paines were well-protected by the powers that be.

Rob,

You got the content of that phone call all wrong.    I spoke personally to Ruth Paine about this (Dec. 2015) and she told me the full context.   Since this is the eve of the death of Michael Paine, it's right to set the record straight on this thread.

Michael Paine had called Ruth Paine on 11/22/1963, and he said to her (I paraphrase), "Lee didn't do it -- we both know who did."

This phone call was tapped by somebody -- most likely FBI agent James Hosty, IMHO.    Anyway, it came up in the FBI records with additional words added by some dishonest person, to read that Michael Paine said that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK.

That's just a lie.

Ruth Paine admits the phone call -- and she demanded from the Warren Commission to tell her who tapped her phone that day, and why.

The Warren Commission never answered her -- and the US Government never answered her -- after 55 years.  She still wants to know.

Anyway -- I asked her point blank -- "Ruth -- what did Michael mean when he said, 'We both know who did it?""

Ruth told me bluntly (I paraphrase), "He meant that collective group who had published the WANTED FOR TREASON: JFK handbill, which was obviously the same group that published that, WELCOME TO DALLAS: MR. KENNEDY...Why are you a Communist>, black bordered advertisement in the Dallas Morning News that morning.   That's what Michael meant, and Michael knew that  knew that's exactly what he meant."

Anyway, Rob. you are well-meaning, I feel.   You just didn't know that you were repeating the official, Radical Right opinion about Michael Paine.  What do you think now, after hearing this further evidence?

Regards,
--Paul Trejo

[Jeff Carter]

Paul. this phone call was discussed in detail on this Forum just a few months ago, a discussion to which you participated. In light of that, your misdirected paraphrase of the call and claim that a “dishonest person” added words which were never said, has no basis against the easy-to-consult original record. Ruth Paine’s stated opinion recorded 52 years after the fact may be of contextual interest but does not replace this record.

As well, the idea that Oswald showed Michael Paine a backyard photo in April 1963 does not correspond to the record. Michael Paine himself only began to make this claim in 1993 (to author Gus Russo) during the concerted effort to debunk Oliver Stone’s JFK film. Michael Paine’s Warren Commission testimony goes into great detail (several pages of testimony) twice; over his April 1963 visit to the Neely Street house to pick up the Oswalds, and then again describing the rolled up blanket on the floor of the garage at Ruth’s house in the Fall of 1963. In both instances, Paine’s testimony would amount to perjury and possibly indicate collusion if he had indeed been shown such photo by Oswald in April 1963.  In fact, Paine testifies to the WC he was presented with a backyard photo by the Dallas police at their headquarters on the evening on Nov 22 - some 15-18 hours before such photos were said to be officially found.

I don’t believe either Paines were involved with an assassination plot per se, but they both were quick to provide assistance to the government in establishing the developing lone nut scenario, starting on the evening of Nov 24/63 in an interview with a local Dallas television station. Although they both offered an analysis of Oswald as an embittered loser who sought personal aggrandizement by entering the history books through killing a president, they were never pressed on what exactly would make them think that and nothing in their collected testimonies supports or provides reason for such a conclusion. 

That the Paines were committed to supporting the official story and had official sanction in such effort is underlined by experiences described by Vincent Salandria:
https://ratical.org/ratville/JFK/FalseMystery/ThePainesRoleInHistory.html

[Paul Trejo]

On 3/17/2018 at 8:22 PM, Joe Bauer said:

In several interviews Michael Paine would describe Oswald.

And not in understanding and compassionate Christian ways.  It was a cold and hard criticism of Oswald and everything about him.

Now, Michel Paine was supposedly a person with a very liberal/humanitarian social view and conscience.

And he was raised around a family that valued this perspective.

But what always bothered me about Michael Paine's was how often his stated personal feelings and assessments of Oswald were void of this sentiment and insultingly derogatory. They were way more harsh than you would expect from a so-called church going Christian.

I sensed an intellectual snobbery and arrogance with Paine in this regards.

Paine did not come across as a person expressing non-judgmental tolerance, understanding and compassion for others ( Oswald particularly ) as one would expect from someone in the Unitarian/Quaker faith. 

Here are just a few of Paine's judgmental put-downs of Oswald.

Oswald was not really anything. He was stupid. He read some books and thought he knew what he was talking about.

Basically, Oswald an ignorant and "uneducated" fool. A loser.

Paine seemed to personally dislike Oswald this much from the first time he met him.

IMO in large part because he ( Oswald ) dared to act as if he was on Michael Paine's intellectual level ... even a little. 

But let us look at Paine with the same level of criticism he dished on Oswald.

Paine was a spoiled person. He never saw a poor day in his life. It sounds as if he screwed up in some military service way. Then , drifting somewhat freely at a time when Oswald was having to support a family, his family connections eventually got him into a decent paying job where he made model helicopters?

Paine had a failed marriage himself. He made mistakes. He had flaws. Much of the good things in life were just handed to him. Did he even appreciate his very fortunate circumstances versus the average work and pay struggling person?
Yet, he never seemed to express any humility in this regards.

He says Oswald "never did anything" about his stated Marxist beliefs.

Where as Paine joined groups, sang in choirs, and who knows what other endeavors to spread his humanitarian concern for others.  Is this the great "doing something" actions Paine is referring to in knocking down Oswald in this regard?

People forget Oswald had just turned 24 when he was killed by Ruby. That is very young.

How much could Oswald have given of himself up to that age? Especially when he was consumed with just making enough money for his wife and babies to survive in the poverty side of town after town his entire time ( after Russia ) back here in the states?

If Oswald from a very young age had the nurturing, privileges and opportunities that Michael Paine was blessed with, I would not doubt that Oswald would have gone to college and done very well.

And that he wouldn't have had the bitter cynicism chip on his shoulder as an adult.

And If Micheal Paine had instead been born to the awful Marguerite Oswald with no father and lived Oswald's totally neglected childhood and teen years...I don't think Michael Paine could have made it through emotionally.

Oswald should at least be given credit for making it through that rough and neglected childhood life.

Joe,

IN DEFENSE OF MICHAEL PAINE (1928 - 2018)

We should say something about Michael Paine's Christian beliefs, since you hammer them so consistently above.

Michael Paine was not, like Ruth Paine, a Quaker.   This was one of the many reasons for their separation.   Michael was a Unitarian for most of his life.   I don't know if you know anything about Unitarians, but I have many friends who are Unitarians, and every one is quite honest about the fact that they cannot believe in the Saving Cross of Jesus or the Resurrection or the Afterlife.   What they actually believe is obscure, because the Unitarians publish no book of doctrines.   They look like a Church, but without Christ as their official head.      

Anyway -- Michael Paine was indeed a privileged person -- all his life.   Lee Harvey Oswald was a poverty-stricken.   The question I would raise here, on the eve of the death of Michael Paine, is why Michael had anything to do with Lee.   I know the CIA-did-it CTers for at least a quarter century have preached that Michael Paine was CIA.   Whatever!

Let's take this more slowly and carefully.

After Buddy Walthers told the Dallas newspapers that he found "six or seven metal filing cabinets full of the names of Castro supporters" in Ruth Paine's garage, it became clear that somebody was trying to set up Ruth Paine (and Michael Paine) as COMMUNISTS in support of the FPCC and Lee Harvey Oswald, who was allegedly an officer of the FPCC in New Orleans.

Just as the Dallas Police put Buell Wesley Frazier under a spotlight for "transporting the murder weapon" that killed JFK (and would have sent Wesley to the electric chair if he didn't come up with a good defense), the Dallas Police were hot to convict Ruth and Michael Paine as well.

This explains the forgery added to the Paine's tapped telephone call of 11/22/1963.   The Radical Right was trying to entrap the Paines'

Through Probe Magazine of the 1990's, the Clueless Left perpetuated the story of the Radical Right in their continued persecution of Ruth and Michael Paine.   In fact, it continues down to this day in this very thread, with the old editor of Probe Magazine, right here.

Here is how I set up my defense of Michael Paine.   He would have been sent to the electric chair unless he came up with a good defense.   How could he be the friend of Lee Harvey Oswald, even having dinner with him, and letting him sleep over in his house on many weekends before the JFK Assassination -- without being a party to the JFK Assassination?   

So, the first self-defense of Michael Paine was this:  "Lee Harvey Oswald was no friend of mine!" 

Here (in my paraphrase) is how Michael Paine elaborated on his self-defense.  "Lee was stupid!  He claimed to be a Marxist, but I know Marxism backwards and forwards because my biological father was an admitted Trotsky follower.   I am no Marxist, but when I visited my father during summers in Los Angeles, I met dozens of committed Marxists, and heard them making speeches and debating, and I know the literature very well.  I can say with certainty that Lee Harvey Oswald was a young ignoramus, showing off that he read a few books by Marx.   A genuine Marxist would have joined a Party and worked hard for that Party."

All of that self-defense, it turns out, is also historically factual.   In fact, Michael Paine truly did dislike Lee Harvey Oswald from the first moment that he met him.   Well, then, we reasonably ask -- why did Michael Paine allow Lee Harvey Oswald to spend the night in his house in Irving, Texas on weekends, while his wife, Ruth Paine, and his two small children, Lynn and Christopher, were in that house?

It's a good question.  It deserves a good answer.  So, let's review the Warren Commission testimony very slowly, so that it finally makes some sense.   Here is my best recollection of the events:   

1.  Michael was separated from Ruth Paine at the time.  It was not hostile -- it was amicable, and Ruth Paine was a strong-willed woman (very common in Texas) and also highly educated woman (very rare in Texas).   

2.  Ruth had promised God that she would learn to speak Russian, so that she could help bring peace between the USA and the USSR, within programs of the Quaker Church.    Michael Paine had nothing to do with this.  He just wanted to be an engineer, support his children, buy a few houses and a few cars, and call it a good life.

3.  Ruth Paine tried to find people in Fort Worth and Dallas to help her learn to speak Russian.   

3.1.  Ruth could read and write Russian -- but that is a far cry from having a fast conversation with a native speaker.   (Many Americans who have studied Spanish in high school know this fact very well.)

3.2.  Ruth asked Professor Mamantov if he would teach her.   He turned her down, because her Russian skills were too poor.   

3.3.  Mamantov instead put Ruth in contact with his aged mother-in-law, Dorothy Gravitis.    But Dorothy was a poor teacher.   Ruth was frustrated.

4.  On February 22, 1963, Ruth and Michael were invited to a party by a common friend, Everett Glover.   

4.1.  Everett was an engineer who knew the Paines for many years.   He and Michael sang in the Unitarian Choir together.

4.2.  Everett did not speak Russian, but he knew many engineers in Dallas, and many were Russian Expatriates.   One was George De Mohrenschildt (DM).

5.  At the party on February 22, 1963, Everett invited many engineer friends, because George DM was going to entertain everybody by bringing Lee and Marina Oswald to the party.

5.1.  Everybody in Fort Worth and Dallas had read about Lee and Marina Oswald in the newspapers.   Lee was going to answer all their questions in English (because they all spoke mainly English).

6.  Marina Oswald came to this party with their baby June, and she was the only one at the party who spoke no English.

7.  Michael Paine had a cold, or otherwise begged off from that party.   Instead, Ruth Paine came to party alone.

8.  Ruth Paine was bored by Lee Harvey Oswald.

9.  But when Marina and Jeanne retreated to a bedroom with baby June, because the baby was cranky, Ruth Paine tried to join them.

10.  There was no way that Ruth Paine could join in their rapid Russian conversation.   But she tried her best to interject a word here or there.

11.  To her great pleasure, Marina Oswald was very kind and gentle, and included Ruth in their conversation, speaking slower, and correcting Ruth's grammar.    RUTH LOVED THIS.

12.  Ruth Paine then gave Marina her phone number and asked Marina for her phone number.   "We don't have a phone," Marina replied.  

13.  So, they exchanged postal addresses, and said good night.

14.   (An important point to make here -- hotly disputed by CIA-did-it CTers -- is that Ruth Paine insists that she never saw George or Jeanne DM before in her life, and never saw them or heard from them again in 1963.   The same goes for Michael Paine.)

14.1.  (Another point:  Ruth Paine was not part of the Russian Community in Fort Worth and Dallas.   She didn't speak Russian well enough for one thing; also, she did not attend the Russian Orthodox Church as they all did -- even the unbelievers.)

15.  After that night, Ruth Paine and Marina Oswald sent many letters to each other -- for the rest of 1963 until the JFK Assassination.   

15.1.   The Warren Commission has copies of them all, as far as possible.

16.  They made good friends, and Marina Oswald confided in Ruth Paine that she was pregnant.   She also told Ruth that Lee was threatening to send her back to the USSR alone -- without him.    She was miserable about it.

17.  Ruth believed Marina -- she believed Lee planned to abandon his family.   She decided that this was an important moral challenge for her.   HOW COULD SHE HELP MARINA OSWALD?

18.  Ruth Paine would drive herself and her children from Irving to Dallas to visit Marina Oswald on several occasions.  They would take their babies on walks in the park.   That was their main activity.   Their main conversation was about babies and child care.   Also marital problems.

19.  As the weeks went forward, Ruth Paine would also drive to Dallas and pick up Marina and baby June, and drive them to Irving, and go for walks there -- and wash clothes -- and then drive everybody back to Dallas, and then drive her children home.   

19.1.  That was a long day, but Ruth loved the company, the Russian conversation, and the friendship.   Marina was always a very intelligent and kind person.

20.  In late March, 1963, Ruth Paine asked Michael Paine if he could invite Marina and Lee Oswald over for dinner.

20.1.  Michael Paine then realized that their friendship was becoming long-term, and so he said he would like to attend that dinner, so that he could also see what Marina and Lee Oswald were like.

21.  On April 2, 1963, Michael Paine drove to Dallas, to the Neely Street address, to pick up Lee and Marina Oswald.

21.  I wrote above that sequence: briefly; Marina wasn't ready and Lee "entertained" Michael Paine by telling him all about his Marxism.

22.  Also, Lee showed Michael Paine his "Backyard Photograph."    Michael was unimpressed -- in fact, turned off, by this silly display of weapons.

23.  Michael Paine did see that Marina Oswald had some class -- some education -- some social manners -- and he could see why Ruth liked Marina.

24.  Disappointed that Lee Harvey Oswald was such a "loser," he went through with the dinner, and put on the best face he could for Ruth and Marina.

25.  At the dinner, Lee Harvey Oswald talked and talked with bored Michael about his "Marxism", while Marina and Ruth happily talked about children and dinner and then washed the dishes together and cleaned the kitchen.

26.  That was the night.  It was a dreadful bore, for Michael Paine.

27.  That was the last that Michael Paine saw or heard of Lee Harvey Oswald until October, 1963. 

28.  On April 24,  Ruth drove herself and her children to visit Marina and baby June,  to have a walk in the park.  

29.  Instead, she was surprised to see Lee Harvey Oswald -- bags packed -- asking for a ride to the bus station -- he could not afford a taxi.

30.   So, she said OK.  On the way, Lee explained his situation.   He had lost his job, and he was going to New Orleans to stay with his family there, and seek work there.

31.  But he didn't want Marina to come with him.   He wanted Marina to stay in Dallas and wait for a letter from him.   No matter how long this might take.   Then, Marina and June would take the bus to New Orleans.   He would give her a bus ticket.   

31.1.  The rent was paid for the next week.  Lee said it should not take long.

32.   Ruth immediately thought that Lee Harvey Oswald was going to abandon his family.   But she did not want to pry or to exceed her social boundaries.

33.   They arrived at the Greyhound bus station, and Lee Harvey Oswald bought two tickets to New Orleans.  One for himself, and one for Marina. 

33.1.  The bus station took Lee's luggage, and told him to wait for the bus which would leave for New Orleans in the morning.

34.   Instead, Ruth made a suggestion.   Why not let Marina move to Ruth's place?   That way, Lee could take his time, and then when Lee was ready, he could use the telephone instead of a letter.   

34.1.  Further, Ruth offered, when Lee telephoned, Ruth Paine herself would drive Marina to New Orleans, and save the expense and hassle of Marina traveling by bus with a baby, not knowing any English.

35.   Lee thought that was a great idea.  He quickly took Marina's bus ticket back to the Greyhound cashier and cashed it in.

36.  Then, they  all drove back to the Neely street apartment in Dallas, where Lee Harvey Oswald personally loaded all of their meager belongings (mostly baby furniture) onto Ruth Paine's station wagon, and they said goodbye to Lee.  He would take the public bus to the Greyhound station that night.

37.  For the next two weeks -- Ruth Paine was in a kind of heaven.   Her best friend and her baby were living with her, and she was speaking Russian conversation every single day with Marina Oswald, who spoke an aristocratic form of Russian.   It was just great.

38.  Then, in two weeks, on May 10, 1963, Lee called Ruth Paine's phone and told Marina -- I have a job and we have an apartment!   Marina was delighted -- "Papa loves us!" she cooed to baby June!

39.  True to her word, she loaded up her station wagon with Marina's belongings, and she drove her two children with Marina and baby June to New Orleans.

40.  For the next night, Ruth and her babies slept on the floor of the Oswald's roach infested apartment -- listening to Marina and Lee scream at each other almost the whole night.

41.  That was the last that Ruth Paine would see of the Oswalds until September, 1963. 

42.  That summer, Ruth Paine took her usual two month vacation, and drove her children to the East Coast, to visit her mother, her siblings and relatives and childhood and college friends.   

42.1.  Although they all wanted to talk about the separation of Michael and Ruth, all Ruth wanted to talk about was Marina Oswald.

43.  Marina and Ruth continued writing letters to each other.    Marina complained to Ruth that Lee was forcing her to write letters to the USSR, asking to go back.  But she insisted: "Ruth -- I really don't want to go back!   Help me!"

43.1  Ruth was beside herself with emotion on this topic.   All she could talk about to her family and friends was helping Marina Oswald.

44.  Then, in mid-September, 1963, Marina Oswald sends an S.O.S. to Ruth Paine.   Lee has been out of work for months.   They have no money.   Marina is now EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT.  They have no health insurance.   She has not seen a doctor about her pregnancy.

45.  Ruth springs into action.  She piles her kids into her station wagon and heads to New Orleans.

46.  Once there, she very kindly asks Lee Harvey Oswald for permission to take Marina and June back to Irving, Texas, to register Marina at Parkland Hospital, so that she could have baby June in some safety.   Marina, June and the new baby can live with her, Ruth said, through January 1964, when Ruth's mother would come to stay to help with Ruth's children.

47.  Lee jumped at the opportunity.    For the first time ever, Lee Harvey Oswald began to behave like a gentleman to Ruth, helping out here, there and everywhere.   He loaded up Ruth Paine's station wagon single-handedly (again) and on September 23, 1963, Lee sent Marina and June off to Irving.

48.  Lee told Ruth that he is going to Houston to seek work.   Marina Oswald knew that was a lie -- but she didn't say anything.

48.1.   Lee had previously told Marina that he was going to Mexico City -- but to keep that a deep secret.   Marina agreed.

49.  For the next 11 days, Ruth Paine is again in a kind of heaven.   She has her dear friend, Marina Oswald and baby June, living with her again.

49.1   Baby June is now calling Ruth, "auntie Ruth."    Ruth loves that.

49.2.   Ruth is very busy, helping Marina register for free natal services at Parkland Hospital.   (Marina and Lee didn't want to be indebted further.)

49.3.   Ruth gave blood to Parkland Hospital in partial exchange for these free natal services.

50.  On October 4, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald came waltzing back into Ruth Paine's life.

51.  He knew better than to ask to live with Ruth -- it was a small house -- and Ruth didn't want and extra person there -- especially this ne'er do well who couldn't even hold down an easy job to support his own children.

52.  But Lee did ask if he could at least come over on weekends, to be with his children.  He promises to help around the house.

53.  Ruth, being the soft-hearted person she was, agreed to this arrangement.

54.   Immediately, Lee Harvey Oswald began using Ruth Paine's address for all his identity paperwork -- all his job applications.   He also began sending all his magazine subscriptions (and there were lots of them) to Ruth Paine's address.

55.  When Ruth told her own mother about her life status (as she regularly did) her mother was alarmed that this ne'er do well was now in Ruth's house! With Ruth's own children!   Did Ruth really know what she was doing?

56.  Ruth wrote to her mother, to soothe her fears.    Lee Harvey Oswald is now calm as a lamb, and appreciates as well as he can.  He's poor, but he's trying. 

56.1.  Lee helps around the house very well.   For one thing, Ruth had a sticking door, and Lee took it down and sanded it, so that it stopped sticking.

57.  Ruth also kept Michael in this loop, of course, and Michael Paine visited the Irving Street address and his children three days a week.   On weekends he would have dinner with his family -- and with the Oswalds there at his address.

58.  He had agreed with Ruth -- Marina Oswald was a good person and she was worth all the bother.    He resented that Lee Harvey Oswald was such a flake who could hardly hold down an easy job to support his own children -- but he was convinced that Lee was harmless.

58.  For example, Michael Paine said, on weekends, Lee would watch baseball on TV.   Lee loved watching TV.   This caused Michael to think -- "Some Marxist!  Instead of picketing somewhere for the working class, he enjoys his TV like any middle-class person!"

59.  On October 20, 1963, Marina gave birth to Audrey Rachel Oswald.

60.  From that day forward, Marina and Ruth were intensely busy with child care.   Marina was delighted with Parkland Hospital, but also with the fact that Ruth Paine had a washing machine -- because newborns need so many diapers.

61.  This was basically how Ruth Paine and Michael Paine lived their lives, from October 4, 1963, until the JFK Assassination on November 22nd.

62.  The JFK Assassination came out of nowhere for the Paine's.   They were taken by storm.   On the day of the JFK Assassination, Michael Paine called Ruth from work to day, "Lee didn't do it -- we both know who did it."

63.  Ruth Paine in December, 2015, told me what Michael Paine meant -- it was the group that published the WANTED FOR TREASON: JFK handbill, and the corresponding black-bordered ad in the DMN: "Welcome Mister Kennedy, to Dallas;   <Why are you a Communist>?"

So, Joe, you ask what Michael Paine did that Lee Harvey Oswald didn't do?   The answer, in my opinion, is very obvious -- Michael Paine held down a steady job and supported his wife and children.   Also, Michael Paine supported his wife in her dream to help Marina Oswald.

You ask why Michael Paine didn't show more sympathy toward the hardships of Lee Harvey Oswald.  In my opinion, no other person in the world (except Ruth Paine) ever showed Lee Harvey Oswald more sympathy for his hardships than Michael Paine!

Sincerely,
--Paul Trejo, MA

Edited March 19, 2018 by Paul Trejo

[David Andrews]

Speaking of poseurs whose early lives were molded by forces of the state...well. there were rich ones and there were poor ones.  See Nancy Wertz's assessment of Michael Paine's career at Bell, which seems to have been engineered to rescue Paine from a dilettante youth by his in-laws, Ruth Hyde and Arthur Young.  Relevant material starts on page 2 of the pdf ("Unanswered Paradoxes"):

http://www.jfklancer.com/pdf/Paine.pdf

I'm not sure the obituary description of Paine as a "retired aeronautical engineer" applies to a guy doing the sort of assembly work that Oswald did at Minsk.

[James DiEugenio]

As well, the idea that Oswald showed Michael Paine a backyard photo in April 1963 does not correspond to the record. Michael Paine himself only began to make this claim in 1993 (to author Gus Russo) during the concerted effort to debunk Oliver Stone’s JFK film. Michael Paine’s Warren Commission testimony goes into great detail (several pages of testimony) twice; over his April 1963 visit to the Neely Street house to pick up the Oswalds, and then again describing the rolled up blanket on the floor of the garage at Ruth’s house in the Fall of 1963.

The above observation by Jeff is important since it shows that Mike Paine was an ongoing part of the cover up.  I mean, thirty years on and he is still doing dirty work.

Edited March 19, 2018 by James DiEugenio

[James DiEugenio]

Jeff:

What do you make of Mike Paine's statement to Liebeler that he saw the BYP on the evening of the 22nd? (2H402)

And further, that he recognized the Neely Street address by the small clapboard? Yet, I think the photo was taken in the back, right?  And there was no indication in his testimony about his meeting with Oswald then that they went to the back.