Jim Root

Over the last several weeks I have been following a research trail that has led me to Max Shachtman. The following information will serve as an introduction to this man for those who are not familiar with him. It is taken from from "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" and gives an overview of the man who went from Communist to Socialist to being pro Reagan and an ardent anti Communist. in his final years. His followers became known as Shachtmanites and have reached into the uper eschelons of power in America.

"Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 - 1972) is best known as an American Trotskyist theorist. After leaving the pro-Soviet Communist Party, Shachtman was a leader of the Socialist Workers Party and was the editor of its theoretical journal New International.

In 1940 Shachtman led nearly half the members of the SWP in a factional struggle concerning the party's internal regime, a dispute which also involved theoretical differences over the "class nature" of the USSR.

By the early 1940s Shachtman adopted what was known within Trotskyism as the ¨Third Camp¨position, a rejection of both Western capitalism and the "bureaucratic collectivism" of Soviet society. Shachtman continued to regard the Russian state as superior, in terms of its economic organisation to capitalism and, like more orthodox Trotskyists, called for the overthrow of Stalinism by a workers revolution. However by 1948 Shachtman concluded that the Russian state was economically and socially more reactionary than liberal capitalism. A view which he described in detail in a famous debate with former Communist leader Earl Browder.

Shachtman and his supporters were expelled from the SWP and founded the Workers Party which became the Independent Socialist League in 1948. Initially the League described itself as an anti-Stalinist, Marxist-Leninist organization. However, Shachtman became disillusioned with revolutionary socialism and the League shifted its philosophy to a more "democratic socialist" orientation. While the ISL would always remain a small organization, it benefited from a very dedicated core of activists which would come to include such notables as Hal Draper and Michael Harrington within its ranks.

In 1958 the ISL merged with the Socialist Party. Shachtman greatly influenced the American Socialist movement by encouraging socialist participation within the left-wings of the Democratic Party and the American labor movement. This strategy proved surprisingly successful. To some extent, the social programs proposed by the Lyndon Johnson administration were inspired by the writings and activism of intellectuals associated with Shachtman and the Socialist Party.

Within the SP, Shachtman's followers were referred to as the Shachtmanites. The ambition of the Shachtmanites energized the Socialist Party, which became an important though largely unacknowledged participant in the US civil rights movement, anti-poverty activism, and other issues.

Ultimately, however, the Shachtmanite tendency to affiliate with large, powerful institutions came at a price. The ties established with the Johnson administration made criticism of the Vietnam War difficult. Many on the left felt that Shachtman and, by extension, the Socialist Party had abandoned the peace camp. In the end many Shachtmanites openly championed the Cold War, which they saw as a showdown between democracy and totalitarianism.

In the early 1970s, the increasingly right-leaning Shachtmanites seized the leadership of the party and changed the organization's name to "Social Democrats, USA." After the name change many of the older socialists of the Norman Thomas generation left the Party, as did the former Shachtmanite Michael Harrington.

After Shachtman's death in 1972, many Shachtmanites rose to prominent positions in government and organized labor. Their legacy has been very ambiguous from the perspective of the left. Generally the Shachtmanites have promoted pro-labor policies while supporting unbridled US military intervention abroad. In the AFL-CIO they often focused their attention overseas, working within the State Department to support liberal trade unions organizing in socialist countries, like Solidarity in Poland.

In 1976. Shachtmanites supported the presidential candidacy of Henry "Scoop" Jackson due to his hardline foreign policy.

The most lasting legacy of Shachtman may be the intellectual contribution that Shachtman's followers and colleagues made to neoconservatism. Their displeasure with Carter's "peacenik" agenda led many Shachtmanites to support Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. More generally, many of the founders of neoconservatism, such as Irving Kristol, Nathan Glazer, and Sidney Hook, developed their thinking in the anti-Stalinist milieu of the Trotskyist left of the 1930s and 1940s. Jeane Kirkpatrick was a member of the Shachtmanite-dominated Young People's Socialist League as a university student. In the 1970s Paul Wolfowitz was a speaker at Social Democrats, USA conferences.

Indeed, the enthusiasm with which many neoconservatives championed the U.S. invasion of Iraq may reveal some of the same idealistic and internationalist spirit of their Trotskyist origins."

Two curiosities:

A) "In 1958 the ISL merged with the Socialist Party" This is the same organization that Lee Harvey Oswald wrote to in the later part of 1957.

"To some extent, the social programs proposed by the Lyndon Johnson administration were inspired by the writings and activism of intellectuals associated with Shachtman and the Socialist Party" This man's philosophy was advanced by Johnson gaining the Presidency.

I know that John Simkin has done a great deal of posting on the way that LBJ was pushed for the Vice Presidency during the 1960 election. In the past my research has led me to believe that there was a conspacy to get Kennedy elected. Perhaps the two could be linked by a closer examination of Max Shachtman.

It seems there may be an association to Hubert Humphry in this as well.

Coincidence?

Jim Root

John

Add Jefferson Morley to your list of persons involved in a campaign "for the CIA to release the files concerning the activities of Joannides."

Joannides is important to my research because he was apparently one of the few original Americans involved in Greece when the Brits began to withdraw in 1948. At this time Edwin Walker was running the Greek desk at the Pentagon and made one or more trips to the area. With so few Americans involved at the time we must hold open the possibility that these two men were associated with one another then. Is it a coincidence that, fifteen years later, both their names would be associated again (this second time with Lee Harvey Oswald)?

George Joanides is closely associated with Thomas Karamessines who was in the office of Richard Helms at the time of the assassinationl. I believe it is Jefferson Morley and John Newman that have traced the routing of messages about Oswald's movements before the assassination to Karamessines. Apparently some of these messages originated with Joanides.

Worth anticipating the outcome.

Jim Root

James

Do you have any context for the pictures (time, place, etc). Seems that Tikander's (almost) uncle may have been a major player in the Finnish Workinmens Association. His father was a leader in one of the first organization of Finns in Northern Minnesota. The organization that he headed had the building where the Workingmens Association began. The history is a little sketchy at present. I hope to have more soon.

What did Tikander do after 1947? Miller is also interesting for many reasons.

Jim Root

James

The Duluth Library contained exactly one piece on Tikander. It was a political add when he was running in the Democratic Primary for Congress (8th District) in 1946. It does give a brief bio of his work in Government that begins in 1935 (contract and Anti-Trust Lawyer). By 1942 he is Special Assistant to the American Misister to Sweden and Chief of the OSS Mission to Sweden (till 1945).

Gives his date of birth as 1904 at Biwabik, Minnesota (local area in St. Louis County). I then did additional research at the County recorders office and ran into a local genealogist who led my search into an interesting area.

Tikander worked under Calvin Bryce Hoover in the OSS. Hoover was involved in US intelligence beginning in 1933 and remained with the CIA, etc. until the 1960's.

Hoover was also part of the "Intelligence Group" and a special advisor to General Draper in Post War Germany. It seems he was still involved in that area when McCloy and Max Taylor came on the scene. It seems his paper, "Germany and European Economic Recovery" was the basis of the plans for the recovery of the German Economy. Hoover went on to become a specialist on the Soviet Economy and had visited the Soviet Union many times beginning in the 1930's.

Apparantyl Tikander was the real life character behind the book/film Counterfeit Spy. Are you familiar with this story (I have not had time to look it up)? Tikander was also officially honored by the Finnish Government for his service in the OSS during WWII. (As a sidebar, a Majken V. Tikander, US Citizen, died at the US Consulate in Stockholm on August 12, 1999. He was born in 1913 so he is not our Wilho)

It seems that Tikander was the right man for the job in Sweden and Stella Polaris. Are you familiar with the Carelian Finn movement in America? The Finnish relief program called "Guard the Frontier" (circa 1939)? The "Lotta Svard" organization? Help Finland, Inc.? All seem to be able to be connected through family or friends to Tikander.

Of more interest to myself would be a group called the "Tyomies" and an organization known as the "(Virginia) Finnish Workingmen, Association. These organizations were Socialist by nature which is of course of interest to my own theories. It seems that Tikander (and family members) were involved in organizations that relocated and supported thousands of Finns that went to the Soviet Union in the 1920's and 1930's. About one thousand of this group were exterminated during the Stalin purge of 1938.

I have a lead on a Tikander researcher and another professor that is familiar with the history of the above named organizations. Hope to hear from them soon.

Once again I am interested in learning more of the connection to Harrod Miller.

Jim Root

James

Thanks for the picture. Do you know who the man on the right of Walker is (on the left when looking at the picture). His uniform seems different.

This group (474th) was also tasked with transporting the Nazi loot recovered from Merker's Mine near the end of the war. This was an interesting mission that required alot of secrecy and the involvement of some top level civil administrators from both the military and the State Department.

I will fill you in on what I find in Duluth.

Jim Root

James

Spent the day today with an elderly woman who knew Wilho Tikander. While she knew little of his experiences in the OSS she assured me that he was Finnish not Swedish. She herself spoke both languages fluently and talked a great deal about the Swedish-Finn communities that existed on both sides of the borders in those countries and that had carried over into the US.

Wilho was a college professor and natural leader of the Scandinavian communities that had settled in the Northern midwestern portion of the United States before the WWII began. She was sure he had long since died, having known him in her youth, he as an "older" educator, in the mid 1930's.

I hope to be in the Duluth area in the next few days. Any pointers on what I may want to look for in the Wilho Tilander collection in the Duluth Library?

The area of the United States that I am visiting was recruited heavily for a unit known as the 99th Battalion (Seperate) that later formed part of Task Force A and the 474th Infantry Regiment, both commanded by Edwin Walker as the War came to a close. Over 100 members of the 99th were recruited into the OSS (including William Colby).

Jim Root

James

This is going into some interesting places.

Meridith Gardner was a person who learned the Japanese language in three months during WWII. His work in decrypting the Soviet codes was, as stated in his induction to the NSA hall of honor:

"Mr. Gardner decided that merely decrypting VENONA messages was not enough if the decrypts could not be put to good use. He sent a memo, “Special Report #1,” to a small number of Army Security Agency (ASA) seniors in the summer of 1947, describing what sort of intelligence VENONA could provide. He also included samples of the material being recovered. Mr. Gardner’s report helped the Army’s leadership to recognize the value of VENONA, leading to cooperation between the ASA (later NSA) and the FBI in the identification of Soviet agents working in the United States."

Once again I believe we are talking about Maxwell Taylor being in this loop. John B. Hurt and Harrod Miller were with Friedmans group of codebreaker as well.

Your common denominator in a complex number with numerous factors that all seem to be becoming prime suspects in this case.

Coincidence.

Jim Root

Stephen

The "hawks" already knew he could stand up to them...Cuban Missle Crisis is a case in point. The question then is, perhaps, did the "hawks" (Taylor?) what to give him the opportunity to stand up to them/him again?

Jim Root

John

Cooper, McCloy and Dulles are all associated with the creation of NATO where they worked together. I am always surprized to look into the past of these people and see where else their paths crossed.

Cooper was also involved with the Civil Military administration of Germany (McCloy involved as well) at the close of WWII being assigned through Patton's Third Army. He, as I recall was in Bavaria in the same area where the Merkers Mine was discovered. The looted treasures found at this location would be worth billions by todays standards. Transporting that treasure.......Edwin Walker.

Allen Dulles was also involved with circumstances surrounding looted Nazi treasures.

Coincidence.

Jim Root

James

Donovan I understand but how does Howard Hunt fit into this?

Do you know much about Japanese involvement? Intercepted Japanese diplomatic messages that led to US involvement prior to VJ day? Integration of Finnish inteligence personel into US Intelligence vs Soviet Union? The recovered NKVD Codebook? The X-2 Person who oversaw the program?

The answers to these questions are leading toward some interesting persons whose names, once again, coincidentally pop up surrounding the assassination of JFK. The added peculiarity is Finnish Intelligence and Winston Scott.

Jim Root

James

Thanks for the heads up, I know that Library well and the many used book stores that are in close proximity.

It seems that Wilho Tikander was a resident of St. Louis County were my brother made his home. Do you know if Tikander is still living and how/why did you know about him?

By the way, I'm following a tie that may lead to Harrod Miller here...

Jim Root

John

I received this message from a person that I consider a very reliable source:

"Its possible. Win was the German desk of OSS X-2 in London in 1945 and then he was promoted to chief of X-2. If the operation had anything to do with Anglo-American counterintelligence in the European theater, Win probably knew about it."

You stated:

"After the war he served in the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1947 became the CIA's first station chief in London."

Put together I can generate a few interesting questions:

1) What roll did Scott play in British American cooperation in Greece (where Thomas Karamessines was involved as was Edwin Walker)?

2) Did Scott play a roll in the development of NATO while CIA station chief in London (a roll was played by three future Warren Commissioners and John D. Hickerson, who would become the US Ambassador in Helsinki when Oswald enterd the Soviet Union)?

3) How closely did Scott and James Jesus Angleton work together during this period?

4) Was Scott involved with programs to interrogate and return/hold German POW's at the end of the war?

5) Was Win Scott involved in Operation Stella Polaris?

6) Who else can we tie together with Winston McKinley Scott?

Jim Root

John

Do you have further information about his duties during WWII?

Was he in London? Was he a member of X-2?

As I recall the OSS was disbanded as soon as the war was over. I have seen mention of him in the OSS so my thoughts tend to place him there concurrently with being assigned to or in the Navy. I guess my question is, was he stationed in Europe during the War?

Jim Root

Looking for information on Winston (Win) M. Scott before he went to Mexico in 1956(?).

As I understand it he was SSU station chief in London and had worked in the X-2 Section during the war.

Please fill me in on any additional information you might have come upon while researching this person (or add interesting tidbits that may be appropriate to the general discussion).

Jim Root

Over the past year I have began communicating with alot of people on this forum and within the research community as a whole. I think that John Simkin has put together a great forum that allows us to share, no matter how varied our opinions may be, our ideas and thoughts about the assassination of JFK in a collegial manner. For that I thank him.

An example of the reasources that we can bring together, I believe, can be shown by the cooperative effort that Antti Hynonen and I were able to piece together that has expanded the previously known information about the available flights that may have been used by Oswald as he traveled from London to Helsinki.

In the past week I sent some information to a researcher that I had gathered last weekend while at the Hoover Library on the Stanford University campus. In a return email I was asked if I had additional information about a particular person that can be found amoung the myriad of people within the assassination web. Although slightly aware of this person I had never looked into their past, as I have a tendancy to do.

When I did, I came accross an OSS, CIA, NSA program that included "Operation Stella Polaris" that this person seems to have been involved in. This is a program that I had never heard of before but has now sparked action into a new area of "coincidence."

My question, has anyone else come accross information about this program that they could share?

Jim Root

Shanet

"I don't think Edwin Walker ever panicked.

I think when he was safely down in Louisiana with his alibi, he simply played a pre-arranged card in the frame up of Lee. "

Shanet, on this one I will respectfully disagree with you. I try to keep an open mind about the subject and toy with the thought that yuu are right except for some coincidences that continue to 'bug" me. I believe the date Walker resigned from the Army was November 4, 1961. Walker was releived from command of the US 24th Infanty Division on April 17, 1961 after it was "discovered" he was using "Pro Blue" material from the John Burch Society to "indoctrinate" his troops. On March 31, 1959 "pro blue" program shut down.

Compare these dates with the actions of Oswald during the same period of time. I believe, just as there travel in Europe overlaps that these actions overlap as well.

December of 1960: Oswald claims to have first applied to return to US.

February 5, 1961: First acknowledged letter from Oswald requesting return to US.

Feruary, 1961: Pro Blue Program is up and running

March 20, 1961: Additional letter from Oswald forwarded to State Department.

April 13, 1961: State infroms US Embassy in Moscow that Owald will be issued a passport "available for direct return to US.

April 17, 1961: Walker relieved of command

March 26, 1961: Oswald wants guarantees that he will not be prosecuted "under any circumstaces" should he return to US.

May 31, 1961: Pro Blue Program shut down and Walker becomes the center of the "muzzling of the military" controversy.

November 4, 1961: Walker resigns from the Army

December 28, 1961: Oswald passport approved

It remains my contention that Walker was a pawn and was unaware of Oswald's return to the US. Further more that when Walker first saw Oswald after his arrest, the day of the assassination, that Walker paniced and began making arrangements to contact a German Newpaper to publicize himself in a way that any connection to Oswald that would be uncovered could be defended.

After the death of Oswald, Walker's "need" for a defense became moot!

Jim Root

Robert

Thank you for the information. It seems we are in the same chapter if not on the exact same page.

This subject has interested me since the begining of my research because the Warren Commission was so sketchy and because Edwin Walker was traveling in Europe at the same time.

Some updated info from when you wrote your piece may be helpful. We now know that Oswald did not apply for his visa till Tuesday and received it in less than 24 hours. My feeling is that he was securing his Intourist vouhers on the Monday preceeding his application.

When the Warren Commission talks of a "direct flight' from London, I thought that ment non-stop. I have since learned that it only means that Oswald would arrive in Helsinki on the same plane that he boarded in London. The direct flight in reality made two stops along the way but that has no meaning in this discussion because his checkin time at the Torni Hotel eliminates that possibility. The 17:35 flight is my best guess and is the one that in fact is routed through Stockholm. Even in 1963, Sweedish authorities would have know that Oswald would probably have deplanded in Stockholm on his way to Helsinki.

In fact it was in Stockholm that the London passengers would exit their plane and board another plane that had actually started in Frankfort, Germany and was routed through Hamburg on its way to stockholm and Helsinki.

We know that Oswald would have arrived in London late on the night of the October 9th and that his passport is stampted as departing on the 10th. But this means only that he left London for some destination that the Warren Commission refused to divulge at some time after 00:01.

Our new research shows that Oswald could have journed to any number of cities in Germany (listed above) and still been on the same plane that arrived in Helsinki at 17:35. All of those additional locations would route him through Hamburg where he could have met anyone going to any of the other cities on the same list. Or Oswald could have first traveled to any of those other cities first on his way to Helsinki.

The information that was gathered from Golub on the 9th would be readily available to pass to a traveler on the 10th who was now on his way from London.

"Since [september 4, 1959] Golub has only phoned once and this was on a business matter. Two Americans were in the Soviet Consulate at the time and were applying for Soviet visas through Golub. They had previously been in the American consulate inquiring about the possibility of obtaining a Soviet visa in 1 or 2 days. [We] advised them to go directly to Golub...which they did. Golub phoned [us] to state that he would give them their visas as soon as they made Intourist reservations. When they did this, Golub immediately gave them their visas..." The date of that dispatch was October 9, 1959, the day before Oswald's arrival. Was the State Department's interest solely in testing Golub's willingness to grant such travel visas, or in exploiting that it knew he would?

The nature of this message seems to be in answer to a question presented to the Embassy rather than a message that just happened to be sent on the day that Oswald arrived in London. "Since [september 4, 1959] Golub has only phoned once and this was on a business matter." Once again remember that September 4th was the day Oswald applied for his passport in Santa Ana, California (some 9 time zone from Helsinki) and began being processed out ot the Marines some six weeks early.

My position is, not only was Oswald in a hurry to get to Helsinki from London but it seems that the US Government was helping him along the way beginning on September 4th when they first learned that Helsinki was an easy place to enter the Soviet Union from (unless we want to believe that the Soviets helped Oswald obtain his early discharge).

It is also during this same time that Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker is receiving his orders to pack up his office in Little Rock, Arkansas and move on to Augsburg, Germany and command of the 24th Infantry Division. (if Walker flew to Augsburg, he would have landed in Munich on one of the potential routes that Oswald could have used to be on the 17:35 flight into Helsinki). Walker could also have been traveling between Stutgart and Munich as well as London to Munich or London to Stutgart or London to Hamburg to then arrive at Augsburg. All logical routes for Walker and all available routes for Oswald.

Is it just a coincidence that the man Oswald would alledgedly shoot at seven months before the assassination of Kennedy could (although it is not yet proven) have been on the same airplane that Oswald could have been on which would allow Oswald to arrive at the destination and at the time that Oswald did in fact arrive in Helsinki? Is it a coincidence that, although passenger records were readily available from this time period when the Warren Commission met that the CIA could not be more specific about Oswald's route and in fact directed suspicion toward a route that it knew was impossible for Oswald to have taken? Was this in fact a distraction for researchers that we are just now begining to understand?

Why, over 40 years after the assissination, can Anti Hynonen gather this information that the CIA seems to have overlooked at the time?

I find this information substantial!

Jim Root

Shanet

You know my thoughts concerning Taylor.

I find this intriguing:

"In Hawaii on Nov. 21/63 , the day before......shortly after lunch Honolulu time , U.S.Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge made a long distance call from the lobby of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel..Now this distinguished diplomat had acces to phones in privacy from his room or the military circuits at no cost....Yet he was seen, according to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, with a stack of quarters in his hand pitting coin after coin into a pay phone??"

Do you think Lodge was, perhaps, attempting to warn someone by passing on information that he had heard at this conference? The use of a public telephone, I would assume, could be more secure in this type of high stakes drama.

Jim Root

Greg

Sorry it has taken so long to answer.

In short I believe that Taylor would have more control/influence with the NSA or Military Intelligence. It seems to me that Taylor wished to take more of the operational control of "unconventional warfare" missions away from the CIA.

Jim Root

Ray

"Jim, you and Antti have raised interesting questions, but until I see some compelling evidence, I can only conclude that Lee Oswald went to Moscow because he was interested in Marxism and wished to experience the Soviet system for himself. He was also interested in the Russian language and literature, and the music of Tcaikovsky (sp).

As I mentioned earlier, at this stage I consider that all the accusations against him remain unproven, including accusations that he was an agent of the KGB or U.S. intelligence

But I am willing to reconsider if the evidence warrants."

Thank you for the complement. I find the questions interesting as well and have for years been searching for the "evidence" that would make the nation reconsider this case.

I will admit, once again, that my compelling interest in this case has centered around Edwin Walker. Who he was. Where and how he happens to fit into the picture. His military backround and the Warren Commissions refusal to delve into it. I have found my research to be very interesting (please read previous posts)

When I first began searching this topic, the coincidental fact that Walker was traveling in Europe at the same time as Oswald caught my attention. Once again I found a gap in the Warren Commissions investigation that delt with the area of Oswalds travel to Helsinki. Walker's assumtion of command of the 24th Infantry Division in Augsburg, Germany, to me, presented an opportunity for these two men, Oswald and Walker to have crossed paths. Add to this that the change of command in the 24th was out of the normal rotation sequence and you add another coincidence that compounded my interest.

One problem that I had with while following this line of thought was that the two routes that were identified by Chris Mills that would take Oswald from London to Helsinki would have routed Oswald through Copenhagen or Stockholm. Neither of these routes would be conducive to Walkers destination of Augsburg. What we have discovered in this new research is that Oswald would have to get off of his plane and board another plane that would have originated in Germany while traveling to Helsinki. We have also added additional alternatives that Oswald could have used. Oswald could have gone first to any one of five destinations in Germany and still then be on the same airplane that Oswald did in fact arrive on in Helsinki.

Oswald could first have gone to Nurnberg, Stutgart, Hamburg, Frankfurt or Munich. All of the routes that would lead to Helsinki would then travel through Hamburg on there way to Helsinki. Each of the other cities could be reached by going to Hamburg first while traveling toward each of the others.

There are two logical destinations that Walker might have had on this list, Stutgart which was the center of the US Military command in Germany at the time or Munich, the airport used by US Military personel on their way to Augsburg. Walker could be traveling to Munich from London or from Munich to Stutgart and have numerous combinations that would put the two men at the same airport or on the same airplane at the same time.

The speed which Oswald left London could easily have been because he had a particular flight to catch and a particular man to meet, Edwin Walker, along the way.

Coincidence?

Tim

While I remain open to other theories my original hypothisis dominates my attention. Especially so with this new information.

Jim Root

Ray

"You and Jim have established that Helsinki was an ideal choice for someone wishing to visit the USSR. However, as I argued in a previous post, it has not been established that Helsinki was the ONLY place where tourist visas were issued on short notice."

This is part of what I find so interesting about this trip to Helsinki; the problems that it creates for the CIA and the Warren Commission findings. While the infomation that Antti and I have gathered does, I agree, "establish that Helsinki was an ideal choice for someone wishing to visit the USSR," it is the CIA, the Warren Commission and the HSCA that seem to believe that, "Helsinki was the ONLY place where tourist visas were issued on such short notice."

The classified evidence that was released by the CIA to the HSCA to show that it was in fact possible, although unusual in the big picture, to receive an entry visa at the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki in less than 24 hours was, at that moment, information provided to prove that Oswald did not need the help of an intelligence agency. At the time, the release of this clasified information was to prove that it was possible for a "teenager" to just stumble through Europe and end up in exactly the right place at the right time in history (something Oswald would again accomplish by being in the TSBD when the Kennedy motorcade passed).

When this information is examined closely (the dates the information was gathered vs the date Oswald applied for his passport and the "extra" travel day) we must logically scurtinize the fact that the US was in posession of the information, that it gained the information at the times when it would be most needed by someone who would have both a reason and the opportunity to provide that exact information to this novice traveler.

"So I would argue that signs of hurry should be viewed as signs that he was not a spy."

We are talking about an "extra" day of travel and "extra" expense for the "frugal" Oswald. The "frugal" part is, once again, a contridiction for the CIA, FBI and the Warren Commissioners. Oswald acts "out of character."

More importantly, for myself, when we talk about the "signs of hurry" we must be able to search for a logical answer. Oswald takes an overnight ferry to Southampton, gets on a train and heads directly for London, goes directly to the airport and leaves the country within hours. All the time he is showing signs of non stop movement toward his ultimate destination. But, in contrast, he then arrives a day later than he could have at his destination in Helsinki and expends more of his limited resources.

There were only three commercial flights daily into Helsinki. All were Fin Air. We know for a fact that the "direct" route (23:35 arrival time) would not have allowed Oswald to arrive in Helsinki in time to check into the Torni Hotel before midnight when he in fact did check in. This "direct flight" is out. But in another Warren Commission Report contridiction we find that the cost of Oswald's flight is given as $111.90. Using the 1959 exchange rates and fare rates that Antti obtained we find that the flight that Oswald could not have taken is the one priced most closely to $111.90. In two ways the "report," based upon CIA provided information, seems to attempt to direct us away from looking at the alternative flight possibilities. We must ask, why? It was not until Chris Mills reported in 1993 discovered that there were, in fact, two other flights available into Helsinki (neither direct) that day that the "mystery" of Oswald's travel was solved. But was it?

The next facinating puzzle piece (fact) that we now can add to this emerging picture......

Oswald had to change planes after leaving London, at least once, perhaps more than once, on his way to Helsinki in order to arrive on either of the two reamaining possible flights. Upon examination of this information we realize that this provides additional opportunities for the information necessary to obtain his travel visa into Russia to be passed to Oswald while he wound his way toward Helsinki.

Although not logical, we can even show that Oswald could have flown back to France on the 10th of October and then arrive on the same plane that he did in fact arrive on in Helsinki. What other possible airports could Oswald have been in on October 10th, 1959?

The reason for his hurried departure from London (which may be tied to later events in the life of Oswald) may lead us to finding the proof that Oswald was acting as an intelligence asset.

Jim Root

Ron

"Why do you say that? Why did it have to be Oswald who fired the shot, as long as he got blamed for it later? Would Oswald even know why Walker was fired at? It's not clear to me from your research why it had to be Oswald firing at Walker, and what Oswald's motive would be." Ron

Do you have six or eight hours?

Over the last eleven years or so I have collected hundreds of small pieces to this puzzle that center around Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker. Until I went to Center Point, Texas (Walker's home town) a few years ago the pieces never made any sense nor could they be connected in my simple mind in a logical way to create a logical picture. But, the information gathered on that trip led me directly to General Maxwell Taylor. Since that time the pieces have been falling into place and the picture that emerges is facinating to say the least. The complexity of the picture is what makes it so compelling. It incompasses almost every aspect of the assassination story.

For myself the evidenciary "screw up" the Warren Commissioners (McCloy, Dulles) would be pleagued by begins when Walker talks on the phone to a German newpaper while he is staying in a hotel room in Shreveport, LA. the morning after the assassination. The newspaper then reports the Oswald - Walker shooting story several days before the FBI investigates it.

My contention has always been that Walker paniced when he saw the pictures of Oswald on the news the day of the assassination because Walker recognized him. But from where?

A logical answer to this question emerged when I discovered that they were both traveling in Europe at the same time in October of 1959. A possible encounter becomes more reasonable to accept if one could show that Oswald took a route that does not suit his "frugal" character. Remember that Oswald's journey begining in Santa Ana, CA (Sept 4, 1959) and ending in Helsinki (Oct. 10, 1959) coincides exactly with two messages received by the State Department from the Helsinki embassy. Put this together with the fact that Oswald's itenerary could be specificly identified in evey aspect by the Warren Commission except his journey from London to Helsinki and we ask, once again why the mystery surrounding this portion of the trip?

If Oswald had had contact with Walker when he defected to Russia, Walker would know why Oswald would have a motive for shooting at him. What Walker would not have known was that Oswald had returned from the Soviet Union. Since Walker was known as "anti-Kennedy" the scenerio presented, I believe, could create panic, even in a seasoned soldier such as Walker. Remember once again that Walker's flurtations with the "right wing" coincides exactly with Oswald's contact with the State Department that begins the process of his return to the US.

On the other hand if Walker was involved in the assassination plot, the last thing he would want to do is make himself the center of the investigation. So why the interview with the German paper? I believe that Walker new immediatly that if Oswald was involved in the assination that there was a conspiracy and that he, if he had met Oswald, could be implicated by the accused assassin. But this only works if Walker would know that Oswald was an intelligence asset and that Walker would have a reason to recognize Oswald as an intelligence asset. Did Walker pass infromation to Oswald directing him to the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki? With the new information that Antti was able to gather in Helsinki I believe the possibility of this meeting has been increased.

Piecing together the military career of Walker was not an easy task. Although in no way complete the information I have gained points toward three conclusions:

A) Walker was involved in military intelligence.

Walker was very closely associated with Maxwell Taylor.

C) Walker was "out of the loop" where the assassiantion was concerned but could guess who was involved and he needed an insurance policy that was purchased when he contacted the German newspaper.

Please reread my posts if you are interested in more of the pieces that time and space here limits.

Jim Root

Ray

"My memory is not the greatest. When did De Morenschildt say that Lee admitted having fired at Walker?" Ray

Around April 5th, five days before the attempt on the life of Walker, Oswald gave De Morenschildt a copy of the famous backlyard photograph and inscribed upon it, I believe, "Hunter of Facisist." Following the attempt we have De Morenschildt asking, I believe, "How did you miss?" We have conversations and suspicions which bracket the event. The exact words used will never be known now because both men are dead.

We do have a picture that could be used as evidence of premeditation and the person that was in possession of that picture comming to a logical conclusion of the guilt of Oswald.

Jim Root

Ray

"Do you know if he could have taken a train from Calais to Helsinki? If so, how long would it take and how much cheaper would it be than the $109 airfare?" Ray

Wouldn't that require that he enter Russia along the way?

What we do factually know is that Oswald's passport is stramped October 10, 1959 when he leaves London Airport and is stamped October 10, 1959 when he arrives in Helsinki, Finland. What are our question then? What possible routes did he take from London to Helsinki on October 10th? For myself, could Oswald have encountered Edwin Walker along the way?

Jim Root

Ron

"I doubt that Oswald himself shot at Walker or pretended to. Anyone could have fired the shot into Walker's window, and Walker could have been nowhere around. Did anyone see the shooter? As I recall, someone saw a car speed away. Did anyone see Walker sitting where he allegedly sat as a bullet whizzed by? That is, anyone besides a crony who may have been with him? Walker could have been on the other side of the house, safely out of harm's way." Ron

This is my problem and has been for over a decade. If Oswald did not shoot at Walker all of the research that I have done can be dismissed as coincidence. From Walker's relationship to military intelligence, to his association with Max Taylor, to his passive aquatance with a John Hurt (B. of course), to his Pro Blue Program that is timed to Oswald's return to the US, to his travel in Europe that overlaps Oswald's defection and to Oswald being accused of shooting at Walker.

For myself, the fact remains that Oswald's trip to Russia was at best "under" investigated. Here we are, over fourty years later, when the case should be very cold and two amatures can discover "new" evidence concerning this trip. The fact remains that Oswald could have gone to Paris and then been on the exact same airplane that he did in fact arrive in Helsinki on.

What has led to this "new" information? Following the possibility that Oswald did, as he told both George de Mohrenschildt and his wife, shoot at Walker.

Jim Root