Jim Root

Jim, it isn't just me or Harry Dean or Loran Hall or Gerry Patrick Hemming or Dick Russell who claims that General Walker had direct or indirect interaction with Lee Harvey Oswald between May and October of 1963. General Walker's archives contain several items that suggest this. Here is a letter from Walker to Senator Frank Church in 1975 -- but it refers to the week of the 10 April 1963 shooting that we are talking about. I'd like to hear your opinion about this letter in particular: -------------------------------- ATTACHMENT --------------- To: Senator Frank Church U.S. Senate Office Bld’g Washington, D.C. June 23, 1975 Dear Senator Church: The Warren Commission found and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to assassinate the undersigned at his home, at 9pm. on April 10, 1963. The initial and immediate investigation at the time of the incident reported two men at my home, one with a gun, seen by an eye-witness – a neighbor. Within days I was informed by a Lieutenant on the Dallas City Police Force that Oswald was in custody by 12pm that night for questioning. He was released on a higher authority than that in Dallas. There were two men, not a "Lonely Loner". Please inform me if the CIA was involved in this attempted assassination? Yours sincerely, Edwin A. Walker --------------------------- END ATTACHMENT ---------------- There's the letter, Jim. Edwin Walker himself tells the Senator that he obtained knowledge that Oswald was his shooter "within days" of the shooting. I realize there are more puzzles than this one involved within the content of this letter, but I would ask you, please, to offer your opinion about this one key point -- that Walker knew about Oswald "within days" of the April shooting. Best regards, --Paul Trejo Paul Great question and I can only speculate on what was in the mind of General Walker at the time of that particular letter. 1). No Dallas police officier or record from that night suggests that this is true. We only have Walker's unsubstantiated statements both verbal or printed made after the death of Kennedy. 2).Walker then contradicts himself when he suggests that there was "two men" which if you read the police reports and listen to the news broadcasts of the time was the information that the police were acting upon. Why would Walker contridict himself in this letter, one man arrested vs two seen? 3). Walker asks if the CIA was involved in the assassination attempt. Did he have reason to believe that the CIA may have been involved? I ask this question because I believe he knew Oswald was an intelligence asset and had been tasked with assisiting Oswald to enter the Soviet Union as GPH suggests. Paul; Have you read the documents where Walker is trying to figure out who and why he was persecuted after the Overseas Weekly article? I found those very interesting. Jim Root

John, you ask a deep question when you ask, pro bono. I wonder about that myself - I want the answer. Walker had no regular job, so how could he afford to pay two high-profile lawyers for four years? That would take a lot of money. Walker got money from speaking engagements -- but that would likely pay his own bills -- not keep a stable of rich-man's lawyers hanging around. Now, it's possible that Watts and Morris did this work pro bono, or perhaps on speculation. That is, they may have firmly believed they would get a part of that $30 million that they were asking for (which, adjusted for inflation would be $300 million today). They may each have demanded 1/3 of the 'winnings' split three ways with Walker. Just a guess. I'm delighted with the fact that when it came to the Supreme Court, the Justice who heard the case was Earl Warren himself! Walker had been advertising loudly since 1959 to IMPEACH EARL WARREN because of the racial integration ruling. No 'Citizens Council' justice from Earl Warren -- he gave the three speculators exactly zip. I'm glad that these guys didn't profit from their fib about Walker's actual role in the Oxford riots. Best regards, --Paul Trejo Paul Do you have a citation for "Walker had been advertising loudly since 1959 to IMPEACH EARL WARREN because of the racial integration ruling." The ruling was 1956/57 I believe (that led to Little Rock) and Walker activly enforced that ruling in 1957. He also went along with the integration of the military in 1948 (approx.) without a murmur and had a fully integrated command staff throughout his career after the military integration until his resignation from the Army. Jim Root

Just to add a few points. 1st. Walker came from a family of some wealth that lived in Kerr County, Texas. His family background includes wealthy cotton buyers, well know actresses (both screen and theater) and family connections that go in many directions. Financial support for Walker was available and I doubt he was ever a pauper. 2nd. I do not believe you will find any report of Walker suggesting that Oswald shot at him until he first mentions this in his telephone interviews with the German magazine that occured just hours after the assassination of JFK (when Oswald's picture was on every television screen in the nation). Interestingly, then it seems to become important to Walker at that point to present this story to the public. Interestingly also, each of us must accept the position that Oswald did shoot at Walker as Walker and the Warren Commission suggests or believe that Oswald did not shoot at Walker. Following our heads or tails position on this point we must ask either, "How did Walker know this was true (Oswald shooting at him) immediately after the assassination of Kennedy?" or ask, "Why did Walker put this story out that the Warren commission embraced so readily?" I suggest that it is because Walker had met Oswald in October of 1959 while Oswald was on his way to Helsinki. I have proven that this is a possibility via airline records that are available and it would explain why the Warren Commission did not produce the passenger list, which were available at the time but seem to have never seen the light of day, for Oswald's travel to Helsinki. If Walker had meet Oswald and given him information that helped Oswald defect to the Soviet Union it would explain why Oswald speculated later that Walker was the leader of some organization that did not want to see peace between the US and the USSR. Oswasl spoke about certain groups in both countries that did not want peace while at Spring Hill College in the time period between the attempt on the life of Walker and the assassination of JFK. 3rd. Oswald said (and I do not have the direct quote in front of me), the reason I'm being arrested is because I went to the Soviet Union, I'm a patsy! While most people want to look at only the last three words the whole Oswald statement in context can be interputed very differently, especiall when it is matched with his speech at Spring Hill College and his statements to George DeMohrenschildt about Walker. The day before Oswald arrived in Helsinki the American ambassador sent a secret message to the State Department outlining how to receive a visa into the Soviet Union within 24 hours. Oswald followed those directions and did receive a visa within 24 hours of application. Is this a coincidence or a guiding hand? If Oswald felt guilt over the failure of the Paris Summit, as he spoke about at Spring Hill College, and the role he played in the downing of the U-2 that led to this failure, we suddenly have motive for Oswald to attempt to kill Walker and perhaps to kill Kennedy. The question is did the people that controlled when Airforce 1 would land and therefore the distance the motorcade would travel know that they had their patsy in place who had a rifle, who had a motive and was ready to kill? Jim Root

Paul It was not I who made this claim: "Gerry Patrick Hemming told Jim Root that he saw General Walker in Lousiana, at Lake Pontchartrain, a training ground for militant Cuban-Exiles that was organized by operated by Guy Banister and David Ferrie." While Gerry Patrick Hemming was very forthcomming with sharing some information with me about his relationship with Walker the above information was never stated by me. Perhaps there was another person who provided you with that information. If in some way something that I shared with you implied such I am sorry but that information never came to me from GPH and to my knowledge I have never posted the same here or anywhere else. Jim Root

Barry Interesting topic that I have looked into in years past. Some thoughts and information that have helped me deveolop areas of continued research. Herbert Yardley was America's leading cryptologist until 1931 when his "Black Chamber" was disolved. The recurring question that continues to haunt several who study this man is did he remain in the business after 1931. The history is rather scant into this subject but we do know that John "Frenchy" Grombach dedicated a book to Yardley raising speculation that the two had some sort of relationship. Grombach, along with Whitney Shepardson were the two leaders of SI an intelligence organization that has remained shrouded in mystery even until this day. Did SI have a code breaking component????? (It seems that Richard Helms was closely connected to SI as well). Yardley's "Black Chamber" was succeeded by William Friedman's team of Cryptologists that included John Hurt (who would at a minimum share a name of a person that Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to contact while in custody after the assassination of JFK)and Frank Rowlett (who would investigate Oswald for potential intelligence connections, his radio, etc. Hurt would be the man who would translate the final Japanese message that was to be presented to Sec. Hull on Dec. 7, 1941. About 1947 Hurt wrote a document detailing his work, previous to and including WWII, that has been declassified. In it he states that all the information necessary to identify Pearl Harbor as a target was available but that there were not enough translators available to do the work to reveal this information prior to Dec. 7, 1941. My question is, was there another parallel organization such as SI that was also working with the decoded interecept? Was Yardley a part of this organization? We can connect Yardley to Grombach if not to SI. In addition, Hurt insists that there were very few Army personel that could read, write, speak and understand the nuances of the Japanese language available to do this sort of work. Yet prior to the war a young officier, Maxwell Taylor was assigned as an aide (one of seven I believe) to General George Marshall's staff. Taylor spoke Japanese fluetly and had spent time with the Japanese Army in China and Japan during the 1930's. It is also reported that Taylor burglarized a Japanese War Department official and obtained a Japanese code book. I have never found anything in the information that I have studied about Friedman's group that this code book was ever turned over to them or how it was used. Hurt verifies that the information about Pearl Harbor was available but suggests that due to the large volumn of traffic that Friedman's team was dealing with and the limited amout of staff available that the information was never retrieved untill after the war had began. My question is, did a parallel organization have access to this same information and did they have the manpower to decypher it prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor? A historical coincidence that intrigues me but may have no signifigence at all is this..... First: While the defense department knew that the Japanese were going to do something on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941 and they knew the time, General Marshall choose to go for a horse back riding adventure and was unavailable to receive the information as it actually unfolded. Marshall also choose to send a message to Pearl Harbor via commercial carrier the morning of Dec. 7 rather than using military radio transmissions. The commercial message arrived after the bombing but that is a secondary issue. Second: Maxwell Taylor was meeting with German (I believe) NATO generals on Nov. 22, 1963 when he stopped the meeting and ajourned to his private office where he asked not to be disturbed. While sequested in private, the assassination of JFK took place. It is easy to speculate that both Marshall and his protege Taylor may have known the events about to unfold and choose to be alone as the most historical events of their times as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs occured. Interesting subject! I wish you luck. Jim Root

Jim Root

Mr. Backes I have studied the assassination for nearly 20 years and have collected a great deal of information over that period of time. That aside and not wishing to be confrontaitonal I would appreciate an answer to a few simple questions. If the planners of the motorcade were given 45 minutes for the trip which, at its greatest distance from Love Field passed the TSBD, might the trip have followed a different route if they had had only 30 minutes? Or 40 minutes? The flight plans of AF1 take precident over any other planes in US airspace. AF1 was routed to land at a precise time which dictated the 45 minutes aloted for the motorcade, agree or disagree? Do you believe the testimony of Mr Lawson was truthful? Jim Root

Hi Paul Thanks for the quick response...much better at that than I. Just a quick note and I will try to respond futher tomorrow. GP Hemming sent me an email where he said that I was right that Walker was a part of the team that infiltrated Oswald into the Soviet Union in 1959. Hemming began corresponding with me when I pointed out that he was training under Walker when he had admitted that he was recruited into intelligence. Hemming is the one person that we can show knew both Walker and Oswald and it is not to much of a stretch to, if you believe Hemming, believe that Oswald may have received information about entry into the Soviet Union from Walker that had been sent by John Hickerson, whom Walker had to deal with while in command of the First Special Servises Force during WWII. The information that was sent in that note was revealed during the HSCA but Oswald, it seems, followed the instructions to the letter and received his visa into the Soviet Union within the 24 hours Hickerson said could be done. If you locate Walker's Cullum Number you can easily request his military record, which I have done, from West Point. Within it you will find an interesting letter from John J. McCloy written, I believe in June of 1963. While it seems remote the subject matter deals, weird coincidence perhaps, with a man whose military career was sealed in concrete after an event that occured on November 22. Walker also had independent commands prior to the 24th Infantry Division (including the famed 101st Airborne Division) and I have interviewed a man that ran the Pro Blue Program for Walker while in Hawaii in the 1950's. You will also find that Walkers attendance in the Command and General Staff programs took place at a time that the Cold War Strategies that the US would implement for the next 30 years were being developed. Walker is a very interesting person and is, in my opinion, a key figure needed to understanding how the assassination plan may have unfolded. I, personally do not believe that Walker was involved in an assassination plot but do believe he knew immediately that there was a plot orchestrated by the highest eschelons of power to assassinate the President and that he could be implecated if a trial went forward with Oswald testifing. More thoughts.... Jim Root

Richard, I've already shared three documents from General Walker's archives that deliberately seek to link himself with Oswald and JFK. (1) I shared Walker's last known article on this topic, from November, 1991, which he claimed the DPD arrested Oswald on 4/10/1963, but RFK demanded his release that very night. (2) I shared an excerpt from a longer article from April, 1967, by Walker, which also claims that Oswald was "picked up by the law enforcement agency between 9pm and 12 midnight...He was released...The pickup was withheld from the public." (3) I shared Walker's interview with the German newspaper, Deutsche NationalZeitung, less than 24 hours after the JFK assassination. That article, published the following Sunday (11/29/1963) also claimed that Oswald was arresed for the April shooting at Walker on 4/10/1963, but was released by RFK. Tonight I'd like to share two more articles from Walker's archives on this same topic. (4) In a four page lambast of the Kennedy legacy, dated 6/12/1968, one week after the assassination of RFK, Walker as usual writes of himself in the third person: "If authority, in the hands of the Attorney General and the Justice Department, had not seen fit to free Oswald and his associates in the attempted assassination of Edwin A. Walker -- there is no reason to doubt that President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy would be alive today." (5) In 1975, Senator Frank Church's Committee proposed re-opening the JFK assassination case. In a single page, typed letter to Senator Church, dated 6/23/1975, Walker writes: "Dear Senator Church: The Warren Commission found and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to assassinate the undersigned at his home, at 9pm on April 10, 1963. The initial and immediate investigation at the time of the incident reported two men at my home, one with a gun, seen by an eye-witness -- a neighbor. Within days I was informed by a Lieutenant on the Dallas City Police Force that Oswald was in custody by 12pm that night for questioning. He was released on higher authority than that in Dallas. There were two men, not a 'Lonely Loner.' Please inform me if the CIA was involved in this attempted assassination. Yours Sincerely, Edwin A. Walker" On his typed copy, Walker writes in his own handwriting: "No reply." So, there we observe two more examples of General Walker's curious claim that Oswald had been arrested by the DPD on April 10, 1963, and RFK demanded his release. Three newspapers (to my knowledge) repeated that tale: The Deutsche NationalZeitung on November, 29, 1963, the National Enquirer on May 17, 1964 (though they refused to name their source) and the Kerrville Daily News on January 19, 1992. I myself find nothing credible in that story -- but that is what makes me suspicious. Given that this story is an obvious fiction, why in the world would General Walker try to spread it around; not only the day after JFK was killed, but again and again, decade after decade? It seems to me that this fabrication was intended to confess and even boast about something (i.e. a direct link between Walker, Oswald and the JFK assassination), as well as to misdirect attention from something (e.g. being a conspirator) to something else (e.g. being a victim). This Big Myth by General Walker might possibly be a veiled confession. Otherwise, why in the world would he continue to push this false tale for the rest of his life -- especially since nobody in the world was paying any attention to him anymore? It's suspicious to me. Now, if somebody were to say that General Walker believed it because he was suffering from paranoid delusions (as RFK himself suspected) then that would not absolve General Walker from suspicion, rather, in my opinion it should increase our suspicions that he was capable of concealed activity such as a conspiracy. Just a theory - admittedly - but it continues to intrigue me. Best regards, --Paul Trejo Paul I wish I easily find posts that I formally made on this site that deal with some of the research you have done and the theories you suggest. Without that at my fingertips I will try to review some of the information that I have gathered 1) Walker was traveling in Europe at the same time that Oswald defected to the Soviet Union via Helsinki, Finland. I have shown how they could have been on the same plane at the same time during this travel which could explain why the Warren Commission Report neglected to "share" the passenger lists that were available at the time of the inquiry into the death of the President. We know that the day prior to Oswald's arrival in Helsinki, the American Ambassador had sent a note to the State Department that outlined what a person would need to do to receive a visa into the Soviet Union within 24 hours....Oswald followed these instructions....did someone provide the information to him? If someone (Walker) did and as a result the Paris summit failed (as Oswald talked about at Spring Hill College) could Oswald have believed that the man who provided him with the information necessary to enter the Soviet Union was a man who did not want peace between the two countries (just as Oswald was reputed to have said about Walker)achieved? 2) I have identified several specific missions that Walker led during WWII that were of special interest to John J. McCloy and carried a very heavy level intelligence importance. (Capture of the Radar installation on the Island of Kiska, movement of Nazi loot from Merkers Mine, Operation Stella Polars). Not to mention his selection by General Maxwell Taylor to handle the prisoner exchange at the end of the Korean War, the First Straits of Taiwan Crisis and Little Rock, Arkansas integration of school (Walker was very well connected and I doubt seriously if he was a complete idiot). 3) Walker's troubles with the publication of the Overseas Weekly article and the assignment of a female reporter to investigate the allegations about Walker's Pro Blue Program began just after, if you believe Oswald, Oswald's first letter requesting to be allowed to return to the US. To myself it makes sense that IF Oswald wanted to return to the US and Walker could be identified by Oswald as the man who had provided him with the information necessary to enter the Soviet Union (and IF Oswald had provided information that helped down a U-2 thus scuttling the Paris Summit) the political assassination of Walker may have been a must. Pro Blue had been up and running for years prior to the Overseas Weekly article. 4) How did the German publication know that Walker was staying at the Captain Shreve Hotel in Shereveport, LA the morning after the assassination? IF Walker recognized Oswald from the news about the assassination of Kennedy and IF Walker recognized Oswald as the young man he had given information too in 1959 I believe it is not a great leap to understand why Walker would want to distance himself from Oswald and may have realized that it could have been Oswald who had taken a shot at him in April. I can also understand why Walker would continue to beleive and continue to suggest that there were people in Washington who would have known that it was a good chance that it was Oswald that did in fact shoot at him and that those same people did not arrest or prosecute Oswald (perhaps because it may have blown the covert activities that Oswald had been involved in with or without his own knowledge). 5) If you look at the time line, as you suggest, the monitoring of Oswald's movements begin shortly after the assassination attempt on the life of General Walker. Agent Hosty suggests that the event that led to the monitoring of Oswald (passing out pro Castro leaflets in Dallas) never took place. IF Hosty is right then the monitoring of Oswald was began because of some other reason that, since Richard Helms would be receiving the reports on Oswald's movement" was of interest to the CIA.... such as the assassiantion attempt on Walker. Just thoughts, Jim Root

Seems a bit of a firestorm erupted over my posts.... My main point " But upon close inspection there was one deciding factor which guided the planning and distance the motorcade would travel....THE TIME ALLOTTED....which was controlled by when Air Force One landed at Love Field. A later arrival time of Air Force One would require a shorter route and an earlier arrival time may have made the route different as well. " From the testimony of Winston G. Lawson: Mr. STERN. Turning now to the question of the motorcade route, Mr. Lawson, what can you (tell us about how that was selected? Mr. LAWSON. On November 8 when Mr. Kellerman was giving me some of the information on the proposed trip to Dallas, all of the advance agents for the respective stops were given the current itinerary as prepared by the White House staff for their stops, and for the Dallas stop there was a 45 minute time lapse from the time the President landed at the airport until the time that he attended the luncheon, and at the time that I left Washington, it had not been decided whether he would attend this luncheon at the Trade Mart where it later was planned to have it, or at the Womens Building on the Fair Grounds. And this figured a great deal in the parade route, the 45 minutes.Mr. STERN. The 45 minute time interval? Mr. LAWSON. Yes, sir. Mr. STERN. Was established for you by the White House? Mr. LAWSON. Yes, sir. Mr. STERN. And were you specifically instructed to prepare a parade route or was this your reaction to the time lag? Mr. LAWSON. This is my function. I wasnt specifically asked to, but this would, be the function of the advance agent. Mr. STEBN. Were you instructed that there would be a motorcade? Mr. LAWSON. Yes, sir. Mr. STERN. And that is what this 45 minutes was for? Mr. LAWSON. That is correct. Mr. STERN. How was the actual route determined then once the Trade Mart had been selected as the site for the luncheon? Mr. LAWSON. Various routes were under consideration. We could have gone from the airport direct to the Trade Mart the way that we should have returned, the 4-mile route returning from the Trade Mart to the airport, or we could have taken a city street-type route all the way downtown and all the way back, or we could have taken a freeway downtown and a freeway back. But the route that was chosen was chosen because it was the consensus of opinion that it was probably the best route under the circumstances. It allowed us 45 minutes to go from the airport to the Trade Mart at the speed that I figured the President would go from past experience with him in advances, and as a regular working agent riding in a followup car. It allowed us to go downtown, which was wanted back in Washington, D.C.It afforded us wide streets most of the way because of the buses that were in the motorcade. It afforded us a chance to have alternative routes if something happened on the motorcade route. It was the type of suburban area a good part of the way where the crowds would be able to be controlled for a great distance and we figured that the largest crowds would be downtown, which they were, and that the wide streets that we would use downtown would be of sufficient width to keep the public out of our way. Prime consideration in a motorcade is to make sure the President isnt stopped unless he plans it himself. You must have room to maneuver, alternative routes to turn off from, room for buses and so forth, and particularly room to keep the public out of the street. As you can see in the testimony the time was dictated by the White House and the desire to go downtown was dictated by the White House. You can also see that there were alternative routes that could have been used "if something happpened on the motorcade route." Change the time allotment and you change up the route....less time less distance more time more distance...exactly 45 minutes (used for the planning) and the motorcade route hits the TSBD just before getting on the freeway to head back to the Trade Mart lucheon. For some, it seems, any would be assissins would have jumped into action once they learned of the motorcade route that was well publicized and would have been happy to discover that a perfect Patsy was available at the TSBD. For myself I suggest that IF a conspiracy existed it would require enough planing to know where Oswald was working before the actual motorcade route was decided.... Suggested reading is the Hosty Testimony where he alludes to identifing where Oswald was working before the motorcade route was decided upon. I find it higly unusual that an attorney such as John J. McCloy (who solved the Black Tom Case) would not want to follow up on whom in Washington had that information but he neglected to do so. As was proven by Jefferson Morley and John Neuman in there work with Jane Roman, Hosty's first two notes made it to the office of Richard Helms. This is crucial in understanding how the assassination was accomplished and covered up as well....Bury the information of who in Washington knew where Oswald was working prior to the motorcade route being directed past the TSBD. While you may not wish to follow my theory or accept it in any manner the fact remains that if there were conspiratores in Washington that had the power to assassinate a President and get away with it the TIME ALLOTED for the motorcade route is a crucial element in understanding how the assassination was carried out. Jim Root

I received the following email from a person who frequents this site and who I respect very much so I will attempt to answer it for all: "Jim, I don't understand. HOW could the landing time and location have any effect on the motorcade reaching Dealey Plaza? The exact time was public as was the exact spot, Gate 28, which was and still is where Air Force One always lands. And the motorcade progress was actually impeded at two or three places, which put them in Dealey several minutes late. Perhaps you can explain on the Forum?" All of my research has centered around questions that I felt had to be answered in logical ways if a theory was to be supported by more that just speculation. In the case of the motorcade we can read the interviews that were conducted with the primary persons connected with mapping the route that the President would follow through downtown Dallas before backtracking toward the Trade Mart where Kennedy would deliver his speech. These people were the normal people that did map routes for the President where ever he visited. There seems to be nothing unsusal in the planning of the route. But upon close inspection there was one deciding factor which guided the planning and distance the motorcade would travel....THE TIME ALOTTED....which was controlled by when Air Force One landed at Love Field. A later arrival time of Air Force One would require a shorter route and an earlier arrival time may have made the route different as well. What we do know factually is that the last building passed on the route was the TSBD where Oswald worked and that there was just enough time alloted prior to the planning of the actual motorcade route for the men who designed the route to put the President in Dealy Plaza which in turn provided an opportunity for Oswald (or others) to accomplish the assassination. The controlling factor would be the landing time of Air Force One...the rest was protocal that would be understood by the people who controlled the Presidential travel plans. We also know, factually, that J. P. Hosty had, prior to the design of the motorcade route identified exactly where Oswald was working. Although this note, written by Hosty, seems to have disappeared without a trace and was not given an exhibit number by John J. McCloy while he was questioning Hosty, we must assume, that it, just as Hosty's two other notes about Oswald, made it to the office of Richard Helms! It seems to be a certainty that people in Washington knew where Oswald was working and if they were planning an assassination of the President that would involve Oswald it would have to occur in Dealy Plaza. Controlling the landing time of Air Force One would be an integral part in the accomplishment of their goal. After speaking in Fort Worth on the morning of the assassination Kennedy, I believe, returned to his hotel and had a period of down time until the planned departure of AF1. Air Force One had a rather large window of time that could have been used to reach Dallas and Kennedy could have been driven the short distance to Dallas in the time that was available but the reality is Kennedy's assassination could only have occured the way it did based upon the landing time of Air Force One at Love Field. While everything was made public about the times of the Dallas visit prior to the actual visit those times were all dictated based upon the arrival time of AF1 at Love Field. You control that time and you control the start of a sequence of events that would be necessary for any conspirators to accomplish the assassination of the President as it did in fact occur. Jim Root

James One point, one question. Clifton was a classmate of Edwin Walker at Westpoint and was appointed to the position he held in the Kennedy White House by Maxwell Taylor (Walker and Clifton's instrutor at West Point). In my theory of the assassination, Taylor is one of two primary conspirators (John J. McCloy being the other) and the time of the arrival of Air Force One at Love Field dictated the distance that the motorcade would travel....a necessary component of puting the motorcade in Dealy Plaza at the right moment... My question is, Do you believe that Clifton may have understood who was responsible for and was a party to planing the arrival time at Love Field and that Clifton understood the importance of this arrival time to the assassination story? If my suggestion is true the information on the tape before the arrival in Dallas may be as important to the story as that which occured after the assassination Jim Root.

Robert You said, "And I want to be very clear, my interest in the cryptographer John B Hurt, came after I read here on the Forum, Jim Root's interest in him, and I found out for myself, that NSA individual's who examined Oswald's document's regarding material such as "Questioning Eyes," and the excision of letters therof, would led to Blake, Friedman and other NSA personages, who would be more than aware of a real "fit the bill" John Hurt, who was NEVER mentioned in Warren Commission documents, and should have even for the factoid that BTW "there is a John B Hurt who is a legend at NSA," was just too damn much of a coincidence to have been "irrelevant." There is of course more to the coincidence than what you point out. Two associates of John B. Hurt investigated Oswald's radio etc. for cryptographic potential. Those two, Meridith Gardner and Frank Rowlet were closely associated with John B. Hurt. Also, talk about a person that would "fit the bill" of a hign ranking person at the NSA....John B. Hurt's work is still classified (after 1947) till this day.....Oswald using the name of such an important intelligence figure would, I would assume, set off alarm bells in the highest echelons of the intelligence community. During World War II we know that John B. Hurt's work was being sent directly to John J. McCloy and McCloy used the information sent by Hurt in his attempt to derail the United States' plan to drop the first atomic bomb. I discovered this John B. Hurt while researching Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker because it seems that they first crossed paths in the early 1930's But as you so clearly state, this name, John Hurt, was not mentioned in the Warren Commission Report. Vincet Bugliosi points out that you can use as evidence of guilt a persons willingness to omit or hide information from an investigation. John J. McCloy would not, I am sure want to have the name John Hurt in the Warren Commission Report if for no other reason than that name could be directly related to him. If this were the only incident where something was omited that could be associated with McCloy we might think coincidence but when we put this with McCloy's obvious failure to include Hosty's third note as a piece of evidence in the Warren Commission Report we can begin to show a pattern of McCloy's participation in the witholding of evidence in this murder investigation. For what reason we may ask? And answer......"was McCloy a participant in a plot to assassinate the president?" By witholding information, according to Bugliosi we might consider him a suspect! Jim Root

There seems to be a very long list of persons that researchers suggest may have been killed or eliminated because they "knew to much" or had information that could have led to those who may have been involved in a plot to assassinate the President. In the past I have presented information that Wilho Tikander, while working with Richard Helms and others, in June of 1959 made a suggestion that the information that was being gathered by these people would be used to facilitate an off track intelligence mission through Helsinki, Finland in the near future. In October of 1959 Lee Harvey Oswald would travel through Helsinki during his "defection" to the Soviet Union. In the coorespondence that I obtained it was suggested that additional information would not be necessary from Tikander and communication with him seemed to have ended. On January 2, 1964, Wilho Tikander was sworn in as a Jucge to the Circuit Court of Cook County. In a letter dated April 28, 1964 he thanks one of the very same people that were gathering infromation from him in 1959 for having it seems, without being requested, provided a "character reference" to those making the decision that led to his appointment. Tikanders letter reads: "...please note the stationary on which this is being written and allow me to thank you for the character references I now understand you supplied in my behalf to the Chicago Bar Association. As you will note, I was approved for appointment as a magistrate of the re-organized Circuit Court System of Illinois." Seems that there was more happening in late 1963 than just the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Interestingly, Tikander makes a reference to "our late President Kennedy" that is seemingly naive yet is written by one former OSS Station Chief to a man that was still a highly placed CIA operative. Jim Root

John Just a quick reply dealing with Walker in Norway. In December of 1944 the First Special Services Force was disbanded. The American members were combined with the remnants of some Ranger Units to develop the 474th Infantry Regiment. They would help to move the Nazi loot that was liberated from Merkers Mine by Patton's Army. Interestingly this movement and accounting of the loot was done as an operation that McCloy was both interested in and in a position to oversee....but that is another story alltogether. According to Wilho Tikander's History of the OSS Mission in Sweden it was discerned that the German garrison in Norway was ready to surrender before the War actually ended. Apparently, using this information a combination of the 474th Infantry Regiment and the 99th Infantry Battalion, Saparate (made up of Americans of Norwegian desent and a few stranded Norwegian Nationals)was put together to move into Norway. Officially the 99th was fully active in Norway by June of 1945 but it seems that logistical teams of the 474th were in Norway substancially before June 1945. There is a wonderful little museum at Camp Ripley, MN were I have done some research on this unit. Depending upon the source there were between 250,000 and 400,000 German troops that surrendered in Norway. In addition there was a substansial number of Russian POWs as well that needed to be repatriated to the USSR. Walker had processed large numbers of CCC workers in the United States in the early 1930's for the Army and was a custom fit for this type of work in Norway. At the time the US Army was searching for future intelligence assets that would be infiltrated into the Soviet Union (Russian POWs) as well as Germans that would be sent back to the Russian zones of occupation in East Germany. Hope this helps a bit.....In addition you may find this of interest. At the end of the Korean War, Maxwell Taylor would place Walker in charge of processing Chinese and North Korean POWs in preperation for the prisoner exchange that occured at the end of hostilities. We were also looking for intelligence assets at this time as well. Fast forward and you find Walker in Taiwan during the First Straits of Taiwan Crisis.....Did the Army send a "buffoon" to do this job as well or a very specially trained man capable of handling the most delicate of operations successfully? Jim Root

Hi John Thank you for your work.....Yes I am dealing with Richard Helms who would become the director of the CIA.... I enjoyed your comment about rehabilitating good ole' General Walker....he is a difficult character to get a handle on! All of my research began with an inquiry into him and his background....following it I have found a person who was quite probably homosexual whose family pushed him into the military to make a man out of him. I have rason to believe that early in his West Point career this particular aspect of Walker's life may have come to the attention of one of his instructors (Maxwell Taylor). Maxwell Taylor would guide (or control) Walker's military career for the following 30 years. Begining immediately upon graduation from West Point, Walker's involvement in intelligence work becomes apparent. It seems clear that he was envolved in undercover operations immediately and quickly moved into operation where he was "observing" members of the intelligence community.....including John B. Hurt (which is how I identified this person). Walker would continue working "around" intelligence operations and would be assigned to the First Special Services Forces just in time to land at lead the landing on the island of Kiska where his men captured what was at the time believed to be the most sophisticated Japanese Radar instillation in existance.....McCloy was on board a ship at these landings to receive the reports of the capture of this instillation....(the frist of several "operations" Walker would be assigned to accomplish for McCloy). The list goes on ..... but you are right I do believe that Walker (just as many Germans tried at Nuremberg) believed that he was just following orders. The Overseas Weekly article that lead to the end of his career took him by surprise. I do not say this flippantly because I have read many of the letters that he was writting to very influencial people within the intelligence community trying to figure out why he was the victim of what he was sure was an intelligence smear... I have talked with numerous soldiers that served with Walker in the 1940's and 1950's including a Sergent that helped to develop the Pro-Blue Program while he Walker was stationed in Hawaii....long before Germany and Oswald's first attempts to return to the United States. I have uncovered a letter from McCloy to Walker written some six months before the assassination of JFK that is at least a curriosity but when examined further the date November 22 can be extrapolated from it. Walker, in my opinion, is guilty of not exposing exactly who was responsible for the assassination of JFK (which I believe he could have easily figured out....if my research has led me to a correct theory). I think that Walker knew a lot more about Oswald that he could have shared but only answered the questions asked during his testemony and, evn then, Walker did a great job of avoiding providing much information at all in respones to the questions that were asked of him. I did also uncover that Walker trained Gerry Patrick Hemming and probably recruited him into covert operations. While Hemming never answered that question specifically he did share a lot of information dealing with his relationship with Walker. I do not beleive that Walker was pure by any means but I do beleive that his lifes works is well worth studying in relation to finding the real events that led to the assassination of JFK. Jim Root

Oswald;s call to Attorney Johnathan Abt was a person to person collect phone call and repeated attempts were made by Oswald to call various numbers to no avail. Oswald also attempted to have several other people contact Abt and was very interested in contacting this attorney. Yet in the case of the Raleign Call we have one single attempt by Oswald with no attempts at follow up! The only reason that we have information about the attempted Raleigh Call was because one operator retrieved a piece of paper that had two different numbers for two different John Hurt's in the Raleigh, NC area that had been tossed by the previous operator. Apparently the SS was there to listen in on any call that Oswald might have completed. I am old enough to remember person to person collect calls and used them regularly when I was in college to make contact with my girlfriend in another State. The routine was for me to call her and for her to not accept the call. We would then go to a prearranged phone booths and pay for a 3 minute call (always talking way over three minutes). The point was the call was a signal rather than a true attempt to complete a call or speak to the rectipiant. My speculation is that Oswald had no intention of reaching a John Hurt, only the intention of passing a pre-arranged name to a cut out that was supposed to provide help to Oswald. It is my contention that the lack of follow up supports this theory because the message was delivered without any actual discussion needing to take place, just as I used the person to person operator to convey a message to my girlfriend of old. Within my research I have uncovered a wealth of information on "Operation Stella Polaris" and meetings that occured in June of 1959 that were designed (at least Wilho Tikander believed they were designed) to provide information to Richard Helms about an off the radar intelligence operation that was to go through Helsinki, Finland in the near (1959) future. Gathering and meeting with Tikander, Helms and others was John J. McCloy associate and former head of Secret Intelligence Whitney Shepardson. I was led to this infromation by speculating on who in Raleigh, NC Oswald may have contacted. It is just a hunch and it was based upon speculation but the person who I believe may have been contacted would have known of the importance of the work of John B. Hurt because he had used it to launch Operation Stella Polaris. Needless to say if Oswald had been provided the number of this person and if the operator had mentioned the name John B. Hurt....Oswald would soon be a dead man walking....and in my theory the true conspirators would not have had to dirty their hands to plan the death of Oswald....it would be done for them! To support this theory I had to uncover John B. Hurt and his roll in intelligence, which I did! I had to associate Hurt and his intelligence connection to John J. McCloy, which I have! I also had to find a connection between Hurt, McCloy and Raleigh, NC which, once again I did! And in so doing the connection continues directly to Richard Helms and Whitney Shepardson (who, along with Demitri de Mohrenschildt, brother of George de Mohrenschildt, started Radio Free Europe). It is a very tight circle and for myself I can understand why the Raleigh Call was never reported in the Warren Commission Report that McCloy was so involved in creating. It also seems to make sense that two of John B. Hurt's associates, Meredith Garner and Frank Rowlett would be assigned by the NSA to repoet on Oswald's intelligence connections. Simple, and complete....but does anyone else see what I see? Jim Root

Might point out that it is probable that Hurt was in France at the time of the assassination. He had retired from the NSA and would reside in New York (I believe) until his death. If my memory serves me correctly there were two Warren Commission investigators who were looking at the Syliva Odio incident who had suggested (just before their funding was cut) the possibility that if the Odio incident were real the two men with Oswald may have provided him with a contact number to use if Oswald were to get into trouble. Questions: Why would they persue such an idea? Did they know about the Raleigh call? Why did this lead go nowhere? For myself there is no indication that John B. Hurt would have been anywhere near Raleigh, N. C. at the time of the assassination (as stated above he was probably in France), but a call to a cut out with a simple message "John Hurt" may have sent shock waves through the upper echelons of the intelligence community! Remember that to this day the work of John B. Hurt from 1945 - 1963 is still classified. I will suggest that if the accussed assassin of the President of the United States had this name and the number of a known CIA cut out in his possession, the consequences for US Intelligence and the United States Government would be dire to say the least! The need to eliminate Oswald would become paramount to the security of the United States and especially to those that may have orchestrated the assassination. This is central to my theory of the assassination.....more importantly the man who knew of, had access to and knowledge of the work of John B. Hurt was John J. McCloy. Coincidence? I think not! Toss in the fact that Hurt associates Frank Rowlett and Meredith Gardner do the NSA investigation of Oswald for the Warren Commission and you add to the "coincidences" surrounding this person/event. Known CIA person in Raleign, N. C., Calvin Bryce Hoover who during WWII was working with Secrete Intelligence, was in June of 1959 working and meeting with Richard Helms on an off track mission that would be going through Helsinki, Finland in the months to follow. Hoover, during WWII, gave the go ahead for Operation Stella Polaris that provided a great deal of information about Russian codes at the end of WWII. This mission was launced after John B. Hurt had translated intercepted japanese messages dealing with the movement of Finnish cryptologist near the end of the war. The boat that transferred these men was named Stella Polaris and was sent from Norway to pick the men up. At the end of the war the American in Norway to accept the German surrender and to oversee the transisitional governement in Norway, Col. Edwin Anderson Walker. Jim Root

Since Tykander's name has come up again I might as well post a little speculation here that may or may not tie into the U-2 incident, Oswald and the Kennedy assassination. Whe KGB agent, Reino Häyhänen (aka Eugene Nicolai Mäki), defecte in May, 1957, from Paris, the FBI was able to link the "hollow nickel case" to KGB agents, including Mikhail Nikolaevich Svirin (an ex-United Nations employee) and Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher. Häyhänen was being recalled to Moscow for good, and defected on the way back in Paris. The deciphered message in the nickel turned out to be a welcome message given to that same spy, Häyhänen, upon his arrival in the United States[1]. He gave the FBI the information that it needed to crack the cipher, uncover the identity of his two main contacts in New York (Svirin and Fisher), and a nearly identically made Finnish 50 Markka coin. In addition to Svirin and Fisher (code name "Mark"), Häyhänen (code name "Vic") told the FBI about Vitali G. Pavlov, onetime Soviet embassy official in Ottawa; Aleksandr Mikhailovich Korotkov; and U.S. Army Sergeant, Roy Rhodes (code name "Quebec"), who had once worked in the garage of the U.S. embassy in Moscow. The Soviets were able to get to Rhodes because it had "compromising materials" about him. Häyhänen and Fisher were in the United States mainly looking for information on the U.S. atomic program and U.S. Navy submarine information. Svirin had returned to the Soviet Union in October, 1956, so was not available for questioning or arrest. When Fisher was arrested, the hotel room and photo studio that he lived in contained multiple modern espionage equipment items: cameras and film for producing microdots, cipher pads, cuff links, hollow shaving brush, shortwave radios, and numerous "trick" containers. Fisher was brought to trial in New York City Federal Court, indicted as a Russian spy, in October, 1957, on three counts: Conspiracy to transmit defense information to the Soviet Union (count one) Conspiracy to obtain defense information (count two) Conspiracy to act in the United States as an agent of a foreign government without notification to the Secretary of State (count three) Häyhänen testified against Fisher at the trial. On October 25, 1957, the jury found Fisher guilty on all three counts. Judge Mortimer W. Byers sentenced him, sentences to be served concurrently, on November 15, 1957, count one: 30 years' imprisonment; count two: 10 years' imprisonment and $2,000 fine; count three: 5 years' imprisonment and $1,000 fine. On February 10, 1962, Vilyam Fisher (aka Abel) was exchanged for the American Central Intelligence Agency Lockheed U-2 pilot, Francis Gary Powers, who was a prisoner of the Soviet Union. I have reason to believe that Wilho Tykander had identified Reino Häyhänen in Finland during WW11 and was fully aware of his cover identiy of Eugene Nicolai Mäki prior to his entry into the United States. The real Maki family may well have been known by Tykander and may have been aided by Tukander when they returned to the Soviet Union. I have speculated on the possibility that Rudolf Abel was a very strange character in history and have wondered if an incident needed to be manufactured to return him to the Soviet Union after his capture and trial. The U-2 Incident worked if this line of thinking is correct. Was Oswald's "mission" to the Soviet Union to help create the U-2 Incident?????? Abel was the man who collected the information on the Atomic bomb and ran the Rosenberg's. John J. McCloy believed the US should share the Atomic secrets with the Soviet Union because he believed they would get them anyway and we could build greater trust witht the Soviets by sharing what they would get anyway....McCloys advice was not taken but I speculate on if he still played a part in the "strange agreement" that I have read references to between the Soviet Union and the US. As you read this picture McCloy swiming with Krushev at Krushev's home (which he did) and the fact that the McCarthy era pretty much ended when McCarthy accused McCloy of being Red. Jim Root

Robert Just for the record Tykander was from the Duluth area of Minnesota, more specifically Virginia, Minn. where you will find Tykander Lake. After the war he ran for Congress from the Duluth area but was beaten badly at which time he moved to Chicago. Shortly after the 1959 meeting with Helms, Shepardson, etc. he was granted a Federal judgeship in the Chicago area. Just to keep the record straight. Jim Root

Wiliam Personally I think I am more inclinded to beliving that it was McCloy who saved the parts of the OSS that he wanted saved. Also I believe it was McCloy who brought in McCormack.... Jim Root

Dgrees of separation: George Demohrenschildt's brother Demitri was closely associated with Whitney Shepardson who was the leader of Special Intelligence during WWII and a close associate of John J. McCloy. From what I can gather SI was controlled by Richard Helms when it was folded into the new CIA....Richard Helms would be monitoring the movements of Lee Harvey Oswald with FBI assets begining....when George Demohrenschildt leaves the Dallas scene shortly after the assassination attempt on Edwin Walker. Remember it was Whitney Shepardson who, in June of 1959, was gathering information for Richard Helms on prior (WWII) assets in Helsinki, Finland for what Wilho Tikander (former Stockholm Station Chief OSS) believed would be an off track intelligence operation going through Helsinki in the next few months (Oswald would be in Helsinki, October, 1959). Jim Root

Please do not waste time saying where Oswald wasn't only post exactly where he was and the proof that places him in that plaace at that moment in time when the President was being shot. Thank you, Jim Root

Hi Lee and thank you for the compliment. Remember it is (present tense) Lee Harvey Oswald's wife that still believes and is the primary source for the information that implicates Oswald in the Walker shooting....can't get a person much closer to Oswald at teh time who would today have perhaps more reasons to deny than to continue saying that Oswald was the person who shot at Walker. My conspiracy theroy works quite well with this information and puts John J. McCloy at the top of the heap based upon this possibility. If you look at when the FBI started watching Oswald's movements, within weeks after the alledged Oswald attempt on Walker. The Bellin report (CIA psysch profile that said Oswald would have killed the President if he was given a chance based upon the knowledge of the Walker incident). George Demohrenschildt, brother of Demitri who can be linked to John J. McCloy suggests, based upon Marina Oswald's testimony, the he thought Oswald had attempted to assassinate Walker and even mentioned it directly to Oswald the day after the attempted assassination of Walker. Demohrenschildt then, apparently, gets a nice government contract in Hatti with, as many suggest, the help of US Intelligence. There are also the photographs of Walker's home that Marina had in her possession that showed Walker's residence and construction work that was done in the days immediately preceding the Walker incident. The backyard photos....just prior to the attempt on Walker. The ordering and recieving of the carcano, just prior to the Walker incident. As a result of the FBI monitoring Oswald's movements we have Hosty third note being generated which stated exactly where LHO was working prior to the decision on the motorcade route. It is that note that is missing and IMO would lead to the real person/s behind the assassination of JFK and IF those persons that could get the FBI to monitor Oswald's movements based upon the Walker incident THEN those same people could have access to a psych report that would suggest that given the opportunity Oswald would kill the President. And why would this person/s know about Oswald and that he would have had a reason to shoot at Walker, because as Delgado suggested, if Oswald went to Germany on his way to the Soviet Union he could easily have been on an airplane with Walker who was, in the same time frame, traveling to either Hamburg or Frankfurt. If I paraphrase what Oswald is alledged to have said, Oswald believed that Walker was the leader of a very bad organization (motive) and if sombody would have stopped Hitler.... Remember also that it was McCloy that did not want the Paris Summit to occur and the downing of the U-2 led to the failure of this summit. Oswald would speak about this failure shortly after the assassination attempt on Walker in a speech he gave at Spring Hill College showing that this information was, at a minimum, floating around in his head and was an important topic in the time leading up to the assassination of Kennedy....talk about lighting the fuse on a Manchurian candidate....and giving Oswald a reason to say while in custody that the reason he (Oswald) was being arrested is because he went to the Soviet Union, I'm a Patsy! BANG a conspiracy theory that suggests that Oswald may well have been the shooter and all he had to have to do it, the opportunity just as the CIA's memo to Bellin suggests. Even if you don't like Oswald as a shooter most CT's have to have Oswald in the TSBD to be set up. All the above information could be used for either setting Oswald up as a patsy or having him as the shooter....same people same result. Rather than accepting this possibility it seems researchers believe the only way to prove conspiracy is to prove that Oswald was not the shooter....I disagree and believe if what I have said holds water the only way the conspirators were able to get away with their crime, which I would argue they did, is to lead the public to believe that Oswald could not have been the shooter, which is as we all know is the general consensus. Jim Root

Good shot bad shot, great question that seems to divide the LN's and the CT's yet a read of the Warren Commission report with a critical eys would suggest that either point could be argued from what is written. On the one side you have Oswald's shooting scores as a Marine and many experts who will say based upon these scores that Oswald would have been more than capable of hitting the President from the 6th floor of the TSBD. On the other side there are CT's who say it would have taken a great shot to do what Oswals was alledged to have done and his Marine scores does not suggest greatness. One fact is very clear from the Warren Commission Report, and I am drawing a fact based upon what it suggested, IF Oswald was the shooter in both the Kennedy assassination and in the Walker attempted assassination, THEN in four shots made made by Oswald he only had two hits. If the CT's who wish to enter this argument are right and truely believe that Oswald was a poor shot should they be willing to concede that even his less than spectacular Marine scores would allow for a 50% bullet to target possibility? For myself I like Delgado, not so much on what he had to say about Oswald's marksmanship but rather that he, as Oswald's best Marine buddy and probably friend before he defected to the Soviet Union says that it was his belief that Oswald was going to Germany. In my writings and research on Oswald's travel from London to Helsinki I have shown how it is very possible that Oswald could have gotten to Helsinki via Germany (either Frankfurt or Hamburg)which falls in line with exactly what Delgado suggested. Jim Root