Stuart Wexler

Hi Amaury: Quick question... we have recent pictures of your father and some of us are wondering if you could post any circa-1963 pictures of your father. That would be much appreciated. -Stu

Awwright, already, no need to shout. Sure, Stuart, I'm doing other things too but I like to try to help as much as possible. Any more info, links? John, Here is a place to start: http://www.jfklancerforum.com/dc/dcboard.p...ing_type=search http://www.jfklancerforum.com/dc/dcboard.p...id=&page=#13709 -Stu

Hi John, Your work on photography has impressed me, including your work with Greg Parker on the writing in Pic's notebook. I wanted to see if you could look into some work Bill Miller has done in the past. He did some work with the Weigman film and concluded you can see moving smoke at the knoll region. Some have claimed that this is an optical illusion and that it is really leaves. But Bill has an animation which he says shows this smoke as moving. Can you look into it? -Stu

Hi Prof. McKnight, For someone like myself who has little time between work to devote to the many JFK books on the market, I'm always interested in the new vs. the old. For many people, what Weisberg had is still important and relevant, but for those of us for have really read and reread Weisberg, we are always looking for material that adds to what he has. The one thing that has captured my attention in the advertisting for your book, for instance, is the Dallas FBI special index. How much of your book is material that adds new dimensions to what we already know about the Warren Commission and the investigation of the case (for instance, the special index), and how much is reminding us old-hats about the material others have already covered? Perhaps John S. can help here as someone who has read the book. Regards, Stu

Robert: Could you perhaps give us a bullet point list of some of the highlights from the audio. I know Joan and I don't think I even have time to listen to the whole thing! -Stu Joan Mellen was interviewed on WBAI Radio - A PBS Affiliate for a lengthy interview concerning her about to be released book "Farewell to Justice." Those wishing to hear this interview can click on the click provided below, taken from joanmellen.net http://www.radio4houston.org/takingaim/hom...dio.html#051011 - From there the interview is at the top of the page. I have listened to this and it is unlike anything you could ever imagine.

Hi all, First let me say that I believe we have a lot to learn, and that while I'm rather well convinced in my own mind of what happened, I'd be hard pressed to prove it or convince someone else. So here goes: I believe that John Kennedy was killed as a result of a conspiracy involving exiles (the primary movers), the mafia and some rogue CIA guys (most notably Morales). I believe that the plot to kill Castro was turned against Kennedy starting in early October of 1963, after the plotters failed to insert Oswald into Cuba (at which point they would have attempted to frame him for the murder of Castro.) I believe that Oswald had actually tripped over several intelligence "wires" including an RFK attempt to kill Castro. I believe that much of what we see prior to September of 1963 was Oswald being manipulated into an RFK-sponsored *Castro* plot. I believe that Larry Hancock has come the closest I have seen to reflecting my views of the case. The ultimate goal of the plot was to incite an invasion of Cuba. The plot failed largely because it was too convincing: higher ups were convinced that Castro was behind the plot, and engineered a massive cover-up. Others covered up for selfish reasons; the FBI because Oswald was an informant; the Secret Service because they bungled advanced warning reports; the CIA as an institution because Oswald had been manipulated by them before; RFK because he now was confronted with the idea of blowback. -Stu

Can somebody please send me this picture? If this is indeed the Martens letter, it would be very interesting. Recall that Martens said that his original letter was stolen. If this is the actual letter of marquee, and not the reproduction that Martens made, it would be VERY interesting.

Let me suggest a different reason for posing as JURE members. It may not be popular with the group, because it assumes that, at least to outsiders, Oswald was viewed as a leftist. I believe, that in his own mind, Oswald may genuinely have been a leftist; but that playing spy games trumped ideology. That is neither here nor there. If as, I suggest, outsiders suspected Oswald was truly a leftist, AND, they wanted to manipulate Oswald into a plot-- either a Castro plot (I think that was the first order of business) or a JFK plot (the contingency plan)-- then the way to do it would be to do what Martino suggested... pose as pro-Castroites. JURE was, as Robert Charles-Dunne pointed out, a leftist organization. Indeed, if one reads the documentation, they were very much like Castroism without Castro. So from that perspective, they may have been in a better position to manipulate Oswald into action. I'm not saying Oswald would have gone along with any murder plot *internally*; but to an outside who cannot read his intentions, this might seem the best opportunity to manipulate him. -Stu

I find it hard to believe that RFK did not know what "Plausible Deniability" was when he was personally overseeing certain CIA groups and operations. Nor do I find it convincing that because the CIA used the mafia without authorizing it with Bobby, that they would not have authorized any of it with him. There are many ways to skin a cat, and as someone who, as a teacher, has had students have radical interpretations of what I assigned them, without them having consulted with me first, I don't find it difficult to fathom. Finally, it's a major taboo for career CIA officials to ever implicate the White House in a public forum such as the Church Committee. They would fall on their swords first, whether they like the President or not. It's out of loyalty to their institutional creed, not out of loyalty to the President. I think that people often view RFK and JFK and the CIA's activities through an ideological prism. Simple question: how many people here who are more than happy to believe that RFK and JFK were simply ignorant of the CIA-Castro plots are nonetheless convinced that Bush/Cheney pressured the CIA into misrepresenting Iraq WMD leads? I happen to be on the "executive influence" side on both accounts; and I happen to think that there is probably even more evidence of the former than of the latter. -Stu

I think Allen Dulles as Kennedy Hater is a myth. Yes he was fired after the Bay of Pigs, but JFK also awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom later on. Russo argues that Dulles was actually a close friend of the Kennedy family. It may make a lot of sense that RFK wanted Dulles on the WC, especially if RFK was concerned about the exposure of covert activities that RFK sponsored.

Tom... Not to distract too much from Hemming's posts here, but can you please explain what you mean by the above and point out how someone can go about confirming what you say? -Stu

Not that I'd expect an answer to this one, but I'm curious how Paine would react to the following report from Dick Billing's journal on the Jim Garrison case: "[Larry] Schiller says he's heard Oswald was gay, so was Michael Paine, and they did it together . . ." -Stu

Tim. I've been meaning to comment on this thread for some time. Let me first say that I think the Castro-did-it theory gets a bum rap. Those who say Castro did not have a motive are fooling themselves: he probably had more at stake-- his life and his regime-- than any of the usual suspects we name. But motive is not evidence--- people with lesser motives can commit crimes. Those who point out that Castro had a great disincentive-- the potential toppling of his regime from retaliation-- ignore the fact that Castro had nothing to lose if the American government was plotting his downfall (and there is good reason to believe that Castro knew this.) But to take it even one step farther-- Castro was bold; during the Missile Crisis he was the only one of the three major leaders pushing hard for the kind of actions that would plunge the world in WWIII. I think the political leanings of this board DO get in the way of an objective analysis of Castro's potential involvement; even though I agree with many of those leanings. That said, the major problem I have with the Castro-did-it-theory has nothing to do with motive or with political rationale. It has to do with unnecessary risks. Yes, Castro faced possible elimination if he let Kennedy live, leaving himself in a position where he had nothing to lose. But why would Castro make the stupid mistake of using someone who so clearly tied to his regime? Of all the people Castro chose to employ, he would have chosen someone who was openly pro-Castro, who had visited his consulate, etc. Given the amount of infiltration he had of the exile movement, he could have easily engineered something that implicated his enemies. Instead, he did something stupid. Why? -Stu

Carrie, Have you ever asked her about Thornley? And have you asked her if she maintains the statements re: Oswald home every night? Both are very important questions. -Stu

Here are several possibilities: 1) Does she still stand by her statements to the effect that, when she was with Oswald in 1963, he was home virtually every night? 2) Did she know or does she know Kerry Thornley? 3) Follow up to #2. How does she react to the handful of witnesses who put Marina in the company of Thornley, one going so far as to say that she thought Thornley was Marina's husband based on the number of times she saw them together? 4) What was her reaction to Oswald's arrest in August of 1963? Does she have any specific recollection as to how he got of jail on the 10th? 5) Does she have any recollection of Oswald visiting Baton Rouge? 6) According to Ruth Kloepfer, Oswald openly hit on Ruth with a pregnant Marina watching (right before their return to Dallas). Does Marina recall this? How did she react? 7) Gus Russo reported that Oswald's rooming house "mates" recall that he was driven to and from the rooming house consistently. This, according to Russo, is an unidentified person not Frazier. Does Marina have any idea about this? Did Oswald ever talk about this? 8) Did Oswald talk about returning to the Soviet Union in Aug-September of 63 or anytime after? 9) A very bizarre question: did Lee ever shave his pubic hair? I ask only because his autopsy report describes shaven pubic hair. 10) Did she ever suspect that Oswald may have been bisexual? --- Hopefully Greg Parker will chime in with a couple of questions regarding Jon Pic. I don't want to scoop him --- -Stu

John, I think the work you are doing is very interesting. I have some questions for you though: 1) What maps are you using to base your reconstruction upon? Almost every map has something wrong with it. I can refer you to people who have done extensive mapping who can give you more accurate maps. 2) What sources are you using for the dimensions on the limo? 3) What pictures are you using to place the men within the limo? 4) What assumptions are you making about strike points? I think the best analysis would be one that assumes multiple possible locations on the Z-film for strikes. 5) What are you using to locate the wounds? There is MUCH dispute about wound location. I would consider flexible wound locations, especially if you are checking the rear head wound, but also the back wound. 6) How are you determining a margin of error? I ask these questions because, for whatever weight we place on them, several different groups have modelled the event and most have concluded that SBT trajectories are possible. -Stu

I almost forgot the title of the book: "Farewell to Justice". I believe one can preorder on Amazon. -Stu I have read some items on Amazon.com and elsewhere about Joan Mellen's book due out in November and I have a strong feeling it is going to have quite an impact at least as far as the JFK research community is concerned, as for the public at large to a great degree it will obviously depend on if it get's the silent treatment or not. She did over 1,000 interviews for the book, thats not too shabby. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Once again you are speaking without understanding the content or the researcher. I possess a copy of the file on our "Major Lopez" and have tracked down the family the deceased man. I also hold three photos of him at various times in his career. I keep quiet about his identity and do not release the file info out of respect to his family and consideration that he acted out of duty and in reality likely had no choice. You can ramble on about your supposed escapades all you want and demean others who you know nothing of, but if you would look into my background, you will find that I am not a dupe SOF or wanna-be, but have lived it and have an understanding of how mechanics are inserted, and eventually eliminated. I have a trail of Conein to Siragusa to eventually Fernandez and Hull that intertwines with our topic and me in a roundabout way. That is my motivation and you can spout all you want about your supposed past. The ball is in your court! Al <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi Al, Out of curiosity: how did you obtain the file? -Stu

Hi, I communicate frequently with Joan Mellen and, hearing that her book will now be available as early as October, and is currently available for advanced purchase, I convinced her to let me throw some teasers out at you, beyond her blurb... Joan promises to: X Reveal the actual identities of Angel and Leopoldo X Officially tie, with government documents, Kerry Thornley, Thomas Beckham, Jack Martin and others to the CIA. X Reveal, for the first time, the mysterious figure of Juan Valdes and his role in the Mary Sherman crime and the Kennedy assassination. X Fully explain RFK's motives in deep-sixing the Garrison investigation X Prove the CIA was spying on RFK (with official documents) X Reveal important new information from Beckham, Dr. Frank Silva, Corrie Collins. X Reveal first-hand, first-time witnesses to the Clinton episode. X Tell the *full* Anne Dischler story -Stu

Peter, If and when you design this game, please report it to the forum. If it is a game that can work in one to two class periods, I would love to use it in my Humanities class for when I cover the Middle Ages. I have only a brief time to cover the Middle Ages and then I have to jump to the Renaissance! -Stu John, I had originally found that page, which was what led me to this forum. The problem was that there is a broken link on the following page: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/YALDmedievalC.htm Under Lesson 1: Lesson 1: For this lesson the pupils will also need the Family Information Chart, Village of Yalding, Kent in the 14th Century, Map of Yalding in 1336, Artist Impression of Yalding, Medieval Names and the Yalding Manor Records. One way of using the material is to give each pupil the name of an individual that lived in the village in the 14th century. In this way the pupils can explore the possible impact of different events on one particular family. This has been a very successful aspect of the course but I am aware that some teachers might feel uncomfortable about this approach. Although I will provide the information needed for this strategy, the materials do not have to be used in this way. The link to "Yalding Manor Records" is laid out as YALDManorR.htm when in fact it should be YALDINGManorR.htm. This led me to believe that the page didnt exist. It's only when you pointed me to the main page, that I discovered that the Manor Records page did in fact exist. This is an enormous boon for me! Thanks for your help. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not my idea but taken from the Christine Counsell series of British textbooks: 'Think Through History'. The idea is to take a complex event like the Reformation and invite students to produce a clear explanation for younger students. Because we have a Primary section in the school the older student accounts are actually assessed by the younger pupils. We have annual presentation where we bring both sets of students together, here with Mr Simkin making the presentations in 2001! http://www.intst.net/humanities/y8/term2/r...l_of_honour.htm What I would add to this discussion is how far ICT has made peer assessment so much easier to set up (and not just peer assessment of written work). I routinely ask students to evaluate each other's work once it has been placed on the school server. On a related point, a very high percentage of my website is student work. I try to give a good example for each assignment so that students know what they are aiming for something before they start. And much of the work is what the class have selected themselves (by secret ballot). This is particularly true of PowerPoints, websites and videos such as in this most recent example:http://www.intst.net/humanities/y8/term3/a.../2004/index.htm This always leads to discussion about why one piece is better than another, which , I suppose is the whole point of peer evaluation. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'm only a entering my second year of teaching, so take this for what it's worth, but one application for self-assessment that I found useful was self-assessing classroom participation. I started to do it in the midde of my school year and it worked much better than I expected. In 99% of the evaluations, students were absolutely honest about things like their level of engagement and their behavior, etc. In fact, there were times when I felt as if I had to adjust their assessments upwards. I had them use a basic rubric to do this and I think it worked well. -Stu

Hi John, I appreciate your suggestion and, in fact, this is a part of the concept. I did what we call a "meeting of the minds" that involved taking actual figures and having them interact, answer questions, etc. That would be a factor here too, but I want to keep to the overall demographic idea for a few reasons: 1) One thing I want to stress to my students is that everyday people contribute to history. I was surprised when I did a project on social history with my US I kids how many students felt that history should ONLY be G. Washington, Robert E. Lee, etc. 2) I think that the demography provides a frame-of-reference which is very helpful at the beginning of the lesson; especially if you build on the activity and have students research housing, living conditions, etc. 3) I think the demography allows for a more easily manageable roleplaying day; I think it would be a case of too many "sheriffs in town" if I took the "key figures" beyond 5. I have and will make use of your site; it is one of the most helpful on the web. That is part of the reason why I'm here asking the question. I'm hoping someone can help me find books or web sites or textbook references that help give a general profile of the given time periods. Thanks again,. Stu

I teach AP Government and World Studies on the high school level in NJ, I was a web programmer. I have an interest in teaching, history and the Kennedy Assassination. I have presented at numerous JFK assassination conventions, including the Wecht conference. I've seen something you have proposed that resembles something I want to do with my classes. This will be my second year of teaching World Studies. We go from the Renaissance to WWI. In my U.S. I class last year, at the end of the year, I started to assign my class demographic profiles based on statistics on, for instance, the U.S. Civil War. I would proportionally divide the class up, for example, into North and South, age, occupation, etc. I want to expand this into a full-blown simulation similar to some of the ideas I've seen proposed on your forum. Namely, I want to do something like take demographic information on Germany during the early 16th century, and divide the class up proportionally. I would do the same thing for other events, like France during the French Revolution. I would then not only have the class draw general impressions on the populations of the time, but then develop a series of lessons that use role play based on those demographics. That being said, I need to know if and how and where I could find even semi-reliable statistical information covering a whole range of time periods, events, etc.

I teach AP Government and World Studies on the high school level in NJ, I was a web programmer. I have an interest in teaching, history and the Kennedy Assassination. I have presented at numerous JFK assassination conventions, including the Wecht conference. I've seen something you have proposed that resembles something I want to do with my classes. This will be my second year of teaching World Studies. We go from the Renaissance to WWI. In my U.S. I class last year, at the end of the year, I started to assign my class demographic profiles based on statistics on, for instance, the U.S. Civil War. I would proportionally divide the class up, for example, into North and South, age, occupation, etc. I want to expand this into a full-blown simulation similar to some of the ideas I've seen proposed on your forum. Namely, I want to do something like take demographic information on Germany during the early 16th century, and divide the class up proportionally. I would do the same thing for other events, like France during the French Revolution. I would then not only have the class draw general impressions on the populations of the time, but then develop a series of lessons that use role play based on those demographics. That being said, I need to know if and how and where I could find even semi-reliable statistical information covering a whole range of time periods, events, etc.

I teach AP Government and World Studies on the high school level in NJ, I was a web programmer. I have an interest in teaching, history and the Kennedy Assassination. I have presented at numerous JFK assassination conventions, including the Wecht conference. I've seen something you have proposed that resembles something I want to do with my classes. This will be my second year of teaching World Studies. We go from the Renaissance to WWI. In my U.S. I class last year, at the end of the year, I started to assign my class demographic profiles based on statistics on, for instance, the U.S. Civil War. I would proportionally divide the class up, for example, into North and South, age, occupation, etc. I want to expand this into a full-blown simulation similar to some of the ideas I've seen proposed on your forum. Namely, I want to do something like take demographic information on Germany during the early 16th century, and divide the class up proportionally. I would do the same thing for other events, like France during the French Revolution. I would then not only have the class draw general impressions on the populations of the time, but then develop a series of lessons that use role play based on those demographics. That being said, I need to know if and how and where I could find even semi-reliable statistical information covering a whole range of time periods, events, etc.