William O'Neil
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Posts posted by William O'Neil
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Robert
Love where my research has taken me surrounding John B. Hurt.
Just for the record. Hurt was working in the "Old Munitions Building" that also housed General George Marshall and his staff. On Marshall's immediate staff (one of twelve, I believe) was the Armies best Japanese Linguist, Maxwell Taylor, who would later become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs during the Kennedy asminsitration. It is now speculated that the Armys Secret Intelligence Organization, headed by Whitney Shepardson and/or John Grombach maintained a second group of Japanese translators of which Taylor may have been a part.
In a document written by Hurt in 1947 he states that the information was available to know beforehand, that the Japanese were going to bomb Pearl Harbor but, because of the backlog of documents to be translated, the limited number of translators, and the priority assigned to his unit of what to translate the document in question were not seen by him until several months after Dec. 7, 1941.
Interestingly, the Black Chamber (Americas code breaking operations prior to 1930), were operated by Herbert Yardley. In one of the great mysteries of recent year espionage research is why would John Grombach (head of SI) dedicate a book to Herbert Yardley? We do know that Yardley maintained an office in New York and it is now beleived that he was still doing code for SI (Grombach, Shepardson and perhaps Shepardsons good friend, John J. McCloy).
The best information that I have been able to gather on the relationship between these people and Richard Helms came after speculating upon whom the Raleigh call really went to and how that call (if I am correct) went quickly through this particular "cut out" and would make it to the highest levels of US Intelligence very quickly.
While there is a degree of speculation here that I readily admit, the fact is that I have uncovered a document that many current "Cold War" crypto historians have only heard about along with a cache of letters detailing meetings with Richard Helms in the months immediately preceeding Oswald's entry into the Soviet Union. In a series of exchanges one former SI man suggests that the CIA/(by name Dick) Helms has an important mission that he wants kept at a distance from the CIA that is going to go through Helsinki, Finland in the near future. When Shepardson and others hear what this one SI person is speculating Shepardson directs the others to keep him out of the loop. Just a few months following this exchange of letters, Oswald enters the Soviet Union via Helsinki.
This same group of SI people (of which Richard, Dick, Helms) is a part were engaged in "Operation Stella Polaris" at the end of WWII. This operation led to "Venona" or the breaking of Soviet Codes which NSA crptomen Meridith Gardner and Frank Rowlett would be in charge of. Just by chance Gardner and Rowlett would be the two men assigned by the NSA to investigate Lee Harvey Oswald potential intellegence connections. Just as a sidelight Hurt began working closely with Gardner perhaps as early as 1942.
And, another side note, Hurt did speak many many languages.....as far as Russian, his first and third wife (one and the same) was Russian.
Hurt's work after 1947 for the NSA is still classified. Hurt is the only one of Friedman's original team that we do not know what he was doing in the 1950's. I had an opportunity to engage a NSA historian on the subject of John B. Hurt and he assured me that Hurt's work (with hand written notes) was made directly available to John J. McCloy during WWII although there is no record of the two men ever having met directly. After several exchanges and immediate responses from this historian I asked if Hurt spoke Russian (something that family members assured me that he did). The historian took nearly six weeks to respond with a very strange email where he said that he could only confirm that Hurt spoke "these languages...." Although a long list followed Russian was not one of those listed.
I could be wrong but it seems plausible that Hurt not only spoke Russian (something the Historian did not deny) and that his still classified work may have been in this particular field.
I have more but will leave you with one more thought about the creation of the Warren Commission and John J. McCloy being placed upon it.
.......And we wonder why LBJ was worried about WWIII
Jim Root
Jim, Given that Hurt could master languages very well (even without formal intruction) is it possible that he taught Oswald Russian ? Or, at least tutored him in the skills to master it in a short period?
-Bill
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. Having spent a cuple of years now ravaging the online Mississippi Sovereignty Files certain inferences can be drawn.
Just some examples (thats all) : Kennedy and any of his supporters, from Lane to Judge Warren, are tarred and feathered. Others like Dulles, Smoot, Walker, orgs like the Citizens Councils and Certain media outlets are lauded : There is complicity to be inferred with matters such as The Mississippi Three, schoolbook selection, co operation and non cooperation with an apparent schism within the FBI, Falsification smothering the US particularly the South with matters pertaining to the Civil Rights campaign, there, particularly again, The Mississippi Three (and the tangential inferences to be drawn from the coroner, doctor police/roadpatrol, arms dealings (here perhaps an indication of Banisters fate), extremist individuals and apparent non entities conspiring on matters from sanctioned murders (pre -post) to record, reasults, falsification...the righteous supremacist misrepresentation of reality and its incredibly brutal regimes....
and last, but not least, almost NOTHING (re doc dates) from the time around the assassination except a shuffling around of persons and aims, inferring the dramatic yet unreferred to (non-extant) (docs that one expects to be there), documents of a type that are following a vein before the assassination, >[]< and then continues, yet somehow morphs, weeks, months later (interestingly Simms photo/film services in Dallas may yield interesting facts).
... Anyway there is so much there, but it MUST have been culled, ( just as the as yet unreleased Alabama ones are possibly near uncullable
), an indication of an interesting oversight that makes Bush non existant, yet (not quite unintelligeble, overstamped partially on a poor qual doc), there he is, lurking in the corner of Thurmonds pro Walker committee. So, while Prescott is clearly there, a search (as of a coupla years ago) indicates no name indexing, while names of schoolkids are all over the place in the index ; ie an incredible amount of nothing (interestingly particularly pertaining to Texas)? Why?
John, You are correct in your assumption regarding the MSC files. They have been cleansed, as have almost all the relevant collections we have been through in the South. Time after time we would see that the period between 1962-early 64' were either missing or very scant. When they first announced that the MSC files would be opened up, we called the State Archives in Jackson Miss. to arrange to see them. They told us there was a delay in the release of certain parts of the collection and that the full files would not be available until later that year. I think that they pulled some 'sensitive' material out then. In fact the archivist told us when we did go down there, that some things had been removed for "privacy reasons" Riiiiiight!
-Bill
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John, you touch on what imo is an important consideration re motive.
In January JFK had stated his intention was to enforce freedom of movement , choice of employment, education and living location for negroes.
As negroes, under the prevailing sharecropper conditions, were practically slaves this would have caused a massive shift in economic conditions from top to bottom (for people such as Emmett Tills killers, self described experts at employee controllers and suppliers of goods to those controlled (hence the Chicago born uppity youngsters murder, control by terror)). Thus the persons with a vested interest in keeping the status quo were certainly not above using murder to achieve their goals (note the numerous body parts found during the search for the Mississippi Three, the numerous coroner reports concluding gunshot victims as dead from heart attack). Means Motive and Opportunity was certainly not lacking in (not lone) ''Nut Country''.
John , As we have dicusssed in the past . The battle for segregation was the last stand for the White supremisists (sic?) Even though the die was cast, and the segregationist's battle was all but lost ..... It was still do or die! This is what people fail to realize......it was a battle of survival for their... "Way of life"
This is highly stressed throughout the literature of the time. I've read so much of the literature ( political ephemera) of that period, that it's a wonder JFK lasted as long as he did! It was more bitter and vitriolic than any Cuban broadsides I've ever seen. Vile hatred!
-Bill
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Bill O'Neil wrote: Banister was not in the Service during the war, he was with the FBI. He was not in the ONI, however his friend and cohort Guy Johnson, was.
William,
We heard this directly from Joe Oster, Banister's former partner in the Detective Agency. He told us he never heard anything about Guy being in the ONI. Said Banister wasn't in the service either, as he had already joined the FBI. Joe left Banister to form Southern Research, because he said Guy was more interested in politics (Segregation), than running a business!
-Bill O
Hi Bill,
I'm not arguing with you.
There are two Guy Johnsons in the CIA files who might be related.
Ok , I will try and go back and establish the details.
Guy Persic Johnson is the guy I am interested in. While he is dead his son is alive.
Guy P. Johnson was definately ONI, and according to Jack Martin, the guy who caused Guy Banister all sorts of consternation for connecting him to the assassination, it was Guy P. Johnson who had a copy of the "Homme Report," from the counsel to the Eastland committee which contained evidence that RFK tried to kill Castro.
Both Homme and Guy P. Johnson were stationed in the South Pacific in the 50s and worked on a CIA project together, and both were associated with Bud Festerwald at the time of the Garrison investigation.
I have a bounty out for anybody who comes up with a copy of the so-called "Homme Report," but for some reason, I don't think it will be easy to come buy, even for those who want to falsely pin the blame the assassination on RFK.
BK
Ok , I will check on this! I can assure you that both are likely dead. My inclination is that Guy P. Johnson is our man, but I can't say for sure. I did not know there were two!
BTW, anybody that says Banister was a non - entity in the assassination.... has not done their homework!
-Bill
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Bill O'Neil wrote: Banister was not in the Service during the war, he was with the FBI. He was not in the ONI, however his friend and cohort Guy Johnson, was.
William,
We heard this directly from Joe Oster, Banister's former partner in the Detective Agency. He told us he never heard anything about Guy being in the ONI. Said Banister wasn't in the service either, as he had already joined the FBI. Joe left Banister to form Southern Research, because he said Guy was more interested in politics (Segregation), than running a business!
-Bill O
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I believe Klopfer is mistaken about Robert Morris meeting with Eastland in Greenwood Miss. It was Chep (DeLesseps) Morrison; the Mayor of New Orleans who accompanied Banister to Eastland's estate. I came across this article years ago while in New Orleans, searching the Times Picayune and States Item microfiche. The article has a picture of them both
(Morrison and Banister) getting off a private plane in Greenwood Miss.
This meeting was about Banisters desire for a possible ‘Red Squad’ for the NOPD,
Banister requested that Morrison meet with Eastland, in order to brief the Mayor on the 'Red problem' in La.
Banister was indeed close with Eastland (and probably Robert Morris as well), as they both worked tirelessly to defend segregation. Guy Banister was a valued private source for several orgs and Committees. He was recommended as an investigator for the Mississippi Sovereignty Committee by his friend and fellow investigator John D. Sullivan. Sullivan thought that the Committee could utilize Banisters investigative skills, and his numerous files on the Civil Rights groups etc. He was not hired however; do to concerns about his rabid political views, which some Commissioners thought might play into the hands of their critics.
Banister applied for investigative positions’ with the Louisiana Sovereignty Committee (see letter to W.M. Rainach in Boylan post) and the Louisiana Un-American Activities Committee. He especially wanted the position at LUAC because he thought the Committee lacked experienced or qualified personnel to accomplish the task at hand. When they didn’t take him up on it, he became critical of their “lack of results”.
I believe he was counting on a position with the Committee to help with his propaganda aims, before and after 11-22-63. They did cooperate to some extent, but not soon enough, or nearly as much, as Banister desired.
Banister was not in the Service during the war, he was with the FBI. He was not in the ONI, however his friend and cohort Guy Johnson, was.
Banister, was a virulent racist and anti-communist who would stop at nothing to get “results”… even if he wasn’t paid in $$.
For people like Guy Banister, there were causes that didn’t always have monetary rewards, like saving the White race from ‘Godless Communism’
There were many others of his ilk that ended up in the same broke boat, like his former buddy, Kent Courtney. Very few soldiers in this field, made money for their endeavors.
-Bill
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John,
I don't believe Banister got the job. He did function as a mini commission though. For a good read about the Miss Sov Commission. Read "Dixie's Dirty Secrets" by James Dickerson. Dickerson takes you to the edge of some interesting subjects but then backs off. The subjects being LHO, James Earl Ray, Leander Perez, and Carlos Marcello. He does go into detail on a key subject here: the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission. The Sov Comm was set up and run by ex-FBI agents, among others. One of the primary backers was George Rogers who later went to work for the CIA.
I always thought that the MissSovComm records should have been declared JFK assassination records. Here’s a partial list of the names that can be found in the Miss Sov Comm files: Lee Harvey Oswald, Marina Oswald, Guy Banister, H.L Hunt, Gen Walker, Wesley Swift, David A. Phillips * (do you think it’s Atlee?), Robert D. Morrow, Willie Somersett, Ned Touchstone, Robert Morris, Henry Palmer (didn’t he see LHO in Clinton?) Alex Rorke, Jr. Ed Butler (maybe Ed Scalon Butler of INCA?) Robert DePugh, John Rousselot, John Lechner (as seen in Richard Nagell’s notebook) John Roselli, Lamar Hunt, David Ferrie, Robert Surrey, and Jack Brown (as named by Joe Milteer).
Dave , You are correct. Banister did not 'officially' get the job with the MSC. The main reason being that he was too radioactive, because of his activities in the segregationist movement. Some on the Commission, feared his hiring would play into the hands of those claiming that the Commission was merely a weapon against Civil Rights activists (which it was!).
-Bill
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William,
You might want to contact Clayton Ogilvie, who works on the Weisberg Collection. He knew Hal and was going to try and didgitize his suff as well.
He might remember the guys name who has Hal's stuff.
-Bill
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I knew Hal for 25+ years. Hal Verb was not an FBI informant. He detested them, and IMO, would rather have gone to prison than cooperate.
Take it to the Bank!
-Bill O'Neil
Bill,
Did he ever show you or tell you about the manuscript he co-wrote with Robert Kaffke about going to Cuba in '59 and Oswald in Mexico City?
Thanks,
BK
William, I think he mentioned it once , but at the time I was fixated on something else, and didn't ask him about it. He had a bunch of stuff stored away in a warehouse, after he got sick. One of his friends kept his old papers there, I can't think of the guys name to save my life. I will look thru some of his letters and see if I can find any mention of these things.
-Bill O
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I knew Hal for 25+ years. Hal Verb was not an FBI informant. He detested them, and IMO, would rather have gone to prison than cooperate.
Take it to the Bank!
-Bill O'Neil
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Wife of officer killed by Oswald views replica of his patrol car
"...after pulling over Lee Harvey Oswald....killed as he approached Oswald's car"?
I guess that's what you get when you send out a reporter on a story who wasn't born yet when JFK was killed - BK
By Shelly Slater / WFAA-TV
Posted November 22, 2009 at 9:52PM
Updated Wednesday, Nov 25 at 1:18 PM
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/ford_galaxie-71193627.html
DALLAS - For Marie Tippit, seeing the replica of a Dallas squad car from the sixties wasn't just about getting a glimpse of history, it was personal.
The replica was based on the 1963 Ford Galaxie her husband, Officer J.D. Tippit, drove the day he was killed while working his beat in 1963.
Mr. Tippet was killed by multiple shots fired at him after pulling over Lee Harvey Oswald after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
After hearing a description of the shooting suspect, Tippit stopped Oswald in Oak Cliff. He was killed as he approached Oswald's car.
“It’s very important," Mrs. Tippit said of the car. "It's a part of history."
The Texas Fire Museum restored the old car they found in an Arlington junkyard. It took 365 man hours to finish.
“It’s quite a blessing to us to restore the car in memory of him and what happened that day,” said Scott Simpson, president of the Texas Fire Museum.
The entire Tippit family stood with total strangers in awe of the car that represents so much.
“I think it’s the most magnificent thing that ever was," Tippit said. "It's beautiful."
Family members said the pain from that day has faded, but never went away.
“Of course we feel sad," Tippit said. "A lot of times we feel sad because you never stop missing him; you never stop wanting to see him or ask him a question. That's always there, but you just have to learn you have to live without him."
E-mail sslater@wfaa.comhttp://www.wfaa.com/news/local/ford_galaxie-71193627.html
Ha! Was he driving WEST!!
-Bill
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All what if's are irrelevant, the simple fact being that Oswald was not going to be brought down until Ruby was in place. Till then, Oswald could have taken all the time he wanted to pick out a sweater.
The only what if that could have saved Oswald is what if Ruby didn't show up.
Lets not forget Tom Howard (Ruby's friend and subequent attny) suddenly showing up in the jail office area at the last minute, and upon seeing Oswald being led to the basement said.."That's all I need to see", and left.
-Bill
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Oh boy, the Discovery Channel did it again. Fed the world a bunch of nonsense and paraded it as an honest investigation. This new documentary, while purporting to present an objective look at Ruby's potential involvement in a conspiracy, did everything it could to SELL America that such speculation was just silly. Gary Mack was once again its hired gun and spewer of nonsense as fact.
The only value I could find in the program was its view of Oswald's death from 9 different cameramen and photographers. That was interesting and worthwhile. But the rest?
While I don't remotely consider myself an expert on the Ruby connection, here are a few of the glaring errors/deceptions...
NO mention that Oswald, at the time of the Tippit killing, had traversed almost a mile from his rented room, and was still on a direct route to Ruby's apartment, only a half mile away.
NO mention of Seth Kantor's assertion Ruby was at Parkland Hospital, which might lead one to think Ruby's involvement pre-existed Oswald's arrest. (And would also lead one to conclude Ruby was a xxxx.)
NO mention of DPD officer Billy Grammer's assertion that Ruby called the police station the night before Oswald was to be moved, and warned him that Oswald was going to be killed.
NO mention of any dispute about Ruby's coming down the ramp. Yep, that's right. It says Ruby said he came down the ramp without pointing out that this was disputed by the officer guarding the ramp. Of course, this allowed them to hide that the HSCA believed this officer, and that the head of security for the basement, Patrick Dean, failed a polygraph, and had been singled out as a xxxx in 1964 by the Warren Commission counsel tasked with interviewing him.
NO mention of Ruby's phone call records, which showed him to have been in ever-growing contact with underworld figures in the months before the assassination.
NO mention of Ruby's assertion to Warren that the truth would not be known unless Warren brought him to Washington, and that Warren refused to bring him to Washington.
NO mention of the HSCA's conclusion that Ruby lied on his polygraph.
The program did, however, repeat a number of single-assassin theorist factoids. Including...
That Oswald brought about his own demise by putting on a sweater, and delaying his departure. This load of crud has been uttered repeatedly by the Dallas Police, but even a marginal study of the evidence indicates the police were not prepared for his departure at the time. I believe several of the officers even indicated that AFTER this supposed delay, Oswald was held in an office for a few minutes before being brought downstairs. The possibility has always existed, and still exists, therefore, that Oswald was held up by the police until Ruby was in place.
That Ruby's arrival downtown after 11 indicated he'd not come down to shoot Oswald, but only did it as an afterthought. Dallas PD chief Jesse Curry admitted in his book that, although he'd told the press to be ready for a transfer after 10, he, and therefore most certainly other policeman, KNEW the transfer wouldn't take place till much later. I believe he said after 11. This leaves open the possibility someone on the DPD was in contact with Ruby...perhaps even the same officer who let him in the building.
The program also made some really STUPID statements. One glaring moment of "DUH" comes towards the end when the narrator says the fact that Oswald was allowed to live for so long after Kennedy's death indicates he wasn't killed for a reason. HOW could the conspirators know, after all, that he hadn't talked? UGGGGGGGGHHHHHH. ONE, because the Dallas Police were parading every bit of evidence before the press, and had repeatedly TOLD the country Oswald wasn't talking. TWO, pretty much every conspiracy theory worth noting accepts the probability one or more DPD officers or FBI agents were involved on some level. Just a really STUPID statement, IMO, and one designed to confuse newbies unaware of the real issues.
In short, the program appears to have been yet another program whose primary purpose was to convince people Oswald acted alone, and that the Dallas Police (and by extension, the City of Dallas) were completely innocent.
I wonder if Gary Mack's contract with the Sixth Floor Museum includes writing saying he must participate in such programs, and help in their creation. I wonder at this point if he would even be allowed to participate in a program should it hint, even so slightly, that the DPD was either incompetent or complicit in Oswald's death.
Suggested reading: Adams Vs. Texas. a true-life account of an accused cop-killer, and the injustices he faced at the hands of the DPD, Dallas Country DA's office, and Texas courts. It tells of their efforts to kill him, even though he was quite clearly (to non-Texans) innocent, and guilty of little more than having long hair and having met a young Texas punk on the day the kid decided to kill a cop. (They couldn't get the death penalty on the kid--so they decided to pin it on Adams.)
Anyhow, it's a really powerful story, and includes a Dallas DA's claiming Adams was as guilty as Oswald. Which is kind of the point. As Adams was innocent. After over a dozen years on death row and prison, Adams was eventually let go, in large part because he got a movie made abut his case, but also in part because one lawyer on the DA's office saw how ridiculous it was to try to re-try a man for a crime to which someone else (a clear sociopath who went on to kill again after not being charged with killing the cop--a crime to which he'd confessed--in exchange for his testimony against Adams) had admitted to doing.
What gets to me is all the silly 'what if' scenarios that were laid out.
Well IF Oswald hadn't asked for a sweater, he wouldn't have been shot.
Well IF the transfer car had been in place ,Oswald wouldn't have been shot.
Well IF Harry Holmes hadn't made a last second request to ask Os another question, he probably wouldn't have been shot.
IF IF IF..........
IF there had been better SECURITY in the basement ,Oswald wouldn't have been shot!
The fact is, these things happened....WHY?
-Bill
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Ferrie was also interested in obtaining a Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport (also known as a "Gooney Bird.") He may also have been interested in narcotics at this time.
Stephen, do you have any additional info on Ferrie's interest in narcotics?
It's very sketchy right now. There are 2 or 3 people from that era who gave statements in the 1961-1969 period that Ferrie might have had some connection to narcotics. There is a strange letter found in Ferrie's effects (entitled Dear Bastard) that clearly refers to drugs. His friend, the late Mo Brownlee was arrested on drug charges several times. And several people I interviewed said that they had heard that he dabbled in drugs at one time, or that his personality changed in about 1962, possibly relating to drugs.
On the other hand, no drugs were found in searches in 1961, 1963 or 1967. And a few friends say that "the boys" played with drugs, but that Dave didn't. But he was close to the Marcello gang, and they were involved in drug trafficking.
I think Bill Nitschke told HSCA that he thought Ferrie might have been trafficking. And the Vincent Bonomo murder case might have a drug angle. Ferrie was tangentially involved. But more than a few of Gill's clients had drug troubles, and Ferrie worked for Gill.
Hey Steve, We interviewed a woman in New Orleans a few years back who knew well, Ferrie, Novel and others . She had met them through her boyfriend. One day (late 62" early 63"), Ferrie shows up at their house and tells the "boyfreind" that he "wants to show him something" They all go down the driveway to Ferrie's car, whereupon Ferrie opens the trunk and displays a large pile of weapons lying in the trunk. Numerous rifle's and various sidearms were stacked full.
This woman became very concerned and went back upstairs saying "I don't even want to know where those came from !"
When her boyfreind returned, he told her to never mention what she had just observed, she complied. This woman is the real deal. I could relate more but since Novel is still around......I'll choose to hold back.
Ferrie was indeed running weapons....... and God knows what else.
-Bill
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2nd of 2 posts of article images and Life Magazine article on background of Mrs. Preston H. Dial. (Displayed under tenth of ten article images posted.)
May 23, 1957 Stamps Photo
It is likely Maj. Jpse A. Rivera was promoted to the rank of Lt. Col, when he was transferred to DC early in 1958:
April 1, 1958 "In Capital"
In depth article on Mrs. Preston H. Dial of San Antonio, TX:
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZEIEAAAAM...ial&f=falseLIFE - Page 49
Magazine - Jul 13, 1953 - v. 35, no. 2 - 148 pages
... Mrs. Preston H. Dial of San Antonio dragged a local newsman aside and told him a
story about a Texan who was wounded in Korea. ...
Good work Tom!
-Bill
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And by the same token, there were more than a handful of eavesdropping situations which implicated the anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the MIAMI plot for sure. But was
the Dallas plot more of a Willoughby, Morris, Emmett Johnson thing or was it peppered with anti-Castro Cuban exiles as well.
1) Homer Echevarria in Chicago bragged about how they were going to kill JFK and Roy Hargraves later implicated him in the hit in Dallas, but it also turns out
that Hargraves himself allegedly flew to Dallas with 2 Cuban shooters. What role did he play himself? Roy also implicated Mitch Werbell, Robert F. Baird, Eugene Brading
or Braden a couple others, one from The Pioneer Fund itself founded by Wick Draper.
2) Willoughby's Foreign Intelligence Digest Latin American Editor, Emilio Nunez Portuondo, was overheard on the phone talking about the assassination
3) Rose Mercedes or Marcardes was dumped from a car near New Orleans on the way to Dallas after overhearing the car's occupants talking about killing JFK
4) Someone (a Cuban exile) in a Dallas meeting first name Nelson, last name forgotten, maybe DelGado, also talked in advance about plans for killing JFK
5) Both Marita Lorenz and my father had advanced notice of the plot based on either meetings attended or eavesdropped conversations.
Later Sturgis and E. H. Hunt implicated themselves in the plot (in Miami or in Dallas or in both?)
The players in the Miami plot were probably much different than the players in the Dallas plot. I think Morris, Schmidt, Walker and Willoughby took over
the Dallas plot after the Miami plot was busted wide open. They felt that the Cuban exiles were braggarts, with loose lips sinking their ships. Maybe some
of them had a role in Dallas, but you have to consider the realistic possibility that there were 2-4 shooting teams and not all of them even knew the identity
of the other teams in all likelihood. Two teams in Dealey and two teams at the Trade Mart final stop? That is also possible. But there is little doubt that
Robert Emmett Johnson was one of the shooters.
Yes. A failed attempt at hitting JFK meant a huge loss of any opportunity in the future. Security would have greatly increased.
The plotters would have to act on their best opportunity, which after Miami, was probably Dallas.
Just as Ruby (IMO ) needed to kill Oswald before he left the custody of the DPD. The window of opportunity probably woud've closed, if Oswald was successfully transfered to the Sheriff's Dept.
-Bill
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George de Mohrenschildt, I'm a Patsy (1977)
In February of 1967 we finally found a suitable place to settle down, before that we moved from one place to another and visited our children in California and Mexico. the place called conveniently "La Citadellle" was exactly fitting to us and was ample enough to accomodate all the furniture which had been stored in the warehouse since the beginning of 1963... It was about time to settle as four years storage at the Southwestern Warehouses began to axhaust us financially.
I thought of abandoning the whole junk and leave it to the warehouse - it's good sometime to start anew, but there were books...
And so we went to the warehouse with an old, faithful friend, always ready to help and to pick up some old junk for himself, and, before our furniture was taken out, we began looking through the accumulation of various and sundry items that could be eliminated. I was less intrested in this task, so I chatted with my friend, a good guy who had followed us on many of our trips, while Jeanne was finishing the selection of things to take and to discard.
Suddenly, he rushed out of the warehouse with a crazy look on her face, shouting excitedly: "Look, look, what I found!"
She dragged me to the pile of open crates and I saw inside a slightly familiar-looking green box. "What the hell is this?"
"This is the box with the records I gave Marina before our departure," she shouted.
"How did they get there? We left them such a long time ago?"
"I haven't the slightest idea, I considered them lost." Jeanne was short of words, this was so weird. "I had used them myself to learn English when I came to this country. They served me well. Then I loaned them to Marina long before our departure for Haiti."
"Remember how punctiously honest Lee was," I said. "He would not keep any of our belongings. But how the hell did they into this warehouse? Possibly he remembered where we were storing our furniture. Or, maybe he have the package to Glover to whom we had loaned some of our furniture and who finally added it to the rest of stored boxes at the Southwest Warehouse?"
This remains a mystery to this day, because we lost track of Glover, a good guy who got so frightened of his very slight acquaintanceship with the "President's assassin" that he moved out somewhere without leaving an address.
My wife began taking the albums out of the box and as she opened to see if the records were not broken, she shrieded almost hysterically.
"Look, there is a picture of Lee Oswald here!"
This was the same, so controversial picture of Lee, which appeared on the cover the defunct "Life". Many newspapermen and "investigators" had assumed and had written hundreds of pages that this picture was a fabrication, a "fake", a superimposed photograph. Frankly we did not care but now, right there, was a proof that the picture was genuine.
We stood literally frozen stiff, Lee staring at us in his martial pose, the famous rifle in his hands. like in a Marine parade. It was a gift for us from beyond his grave.
"What did he mean by leaving this picture to us?" I wondered aloud. "He was not a vain kind of a person."
Then Jeanne shouted excitedly again: "look there is an inscription here. It read: "To my dear friend George from Lee." and the date follow - April 1963, at the time when we were thousand of miles away in Haiti. I kept looking at the picture and the inscription deeply moved, my thoughts going back when Lee was alive.
Then I slowly turned the photograph and there was another epitaph, seemingly in Marina's handwriting, in Russian. In translation it reads; "this is the hunter of fascists! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Here Marina was again making fun of her husband, jeering Lee's very serious anti-fascists feelings, which we knew so well and described in several chapters of this book.
It's hard to describe the impact of this discovery on us, especially Lee's dedication and Marian's enscription. This message from beyond the grave was amazing and shocking. From the grave we did not even dare to visit, because FBI considered with suspicion all the visitors at Lee's burial place. The confirmation that Lee considered me his best friend flattered me but Marina's message expressed a chilling scorn for her husband. Anyway, if he were a hunter of fascists, and we agree with such a description, who was the making fun of him?
First of all it makes in doubt her assertion that Lee tried to shoot General Walker, secondly for a Soviet Russian refugee the word "fascist" is not a laughing matter - some fifteen million people lost their lives fighting them. And how many more died of cold and hunger?
We kept this photograph for ourselves and showed it only to a few close friends. Their reactions were interesting: to some the photograph indicated that Lee was a maniac, a killer, it constituted a proof of his aggressiveness, of his guilt. To others, just the opposite - it gave him the aura of a militant idealist. The man of such anti-facist inclinations COULD NOT be the assassin of the most liberal and race conscious president in the history of the United States.
We did not show the photograph to any authorities, to them Lee Harvey Oswald's case was closed and we did not want any further involvements. Neither did we show it to any investigators or reporters in the United States.
But I did write a letter to a friend, one of the editors of Life Magazine, explaining that I had a message from Lee Harvey Oswald and I did ask him to keep the matter confidential. I added to my letter a short resume of the facts - how this picture got into our possession.
Immediately I received a call from my friend saying that Life had a team working on Oswald's case, a team of investigators, because the magazine had doubts of Warren Committee's conclusions.
The next day a reporter assigned to the assassination case called me and we talked for a long time. He was intimately familiar with all the details, psychological and technical, of this unbelievable complex case, having worked on it since November 1963. Like ourselves, he was at Marina's inscription and gave it the same meaning as ourselves.
"We shall use to as a main feature of our special edition if and when we know something definite about Oswald's involvement or of his innocence he said.
Again I asked the man to keep this matter confidential temporarily and he promised to do so.
Obviously either Life's people were talkative or, more probably, our telephone was tapped. This we found at several occasions.
New we know much more about "Watergate" type tactics of our government agencies, especially FBI, but at the time we did not have anything to conceal - except the existence of this picture - and this only for our own sentimental reasons. Whenever we heard a suspicious noise on the telephone, we laughed, spoke in foreign languages or made offensive remarks at whoever was listening in. Some voluminous files must be hidden somewhere contaning "transcripts", translations and obliterations of our conversations.
Again, being faithful taxpayers for years and years, we could but marvel at the unbelievable waste of our money. But what was it compared to 140 billion U.S. dollars spent in Vietnam. But one bad habit leads to another...
Now something should be said as to why we did not contact Marina regarding picture. Naturally she knew of its existence from our mutual friends, the Fords. But as this story clearly indicates, there is not love lost between Marina and us. We had helped her with the baby care, with her own health and finally made a supreme effort trying to solve her unsolvable conflict with Lee. We never received a word of thanks from her. But this is not important, we helped her when she was not poor and desperate.
Unfortunately, after Lee's death she showed herself a real "operator". She created an appearance of a helpless victim, of a woman searching for God, and naturally God-fearing Americans sent her substantial contributions or donations, all tax-free. We heard from some reporters that donations were sent frequently stuck between the pages of Bibles and she would grab the money and flung the Bible furiously on the floor.
We did not treat her very nicely in our testimonies, but we were utterly truthful. Marina should have recognized it, had she taken the trouble of reading our depositions. She might have come then to a true evaluation of herself and of her dead husband.
Well, she is settled now, when we see each other we say "hello" politely. As a matter of fact the last time I even did not recognize her. She looked prosperous and spoke excellent English.
Another reason we did not contact Marina and haven't had a serious conversation with her, was her attitude towards Mrs. Ruth Paine. Ruth was a perfectly charming, charitable Quaker, a Christian in the true sense of this word, who, like us, helped the Oswalds out of pure humanitarian impulses. Actually she did more for them than anyone else. Marina lived with her for and off, took advantage of her hospitality. Ruth drove her to New Orleans and back. She showed utter kindness to her occasionally Lee, and especially to baby June. She and her husband were simply admirable people. Yet Ruth had her own family to take care of as well as her teaching profession. Her only reward consisted of lessons in conversational Russian.
Lee, on the other hand, seldom accepted hospitality and certainly did not ask for it. And yet, Ruth's and Marine's great friendship ended abruptly after the assassination.
As Ruth told us later, upon our return from Haiti, Marina said that she did not want to see her ever again. And Mrs. Paine was too proud a person to insist.
It is possible that Marina was advised by the authorities to shy away from her former independent-minded friends and she must have been scared stiff of authorities. Time will tell. But still many years went by and she still does not see mrs. Ruth Paine.
Short sketches of various incidents involving Marina will prove to the reader these peculiarities of her character, which may incidentally appear admirable to many readers. Her dreams of America bristling with high buildings, criss-crossed with high-speed roads, blessed with luxury for everyone and especially with fast automobiles for all teenagers and adults. And she was right, some economist calculated fifteen years ago that if the automobiles dept on proliferating at the same rate, each family in America would possess five hundred automobiles at the end of this century. A paradise of earth!
Yet we never disliked Marina, there was really nothing to dislike, there was no substance in her. She was amusing sometimes, witty, naive mostly, like some Russian peasants, yet with great deal of shrewdness underneath. My wife used to call her affectionately - "that rascal Marina" - and that description fitted her perfectly. Unusual visitors.
The photograph we found in the record album is identical to the one Life magazine published shortly after the assassination. I think Marina took it, at least she so testified. Only the dedication to me and the inscription by Marina constitute new elements. This picture, unquestionably did a lot of damage to Lee. It shows him in a militaristic pause, holding a rifle, a pistol on his side.
But let's not forget that Lee was trained by the Marine Corps to hold, show and respect weapons. The Beretta we saw in his apartment was well oiled and immaculately clean. Another bow to the United States Marine Corps. But whatever later testimony tried to prove, I knew that he was not a particulary good shot. He did not have that cold stare in his eyes - incidentally he had rather attractive gray eyes - he did not have a very steady hand and a stiff stance which indicate to anyone familiar with things military a good marksman. To Jeanne and I he did to have an ugly expression of a killer, and we knew professional killers, Jeanne in China during the Japanese occupation, I in other parts of the world. He owned a pistol but we never discussed why, I assumed for self defence, he lived in a very disreputable part of Dallas. Maybe Lee liked to shoot at the leaves, but he did not have a decisive, self-assured, automatic attitude of a sharpshooter. On the contrary, he was nervous, jittery, poorly coordinated type, and, as I said before completely unathletic. Also devoid of any mechanical ability. I had observed boys and men of that type in my own regiment and the were totally unfit for military performance - and usually very poor shots.
We had tried to keep the existence of Lee's photograph as secret as possible, just a few friends saw it and Life's reporter knew of it. Something, however, leaked out and about two weeks after my conversations with Life's writers, I received a strange telephone call. A slightly accented voice said, and I quote: "we are from Life Magazine,' and he mentioned the name of the reporter I had spoken to, "we are here in Dallas and would like to see you?"
"Certainly," I agreed immediately. "Come over."
They knew the address and an hour later two men appeared in our house. A strange pair; one slight, Latin-American type fellow, the other a big bruizer, beefy, powerful, Anglo type. They sat down, announced that they represented Life Magazine, the Latin mentioned his repetorial qualifications, the beefy character said he was a photographer. Indeed he was loaded with cameral of all types. The names were respectively - Smith and Fernandez. Smith mentioned also that he was a staff photographer for Fortune Magazine, which put me completely at ease.
"We would like to ask you a few questions the other Life reporter failed to discuss with you," said Fernandez.
I obliged him. These questions were unimportant, mostly about Lee's habits and his character. Then they became more specific. "Was he sociable? Whom did he know well? What were his relations with fellow workers in this country and in USSR? Did he have many friends in addition to us? What did he do in Mexico? Whom did he meet there? Could he speak Spanish? Why did he go to New Orleans? Could he drive a car? And many other questions, which I do not recall now.
I answered these questions to the best of my ability, but naturally many had to remain unanswered, since I was out of the country and did not have any contacts with Lee during that time.
The question may arise; why was I so frank with Life Magazine people and let myself pumped out so naively. The answer is that one of my most admired friends used to be a staff writer for Life and he had performed an extremely kind and difficult intervention of behalf of my father stranded in Europe during the war. Incidentally, I felt very much at ease with these two character because I had a visitor at the time, an economist from the East, a very athletic fellow and a good friend and he was there all the time.
Later in the afternoon Jeanne arrived, very surprised to see the unusual guests. I explained who they were. "But you have a very strong Spanish accent?" she asked Fernandez.
"Yes, of course, I am of Spanish origin and I had worked as a reporter for life mostly in Latin America. So, excuse my poor English."
This sounded reasonable enough.
Then Smith, "the photographer", producer a series of excellent, very clear photos of some twenty men, mostly of Latin appearance and asked pointedly if we had ever met any of them.
We both looked carefully at these strange, sometimes brutal, faces.
"I am not sorry not to have met any of them," I quipped. "They look rather disreputable. Who are they ?"
Somehow this question remained unanswered.
"I have an excellent memory for faces and I am positive not to have ever seen any of them," I added.
Jeanne, in a more cheerful and confident mood pointed out three better-looking ones: "This one has a cute moustache! That one has an interesting look about him. And this one is so handsome! Oh, I would like to meet these three men," he concluded laughingly.
This cheerfulness was met by a stony silence, a kind of hostile attitude. Fernandez did not say a word. He seemed disappointed. Smith broke the awkard silence and asked: "May I take a few pictures of you and the dogs?"
The mentioning of the dogs conquered Jeanne and we obliged again. Many photographs were taken.
The conversation lingered for a while longer. Fernandez became more amiable and called our dog Nero in the Spanish manner "Senor Neron" which pleased Jeanne to no end. Finally the two strangers left, promising to contact us again from new York, to gove our regards to my friend there and to send us copies of the pictures.
A few days went by. We both were busy and didn't have time or occasion to discuss this visit. One evening, lying in bed, I asked Jeanne: "What did you think of those two characters who came to visit us the other day?"
"Rather suspicious," she said. "I was thinking of them at this very moment. This is ESP. How did you know they were from Life?" She asked. "Did they have any identifications?"
"None," I mused. "And I did not ask for any. But they knew exactly what I was talking about with the Life reporter in new York. Fernandez remembered all the questions and all my answers."
"You were very careless," said Jeanne convincingly. "Don't you know that the house has been bugged on and off. More on than off."
She was absolutely right. These men were imposters. Next day I checked with the Life office in New York. Smith and Fernandez did not exist as far as Life was concerned.
"But let's not forget that Lee was trained by the Marine Corps to hold, show and respect weapons. The Beretta we saw in his apartment was well oiled and immaculately clean"
The Beretta!? huh?
-Bill
-
Soto told the FBI he had worked for McLaney at his casino in Havana and that the witness in the Parrot Jungle gift shop didn't know what she was talking about:MARTINEZ SOTO
Parrot Jungle Incident
One of McLaney's pal's, Jorge Antonio Martiez Soto, talked too much one day. ...
“On March 22, 1964, Jorge Martinez voluntarily appeared at the Miami Office of the FBI in answer to a telephone call placed to him at the Fontainbleu Hotel on March 22, 1964. Martinez said he is known as Jorge Martinez, and he felt he had sufficient comprehension of English to permit conduct of the interview in the English language....
....“Martinez stated that his immigration into the United States was sponsored by Michael McLaney, who had operated the casino in the Nacional Hotel in Havana before the Government of Fidel Castro closed down such operations. Martinez said that when he lost his job in the Cuban Customs Service in the first part of 1959, when the Castro Government removed the pre-Castro personnel, he, Martinez, worked for McLaney at the casino in the general capacity of handling Spanish-speaking clients...."
Soto told Garrison's investigator he never worked for McLaney:
http://www.ajweberman.com/nodules2/nodulec14.htm....MEMORANDUM
April 18, 1967.
TO: JIM GARRISON
FROM: Richard E. Gerstein, State Attorney
Alfonso Sepe, Executive Assistant
RE: Assassination of President Kennedy
CLOSED INVESTIGATION
As a result of a phone call I received from my sister-in-law, Mrs. Pat Sepe, I was informed that her close friend, Mrs. Ruth Bastholm, knew a woman who had worked in the Parrot Jungle Gift shop in 1963 and 1964. The name of this woman was Lillian Springler, ....
...Martinez denied ever going to Texas or having any friends in Texas. He denied ever saying that he had a friend named LEE who lived in Texas or Mexico. The only person he knew in New Orleans was his cousin, who was a doctor.
Arrangements were made with Warren Holmes for Martinez to take a lie detector test. Several days later Martinez took the test and answered all questions posed to him by the polygraph expert. Mr. Holmes conclusions were that Martinez was telling the truth, with the exception that in a temperamental outburst to Mrs. Springler, Martinez might have said some unkind things about President Kennedy which he had originally denied to me. Specifically, he showed deception in his denial to the question posed by Mr. Holmes, "Did you tell the woman at the Parrot Jungle that you were going to Washington to shoot the President between the eyes?" He later admitted to Holmes, following his examination, that the question bothered him because he recalled making some stupid statements like that to the woman in the Parrot Jungle Gift Shop, but could not recall what words he had used. He stated that he had a habit of shooting his mouth off, but vehemently denied mentioning the name of LEE. Holmes found Martinez's explanation that he probably shot his mouth off too much to Mrs. Springler at the Parrot Jungle consistent with Martinez's demeanor. A combination of Holmes observations of Martinez, together with the administration of the polygraph test, satisfied Holmes that Martinez was telling the truth. It is therefore my recommendation that this investigation be closed.
Alphonso C. Sepe
[NARA HSCA 180-10112-10464]
THE FENDER-BENDER
City of Miami Archivist Gordon Winslow and researcher Gordon Winslow, discovered this testimony of Martinez dated March 1964:
Q. Are you married?
A. Yes.
Q. Does your wife live with you?
A. Of course.
Q. Where do you live?
A. 550 Northeast Terrace, Apartment 4.
Q. How long have you been living at that address?
A. Since September until now [January 1961].
Q. Where were you living before you moved to that address?
A. I was living in a small apartment on top of a garage in back of Mr. McLaney's home.
Q. Did your wife live with you there?
A. No, she was in Cuba.
Q. How did you meet McLaney?
A. I was working for Customs in Havana, and since Mr. McLaney used to travel a lot, I met him there, working at Customs.
Q. Did you ever work for him in Havana?
A. No.
Q. Have you worked for him in the United States?
A. No. Well, when I left Cuba they looked me all over and they took away all of my money. And when I came back here I looked him up and he let me live in that room above the garage because I didn't have any money or anything to face the situation.
Q. What do you know about McLaney's work or business?
A. I know nothing, nothing.
[#60L3609-E Cannon Circuit Court, 11th Judicial District, Dade County, Florida; FBI 105-8342 Miami 3.25.64]
ANALYSIS
Jorge Soto Martinez was a former official of the Batista Administration. Castro had cost him everything he had. Martinez spoke key words at Parrot Jungle: ex-Marine, spoke Russian, spoke German, Texas, Lee. He had heard about OSWALD either from Mike McLaney (who heard it from HEMMING) or because he was part of the LaCombe training camp organized by Rudolph Richard Davis that OSWALD attempted to "infiltrate" through BRINGUIER. Jorge Soto Martinez was questioned by the FBI about the dynamite found in William McLaney's LaCombe home on July 31, 1963. Alphonse Sepe went on to become a Judge. He was indicted for corruption. He dismissed the fact that Martinez failed a significant question during his lie detector test.
Lillian Springler told the truth. It was no accident that out of all the Cubans in Miami, Lillian Springler pointed her finger at a close associate of McLaney. Lillian Springler was contacted in November 1993. She said, "I am old now and don't remember. Whatever I said back then was true." Lillian Springler was a patriot.
HEMMING: THE MOTIVE
HEMMING told this data base compiler in 1994: "Who would run around trying to put the finger on LEE HARVEY OSWALD? Who would do that? Why do you think that was done? Why would someone come up with that kind of xxxx? What purpose did it serve? The guy would have to be a moron, or was he setting somebody up? He might have been in a situation where he overheard McLaney saying something, or one of the Cubans around. From what I read, Soto didn't speak English really worth a xxxx. However, I presume that he spoke clearly enough, and said what he said. I buy that. Now, does he get it into his own head to walk in there? What prompted the conversation? What led to this outburst? Did he try to hit on her? Was he trying to get some xxxxx? What was his motivation to blurt this xxxx out and blow the cover completely? More than likely, it was more involved than that. He was probably getting some xxxxx there, and she's trying to cover her ass by saying it was done in a store. It might have been xxxxxxx pillow talk. I always figured there was something behind it. Then I want to know, How would Soto pick up this kind of information? Who the xxxx is he? What kind of jerk-off is this? Is this the key man in the xxxxxxx plot? Who was letting these secrets out? Even dummies aren't going to have people walking through the Parrot Jungle. The plot is to nail OSWALD. Let's visualize the scenario. You don't want the word to get around to people who are going to call the cops, who are going to say something. Do you want OSWALD busted before the event?" I explained to HEMMING that "Not everything works the way you want it." HEMMING: "A.J., we're getting close." I responded: "He's a xxxx up, an xxxxxxx, he came back after the assassination to see her again so maybe she'll be impressed with him and say, 'Wow, this guy knew some heavy xxxx about the assassination way in advance.' GERRY, did you ever meet this guy, Jorge Soto Martinez?" HEMMING: "Yeah, yeah. I had other people talk to him, sat down and had a chat, and all that kind of xxxx. This was before the assassination. There was xxxx going on. Number one, McLaney had been helpful to us. So we consider him a friend. He sent Espinosa and couple of other people out to do a couple of things, and now we're being asked about it. McLaney wanted to kill Fidel. With a passion. If Espinosa had a loose mouth and he talked in front of this guy, and this guy actually lived there, and things were being discussed. That's a lot of 'ifs.' Is he trying to get out of participating in something by burning it? This was the first thing we looked at. Or did he tell stories to people in confidence? Was he trying to impress somebody?
"With Victor Espinosa around, no Cuban around McLaney was doing anything that McLaney didn't know about. He didn't take those kind of chances. It wasn't sanctioned by McLaney. It was done behind his back. McLaney would suspect it was done to xxxx him up."
During his deposition in HUNT v. WEBERMAN STURGIS was asked:
Q. Do you know the owners of the Nacional Hotel, Mike and William McLaney?
A. I met him yes.
Q. Do you remember a man named Jorge Soto Martinez?
A. George? Possibly. If he had anything to do with casinos, possibly, because -
Q. He worked for McLaney.
A. Possibly; because I didn't meet everybody there 'cause there's too many people involved....
What are the chances that these lady's could come up with these details, and a story like this?
This guy contradicts himself constantly. These Cubans couldn't wait to start framing Oswald, some leaks were on purpose, others jumped the gun.
-Bill
-
If the body was stolen from the casket aboard AF1, which would help account for the altered wounds, two caskets, etc., then McHugh, who stayed with the body during the swearing-in, was in on the plot. If so, his story about LBJ crying in the toilet can be seen as an over-the-top fabricated way of exonerating LBJ of any involvement. In other words, LBJ was in on it too.
You can see it that way, and I am sure-as-heck too cynical to rule out the crying thing as a cover story, or - if it happened - as an LBJ-manufactured excuse for why he was distraught.
However - big murder, big conspiracy, and big debts are traumatic things, maybe producing momentary regrets, once one sees the upshot and responsibility of one's own handiwork.* And Johnson expressed other conflicted behavior, in prattling on, early and late, about conspiracy and "a damned Murder Inc. in the Caribbean," to what seemed like different purposes at different times. So the man was not unflappable, not unafraid. Of something.
I have no doubt the man was "in on it," but to what degree of responsibility and action? Maybe, in an instant, it seemed less than he had imagined, and being suddenly thrust into the bloody target seat, still warm from Jack, unnerved him. He did, after all, retire Kennedy's desk. (And Nixon didn't bring it back.) Gloating? Sweeping change? Fear?
This is biographer's meat, and we need to cut and cure more of it, so better biographies are written, and very good ones (Robert A. Caro's) might be perfected.
Wonder why LBJ wanted to "stay in the area"? Did he fear going 'wheels up' and getting shot out of the air, did he fear going back to Washington?
Maybe there was still unfinished business to be completed in- "the area"
-Bill
+++++++++
*Sidebar: I referred above to Johnson being, "unmann'd" by his guilt, in the language of Shakespeare's Macbeth. We should recall that in 1967 "MacBird," a rather well-received satirical play on Johnson as the king-killing usurper, and Bobby as the avenger, was popular off-Broadway. So the "Johnson did it" view was contemporary. And I find from my JFK and RFK research that works - even fictional works - written soon after such events do catch much important fact and opinion that was in the minds of witnesses and the general public.
This is biographer's meat, and we need to cut and cure more of it, so better biographies are written, and very good ones (Robert A. Caro's) might be perfected.
Wonder why LBJ wanted to "stay in the area"? Did he fear going 'wheels up' and getting shot out of the air, did he fear going back to Washington?
Maybe there was still unfinished business to be completed in- "the area"
-Bill
-
If the body was stolen from the casket aboard AF1, which would help account for the altered wounds, two caskets, etc., then McHugh, who stayed with the body during the swearing-in, was in on the plot. If so, his story about LBJ crying in the toilet can be seen as an over-the-top fabricated way of exonerating LBJ of any involvement. In other words, LBJ was in on it too.
You can see it that way, and I am sure-as-heck too cynical to rule out the crying thing as a cover story, or - if it happened - as an LBJ-manufactured excuse for why he was distraught.
However - big murder, big conspiracy, and big debts are traumatic things, maybe producing momentary regrets, once one sees the upshot and responsibility of one's own handiwork.* And Johnson expressed other conflicted behavior, in prattling on, early and late, about conspiracy and "a damned Murder Inc. in the Caribbean," to what seemed like different purposes at different times. So the man was not unflappable, not unafraid. Of something.
I have no doubt the man was "in on it," but to what degree of responsibility and action? Maybe, in an instant, it seemed less than he had imagined, and being suddenly thrust into the bloody target seat, still warm from Jack, unnerved him. He did, after all, retire Kennedy's desk. (And Nixon didn't bring it back.) Gloating? Sweeping change? Fear?
This is biographer's meat, and we need to cut and cure more of it, so better biographies are written, and very good ones (Robert A. Caro's) might be perfected.
Wonder why LBJ wanted to "stay in the area"? Did he fear going 'wheels up' and getting shot out of the air, did he fear going back to Washington?
Maybe there was still unfinished business to be completed in- "the area"
-Bill
+++++++++
*Sidebar: I referred above to Johnson being, "unmann'd" by his guilt, in the language of Shakespeare's Macbeth. We should recall that in 1967 "MacBird," a rather well-received satirical play on Johnson as the king-killing usurper, and Bobby as the avenger, was popular off-Broadway. So the "Johnson did it" view was contemporary. And I find from my JFK and RFK research that works - even fictional works - written soon after such events do catch much important fact and opinion that was in the minds of witnesses and the general public.
-
In the October 5th, 1963 Edition of the Dallas Morning News, Deen's death was carried in a short article with the heading
"Dr. Deen Found dead at home" Dallas Morning News October 5, 1963
The body of Dr. George C. Deen, 30 was found Friday in his apartment on the grounds of Timberlawn Psychiatric Center 4600 Samuell Blvd where he had been a resident physician since 1962. Justice of the Peace W.E. Richburg ordered an autopsy before returning a verdict. Dr. Joe W. King, also a resident physician, told police that when Dr Deen failed to report for duty, he went to his apartment and discovered the body slumped in a chair. Deen was head of a bi-racial group in Dallas known as the Committee for Full Citizenship, under his leadership the Committee this fall urged every eligible Negro student in the Dallas area to apply for admittance to an integrated school. Survivors include his wife; family Dr and Mrs C.C. Deen of Wichita Falls.
FWIW,
Throughout its history at 2700 Flora Street, Moorland YMCA served as a meeting place for various
groups. It was “neutral ground” for different church groups to meet with one another. It also was the
meeting place for civil rights advocacy groups45. Much of the civil rights movement in Dallas was based
at Moorland YMCA. In the 1950s, the NAACP held its public meetings at the YMCA, and many
travelers who would come to the area throughout this time and into the 1960s stayed at Moorland when
no other facilities would shelter them46.
In 1963, in the heat of the Civil Rights Movement, the Dallas Committee for Full Citizenship was formed.
Calling for full desegregation of Dallas schools and “dedicated to working for the complete desegregation
of the greater Dallas community through nonviolent methods,” the 50-member group was one of several
that met at Moorland YMCA47. The Committee for Full Citizenship, led by Dr. George Deen, staff
psychiatrist at Timberlawn hospital, went on to participate in statewide demonstrations for integration
http://www.dbdt.com/downloads/2700-Flora-Street.pdf.
Beyond interesting, is the fact that in that time period, George DeMohrenschildt lived five doors down from William Thompson Wolf's residence on Dickens Ave., which is so close to SMU it is practically a "stones throw away from the campus." DeMohrenschildt lived at 6628 Dickens Ave., Wolf as indicate above, lived at 6618 Dickens.DeM had a habit of being "in proximity". When he lived in New York, it was just down the road from the law firm where Robert Morris was working. And then there was that walking tour of Latin America which took him to Guatemala City coinciding with the BoP.
Greg , Funny how Walker tries to tie Os and Ruby to Wolf's demise. Knowing what I do about "Ted" and his penchant for mis-direction, I would start looking among Walkers group, for a suspect in Wolf's death. As for Deen, well... "The Eye's of Texas are Upon You" son....and when your in the biz of Civil Rights... that's not a good thing.
-Bill
-
I did happen, to find an additional report concerning Jack W Martin.....
It is in a mammoth HSCA Administrative Folder Secret Service.
See below.....
ADMIN FOLDER-B12: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, SECRET SERVICE REPORTS, LHO 12/13/63......385 Pages
http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...c.do?docId=9893
The pertinent section reads:
At 2:06 PM November 22, 1963 Clerk Rhyan again called reporting agent advising that at that time it was thought that Jack Martin may have been the assassin of President Kennedy.
She could furnish no information regarding Jack Martin’s description or background knowing only that his address was reported as Route 1, Goldonna, Louisiana, and that it was desired that discreet inquiries regarding Martin be conducted at Goldonna at once. Reporting agent immediately telephoned SAIC John Rice who happened to be on an official raod trip to Shreveport and vicinity, in the northwest section of Louisiana, approximately 325 miles from New Orleans. Goldonna being located in Natchitoches Parish in the northwest section of Louisiana.
SAIC Rice was located at the Office of Special Investigations Barksdale Air Force Base, near Shreveport, Louisiana, and was informed of the above mentioned request that discreet inquiries regarding Martin be conducted and the results be telephoned to our office in Dallas, Texas had telephoned the that Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested in Dallas, Texas for having fired the shots that killed President Kennedy......
I believe it would be accurate to say that given the assassination of President Kennedy was, in my estimation, the most significant event of the Cold War, and that though Oswald was tried....convicted, in the media at least, and executed by Jack Ruby for being the assassin of President Kennedy, it borders on sacrilige, that no one knows squat about the elusive Jack W. Martin....Does that not say something about the subject in general.....
At the very least it would seem a historical responsibility to ascertain why and what happened in the immediate aftermath of the assassination, that led the Secret Service to be making a "discreet inquiry" regarding him.
For that matter, what in the devil is one to make of the expression discreet inquiry concerning someone, who, at that time was being speculated as the ersatz possible assassin of President Kennedy.
The whole matter stinks to high heavens....irrespective of Oswald's guilt or innocence. Another issue relative to the name Martin in general, is that there are a host of persons named Martin who figure prominently in the legacy of the Kennedy assassination, although there is no doubt a partial explanation for that fact is that very simply the Surname Martin is very common, at the same time, there were Martin's who did everything from help represent Marina Oswald legally to being involved in cashing the checks Oswald received when living in New Orleans, while the FBI and the Secret Service both stand as poor examples in the area of running down leads and following through with them, Jack W. Martin strikes me as being one of those examples.
Considering that there was a component of the assassination that involved the Minutemen, John Birch Society and somewhat bizarre religous groups, in which Jack W Martin of Goldonna, La. may have been a part of concerning the latter, it might behoove those who have an interest in this topic to ask this question.
If Jack W Martin was irrelevant to the assassination, why is there so little information about him in the files........
It is pretty much the same as the document in CD 87, except that it substitute's the words
I think an even more interesting question is, What was Agent Rice doing in Shreveport during this crucial time?
-Bill O
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John
"Him (Walker), having been shot at as a leading opponent of the Kennedy presidency and then partaking in the preparations for the assault on Stevenson a month or so prior to Kennedy entering 'nut country', hanging his flag upside down, making sure the pilots on the plane taking him to Shrevesport, to meet other leading Segregationists, signed his ticket stub, setting in motion the Oswald shot Walker story through the German right wing paper made him an ideal middle man between far right militant groupings (like the KKK which were enjoying a popularity surge in response to JFK's no nonsense anti-segregation drive), and the Louisiana sovereignty comission whose aim was to defeat Kennedy's '63 civil rights bill at any cost."
What you seem to leave out is Marina Oswald's continued insistance that her husband did in fact shoot at Walker because, "he told her so" and the pictures and letter provided by Marina to the initial FBI investigators......items Marina has never suggested were not honestly provided by her.
So either Marina was a part of and continues to be a part of the framing of her husband Lee or there is more to the story than what might be easily swept under the table.
Personally I believe that Walker's reactions in the 24 hours following the assassination of JFK are easily explained, IF we consider those reactions based upon the fear that he (Walker) might be implicated in the assassination of the President......especially if he (Walker) did in fact recognize Oswald as the person he had helped to enter the Soviet Union as part of a very deep intelligence operation and knowing full well that John J. McCloy had recently sent him a letter that would tie him neatly to the conspirators if in fact McCloy were involved.
It is my belief that Walker may have been the most releaved man in the United States when Oswald was gunned down!
Jim Root
Hmm, what's with all the picture taking Lee? Why risk being seen wandering around with a camera? For RECON? I've been to the Walker house, there wasn't any need for all these pictures, in order to acomplish this act, once you've seen the layout. Hmmm....
-Bill
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Tom, The firing time and sequence would not be relevant, if the [dented lip] round, was the last one fired, no? If in fact it was the last round fired and the jam then occured , the bullet underneath would likely have scrape marks on it's upper surface. Was this ever checked?
Was this jam, the reason the operator of this gun didn't fire the final round?
Did he abandon the effort upon chambering the final round, and realize his target was now out of reasonable sight? -Bill
), an indication of an interesting oversight that makes Bush non existant, yet (not quite unintelligeble, overstamped partially on a poor qual doc), there he is, lurking in the corner of Thurmonds pro Walker committee. So, while Prescott is clearly there, a search (as of a coupla years ago) indicates no name indexing, while names of schoolkids are all over the place in the index ; ie an incredible amount of nothing (interestingly particularly pertaining to Texas)? 
Did he abandon the effort upon chambering the final round, and realize his target was now out of reasonable sight?
The Elevator Escape Theory
in JFK Assassination Debate
Posted
I'm exhausted after trying to absorb all this........could you please send the elevator back up?
-Bill