I've been reading up on the Electoral College and Alexander Hamilton's Federalist 68.

It seems to me that it has never been more appropriate than it is to us right now.

"Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States"

Steve Thomas

I think I read what says it best...

"What do you have to lose?"

We're about to find out.

Steve Thomas

On 11/3/2016 at 5:55 AM, Steve Thomas said:

Could someone help me find these?

FBI 105-82555 Oswald HQ File, Section 114 page 37

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=58943#relPageId=37&tab=page

Marina Oswald was interviewed by FBI Special Agents Richard L. Wiehl and Wallace Heitman on March 19, 1964 She was shown over 400 photographs and asked to identify them. On page 41 of that Section 114, it says that Marina was shown three photographs of baby June Oswald on a balcony of the apartment on Neely St. The are identified as Item#'s:

B3-13

B3-17

B3-29

 

A kind-hearted person told me that these can be found in the CIA's Oswald 201 file.

PHOTOS (448) DISPLAYED TO MARINA OSWALD FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES ON

Oswald 201 File (201-289248)/ Oswald 201 File, Vol 32/ pages 58, 62, and 74

Nope. No snow. Oh well, it was a thought.

Steve Thomas

4 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Good one on the bus ticket Steve.

James,

In the newspaper article I cited above, it says that the Commissioners conferred behind closed doors with Captain Will Fritz that Sunday morning.

Are you aware of any record of this session with Fritz?

Seems a little odd that they would want to talk to Fritz so close to before the Report went to press.

I found it a little odd to that they would use the Court Reporter for Judge Hughes "here". Is that the same Sarah Hughes who would administer the oath to Lyndon Johnson?

Steve Thomas

6 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Steve:

That WC deposition of Marina is really fascinating and it makes up a key part of my two chapter biography of Oswald in Destiny Betrayed, second edition. You can find the transcript in Volume 5, of the WC, around page 589.  As far as I know the questioning did take place at the naval hangar. (See pages 147-48 of Destiny Betrayed)

Take special note of who was not there. Dulles, McCloy and Ford were not there.  Neither was Warren. This constitutes more evidence of my Southern Wing vs Eastern Establishment dichotomy of the Commission.  The ultimate proof of this was contained in Howard WIllens' diary when he had it online. In dealing with a Secret Service issue, he noted that he had the opinions of, I think, Warren and McCloy, but he needed to ascertain those of the other two commissioners, Dulles and Ford.

Uh Howard, weren't there seven commissioners?  What do you mean by "the other two"?  That shows you that 1.) There was a definite split in both opinion and power on the WC, and 2.) Willens was up  to his neck in it.  He has always been an underrated player in the JFK cover up.

 

 

James,

Thank you. I'm reading through it now.

The bus ticket is fascinating isn't it?

"They took everything else, your passport and diploma and Lee's Social Security card, and everything else, and just happened to overlook this bus ticket? How did that happen?"

"I don't know, they just did."

*smile*

Steve Thomas

PS. I agree with you about the geographical "dichotomy"

Just as an aside, I had to smile. It looks like Hoover didn't much like the idea of trying to reconcile the Nix and Zapruder films.

See Hoover's handwritten notes on page 247 in this group: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=61489#relPageId=247&tab=page

"It (unintelligible) like a lot of poppy to me."

and page 252 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=61489#relPageId=252&tab=page

"OK, but it looks to me as if they are "playing games"."

He wasn't thrilled.

Steve Thomas

The way I read that paragraph is that Kelley didn't believe one bullet went through both men. If one bullet hit two men, "shot two" would have gone "wild" and not have continued in a straight line.

Steve Thomas

I was looking at a copy of a Dallas Morning News Article which appeared on what looks to be September 7, 1964 here:

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=62491#relPageId=46&tab=page

September 7, 1964 was a Monday. The article says that Marina was questioned for more than 5 hours on Sunday "here" about discrepancies in some of her earlier testimony.

Sunday would have been September 6, 1964.

The article says that the three Commission members (Russell, Cooper and Boggs, and Rankin of the Staff), who held the press conference, would not comment.

I can't tell from the news article if Marina was questioned at the Dallas Naval Air Station, or if it was just the press conference that was held at the Dallas Naval Air Station.

The article says that Captain Will Fritz and Marina Oswald were the only people questioned that day.

The article says that the three Commission members and Rankin arrived on Saturday, and that it was the first visit to the assassination scene for Russell and Boggs.

Can someone point me to a transcript of this September session?

Steve Thomas

Please read FBI 62-109090 Warren Commission HQ File, Section 2 pp. 248-249.

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=61489#relPageId=249&tab=page

This is memo from L.J. Gauthier to Mr. Callahan of the FBI concerning a meeting of Commission lawyers, Secret Service personnel and Shaneyfelt of the FBI on January 27, 1964. They were trying to reconcile the Nix film with the Zapruder film. The meeting lasted 8 and 1/2 hours.

Please read the top paragraph on p. 249. Am I reading this right?

Is Secret Service Inspector Thomas Kelley saying the single bullet theory is bogus?

Steve Thomas

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

This is the first Odio interview after the Warren Report.

 It is by Gaeton Fonzi for the Church Committee.  Even today I think its extraordinary.  What a good witness.  A real jewel is what she says about Liebeler, what he told her about what Warren said to her about the cover up and then what he did in his room. That is what the Warren Commission was all about.

http://www.ctka.net/pr996-odio.html

 

James,

I was leafing through some old FBI documents yesterday and ran across a letter from somebody (maybe Rankin) who said that Liebeler was such an arch conservative that it made it difficult to work with him. Liebeler would be on one side and some of the more liberal staff would be on the other. Warren would serve as referee.

Steve Thomas

5 hours ago, Gary Murr said:

Hi Steve:

I sent you a PM last evening, did you receive it?

 

Gary

Gary,

Thanks. Yes I got it. I replied via PM. I'll email you in the next day or so.

Steve Thomas

1 hour ago, Gary Murr said:

Steve:

 

As I indicated earlier, I have some file finding aids at home that may be of use in this regard. I will try to reference them this evening and get back to you if I find anything.

 

Gary

Gary,

Thank you for your help in this. I was poking around these FBI files (right off hand I can't remember which one), and it said that after Marina identified the pictures in this large batch of photos, some would be returned to the Warren Commission (like the photos of Lee as a Marine, etc.), and the others would be put in the National Archives.

I suspect that that is where these Neely Street baby pictures are.

Steve Thomas

42 minutes ago, Gary Murr said:

See pages 14 and 15, this document/link.

http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/FBI Records Files/105-82555/105-82555 Section 099/99a.pdf

 

Gary,

I believe that the the last paragraph on page 14 definitely refers to the photos shown to Marina on March 19th. I just wonder where the photos themselves are.

Steve Thomas

1 hour ago, Gary Murr said:

As a follow up for you Steve; follow the link below. When this main page opens, click on the "Browse Archives" link; when it opens, click on the first entry, "Collections" then when this opens click on the "FBI Records" link [not the FBI Records Files link]. In this FBI Records section you will find all of the FBI files collected by Harold, including the DL 100 10461 file as well as the "105" files. What I have found in the past is that in perusing some of these files, the majority of which were accumulated by Harold via the FOIA lawsuit process, that there are redactions which you do not find in later archival holdings, such as Mary Ferrell. However, as indicated earlier, you can access all of the Dallas FBI FO files here and they are, in my opinion, invaluable.

Link:  http://jfk.hood.edu/

Gary

Gary,

Thank you. I'll have to poke around. Still haven't found those June Oswald images yet.

Steve Thomas

Could someone help me find these?

FBI 105-82555 Oswald HQ File, Section 114 page 37

https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=58943#relPageId=37&tab=page

Marina Oswald was interviewed by FBI Special Agents Richard L. Wiehl and Wallace Heitman on March 19, 1964 She was shown over 400 photographs and asked to identify them. On page 41 of that Section 114, it says that Marina was shown three photographs of baby June Oswald on a balcony of the apartment on Neely St. The are identified as Item#'s:

B3-13

B3-17

B3-29

(1) Does anyone know how to find these?

These are cross referenced to DL-100-10461

I believe that these are the Dallas FBI files.

(2) Are the Dallas FBI files DL-100-10461 available on the Mary Ferrell Foundation web site? I can't seem to find them. Can someone tell me?

The reason I ask is that on three separate occasions that I have found, Marina says that the Oswalds were living on Neely Street in January, 1963.

(1) Warren Commission testimony of Marina Oswald February 3, 1964,

http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/oswald_m1.htm

Mr. RANKIN. When did you move to Neely Street from the Elsbeth Street apartment?
Mrs. OSWALD. In January after the new year. I don't remember exactly.

Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall the first time that you observed the rifle?
Mrs. OSWALD. That was on Neely Street. I think that was in February.

Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall the day that you took the picture of him with the rifle and the pistol?
Mrs. OSWALD. I think that that was towards the end of February, possibly the beginning of March. I can't say exactly. Because I didn't attach any significance to it at the time. That was the only time I took any pictures.

(2) During her testimony on February 4^th, Marina was asked and answered:

Mr. RANKIN. Can you tell us approximately when you first met Ruth Paine?
Mrs. OSWALD. Soon after New Years I think it was in January.
Mr. RANKIN. Would that be 1963?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.

Mr. RANKIN. Did Mrs. Paine ever visit you at Elsbeth Street?
Mrs. OSWALD. At Neely, on Neely Street.
Mr. RANKIN. But not at Elsbeth?
Mrs. OSWALD. We moved soon after that acquaintance.

She said that she met Ruth Paine at a party at the Glovers' house.

For her part, Ruth Paine told the Warren Commission that she first met Marina at a party at the Glovers' on February 22^nd,

On February 17, 1964 Marina was interviewed by FBI Special Agents Anatole Boguslav and Wallace Heitman. In their writeup of that interview done on the 18^th, they wrote:

“She said further that in the beginning of January, 1963 at the Neely Street address, he, (Lee Harvey Oswald) was cleaning his rifle and he said he had been practicing that day.”

(page 443 of CD 735).

For whatever reason, conflicts with the official record as we know it.. Supposedly the Oswalds moved from Elsbeth to Neely on March 3^rd and according to the postal money order, the rifle wasn't ordered until March 12^th.

CE 1404 - FBI reports dated February 22 and 25, 1964, of interviews with Marina Oswald (CD 735, pp. 446-453).

On February 18, 1964 she was again interviewed by Agents Boguslav and Heitman. She told the FBI that she was mistaken about the date, and that the rifle cleaning incident had taken place in March, 1963. The Agents wrote a Report of this interview on February 22, 1964.

http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1317#relPageId=815

(This is on page 446 of CD 735)

What I would like to do is look at the pictures of June on the balcony and see if they show the same climatic conditions as seen in the back yard photos. The Oswald were only supposed to have lived on Neely Street for the two months of March and April. In the BYP, Oswald is in a tee shirt. Do the photos of June show snow on the ground?

Steve Thomas

PS: I'm going to have to get used to this new Forum formatting.

PPS: I guess I need to apologize to people. I didn't realize that this Forum had a messaging capability. I just found out I've had messages that go back at least 8 years. I didn't know it.

Douglas,

Interesting that page 2 above shows the arrest report of Lee Harvey Oswald was clocked at 1:10 p.m. if I read it correctly and that he was charged with the assassination of JFK and killing of Officer Tippit as well as wounding Connally.

Unfortunately, the copy you are looking at was cropped off at the top.

This is actually a copy of the Arrest Report that is on file in the City of Dallas JFK Archives.

You can see a clearer copy here that gives the time of arrest as 1:40 PM.

This is in Box 1 Folder# 3, Item# 17

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box1.htm

I have a couple of problems with this Arrest Report:

1) We don't know when it was done. It's not time stamped, and I don't think McDonald says when it was prepared.

2) Compare this Arrest Report with the Case Report prepared by Captain Fritz for Henry Wade, which you can read in

Box 15 Folder# 1, Item# 92 here:

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box15.htm

Fritz's Case Report lists 2:00 PM as the time of arrest, and lists E.L. Cunningham and M.N. McDonald as the "investigating Officers", not the "Arresting Officers". The Arresting Officers are listed on page 2 of Fritz's Case Report.

Fritz's Case Report is bolstered by the After Action Report filed by J.B. Toney, who was traveling around with E.L. Cunningham that day.

You can read Toney's Report in Box 5, Folder# 2, Item# 82 here:

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box5.htm

Toney says that after they got to the Texas Theater, he and Cunningham went up to the balcony and interviewed a young man sitting on the steps.

While they were interviewing him, Toney looked at his watch and it read 1:55 PM.

I think that the Arrest Report you referenced is bogus and filed long after the event - probably several days later. That's why it references JFK's murder, which Oswald wasn't even charged with until something like 11:30 Friday night.

That Arrest Report is a clumsy CYA.

Just as interesting side note, after Oswald's arrest, Cunningham took charge of the scene. He had the doors to the Theater locked, and everyone on the first floor of the Theater was interviewed. In his Report Cunningham does not say that he took down their names - which is kind of hard to believe.

Paul Bentley says in his After Action Report - Box 5, Folder# 2, Item# 71 that when he went up to the balcony, he had a patrolman named C ___ Bentley, Jr. search everyone up there and take down their names. In the copy cited, it's kind of hard to make out the middle initial of this Bentley Jr. It might be C.F. or C.P. Bentley. Paul Bentley doesn't mention that Cunningham or Toney are in the balcony at this time.

In Cunningham's Report, - Box 5, Folder# 2, Item# 74

http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box5.htm

He says that he put one of these witnesses (he doesn't say who this is) in a squad car and had J.B. Toney take him downtown to take an affidavit.

Toney, in his After Action Report - Box 5, Folder# 2, Item# 82 makes no mention of this, so I don't know who this witness is.

Steve Thomas

David,

The Siege of Jadotville (2016), about the Irish peacekeeping force in the Congo. Can't think of another film that cared enough to have Dag Hammarskjold as a character.

I watched the movie to see if there were any references to Jean-Rene Souetre.

Didn't see any that I remember.

The antagonist in the movie was Moise Tshombe, I think.

I have a thought that the mercenary who opposes the Irish force is based on the life of Bob Denard.

Souetre was one of the mercenaries working with Denard in the mid 1960's.

Steve Thomas

Funny... I have some comments but I'm not sure what I can or should not say... even 25-30 years out.

Chris,

I understand.

I've been reading through some of the comments from the Army Security Agency guys in Germany from the 1950's and 60's.

Their time seemed to be spent divided between utter boredom and abject terror.

This was around the time when the Berlin Wall went up.

They are getting up into their 70's and 80's now and want to reminisce.

A couple of examples:

(Source: Email from Jack Welch, Det K, Vienna & Det L, Nottau)

I was originally with the 328 C/R Co, in Bad Aibling from February 1955 to July 1956.

Detachment L (Nottau)

Det. L was about 20 Ks east of Passau in a little town called Nottau. We have a web site that I am able to hear from some of the guys. I'm about the oldest one left (82). I know most of the others have gone to the Great Beyond. When Austria shut down we received about 20 guys from (the ASA site at) Wels, Austria sometime after July 1955. We used to eat in a squad tent and by that time we lived in 3 of the neighbors houses. Great Duty -- Stay out of trouble, do your job, drink a lot of beer, and keep your mouth shut.

1961

(Source: Email from Wilson Gray, Processing Co, 1961; 78th USASA SOU, Berlin, 1961-63)

In Jan-Aug 1961, I served with the Processing Company of the 507th USASA Gp in Heilbronn (Badnerhof Kaserne) and in Baumholder (Faulenberg Kaserne), before foolishly volunteering to go to Berlin, then learning that Processing Co. was being redesignated the 251st and being transferred to Frankfurt, my favorite city in Germany.

The 507th did have its own "Air Force" in Heilbronn, but, as far as I know, it was used mainly to ferry people to TDY at remote sites. Of course, in those days, at least, "need-to-know" was taken very seriously and I had no need to know more than that.

Processing Co. was divided into three "sections:" Silver Section, Blue Section, and Orange Section.

A good buddy of mine transferred from Silver to Blue. He refused to tell me what Blue did, despite the fact that we had been asshole buddies since our days at the Army Language School. I had no need to know. Silver Section reworked and corrected the carbon copies of rough translations of Russian COMINT done in real time by Special Operations Units and other remote and airborne sites. It was a nice, civilian-style, 9-5, 40-hour-a-week job. By comparison, the 'round-the-clock, seven-days-a-week work in Berlin truly SUCKED!!!

Processing Co. personnel flew COMINT missions in USAF B-29's. A member of Mary Co. (so-called by HHC, "Animal Co." of the 507th because it was made up of 99.44% Army Language School grads, "Monterey Marys"), McNabb - I can't recall his first name - was killed in 1961 when his B-29 crashed returning from such a mission. If there's a memorial to Agency personnel - uh, "human resources" - killed in the line of duty, McNabb's name ought to be on it.

(Source: Email from Neil Piercey, 184th ASA Co and 182nd ASA Co, 1958- )

After completing basic training and 056 training at Ft. Devens, I was assigned to the 184th ASA Co, Rothwesten in 7-58

319th ASA Battalion (Corps)

507th ASA Group (Army)

https://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?https&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/ASA%20Europe/USAREUR_ASAE.htm

By this time, I had completed my first year of duty in Europe. I was then transferred to the 182nd ASA Co, at Herzo Base. I was immediately given an assignment to an outstation in Giebelstadt. We lived on a small Air Force base, and were supported with housing, rations, fuel, etc. by the Air Force. The purpose of this Air Force unit was to support the U2 spy plane. We could look out our barracks window and watch the U2 land and take off.

Our site was off base and the Air Force pretty much left us alone. To make it even better, I became friends with some of the APs, who would get me out of trouble with the local police occasionally.

Steve Thomas

This is apropos of nothing

Just needed to share.

1970

Field Station Bad Aibling

https://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?https&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/ASA%20Europe/USAREUR_ASAE.htm

Source: Email from Thomas Nunn

I served in Germany from Jan 1970 till Mar 1972 -- as a member of the Army Security Agency

On our door was a timelock -- which opened every 8 hours to allow for shift change. We monitored "Scheds", or scheduled transmissions, in 8 different languages.

We also had sections listening to the other Iron Curtain countries and one listening to a "mysterious" signal coming from "outer space". We even had a section listening to the Soviet space missions.

Steve Thomas

It strikes me a military ID might be useful to impress someone you are trying to convince of your credentials as a military type, as a marine. Oswald did try that sort of thing with exiles in Miami, but in his own name and for that he used his training manual as support.

Bottom line though is that a fake military ID is probably not a good thing for use with the actual military but if you are trying to impress somebody with your being a marine it might be worthwhile.

I got to thinking about it, and I think you are right.

It's probable that the Hidell card was only the first step in trying to create the identity of a former marine. The "Oswald" man left a Marine Corps manual with his name in it for Carlos Bringuer. Maybe the "Hidell" man was going to do the same kind of thing and never got around to it.

PS: You wrote, "Oswald did try that sort of thing with exiles in Miami, but in his own name and for that he used his training manual as support."

Can you expound on that a little? Did you mean to say New Orleans? or was Oswald supposed to have done something similar in Miami that I'm not familiar with?

PPS: I was reading Bringuer's WC testimony. He said:

And after that, I left the store, because I had to go to the bank to make the deposit, and Oswald was in the store talking to my brother-in-law--that is my partner in the store---Rolando Pelaez.

Mr. LIEBELER. Is that P-e-l-a-e-z?

Mr. BRINGUIER. That is right. Oswald was talking to him for about half an hour,

Next day, on August 6, Oswald came back to the store, but I was not in the store at that moment, and he left with my brother-in-law a Guidebook for Marines for me with the name "L. H. Oswald" in the top of the first page. When I came back to the store, my brother-in-law gave to me the Guidebook for Marines.

So, Oswald didn't actually give the Guidebook to Bringuer, he gave it to Pelaez.

Do you know anything about this Rolando Pelaez?

Steve Thomas

Larry,

Steve, just in general I don't know that the average person would have tweaked to it being a fake if he just flashed it; I held a military ID for four years and probably never looked at it that closely. These days we examine such things closely but back then unless he was going though a real security check or being picked up for a crime it probably would have passed.

Your question on why a military ID is a good one though, a military ID can be used for little things like getting you on base to use the PX or similar facilities. But there is some risk there and no sign of Oswald doing that. A military ID is useful in applying for benefits, but only in the right name - so much for that. It strikes me a military ID might be useful to impress someone you are trying to convince of your credentials as a military type, as a marine. Oswald did try that sort of thing with exiles in Miami, but in his own name and for that he used his training manual as support.

Lets go back to New Orleans for a bit, its pretty clear that Oswald was associating with individuals not known to the local community including Cuban exiles, those folks were suspected of being Castro agents even by certain exiles there. Nagell tells us they were exiles from out of town pretending to be Castro agents. What if Oswald was trying to pitch himself as a former military type turned Castro supporter - ala FPCC - and sneaky enough to be using aliases and false ID. Perhaps it was a sort of pitch to serve his role in being a dangle. In fact it might even have been given to him for just that purpose.

Or you can fast forward to Dallas where he appears to have once again been "dangling" himself, perhaps at the House on Harlandale. I also find those two missing weeks of interest. Bottom line though is that a fake military ID is probably not a good thing for use with the actual military but if you are trying to impress somebody with your being a marine it might be worthwhile.

You are probably right that Oswald would have "just flashed it".

If you look closely at it, the card forgery itself is pretty badly botched.

I wonder if it had more to do with the name and the signature than the card itself.

And the "dangle" with non-English speaking exiles is a pretty good assumption I think.

As far as the missing two weeks goes, I've looked into that pretty extensively.

The FBI was trying to figure that out as early as December, 1963 when Marina was interviewed by the FBI and as late at May, 1964 when Alexandra de Mohrenschildt testified before the Warren Commission.

I don't know if they ever figured it out.

Indications are that he moved somewhere in Oak Cliff. The de Mohrenshildts, the Taylors, and George Bouhe all thought so.

(I personally believe that it was somewhere on N. Beckley).

I loved Jeanne de Mohrenschildt's response to this question:

http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/demohr_j.htm

"I said, "For God sakes, if we are to help them, I cannot race to Oak Cliff to help them with this or that"--if she had to go to the doctor. Why wouldn't they take a little place near us, it will be much easier for me to help her."

"He had some reasons to live far away.
I don't know if anybody else mentioned that to you. That was everybody's impression. For some particular reason, he moved all the way out."

Dennis Ofstein was interviewed by the FBI on January 29, 1964. He was specifically asked that question. Do you know where Oswald was living between October 19 and November 3, 1962? Ofstein said no.(Gary Taylor, who was periodically giving rides to Oswald around that time also got a visit from the FBI on January 29th. All he could say was that he picked up Oswald at the curb outside of the YMCA, but he couldn't say Oswald was actually living there).

Dennis Ofstein, a "Monterey Mary", who studied Russian at the Monterey School of Languages for a year, who spent his military tour of duty with the

507^th USASA Group, Heilbronn, West Germany whose mission it was to intercept and translate Russian and East German military traffic, and who worked "side by side" with Oswald and taught him everything he knew about enlarging and reducing prints, opaqueing negatives, and making clean prints - exactly the skills Alwyn Cole, a questioned documents expert of the Department of the Treasury, told the WC you would need to forge documents, and who told the WC that's what was done with the Oswald SS card to turn it into the Hidell SS card.

And, speaking of Ofstein, in his WC testimony he said,

Mr. JENNER. Do you know whether this company has done any confidential or secret work for any agency of the United States?
Mr. OFSTEIN. I don't know the nature of the classification. I do know that they do work for the U.S. Government.
Mr. JENNER. Have you ever participated in any of that work?
Mr. OFSTEIN. Only during strike--approximately 2 weeks.

Do you have any idea what Ofstein is referring to here?

Who was on strike?

If the JCS employees are on strike, why is Ofstein doing work on behalf of the U.S. Government at that particular moment?

Does the term "during strike" refer to something besides a strike by the employees?

Are these two weeks the same two weeks Oswald goes "missing"?

Mr. JENNER. Was the problem with the Cuban nation or with Mr. Castro or any of Castro's activities ever discussed?
Mr. OFSTEIN. “Yes, sir; at one time when they were having a little difficulty down there, I don't recall just what the difficulty was at the time, but I made a rather derogatory remark about Fidel Castro's ancestry...”

The “little difficulty”? The Cuban Military Crisis.

I've tried to think of something else that was going on in the fall of 1962 that Oswald may have been involved in.

But so far, I haven't come up with a plausible need for a fake Hidell ID.

From your research, have you ever encountered the word HIDELL in a military intelligence connotation?

It doesn't appear to be a CIA cryptonym and I haven't encountered it in any FBI operation that I'm aware of like COINTELPRO.

Steve Thomas

Larry,

I personally think that the Hidell Selective Service card predates the Oswalds' move to New Orleans - at a time when Lee had access to sophisticated photographic equipment at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall in the fall of 1962 and spring of 1963.

Steve Thomas

I'm going to take this one step further and engage in some wild conspiracy theory here.

*smile*

When he moved down to New New Orleans, he appropriated the name "Hidell", but it was in use before that. The rifle supposedly was ordered in March.

I think it's got something to with the time when Oswald went "missing" for the two weeks between October 19th and November 3rd, 1962.

(after he checked out of the YMCA and before he moved into the Elsbeth St. Apartment).

Even though he was working at JCS, nobody knew where he was living. Not his wife, not his bosses, not his co-workers, not his personal associates.

There's some funny money going on here.

Steve Thomas

Larry,

The only way the ID works is if it is associated with an independent identity other than Oswald - which means using it with people and places where Oswald is unknown and can't be independently recognized.

That raises another sort of side question.

Why use a military form of ID?

Why not create a fake drivers license?

Or a fake form of ID showing you are getting unemployment comp from the Texas Employment Commission?

Or a fake Social Security Card?

If he had shown that to anyone associated with the military, they would have immediately known it was fake - heck, even people not directly associated with the military, like the Dallas Police immediately knew it was a fake.

Alwyn Cole, a questioned documents expert of the Department of the Treasury testified before the Warren Commission on April 30, 1964.

(His specialty was counterfeit documents)

http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/cole1.htm

He said that counterfeiting the Selective Service card was fairly easy to do for someone with a basic knowledge of photography.

I don't find that true at all.

You're talking about enlarging and reducing photographs, red opaqeuing through lines, working with negatives, use of fairly sophisticated equipment... To me, this is a pretty extensive investment of time and effort.

On another little side note, Cole said that the card was done using two different typewriters. The front of the card was done one one typewriter, and the back side of the card was done on a different typewriter.

I don't know what to make of this.

To the best of my knowledge, in his dealings with the national FPFC, (like his letters back and forth to Vincent Lee), he always portrayed himself as Oswald. So, even though the "name" Hidell was associated with the New Orleans FPFC, the ID card wasn't.

It's gotta be something else.

On the Oswald SS card, the date of mailing reads February 2 (I can't make out the year) (CE 805)

On the Hidell card it's been changed to February 5 (I can't make out the year) (CE 796)

Mr. RANKIN. When did you move to Neely Street from the Elsbeth Street apartment?
Mrs. OSWALD. In January after the new year. I don't remember exactly.

Mr. RANKIN. Do you recall the first time that you observed the rifle?
Mrs. OSWALD. That was on Neely Street. I think that was in February.

For whatever reason, this can't be true. The Oswalds moved from Elsbeth to Neely on March 3^rd and supposedly, according to the postal money order, the rifle wasn't ordered until March 12^th.

How could Marina, who knew to the penny what Lee was making per hour at his different jobs, and knew exactly what they were paying for rent at Elsbeth and Neely, be off by two months about when they moved?

I personally think that the Hidell Selective Service card predates the Oswalds' move to New Orleans - at a time when Lee had access to sophisticated photographic equipment at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall in the fall of 1962 and spring of 1963.

Steve Thomas

Larry,

Very good question on his use of a pysical ID, its one thing to use a name as an alias as he did with his FPCC letters but to actually have it on an ID card is another story. Does anyone have an idea of what purpose a Hidell ID card would have since the only known use of the name - as far as I recall - was in conjunction with the FPCC.

CE 811 is the Oswald's Selective Service Classification. It's grouped with CE 812, the USMC Certificate of Service - these are in vol. XVII of the Hearings.

Eyes: Blue

Height 5'11”

Hidell CE 796

SS Notice of Classification:

Eyes: Grey

Height 5'9”

USMC Certificate of Service

Oswald: CE 812

Period of Active Duty: 24 October 1956 to 11 September 1959

Hidell: CE 810 Certificate of Service

Period of Active Duty: Oct 15 1958 to Oct 12 1959? (only one year in the service?)

Who would use a form of ID that only showed one year of service in the military?

The Hidell ID was used for something, but for the life of me, I can't figure out what.

Steve Thomas

On June 11, 1964, Marina Oswald testified to the Warren Commission. This is in Volume V of the Hearings.

This time, she was accompanied by a lawyer, a guy named McKenzie.

At the close of her testimony, McKenzie asks that the Warren Commission return her wedding ring, and the originals of all the documents and letters she has turned over. The Commission can keep copies, but she wants the originals. ( I guess for copyright's sake).

He then says,

The Chairman. Well, I answer you as well as I can. We are driving to conclude the work of the Commission, and we believe that it will be completed, in the next month--we hope so, anyway.

Mr. Mckenzie. Of course she has no objection whatsoever for the Commission to have the documents which it now has as long as the originals are returned to her.

The Chairman. We will give consideration to that, because there are some things that are evidence here, that belonged to him, that perhaps will have to remain evidence. I can't make any analysis of all of those things at the present time. But, for instance, let us say, the gun.

Mr. Mckenzie. We want that, too.

The Chairman. I say, we will give consideration to that. But I cannot give you any assurance of it at this time.

I...

I...

I...

Steve Thomas