Steve Thomas

I got this from a former Dallas policeman: Richard Milton Sims, Dallas police detective who guarded Lee Harvey Oswald, dies By WENDY HUNDLEY Richard Sims Photo: File 2007 / Staff Photo After police captured Lee Harvey Oswald, Richard Milton Sims and his partner were assigned to guard the accused presidential assassin. Mr. Sims, a Dallas police officer and detective for 28 years, died Thursday of congestive heart failure at his Dallas home. He was 87. A funeral service is set for 2 p.m. Monday at Grove Hill Chapel, where Dallas officers will serve as the honor guard. “He was a great family man,” said Mr. Sims’ son, Richard Sims Jr. “He was very loyal to his friends and family.” The Dallas native graduated from Wilmer-Hutchins High School in 1942 and served in the Navy during World War II. He was assigned to the USS Tulsa, a patrol gunboat deployed in the Pacific Ocean during the war. In an ironic twist, his son said, the boat once towed the PT-109, a vessel later commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy. Mr. Sims returned to Dallas after the war and joined the Dallas Police Department as a patrol officer. “He was only in uniform for six weeks before he went into plain clothes to work with the vice squad,” his son said. Mr. Sims, who earned a degree in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University, later became a detective in the robbery and homicide units. On Nov. 22, 1963, he and his longtime partner, Elmer “Sonny” Boyd, were assigned to guard Oswald, who had just been captured for shooting President Kennedy and Dallas police Officer J.D. Tippit. The two detectives are thought to have spent more time than anyone else with Oswald during the following two days. “He didn’t give us any trouble at all,” Mr. Sims said in a 2007 interview with The Dallas Morning News. “He went along like a little puppy dog when Boyd and I had him.” On the night of the assassination, Mr. Sims took a telephone call from a man he knew from his days on the vice squad: Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby. “He offered to bring some sandwiches and drinks over to the department,” Richard Sims Jr. said. His father declined the offer but later wondered if Ruby was trying to get into police headquarters that night to kill Oswald. Despite the many conspiracy theories, Mr. Sims “was convinced … [Oswald] was the lone shooter,” his son said. Mr. Sims’ role in the historic event made him a celebrity of sorts. Over the years, people from around the world sent letters asking him to autograph photographs and newspaper clippings about the assassination, his family said. He always tried to accommodate the requests that included postage-paid return envelopes. But he wasn’t able to sign them all before his death. “There are still some on the table,” his son said. Steve Thomas

Got this message today: Stacey Brezik has reported that Jim Leavelle had a serious fall while visiting his daughter Karla and was flown to Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas for immediate surgery to remove his eye due to the severity of damage. Keep Jim and his family in your prayers. There will be updates on Jim as received. Steve Thomas

Got this message today: Stacey Brezik has reported that Jim Leavelle had a serious fall while visiting his daughter Karla and was flown to Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas for immediate surgery to remove his eye due to the severity of damage. Keep Jim and his family in your prayers. There will be updates on Jim as received. Steve Thomas

Handwriting experts claimed that in all times, various documents that bore the signature of Lee Harvey Oswald were signed by the same person. Below are examples of L.H.O's signatures. 1) Application to the Cosmos Shipping Co., New Orleans dated 8/6/63 WC Exhibit 774 (17H) 2) Affidavit of Support addressed to American Embassy dated 1/17/62 WC Exhibit 775(17H) 3) Application for a New Orleans Public Library Card WC Exhibit 777 (17H) 4) Application to the A.C.L.U. WC Exhibit 783 (17H) 5) Application for P.O. Box 2915 dated 10/9/62 WC Exhibit 792 (17H) 6) Change of Address card for P.O. Box 2915 dated 5/12/63 WC Exhibit 794 (17H) 7) Job application at TSBD 10/15/63 8) Oswald’s passport application 6/24/63 CE 781 It is my belief that these signatures were not made by the same person, but at least one other. I say that because of how the letter "S" in Oswald was formed. In some cases the "s" was formed by a continuation of the letter "O" and the letter "S" begins at the top left of the letter. In other cases, the letter "S" was formed by the author picking the pen up off the page to begin the letter "S" at the bottom left corner. I once saw a signature of LHO when he was 16, before he ever got involved with the Marines (but I don't know where that was). In that signature, the letter "S" started in the bottom left corner. What I haven't done is compare these signatures with dates and times of the "Many Faces of Lee Harvey Oswald" work that Jack White has done to see if those signatures that I believe to be forgeries compare to documents that some consider to be suspect for reasons other than the signature. Steve Thomas

I am sorry to hear that. Dixie was of great help to me. Steve Thomas

Robert, CD 1179 beginning on page 133 has information about the Joiner family. No Minnie's that I can see. Steve Thomas

Bill, If you subscribe to the theory of John Armstrong's "Harvey and Lee", follow the dispositions of the two men. One is described as sweet an caring. The other has a "rotten disposition". Steve Thomas

L.D. (Leslie) Montgomery died 10/4/10 He worked in the Homicide and Robbery Bureau under Captain Fritz. He testified that were chicken bones and a Dr. Pepper bottle found on the sixth floor. See http://jfkassassination.net/russ/testimony/montgom1.htm Steve Thomas

Ray, You can find Denis Morissette's documents here: http://jfkassassinationfiles.com/documents Steve Thomas

Jim, If you look at the cards outlining the lineups, they all follow the same pattern. First there is the name of the witness or witnesses. Then comes the name of the officers with Oswald Then comes the name of the officers with the witness Then comes the names of the people in the lineup Not in this case though. Brennan's name is tacked on at the end. See Box 15, Folder# 2, item# 63 in the Dallas Municipal Archives here: http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/box15.htm It is my personal belief that when Brennan failed to identify Oswald (for whatever reason), the authorities tried to write him out of the picture, but were forced to put him back in the picture when Forrest Sorrels testified. I don't have any evidence of that though. Steve Thomas

Ray, I got them off Denis Morissette's web page, but when I just went to copy the url it tells me that that page is no longer available. He had a treasure trove of documents relating to the three tramps. The last email address I had for him was: denismorissette@yahoo.com Steve

You are right, the name Brennan does not appear in any of the posted lineups, except for one place. Brennan does appear in Box 6, Folder# 1, Item# 73, page 3 with the Davis sisters. His name is out of place as though it was added later. I says that Brennan "failed to identify" http://jfk.ci.dallas.tx.us/17/1794-003.gif Steve Thomas

I don't know their identities, but they are an intriguing trio. WHEN DID YOU ARRIVE IN DALLAS? John Gedney (FBI) 2/26/92: They got into Dallas on November 21st and had no place to stay. They stayed for the night and part of the next day. WHEN DID YOU FIRST LEARN THAT KENNEDY HAD BEEN SHOT? Gedney (FBI) 2/26/92): They “heard about President Kennedy getting shot and then they left the Salvation Army wanting to “catch out”. WERE THE TRAMPS CLEAN OR DIRTY? Both commented that they had gotten fresh clothes, showered, shaved and had a meal. They headed back to the railroad yard when they heard all the commotion and sirens and everything, and they asked what happened. They were told the president had been shot. William Earl Chambers was interviewed on 3/3/92 by SA Gary Gerszewski of the FBI and Lieutenant Kenneth Lybrand, City of Dallas Police Department. William Chambers worked for the City of Dallas Police Department from October, 1954 until January, 1992. He was later assigned as a Detective in the Forgery Division. “Chambers described the hobos as “dirty”. Chambers noted that they were not wearing socks and their clothes did not appear to be clean” (Original documents ascribed these comments to Jones. Jones was scratched out and Chambers inserted. Marvin Wise was interviewed by SA Gary Gerszewski of the FBI and Lieutenant Kenneth Lybrand, City of Dallas Police Department on 3/6/92 “Wise described the men as dirty and smelly. He indicated the pictures of them do not do them justice. Wise explained that you had to look closely at the pictures to recognize just how dirty the three were”. WHAT KIND OF RAILROAD CAR WERE YOU ON WHEN YOU WERE ARRESTED? Bill Bass (FBI) 6/15/92: “a grain car.” Marvin Wise 3/6/92: Wise was told that the three men climbed into a coal car. John Gedney FBI 2/26/92 “Gedney said that he thought they were lying on big sheets of steel on a flatbed railroad car when the police came over with guns, said don’t move and then arrested them and took them over to the Dallas City jail. Harold Doyle FBI 2/20/92 “They then got on a gondola, also known as a coal car, and were heading towards Fort Worth, when the train was stopped.” Doyle and Gedney’s arrest record: "These men were taken off a train boxcar in the rail yards right after President Kennedy as shot," William Chambers: When questioned the three individuals said they were “on a freight car sleeping.” WHAT WERE YOU DOING WHEN YOU WERE ARRESTED? William Chambers: “When questioned regarding the circumstances of their arrest, the three individuals indicated that they were on a freight car sleeping when they were wakened by officers with different colored uniforms than the ones worn by the officers who drove them down to the station. Marvin Wise told the FBI: He arrived and parked near the railroad tracks. He went to the TSBD and was assigned to the west side of the TSBD. “He was sitting in his car and a man working in the railroad building waved at him. Wise and another officer (name forgotten) were told by the man that three men got into a boxcar about four or five hundred yards down the track. Wise, in company with Bill Bass, Roy Vaughn and Middleton (although Middleton denies that he was there) went to the boxcars and took the men of the boxcar”. So were they freshly showered, or were they dirty and smelly? Did they learn of JFK's assassination before they left the Salvation Army, or afterwards? Were they in a coal car, or on a flatbed freight car? Did they walk to the police station, or were they driven? The arrest records for Doyle, Abrams, and Gedney say that they were taken off a train boxcar right after the President was shot, but the arrest record gives the time of arrest as 4:00PM - nearly 3 ½ hours later. Marvin Wise was interviewed by the House Select Committee on Assassinations on November 14, 1977 at 9:00AM at Dallas Police Headquarters. HSCA 180-10112 10156. Wise was a Dallas Policeman on November 22, 1963 and assigned to District #71 Radio Patrol in south Dallas. Wise on a robbery call at the far end of south Dallas when the dispatcher told #71 to go Code 3 to the TSBD and report to the supervisor. (According to the Dispatch Tapes of Channel 1, Wise reported his location at 12:38pm) 12:38 DIS: 71, robbery of an individual, 2205 Cockrell. 12:38. At approximately 12:42pm, 71 reported his location as Corinth and Harwood: DIS: 71. 71: Corinth and Harwood. DIS: Code 3. Many squads were being instructed at this point to proceed to Elm and Houston Code 3. He arrived and parked near the railroad tracks. He went to the TSBD and was assigned to the west side of the TSBD. Wise stated that the men acted scared and he could smell wine on the breath of one of them. Wise took the men over to the Sheriff’s Office, and while waiting to turn them over, asked the men for identification. Wise stated that he believes that two of the men had documented ID’s. He wrote the ID’s down on a piece of paper and put them in his hat. “He turned the men over to the Sheriff’s Office (Deputy name unknown), ( I believe this Deputy to be Harold Elkins) and went back to his radio”. He heard over the police radio that a policeman had been shot, and a little later heard that it was J.D. Tippit”. Notice the timing. The tramps have been picked up and are in the station when Wise hears about Tippit. (Officially, Tippit was shot at approximately 1:16pm) I believe, with William Chambers, that they were, in fact, arrested twice, once by the Dallas County Sheriff's office, and a second time by the Dallas City Police Department. Steve Thomas

A.J., Goliath seems to be a name the CIA used for itself and a lot of the references seem to revolve around Miami, FL. A Mr. Paul Auden of the Headquarters Field Office seems to have a lot to do with it. In various documents: Boris Tarasoff is referred to as "a Goliath employee" Mitch Werbell served with "the Goliath predcessor organization" in 1945 Gerald Patrick Hemming "no record of Subject ever having been employed with Goliath in any capacity". On February 5, 1962 you were requested to have the overt "Goliath field office" interview the subject about the circumstances recovering a 45 caliber weapon. Hemming claimed to have obtained the weapon "from Goliath" in Miami Security File on Harold Ipkin: He claimed to have been "associated with Goliath" since 1954. NYC Field Office was requested to interview Philip Clark Horton, a former OSS agent and associate of Mr. Dullus "using Goliath credentials." A credit check on James Wilcott. The field office was directed to do the credit check and block credit files which "identify him with Goliath." In 1960, two agents were dispatched to Miami, FL and directed to contact a Mr. Bob Hopkins, "a Goliath employee" in connection with helping William Pawley bug the conversations Pawley had in his office with anti-Castro Cubans. "Another Goliath component" wanted to find out if Mauel Artime was under surveillance. In 1960 the MFO (Miami Field Office?) was directed to disclose "no Goliath interest" in David Carswell who was in a Cuban prison. The INS had information that "Goliath has interceded" on behalf of Diaz Nino, a stowaway on a ship from Cuba. In another memo, a Mr. Bernard Reichardt was identified as "a staff employee of Goliath." He shared an office with the "open Goliath representative" Room 302, 299 Alhambra Circle, Coral Gables, FL. This memo was written by a Fred Hall. Goliath was being used as late as 1968 in connection with the murder of Robert Kennedy: "Goliath has no traces" on above-mentioned relatives of Sirhan Sirhan. Sirhan's defence lawyer welcomes any assistance from abroad. Hand written note at the bottom of the page: Brown, "Can Goliath advise if he gets any?" I believe that this is Captain Hugh Brown, a Detective in the LAPD who was assigned to head up the investigation of Robert Kennedy's murder. Steve Thomas

CD 780 An interview between SS SA John Joe Howlett and Harry McCormick of the Dallas Morning News p. 5 http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...amp;relPageId=6 Talking about Larry Schmidt, McCormick tells Howlett: “Schmidt drives a Rambler, Texas 63 License Number NY 8889” Steve Thomas

Greg, Have you ever heard an explanation of why the transcripts to that trial were sealed? Steve Thomas

I got this word today: "Jim Leavelle went back into the hospital this morning. He is in the Garland Baylor. He does not want visitors or phone calls at this time. Keep him in your prayers." Steve Thomas

I got this word today: "We just received a call from Lori Bailey (retired FBI and good friend of ours). She said that Jim Leavelle was admitted to the hospital yesterday and is very sick due to numerous complications. She asked that you put Jim on your PRAYER lists and please contact her if you are close friends with him and could help out with visitations when he is able. He is at: Dallas Regional Medical Center 214 320-7000 1011 N Galloway Ave, Mesquite" Steve Theomas

Duncan, This picture is from a recent November in Dallas Conference. I'm sorry, I don't know the year, but it was in the last five years or so. Steve Thomas

A friend sent me this: > Lee Harvey Oswald boardinghouse opens to public > > Posted Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 > > By DAVID CASSTEVENS > > dcasstevens@star-telegram.com > > DALLAS — Gladys Johnson didn’t allow drinking. > > If a liquor bottle or beer can was found inside a room, the landlady wouldn’t issue a warning. > > Patricia Puckett Hall’s grandmother simply piled a tenant’s belongings on the front porch, her method of informing the rule-breaker that he was no longer welcome at her Oak Cliff rooming house at 1026 N. Beckley Ave. > > Hall, 57, loves the old place. > > It’s hers now — her inheritance, her responsibility. > > Her childhood dwells within its walls, memories as timeless as the family portraits. > > One autumn day in 1963, her two younger brothers got into a scuffle in the front yard where Johnson’s grandchildren, who lived six blocks away, spent most of their free time. > > A roomer witnessed the roughhousing and stepped in. > > Hall, then 11, watched as he sat the boys on the porch, one on each side of him. > > "I want to tell you something really important," Hall heard the slender young man say. "I want you to listen. You’re brothers. You have to look out for each other." > > Then, "don’t ever do anything to harm another human being." > > On Nov. 22, just weeks later, that quiet man, who rented a 6-by-13-foot room from Hall’s grandmother, was arrested for assassinating President John F. Kennedy and gunning down a Dallas police officer. > > "I do believe he was involved," Hall said of Lee Harvey Oswald. "I do not believe he was the lone shooter." > > Open to the public > > The 1930s-era home, two miles from Dealey Plaza, is showing signs of age. > > Its red shingled roof leaks. The ceiling is peeling in places. The structure needs foundation work. > > Even though two rent-paying tenants live in her basement, Hall says she doesn’t have money to make repairs. So she’s doing what neither her grandmother ("she was very embarrassed that Oswald lived here") nor Hall’s mother, Fay Puckett, who later lived in the home, would do. > > At the urging of Ken Holmes Jr., a Dallas historian and historical tour guide, Hall agreed to permit the public into her home to view a room which will forever be linked with one of the most infamous crimes in history. > > A donation box rests inside the front door of the dated living room. > > The sign reads: > > "Help Restore the Lee Harvey Oswald Room and Beckley Rooming House." > > Oswald wouldn’t recognize the place he stayed the last six weeks of his life. > > The metal twin bed and thin mattress are gone. So are the nightstand, a lamp, and small dresser. > > Years ago Hall’s mother removed the French doors to the small sleeping quarters left of the dining room. The narrow space is filled with shelves of books. A large display case illuminates a family collection of crystal. > > Hall said she slept in the room as a child, before and after Oswald’s stay. > > "Whenever the grandkids came to spend the night that’s where we got farmed out," she said. "I slept here a lot because it’s one of the smallest rooms and was frequently unrented." > > Nothing unusual > > Oswald took the room on Oct. 14, 1963, signing the register as "O.H. Lee." > > Hall remembers the tenant entering the living room and glancing at the black-and-white television. > > "If it caught his interest he might stand behind the couch and watch a little while, or just go to his room," she said. "Some of the roomers were very social. Some weren’t. His behavior did not cause any bells or whistles to go off." > > In April 1964, Johnson gave testimony about Oswald before the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy. > > Q: How much did you charge him? > > A: $8 a week, refrigerator and living room privileges. > > Q: Did he eat any of his meals there at home? > > A: He had sandwiches and had milk. He drank about a half-gallon of sweet milk a day. He kept a half-gallon of sweet milk in my refrigerator a day and he kept lunch meat. > > After Kennedy’s, death Hall said her grandmother received hate mail from around the world. > > "People said if she rented to that man she must have known what his character was," Hall said, and gave a little smile. "People get silly sometimes." > > On that Friday, Nov. 22, shortly after the president was shot, Oswald returned to his room, where he was seen by Earlene Roberts, the live-in housekeeper. Roberts told reporters she told him, "You sure are in a hurry." > > Oswald left the house wearing a zippered jacket. Investigators concluded that Oswald returned to North Beckley to retrieve a pistol, which he used moments later to kill police officer J.D. Tippit less than a mile from the rooming house. > > "I don’t believe the gun was here," Hall said. "Back then, if you lived in the rooming house, you didn’t have the expectancy of privacy. People were in and out [of the rooms] all the time. Grandmother knew what was in these rooms. If there was a gun here, it was awfully well-hidden." > > Goal: Restoration > > Hall hopes to use donations to restore the room to appear as it did Nov. 22, 1963. > > The bed and other original furnishings, she said, are stored at an undisclosed location. > > Hall said that on that historic date 46 year ago, either the FBI or Dallas police searched Oswald’s belongings and left with the bedsheets, which upset her grandmother. Johnson, she said, had as many as 16 roomers living under her roof. > > "She wanted those sheets," Hall said, "not because who slept on them. She was very pragmatic. She could have used them." > > This month the gray fedora that strip club owner Jack Ruby wore when he fatally shot Oswald sold at a Dallas auction for $45,000. > > What might Oswald’s bedsheets be worth? > > "I dunno," Hall said. "But somebody has ’em somewhere." > > With a laugh she made a public plea. > > "If you have ’em, I’d like ’em back!" Steve Thomas

By Steven Gillon in the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-m-gil...k_b_339026.html This month will mark the 46th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A recently declassified oral history by Brigadier General Godfrey McHugh, President Kennedy's military aide on the Dallas trip, sheds new light on the critical hours after the shooting. McHugh makes startling claims about Lyndon Johnson's behavior in the wake of the assassination. The interview with McHugh, originally conducted for the John F. Kennedy Library in 1978, remained closed for 31 years. It was finally declassified in the spring of 2009. I just happened to be working at the Kennedy Library on the day the interview was opened to the public and have used it for the first time in my new book, The Kennedy Assassination -- 24 Hours After. After being informed at Parkland Hospital that Kennedy was dead, Johnson raced back to Air Force One, where he waited for Mrs. Kennedy and the body of the slain president, and made preparations to take the Oath of Office. Back at the hospital, the Kennedy group loaded the body into a coffin, forced their way past a local justice of the peace, and hurried back to Love Field for the long ride back to Washington. It was standard practice for the plane to take off as soon as the commander-in-chief was onboard. Even after McHugh had ordered the pilot to take off, however, "nothing happened." According to the newly declassified transcript, Mrs. Kennedy was becoming desperate to leave. "Mrs. Kennedy was getting very warm, she had blood all over her hat, her coat...his brains were sticking on her hat. It was dreadful," McHugh said. She pleaded with him to get the plane off the ground. "Please, let's leave," she said. McHugh jumped up and used the phone near the rear compartment to call Captain James Swindal. "Let's leave," he said. Swindal responded: "I can't do it. I have orders to wait." Not wanting to make a scene in front of Mrs. Kennedy, McHugh rushed to the front of the plane. "Swindal, what on earth is going on?" The pilot told him that "the President wants to remain in this area." McHugh, like most members of the Kennedy entourage, did not know that Johnson was onboard. They believed that the new president was on his own plane flying back to Washington. If LBJ was on the plane, McHugh wanted to see for himself. Since he had not seen Johnson in the aisle -- and at 6'4" Johnson would be tough to miss -- McHugh assumed that he must then be in the bedroom. When he checked there Johnson was nowhere to be seen. The only place on the plane he had not inspected was the bathroom in the presidential bedroom. What McHugh claimed to have witnessed next was shocking. "I walked in the toilet, in the powder room, and there he was hiding, with the curtain closed," McHugh recalled. He claimed that LBJ was crying, "They're going to get us all. It's a plot. It's a plot. It's going to get us all.'" According to the General, Johnson "was hysterical, sitting down on the john there alone in this thing." I soon discovered that McHugh had told a similar story when he spoke by phone with Mark Flanagan, an investigator with the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA). Ironically, McHugh gave the interview to the HSCA a week before he sat down with the Kennedy Library in May 1978. "McHugh had encountered difficulty in locating Johnson but finally discovered him alone," Flanagan wrote in his summary to the Committee. Quoting McHugh, the investigator noted that the General found Johnson "hiding in the toilet in the bedroom compartment and muttering, 'Conspiracy, conspiracy, they're after all of us.'" Author Christopher Anderson claimed that McHugh shared a similar, although slightly more dramatic, version of this story when he interviewed the General for his book Jackie after Jack, published in 1998. If true, the story is explosive and reveals a completely different side of Johnson than the collected, calm presence he otherwise managed to convey throughout the hours and days following Kennedy's death. But how credible is McHugh's account? It is, of course, impossible to confirm or deny whether a private encounter took place between the two men, both of whom are now dead. There are a number of reasons to doubt McHugh's claim. The General intensely disliked Johnson and was fiercely loyal to JFK, and therefore had some reason to invent such a story. Most glaring, McHugh made no mention of what was surely a very memorable encounter in his long interview with William Manchester in 1964. It also stands to reason that if McHugh had witnessed Johnson in a state of utter breakdown, he would have told the story to others within the Kennedy camp. Surely, given how potentially damaging the story would be to LBJ, Kennedy partisans would have leaked it to the media at some point. Although it is impossible to prove, my gut reaction is that McHugh is telling the truth. We know that Johnson was a man capable of dramatic mood swings, and occasional fits of hysteria were not unusual. McHugh's account of LBJ's behavior is similar to RFK's description of a trembling and tearful Johnson at the 1960 Democratic Convention when it appeared that JFK might renege on his promise to include him on the ticket. It was not surprising behavior to those who knew him best. We also know from some eyewitnesses that LBJ's secret service agent, Rufus Youngblood, stood outside the door to the bedroom and controlled the traffic into the room. Aides went in and out, but it is possible that McHugh could have found LBJ alone in the bedroom suite. If true, though, why did McHugh wait until 1978 to tell this story? When Manchester interviewed him in May 1964, McHugh was still in the military, although only a few months away from retirement. Is it possible that he worried the story would be too damaging to his commander-in-chief? We will never know for sure, but McHugh's account is sure to add to the controversy surrounding that tragic November day in Dallas. Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-m-gil...k_b_339026.html Steve Thomas

Bill, I think I've got it. Check out the October 5, 1962 issue of Life starting on page 53. "Cuba and the Unfaced Truth", by Claire Booth Luce http://books.google.com/books?id=eVUEAAAAM...;q=&f=false Steve Thomas

Bill, This is from her biography on the Spartacus page: Luce said that some time after the Bay of Pigs she received a call from her "great friend" William Pawley, who lived in Miami. A man of immense wealth-he had made his millions in oil-during World War II Pawley had gained fame setting up the Flying Tigers with General Claire Chennault. Pawley had also owned major sugar interests in Cuba, as well as Havana's bus, trolley and gas systems and he was close to both pre-Castro Cuban rulers, President Carlos Prio and General Fulgencio Batista. (Pawley was one of the dispossessed American investors in Cuba who early tried to convince Eisenhower that Castro was a Communist and urged him to arm the exiles in Miami.) Luce said that Pawley had gotten the idea of putting together a fleet of speedboats-sea-going "Flying Tigers" as it were-which would be used by the exiles to dart in and out of Cuba on "intelligence gathering" missions. He asked her to sponsor one of these boats and she agreed. As a result of her sponsorship, Luce got to know the three-man crew of the boat "fairly well," as she said. She called them "my boys" and said they visited her a few times in her New York townhouse. It was one of these boat crews, Luce said, that originally brought back the news of Russian missiles in Cuba. Because Kennedy didn't react to it, she said she helped feed it to Senator Kenneth Keating, who made it public. She then wrote an article for Life magazine predicting the missile crisis. "Well, then came the nuclear showdown and the President made his deal with Khrushchev and I never saw my young Cubans again," she said. The boat operations were stopped, she said, shortly afterwards when Pawley was notified that the U.S. was invoking the Neutrality Act and would prevent any further exile missions into Cuba. So, it sounds like her article was prior to October of 1962. Steve Thomas

The archives of Life Magazine from 1935 - 1972 are now online: http://books.google.com/books?id=N0EEAAAAM...l_issues_anchor Steve Thomas

I got this today: "We just received word that the son of Jim Leavelle (Jimmy) was discovered to have passed away Sunday evening. . A memorial service will be held in Garland on Thursday at 1:00, details will follow tomorrow. Jim and wife are doing ok." Steve Thomas