Jim Hargrove

11 hours ago, Chris Newton said:

That is strange as hell.

There are a whole lot of things about "Lee Harvey Oswald" that are strange as hell.

The card was supposedly issued on September 11, but John A. says it was used in Superior Court in Santa Ana A WEEK EARLER for Oswald's passport application. 

 

As I predicted, Mr. Bojczuk just gives us another link to Greg Parker (now doubled to two links!) and has nothing to say on his own about the conflicting school records.  In other words, he refuses to debate the subject on the "JFK Assassination Debate" forum.  What a surprise!

Let me go through this again, this time taking a longer look at the Beauregard records.

First, here's the PS44 records from New York City, summarized as follows:

In 1953, Marguerite and LEE were living in a basement apartment at 1455 Sheridan while LEE was attending PS 44 in New York City. After the assassination SAC John Malone, the FBI agent in charge of the New York Office, inspected Oswald's original court file in the presence of Judge Florence Kelley. Malone took notes and sent a report to FBI Director Hoover the following day. Malone wrote, "Oswald's attendance record at PS #44 from 3/23/53 to 1/12/54 was 171 and 11 half-days present and 18 and 11 half days absent. If LEE Oswald's 182 days of attendance (171 full days, 11 1/2 days) and 18 absences are plotted on 1953 and 1954 calendars it is easy to see that LEE Oswald attended PS 44 full time during the entire 1953 school year.

Now let’s see how the PS 44 and Beauregard records conflict with each other.

I’m reposting below the Beauregard cumulative record for LHO and below that two pages from an FBI report analyzing it.  Remember that the PS44 records clearly indicated that LHO attended more than 62 school days (and was absent three and a fraction days) for the semester beginning 9/14/53 at the NYC school.
 

 



 

Page 10 of the FBI report summarizes the attendance data in the “Absent,” “Tardy,” “Left” and “Re-Ad” columns, which are explained, according to the FBI agents, starting at the bottom of page 10 and continuing to page 11 by William Head, assistant principal at Warren Easton High School, who received the Beauregard records for incoming students.  The FBI’s summary of Head’s explanation has caused Greg Parker and Tracy Parnell to argue against David Josephs and me for years, because Head seemed to say two contradictory things.

At the bottom of page 10, the FBI indicates he said that the “Re ad” column stood for “Re Admitted” and “would represent a total listing of the school days for a given school year.”  But later in the very same paragraph, now at the top of page 11, the report indicates that Head said a school year regularly consisted of 180 days and that “school days in any given year must not fall below 170” and that “therefore the numbers listed opposite this abbreviation indicated the number of school days that Oswald attended for a given school year.”

So which is it?  Does the “Re-Ad” column represent the number of school days in a school semester or year, or the number of days a student actually attended during that period?

The answer is right before us in the documents shown above.    In the actual Beauregard cumulative record for LHO (top document above), look at the very last entry on the far right under the “Re-Ad” column.  It shows a total of “168” days for the 1954-55 school year.  Tracy Parnell wants you to believe that number, like the numbers in the “Re-Ad” column for the previous school year, represent the number of total days in the school year.

But that can’t be!  Head indicated that Louisiana law dictated a minimum of 170 school days in a school year, and so if we’re to believe Tracy’s interpretation, every student report card at Beauregard for the 1954-55 school year was evidence that Louisiana law was being broken.  On the other hand, using my interpretation (that the “168” indicated the actual days LHO attended school) we can make perfect sense of these numbers.  Adding Oswald’s 168 days of attendance and his 12 absences comes out to exactly 180 days, just what Head said comprised a typical Beauregard school year!

The “Re Ad” column clearly indicates the number of days a student actually attended school.  So let’s look at the first semester of the 1953-54 school year at Beauregard.  It indicates that Oswald attended 89 days and was absent once, for a total of 90 school days.

For the 1953 fall semester at PS 44 in New York, Oswald attended 62 and a fraction days and was absent three and a fraction days for a total of 66 school days accounted for.  Add those 66 days to the 90 days from Beauregard and you get at total of 156 days, equivalent to nearly an entire school year! Despite whatever spin Tracy cares to put on this, the NYC and Louisiana school records for fall semester starting in 1953 clearly show two Lee Harvey Oswalds attending two different schools at the same time!

Would anyone like to debate this right here?  Or will you just point this way or that way or anywhere but here?

10 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

And the obvious reason you guys won't actually use what is at that link to debunk Oswald simultaneously attending two schools is that it DOESN'T debunk it. It doesn't explain it.

So whenever Jim presents the evidence, all you guys do is post that link. The link that proves nothing.

The link to Mr. Parker’s private site proves nothing, but H&L critics want to pretend it does.  So they post the link and run away, hoping at least some readers will believe there is an explanation there.  But there isn’t.

C’mon men, the Harvey and Lee Menace® is right here!  Man up and tell us in your own words why we can’t believe our lying eyes when we look at school records shown in the Warren volumes that indicate “Lee Harvey Oswald” attended school in New Orleans and New York simultaneously.  Don’t just post the usual link and run away.

This is a debate forum!  Use your own words to ‘splain yourselves.  I’ll even gather the docs together, again, to make it easy for you.  But, I think you'll be afraid to do it.

Will anyone find the courage to debate the evidence HERE?

So....

In 1953, Marguerite and LEE were living in a basement apartment at 1455 Sheridan while LEE was attending PS 44 in New York City. After the assassination SAC John Malone, the FBI agent in charge of the New York Office, inspected Oswald's original court file in the presence of Judge Florence Kelley. Malone took notes and sent a report to FBI Director Hoover the following day. Malone wrote, "Oswald's attendance record at PS #44 from 3/23/53 to 1/12/54 was 171 and 11 half-days present and 18 and 11 half days absent. If LEE Oswald's 182 days of attendance (171 full days, 11 1/2 days) and 18 absences are plotted on 1953 and 1954 calendars it is easy to see that LEE Oswald attended PS 44 full time during the entire 1953 school year.

 
In the fall of 1953 LEE Oswald was attending the eighth grade at PS 44 in New York, while HARVEY Oswald and his caretaker/mother were living at 126 Exchange Place in New Orleans. HARVEY was enrolled in the eighth grade at Beauregard Junior High, and because he attended school part-time he was not assigned a home room. On page 817, of Warren Volume 22, there is a copy of Oswald's cumulative school records at Beauregard.  The first row, highlighted in yellow, is the fall semester of 1953 and shows that Oswald attended a General Science class, a Physical Education class, and attended 89 days of school with only one absence. The second row is for the last half of the eighth grade (spring semester).  The third row shows final grades, absences, and tardies for the entire 53-54 school year (eighth grade).

 

C’mon, men!  Tell us RIGHT HERE all about the secret at your Magic Link. Or just paste the secret right here!  Man up and tell us what’s wrong with these school records!!  Cat got your tongues?  

Jim,

Here are the ID cards directly from John's collection...

 

 

 

31 minutes ago, Mathias Baumann said:

Jim,

That is highly interesting. What is your source for that?

Do you know if Phillips might have been involved in setting up the radio debate between Oswald and Bringuier?

 

Mathias,

It's from Harvey and Lee; scattered around a bit but mostly from these two excerpts:

Around 1:15 am KLIF radio announcer Russ Knight approached the entrance
to the police station and asked if anyone had seen District Attorney Henry Wade. Jack
Ruby, who was milling around talking to people said, "I'll show you" and escorted
Knight to the basement. Before reaching the basement Ruby asked Knight, twice, to
ask District Attorney Wade if he thought Oswald was "insane." After reaching the base­-
ment Ruby once again approached Wade and told him that radio announcer Russ
Knight wanted to speak with him.142

As Knight began talking with Wade, Dallas Police Lieutenant James Gilmore
saw Ruby and asked him what he was doing at the police station after midnight. Ruby
told Gilmore that he was passing out sandwiches and planning to deliver sandwiches to
KLIF radio, the station owned by Gordon McLendon.143

NOTE: Jack Ruby listed Gordon McLendon, the owner of Dallas radio station KLIF,
as one of his six closest friends. McClendon had known career CIA officer David Atlee
Phillips since both men were in their teens and attended school in Fort Worth. In the
1970's McLendon joined Phillips to form the Association of Former Intelligence Offic-
ers (AFIO).

....

Jack Ruby-1:30 am to 6:00am

After Russ Knight finished talking with Henry Wade he and Ruby walked out
of the police station. Ruby asked Knight if he needed a ride to the KLIF station, but
Knight declined and walked to KLIF, while Ruby walked to his car.147

About 1:45am Ruby arrived at KLIF with sandwiches and soft drinks and again
talked with Knight. At 2:00am, with Ruby nearby, Knight went on the air and told ra­-
dio listeners, "Through a tip from a local nightclub owner I asked Mr. Wade the ques-
tion of Oswald's insanity."

Around 2:15am, following the radio broadcast, Knight and Ruby left the radio
station. On the steps of the building Ruby handed Knight the text of a speech called
"Heroism" from H.L. Hunt's LIFE Line radio program, broadcast on radio station
KRLD. Ruby told Knight there were elements such as Hunt's in Dallas that hated Presi­-
dent Kennedy.

Knight remembered the late night incident and said, "Ruby had the speech but
he didn't seem to be cognizant fully of what the speech was or actually what side that
he stood on ..... just mentioned like there is an element here that hates, that hated Mr.
Kennedy." When Knight asked Ruby if he meant the Hunt's, Ruby said nothing.148

NOTE: After Ruby shot Oswald, Knight began to think about the "Heroism" speech that
Ruby gave him and said, "It seemed to me like too much of a coincidence that he should
be carrying a speech called 'Heroism' and then for him to shoot Oswald on Sunday
mormng...."149

--From Harvey and Lee, pp. 904-905, Copyright © 2003 by John Armstrong.  All rights reserved.

Terrific summation on Phillips, by the way.  Thank you!  I'll do some checking on the "debate."

38 minutes ago, Mathias Baumann said:

I agree with you. And I guess we all know who used such operations - David Attlee Phillips. The same Phillips who was involved with anti-FPCC operations and the Cuban Student Council at the time of Oswald's strange actions in New Orleans. And the same Phillips who lied about the tapes of the phone call being routinely destroyed and the same Philips who endorsed Alvarado's phony story.

Absolutely! A likely chain of command from Phillips to Jack Ruby can be demonstrated quite easily. The cut-out involved Gordon McLendon, KLIF radio founder and a former Naval Intelligence officer who was a close friend and confidant of David Atlee Phillips.

Ruby called McLendon’s unlisted phone number the day of the assassination. He was overheard that very afternoon saying he could be reached at KLIF. He continued writing letters to McLendon even from prison.

In 1975 McLendon and David Atlee Phillips formed the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). The two men had known one another since childhood. And it was Phillips who was spotted by Antonio Veciana talking to LEE Oswald at the Southland building in Dallas in the summer of 1963. And so we are starring at a possible direct chain of command from CIA’s David Atlee Phillips to former intel officer Gordon McLendon to McLendon’s close friend Jack Ruby.

Small world!

3 hours ago, W. Tracy Parnell said:

For some reason, Jim pretends not to understand the concept of posting something online and providing a link to it rather than rewriting the same thing over and over. Which is odd, since he has a website and posts links to it all the time.

Isn't it amazing that not one H&L critic on this forum has demonstrated the courage to explain, in his own words, how school records could indicate Oswald attended classes simultaneously in New Orleans and New York City?  They always point somewhere else for an "explanation."

Why are they afraid to go on the record and put the information here, where it cannot be altered or disappeared without a trace?  Why?  But apparently none of them have the courage to do it.  Watch... no one dares to do it!

As to Oswald's Russian skills while still in the Marines ....

Marines stationed at MACS-9 in California knew that "Lee Harvey Oswald" could "read, write, and speak Russian," BEFORE HIS TRIP TO THE USSR.  For example, here's Donald Lewis's affidavit, which states that it was "common knowledge" that Oswald knew Russian:

 

 

James Bothelo testified to the WC that "Oswald subscribed to a newspaper printed in Russian, which I believe he said was printed in San Francisco.  It was common knowledge that Oswald had taught himself to speak Russian."  Here's a Russian language newspaper printed in San Francisco....

Kerry Thornley said, "I knew he was subscribing to Pravda or a Russian newspaper of some kind from Moscow." Here's an image of a page from Pravda:

Rosaleen Quinn said she spoke for two hours in Russian with "Lee Harvey Oswald" during a date with him.  In a military Russian language exam, Oswald got two more questions right than wrong.  According to Sandy, Vincent Bugliosi wrote, "His marks were rated 'poor' in all categories. However, since the test was designed to assess the proficiency of native speakers and students at the military's rigorous language schools, .... his grades were not that bad."

On this forum, Mr. Bojczuk would like readers to believe that Oswald learned Russian on his own, and "perhaps with some help from an officer in his unit who was interested in Russian and used to 'talk about it' with Oswald occasionally."  Does any open-minded reader of this thread actually believe ANYONE, particularly a full-time soldier in his spare time without professional help, could learn the Russian language in the way Mr. Bojczuk describes?

How 'bout offering an explanation that makes sense?

Ah, I forgot about Shushkevich.  From Harvey and Lee:

A young college graduate, Stanislav Shushkevich, was told by the Communist
Party Secretary at the Horizon plant to teach Oswald the Russian language. Shushkevich
began to spend a lot of time with Oswald, but soon found that he didn't like him and
found him annoying. Oswald did not seem enthusiastic about learning Russian and,
according to Shushkevich, found the language difficult.

NOTE: Shushkevich later became speaker of the Byelorussian parliament. Following the
assassination he questioned Oswald's intelligence and believed that he was "a puppet in
someone's hands."

[H&L p. 288-289]

The Christian Science Monitor interviewed Stanislav Shushkevich (emphasis added):

"He was a simple martinet, and I found nothing in common with him. His Russian at that point was passable. We had about a dozen lessons in all, after that we had no contacts,” Mr. Shushkevich told the Monitor in an interview. 

The complete article is here:

Are we seriously going to ascribe Harvey Oswald's astonishing fluency in Russian to a dozen private tutoring sessions?  How was his Russian already "passable" when he met with Shushkevich?

7 hours ago, Mathias Baumann said:

Jim,

I think it's possible that Oswald did indeed subscribe to a Russian newspaper. But that fact alone tells us little about his reading comprehension.

The deMohrenshild statement you quoted above is far more interesting in my opinion. Do you know if Oswald received any kind of language training while in Russia? Because I don't think it is possibly to reach the level of a native speaker without any instruction.

There is no evidence anywhere that I'm aware of that Oswald EVER took ANY Russian language training!  Other than from Marina and Ernst Titovets (see above) there is no evidence that Oswald even spoke more than a few words of Russian while in the USSR.  So how did he become so amazingly fluent?

Do you really think he would spend so much time in the Marine Corps reading Russian language newspapers and books if he had little understanding of what he was reading?

Mr. Parnell (as well as the linked article by John Williams) depends almost entirely on Ernst Titovets for the claim that Harvey Oswald spoke Russian while in the USSR.  So, who is Ernst Titovets?

For one thing, Mr. Titovets takes every opportunity to tell his readers that "Lee Harvey Oswald" has NO RELATION TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT.  Here are a couple of paragraphs from Millicent Cranor's take-down on him:

It would hardly be surprising that someone like Titovets and his “revelations” of an Oswald who was an innocent naïf, completely unconnected with the US government, are welcomed by the establishment. The New York Times, which for the last half-century has notoriously dismissed or ignored thousands of revelations pointing to Oswald’s involvement in covert operations, has written approvingly of Titovets.

A Closer Look at Titovets Himself

Titovets considers the idea that Oswald was connected to either American or Russian intelligence the “wildest speculation.”  “A James Bond fantasy.”  He ignores the evidence of Oswald’s connections to American intelligence as revealed in many books, and seems to hope his readers will ignore it as well, thereby effectively cutting the marionette’s wires.

Read Ms. Cranor's full article here.

People who attempt to debunk the obvious fact that school records show "Lee Harvey Oswald" attended school simultaneously in New York City and New Orleans usually provide a link to a private website run by Greg Parker.  Despite my many requests for people who think there is actual information at Mr. Parker's site about this subject to post the information here, they ALWAYS refuse to do so.

Why is that?  

Mr. Parker has no legitimate explanation whatsoever debunking the school records.  If you think he does, please summarize the information here for all to see. Why hide behind a link?

Whether a passing or failing label is given to the results of Harvey Oswald's militay Russian language test, the fact that he got more answers right than wrong is astounding.  According to Sandy Larsen, Vincent Bugliosi wrote: "His marks were rated 'poor' in all categories. However, since the test was designed to assess the proficiency of native speakers and students at the military's rigorous language schools, .... his grades were not that bad."

That Harvey Oswald learned Russian because he would "talk about it" with a commanding officer and  by reading Russian literature in his spare time for two months in California is simply not credible.  Does ANYONE really believe that?

As to whether Russian-speaking Harvey Oswald could pass for a native-speaking Russian, it is helpful to separate Mr. Armstrong's speculation from the actual evidence he presents.  He makes it abundantly clear that Oswald did not speak any meaningful Russian in public in the USSR . From Harvey and Lee....

Harvey Oswald spoke only English while in Russia

To learn whether or not Oswald spoke Russian while in the Soviet Union we
need only look at the statements and memories of people who knew him in Russia:

October 1959-Oswald pretended not to speak Russian while at Botkinskaya
Hospital in Moscow. One of the doctors who attended him wrote, "The pa­-
tient apparently understands the questions asked in Russian. Sometimes he
answers correctly, but immediately states that he does not understand what
he was asked."83 This clever doctor spotted, and recorded, Oswald's ability to
understand the Russian language.

January 1960--Oswald spoke no Russian when accompanied by an interpreter
to the Red Cross offices in Moscow.

1960--Oswald sought out and dated only English-speaking Russian girls and
befriended young English-speaking Russian men such as Erich Titovets, Yuri
Merezhinsky, and Pavel Golovachev. Their conversations were entirely in
English.

January 1960 thru May 1962--the entire period during which Oswald lived in
Minsk. Alejandro Ziger worked with Oswald on a daily basis at the factory. Ana
and Elenora Ziger saw Oswald "3 or 4 times a week" at their apartment. None
of the Zigers ever heard Oswald speak Russian.

1961--Only one tape recording of Lee Harvey Oswald's voice is known to ex­-
ist during the time he lived in the Soviet Union. Oswald was recorded speak­
ing English by his Russian friend, Erich Titovets, in Minsk. Titovets said that
he made the recording so that he could study Oswald's Southern accent, in
English.84

May 1961--When Stellina Ivanova learned of Oswald's marriage she said, "How
can that be? You don't know Russian well enough. How can you communicate
to this person? Does she know English?" Oswald told Stellina that Marina
knew two phrases "Switch off the light" and "kiss me, please," in English.85
It seems obvious, from her conversations with Robert Webster in 1959 and
1960, that Marina spoke English quite well.

Mid-1961 thru Dec 1961--Numerous letters written in Russian, allegedly by
Oswald to Marina, were signed by him ("Alik") but the Russian handwriting
does not appear to be Oswald's.

October 22, 1961--Oswald wrote a letter from Minsk to Marina in Kharkov. The
letter is in English while the envelope, which was addressed to Marina in
Russian script, was written by someone else.

After Oswald returned to the US his friend, Pavel Golovachev, wrote several
letters to Oswald, always in English. Marina's Russian friends wrote to her in
Russian.

Oswald's circle of friends was small and limited to English-speaking Russian
Nationals, none of whom said Oswald spoke Russian.

The KGB recorded numerous conversations within Oswald's apartment from
1960 thru 1962. If any of the conversations had been in Russian the KGB
would have noted the extent of his language ability in their reports and im­-
mediately suspected him of being a spy. But neither KGB reports nor interviews
with former KGB agents reveal that Oswald spoke Russian.

In 1995 Norman Mailer sought out and questioned people who knew Oswald
in Minsk, and with the publication of his book it finally became widely known
that Harvey Oswald spoke little or no Russian during the time he lived in
Minsk. Mailer also published transcripts of Oswald and Marina's conversa­-
tions, allegedly recorded in Oswald's apartment and transcribed by the KGB.
Unfortunately, no one outside of the Soviet Union has listened to the tapes
and the authenticity of the transcripts is unknown.

Ana Ziger told the author in 1998 that she never heard Oswald speak Russian
during the time she knew him in Minsk.

--Harvey and Lee, pp. 339-340, Copyright © 2003 by John Armstrong.  All rights reserved.
 

4 hours ago, Mathias Baumann said:

Hello Jim,

here you can download a CEF-A2 Russian test: http://www.russian-online.net/pdf/trki_a2_ron.zip

CEF-A2 should roughly correspond to L2/R2. I think this might shed some light on the skills Oswald possessed at the time he took the test.

And no, on that level Oswald would certainly not have been able to read and understand a Pravda article. Not by a long shot.

Mathias, 

Thank you!  What do you make of this?

From their WC testimony....

Charles Donovan: "I know that the men always told me that he subscribed to a Russian newspaper."

James Bothelo: "Oswald subscribed to a newspaper printed in Russian, which I believe he said was printed in San Francisco.  It was common knowledge that Oswald had taught himself to speak Russian."

Kerry Thornley: "I knew he was subscribing to Pravda or a Russian newspaper of some kind from Moscow."

From his affidavit ....

Mack Osborne said: "Oswald at that time was studying Russian.  He spent a great deal of his free time reading papers printed in Russian--which I believe he bought in Los Angeles--with the aid of a Russian-English dictionary.  I believe he also had some books written in Russian, although I do not remember their names.

All these reminiscences are from soldiers stationed with Oswald in California... not earlier. What newspaper(s) and book(s) could Harvey Oswald have been reading?

5 hours ago, Ray Mitcham said:

Could Oswald's car been the Blue Chevrolet owned by Ruth Paine (Blue Chevrolet)?

 

 

That's what we think! From Harvey and Lee….

 

Ruth Paine leaves for the east coast

 

Ruth Paine left Irving, Texas on July 27, 1963 and supposedly drove to the east

coast to visit her family. She was not seen again until September 20 when she arrived

at the Oswalds’ apartment in New Orleans. She stayed with the Oswalds for three days

and then drove Marina and June to Irving and arrived on September 24th.

 

NOTE: Mrs. Paine was supposed to have driven her light blue two-tone 1955 Chevrolet

station wagon (Texas license NK 4041) to the east coast but, according to the Murrets,

she drove a brown station wagon to New Orleans in May, 1963, accompanied by Ma­-

rina and June Oswald.

 

Michael Paine, from whom Ruth had been separated since the fall of 1962,

moved into an apartment in Arlington, Texas and later to an apartment in Grand Prai-­

rie, Texas. The Paine's house should have been vacant from July 27 thru September

24th, 1963 and Mrs. Paine's light blue two-tone 1955 Chevrolet station wagon should

have been with her on the east coast, but there are indications the blue station wagon remained

in Irving.

 

Irving barber and city councilman Cliff Shasteen told the Warren Commission

that Lee Oswald drove Ruth Paine's car to his shop in the late summer of 1963 on sev­-

eral occasions. The owner of an Esso-Humble service station in New Orleans, Mr. Will,

said that Oswald filled up a 1955 two-tone station wagon with gas at his station on sev­-

eral occasions, the last time about September 10, 1963. The last time Mr. A.R. Will saw

Oswald he did not have enough money to pay his bill, which was slightly more than $11.

Mr. Will gave Oswald a tank of gas on credit and Oswald signed the bill "L.H. Oswald,

4905 Magazine Street." When Mr. Will asked Oswald for identification, he produced a

photo identification card. Harvey Oswald had no driver's license and could not drive.

 

....

 

August, 1963 - Lee Oswald drives Ruth Paine's car in Dallas

 

In August, with Harvey and Marina living at 4905 Magazine Street in New Or­

leans, Lee Oswald arrived at Cliff Shasteen's barbershop in Irving, Texas at 6:30 am for

a hair cut. His shop was located at 1321 South Story Road, which is less than a mile from

Ruth Paine's and across the street from Hutch's Super Market.

 

Shasteen, a 39-year-old barber and Irving City Council member, remembered

the visit because Oswald was wearing house shoes which were "out of the ordinary." He

commented to Oswald that the shoes, which were brilliant yellow and embossed with

a design, must be expensive. Oswald said, "No, not where I bought them," and ex­-

plained that he had purchased the shoes in Old Mexico for $1.50.^{81 Nov, 63-27} Shasteen

remarked, "Man, I' d like to have a pair of them because I have to wear a shoe built-up."

Oswald replied, "Well, I'll get you a pair the next time I'm down there."⁸² Oswald told

Shasteen, "I make lots of trips down there."^{83 Nov, 63-28} As we have seen, Lee Oswald did make

lots of trips to Mexico.

 

NOTE: Following the assassination Dallas Police Detectives confiscated all of Harvey

Oswald's possessions from 1026 N Beckley and 2515 W. 5th in Irving. Neither cover­-

alls nor a pair of yellow house shoes were found.

 

Shasteen, a life-long barber, remembered that Oswald had a widow's peak and,

"was dark headed. I wouldn't say he was real black, you know, what I mean, he wasn't

jet black, but most people would call him black-headed."⁸⁴

 

NOTE: Arrest photos clearly show that Harvey Oswald had medium brown hair, not

"black hair," and Harvey did not have a widows peak.

 

Shasteen said, "Oswald never did want his hair cut--he always wanted it to look

like it was about a week old when he cut it and he got a haircut about every two

weeks."⁸⁵ The barber remembered that Oswald always wore green colored, military

type, oversized coveralls that buttoned up the front and, on all but one occasion, had

long sleeves. On the one occasion that Oswald wore coveralls with short sleeves,

Shasteen noticed that Oswald’s arms were covered with thick black hair. He said that Oswald

was always disgruntled and instructed the barbers to cut only 1/32" or 1/16" from his hair,

instructions which the barbers found silly and ignored.⁸⁶

 

Shasteen told both the FBI and Warren Commission that Oswald drove Ruth

Paine's station wagon to his barber shop and he watched him cross the street and enter

Leonard Hutchison's grocery store. AUG,63-29 Shasteen said, "He (Lee Oswald) drove that

there 1955, I think it's a 1955, I' m sure it's a 1955 Chevrolet station wagon. It's either

blue and white or green and white-it's two toned-I know that."^{87 AUG, 63-30} Shasteen told the

Warren Commission the car was always parked at the Paines’ house.⁸⁸

 

NOTE: Shasteen’s testimony makes it clear that Ruth Paine, and probably Michael

Paine, knew both Harvey and Lee Oswald.

 

FBI Agent Bardwell Odum, who knew that Lee Harvey Oswald did not drive

and could not have driven Ruth Paine's car, interviewed Shasteen. Odum told Shasteen,

"Now, that contradicts with some of the other information (Oswald's ability to drive a

car)." Shasteen responded by telling Odum, "I can't help what it contradicts, that's just

the fact and that's it."⁸⁹ After cutting Oswald's hair on two occasions in late August or

early September, neither Shasteen nor the other barbers saw Oswald for about a month.⁹⁰

 

NOTE: Ruth Paine described her car to FBI Agent Bardwell Odum as a 1955 Chevrolet

4-door, 2-toned green station Wagon.⁹¹ Lee Oswald may have driven this car to New

Orleans in early September, while Mrs. Paine drove to the east coast in a brown station

wagon--the same car that was seen by Mrs. Murret in May 1963 and by two FBI agents

parked in front of 4907 Magazine in August 1963. A man who identified himself as Lee

Harvey Oswald, with a photo identification, had a 1955 station wagon serviced in New

Orleans at A.R. Wills Service Station about September 10, 1963.

 

In the summer of 1963 Loretta Cline lived around the corner from the Paine's

and was a babysitter for Ruth in July and August. Before leaving for the Holy Family

of Nazareth Convent (Des Plaines, IL), in August, Loretta and her mother (Lillie Cline)

saw a pregnant woman in Mrs. Paine's back yard who they later thought was Marina

(Marina was in New Orleans from May 10 thru September 21 ). Lillie Cline visited the Paine's

and spoke with the woman after her child was born in late August or early September

(Rachel Oswald was born October 20, 1963 ).^{92 AUG,63-32} This woman could not have been

Marina Oswald because she spoke English with Loretta and Lillie Cline, and when

interviewed by the FBI neither Loretta nor Lillie said anything about her being a for­

eigner.

 

Another neighbor, Linnie Mae Randle, recalled seeing Lee Harvey Oswald and

Marina at the Paine residence on numerous occasions during the summer of 1963.⁹³

 

--from Harvey and Lee, pp. 558 & 581-582, Copyright © 2003 by John Armstrong. All rights reserved.

On 8/18/2017 at 2:01 PM, Mathias Baumann said:

Jim,

I don't think Oswald was able to read that kind of high-brow newspaper articles by the time he passed the Marine Corps test.

[ . . . . ]

I definitely agree with you up to a certain point - I don't think he could've passed the test without formal instruction. There's no way he could've taught himself enough Russian to pass the test in just a few months time. And certainly not from a dictionary and newspaper articles alone.

 But we should on the other hand not exaggerate the language skills he possessed at that point. After all he barely got a passing grade. And as you can see above the level required for a passing grade is not THAT high. The scale goes up to L5/R5 after all.

I think a low estimate would be that he'd have needed somewhere around 100 to 200 individual lessons to pass the exam.

Hi, Mathias,

I've been trying for two or three days to get back to this post of yours, and so I hope you see this.  Here's the image of the Russian-language newspaper printed in San Francisco that you objected to:

Are you sure this was a "high-brow newspaper," as you put it? The English-language copy on the masthead says, "RUSSIAN NATIONAL ANTICOMMUNIST NEWSPAPER," and I'll bet, but certainly can't say for certain, that it was aimed at White Russians living in the U.S.  As such, it wouldn't seem to be a type of document filled with scientific or medical or high-tech jargon.  Seems to me it would be aimed at just an average Russian-speaking audience.

I worked in the publishing business in the U.S. for more than thirty years.  In this country, at least, reading levels of daily and weekly newspapers are remarkably similar.  From a lowly tabloid to the New York Times or Washington Post, most are aimed generally at people reading at a junior high level or above.  Of course, I know next to nothing about Russian-language newspapers or their readers.

And so I searched Google images for more Russian-language newspapers and what frequently came up was Pravda.  Here is the clearest image I found of page from, **I THINK** a 1953 edition of Pravda. (If you click on the image you should be able to see a more legible copy of the page.)

Do you think this would be a fairer example of the type of Russian-language newspaper Oswald might have read?  (It doesn't look any less daunting to me than my previous example, but I've never studied Russian at all.)

What do you think?  If you think both of these papers are too advanced, can you provide an alternate example?

Mr. Walton’s first link above, to a poor composite of the PS 44 and Beauregard JHS school records, simply confirms what John Armstrong has been saying for the past 20 years, that two men using the same name, birth date, and mother’s name, had been appearing simultaneously, often far apart, for YEARS.  What are the odds indeed of that happening by chance?

Mr. Walton’s second link, to an animated GIF, shows one of Russian-speaking Harvey Oswald’s pictures after his arrest morphing into a picture attached to Russian-speaking Harvey Oswald’s passport.

Mr. Walton demands that I “stop using Sylvia” when he knows damned well that there are scores of credible examples of two “Lee Harvey Oswalds” in two far apart places simultaneously during the months and years before the assassination.  Here are just three of the more famous ones in the period IMMEDIATELY BEFORE the weeks examined by Ms. Meagher and others.

Sept. ‘63: David Atlee Phillips was seen with LEE Harvey Oswald at the Southland Building in Dallas in September 1963, while Lee HARVEY Oswald was in New Orleans.

Aug.-Oct. ‘63: Irving City Council member and owner of Clifton's Barber shop, Cliff Shasteen, told the Warren Commission that he and his fellow barbers cut LEE Oswald's hair on 6 or 7 occasions, during August, September and October 1963 Texas shop.  Shasteen gave detailed descriptions of Oswald, his clothes and hair, his car: “that there 1955, I think it's a 1955, I'm sure it's a 1955 Chevrolet station wagon. It's either blue and white or green and white it's two-toned--I know that….”  During August and September HARVEY Oswald was still in New Orleans. Both Oswalds were in the Dallas area in October.

Aug. ‘63: While Harvey Oswald and Marina were living on Magazine St. in New Orleans, a number of Jack Ruby’s employees said they saw Oswald in Ruby’s company and often driving a car.  Western Union delivered several telegrams to “Lee Harvey Oswald” at the Rotary Apartments on 7th St. in Dallas during this same period.

Mr. Walton surely knows there are credible indications that “Lee Harvey Oswald” or “Lee Oswald” was active in Cuba-related activities in New Orleans and Florida while the other “Lee Harvey Oswald” was in Russia.  See for example, the Bolton Ford episode and Marita Lorenz’s testimony.

There are even more examples of two “Lee Harvey Oswalds” active in the U.S. Marines from 1957-59, several of which have been discussed at length in this thread. And, as can be seen immediately above, the dual Oswalds can be traced back even further.  

On 8/18/2017 at 5:18 PM, Jim Hargrove said:

From Accessories After the Fact, by Sylvia Meagher, p. 361 (emphasis added):

The Commission’s failure to use its full powers of investigation is to be regretted, not only to establish that the allegations resulted from mistaken identity, if indeed they did, but, more importantly, to rule out the possibility of deliberate impersonation.  Several of the stories evoke the almost irresistible suspicion of impersonation because of the flamboyant and gratuitous care “Oswald” took to call attention to himself in a way that later appeared to incriminate the real Oswald and to implicate the alleged murder rifle.  For the Commission to pursue the evidence of impersonation was of great importance if it meant to evaluate the inferences that would flow from proof of an imposter-Oswald: that there was a plot to kill the President, planned carefully long before the event; that the conspirators were familiar with Oswald’s background and circumstances and had him selected as their fall guy; that Oswald had to be murdered to prevent him from presenting evidence of his innocence, or evidence implicating others; and that the killers of the President were still at large.

The fact that the best of the early researchers clearly believed there were two people using the identity of Lee Harvey Oswald during several months prior to the assassination is undeniable.  The Internet trolls who now pretend to be outraged after being shown clear evidence that two Oswalds existed long before the assassination, when in fact they clearly existed at the time of the assassination, are disturbingly illogical. 

Mr. Walton gets his panties in a twist because we dare to show evidence of Two Oswalds extending to an earlier time than Sylvia Meagher examined when she discussed evidence of an "imposter-Oswald," which she put into the section of her book entitled "Two Oswalds."

The pictures Mr. Walton continuously touts were the arrest picture of Russian-speaking Harvey Oswald and the picture pasted to the passport of Russian-speaking Harvey Oswald.  IF they do show the same person, all Mr. Walton has proved is that John was incorrect when he thought that LEE Oswald's picture was placed on HARVEY Oswald's passport.

How did Oswald attend school simultaneously in New York and New Orleans.  How did Oswald travel by boat to Taiwan at the same time he was being treated for VD in Japan?  Answer those two questions, and we'll move to lots more examples.  Remember, we're only left with material the FBI/WC neglected to cover-up, i.e., mistakes they made.  And they made a LOT. 

7 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

Michael, Chris, Mathias,

I will try to make it a simple task for you and others to clearly see that Oswald attended two different schools simultaneously during the Fall semester of his 8th grade school year, 1953/54.

Following are what the two school records indicate:

Public School #44, New York City
8th Grade, Fall Semester

Days Present:  62 + 5 half days
Days Absent:  3 + 8 half days
Times Late (Tardy):  1

Total Days of School = 62 + 5 + 3 +8 = 78 days

This information is highlighted in yellow in the upper school record, below.

 

Beauregard Junior High School, New York City
8th Grade, Fall Semester

Days Present:  89 days
Days Absent:  1 day
Tardy:  0

Total Days of School = 89 + 1 = 90 days

This information is highlighted in yellow in the lower school record, below.

 

Comments

I encourage each of you to confirm that what I have written above accurately portrays what is indicated in the two school records. Having done that, there should be no question in your minds that the records do indeed show Oswald attending two schools, located in two different states, at the same time for a period of one semester.

To zoom in on a document, right-click the image and select View Image. Then hold the CTRL keyboard button down while pressing the + key several times.

The Oswald in New York City had a full class schedule, whereas the one in New Orleans took only two classes (General Science and Physical Education). I would guess that either this Oswald had a part time job, or was supervised by a mother who couldn't persuade or force him to take more classesl.

 

School Record:  Public School #44, New York City
The yellow highlighted row indicates Oswald's attendance during his 8th grade Fall semester (fall 1953).
His classes and scores for that semester are given in the right-most column in the middle third of the page.
 

 

 

School Record:  Beauregard Junior High School, New Orleans
The yellow highlighted row indicates Oswald's classes, scores, and attendance during his 8th grade Fall semester (fall 1953).
(The second row shows the same for the Winter semester. The third row shows the totals for the full 8th grade school year.)
 

•  

Isn't it amazing how few people here actually want to discuss the evidence?  Perhaps Mr. Parnell will respond with a link to some nonsense attempting to debunk the obvious, but Mr. Parnell won't be so unwise as to describe the nonsense, because then we could respond directly to him for all to see.  

27 minutes ago, Sandy Larsen said:

Bugliosi wrote:  "His marks were rated 'poor' in all categories. However, since the test was designed to assess the proficiency of native speakers and students at the military's rigorous language schools, .... his grades were not that bad."

Given that the test was designed for native speakers, it sounds to me like Oswald understood and spoke Russian like, perhaps, a high school dropout. Or maybe a "hick." Or maybe a 6th grade kid. Which is not bad, really. It could explain how Oswald was reading the masters 2 1/2 years later.

 

If we believe Marina's HSCA testimony, he was reading the Russian masters earlier than that.  The Bugliosi information is fascinating!  Thank you!  Let's do a quick reality check on "Oswald" and the Russian language.

Oswald clearly spoke Russian and read Russian literature in the Marines prior to his false defection to Russia.  In his affidavit of June 6, 1964, Erwin Donald Lewis, stationed with Oswald at MACS-9 in California, swore that “It was a matter of common knowledge among squadron members that he could read, write, and speak Russian.”

While in Russia, Oswald pretended his Russian was so bad he needed a translator.  And yet Marina testified that he privately read “Russian classic writers” in Russian.

Mr. McDONALD. Did he read a lot when he was in the Soviet Union? 
Mrs. PORTER. Yes. 
Mr. McDONALD. What kind of books did he read there? 
Mrs. PORTER. Novels mostly. 
Mr. McDONALD. What kind of novels? 
Mrs. PORTER. What you call maybe as classical novels, some Russian classic writers. 
Mr. McDONALD. The novels or the books that he read in the Soviet Union, were they in Russian?

Mrs. PORTER. They were in Russian; yes.

When he returned to the U.S., the White Russians in and around Dallas were amazed at his fluency in the language attained in the 2-1/2 years he spent there.  In his manuscript I AM A PATSY! I AM A PATSY!  Russian immigrant George De Mohrenschildt, who Harvey in 1963 called his closest friend, described his amazement at Harvey’s Russian fluency.

 

For those who can’t see the graphic above, here’s what the main paragraph from this page of De Mohrenschildt's manuscript says:

Incidentally I never saw him interested in anything else except Russian
books and magazines. He said he didn't want to forget the language -
but it amazed me that he read such difficult writers like Gorki, Dostoevski,
Gogol, Tolstoi and Turgenieff - in Russian . As everyone knows Russian is
a complex language and he was supposed to have stayed in the Soviet Union
only a little over two years . He must have had some previous training and
that point had never been brught up by the Warren Committee - and it is
still puzzling to me. In my opinion Lee was a very bright person but not
a genius. He never mastered the English language yet he learned such a dif-
icult language! I taught Russian at all level in a large University, and
I never saw such a profficiency in the best senior students who constantly
listened to  Russian tapes and spoke to Russian fiends. As a matter of
fact American-born instructors never mastered Russian spoken language as
well as Lee did.

De Mohrenschildt would have made a fascinating witness at the HSCA hearings and, in fact, in early 1977 the HSCA sought to interview him. But on March 30 he was found in his home with a shotgun blast to his head. The last person to see him alive was author Edward Epstein, a close friend of CIA Counterintelligence Chief James Angleton.

1 hour ago, W. Tracy Parnell said:

Unfortunately for Armstrong, In 1995, three years before she talked to Armstrong, Ziger told an Argentinian publication that “Nobody could say anything [about lies LHO told] because he spoke Russian poorly Dad would translate ...” So according to Ziger, LHO certainly did speak Russian, albeit poorly at the time, and Alexander Ziger translated as a matter of convenience. See my article for a discussion of Armstrong's nonsensical claim that LHO never spoke Russian in Russia.

http://wtracyparnell.blogspot.com/2017/03/lho-spoke-no-russian-in-russia.html

Unfortunately for Mr. Parnell, he makes our point for us.

The man who had a two hour conversation in Russian with Rosaleen Quinn just a year or so earlier now needs a translator to say "Hello Russkies!"  

By the way, the article linked above by Mr. Parnell ultimately relies mostly on Ernst Titovets.  See HERE for Millicent Cranor's scoop on him.

5 hours ago, Jeremy Bojczuk said:

I wonder if Jim would be kind enough to:
- (a) acknowledge the uncontroversial fact that Oswald's performance in his Russian test was poor, far below that of a native speaker;
- (b) explain how Oswald's poor performance is compatible with the notion, central to the 'Harvey and Lee and Marguerite and Marguerite' theory, that the person who took the test was indistinguishable from a native speaker of Russian.

 

1 hour ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Once again, Mr. Bojczuk demonstrates that he does not even comprehend the basics of the material he is trying so hard to debunk. Had he bothered to read Harvey and Lee, he would understand that Harvey Oswald did not try to pass for a native-speaking Russian during his so-called defection.  Oswald tried to hide the fact that he understood Russian.  For example….

The private Intourist guide Rima Sherikova Oswald hired in Moscow indicated he did not seem to speak a word of Russian.

A Moscow doctor treating the wrist wound from his so-called suicide attempt also wrote that Oswald indicated he did not speak Russian but seemed to understand some of the things said about him in Russian. The exact words were, "The patient apparently understands the questions asked in Russian. Sometimes he answers correctly, but immediately states that he does not understand what he was asked.

 

 

While working at the radio factory in Minsk, Harvey Oswald became friends with the family of Anita (Ana) Ziger.  Ana’s father, Alejandro, spoke English and frequently translated for Oswald at the radio plant.  In 1998, John Armstrong and a friend traveled to Buenos Aires, and did several lengthy interviews with Ana Ziger.  Ana declared that, when she knew him in Minsk, Oswald didn’t speak any Russian and seemed unwilling to learn the language.

Here’s a photo of Ana Ziger and “Oswald” from the Warren volumes:

 

 

 

Of the people who knew him in Russia, only Marina claimed Oswald spoke Russian, (“with a Baltic accent.”)  Recently, a Russian named Ernst Titovets came to the United States claiming Oswald did indeed speak Russian in the Soviet Union.  He brought with him audio tapes—with Oswald speaking only in English!  Millicent Cranor wrote a great take-down on Titovets which can be read here.

Mr. Bojczuk may not understand the basics of Harvey and Lee, but he did get one thing right. Oswald, according to the Warren Commission, was stationed in California for two months, rather than one, before taking the Russian language test.  Mr. Bojczuk can now attempt to make others believe that “Lee Harvey Oswald” learned to speak, read, and write Russian without a teacher or a textbook, in two months!  Thanks for the correction! I sincerely doubt this will help you convince others of your theory Amazing Theory!

One more thing I meant to point out.

When he is not busy misrepresenting the information in Harvey and Lee, why does Mr. Bojczuk refuse to discuss the evidence in it, for example, the evidence that "Lee Harvey Oswald" simultaneously attended school in New York City and New Orleans in the fall semester of 1953?

In 1953, Marguerite and LEE were living in a basement apartment at 1455 Sheridan while LEE was attending PS 44 in New York City. After the assassination SAC John Malone, the FBI agent in charge of the New York Office, inspected Oswald's original court file in the presence of Judge Florence Kelley. Malone took notes and sent a report to FBI Director Hoover the following day. Malone wrote, "Oswald's attendance record at PS #44 from 3/23/53 to 1/12/54 was 171 and 11 half-days present and 18 and 11 half days absent. If LEE Oswald's 182 days of attendance (171 full days, 11 1/2 days) and 18 absences are plotted on 1953 and 1954 calendars it is easy to see that LEE Oswald attended PS 44 full time during the entire 1953 school year. 

 

 

In the fall of 1953 LEE Oswald was attending the eighth grade at PS 44 in New York, while HARVEY Oswald and his caretaker/mother were living at 126 Exchange Place in New Orleans. HARVEY was enrolled in the eighth grade at Beauregard Junior High, and because he attended school part-time he was not assigned a home room. On page 817, of Warren Volume 22, there is a copy of Oswald's cumulative school records at Beauregard.  The first row, highlighted in yellow, is the fall semester of 1953 and shows that Oswald attended a General Science class, a Physical Education class, and attended 89 days of school with only one absence. The second row is for the last half of the eighth grade (spring semester).  The third row shows final grades, absences, and tardies for the entire 53-54 school year (eighth grade).

4 hours ago, Jeremy Bojczuk said:

I wonder if Jim would be kind enough to:
- (a) acknowledge the uncontroversial fact that Oswald's performance in his Russian test was poor, far below that of a native speaker;
- (b) explain how Oswald's poor performance is compatible with the notion, central to the 'Harvey and Lee and Marguerite and Marguerite' theory, that the person who took the test was indistinguishable from a native speaker of Russian.

Once again, Mr. Bojczuk demonstrates that he does not even comprehend the basics of the material he is trying so hard to debunk. Had he bothered to read Harvey and Lee, he would understand that Harvey Oswald did not try to pass for a native-speaking Russian during his so-called defection.  Oswald tried to hide the fact that he understood Russian.  For example….

The private Intourist guide Rima Sherikova Oswald hired in Moscow indicated he did not seem to speak a word of Russian.

A Moscow doctor treating the wrist wound from his so-called suicide attempt also wrote that Oswald indicated he did not speak Russian but seemed to understand some of the things said about him in Russian. The exact words were, "The patient apparently understands the questions asked in Russian. Sometimes he answers correctly, but immediately states that he does not understand what he was asked.

 

 

While working at the radio factory in Minsk, Harvey Oswald became friends with the family of Anita (Ana) Ziger.  Ana’s father, Alejandro, spoke English and frequently translated for Oswald at the radio plant.  In 1998, John Armstrong and a friend traveled to Buenos Aires, and did several lengthy interviews with Ana Ziger.  Ana declared that, when she knew him in Minsk, Oswald didn’t speak any Russian and seemed unwilling to learn the language.

Here’s a photo of Ana Ziger and “Oswald” from the Warren volumes:

 

 

 

Of the people who knew him in Russia, only Marina claimed Oswald spoke Russian, (“with a Baltic accent.”)  Recently, a Russian named Ernst Titovets came to the United States claiming Oswald did indeed speak Russian in the Soviet Union.  He brought with him audio tapes—with Oswald speaking only in English!  Millicent Cranor wrote a great take-down on Titovets which can be read here.

Mr. Bojczuk may not understand the basics of Harvey and Lee, but he did get one thing right. Oswald, according to the Warren Commission, was stationed in California for two months, rather than one, before taking the Russian language test.  Mr. Bojczuk can now attempt to make others believe that “Lee Harvey Oswald” learned to speak, read, and write Russian without a teacher or a textbook, in two months!  Thanks for the correction! I sincerely doubt this will help you convince others of your theory Amazing Theory!

Thanks, Michael....

When I retyped by hand the excerpt above from Accessories After the Fact, I made two minor typographical errors: I left out the word "took" and wrote "with" instead or "were".  I've corrected them both in my original post, which probably won't show up in your quote.

Accessories After the Fact was published way back in 1967.  

To Mathias....

Thank you for your post near the end of the previous page.  I was hoping you would contribute again to this discussion.  Can you suggest an image of a Russian newspaper that would be more appropriate to Harvey Oswald's Russian language ability before the so-called defection? A half dozen or more Marines stationed in California said he read Russian literature and could speak Russian. I selected the current image because of its clarity, but I do want to be fair. Do you know of another more appropriate image?

I'll try get back to you with a couple of other questions over the weekend. Thanks again!

From Accessories After the Fact, by Sylvia Meagher, p. 361 (emphasis added):

The Commission’s failure to use its full powers of investigation is to be regretted, not only to establish that the allegations resulted from mistaken identity, if indeed they did, but, more importantly, to rule out the possibility of deliberate impersonation.  Several of the stories evoke the almost irresistible suspicion of impersonation because of the flamboyant and gratuitous care “Oswald” took to call attention to himself in a way that later appeared to incriminate the real Oswald and to implicate the alleged murder rifle.  For the Commission to pursue the evidence of impersonation was of great importance if it meant to evaluate the inferences that would flow from proof of an imposter-Oswald: that there was a plot to kill the President, planned carefully long before the event; that the conspirators were familiar with Oswald’s background and circumstances and had him selected as their fall guy; that Oswald had to be murdered to prevent him from presenting evidence of his innocence, or evidence implicating others; and that the killers of the President were still at large.

The fact that the best of the early researchers clearly believed there were two people using the identity of Lee Harvey Oswald during several months prior to the assassination is undeniable.  The Internet trolls who now pretend to be outraged after being shown clear evidence that two Oswalds existed long before the assassination, when in fact they clearly existed at the time of the assassination, are disturbingly illogical. 

Mr.Bojczuk’s comments in blue, mine in black:

Contrary to Jim's claim, the article does not indicate that Russian was restricted to grade 5 onwards from 1950. The significance of 1950 is clear: 1950 is when Russian became "the compulsory first (and in many cases the only) foreign language in schools", not that Russian tuition was introduced in 1950, or that Russian was restricted to grade 5 onwards in 1950, or that the people who went on to fake the moon landings began their 'Oswald doppelgänger project' in 1950.

Once again, Mr. Bojczuk completely ignores the Journal Paedagogica Historica abstract which states that compulsory Russian instruction in Hungarian schools began in 1945. Nowhere does the article he cites by Lukács Krisztina refer to the specifics of Russian instruction in Hungarian schools during the years 1945 to 1947. That article is irrelevant to the time span under consideration in this discussion.

There is no evidence at all that Russian language instruction in Hungarian school during the years 1945-1947 commenced only at the 5th grade level. If he had some evidence, surely Mr. Bojczuk would have produced it by now. Even if there was evidence for the years in question, as Sandy Larsen has shown above, there are lots of other possible ways Harvey Oswald could have learned Russian in Eastern Europe. The distance between countries with different languages is relatively short in Europe, and young children learn languages fairly quickly and easily. No doubt Mr. Bojczuk will continue to talk about Grade 5 instruction....

It doesn't matter how many years this teaching had been going on by the time Jim's hypothetical refugee child reached grade 5 at his school in Hungary. The point is that there was a period of only two years between the time the hypothetical child could have begun learning Russian and the time when the hypothetical child appears in New York with the name of Lee Harvey Oswald and the ability to speak perfect English. If the hypothetical boy existed, he must have learned two foreign languages, Russian and English, to the level of a native speaker in just two years.

Mr. Bojczuk should at least make an attempt to understand the material he is trying to debunk. It is clear from Harvey and Lee, clear from my website, and clear from my posts immediately above that I believe Russian-speaking Harvey Oswald FIRST APPEARED in a Fort Worth suburb in the U.S. during the summer of 1947, not just six years later in New York. Harvey probably learned the rudiments of Russian either as a first or second language as a child, then was moved to the U.S., and spent the next six years learning to speak (but not write) good English. Is that so difficult to understand?

How many more times do I need to explain this before Jim acknowledges that Oswald was not a native speaker of Russian? As I pointed out earlier, the evidence clearly shows that Oswald learned Russian gradually: he started out not knowing very much Russian, and later his knowledge improved. This means one of two things: either he was not a native speaker, or, alternatively, he spent the last few years of his life actively concealing his ability to speak Russian like a native. Which of those alternatives is the more likely to be true, do you think?

Here, again, is the evidence. At the time he took the Russian test, Oswald had a limited understanding of written Russian and an even more limited understanding of spoken Russian. If you don't believe me, check the source I cited earlier: http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=36#relPageId=315 . Several months later, he was able to converse in the language, but at a level that must have been well below that of a native speaker because he was still making frequent grammatical mistakes three or four years afterwards.

Unless he learned it as a child, the existing EVIDENCE shows that Oswald learned Russian suddenly and dramatically. According to the Warren Commission, Oswald was stationed in Japan from September 1957 until November 1958, more than a year. But no Marine stationed at Atsugi noticed Oswald speaking, reading or writing Russian.

The Warren Commission says that Oswald left Japan and reported for duty at the Marine Corps Air Facility in Santa Ana, California, in December 1958. A month later, he took the infamous Russian language test in which he got more questions right than wrong. A few months after that, he spent two hours conversing in Russian with Rosaleen Quinn. While he was stationed in California, he conspicuously read Russian literature, blasted Russian songs so loud they could be heard outside his barracks, and became known to his fellow soldiers as Comrade Oswaldovitch. But this happened only—and suddenly--in California.

To anyone who happens to read this please take note. Mr. Bojczuk wants you to believe that Oswald learned Russian, without the benefit of a classroom, teacher or textbook, by reading Russian newspapers and other Russian literature in his barracks in his spare time with a Russian-English dictionary. Here, again, is an image of a Russian-language newspaper printed in San Francisco:

 

 

Exactly who could learn to read the above in a month's worth of spare time with no instructor, no textbooks, and just a dictionary at hand.  You're kidding, right? 

There's nothing superhuman in Oswald's gradual acquisition of Russian. Why does Jim find this so difficult to accept? The one and only Lee Harvey Oswald was not a native speaker of Russian. Unfortunately, the 'Harvey and Lee and Marguerite and Marguerite' theory requires him to have been a native speaker of Russian. Consequently, as I'm sure Jim will now agree, the 'Harvey and Lee and Marguerite and Marguerite' theory is nonsense.

Apparently Mr. Bojczuk considers learning to read, write, and speak Russian well enough to read Russian newspapers in one month without formal instruction in one's spare time is a gradual process.

 

 

As always, Mr. Bojczuk's explanation for Oswald's Russian language ability simply doesn't pass the giggle test.

 

Mr. Bojczuk informs us that only Hungarian students in the 5th grade and higher were given mandatory Russian language instruction in school.  He fails to say, however, that the source Mathias cited for this restriction indicated that the fifth grade rule was put into effect when mandatory Russian language instruction was codified in 1950.  Mr. Bojczuk makes no mention of what happened in the previous half decade, although the abstract of the scholarly magazine article I cited clearly indicates Russian instruction in Hungary began in 1945.

Hungary was one of the Axis Powers in World War II.  According to the Siege of Budapest page from Wikipedia, by October 29, 1944 more than 1,000,000 Red Army soldiers surrounded the capital city of Hungary and began tightening their grip.  Can you imagine the extent of Russian influence that followed, and how harsh it must have been?  What inconceivable excesses continued for the years thereafter?  I don’t believe anyone on this group is qualified to declare that no one below the 5th grade in Hungary was forced to learn Russian in the years immediately after World War II.

I can understand, however, why Mr. Bojczuk wishes to talk about this theory, rather than the far more significant question of how did “Lee Harvey Oswald” learn to speak, read, write, and understand Russian well enough to get more questions right than wrong on a Russian language exam with no known formal instruction whatsoever.  I ask Mr. Bojczuk, again, to provide an explanation for Oswald’s Russian language skills before “defecting” to the USSR that passes the giggle test.