Jim Hargrove

The test covered, apparently, Russian reading and writing skills. The most thorough description of it I'm aware of came from the WC testimony of Marine Corps Lt. Colonel Allison G. Folsom: 

Mr. ELY - All right. Now, moving further down page 7, we have the record of a Russian examination taken by Oswald on February 25, 1959. Could you explain to us what sort of test this was, and what the scores achieved by Oswald mean? 

Colonel FOLSOM - The test form was Department of the Army, Adjutant General's Office, PRT-157. This is merely the test series designation. Now, under "understands" the scoring was minus 5, which means that he got five more wrong than right. The "P" in parentheses indicates "poor." Under reading he achieved a score of 4, which is low. This, again, is shown by the "P" in parentheses for "poor." 

Mr. ELY - This 4 means he got four more questions right than wrong? 

Colonel FOLSOM - This is correct. And under "writes" he achieved a score of 3, with "P" in parentheses, and this indicates he got three more right than he did wrong. His total score was 2, with a "P" in parentheses meaning that overall he got two more right than wrong, and his rating was poor throughout. 

Among the unanswered questions, of course, was what the heck was a Marine Corps private and school dropout doing taking a Russian language exam?  In total, he got more questions right than wrong. Although we don't know the format of the questions, it would certainly appear from this and other evidence that he knew more than a little Russian before he "defected" to the Soviet Untion.  The Warren Commission did not seem to have much interest exploring how he learned Russian.  

9 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

Oswald entered the Marines in October 1956, and had his date with Rosaleen Quinn in the spring of 1959. So the longest he could possibly have studied Russian (before impressing Quinn with his knowledge) was 2 1/2 years. But, of course, he would have had much less time than that given that his whereabouts and fellow Marines at certain times are known and his fellow Marines were interviewed.

In his book, John Armstrong writes that he laid out Oswald's schedule on calendars, looking for periods of time where he could have been learning Russian. He found there was little available time. Problem is, he assumed that Oswald actually attended boot camp, etc. He didn't take into account the possibility that Oswald's activities were cover stories.

Of course, people like Tracy Parnell would have to agree with Armstrong's assessment, given that they believe Oswald was a regular Marine private doing what regular Marine privates do. It seems that Tracy et. al. will have no reasonable way of explaining how Oswald could have learned his Russian so quickly in his spare time.

For those of us who believe that Oswald was no regular private in the Marines, there might be some hope of explaining how Oswald was able to learn Russian so quickly. Unfortunately it is a difficult task for most of us because we'd have to look through all the evidence and determine the periods of time 's where Oswald's activities are unaccounted for, during which times he may have been taking classes.

 

It may be easier to understand than that. For example, when LEE Harvey Oswald arrived in Atsugi, Japan in September 1957, he was soon befriended by a Marine named Zack Stout.

John Armstrong interviewed Stout in November, 1998, and asked him if he ever saw Oswald studying the Russian language.  Stout answered as follows:

"Most of the time we were with a mobile radar unit. Shortly after he arrived we left Japan and traveled constantly from location to location in the South China Sea [beginning in November 1957]. I know Oswald didn't attend any Russian classes or read any Russian books or listen to any Russian records. He didn't have anywhere to get such materials and if he had them we [Stout and fellow Marines] would have known about it. We slept in the same bunkhouse and most of the time worked on the same radar crew. The idea that Oswald studied Russian in Japan is ridiculous--it just didn't happen."

Atsugi, Japan was LEE Harvey Oswald’s home base until November 1958.  During that period of over one year, he gave no indication whatsoever that he had any interest in the Russian language or culture.  But the very next month, Lee HARVEY Oswald reported for duty at the Marine Air Facility at Santa Ana, California.  One month after that, “Oswald” took and passed (although with a “poor” grade) a Russian language exam!  Just a couple of months later, he spoke Russian for hours during his date with Rosaleen Quinn.

This is just a bit of the evidence, but there was nothing gradual about “Oswald’s” sudden interest and proficiency in the Russian language.  It first appeared during Lee HARVEY Oswald’s stationing at the Santa Ana base, less than a year before the so-called “defection.”  I don’t see any innocent explanation for this.  

Mathias,

White Russians in the Dallas area such as George DeMohrenschildt, Natalie Ray, Anna Meller and others were clearly surprised by Lee HARVEY Oswald’s fluency in Russian in 1962 and 1963, but it is also clear that “Oswald” spoke, understood, read and probably wrote Russian before he even traveled to Russia in the first place.

While “Oswald” was still in the Marine Corps, he had a date with Rosaleen Quinn, who had taken a Berlitz course in Russian and was hoping to work at the American Embassy in Moscow.  Miss Quinn told the Warren Commission that she and “Oswald” spoke in Russian for several hours after seeing a movie and that she thought he spoke Russian very well for someone who took no courses in it.
 
After arriving at the Marine base in Santa Ana California in late 1958, still before he traveled to Russia, “Oswald” famously read Russian newspapers and magazines, listened to Russian music, and was known to the Marines around him as “Oswaldovich.”
  
Days after arriving in Russia, in October 1959, he was admitted to Botkinskaya Hospital in Moscow for an alleged suicide attempt. He pretended he didn't understand Russian, but a doctor wrote about him: "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."

Of course, the Warren Commission and its apologists want us to believe that “Oswald” taught himself Russian during his spare time in the Marine Corps by reading Russian-language newspapers and magazines and consulting a dictionary.  Here’s an image of a Russian-language newspaper printed in San Francisco.  How long do you think it would take you to learn Russian by reading this and consulting a print dictionary, such as those available in the late 1950s?

 

 

For more on all of this, please visit HarveyandLee.net.

Alberto,

Thank you for these posts.

It would certainly be helpful at this point if good quality photos of the rifle from the Tuscan museum were available to researchers.  I did a little web searching and couldn’t find anything.  Do you know if SMI has taken any photographs?  Closeups of the rifle stamps and the WC label would be really helpful.

Do you know if the museum exhibit is open to the public? 

The article you linked appears to be a wine connoisseur publication.  Are you aware of any other similar published accounts, or is this subject radioactive even in Italy?  Sorry for all the questions and thanks again.

4 hours ago, David Josephs said:

David - wasn't Jenner and Rankin in on the explanation regarding Ely's work?  I would expect that Jenner, knowing about the inconsistencies and problems with Oswald's bio, would not treat PIC as a hostile witness.  Pic wasn't stupid... he was very careful with his answers...  but yeah, Jenner, like Liebeler had the WCR agenda...

Jenner earned his pay tiptoeing through minefields in the official biography of “LHO.”  For example, when questioning Robert Oswald, Jenner started to talk about the summer of 1947 when Allen Dulles abruptly adjourned.  When Robert’s testimony began again, Jenner said, “This brought us through the summer of 1948, I believe.”  Avoided was the revelation that during that very summer, one Oswald family was living at 1505 8th Ave. in Fort Worth while the other was in a new home at 101 San Saba in Benbrook.

When Robert testified that his brother Lee attended Stripling School in the fall of 1952, Jenner surely knew that NYC public school records showed LHO was in junior high school in New York at the same time.   He questioned the Stripling reference once, and then immediately dropped the subject, never to return to it.

When Ed Voebel told Jenner LEE Harvey Oswald lost a tooth in a fight after school, and Lillian Murret said the punch “ran his tooth through the lip” and she paid the dental bill, Jenner failed to ask for the dentist’s name so the records could be checked.

There are other examples that I don’t have time to research now, but Jenner appeared to be the go-to guy for avoiding “problems” in LHO’s biography.

Of the three anomalies in the 1951-52 census roll shown above (wrong birthdate, wrong name of mother, and wrong first name), the one that provides the greatest clue to unpacking this document is the name "Harvey" instead of "Lee."

There are nearly fifty instances of transposed names of "Lee" and "Harvey" in government documents in the period of the Oswald Project (1947-63).  With so much documentary evidence, it may will be, as Sandy Larsen suggested above,  that a record-keeping method had been devised for separate governmental dossiers for the two young men in the period leading up to the defection of Harvey.

In the 1951-52 census roll, all three of the anomalies help to draw a clear distinction between the two Oswald boys:  the name Harvey, the incorrect birthdate, and the use of name Ekdahl instead of Oswald.  Those three pieces of information clearly identify the young Russian-speaking boy as distinct from "Lee," born on October 18 to Marguerite Oswald.

Tracy Parnell would like us to assume that the October 19, 1938 birth date given on the census roll for Harvey Oswald was a mere typographical error with no other significance.   Remember, though, that the Marguerite impostor also informed NYC Youth House probation officer John Carro that her little boy's birthdate was October 19, 1938.  Is there a connection between the census roll and the erratic testimony of the Marguerite impostor?

With so many instances of the name Harvey Oswald (or Harvey Lee Oswald) in government documents, it would be irresponsible to conclude that the discrepancies are due merely to human or typographical error.

An essential reference point for understanding the scope of the Oswald Project is that on the day of the assassination, Robert Oswald was approached by the FBI and was asked the following question:

"Is your brother's name Lee Harvey Oswald or Harvey Lee Oswald?  We have it here as Harvey Lee."  

Robert's succinct response was:  "It's Lee Harvey Oswald."

Even the FBI was confused about the "Harvey" and "Lee" conundrum on November 22, 1963.  But shortly thereafter, a concerted effort was made to correct the record by either altering or destroying documents to give the appearance to history of a single Lee Harvey Oswald.

But too many documents survived the purge, such as this 1951-52 census roll.

An important study would be to systematically examine all of the documentary evidence in which Oswald's name is listed as "Harvey Oswald"  (or "Harvey Lee Oswald").  Such a study would demonstrate that by the day of the assassination, when Oswald was taken into custody, it was difficult for the authorities even to identify their suspect by name.  Who was this frail, mild-mannered man?   Alek J. Hidell?  Lee Harvey Oswald?  Or, Harvey Lee Oswald?

The FBI team on the ground in Dallas was under the impression that the man under arrest was "Harvey Lee Oswald" and requested confirmation from Robert Oswald to set them straight about his brother's name.  Around the same time, Lieutenant Jack Revill of the Dallas police had typed up a list of TSDB employees that was headed by the name "Harvey Lee Oswald" of 605 Elsbeth.  But Oswald never resided at 605 Elsbeth; he was in residence at 602 Elsbeth, Apt. 2 in 1962.  

It turned out that the information received by Lt. Revill was coming from a military intelligence file.  On April 20, 1978, Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Jones, operations officer of the U.S. Army's 112th Military Intelligence Group Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, testified before the House Select Committee on Assassinations.  He described a military dossier that he had read on Oswald and seemed confused as to why there was no indication that Oswald was ever debriefed by the CIA upon his return from the Soviet Union. (Click here.) The Committee failed to ask Col. Jones appropriate questions about why this file was "routinely" destroyed in the early 1970s and why Oswald would not be debriefed by the authorities following the  years spent in the USSR, let alone the finer points about "Harvey" and "Lee."

The difference between the census roll and the other other documents is that the former was a public record, as opposed to records from military intelligence files.  But in 1951-52, the Oswald Project was in its earliest stage of development.  The census roll needs to be placed in the context of the known body of evidence of "Harvey" Oswald in the pre-assassination period and the embryonic phase of the Oswald Project.  The architects of this spy project sought to create confusion in the event that the extremely efficient KGB were to follow a paper trail of the young man who had defected and who answered to the name of "Harvey."

The singular importance of this most recent discovery of John Armstrong is that that the census roll may be the earliest extant government document pertaining to the Oswald Project.  More scrutiny of the Ft. Worth school records may uncover additional documents like this one.
 

John has just made the following update to the Two Marguerites page on HarveyandLee.net....

=============== QUOTE ON ===============

During the Christmas holidays of 1957 Marguerite Claverie Oswald (mother of LEE Oswald) worked at Paul's Shoe Store in Ft. Worth (see group photo).  In the early spring of 1958 she was working at the Clyde Cambell Mens store. On May 29, 1957 at the request of Leonards Dept. Store, the Retail Merchants Credit association reported that Marguerite Claverie Oswald was living in apt. #3 at 3830 W. 6th in Ft. Worth (where she had been living for the past year, since June, 1956). 
 

NOTE: Marguerite Claverie Oswald (3830 W. 6th) and the Marguerite Oswald imposter (4936 Collinwood) lived nearby each other in Ft. Worth from June, 1956 thru June, 1957. In early October, 1957 the Marguerite Oswald impostor and HARVEY were living at the Hotel Senator in New Orleans, directly across the street from the Pfisterer Dental Lab where HARVEY worked and became close to co-worker Palmer McBride. At the same time Marguerite Claverie Oswald (mother of LEE Oswald) was living at 3830 W. 6th, apt 3.

 

One year later, in late spring 1958, Marguerite Claverie Oswald left Fort Worth and moved to New Orleans where she once again resided at 126 Exchange Place in the French Quarter. She obtained employment at the nearby Kriegers Dept Store and Holmes Dept Store where she sold women's clothes. While working she was visited by a few "old friends,"  including Mrs. Logan Magruder and Mrs. Benny Comenge. On May 17, 1958 a $1000 life insurance policy on LEE Harvey Oswald lapsed due to non-payment of premium. On June 10 the National Life and Accident Insurance company notified Mrs. Oswald of the policy lapse, by letter, addressed to her at 126 Exchange Place. Mrs. Oswald relayed the information to her son, LEE Oswald, in Japan. On June 30, while incarcerated in Atsugi, Japan, LEE Harvey Oswald applied to the company for reinstatement of the policy. He listed his address as US Marine Corps, MAG 11, MAC S-1, FPO San Francisco, CA., and listed his mother's address as 126 Exchange Place in New Orleans. LEE Oswald's mother never returned to Ft. Worth, and probably lived in New Orleans for the rest of her life. 

In the late spring of 1958, when Marguerite Claverie Oswald moved from Ft. Worth to New Orleans, the Marguerite Oswald impostor and HARVEY Oswald left New Orleans. HARVEY quit working for the Pfisterer Dental Lab, and he and his caretaker/mother left the Hotel Senator and moved to Ft. Worth. HARVEY wrote a letter to the dental lab and said that he was working for a shoe store in Ft. Worth. The letter was read to employees by the officer manager of the dental lab. The Marguerite Oswald impostor briefly worked for Washer Brothers, a family-owned department store with one location. On August 28 she began working for the King Candy Company and operated a booth at the Fair Ridglea Department Store in Fort Worth. On December 5, while at work, a jar fell on her head, allegedly causing injury. The Marguerite Oswald impostor claimed injury, hired an attorney, and was awarded workers compensation. She then applied for a hardship discharge to the US Marine Corps so that her "son" (HARVEY, now at MACS 9 in Santa Ana, CA) could return to Fort Worth and care for her. Following the summer of 1958 the Marguerite Oswald impostor, now living in Fort Worth, became the one and only "Marguerite Oswald," mother of the Lee HARVEY Oswald who "defected" to Russia in 1959 and was accused of killing President Kennedy in 1963. In the fall of 1958 the Marguerite Oswald impostor was now living in Ft. Worth, while Marguerite Claverie Oswald, the mother of LEE Oswald, was living in New Orleans. The switching of identities was now complete.
 

In the fall of 1958, after briefly working at a local shoe store, HARVEY Oswald left Fort Worth, re-entered the Marines, and was sent to Atsugi, Japan. On September 14, 1958 HARVEY Oswald boarded the USS Skagit for Taiwan, accompanied by Marines who never knew or were associated with LEE Oswald. On October 6, HARVEY Oswald was listed on Marine Corps Unit Diary #158-58 at Ping-Tung (North Taiwan). When later interviewed in Moscow by reporter Priscilla Johnson, HARVEY Oswald said, "After I finished high school I joined the Marines at 17.... I was in Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Formosa (the Dutch name for Taiwan). While HARVEY was in Taiwan, LEE Oswald remained in Japan and made repeated visits to the Atsugi Station Hospital in Japan on Sept. 16, 20, 22, 23, 29, and was admitted to the hospital on October 6. On October 5 HARVEY Oswald left Taiwan and returned to Japan. In late October, 1958, HARVEY Oswald left Japan and soon arrived at MACS 9 in Santa Ana, CA, where he would remain until discharged in Sept., 1959. On November 2, 1958 LEE Oswald left Yokosuku, Japan aboard the USS Barrett and arrived in San Francisco on November 15. After leave, LEE Oswald was stationed at the Marine Corps jet base in El Toro, CA. According to Major William P. Gorsky, Assistant Provost Marhsall at the Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro, LEE Harvey Oswald was discharged from the Marines in March, 1959. HARVEY Oswald remained at the Marine Corps base in Santa Ana, CA and was not discharged from the Marines until Sept. 11, 1959.
 

LEE Oswald was out of the Marines and his mother (Marguerite Claverie Oswald) was living at 126 Exchange Place in New Orleans. The Marguerite Oswald impostor was living in Ft. Worth, where she would remain for the rest of her life. Russian speaking HARVEY Oswald, now stationed in Santa Ana, CA, could now express his communist sympathies to fellow Marines and in doing so prepare for his upcoming "defection" to the Soviet Union. Soon, the CIA would successfully place HARVEY Oswald, a Russian speaking "American defector," inside the Soviet Union. 

================== QUOTE OFF ==================

 

11 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

I agree... it's like trying to figure out Mexico City.

But the Pic characterization problem is, in my view, an isolated one that should have a simple answer. The problem is self contained... at least that's the case if it is accepted that primarily only one of the Oswalds had truancy problems, and primarily only one of the Marguerites had employment problems.

I can think of only five possible explanation for Robert's mischaracterizations:

1. My "extended family" scenario.
2. It is actually LEE (not HARVEY) who had the truancy problem. (This doesn't explain the Marguerite employment problem. But I paid less attention to Pic's testimony regarding her, so perhaps that's not really a problem.)
3. The FBI went to town altering Pic's testimony. (This doesn't sound so absurd considering the real possibility that Pic's testimony was largely inconsistent with the official story.)
4. Pic was extensively coached, and did an excellent job of lying.
5. There were two Pics. (Maybe even two Roberts). And it was the fake one who testified.

Can anybody think of any other possibility that would account for Pic's wrong characterization of LEE and REAL Marguerite?

IMO, #4 would have been too difficult, #5 is too ridiculous, and #2 probably doesn't work for Marguerite. That leaves #1 and #3.

#3 certainly seems a lot more likely than #1. Though the alterationist likely would have had to be a professional story writer. Pic's testimony sounds very real to me.

Another possibility is a combination of #2 and #3. If it is LEE who was the truant one, that would explain Pic's characterization of LHO. (This is #2.) Any problem with Pic's characterization of Marguerite could be fixed through alteration. (This is #3.) Let's call this Possibility #6.

My favorites -- those that I think are feasible-- are:

      3. The FBI went to town altering Pic's testimony.
      6. It was LEE with truancy problems. And Pic's testimony regarding Marguerite was tweaked as necessary.

I know that there is evidence that the boy with truancy problem was HARVEY. But remember, there is also evidence that the boy was LEE. Is the evidence that it was HARVEY so great that we are sure it was he who was the truant one?

 

Not sure I’d make the assumption that only one of the Oswalds had truancy problems.  If Dr. Kurian’s recollection of Harvey telling him his “brother” substituted for him at school, and assuming that it could only have been a school-aged kid (like the other LHO), then its pretty clear both boys would have had truancy problems.

Regarding your numbered potential explanations….

1. I just can’t think of much evidence for it.
2. The decade-long pattern of Harvey being placed in and out of situations similar to Lee’s, always seeming to get just a “taste” of Lee’s life, including in the USMC, suggests Harvey would more likely have the truancy problem.  Hardly proof of that fact, though.
3. We have proof that the FBI did alter sworn testimony, and so this is always my leading thought when I read testimony that disagrees with what I think happened.  If this is the case, it begs the question of why Hoover didn’t change Pic’s refusal to recognize clear photos of his “brother.”  Could it be because those were considered opinions rather than recollections?  Because Pic might have recalled the photo evidence and question altered testimony later?  Or just an oversight?  (The FBI did make a lot of mistakes in the cover-up!)
4. Strikes me as dangerous to bring someone like Pic into the spy family game unless he was already a member.  And if he was, could the photo observations have been designed to throw us off that track. I’m inclined to reject this one but, as always, it had to be considered.
5. Funny, but not likely. 

Can you give us more of your theory about the census roll above?  The hiding from creditors explanation had never occurred to me, but it sure is funny that she would settle on the Ekdahl name, the false birth date, and "Harvey Oswald" all at the same time.

12 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

BTW, Greg Parker claims that schools didn't keep school records... the school district did. And that that proves that Oswald's record at Stripling could not have been taken by the FBI.

At the time of the assassination, each of the various schools in the Fort Worth Independent School District stored student records.  Some years later, these collective records were transferred to district headquarters and placed on microfilm.  Former Stripling assistant principal Frank Kudlaty talks about this very issue at about the 2:50 mark in Part III of his interview with John Armstrong.

The amount of evidence for Lee HARVEY Oswald at Stripling school is substantial.  In addition to his W.C. testimony, Robert says his brother attended the school in two separate newspaper reports prior to the assassination.
 

 

John Armstrong has a YouTube interview with Oswald’s Stripling classmate Fran Schubert.

At the time of the assassination, and at various times for more than a decade earlier, “Marguerite Oswald” lived at 2220 Thomas Place, right next to Stripling School.  What a coincidence, eh?

The principal of W.C. Stripling School in the late 1990s, Ricardo Galindo, told John it was “common knowledge” that Oswald attended Stripling.  John spoke to a number of other Stripling teachers and students who remembered Oswald at the school.
 

13 hours ago, David Andrews said:

Jim, has John ever considered why John Pic took an angry attitude in his WC testimony?  One couldn't read his emotions from the transcript, but the WC counsel brings the attitude up to Pic and threatens Pic with the law and the military authorities if he doesn't cooperate.  This may be the only instance in the WCR where a witness receives this treatment.

David,

During Pic’s testimony, I remember Jenner going through a bunch of legalize at an oddly inappropriate time, but don’t recall it being particularly threatening.  Can you give me an example?  (It’s long testimony, as you know.)

John just sent me this census page from 51-52 that indicates a “Harvey Oswald” was born to a “Marguerite Ekdahl” on October 19, 1938.  (According to the WC, “Lee Harvey Oswald” was born on Oct. 18.)  Note John’s note about Marguerite’s use of the name “Oswald.”
 

Anyone care to make a theory about this?  Just a series of weirdly familiar mistakes?

13 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

Jim,

So are you saying that you think both the boys were (or might have been) truant?

BTW, that thing about one brother substituting for the other did come to mind, even before John mentioned it. In fact it's one thing that made me wonder if HARVEY and FAKE Marguerite were spending a lot of time with LEE and the REAL Marguerite, like an extended family..

 

Beyond Robert, who clearly moved back and forth between the pairs, I can’t think of any evidence at all for the extended family business.  What else can we do but follow the evidence?  The “brother” NYC school substitution Dr. Kurian recalled Harvey talking about, however, could provide a hint to Lee’s possible truancy, but that still doesn’t explain Pic’s characterization of Marguerite.  I’m puzzled by it.

What isn’t puzzling, though, is the increasingly clear evidence that school records from NYC, New Orleans, and Fort Worth were both destroyed and fabricated in order to make two Lee Harvey Oswalds appear to be one.  Ditto for the employment records.  The Marine records are even clearer.  The evidence for two Oswalds in the weeks prior to the assassination, of course, is famous (or infamous).  Filling in the other details, considering all the disinformation we’ve been handed, isn’t easy.

David and Sandy,

Here's the page from Robert Oswald's book that mentions the Manhattan school:

 

1 hour ago, Cliff Varnell said:

This thread deserves a bump.

It certainly does!  The Starnes article is what sent Arthur Krock of the NYTimes to DefCon 11 the very next day.  I didn't see the Krock piece here, so....

4 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

 

As can be seen on the left (or right) school record, Oswald entered P.S. 44 late, on March 23. Using David's chart below, I count that there were 65 days available for Oswald to attend spring semester. However, he was dismissed 17 of those days to attend Youth House. That leaves 48 days available to him to attend. Therefore, had he not missed a single day, his records would have shown he attended 48 days.

However -- AND THIS IS REALLY AMAZING -- Oswalds records show that he attended an astonishing 110.5 days! That is more days than are available in a whole term!!

But it's worse than that. Oswald did miss some days... 16.5 days according to the school record above. So he really attended only 48 - 16.5 = 31.5 days.

So Oswald attended only 31.5 days but got credit for 110.5 days! Where did that extra 79 days come from??

 

I have a working hypothesis, one that is very similar to what happened in the Beauregard Junior High School case, where HARVEY's records were apparently merged with LEE's.

Here's what may have happened. HARVEY attended P.S. 117, missed more days than he attended, and got failing grades. He transferred to P.S. 44, was truant, went to Youth House, and finished out the spring term with several absences. In all he was in attendance for only 31.5 days, as David's chart shows. He then disappeared from P.S. 44. Perhaps he attended a different school in the fall of 1953. But he did not attend P.S. 44.

See that middle school record above? HARVEY's final record at P.S. 44 would have looked almost like that. The only difference is that it would show the number of days present at P.S. 44 as 31.5 and the number of days absent as 16.5, as discussed above. There would be no scores for P.S. 44 classes written in, as HARVEY attended so few days. Now try to visualize this record so that you'll be able to see how it will later be merged with LEE's record.

LEE also attended P.S. 44 in the spring of 1953, as well as in the fall. However, he didn't transfer in from P.S. 11 7like HARVEY did. As a result he got a school record sheet that begins at P.S. 44. It looked very little like HARVEY's record sheet. It contained only the two columns of P.S. 44 passing grades we see in the left (or right) record above. Now try to visualize LEE's record.

Now, later on somebody (the FBI?) discovered that there were two records for the same person, our LHO. The person decided to copy the scores over from one of the records to the other so that there would be a single, complete record. If you visualize the two records, it will become obvious why the person decided to transfer the data from LEE's record over to HARVEY's and not vice versa. It's because, to that person, it looked as though somebody had accidentally created a new record (LEE's) for Oswald rather than appending the new P.S. 44 data onto the prior (HARVEY's) record, as should be done.So the person proceeded to do just that. He copied LEE's data over to HARVEY's record.

There was only one problem in doing this. And that is that there were TWO FIELDS that both had data, and they conflicted. Those were the Days Present and the Days Absent fields. Not understanding why there would be any such numbers at all on HARVEY's  record, and seeing that the number on HARVEY's record was rather small anyway (only 31.5), he decided to just add the numbers together.

As a good student, LEE had only a few absences. To make this work out, let's say that his record showed 79 days of attendance. This is not too far from a full term. Adding that to the 31.5 on HARVEY's record gives a total of 110.5 days of attendance. So the guy erased the 31.5 and replaced it with 110.5. Which is what we see on the merged record, above.

And that is the reason we see a school record that radically conflicts with HARVEY's known truancy problem, and why we see an impossibly large number for days attended in the spring of 1953. That is, according to this hypothesis.

 

And this is yet another reason why all of "Oswald's" original school and employment records had to disappear!

 

Sandy,

The last paragraph of John’s note refers to Dr. Kurian’s recollection that HARVEY told him his “brother” often substituted for him in school.  The Marine and Coast Guard employment of Robert and John Pic—as well as their significant age differences—shows that the brother substitute couldn’t have been either one of them.  If it was LEE who was doing the substituting, how could he not have a truancy problem, despite what the clearly bogus NYC school records seem to indicate?  Unraveling NYC is no easy task, although as you and David have shown, it is provable that the school records have been fabricated.

 

17 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

I think that it's just a little too "Get Smart"-ish to come up with the idea of both the boys going to different schools with identical numbers. Maybe not, but that's how I feel right now.

In fact, in this New York Times article the following is reported:

"The flea market at Intermediate School 44 on Columbus Avenue at 76th Street began humbly enough: a few fruit and vegetable stands in the early 1980's that gave part of their proceeds to the school."

See what I mean, jellybean? The article gives the exact same address for the school that Robert Oswald gave.

Fabulous find, Sandy!  It gives Robert's recollection of the Manhattan school attendance far more credibility.  Thank you!

Looking forward to hearing reactions to John's point about Harvey telling Dr. Kurian about his "brother" substituting for him in the NYC school.  I'd forgotten all about it.

Sandy,

I sent your post to John and he wrote back with the following (your comments in black, John's in red):

Jim,

I'm having trouble reconciling some things when the Oswalds were
living in NYC.

By studying everything, it seemed to me that it was HARVEY who was
mostly absent from school in 7th grade, and not LEE. YES, ABSOLUTELY !! And it seemed
that it was FAKE Marguerite who was the unfriendly one who went from
job to job. OF COURSE. But now I find myself doubting this conclusion, because
John Pic's testimony seems to suggest quite the opposite.

John Pic's testimony is here.

I've always thought that Pic was either largely unaware of the
Oswald Project, or at least wasn't in a position (or not willing) to
play along with it in his WC testimony. However, in hist testimony
he talks about his brothers' truancy and psychological problems, and
about his mother frequently changing jobs. His testimony tells me
that I've got it backwards... that it was really his mother who
couldn't hold onto a job, and really his brother LEE who was truant.
NO, PIC KNEW HIS BROTHER LEE. HE TOLD THE WC THAT HIS
BROTHER ATTENDED A JHS AT 89TH/90TH BETWEEN 2ND &
3RD AVENUE (BUT THIS IS MANHATTAN, NOT THE BRONX).
PIC ALSO FAILED TO IDENTIFY THE BRONX ZOO PHOTO AS HIS
BROTHER.

Either that or he was fibbing in his testimony and going along with
the official story. That is to say, he was really referring to the
FAKE Marguerite and HARVEY when speaking of his mother and brother.

What is your take on this? PIC FAILED TO IDENTIFY SEVERAL OF
HARVEY'S PHOTOS AS HIS BROTHER, INCLUDING A PHOTO OF
HARVEY HANDING OUT FPCC LITERATURE IN NEW ORLEANS.
PIC KNEW, ABSOLUTELY, BUT WAS NOT WILLING TO DISCLOSE
MUCH.

NOW, LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING INTERESTING. ROBERT OSWALD
TOLD THE WC THAT HIS "BROTHER" ATTENDED STRIPLING JHS IN
FT WORTH. BUT THIS WAS HARVEY, NOT LEE. ROBERT'S TESTIMONY
LEAD ME TO STRIPLING, AND STUDENTS WHO REMEMBERED HARVEY
IN THE 9TH GRADE (WHILE LEE WAS ATTENDING BEAUREGARD JHS IN
NEW ORLEANS. NOW, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO THINK WHEN ROBERT
WROTE IN HIS BOOK (LEE, BY ROBERT OSWALD) THAT HIS BROTHER
ATTENDED A JHS NEAR 68TH & COLUMBUS (SORRY, NOT SURE OF THE
EXACT ADDRESS, BUT IT IS IN HIS BOOK). NOW, GUESS WHAT JUNIOR 
HIGH SCHOOL IS NEAR THIS ADDRESS?? 

LEE WAS ATTENDING PS 44 IN THE BRONX, WITH A GOOD ATTENDANCE
RECORD. HARVEY MAY HAVE BEEN ATTENDING A JHS NEAR 68TH &
COLUMBUS (OR COLUMBIA) IN MANHATTAN. CAN YOU GUESS THE 
NAME OF THIS SCHOOL ?????

IT IS PS 44 (IN MANHATTAN). THERE WAS A PS 44 IN ALL 5 NEW YORK 
BURROUGHS IN THE 1950'S.

SANDY, YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK. JUST KEEP FOLLOWING
THE EVIDENCE. AND LOOK AT THE YOUTUBE VIDEO OF DR. MILTON
KURIAN, A PSYCHIATRIST WHO INTERVIEWED HARVEY IN APRIL,
1953. HARVEY TOLD DR. KURIAN THAT HIS "BROTHER" WOULD
OFTEN SUBSTITUTE FOR HIM IN SCHOOL. NOW, AT THIS TIME 18
YEAR ROBERT OSWALD WAS IN THE MARINES AND PIC WAS IN
THE COAST GUARD AND MARRIED. WHO WAS HARVEY'S "BROTHER?"
I THINK YOU KNOW THE ANSWER.
 

Man, sometimes DJ’s posts make me think I’ve got to run out and do some mental calisthenics and read it again… a couple of times.  One thing that’s clear from his work on NYC, though, is how perfect that city was for mingling the identities of two boys.  An urban jungle with a massive public transportation system for ‘splaining nearly impossible things and, even better, a system of giving schools identical numbers in up to five different boroughs.  It all went swimmingly until the project got caught up in the New York court system, a crisis that made all parties flee to the South.  

Nevertheless, Sandy raises an interesting question about John Pic’s testimony.  I always believed, and I think John does too, that LEE, not HARVEY, stayed briefly at the Pics’ apartment.  I don’t have an immediate explanation for Pic’s testimony about his “brother’s” truancy. Several come to mind, but they seem forced.  I’ll pose the question to John asap, because I’m curious about his take also.  That’s a good catch, Sandy, and I can’t believe I didn’t notice it for all these years.  

On the school mysteries, John used Google maps to determine the distances from Pic’s apartment in Manhattan to a number of the schools under consideration here.  PS 44 in the Bronx was 8 miles away.  It’s hard to imagine a kid traveling that distance every day just to attend school.  Why would he have been enrolled there?  P.S. 44 on Columbus Ave. at 76th St., named by Robert, was 2 1/2 miles from Pic’s apartment, still a long commute in a city like New York, but more conceivable than the Bronx school.  John couldn’t locate a school in the exact location Pic named (“on about 89th, 90th Street between Third Avenue and Second Avenue” ) but he found the same school that DJ mentioned, P.S. 66, at 88th Street and First Avenue, which is pretty close to Pic’s recalled location.
 

The WC requested Oswald's original New York school records

As I began sorting through New York school and court records, I realized that

the Warren Commission may also have been aware of conflicting records. They asked

the FBI to obtain Oswald's original school and court records, but the Bureau did not

comply. The Commission then wrote to New York Mayor Robert Wagner and asked his

office for help in obtaining Oswald's original school records.

 

Mayor Wagner's office responded to the Commission's request by enclosing

copies of Oswald's New York school records and advising that the original court records

had been turned over to SA John Malone personally by Judge Florence Kelley. ^53-09 It

appeared the original records disappeared while in SA Malone's custody, so I decided

to place all available documentation and correspondence in chronological order to see

if my thoughts were correct.

 

Oswald's school records disappeared while in FBI custody

 

Judge Florence Kelley was the Administrative Judge of the Family Court of the

State of New York in 1963, and the Oswald case file (#23979) was under her supervision.

After the assassination she conferred with superior court judges and together they de­-

cided the Oswald file would be given to the Special Agent in charge of the FBI's New

York office, John Malone.

 

On November 27, 1963 Judge Kelley allowed SAIC Malone to review the

Oswald file in her chambers and in her presence. She permitted him to take notes of

pertinent portions, but would not permit the file to be removed from her office or copied.

A few days later she conferred with the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division,

Bernard Botein, and with his approval agreed to turn over all original court records in

possession of the Family Court to SAIC Malone.

 

On December 2, 1963 Judge Kelley personally gave the Oswald file to Malone

with the condition that it be transmitted immediately to the Warren Commission. Three

days later, on December 5, 1963, FBI SA Michael O'Rourke advised the Secret Service

the file had been sent to the Warren Commission. On December 10, eight days after Judge

Kelley turned her court file over to the FBI, an internal FBI memo relating to the Files

of Domestic Relations Court states, "rec'd by Assist Dir. John Malone 11/27-12/2." From

this memo and Judge Kelley's statement, it is clear that Judge Kelley gave the original

court file to SAIC Malone.

 

In preparation for the testimony of Marguerite Oswald in February 1964, the

Warren Commission requested Oswald's original New York school and court records

from Mayor Wagner of New York City. On February 4, Miss Bernice McCrae of the

Mayors office spoke with Judge Kelley, who advised that she had given the original

records to SAIC John Malone.

 

Miss McCrae then telephoned the FBI's New York Office. She asked if the

original records in the Oswald file had, in fact, been turned over to the Warren Commis­-

sion. Miss McCrae never received an answer. Later that afternoon she wrote a letter on

behalf of Mayor Wagner to Mr. Rankin of Warren Commission which stated, "I am at­

taching to this letter copies of the school records .... Judge Florence Kelley informed me

she turned over all original records in the possession of the Family Court dealing with

the case of Lee Harvey Oswald to John F. Malone, Assistant Director in Charge of the

New York City office of the FBI."⁴²There is no evidence or documentation whatsoever that

Malone turned the original court file over to the Warren Commission.

 

On February 7, at 3:37 pm, FBI Inspector J. R. Malley telephoned the FBI's

New York office and spoke to the Assistant Special Agent in Charge, W. M. Alexander,

about the original court records. Malley advised that FBI headquarters in Washington

had no information that indicated the original documents had been received from New

York and he asked Alexander to check further.

 

At 3:45 pm Alexander telephoned Malley and advised that SAIC Malone. his

supervisor. had photographed the entire file and that copies of the file had been sent to

FBI headquarters in Washington. Alexander said there was no record that photographs

were sent to FBI headquarters, but that additional photographs of the file were available.

Malley then asked that two copies of the photographs be sent immediately to his atten­

tion at FBI Headquarters in Washington.

 

There is no indication that Inspector Malley made any additional inquiries into

the fate of the original court files, which were last seen by Judge Kelley when she per­

sonally handed them to SAIC John Malone. Whenever original records are destroyed and only

copies or photographs remain, it is probable that the original documents were altered and then

photocopied.

 

Psychiatric and court records disappeared while in FBI custody

 

The original psychiatric records relating to Lee Harvey Oswald, contained in

Judge Kelley's court file, also disappeared while in FBI custody. On December 4, 1963

FBI agent John James O'Flaherty sent "photographic reproductions" of Oswald's psy­

chiatric examination to his boss, SAIC John Malone.

 

On December 10, eight days after Judge Kelley turned her court file over to the

FBI, an internal FBI memo relating to the Files of Domestic Relations Court stated

"rec'd by Assist Dir. John Malone 11/27-12/2." Malone reported that the FBI's New York

office had acquired photographic reproductions (not originals) of Oswald's psychiatric

examination.

 

On December 30, the FBI allegedly acquired copies of Calendar of Bureau

Hearings, Calendar of Court Prosecutions, and Central Clearance Bureau Social Services

Exchange Records re: Lee Harvey Oswald, but none of the original documents were located.

 

If the Warren Commission was serious about locating Oswald's original psychi­

atric records, they could have begun with SA John James O'Flaherty. They could have

asked O'Flaherty if the "photographic reproductions" he made and sent to his boss were

made from the original psychiatric records. They then should have asked O'Flaherty's

boss, SAIC John Malone, what happed to the original records given to him by Judge

Kelley.

 

There is no doubt the FBI had possession of Oswald's original school records

and court files and withheld the originals from the Warren Commission. When they pro­

vided copies of the documents to the Commission I wondered if they gave the Commis­

sion all of the documents received from Judge Kelley or only some of the documents. I

also wondered the extent to which some or all of the copies they provided to the Com­

mission had been altered or manipulated.

 

NOTE: The New York office of the FBI received the original court and school records

from Judge Florence Kelley and probably sent them to FBI headquarters in Washington,

DC. The original records were probably in their possession when the Warren Commis­-

sion requested them in 1964, but provided only photographic reproductions to the Com­-

mission. The original New York school, court, and psychiatric records disappeared and

have never been located.

 

On September 8, 1995 Anne Buttimer, of the ARRB, began reviewing all Warren Com­

mission exhibits and FBI files pertaining to Lee Harvey Oswald to determine what ori-

nal documents were already in the collection (National Archives). She wrote, "New York

City School records. There are copies in the file along with a 1964 letter from the mayor

of New York, Mayor Wagner, to Lee Rankin, stating that all of LHO's NYC school records

were given to the FBI in New York City, and that it was Mayor Wagner's understand­-

ing that the FBI in NY turned the originals over to the Warren Commission."

 

On February 14, 1996 Doug Horne of the ARRB wrote a memo to Jeremy Gunn and

said, "I propose that the Oswald project be defined as follows: A. Identify, locate and

acquire for the archives Oswald's original school records, if they still exist. " Horne failed

to locate a single one of Oswald's original New York school or court records.

 

Joe Freeman, a Washington, DC-based private investigator working/or the ARRB, was

assigned the task (by ARRB staff member Doug Horne) of locating and reviewing all

original documents relating to Oswald's biography. After an exhaustive search, Freeman

wrote a memo that stated, "All the school records and employment records I looked at in

the Warren Commission Exhibit files at Archives II were copies. not originals. "^{43 53-08}

 

The FBI fails to investigate Oswald's background

 

Fallowing the assassination the FBI obtained the names of all of Oswald's class­

mates and teachers from PS #44, according to school Principal Nicholas Cicchetti, but

failed to provide reports of those interviews to the Warren Commission.⁴⁴

 

Commission attorney John Ely realized the FBI was providing little information

on Oswald's background. After reading a detailed description of Oswald's life in Fort

Worth, in Life Magazine, he wrote a memo to his boss and said, "We're getting more

information from Life Magazine than we are from the FBI." In another memo Ely

wrote, "Once again let me urge that we should not have to rely upon Life Magazine for

such a list. The FBI should undertake a systematic identification and interview of

Oswald's closest school friends. "^{45 53-02}

 

But the Commission ignored Ely's memo, and never pressured the Bureau to

interview Oswald's school friends in New York. In addition, the FBI failed to obtain re­

port cards, class photos, and not a single yearbook from any of the New York Schools.

The only original item which the Commission had from New York was a photograph of

Oswald standing in front of an iron fence at the Bronx Zoo, which appeared in the Feb­

ruary 21, 1964 edition of Life Magazine.

--from Harvey and Lee, pp. 62-65, Copyright © 2003 by John Armstrong

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FBI agents, within hours of the assassination, began confiscating the school and teen-aged employment records of Lee Harvey Oswald.  This was done before any known effort was made to determine if the alleged assassin had accomplices or if any other members of the U.S. government were targeted.

A biography of “Lee Harvey Oswald” as a child and teenager eventually was created by the Warren Commission based largely of alleged copies of the original documents which disappeared while in FBI custody.  Among the witnesses who contradicted the Warren Commission’s official biography were “Lee Harvey Oswald’s”  mother Marguerite, his brother Robert, his half-brother John Pic, and school and work witnesses and friends including Maury Goodman, Louis Marzialle, Rita Paveur, Francis Mouton, Frank DiBenedetto, Gloria Callaghan, Palmer McBride, Frank Kudlaty, Fran Schubert, Myra DaRouse, Doug Gann, Bobby Pitts, Mark Summers, William Wulf, Walter Gehrke, Milton Kurian, Henry Timmer, and undoubtedly others not occurring to me at the moment.

Members of the Warren Commission must have suspected something was wrong with the copies of “Lee Harvey Oswald’s” school records, because they requested originals from the FBI, which ignored the request.  John Armstrong and the ARRB confirmed that there were no original school records whatsoever in the huge collection of documents in the JFK collection at the National Archives.
 

WHY WERE “OSWALD’S” ORIGINAL SCHOOL AND OTHER RECORDS CONFISCATED AND DESTROYED? 

WHAT WAS THE FBI HIDING ABOUT “LEE HARVEY OSWALD’S” CHILDHOOD BIOGRAPHY?
 

 

Of course, Tracy isn't suspicious of anything in this case.  Even if a footnote jumped out of the WCR, put on a sock and shoe, and stepped on his foot he'd just say something like, "Happens all the time with these pesky notes."

Another gem from HarveyandLee.net

DISAPPEARING NYC SCHOOL RECORDS

John Pic told the Warren Commission that in 1952 LHO attended a school in the NYC Borough of Manhattan, “located on about 89th, 90th Street between Third Avenue and Second Avenue. Lee didn't like this school. I didn't much blame him. “

Robert Oswald wrote that his brother also attended school in Manhattan.  On page 63 of his book LEE, Robert writes: “Lee entered the 8th grade at P.S. 44 on Columbus Ave. at 76th St.”  This address was  in Manhattan, as was the location “on about 89th, 90th Street between Third Avenue and Second Avenue” that John Pic described.  

P.S. 44 in Manhattan today (Google image)

According to the Warren Commission, “Lee Harvey Oswald” attended school only in the Borough of Bronx during this period, principally at P.S. 44 in the Bronx. (NYC repeats public school numbers in the various boroughs.)
 

P.S. 44 in the Bronx today (Google image)

 

If John Pic and Robert Oswald were right, one “Lee Harvey Oswald” was attending school in Manhattan while another “LHO” (according to published WC docs) was at school in the Bronx.  But what happened to the Manhattan school records?

Around 1995, John Armstrong discovered that the WC may have suspected something was wrong with the black and white COPIES of Oswald’s school records provided by the FBI.  John wrote that the WC asked the FBI to “obtain Oswald's original school and court records, but the Bureau did not comply. The Commission then wrote to New York Mayor Robert Wagner and asked his office for help in obtaining Oswald's original school records. Mayor Wagner's office responded to the Commission's request by enclosing copies of Oswald's New York school records and advising that the original court records had been turned over to SA John Malone personally by Judge Florence Kelley.”  But, of course the ORIGINAL records all disappeared, replaced by copies.  Much more about these disappearing records can be found on pp. 62-65 of Harvey and Lee.

John was unable to locate any ORIGINAL school records for “Lee Harvey Oswald” at the National Archives.  In 1995, the ARRB reached the same conclusion.
 

 

When John called John Pic, his only comment was "I stand by my Warren Commission testimony," which included this:

Mr. PIC - Well, sir; the Lee Harvey Oswald I met in November of 1962 was not the Lee Harvey Oswald I had known 10 years previous. This person struck me as someone with a chip on his shoulder, who had these purposes I mentioned, to do something about. 

Can you be much clearer than that?

2 hours ago, W. Tracy Parnell said:

Normal for someone to change after years and years and have a former friend not recognize them? Seems normal to me and has happened to me many times.

Ah... only Warren Commission apologists are aware of the passage of time and that it can change a person's appearance?  Funny argument to make since Julian Evans clearly considered it--and rejected it.

Mr. EVANS - I think she's a fine woman, myself, a fine woman; intelligent, very soft spoken - a beautiful woman, with black hair streaked with a little gray, but when you saw her on television since this thing happened, she really looked awful; nothing at all like she used to look. She has really aged. She looked like a charwoman, compared to what she used to look like. She used to be a fashion plate. She dressed beautifully, but when we saw her on television just recently, after all this happened, she looked awful. There's no way to describe it, the change that has come over her. You wouldn't have recognized her if they hadn't told you who she was; she looked that different. Where her hair used to be black, now it's entirely gray, and she really looks Old
Mr. JENNER - Well, she's 57, I believe.
Mr. EVANS - That's right; she's the same age as my wife, but she looks about 70 now. That's about all I can remember about her, and then I saw this thing on television when the President was assassinated, and when it showed her picture, we just couldn't believe it was Marguerite.