John Kowalski

Congratulations Jim.

CIA were desperate for information about the Soviet Union. It was a totalitarian state and this made it difficult to get information about them. The reason why it was so difficult for Soviets to emigrate was the Soviet leadership did not want emigres going to the west and providing US intelligence agencies with information about them. If Oswald was a true defector who acted on his own volition the US government would not allow him to return to the US without first been debriefed by the CIA and other US intelligence agencies.

Byron Phillips lived in Vernon Texas, which is 190 miles from Dallas. Marguerite was employed by him from about August or September 1961 until January or February 1962. Around this time Lee was trying to return to the US with Marina and his child with him. Phillips signed an Immigration and Naturalization document that stated that he would guarantee that Lee and his family would have financial support when they returned to the US. Paul Bleau's story on Kennedys and King has some links to documents regarding Phillips, the man who hired Marguerite to work for him. Another person she worked for is also mentioned. You and John may want to have a look at these documents because it provides information that can be added to her timeline. Paul Bleau is researching a story about the FPCC. He has new evidence and will be publishing it in about three months. Should be interesting.

Jim: Paul Bleau was on Black Ops Radio and he mentioned you and John Armstrong in regard to his work on the 5th wallet with $180 in it, and Byron Phillips sponsorship of Marina. He also has a story about this on Kennedys and King. Did not know that there were so many wallets and have never heard of Byron Phillips before.

It would be nice to speak to her again or to her daughter who was a home room teacher for either Lee or Harvey. However, her daughter was born in 1928, if still alive she would be 93. Marguerite's addresses would be difficult to research because she moved around a lot. If she lived less than a year in a place then the city directory or telephone book may not have a listing for her. The addresses I have been able to locate for Beulah are in Fort Worth, so that may be where they lived together. My documents show that Beulah and her husband lived together from 1930 until his death in 1965. So when did they live together, sometime after 1965 or did Marguerite live with them when her husband was still alive?

Jim: Do you know if John every wrote about the National Committee for a Free Europe? This organization found jobs for refugees from Communist countries i.e. Eastern Europeans, so they could help prepare for the liberation of Europe. This organization would be a good place for clandestine operators to locate individuals to be sent back to Eastern Europe.

Was able to locate a few addresses none of which correspond to her time with Marguerite. John Armstrong spoke to her but did not ask how they became roommates or her address. He believes that they may have been living together at Marguerite's place and that Harvey was not there when they were roommates.

Jim, John and Denny: While researching Louis M. Bloomfield I found a letter written by him to Mr. and Mrs. Max Meyer who lived in Westport CT in 1967. Mrs. Tippit, who received the anonymous call after JFK assassination, resided there in 1967 and lived about a 9 minute drive away. Westport CT is a small town, maybe the Meyers knew the Tippits or maybe not. Most likely a coincidence that Bloomfield knew someone who lived nearby the Tippits. Has anyone heard of Marguerite Maher, America First organizer for Yorkville section, and Willie Myer and Edward Meyer who were active in American nationalist party? John Armstrong mentioned a document saying that there was a Marguerite Oswald connected to poopoo activities in New Jersey, maybe they knew each other? https://archive.org/details/westport-ct_202107

Saw that movie as well and what you said about Ekdahl made sense. He could have played a similar role as the Courier did in the USSR, in China and Japan. He could have been making observations about military technology or actively participating in operations, while maintaining a cover job as an employee of an American company operating in China. The ending of the movie had an interesting revelation that is relevant to H&L. The real Courier, Greville Wynn, who was captured by the Soviets was exchanged for Konon Molody aka Gordon Lonsdale.

Jim: Already queried you and John about that one. It was Beulah Bratton who overheard Marguerite speaking, when they briefly shared an apartment together. Beulah's daughter, Betty Lee Bratton, was either Lee's or Harvey's homeroom teacher during the 1951-1952 school year. Did some research on Ann J. Burroughar, alternate spelling is Burrougher. According to the 1940 census she was living with Marguerite, John, Robert and Lee. The only thing I could find out about her is that she lived in St. John Mississippi in 1935.

Thanks Denny. Read a book that I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about the use of cover jobs by the ONI. The Archaeologist was a Spy: Sylvanus G. Morley and the Office of Naval Intelligence by Charles H. Harris and Louis R. Sadler. This book focuses on ONI operations in Mexico and Central America and shows how people were recruited and given cover jobs with companies like United Fruit while they collected information for the ONI.

Jean Stafford interviewed Marguerite Oswald for her book A Mother in History. She said that she believed that Marguerite had elocution lessons. Could she had taken them so she could change her accent? If she did take these lessons then maybe Harvey took the same lessons to hide his East European accent.

It's also interesting that Ekdahl joined the navy during WWI and worked at the New London Connecticut Experimental Station. This station developed submarine detection devices that could be used by the navy to locate and destroy German U-boats. I would not be surprised if the ONI had some connection to, or an interest in the work been done there. After the war he departed for Shanghai China, which was known as a mecca for intrigue. He was employed by a company called Amos & Bird which was an dried egg exporter. This company was bought out by Midland Packing. His passport applications indicated that he was going to travel to Japan as well. What would an egg company want with an electrical engineer? Maybe his employment was a cover for collecting technological developments in China and Japan pertaining to the military. As an engineer he would be qualified to evaluate these type of developments. ONI cover jobs were known as "cloaks." There is a good possibility that Ekdahl's cloak was an electrical engineer working for an American Company in China. Below is a quote from The Office of Naval Intelligence the Birth of Americas First Intelligence Agency 1865-1918 by Jeffrey M Dorwat: p.138 “Naval intelligence did not rush a safe cracker to Peking but displayed unusual ingenuity in covering its Far Eastern agents with clever cloaks. A female employee of Bonwit Teller & Company toured Asia on a clothes-buying trip while collecting information for ONI. At the same time, Welles hired the curator of mammals at the American Museum of Natural History as an operative for China. The office supplied him with $4.00 a day and instructions to transmit messages to Gillis in invisible ink. “It is hoped good use can be made of his abilities and cover,”

Thanks Anthony.

Douglas: Will this talk be available on YouTube?