MARINA'S LETTER TO JUDGE TUNHEIM

[Tim Gratz]

Below is the text of a letter that Marina Porter wrote to the ARRD in April of 1996. I am sure she must have had assistance in writing the letter. Anyone know who (if anyone) was working with her on this?

Marina Oswald Porter's Letter, April 1996

Mr. John Tunheim, Chairman

JFK Assassination Records Review Board

600 E Street, NW, Second Floor

Washington, DC 20530

Dear Mr. Tunheim:

I am writing to you regarding the release of still classified documents related to the assassination of President Kennedy, and to my former husband, Lee Harvey Oswald. Specifically, I am writing to ask about documents I have learned of from a recent book and from a story in the Washington Post by the authors of the same book (as well as other documents they have described to me). The book reviews Dallas police, FBI, and CIA files released since 1992, and places them in the context of previously known information. I would like to know what the Review Board is doing to obtain the following:

1. The Dallas field office and headquarters FBI reports on the arrests of Donnell D. Whitter and Lawrence R. Miller in Dallas on November 18, 1963 with a carload of stolen U.S. army weapons. I believe that Lee Oswald was the FBI informant who made these arrests possible. I would also like to know what your board has done to obtain the reports of t he U.S. Marshal and the U.S. Army on the same arrests, and the burglary these men were suspected of.

2. the records of the FBI interrogations of John Franklin Elrod, John Forrester Gedney and Harold Doyle (the latter men were previously known as two of the "three tramps") in the Dallas jail November 22-24, 1963. All of these men have stated that they were interrogated during that time by the FBI.

3. The official explanation of why the arrest records for Mr. Elrod, Mr. Gedney, and Mr. Doyle, as well as for Daniel Wayne Douglas and Gus Abrams were placed "under federal seal" in the Dallas Police Records Division for 26 years as described by Dallas City Archives supervisor Laura McGhee to the FBI in 1992.

4. The FULL records of the interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald, including his interrogation in the presence of John Franklin Elrod as described by Elrod in an FBI report dated August 11, 1964.

5. The reports of army intelligence agent Ed J. Coyle on his investigation of Captain George Nonte, John Thomas Masen, Donnell D. Whitter, Lawrence R. Miller, and/or Jack Ruby. I am also requesting that you obtain agent Coyle's reports as army liaison for presidential protection on November 22, 1963 (as described by Coyle's commanding officer Col. Robert Jones in sworn testimony to the House Select Committee on Assassinations). If the army does not immediately produce these documents, they should be required to produce agent Coyle to explain what happened to his reports.

6. Secret Service reports and tapes of that agency's investigation of Father Walter Machann and Silvia Odio in 1963-64.

7. Reports of the FBI investigation of Cuban exiles in Dallas, to include known but still classified documents on Fermin de Goicochea Sanchez, Father Walter Machann and the Dallas Catholic Cuban Relocation Committee. These would include informant files for Father Machann and/or reports of interviews of Father Machann by Dallas FBI agent W.Heitman.

8. The full particulars and original of the teletype received by Mr. William Walter in the New Orleans FBI office on the morn-ing of November 17, 1963, warning of a possible assassination attempt on President Kennedy in Dallas. I now believe that my former husband met with the Dallas FBI on November 16, 1963, and provided informant information on which this teletype was based.

9. A full report of Lee Harvey Oswald's visit to the Dallas FBI office on November 16, 1963.

10. A full account of FBI agent James P. Hosty's claim (in his recent book, ASSIGNMENT: OSWALD) that Lee Harvey Oswald knew of a planned "paramilitary invasion of Cuba" by "a group of right wing Cuban exiles in outlying areas of New Orleans.' We now know that such an invasion was indeed planned by a Cuban group operating on CIA payroll in Miami, New Orleans, and Dallas--the same group infiltrated by Lee Oswald. We know this information ONLY from documents released since 1992, as described in the book I have mentioned. On what basis did agent Hosty believe Lee "had learned" of these plans, unless Lee himself told him this? I am therefore specifically requesting the release of the informant report that Lee Oswald provided to agent Hosty and/or other FBI personnel on this intelligence information.

The time for the Review Board to obtain and release the most important documents related to the assassination of President Kennedy is running out. At the time of the assassination of this great president whom I loved, I was misled by the "evidence" presented to me by government authorities and I assisted in the conviction of Lee Harvey Oswald as the assassin. From the new information now available, I am now convinced that he was an FBI informant and believe that he did not kill President Kennedy. it is time for Americans to know their full history. On this day when I and all Americans are grieving for the victims of Oklahoma City, I am also thinking of my children and grandchildren, and of all American children, when I insist that your board give the highest priority to the release of the documents I have listed. this is the duty you were charged with by law. Anything else is unacceptable--not just to me, but to all patriotic Americans.<

Please be advised that this is an open letter, and I intend to make it available to anyone who wishes to see it. The time for secrecy in government is over. I ask that you respond to me in writing within two weeks, and will take no further action until then.

Thank you for your attention to my requests.

Sincerely,

/s/ Marina Porter

[Jack White]

Below is the text of a letter that Marina Porter wrote to the ARRD in April of 1996. I am sure she must have had assistance in writing the letter. Anyone know who (if anyone) was working with her on this?

Marina Oswald Porter's Letter, April 1996

Mr. John Tunheim, Chairman

JFK Assassination Records Review Board

600 E Street, NW, Second Floor

Washington, DC 20530

Dear Mr. Tunheim:

I am writing to you regarding the release of still classified documents related to the assassination of President Kennedy, and to my former husband, Lee Harvey Oswald. Specifically, I am writing to ask about documents I have learned of from a recent book and from a story in the Washington Post by the authors of the same book (as well as other documents they have described to me). The book reviews Dallas police, FBI, and CIA files released since 1992, and places them in the context of previously known information. I would like to know what the Review Board is doing to obtain the following:

1. The Dallas field office and headquarters FBI reports on the arrests of Donnell D. Whitter and Lawrence R. Miller in Dallas on November 18, 1963 with a carload of stolen U.S. army weapons. I believe that Lee Oswald was the FBI informant who made these arrests possible. I would also like to know what your board has done to obtain the reports of t he U.S. Marshal and the U.S. Army on the same arrests, and the burglary these men were suspected of.

2. the records of the FBI interrogations of John Franklin Elrod, John Forrester Gedney and Harold Doyle (the latter men were previously known as two of the "three tramps") in the Dallas jail November 22-24, 1963. All of these men have stated that they were interrogated during that time by the FBI.

3. The official explanation of why the arrest records for Mr. Elrod, Mr. Gedney, and Mr. Doyle, as well as for Daniel Wayne Douglas and Gus Abrams were placed "under federal seal" in the Dallas Police Records Division for 26 years as described by Dallas City Archives supervisor Laura McGhee to the FBI in 1992.

4. The FULL records of the interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald, including his interrogation in the presence of John Franklin Elrod as described by Elrod in an FBI report dated August 11, 1964.

5. The reports of army intelligence agent Ed J. Coyle on his investigation of Captain George Nonte, John Thomas Masen, Donnell D. Whitter, Lawrence R. Miller, and/or Jack Ruby. I am also requesting that you obtain agent Coyle's reports as army liaison for presidential protection on November 22, 1963 (as described by Coyle's commanding officer Col. Robert Jones in sworn testimony to the House Select Committee on Assassinations). If the army does not immediately produce these documents, they should be required to produce agent Coyle to explain what happened to his reports.

6. Secret Service reports and tapes of that agency's investigation of Father Walter Machann and Silvia Odio in 1963-64.

7. Reports of the FBI investigation of Cuban exiles in Dallas, to include known but still classified documents on Fermin de Goicochea Sanchez, Father Walter Machann and the Dallas Catholic Cuban Relocation Committee. These would include informant files for Father Machann and/or reports of interviews of Father Machann by Dallas FBI agent W.Heitman.

8. The full particulars and original of the teletype received by Mr. William Walter in the New Orleans FBI office on the morn-ing of November 17, 1963, warning of a possible assassination attempt on President Kennedy in Dallas. I now believe that my former husband met with the Dallas FBI on November 16, 1963, and provided informant information on which this teletype was based.

9. A full report of Lee Harvey Oswald's visit to the Dallas FBI office on November 16, 1963.

10. A full account of FBI agent James P. Hosty's claim (in his recent book, ASSIGNMENT: OSWALD) that Lee Harvey Oswald knew of a planned "paramilitary invasion of Cuba" by "a group of right wing Cuban exiles in outlying areas of New Orleans.' We now know that such an invasion was indeed planned by a Cuban group operating on CIA payroll in Miami, New Orleans, and Dallas--the same group infiltrated by Lee Oswald. We know this information ONLY from documents released since 1992, as described in the book I have mentioned. On what basis did agent Hosty believe Lee "had learned" of these plans, unless Lee himself told him this? I am therefore specifically requesting the release of the informant report that Lee Oswald provided to agent Hosty and/or other FBI personnel on this intelligence information.

The time for the Review Board to obtain and release the most important documents related to the assassination of President Kennedy is running out. At the time of the assassination of this great president whom I loved, I was misled by the "evidence" presented to me by government authorities and I assisted in the conviction of Lee Harvey Oswald as the assassin. From the new information now available, I am now convinced that he was an FBI informant and believe that he did not kill President Kennedy. it is time for Americans to know their full history. On this day when I and all Americans are grieving for the victims of Oklahoma City, I am also thinking of my children and grandchildren, and of all American children, when I insist that your board give the highest priority to the release of the documents I have listed. this is the duty you were charged with by law. Anything else is unacceptable--not just to me, but to all patriotic Americans.<

Please be advised that this is an open letter, and I intend to make it available to anyone who wishes to see it. The time for secrecy in government is over. I ask that you respond to me in writing within two weeks, and will take no further action until then.

Thank you for your attention to my requests.

Sincerely,

/s/ Marina Porter

Could be anyone...but I would guess the late Mary Ferrell.

Jack

[Tim Gratz]

Thanks, Jack, your hunch may very well be right. I understand she never really got any substantive response from the ARRB.

[Mark Stapleton]

Point number four in Marina's letter is an eyebrow raiser---LHO was interrogated in the presence of Elrod!

What the......! I was not aware of this claim.

I assume Elrod had no official capacity, he must have been there as a fellow detainee.

Otherwise, what the......!

[Tim Gratz]

Mark, I believe the Elrod story is discussed at length in "Oswald Talked".

[Charles Drago]

Could be anyone...but I would guess the late Mary Ferrell.

Jack

If Mary did serve as Marina's amanuensis in this instance, then the letter's contents may be read as an index of the former's areas of keenest interest of the period.

Or better yet, the areas Mary wanted certain others to believe were of significance to her and/or Marina.

Charles

Edited September 13, 2007 by Charles Drago

[Larry Hancock]

Folks, I think you missed the clue in the letter...

Who were the last pair of researchers to gain Marinia's trust?

Who wote a book featuring Elrod.

I think you will find the folks assisting with the letter were the

authors of "Oswald Talked"

-- Larry

[Charles Drago]

The Fontaines, then.

Their agenda of the period revealed.

[Jack White]

The Fontaines, then.

Their agenda of the period revealed.

I agree. OSWALD TALKED had just been published, January 1996. I just checked the index

and everyone mentioned in the letter is in the index. The LaFontaines were a strange pair.

In order to get me to assist them, they told me that they had produced the documentary

THE THIN BLUE LINE (untrue). I spent about 8 hours showing them slides, which they

videotaped with my commentary. They told me they were producing a film about Oswald, which

never happened. Their BOOK came out years later. Mary, a large redhead, was in charge;

husband Ray was a mousy little man who seemed intimidated by his wife. Previously they

were also involved in the ROSCOE WHITE affair, and claimed to have an exclusive contract

with the MATSU CORPORATION to write a book about Roscoe White. They threatened me

with a lawsuit because Gary Shaw of the JFK/AIC had let me copy every photo pertaining

to Roscoe, and the LaFs claimed that their contract gave THEM EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to

all Roscoe photos. A very untrustworthy pair, with a peculiar history long before the

publication of their book. I also was always suspicious of the "MIDLAND TX OILMEN" who

were behind Matsu...but then maybe not ALL Midland oilmen were connected with the

Bush family.

Jack

[Charles Drago]

Don't be too hard on Marina. Even Oprah was taken in by the Fontaines.

And that, my friends, is the definition of "damning by false praise."