"Maurice" Bishop

[W. Tracy Parnell]

Fonzi states in his book and his write-up for the HSCA that Veciana met a shadowy figure named Maurice Bishop who directed him in anti-Castro and anti-communist activities. However, an HSCA staff summary of leads (as well as other documents) states Bishop's first name is uncertain and may be "Morris, John or Jim."

 

http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=99779#relPageId=5&tab=page

 

My question is how did "Morris, John or Jim" become Maurice?

 

[Michael Clark]

16 minutes ago, W. Tracy Parnell said:

Fonzi states in his book and his write-up for the HSCA that Veciana met a shadowy figure named Maurice Bishop who directed him in anti-Castro and anti-communist activities. However, an HSCA staff summary of leads (as well as other documents) states Bishop's first name is uncertain and may be "Morris, John or Jim."

 

http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=99779#relPageId=5&tab=page

 

My question is how did "Morris, John or Jim" become Maurice?

 

Mr. Parnell, Vicenza was unwilling to state who MB was until only recently, certainly the HSCA was not going to do it, in public papers anyway. In the trades we have a name for what you are seeing. I can't repeat it here. Let's just refer to it as "mush-mouth".

Cheers,

Michael

[Michael Clark]

5 minutes ago, Michael Clark said:

Mr. Parnell, Vicenza was unwilling to state who MB was until only recently, certainly the HSCA was not going to do it, in public papers anyway. In the trades we have a name for what you are seeing. I can't repeat it here. Let's just refer to it as "mush-mouth".

Cheers,

Michael

More to the point, they were not going to reveal his cover story/name.

[W. Tracy Parnell]

I am not asking who you think Bishop was. That is a separate issue.

For example, in the HSCA Volume X Fonzi says:

"[Veciana] had been directed and advised in his anti-Castro and anti-Communist activities by an American he knew as Maurice Bishop."

So Maurice Bishop was the cover name of the person Veciana dealt with. He had a business card with that name as well.  

But in the document I linked, (and others) Bishop is referred to as "Morris, John or Jim."

In his book, Fonzi tries to explain how "Morris" became "Maurice" by saying that was how he "spelled" it. But this does nothing to explain "John or Jim"

All of this indicates to me that Veciana was unsure of Bishop's first name and the wording in the document I referenced indicates that. I wonder what else Veciana was unsure of and how the name transformed.

[Hugo Langendoen]

Isn't it possible that the same person was using differerent aliases? Or that Jim or John was some sort of a nickname ? 

[James DiEugenio]

You know Tracy, it would be nice if you actually took the time to label things properly.

From what I can see, what you are quoting from is not an HSCA staff report. But your link does not take us back to the actual beginning of the communication, so we don't know that unless the reader backtracks.  

From what I can see, it is a letter from Dick Schweiker of the Church Committee to Richard Sprague, the first Chief Counsel of the HSCA, way back in 1976. Schweiker was not in day to day contact with the inquiry into the JFK case.  The man who did that was a lawyer named Dave Marston.  I know that from my interview with Schweiker.

If you read Fonzi's book, which apparently you have not, as time went on the information coalesced around that first name.  That is what usually happens in a field investigation.  Therefore, the question of the first name was not even brought up in the HSCA final report--Blakey and Billings brought up other objections.

BTW, there is some really interesting info in the later stages of that letter, all of which Tracy ignored for whatever reasons. 

 

[W. Tracy Parnell]

Sorry Jim, for not labeling it properly.

The document begins with a cover letter from Schweiker to Sprague that explains several attachments. The part I am referring to in is a summary of leads developed by Schweiker's staff. As I mentioned to Michael, Fonzi said in his book (which I have read) that Morris was the way he "spelled" the name and that accounted for the change to "Maurice." I still don't see any explanation in his book or anywhere else for "John and Jim." That is what puzzles me. If you can point me to a page in his book that explains this I would be grateful. I have the Kindle version and have searched to no avail. It is possible I missed it though.