1959 Newspaper Photos of "Lee Harvey Oswald"

[Jim Hargrove]

Yesterday, I went through 1959 articles in a large newspaper database looking for photos of “Lee Harvey Oswald” published that year.  All the 1959 stories were in reference to his so-called “defection” to the Soviet Union that year.

A number of dailies had photos that look just like Classic Oswald®.  For example, page 18 of the 11/16/59  edition of the Augusta, GA Chronicle printed a UPI story with a very recognizable image of Oswald.

 

Similarly, page 4-B of the 11/19/59 edition of the Charleston, SC News and Courier published this short piece with an even clearer image of Oswald.

Oddly enough, though, there wasn’t a single Texas newspaper that I could find in the large database that had a recognizable image of “Lee Harvey Oswald.” The Dallas Morning News (DMN) had several articles about the so-called defection, but none included an image of Oswald.  (It should be noted that there were a number of blacked out boxes among the DMN articles, but it appears to be that paper’s  policy to black out advertisements in its archived articles, and I believe the black boxes were simply removed ads.)

One Texas daily did have an image of “Lee Harvey Oswald,” and that was his home town paper. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram published the following photo of Oswald:

Some years ago, author John Armstrong wrote to Associated Press/Wide World Photos and asked to purchase the best available version of the photograph reproduced so poorly in the Star-Telegram. Below is the image he received directly from AP/World Wide Photos.  The typed label to the left indicates: "This is a retransmission of FW1 of Nov. 1 to provide better copy."  

Neither the Star-Telegram nor any other Texas paper I could find published any other photo of “Lee Harvey Oswald.”  But one other newspaper did publish the same unrecognizable image of Oswald as the Star-Telegram.  And that was part of a D.C. Evening Star story written by our old friend Priscilla Johnson for the North American Newspaper Alliance.  I’ll put an image of her story in my next post.

Can anyone hazard a guess as to why clear images of  “Lee Harvey Oswald” might be shown in newspapers outside of Texas, but only a washed-out, unrecognizable newspaper image shown in his home town of Fort Worth and nothing at all in nearby Dallas? 

In fairness, I should point out that the unrecognizable photo was published before the Moscow photos would have been available to the Fort Worth paper, but there were follow-up articles in Texas newspapers, all without photos, and it still strikes me as weird that I can find no recognizable image of “Oswald” in any 1959 Texas newspaper.  Again, could there be a reason for that?

Edited February 18, 2020 by Jim Hargrove

[David Josephs]

4 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Similarly, page 4-B of the 11/19/59 edition of the Charleston, SC News and Courier published this short piece with an even clearer image of Oswald.

So here is the "composite" shot and the newspaper image....  how come his ties are always skewed to one side?

I had to "fatten" up the image on the right to match... but it's the same photo.

 

[Jim Hargrove]

David,

Thanks!  Assuming you’re right about the “composite” shot, it should have been made in the U.S. before our boy even set sail across the Atlantic on Sept. 20, which makes me wonder why it wasn’t available to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram when it published the fuzzy mugshot at the beginning of November. 

Below for easy reference is a copy of Jack White’s “Evolution of Lee Harvey Oswald” poster.  Would you hazard a guess whether the “composite”  image that made it into the mid-November papers was no. 32, 33, 34, or 35 on Jack’s chart?

That is a little weird about the bend in the ties.  Sartorial Peyronie's disease?

[Jim Hargrove]

Oops... almost forgot.  As promised, below is part of the D.C. Evening Star story written by our old friend Priscilla Johnson for the North American Newspaper Alliance.  It features the same, unrecognizable image of "Lee Harvey Oswald" that was published nearly a month earlier by the The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Would someone--anyone--like to offer a theory as to why no newspaper in Texas in 1959 was provided with a recognizable copy of "Lee Harvey Oswald's" photograph?  Other newspapers outside of Texas certainly had good pictures of "Oswald."  Why would that be?  Why didn't "Lee Harvey Oswald's" hometown paper publish a recognizable picture of him when he "defected" to the Soviet Union? 

[Chris Bristow]

7 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

David,

Thanks!  Assuming you’re right about the “composite” shot, it should have been made in the U.S. before our boy even set sail across the Atlantic on Sept. 20, which makes me wonder why it wasn’t available to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram when it published the fuzzy mugshot at the beginning of November. 

Below for easy reference is a copy of Jack White’s “Evolution of Lee Harvey Oswald” poster.  Would you hazard a guess whether the “composite”  image that made it into the mid-November papers was no. 32, 33, 34, or 35 on Jack’s chart?

That is a little weird about the bend in the ties.  Sartorial Peyronie's disease?

So 32, 33, 34, and 35 are all the same photograph with different contrast and possibly a different register like Joseph did with the photo from the newspaper? That's semicircular bright area over Oswald left shoulder is identical in all four.

[Chris Bristow]

11 hours ago, David Josephs said:

So here is the "composite" shot and the newspaper image....  how come his ties are always skewed to one side?

I had to "fatten" up the image on the right to match... but it's the same photo.

 

Joseph, the composite you posted in the other thread that was found in Marguerite's possession was obviously a composite but what is it in the photo you posted that would indicate it's a composite? I have heard people say that the left and right side of that face do not match in proportion but as far as I could tell that was simply because his head is looking a little to the left.

[Terry Adams]

David, my guess on the tie (albeit a professional one since I worked in a clothing store during jr. college...lol)  is that Oswald's has tied is a half windsor knot vs a full windsor.  A full (or double) windsor is more symetrical, due to a second wrap around on the neck loop. In the future, please don't hesitate to contact me with all your clothing needs!!...😁

[Jim Hargrove]

Appreciate the responses.

To me, the most interesting questions here are these:

1. Why did no 1959 newspaper in the Dallas/Fort Worth area print a recognizable picture of “Lee Harvey Oswald”?
2. Only one other 1959 newspaper I can find presented the same unrecognizable image of Oswald that was printed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  That other paper was the Washington, DC Evening Star.  Why was a story in that Washington newspaper written by Priscilla Johnson for the North American Newspaper Alliance accompanied by the same weird photo presented in the Fort Worth daily?

1.  For the first question, my guess is that there were people living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area who, if shown a clear picture of the “defector,” would realize it was not the same LHO they knew from Fort Worth.

2.  In Deep Politics and the Death of JFK, Peter Dale Scott wrote the following about Priscilla Johnson and the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA):

Serious students of the JFK Assassination have long been interested in NANA, which supplied Priscilla Johnson (better known now as Priscilla McMillan) with the job (or, to some, cover) by which she worked in Moscow, and there interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald on the urging of U.S. Consul Snyder. After the assassination, Johnson developed a close relationship with Marina Oswald, in connection with a book contract originally arranged by C.D. Jackson of Life Magazine at the urging of Allen Dulles. In this connection, Johnson helped identify a much-disputed bus ticket stub, belatedly discovered by the two women in August 1964, which helped to place Oswald on a specific Mexican bus....  NANA was created by a senior veteran of OSS, Ernest Cuneo, and continued to have intelligence connections.

My guess, therefore, is this unrecognizable photo of LHO was provided by American Intel, which didn’t want people in the Dallas Fort/Worth area to see a clear picture of the defector.  This one sure fits the bill:

Edited February 19, 2020 by Jim Hargrove

[Denis Morissette]

Robert learning of Lee's defection. 

http://postimg.cc/nj6PTGSf

[John Butler]

"So here is the "composite" shot and the newspaper image....  how come his ties are always skewed to one side?"

"David, my guess on the tie (albeit a professional one since I worked in a clothing store during jr. college...lol)  is that Oswald's has tied is a half windsor knot vs a full windsor.  A full (or double) windsor is more symetrical, due to a second wrap around on the neck loop. In the future, please don't hesitate to contact me with all your clothing needs!!...😁 "

Back in the day I used both depending on whether the tie was narrow or wide.  Nowadays, the UOD is jeans, t-shirt, and floppy shoes. 

My take on this is someone else did the tying of the tie and pulled the tie to the side as it was tightened.

Whoa, I better be careful here.  Someone might think I am bashing Harvey and Lee by suggesting Oswald was too dumb to tie a tie or this was the sloppy Oswald.

Edited February 19, 2020 by John Butler

[David Josephs]

13 minutes ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Why did no 1959 newspaper in the Dallas/Fort Worth area print a recognizable picture of “Lee Harvey Oswald”?

Jim... I am fairly sure that at least one part of that composite image was taken in Moscow... at Snyder's office maybe?

 

7 hours ago, Chris Bristow said:

Joseph, the composite you posted in the other thread that was found in Marguerite's possession was obviously a composite but what is it in the photo you posted that would indicate it's a composite?

The top image... yet even more interesting to me is the newspaper image Jim posted coming in Pricilla Johnson's article...

 

So below is the best version of that photo I've seen - no blocked out background....

Years ago I was sent this...  Not sure how much more obvious an alteration can be.... 

Below left and bottom right both have that grey blob behind them... and I believe enabled the alterations...

 

Jim - This photo has to be from about 1958. early.  The question is when Pricilla submits her story she does so without photos from Russia?  So someone at NANA provides this photo AFTER it's been changed....  (it's right about this time that HARVEY is with McBride at Pfisterer's)

46 minutes ago, Jim Hargrove said:

NANA was created by a senior veteran of OSS, Ernest Cuneo, and continued to have intelligence connections

 Military intelligence again?  

  

[John Butler]

Jim,

David has posted a good example of a face mask.  Cut through the alterations and this is Lee Oswald. 

Why change these features with a mask?  I guess this is by someone who didn't really know the features of Harvey Oswald and used a similar nose to the boy at the Zoo.

This particular person didn't know or didn't care to change the features of Lee's ears to Harvey's figuring no one has the equipment to challenge this photo in the mid 60s. 

Harvey has unattached ear lobes and this person has attached ear lobes.  It is a characteristic of Lee Oswald.  Oh, and they didn't change the broad chin of Lee Oswald.

 

[David Josephs]

1 minute ago, John Butler said:

Why change these features with a mask?

John... if this is about when I think it is... HARVEY was in New Orleans at Pfisterer's with Palmer McBride.

But would soon be in Japan... when Lee goes back to California (El Toro not Santa Ana)

Pretty sure the idea was to simply not have anything identifiable with Lee Oswald, especially in 1958 which would have to be around the time planning for the "Defector" program begins.

FWIW

[John Butler]

6 minutes ago, David Josephs said:

John... if this is about when I think it is... HARVEY was in New Orleans at Pfisterer's with Palmer McBride.

But would soon be in Japan... when Lee goes back to California (El Toro not Santa Ana)

Pretty sure the idea was to simply not have anything identifiable with Lee Oswald, especially in 1958 which would have to be around the time planning for the "Defector" program begins.

FWIW

Absolutely.  These photos concern Lee Oswald and were later altered to appear as Harvey, or at least to obscure the identity of Lee Oswald.  In the 1960s, they thought these would not be challenged and they were right. 

However, you may not agree with the following.  I believed they used the nose of the boy at the Bronx Zoo to alter these photos.  Someone may have known that Robert Oswald said the boy at the Zoo was his brother and he had taken the photo.  Here is a montage suggesting that may be so.

IMO, you can see the nose is added in the 3 marine photos.  And, in these close ups it is badly done.  I believe this notion of a broad nose comes from not being able to match the noses of Harvey and Lee.  So, a wider nose to cover both.  The idea was chosen from the Bronx photo.  I believe these changes were done after the assassination by more than one group of alterers.

The 3 Marine photos look like 3 different alterations.  I think someone or more than one instrumentality didn't like the way this photo was done and had it altered again.

One other thing.  Look at the ears of all 3 Oswalds in the Marine photos.  The one on the left portrays ears as they should be.  Meaning his earlobes have not been changed in that photo.  Lee has attached earlobes and Harvey has unattached lobes.

[Jim Hargrove]

DJ and John B,

John A. put together a page on my website called Evolution of the "Defection" Photo.  The "face mask" photo is there along with a number of others.  I think we all agree that the image was originally that of Lee Oswald.  The bulbous nose appears to be in the original photo that the masked photo was sourced from but, of course, what appears to be the original photo could itself have been altered.

What do you guys think of the theory that a recognizable image of Harvey Oswald could not have been placed in a newspaper near the Dallas/Fort Worth area because some reader might have known Lee Oswald well enough to realize that the picture didn't show him?