New Essay by Bill Simpich - The Twelve Who Built the Oswald Legend

[Bill Simpich]

Greg - I think I agree with you about the typist.  I went thru the typist problem in my head earlier, and it's the simplest explanation.  No one was hiding the intention of sending it to Korth.

The Kerr thing is more of a problem - although you are right in that Kerr is relying on his memory 25 years later - think about Kerr's memory in 1963 - he could never have forgotten about Oswald at that point, and the details of the conversation.  That was his central connection with the assassination.

I'm going to think about it some more.  Thank you for your meditation on all this!

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Bill Simpich

[David Boylan]

Bill has updated Chapter 4 - https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Essay_-_Oswald_Legend_4.html

[Bill Simpich]

we are up to part 6 - this week and next week we will focus on a big discussion about mary bancroft- allen dulles - and the de mohrenschildt - paine connection.

[Bill Simpich]

Part 12 went up today - I think it's the best one yet.   I discuss how the Oswald sightings in the last week are tied to the Paines - I think one of the goals was to make the Paines look bad too. 

The Jack Lawrence story and the Cliff Shasteen stories are particularly intriguing - Jack was an Air Force guy, and I believe his job was to spread confusion.

I come to the conclusion that the 11/9/63 Oswald letter was done by him, and his objective was to be seen by the Paines, the FBI and the Soviets as an espionage asset - he needed the government to see him as an asset if he was ever going to get his GI Bill benefits.

All I have to do now is finish the epilogue, it should be done in a couple weeks.

All feedback encouraged and appreciated.

[Bill Simpich]

Greg Doudna and everyone - 

I've thought about some more, and I am more or less back to my original conclusion - Connally was in the midst of passing his matters to Korth, and he referred the Oswald matter to Tompkins for "appropriate action", according to the Kerr book, which I believe you now have a copy of.  Maybe there was some funny business to ensure Korth didn't see a copy - maybe not.

I also found a document sending it to Tompkins for "appropriate action" - it even looks like the note has a "C" in Connally's handwriting on the bottom.

Nellie Connally wrote in her From Love Field that John Connally personally signed the documents that gave Oswald an undesirable discharge.

 

Oswald hand-wrote a memo shortly before 11/22/63 describing his experience with "street agitation" - citing his recent arrest in New Orleans.  He may have written this for his still-unknown contacts in Dallas.

 

In my opinion, Lee Oswald's note to Hosty and letter to the Soviets was motivated to be seen as a player in the world of espionage - that was his last best shot to get his GI Bill benefits.  When Oswald's room on Beckley was searched, all three of his key undesirable discharge rulings from 1960-1963 were found together among his few possessions in that tiny room.

 

I don't think that taking a pot shot at ex-Navy secretary John Connally or JFK from the highly insecure sixth floor of the book depository was a good way to make that happen.  The way for Oswald to get his benefits was to make himself seen as an important player in the world of espionage - if he could figure out his place in the scheme of things.  

 

I think Oswald's 11/9/63 letter and his letter to Hosty at about the same time were two halting steps in that direction.  I also think that Oswald was involved in doing some favors for someone in the tense behind-the-scenes atmosphere of 11/22.  Why else would he head to the Texas Theatre, except to look for a contact?  And why in the world would he not bring his handgun to work if he was planning to shoot the President?   Only a crazy person would fail to bring his protection along with him if he wanted to get away.  Anyone conducting a long-distance ambush is trying to get away.  Oswald was not crazy.

 

Meanwhile, you can be sure that the planners of the Kennedy assassination had access to the Oswald file.  One glance at it would provide convincing evidence that Connally took away Oswald's military benefits - and, in turn, provide a factual foundation for the cover story.   

 

Navy counsel Andy Kerr's memoir A Journey Among the Good and the Great also backs up Kerr's account of  Connally's involvement in Oswald's loss of his GI Bill benefits.  Kerr wrote that he advised Connally:

 

"In Oswald's case, my conclusions were that his complaint had no legal basis, his request was without merit, and that Connally should not involve himself in any way. 

 

"I recommended that he refer the letter to the commandant of the Marine Corps for "appropriate action."  (Emphasis added.) This phrase meant, in clear officialese, that the secretary was washing his hands of the case. The commandant could do with it as he wished. No one could doubt that the result would be. It was a kiss-off.

 

"A day or two later, Connally called me into  his office. He had obviously read the entire file and was intrigued. We discussed the case for half an hour or so, and at the end he said, "I agree with you, Andy--this is the way we should handle it." He then signed that second piece of paper that sent Oswald's letter on its way, we thought, to oblivion."

 

And, in fact, that's precisely what happened.  The Warren Commission has a memo dated 2/26/62 - three days after the purported cc from Connally to Fred Korth, at a time when Connally was clearing his desk as Secretary of the Navy to pass the reins to Korth - stating that the Oswald matter was being "routed to CMC (Commandant, Marine Corps) for appropriate action."  (Emphasis added.)  

 

There's no sign that Fred Korth saw this memo.  There's an initial "C" on the bottom - that may be from Connally.   Connally's signature looks similar.

 

Instead, a week later, Oswald was sent a "kiss-off letter" from Brigadier General R. Tompkins of the Marine Corps, saying that your letter "was referred to me for reply".  

 

Kerr's colleague Hank Searles also corroborates Kerr's account.  Searles recalled the morning that Kerr opened the Oswald letter, read it, and advised Connally to reject it.   All signs are that Fred Korth never saw Oswald's request for an upgrade.

 

[Greg Doudna]

Bill Simpich--that sounds like that could be right re Connally, rather than Korth, being behind the negative answer to Oswald. involved. On the timeline: Korth in his book (pp. 1-3) speaks of Connally as "then the secretary of the navy" (p. 1) and speaks of "a day or two later, Connally called me into his office. He had obviously read the entire file...we discussed the case for half an hour or so...he then signed that second piece of paper that sent Oswald's letter on its way, we thought, to oblivion" (p. 3). Kerr opens his book with this incident and dates it unhelpfully as occurring "one day". Instead of Kerr mistaking Korth for Connally, I agree your reasons make better sense as Kerr mistaking Connally's location but not identity, in this story. 

You suggest reasonably that Kerr, formerly working for Connally but now working for new Secretary Korth at the time the letter from Oswald arrived to D.C.--would still have been handling Secretary of Navy mail addressed to Connally. The letter from Oswald would have come in to D.C. addressed to Connally and was not forwarded unopened to Connally but, on the principle that it was Secretary of Navy business, was opened and given to Kerr to handle. Kerr would certainly have discussed the letter with or informed Korth, even if no mention is made of that. Then Kerr had his conversation with Connally (who was in Texas even though Kerr said he was in D.C.? or was Connally in fact present at his old location in D.C. taking care of business in the transition to Korth?)

The decision was made to have Connally reply to Oswald from Texas saying it would be forwarded to Korth in D.C. for action, likely with Kerr, Korth, and Connally all in the loop on this, and this was done. The reply from Connally on Connally's Texas campaign letterhead was prepared and mailed from Texas, to Oswald.

There is an oddity though: John Connally himself, In History's Shadow (1993), p. 189 claims:

"Of course, one of the subplots to the assassination was the Wrong Target theory; namely, that Oswald really intended to kill John Connally. According to this scenario, he believed that I ignored a letter he had written to me, as Secretary of the Navy, in which he demanded that I rescind the honorable discharge he received from the Marine Corps after his defection from the Soviet Union. He wanted an honorable discharge and the restoration of his rights.

"By the time Oswald wrote me, I had left Washington and was running for governor of Texas. The letter was never forwarded to me, and today it is in the archives of the U.S. Navy. I have never read it."

Kerr's account seems the more credible and Connally seems duplicitous here, though the original of the letter probably never did leave the Secretary of the Navy office in D.C. (whatever Connally might privately have seen whether in Texas or D.C. might have been a copy), and Connally's statement above is untruthful, unless Connally would make a hair-splitting argument that it was technically truthful if the reference is to the original of the letter.

Further trivia: 

-- John Curington, right-hand man aide and operative of H.L. Hunt through most of the decade of the 1960s, told me in the context of H.L. Hunt's large amounts of payola to everyone under the sun--Curington was his trusted bagman, delivering briefcases of cash to parties at Hunt's instructions--that many prominent political figures of the time were corrupt, and that Connally was one of those that was corrupt. Curington said that one way H.L. Hunt would convey money to political figures was through cattle auctions. Curington (who was raised ranching in Texas as a boy) would attend cattle auctions on H.L. Hunt's behalf, bid and buy and then pay some huge amount for some cattle being auctioned, and then simply never take delivery! The legal papers would show the money transfer as a bill of sale, not as an unexplained gift purchasing influence or a bribe, and no one would know. Curington told me he attended a cattle auction where he conveyed a sum of money from H.L. Hunt to cattleman Connally in this manner.  

-- On your comment, "Oswald hand-wrote a memo shortly before 11/22/63 describing his experience with "street agitation" - citing his recent arrest in New Orleans. He may have written this for his still-unknown contacts in Dallas."--I looked up that document--is there anything dating its writing later than Sept. 1963 New Orleans? Would it work as papers prepared by Oswald--a c.v. of his communist and organizing activity--documents for his job search in other cities after leaving New Orleans, or in Mexico City? In that context Oswald's claim in his writing there that he learned Russian while in Russia, instead of the more likely covert intensive professional language instruction at Monterey, California--would be explicable in that if he had said how he actually learned Russian (in the military and covertly, perhaps in cooperation with an intelligence agency)--that would tag him as a spy. So he claims he learned to speak Russian fluently on his own from his time living in Russia and from a Russian woman tour guide!

Edited October 1, 2020 by Greg Doudna

[Joseph McBride]

And it's no doubt significant that Fred Korth was the lawyer for Edwin Ekdahl when

he was divorced from Marguerite Claverie Ekdahl aka Marguerite Oswald in 1948.

[B. A. Copeland]

On 9/27/2020 at 1:53 AM, Joseph McBride said:

And it's no doubt significant that Fred Korth was the lawyer for Edwin Ekdahl when

he was divorced from Marguerite Claverie Ekdahl aka Marguerite Oswald in 1948.

Greg Parker elaborates very well on Korth and Ekdahl in his chat with Alan Dale as well.

[S.T. Patrick]

On 6/10/2020 at 4:37 AM, Bill Simpich said:

I appreciate the responses everyone has to this series so far.  Yes, it has been revamped - I will take the dates that they were originally written down, it is confusing.

 

Bill, seems I can't message you on here. Id like to reprint the article in garrison, if you would allow.

TheGarrisonJournal@gmail.com

Thank you.

S.T. Patrick

[Joseph McBride]

Where do I find Greg Parker's chat with Alan Dale?

Edited September 30, 2020 by Joseph McBride

[Richard Price]

Joseph, not absolutely sure this is what you asked about, but I found this link:  http://www.jfkconversations.com/

[David Josephs]

Let's throw another little monkey wrench in here...  at the bottom of the post is a Garrison report re: Marge and what she says about KORTH.  

In EKDAHL's reports I found this passage re: the IRC.  Interesting that the same report discusses EDWARD PIC's mother-in-law without naming such... she was a refugee from Hungary living in Yorkville...

Not only was KORTH Ekdahl's lawyer in the divorce, he was his trustee buying and selling land for Ekdahl in Ft Worth.
Not sure if there's an EBASCO-KORTH relationship.

Fort Worth was booming at the time (yet so were many places) yet his buddy FRED is in Ft Worth.  The company he EKDAHL worked for consolidated electricity availability

And these interview notes - sadly this is second-hand but interesting none the less...

Korth "played a part in Lee's life"...  as in not upgrading his discharge or ???

Whether this report can be considered "accurate" IDK.

Thanks for all the excellent info in this thread... DJ

[Bill Simpich]

In my revised series on the Legend Makers, I am convinced that Ekdahl was the central father figure in Oswald's life, and led him to study electricity and hence his radar work.

But where is the report about LHOs relative "EDWARD PIC's mother-in-law without naming such... she was a refugee from Hungary living in Yorkville..."

And where do you see the insinuation there might be an EBASCO-KORTH relationship?

Wikipedia United States-based designer and constructor of energy infrastructure, most notably nuclear power plants.

Thank you!

[Joseph McBride]

William vanden Heuvel, who is still alive, is a former assistant AG to RFK and the father

of Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation, which,

as we know, has a spotty record on telling the truth about

the JFK assassination and has mostly been involved in

covering up the crime, with some exceptions, including

my articles on G. H. W. Bush.

Edited October 1, 2020 by Joseph McBride

[David Josephs]

13 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

But where is the report about LHOs relative "EDWARD PIC's mother-in-law without naming such... she was a refugee from Hungary living in Yorkville..."

Mr. JENNER - Your wife Margaret is--she was born where?
Mr. PIC - New York City, sir.
Mr. JENNER - Her parents are native Americans as well as she?
Mr. PIC - No, sir; they are not.
Mr. JENNER - What do you know of them?
Mr. PIC - Her father died; I never met the man while we were going together. Her mother and father were separated. Her mother was born in Hungary, I think. Her father was also, sir.

There is a 1920 census record for Alexander and Mary Fuhrman.  It identifies them as being Magyar or Hungarian.  At the time, 1920, they are living in Kentucky and Fuhrman is working as time keeper at a coal mine.  This was probably in Harlan, KY.  

13 hours ago, Bill Simpich said:

And where do you see the insinuation there might be an EBASCO-KORTH relationship?

15 hours ago, David Josephs said:

Not sure if there's an EBASCO-KORTH relationship

I see KORTH involved in securing business contracts coming to Texas.
I see KORTH intimately involved with EKDAHL who goes to Ft Worth for EBASCO and has an office across the street for KORTH, goes to the same clubs moves in the same circles as the Dallas-Ft Worth business elite.
EBASCO was much more than nuclear power, I believe I've written about it at some point but again, tech problems preclude me from putting my finger on it at the moment.  

What do you suppose he was doing for EBASCO during those years in Ft Worth then New York City which EBASCO doesn't want to let go?
Appears to me he may have been involved in the formation of Texas Utilities and the attempted "Morgan-like" monopolization of electric service...  again, just a hunch connecting the few dots we have.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/texas-utilities-company-history/

Texas Utilities was formed in 1945 as a holding company for three utilities: Dallas Power & Light Company (DP&L), Texas Electric Service Company (TESCO), and Texas Power & Light Company (TP&L). DP&L had been formed in 1917, TESCO in 1929, and TP&L in 1912, while predecessors of these companies dated back as far as the 1880s. Each company had its own electricity generation and distribution system.

Before the formation of Texas Utilities, DP&L had been a subsidiary of Electric Power & Light Company, while TESCO and TP&L had been subsidiaries of American Power & Light Company. Both parent companies, in turn, were subsidiaries of Electric Bond & Share Company (EBASCO), which had been set up by General Electric Company in 1905 to finance electrical power systems and form operating companies.

The entire point of EBASCO was to monopolize the electrical supply for as many locations in the world as possible... I have only begun to look, yet the coincidence that EKDAHL is in Texas while this Texas Utilities Holding company is formed for 3 EBASCO companies... AND his close connection to Korth and his business involvements suggests to me there might be a connection...  Might.

11 hours ago, Joseph McBride said:

William vanden Heuvel

This is in the EKDAHL report.  https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7460485  Fred KORTH is not listed.

Comes from the JFK Assassination collection: Key Persons File: Edwin Ekdahl...

So I hope the added references and clarification of my position works for you Bill.  You've most certainly made me a better researcher...  thanks!

DJ