James DiEugenio Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) This book is an important volume for people seriously interested in the JFK case. Which should mean everyone on this forum. Malcolm Blunt is, for my money, the best archives researcher there is. The guy has dug up more important stuff from the ARRB than I think anyone has. And he is quite generous with his work. I know since he sends it to me on occasion. In fact, I used some of it in my destruction of Fred Litwin. But in this volume Alan Dale gets him to talk about a variety of subjects, many of which--for reasons of length-- I did not touch on in my review. IMO, Malcolm is the most important person working on the JFK case right now. Yet many people, even in the critical community, have never heard of him. That is their problem. The guy is a treasure trove of new information. Just what he did with Betsy Wolf is worth the book. In fact, 98 per cent of the research community would have never heard of Betsy if it were not for Malcolm Blunt. Yet, IMO, she made the most important discovery about Oswald in the last forty years. https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews/the-devil-is-in-the-details-by-malcolm-blunt-with-alan-dale Edited March 23, 2021 by James DiEugenio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince Palamara Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said: This book is an important volume for people seriously interested in the JFK case. Which should mean everyone on this forum. Malcolm Blunt is, for my money, the best archives researcher there is. The guy has dug up more important stuff from the ARRB than I think anyone has. And he is quite generous with his work. I know since he sends it to me on occasion. In fact, I used some of it in my destruction of Fred Litwin. But in this volume Alan Dale gets him to talk about a variety of subjects, many of which--for reasons of length-- I did not touch on in my review. IMO, Malcolm is the most important person working on the JFK case right now. Yet many people, even in the critical community, have never heard of him. That is their problem. The guy is a treasure trove of new information. Just what he did with Betsy Wolf is worth the book. In fact, 98 per cent of the research community would have never heard of Betsy if it were not for Malcolm Blunt. Yet, IMO, she made the most important discovery about Oswald in the last forty years. https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-reviews/the-devil-is-in-the-details-by-malcolm-blunt-with-alan-dale You and Malcolm Blunt belong in the research Hall of Fame, Jim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Jim, your review is so deep I have no doubt the book is outstanding. I'd read a little bit about Betsey Wolf and a tiny bit about Hootkins. Likely in your or Vasilios articles. Much more mentioned so interesting. Oswald surveilled by 20 assets in Minsk? Unless Authority Communicated by Bureau, where that could lead... Any of the small part of Alan Dale's work I've seen is always intriguing. I'd like to thank former forum poster Bart Kamp for introducing me to Uncle Malcom, and a few of his nuggets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) As always, very thought provoking. I wonder, when Ruth Paine went on her annual months long summer vacation in 1963 where she visited her sister (in Virginia I believe) and her sister had been reported to be employed in some way with the CIA, it wouldn't be illogical to imagine Ruth Paine asking this sister if she could maybe use her contacts to check into the background of Lee Harvey Oswald? Seriously, Ruth must have mentioned to her sister her growing personal relationship with the Oswald's, especially Marina. Ruth was always interested in Russian and U.S. relations. She studied the Russian language. Tutored others in it. She obviously was taken by Marina and the whole story of Marina and Lee coming right from Russia. Maybe Ruth Paine's sister was able to find some info on Lee? It was when she was on her way back from this summer of 1963 vacation with her children that Ruth stopped in New Orleans to bring Marina and baby June back to her home in Irving...correct? By 11,22,1963, Ruth Paine obviously knew or at least felt Lee Harvey Oswald was something much more than just a no count idle thought loser. On top of her great personal dislike of Lee, she probably sensed he was into some real nefarious political intrigue after finding the draft of the letter he was sending to the Russian Embassy. Even before 11,22,1963, she must have had some suspicious anxiousness about Lee, enhanced by the FBI visits to her home to speak with Marina and even asking her ( Ruth ) if she had any contact info on Lee. I picture Ruth Paine looking at Lee Oswald with big eyed fear/apprehension like Mrs. Kravitz in that old TV "I Dream Of Jeannie." On top of the fascinating contents of Jim Di's essay above, I learned a new word through this - "suzerainty"? Edited March 23, 2021 by Joe Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Great review, Jim, thank you; definitely going to pick this up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted March 23, 2021 Author Share Posted March 23, 2021 Thanks to you all. Vince, I seriously think that no one is in Malcolm's class. The stuff he got from Betsy Wolf is platinum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrej Stancak Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Jim: thanks for posting the link to your review, it is extremely useful and it would only make a good service to this book if it would have included it as a foreword. I can now revisit the book and read the important bits in a focused way. On a more general note, while it is necessary that the community has high experts on JFK archives, the question is what breakthrough can we expect from sifting through the archives. As pointed out in your review and by others, there are documented holes in the archived documents, especially in documents pertaining to Lee Oswald and his stay in Soviet Union and his travel to Mexico City. Of course, it is possible to infer from such holes that the intelligence agencies want to prevent the public from knowing what they knew about Lee Oswald before November 22. However, nowhere in the archives will there be a document revealing the machinery of the assassination simply because the plot did not operate via filed documents; it was perhaps in one-to-one meetings held in secrecy and using coded language, keeping the number of people in the know to minimum. Some aspects of the plot, even if they appear tightly coordinated across parties, were likely achieved based on unspoken common interests (such as let us blame a communist since we all hate communism) and are therefore untraceable. As time goes on, there is less and less chance that a smoking gun type information will pop up either in archives or in form of a testimony or confession. Actually, the last real deal was Agent Hosty's note about Lee Oswald going out to watch P. parade, discovered by Bart Kamp in Malcolm Blunt's archive. This leads me to mentioning a still existing chance of revealing the identity of that unknown man standing at the western wall of the doorway in Wiegman and Darnell films, even if such identification would be based on circumstantial evidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Bauer Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 22 minutes ago, Andrej Stancak said: Jim: thanks for posting the link to your review, it is extremely useful and it would only make a good service to this book if it would have included it as a foreword. I can now revisit the book and read the important bits in a focused way. On a more general note, while it is necessary that the community has high experts on JFK archives, the question is what breakthrough can we expect from sifting through the archives. As pointed out in your review and by others, there are documented holes in the archived documents, especially in documents pertaining to Lee Oswald and his stay in Soviet Union and his travel to Mexico City. Of course, it is possible to infer from such holes that the intelligence agencies want to prevent the public from knowing what they knew about Lee Oswald before November 22. However, nowhere in the archives will there be a document revealing the machinery of the assassination simply because the plot did not operate via filed documents; it was perhaps in one-to-one meetings held in secrecy and using coded language, keeping the number of people in the know to minimum. Some aspects of the plot, even if they appear tightly coordinated across parties, were likely achieved based on unspoken common interests (such as let us blame a communist since we all hate communism) and are therefore untraceable. As time goes on, there is less and less chance that a smoking gun type information will pop up either in archives or in form of a testimony or confession. Actually, the last real deal was Agent Hosty's note about Lee Oswald going out to watch P. parade, discovered by Bart Kamp in Malcolm Blunt's archive. This leads me to mentioning a still existing chance of revealing the identity of that unknown man standing at the western wall of the doorway in Wiegman and Darnell films, even if such identification would be based on circumstantial evidence. Yes, great thoughts and questions. No smoking guns at this point? Guess E. Howard Hunt's end of life "Big Event" explanation about the JFK murder is officially classified now as a ridiculous St. John Hunt monetary gain motivated hoax? And the subject of Ed Lansdale's possible presence in Dealey Plaza on 11,22,1963, as well as Rip Robertson meaningless as well? Also, how could "Assignment Oswald" writer and Oswald note ( or more file info? ) destroying FBI agent Hosty know whether Oswald was outside watching the JFK motorcade when he told the WC he was having lunch in a downtown Dallas diner during the motorcade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 3 hours ago, Joe Bauer said: Yes, great thoughts and questions. No smoking guns at this point? Guess E. Howard Hunt's end of life "Big Event" explanation about the JFK murder is officially classified now as a ridiculous St. John Hunt monetary gain motivated hoax? And the subject of Ed Lansdale's possible presence in Dealey Plaza on 11,22,1963, as well as Rip Robertson meaningless as well. Joe, Can you say more about the implications of Blunt's findings for Prouty's identification of his colleague Ed Lansdale in the Dealey Plaza photos? You lost me on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted March 23, 2021 Author Share Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) Something I left out of my review, but it is in the book. Allen Dulles pushed for Lansdale to be promoted right before he retired. Dulles pushed this to his friend Curtis LeMay. (Blunt, pp. 86-87) If you think as I do, that Dulles was in on the plot and cover up, and LeMay was in on the cover up--lying about where he was on that day, flying into Washington on 11/22/63 and ignoring his aide de camp's messages and coming in at the wrong airport--then this takes on a significance. Even if you do not think Lansdale was in Dealey Plaza, Lansdale was in the Fort Worth area and had prearranged to visit his buddy Sam Williams. The idea that Oswald was innocent is, for me, a fait accompli. Whether its him as Prayer Man or not. To me, that is just more icing on the cake. What Malcolm does is crucial to understanding what good information is, and how it can be pieced together into a mosaic in order to figure out how the diabolically ingenious plot worked. The materials he recovered from Betsy Wolf , in my view, these were never supposed to be found. If so, why were they not typed up into memoranda form? What she discovered about the rigging of Oswald's file prior to his defection, and Malcolm's interview with Bagley and his reaction to that material is pure platinum. Here you have info Betsy unearthed from CIA memos, and CIA officers, that is now presented to an Agency CI officer and HE SAYS Oswald was a witting false defector! This is not me saying it, its not Jim Garrison saying it, its not Malcolm saying it. This is a 24 year veteran of Agency CI operations saying it. And its based on the CIA's own evidence. Its stuff you can admit in a court of law. We go over this in the documentary, and we actually supplement it with more evidence that I am not free to discuss right now. But its also evidence the ARRB discovered. It makes one wonder, whatever happened to Betsy Wolf? I would love to talk to her. That woman is an unsung heroine of this case, altogether equal to Eddie Lopez and Dan Hardway. Edited March 23, 2021 by James DiEugenio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Thorne Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 I found Wolf’s fellow HSCA researcher Leslie Wizelman, but Wolf is hard to locate. https://www.paela.info/about-us-officers-directors/leslie-wizelman/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted March 24, 2021 Author Share Posted March 24, 2021 Bart Kamp sent me some more of Betsy's work product. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17M7c9uZeC-ujBCaofKWY409k9Ww48CKr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bulman Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said: Bart Kamp sent me some more of Betsy's work product. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17M7c9uZeC-ujBCaofKWY409k9Ww48CKr Wow. That's a bunch to digest! Thanks once again to Bart and Uncle Malcom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted March 24, 2021 Author Share Posted March 24, 2021 Greg Parker has agreed to be on Len Osanic's BlackOp Radio for next week. He is going to talk about his work on Cliff Shasteen and Hootkins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Johnson Posted March 24, 2021 Share Posted March 24, 2021 (edited) Thanks for posting the files Bart sent you Jim. Great info in those notes of Betsy, what a read that was. Is she still alive? The review on the kennedysandking website was also an amazing read. Thanks again. Edited March 24, 2021 by Adam Johnson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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