Critique of Jim DiEugenio's Destiny Betrayed

[Steve Roe]

Mr. DiEugenio over the years has made some highly questionable claims, here on this Forum and in his books.

Today I will focus on just one of these highly questionable and leading narratives, this time from his “Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba and the Garrison Case” (2^nd edition).

To be fair, Mr. DiEugenio is welcome to respond and make his rebuttal addressing this topic. However attempts to side-track off this topic here, will be ignored.

Also this has nothing to do with Mr. DiEugenio’s arguments with Fred Litwin.

This is my own observation, nobody else. 

The story begins here where Mr. DiEugenio on page 79 (Kindle version) makes this passage “The story could possibly have been even more explosive than Fruge thought. For on November 28, 1963, a Margaret Kay Kauffmann of Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, told the FBI that her mother had recovered a piece of paper in the leaves beneath her porch. It was a trailer advertisement. In handwriting scrawled across the top left was the name of a club called the Silver Slipper or Silver Bell. In the top middle of the page was the name Lee Oswald. On the top right was the name Rubinstein. In the middle was the name Jack Ruby and at the bottom was the name Dallas, Texas. A Cuban doctor named Julio Fernandez often burned trash in their backyard, under her balcony. The paper with the names on it was found about 20 feet from his last burn. Fernandez’s brother had been the captain of police under Fulgencio Batista.”

DiEugenio, James. Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba, and the Garrison Case (pp. 79-80). Skyhorse. Kindle Edition.

Sounds intriguing right? Silver Slipper, same bar in Eunice, Louisiana where reportedly Rose Cheramie got into an argument with two unidentified individuals who left her stranded on a highway, eventually getting hit by a car and transported to a Eunice hospital, later to be encountered by Lt. Frances Fruge. Also we have the names of Lee Oswald and Jack Ruby thrown into the mix. To top it off, Dr. Fernandez's brother was captain of police under Batista. Wow, way up in Pennsylvania!

DiEugenio’s source for this is from DiEugenio, James. “Rose Cheramie: How She Predicted the JFK Assassination.” Probe Magazine, Vol. 6 Number 5, see also FBI Memo of 12/ 2/ 61 written by Special Agent J. Edward Kern.

So DiEugenio wrote the Probe article and researched the document (Kern memo improperly dated, should be 12/2/63). 

Reading on, there’s nothing else. No further explanation given by DiEugenio on this explosive find.

So what really happened here?

You can read the actual entire FBI document https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10454#relPageId=2&search="Edward_Kern"

It involves a story that the FBI investigated when the brother of a Margaret Hoover (Robert Steele), just 2 days after the Kennedy assassination, dropped by the Pennsylvania State Police, to offer information given to him by his sister about possible information relating to the assassination. The State Police immediately turned it over to the local FBI.

The FBI did go out and interview Margaret Hoover, her daughter Margaret Kay Kauffman and her husband Gerald Kauffman and Dr. Julio Cesar Fernandez. I won’t bore you with all the details as outlined specifically in the FBI document, as you can read through the link to get the real story.

Bottom line here; there was no paper found or submitted by Margaret Hoover with the names, Jack Ruby, Lee Oswald or Silver Slipper written on a trailer advertisement to the FBI. She did submit the used Airline (or Railroad) Ticket with the envelope; however that was explained by Dr. Fernandez who stated it was his son’s ticket from Miami to Pennsylvania, who now lived in Martinsburg with his father.

As the FBI correctly surmised, this was yet another mentally stressed individual making wild claims. In fact, they even considered prosecution for providing false evidence https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10454#relPageId=17&search="Edward_Kern"

This is a classic example of “lifting information out of context” to inflate a claim. Mr. DiEugenio intentionally or through sheer negligence, failed to tell the readers the correct whole story of this affair.

[James DiEugenio]

This is Roe for you.

 

The guy who did the work on this originally was Gary Schoener.  He was a volunteer for Garrison who actually went to PA.

I have talked to him several times about the subject and in fact I talk to him via. email today.  

Anyone who woudl rely on the FBI for something like this has little or no credibility.  

[Steve Roe]

33 minutes ago, James DiEugenio said:

This is Roe for you.

 

The guy who did the work on this originally was Gary Schoener.  He was a volunteer for Garrison who actually went to PA.

I have talked to him several times about the subject and in fact I talk to him via. email today.  

Anyone who woudl rely on the FBI for something like this has little or no credibility.  

Where's the proof there was actually a trailer advertisement with Ruby, Oswald, Silver Slipper written on it? 

[James DiEugenio]

This will be the last time I reply on this thread.

I will not debate people who, as with Litwin and Gerdes, do not do their homework.

In addition to my talks with Gary Schoener, here are three other public sources

See CE 3067

Probe Volume 6 No 5, p. 4

Probe Vol. 2 No. 6 pp. 13-14

Adios Mr Roe, at least for here and now.

[W. Tracy Parnell]

6 hours ago, Steve Roe said:

Mr. DiEugenio over the years has made some highly questionable claims, here on this Forum and in his books.

If you have more, keep them coming Steve.

[Denny Zartman]

8 minutes ago, W. Tracy Parnell said:

If you have more, keep them coming Steve.

He doesn't even have one. Have you read the citations James posted?

Edited May 12, 2021 by Denny Zartman

[W. Tracy Parnell]

2 minutes ago, Denny Zartman said:

He doesn't even have one. Have you read the links James posted?

He didn't post any links just listed sources. Two of the three listed are already mentioned by Steve. He is not denying there is an allegation just wondering where the proof is. Evidently, Jim's "proof" is his talks with Gary Schoener. I don't call that proof but you may disagree. 

[W. Niederhut]

Can someone please tell me how to put W. Tracy Parnell and Steve Roe on ignore?

I value this forum as a rare place on the internet where people interested in "untold history" are focused on learning the truth.

I'm not interested in disinformation, deflections, and the usual ad hominem nonsense.

There's more than enough of that everywhere else in our society.

[Denny Zartman]

1 minute ago, W. Niederhut said:

Can someone please tell me how to put W. Tracy Parnell and Steve Roe on ignore?

I value this forum as a rare place on the internet where people interested in "untold history" are focused on learning the truth.

I'm not interested in disinformation, deflections, and the usual ad hominem nonsense.

There's more than enough of that everywhere else in our society.

Use your cursor and hover over their name on the left hand side the screen over their photo and member status. A hover pop-up window should appear, and at the bottom of the window you should have three options, Message, Ignore User, and Find Content. The Ignore User button should take you to a page where you can adjust what content you want to ignore.

[W. Niederhut]

5 minutes ago, Denny Zartman said:

Use your cursor and hover over their name on the left hand side the screen over their photo and member status. A hover pop-up window should appear, and at the bottom of the window you should have three options, Message, Ignore User, and Find Content. The Ignore User button should take you to a page where you can adjust what content you want to ignore.

Thank you.

[David G. Healy]

4 hours ago, W. Tracy Parnell said:

He didn't post any links just listed sources. Two of the three listed are already mentioned by Steve. He is not denying there is an allegation just wondering where the proof is. Evidently, Jim's "proof" is his talks with Gary Schoener. I don't call that proof but you may disagree. 

winning friends and gaining influence, I see..... The real world speaks...

[Benjamin Cole]

12 hours ago, Steve Roe said:

Mr. DiEugenio over the years has made some highly questionable claims, here on this Forum and in his books.

Today I will focus on just one of these highly questionable and leading narratives, this time from his “Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba and the Garrison Case” (2^nd edition).

To be fair, Mr. DiEugenio is welcome to respond and make his rebuttal addressing this topic. However attempts to side-track off this topic here, will be ignored.

Also this has nothing to do with Mr. DiEugenio’s arguments with Fred Litwin.

This is my own observation, nobody else. 

The story begins here where Mr. DiEugenio on page 79 (Kindle version) makes this passage “The story could possibly have been even more explosive than Fruge thought. For on November 28, 1963, a Margaret Kay Kauffmann of Martinsburg, Pennsylvania, told the FBI that her mother had recovered a piece of paper in the leaves beneath her porch. It was a trailer advertisement. In handwriting scrawled across the top left was the name of a club called the Silver Slipper or Silver Bell. In the top middle of the page was the name Lee Oswald. On the top right was the name Rubinstein. In the middle was the name Jack Ruby and at the bottom was the name Dallas, Texas. A Cuban doctor named Julio Fernandez often burned trash in their backyard, under her balcony. The paper with the names on it was found about 20 feet from his last burn. Fernandez’s brother had been the captain of police under Fulgencio Batista.”

DiEugenio, James. Destiny Betrayed: JFK, Cuba, and the Garrison Case (pp. 79-80). Skyhorse. Kindle Edition.

Sounds intriguing right? Silver Slipper, same bar in Eunice, Louisiana where reportedly Rose Cheramie got into an argument with two unidentified individuals who left her stranded on a highway, eventually getting hit by a car and transported to a Eunice hospital, later to be encountered by Lt. Frances Fruge. Also we have the names of Lee Oswald and Jack Ruby thrown into the mix. To top it off, Dr. Fernandez's brother was captain of police under Batista. Wow, way up in Pennsylvania!

DiEugenio’s source for this is from DiEugenio, James. “Rose Cheramie: How She Predicted the JFK Assassination.” Probe Magazine, Vol. 6 Number 5, see also FBI Memo of 12/ 2/ 61 written by Special Agent J. Edward Kern.

So DiEugenio wrote the Probe article and researched the document (Kern memo improperly dated, should be 12/2/63). 

Reading on, there’s nothing else. No further explanation given by DiEugenio on this explosive find.

So what really happened here?

You can read the actual entire FBI document https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10454#relPageId=2&search="Edward_Kern"

It involves a story that the FBI investigated when the brother of a Margaret Hoover (Robert Steele), just 2 days after the Kennedy assassination, dropped by the Pennsylvania State Police, to offer information given to him by his sister about possible information relating to the assassination. The State Police immediately turned it over to the local FBI.

The FBI did go out and interview Margaret Hoover, her daughter Margaret Kay Kauffman and her husband Gerald Kauffman and Dr. Julio Cesar Fernandez. I won’t bore you with all the details as outlined specifically in the FBI document, as you can read through the link to get the real story.

Bottom line here; there was no paper found or submitted by Margaret Hoover with the names, Jack Ruby, Lee Oswald or Silver Slipper written on a trailer advertisement to the FBI. She did submit the used Airline (or Railroad) Ticket with the envelope; however that was explained by Dr. Fernandez who stated it was his son’s ticket from Miami to Pennsylvania, who now lived in Martinsburg with his father.

As the FBI correctly surmised, this was yet another mentally stressed individual making wild claims. In fact, they even considered prosecution for providing false evidence https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10454#relPageId=17&search="Edward_Kern"

This is a classic example of “lifting information out of context” to inflate a claim. Mr. DiEugenio intentionally or through sheer negligence, failed to tell the readers the correct whole story of this affair.

Steve Roe--

I welcome examination of evidence in the JFKA, and earnest civil debate. 

You did miss something in your brief dismissal of this strange episode.

If you go to this link, you will see WC document 3067

https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh26/pdf/WH26_CE_3067.pdf

Next, go to the document number Pittsburgh 107-5070, dated 12/2/63, but evidently of an interview dated 11/28/63. The first words in the document "Mrs. MARGARET RAY KAUFFMAN."

So, on 11/28/63, Mrs. Hoover's daughter confirms that her memory also is that handwritten names of Oswald, Ruby, Rubenstein and words "Silver Slipper," or "Silver Bell" did appear on the back of the trailer advertisement. 

What is curious is how many people at that early date knew of Jack Ruby's connection to the Silver Spur club in Dallas? This is six days after the JFKA. 

Later, the woman's daughter, evidently in a second interview, recants her initial interview. But she cannot recant that she mentioned the name "Silver Slipper" or "Silver Bell" in her initial interview. 

BTW, the man in question, Fernandez, is interviewed by the FBI and he turns out to have been a prolific editor-founder-owner in Cuba, and owned many newspapers and magazines before the revolution, holds a "doctorate in political and economic science" and then was chased out by Castro. 

The FBI appears to have queried Fernandez closely about Castro-ties, but not ties to anti-Castro Cubans. That was the conventional thinking of the time.

Also note that FBI agents called the US Attorney's office to see if they would prosecute Hoover and her daughter under section 1001, Title 18. Hmmm. Recanting under pressure? The US Attorney's Office declined to prosecute. 

In conclusion, I would say this strange event is interesting, not conclusive. However, this event is hardly key to understanding the JFKA. 

Sure would be nice to know more about Fernandez. He obviously was not just some schlub. 

It goes without saying that the CIA has long been active in financing publications in Latin America. 

 

 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Steve Roe--

I welcome examination of evidence in the JFKA, and earnest civil debate. 

You did miss something in your brief dismissal of this strange episode.

If you go to this link, you will see WC document 3067

https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh26/pdf/WH26_CE_3067.pdf

Next, go to the document number Pittsburgh 107-5070, dated 12/2/63, but evidently of an interview dated 11/28/63. The first words in the document "Mrs. MARGARET RAY KAUFFMAN."

So, on 11/28/63, Mrs. Hoover's daughter confirms that her memory also is that handwritten names of Oswald, Ruby, Rubenstein and words "Silver Slipper," or "Silver Bell" did appear on the back of the trailer advertisement. 

What is curious is how many people at that early date knew of Jack Ruby's connection to the Silver Spur club in Dallas? This is six days after the JFKA. 

Later, the woman's daughter, evidently in a second interview, recants her initial interview. But she cannot recant that she mentioned the name "Silver Slipper" or "Silver Bell" in her initial interview. 

BTW, the man in question, Fernandez, is interviewed by the FBI and he turns out to have been a prolific editor-founder-owner in Cuba, and owned many newspapers and magazines before the revolution, holds a "doctorate in political and economic science" and then was chased out by Castro. 

The FBI appears to have queried Fernandez closely about Castro-ties, but not ties to anti-Castro Cubans. That was the conventional thinking of the time.

Also note that FBI agents called the US Attorney's office to see if they would prosecute Hoover and her daughter under section 1001, Title 18. Hmmm. Recanting under pressure? The US Attorney's Office declined to prosecute. 

In conclusion, I would say this strange event is interesting, not conclusive. However, this event is hardly key to understanding the JFKA. 

Sure would be nice to know more about Fernandez. He obviously was not just some schlub. 

It goes without saying that the CIA has long been active in financing publications in Latin America. 

 

 

Some good points here Benjamin. Buying and manipulating the press in the Americas was essential to shaping and manipulating public opinion. You can openly read about people like Edward Bernays, the godfather of modern propaganda and PR techniques, being commissioned by the CIA/American Fruit Company to orchestrate the psychological warfare campaign in Guatemala to facilitate the coup d’etat that ousted Jacobo Arbenz from power. We’d all be remiss to think that the CIA wasn’t using every media tool available to control the regions and trade in regions it saw as vital in the psychological war on communism. It’s very likely any significant pro-Batista or anti-communist news source would have had a CIA arrangement/funding. 
It’s also important to understand that not just Cuba was at stake but, the whole of the Americas. 

[Benjamin Cole]

2 hours ago, Chris Barnard said:

Some good points here Benjamin. Buying and manipulating the press in the Americas was essential to shaping and manipulating public opinion. You can openly read about people like Edward Bernays, the godfather of modern propaganda and PR techniques, being commissioned by the CIA/American Fruit Company to orchestrate the psychological warfare campaign in Guatemala to facilitate the coup d’etat that ousted Jacobo Arbenz from power. We’d all be remiss to think that the CIA wasn’t using every media tool available to control the regions and trade in regions it saw as vital in the psychological war on communism. It’s very likely any significant pro-Batista or anti-communist news source would have had a CIA arrangement/funding. 
It’s also important to understand that not just Cuba was at stake but, the whole of the Americas. 

Chris B.

Verily.

Too bad so many decades have passed. I would bet even money that the Fernandez individual, mentioned in this thread, had some US intel backing. The guy started and owned newspapers, ends up in the US. Appears to be unemployed, while his wife works. 

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Chris B.

Verily.

Too bad so many decades have passed. I would bet even money that the Fernandez individual, mentioned in this thread, had some US intel backing. The guy started and owned newspapers, ends up in the US. Appears to be unemployed, while his wife works. 

Yes, its a fabulous ‘quid pro quo’, you get a business bankrolled and in return you’re loyal to the benefactor who set you up. We see that in tech and political candidates.