SPIES, LIES & WANNABE COMMIES IN DISGUISE

[Bill Brown]

 

Some (John Armstrong) claim that Oswald, when arrested, had two torn halves of dollar bills on him. They claim this was so that he could identify himself to his handler at the theater, Oswald has one half of a torn dollar bill and the handler has the other half (why was Oswald waiting for a northbound bus if the prearranged meeting with the handler was inside the theater directly south, anyway?).

 

Oswald did not have torn pieces of dollar bills on him. Oswald had eight $1 bills in his wallet when he was arrested. None of the eight were torn in half. These eight bills were inventoried (according to serial number, see CE-1149).

 

Armstrong has even backed off from that claim and now believes that the two halves were found at the rooming house on Saturday the 23rd.

 

If there were two halves of torn dollar bills among Oswald's possessions at the rooming house, below is a reasonable explanation (at least, it should be considered):

J. Edgar Hoover, Masters of Deceit,1958:

"To join the Communist Party does not automatically mean life tenure. Memberships must be renewed every year or, in communist language, members are "reregistered. This represents another means of control. If a member is delinquent in dues or donations, he'll have to pay a penalty, perhaps contribute ten dollars, or be disciplined. These annual registration drives are important events in Party life. Each member is personally contacted. Clubs and sections compete for speed and percentage of successful registration. The drives usually start in October and often extend well past the December 31 deadline.

A member moves. His district organization will send details concerning him to his new area: name, Party history, whether dues are paid, along with any other remarks. A member may be given half of a dollar bill and the other half forwarded to the new district. When the member arrives, the halves are matched. Identity is thus established."

 

[Michael Kalin]

7 hours ago, Bill Brown said:

Armstrong has even backed off from that claim and now believes that the two halves were found at the rooming house on Saturday the 23rd.

Citation(s)?

[Charles Blackmon]

7 hours ago, Bill Brown said:

 

 

J. Edgar Hoover, Masters of Deceit,

 

Certainly agree with that.

[Michael Kalin]

@Bill Brown What is the factual basis for your statement that "Armstrong has even backed off from that claim and now believes that the two halves were found at the rooming house on Saturday the 23rd?"

Here's an excerpt from the most recent Armstrong article on the subject I can find.

The police found halves of two different dollar bills in Oswald's wallet. This was a CIA method of clandestine contact. Wherever and whenever Oswald met his contact, this contact would provide confirmation of his or her identity by showing the other half of these dollar bills and confirm the serial numbers matched.

I do not believe that early on the morning of 11/22/63, when HARVEY Oswald left the Paine home in Irving, TX, that he had possession of these "half-dollar bills." And I do not believe that HARVEY Oswald knew anything about the upcoming assassination of President Kennedy early that morning.

Oswald told Capt. Fritz that he learned about the shooting when he was in the lunchroom. Oswald then needed to locate his supervisor, Bill Shelley, for advice and direction. I believe that it was Shelley who told Oswald to leave the building, to board the Marsalis Bus, and meet his contact at the Texas Theater. I further believe that it was Shelley who gave Oswald the two half-dollar bills. If not Shelley, then who?

Curiously, neither of these half-dollar bills were photographed, listed on the handwritten police inventory, the typewritten inventory, or the joint FBI/Dallas Police inventory of Oswald's possessions. At the National Archives, in Adelphi, MD, I inspected and handled each item of inventory listed on the joint FBI/Dallas Police inventory of 11/26/63. These items were not among the inventory nor were they ever mentioned by the Warren Commission. The ½ dollar bills were, however, described in detail on a Dallas Police inventory report. The CIA's David Atlee Phillips wrote in his 1977 autobiography about using similar techniques. Phillips wrote that when he would meet a contact at a movie theater, whom he didn't know, he carried with him a previously arranged item and recognized a pre-arranged coded phrase.
https://harveyandlee.net/Tippit2/Tippit2.html

No date, though. What can you share in the way of factual support for your statement?

[Greg Doudna]

Where is the evidence in the Dallas Police documents that the torn bills were part of the Oswald arrest? Is that secure as a certain fact (that DOD records confirm that)? Or is that claim in the genre of unproven inference or conjecture?

[Bill Brown]

6 minutes ago, Greg Doudna said:

Where is the evidence in the Dallas Police documents that the torn bills were part of the Oswald arrest? Is that secure as a certain fact (that DOD records confirm that)? Or is that claim in the genre of unproven inference or conjecture?

 

There's a document in the Dallas Police records which mentions two torn halves of dollar bills. This document lists the serial numbers of both bills. However, it says nothing about Oswald and there's really no proof whatsoever that it is assassination related. But, that didn't stop Armstrong from taking it and running with it.

[Greg Doudna]

28 minutes ago, Bill Brown said:

There's a document in the Dallas Police records which mentions two torn halves of dollar bills. This document lists the serial numbers of both bills. However, it says nothing about Oswald and there's really no proof whatsoever that it is assassination related. But, that didn't stop Armstrong from taking it and running with it.

Thanks Bill, I suspected something like that. That agrees with what I remember from a while ago but wasn’t sure. However as I recall it was ambiguous in the sense of being in proximity to other verified Oswald arrest evidence (or someone doing filing at DPD thought it was? Not sure how that worked), so while not verified from Oswald it is not clearly known to be spurious (as related to Oswald) either. Anyway your Hoover quote is interesting. 

[Michael Kalin]

@Bill Brown This has nothing to do with Communism. Oswald was following the CIA's "Identification for Emergency Contacts" procedure. Armstrong provided both the relevant "Dallas Police inventory report" and the 7/9/63 CIA memo regarding the "CIA method of clandestine contact." They are attached.

The reason the ½ dollar bills do not show up in any inventory of Oswald's possessions is that they went the way of Benavides' affidavit and the telephone call sheets. The survival of the report resulted from some sloppy oversight of the framing process.

BTW -- still no factual basis for your statement about Armstrong's change of belief. Do you need more time to locate a source for your information?

[Paul Cummings]

Trying to pair up the dollar bills in a dark theater? Man, I have problems trying to look my ticket let alone matching up dollar bills.

Edited July 9, 2023 by Paul Cummings

[Michael Griffith]

On 7/6/2023 at 12:15 PM, Bill Brown said:

There's a document in the Dallas Police records which mentions two torn halves of dollar bills. This document lists the serial numbers of both bills. However, it says nothing about Oswald and there's really no proof whatsoever that it is assassination related. 

Huh, well, that is one heck of a whopping coincidence. I am agnostic on this issue, but I do find it mighty, mighty odd that the police would find two torn halves of dollar bills, especially if they were found during the same timeframe when Oswald was arrested and detailed.

Do the police records say when the dollar-bill torn halves were found or booked into evidence?

[Adam Johnson]

Do we know who was: 

AMBIDDY-1

[Mark Knight]

On 7/10/2023 at 12:48 PM, Adam Johnson said:

Do we know who was: 

AMBIDDY-1

Wikipedia says it's Manuel Artime.

[Benjamin Cole]

On 7/10/2023 at 4:01 AM, Michael Kalin said:

@Bill Brown This has nothing to do with Communism. Oswald was following the CIA's "Identification for Emergency Contacts" procedure. Armstrong provided both the relevant "Dallas Police inventory report" and the 7/9/63 CIA memo regarding the "CIA method of clandestine contact." They are attached.

The reason the ½ dollar bills do not show up in any inventory of Oswald's possessions is that they went the way of Benavides' affidavit and the telephone call sheets. The survival of the report resulted from some sloppy oversight of the framing process.

BTW -- still no factual basis for your statement about Armstrong's change of belief. Do you need more time to locate a source for your information?

MK--

 

Thanks for this post.

That's what I recall. Someone went back through DPD records and located references to LHO having halves of dollar bills, which you have provided photo-copies of above. 

Of course, having dollar-bill halves alone hardly proves anything. On the other hand, people like to point out LHO's financial situation. Cutting bills in half might not be his cup of tea (btw, like cutting a $10 bill in half to day, for a guy in a minimum wage job). 

Pure speculation: The halves were sent or given to LHO, and connected him to confederates in a false flag op. 

 

 

[Denny Zartman]

On 7/9/2023 at 6:02 PM, Paul Cummings said:

Trying to pair up the dollar bills in a dark theater? Man, I have problems trying to look my ticket let alone matching up dollar bills.

Wouldn't matching the shape of the tear be fairly sufficient?

[Paul Cummings]

4 minutes ago, Denny Zartman said:

Wouldn't matching the shape of the tear be fairly sufficient?

Earlier in the thread someone mentioned about matching serial numbers on the dollar bill.