Hugh Aynesworth passing.

[Robert Morrow]

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

Hugh Aynesworth was probably the worst journalist in America on the JFK case.

Because he was so well connected he had a wide and long lasting influence on the case.

By that I mean from the inception, that is in the aftermath of the assassination, all the way to when Oliver Stone's film was released, a span of three decades.

From the start, and he admitted it, he took his function as upholding the lone assassin theory as advanced by the Dallas Police and Henry Wade. And it did not matter how he did it.  I will be preparing a none too flattering obituary about this direct example of how a fruitcake was allowed to essentially run wild over the media about JFK for 30 years.

Hugh Aynesworth answers the question “Are you a CIA media asset?” – Asked by Robert Morrow

2013 Texas Book Festival – CSPAN2 Tent – Austin, TX

Aynesworth answered: “That is a fair question.”

James Feldman comment on video on YouTube:

QUOTE

I note that Hugh Aynesworth does NOT answer the key operative part of the question put to him: Are you or have you ever been a CIA media asset? He only says that he did not take money from any government agency, but that too does not help to answer the question, and, in fact, is a MISLEADING answer because the CIA very often pays its assets through business intermediaries and other such non-government fronts. I will give Aynesworth credit as a very skilled xxxx, however, with his cleverly deceptive and evasive answer that appears to be "sincere." But his complete failure to answer the question in a forthright, honest manner merely supports those who assert that Aynesworth has been a CIA media asset.

UNQUOTE

[Joe Bauer]

Aynesworth was reported to have "interviewed John F. Kennedy in the shower, Lyndon B. Johnson in bed" [3] ... and possibly even J. Edgar Hoover in drag?

According to one report: "He also tracked down the person who stole "most of" eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes' money, chased James Earl Ray all over the South and into Canada after he shot the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr."^[3] 

According to Aynesworth, he was asked to serve as a pallbearer for Jack Ruby and played basketball with Fidel Castro.^[3] He said that he was playing outside of Havana: "And all of a sudden, this Jeep drives up and a bearded gentleman gets out and puts on his tennis shoes and joins us. I'd been having trouble getting an interview, and after that, it came a little easier. I told him that I would let him win."^[3]

Recapping his career, Aynesworth stated in one interview: "I've been offered bribes and threatened and maligned and witnessed some of the most horrifying events of our lifetime."

HA saw Jack Ruby in the DMN cafeteria at 11:30 am on 11,22,1963.

HA was standing on Houston not far from the Texas Schoolbook Depository building when JFK was shot. Too afraid to immediately run into the TXSDB he instead stood right next to a parked Dallas PD Motorcycle with it's radio still on and heard the report of the Tippit shooting and raced there in minutes time.

HA was right there and witnessed Oswald's gun jam in the Dallas Theater fight.

HA was stabbed in the neck by an intruder who broke down his room door in Denver when he was in his twenties. One gossip theory was it was a jealous boyfriend or some such person.

He watched the Waco massacre in person.

He interviewed mass murderers Ted Bundy and Henry Lucas.

He was in the press crowd in the DPD parking basement when Ruby shot Oswald. He said he only went to the transfer because his wife begged him to go.

HA stated many times he thought Jim Garrison was insane.

He gave Garrison credit for being a very well read and intelligent man. A man who knew history and the arts. Yet, he still felt ( Jim Garrison ) was insane.

I'm still looking for any reference to the bedding Marina story.

Seems HA was a real life "Clark Kent."

Going into a phone booth one second and appearing at the scene of major crimes the next.

 

Edited December 26, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[David Von Pein]

 

[Gerry Down]

1 hour ago, Greg Doudna said:

Speaking of Hugh Aynesworth, there was a report by a schoolkid who with his schoolkid friend was seated in the main level seating of the Texas Theatre on Nov 22, 1963, who witnessed Oswald's arrest, who told of seeing police officers searching the seating area in the area where Oswald had been sitting and then taken away under arrest, and finding a knife (pocket knife presumably) on the floor. The one officer picked it up and (according to the schoolkid witness) said to the other, "must be his". However that item was never registered or reported as found property.

Somewhere I read something written by Hugh Aynesworth in which as I recall he identified himself as having come into possession of a knife found at the Texas Theatre, or an Oswald knife, something like that, anyway when I read it I identified it as sounding like that unexplained police pocket knife find witnessed by the schoolkid. 

However I have searched through all I have from Aynesworth--books, articles--and have been unable to locate that reference. Does anyone else recognize this reference? I can only think it must be from some obscure newspaper article or something but I cannot find it.  

I do not see that any larger issue as to the case itself hinge on this (whether Oswald carried a pocket knife or not) but it is an item of trivia I would dearly love to nail down if possible. 

 

This knife was mentioned in a documentary a few years ago. Could have been "Oswald's Ghost" or another one around that timeframe. An old man on the documentary, I think it was a retired dpd officer, said Oswald was sitting on a knife in the theatre and planned to stab any officer in the stomach that tried to apprehend him in the dark of the theatre. Apparently the knife was a backup for the pistol he had. At least that is what the old man thought. The interviewer asked him what happened to the knife. The old man hesitated and stated that one of the dpd officers kept it as a souvenir but he would not give that dpd officers name.

RIP Hugh Aynesworth.

[Gerry Down]

1 hour ago, Greg Doudna said:

Speaking of Hugh Aynesworth, there was a report by a schoolkid who with his schoolkid friend was seated in the main level seating of the Texas Theatre on Nov 22, 1963, who witnessed Oswald's arrest, who told of seeing police officers searching the seating area in the area where Oswald had been sitting and then taken away under arrest, and finding a knife (pocket knife presumably) on the floor. The one officer picked it up and (according to the schoolkid witness) said to the other, "must be his". However that item was never registered or reported as found property.

Somewhere I read something written by Hugh Aynesworth in which as I recall he identified himself as having come into possession of a knife found at the Texas Theatre, or an Oswald knife, something like that, anyway when I read it I identified it as sounding like that unexplained police pocket knife find witnessed by the schoolkid. 

However I have searched through all I have from Aynesworth--books, articles--and have been unable to locate that reference. Does anyone else recognize this reference? I can only think it must be from some obscure newspaper article or something but I cannot find it.  

I do not see that any larger issue as to the case itself hinge on this (whether Oswald carried a pocket knife or not) but it is an item of trivia I would dearly love to nail down if possible. 

 

This knife was mentioned in a documentary a few years ago. Could have been "Oswald's Ghost" or another one around that timeframe. An old man on the documentary, I think it was a retired dpd officer, said Oswald was sitting on a knife in the theatre and planned to stab any officer in the stomach that tried to apprehend him in the dark of the theatre. Apparently the knife was a backup for the pistol he had. At least that is what the old man thought. The interviewer asked him what happened to the knife. The old man hesitated and stated that one of the dpd officers kept it as a souvenir but he would not give that dpd officers name.

RIP Hugh Aynesworth.

[Robert Morrow]

24 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

Aynesworth was reported to have "interviewed John F. Kennedy in the shower, Lyndon B. Johnson in bed" [3] ... and possibly even J. Edgar Hoover in drag?

According to one report: "He also tracked down the person who stole "most of" eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes' money, chased James Earl Ray all over the South and into Canada after he shot the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr."^[3] 

According to Aynesworth, he was asked to serve as a pallbearer for Jack Ruby and played basketball with Fidel Castro.^[3] He said that he was playing outside of Havana: "And all of a sudden, this Jeep drives up and a bearded gentleman gets out and puts on his tennis shoes and joins us. I'd been having trouble getting an interview, and after that, it came a little easier. I told him that I would let him win."^[3]

Recapping his career, Aynesworth stated in one interview: "I've been offered bribes and threatened and maligned and witnessed some of the most horrifying events of our lifetime."

HA saw Jack Ruby in the DMN cafeteria at 11:30 am on 11,22,1963.

HA was standing on Houston not far from the Texas Schoolbook Depository building when JFK was shot. Too afraid to immediately run into the TXSDB he instead stood right next to a parked Dallas Motorcycle with it's radio still on and heard the report of the Tippit shooting and raced there in minutes time.

HA was right there and witnessed Oswald's gun jam in the Dallas Theater fight.

HA was stabbed in the neck by an intruder who broke down his room door in Denver when he was in his twenties. One gossip theory was it was a jealous boyfriend or some such person.

He watched the Waco massacre in person.

He interviewed mass murderers Ted Bundy and Henry Lucas.

He was in the press crowd in the DPD parking basement when Ruby shot Oswald. He said he only went to the transfer because his wife begged him to go.

HA stated many times he thought Jim Garrison was insane.

He gave Garrison credit for being a very well read and intelligent man. A man who knew history and the arts. Yet, he still felt ( Jim Garrison ) was insane.

I'm still looking for any reference to the bedding Marina story.

Seems HA was a real life "Clark Kent."

Going into a phone booth one second and appearing at the scene of major crimes the next.

 

Aynesworth himself said he had sex with Marina Oswald Item 01.pdf (hood.edu)

[James DiEugenio]

To read that list posted by Joe, I mean Hugh was so full of it I mean: Hughes and the King case?  In hi sown mind he should have won about six Pulitzers, right?

In reality, Hugh was a hack journalist who worked with both the FBI and CIA on the JFK case.

His biggest selling book was appropriately about serial killer Ted Bundy.

He had the ethics of a Tammany Hall politician. Only in Dallas, could such a presstitute have an award named after him.

Edited December 26, 2023 by James DiEugenio

[Gerry Down]

The documentary regarding the knife was some documentary from 10, 15, or 20 years ago. Sorry I can't be more specific.

[Joe Bauer]

55 minutes ago, Robert Morrow said:

Aynesworth insisted that Marina had had an affair with him after the assassination, and that during this period she had revealed to him that she and Ruth Paine had shared a Lesbian relationship prior to November 22, 1963.

Robert, in your post recounting researcher Shirley Martin's 1967 letter to Jim Garrison you have certain passages from the letter in quotes. 

However, the specific passage above regarding Aynesworth bedding Marina and Marina confessing having had a lesbian relationship with Ruth Paine...are not in quotes.

Does that mean the HA/Marina affair and the Ruth Paine/Marina affair passage was not a quote?

[Joe Bauer]

6 hours ago, Robert Morrow said:

Hugh Aynesworth answers the question “Are you a CIA media asset?” – Asked by Robert Morrow

2013 Texas Book Festival – CSPAN2 Tent – Austin, TX

Aynesworth answered: “That is a fair question.”

James Feldman comment on video on YouTube:

QUOTE

I note that Hugh Aynesworth does NOT answer the key operative part of the question put to him: Are you or have you ever been a CIA media asset? He only says that he did not take money from any government agency, but that too does not help to answer the question, and, in fact, is a MISLEADING answer because the CIA very often pays its assets through business intermediaries and other such non-government fronts. I will give Aynesworth credit as a very skilled xxxx, however, with his cleverly deceptive and evasive answer that appears to be "sincere." But his complete failure to answer the question in a forthright, honest manner merely supports those who assert that Aynesworth has been a CIA media asset.

UNQUOTE

Robert, I was always proud of you for your brave effort to confront Aynesworth with the incredibly important question you presented him with in that public interview venue.

When the moderator tried to cut you off and many of the audience jeered and shouted and laughed derisively at you to embarrass you and shut you up...you stood your ground and finished the question. 

The reaction of that crowd was a perfect example of official public brainwashing.

They are told who to hero-worship. And they are encouraged to attack with jeering ridicule anyone who presents a reality different from the one they have been inculcated with. IMO anyways.

These praise fests interviews of HA were set up to continue the HA as the ultimate JFKA truth journalist hero image myth.

HA's rambling response to your question actually incriminates him to a laughable degree!

HA "admits" he met with Moore!

Yet feigning his knowledge of him and the CIA even having a Dallas office?

Said his office door didn't even have a name plate?

He admitted Moore asked him to report back with anything suspicious he may see in a return trip to Cuba?

HA says he went into Cuba just before the missile crisis? 

How is this aerospace editor getting access into hot spot Cuba when doing so was so difficult for 99% of any other Americans? And why? What reason did he give for that first visit? To discuss the cost of coffee beans? HA doesn't say.

And of course our intel agencies would be aware of his visit.

And why want to go back to Cuba when things got even hotter in 1963?

He's shooting baskets on a basketball court outside of Havana one day when Castro just happens to pull up, gets out of his jeep and puts on his high-top Adidas and says through a burley machine gun toting bodyguard/interpreter... let's see what you got mi amigo?

He's looking for an exclusive interview with Castro? This aerospace reporter?

HA's access into Cuba is ridiculously intel arranged.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Greg Doudna]

1 hour ago, Gerry Down said:

This knife was mentioned in a documentary a few years ago. Could have been "Oswald's Ghost" or another one around that timeframe. An old man on the documentary, I think it was a retired dpd officer, said Oswald was sitting on a knife in the theatre and planned to stab any officer in the stomach that tried to apprehend him in the dark of the theatre. Apparently the knife was a backup for the pistol he had. At least that is what the old man thought. The interviewer asked him what happened to the knife. The old man hesitated and stated that one of the dpd officers kept it as a souvenir but he would not give that dpd officers name.

1 hour ago, Gerry Down said:

The documentary regarding the knife was some documentary from 10, 15, or 20 years ago. Sorry I can't be more specific.

Thanks for that Gerry. I never heard of this before, but its obviously some version of the same story and seems to confirm the find. Sure would like to find that documentary and know that retired DPD officer's name and hear that story; I'll keep my eyes out for it, appreciated. 

[B. A. Copeland]

Aynesworth…..committed an utter and total disservice to not only the memory of JFK and Garrison directly, but to history itself.

Edited December 26, 2023 by B. A. Copeland

[Gerry Down]

27 minutes ago, Greg Doudna said:

Thanks for that Gerry. I never heard of this before, but its obviously some version of the same story and seems to confirm the find. Sure would like to find that documentary and know that retired DPD officer's name and hear that story; I'll keep my eyes out for it, appreciated. 

This is an issue that has interested me as well.

I went through my files and found the documentary. The documentary is called "JFK: Eyewitness To History". I think it was a PBS documentary. Not sure if it can still be viewed online anywhere. The person who appeared on the documentary and who made the claim was not a retired DPD officer but Jim Ewell of the Dallas Morning News. He says that Oswald was sitting on what he described to be an "open bladed knife" in the Texas theatre. I take this to mean it was not a pocket knife which folds up, but i'm not sure on this point. Ewell was reluctant to say what happened to the knife on camera but then says that one of the cops kept the knife as a souvenir. 

Considering that Hugh Aynesworth also worked for the Dallas Morning News, i wonder if it was Hugh Aynesworth who relayed the story to Jim Ewell about the knife. And if possibly it was Aynesworth who was the person who kept the knife and Jim Ewell covered for Aynesworth by saying a DPD officer kept the knife. But this is purely speculation on my part. 

[Pat Speer]

Aynsworth was a mixed bag, as I suspect most men are. 

I do not doubt most of the bad things said about him.

But I think it should be pointed out that he was quite helpful to Mark Lane when he first looked into the case, and even supplied him with the report saying no nitrates were found on Oswald's cheek. He was also helpful to Buell Frazier, as I recall, and encouraged him to come out of his cave and speak openly about the JFK case...all the while knowing that the bulk of what Frazier would be saying was CT stuff. 

So...not evil...human...

[W. Tracy Parnell]

9 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

Hugh Aynesworth BIH.

 

Unfortunately, this was very predictable. Anytime anyone who supported aspects of the "Oswald-did-it" mindset passes on, we see this here at EF. It is especially uncalled for coming from an individual who is supposed to be a "moderator" and as such represents the forum. 

Perhaps another perspective is needed:

Hugh Aynesworth, R.I.P. (onthetrailofdelusion.com)

Edited December 26, 2023 by W. Tracy Parnell