The Anonymous Phone Call to the Tippits of Connecticut

[Sandy Larsen]

On 3/6/2024 at 8:10 AM, Paul Jolliffe said:

Jim, what do you make of (Bentley) specifically naming  "Weinstock"? How do you think Louis Weinstock fit into this?

 

Paul,

First, I believe that -- in Bentley's nervous state -- she accidentally misspoke and said "Worker's World" instead of "The Worker." (In addition, I believe that Mrs. Tippit had never heard of "Worker's World" before, though she had heard of "Woman's World." Being overwhelmed with new and unexpected information, she heard "Woman's World" instead of "Workers World." I've made that same sort of mistake myself numerous times in my lifetime.)

So why would Bentley bring up Louis Weinstock and his newspaper, "Worker's World?" Well, for one thing, Weinstock was its new manager at the time. For another, Weinstock was in the news a lot around the time of the call in 1963. Emil Gardos, in contrast, was a thing of the distant past, having self deported in 1948. Maybe Bentley brought them up because they were current news, and maybe she was thinking that the Tippits might be aware of them. ("Them" being Weinstock and his communist newspaper.)

 

[Jim Hargrove]

9 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

Oswald's pseudonym, Alek Hidell, appears to be from Eastern European decent during the 19th or 20th century.

Alek is short for Russian Aleksandr, Polish Aleksander, among other variations of who we know as Alexander the Great.

Hidell appears to be an alternate spelling of the German surname Heidel. People sometimes do change the spelling of their name, for various reasons, when they move to a country that speaks another language.

A hypothesis:

HARVEY Oswald's birth name was Alek Hidell.

Elizabeth Bentley was aware of this name, but thought Emil Gordos was a step father or something of that nature.

As a result of one of his legal battles or deportation, Alek was removed from Gordos's custody. The CIA subsequently placed the boy with the Marguerite imposter.

Not long after the assassination, it became widely reported that HARVEY Oswald had used the pseudonym Alek Hidell. Elizabeth Bentley recognized the name and realized that this was the same guy who, as a boy, had lived with Gardos.

Bentley put two and two together and thought that the Kennedy assassination was part of a communist plot to take over America. So she called the Tippits to get word out about this. She didn't inform the FBI directly for fear of her life. (Nevertheless, she was still killed shortly after that and her death blamed on cancer.)

In his police and FBI interrogations, Oswald repeatedly denied using the Alek Hidell name. This has always struck me as odd because he was pretty honest about everything else. (Some researchers think he lied about a number of things. But IMO he was telling the truth in those instances. For example, he denied ever visiting Mexico City, and believe that to be the case.)

Anyway, this hypothesis explains why Oswald would be reluctant to own the Alek Hidell name.

Sandy--

Fascinating theory.  We could start exploring it by asking Geo Kozma if the surname Hidell shows up in Hungarian genealogical searches, and if so to look for it associated with a first name of Alek or variants Alec and Alex.  If memory serves, Marina referred to her husband as Alek in a few conversations with researchers, but, of course, these talks were all after the assassination when the name Alek Hidell was well known.

I’ve often wondered if, during interrogations, Oswald ever spilled the beans about his association with American intelligence.  There is no indication that he did, at least during the full sessions attended by a number of witnesses.  

But as you no doubt suspect, If Oswald was keeping his spy status secret (and there are indications he was good at that), and if this theory is reasonably correct, Oswald might well have denied anything to do with the name Hidell, even though he seemed reasonably truthful in his other answers.

The more we keep working on this topic, the more interesting it seems to get….

Paul J. is apparently working on researching Elizabeth Bentley’s NYC contacts in the 1940s and is hoping for some information within a couple of weeks.

I’m helping John K. with his continuing work to locate Mrs. Tippit’s original notes, which may not be as impossible as it sounds, and I’m also going to try contacting the NYU library early next week to see what can be learned from the Weinstock Papers without actually traveling to NYC.  

Geo: Any chance you could look into the surname Hidell in Hungarian genealogical databases?  If you find anything, could you look for it associated with first names of Alek or Alec or Alex, or anything that makes more sense to you in a Hungarian setting?
 

[Sandy Larsen]

41 minutes ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Geo: Any chance you could look into the surname Hidell in Hungarian genealogical databases?  If you find anything, could you look for it associated with first names of Alek or Alec or Alex, or anything that makes more sense to you in a Hungarian setting?

 

Not only Hidell, but also Heidel.

 

[John Kowalski]

2 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Paul J. is apparently working on researching Elizabeth Bentley’s NYC contacts in the 1940s and is hoping for some information within a couple of weeks.

I’m helping John K. with his continuing work to locate Mrs. Tippit’s original notes, which may not be as impossible as it sounds, and I’m also going to try contacting the NYU library early next week to see what can be learned from the Weinstock Papers without actually traveling to NYC.  

Jim:

If Bentley had a will it could provide the names of people she knew. It may also mention if she left her personal papers with someone or to a library or archive. If she did leave her papers with someone, they would be invaluable to our research.

NYU library should have a copying service for people who can't visit the library. They may also have a list of researchers who will copy documents for a fee. Can you let me know what they tell you about it. 

[Jim Hargrove]

10 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Marina referred to her husband as Alek in a few conversations with researchers

Yesterday, I asked John Armstrong if, in his many conversations with Marina Oswald Porter, she ever referred to Oswald as “Alek.”  John answered, “Never.”

Geo – If you’re willing to help us, please search for two surnames:  Hidell and Heidel 

John K – Will do.  Thanks for the tips.

[Geo Kozma]

Geo – If you’re willing to help us, please search for two surnames:  Hidell and Heidel 

 

Jim, Sorry sometimes I have no time to come here, but if you tell me in an email your question - i can make time to come and answer.

SAndy - there is no name like "Hidel en Heidel in Hungarian....In Germany, Heidelberg is a famous city and heidel exist as a name but has no concrete meaning. (Heide means Meadow). 

I can only remember that there is a very famous historian of Kabbalah - so his books are probably online accessible -  called  Moshe IDEL. In Wiki I found that IDEL or Itil  - meaning vOLGA in Turkic - was the capital of the Khazar Khaganate- a famous cas of a whole uppr class deciding to bcome Jewish  in order o keep independent from the neighbouring Christian and Muslim states.

 (The H is frequently mute in Hebrew at the beginning of a word. Not always but it happens.)

I asked the AI and looked up in the Dictionary to not lt Ai halucinate - 

 

Copilot

Thank you for sharing those insights! It’s fascinating how the Hebrew letters carry such rich symbolism and meaning. Let’s explore the concepts you mentioned:

1. Hidel (הידל): The term “Hidel” signifies “to make rare” or “to diminish.” It’s interesting how this word captures the idea of something becoming less common or scarce. The Hebrew letter “Hei” (ה) often represents the breath of life and creative energy. When combined with “Daleth” (ד)," which symbolizes transition, it creates a powerful image of transformation or rarity.

2. CHidel (חידל): This term, pronounced with a strong “Chet” (ח)" sound, means “to cease” or “to desist.” The letter “Chet” represents a fence or boundary, suggesting a cessation or stopping point. When paired with “Daleth,” it conveys the idea of coming to an end or passing away.

It is a sinister pseudyme for someone having murderous fantasies - even f we do not know more about him as the evidence for the murder is debated.

Edited March 9 by Geo Kozma

[Sandy Larsen]

8 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

Yesterday, I asked John Armstrong if, in his many conversations with Marina Oswald Porter, she ever referred to Oswald as “Alek.”  John answered, “Never.”

 

According to Bill Simpich:

Oswald called himself “Alec” or “Alik” while in the USSR, and even obtained a hunting license under the name “Aleksey Harvey Oswald”

Source: Oswald 201 File, Volume 24, p. 8

 

[Sandy Larsen]

I once had a Pakistani friend by the name of Said, pronounced SAW-eed. He was a new immigrant to America. I talked him into spelling it "Sayeed," which he did.

The name Hidell is very rare in America. There are reportedly fewer than 200 Americans with that surname. (Source) I believe that the reason for its rarity is that it was re-spelled from some other name when the American's ancestor immigrated to America, or to some prior country.

(BTW FWIW, I'm skeptical that the statistics on this name are correct. I've found a number of Hidells who lived in America circa 1900... surely their descendants would number greater than 200 by now. One would think.)

It seems that somebody with an Ancestry.com account should be able to easily trace a few of these Hidells back to the Hidell ancestor who immigrated here so we can see where the surname originates. Heidel from Germany or some other nearby country would be my bet. Heidel is definitely a German surname. But that doesn't necessarily mean our orphan was from Germany, given that people do move around over the generations.

 

[Geo Kozma]

On 3/6/2024 at 9:43 PM, Jim Hargrove said:

Geo,

Your geneological stuff always confuses me, 
 

Well as I said Jewish names were designed to confuse and cause fear in both Jews and non-Jews.

... the state forced Jews to get German names. But from a limited set. So we have KLEINS or STERNS or KELERS in each family...not just RELATED families. It happens with Mr White and Mr Smith in non-Jewish familiesss too. They just are not in contact.

So it cannot be used for real crriminal esearch - yes in the archives an Oswald has married a Gardosh....

 

Edited March 20 by Geo Kozma
To make it clearer

[Jim Hargrove]

9 hours ago, Geo Kozma said:

SAndy - there is no name like "Hidel en Heidel in Hungarian....In Germany, Heidelberg is a famous city and heidel exist as a name but has no concrete meaning. (Heide means Meadow).

Thanks for checking the Hidell name in Hungary, Geo.  Nothing in this case is easy, eh?  I’ll read your post above again to see if I can make more sense of it.  In the meantime….

Going back to Sandy’s theory….

Before the paywall crashes down, Ancestry.com reports for Hidell there are

124 birth records
231 marriage and divorce records
406 death records
246 census records
and, notably
49 immigration records

The site has a 14 day free trial, but I used up mine a couple of years ago to get access to its newspaper database.

John Armstrong believes the Hidell alias may have been used by both Oswalds, Harvey starting in the USSR, Lee in the U.S., but, perhaps to keep their identities differentiated for select intel personnel, LEE used AleX Hidell and Harvey used AleK Hidell.  Both variants appear to have been in evidence. 

 

If memory serves, David Josephs felt the “X” vs. “K” was an optical illusion due to a lack of resolution but, in my opinion at least, John makes a good case.

For more on this, see:

https://harveyandlee.net/Alex/Alek.html

[Sandy Larsen]

I'm still using Windows XP and a lot of websites don't work well for me. That's the reason I don't get a temporary Ancestry.com account. I don't want to waste my one free trial.

With only 124 birth records that Jim found, it appears that the statistics I cited earlier very well could be correct. Hidell truly is a very rare surname in America. Probably so in the world as well.

 

[Sandy Larsen]

I'm thinking it's very likely that Hidell came from the German name Heidel.

A German named Heidel may have changed the spelling to Hidell when he/she moved to another country. And a descendant of that person could have moved to Hungary and kept the name Heidel.

 

[John Kowalski]

19 hours ago, Jim Hargrove said:

The site has a 14 day free trial, but I used up mine a couple of years ago to get access to its newspaper database.

Try your local library, they could have a subscription to Ancestry that you can use for free. My local library has one and the archives has one a as well.

The Mormons also have a genealogy website and its free.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/?cid=PC-00038602&keyword=family history lds&gad_source=1

[Paul Jolliffe]

On 3/9/2024 at 5:19 AM, Sandy Larsen said:

 

According to Bill Simpich:

Oswald called himself “Alec” or “Alik” while in the USSR, and even obtained a hunting license under the name “Aleksey Harvey Oswald”

Source: Oswald 201 File, Volume 24, p. 8

 

Sandy,

Can you give a little more precise citation from Bill Simpich for this? I can't get a link for the Oswald's "complete" 201 CIA file.

The Warren Commission's Volume XXIV (24) has nothing to do with "Oswald's" use of the names "Alec" or "Alik" either. 

Where did Simpich get this?

Thanks.

 

[John Kowalski]

On 3/8/2024 at 12:18 AM, Sandy Larsen said:

Hidell appears to be an alternate spelling of the German surname Heidel. People sometimes do change the spelling of their name, for various reasons, when they move to a country that speaks another language.

Found a reference to a Hidell name variant at the Black Vault website. The person's name is Joseph Hydell.

Another person with a name variant is Fred Blair. His grandfather's name is Andrew Blais and he was born In Quebec. When they moved to the US their name changed to Blair.

After reading about the Tunheim document that suggests that Marguerite Oswald may have had some association with Nazis during WWII, I did some research on right wing activities in that area and found a FBI document regarding Robert Edward Edmonson who was described as sympathetic towards Germany and who received donations from many people, one of which was Joseph Hydell.

https://archive.org/details/Hydell

 

Edited March 11 by John Kowalski