Robert Morrow Posted Wednesday at 04:21 AM Share Posted Wednesday at 04:21 AM I have posted Ernst Titovet's essay relating to Lee Harvey Oswald and the JFK assassination on my blog (I was unable to get the pictures in the blog, maybe later I will): https://robertmorrowpoliticalresearchblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/ernest-titovets-2024-paper-warren.html Ernst Titovets, Oswald's best friend in Russia, has long maintained the innocence of Lee Harvey Oswald in the JFK assassination. Ernst Titovets “O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason! Bear with me.” Antony’s speech on Caesar’s funeral, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare The Warren Commission’s Bias and Lee Harvey Oswald The assassination of President Kennedy stands out as the greatest unsolved mystery of the 20th century. Kennedy belonged to a new generation of top American leaders who had to deal with the challenges coming from the Communist World. It was at the height of the Cold War between the two world nuclear superpowers,--the United States and the Soviet Union. Their combined nuclear-weaponry capabilities, if unleashed, could turn the planet Earth into a lifeless desert. Kennedy was fully aware of the danger of a nuclear confrontation in the tense and unpredictable atmosphere of the Cold War. The recent Cuban missile crisis with its thirteen days of high suspense, while the word was balancing on the brink of a nuclear war, was a sobering experience. Kennedy fully realized the necessity of a détente. Nuclear disarmament and peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union should become the motto of the day. That meant a departure from the long-rooted cliches about the Communist world and looking for some common human basis on which to built new rejatonahp between the two idioogical opposits. This would be a prerequisite to meaningful talks on nuclear disarmament and for establishing peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union. It was exactly to what the US military-industrial complex and the national security state categorically objected. In their faces, Kennedy acquired powerful and resourceful enemies who would hardly stop at anything to protect their interests. President Kennedy was killed by sniper’s shots in Dallas on November 22, 1963 in broad daylight before a cheering crowd of people who came to greet him. The enormity and audacity of this crime was shocking. In the minds of Americans, there stood a question why should somebody assassinate a young progressive American President. Assassination of the President and the manner in which it was executed reflected apron reputation of the government. People wanted to know why all those responsible for safety of the President turned out so sloppy about carrying out their duty... America waited for an official explanation. A first official response came in the form of an executive order issued by the new President Lyndon B. Johnson to appoint a special commission to conduct a thorough investigation of the assassination. Handpicked by the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and approved by Lindon Johnson, the members of the Commission were all distinguished persons of high national reputation capable of exercising an independent and objective judgment. It would have been an exaggeration to say that every appointee was happy with his membership in the Commission. Some of the selected ones needed coercion to obtain their consent. Johnson had to use his impressive experience of dealing with those around him to snub the opposition and to talk the malcontents into submission. Thus, the chief justice of the United States Earl Warren, the chairman of the Commission, turned out to be the one to have received a full “Johnson’s treatment” before giving up and accepting his appointment. Among the members of the commission was Allen W. Dulles, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Following the failed invasion of Cuba, the “Bay of Pigs” fiasco in April 1961, Kennedy fired Dulles. The Commission was to conduct a full investigation of the assassination but along the lines suggested by Lindon Johnson: the presidential killer was to be a Lee Harvey Oswald who acted alone. It might be due to some omission, but Oswald did not have any legal representation at the Commission. Incidentally, neither did he receive any legal help during his interrogation by the police following his arrest on suspicion of the assassination of the President. The Commission Report must be the result of a most thorough investigation. It should reveal an identity of the killer and the circumstances leading to the assassination. No efforts will be spared to expose evil, to allay all fears, to restore peoples’ confidence in their government and democracy. The fate of Oswald had been sealed well in advance. The Commission had only to see to it that Oswald's role in the assassination was properly documented to prove his guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. The Official Warren Commission Report on the Assassination of President John Kennedy, presented to Lindon Johnson in 1964, expressed concern about the state of Oswald's mental health that received much suggestive verbosity. This concern seems to have been a point of departure for the Commission when featuring Oswald’s character meant for public consumption. But there was the rub. The Commission must have failed to find any negative documentation on psychiatric evaluation of Oswald’s mental health. Otherwise, this critically important medical evidence would have certainly figured in the Commission presentation of Oswald’s persona and given much publicity. In short, there was no definitive evidence to suggest that he had a diagnosed mental illness. In its evaluation of Oswald, the Commission made an assumption that Oswald was a sociopathic loner and malcontent disinterested in social relationships. He was moved by an overriding hostility to his environment. He was prone to antisocial behavior; he did not appear to have been able to establish meaningful relationships with other people. He was perpetually discontented with the world around him. Long before the assassination, he expressed his hatred for American society and acted in protest against it. He displayed some schizoid personality tendencies and emotional coldness. The Commission opinionated that Oswald's search for a perfect society of his imagination, was doomed from the very start. He was preoccupied with obtaining omnipotence or power to compensate for his perceived shortcoming He sought for himself a place in history as the "great man" who would be recognized as having been in advance of his times. His commitment to Marxism and communism appears to have been another important factor in his motivation. The Commission must have intended to conceal behind the smokescreen of the Oswald’s implied mental-health problems some of its deficiencies and to preclude certain awkward questions. The Conclusion in the Warren Commission Reports opens up with a curious admission: “Many factors were undoubtedly involved in Oswald's motivation for the assassination, and the Commission does not believe that it can ascribe to him any one motive or group of motives.” Nevertheless, the Warren Commission Reports presented an official view on the assassination of President Kennedy and the role of Lee Harvey Oswald, the main suspected assassin. The mainstream media got the clue and, in conformity with the Commission’s opinion, and continued with its own defamation campaign against Oswald… It looked like the Commission was set to select only the information, unnecessary reliable, that would feature Oswald, burdened with his mental health problems, as a potentially criminal character with the mind of a killer. Oswald’s whole life, full of erratic behavior, was only a prelude to that nefarious final act of his, __ the assassination of JFK. Now, due to the Commission efforts, he stood fully “exposed”, unfortunately too late. A minor nuisance was that Oswald had never been apprehended red-handed and holding his smoking gun. The Commission reported that during the interrogation following his arrest Oswald genuinely protested his innocence: “He consistently refused to admit involvement in the assassination of JFK or in the killing of Patrolman Tippit”. It was an unexpected mode of behavior on the part of a psychopath who must have craved media attention and public recognition for his deeds. There was no logic to Oswald’s madness! Contrary to that, there was a growing suspicion about involvement of other forces in the assassination. Martin Schotz expressed general belief of many by saying that ”there is no doubt that President Kennedy was murdered in Dallas on November 22, 1963, by the US ruling establishment because of his growing radical opposition to Cold War policy. The vast cover-up from the absurd Warren Report to the ongoing blanket mass media denialism all point incontrovertibly to an orchestrated state agency”. In 1976, the US House Senate Commission on Assassinations agreed, in principle, with the Warren Commission’s conclusion about Oswald’s participation in JFK assassination having only specified that there was "high probability that two gunmen fired" and that Kennedy "was probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy". *** The mystery surrounding this greatest crime of the 20th century attracted much public attention. The opportunistic-minded writers and journalists saw in it an occasion to make themselves visible. They seemed not to care much about facts. Sensation was their motto. As a result, there followed a deluge of conspiracy theories in the form of numerous books, TV presentations, blogs etc., construed in conformity with the official views suggested by the Warren Commission. Oswald’s case has never been tried in a court of law; there is no legal decision concerning his role in the assassination of President Kennedy. Oswald remains, at best, a suspect to the assassination. Nevertheless, it has never seemed to be in the way of the media and conspiracy theorists to brand Oswald a presidential killer and treat him as a mental case *** I could not recognize in the Commissions’ presentation of Oswald my friend Lee whom I knew here in Minsk for quite some time. Why would these dignitaries, the members of the Commotion, along with the conspiracy theorists, choose to so grossly distort and misrepresent the character of Oswald to feed it next to the American people as the final truth? A naïve rhetorical question addressed to the void! It looked like in the spheres of high politics the truth was a fickle commodity dependent on a current political situation. The members of the Commission must have certainly been aware of the real situation with Oswald, but they were only doing their job, regardless of their personal concerns. In that already set scenario, Oswald was made to play the role of a dispensable pawn to cover up the real perpetrates of the JFK assassination. To me Lee was a friendly warm character with a good sense of humor. He might be prankish in places. He was serious when the two of us would launch ourselves into debating the socio-political and philosophical issues, would star comparing the exiting practices of capitalism and socialism and discuss their acceptable and unacceptable features… We would watch opera, go to dancing parties, visit friends, go hiking in the country, read books, reenact plays in front of a tape recorder, and generally have a great time. … With all that, I observed in Lee none of those warning signs that might be associated with some or other mental problem. With a course of psychiatry at the Medical Institute under my belt I, certainly, would not have failed to observe at least some of the symptoms of the mental health problems that the Warren Commission would ascribe to Oswald. There was simply none of those. Neither, a psychiatrist doctor Skugarevsky, M.D., Ph.D., who also met Oswald, was able to diagnose any problems with his mental health. An official psychiatric evaluation of Oswald’s mental health was carried out in Moscow at Bodkin Clinical Hospital in 1959. On October 21, Oswald faked a suicide attempt by cutting his wrist. That was his desperate, but coldly calculated, move to delay sending him out of Russia. His application for citizenship had been refused and he would be sent back home that very day. He was rushed to the hospital where he spent a week. The first three days he stayed in a psychiatric ward under the observation of a psychiatrist who came to the following conclusion: “The character of the injury is considered light without functional disturbances. The patient is of clear mind, no sign of psychotic phenomena”…“During his stay in the [admission] department, his attitude was completely normal”… “His mind is clear. Perception is correct. No hallucinations or delirium. He answers the questions [illegible] and logically. He has a firm desire to remain in the Soviet Union. No psychotic symptoms were observed. The patient does not present any danger for other people.” It looks like the Warren Commission failed to obtain any medical evidence proving that Oswald was a psychopath. While in the US Marines, Oswald must have certainly passed a psychiatric evaluation. The Commission’s no comment attitude on the matter rather indicates that there was found no problems with Oswald’s mental health. A man’s real character manifests itself in critical situations that may arise suddenly. There was one such when Lee practically snatched me out from under the wheels of a speeding car. While crossing the street I was distracted and did not observe its approach. It was Lee who suddenly sprang back to evade the collision pulling me along with him. It was Lee all over. Another revealing episode took place during our parting. Lee took off his finger his signet ring and gave it to me. I was deeply touched with his move. I knew it from Lee that the ring was with him throughout his service with the US marines, and that it was dear to him. I could not rob him of it. Having thanked him, I found an excuse to hand it back to him. No words were needed: we both knew how we felt. Hardly anybody, who knew Oswald in Minsk, would speak of him has an inaccessible remote person. To the contrary, the majority believed he was a kind young man with good manners; “a true gentleman”, as local girls would put it. One of those people who had a personal grudge against Oswald was my former fellow student from the Medical Institute Alexander Mastikyn, whom I knew over many years. Mastikyn spoke of Oswald as of a remote individual who would look down on him. I think I know how this opinion came about. I rather liked Mastikyn, a fan of Spanish, who was a nice guy but the one who would not stand on manners. Impulsive and impatient to have his say, he might offend, without realizing it, the feelings of the person he met for the first time. Knowing both Oswald and Mastikyn, I saw their problem: they simply failed to reach understanding between the two of them, in the first place. The rest was given to Mastikyn’s imagination, as I learned from the abusive nonsense, he carried about Oswald. It occurred to me that those negative myths about Oswald might have come exactly from those who did not know him well enough to see the real character of the man. The Commission launch itself into gross misrepresentation of Oswald’s character guided by the restrictive instruction issued from Lindon Johnson. In conformity with the task set before it, the Commission accepted only what supported the idea of Oswald’s guilt was while the opposite was ignored. The members of the Commission must have fully realized that suppression of truth was not the final solution. No matter how hard they tried to conceal it, the truth would will emerge. Lyndon Johnson was playing for time. His immediate task was to do all possible to allay the fears of the American people; restore their shattered believe in government and democracy and give people some plausible explanation of what had happened to ponder over. The international aspect had also to be taken into account: to prevent possible world repercussions in the aftermath of the assassination. *** Oswald was ever open about his commitment to Marxism. Looking at Oswald’s life one might find an explanation to that fact. In his Manifesto Karl Marx predicted an appearance “of an ideal highly developed technologically and a truly affluent society of equals. A place where a citizen would contribute an undemanding share of work towards increasing common prosperity while, at the same time, able to follow one’s chosen pursuit and enjoy all the best that such a society offered in terms of material and cultural wealth–from each according to their abilities to each according to their needs.“ Oswald, a teenager from a poor family, read Manifesto at his tender age of fifteen. With its happy fairytale promises, it appealed to his mind and he liked it. Moreover, historical materialism predicted the inevitability of demise of capitalism and the rise of socialism to be followed next by communism. And there was the Soviet Union, a country of socialism, to proove thr apparent correctness of the prediction. (By the way, Oswaled did not live long enough to see the collapse of the socialist Soviet Unuon in 1991.) His initial facination with Marx theory grew ever scince. He was looking forward towards a possibility of building on Americn soil a reformed society where the would be no poverty, no social inequality, while people would have good jobs, dicent living… In short, he considered Marxism as a means to remedy all those current injustices in American society. It became his driving idea and remained so further into his adulhood. John Maynard Keynes, an English economist, philosopher and one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, would share his thoughts by saying “Marxian Socialism must always remain a portent to the historians’ opinion—how a doctrine so illogical and so dull can have exercised so powerful and enduring an influence over the minds of men, and, through them, the events of history.” It looks like Oswald was one of many who would fall under the spell of Marxism. Oswald loved his motherland. With him it was not just a cheap display of patriotism but how he really felt about America. As a researcher in political economy and sociology Oswald looked into the systems as exsisting in both the Soviet Russia and in the United States. He was looking for the acceptable practices to borrow and adopt for the American Society of his drean to make it a better place to live in for all. On the way he would regect some practices that went against his concept. He might express his attitude quite it imotionnaly, irrespective wether theye belonged to Russia or the United States. But it never meant tht he hated either country as a whole. Unfotunatly, the Commission would snatch out a feature, deemed negative in the eyes of Oswald, and misinterpret it as an expression of his overall hatred for the American society with an implication that such an attitude is the manifestation of his mental problems. That was one of the questionable tricks the Commission would employ to missrepresent Oswald’s character and distort his image to serve the Commission’s ends. In the document called The Athenian System, Oswald outlined the guiding principles of his preferred state. Based on democratic principles, the state of his dream would incorporate the best acceptable social practices borrowed from either Socialism or Capitalism. In his peace-loving America, there would be no poverty, no social inequality, no race discrimination, etc… In his evaluation of socialism and capitalism, the two antagonistic system, he practiced a balanced approach. Oswald loved his country and was deeply disappointed with the Soviet type socialism. However, he realized that emotions should not stand in the way of his research. Thus, he observed: “To a person knowing both systems . . . there can be no mediation . . . He must be opposed to their basic foundations. . . And yet it is immature to take the sort of attitude which says ‘a curse on both your houses.’ Any practical attempt at one alternative must have as its nucleus the traditional ideological best of both systems, and yet be utterly opposed to both . . . “How many of you tried to find out the truth behind the cold war clichés? I have lived under both systems. I have sought the answer and, although it would be very easy to dupe myself into believing one system is better than the other, I know they are not.” Communists would view Oswald with his compromise between socialism and capitalism, the two antagonistic systems, combined with his criticism of Marx, by a dissident. In their eyes, Oswald was a low revisionist who dared to challenge the only true Marxist-Leninist teaching of historical materialism. He did not deserve to call himself ether Marxist or a communist. Oswald himself did identify himself only as Marxist but never as a member of the Communist Party. The Warren Commission used Oswald’s theoretical views to antagonize him before the American people. At the time of the Cold war, the McCarthyism, and the dominating propaganda cliché, Oswald’s attitude was a menace to the values of the free world. *** In The Athenian System Oswald raises the issue of civil rights and stresses that “…racial segregation or discrimination be abolished by law…”. On June 11, 1963, Kennedy delivered a speech on civil rights (The Report to the American People on Civil Rights) where called for Congress to take action against segregation and submit legislation to guarantee equal access to public facilities, end segregation in education, and protect the right to vote. He described the civil rights crisis as a moral, constitutional, and legal issue, and urged Americans to treat each other fairly. Martin Luther King, Jr. would refer to the speech as "one of the most eloquent, profound, and unequivocal pleas for Justice and Freedom of all men ever made by any President" Kennedy federalized National Guard troops and deployed them to the Alabama University to force its desegregation after Governor George Wallace prevented two African American students from registering at the University. The Civil Rights Act, initiated by John Kennedy, was signed into law already by President Lyndon Johnson and passed by Congress on July 2, 1964. The Athenian System asserts that “… the dissemination of war propaganda be forbidden as well as the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction.” President Kennedy in his Commencement Address at American University on June 10, 1963 delivered a speech outlining American position on world peace and disarmament: “…the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war--and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task… Every thoughtful citizen who despairs of war and wishes to bring peace, should begin by looking inward--by examining his own attitude toward the possibilities of peace, toward the Soviet Union, toward the course of the cold war and toward freedom and peace here at home.“ “…both the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its allies, have a mutually deep interest in a just and genuine peace and in halting the arms race. Agreements to this end are in the interests of the Soviet Union as well as ours…” Kennedy stressed that the arms race comes into massive funding that should have better been used to fight poverty and to meet other urgent social needs. The Limited Test Ban Treaty, signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963 was a landmark event. The three nuclear powers: the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States agreed to ban all nuclear tests in the atmosphere, outer space, and under water. It was the first arms control agreement of the Cold War that established an important precedent for future similar acts. It was important for keeping world peace. Kennedy’s attitude to the issues of war and peace, the weapons of mass destruction and his wiliness to negotiate those problems with the communist Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War, was remarkable. His will to negotiate across the ideological divide contrary to the opinions of his hawkish military advisers, still fresh from serving under Eisenhower and Truman, signified a start of a new realistic political trend in this divided world living under a constant threat of nuclear annihilation. Martin Schotz stressed the significance the speech: "In 1963, President John F. Kennedy made a radical turn away from war and initiated a process of peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union. As part of this process, he made a speech at the American University, Washington DC, in June of 1963 which was a profound attempt to educate the people of the United States about world peace and to outline a path out of Cold War thinking. The concepts and principles that the president articulated are as true and valuable today as they were in 1963. At the time that this speech was delivered it so impressed Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that he had it reprinted throughout the Soviet Union". Jeffrey Sachs, economist and head of the High-Level Advisory Panel Forum to oversee progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), … praised Mr. Kennedy’s legacy, noting that “he helped to save the world from the brink of annihilation… and he spoke words that will live for as long as humanity survives.” On September 20, 1963, President Kennedy addressed the 18th session of the General Assembly. He frankly acknowledged that the suspicions between the United States and the Soviet Union were at an all-time high in the aftermath of the Cuban missile crisis when the world was on the brink of nuclear annihilation. The crisis was eventually diffused as a result of the talks between the leaders of the opposing superpowers. He further stressed the necessity of finding ways of conducting meaningful dialogues to promote the world peace. Kennedy suggested to concentrate less on the differences and more on the means of resolving them peacefully. He thus said: “We have, in recent years, agreed on a limited test ban treaty, on an emergency communications link between our capitals, on a statement of principles for disarmament, on an increase in cultural exchange, on cooperation in outer space, on the peaceful exploration of the Antarctic, and on tempering last year's crisis over Cuba…We must continue to seek agreements on safeguards against surprise attack, including observation posts at key points. We must continue to seek agreement on further measures to curb the nuclear arms race, by controlling the transfer of nuclear weapons, converting fissionable materials to peaceful purposes, and banning underground testing, with adequate inspection and enforcement.” Kennedy’s outlook strongly resonated with that of Oswald’s. It is curious to observe that some issues raised in The Athenian System by a grass-roots philosopher Oswald,-- an obscure nobody, were equally important to President Kennedy. What might have united the young President Kennedy and Oswald, an endeavoring young American, was that they both cared about America. They were both looking forward towards a reformed American society and did their level best to ensure prosperity of this country. Having watched the President’s activity Oswald might have viewed him as his powerful ally who, not only shared his ideas, but would put them into life. What more Oswald could have wished for! To assassinate Kennedy, for Oswald, apart from facing the inevitable legal consequences, would have been tantamount to committing a political suicide. By such an act, Oswald would have undermined his own teaching and turned himself a low hypocrite. The Warren Commission, having closely followed its predetermined mission of painting Oswald black and presenting as a presidential killer, ignored the facts that did not fit into the picture. This biased approach led the Commission to absurd conclusions and reflected on its reputation. As a means to overcome the problems on the way of introducing The Athenian System to life, Oswald suggests a solution through adoption the philosophy of stoicism with its guiding cardinal values of wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. Oswald advised: “ only the intellectually fearless could even be remotely attracted to our doctrine, and yet this doctrine requires the utmost restraint, a state of being in itself majestic in power. This is stoicism, and yet stoicism has not been affected for many years, and never for such a purpose.” A non-violent approach was a corner stone in the whole of Oswald’s political activity. He kept to this principle at his every step. He realized that putting his ideas into life needed much of down-to-earth organizational work, persuasion and patient dissemination of his ideas. On July 27, 1963, Oswald, as an invited speaker, delivered a talk on Contemporary Russia and the Practice of Communism before the students and faculty staff at the Jesuit House of Studies at Spring Hill College. He was a success there. Even the professionals in attendance believed that he possessed a college education. To increase his visibility Oswald ventured out into the streets handing out the FPCC literature to passers-by there. His activity did not pass unnoticed. The arose a street altercation involving him and some anti-Castro Cubans headed by anti-Castro activist Carlos Bringuier, the New Orleans representative of the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil. Both Oswald and Bringuier were arrested for disturbing the peace. Oswald wanted his arrest to be presented in a political light. While in police custody, he asked for an interview with an FBI agent to whom he talked about his activity with the FPCC. This is how Oswald gives account of his new experience: “I am experienced in Street agitation, having done it in New Orleans in connection with the FPCC. On Aug. 9, 1963, I was accosted by three anti-Castro Cubans and was arrested for ‘causing a disturbance’. I was interrogated by intelligence section of New Orleans Police Dept. and held overnight, being bailed out the next morning by relatives. I subsequently was fined $10. Charges against the three Cubans were dropped by the judge. On Aug 16, I organized a four man FPCC demonstration in front of the International trade mart in New Orleans. This demonstration was filmed by WDSU TV and shown on the 6:00 news.” Oswald’s recognition by the local media followed. He was invited to make radio appearances, expressing his ideas as a secretary of the New Orleans chapter of the FPCC. His first appearance was on the program Latin Listening Post. His second appearance was in a live radio debate against two opponents of the FPCC and Fidel Castro. Oswald welcomed the challenge of a public debate and looked forward to it as a means of getting publicity to his cause. He made clear his attitude to Cuba by stating: “The principles of the Fair Play for Cuba consist of restoration of diplomatic, trade, and tourist relations with Cuba. That is one of our main points. We are for that.” The above was quite a piece of oratory coming from a former high school dropout and delivered in a sure and relaxed manner. According to Stuckey, a participant of the debate, Oswald "appeared to be a very logical, intelligent fellow." Oswald firmly stood his ground against many challenges in that debate. He kept his mind open to his opponent’s argument. Although he held opposing views, nobody saw in him a political zealot with hypermaniac tendencies, but rather a reasonable, accessible and open-minded man. Oswald came through with flying colors having earned himself reputation of a capable agitator. Oswald’s participation in the program Conversation Carte Blanche, a live radio debate on August 31, 1963, turned out to be his last public appearance as a political activist. On November 24, he was assassinated in Dallas while in police custody by Jack Rubi, who was a suspicious character with mafia connections. McMillan gave the following about Oswald in 1978: “He [Oswald] had not been to college, nor had he been part of any political or intellectual milieu in the United States. In Russia he had been cut off completely from such currents as might be stirring young people back home. Yet the political solution he reached, from his own experience, from reading, from talking to his friends in Minsk, was familiar to the solution proposed by a generation of American activists in the later 1960s: participatory democracy at community level. Oswald was a pioneer; if you will, or a lonely American anti-hero a few years ahead of his time.” George de Mohrenschildt reminisced about Lee Oswald: “Only someone who never met Lee could have called call him insignificant. ‘There is something outstanding about this man,’ I told myself. One can detect immediately a very sincere and forward man. Although he was average looking, with no outstanding features and of medium size, he showed in his conversation all the elements of concentration, thought, and toughness. This man had the courage of his convictions and did not hesitate to discuss them. …Lee’s English was perfect, refined, and rather literary deprived of any Southern accent. He sounded like a very educated American of indeterminate background. ….it amazed me that he read such difficult writers like Gorky, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Tolstoy, and Turgenev in Russian….” George de Mohrenschildt gave the House Select Committee on Assassinations a copy of a draft manuscript called I Am a Patsy! I Am a Patsy! In the manuscript, he said that his dear dead friend Oswald was rarely ever violent and would not have been the sort of person to have killed Kennedy. A community of independent researchers started on their own investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy. Their combined result turned out devastating to the Warren Commission with its many deficiencies and misinterpretations of facts. Contrary to the official view, Oswald stood innocent of any crimes implied by the Commission. *** Lee Harvey Oswald, a grassroots philosopher, driven by his idealism, was looking towards a reformed America devoid of her inherent social ills like poverty, social inequality, race discrimination, etc. Oswald would dedicate his life to realization of his dream. To this end, he learned Russian language, went to the Soviet Union to get his firsthand experience of Socialism, studied Greek philosophers, closely watched modern sociopolitical trends. He committed his experience to paper having written: “The Collective—Life of a Russian Worker”, “Speech Notes on the Far Right”, “On Communism and Capitalism”, “The Communist Party of the United States”, “The Historic Diary”. Oswald, as an invited speaker, delivered a talk on “Contemporary Russia and the Practice of Communism” before the students and faculty staff at the Jesuit House of Studies at Spring Hill College. He organized a New Orleans chapter ”FPCC (Fair Play for Cuba Committee)”, took part in radio debates on Cuba where he defended the rights of Cubans on independence and their own choice of social development. A citizen of the democratic United State of America, Oswald believed in his constitutional right to free speech and free expression of his ideas. He sincerely meant good for his people. A young aspiring American, Oswald became visible and, unfortunately, was made a dispensable pawn in a big political game played by some unscrupulous top governmental figures, which resulted in his tragic premature death. The Warren Commotion, acting on instructions from the top, inverted his outlook and intentions, having featured Oswald as a psychopath, to wrongly accuse him next of killing Kennedy. As Martin Schotz predicted: “The fact that an elected US President was brutally murdered in broad daylight simply because he wanted to make peace with the Soviet Union and banish the horror of war that shows how deep and nefarious is the Cold War logic of the American ruling establishment. Now, as it was then…The murder of JFK is not some distant event of wicked intrigue. It is a crime that haunts the US and the rest of the world to this day. Until the United States deals with that crime, it will never be at peace.” *** References The Official Warren Commission Report on Assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report Oswald: Russian Episode by Ernst Titovets (ISBN 9798783601071, ISBN 978-985-90215-3-4, ISBN 9798570499225) https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9798570499225/Oswald-Russian-Episode-Titovets-Ernst/plp “JFK” film by Oliver Stone.1991. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JFK_(film) Schotz, E. Martin. History Will Not Absolve Us: Orwellian Control, Public Denial, and the Murder of President Kennedy. Publisher: Kurtz, Ulmer & Delucia.1996. https://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Will-Not-Absolve-Orwellian/dp/0965381404ersion Why People Think The Government Killed JFK? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r5eKpptixo&ab_channel=JohnnyHarris Oswald,L.H.(manuscripts): “The Collective—Life of a Russian Worker” , “Speech Notes on the Far Right” , “On Communism and Capitalism” , “The Communist Party of the United States”, “The Athenian System”, “The Historic Diary”. https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-7.html The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed in Moscow on August 5, 1963. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/limited-ban Oswald in a live radio debate in Conversation Carte Blanche, August 31, 1963, New Orleans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_mg5-KCjRU&ab_channel=DavidVonPein%27sJFKChannel President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech on civil rights on June 11, 1963, which became known as the Report to the American People on Civil Rights. https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/historic-speeches/televised-address-to-the-nation-on-civil-rights President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech at the 18th session of the General Assembly (20 September 1963). https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/united-nations-19630920 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morrow Posted Thursday at 04:31 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 04:31 PM 8/21/24 email from Ernst Titovets to Robert Morrow: QUOTE Dear Robert, Thank you for the information about Oswald. He must have been approached by the US intelligence to help them, in a way of carrying out his patriotic mission, to which he gave his consent. I have been long aware of Oswald’s negative attitude to the US Communist Party and that of the USSR. On many occasions, Oswald gave me to understand that he loved his motherland but minded the poverty, social inequality, race segregation etc. there. The Athenian System summarizes his socio-political outlook on a reformed capitalist America of his vision. That Oswald was a very low-level spy sent to gather information on the Russian economy and political affairs makes me smile. There are more reliable, available, and legal ways, in that number, to monitor economy and political affairs of a foreign country apart from sending a spy there. With all that, Oswald was a person who looked forward to a better America, reformed after his vision, and that was what motivated him throughout. Best, Ernst UNQUOTE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted yesterday at 12:24 AM Share Posted yesterday at 12:24 AM Titovets, Mohrenschildt, and a guy named Donovan (in the Marines) all regarded LHO as a good, highly intelligent conversationalist. Evidently, LHO was a devoted socialist/Marxist, and a supporter of Castro (upon whom the Kennedy Administration devoted a string of overt and covert hostilities, unceasing through the JFK years). Larry Hancock will explore these issues in his pending book. My take: LHO was involved in something 11/22. What exactly? LHO did go home and get his revolver.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morrow Posted yesterday at 03:47 AM Author Share Posted yesterday at 03:47 AM 3 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said: Titovets, Mohrenschildt, and a guy named Donovan (in the Marines) all regarded LHO as a good, highly intelligent conversationalist. Evidently, LHO was a devoted socialist/Marxist, and a supporter of Castro (upon whom the Kennedy Administration devoted a string of overt and covert hostilities, unceasing through the JFK years). Larry Hancock will explore these issues in his pending book. My take: LHO was involved in something 11/22. What exactly? LHO did go home and get his revolver.... I am not buying Oswald's public comments that he was a "Marxist" supporter of Fidel Castro. I am more think he was working with U.S. intelligence and Guy Banister's office to UNDERMINE the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and his public persona as a "Marxist" was completely fraudulent. I think Oswald modeled his career as a fake defector in the USSR and a fake Marxist in the USA off of the extremely anti-communist TV show I Led Three Lives, a TV show which teen Oswald was obsessed with. I would classify Oswald's politics as being "moderate Democrat" by the definitions of 1963. He was more on the Left side of the 1963 Democrats. Jmho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted yesterday at 05:11 AM Share Posted yesterday at 05:11 AM 1 hour ago, Robert Morrow said: I am not buying Oswald's public comments that he was a "Marxist" supporter of Fidel Castro. I am more think he was working with U.S. intelligence and Guy Banister's office to UNDERMINE the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and his public persona as a "Marxist" was completely fraudulent. I think Oswald modeled his career as a fake defector in the USSR and a fake Marxist in the USA off of the extremely anti-communist TV show I Led Three Lives, a TV show which teen Oswald was obsessed with. I would classify Oswald's politics as being "moderate Democrat" by the definitions of 1963. He was more on the Left side of the 1963 Democrats. Jmho. That may be, that LHO was an earnest CIA/ONI asset, role-playing the leftie. There is a school of thought the Kennedy Administration/CIA plan in late 1963 was to insert LHO into Cuba, wherein he would assassinate Castro. David Atlee Phillips wrote an unpublished manuscript, that alluded to such a plan. https://www.salon.com/2017/07/15/the-man-who-wanted-to-kill-jfk/ The above is interesting commentary from Antonio Veciana. I don't have an infallible lie-detector, so I cannot tell if Veciana's book is 100% true. Veciana is not a crackpot; he was a bona-fide member of Alpha 66. He has street cred as a Cuban exile and anti-Castro soldier. It is plausible Alpha 66 played a role in the JFKA, angered by the BoP op, and the unfulfilled promises of JFK's Dec 1962 Orange Bowl speech, vowing regime change in Havana. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morrow Posted 14 hours ago Author Share Posted 14 hours ago (edited) 14 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said: That may be, that LHO was an earnest CIA/ONI asset, role-playing the leftie. There is a school of thought the Kennedy Administration/CIA plan in late 1963 was to insert LHO into Cuba, wherein he would assassinate Castro. David Atlee Phillips wrote an unpublished manuscript, that alluded to such a plan. https://www.salon.com/2017/07/15/the-man-who-wanted-to-kill-jfk/ The above is interesting commentary from Antonio Veciana. I don't have an infallible lie-detector, so I cannot tell if Veciana's book is 100% true. Veciana is not a crackpot; he was a bona-fide member of Alpha 66. He has street cred as a Cuban exile and anti-Castro soldier. It is plausible Alpha 66 played a role in the JFKA, angered by the BoP op, and the unfulfilled promises of JFK's Dec 1962 Orange Bowl speech, vowing regime change in Havana. I do think (some) anti-Castro Cuban radicals (CIA affiliated) played a role on the JFK assassination. I just don't think ANTONIO VECIANA (1928- 2020) was one of them. I met Veciana (age 84) in summer 2013 and I found him to be moderate, open and very credible person. He seemed to know JFK was more right on what to do with Cuba than the crazy anti-Castro Cubans were from the 1960s and 1970s. Veciana was not a crackpot, but that does not mean his book is totally correct. I think John Newman has tried to debunk Veciana on various things in his book. The Veciana I met in 2013 was not a flamethrower. He was an elderly businessman in his back office at a fishing supply store in Miami. I sat and watched while Scott Kaiser interviewed him on videotape. The following is my *opinion* on Oswald: Robert Morrow (8/23/24) on how the FBI-approved TV show I Led Three Lives was what originally recruited Lee Harvey Oswald into counter-intelligence QUOTE Lee Harvey Oswald was not recruited by U.S. intelligence at age 15 in 1954. Oswald was born on 10/18/1939. As a teen kid he was obsessed with modeling himself on the TV show I Led Three Lives. Every episode of that show was about a government operative (Herbert Philbrick character) infiltrating a communist ring, reporting it to the FBI and breaking it up. Oswald tried to join the Marines upon his 16th birthday. Probably in October 1955. Rejected. Oswald DID join the Marines when he turned age 17 on 10/24/56. On Sept. 11, 1959 Oswald was discharged from the Marines Lee Harvey Oswald - Wikipedia The recruitment of Oswald would have occurred while he was IN THE MARINES. And because of the CIA's weird and sharp interest in him, particularly James Angleton's counterintelligence unit, I think Oswald was a fake defector into the USSR being run by the CIA. And if Oswald was CIA, then I *think* he must have also been an operative of Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) as well. I think somewhere in 1959 while Oswald was in the Marines he was recruited to be a fake defector and of course Oswald accepted because he always wanted to do something like that. Oswald's interest in doing something like this was cultivated when he was a TEENAGER watching the show I Led Three Lives. Oswald as a teen was already practicing what he would do in real life later. You might say the FBI-approved TV show I Lee Three Lives was the vehicle to recruit Oswald into counter-intelligence and a life of pretending to be a pro-Castro Marxist. Marguerite Oswald told Jim Marrs that at age 12 Oswald had memorized the Marine Corps Manual. That would be the year 1952 and that fact is extremely important. Oswald wanted to be like his older brothers Robert and Pic who were in the military. Oswald in 1954 was already dreaming of being a fake commie for his country and just a mere 5 years later in 1959 he was playing that role as a low-level spy for his country as a fake defector to the USSR! UNQUOTE Edited 14 hours ago by Robert Morrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted 7 hours ago Share Posted 7 hours ago 6 hours ago, Robert Morrow said: I do think (some) anti-Castro Cuban radicals (CIA affiliated) played a role on the JFK assassination. I just don't think ANTONIO VECIANA (1928- 2020) was one of them. I met Veciana (age 84) in summer 2013 and I found him to be moderate, open and very credible person. He seemed to know JFK was more right on what to do with Cuba than the crazy anti-Castro Cubans were from the 1960s and 1970s. Veciana was not a crackpot, but that does not mean his book is totally correct. I think John Newman has tried to debunk Veciana on various things in his book. The Veciana I met in 2013 was not a flamethrower. He was an elderly businessman in his back office at a fishing supply store in Miami. I sat and watched while Scott Kaiser interviewed him on videotape. The following is my *opinion* on Oswald: Robert Morrow (8/23/24) on how the FBI-approved TV show I Led Three Lives was what originally recruited Lee Harvey Oswald into counter-intelligence QUOTE Lee Harvey Oswald was not recruited by U.S. intelligence at age 15 in 1954. Oswald was born on 10/18/1939. As a teen kid he was obsessed with modeling himself on the TV show I Led Three Lives. Every episode of that show was about a government operative (Herbert Philbrick character) infiltrating a communist ring, reporting it to the FBI and breaking it up. Oswald tried to join the Marines upon his 16th birthday. Probably in October 1955. Rejected. Oswald DID join the Marines when he turned age 17 on 10/24/56. On Sept. 11, 1959 Oswald was discharged from the Marines Lee Harvey Oswald - Wikipedia The recruitment of Oswald would have occurred while he was IN THE MARINES. And because of the CIA's weird and sharp interest in him, particularly James Angleton's counterintelligence unit, I think Oswald was a fake defector into the USSR being run by the CIA. And if Oswald was CIA, then I *think* he must have also been an operative of Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) as well. I think somewhere in 1959 while Oswald was in the Marines he was recruited to be a fake defector and of course Oswald accepted because he always wanted to do something like that. Oswald's interest in doing something like this was cultivated when he was a TEENAGER watching the show I Led Three Lives. Oswald as a teen was already practicing what he would do in real life later. You might say the FBI-approved TV show I Lee Three Lives was the vehicle to recruit Oswald into counter-intelligence and a life of pretending to be a pro-Castro Marxist. Marguerite Oswald told Jim Marrs that at age 12 Oswald had memorized the Marine Corps Manual. That would be the year 1952 and that fact is extremely important. Oswald wanted to be like his older brothers Robert and Pic who were in the military. Oswald in 1954 was already dreaming of being a fake commie for his country and just a mere 5 years later in 1959 he was playing that role as a low-level spy for his country as a fake defector to the USSR! UNQUOTE I think John Newman is working on an angle it was US Army intel that perped the JFKA. If so, that might link back to Alpha 66. From what I have read, the US Cuban anti-Castro community was laced through with Castro informants and plants. Perhaps pro-Castro Cubans infiltrated CIA assets, went rogue, and perped the JFKA. Even that would require a government cover-up. It would look like US assets perped the JFKA, at first blush. I think Larry Hancock is working on this angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Hancock Posted 7 hours ago Share Posted 7 hours ago Nope....wrong angle. But on the other point, in spring the Army did inquire with the CIA about using Alpha 66 operationally, up until then their interest had simply been intelligence collections, using Alpha 66r links into Cuba but more especially the collection of any Russian weapons that Alpha 66 might collect on missions against Russians inside Cuba (I first wrote about that connection many years ago, in the first edition of SW, after I had stumbled across the Army documents, including their designation of Veciana as a contact and the Army offers to trade explosives for Russian info and weapons. By 1963, as the Army was being switching into covert operations role against Cuba by JFK - as was well underway already in Vietnam per his direction - the Army was investigating that new role and the possibility of using Cuban groups. The CIA's response was quite negative, characterizing Alpha 66 as quite independent and not controllable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted 6 hours ago Share Posted 6 hours ago (edited) 42 minutes ago, Larry Hancock said: Nope....wrong angle. But on the other point, in spring the Army did inquire with the CIA about using Alpha 66 operationally, up until then their interest had simply been intelligence collections, using Alpha 66r links into Cuba but more especially the collection of any Russian weapons that Alpha 66 might collect on missions against Russians inside Cuba (I first wrote about that connection many years ago, in the first edition of SW, after I had stumbled across the Army documents, including their designation of Veciana as a contact and the Army offers to trade explosives for Russian info and weapons. By 1963, as the Army was being switching into covert operations role against Cuba by JFK - as was well underway already in Vietnam per his direction - the Army was investigating that new role and the possibility of using Cuban groups. The CIA's response was quite negative, characterizing Alpha 66 as quite independent and not controllable. LH-- Thanks for the clarification, and my apols. My understanding (correct me if I am wrong) is that you contend that by sometime in 1963 LHO had become a freelancer, or uninvolved with US intel. And that LHO was an earnest Marxist/socialist. LHO was involved in the JFKA, though exactly how...likely unwittingly? Now, it may be coming back to me: You contend it may have been US-intel assets, pretending to be Castro assets, who inveigled LHO into a plot that resulted in the JFKA? @Larry Hancock Edited 6 hours ago by Benjamin Cole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Hancock Posted 6 hours ago Share Posted 6 hours ago That's indeed the track I laid out in Tipping Point, specifically individuals who were CIA assets dating back to the Cuba project of 60/61 but who by 1963 maintained some Agency operational associations while increasingly following their own independent activities...something some of them would continue to do so for years. In terms of the Oswald connection, that's as far as I will go without being able to present the total picture that will appear in The Oswald Puzzle. Trying to address a complex, multi-year subject in bits and pieces is never a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted 4 hours ago Share Posted 4 hours ago (edited) 1 hour ago, Larry Hancock said: That's indeed the track I laid out in Tipping Point, specifically individuals who were CIA assets dating back to the Cuba project of 60/61 but who by 1963 maintained some Agency operational associations while increasingly following their own independent activities...something some of them would continue to do so for years. In terms of the Oswald connection, that's as far as I will go without being able to present the total picture that will appear in The Oswald Puzzle. Trying to address a complex, multi-year subject in bits and pieces is never a good idea. Well, my eyes and ears are the size of saucer plates, awaiting your next book. Hopefully you publish soon. @Larry Hancock Edited 4 hours ago by Benjamin Cole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Brancato Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago Ben - from your point of view which has Oswald as being somehow involved in the JFK plot, without referring to other researchers or theories, who is that Oswald? Is he an Intel asset with a Marxist assumed persona, or is he as his Russian friend says an earnest political left leaning idealist thinker? Or both, or something else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Morrow Posted 52 minutes ago Author Share Posted 52 minutes ago Why would Lee Harvey Oswald try to blow out the brains of the person (JFK) who he considered THE BEST PRESIDENT IN HIS LIFETIME? Additionally, there are many people who said Oswald loved and adored JFK: Marina Oswald, George DeMohrenschildt, Paul Gregory (who thinks Oswald killed JFK). It seems if you are looking for someone who murdered JFK, one would look for someone who hated the guts of the Kennedys. Someone like LYNDON JOHNSON. Michael Paine, debated politics with JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies at 89” by Chris Smith of the Press Democrat on March 15, 2018 http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/8118362-181/michael-paine-debated-politics-with Michael Paine of Sebastopol was a civil libertarian and retired aeronautical engineer who, while living outside of Dallas in 1963, engaged in occasional political discussions with a self-identified Marxist named Lee Harvey Oswald. When Paine heard of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, he thought immediately of Oswald “but dismissed him because I didn’t think he was that irrational,” Paine later told an interviewer. In testimony before the Warren Commission, created to investigate the assassination of JFK, Paine said he did not regard Oswald as someone likely to kill a president. “I saw he was a bitter person … very little charity in his view toward anybody, but I thought he was harmless,” he told the commission. Through much of the 55 years since JFK’s murder, some conspiracy narratives have alleged that both Paine and his former wife, Santa Rosa resident Ruth Paine, were CIA operatives and framed Oswald. Both rejected the scenario as ridiculous, declaring that their observations and knowledge of Oswald persuaded them that the killing of Kennedy was the work of him alone. Michael Paine told an interviewer not long after the shooting, “I think it’s a lone wolf thing. The opportunity presented itself to him and he probably wanted to make a mark on society.” Paine died March 1 in Sebastopol, where he had lived with or near his son the past 14 years. He was 89. He was born in New York City on June 25, 1928, to architect and left-wing activist G. Lyman Paine and Ruth Forbes Young, founder of the International Peace Academy. Michael Paine studied at Harvard and Swarthmore and was living in Pennsylvania when, in 1957, he married Ruth Avery Hyde. Two years later, Michael Paine took a job with Bell Helicopter that required a relocation to Texas. The couple settled in Irving, a suburb of Dallas. They had two children, Tamarin and Chris, when they separated amicably in the fall of 1962, then continued to spend time together as a family. The children lived with Ruth Paine, a Quaker who has said she studied the Russian language in order to counter Cold War tensions by seeking out dialogue with Russian people. In February 1963, she heard of a Russian woman who spoke no English, having recently moved to the U.S. with her young daughter and her husband, Lee Harvey Oswald. Ruth, now a retired teacher and school counselor living in Rincon Valley, has said she liked the idea of having someone with whom to practice her Russian. So she reached out to the Oswalds. She invited her ex-husband, too, when she had 21-year-old Marina and Lee Oswald, 23, and baby June over for dinner. Ruth and Marina became friends. That friendship on occasion brought Michael Paine and Lee Oswald together, and three or four times they engaged in political discussions. Paine, a liberal and longtime member of the American Civil Liberties Union, would later describe Oswald as a “pipsqueak,” but one whose politics he tried to understand. “He told me he became a Marxist in this country by reading books and without having ever having met a communist,” Paine said in an interview following the assassination. “With me he spoke very freely and he complained that with other people he couldn’t … they wouldn’t talk about political subjects. He would talk about nothing else.” In interviews and in testimony before the Warren Commission, Paine described Oswald as a lonely man who seemed to like very few people. But in their conversations Oswald never revealed hostility toward Kennedy. “I expressed my appreciation of President Kennedy and he didn’t ever argue with me on that point,” Paine said in an interview. In a 2013 essay he titled, “My Experience with Lee Harvey Oswald,” Paine recalled that Oswald once declared emphatically that “change only comes through violence.” “I’d also heard him say that President Kennedy was the best president he had in his lifetime. Looking back on what happened, these two statements seem impossibly contradictory … how could a man want to kill a president whom he thought was the best president he’d had in his lifetime?” Though Michael Paine remained no more than an acquaintance to the Oswalds, Ruth took Marina Oswald under her wing and tried to be helpful to her struggling family. Ruth, who became a key witness to the Warren Commission, has said she was hoping to bring a degree of stability to the Oswalds when, in the fall of 1963, she told Lee Oswald about a job opening she’d heard of — at the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. Oswald was hired. He rented a room near the job. In late September, Marina accepted an invitation by Ruth to live with her and her children in Irving, about a 20-minute drive from Dallas. Ruth Paine allowed the Oswalds to store most of their belongings in her garage. For weeks while working at the book depository, Lee Oswald, who had no car or drivers license, hitched a ride to Ruth’s house after work on Fridays, then spent the weekend there with his family. It surprised Ruth Paine when Oswald appeared at her home unannounced on a Thursday — Nov. 21, 1963. Later that night, she walked into the garage and found the light was on, causing her to wonder who’d been in there. When she arose the next morning, Lee Oswald was already up and gone. He’d left a coffee cup in the kitchen sink. At 12:30 that afternoon, gunshots killed JFK as he sat beside his wife, Jacqueline, in the back of a Lincoln Continental convertible just after the presidential motorcade passed by the book depository. It would soon dawn on the Paines that Lee Harvey Oswald had hidden his scoped, bolt-action rifle in Ruth’s garage. In the 9,400-word “My Experience with Lee Harvey Oswald,” Michael Paine wrote that he believed the assassin acted alone and decided only shortly before Nov. 22, 1963, to do something that would make himself infamous. “The nation would remember him as the one who had shot the president of the strongest capitalist nation of the world,” Paine wrote. “He wanted to be important — not inconsequential. He would be in the history books now, and that is what he wanted.” Both of the Paines testified before the Warren Commission in 1964, Ruth more extensively because of her nearly yearlong friendship with Marina Oswald and her many encounters with Marina’s controlling husband. In time, the Paines both left Texas. Michael Paine lived and worked in Concord, Massachusetts, and was active in coastal conservation and supported Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. He moved to Sonoma County in 2004. He and his son, Chris Panym, founded near Sebastopol a “multi-household, multi-age, multi-enterprise community” they called Green Valley Village. They were unable to bring it to fruition. Chris Panym said that as his father approached aged 90 he lost his memory but all his life was committed to championing the environment and civil liberty. In addition to his son in Sebastopol and his former wife in Santa Rosa, Paine is survived by his daughter, Tamarin Laurel-Paine of Middlefield, Massachusetts. There will be a memorial service at 1 p.m. on April 14 in the library at Friends House in Rincon Valley. Panym asks people interested in attending to RSVP to him at 707-861-1169. Editor’s note: This version of the story corrects an error on the make of the car in which the Kennedy’s rode in Dallas. Email from David Lifton to Robert Morrow on March 16, 2018 regarding his interview of Michael Paine circa the year 1994 From: David Lifton Sent: Mar 16, 2018 10:30 PM Subject: Fw: CIA patsy Lee Harvey Oswald told Michael Paine that JFK was the best president he had seen in his lifetime! Friday evening, 3/16/2018 - 10:24 PM PDT As I'm sure know (or will soon find out) Michael Paine died. Please do note: that back around 1994 (plus or minus), I had a full-dress on-the-record tape recorded interview, with Michael Paine, at his home in Boxboro, Mass. I have notes and transcripts, etc., and cannot today recall everything he said; but I did want to note that my questioning was good, and at one point, he got rather emotional, started trembling, and broke down and started to cry. As I recall, I formed the opinion that he knew (or realized) that LHO had been framed. This is contrary to the behavior of Ruth, who carried her belief that LHO was the assassin all the way into her later years, and that is something that is quite likely her belief (still) today. You can share any part of this email with anyone. Best, DSL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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