"Going Postal"

[John Dolva]

Who were the other 4 or 5 people watching yhe assassination from Harry's Office overlooking the Plaza?

[Thomas H. Purvis]

In the USPO days, the job of postmaster was one ultimately decided by political patronage. In the region around Louisville, KY, the main arbiter of postal patronage jobs was Bremer Ehrler, postmaster of the main Louisville post office and thereby also head of regional mail service that emanated from Louisville into nearby southern Indiana. After the changeover to the USPS, Ehrler resigned his postal position and became a power broker for the Democratic Party in Louisville and Jefferson County, KY. Ehrler never held a major political office, although he ran for several over the years.

Dad always said than one who worked in the post office always knew what was going on in his local community...whose mail was being sent to an address different from his/her spouse, who came back from a Vegas vacation and subsequently purchased a large money order destined for some casino, and how that person's ransomed jewelry would return from that casino via registered mail in a few days...but the details weren't revealed outside the confines of the particular post office. If there was an investigation by the Postal Inspectors taking place, some of that information might be sought by the inspectors.

So I would suppose that, had Oswald's transactions through the mail raised the suspicions of any postal clerk, the Postal Inspection Service would have been notified, and someone like Harry would have known nearly as much about Oswald at 12:29 pm on November 22, 1963 as Oswald himself.

And!

As has been discussed previously, this patronage extended down to the actual position of mailcarrier, in which many of these positions were reserved to State Senators & State Representatives for appointment of the person.

In that regards we also have some of the "logic" as to exactly why Veterans are given a "preferential" (bonus points) award on their scores on the US Postal Exam.

There background and loyalties are/were easily checked.

Therefore, the US Postal system has for years operated as an unofficial watchdog arm of the government.

So! What's new?????