Aspects of U.S. Post Office history

[John Dolva]

U. S. OCCUPATION PERIOD

On July 4, 1863 - the day of surrender - A. H. Markland, Special Agent of the U. S. Post Office Department entered the city with the occupation forces, took charge of the Vicksburg post office, and opened it as a Union facility. Markland sent a telegram notifying the Inspection Office in Washington, D.C., of his actions and followed up with a letter dated July 6. The Inspection Office instructed Special Agent Markland to remain in charge until the return of Mr. Benjamin Johnston, who had been designated as the special agent for the Vicksburg post office. Mr. Johnson died before he could assume the position.

During the early period of occupation, special agents of the U. S. Post-Office Department operated the post office mostly for the benefit of Union army and navy personnel. On August 10, 1863, General Grant issued an order establishing regulations for handling mail at all military posts south of Memphis, Tennessee:

SPECIAL ORDERS,} HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE TENNESSEE,

No 217. } Vicksburg, Miss., August 10, 1863.

I. The establishing of mails, within the insurrectionary States of this department being for the exclusive benefit of the military authorities and those connected therewith, the following regulations are established and will be observed, until otherwise ordered, by all persons employed in their transmission, at all military posts south of Memphis, Tenn.:

1. Postmasters will transmit no letters but those coming from designated military authorities, nor deliver any received at their respective offices to citizens or civilians, excepting through the same channels.

2. Mails will be made up at department, corps, division, and post headquarters, and by all provost-marshals, quartermasters, and commissaries, sent regularly to the post offices by them, and promptly forwarded by the postmaster of each post.

3. The military authorities above designated will forward no letters from any citizen in any insurrectionary State in this department, without first examining the same and marking their approval thereon.

By order of Maj. Gen. U. S. Grant:

T. S. BOWERS,

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

Official Records, Vol. 34, Part 3, p. 585-6.

[John Dolva]

If

"Harry Holmes was a member of the Texas National Guard and worked with ONI at Hensley Field in the mid to late sixties. He also worked with Capt. Ed G. Seiwell Mil Intel. in the mid 50's at Dallas Love Field. I think he was Military Intel attatched to CIA/Dallas field office"

is correct, then we have a covert agent of the Military Industrial Congressional Intelligence Complex overseeing major aspects of the assassination.

Why?

Perhaps an answer lies in the distant history?

When the Southern States seceeded, they formed a government with departments mirroring the departments of the Union. Principal in many ways was the Confederate Post Office. The head of this department was a most able administrator. He was also the person captured with Davis. He was eventually released and joined the Union Administration. The story of him and Davis evading capture involves gold to be used to found a new Confederacy. AFAIK the gold 'disappeared'. Many many confederates have never considered themselves losers nor the war over. They talked of Kennedy as 'their President, not ours'. (I wonder what those same would say about Bush?)

The postal system was a network not only of mail delivery, but also of communication and intelligence. Harry was a special agent, a Postal Inspector.

Taken all together this leaves many questions unanswered.

(The most important, IMO is "Who were the other four or five people in Harrys Office watching the Assassination"?)

I'm hoping that by looking at what the Post Office was/is some answers can be found.

One of the first important one is a distinction between Military Mail and Civil Mail. They are separate systems. Similarly, the Internet started as a Military op. and when adopted by the broader scientific community the Military 'withdrew' and formed another parallel net. There are moves underway today to globalise the Postal System with cross border agreements. This is something that should concern all. In times of trouble, maintaining communications is essential so that people can respond correctly and not be manipulated. One of the first things that falls by the wayside is direct communications. The people who have control over communication are a step ahead. So the postal service is an integral part of whichever government is in power and must be taken control of by any body usurping that power.

Postman Pat is for kids.

What IS the Postal System?

some caricatures::

[John Dolva]

"WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1975

U.S. SENATE,

SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENT, OPERATIONS

WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at l0:08 a.m., in room 318,

Russell Senate Office Building, Senator Frank Church (chairman)

presiding.

Present: Senators Church, Mondale, Huddleston, Hart of Colorado,

Goldwater, Mathias, and Schweiker.

Also present: William G. Miller, staff director; Frederick A. O.

Schwarz, Jr., chief counsel; and Curtis R. Smothers, counsel to the

minority.

The CHAIRMAN. The hearing will please come to order.

Today the committee continues its investigation of the mail-opening

program, endeavoring to determine in depth how it happened that for

20 years mail was opened by the CIA and the FBI, contrary to the

laws of the United States.

.......

For that purpose, our first witnesses are three former Postmasters

General, Mr. J. Edward Day, Mr. John ,A. Gronouski, and Mr. Winton

M. Blount.

Mr. Schwarz. Mr. Day, when did you hold the position of Postmaster

General ?

Mr. Day. January 21, 1961, until August 9, 1963.

Mr. Schwarz. Was there a time when Mr. Helms and Mr. Roosevelt

and Director Dulles came to visit with you about the subject of CIA

and mail ?

Mr. Day. They came to visit me, yes, on February 15, 1961, about

3 weeks after I took office.

Mr. Schwarz. All right. There is a document in your book which

is exhibit 8,l dated February l 1961, the day after-

Mr. DAY. I don’t have any book of that kind.

Mr. Schwarz. Mr. Blount can show it to you. It is right there. This

is a CIA document, written by Mr. Helms, reflecting the fact of the

meeting and stating in the second sentence of the paragraph, “We gave

him the background, development, and current status, withholding no

relevant details.”

Edited February 28, 2007 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

the Mail Opening operations had been going on since at least late '52. As it was a highly secret and illegal operation, it probably went on in many places, Dallas for example (Harry D Holmes, FBI informant, Postal Insepctor, Dallas Post Ofiice Dealey Plaza.Federal Building, Terminal Annexe) . Databases were built as well from just adresses and names on enevelopes where the recipient was mailed a form to fill out asking if they would accept mail from such and such a place.

Helms was intimately involved and no doubt was kept informed. JE Day, the Postmaster General appointed by Kennedy who later in July 63 resigned 'over differences' with Kennedy, stated under oath that Roosevelt, Dulles and Helms came to him three weeks after starting work as Postmaster General to brief him in this, in Helms words , 'very secret' operation. Helms provided a statement that contradicted Days assertion that he didn't 'want to know' and in fact was thoroughly briefed

Harry talking about the day after the assassination:

"The next morning, on Saturday, when I came in, the inspector who was on duty in the lobby watching the boxes told me, “You’ve got an inspector up there sitting in your office.”

I said, “Well, I guess it’s so and so”; I’ve since forgotten his name.

When I arrived in the office, he said, “Harry, if you wanted to find an original postal money order, where would you go to get it?”

I said, :Well, Washington if you knew that number it was and could identify it.”

He said, “You mean it’s not in Kansas City?”

“No,” I replied, “it used to be. It was out on Hardesty Street in Kansas City until about two months ago*. I don’t know exactly why but they transferred the money order center back to Washington.

That was about the time of JE Days resignation.

FINAL REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES

UNITED STATES SENATE

TOGETHER WITH ADDITIONAL, SUPPLEMENTAL, AND SEPARATE VIEWS

APRIL 26 (legislative day, April 14), 1976

A. VIOLATING AND IGNORING THE LAW - MAJOR FINDING

................ By demanding results without carefully limiting the means by which the results were achieved; by over-emphasizing the threats to national security without ensuring sensitivity to the rights of American citizens; and by propounding concepts such as the right of the "sovereign" to break the law, ultimate responsibility for the consequent climate of permissiveness should be placed at their door. 2

Subfinding (a)

In its attempt to implement instructions to protect the security of the United States, the intelligence community engaged in some activities which violated statutory law and the constitutional rights of American citizens.

From 1940 to 1973, the CIA and the FBI engaged in twelve covert mail opening programs in violation of Sections 1701-1703 of Title 18 of the United States Code which prohibit the obstruction, interception, or opening of mail. Both of these agencies also engaged in warrantless "surreptitious entries" -- break-ins -- against American citizens within the United States in apparent violation of state laws prohibiting trespass and burglary. Section 605 of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 was violated by NSA's program for obtaining millions of telegrams of Americans unrelated to foreign targets and by the Army Security Agency's interception of domestic radio communications."

Edited February 28, 2007 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

the Mail Opening operations had been going on since at least late '52. As it was a highly secret and illegal operation, it probably went on in many places, Dallas for example (Harry D Holmes, FBI informant, Postal Insepctor, Dallas Post Ofiice Dealey Plaza.Federal Building, Terminal Annexe) . Databases were built as well from just adresses and names on enevelopes where the recipient was mailed a form to fill out asking if they would accept mail from such and such a place.

Helms was intimately involved and no doubt was kept informed. JE Day, the Postmaster General appointed by Kennedy who later in July 63 resigned 'over differences' with Kennedy, stated under oath that Roosevelt, Dulles and Helms came to him three weeks after starting work as Postmaster General to brief him in this, in Helms words , 'very secret' operation. Helms provided a statement that contradicted Days assertion that he didn't 'want to know' and in fact was thoroughly briefed

Harry talking about the day after the assassination:

"The next morning, on Saturday, when I came in, the inspector who was on duty in the lobby watching the boxes told me, “You've got an inspector up there sitting in your office.”

I said, “Well, I guess it's so and so”; I've since forgotten his name. When I arrived in the office, he said, “Harry, if you wanted to find an original postal money order, where would you go to get it?”

I said, :Well, Washington if you knew that number it was and could identify it.”

He said, “You mean it's not in Kansas City?”

“No,” I replied, “it used to be. It was out on Hardesty Street in Kansas City until about two months ago*. I don't know exactly why but they transferred the money order center back to Washington.

That was about the time of JE Days resignation.

Harry in other statements brags specifically in detail about his near photographic memory, yet his testimonies are littered with "I can't remember who' such and such a person was.

FINAL REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES

UNITED STATES SENATE

TOGETHER WITH ADDITIONAL, SUPPLEMENTAL, AND SEPARATE VIEWS

APRIL 26 (legislative day, April 14), 1976

A. VIOLATING AND IGNORING THE LAW - MAJOR FINDING

................ By demanding results without carefully limiting the means by which the results were achieved; by over-emphasizing the threats to national security without ensuring sensitivity to the rights of American citizens; and by propounding concepts such as the right of the "sovereign" to break the law, ultimate responsibility for the consequent climate of permissiveness should be placed at their door. 2

Subfinding (a)

In its attempt to implement instructions to protect the security of the United States, the intelligence community engaged in some activities which violated statutory law and the constitutional rights of American citizens.

From 1940 to 1973, the CIA and the FBI engaged in twelve covert mail opening programs in violation of Sections 1701-1703 of Title 18 of the United States Code which prohibit the obstruction, interception, or opening of mail. Both of these agencies also engaged in warrantless "surreptitious entries" -- break-ins -- against American citizens within the United States in apparent violation of state laws prohibiting trespass and burglary. Section 605 of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 was violated by NSA's program for obtaining millions of telegrams of Americans unrelated to foreign targets and by the Army Security Agency's interception of domestic radio communications."

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=10307

"When the Southern States seceeded, they formed a government with departments mirroring the departments of the Union. Principal in many ways was the Confederate Post Office. The head of this department was a most able administrator. He was also the person captured with Davis. He was eventually released and joined the Union Administration. The story of him and Davis evading capture involves gold to be used to found a new Confederacy. AFAIK the gold 'disappeared'. Many many confederates have never considered themselves losers nor the war over. They talked of Kennedy as 'their President, not ours'."

Edited June 23, 2007 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

gold to be used to found a new Confederacy.

The USPO department was founded by Benjamin Franklin. The Postal Inspection department had 20 odd agents at work by the early 1800's. Wherever a railroad was constructed, a road established, experiments with the pony express, air travel, telegraph etc the PO was at the fore front of the spread of the USofA.

The transmission of Lincolns speech to the eatsern border was at the time coup in speed of transmisssion. Each and every department of the US post-dated the formation of the USPO and they all depended on it for transmission of data whether it was intelligence reports or ordinary letters.

With the right by the PMG to appoint Postal Inspectors, their attendance to the formal postal routes were so integral in the formation of the USofA, and the mail opening and interceptions in times of crisis such as the Civil War, the capture of the Confederate PMG as the last Confederate Cabinet member of Davis's government with Davis at his capture and the flexible aplication of mail interception as an integral part of the Civil War and the special powers accorded to the Postal Inspectors as the needs arose, one can say that of all US Intelligence gathering and disemmination departments the USPO is by far the oldest, and if secret means just that:> secret, (not a history replete with books and documentation like the ONI for example), then the USPO Postal Inspection Department and the USPO itself is the oldest and the most secret Intellgence Organisation of the USofA. Predating the ONI by many many many years.

Whether it was the ONI in Post offices in the late 1800's or the FBI later, or any other agency, the were all fundamentally dependent on the transmission of data.

At the core of this has always been the Postal Department. Predating all of them. From infant apsects such as Paul Revere's ride: "the British are coming", to the role of the PO postal inspectors in the Kennedy assassination, to the Internet as initially a military network, the transmission and collection of data, the means for it are not a somwhow accidental unplanned fromation and evolution. It's integral in Intelligence. All intelligence bodies can be seen as extensions of the postal routes and rules.

Perahaps it is because ones post box and the letters that miaculously appear in them is taken for granted from ones infancy the PO has never been generally recognised for what it really is: The oldest and the most secret of all Intellience Agencies in the USofA by far, by centuries even.

[Jack White]

Thanks, John...and NEXT, Postal Inspector Holmes! You are right to

put him among the suspects of 11-22. He is one of the key players

whose role has been underresearched. KUTGW.

Jack

[John Dolva]

Yep, Jack, the proverbial 'Butler', or 'gopher' if you will.

Always there, never noted. Taken for granted, and has managed to slip through the cracks for almost half a decade.

Unaided? Hardly.

Indicative of the true nature of the conspiracy? Quite likely.

A man with disproportionate powers, not just to be unnoticed, but in providing, and handling and transmitting the bulk of evidence in the first few days.

Secret, in full view. A perfect cover.

_________________

a separate question: who or which department was responsible for the transmission of the vast Fort Knox gold bullion?

[William Kelly]

gold to be used to found a new Confederacy.

The USPO department was founded by Benjamin Franklin. The Postal Inspection department had 20 odd agents at work by the early 1800's. Wherever a railroad was constructed, a road established, experiments with the pony express, air travel, telegraph etc the PO was at the fore front of the spread of the USofA.

The transmission of Lincolns speech to the eatsern border was at the time coup in speed of transmisssion. Each and every department of the US post-dated the formation of the USPO and they all depended on it for transmission of data whether it was intelligence reports or ordinary letters.

With the right by the PMG to appoint Postal Inspectors, their attendance to the formal postal routes were so integral in the formation of the USofA, and the mail opening and interceptions in times of crisis such as the Civil War, the capture of the Confederate PMG as the last Confederate Cabinet member of Davis's government with Davis at his capture and the flexible aplication of mail interception as an integral part of the Civil War and the special powers accorded to the Postal Inspectors as the needs arose, one can say that of all US Intelligence gathering and disemmination departments the USPO is by far the oldest, and if secret means just that:> secret, (not a history replete with books and documentation like the ONI for example), then the USPO Postal Inspection Department and the USPO itself is the oldest and the most secret Intellgence Organisation of the USofA. Predating the ONI by many many many years.

Whether it was the ONI in Post offices in the late 1800's or the FBI later, or any other agency, the were all fundamentally dependent on the transmission of data.

At the core of this has always been the Postal Department. Predating all of them. From infant apsects such as Paul Revere's ride: "the British are coming", to the role of the PO postal inspectors in the Kennedy assassination, to the Internet as initially a military network, the transmission and collection of data, the means for it are not a somwhow accidental unplanned fromation and evolution. It's integral in Intelligence. All intelligence bodies can be seen as extensions of the postal routes and rules.

Perahaps it is because ones post box and the letters that miaculously appear in them is taken for granted from ones infancy the PO has never been generally recognised for what it really is: The oldest and the most secret of all Intellience Agencies in the USofA by far, by centuries even.

John,

Your point is well taken. From now on I will refer to ONI as the oldest military intelligence agency, as the PO, as you point out, is older, and probably more efficient.

BK

[John Dolva]

William: "John, Your point is well taken. From now on I will refer to ONI as the oldest military intelligence agency, as the PO, as you point out, is older, and probably more efficient."

Even that's a bit of a problem, William (IMO). Look, I know what you're getting at with regards to the ONI. They are a recognised and admitted Intelligence Agency and arguably then the oldest such.

The USPO (USPS today) and its agents in the PI department are a secretive bunch, period.

Not a scrap of an internal PO-PI document from the Kennedy years have been seen by me or been pointed out as existing. Which is ridiculous in a couple of ways. 1. Obviously they would exist. 2. One of the first things Nixon did was to bring the USPO to an end, and replace it with the more privatised USPS.

Simultaneously. the, since inception, Cabinet Position of the PMG was at last scrapped.

What happened to the centuries of USPO and USPO-PI internal documentation? I've never found an answer to that.

The problem is that the PI department emerges from invisibility in periods of crisis, ie usually military active periods when the PI head has the discretionary powers to appoint agents as needed, so it is then that one can more clearly see evidence of its Intelligence function, during the very times when Military Intel is also active.

IE, USPO-PI as a branch, (or, as I'm suggesting. not only the glue that connects the known diverse agencies, irrespective of their relative 'secrecy' or role in USofA intel), but in fact (secret to the utmost with only its traces or shadows in events discerned!!!) positioned to be at the very epicenter of the whole shebang.

IOW a flexible multifaceted intel body, as well as the conduit that connects all the other agencies, mil or not.

Not just the oldest and most secret Intel part of the US gov's, confederate or Union, throughout US history, but also military intel, internal security, and perhaps central in parts to the coup in '63, involving ONI, Army, Air Force, Police, SS, FBI, CIA, many of them historically headquartered within or nearby the various Post Offices.

EDIT:: Dallas is the heart of Texas, and Dealey Plaza is the heart of Dallas. The first buildings were built there, and one of (maybe the first) building by the first settler served as the home, general store, and Post Office.

Wherever the railroads, the rivers, the roads, the telegraph lines, the later air routes, were built they often became designated postal routes with the attendant special provisions accorded to such routes, and often the Post office was built before the route was even finished or within a matter of days or weeks. Harriman and the Post office is replete with patronage when one studies the old Post Master lists.

Edited July 21, 2007 by John Dolva

[William Kelly]

William: "John, Your point is well taken. From now on I will refer to ONI as the oldest military intelligence agency, as the PO, as you point out, is older, and probably more efficient."

Even that's a bit of a problem, William (IMO). Look, I know what you're getting at with regards to the ONI. They are a recognised and admitted Intelligence Agency and arguably then the oldest such.

The USPO (USPS today) and its agents in the PI department are a secretive bunch, period.

Not a scrap of an internal PO-PI document from the Kennedy years have been seen by me or been pointed out as existing. Which is ridiculous in a couple of ways. 1. Obviously they would exist. 2. One of the first things Nixon did was to bring the USPO to an end, and replace it with the more privatised USPS.

Simultaneously. the, since inception, Cabinet Position of the PMG was at last scrapped.

What happened to the centuries of USPO and USPO-PI internal documentation? I've never found an answer to that.

The problem is that the PI department emerges from invisibility in periods of crisis, ie usually military active periods when the PI head has the discretionary powers to appoint agents as needed, so it is then that one can more clearly see evidence of its Intelligence function, during the very times when Military Intel is also active.

IE, USPO-PI as a branch, (or, as I'm suggesting. not only the glue that connects the known diverse agencies, irrespective of their relative 'secrecy' or role in USofA intel), but in fact (secret to the utmost with only its traces or shadows in events discerned!!!) positioned to be at the very epicenter of the whole shebang.

IOW a flexible multifaceted intel body, as well as the conduit that connects all the other agencies, mil or not.

Not just the oldest and most secret Intel part of the US gov's, confederate or Union, throughout US history, but also military intel, internal security, and perhaps central in parts to the coup in '63, involving ONI, Army, Air Force, Police, SS, FBI, CIA, many of them historically headquartered within or nearby the various Post Offices.

EDIT:: Dallas is the heart of Texas, and Dealey Plaza is the heart of Dallas. The first buildings were built there, and one of (maybe the first) building by the first settler served as the home, general store, and Post Office.

Wherever the railroads, the rivers, the roads, the telegraph lines, the later air routes, were built they often became designated postal routes with the attendant special provisions accorded to such routes, and often the Post office was built before the route was even finished or within a matter of days or weeks. Harriman and the Post office is replete with patronage when one studies the old Post Master lists.

But John,

I don't think the PO ran the defector program, did black bag jobs, conducted covert operations, or committed assassinations, or ran LHO, Dan Rather, Jack Revell or Frank Sturgis.

Certainly there's a lack of research on the Post Office, and that can be corrected with proper attention.

BK

[John Dolva]

William: "John, Your point is well taken. From now on I will refer to ONI as the oldest military intelligence agency, as the PO, as you point out, is older, and probably more efficient."

Even that's a bit of a problem, William (IMO). Look, I know what you're getting at with regards to the ONI. They are a recognised and admitted Intelligence Agency and arguably then the oldest such.

The USPO (USPS today) and its agents in the PI department are a secretive bunch, period.

Not a scrap of an internal PO-PI document from the Kennedy years have been seen by me or been pointed out as existing. Which is ridiculous in a couple of ways. 1. Obviously they would exist. 2. One of the first things Nixon did was to bring the USPO to an end, and replace it with the more privatised USPS.

Simultaneously. the, since inception, Cabinet Position of the PMG was at last scrapped.

What happened to the centuries of USPO and USPO-PI internal docally killed any umentation? I've never found an answer to that.

The problem is that the PI department emerges from invisibility in periods of crisis, ie usually military active periods when the PI head has the discretionary powers to appoint agents as needed, so it is then that one can more clearly see evidence of its Intelligence function, during the very times when Military Intel is also active.

IE, USPO-PI as a branch, (or, as I'm suggesting. not only the glue that connects the known diverse agencies, irrespective of their relative 'secrecy' or role in USofA intel), but in fact (secret to the utmost with only its traces or shadows in events discerned!!!) positioned to be at the very epicenter of the whole shebang.

IOW a flexible multifaceted intel body, as well as the conduit that connects all the other agencies, mil or not.

Not just the oldest and most secret Intel part of the US gov's, confederate or Union, throughout US history, but also military intel, internal security, and perhaps central in parts to the coup in '63, involving ONI, Army, Air Force, Police, SS, FBI, CIA, many of them historically headquartered within or nearby the various Post Offices.

EDIT:: Dallas is the heart of Texas, and Dealey Plaza is the heart of Dallas. The first buildings were built there, and one of (maybe the first) building by the first settler served as the home, general store, and Post Office.

Wherever the railroads, the rivers, the roads, the telegraph lines, the later air routes, were built they often became designated postal routes with the attendant special provisions accorded to such routes, and often the Post office was built before the route was even finished or within a matter of days or weeks. Harriman and the Post office is replete with patronage when one studies the old Post Master lists.

But John,

I don't think the PO ran the defector program, did black bag jobs, conducted covert operations, or committed assassinations, or ran LHO, Dan Rather, Jack Revell or Frank Sturgis.

Certainly there's a lack of research on the Post Office, and that can be corrected with proper attention.

BK

Well, the PO certainly were part of the illegal mail-opening programs. That was covert.

The various cities PI's kept an eye on addresses of persons, including Oswald and passed that on.

The lack of knowledge about their involvement in shuffling weapons and papertrails is not necessarily becuse they did not.

How do you know they didn't do many other things? Harry sat many a times staring straight at the sixth floor window from the other side of DP. Who provided the addresses for the black bag jobs? At various times PI agents were licenced to kill, as well as peruse mail they 'protected' on the various routes. This Forum is about who/why/how re the Kennedy assassination. If the PO, or at least significant elements, (I'm not talking about your average neighbourhood mail deliverer, though they did show a bit of a habit of "Going Postal' at times) working closely with Helms and Dulles, participated in any aspect of planning and coverups them of course they participated in assassination.

AFAIK Bush hasn't actually killed any Iraqi's, has he? (Not personally, I mean).

Edited July 21, 2007 by John Dolva

[Thomas H. Purvis]

John;

As you have so amply demonstrated, the US Postal System was, and most probably still is, utilized in order to keep track of whomever the Government wishes to keep track of.

However, one must remember the old saying: "What's good for the goose is good for the gander".

Therefore, even to assume that the "other side" would not also ifiltrate the postal system for their purposes, would be to completely ignore the patronage system under which the Postal System operates.

As well as the simple fact that Veterans are given "preferential points" towards employment with the Post Office.

I personally am under the complete impression that you are wasting your time in chasing Postmaster Holmes in regards to any part of the assassination.

Not unlike Altgens and others, Holmes testimony was waited on until such time as the draft of the Warren Report had already been submitted.

And, not unlike others, Holmes testimony supports that the third shot came after the Z313 headshot.

Although there can be little doubt that Holmes served as either a direct informant and/or an overseer of multiple informants within the Postal System, this is clearly understandable considering the FBI as well as CIA activities which have long centered around usage of the Postal System for keeping track of persons.

In that regards, I would assume that LHO had also been "coached", and this in fact may have some bearing on the empty bag which was sent to the mythological address.

And, considering the number of postal employees in Dallas, as well as the patronage system of securing employment with the Post Office during this time frame, one would be completely ignoring the fact that percentage wise, many of these, mostly ex-servicemen, were members of various "anti"-type organizations up to and including the KKK; the John Birch Society; and all other far right causes.

Not to mention a whole lot of "Sons of the Confederacy"!

http://www.rootsweb.com/~txkaufma/wall/reaganjh.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~txkaufma/wall/reaganjh.htm

http://www.rootsweb.com/~txtarran/military/robert-e-lee0.htm

http://www.southernmessenger.org/main%20page.htm

[John Dolva]

Tom, as we recognise we are talking of the USPO (I re-emphasise this as research readily leads one to believe the USPS*** was the department in question in '63) then the question of patronage is particularly important.

During the Civil War, Confederate President Davis formed the Confederate Post Office and appointed a most able PMG in John Henninger Reagan* (who, BTW was the last of Davis's Cabinet to be captured by the Union, as well as being captured with Davis. Where's the Gold?)

In setting up the Confederate PO, he garnered staff from the Union USPO^, as well as appointing new staff.

His department was recognised as the most economically viable of all the Confederate Gov. Dep's.. After surrendering he spent some time in jail but was eventually rehabilitated into society**, as well as ex-Confederate PO staff. So the USPO after the Civil War was already set up as the PO that allowed the patronaged PO as you describe with deep infiltration of non-Union elements particularly in the southen states. So that was in place pre assassination.

Like wise, the FBI was seeded with segregationists, and people like Zack Van Landringham, chief investigator for the MSC, was an ex-Hoover assistant. Then there are ex-FBI's like Bannister, a committed and prominent segregationist.

Who's the master to serve?

For some of these elements, the answer is highly likely not the Union.

J. E. Day, Kennedy's first PMG, resigned in mid '63 over a Civil Rights issue where he, by his actions, showed himself to be not a person suitable for Kennedy. He was Harry's Boss's Boss until he resigned. He also participated (according to Helms, with full briefing) in the CIA mail opening ops. This was as a result of a visit by Helms and Dulles a couple of weeks after being appointed by Kennedy, so for a couple of years he was an almost daily attendant of Kennedy gov. Cabinet meetings AND was covertly involved with the heads of the CIA. While officially he resigned for personal reasons, those personal reasone were of a nature that neither endeared him to Kennedy nor one can assume endeared Kennedy to him. His replacement was regarded by the people who recruited Day into the covert ops as unsuitable. One can assume that Holmes' loyalties lay in the camp of Day's and the other infil. elements.

That doesn't prove that Holmes was involved in the assassination. You're quite right to question that. Hence, with regards to Holmes, personally I see questions that need answering. The fact that they are hard to answer is at least interesting.

One question would be that, as the Limo disappeared behind the trees, from Holme's perspective, he was pointing his binoculars almost directly at the TSBD sixth floor. Four or so unidentified (Why? Holmes was most proud of his near photographic memory, describing it in minute detail at one point) and Holmes, when the first shot rang out, with no objects blocking sound transmission and with the sun shining into the sixth floor window directly opposite, neither Holmes, nor any of the 'I can't rmember who' persons with him reported seeing anything, neither then nor for the later shots, after Holmes had reacquired the Limo in his oculars after it reemerged from behind the foliage. At least there are things there that are 'odd'.

Another matter is the last interview that Oswald had prior to his transfer (and 'timely' murder). Holmes, as was his practice, drove with his wife to Church. Once there, he suddenly decides to leave his wife there and go to the DPD to see if he could be of assisstance.

When appearing there (in his words) Fritz waved him over and whispered an invitation to attend te interview. Ruby meanwhile meandered about ending up at the DPD.

Harry, personally, was responsible for the interview being prolonged and some 'coincidences' occurred:

Ruby was in place,

Harry had kept the interview going with minutae re post boxes etc,

someone banged on the interview room door and the interview ends,

Oswald goes to his death, which would not have happened if Harry had stayed in Church.

There are numerous other peculiarities regarding Holmes, outlined in many other posts, that a general view point that "the complete impression that (one is) wasting (ones) time in chasing Postmaster Holmes in regards to any part of the assassination" has persisted for 44 years that ensures that the time indeed is wasted.

____________________

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmailus2b.htm

* "The Post Office Department of the Confederate States of America was established on February 21, 1861, by an Act of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States. On March 6, 1861, the day after Montgomery Blair's appointment by President Abraham Lincoln as Postmaster General of the United States, John Henninger Reagan, a former U. S. Congressman, was appointed Postmaster General of the Confederate States of America by Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States.

Reagan instructed southern postmasters to continue to render their accounts to the United States as before until the Confederate postal system was organized. Meanwhile, he^ sent job offers to southern men in the Post Office Department in Washington. Many accepted and brought along their expertise, as well as copies of postal reports, forms in use, postal maps, etc.

In May 1861, Reagan issued a proclamation stating that he would officially assume control of the postal service of the Confederate States on June 1, 1861. Postmaster General Blair responded by ordering the cessation of United States mail service throughout the South on May 31, 1861.

The resumption of federal mail service in the southern states took place gradually as the war came to an end. By November 15, 1865, 241 mail routes had been restored in southern states; by November 1, 1866, 3,234 post offices out of 8,902 were returned to federal control in the South.

**Postmaster General Reagan was arrested at the end of the war but later was pardoned and eventually made it back to Congress, where he became chairman of the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads."

http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/postmaster/postmaster.html

"The supervision and management of the financial business of the Department, embracing accounts with the draft offices, the issuing of warrants and drafts in payment of balances reported by the Auditor, the superintendence of the rendition by the Post Masters of their quarterly returns, is under the control of the Finance Bureau. It has also charge of the dead letters, of the issuing of postage stamps and stamped envelopes, and the accounts connected therewith."

"To the Inspection Office is assigned the duty of receiving and examining the registers of the arrivals and departures of the mails, certificates of the service of Route Agents and report of mail failures, noticing the delinquencies of contractors, attending to all mail depredations, furnishing blanks for mail registers and mail failures, furnishing and sending out of mail bags, mail locks and keys."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmaster_Ge...e_United_States

***"The United States Postmaster General is the executive head of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin was appointed by the Continental Congress as the first Postmaster General, serving slightly longer than 15 months.

Until 1971, the Postmaster General was the head of the Post Office Department. During most of that period, he was a member of the President's Cabinet and the postmaster was last in the presidential line of succession. The Cabinet post of Postmaster General was often given to a new President's campaign manager or other key political supporter, and was considered something of a sinecure.

In 1971, the Post Office Department (under Nixon) was re-organized into the United States Postal Service, a special agency independent of the executive branch. Thus, the Postmaster General is no longer a member of the Cabinet and is no longer in line to be President. During the Civil War, the Confederate States of America also had a Confederate Post-Office Department, headed by a Postmaster General, John Henninger Reagan.

The current Postmaster General (who is also CEO of the U.S. Postal Service) is John E. Potter"

Edited July 22, 2007 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

The more things change the more they stay the same...

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http://news.aol.co.uk/worker-postal-servic...730230909990002

Worker: Postal Service Sold Private Data

"Berman said he does not know how much the companies may have paid the Postal Service for access to its "master file" of employee information. Nearly 800,000 people work for the agency, he said.

McDermott's complaint cited the Postal Service's April 2005 "Guidelines for Privacy" handbook, which included a section on direct marketing to workers: "Growing revenue is a critical strategy for the Postal Service," it said, and for that reason, the agency would allow companies to bid for the right to mail promotional offers to Postal Service workers. The offers arrive "cobranded" with the Postal Service's logo.

While employees could choose not to have their information forwarded to other companies, the policy still violated the Privacy Act by releasing data to companies without explicit permission from the employees, the complaint said.

With few exceptions, the law forbids federal agencies from releasing personal information of employees without consent."