Saturday 25 June 2016

EVIDENCE OF OSWALD'S INNOCENCE -- AND THOSE WHO STAND IN THE WAY

 
EVIDENCE THAT LEE HARVEY OSWALD DID NOT KILL KENNEDY HAS BECOME OVERWHELMING, BUT WE STILL HAVE A FEW "OSWALD DID IT" WARREN COMMISSION DEFENDERS OUT THERE READY TO CONFUSE THE AVERAGE READER.
    THEIR BLIND PREJUDICE OR DOWNRIGHT DISHONESTY IS OBVIOUS TO THOSE WHO KNOW WHAT REAL EVIDENCE IS OUT THERE CONCERNING LEE OSWALD,
      ONE 'LONE NUT'  GROUP LIKES TO FIND PROBLEMS WITH MY POSTS AND PASSES ON OBJECTIONS TO THE SO-CALLED CT'S --"CONSPIRACY THEORISTS" -- WHO DON'T LIKE WHAT I HAVE TO SAY. USUALLY IT MESSES UP THEIR BOOK, OR TJEIR PET THEORY, OR THEY ARE REALLY 'FAKE' CT'S WHO MAKE SURE THEY SPREAD CONFUSION AND FRUSTRATION.
   UNTIL PEOPLE READ A GOOD, SOLID BOOK THAT TELLS THE TRUTH, THEY ARE IN DANGER OF BEING LED LIKE SHEEP TO THE SLAUGHTER.
       THE ALLIANCE OF SOME CTS WITH DISINFO ARTISTS CONJURES UP TWO SAD PORTRAITS: ONE, OF DAVE REITZES (WHO 'ONCE' BELIEVED OSWALD WAS INNOCENT, THEN BECAME A CONVERT TO THE WARREN COMMISSION'S NONSENSE, AND BEGAN SLAMMING CTS), AND GARY MACK, ALSO 'ONCE' A 'CT' WHO OPTED FOR THE STEADY, HIGH PAY OFFERED BY THE SIXTH FLOOR MUSEUM TO CHANGE HIS MIND.
    WHILE IT ISN'T WORTH REPLYING TO MOST OF THE CLUTTER OUT THERE, ONCE IN  A WHILE IT'S IMPORTANT TO REPLY: AFTER ALL, A READER WHO DOESN'T KNOW HOW UNSCRUPULOUS THESE PEOPLE ARE MIGHT BELIEVE AN ARGUMENT THAT HAS LONG AGO BEEN DISCREDITED.

   AND NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THEIR POWER TO INFLUENCE A GENUINE WITNESS~!   LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED TO SECRET SERVICE AGENT CLINT HILL:

Clint Hill, once upon a time, located Kennedy's gaping head wound well back in the skull...

 CLINT HILL, UNDER PRESSURE, CHANGED HIS STORY! : (Tim Taylor wrote):"SS Agent Clint Hill rode in the back of the limo with Jackie Kennedy and the slain President from Dealey Plaza to Parkland Hospital. This duty made him one of the first government-official-close-eye-witnesses to the head wound. He said in his testimony to the Warren Commission that there was a large hole in the rear of the head. He repeated his story over the years in interviews. His commission testimony matches that of the Parkland doctors. During these interviews he never mentions a hole in the right side of the head. But then he inexplicably changed his version to mirror the Bethesda version. In a new video interview, his story changes completely. He now has it that the large hole in back is gone and replaced with a small bullet entry hole. The large hole in back he relocates to the right side of the head in front of the right ear. It took Agent Hill decades to get in step with the Warren Commission. These two pictures are from YouTube videos giving the two contradicting versions." THANKS, Tim, for this post!

CLINT HILL CONTINUED TO PLACE JFK'S WOUND AT BACK OF HEAD BEFORE 2010
     



 BY 2010,,, Clint's hand is creeping forward...
SCROLL DOWN!
  

RIGHT: CLINT'S DEPICTION OF THE  HEAD WOUND FINALLY HAS FULLY MOVED FORWARD BY 2013 "MEMPORY LAPSE' FOR THE NEW GENERATION,
Statement of Clinton J. Hill on November 30, 1963 - 18H, 742

As I lay over the top of the back seat I noticed a portion of the President’s head on the right rear side was missing and he was bleeding profusely. Part of his brain was gone. I saw a part of his skull with hair on it lying in the seat. The time of the shooting was approximately 12:30 p.m., Dallas time. I looked forward to the jump seats and noticed Governor Connally’s chest was covered with blood and he was slumped to his left and partially covered up by his wife. I had not realized until this point that the Governor had been shot.

Source: Warren Commission Testimony of Clinton J. Hill on March 9, 1964 - 2H, 141

Mr. SPECTER. What did you observe as to President Kennedy’s condition on arrival at the hospital?
Mr. HILL. The right rear portion of his head was missing. It was lying in the rear seat of the car. His brain was exposed. There was blood and bits of brain all over the entire rear portion of the car. Mrs. Kennedy was completely covered with blood. There was so much blood you could not tell if there had been any other wound or not, except for the one large gaping wound in the right rear portion of the head.  
     SECRET SERVICE AGENT CLINT HILL, THE AGENT WHO FAMOUSLY LEAPED ONTO THE PRESIDENTIAL LIMO WHEN JFK WAS SHOT,  FOR DECADES DESCRIBED A BIG HOLE IN THE UPPER BACK OF KENNEDY'S HEAD BY POINTING TO HIS OWN HEAD TO SHOW THE LOCATION OF THE GAPING HOLE.   BUT BY 2010, HILL SCURRILOUSLY BEGAN MOVING HIS HAND FORWARD TO THE TEMPLE,
   WHAT INFLUENCED CLINT HILL TO MOVE HIS HAND FORWARD?

    OFTEN, THESE INFLUENCES ARE 'PLANTS' WHO PUSH WITNESSES OR USE EVERY POSSIBLE PLY TO DISCREDIT THEM. THEY ARE THERE TO CONFUSE, MISINFORM AND CLUTTER THE BIG PICTURE. THEY ACCUSE WITNESSES OF LYING BUT SHAMELESSLY PUT FORWARD FALSE OR MISLEADING INFORMATION.

BELOW, I ADDRESS A FEW OF THE DISINFO BEING SPREAD, USING ME AS A REASON TO SPREAD THEIR FALSEHOODS, ===COMMENTING LIKE THIS===

I USE THE PHRASE 'VINDICATION FOR LEE HARVEY OSWALD' A LOT, SO OF COURSE THESE PEOPLE PARROT THE WORD 'VINDICATION' FOR THEIR OWN CARELESS MISUSE:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 THESE WRITERS ARE WORKING HARD TO KEEP THE MYTH GOING THAT LEE OSWALD KILLED  KENNEDY.  BELOW, I ADDRESS A COUPLE OF THESE ARGUMENTS. ===== =LIKE THIS======
 
NOTICE HOW CLINT HILL'S HAND MIGRATES,
OVER THE YEARS, UNTIL IT CONFORMS TO THE GOVERNMENT'S 'OFFICIAL VERSION' 
 
 
Vindication for JD Tippit
...Ms. Baker is taking historical documents and working them into the “Mythological World of Oswald” as told by Judyth Vary Baker.  Ms. Baker’s hypothesis is that the FBI lied by typing over a report changing the time of Officer JD Tippit’s death from 1:15 to 1:25. (1)

==OF COURSE THIS REPORT WAS NOT WRITTEN BY THE FBI. IT CLEARLY STATES THAT IT'S A PERMIT FOR AN AUTOPSY.  I SHOULD HAVE SAID THAT IT WAS REFERRED TO BY THE FBI. MY ERROR.  ==

metapth338334_l_DSMA_91-001-1503054-3445_11
Autopsy Report on Officer J. D. Tippit, by Earl F. Rose #2, page 11
The first document that Ms. Baker refers to in her post is the authorization for an autopsy to be completed on Officer JD Tippit.  It is a document completed by the Justice of the Peace, Joe B. Brown Jr. authorizing Dr. Earl F. Rose to complete an autopsy on the slain police officer. (2)
In looking at the document, it should be noted that Ms. Baker correctly identifies the time of death as 1:15 PM on November 22, 1963.  What is absent from Ms. Baker’s use of this document is the comment next to it that says “D O A Methodist Hospital”.  What this does is establish that Tippit arrived at the hospital dead.  This arrival time was at 1:15 PM.

 ==INCORRECT. "1:15 PM" IS ON THE LINE FOR THE DATE AND TIME OF DEATH, NOT THE TIME THE BODY ARRIVED.  THE OTHER LINE SAYS 'PLACE OF DEATH' IS THE HOSPITAL, BUT THIS IS QUALIFIED BY USING 'D O A '======


 The reality is we do not know what time Tippit died based on this document because he was not alive  when he arrived. The body of the text on this form clearly states that he was dead on arrival at the hospital.  The document was signed by Brown at 3:00 PM giving permission for the autopsy and for the release of the body to the Dudley Funeral Home after its completion.  We know that Dr. Rose began his autopsy at 3:15  minutes after Judge Brown signed the authorization. (3)

== WE LOOK AT WHAT THE HOSPITAL TELLS US, THE SAME DAY THAT TIPPIT DIED AT 1:15. THIS IS IN CONTRAST TO  THE FBI REPORT OF TIPPIT'S BEING PRONOUNCED DEAD, WHICH WAS PLACED AT 1:25. (SEE BELOW)...THE '2' CAN CLEARLY SEEN TO HAVE BEEN ALTERED. THAT GAVE THE HOSPITAL ARRIVAL AN EXTRA TEN MINUTES.==

Ms. Baker takes this document and compares it to an FBI report completed on November 29, 1963 by FBI Agent Robert C. Lish.  She claims that the FBI typed over the document changing the time from 1:15 to 1:25.

===THE '2' HAS BEEN ALTERED. WHETHER DELIBERATE OR NOT.===

 The document that she cites to make this claim is a report filed by Special Agent Robert C. Lish.  on November 29, 1963.  This document indicates that JD Tippit was pronounced dead at 1:25 PM.  SA Lish is reporting on the paperwork on Officer Tippit in possession of the Dudley Funeral Home.  The report shows that Officer Tippet was pronounced dead by Dr. Liguori at 1:25 PM.

Commission Document 5 - FBI Gemberling Report of 30 Nov 1963 re: Oswald Current Section: IV. Shooting of Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit, Page 82
Commission Document 5 – FBI Gemberling Report of 30 Nov 1963 re: Oswald
Current Section: IV. Shooting of Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit, Page 82
One must ask, why would this document say 3:25?  Did the funeral home make a mistake?  It is based on the funeral home documents that SA NISH created this report so that can explain why it has 3:25 in his document.  Fortunately a very important person, Dr. Ligouri was also interviewed. SA Nish reports that Dr. Ligouri stated that Officer Tippit was “pronounced dead” by him at 3:25.  Why would Dr. Ligouri state to the FBI that he was dead at 3:25?  It is easy to jump to the conclusion that this document was also altered to incriminate Lee Oswald. Or it was typed on the same typewriter that just does not effectively do its job. (4)
So what explains the discrepancy?  Going back to the first document, the 1:15 would demonstrate the time of arrival based on the way autopsy request is written.

==INCORRECT, THE 1:15 STATED WHEN DEATH OCCURRED, NOT WHEN BODY ARRIVED.===

 It does not indicate is the time he was pronounced dead.[sic]   What happens when a person is brought into a hospital?  The doctors in the emergency room very often take measures to revive the person who is laying [sic] before them on the table.  They do not pronounce the patient dead and then begin life saving measures.  As a matter of fact, one would imagine that in 1963 there would have been as much a sense of urgency to save a police officer as there was to save President Kennedy. Is there evidence that this took place?
It turns out there is evidence that this did take place.  A Dallas police officer responding to the call of Tippit being shot, intercepted the ambulance on the way to the hospital.  The two officers, (5) RA Davenport and WR Bardin also place the time of death at 1:15.  This actually looks like they had originally put 1:25 and then retyped over it.  Changing it back to 1:15.  The point is however that he was dead upon arrival at 1:15 according to the document signed by Judge Brown.

===DEATH WAS REPORTED TO HAVE OCCURRED AT 1:15 BY TWO OFFICERS AND IS NOT THE TIME OF ARRIVAL OF THE DEAD BODY.==

The interesting part of their report is that they wrote about the doctor taking life saving measures attempting to bring Tippit “back to life”. When examining the radio traffic of the Dallas Police Department, the radio transmission to the patrol cars indicated that at 1:28 PM an announcement was made over the radio waves [AFTER EFFORTS TO REVIVE TIPPIT FAILED] that it was Officer JD Tippit who had been shot and believe to be pronounced DOA. (6)  All of this fits perfectly with the following timeline:
1:08 Tippit radios in about suspicious person (Police Transmission Time)
1:15 Tippit arrives at the hospital. (Hospital Time)

 ==INCORRECT. ONCE MORE, TIPPIT WAS DEAD AT THE SCENE AT 1;15. HE WAS THEN TRANSPORTED TO THE HOSPITAL AND PRONOUNCED D O A =====
1:15-1:25 Life saving measures begin. (Hospital Time)
===ARRIVAL AT HOSPITAL WAS AFTER 1:15 AND BEFORE 1:25 WHEN LIFE-SAVING MEASURES CEASED===
1:25 Dr. Ligouri Prounces Tippit Dead (Hospital Time)
1:28 Announcement of Tippit DOA over the radio. (Police Transmission Time)
Keeping in mind that these times, are not on the synchronized atomic clocks that work with our cell phones.  There is the potential for differences in the timeline but it is a finite twenty minute timeline in length.   The point is yet again, Ms. Baker is taking liberties with historical documents to make a hypothesis that would have involved many moving parts.

==NOT AT ALL. I POINTED OUT THAT THE TIME HAD BEEN TYPED OVER AND BY DOING SO, IT WAS EASIER TO BLAME LEE OSWALD FOR THE MURDER. THIS TIME NEEDED TO BE COMPARED TO WHAT THE WARREN COMMISSION SAID: THAT J D TIPPIT DIED AT 1:16 PM. ===

.
The Dallas police reports would have had to have been doctored, since Officer Tippit’s murder would have been under their jurisdiction and this would have to align with the FBI reports, the hospital documents, the funeral home documents and every individual report filed by a police officer.   Judge Brown and Dr. Ligouri would have had to have been complicit in this as well as the police officers who were in the emergency room with Tippit.  To support her hypothesis there would be too many moving parts to sustain it.  The timeline presented here works and makes sense.  Once again, the Baker Oswald Mythology is not sustainable with this evidence that supports a reasonable explanation.
Matthew “The Hitman” Scheufele


 ==but let's see what master statistician Richard Charnin  has to say:

This is for Vincent Bugliosi, Gerald Posner, David Von Pein, John McAdams, Dave Reitzes, Dale Myers, Scott Aaronson, Bob Scheiffer, Rachel Maddow and other interested parties. Can any of you explain why the Warren Commission stated that Tippit was shot at 1:16pm when all the witnesses said it was no later than 1:06?
But first, please explain why the WC noted 1:16 as the time of Tippit’s death (at the SCENE of the shooting) since he was officially pronounced dead at 1:16 in Methodist Hospital? How did the ambulance get to the hospital before 1:16 if he was shot dead at 1:16?
 
Note: The death certificate from Methodist Hospital signed by Joe B. Brown lists the time of death at 1:15. 
The police supplementary offense report states that Dr. Liguori pronounced the officer dead at 1:15. 
An FBI report dated 11/29/63 in which Dr. Liguori pronounced the officer dead at 1:25 looks like it originally said 1:15 and was changed. 
The Dallas Police Homicide report signed by Liquori said Tippit was pronounced DOA at 1:30.
They had to add ten minutes to the time of Tppit’s death so that they could say Oswald shot him at 1:16. Oswald was spotted outside his apartment at 1:04. He could not have gone to the Tippit scene by 1:06. He would have had to run a 0.9 mile in two minutes. So they changed the time of the shooting to 1:16 – and had to change the time of the ambulance arrival at Methodist Hospital. It is all so transparent.


From S.r. Dusty Rohde, this is THE SMOKING GUN: https://22novembernetwork.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/the-murder-of-j-d-tippit-by-s-r-dusty-rohde/
The insert shown above is taken from the actual Certificate of Death, Tippit’s name was misspelled, but the document clearly shows the time and date of death. There is no way Lee Harvey Oswald shot a “living” J.D. Tippit at either 1:15 or 1:16pm. That statement by the Warren Commission was an outright lie. A lie expressed for the sole purpose of deceiving the American public.
The Warren Commission had the Tippit documents in their hands, they knew the “legal” time of death, they knew Oswald couldn’t have shot Tippit at 1:15 or 1:16pm, and yet they still chose to tell the lie.
J.D. Tippit could not have been shot at 1:16, his legal and lawful time of death is recorded as 1:16pm. Now why does that matter? Before Tippit was pronounced “dead” at the hospital, he had to be removed from the ambulance, wheeled to the emergency room, transferred off of the ambulance gurney onto the hospital bed. Doctors had to do a quick scan, then attempt to clear an airway and possibly administer CPR in the attempt to save Tippit’s life, all “before” declaring the man officially dead.
————————————————————————–
Now, about those witnesses, this is what they said:
These are the witnesses:
• DPD Channel 1 dispatcher Murray Jackson contacts Tippit at 1:03 to get his location but gets no response. https://jaylipp.fatcow.com/JFK/tippet.html
• Dallas County Sheriff Deputy Roger Craig hears of the Tippit shooting at 1:06 over the police radio. http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/WTKaP.pdf
• T.F Bowley arrives at the scene at 1:10. http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth339132/
• According to Warren Commission exhibit 705, immediately following T.F Bowley’s transmission at 1:10, the DPD dispatcher called over DPD Channel 1 radio that Tippit had been shot. http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/pdf/WH17_CE_705.pdf
And there were many more…
https://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/jfk-did-oswald-shoot-tippit-eyewitnesses-no-warren-commission-yes/
 ===HERE IS WHAT THE ANTI-OSWALD NAYSAYERS USE: ===

(1) Judyth Baker, August 30, 2015 11:27 PM Screen Captures Below
(2) Rose, Earl F. [Autopsy Report on Officer J. D. Tippit, by Earl F. Rose #2], Legal Document, November 22, 1963; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338334/ : accessed September 05, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives , Dallas, Texas.
(3) Rose, Earl F. [Autopsy Report on Officer J. D. Tippit, by Earl F. Rose #2], Legal Document, November 22, 1963; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338334/ : accessed September 05, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives , Dallas, Texas.
(4) Commission Document 5 – FBI Gemberling Report of 30 Nov 1963 re: Oswald Current Section: IV. Shooting of Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit, Page 81
(5) Dallas (Tex.). Police Dept. [Supplementary Offense Report Concerning Shooting of Officer Tippit #5], Text, 196u; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338270/ : accessed September 05, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives , Dallas, Texas.
(6) Dallas (Tex.). Police Dept. [Radio Transcript for November 22, 1963], Letter, November 22, 1963; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth339128/ : accessed September 05, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives , Dallas, Texas., Page 73
Baker Tippet
Funeral Home Record
Permit for Autopsy 1

Vindication for Mexico City

James Jesus Angleton
“When you take a little bit of truth and then you mix it with untruth, or your theory, that’s where you get people to believe…”
Glenn Beck, June 8, 2006

JUDYTH BAKER INCORRECTLY CLAIMS THAT THE CIA DID NOT KNOW THAT OSWALD WAS IN MEXICO CITY ON SEPTEMBER 27, 1963


Lopez Report
REPORT ON LEE HARVEY OSWALD’S TRIP TO                                  MEXICO CITY                           NARA Record Number: 180-10110-10484 Page 65
Judyth Baker claimed on August 5, 2015 many things about Oswald and his trip to Mexico City in her attempt to attack a critic of her book.

 ===IT'S CALLED 'DEFENSE' NOT 'ATTACK'...===

Her post is a perfect representation of how to blend fact into a story to created a believed myth.   “NOTE THAT THE CIA LOOKED FOR LEE IN MEXICO CITY BY SEPT, 27 –BEFORE THAT DATE HAD BEEN GIVEN TO THEM.”  (1) Ms. Baker begins to use the Lopez Report to support her claims.  The Lopez Report which does indeed state they were unable to determine how or why headquarters cabled the CIA in Mexico City directing them to investigate the transcripts back to September 27.  This statement in the Lopez report was in reference to a cable sent by Birch O’Neil to Mexico City requesting that they begin their search for information about Oswald starting on September 27.(2)

THE LOPEZ REPORT ACTUALLY LEAVES THE DOOR OPEN TO THE FACT THAT THE CIA MAY HAVE HAD OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

What Baker does not point out is that the report also was open to the possibility that there was human intelligence shared between the FBI and the CIA about the dates.  The report continues by stating that it does not really matter how the information was acquired by the CIA, but that it does mean that CIA headquarters was possibly aware of these visits prior to the assassination.  This article supports their conclusion.  The Lopez report does not indicate that the CIA knew about the visit prior to the actual visits as Baker leads her followers to believe.  Baker, leaving out the fact that the Lopez report was open to other investigative means to determine the September 27, 1963 date is the perfect example of how a little truth being excluded can support the myth. (3) The next page of the Lopez Report addresses this issue further stating that there were cables to headquarters that contained information that linked Oswald’s October 1 phone call to a visit to the phone call from the Cuban Embassy to the Russian Embassy on September 28. (4)  The knowledge of these cables alone could have been the reason Birch O’Neil expanded the search.  This hypothesis does not hold true when looking at the evidence. The answer to how Birch O’Neil knew to expand the search to September 27  will be explained as we consider other sources of information.

THE CIA INVESTIGATED OSWALD’S VISIT TO THE SOVIET EMBASSY RISKING ASSETS TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED INSIDE THE EMBASSY

Col. Oleg Nechiporenko was the KGB Colonel who first interviewed Oswald on September 27, 1963 inside the Soviet Embassy. As Nechiporenko tells the story, Valerie Kostikov passed Oswald onto Nechiporenko after an amusing interaction between Oswald and Kostikov.  Oswald did not think Kostiov [sic] was a Russian and had requested to speak with a Soviet. (5) As Nochiporenko conducted his interview with Oswald, he said that he “silently cursed” Kostikov for it because as their conversation continued, he lost interest in Oswald. (6) It is also interesting to note that Nechiporenko says Oswald’s Russian was terrible, “…his pronunciation was bad, and he really mangled the grammar…” (7)  

[==this was an impersonator, not the real Lee Oswald.  CIA knew this was not the 'real' Oswald, for Lee could speak Russian fluently.==]


Nechiporenko writes that the CIA attempted to get information about the Oswald visit to their embassy through someone named John.  KGB Pavel Yastikov was the target of a CIA operation prior to the assassination in 1963 by the CIA by LIOVAL-1, John Emil Blankenship, an American professor in Mexico City who taught English at a college. (8) While the connection between LIOVAL-1 was made prior to the assassination in early 1963, LIOVAL-1 was used to gain information about Oswald’s visit to the Soviet Embassy since Yastikov had interviewed Oswald on September 28th with KGB Agent Valerie Kostikov.(9)  LIOVAL-1 referred to in Nechiporenko’s book was given the name  “Pez”  when he took on an operational interest after he asked them questions about Oswald’s trips to the Soviet Embassy. This line of questioning by LIOVAL-1 was reported to CIA Headquarters in June 1964. (10) LIOVAL-1 reported that Yastikov wished to purchase the same type of rifle used by Kennedy’s assassination.  He also reported that Oswald’s erratic behavior inside of the Soviet Embassy, led Yastikov to believe that Oswald did not have the ability to assassinate Kennedy. The CIA decided to attempt to recruit Yastikov through LIOVAL-1, but there were also concerns that LIOVAL-1 had been recruited by the Soviets.(11) This conclusion was based on the assessment of another Soviet Defector who reviewed the voluminous Yastikov Mexico City P-File, the bulk of which came from LIOVAL-1 who went fishing with Yastikov two weekends a month.(12)  Four years of developing a friendship around fishing trips resulted in Yastikov being given an offer by the CIA.(13)

CHIEF OF COUNTERINTELLIGENCE JAMES JESUS ANGLETON HAD OTHER SOURCES TO INVESTIGATE WHAT TRANSPIRED INSIDE THE EMBASSY


CALDERON-KINGSMAN
HANDWRITTEN NOTE RE TRANSLATION SENT GALBOND VIA KINGMAN NARA Record Number: 104-10090-10027, Page 2

The CIA had other sources and methods connected to famed mole hunter James Jesus Angleton. LIOVAL-1 was managed by Paul Dillon. (14) Dillon was in charge of many aspects of operations involving the Soviet Union including defector Yuri Nosenko. Based on the recruitment attempt of Yastikov and the defection of Nosenko, there is little doubt that Paul Dillon worked with Angleton. (15)  Angleton (Pseudonym Kingsman) was immediately involved on November 22 in communication with Mexico City. Angleton had transcripts of phone calls made by Luisa Calderone, a Cuban Embassy Employee who was caught on the wiretap joking about the Kennedy Assassination on November 22 saying, “I knew about it before Kennedy.”(16) . The interesting thing about these transcripts to Angleton is that there does not appear to be a record of cable traffic to document it, just a hand written note. (17)  Either Angleton was in Mexico City and it was handed to him or there appears to be a backdoor channel by which information was sent to Angleton directly because there is no evidence that this was sent to Angleton through cable traffic.  If the transcripts were sent out through cable traffic, why did they not send the transcript directly to JC King (Galbond) directly? This note leads one to believe that this was filtered top down according to this from Angleton down to King.   Additionally, the handwritten note specifically states that they were not yet sharing this information with the FBI, indicating that they were protecting their source, HTLINGUAL.

THESE SOURCES MAY HAVE TRIGGERED THE SEPTEMBER 27 CABLE FROM HEADQUARTERS

 

======everything below is mere speculation======

Two logical hypothesis that can be produced from this information.  One hypothesis is that it was practice to send transcripts to Angleton on Soviet targets, possibly though backdoor channels.  Another hypotheseis is that LIOVAL-1 could very well have provided information prior to the assassination about the visit from one of his fishing trips with Yastikov.  The transcript hypothesis make more sense, as it was clear they were trying to figure out who the man was that visited the Cubans and Soviets on September 27th. A review at HQ by Angleton’s staff would have helped to widen the focus of the investigation.  The Lopez Report is open to this as has been pointed out above.  However, there is a more likely hypothesis that needs to be explored.  While plausible, these two hypothesis lack a sound basis in evidence.  The most plausible hypothesis is that there was another source of information which interestingly enough,  turns out to be Lee Harvey Oswald himself.

BAKER CLAIMS THE CIA WAS FRAMING OSWALD TO LOOK BAD BY MEETING WITH KGB ASSASSINATIONS AGENT VALERIE KOSTIKOV

Baker asserts that the CIA was framing Oswald with a meeting with Kostikov.(18)  As you will see, Oswald himself ties himself to Kostikov, without the help of the CIA.  All of the evidence above and the investigation by  LIOVAL-1 does not point to anyone framing Oswald.  It points to the CIA painstakingly trying to figure out what happened inside of the Soviet Embassy into mid 1964.  This was done even at the risk of compromising the relationship between LIOVAL-1 and Yastikov as written about by Nechiporenko.  The CIA tried desperately to figure out if it was Kostikov.  Is this the behavior of an organization trying to frame Oswald, or is it the behavior by the CIA desperately trying to determine if  the Soviet Union was behind the assassination?

===The poor Russian by "Oswald" indicates that this was an impersonation. No amount of obfuscation can get around that fact.===

OSWALD’S OWN LETTER DISPROVES BAKER’S CLAIMS HE WAS ON ASSIGNMENT FOR THE CIA

Oswald wrote to the Soviet Embassy in Washington DC in early November about his meeting with Kostikov.  He wrote about his dislike for the Cuban Consulate Azcue who went back to Cuba after Oswald’s visit and wrote with praise for the people inside of the Soviet Embassy.   This letter demolishes the Oswald Myth created by Baker.  First, if Oswald was on an aborted mission, and did everything he could in Mexico City to get to Cuba there was no reason to write the Soviet Embassy because the mission was over. (19)  Most important however, is the fact that there is no reason to frame Oswald with anything, he identified meeting with “Kostin” (Kostikov) in his letter.  Baker’s Oswald Mythology continues to fall apart.

===The letter is typed, with the signature in cursive, and the entire letter, though it contains typical misspellings, also mentions that the writer's 'real name' would have to be used if he had overstayed and had to hey another visa.  Yet the 'real name' was the one signing the letter. Unlike the infamous "Hunt letter" that is carefully hand-written but was absolutely unnecessary to write, betraying it as a setup to link ti "Hunt" this letter, which apparently originally was to request a hurry-up on Lee's and Marina's visas to the USSR, speaks of some inside information only a spy would know. The letter shows a familiarity with the Soviets that no other letter written by Oswald that was legitimate ever revealed. 

See http://22november1963.org.uk/a-little-incident-in-mexico-city  for arguments that an imposter was involved.

AND THE SOVIETS THEMSELVES CALLED THE LETTER A FAKE:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/711299/Russians-wary-of-63-Oswald-letter.html?pg=all

WASHINGTON -- Officials at the Soviet Embassy in Washington had suspicions from the start about a chatty letter they received from Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
In it, Oswald detailed his visit with a top KGB official in Mexico City six weeks before being arrested for killing Kennedy in Dallas. He pleaded for visas so that he and his wife could return to the Soviet Union. He even told them about his new baby daughter.Privately, embassy officials suspected it was forged, perhaps to lay a phony paper trail to make it look like Oswald was working for the Soviets, according to long-secret Russian documents released by the National Archives on Thursday.
"This letter was clearly a provocation: It gives the impression we had close ties with Oswald and were using him for some purposes of our own," Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin, Moscow's man in Washington for 24 years, wrote in an internal memo stamped "Highest Priority."
Dobrynin thought the letter was a fake because it had a different tone from previous letters the Soviets had received from Oswald, who lived in the communist nation between 1959 and 1962. Also, it had been typed, not handwritten like his earlier ones, Dobrynin noted.
The letter was dated Nov. 9, 1963. The embassy received it nine days later but never replied.
Within a week, Kennedy was dead, and so was Oswald -- shot down by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
"One gets the definite impression that the letter was concocted by those who, judging from everything, are involved in the president's assassination," Dobrynin wrote. "It is possible that Oswald himself wrote the letter as it was dictated to him, in return for some promises, and then, as we know, he was simply bumped off after his usefulness had ended."
The Dobrynin memo was contained in more than 80 pages of long-secret Soviet documents that Russian President Boris Yeltsin gave to President Clinton in June when the two were in Germany. The documents offer details about what top-level Soviet officials were thinking and talking about when Kennedy was killed Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas.
"They were convinced that there had been this massive plot to kill Kennedy. What they didn't know was who was a part of the conspiracy," said Timothy Naftali, director of the presidential recordings project at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, a think tank and historical research institute at the University of Virginia.
"They thought they had received a false letter. They thought it was all part of an orchestrated affair to make it look like the Soviet Union was behind the gun."
Following the assassination, the Soviets gave U.S. officials the Oswald letter as well as other information they had gathered during his stay in the Soviet Union."

THE CIA LETTER OPENING PROGRAM HTLINGUAL WAS RUN BY JAMES ANGLETON

So the question becomes did the CIA know about this letter?  The CIA HTLINGUAL program was a mail opening program that was run out of the office of James Jesus Angleton.  Oswald was on the list for mail opening since his attempt to defect to the Soviet Union. (20) He stayed on the list for nine months. (21) However, they were still intercepting mail going into the Soviet Embassy in DC.  As is indicated in the House Select Committee on Assassinations investigation, these intercepts would not have been stored in any persons 201 file due to the secrecy of the program.  As of November 26, Angleton himself had reviewed an FBI report and through HTLINGUAL sources informed J. Edgar Hoover that  Oswald had used the name “Alik” and that this may be “significant” in relation to the Alex Hidell  name associated with Oswald. (22) The most logical conclusion is that in addition to providing the FBI with the information about Oswald’s nickname to the FBI, the information gained from HTLINGUAL determined to expand the search for information in Mexico City to September 27, 1963.

 HTLINGUAL INTERCEPTED OSWALD’S NOVEMBER 9 LETTER PRIOR TO THE ASSASSINATION


OSWALD LETTER
FBI 105-82555 Oswald HQ File, Section 15 Page 44

Is there evidence that the HTLINGUAL program intercepted the Oswald letter?  The FBI had decided in 1958 to speak to the post office about starting a letter opening program.  They were informed that they were a little late, that the CIA already had one operating. (23) One can only wonder how Hoover reacted to find that the CIA was conducting a domestic operation on American citizens.  What we do know, is that the FBI was receiving information from this program.  The FBI had a typed copy of Oswald’s letter and had distributed the letter to the FBI Office in Dallas TX. prior to the assassination. (24) James Hosty writes in his book, Assignment Oswald, that it was part of the Oswald file, and that he did not have the ability to question the Oswald’s about it because it would have revealed the mail opening program to the Oswalds. (25) On November 23,  Hosty acquired a hand written rough draft written by Oswald from the Paine residence. (26) In addition to this, the Soviet Ambassador provided the state department with the letter itself on November 30. (27)  The signature on the typed letter demonstrates that Oswald signed the letter himself.  The letter would become part of the Warren Report as CE-315.  Without a doubt, the CIA and FBI must have enjoyed the fact that they no longer had to protect the HTLINGUAL source because of this information from the Soviets.

JAMES ANGLETON POSSESSED ALL OF THE INFORMATION NECESSARY TO EXPAND THE SEARCH TO SEPTEMBER 27, 1963

What this does mean is that James Angleton upon reading the letter in his files, knew instantly that Oswald had visited the Cuban Embassy prior to his visit to the Soviet Embassy.  It is entirely logical that Angleton would then expand the known day that the Oswald cable of October 8, 1963 indicated the visit of Saturday, September 28th to Friday, September 27th as the Cuban Consulate was traditionally closed on Saturday.  Birch O’Neil, Angleton’s right hand man, sent the cable that widened the search by a day. (28) A little over five hours after receiving that cable, Mexico City had found the transcripts of phone calls that seemed to indicate that Oswald had been in the Cuban Embassy based on a conversations between Sylvia Duran and KGB Agent Valerie Kostikov indicating that Oswald had been in both embassies on Friday, September 27th. (29)  Like a master spy, Angleton confirmed the information in Oswald’s letter about being in the Cuban Embassy without letting Mexico City know he had intelligence about this.  More importantly to the CIA, why was Oswald in contact with the head of KGB Assassinations in the region?

MEXICO CITY ESTABLISHES OSWALD’S ARRIVAL TIME TWO HOURS LATER

In Mexico City, Clark Anderson of the FBI was furnished information on November 23 that Lee Harvey Oswald had entered Mexico on September 26, 1963 at Laredo.  Clark Anderson was involved in almost all decisions around the investigation being conducted in Mexico City.  But the fact that he knew when Oswald crossed the border would also have been reported to Washington and it is perfectly logical that headquarters limited the search to these dates. (30)  Ambassador Mann sent a telegram to the Secretary of State at 9:00 PM indicating that they had contacted all US Consular Border posts and requested a search.  By the evening shift Mexico City had been informed that Oswald had entered via Laredo on September 26. (31) Win Scott sent a memo indicating that the Laredo Consulate notified the ambassador at 7:00 PM of Oswald’s entry on September 26. (32)   The 7:00 AM notes of the Mexico City Station on what they knew on November 24 indicated that they knew exactly the date Oswald entered into Mexico as well. (33) There was no need to expand LIENVOY before this date.

BAKER INCORRECTLY ASSERTS THAT THE OCTOBER 10 CABLE WAS UNSOLICITED

Baker continues making her point implying that the CIA Headquarters sent unsolicited information about Oswald to Station Chief Win Scott on October 10, 1963.  “FOR WHY WOULD CIA SEND A CABLE TO MEXICO CITY ON OCT. 10, 1963, ABOUT LEE OSWALD UNLESS IT WAS IMPORTANT FOR MEXICO CITY’s CIA STATION CHIEF TO KNOW ABOUT LEE OSWALD?” (34) Ms. Baker is historically accurate to stating that headquarters did send information to Win Scott, Chief of Station, Mexico City.(34)   CIA Headquarters did not send this cable to Mexico City unsolicited as Baker claims! To fully understand how and why this CABLE was sent, one must look at all of the events prior to it being sent.
On September 27, 1963 at 4:05 PM the CIA phone intercept program, LIENVOY intercepted a phone call from Sylvia Duran inside of the Cuban Consulate to the Soviet Embassy.(35) It was this phone call that was finally attributed to Oswald when Mexico City expanded their search to September 27th at the request of Birch O’Neil.  The phone call was translated and on the morning of September 28 it was in the hands of Win Scott.  The conversation was of immediate interest to Win Scott because, although it did not have a name attached to it, Duran stated that she had an American with her who wanted a travel VISA to get to the Soviet Union.  As part of the station protocol, any American or English speaking person that made contact with either the Cuban or the Soviet Embassies were a priority for the station.

WIN SCOTT WANTED THE UNIDENTIFIED AMERICAN IDENTIFIED


Identify
TRANSCRIPT OF CONVERSATION IN SPANISH NARA Record Number: 104-10151-10067, Page 2

Scott wrote on the top of the transcripts, “Is it possible to identify?”  He wanted to know who the American was.  The transcript demonstrates that on September 28, 1963 Win Scott was curious about who the American was inside of the embassy with Duran on Friday, September 27, 1963. (36) The LIENVOY program and it’s operations are well documented in Bill Simpich’s work, State Secret. This operation was one of the most closely guarded secrets.  Win Scott, received all of the transcripts every day and read them personally and he was aware that there was an American inside of the Cuban Embassy who had visited the Soviet Embassy.  They were not able to take action or link this to Oswald until after the assassination of President Kennedy.
The CIA could not do anything about the phone calls of September 27th phone calls because they were phone calls in which no name was identified.  It was not until October 1, 1963 that a phone call was made in which the caller used the name “Lee Oswald”.
1. ACC LIENVOY 1 OCT 63, AMERICAN MALE WHO SPOKE BROKEN RUSSIAN SAID HIS NAME LEE OSWALD (PHONETIC), STATED HE AT SOVEMB ON 28 SEPT WHEN SPOKE WITH CONSUL WHOM HE BELIEVED BE VALERIY VLAMIMIIOVI KOSTIKIV. SUBJ ASKED SOV GUARD IVAN OBEYDKOV WHO ANSWERED, IF THERE ANYTING NEW RE TELEGRAM TO WASHINGTON.  OBEYDKOV UPON CHECKING SAID NOTHING RECEIVED YET, BUT REQUEST HAD BEEN SENT. (37)

CIA CABLE MEXI 6453 PROVES THAT MEXICO CITY REQUESTED THE INFORMATION

This cable is famous because it contained the photograph of the “Mystery Man” and the description of an individual who was not Oswald.  The cable had inaccurately linked the man who made the phone call to the man in the photographs. This cable has provided the fuel to the fire that the “Mystery Man” was impersonating Oswald for years. This cable was sent on October 9, 1963 to headquarters.  This cable, MEXI 6453 absolutely proves that Ms. Baker has completely misrepresented the October 10, 1963 Cable in her attempt to prove that the CIA sent Oswald to Mexico City.

6453 Number 1
CABLE: ACC LIENVOY 2 OCT 63, AMERICAN MALE WHO SPOKE BROKEN RUSSIAN              NARA Record Number: 104-10428-10260, Page 2

The highlighted portion of this is used to demonstrate the tracking numbers used by the CIA in their cables.  The highlighted portion of this cable indicates that the cable was sent from Mexico City (MEXI) and the number assigned to the cable was 6453.  These numbers were specific to cables and were sent in sequential order.  The next cable from Mexico City would be 6454.  Note the date of the cable is October 9, 1963.
The numbers on the cable are very important. It will be used in any and all cables between headquarters about this cable so that it can be referenced. Headquarters responded to this cable with the information about Lee Harvey Oswald. The point is there is absolutely no evidence that headquarters wanted to notify Win Scott about Lee Harvey Oswald’s presence in Mexico City.  The October 10th cable that Baker references does not prove that Oswald was working in an operational capacity because it was a response to information sent from Mexico City.

6453 Highlighted
CLASSIFIED MESSAGE. MEXI 6453 (IN 36017) NARA Record Number: 1993.08.12.17:31:16:400030, Page 2

When examining the October 10, 1963 it clearly identifies that headquarters is responding to Mexico City with information about Oswald.  It is a response, it is not unsolicited as she would have her readers believe.  The highlighted section clearly identifies the reference to cable 6453.  This is the prime example of how an actual historical document can be used to perpetuate a myth.  It is not an accurate portrayal of the historical record that has been so carefully presented by the research of John Newman, Bill Simpich, and Jefferson Morely.  All who have painstakingly written great works that explain the CIA operations in Mexico City.  While there are issues raised by these cables and their content, it is not remotely fair to the historical record to use these primary sources or to imply that the works of Newman and Morely somehow support the claims she makes in reference to these documents.

FACTS VERSES THE BAKER MYTH

The facts in this article clearly demonstrate how a little bit of truth has been worked into the Oswald mythology created by Author Judyth Baker.  Lee Harvey Oswald visited Mexico City.  The CIA in Mexico City was attempting to figure out who he was as of September 28.  On October 9 there was a cable sent from Mexico City that triggered information about Oswald on October 10 from CIA Headquarters.  It was not unsolicited information, as Ms. Baker would have us believe, nor does it prove that he was working in an operational capacity.
Five hours after Birch O’Neil, under the direction of James Jesus Angleton expanded the search for information in a cable to Mexico City asking them to start searching on September 27, 1963 for information about Oswald the September 27th transcripts were linked to Oswald.  It was information that Lee Harvey Oswald himself had unwittingly provided to the CIA and FBI when he wrote the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. on November 9, 1963.  This letter was intercepted by HTLINGUAL, a program run by James Jesus Angleton.  While Ms. Baker is correct that the Lopez report indicated that there was evidence that CIA Headquarters may have had prior knowledge of the trip she fails to mention that the report leaves the door open to leads that came from other sources.  The record shows, that there was no knowledge of this information prior to the HTLINGUAL intercepted letter of November 9.  This ends the myth that the Birch O’Neil cable somehow proves that the CIA knew of Lee Harvey Oswald’s trip to Mexico City prior to the trip.
The investigation conducted by the CIA after the assassination does not support prior knowledge of Oswald’s visit from an operational sense.  Baker has claimed that Oswald was debriefed upon his return.  The work of LIOVAL-1 in the year after the assassination does not support this.  The CIA would have no reason to be investigating what had transpired in the Soviet Embassy if Oswald had been “debriefed”.  It does not support her assertion that they were setting Oswald up with Kostikov to frame him.  There would have been no need for further investigation.  What the record shows is that they risked the LIOVAL-1 operation, which appears to have been a recruitment operation, to learn what had happened inside of the Soviet Embassy.  The record shows, that they were attempting to determine what if any contact had happened with Kostikov.  It does not support the Oswald Mythology as told by Judy Baker.
Ms. Baker continues to blur the historical record leading people down the path of the Oswald Mythology that she has created. Her continued efforts to support this myth, by including historically accurate information, would lend the casual reader to find her knowledgeable and supported by the historical record.  The Oswald Mythology that she wants us to believe has not been accurate about Kerry Thornley, Eric Rogers, Sylvia Duran, and now Oswald’s trip to Mexico City.  Sadly, she is becoming one of the main impediments to us gaining access to the truth.
Included below the sources is her post of August 5, 2015 as a record of her continued attempts to bolster this mythology at the expense of the truth.
Matt “The Hitman” Scheufele
September 4, 2015
A special thanks to Rob Clark and Bill Simpich.  Rob’s podcast introduced me to Nochiporenko’s book.  Bill Simpich continues to speak with me about the Mexico City operations.  Both of you have been tremendous inspirations for my work.
(1) Judyth Baker, August 5, 2015 Facebook
(2) NARA Record Number: 1993.07.06.10:25:36:500410 IMPORTANT YOU REVIEW ALL ((DELETIONS))
(3) NARA Record Number: 180-10110-10484 REPORT ON LEE HARVEY OSWALD’S TRIP TO MEXICO CITY, pg 65
(4) NARA Record Number: 180-10110-10484 REPORT ON LEE HARVEY OSWALD’S TRIP TO MEXICO CITY pg 66
(5)  Passport to Assassination Nechiporenko, Col. Oleg Maximovich, Carol Publishing Group, NY 1993, pg 67
(6) Passport to Assassination Nechiporenko, Col. Oleg Maximovich, Carol Publishing Group, NY 1993, pg. 70
(7) Passport to Assassination Nechiporenko, Col. Oleg Maximovich, Carol Publishing Group, NY 1993, pg. 71
(8) NARA Record Number: 104-10522-10085 MEXICO CITY CHRONOLOGY COVERING PERIOD 27 SEPT 63 – 3 FEB 1968
(9)  NARA Record Number: 104-10431-10081 CABLE: FROM 27 SEPT LIENVOY, TIME LATE AFTERNOON PRIOR 1700 HOURS, UNIDENTIFIED
(10)  NARA Record Number: 104-10522-10092 CABLE: DURING SUBJ’S 11-12 JUNE TRIP WITH SOV CONSUL PAVEL ANTONOVICH YATSKOV
(11) NARA Record Number: 104-10414-10342LIST OF RECORDS AND FILES ON SUSPECT RIS OFFICERS
(12) NARA Record Number: 124-10369-10005 ADMIN FOLDER-L8: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, LEE HARVEY OSWALD (NEW FILE)
(13)  Passport to Assassination Nechiporenko, Col. Oleg Maximovich, Carol Publishing Group, NY 1993, pg. 260-284
(14)  NARA Record Number: 124-10369-10005 ADMIN FOLDER-L8: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, LEE HARVEY OSWALD (NEW FILE)
(15) NARA Record Number: 104-10429-10130 MEMO:CONCERNING DISCUSSION OVER WHO WOULD ASK QUESTIONS OF AEFOXTROT/PROPOSED QUESTIONS
(16) NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10426 TRANSCRIPTS FROM CUBAN EMBASSY AND CUBANA AIRLINES CONVERSATIONS ON 22 NOV 1963 (ATTACHMENT #1)
(17)  NARA Record Number: 104-10090-10027 HANDWRITTEN NOTE RE TRANSLATION SENT GALBOND VIA KINGMAN
(18)  Judyth Baker, August 5, 2015 Facebook
(19) Warren Commission Hearings, Volume XVI Current Section: CE 15 – Letter from Lee Harvey Oswald to the Russian Embassy, dated November 9, 1963
(21) NARA Record Number: 180-10142-10331
(20) NARA Record Number: 1993.08.17.17:56:56:460059 INFORMAL RESEARCH AID FOR HSCA STAFF MEMBERS
(22) NARA Record Number: 1994.04.13.14:55:11:250005 Reel 44, Folder G – HTLINGUAL ITEMS RELATING TO LEE HARVEY OSWALD
(23) Global Security.org, SR POINTER/HTLINGUAL
(24) FBI 105-82555 Oswald HQ File, Section 15 page 44
(25) Assignment Oswald, Assignment Oswald, Hosty Jr, James P, 1996 Arcade Publishing, pg. 25
(26) NARA Record Number: 1993-05-19-18.02.50.000081 DRAFT OF LETTER TO RUSSIAN EMBASSY
(27) NARA Record Number: 124-10369-10064ADMIN FOLDER-Y9: HSCA ADMINISTRATIVE FOLDER, OSWALD LETTER TO SOVIETS 11/9/63
(28) NARA Record Number: 1994.05.31.12:51:10:96000 Reel 7, Folder H – SILVIA TIRADO DE DURAN [SOFT FILE].
(29) NARA Record Number: 1993.07.06.10:25:36:500410 IMPORTANT YOU REVIEW ALL ((DELETIONS))
(30) NARA Record Number: 104-10015-10094CABLE CONCERNING 27 SEPTEMBER 1963 CALL TO SOV MIL ATT
(31) NARA Record Number: 0-0-0TELEGRAM TO SECSTATE FROM MEXICO CITY RE CONSULAR BORDER POST CHECKS RE ENTRY OF OSWALD TO MEXICO 
(32)  NARA Record Number: 104-10015-10268 INFORMATION FROM U.S. CONSULATE NUEVO LAREDO CONCERNING LEE HARVEY OSWALD.
(33) NARA Record Number: 1993.06.15.16:08:42:43000 INFORMATION ON LEE HARVEY OSWALD AT 0700 ON 24 NOVEMBER 1963
(34) Judyth Baker, August 5, 2015 Facebook
(35) NARA Record Number: 104-10413-10146 CABLE:LEE OSWALD WHO CALLED SOVEMB
(36) NARA Record Number: 104-10151-10067 TRANSCRIPT OF CONVERSATION IN SPANISH
(37) NARA Record Number: 104-10422-10255CABLE: ACC LIENVOY 1 OCT 63, AMERICAN MALE WHO SPOKE BROKEN RUSSIAN
August 5 Baker 1August 5 Baker 2August 5 Baker 2.5 August 5 Baker 3

Vindication for Sylvia Duran

Recently author Judyth Vary Baker used some historical documents to make some points on Facebook that were not accurately portrayed.  Much like the inaccurate insertion of Kerry Thornley and Eric Rogers into her memoir she has recently taken some events that occurred in Mexico City and has attempted to use them to support her story.  This is part one of a two part response to her claims on her Facebook page.  She takes aim at the CIA and Sylvia Duran in her post.  These assertions do not stand up when examined with all of the evidence you will see in this article.

Judyth Vary Baker, Facebook August 5, 2015 12:40 AM EST.
Judyth Vary Baker, Facebook August 5, 2015 12:40 AM EST.

SYLVIA DURAN’S ARREST IS QUITE LOGICAL
Sylvia Duran was arrested twice by the Mexican authorities.  What Baker makes seems sinister is actually very logical.  Duran was arrested initially because she did not have any kind of diplomatic cover.  Duran was recorded on a tape of  two phone calls from the Cuban Embassy to the Soviet Embassy on September 27,1963.  The phone calls were made on behalf of an unidentified America looking to travel to Cuba.  Duran was a Mexican Citizen and therefore was easily apprehended without causing an international incident (1) She was not arrested to torture her and get her to confess to an affair, she was arrested the first time because of the phone call and the fact that this phone call had been tied to Lee Harvey Oswald’s visit to Mexico City.
CIA HEADQUARTERS DID NOT WANT DURAN ARRESTED
The first arrest and the second arrests of Duran were not authorized by CIA headquarters.  At the time of the first arrest, a phone call from Chief of the Western Hemisphere/3 John Whitten (Pseudonym John Scelso) to Win Scott  requested that Duran NOT be arrested, but Scott informed him it was too late. (2)  This is also documented in a cable from CIA Mexico City to headquarters stating, “…SYLVIA DURAN AND HER HUSBAND HAD ALREADY BEEN ARRESTED.”(3) Whitten responded with a cable from headquarters to the Mexico City Station.
1. ARREST OF SILVIA DURAN IS EXTREMELY SERIOUS MATTER WHICH COULD PREJUDICE ODYOKE (UNITED STATES) FREEDOM OF ACTION ON ENTIRE QUESTION OF PBRUMEN (CUBAN) RESPONSIBILITY.  WITH FULL REGARD FOR MEXICAN INTERESTS, REQUEST YOU ENSURE THAT HER ARREST IS KEPT ABSOLUTELY SECRET NO INFORMATION FROM HER IS PUBLISHED OR LEAKED, THAT ALL SUCH INFO IS CABLES TO US, AND THAT FACT OF HER ARREST AND HER STATEMENTS ARE NOT SPREAD TO LEFTIST OR DISLOYAL CIRCLES IN THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT
2. WE ARE TRYING TO GET MORE INFO ON OSWALD FROM ODENVY (FBI) AND WILL ADVISE DIRECTOR THROUGH ODENVY (FBI) MEXI.,., (4)
Deputy Station Chief, Alan White cabled headquarters on November 24, 1963 about the results of the Duran interrogation. Sylvia Duran and her entire family who were having a party were arrested.  Duran blamed a relative for her arrest, so the CIA was not connected by her to her arrest, and the phone taps were still secret. The interrogation revealed that Oswald thought he would be able to travel to Cuba through an arrangement with the Soviets.  That this was not so, and he was rude to the Soviets and that he became abusive in the Cuban Embassy when his efforts to get to Cuba were thwarted. (5)  In addition, a human source within the Cuban Embassy explained that Duran returned to the embassy, satisfied with the way she had conducted herself during the arrest. The source reported that she had returned to work on November 25th. Interestingly the source inside of the embassy states that she “had no fear of confrontation.” (6)
DURAN PHYSICALLY FOUGHT WITH THE POLICE AT THE TIME OF HER ARREST
Duran testified before the HSCA in 1978.  She spoke of her arrest and provided the committee with details about her arrest. Duran did not go quietly stating that when they told her she was being arrested, she refused to go with the police officers wishing to see a judges order.  They then proceeded to put their hands on her, they grabbed her hands and she began to kick them to try and stop them from taking her.  She stated that they covered her mouth and loaded her into a station wagon. (7) This is the only time she refers to being physically handled by the Mexican authorities in her testimony.  Later in the questioning, the physicality of the arrest was again brought up and brought up the man she kicked in the “balls” at the first arrest was quite upset when they arrested her the second time.  She admits she was scared, and they attempted to intimidate her, but she says she answered all of their questions truthfully. (8)
THE ALVARDO STORY CAUSED AMBASSADOR MANN TO WANT DURAN REARRESTED
ALVARDO 1st ReportAfter Sylvia Duran was released from her first interview, a man by the name of Gilberto Alvarado contacted the American Embassy on November 25, 1963 with a story that he witnessed Lee Harvey Oswald receive $6,500 from a red-haired Cuban inside the Cuban Embassy on September 18, 1963.  Alvardo described that Oswald was friendly with a female employee of the embassy. (9)  There is plenty to the Alvarado story that can be written but this is not the focus of this article.  David Atlee Phillips was responsible for initially investigating Alvarado’s story,  and initially found his story to be credible and his the cable to CIA indicated, Alvardo was able to identify members of the Cuban Embassy from photographs and  what their jobs were within the embassy. (10) The investigation of Alvarado began to not ring true and by November 27, 1963 the CIA reported their doubts of his story to the FBI and Washington, DC, with the hypothesis that the story Alvarado was telling was designed by the government of Nicaragua to worsen relations between the US and Cuba. (11)
Alvardo’s story again focused the CIA’s attention on Sylvia Duran.  It was not to establish that she had an affair.  Duran was the ONLY person who was employed in the embassy who did not have diplomatic immunity.  There was a communication from CIA headquarters again stressing that they did not want Sylvia Duran arrested.  This appears to be in direct response to Ambassador Mann wanting to pursue the Cuban Assassination angle to its fullest potential.  (12)  On the same day there was a second communication from CIA headquarters again stressing that they did not want Sylvia Duran arrested but to place her under direct surveillance of the CIA or the Mexican authorities. This direction was in direct response to investigate the Alvarado story further. (13)
DURAN ARRESTED AGAIN AGAINST THE WISHES OF CIA HEADQUARTERS
Despite the directive from headquarters, the Mexican authorities decided to arrest Sylvia Duran.  At 12:15 on November 27, Scott was notified that Mexican authorities had arrested Duran.  (14) This information was passed from CIA headquarters directly to the White House.  (15) Duran however, testified before the HSCA that she was not planning on leaving the country for Cuba. (16)
It is well documented that Ambassador Mann believed that there was a Cuban conspiracy that was being uncovered in Mexico City.  He was frustrated by CIA headquarters, and my suspicion is that the Mexican authorities were directed through informal channels to arrest Sylvia Duran a second time. Ambassador Mann himself cabled CIA headquarters stating that there were two stories circulating from the Mexican Police, that Duran was arrested because she was going to leave for Cuba and a later story that they were trying to prevent her from leaving because she was a witness.  This cable includes a firm statement from the Ambassador that they had not directed the Mexican authorities to arrest Duran.  However, the cable exemplifies the ferocity in Mann’s desire to chase down the Alvarado lead by asking for permission to arrest Cuban consular officers Eusebio Azcue, Alfredo Mirabal, and secretary Luisa Calderon, all of whom were Cuban nationals.  Luisa Calderon was identified as the woman that Avarado claimed was communicating with Oswald.  In addition she was recorded on the wiretap of the embassy joking that she knew about the assassination before Kennedy (17).   It is no wonder that Ambassador Mann believed the Alvarado story and wanted it pursued to the point where he wanted Cuban diplomats arrested. (18)
The rearrest prompted this response from Richard Helms at headquarters:
…TO BE CERTAIN THERE IS NO MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN US, WE WANT TO INSURE THAT NEITHER SLVIA DURAN NOR CUBANS GET IMPRESSION THAT AMERICANS BEHIND HER REARREST.  IN OTHER WORDS WE WANT MEXICAN AUTHORITIES TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHOLE AFFAIR. (19)
THE CIA PROVIDED QUESTIONS TO DURAN’s INTERROGATORS
Duran was held for two days. The results of this investigation indicate no interest in Duran’s potential affair with Oswald, but it does contain questions related specifically to the Alvarado story.  Win Scott added comments to the cable from Helms.  He stated that the Mexican authorities should attempt to get the questions answered and that the CIA was still able to provide questions to the Mexican police, but that Americans should not have any direct contact with her.  (20) And what was the focus of the second interrogation of Duran, according to the report of the transcripts, there is evidence that the details of the Alvarado story was at least part of the focus.  There were questions asked about Calderon and then there are these statement in the report:
11. In answer to special questions, DURAN said that only she and the Consul are in the Consulate.  She said that the first time that Lee Harvey OSWALD was in the Consulate in the morning, to request information about getting to Cuba, she did not observe him very well.  In the afternoon, however, when he had the argument with the Consul, she did observe him closely and is sure that he was not wearing glasses.
12. There is no red-headed negro of that description in the Embassy.  Lately, no new person has arrived at the Embassy. (21)
The special questions were asked of her.  Alvarado’s story continued to fall apart.  It is here that the FBI directs the CIA to turn Alvarado over to the Mexicans.  The FBI wanted them to interrogate Alvarado and for them to conduct the polygraph of him.  Since they had questioned Duran, they wanted Alvarado to be investigated by them as well, to determine if their stories matched at all.  This directive was given to the CIA on November 28 and in the same communication we learn that the Mexicans were preparing to release Duran.  It is clear, the CIA was not at all interested in any alleged affair on the part of Duran, but they were interested in determining if the Alvarado story had any truth to it. (22)  In the end the Alvardo story did not hold water, and Alvarado recanted it.
ALLEGATIONS THAT DURAN WAS WITH OSWALD AT A PARTY 1964
As for the allegations that Duran slept with Oswald, Ms. Baker should heed her own advice in her post.  She quotes from Dr. John Newman and his book Oswald and the CIA.  Unfortunately, Ms. Baker does not read the portion of his work about the Duran/Oswald affair.  Dr. Newman clearly points out through his outstanding research that the rumors of the affair between Oswald and Duran did not reach the CIA until after the Warren Report was published.  This is a critical hole in her statement that Duran was tortured to admit that she was romantically involved with Oswald on behalf of the CIA.
The story which evolved over time made it’s way to Win Scott’s desk, on October 5, 1964. (23) In the original version of the story, Ms. Elena Garra de Paz, cousin of Sylvia Duran’s husband, Ruben, claimed to have attended a party in which Lee Harvey Oswald was present at the Duran’s house.  The information was passed onto the FBI and she was interviewed on November 24, 1963.  There was no mention of Duran having an affair with Oswald in the FBI interview of  Elena. (24)  Win Scott also wrote a memorandum about the interview and it does not include any details of an affair between Duran and Oswald.  At this point both the FBI and Win Scott believe there is not much to report about the allegations because the dates are not in alignment with the established Oswald timeline in Mexico City.
ALLEGATIONS THAT DURAN WAS OSWALD’S MISTRESS 1965
By December 10, 1965, State Department Officer, Charles Thomas speaks with Elena, she add’s a detail to the story, that Sylvia Duran was Lee Harvey Oswald’s lover.  In addition she makes reference to a red-haired Cuban.  This brings back into question the information from Alvarado and his story of a red-headed Cuban who had given Oswald money inside of the Cuban Embassy.  What was Win Scott’s reaction to the information that had crossed his desk?

NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10325 MEMORANDUM: SUBJECT - LEE HARVEY OSWALD AND KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10325
MEMORANDUM: SUBJECT – LEE HARVEY OSWALD AND KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
“What an imagination she has!?!” If the CIA wanted to paint Oswald as the lover of Sylvia Duran, would this be the reaction that anyone would suspect?  This is followed by the question posed to Anne Goodpasture, “Should we send to Hqs?”  Again, if the CIA were indeed trying to perpetuate the lie of an Oswald and Duran affair as Ms. Baker alleges, why would they debate sending this information to headquarters?  Winn Scott clearly did not believe that this had any credibility and again, in another memorandum written by the FBI to the Ambassador that Elena’s allegations were investigated and unsubstantiated. There was no further action necessary. Again Win Scott writes at the top, “Can we send in a report to HQS?” (25)
Finally a cable is sent to headquarters letting the CIA know that her allegations are not substantiated.  In notes at the bottom of the dispatch between Deputy Chief of Station Allan White, and Win Scott, Scott writes, “She is also nuts.”  (26)
Newman concludes that there is credibility to Duran’s assertions that she did not have an affair with Lee Harvey Oswald because she had had an affair with Cuban Ambassador Lechuga and admitted to it.  When Duran was interviewed for Newman’s book Oswald and the CIA, she denied the affair stating, “No, no, no. Of course not.  I had a relation with someone in the embassy, but not with Oswald…he was somebody you couldn’t pay attention to.”  (27)  She had high standards, was clearly drawn to powerful men, something Oswald was not based on his behavior inside the consulate.
OSWALD DURAN AFFAIR REPORTED BY ASSET 1967
Finally, in 1967 at the time of the Garrison investigation, the story began to take life again.  The following dispatch from the Mexico City station to Chief of the Western Hemisphere completely eviscerates Ms. Baker’s statement that Silvia Duran was “tortured to admit that she slept with Lee Harvey Oswald.” A CIA source, LIRING/3 informed his case officer that he had spoken with Duran:
Sylvia Duran informed him that she first met Oswald when he applied for a visa and had gone out with him several times since she liked him from the start.  She admitted that she had sexual relations with him but insisted that she had no idea of his plans.  When the news of the assassination broke she stated that she was immediately taken into custody by the Mexican police and interrogated thoroughly and beaten until she admitted that she had an affair with Oswald. (28)
MEXICAN POLICE NEVER REPORTED AFFAIR IN 1963/CIA NOT CONCERNED WITH THE AFFAIR
While this comment appears to support the “torture” this is in contrast to Duran’s HSCA testimony where she speaks about resisting arrest and fighting the police.  In addition this conflicts with the reports of her return to work after the first arrest.  But what is VERY contradictory to Ms. Baker’s assertion that the CIA wanted to force her to admit the affair, we have this reaction from the Mexico City station to headquarters about this, the first confirmation that can be found in any CIA document is the following statement:
The fact that Silvia Duran had sexual intercourse with Lee Harvey OSWALD on several occasions when the latter was in Mexico City is probably new, but adds little to the OSWALD case.  The Mexican Police did not report the extent of the DURAN-OSWALD relationship to this Station.  (29)
BAKER’S CLAIMS DO NOT HOLD UP AGAINST THE PRIMARY EVIDENCE
One can see how Ms. Baker’s statements on her Facebook page are misleading.
  1. The CIA did not want Sylvia Duran arrested the first time.
  2. The CIA did not want Sylvia Duran arrested the second time.
  3. The CIA provided Mexican authorities with questions for Duran to verify the Alvarado story.
  4. The historical record is clear that the FBI investigated the claims of relations with Oswald and found them unsubstantiated.
  5. The CIA did not care that Duran had relations with Oswald and there is no evidence that they wanted Duran tortured to admit the affair.
It should be noted that in addition to making these claims on Facebook about Duran and the reason for her arrest, she presents a similar statement in her book Me & Lee: How I came to Know, Love, and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald,  Future work will demonstrate that her presentation about Lee Harvey Oswald’s trip to Mexico City, is not what she would like her reader to believe, and is not supported by primary sources.
Baker is absolutely correct about one thing, Oswald was in Mexico City.
Part II will be coming soon.
“The Hitman”
Please note the name Sylvia is spelled Silvia in many of the primary documents.  I have tried to keep it Sylvia throughout but when I have cited documents, I kept the spelling from the primary source.
CITATIONS
(1) Report on Lee Harvey Oswald’s Trip to Mexico City, NARA: 180-10110-10484
(2)Report on Lee Harvey Oswald’s Trip to Mexico City, NARA: 180-10110-10484
(3) COA INFORMED OF ARREST OF SYLVIA DURAN, NARA Record Number: 104-10132-10210
(4)  CABLE – ARREST OF SILVIA DURAN NARA Record Number 104-100-15-10118
(5) CABLE – ARREST OF SILVIA DURAN NARA Record Number: 104-100-15-10118
(6) CABLE RE: REPORT ON CUBAN EMBASSY ATMOSPHERE AND SILVIA DURAN DEMEANOR, NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10159
(7) HSCA Report, Volume III Current Section: Narration by G. Robert Blakey, Chief Counsel, page 81-82.
(8) HSCA Report, Volume III Current Section: Narration by G. Robert Blakey, Chief Counsel, page 90
(9) NARA Record Number: 104-10195-10261MEMO: GILBERTO ALVARADO
(10) NARA Record Number: 104-10118-10435 CABLE ON AN INTERVIEW WITH ALVARDO
(11) NARA Record Number: 104-10310-10163MEMORANDUM:LEE HARVEY OSWALD/INTERNAL SECURITY-R
(12) NARA Record Number: 1993.07.21.17:34:30:250240 CABLE ON INVESTIGATION OF ALVARADO AND DURAN
(13) NARA Record Number: 1993.07.21.17:25:53:530240 CABLE ON SURVEILLANCE OF DURAN AND DISPOSITION OF ALVARADO
(14) NARA Record Number: 1993.08.05.10:27:20:210060COS WAS ADVISED AT 1215 THAT SILVIA DURAN HAS BEEN REARRESTED BECAUSE
(15) NARA Record Number: 104-10015-10394 REARREST OF SILVIA DURAN
(16) HSCA Report, Volume III Current Section: Narration by G. Robert Blakey, Chief Counsel pg. 88.
(17) NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10426TRANSCRIPTS FROM CUBAN EMBASSY AND CUBANA AIRLINES CONVERSATIONS ON 22 NOV 1963 (ATTACHMENT #1)
(18) NARA Record Number: 104-10015-10415 CABLE – THREE PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENT IN INVESTIGATION RE AMBASSADOR JOAQUIN HERNANDEZ ARMAS, GILBERTO ALVARADO UGARTE, AND LUIS ECHEVERRIA
(19) NARA Record Number: 104-10100-10033 HQS WANTS TO ENSURE THAT NEITHER SILVIA DURAN NOR CUBANS GET IMPRESSION THAT U.S. BEHIND HER REARREST
(20)NARA Record Number: 104-10100-10033 HQS WANTS TO ENSURE THAT NEITHER SILVIA DURAN NOR CUBANS GET IMPRESSION THAT U.S. BEHIND HER REARREST
(21) NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10127 MEMORANDUM: SUBJECT – SECOND MEXICAN INTERROGATION OF SILVIA DURAN
(22) NARA Record Number: 104-10015-10179CABLE – LIAISON OFFICER OFFICIAL ADVISES THAT FBI REQUESTS THAT KUBARK TURN ALVARDO OVER TO MEXICAN AUTHORITIES AND THAT KUBARK REQUEST MEXICAN AUTHORITIES TO INTERROGATE ALVARADO IN DETAIL
(23) NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10332 MEXICAN COMMUNISTS WHO HAD CONTACT WITH OSWALD, HAS NOT APPEARED IN WARREN COMMISSION WRITE UPS IN PRESS
(24) NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10330 THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WAS SUPPLIED ON NOVEMBER 24, 1964, BY MRS. ELENA GARRO DS PAZ AND HER DAUGHTER, ELENA PAZ GARRO
(25) INTERVIEW WITH MRS. ELENA GARRO DE PAZ AND HER DAUGHTER, ELENA PAZ GARRO, WERE INTERVIEWED BY PERSONNEL OF THIS OFFICE ON NOVEMBER 17 AND 24, 1964, AT WHICH TIME THEY FURNISED INFORMATION SIMILAR TO T
(26) NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10320CABLE RE: LEGAL ATTACHE MEXI INTERVIEWED ELENA GARRO DE PAZ AND DAUGHTER ELENA PAZ GARRO NOVEMBER 1964
(27) Oswald and the CIA, Chapter 18: “Mexican Maze”, Jonn Newman, 2008
(28) NARA Record Number: 104-10014-10029 INCOMPLETE DOCUMENT RE FIELD ACTIVITIES AND ATTACHED REPORT OF A MEETING
(29) NARA Record Number: 104-10404-10315DISPATCH: SUBJECT – PBRUMEN/THE LIRING-3 OPERATION
(30) Me & Lee: How I came to Know, Love, and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald, Copyright 2010,  Trine Day LLC.

The Use of Business Contacts in Intelligence Operations


The Barbara J
The Cold War led the United States to battle the spread of Communism into the  hemisphere.   When the Cold War erupted after World War II, the United States tapped into the unsung soldiers of the victory over the AXIS  from the OSS, to become the foundation of the CIA .  These behind the scenes intelligence operatives formed the backbone of the United States operations against the spread of communism into our hemisphere. To fight this battle, the newly formed agency needed to penetrate foreign countries and get boots onto the ground.  To do this, a marriage began between the corporate elite in the United States, who were threatened by everything that Communism stood for, and the Central Intelligence Agency.  Corporate America was eager to join in support of this endeavor.  They had everything to gain by favorable relationships with dictators in the region, through imbalanced agreements that made dictators wealthy and corporations increase their profits.  They  had everything to lose from the spread of communism.  It was only natural, that the CIA would enter into relationships, providing their agents cover and their operations a place to launch(1).
One such example of a company that was used in this capacity was Zapata Oil.  Zapata Oil was founded by George H. W.  Bush with the help of a “former” CIA Staff Employee Thomas James Devine (2).   There have been many allegations that Zapata Offshore Company was involved in supporting the operations for the Bay of Pigs invasion(3).  The Zapata Oil Company was building rigs forty miles off of the coast of Cuba during this time period (4).  During the late 1950’s the CIA attempted to use assets in the petroleum industry to use to launch attacks on Cuban petroleum assets (5).

It appears that the CIA in its “Offical History of the Bay of Pigs: Part III” found such ventures to be less than successful.  One such mission against the Cuban petroleum industry was conducted by one of the ships used in the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Barbara J , in its attack on a refinery at Santiago de Cuba.  This attack was considered to be one of the more successful attacks, but it managed to only stop production for less than 48 hours(6).

Richard M. Bissell Jr.
Richard M. Bissell Jr.
In reviewing this document, an interesting statement appears.  It certainly demonstrates that someone outside of the CIA had made contact with Joseph Caldwell King, the Chief of the Western Hemisphere in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Richard M. Bissell, the Deputy Director of Plans, wanted this contact developed as seen below.
In a discussion of planned para-military operations against Cuba, it was reported that on 14 July 1960,Chief, Western Hemisphere Division was approached “by [ 29 ]. He [Chief, WH/D] indicated that [ 29 ] will be willing to cooperate, perhaps even carry the ball on certain selected [sabatoge] targets. DD/P gave permission to push this contact immediately.” (7) 
Many have taken circumstantial evidence about the Bay of Pigs to tie it to George H. W.  Bush.  It is easy to draw such conclusions, since the Operational name for the Bay of Pigs was Operation Zapata, the name of his company.  In addition, he had a habit of naming his aircraft and his boats after his wife, Barbara.  Another ship used in the Bay of Pigs was Houston, the home for his company.  Again,this is all circumstantial.  However, one must wonder who the redacted name [ 29 ] is since this document was released in 1998.  It clearly would mean that it is someone still alive at the time.  Many CIA agents are not redacted in the document, including David Atlee Phillips and the entire group of CIA staff that worked under him in preparation for the Bay of Pigs.  With the use of the ship Barbara J one begins to wonder if the this person, [ 29 ],  was either George H. W.  Bush or maybe Thomas James Devine.   In any case, the circumstantial evidence, while plentiful, is not concrete evidence, despite what many hypothesize.
Thomas James Devine is one of the biggest pieces of solid evidence that the CIA was involved in the Zapata Oil business (8).  A CIA memorandum of 1968 (9) indicates that when Devine left the CIA in 1953, as he joined Zapata Oil, to go into private business.  When the Zapata Oil operations were sold, Thomas Devine was cleared to become a “cleared and witting commercial asset under project WUBRINY on June 12, 1963.  While he was cleared in June, he was operational two months earlier.  WU/BRINY 1 (10) who researchers have identified as Thomas Devine, met with George De Morenshidlt and Clemard James Charles  and on Thursday, April 25 (11) and on Friday, April 26 (12)with at the Knickerbocker Club, in NYC .  WU/BRINY1 reports in on meeting with them again on Monday, April 29.  WU/BRINY 1 appears to have had a chance meeting with DeMorenshidlt and Charles,  at the National Airport (NARA Record Number: 104-10164-10088) in Washington, DC , on May 9.  On May 15,   another meeting with DeMorenchidlt occurred in  presence of two other CIA assets WU/BRINY 2 and Frank Stone who oversaw the operation (13), at the Sheraton East hotel on May 21, 1963.

The Knickerbocker Club

Thomas Devine met again met with DeMorenshidlt May 21, 1963 alone (14) at the offices of WUSALINE (Train, Cabot and Associates) (15), an investment banking firm a known CIA front involved heavily in Latin America.  The point of all of this is to demonstrate the use of the business cover for many of its operatives in Latin America, and that on paper people may have left the CIA on paper, they were also operating for the CIA in business capacities as well.
Many have hypothesized that all of the contacts with DeMorenshildt in this time period have sinister implications around the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  DeMorenshidlt had been in contact with Lee Harvey Oswald for six months prior to his first contact with Thomas Devine.  The attempted assassination of General Edwin Walker on April 10, 1963 allegedly by Lee Harvey Oswald, was two weeks prior to the first meeting with Devine on April 25.  DeMorenshildt admitted to discussing the attempt on General Walker with Lee  in his testimony before the Warren Commission(16).
Those who would speculate that his meetings with Thomas Devine were positive meetings have not read the contact reports completely.  They are ignoring the fact that Thomas Devine himself, was not impressed with DeMorenshildt.  After his second meeting with George DeMorenshildt  and Charles on April 26th he reported that “both men have an element of bluff in their presentation(17).”  He continues to point out that “deMor was a “paper grabber” stating that every available handout in the office…was sought by deMor…”  The meeting of April 26th triggered a trace report request by Frank Stone who Devine reported to.  If the CIA were actually running George DeMorenshildt or employing him in an operational capacity, they would not have requested the trace.  The trace brought back hits in his 201 file with information filed by WH/Mexico(18).  The contents are further revealed in a contact report filed by Stone when he communicated the information to Devine.  He reports to him that there was a lot of “derogatory information” and that DeMorenshildt had written to the State Department that he was sending a manuscript to Russia about his trip to Mexico that contained “derogatory” information about the United States.  He had apparently offered to remove the objectionable materials.  Devine apparently believed that DeMorenshildt was looking to blackmail with the manuscript, and may be open to selling it.  The contact report ends with Stone informing Devine of this information so he would be prepared should they meet again and that he should “handle himself accordingly(19).”  It cannot be denied that George DeMorenshidlt had made contact with the CIA, it appears to be from these contact reports, that he was not an asset under their control, nor was he viewed in a favorable light.  There is another manuscript that DeMorenshildt would later write about Lee Harvey Oswald.  Seeing Thomas Devine’s interpretation of his propensity to “bluff” and possibly “blackmail” one has to wonder if what he was looking to do with his material on Oswald.

George DeMorenshildt
George DeMorenshildt

George DeMorenschildt would also be in contact with the Department of Defense during this time.  On May 7, 1963 DeMorenschidlt made contact with Dorothe Matlock (20), of the Office of the Army Chief of Staff for Intelligence (21).  She testified to the HSCA that her official title was Assistant Director of the Office of Intelligence.  She was responsible for being the liaison between the Department of Defense and the CIA, as well as being responsible for the debriefing of working with the Interagency Defector Committee with CIA agent Tony Czajkowski (22).  This agency was heavily involved in Cuban domestic contacts, and the debriefing of Cubans who have come to the US.  Some believe that the contact between Mrs. Matlock and DeMorenshidlt, was for him to report on Oswald.  The HSCA did interview her on her interactions with DeMorenshildt.  Based on this report there is evidence that after meeting with DeMorenshildt at this time, that her office wanted to distance themselves from DeMorenshildt and Charles, but recommended that operations be put into contact with them (23).  Matlock also had suspicions about DeMorenshildt to the point that she contacted the FBI about him.
The whole picture of the preceding evidence is one in which multiple intelligence agencies utilized business contacts to accomplish their objectives.  We have evidence of joint relationships between the CIA and Zapata Oil in relation to sabotage of Cuban petroleum facilities,  The Bay of Pigs,   as well as evidence of recommended operational contact with Clemard Charles James and the desire to overthrow Papa Doc Duvalier, something Charles would be arrested for later on.  It is clear that business contacts were very important and were explored.  What is even more clear, is that George DeMorenshildt was not well liked by those in the intelligence circles.  It is also clear, that many who believe he was in on the conspiracy, have used the Haiti meetings to promote that he was a CIA handler for Oswald.  The historical record would indicate that this is not so, based on the manner in which the intelligence circles reacted to his attempts to get support for his Haiti scheme.  These same circles, in particular the propaganda machine set up for the Bay of Pigs, would come into play around the accused assassin and a trip to Mexico City.
Matt “The Hitman” Scheufele
SOURCES
(1) Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation: Volume III, PG 56
(2) MEMORANDUM:MESSRS. GEORGE BUSH AND THOMAS J. DEVINE
(3) The Kennedy Assassination: The Nixon-Bush Connection
(4) King, Nicholas (1980). George Bush: A Biography. Dodd Mead. ISBN 0-396-07919-9.
(5) Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation: Volume II pg. 234
(6) The Official History of the Bay of Pigs: Part III Appendix E Attack on Petroleum Refiner£ at Santiago de Cuba 13-14 March 1961
(7) OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE , BAY OF PIGS OPERATION VOLUME III pg. 235
(8) MEMORANDUM:MESSRS. GEORGE BUSH AND THOMAS J. DEVINE
(9) Memorandum for DO/Security Subject: Thomas James Devine
(10) Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government, and the …  By Russ Baker, pg 105
(11) CONTACT REPORT: A MEETING WAS HELD IN THE LIBRARY OF THE KNICKERBOCKER
(12) Contact Report WUBRINY Haitian Operation
(13) Contact Report WUBRINY – George DeMorenshildt 15 May 1963
(14) Contact Report George DeMorenshidlt 21 May 1963
(15) Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, America’s Invisible Government, and the …By Russ Baker, pg. 106
(16) Warren Commission Hearings, Volume IX Page 249
(17) Contact Report WUBRINY Haitian Operation 26 April 1963
(18) Memorandum for DO/COEO 9 MAY 1963
(19) Contact Report WUBRINY – George DeMorenshildt 15 May 1963
(20) HSCA Report, Volume XII Current Section: V. De Mohrenschildt’s Activities in Haiti
(21) The Dorothe K. Matlack Human Intelligence Training Facility
(22) THE JFK CASE: THE TWELVE WHO BUILT THE OSWALD LEGEND (Part 8: The CIA-Army Intelligence Mambo) By Bill Simpich

You are correct! He was outside just before he went home!

One of the pieces of evidence that is used in debates about the location of Lee Harvey Oswald at the time of the assassination is Captain Will Fritz’s handwritten notes about the interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald.  An argument that has been around since the assassination is that Lee Oswald was on the steps in the famous Altgens-6 photograph.  One thing that is not debatable is that Cpt. Fritz’s notes do not support this argument.
What is important to understand is that there were two FBI Agents in the room at the time of the interrogation.  They filed reports as well as Fritz who filed his own report.  When examining these reports, you can clearly see that Lee Harvey Oswald did not claim to be “out with Bill Shelley in front” at the time of the assassination as some would have you believe.

Captain Fritz’s Interrogation Notes
The order of the questions he asked Lee Harvey Oswald is very important.  It is consistent with the FBI report and Fritz’s reporting of the interrogation.   Fritz’s report reads like this:
“I asked him what part of the building he was in at the time the President was shot, and he said that he was having his lunch about that time on the first floor. Mr. Truly had told me that one of the police officers had stopped this man immediately after the shooting somewhere near the back stairway, so I asked Oswald where he was when the police officer stopped him. He said he was on the second floor drinking a coca cola when the officer came in. I asked him why he left the building, and he said there was so much excitement he didn’t think there would be any more work done that day, and that as this company wasn’t particular about their hours, that they did not punch a clock, and that he thought it would be just as well that he left for the rest of the afternoon.”
In examining this, one can say that Fritz omitted that Oswald said he was out front with Shelley.  Some might even draw the conclusion that this is evidence that Fritz was in on it and ignored Oswald’s claims to have been out front.  This does not hold water.  FBI agent James W. Bookout was also in the room and present during the interrogation of Oswald.  His report reads, interestingly enough, closer to Fritz’s notes than Fritz’s report does.

FBI Agent Bookout’s Report
Fritz’s notes, like Bookout’s report,  reads strikingly similar in the following order; 2nd floor coke when officer came in; to 1st floor had lunch; out front with Bill Shelley; left work.  All in the exact same order as Fritz’s notes.  It is important to note that during this interrogation, Oswald had not made reference to eating lunch with two other employees in the depository which comes into play in another questioning session, quite different from the order he expressed here.
Further substantiating that Oswald did not claim to be outside during the assassination is Bill Shelley’s testimony when questioned by Mr. Ball in during his Warren Commission Testimony.  The questions are strikingly similar to Frtiz’s handwritten notes.  Oswald made claims about seeing weapons in the Book Depository, and Mr. Ball questioned him about it.  In reference to the claim that Oswald was outside at the time of the assassination Shelley is asked the following questions:
Mr. BALL. On November 22, 1963, the day the President was shot, when is the last time you saw Oswald?
Mr. SHELLEY. It was 10 or 15 minutes before 12.
Mr. BALL. Where?
Mr. SHELLEY. On the first floor over near the telephone.
Mr. BALL. Did you ever see him again?
Mr. SHELLEY. At the police station when they brought him in.
Mr. BALL. Did you see him in the building at any time after 12?
Mr. SHELLEY. No.
Mr. BALL. Did you at anytime after the President was shot see Oswald in the building?
Mr. SHELLEY. No, sir.
Mr. BALL. Did you at anytime after the President was shot tell Oswald to go home?
Mr. SHELLEY. No, sir.
Mr. BALL. Did you tell anybody to go home?
Mr. SHELLEY. No.
Mr. BALL. You didn’t tell anybody to leave the building at all?
Mr. SHELLEY. No, sir.
It is very clear, that Mr. Shelley was not with Lee Harvey Oswald on the steps of the School Book Depository Building before, during or after the assassination of President Kennedy.  The line of questioning would be consistent with the story that Oswald was trying to spin to the investigators.  That he went outside after the assassination, met with Will Shelley outside of the building and decided to go home because Shelley had told him there would be no work for the rest of the day.
Usually, when confronted with testimony that refutes that Oswald was on the steps, accusations arise that witnesses were intimidated into saying things at the time of their testimony before the Warren Commission.  Thankfully, we have eyewitness testimony given by Mr. Shelley, and many other witnesses within hours of the assassination through depositions.  Please consider that there are no witnesses in any deposition that place Oswald outside at the time of the shooting.  Not a single one.  But let’s focus on Mr. Shelley and his statements to the police.
     
The police had two statements taken by Mr. Shelley.  The first statement was about his location at the time of the assassination and his actions in that time period.  Based on his Warren Commission testimony he was in the police station when Oswald was brought in.  It appears to me based on the affidavit, that they were questioning Oswald and he had attempted to indicate that Shelley had sent him home.  Since I do not have access to who was present when Shelley gave his  statement, I am making the assumption that the discrepancy between Captain Fritz’s report and FBI Agent Bookout is simply explained by the fact that Fritz determined Shelley had not interacted with Oswald because he had this affidavit.  I have not found any evidence that Bookout was present for Shelley’s interview or affidavit, so his report contains the information that Oswald claimed to have gone outside with Shelley after the assassination.  In neither affidavit does Shelley place Oswald outside with him at any point in time.
It is abundantly clear that in the second affidavit the focus of the investigation had changed.  They had begun investigating Lee Harvey Oswald’s story that started in the first interrogation and the claim that Oswald made about being sent home by Shelley, when he went outside after the assassination. It is clear from his statement that Lee Harvey Oswald was not with him after noon.  It is also clear that he did not send him home.
Sadly, when it comes to researching the Kennedy Assassination, many researchers find a piece of evidence without researching it completely.  This appears to be the case with Cpt. Frtiz’s handwritten notes on the interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald.  When looking at the document, in context, with other primary sources, it does not hold water that Lee Harvey Oswald claimed to have been outside during the assassination.  Too much misinformation is being spread in people’s zeal to promote Oswald’s innocence, and other such theories, without checking the context of the information.  It is making it more challenging than ever to find the truth with so many outlandish incompletely researched claims circulating on the internet.
Matt “The Hitman” Scheufele
Fritz’s Handwritten Notes
Interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald
FBI Agent Bookout’s Report
Testimony of William Shelley
Affadavit in Fact William Shelley #1 http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth337377/?q=Shelley
Affadavit in Fact William Shelley #2


Stairs Witnesses

Depository Employee List
Avery Davis (steps)
JE Dean(steps)
Ruth Dean (steps)
Buell Wesley Frazier
Bill Lovelady (steps)
Judy McCully (steps)
Joe Molina (steps)
Madie Bell Reese (steps)
RA Reid (steps)
William H. Shelley (steps)
HG Whitaker (steps)
Roy Truly
OV Cambell
Arnold Louis Rowland
James Richard Worrell
Charles Hester
Bonnie Ray Williams
Linnie May Randall
Otis Williams
Jack E. Dougherty
Edna Case
James Earl Jarman
Charles Douglas GIvens
Robert E. Edwards
Edna Case
Amos Lee Euins
John Stevens
R. Lawrence
Geneva Hine
Ruth Nelson
Ronald B. Fischer
Vickie Adams
Danny Garcia Acre
Eddie Piper
Pat Lawerence
Virgie Mae Rackley
Edna Case
Mary Hollies

Thornley’s Biographer Speaks Out

Adam Gorightly, Kerry Thornley’s biographer, read my blog, and has weighed in on the debate between myself and author Judyth Vary Baker. Baker has never answered my very direct question about her claims about Warren Commission witnesses and Jim Garrison’s investigation. I will let Adam Gorightly’s work speek for itself! It’s a great read by an absolute expert on Kerry Thornley.
Equal Time For Kerry Thornley, by Adam Gorightly
http://historiadiscordia.com/equal-time-for-kerry-thornley/

Vindication for Eric Rogers

Lee Harvey Oswald handing out Fair Play for Cuba Committee leaflets August 1963
Judyth Baker has made the following claims about Eric Rogers in her book as well as in various Facebook groups.
Judyth Baker claims the following:
  1. The power was already on in his apartment at 4905 Magazine Street , and that Oswald payed for the power to be turned on at 4907 Magazine Street. (FALSE)
  2. She defrosted the freezer at 4905 Magazine Street. (FALSE)
  3. Oswald used 4907 as an address to divert people away from his true address in order to prevent his FPCC activities from putting his family in jeopardy. (FALSE)
  4. Unemployed Eric Rogers was living at 4907  Magazine St. in an apartment paid for by Oswald.(FALSE)
  5. Eric Rogers had agreed to be Oswald’s cover. (FALSE)
  6. Oswald did not use the mailbox assigned to 4905 Magazine St. (True. Ms. Baker demonstrated that there was a mailbox assigned to that apartment in our debate on Facebook).  My research below demonstrates that the postal workers, who were informants to the FBI, knew Oswald was using the wrong mailbox.

Baker’s claims that the utilities were on at 4905 Magazine Street are false

Judyth Baker has this to say in Facebook Evidence Detection, January 20 at 2:09am (1):
“Until I spoke out in 1999, being aware of Lee’s special arrangements with 4907, not a single researcher had ever noticed this (or about the Rogers). 35 years had gone by. That is the difference between a researcher and a witness. I was present when Lee first moved things into 4905, and the utilities were already on.”
This is not what the historical record demonstrates as being true.  The FBI interviewed the Assistant Secretary and Treasurer of New Orleans Public Service INC.  John E. Hevron. He very clearly informed the FBI that on May 9, 1963, services were requested to be turned on at the “lower center apartment at 4907 Magazine St.” (2)  This is a VERY specific statement about what apartment received the services.  There were two front apartments, 4911 and 4907.  4905 was the back apartment that stretched across the center of the house.  If the utilities were turned on at either of the two front apartments or the rear apartment, it would have been noted as such.  4905 had its entrance at the right front of the house, when looking straight at the building.
Mrs. Jessie Garner advised that the building was comprised of three apartments:  4911 was her residence, 4907 was Eric Rogers’ residence, and 4905 was the Oswald’s residence. (3) In addition, there was a second apartment identified by the FBI as “the lower rear apartment” occupied by Mrs. L. N. Rico.  This may very well be the reason why Oswald began using the 4907 address as his mailing address. Since that apartment was unoccupied from May until Mid-July, this helped prevent  the mixing-up of his mail with the lower “rear apartment.”(4)  Clearly from the FBI report it is evident that Mrs. Rico also resided at an apartment labeled 4905 and it would make sense to use 4907’s mailbox since initially it was unoccupied.
Ms. Garner describes the apartments to the Warren Commission as such:
Judyth Baker makes many claims about this apartment.  Her first claim is that she and Lee Oswald visited Mrs. Garner the day before Lee rented the apartment.  She claims that Lee asked Mrs. Garner to place a sign out front so that when Lee went by with his family friend Mrs. Evens the next day, he could guide her to find the apartment and he could rent it.  Mrs. Garner has never been on record about such an event.  Ms. Baker claims that the same apartment had power already on and that Oswald turned on the power to 4907.  This has already been proven to be false as Hevron informed the FBI that, “..the service was turned on on the morning of May 10, 1963…” (5)  The service was clearly not turned on as Ms. Baker claims. Hevron continues, “…no one was home at the time the service man made the installation and the service man had obtained the keys to the apartment from a neighbor.” (6)
A witness who is on the record is family friend Mrs. Evens.  Oswald showed up on her door unannounced on May 9th.  Her testimony indicates that she did not recognize him because she had not seen him in years.  Her testimony was that Lee Harvey Oswald wanted to rent an apartment from her, but that she had none to rent to him.  She then contacted a friend who had apartments, but Oswald did not like the apartment that he had viewed. Unless Oswald had a crystal ball, there was absolutely no way for him to know that neither landlord would have apartments to his liking.  It does not make sense that he would have met Mrs. Garner the day before to set this whole scenario up when he could have jumped off the bus, and rented it on the spot.  But, MORE damaging to Mrs. Baker’s claims that the power was on, was this: Mrs. Evens viewed both apartments, 4907 and 4905 with Lee. She knew that Marina Oswald was coming on May 11 and she advised Oswald to give Mrs. Garner the money to turn on the power. (7) She would NOT have done this if the power were on.  This being the truthful account of Mrs. Evens, it also means that Baker did not defrost any refrigerator since the power was not on in the apartment.
There is no doubt that the utility company had to enter the specific apartment to turn on the utilities.  It was not either of the two front apartments, 4907 and 4909.  It was the lower apartment located at the right side of the residence.  Mrs. Evens would not have had Oswald give Mrs. Garner money for the activation of the utilities if the utilities were already on!  And there is no evidence that Oswald met Mrs. Garner prior to renting the apartment so that he could have Mrs. Evens, a woman he had not seen in years, bring him to Magazine St. to pretend to find the apartment.  The fridge was ALREADY defrosted as there was no power on at the apartment.

Baker claims that Lee Harvey Oswald used 4907 on the Fair Play for Cuba Committee leaflets to protect his family

Lee Harvey Oswald did have 4907 stamped on the leaflets he was handing out in front of the New Orleans Trade Mart on August 9th, 1963. However, this was not the only time that Lee Harvey Oswald handed out his leaflets.
OSWALD AUGUST
Lee Harvey Oswald, New Orleans International Trade Mart, August 1963 (8)
The USS Wasp was berthed at the Dumain St. Warf from June 13, 1963, until June 20th, 1963. (9)  While the ship was there on June 16, Harbor Patrolman Girod Ray was contacted by an enlisted man who complained that there was a person handing out materials on the docks near the ship.  Officer Ray located the individual passing out the leaflets and requested that he leave the docks.  According to the patrolman, the individual argued that he did not need permission to do this as he was exercising his rights as a citizen. (10) Officer Ray informed the individual that he needed to move on, and that he needed specific permission from the Board of Commissioners to distribute the literature.  The man moved on without incident.
 It was not until the assassination, when Oswald’s face was on the television, that Officer Ray recognized that the individual he had interacted with that day on the wharf was Lee Harvey Oswald. (11)
FAIR PLAY
Further primary evidence that Oswald handed out leaflets not connected to 4907 Magazine street are the leaflets found at the harbor by the 112th Military Intelligence Corps Group around the first week in June 1963.  Not only did members of that military unit find leaflets at the port, but they found them earlier, around the first week of June at Tulane University.  This would have been at the the same time Oswald picked them up from the Jones Printing Company.   Upon finding the leaflets at the port, one of the leaflets was sent to Washington D.C. on June 18, 1963.
FLEET
It is well documented that Oswald used the name Alek J. Hidell as an alias upon his return to America from the Soviet Union. Oswald had Marina sign the name Hidell to his FPCC membership card on June 15th, 1963, within days of his distribution of the leaflets at the port.  One question that this raises is the following: If Oswald was truly trying to keep his family protected, why would he use her to sign the card?  Why not use Ferrie, Bannister, Martin, or his close confident with whom he shared his operation with, Judyth Baker to “protect” his family.  His use of his wife would indicate he did not have anyone else working with him.
 POST OFFICE BOX DOC
Ms. Baker alleges that Oswald, with the help of Guy Bannister, paid for Eric Rogers to live at 4907 Magazine St.   Mr. Rogers did not move into 4907 Magazine St. until mid July.  Apparently, Oswald began his leaflet distribution the first week in June, and did not need Rogers.  He did it again without Rogers help in mid-June when the USS Wasp was in town so clearly he did not need Eric Rogers to protect him.

 Initially Oswald Used His P.O. Box to Conceal Where He Lived

Eric Rogers was not necessary.  In his initial leaflet distribution, Oswald used an alias and used an incorrect P.O. BOX.   There is NOTHING about his initial use of the leaflets that was accurate enough to trace ANYTHING back to him, when simply looking at the leaflet. (15)  So it is clear that nothing necessitated Oswald needing Eric Rogers or anyone else to protect his family.  The fact is that the digits are incorrect, and that makes the ability of anyone to trace his leaflet distribution back to him less likely.  Oswald did not have a Post Office Box 30016.  He did have a Post office Box 30061.
Let’s look at the Post office Box number 30061.  Oswald made his first payment for this Post Office Box on June 3, 1963. (16)  This was the day before the leaflets were completed at the Jones Printing company (17). On that same week that the 112th Military Intelligence Group found a leaflet posted at Tulane University with A. J. Hidell printed on the leaflet.  Further examination of the forms related to the P.O. BOX demonstrates that Oswald was being deceptive about where his actual street address making himself untraceable.
POST OFFICE BOX DOC
Oswald moved into 4905 Magazine Street the week of May 9, 1963.  He took out this P.O. Box on June 3, 1963.  He had been at 4905 for almost a month before he took out that P.O. Box.  As you can see from the Post Office Box, there were three people allowed to pick up mail from it: A J Hidell, the name he stamped on the leaflets he distributed in June, Marina Oswald, and Lee Oswald.  What makes this form even more important, however, is that it helps establish that this P.O. Box was not linked at all to 4905 Magazine Street.  Looking at the form more closely, one sees that the local business address that Oswald links the box to is 657 French St., an address that he never resided at.  In his typical pattern of deceptions, Oswald did reside very briefly with his Aunt and Uncle Murrett at 757 French St., but that is not what he places on the form.
Based on the evidence above, Oswald had no need at all for Eric Rogers to reside at 4907 to provide cover.  He distributed leaflets in the month and a half prior to Rogers arrival.  He used an alias, he stamped an incorrect PO BOX on the leaflets, he used an incorrect street address on the PO BOX application, all to his knowledge, enough to keep people away from his address.

OSWALD STAMPED LEAFLETS WITH HIS REAL ADDRESS

What is essential for Baker to maintain her claims is that there must exist no evidence of leaflets with the Address 4905 Magazine St.  Her story is dependent on Oswald “protecting” his family by using 4907 Magazine Street.  Unfortunately for Baker, there was a  leaflet that was found with the correct address, 4905 Magazine.
On November 23, 1963, Special Agent John B. Lee searched the 4905 Magazine St. address with permission from the owner of the building.  Found on the front porch, attached to a piece of cardboard, was the following information on a Fair Play for Cuba leaflet:
“Hands off Cuba!” “Join the Fair Play for Cuba Committee” “Now Orleans Charter Member Branch” “Free Literature, Lectures” “Location: L. H. OSWALD, 4905 Magazine Street, New Orleans, Louisiana” “Everyone welcome! ” (18)
This is NOT the behavior of someone who is trying to hide. For Ms. Baker’s story to hold its water- that Lee had told her all of this information about using 4907 as a front, there would be NO pamphlets bearing his correct address.
In thinking about this pamphlet, that was glued to an “8 x 10” piece of cardboard.  Why would Lee Harvey Oswald have one of his Fair Play for Cuba leaflets glued to a piece of cardboard?  Oswald made this “poster” to display publicly on his front porch for the world to see.  If someone is trying to protect their family from an operation, they do NOT  display a poster on their from porch, with their address prominently displayed.  Lee Harvey Oswald was certainly not trying to protect his family.
As a matter of fact, finding this on the porch makes complete sense when examining Mrs. Gardner’s statements. Mrs. Gardner, the woman who managed the apartments, stated that prior to Oswald’s arrest in August, Oswald placed two posters up on his porch.  The posters read “Hands Off Cuba!” according to her statements to the the FBI on December 5, 1963.  Mrs. Gardner was so unhappy with this display that she had her husband speak with Oswald and made him take the posters down. (19)
It is clear that Oswald had stamped some pamphlets with the proper address, 4905 Magazine Street.  Oswald had put these posters up on the porch of 4905 Magazine Street, identifying himself and where he lived.  He was not hiding anything as Baker claims.

July 1963, PO BOX 30061 is associated with 4905 Magazine Street by the FBI

It took one month for the FBI to link Oswald’s correct mailing address to the P.O. Box.  Oswald’s name was on a secret mail opening program called HT-Lingual.  He had been placed on the watch list for this program in 1959. (20)  His mail was opened, and records were kept.   On June 26, 1963, Oswald send Fair Play for Cuba Committee Membership cards that he had made to Gus Hall of the Communist party. And from there, the connection to his residence was made by the government.
FPCC
On July 8, 1963, his mail was again opened and P.O. Box 30061 was linked to 4907 Magazine St.. Oswald had, for some reason, requested that the Worker Newspaper be sent directly to his house, and this was picked up by a postal employee informant.  The P.O. BOX was now associated with his residence, at least by building.  This coupled with the fact the that the postal employees who delivered the mail  knew he lived at 4905, but received his mail at 4907, made it clear that he was completely identified and associated with 4905 Magazine St. (22)
As of July 1963, Oswald’s address was not a secret to the FBI.  It did not matter if Eric Rogers lived at 4907 Magazine St, because the FBI knew that Oswald resided in that building, had his mail delivered to both the P.O. Box and 4907 Magazine St. They knew this all prior to Eric Rogers’ arrival in mid-July.

Baker is wrong when she says Oswald was paying rent on 4907 for Eric Rogers

Judyth Baker states the following:
And Rogers on the 27th of November told the FBI that he saw Lee Oswald every day. However, by now, Lee is known as a “Lone Nut” and Rogers is now afraid to say he talked to him every day. Lee was paying his rent, but that was successfully covered up by the Warren Commission, which showed lee made rent payment every month for $65 a month to 4907 Magazine. (23)
Unfortunately for Ms. Baker, the owner of 4907-4911, Mrs. Gregory has a different story.  She was interviewed by the FBI within days of the assassination, and she comes forward with the following information.

Mrs. Blaine Gregory, owner of 4905-49-11 Magazine St., New Orleans. (24)
This is the owner of the property.  She very clearly identifies the property at which Oswald resided.  She very clearly identifies the exact dates that he paid rent on the property.  Ms. Gregory points out that Oswald skipped out on her rent for the half a month that he lived at 4905 Magazine St. The manager, Mrs. Gardner of the property corroborates this as well.  Ms. Garner lived at 4911 Magazine street.  Mrs. Garner stated to the FBI in one of her many interviews that she rented 4905 to Oswald on May 9, 1963. (25)
There is no controversy about what apartment Oswald rented.  It was very clear within hours of the investigation. He certainly was NOT paying rent for Eric Rogers on 4907 Magazine Street as Ms. Baker alleges without any documented proof.

Ms. Baker Implies that Rogers or Garner forwarded the mail to the Oswalds in Texas

Ms. Baker makes the following statement:
This one was forwarded to Marina from Texas. Who forwarded it? Mrs. Garner, or the residents at 4907, Mr. and Mrs. Eric Rogers? Or was it the Post Office? Probably not the Post Office, at first: the elderly-looking, rather sloppy “new address” at the top was in the wrong place and it has been rewritten further down in a clearer and different hand. Either Mr/Mrs. Garner or Mr./Mrs. Rogers wrote the handwriting at the top of the envelope to forward this “Communist” letter to the correct address.This is very cooperative behavior, considering that Mrs. Garner complained that Lee had left town owing rent, and Eric Rogers said he ‘never’ spoke at any time to Lee Harvey Oswald.(26)
In making her case that Eric Rogers was living rent and utility free, Ms. Baker wants the readers to believe that it could not be the post office, the most likely  place that mail would be forwarded from.  The reality is that the Post Office was 100% aware of Lee Harvey Oswald, his residence, and where his mail was going.
The FBI utilized postal employees as confidential informants.  Two of these postal workers who delivered mail to the residence had this to say.
Confidential Informant NO T-3 advised on November 29, 1963, that he knows the address 4905 Magazine Street, New Orleans, very well since it is the third stop on his route. He observed a photograph of LEE HARVEY OSWALD and stated that he does not recall seeing him. He further stated that be does not recall ever seeing OSWALDS wife. He said that the mail received by the OSWALDS consisted of newspapers wrapped in brown paper, origin unknown to him, some third class printed material and a very few first-class letters, some of which he recalls came from foreign countries, the identity of which he could not recall. (27)
That postal worker was very accurate about the type of mail that the Oswalds were receiving.
The second informant provided a little more information about the Oswalds, and their mailing address.  That informant states:
Confidential Informant NO T-4 advised on November 29; 1963, that he worked on a route which includes the address 4905 Magazine Street, each Monday. He recalled that a majority of the mail received by LEE HARVEY OSWALD consisted of newspapers wrapped in such a fashion that the name of the paper was not discernible. NO T-4 advised that whereas the mail addressed to OSWALD was always addressed to 4907 Magazine Street, OSWALD actually lived in an apartment which bore the number 4905. He recalled that some of these newspapers were postmarked some place in Texas and occasionally there would be some postage due. (28)
NO T-4 said he observed a photograph of LEE HARVEY OSWALD and recognized him as the occupant of one of the apartments at 4905 Magazine Street. He said that he saw him on about three occasions and never had any conversation with him.  It is entirely plausible that the post office forwarded the mail based in this information.

 Baker claims that Eric Rogers could not afford to pay rent, so Lee had entered into a relationship to give him cover

Baker says this:
And Roger son the 27th of November told the FBI that he saw Lee Oswald every day. However, by now, Lee is known as a “Lone Nut” and Rogers is now afraid to say he talked to him every day. Lee was paying his rent, but that was successfully covered up by the Warren Commission, which showed lee made rent payment every month for $65 a month to 4907 Magazine (29)
Eric Rogers was unemployed.  This was not for any other reason that he was collecting a pension. He was NOT a deadbeat. He had money, and he had no reason for Lee Harvey Oswald to be paying his rent.   He was unemployed at the time because he could only make so much money during the course of the year or his income would be in jeopardy. (30)  There is no evidence that Eric Rogers was anything less than an honest man.  Ms. Baker provides no proof that Oswald paid for both apartments and the utilities a claim for which she has shown no primary source documentation in her book or on Facebook.

Conclusions

This article provides a great deal of primary source documentation about the events around Lee Harvey Oswald and his Magazine St. Address. There is no primary evidence to support Ms. Baker’s claims.  Presented here is a plethora of evidence that contradicts her assertions in her book and in her Facebook postings about Eric Rogers.  Much like her claims about Kerry Thorney when faced with primary evidence her story does not hold up.  My research into Kerry Thornley prompted his biographer to write an article supporting my research.  Unfortunately, Eric Rogers will have no biographer to defend him.  He was not involved in Oswald’s activities and no serious research into this could possibly support any claim to the contrary.  Eric Rogers deserves better, just as much as Kerry Thornley.
Matt Scheufele
If you are interested in my research on Kerry Thornley and his biographer, Adam Gorightly’s response please click here:
Equal Time for Kerry Thornley, by Adam Gorightly
Sources
(1) Judyth Vary Baker, January 20, 2015 at 2:09am, Facebook Group JFK Evidence Detection
(2) John E. Hevron, FBI Report, November 25, 1963
(3) Statement Jessie Garner to the FBI, December 6, 1963 , Harold Weisberg Collection
(4) FBI Interview of Mrs. L. N. Rico, 11/27/63, Harold Weisberg Collection
(5) John E. Hevron, FBI Report, November 25, 1963
(6) IBID
(7) Warren Commission Hearings, Volume VIII Current Section: Mrs. Myrtle Evans
(8) Warren Commission Hearings, Volume XX Current Section: Garner Exhibit Number 1
(9) Warren Commission Hearings, Volume XXII Current Section: CE 1412 – Letter from FBI to Commission dated August 4, 1964, with attached memoranda dated July 16, 1964, and July 22, …
(10) IBID
(11) IBID
(12)   Tab Title P.O. Box 30061 Notebook Title New Orleans, April 24, 1963-Sept. 24, 1963 Collection Title Poage Library – JFK – John Armstrong Collection Custodian Baylor University – Poage Legislative Library ID 15poage-arm-15-03b_9_P.O. Box 30061 Resource Type Notebook Box No. 15 Notebook No. 03 Tab No. 09 Rights http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights
(13)  Tab Title Picketing the Fleet Notebook Title New Orleans, April 24, 1963-Sept. 24, 1963 Collection Title Poage Library – JFK – John Armstrong Collection Custodian Baylor University – Poage Legislative Library ID 15poage-arm-15-03b_11_Picketing the Fleet Resource Type Notebook Box No. 15 Notebook No. 03 Tab No. 11 Rights http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights
(14)  Tab Title P.O. Box 30061 Notebook Title New Orleans, April 24, 1963-Sept. 24, 1963 Collection Title Poage Library – JFK – John Armstrong Collection Custodian Baylor University – Poage Legislative Library ID 15poage-arm-15-03b_9_P.O. Box 30061 Resource Type Notebook Box No. 15 Notebook No. 03 Tab No. 09 Rights http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights
(15)  Tab Title P.O. Box 30061 Notebook Title New Orleans, April 24, 1963-Sept. 24, 1963 Collection Title Poage Library – JFK – John Armstrong Collection Custodian Baylor University – Poage Legislative Library ID 15poage-arm-15-03b_9_P.O. Box 30061 Resource Type Notebook Box No. 15 Notebook No. 03 Tab No. 09 Rights http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights
(16)  Tab Title P.O. Box 30061 Notebook Title New Orleans, April 24, 1963-Sept. 24, 1963 Collection Title Poage Library – JFK – John Armstrong Collection Custodian Baylor University – Poage Legislative Library ID 15poage-arm-15-03b_9_P.O. Box 30061 Resource Type Notebook Box No. 15 Notebook No. 03 Tab No. 09 Rights http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights
(17) Commission Document 693 – FBI Letter from Director of 30 Mar 1964 w/ Attached Horton Report, Mary Ferrell Foundation
(18) Report of Special Agent John B. Lee, JR, 11/23/1963, FILE# NO 89-69, JFK Hood EDU
(19) Record Group 272:Records of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1954 – 1965 Series:Records Relating to Key Persons, 11/30/1963 – 09/24/1964 File Unit:Garner, Jesse James, Mrs.,  National Archives
(20) NARA Record Number: 180-10142-10413, National Archives
(21)  Tab Title Reily Coffee Notebook Title New Orleans, April 24, 1963-Sept. 24, 1963 Collection Title Poage Library – JFK – John Armstrong Collection Custodian Baylor University – Poage Legislative Library ID 15poage-arm-15-03a_5_Reily Coffee Resource Type Notebook Box No. 15 Notebook No. 03 Tab No. 05 Rights http://www.baylor.edu/lib/digitization/digitalrights
(22) Warren Commission Hearings Volume XVII Current Section: CE 826 – Copy of an FBI report by Special Agent Kaack, dated October 31, 1963.
(23) Judyth Baker, January 20, 2015, 1:58 AM, Facebook Group JFK Evidence Detection
(24) Record Group 272:Records of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1954 – 1965 Series:Records Relating to Key Persons, 11/30/1963 – 09/24/1964 File Unit:Oswald, Lee Harvey – Post Russian Period – 6 Finances Nov 1963, National Archives
(25) Record Group 272:Records of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, 1954 – 1965 Series:Records Relating to Key Persons, 11/30/1963 – 09/24/1964 File Unit:Garner, Jesse James, Mrs., National Archives
(26) Judyth Baker, January 20, 2015,  1:58 AM, Facebook Group JFK Evidence Detection
(27)  FBI 105-82555 Oswald HQ File, Section 10, Mary Ferrell Foundation
(28) Commission Document 75 – FBI DeBrueys Report of 02 Dec 1963 re: Oswald/Russia Current Section: B. Residences, Mary Ferrell Foundation
(29) Judyth Baker,  January 20, 1:58 AM, JFK Evidence Detection,
(30) Warren Commission Hearings, Volume XI Current Section: Eric Rogers, Mary Ferrell Foundation

Primary Sources Continue to Vindicate Thornley

Citations
Well, the “Vindication for Kerry Thornley” post was my most read blog ever! Yet the response to my not-so-simple question remains unanswered:  If Kerry Thornley was in California and Mexico from May 2, 1963 until September 4, 1963, how can he have possibly been seen by Judyth Vary Baker on May 8 and May 28, as well as picking up FPCC leaflets from the Jones Printing Company  on June 4, 1963 as she alleges?  Famed researcher Mary Ferrell, Districy Attorney Jim Garrison, and HSCA investigator Gaeton Fonzi all concluded that he was in California during this time frame.  It was my hope that there would be some primary evidence to disprove what I have learned in my research.

FIRST BAKER’S ENCOUNTER WITH THORNLEY: MAY 8, 1963.

Ms Baker claims she first met Thornley on May 8, 1963 in New Orleans. (1) Baker indicates in her book that Oswald was surprised to see Thornley there.  Nowhere in Ms. Baker’s account does Thornley mention the book he had written about Oswald. This is strange considering Thornley had modeled the character in his book “Idle Warriors”  after Oswald whom he had not seen since serving with him in 1959.  The encounter includes Oswald taking out his minox spy camera, teaching Thornley to use it, and having him take a picture of the couple.  Lee gets Thornley’s address and moves on. (2)

SECOND BAKER’S ENCOUNTER WITH THORNLEY: MAY 28, 1963. THORNLEY AND MARINA HAD AN AFFAIR?

On May 28, 1963, Baker and Oswald witness Thornley going up the steps of the porch to his apartment at 4905 Magazine St. Lee becomes enraged because he suspects Thornley of having an affair with Marina. (3)  There is no explaining how in twenty days, Thornley goes from not knowing Lee was back from the Soviet Union, to having an affair with an already pregnant Marina who had a small child at home.
Upon reading the endnotes for these claims in Baker’s book, Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald, we come across the following statement:
We believed Marina and Kerry Thornley were having an affair, though Thornley always denied it. (4)
Ms. Baker now says that she never claimed that Thornley and Marina were having an affair!  This is a complete contradiction to what she stated in the endnotes of her book.   Her response below is true, that in the body of the book where she writes about the encounter she does not state that. However, her own endnotes very clearly state it.

JFK Evidence Detection, January 21, 2015: 1:28 AM EST. (5)
Upon reading this, it becomes obvious that her response to my blog Ms. Baker honed in on my statements about the affair. She claims in this response that she did “NOT” claim that Thornley had an affair with Marina.  This is absolutely false as I demonstrated above!  Her book’s footnote clearly states “We believed Marina and Kerry Thornley were having an affair, though Thornley always denied it.”  There is no explanation for her response to my blog, other than a response on January 23, 2015 that states, “Lee and I believed Thornley was messing with Marina, though he denied it.” (6) Remarkably, Ms. Baker in the span of 48 hours, went from stating she did not make the claim, to changing her story to they were messing around.

GARRISON ADMITS THAT THORNLEY WAS NOT IN NEW ORLEANS  DESPITE OF HAROLD WEISBERG’S EFFORTS

Ms. Baker is correct, my article does not give credibility to Harold Weisberg.  As addressed in “Vindication for Kerry Thornley“, Weisberg wanted to prove Thornley was involved to the point that he had doctored photographs of Thornley produced to make him look like Oswald.  Jim Garrison, who had used Weisberg to investigate did not find Weisberg credible because he did not prosecute Thornley for perjury for any reason other than Thornley met with Oswald in September, not in May or June as Ms. Baker would have her readers believe.
Weisberg had this to say in 1994 about his chase to prove Thornley was in New Orleans, “In my New Orleans investigations, I got a very, very good reason for looking into Kerry Thornley.  He exaggerated his associations with Oswald.” (7)  So in 1994, it appears that even Weisberg admits Thornley spun stories.  The spreading of these stories by Thornley served a purpose, to stir interest in his book about Oswald.  Unfortunately for Thornley, this led him to perjury charges.

THORNLEY DID NOT PICK UP THE FAIR PLAY FOR CUBA COMMITTEE PAMPHLETS AT JONES PUBLISHING COMPANY AS BAKER CLAIMS

It is absolutely true that Douglas Jones (8) and Myra Silvers (9) employees of the Jones Publishing Company, never identified Oswald as the person who picked up the Fair Play for Cuba Committee pamphlets.  Myra Silver first saw the man who called himself “Osborne” on May 29 when he placed the order.  She saw him again on May 31 when he paid for the order.  Ms. Silver saw “Osborne” once more on June 4 when he picked up the order.
Ms. Baker was asked a very poignant question in her response to the “Vindication for Kerry Thornley” blog.  “Did Lee Harvey Oswald order the pamphlets or did Kerry Thornley?”

Judyth Baker, Facebook, JFK Evidence Detection, January 23, 2015 3:49 AM (10)
This cannot be since Myra Silver has been absolutely clear in all of her statements.  A man calling himself Osborne, ordered, paid for, and picked up the pamphlets.  The man who ordered the pamphlets is the same who picked them up.
When Garrison was following up on the Jones Printing Company leads in 1967, he sent investigator Frank Meloche, Meloche who reports the same story that Silver stated to the FBI on December 4, 1963.  It was the same man all along, but his report contains a new detail that was not in the FBI report.  Baker’s claim that it was Thornley completely falls apart because Silver told Meloche that the person named Osborne, worked at the Riley Coffee Company. (11)  Kerry Thornley did not work at the Riley Coffee Company, but Lee Harvey Oswald certainly DID!

APPEARANCES OF OSWALD IN THREE OTHER PRINTING COMPANIES

What the casual reader of Ms. Baker’s book may not know is that there were other printing companies that Oswald/Osborne used.  John I. Anderson of the Mailer’s Service Company identified Oswald as the person who came in and placed an order to print an application form for the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.  Anderson identified Oswald as the person who placed the order and picked it up.  Anderson stated that Oswald used the name “OSBORNE”.  This was at the same time the name was used at the Jones Printing Company.  “Osborne” ordered on June 3, 1963, and picked up the order of applications on June 5th. He returned and placed another order later in the summer. (12) Mr. Joseph Johnson, employee of the James W. Trout Printing, reported that Oswald had attempted to order 300 pamphlets from his company.  The man had not given a name, but he was able to identify Oswald from his photographs in the paper. (13)
So we have three printing companies, at one where Silver identifies the man as working at the Riley Coffee Company using the name Osborne. At the second one, Anderson identifies the man as Oswald and using the name Osborne.  Finally at the third one, Johnson identifies the man as being Oswald. Three printing shops, all with similar stories.  Baker is wrong, Thornley was not there based on any of these witness statements. Looking at the statements of these witnesses there is more than enough evidence that it was Oswald.

CLAIMS WITHOUT CITATIONS: NEIGHBORS SAW THORNLEY AND MARINA TOGETHER ACCORDING TO THE WARREN COMMISSION AND THE GARRISON INVESTIGATION

In our discussion, it was requested of Ms. Baker to please provide a link to the neighbors’ testimonies that support the endnote below.  To date, Baker has not provided any references to her citations of having witnesses to Thornley being seen around town with Oswald.  Her final sentence that the Garrison investigation confirmed the same point is inaccurate as well. Garrison came to the conclusion that Thornley left town at the end of April 1963(14),and had contact with Oswald only in September 1963 when he returned.(15)
In our dialogue, I asked Ms. Baker for her sources to the following statement in her book:
We believed that Marina and Kerry Thornley were having an affair, though Thornley always denied it.  His denials were so eloquent that Lee gave him a second chance and arranged for Thornley to pick up the pro-Castro flyers Lee had printed.  All was well for another week, until the manager said she saw Thornley with Marina.  Lee then told Thornley to leave town, or make an appointment with a plastic surgeon.  Neighbors testified to the Warren Commission that Thornley was there so often they were unsure as to which one (Lee or Thornley) was really Marina’s husband.  Jim Garrison’s investigation confirmed the same point(16)
As of today, Ms. Baker has not produced any evidence that the manager saw anyone with Marina Oswald.  There has been no evidence linked to the Warren Commission investigation indicating that any neighbor saw Thornley enter the Oswald residence.  In addition, Jim Garrison never came to the conclusion that Ms. Baker states above.  Quite the contrary, he investigated leads, and found that the only credible lead was in September of 1963.
What Ms. Baker does in her response is to quote Joan Mellen’s book, A Farewell to Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK’s Assassination, and the Case That Should Have Changed History,  pages 275-276,  to make her case.  This is a red flag, since Ms. Baker makes her own claims in her own book and instead of providing primary sources she uses another author’s work to respond to my questions.

Judyth Baker, Facebook, JFK Evidence Detection, January 22, 2015; 10:21 PM.(17)
Above, Ms Baker is totally wrong by stating that there is a memo reporting that Mr. Schwegman had seen Thornley at Oswald’s residence. The Schwegmann Memorandum, which is stored on microfilm at the New Orleans Public Library, does not say this. That’s the danger of using another author’s work  to make your case without looking at the source.  This memo is a letter from John Schwegmann Jr., owner of the Win-Dixie grocery store.  His wrote Jim Garrison to inform him that one of his employees, Myrtle LaSavia, claimed to have seen Thornley with Mrs. Oswald at the Oswald residence. (18) It was NOT a statement by Mr. Schwegman claiming to have seen anything or anyone at the Oswald’s residence, as Ms. Baker would have us believe.  It was just him reporting what LaSavia had told him.
The next piece of Mellen’s research that Baker uses to support her claims is Mr. Sciambra’s memorandum to Mr. Garrison regarding his interviews with Mr. Tony LaSavia and Myrtle LaSavia.  Those two memos are not available online.  I have placed a FOIA request from the National Archives, and I will update my blog when they arrive.  At this time, I suspect that these two documents give nothing more than neighborhood gossip on the part of the LaSavias, as Garrison did not use them as potential witnesses against Thornley.
Garrison’s own investigators did not list the LaSavia’s as living anywhere near the Oswald’s residence.  They listed the residents and the visitors to 4905 Magazine Street, but were unable to prove that, contrarily to Ms. Baker’s book, Thornley was seen at the Oswald’s house or with Marina Oswald. (19) (20) (21) In looking through these documents from March 4, 1968, it does not appear that Garrison found what the LaSavia’s reported to be credible, since they are not on the March 4 list as important by his investigator.

DORIS DOWELL TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT

Baker makes the following statement directed at me implying that witnesses are being rejected by me.

Judy Baker, Facebook, JFK Evidence Detection, January 25, 2015; 7:38 AM EST (22)
Ms. Baker once again is quoting a document that she has taken out of context.  Doris Dowell was Kerry Thorley’s boss when he moved to Arlington, VA in December of 1963.  Thornley did not know Mrs. Dowell prior to December 1963. Ms. Baker is misrepresenting the memorandum that was written by Scambria.  The memo, when properly quoted, states the following:
MRS. DOWELL said that about one month before THORNLEY left for California he told her that he had been in the Marine Corps with LEE HARVEY OSWALD, and also that they were buddies in New Orleans. He said that he had met OSWALD again in New Orleans, and that they had met at a place in the French Quarter that she would probably not like. She later on said that THORNLEY told her about a place in the French Quarter that he used to constantly go to named the Bourbon House and he described the Bourbon House as a place that she would not like because of the type of people who went there. When she told THORNLEY that she would not brag about knowing LEE HARVEY OSWALD, THORNLEY became very angry and told her that LEE HARVEY OSWALD was misunderstood by everyone, and that nobody really knew him. She said that he insisted that LEE HARVEY OSWALD was not a Communist. (23)
Thornley left Virginia to go to California, which gives the reader the time frame that he made the statement to Ms. Dowell. The memo, when read in its proper context, makes total sense. It does not imply that he was making a statement about knowing Oswald in May of 1963, as Ms. Baker would like us to believe.  So in answer to Ms. Baker’s question, I do value Mrs. Dowell as a witness when she is not taken out of context.  Garrison read the memo correctly as well, as he realized that her complete statement supported his other witness statements about the Bourbon House and an alleged September meeting. (24)
Ms. Baker’s book was published in 2010, and it is amazing to me that despite my repeated requests for primary source documentation to her claims in her book, she turns to Mellen.  Mellen’s book was not published until 2014, and at no time does the author use Judyth Vary Baker as a witness to Thornley being in New Orleans with Oswald in her book. (25)
To date, there is still no documentation by Ms. Baker to substantiate her claims that in the Warren Commission Report the neighbors stated that they saw Thornley at the Oswald’s apartment.  She has provided no evidence that Garrison supported this, when indeed it has been proven that he did not find any credible evidence other than September 1963.  We are left wondering why it is so difficult for Ms. Baker to actually produce the evidence to support her endnote…
Matt “The Hitman” Scheufele
(1) Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald, Trine Day, 2010
(2) IBID
(3) IBID
(4) IBID
(5) Judyth Baker, Facebook, JFK Evidence Detection, January 21, 2015: 1:28 AM EST.
(6) Judyth Baker, Facebook, JFK Evidence Detection, January 23, 2015: 3:49 AM EST.
(7) Harold Weisberg letter to David Saulsbury, August 31, 1994,The Harold  Wesiberg Collection
(8) FBI Report, Douglas Jones, December 3, 1963
(9) FBI Report, Myra Silver, December 4, 1963
(10) Judyth Baker, Facebook, JFK Evidence Detection, January 23, 2015 3:49 AM
(11) Memorandum Frank Roche to Jim Garrison, January 17, 1967 Collection JFKCO:John F. Kennedy Assassination    Records Collection, 12/28/1992 – 09/30/1998 Series:Papers of Jim Garrison, 1965 – 1992 File Unit:Oswald-Lakefront
(12)Warren Commission Hearings, Volume XXII Current Section: CE 1411 – FBI report dated December 3, 1963, of interview of John I. Anderson at New Orleans, La.
(13) Warren Commission Hearings, Volume XXV Current Section: CE 2546 – FBI report dated November 25, 1963, of interview of Charles Hall Steele, Jr., at New Orleans, La. (CD 75, p. 267).
(14) Garrison Manuscript 1984, Source: Collection JFKCO:John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, 12/28/1992 – 09/30/1998 Series:Papers of Jim Garrison, 1965 – 1992 File Unit:[Garrison-Miscellaneous Reports and Memoranda re: Assassination Investigation]
(15) Press Release New Orleans District Attorney, Perjury Thornley, The Harold Weisberg Collection
(16) Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald, Trine Day, 2010
(17) Judyth Baker, Facebook, JFK Evidence Detection, January 22, 2015; 10:21 PM.
(18) Caught in the Crossfire: Kerry Thornley, Oswald and the Garrison Investigation, Kindle Edition, Adam Gorightly, Feral House 2014, 1530 of 4180
(19) Collection JFKCO: John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, 12/28/1992-09/30/1998 Series: Papers of Jim Garrison, 1965-1992 File Unit: Misfiled-original location unknown by researcher
(20) Collection JFKCO: John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, 12/28/1992-09/30/1998 Series: Papers of Jim Garrison, 1965-1992 File Unit: Misfiled-original location unknown by researcher
(21) Collection JFKCO: John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, 12/28/1992-09/30/1998 Series: Papers of Jim Garrison, 1965-1992 File Unit: Misfiled-original location unknown by researcher
(22) Judy Baker, Facebook, JFK Evidence Detection, January 25, 2015; 7:38 AM EST
(23) Memorandum, Scambria to Garrison, April 2, 1968, The Wesiberg Collection
(24) Memorandum, Scambria to Garrison, April 2, 1968, The Wesiberg Collection
(25) A Farewell to Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK’s Assassination, and the Case That Should Have Changed History,  Skyhorse Publishing; 1 edition (September 1, 2013)

Vindication for Kerry Thornley

 kerry_thornley
The Kennedy assassination and the documents related to it have so many stories. Some real, some fake. It is sometimes hard to see the forest through the trees.  This story is about someone who befriended Lee Harvey Oswald who claims to have ridden around in Carlos “The Godfather of New Orleans” Marcello’s Automobile, to have met Guy Bannister, and to have partied with David Ferrie.(1) In 1962 and 1963, New Orleans was an interesting place filled with all of the hatred and vitriol that the cold war could muster.  There were Cubans who hated Castro, Americans who were pro-Castro, secret operations and infiltrators.  And the 60’s. in all of its psychedelic drug induced free love, gave birth to one of the most interesting people involved in the whole Kennedy assassination. This person is Kerry Thornley.
If Thornley had lived in the age of Facebook he would have told some crazy stories about Oswald his marine buddy.  He would have told stories about being mobster Johnny Roselli’s doorman, and Roselli telling him that the CIA killed Kennedy.(2) He would have shared Discordianism, the religion that he created with his boyhood friend, Greg Hill. There would be a group dedicated to “the worship of the goddess Eris”  and his title Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst.(3) Perhaps Thornley said it best, “If organized religion is the opiate of the masses, disorganized religion is the marijuana of the lunatic fringe.”(4)
In reading through his affidavit signed on February 16, 1976 one does get the sense Thornley was without a doubt one interesting person.   There are many revealing things, sometimes, too much information for polite company in this affidavit. What makes Thornley one of the most unique stories in the whole realm of the aftermath of the assassination of President Kennedy is that he wrote two books about Oswald.  One book was written BEFORE the assassination, and the other one after.  Thornley served in the Marines with Oswald in 1959.  He was so intrigued by Lee and his defection to the Soviet Union, that when he was discharged and living in New Orleans, the place of Oswald’s birth, he decided base a fictional character on Oswald in his book titled “Idle Warriors”.  Unfortunately for Thornley, his book was never picked up by a publisher prior to the assassination (5)
I therefore decided to write a novel about a young marine who becomes disillusioned with the United States as a result of his overseas tour of duty in the Marine Corps and in the end defects to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.  The title that I chose for this first novel attempt was The Idle Warriors.(6)
The question is, what did Thornley do after the assassination?  It appears that he himself began to tell people about his novel.  He admitted around New Orleans bars, like the Bourbon House, that he knew Oswald.  When friends would introduce him to other patrons he would say, “Yeah, I masterminded the assassination.”(7)  After researching Thornley, it is clear that he was not taking these types of statements seriously and it was this sense of humor and enjoyment of being a mischief maker, that eventually got him noticed by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison who was made famous by Oliver Stone’s movie JFK.
Jim Garrison called Thornley to testify before the Orleans Parish Grand Jury on February 8, 1968. Thornley was asked if he had contact with Lee Harvey Oswald while he was in New Orleans. (8)  Thornley was one of the Marines who testified about  Oswald to the Warren Commission in 1964.  In both instances, 1964(9) and in 1968,(10) his testimony is 100% consistent.  He did not speak to or see Oswald after he left the Marines in 1959.
District Attorney Garrison charged Thornley with perjury.  He believed that he had enough witnesses to clearly place Kerry Thornley with Oswald in the summer of 1963.  His star witnesses were two patrons of the Bourbon House, Barbara Reed (11) and Peter Deangeano (12). Both claimed that sometime in late August/September Oswald was with Thornley at the Bourbon House.  What is important to note is that Jim Garrison charged Thornley with perjury specific to the month of September 1963 at a time when some recent authors claimed he was with Oswald in May and June of 1963. (13)
The founder of the religion Discordianism, the god of chaos, found himself in trouble. Jim Garrison charged him with perjury, but what ensued was a witch hunt of epic proportion.  Jim Garrison questioned Thornley about a great many things when he was under oath.  His investigation of Thornley was conducted with suspicious methodology.   Thornley’s photograph was altered.  The image was flipped and and an artist was asked to draw on the photograph to make Thornley look like Oswald.  It was not until Thornley’s attorney stepped in that the photographs were disavowed by James Alcock, a member of Garrison’s staff.
Thornley EditedFullSizeRender (1)
What is extremely important to this story is that Thornley was not in New Orleans for the bulk of the time that Oswald was in New Orleans.  Kerry Thornley was travelling.  Thornley was consistent in his Warren Commission testimony in 1964, in his Orleans Parish testimony in 1968, and in his 1976 affidavit that he was travelling to California, leaving in early May, and arriving in California on May 5, 1963.  He stayed in California until arriving back in New Orleans on September 4, 1963.   In 1977 the House Select Committee on Assassinations once again followed up on Thornley.  Famed assassination researcher Gaeton Fonzi investigated Thornley.  His investigation in to Thornley concluded that he was not in New Orleans until September.  His investigation concluded that Thornley’s story had been “corroborated” and was true that he did not have contact with Oswald during the time period that Oswald was in New Orleans.    He concluded that there was little time for the two of them to have been in contact with each other.(15)  Therefore we have three separate investigations, all placing Thornley outside of New Orleans from early May 1963 until early September 1963.
In 2010, Kerry Thornley was once again accused, this time by author Judyth Vary Baker in her book Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald.  Much like Kerry Thornley, Ms. Baker meets a virtual pantheon of people from assassination lore, in some cases the same people Kerry Thornley bumped into, including a ride in Marcello’s car.  Ms. Baker, new to New Orleans, meets nine people associated with the assassination of President Kennedy in eleven days after meeting Oswald, including, much like Thornley, Godfather, Carlos Marcello’s car and later in her story Clay Shaw.(16)
Kerry Thornley has been wronged by Ms. Baker.  He was not in New Orleans when she claims she and Oswald encountered him on May 8. He was not in New Orleans on May 28, when she alleges that Thornley was going into Lee’s apartment without knocking, implying that he was having an affair with Marina.  And finally, Thornley was NOT in New Orleans on June 4, 1963 to have picked up materials for Oswald.  Both Jim Garrison and Gaeton Fonzi both concluded that Thornley was in California visiting his relatives at that time.  I am hopeful that Ms. Baker can explain how Kerry Thornley could have possibly be in two places at once.
Vindication for Kerry Thornley
Matt “The Hitman” Scheufele
January 16, 2015
(1) Collection JFKCO: John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, 12/28/1992 – 09/30/1998 Series: Papers of Jim Garrison, 1965 – 1992 File Unit: Thornley, Kerry
(2) IBID
(3) Kerry Thornley Bio, kerrythornley.com
(4) Kerry Thornley Quotes, http://www.rugusavay.com/kerry-thornley-quotes/
(5) Collection JFKCO: John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, 12/28/1992 – 09/30/1998 Series: Papers of Jim Garrison, 1965 – 1992 File Unit: Thornley, Kerry
(6) IBID
(7) IBID
(8) Orleans Parish Grand Jury Testimony of Kerry Thornley, 8 Feb 1968
(9)Testimony of Kerry Thornley: May 18, 1964
(10) Orleans Parish Grand Jury Testimony of Kerry Thornley, 8 Feb 1968
(11) Affidavit Barbara Reid, HSCA Record #: 180-10088-10486 AGENCY FILE #: 007271
(12) Affidavit Peter Deageano, HSCA Record #: 180-10088-10485 AGENCY FILE #: 007271
(13) “Third Indictment for Garrison”,  March 8, 1968, Los Angelos Free Press
(14) National Archives Identifier: 647054 Creator(s): Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office (Most Recent) From: Series : Investigative Files, compiled ca. 1967 – ca. 1969, documenting the period ca. 1963 – ca. 1969 Collection JFKCO: John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, 12/28/1992 – 09/30/1998
(15) HSCA Report, Volume X Current Section: XIII. 544 Camp Street and Related Events
(16)  Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald, Judyth Vary Baker, Trine Day 2010

A Swan, A Scituate, Massachusetts Radio Station and a Dripping Cuban

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My favorite investigation so far!
Love him or hate him, David Atlee Phillips was good at what he did.  Like many in the CIA, David Phillip’s career began after WWII.  He was a gunner in the Army Air Corps, and his plane was shot down leading to his capture(1).  For one year after his capture, Phillips served as the escape committee’s director, helping soldiers escape German captivity, until he eventually escaped himself and reported to General Omar Bradley (2).
Phillips’ career was by all standards a successful one.  He was involved in almost every major event in the Latin American region, rising to the level of Head of the Western Hemisphere.  The biographic profile of Phillips below, demonstrates his desire to be an actor early on in his life.  This career path was derailed by WWII, but those acting skills, the creative mind that wanted to be a part of theater, made…
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