Mistressess and KGB penetrations

Mary Pinchot (14 October 1920-12 October 1964) was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, United States.

After graduating from Vassar College, she married Cord Meyer, who became a top CIA official. A friend and classmate from Vassar, Cicely d’Autremont, married James Angleton, also of the CIA. Mary’s sister Antoinette (Tony) married Ben Bradlee of The Washington Post in 1955.

Mrs. Meyer was rumored to be a favorite mistress of President John F. Kennedy, was semi-publicly named as such by Philip Graham in early 1963,

On October 12, 1964, Mary Pinchot Meyer was murdered on the C&O Canal towpath in Georgetown, age 43. Her friend Anne Truitt was in Tokyo but learned of the murder that night. Truitt immediately contacted James Angleton and told him Mary had a diary and where it was — following Mary’s instructions should anything happen to her.

E. Howard Hunt claimed, in his “death row” confession, that Mary’s ex-husband  Cord Meyer (an employee of the CIA) could be involved in the Kennedy assassination as part of a jealous husband routine. I find it highly unlikely as the Meyer’s was divorced in 1956,  which makes the revenge angle a bit fluky to me.

A question that does remain, is who killed Mary and why? Did she possess knowledge about Kennedy that made her dangerous? Was there a link to the KGB?

Creating a Legend

A fundamental issue with “Oswald the assassin” is who was he really. He has been purported as a loner, a communist, a man who felt that he had not received the greatness he deserves. But what are the facts and how did the WC come to its conclusions? The answer is simple by putting together a jigsaw puzzle of unprecedented proportions.

But what happens to the credibility of the Warren Report if parts of the puzzle are false? That off course depends on what pieces are false. I have earlier written about the Mexico trips that Oswald allegdly made, to visit the Cuban and Soviet consulates. This is a matter thoroughly investigated by the WC, but did they get it right?

A major flaw in their report (that figures in several places) is the question of Oswald’s knowledge of the Russian language. The Warren Commission (WC) have establsihed that Oswald spoke Russian like a native (WC Report on Oswald’s foreign activities p 12; WR_A13 p 703), yet they do NOT question why the CIA reported (repeatedly) that the man who called the Soviet Consulate in Mexico, spoke broken and bad Russian! They even included it in the same report that presents Oswald as fluent in Russian (WCD-347 & WR_A13).

This is to me a significant issue and I wonder why it is not discussed more often in conspiracy circles, rather than some of the “crazy theories” like Oswald was on another floor, magic bullet etc

Because if it was not the real Oswald, then it was some one creating a Legend of an Oswald, and if so for what purpose?

Amendum: The claim that the Oswald who called the Soviet embassy in Mexico spoke no/poor Russian was reclaimed in 1978 when Boris Tarasoff testified to the HSCA. I again ask why? The WC and others have established that Oswald spoke perfect Russian, so why have this obvious error in the report

Missing Oswald file

The House Select Committee on Assassination (HSCA) request as part of their investigation the Naval Intelligence Files on Lee Harvey Oswald – files that were never shown to the Warren Commission.

The files could however not be furnished to the HSCA as they had be destroyed in 1973 as part of a routine procedure.

I can understand that the file of an average Marine would only be kept for a certain time, but this was the file on the man who killed the President! as well as a man who defected to the Soviet Union.

One would think that the file would be market and kept under special circumstances.

This is to me unbelievable and at least circumstantial evidence of a conspiracy.

Source: HSCA p 223-225

Oswald and the 514 Camp street (mystery?)

As part of the investigation into Oswald’s life, the FBI found pamphlets for a pro-Castro organization (Fair play for Cuba Committee). Some of the pamphlets indicated that the FPCC was located on 514 Camp Street, which is according to some conspiracy theorists important as the building (from a different street entrance on Lafayette Street) also housed an anti-Castro organization under the leadership of Guy Banister.  However in contrary to what Oliver Stone claims in JFK,there was no physical connection between the offices.

 The Warren commission concluded that “No additional evidence (edit: except the pamphlet) had been found to indicate Oswald ever maintained an office at the 544 Camp Street address.”

Now here is an interesting fact: The HSCA in contrary to the Warren Commission, did find additional evidence to connect Oswald to the Camp Street address and noted that the FBI and Secret Service neglected to interview all relevant sources associated with the building “The committee investigated the possibility of a connection between Oswald and 544 Camp Street and developed evidence pointing to a different result (edit: than the Warren Commission)

So was there a connection? And why did the FBI fail to interview all relevant sources?

Additionally, I would like to know why Vincent Bugliosi fails to mention the doubts raised by the HSCA in his book (p 1404) when discussing this point, when he so arrogantly criticizes other writers for only presenting evidence that support their story. I would like an answer from Mr. Bugliosi.

The second Oswald theories

The problem that I have with the “second Oswald” theories is that it sort of would indicate that the purpose of killing the president was to frame Oswald rather than to kill JFK.

In addition to the fact that some of the theories actually (like the one presented by Armstrong) actually claims that Oswald was selected at the age of 13 (!?!) which is ridiculous, I mean why choose Oswald at thirteen? How could anyone at that time know that he would evolve into a good patsy. Additionally JFK was not even a threat to any establishment at this time so why prepare a legend?

So is there any evidence to support this at all? The only circumstantial evidence I have found to remotely support this is in Oswald’s 201 file.  In the file there is a transcript from a teleconference between Oswald and the Soviet embassy (23rd of September 1963).

The issue with this conversation is not the content, but the fact that the US serviceman (Douglas J. Feinglass) who handled the dialogue note that Oswald spoke terrible Russian. However it is known that Oswald spoke excellent Russian (his wife originally thought he was from the Baltic states because of his accent).

I have no explanation for this either than that like with the second Oswald photo the US-servicemen  mixed-up Oswald for another American who contacted the Soviet Embassy OR there was a conspiracy to frame Oswald

 Question is then why? And when did it start? And who were behind the conspiracy?

The Cuban Connection

AMLASH/Cubela

This is a story of spies, and from the looking glass the story should appeal to all conspiracy theorists that believe that the CIA was behind the Kennedy assassination. There is just one little discrepancy the, target was Castro and not President Kennedy.

On the 9th of March 1961, an agency employee assigned to the Mexico City station, sought out a Cuban delegate to the “Latin American Conference on National Sovereignty”. The delegate, Rolando Cubela, was a prominent member of the Cuban revolution and a personal friend of Castro.

The Purpose of the “meeting” was to investigate whether Cubela would be interested in partaking in a coup d’état against Castro. The agency knew that Cubela had during his tenure in Spain, privately voiced some opposition to Castro’s policies.

Although the initial meeting did not lead to a deal, it did however lead to further meetings that lead to the AMLASH project with the end game being the end of communism in Cuba. Cubela (AMLASH-1) insisted that the first step in the coup would have to be the elimination of Castro and he also claimed that he would be prepared to do the job himself. Cubela requested that the CIA would furnish him with the necessary tools to complete the job.

In the time after the initial meeting, Cubela arranged meetings with CIA personnel in Paris on at least two accounts and sent signals through contacts that he even desired to defect to the west. The “contact” Carlos Tepedino, also made similar contacts to the FBI as he (and Cubela) were not satisfied with the way his case was being handled.

However in August 1962, Tepedino arranged a meeting in Helsinki between Cubela and the CIA. The objective with Cubela was there quickly changed from defection to recruitments. Cubela showed a great interest in performing spectacular actions against Cuba (elimination of prominent party members, Soviet diplomats and even Castro himself).

The Helsinki meeting, was followed by meetings in Stockholm and Copenhagen (the site was moved for security reasons). Cubela was later (August 14-23 1962) flown to Paris where he was trained in the use of demolition and other assassination devices. Cubela was at one point asked to take a polygraph, which he refused to do. In the subsequent weeks, meetings were held in both Brazil and Paris where Cubela expressed serous mood swings (he switched from embracing assassination defection and back to assassination on a daily basis).

On the 11th of October 1962, Cubela asked to meet with Robert Kennedy, to ensure that he would be given full support from the US government after he eliminated Castro. Richard Helms (then DDP) decided that Kennedy should not be notified, and the instead Desmond Fitzgerald (head of SAS) should take the meeting with Cubela and provide him with the necessary assurances.

The meeting was arranged on the 29th of October, and Cubela received his desired assurances from Fitzgerald. Cubela also requested a high power rifle (with telescopic sightings).

Fitzgerald (in his own words) refused to furnish Cubela with any such devices and stated that the CIA would have no direct involvement with the assassination, which prompted Cubela to demand a meeting with a senior official outside the CIA.

This does not however fit into the description of the official memorandum from the meeting that describes Cubela as satisfied with the policy meeting, but was interested in knowing what technical support the CIA might provide to the mission.

22 November, 1962

Nestor Sanchez, arrived in Paris on the morning of the 22nd of November 1962, where he met with Cubela in the afternoon and furnished him with a concealed assassination device.

The AMLASH project continued on after the assassination of President Kennedy, and even involving Manuel Artime (the would be leader of Cuba after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion). Cubela was arrested by Cuban secret police in 1966, leaving him imprisoned until 1979 when he was allowed to leave Cuba.

The big question is off course did Castro now about the plans to assassinate him and if so, did he plan a retaliation? A Retaliation that was executed on the 22nd of November 1962

A Few days in November

A Few days in November

Upon his return to Dallas, Oswald’s wife gave birth to their second child. The birth of his second child did however not stop his political activism, and activity that did not end until the 22nd of November 1963.

On the day of the assassination, Oswald went to work at the Texas Book depository with Buell Frazier, a coworker. According to Frazier brought with him curtain rods for his apartments in Dallas (naturally this is believed by many as to in reality to have been the Carcano rifle).

At 11:40 am, Air force one landed at Love Airport and at 12:30 pm the presidents motorcade passed the Book depository during which an assassin or assassins shot and killed President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Oswald was directly after the shooting spotted at a soft drink machine on the second floor by officer Marrion Baker (an officer from the motorcade who ran directly into the book depository).

Oswald thereafter left the building, and made his way home, where he got out his Smith and Wesson revolver and a grey jacket before he left. Fifteen minutes later, police officer J.D. Tippit was found bleeding to death by his radio car (and ballistics later proved that he was shot with the gun that Oswald was carrying and witnesses saw a man resembling Oswald speaking to Tippit just minutes before he was shot).

On 1:50 p.m. Oswald was arrested by Police in a movie theater in Oak Cliff, under the suspicion of killing Officer Tippit. Captain Fritz of the Dallas police then questioned Oswald until 1:35 a.m. During the interview Oswald denied buying a Carcano rifle and even claimed that the famous Life magazine picture of him with the rifle was authentic.

At 1.35 a.m. Oswald was arraigned in front of Justice David Johnston, who to Oswald surprise told him that he was a suspect in the killing of President Kennedy (He responded “ Oh, this is the deal is it”).

To me, it has always been strange that Oswald was never informed that he was a suspect in the killing of JFK during the entire interview with Captain Fritz, and that he was interviewed without a lawyer (which he did request)

On the morning of the 24th of November (c.a. 11:00 a.m.) Captain Fritz had completed his interrogation of Oswald, without obtaining the admission that he had sought.

A few minutes later Oswald was taken to the Police garage, where he was to be transferred to the county jail. Oswald did not make it. As he emerged from the elevator a man jumped out of the crowd and shot him with a single shot. Oswald died the same day at Parkland Hospital at 1:07 p.m.

Life in the Big Easy

Oswald in New Orleans

On the 25th of April 1963 Oswald moved to New Orleans, taking with him clothes, personal papers and the Carcano rifle.

It was in New Orleans that Oswald, at least publicly decided that he wanted to move to Cuba. He started a Fair Play for Cuba chapter, while at the same time he made an effort to join anti-Castro activists.

Oswald once again appears to support communism publicly, while privately explaining his reasons for leaving the Soviet Union was that it was not a good place to live – in fact not a workers paradise.

On the 26th of September 1963, Oswald traveled to Mexico, where he contacted both the Soviet and Cuban embassies on several occasions – showing his new credentials as a dedicated communist and supporter of Castro.

Oswald stayed in Mexico for three days and most of what is known of his activities there are either hearsay or records from the embassies and surveillance information gathered by the CIA.

Life in America 2: Path to the Assassination

Oswald arrived in New York on the 13th of June 1962, to a country he abandoned when he was nineteen for life in the Soviet Union.

Oswald was in the immediate period of his arrival focused on avoiding any media attention.  At one point Oswald’s mother joked about writing a book, which made Oswald furious and warned his mother of terrible repercussions against Marina and her family from the Soviets if she did any such thing.

Oswald’s return did not go unnoticed and on the 26th of June 1962, Oswald was interviewed by the FBI (Special agent John W. Fain). In the course of the interview it became clear that Oswald would not talk about any of his activities in the Soviet Union, he even went as far as to deny ever having any anti-American sentiments. Oswald denied having any contact with the KGB and refused to take a lie detector to prove his innocence.

Marine Oswald was also in contact with the Soviet Embassy, at a glance her contacts might have seemed standard procedure for a citizen living in a new country, however as the letter was direct to Vitaliy Gerasimov, who was known to be a KGB paymaster at the embassy. Marinas private correspondence with a friend (Ella Soboleva) was traced back by the CIA to a suspected KGB officer Igor Pavel Sobolev

Coincidence or not?

Privately Oswald spoke critical of the Soviet system, in what one friend, Peter Gregory, thought were rehearsed speeches on the failures of Soviet communism. Oswald was however not consistent in his behavior, he would identify himself as a Trotskyite while at the same time he ordered copies of Pravda and Izvestia two papers that were strict party papers.

So why would he want Soviet party newspapers? Could it be part of the tradecraft, codes with instructions?

Oswald purposely alienated himself from his family while at the same time befriended the white Russian community. A person of particular interest is George De Mohrenschildt.

De Mohrenschildt’s had also come under the suspicion of the FBI, both before and after WW2, and was even linked to the KGB when working in Cuba and Venezuela after the war. In the summer of 1960, De Mohrenschildt traveled secretly to Mexico city with his wife and was not seen for almost a year when tin April 1961 they turn up in Guatemala near the Brigade 2506 training locations.

De Mohrenschildt’s relationship with Oswald is rather peculiar, as is the manner in which he met the Oswald’s. He claimed once that he was introduced by Lawrence Orlov, an oil speculator, this has however been denied by Orlov.

For unknown reason he started to spread rumors that Oswald’s marriage was falling apart and tried to get Marina to stay with several other people.

De Mohrenschildt’s motives are not clear, but his links to the Soviets and his disappearing act to Mexico and Guatemala  in the midst of the Bay of Pigs invasion does hint to a KGB connection.

Could Mohrenschildt have been “running” Oswald?

In this period Oswald renewed his Marxists activisms and ordered the Carcano rifle, under the alias A. J.  Hidell. This is the rifle which he supposedly used later to assassinate President Kennedy and in the assassination attempt of General Walker (a right wing ex-General who was living in Texas).

According to testimony of Marina Oswald, De Mohrenschildt, asked Oswald directly after the missed assassination of Walker: “Lee, How did you miss Walker?”

De Mohrenschildt, has later explained this statement that he at this point knew that Oswald hated Walker and had a gun. However in a memoir furnished to the HSCA in 1979 by his wife – He does not even think that Oswald was capable of killing anyone. Quite a contrast to the version he furnished to the Warren Commission in which he paints Oswald as a kid and not a friend.

De Mohrenschildt is definitely a strange character with even stranger connections that smell KGB a long way

Oswald: The defection

The Defection

On the 11th of September 1959, Oswald was discharged from the military in order to aid his sick mother. He subsequently traveled to Forth Worth where he announced to his mother’s astonishment that he was planning to work for an export firm.

He then made his way to the West Side State Bank from which he withdrew all of his known funds ($ 203, Epstein) and after giving his mother $100 he paid $220 for a one way ticket to France.

Following his arrival in France, Oswald traveled to England, where he declared to hold $700 and that he planned to stay one week in London, before attending school in Switzerland.

The records in his passport however showed that Oswald left England the same day (October 9) to Helsinki. In Helsinki Oswald obtained a six-day visa for he Soviet Union and $300 worth of tourist vouchers. On the 15th of October, Oswald left Helsinki for Moscow and a life in the Soviet Union (Swedish intelligence found evidence that Oswald also traveled to Stockholm during this period).

On Saturday the 31st of October (two weeks after his arrival in the Soviet union) Oswald turned up at the US Embassy where Oswald declared his intention to defect and become a Soviet citizen. According to the US consular Richard E Snyder (a CIA operative under cover) Oswald also declared his intention to divulge any secrets that he learnt in the Marines to the KGB.
During his 31st of October deceleration, Oswald spoke in what Consular officer John McVickar described as a tutored when discussing his intentions to defect and provide information to the KGB. Oswald did during this time give a few interviews to members of American Press. In one interview with Aline Mosby (UPI) he declared that he had saved $1600 while in the Marines to pay for his travel to the Soviet Union.

Oswald also wrote his brother a letter, which was intercepted by the CIA, and declared his admiration for the Soviet Union. The letter was written a pure propagation, suggesting that it was prepared as propaganda.

After writing his brother a final time at the end of 1959, Oswald disappeared for more than a year – with only a “diary” and limited official documentation to provide insight to Oswald’s actions during this time.

In this version (which is supported by statements by Yuri Nosenko), Oswald was initially refused to stay in the soviet Union and this led him to attempt suicide. After his supposedly suicide attempt Oswald was allowed to stay in Russia and he was relocated to Minsk where he was given a job at a radio factory and given a studio apartment.

Oswald arrived in Minsk on the 7th of January 1960, where he quickly becomes a local celebrity among the younger people who are curious of life in the west. In the beginning Oswald takes a positive attitude to the Soviet life, however in the spring his diary takes a sudden turn to disillusionment and he becomes highly critical of the Soviet Union.

The immediate turn to criticism provides an answer to the question of why Oswald would return to America. However an investigation of the diary shows that it was written in one or two sessions (Epstein). This theory is supported further by factual errors in the diary, such as the mentioning of “New Rubles” in his entry on the 5th of January 1960 when in fact the currency change was introduced more than a year after this entry in “Oswald’s diary”.

The diary also omits any of the events that would be inconsistent with his criticisms of the Soviet society, such as Khrushchev’s denunciation of the United States and the Berlin crisis.

This suggests that the diary was not prepared for propaganda purposes but to provide Oswald with a cover story for leaving the USSR (which may provide an explanation to why he was allowed to take the material with him when he left the Soviet Union)

If the diary was fabricated to provide Oswald with a cover for his re-entry to America, then why was it created AFTER he left the Soviet Union?

There is some circumstantial evidence that he was educated in the Soviet Union. For instance in a draft manuscript entry he wrote that he was in the Foreign Language School which was located adjacent to a KGB training facility. In the edited manuscript all such indications were removed. However this is at best sketchy as the official information from his stay in Minsk is even today very limited.

Photographs from the period, indicate also that he lived a good life and date several local woman, quite in contrary to the dull life described in his “diary”.

On the 13th of February 1961, Oswald contacted the American embassy in Moscow, desiring to have his passport returned and at the same time Oswald announced his desire to return to America. The Snyder and the other staff at the embassy were alerted by the request as they had recently received a request from Washington to locate Oswald on behalf of his mother.

Was there a connection? Did the KGB pick up on the request and took the opportunity to process Oswald back to America on their behalf?

Washington informed the embassy that they were to return the passport to Oswald, with the restriction that it should be done in person for security reasons and that Oswald should be questioned on his activities in the Soviet Union.

An additional strange circumstances is how Oswald managed to meet, court and marry Marine within the period of a month while at the same time according to official records spent time in a hospital for an ear disorder.

On the 8th of July 1961, Oswald returned to the American Embassy in Moscow, where he declared his intention to return to America with his Russian wife Marina Oswald. The embassy conducted a few interviews with Oswald, however according to US policy at the time to encourage defectors to return they gave Oswald his passport back for travel back to the states.

At this time Oswald starts to concoct a “story of persecution” against Marina and himself by the Russians that have resulted in a nervous breakdown for Marina (the hospitals have no records of this as claimed by Oswald). He also starts to critize the “corrupt” Soviet system in elaborated detailed.

Obtaining an entry visa for Marina took almost a year, (regardless of what Oliver Stone claims in JFK) and although Oswald criticizes solely the Soviets in his diary it was actually no problems with Soviets to leave only with obtaining an entry visa for Marina to the US.

On the 2nd of June 1962, Oswald and Marina left the Soviet Union for a new life in America.