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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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Lee Harvey Oswald: Life in the military

In the army, Oswald receives average grades on tests, however his former squad members recalled Oswald as a poor shot. After completing basic training, Oswald was posted in Japan to monitor the U2 flights over China. Interviews with former marines that were stationed with Oswald (Legend, Epstein) provide a mixed picture of Oswald the marine. He is described as a “nerd” and an intellectual, depending on who was interviewed.

He is also reported to show an interest in classified material and is even reported to take photographs of military installations, such as radar equipment. Oswald was also seen in the company of an expensive call girl who was reported to be way out of his pay grade.

On the 27th of October 1958, Oswald’s unit was to transfer to the Philippines. The decision did not become Oswald, who “accidentally” shot himself with a .22 caliber automatic which he had acquired illegally.

The incident, kept Oswald in a hospital for three weeks but did not change the decision to transfer his unit, and on the 20th of November he was transferred from Japan.

For this offence and a staged fight with a fellow marine in June Oswald was sentenced to 28 days in the brig and a pay cut of $105. In the Philippines Oswald became more alienated from his platoon and frequently went to Tokyo where he fraternized with locals rather than his fellow Marines.

In November Oswald returned to America and was stationed in Santa Ana, California, where he again worked with radar control. On the 25th of November Oswald on his own initiative took a Russian language exam in the marines, and scored less than average. However, considering that he had received no known formal training, the results showed that he had mastered the basics of a very difficult language in an extremely short period of time (optionally Oswald secretly earned Russian in Japan).

Oswald, also started to overtly proclaim socialist sympathies and read communist literature, which he received through the naval mail in a time when actors were blacklisted for uncorroborated suspicions. Although reported by the mailroom officials, no action was taken against Oswald for this uncanny behavior.

During this time Oswald befriended fellow Marine Nelson Delgado, who thought Oswald Spanish and shared his interest in Cuba and particularly Fidel Castro. Oswald and Delgado traveled at one point to Mexico during which Oswald disappeared to meet “friends” which he refused to identify.

Towards the end of his tour Oswald, started to correspond with the Cuban consulate in Los Angeles and at the same time he started wearing a suit when not on duty. However at the time of his discharged Oswald gave Delgado the impression that he was planning to study in Europe and almost pretended that he had no knowledge of “what Delgado was talking about”.

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Lee Harvey Oswald: Childhood

Lee Harvey Oswald was born on the 18th of October 1939, at the Old French Hospital in New Orleans to Marguerite and Robert E. Lee Oswald. Oswald’s father, an insurance collector, died two months before his birth leaving his family in dire straits.

Lee spent most of his childhood in and out of different public schools and on the move as his mother effortlessly tried to make ends meet. By the age of thirteen he had attended no less than seven public schools and his bothers were forced to join the army, as his mother could not longer care for them (1).

On, the 24th of October 1956, at the age of seventeen Oswald, with his mothers consent, joined the Marines where he endured boot camp, an ordeal that his fellow marine Sherman Cooley called “Holy Hell”.

(1) The only exception to his childhood misery, was in the short period when Marguerite was married to Edwin Ekdahl and the entire family was together in Dallas, TX

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Nosenko in his own words

On the 30th of May 1978 (I) and on the 19th of June 1978 (II), Yuri Nosenko testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA). He made the following statements:

1-The KGB did not bother to interview Oswald as it was deemed by doctors that he was a nut (not crazy just unstable) (I p 39, 68)

When shown the hospital records from the Botkin Hospital which indicated that the doctors had indicated that Oswald was of sound mind, Nosenko claimed that this was false information from the KGB and that it was fake ( II p 18-22)

2-The American exhibition in Moscow took a lot of time for the KGB and subsequently they did not have time to inteview an insignificant person as Oswald (I p 52,69-71)

When confronted by the fact that Oswald arrived on the 16th of October 1959, more than a month after the fair ended ( September 4th), Nosenko deflected the issue by saying that the Americans working on the fair were probalby in Moscow for more than a month after the end of the fair (? I p 11-12)

3-Did not know that Oswald had left the USSR until Oswald in 1963 visited Soviet Embassy in Mexico (I p 60)

4-Was personally responsible for handling Oswald case in the wake of the Kennedy assassination (I p 62)

Yet his name does not appear in any of the documents given by President Boris Yeltsin to President Clinton as part of the reconciliation between Russia and USA.

5- Investigation showed that Oswald was part of a hunting club in Minsk and that he was a poor shot (I p 65)

6- The KGB knew that Oswald was a former Marine but that this did not make him an interesting target (I p74)

7- That the KGB kept periodical surveillance over Oswald while he was in minsk (no contact was made) all was done covertly (I p 90)

When shown a transcript of an FBI interrogation from March 3rd & 4th 1964, during which Noenko had claimed that no physical surveillance of Oswald had ever taken place while he was in Minsk, Nosenko responded that the FBI did not ask the right questions !?! ( II p 25-29) which seems highly unlikely as he was asked the question directly ( II p 31)

8- In the period of 1955-1960 there were only 3 American defectors to the Soviet Union and yet Oswald was uninteresting, and the only explanation was that they thought he was nut and therefore uninteresting (II p 4-5)

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Lee Harvey Oswald

Oswald was and is today the official assassin of President John F Kennedy (JFK). In the original inquest (Warren Commission) it was determined that Oswald acted alone, without the support of any third party or government. He was the lone assassin, a mad man driven by his communist disillusions.

Today most people believe that the state of the evidence points to a more complex answer that can not be explained by a simple lone gunman theory. (time between shots (Zapruder film), the rifle used (the Carcano rifle is possible the worst rifle in the world)

So who was Oswald then? A pawn in a larger game ? A patsy framed ? A government agent, possible ONI (former or active) ? An active participant in the assassination, who was later framed?

These are not easy question, with simple answers. What we do know is that he apparently “defected” to the Soviet Union in 1959, stayed there for 20 months and then returned to America with a Russian wife. The KGB officially claimed that they had no interest in him, a claim that was backed up by the “defector” Yuri Nosenko in early 1964. Nosenko who himself was most likely a dispatched KGB agent (who later in life probably became a genuine defector)

The idea that Oswald was allow to defect and then return with out any legal problems and the support from the KGB to the lone gunman theory points to some government connection and if so, does it help us answer the questions above?

Not really, except that it points to a sinister answer that Oswald was at least at some point involved with the ONI and that he was either used or willingly participated in the assassination and if he participated he was later abandoned by his co-conspirators.

To be continued……

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