Not in Your Lifetime: The Defining Book on the J.F.K. Assassination (49 page)

7. A Sphinx for Texas

111
     LeCarre: quoted in Arthur Schlesinger article,
Cigar Aficionado
, November/December, 1998.

Curry: int. 12/77.

Alexander: int. 12/77.

112
     Oswald motive: Report, pp. 421, 423; HSCA Report p. 61–.

Robert:
VF
, December 1994.

113
     Oswald on JFK: Report, p. 627, report of Secret Service Inspector Kelley;( Marina) HSCA II.252, 217, 209; McMillan,
op. cit.
, pp. 194, 350; HSCA XII.361, 413; (Martello) X.60; (eve of murder) HSCA XII.413, 331;
VF
, December 1994.

114
Note 1
: An exception—the only exception so far as the author knows—was Volkmar Schmidt, an oil industry geologist who met Oswald at a social occasion in Dallas early 1963. Thirty years later, he said in an interview that Oswald had been: “extremely critical of President Kennedy, and he was just obsessed with what America did to support this invasion [of Castro’s Cuba] at the Bay of Pigs, obsessed with his anger towards Kennedy.” In an FBI interview within a week of the assassination, however, Schmidt had recalled nothing like this. On the contrary, he had asserted that—in a conversation on politics that lasted several hours and during which Oswald appeared “very frank”—Oswald “did not speak of President Kennedy or his policies.” Against that background, no credence can be given to Schmidt’s later claim. (Epstein,
Legend
, p. 483–, Gus Russo,
Live by the Sword
, Baltimore, MD: Bancroft, 1998, p. 120, citing int. for
Frontline
program; (int. by FBI) int. Volkmar Schmidt, November 29, 1963, FBI 105-82555, Oswald HQ file, Section 22) Oswald to president of Bar Association: VII.329 (Nichols).

Abt: report of Inspector
Kelley, Report, p. 627; www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAabtJ.htm

115
     Robert Oswald: I.468; (diary) XVI.901.

Johnson: CBS
News,
“The American Assassins,”
Part
II,
November 26, 1975.

116
     Warren:
New York Times
, February 5, 1964, p. 19.

FBI spokesman: int Inspector Hoynden, December 1977.

117
     HSCA stymied: author’s ints. with HSCA sources, 1978–1979; HSCA Report, p. 490 (end of dissent by Congressman Dodd).

Johnson: Warren Commission memorandum by lawyer Melvin Eisenberg, February 17, 1964.

Marina Oswald mysteries: see Chapter 10, “Mischief from Moscow.”

Russell: Warren Commission Executive Session transcript for January 21, 1964.

118
     Meller: CD 950, interview of Meller by Dallas police officers Hellingshausen and Parks, February 17, 1964.

Moore: ints. (widow) Jeanne de Mohrenschildt, 1978 (she corroborated her husband’s version of Moore’s remarks); and George de Mohrenschildt interview with Edward Epstein, March 29, 1977,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 186.

Kantor and Hendrix: Kantor,
op. cit.
, p. 198–;
El
Paso
Herald
-
Post
, September 24, 1963; (Homestead) “Bayo-Pawley Affair,”
Soldier of Fortune
, Spring 1976; and see Hendrix references, Thomas Powers
, op cit.

119
     Army Intelligence: memo attached to FBI document 105-82555 (unrecorded; original in 62-109060-811);
Dallas Morning News
, March 19, 1978, quoting FBI documents; HSCA Report, p. 221.

120
     Preyer: int., 1978.

HSCA on (lack of) agency involvement: HSCA Report, p. 2.

Note 2
: The “serious allegation” referred to is the charge by a former anti-Castro exile leader that he saw his American Intelligence case officer—a who used the cover name “Maurice
Bishop”—with Oswald shortly before the assassination. The same officer allegedly attempted to build up a false story that Oswald had been in touch with the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City. The episode will be dealt with later in the book. (See also Index references to “Bishop.”)

Chief counsel’s comment that the allegation remained “undiscredited”: HSCA IV.476.

Warren Report on agencies and Oswald: Report, p. 327.

Dulles: Warren Commission Executive Session, January 27, 1964.

121
     Newsman’s question: contemporary news film.

Combest: int., August 1978.

122
Note 3
: In the 1978 interview. Combest also said that Oswald accompanied his headshaking with “a definite clenched-fist salute.” This cannot be taken as good evidence of a political gesture, given Oswald’s condition at that moment. It may indeed have been an expression of pain. Combest said nothing about the “salute” in his statements on Warren Commission testimony (XII.185 and XIX.350).

Artificial respiration: Manchester,
op. cit.
, p. 604.

Oswald prints taken: XVII.308;
Fort Worth Press
,
November 25, 1963.

II. OSWALD: Maverick or Puppet?

8. Red Faces

125
     Oswald quote: XVI.817; letter to Robert Oswald, November 26, 1959 (from Moscow).

“Communist conspiracy”: William Alexander, an Assistant District Attorney, quoted by Manchester,
op. cit.
, p. 326.

Colby recalled: Colby memo, September 6, 1975, no. 1188-1000, JFK files, Box 60, Folder F1, NARA.

126
     Nosenko: Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 11.

Schweiker: int. 1978.

Epstein book: Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.

127
     Angleton: quoted by Seymour Hersh in
New York Times
Magazine
, June 25, 1978, from Angleton testimony to Senate Intelligence Committee, 1975 (Book III, 1976).

Young Oswald & Communism: (statements of mother) interview of Marguerite Oswald in
New York Times
, December 10, 1963; XIX.319; (high school friend) VIII.18—William Wulf; (second friend) HSCA IX.109; (writing to Socialist Party) XXV.140.

Note 1
: The Oswald letter to the Socialist Party, which included the statement “I am a Marxist and have been studying Socialist principles for well over fifteen months,” appeared in an unusual way. An FBI report of December 18, 1963, less than a month after the assassination, states that it had turned up that day “during routine processing of inactive files of the Socialist Party of America,” stored in the library at Duke University, North Carolina. Although there is no concrete reason to doubt the letter’s authenticity, it is odd that this document was discovered among hundreds of other papers, quite by chance, so soon after the assassination. It became the documentary proof that Oswald was a budding left-winger even before his enlistment in the Marine Corps (XXV.140). For further discussion of the origins of Oswald’s ostensible Socialism, see Chapter 17, “Blind Man’s Bluff in New Orleans.”

128
     Interest in Marines: Report, p. 384.

“Confidential”: XIX.665.

Atsugi period dealt with in Warren Report, Appendix XIII.

129
     Officer’s comment: Captain Gajewski, Epstein
, op cit.

Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 68.

Oswald as crew chief: VIII.291, Lieutenant J. E. Donovan testimony.

Oswald intelligence: Gator Daniels, int. cited in Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 70.

130
     U-2: primary sources are Gary Powers,
Operation Overflight
; Harry Rositzke,
CIA’s Secret Operations
; Fletcher Prouty,
The
Secret Team
; eds. Gary Powers & Harold Berman,
The Trial of the U-2
, Chicago: World Publications, 1960; David Wise & Thomas Ross,
The Espionage Establishment
. Edward Epstein in
Legend
provides the best detail of the U-2 operation at Atsugi, and Oswald’s familiarity with it.

Note 2
: In a 2008 book on Oswald and activity at Atsugi, former Marine Corps intelligence officer Jack Swike—who served at Atsugi during approximately the same period as Oswald—asserted that the base indeed housed a nuclear facility. (www.themissingchapter.com/leeharveyoswald1.html, referring to Jack Swike,
The Missing Chapter: Lee Harvey Oswald in the Far East
, www.createspace.com, 2008).

131
     Donovan talk with Oswald: as reported in Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 280–282. The conversation took place not at Atsugi but at the Cubi Point base in the Philippines.

Picture-taking: Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 69.

Affair with hostess and subsequent liaisons: Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 71–.

Note 3
:
Among other possibilities, Oswald may have had additional money from black market activity. A former marine who served with him is cited to that effect in the 2008 book cited in
Note 2
,
supra
.; www.themissingchapter.com/leeharveyoswald1.html.

132
     Self-inflicted shooting and quarrel incidents: Report, p. 683–.

Taiwan: Report, p. 684; shots in wood: Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 81.

Note 4
: In his book
Missing Chapter
, mentioned in an earlier note to this chapter, former Atsugi officer Jack Swike asserted—contrary to the Warren Report account—that Oswald did not go to Taiwan. (www.themissingchapter.com/leeharveyoswald1.html)

Eurasian: Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 83 & see Report, p. 684

133
     Santa Ana and Donovan: VIII.290, 297, 300.

Russian enthusiasm in California: Report, p. 685 & and related documents.

Name on jacket: VIII.316.

Thornley: James/Wardlaw,
op. cit.
, p. 5; (on Marxism) Report, p. 685.

134
     Delgado: VIII.241.

Senior Angleton aide: Rocca memorandum to Rockefeller Commission on CIA activities within the United States, May 30, 1975;
op. cit.

Note 5
: The Angleton aide was Raymond Rocca, a longtime senior colleague who—Angleton’s biographer wrote—“led the effort to reconstruct the past.” (Tom Mangold,
Cold Warrior
, London: Simon & Schuster, 1991, p. 38).

135
     Oswald in spring 1959: Report, p. 688.

Mother’s injury: Robert Oswald,
op. cit.
, p. 93; XVI.337.

HSCA on Marines record and discharge: HSCA Report, p. 219–.

Oswald brother: Robert Oswald,
op. cit.
, p. 95.

136
     Oswald U.S.A.-Soviet Union trip: Report, p. 690. The Warren Report was in error on details of this journey, discrepancies that left the Assassinations Committee at a loss in 1979. This is covered in the next chapter.

“De Luxe”: int. Rimma Shirokova, Moscow, 1993.

Easy access and Soviets: HSCA Report, pp. 212, and 212–221.

Note 6
: The possibility of a Stockholm visit was first raised in a report three days after the assassination (November 25, 1963) in
Dagens Nyheters
, the leading Swedish newspaper. It reported as fact that Oswald “passed through Sweden … on his way to the Soviet Union.” The article stated that “after an unsuccessful attempt to get a Russian visa in Helsinki, he went to Stockholm, where he rented a hotel room. Two days later, he was able to continue his journey to Moscow. That indicates the Russian Embassy gave him a visa.” Jones Harris, an independent researcher, reported confirmation, from a CIA source, that Swedish intelligence confirmed the detour to Stockholm. There was nothing about it in the Warren Report, or in the HSCA Report in 1979.

CIA/State studies : XXVI.156, 165, 158; HSCA IV.241.

Moscow arrival:
HSCA Report, p. 212.

Oswald at American Embassy: Report, p. 260.

Allegiance letter: Report, p. 261.

137
     Oswald on giving Soviets information: Report, p. 748; XVIII.908.

McVickar reaction: XVIII.153–.

Associated with Communists: IX.242—testimony of George de Mohrenschildt.

Note 7
: De Mohrenschildt, the Russian emigré who was to befriend Oswald in Texas after his return from the Soviet Union, said: “He [Oswald] told me that he had some contacts with the Communists in Japan, and they—that got him interested to go and see what goes on in the Soviet Union.” Statements by de Mohrenschildt, however, must be read in the light of the evidence about de Mohrenschildt’s background (see Chapter 11).

9. Cracks in the Canvas

138
     Russell quote: conversation with researcher Harold Weisberg, 1970.

Delgado: VIII.242.

Block: int. by Epstein for
Legend
, p. 86.

139
     Thornley: affidavit January 8, 1976.

140
     Russian language: Report, p. 685; VIII.307; XIX.662 (took Russian test February 25, 1959).

Powers: VIII.275, 283; Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 83.

Quinn episode: VIII.321—Roussell testimony; Quinn XXIV.430; VIII.293—Donovan testimony; int. of Quinn by Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 87.

141
     Executive session: transcript of Warren proceedings, January 27, 1964.

Self-inflicted wound: ints. former marines by Epstein,
Legend
,
op. cit.
, p. 283.