177 Deneselya: HSCA Report, p. 208, Henry Hurt, Reasonable Doubt, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1985, p. 247–, Russo, op. cit., p. 122–, Ewing to Gabrielson, June 5, 1980, JFK Box no. 59, Folder F15, www.maryferrell.org, citing UPI March 31, 1980 & see “Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald,” by Joan Mellen, www.maryferrell.org.
Psychiatrist: CBS Evening News, June 30, 1975, Epstein, Legend, op. cit., p. 312n14, HSCA XII.451.
Note 12: Deneselya reportedly first told his story to Senator Richard Schweiker of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and certainly did tell it to the Assassinations Committee. He talked with PBS’s Frontline program in 1993, and has spoken with other researchers. The Assassinations Committee looked for but failed to locate the contact report to which he referred.
There are numerous CIA reports on an American named Marvin Kantor, who had made two visits to Minsk, and had—like Oswald—once served in the Marine Corps. Details about Kantor, however, do not fit the man referred to by either Deneselya or by the unnamed psychiatrist. Unlike Oswald, Kantor was not a defector—he had a relative in Minsk—and had not worked at the Minsk plant. He returned to the United States with a Danish wife, not a Soviet bride, and came back not in 1962 but in 1961. There remains the possibility that the unnamed psychiatrist’s subject, as he himself wondered, might have been not Oswald but returned defector Robert Webster. Webster had lived with a woman in the USSR, but he had not married her and did not bring her with him to the United States. (Deneselya: as sourced above; Kantor: Kantor entry, Mary Ferrell database, www.maryferrell.org; DDP, CIA to Director, FBI September 1, 1961, NARA 104-10173-10084, August 23, 1963, NARA 104-10173-10085, & undated, NARA 104-10173-10990; DDP, CIA to Director, Civil Service, May 6, 1964, NARA 104-10173-10087; Metz to Director, FBI, March 2, 1965, NARA 104-10059-10182; see references to Webster supra.)
“Andy Anderson”: (“signed off”/ officers) Russo, op. cit., p. 122, citing work with “Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald,” Frontline, November 16, 1993; (consultant) John Newman, int. for Frontline; (“Anderson” document) MFR re Oswald/Alvarado, December 3, 1963, NARA 104-10408-10347.
Note 13: For a detailed summary of the Anderson entry and its discovery by Newman, see Gus Russo, op. cit., p. 122–.
178 former deputy chief: ibid.; and VF, December 1994.
“big billboard”: int. John Newman., VF, December 1994.
Moore: int. Jeanne de Mohrenschildt, & see de Mohrenschildt sources in Chapter 12.
12. Oswald and the Baron
179 Jeanne de Mohrenschildt quote: Bill O’Reilly int. 1977 for WFAA TV, cited at www.reopenkennedycase.net.
Gregory call: II.337, testimony of Peter Gregory.
de Mohrenschildt: Report, p. 282–; (de Mohrenschildt background) IX.166, 285–testimony of de Mohrenschildt; FBI file on de Mohrenschildt; HSCA XII.49-; HSCA Report, p. 217–; author’s interviews with Jeanne de Mohrenschildt, 1978–1979. Except where indicated, material on De Mohrenschildt is taken from these sources.
Note 1: George de Mohrenschildt’s father, Sergei von Mohrenschildt, had been a Marshal of Nobility in the province of Minsk, where decades later Oswald had spent most of his time in Russia. George had grown up on a family estate in Poland, trained at the elite Polish cavalry academy, then studied at a university in Belgium. He had come to the United States in 1938.
180 OSS: CIA document 18-522—Helms memo to Warren Commission; (application) CD 531.3; CD 777A.3; CD 533.57.
Cogswell: New York Daily News, April 12, 1977; see, however, HSCA XII.60, noting that Cogswell generated information on De Mohrenschildt for HSCA.
CIA file shows: CIA document 18-522.
Offer to State Department: Report, p. 283.
181 Something for State Department?: testimony of Mrs. Igor Voshinin, HSCA VIII.425.
Note 2: De Mohrenschildt told the Warren Commission he had never been an agent of any government, or been in the pay of any government, except the American government, the ICA (International Cooperation Administration, a forerunner of AID, the Agency for International Development). In an unpublished memoir, obtained later by the Assassinations Committee, he wrote: “I never, never worked for CIA.” (IX.212 & XII.314)
Orlov interview: Epstein, Legend, op. cit., p. 314.
Bouhe: testimony, VIII.355.
De Mohrenschildt on Moore to Warren: IX.235–.
Note 3: In a muddled answer, de Mohrenschildt said in his testimony that the others with whom he might have spoken about Oswald were George Bouhe, the doyen of the Russian community in Dallas, and/or Max Clark, an attorney who had previously been head of security for the Convair Aircraft Corporation (IX.235–, & see FBI agent James Wood’s report, March 22, 1964, Everett Glover statement to FBI, February 28, 1964, CD 555 & HSCA XII.54.
182 Moore employed: HSCA Report, p. 217–; HSCA XII.54.
Jeanne on Moore: ints. 1978/1979.
Note 4: George de Mohrenschildt himself referred to the meeting with Moore in an unfinished manuscript he left behind at his death. “A short time after meeting Lee Harvey Oswald, before we became friends,” he wrote, “I was a little worried about his opinions and his background. And so I went to see Mr. J. Walton Moore, to his office … and asked him pointblank: ‘I met this young ex-marine, Lee Harvey Oswald. Is it safe to associate with him?” And Mr. Moore’s answer was: “He is OK. He is just a harmless lunatic.”
On the day he died, in 1977, de Mohrenschildt claimed in an interview: “I would never have contacted Oswald in a million years, if Moore had not sanctioned it.” The interview, with author Edward Epstein, was never completed—nor did the Assassinations Committee ever hear his account. Hours after speaking with Epstein, and on hearing that a House Asassinations Committee investigator wished to speak with him, de Mohrenschildt was found shot dead—an apparent suicide. The ensuing investigation established that de Mohrenschildt had suffered from depression, had spent three months in a mental institution the previous year, and had made previous suicide attempts. What he wrote in his unfinished manuscript—if relevant passages were written in the months before his death—and what he told Epstein, are obviously of dubious value. That is why later statements attributed to George de Mohrenchildt material have been relegated to this note.
Jeanne de Mohrenschildt, however, was entirely rational in lengthy conversations with the author, and appeared to have good recall. The one conflict between her account of the initial conversation with Moore and her late husband’s was that she said the exchange with Moore occurred not at Moore’s office but over dinner at the de Mohrenschildt’s home.
Research in 2012 indicated that a large number of documents on de Mohrenschildt are still withheld. (Manuscript: obtained by author from attorney Patrick Russell, & see HSCA XII.69–; “I would never”: Edward Epstein, The Assassination Chronicles, New York: Carroll & Graf, 1992, p. 559; HSCA investigator: Gaeton Fonzi, The Last Investigation, New York: Thunder’s Mouth, 1993, p. 192; shot dead: Death Investigation, Palm Beach, Florida, Sheriff’s Office, March 29, 1977; Jeanne: ints. by author 1978–1979; documents withheld: NARA withholding list shared with William Kelly.
“No commenting”: Epstein, Legend, op. cit., p. 315n15.
Moore fobbed off: “Three Witnesses,” Dick Russell article, New Times, June 24, 1977.
183 “Periodic”: HSCA XII.54–.
Oswald “delightful”: from “Three Witnesses,” article by Dick Russell, New Times, June 24, 1979.
184 “Whatever”: IX.96, Gary Taylor testimony; author’s interview, 1978.
Note 5: It may be significant that Oswald, for all his apparent poverty, had just finished repaying the $200 his brother had lent him to help with the travel from New York. ($200 repaid to brother: Report, pp. 741–).
185 YMCA and post-office box: Report, pp. 719–720. Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall: Report, p. 719 and related sources.
Ofstein:
X.202, Dennis Ofstein testimony.
186 Note 6: There is controversy as to whether there was in fact a Minox, and some claim that an evidence photograph shows only an empty Minox camera case and a Minox light meter. Months after the assassination, the FBI would claim there was no Minox camera. The police, however, declined to change the manifest. Assistant District Attorney Bill Alexander, who himself owned a Minox, said there was a camera and that he personally worked its mechanism. Warren De Brueys, the FBI agent who took Oswald’s possessions to Washington, DC, said in retirement that he did not remember a Minox. He added, however, that there were “limitations as to what I can say… . I have signed the secrecy agreement before leaving the Bureau.” An Assassinations Committee lawyer said a Minox camera had indeed been seized. (Minox: HSCA XII.390 and 373, Dallas Morning News, Earl Golz article, August 7, 1978, (controversy) “Missing Minox or Major Mistakes?” http://jfkassassination.net; (Alexander) int. 1978).
“Micro dots”: XVI.53.
Note 7: Oswald may have used equipment available at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall to forge the “Hidell” draft card he carried. An FBI expert has said that the forgery involved a very accurate camera “such as are found in photographic laboratory and printing plants.” (IV.388).
187 New Year greeting and reading material: Report, p. 722; (Time) CD 1231; XXII.270.
Suggestion Marina return to USSR: I.35, Marina Oswald testimony.
Wrote to Soviet Embassy: I.35; XVI.10.
Buying guns: Report, pp. 119, 174, 723, and Chapter 5, supra.
188 Reports on Walker shooting: Report, p. 20 and HSCA Report, p. 61.
189 Oswald’s conversations on Walker: IX.256.
De Mohrenschildt testimony & HSCA XII.201; FBI int. withVolkmar Schmidt, NARA (unrecorded), Epstein, Legend, op. cit., p. 205.
Photographs: Report, p. 185.
190 Marina on Oswald and rifle: Report, p. 723–, XXII.763, 785; XXIII.393, 402; XXII.778; I.14; XXII.197, 785; V.397–399; HSCA II229, 231 & see IX.249, 316.
Photograph with guns and newspapers: Report, pp. 125–128.
Oswald stopped working: Report, p. 724; CD 7.128; CD 6; CD8; XXIII.696; XIII.529; XXII.278.
Walker incident: Report, pp. 183–187.
191 Walker ballistics: Report, p. 186; HSCA VII.370, I.472, HSCA I.502; (police report) HSCA Report, p. 98n4; XXIV.39. (press reports) Dallas Morning News, April 11 & 12, 1963, New York Times, April 12, 1963.
Note 8: Major General Walker added his own note of confusion on the question of the bullet. After seeing the exhibit shown in the Assassinations Committee hearings, the General said it was not the bullet he recovered in his house in 1963. He said the original projectile was so battered it was hardly recognizable as a bullet at all—far less so than the bullet shown in the Committee hearings. While the General was an irascible eccentric on political matters, he was an experienced soldier and he was talking about the bullet that nearly killed him. No check was apparently made of the chain of possession of the bullet. (ints. Walker, 1978; and see photograph of bullet, HSCA VII.390.)
192 “Something truly remarkable”: Report, p. 724;
De Mohrenschildt version: Report, p. 282;
Marina version: XXII.777; HSCA II.234, & see analysis of “gun in closet” incident, Meagher, op. cit., p. 127.
Previous year: HSCA XII.52.
1967 photograph find: ints. Jeanne de Mohrenschildt; George de Mohrenschildt letter April 17, 1967, cited at McMillan, op. cit., p. 489n9; back of photograph is shown HSCA VI.151; (Oswald’s handwriting) HSCA II.396; (translation) HSCA II.388; (rewritten in pencil) HSCA II.386, 388 & see HSCA II.295–, 243, 306, 315, HSCA XII.336.
Note 9: There is an example of such fallibility in the work of the HSCA’s handwriting panel. It concluded that two Oswald signatures differed in many details from other Oswald signatures (HSCA VIII.235). The two signatures in question are on receipts for wages at Oswald’s Dallas place of work—surely most likely to have indeed been signed by Oswald.
Another point on the same lines arises from a further inscription on the back of the photograph, presumably written since 1967. It reads “copyright G. de M.” The HSCA experts did not think it had been written by de Mohrenschildt (HSCA II.385). De Mohrenschildt’s lawyer, however, has said that de Mohrenschildt told him—as indeed seems most probable—that he did write the notation (letter of Patrick Russell to author, June 18, 1979). Handwriting evidence should always be weighed in the light of other available evidence.
194 Oswald finances/repayments: Report, Appendix XIV; XVII.646; XVIII.277, 316; XIX.252; XXII.86, 122; XXI.163; V.316; HSCA XII.338.
Oswald earnings in seven-week period: XXII.227, XXII.380.
Note 10: The State Department mailed Oswald a receipt showing that his debt was cleared on March 9.
Money order for rifle: Report, p. 119.
Note 11: While the postal money order was purchased early in the morning—and the post office did not open until 8:00 a.m. (VII.295). Oswald’s work time sheet shows that he had clocked in by 8:00 a.m. that day (XXII.605). How he managed to get to the post office has been debated, along with the possibility that someone else sent off the order on his behalf. It was suggested (McMillan, op. cit., p.485n8), that Oswald actually went to work only after visiting the post office, and filled in a false time on his time sheet to make it appear he had started work promptly at 8:00 a.m. A check of Oswald’s time sheets (XXIII.538), however, revealed an instruction to employees that “time shown heron must agree with clock register.” If Oswald had to abide by a mechanical clocking device, it would perhaps have been difficult to falsify his arrival time at work.
Coleman: HSCA Report, p. 98n4; see also XXVI.437, 753.
195 Oswald’s driving capability: Report, p. 321.
Surrey: V.446; HSCA Report, p. 98n4.
Claunch: interview with Gary Shaw, independent researcher.
Note 12: The author drew on the Assassinations Committee summary of Walter Coleman’s evidence, because it was the most up-to-date account. However, there are minor discrepancies between this and relevant documents in the Warren Commission volumes. In those reports, the Ford was “white or beige” and older. One of the Warren versions refers to the Ford leaving at speed, while the other does not (XXVI.437–; XVI.753; HSCA Report, pp. 61n5, 98n4).
HSCA on Walker shooting: HSCA Report, pp. 61n5, 98n.
196 November 22 police call re Chevrolet: XXIII.888.
Walker & Cuba: int., 1979.
Walker arouses exiles: XXVI.738, statement of Mrs. Connell.
197 Surrey and leaflet: Report, p. 298; XVIII.646.
Seven Days in May and JFK: The Celluloid Muse by Higham and Greenberg, p. 92; Schelsinger, The Imperial Presidency, pp. 198, 417, Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey, Seven Days in May, New York: Harper and Row, 1962.
De Mohrenschildt in Haiti: HSCA XII.55–(including CIA document 431-154B); (Kail) HSCA XII.57 and HSCA X.42; (plot) Herbert Atkin, quoted in “Three Witnesses,” Dick Russell article, New Times, June 24, 1977.
Postcard: int., Jeanne de Mohrenschildt, 1978.
Anikeeff: Newman, op. cit., p. 278–; and int. Newman, 1995.
Rocca: Rocca to OGC, 7D01, September 28, 1964, JFK 104-10105-10196, www.maryferrell.org.
III. CONSPIRACIES: Cuba and the Mob
13. The Company and the Crooks
201 Assassinations Committee staff report: HSCA X.3.
202 Hunt forms CRC: Hunt, op. cit., pp. 40–50, 182–189.
Hunt recommendation: ibid., p. 38.
Nixon: “Cuba, Castro and John F. Kennedy” by R. M. Nixon, Reader’s Digest, November 1964.
203 Nixon tape: Nixon to H. R. Haldeman, July 23, 1972.
204 Hunt: Hunt quotes are from author’s int. Hunt, 1978, unless otherwise indicated.
Dulles encouraged: Schlesinger, Robert F. Kennedy, p. 452.
CIA intelligence reports on uprising: int. Hunt , 1978.
“Treason”: RFK int. for JFK Oral History program, March 1, 1964.
“Splinter CIA”: e.g. New Times, April 25, 1966.
205 Harvey: Sen. Int. Cttee. Assassination Plots, p. 66.
Pepe San Román: int. for “The CIA’s Secret Army,” CBS, June 10, 1977; HSCA X.9; Haynes Johnson, op. cit., p. 17.
206 Kohly: int., 1978.
“No long-term”: Cuba Study Group, Recommendation 6, June 13, 1961, Schlesinger Papers.
RFK enthusiasm: Sen. Int. Cttee. Assassination Plots, p. 141.
207 JM/WAVE: HSCA X.ll; (statistics: Thomas Powers, op. cit., pp. 136, 139nl6).
Kennedys and captured exiles: Schlesinger, Robert F. Kennedy, Chapter 21.
Miami speech: JFK Public Papers (1962), pp. 911–912.
208 U.S. assurances: Schlesinger, Robert F. Kennedy, p. 257.
JFK on Republicans: Arthur Schlesinger journal, October 30, 1962.
209 Note 1: In his book We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), Professor John Gaddis concluded that the missiles were removed. The view that they may not have been remains dubious speculation.
Clamp down: Sen. Int. Cttee., Performance of Intelligence Agencies, p. 11–; raid March 17–18, 1963 and State Department reaction: Dallas Times-Herald, March 19, 1963; JFK acted: Dallas Times-Herald, March 22, 1963; March 26 raid: Albert Newman, op. cit., p. 326; “Cuba protests”: Dallas Times-Herald, March 28, 29, 30, 1963; U.S. action: Dallas Times-Herald, March 31, 1963; boat seizures: Dallas Times-Herald, April 1, 1963.