Matt Crumpton

Nov 622 min read

Ep 60: Season 2 Conclusions (Part 1)

During this season 2 of Solving JFK, we set out to answer the question “Who was Lee Harvey Oswald, really?” Like everything else in the JFK Assassination, to answer that question, we have to address multiple sub-questions, most of which have inconsistent evidence and disputed answers.

In part 1 of this season 2 conclusion episode, we look back at the body of evidence that was covered over the last 32 episodes to try to provide an answer to some of the most important questions about the life of Lee Harvey Oswald?

THEME SONG

My goal when I set out on the journey to do this podcast was to address all of the primary arguments on the topics we cover, to provide citations to the record for all factual propositions, and to try to deliver that information in a digestible format which brought in my other passion – making music. On that note, I’d like to thank Solving JFK engineer, producer, mixer, and masterer, Jerry DePizzo for all of his work in making sure that these are the best sounding episodes possible. I’d also like to thank you for listening! It's been an honor to have all of you come along on this journey. I appreciate you making me a part of your routines for working out, driving, or doing whatever else it is that you do.

In this episode, we look at seven important questions about the life of Lee Harvey Oswald. The nature of this episode is to summarize the evidence and put it all together. So, if you are asking why there is a missing detail, the answer is because we are keeping it high level. If you want more information on a given topic, please go back and check out the original episode.

Let’s get into it.

1. When did Oswald begin to express an interest in Marxism? And was his interest genuine?

Oswald first began to openly discuss Marxist economic policy with a letter that he wrote to the Socialist Party of America on October 3, 1956, when he was in 10th grade.[1]

This thread of Oswald being a vocal devotee of Marxism or communism was also supported by Oswald’s good friend, Palmer McBride, who worked with Oswald from December of 1957 through May of 1958.[2] Of course, according to the Warren Report, Oswald was serving in the Marines at the time. This raises the issue of an Oswald imposter, which we’ll discuss later. The Warren Commission used McBride’s statements about Oswald loving communism, but disregarded his timeline about when he knew Oswald.[3]

When Oswald was serving in the Marines, the witness statements are inconsistent regarding his interest in left wing politics. Allen Felde, from Oswald’s boot camp, said that he continually discussed politics and was “left winged.”[4] But, later, when Oswald was in Jacksonville, Biloxi, and during his entire service in Japan, there is not a single witness who recalls him speaking favorably of Marxism.[5]

Then, when Oswald returns from Japan, he is universally regarded as a lover of all things Russian and as a Marxist. He played Russian music loudly. He was always the red team when he played chess so he could be the Red Army. He even had a copy of the book Das Capital and read The Worker newspaper.[6]

It does appear that Oswald had a genuine interest in left wing politics that started in high school. But, what is weird about the record is that his outward willingness to discuss Marxism disappeared for a gap of time starting after he left boot camp in the Marines. And then when he gets back to California after serving in Japan, Oswald flips like a switch from not talking about Marxism at all, to being Oswaldskivitch.

In summary, Oswald appeared to be interested in Marxism to an extent as a teenager, but he played up his interest significantly, starting at the Santa Ana base in 1959. His behavior was consistent with someone who was preparing to play a role in an intelligence operation. After all, Oswald told his superior officer’s when he was reprimanded for receiving a communist newspaper, that he was QUOTE “merely trying to indoctrinate himself in the enemies’ philosophy”.[7]

2. When did Oswald learn to speak Russian and how fluent was he?

The Warren Report says QUOTE “While in Atsugi, Japan, Oswald studied the Russian language, perhaps with some help from an officer in his unit who was interested in Russian and used to ‘talk about it’ with Oswald occasionally.”[8] The Report doesn’t tell us who this officer was. There are no known FBI reports or statements from witnesses while Oswald was in Japan to support that he learned Russian while he was there.

The first time anything appears in the record about Oswald learning Russian is when he returns to Santa Ana, California from Japan in December of 1958. He then passed his language proficiency test only two months later in February of 1959. He also went on a date with a lady who spoke Russian because she was trying to get a job in the State Department, Rosaleen Quinn. She said that Oswald spoke Russian well for someone who was self-taught.

When Oswald went to the Soviet Union, he did not speak much Russian. He spoke mostly in English and befriended Russians who could speak English.[9] But, then, when Oswald returned to Dallas, he spoke Russian well enough for Russian instructor Peter Gregory to give him a letter certifying him as a Russian translator.[10] Still, when Oswald allegedly goes to Mexico City, he is heard speaking in broken Russian to the Soviets.

The most persuasive evidence on this topic is from Oswald’s best friend in Minsk, Ernst Titovets. Titovets says that Oswald wrote in Russian and spoke Russian well, but that he had an American accent when he spoke Russian.[11]

Remember, this is a high school dropout with a 9th grade education who we are supposed to believe casually learned Russian in a few months (when no one else saw him studying). I don’t believe that is true. But, he learned Russian somehow. Ultimately, the evidence on when Oswald learned Russian is too cloudy to make a definitive call. I find it inconclusive.

3. When Oswald went to the Soviet Union was he a bona fide defector who wanted to experience Soviet Russia or was he a false defector sent on behalf of an intelligence agency?

With a high degree of certainty, I conclude that Oswald was a false defector on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency.

First, the way Oswald entered the Soviet Union was unique. His travel was set up by Lewis Hopkins in the New Orleans International Trademart. Hopkins also handled travel for Clay Shaw.[12] When Oswald arrives in Helsinki, Finland, he stays at the fanciest 5 star hotel there for 2 nights, and then another very nice hotel for 3 days after that – even though Oswald did not have much money at all and still needed to have money for the trip to Moscow.[13]

Somehow, Oswald was able to obtain a Soviet travel visa within one day of applying for it in Helsinki. But, the normal time to get a visa was 5 to 7 days and it was QUOTE “impossible [to get a Visa] within two or three days” according to what the Soviet Embassy in Helsinki told the CIA.[14] It turns out that that Helsinki was the only place in Europe where travel visas were processed on site instead of being sent to Moscow for approval.

Second, as noted, Oswald lived lavishly when he was in Helsinki, which is out of character for him, and out of his budget. On top of the swanky hotels where he stayed in Helsinki, his travel with Intourist, the Soviet travel agency, was booked as Deluxe – which was the expensive, luxury class. We don’t know how Oswald could afford all of this given that he didn’t have much money, he had already spent a lot of it to get to Helsinki from the States, and he still needed to have some money to get around in the Soviet Union.

The third indicator of Oswald’s ties to the CIA is the saga of Otto Otepka. Around the time Oswald went to the USSR, there was an uptick in American defectors. Knowing that some of those defectors were likely involved in intelligence operations, the head of the State Department’s Office of Security, Otto Otepka, wrote a letter to the CIA asking for information on 18 recent defectors, including Lee Harvey Oswald.

Internal CIA documents show that the Soviet Russia division of CIA, which would have jurisdiction over this question was never in the loop.[15] Instead, the CIA’s Office of Security was in charge of looking in to the status of these defectors as requested by Otepka. Marguerite Stevens of the CIA, who was ultimately given the research project, was told that she should not look into the status of 7 specific defectors because Otepka already had information on them. But, this was not true. Otepka did not have information on those 7 people. One of the names among those 7 that Stevens was told not to look up was Lee Harvey Oswald.[16] After this incident, Otepka lost access to sensitive cases, was asked to transfer to another division in the State Department, and had listening devices planted in his office. Also, his safe, which had information on these 18 defectors, was broken into.

Fourth, there was an active operation to place false defectors as spies in the Soviet Union according to CIA officer Victor Marchetti. Marchetti told the HSCA that the Office of Naval Intelligence ran the operation out of Nag’s Head, North Carolina.[17] Marchetti would be in a position to know as the former special assistant to the Deputy Director of the CIA. To further support this idea, FBI liaison officer to the CIA, Sam Papich told the Church Committee in 1975 that he remembered QUOTE “discussions of a plan to have a CIA or FBI man defect to Moscow.”[18]

The possibility that Oswald worked for the CIA was further supported by the HSCA testimony of James Wilcott, who worked as a CIA finance officer from 1957 to 1966. Wilcott told the HSCA that he had dispersed money for the “Oswald Project” in the late 1950s. He said Oswald was a double agent sent to the soviet union to do intelligence work and that his defection was phony. It’s important to note, however, that Wilcott’s information came secondhand from other CIA personnel he worked with who were certain that Oswald was an agent of the CIA.[19]

Points five through seven are ones that we’ve hinted at and discussed some in recap and rebuttals episodes and in the interview with John Newman, but we have not really covered in depth. Incidentally, these are the strongest arguments that Oswald was a false defector.

The fifth reason that Oswald was likely a false defector is the delayed decision to open his CIA 201 file. A 201 file is a file that the CIA opens on a person of interest. The CIA started reading Oswald’s mail as part of operation HT-LINGUAL in November of 1959. Despite being important enough to read his mail, the CIA decided Oswald wasn’t important enough to open a routine 201 file on. Even former CIA director, Richard Helms, said that he was QUOTE “amazed” that a 201 file wasn’t opened immediately when Oswald defected and threatened to share U2 spy plane secrets with the Soviets, or when the CIA started reading his mail. Helms said that he could not explain it.[20] CIA Officers William Larson and Birch O’Neil also said they could not explain why the 201 took so long to open.[21] When the HSCA asked where the internal CIA documents on Oswald were going if he didn’t have a 201 file, the CIA responded that all of the documents had been retained for 5 years and then thrown away.[22] This late opening of a 201 file at a minimum means that Oswald was being treated different from the established protocol.

Sixth, when Oswald’s 201 was finally opened, the way it was routed within the CIA is consistent with Oswald being involved in an operation, as opposed to Oswald being watched as a threat. The Soviet Russia Division of CIA was responsible for keeping tabs on American defectors to the USSR. But Oswald’s file wasn’t opened by or held by the Soviet Russia Division as it would be for a routine matter. Instead, it was opened by the Special Investigations Group, which was led by James Angleton, and held by the Office of Security.[23]

HSCA investigator, Betsy Wolf, was tasked with researching Oswald’s CIA 201 file. When Wolf interviewed Robert Gambino, the chief of CIA’s Office of Security in 1978, he told her that when all of Oswald’s files came in to the Office of Mail Logistics, they bypassed the general filing system, which would have routed them to the Soviet Russia Division. Instead, they were sent to the Office of Security.[24]

To get clarity on this issue, Wolf and fellow HSCA investigator Dan Hardaway spoke with Ann Egerter who worked in the CIA’s Special Investigations Group (aka S-I-G). Egerter from S.I.G. is the person who first opened Oswald’s 201 file. (Although, SIG opened the 201 file, Oswald’s documents were routed to the Office of Security once the file was open.) According to Betsy Wolf’s notes, Ann Egerter said QUOTE “the fact that [the] 201 [file is] in SIG indicates sensitivity.”[25] She added that “her office would be a very good place to deal in something that had to be closely held,” and that it “dealt mainly with espionage and infiltration of the agency.”[26] Egerter said that SIG was known as QUOTE “the office that spied on spies.”[27]

So, we have Oswald’s 201 file being opened late by the Office within CIA that spied on spies, and then when new files on Oswald came in, they were routed to the Office of Security, instead of the Soviet Russia Division. This routing meant that if someone in the Soviet Russia Division wanted to get access to Oswald’s file, they would have to request it and sign for it, which Angleton hoped would lead the S.I.G to the KGB mole that Angleton thought was hiding somewhere in the Soviet Russia Division.

This brings us to our seventh, and, in my view, most compelling argument: Oswald was a witting false defector for the CIA because legendary CIA counterintelligence officer, Pete Bagley said that’s what the documents say.[28] In 2012, researcher Malcolm Blunt met with Bagley at his home in Brussels to ask for Bagley’s opinion about documents related to Oswald’s time in the Soviet Union. Looking at those documents, Bagley confidently told Malcolm Blunt that Oswald had to be a witting false defector.[29] This body of evidence is further explored in John Newman’s 2022 book, Uncovering Popov’s Mole.

Newman, a former Army intelligence major and assistant to the director of the National Security Agency, says that the decision to send Oswald to Moscow as a false defector was made by the CIA’s Office of Security.[30]Based on the way the files were routed, someone at the Office of Security must have known about Oswald defecting in advance so that they could make sure the incoming documents did not go to the Soviet Russia Division.[31]

During the Cold War each country’s spy agencies were trying to infiltrate the other agency. Pyotr Popov was an American defector in place who passed on secrets about the KGB to the CIA. In other words, Popov was a mole.[32] Before Popov was eventually discovered by the KGB, he told his CIA handler that the KGB knew all about the U2 spy plane, and that there was a high ranking Soviet mole somewhere within the CIA. This then led to a years long mole hunt within the CIA, which James Angleton believed was in the Soviet Russia Division.[33]

Based on documents uncovered by Malcolm Blunt, and confirmed by the CIA’s Pete Bagley, a mole hunt was set up by Bruce Solie, in the CIA’s Office of Security that focused on the Soviet Russia Division. Solie used Oswald as bait because of his knowledge of U2 spy planes. The idea was that Oswald would go to the Soviet Union as a defector and share information about the U2 Spy Plane with the Soviets.

And then, when the KGB wanted to check on Oswald to see what could be learned about him, and if he really had access to U2 secrets, they would ask their mole in the CIA to ask around for information. But, as mentioned earlier, because Oswald’s files were in the Office of Security instead of going to the Soviet Russia Division, the mole would reveal themselves when they requested access to the Oswald file. In the end, the mole was never discovered.

Bruce Solie failed to find the mole. But, he succeeded at maintaining his cover. You see, according to Newman, Bruce Solie, the man who set up the mole hunt, turned out to be the KGB mole himself. This is just a high level summary of a story that is extremely in-depth and deserves its own episode, which I hope to do some time in the future.

In conclusion, based on all of the aforementioned, I find it highly likely that Lee Harvey Oswald was a false defector to the Soviet Union on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency. Oswald’s defection had nothing to do with the Kennedy Assassination. It had everything to do with Cold War spy games.

4. What was George de Mohrenschildt’s role in Oswald’s life?

George de Mohrenschildt was an oil entrepreneur of Russian descent who had intelligence connections, and went on to be Oswald’s closest friend for a brief window of time between September of 1962 and April of 1963. Without a doubt, de Mohrenschildt had bona fide CIA connections and was a CIA asset.

He was in Guatemala City, the base for the Bay of Pigs invasion on the day of the invasion’s launch, April 17, 1961. This may be a coincidence. He and his wife happened to be walking from Texas to Panama on a walking tour.[34] There is also a claim by oil lawyer Herbert Itkin that he met with CIA director Allen Dulles in 1954 in Philadelphia to discuss anti-American activity in his law firm, and Itkin was later contacted by a man named Phillip Harbin who said he was QUOTE “from that man in Philadelphia”. An internal CIA memo says Itkin made the whole thing up. But, years later, CIA agent William Gaudet told the HSCA that he knew de Mohrenschildt under his alias, Phillip Harbin.[35]

On top of the Itkin story, de Mohrenschildt also had a close relationship with J. Walton Moore of the Dallas, CIA office. He provided multiple written reports on his oil business travels in Yugoslavia to Moore. And the two men were close enough for Moore to have dined at de Mohrenschildt’s home on multiple occasions.[36]

The real question is why did de Mohrenschildt decide to go meet Lee Harvey Oswald in the first place. After all, they didn’t meet serendipitously. De Mohrenschildt stopped by Oswald’s duplex one day to meet him. The stories are mixed as to why he did that.

De Mohrenschildt told the Warren Commission that he thought George Bouhe (one of the elders of the White Russian community in Dallas) or his lawyer, Max Clark, told him about the Oswalds, and de Mohrenschildt, QUOTE “got curious, what kind of fellow he is and what kind of woman she is.”[37] After meeting them, de Mohrenschildt said that he then asked J. Walton Moore in 1962 if it was all right to know Oswald because he was worried that both of the Oswalds may be soviet spies, given how easy it was for Marina to leave the Soviet Union compared to other people he knew. De Mohrenschildt said that the CIA man, Moore, told him QUOTE “Oswald is a harmless lunatic.” Moore later denied ever speaking to De Mohrenschildt about Oswald at all.[38]

But, De Mohrenschildt told author Edward Epstein another story. He said that an associate of Moore’s contacted him, gave him Oswald’s address, and suggested that he should meet Oswald. In exchange, De Mohrenschildt asked for the State Department to help him with an oil exploration contract in Haiti. De Mohrenschildt told Edward Epstein, QUOTE “I would never have contacted Oswald in a million years if [J. Walton] Moore [of the CIA] had not sanctioned it.”[39]

To recap, we have a wealthy, sophisticated, CIA connected, 51 year old international oil man who is Russian nobility and hangs out with right wing Russians, going out of his way to befriend a 23 year old avowed Marxist, attempted defector, who has no money or prospects. That’s the official story. The story that de Mohrenschildt told Edward Epstein sounds more plausible on its face, especially since de Mohrenschildt did, in fact, get the contract that he hoped to get in Haiti.

Given the strangeness of de Mohrenschildt seeking out Oswald, de Mohrenschildt’s own CIA background as Phillip Harbin, his personal relationship with J. Walton Moore, and the dueling stories about whether the CIA merely approved the contact with Oswald or whether they directed the contact, it appears that de Mohrenschildt, most likely, was gathering information on Oswald, probably on behalf of the CIA.

5. Did Oswald work with Guy Banister in New Orleans?

Yes, unless nine witnesses were lying.

Guy Banister was the former head of the Chicago FBI, where he spent his career spying on leftists and developing people who would infiltrate and inform on leftist groups.[40] Banister then worked for the New Orleans police for awhile before opening his own private eye firm where one of his clients was Sergio Arcacha Smith’s Cuban Revolutionary Council. He ran background checks on students who wanted to join Smith’s group. According to former Banister investigator, Joe Oster, Banister didn’t accept much other private investigation work. Banister also served as the head of the Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean.[41]

If it can be established that Oswald worked with Banister, then we would have someone who is ostensibly pro-Castro, working with extreme anti-Castro people. It does appear that Oswald was working for someone because he told his former attorney, Dean Andrews, that he was being paid $25 per day to hand out the flyers![42] While the HSCA concluded that Oswald did not work for Banister, there is additional information that the HSCA did not consider.

Both Delphine Roberts and Jack Martin said that Oswald knew Banister and had been in the office. But, the HSCA disregarded their testimony because each of them had given statements where they failed to mention Oswald’s connections before. I believe that Roberts and Martin may have been telling the truth. But, for a moment, let’s just ignore their testimony.[43]

Louisiana State Police Officer Joseph Cambre told the HSCA that Lee Harvey Oswald’s name was found among Guy Banister’s FPCC files as one of the main subjects. But, the HSCA didn’t believe Cambre because he didn’t have the documents and because they said they didn’t have any other proof of Banister with Oswald.[44]

But, even if we ignore Roberts and Martin, there are still at least 7 other people who are on the record one way or another saying that they saw Oswald with Guy Banister or heard Banister talk about Oswald: Professor Michael Kurtz, Banister investigators George Higginbotham and Vernon Gerdes, Banister student group infiltrators Tommy Baumler, Dan Campbell, Allen Campbell, and secretary Consuela Martin.

Banister investigator David Lewis didn’t see Oswald with Banister, but he did see Oswald eating lunch with Sergio Arcacha Smith, one of Banister’s clients, who was David Ferrie’s close friend. For a pro-castro sympathizer to be having a friendly lunch with one of the leaders of an anti-Castro Cuban exile group does not make any sense – unless one of them is not genuine in their public presentation.

Probably the most persuasive account of Banister knowing Oswald is William Gaudet, a former CIA agent, who saw Banister speaking to Oswald in front of the International Trademart. Gaudet said they were not strangers and it looked like Banister wanted Oswald to do something. What is surprising about Gaudet is that the HSCA used Gaudet as a credible source for the information he gave them on Oswald in Mexico City. But, for whatever reason, the HSCA, despite finding Gaudet to be a credible source, ignored what Gaudet told them about Oswald and Banister.[45]

The counterargument to all of these sightings is that the people who are saying they saw Oswald were not telling the truth or are simply not credible witnesses. If the evidence was all about witness testimony alone, it would potentially be a closer call because some of these witnesses do have credibility issues – as noted by the HSCA’s failure to believe the testimony of Delphine Roberts and Jack Martin.

There is another piece of evidence that ties Oswald to Banister’s office: the infamous first edition pamphlet for The Crime Against Cuba that has a stamp for 544 Camp Street. Banister’s office was located at 531 Lafayette Street, on the corner of Lafayette and Camp. The second floor to the same building was 544 Camp Street. The existence of this stamp potentially connects Oswald with Banister’s office. And there are a few things that make the 544 Camp Street stamp even more suspicious.

First, the edition that is in evidence (obtained by FBI informant Jesse Core) is the first edition, printed in June 1961. By December of 1961, the pamphlet was on its 4th edition. This means that Oswald would have had to obtain the pamphlets while he was in the Soviet Union, which is not possible, OR Oswald would have had to find some first edition pamphlets somewhere. Another possibility that cannot be ruled out is that the pamphlets came from the CIA because there is a receipt from the CIA mailroom on July 29, 1961, where they ordered 45 copies of the first edition of that pamphlet.

Second, getting back to the 544 Camp Street address, Jesse Core mailed the pamphlet to the New Orleans FBI with a message on the front that said QUOTE “Note inside back cover”. The inside back cover is where the 544 Camp Street stamp had been placed.

Third, the head of the New Orleans FBI, Harry Maynor, wrote a memo to the FBI HQ that said QUOTE “Several Fair Play for Cuba Pamphlets contained address 544 Camp Street.” But that sentence, while it remained legible, had been stricken through by Maynor. This shows that he received the message from Core about Oswald handing out pamphlets with this address, which apparently, was of note to the FBI.

Given the weight of the evidence, it is highly likely that Oswald worked for Banister in New Orleans, infiltrating leftist groups, which is what Banister specialized in.

6. Did Oswald travel to Jackson and Clinton, Louisiana with David Ferrie and Clay Shaw?

Yes, Lee Harvey Oswald or someone who was trying to impersonate him traveled to Jackson, and then Clinton, Louisiana in late August 1963, probably with Clay Shaw and David Ferrie in a black Cadillac.

Around that time there were multiple sightings of a person witnesses say looked like Lee Harvey Oswald and held himself out to be Lee Harvey Oswald. And in many of the witness statements there is a mention of Oswald seeking a job at the East Louisiana State Hospital in Jackson, also known as East Hospital.

First, Oswald goes to the Barber, Edwin Lee McGehee and asks about getting a job at East Hospital. The barber sends him to state rep Reeves Morgan, who also says Oswald asked him about getting a job at East Hospital. Morgan told Oswald to go register to vote, which may help him get the job. Oswald is then seen standing in line waiting to register to vote by Corrie Collins, who was the leader of a group conducting a voter registration drive.

While Oswald is waiting in line to register, Town Marshall John Manchester checks in on a mysterious black Cadillac that had 2 men in it. Marshall said the driver said he was from the International Trademart in New Orleans, and later identified the driver as Clay Shaw. Corrie Collins, William Dunn, and Henry Clark all identified Clay Shaw and David Ferrie as the men in the black Cadillac.

Once Oswald gets to the front of the line, he talks to Henry Palmer, uses a Navy ID card that says Lee Oswald, and asks about getting a job at East Hospital. Palmer turns Oswald away because his address said New Orleans, so he could not register in Clinton.

After Palmer told Oswald he didn’t need to be registered to vote to work at East Hospital, Oswald then went to East Hospital, where he spoke to Bobbie Dedon who says she gave him directions to the personnel office. Maxine Kemp and Aline Woodside also confirmed that Oswald had applied for employment, but the file had gone missing.

Based on this information, it is highly likely that Oswald or an impersonator visited Jackson and Clinton. He used his name, the witnesses said he was the same Oswald from TV, and there is the common thread about Oswald wanting a job at East Hospital. Not to mention that he follows the advice of each person to logically go to move on to the next step.

It is likely that Shaw and David Ferrie were with Oswald, which, if true, would put Oswald once again in a circle of right wing anti-communists, which is consistent with Oswald working with Banister and hanging out with people like Sergio Arcacha Smith.

7. Is Jim Garrison’s story about Oswald meeting with David Ferrie and Clay Shaw to plan a conspiracy to kill Kennedy true?

No. I don’t believe so.

Jim Garrison’s theory of the case that he ultimately presented when he charged Clay Shaw with conspiracy to kill President Kennedy, was that Lee Harvey Oswald was seen at a party at David Ferrie’s house, talking with Ferrie and Shaw about killing President Kennedy in a crossfire. According to Garrison, this was all overheard by his star witness, Perry Russo, who was there at the party.[46]

There are a few reasons that this theory is not persuasive to me. First, the allegation made by Russo about this conversation at Ferrie’s party was too vague to be actionable. Even if Russo really did overhear what he says he did, all he heard is 3 guys talking vaguely about shooting Kennedy and their potential alibis. Second, Russo said Oswald had a beard at the time. But, Oswald is not known to have had a beard. Third, the basic theory of the conspiracy puts Oswald as one of multiple shooters. This is not consistent with the evidence we’ve studied which casts significant doubt on the idea that Oswald could have been on the 6th floor at the time the shots were fired.[47]

Fourth, Garrison’s tactics when it came to Perry Russo were questionable. There is a big evidentiary issue when it comes to when exactly Russo relayed his story of the guilty conversation between Ferrie, Shaw, and Oswald. It appears that Garrison’s investigators may have obtained Russo’s statement about that conversation for the first time when Russo was on Sodium Pentothol. The details of this are disputed.

But, what concerned me more than the sodium pentothal were the favors that Garrison did for Perry Russo before the trial. Garrison called in a favor to the governor to have one of Russo’s friends reinstated at Louisiana State University. He also helped Russo’s friend avoid the draft and the Vietnam War by charging his friend with false criminal charges that successfully removed him from draft eligibility. Those actions can be seen as effectively bribing the star witness, whether that is what Garrison was doing or not.[48]

While Garrison did not prove his case, his investigation did bring to light some facts that are key to our understanding of the assassination today. As noted earlier, Garrison established that:

1. Clay Shaw, David Ferrie and Lee Harvey Oswald very likely traveled to Jackson and Clinton, Louisiana together.

2. Oswald did work with Guy Banister, and he was seen by multiple witnesses at 544 Camp Street.

3. Clay Shaw and Clay Bertrand were the same person. This is important because, Dean Andrews told the Warren Commission that Clay Bertrand called him to represent Oswald, after the assassination, while he was recovering from Pneumonia in the hospital. So, proving Bertrand is Clay Shaw also establishes that Clay Shaw was trying to get Oswald a lawyer, which shows that Shaw knew Oswald.

That’s all for part 1 of the season 2 conclusion. NEXT TIME ON SOLVING JFK: We continue making determinations about Lee Harvey Oswald’s life with the second half of the Season 2 conclusions episode.

[1] Warren Report at 681. (It is true that Henry Timmer of North Dakota says that Oswald was talking about Marxism when he was 14. But, it is not clear that Oswald was ever actually in North Dakota, due to lack of corroboration as noted in the Young Oswald recap and rebuttals episode.)

[2] See Palmer McBride FBI Report, 11/26/63, https://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh22/pdf/WH22_CE_1386.pdf

[3] Warren Report at 384.

[4] FBI Interview of Allen Felde, June 25, 1964 by SA Robert Schoenecker, https://digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com/Documents/Detail/oswalds-early-years-marines-allen-felde/688146?item=688149

[5] https://www.solvingjfkpodcast.com/post/ep-34-oswald-in-the-marines-part-3

[6] Id.

[7] Gerald Posner, Case Closed at 32.

[8] Warren Report at 257.

[9] https://www.solvingjfkpodcast.com/post/ep-38-oswald-in-russia-part-4

[10] James DiEugenio, Destiny Betrayed, at 353.

[11] https://aarclibrary.org/1552-2/ at 56:00.

[12] DiEugenio at 137.

[13] See https://www.solvingjfkpodcast.com/post/ep-35-oswald-in-russia-part-1