For me, the Chicago plot more than anything else throws a wrench into the idea that Oswald was being set up for months (say from April 1963) as the patsy for the assassination. A lot of accounts have Oswald being elaborately framed for months.
I’ve always found Bolden’s story to be highly credible, and that implies the decision to do the hit in Dallas (using Oswald as the fall guy) may only have materialized three weeks before the event, if that. Because assuming the Chicago plot was not designed to be aborted, which makes little sense to me, then the original patsy was supposed to be Thomas Arthur Vallee.
Does anyone else have the same sense about this? I think the Chicago plot was real, but then what was Oswald being used for from April to early November 1963? Or was the Chicago plot only intended as a “test run”? Cuban snipers were reputedly involved. Richard Carr was both a Mafia “made man” and a member of the Chicago PD. He was reportedly in Dallas on assassination day.
Another possibility is that the Chicago plot was an independent Mafia operation, and that when the Deep State agencies got wind of it, they let it be known to the Mob that everything was already set up for Dallas, patsy and all. The CIA somehow blew the Chicago plot's cover because the patsy for that scheme was not ideal (Vallee was "right wing"). CIA wanted a "Commie" taking the blame, so they went with Oswald and Dallas.
I assumed that there were several sets of actors with the same script in several different locations in case some attempts failed due to unforeseen circumstances. Wouldn't the CIA plan for contingencies?
Great article. I met Paul Bleau in Dallas on November. Very intelligent. I take all his points on board, but I’m still not clear on what Oswald was being groomed for in the months before Dallas.
I suppose my point is, while I can accept that there were not only contingency assassination plans but also a “reserve arsenal” of patsies, if Dallas was Plan C or D or whatever, what was Oswald being used for before the beginning of November, when presumably the plot shifted from Chicago to either Tampa or Dallas? That is, are we to believe that all the weird psyop stuff in New Orleans in August and the impersonation business in Mexico City in September-October were aimed at setting Oswald up as a patsy for the assassination of JFK? That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. He was obviously being used for something, but the decision to make him the patsy for the JFK hit must have come later.
Somehow (and I think about this every day), Oswald was (I believe) being used in a plot to kill Castro. I can’t quite work out how, or what the conspirators hoped to do with him once they’d knocked off Fidel, but I believe Oswald figured into either a conspiracy to kill the Cuban leader or else a “false flag” operation to prompt a U.S. invasion of Cuba. I’m led to believe that by something David Phillips wrote in an unpublished manuscript.
I don’t actually lean heavily toward the idea that Phillips was an active, witting conspirator in a plot to kill JFK. Rather, I think he was involved in sheep-dipping Oswald for something else. I think other CIA bigwigs (maybe Bill Harvey and David Morales) were more likely conscious conspirators. Phillips helped with the cover-up, following orders from superiors, etc. He knew what had happened but never elaborated.
I presume the patsy operation fell entirely to James Angleton. IIRC Mr Mowatt-Larssen pointed out that any prospective patsy would have to be trained to follow a bizarre series of instructions without understanding the purpose.
That appears to have been done with Oswald. I would imagine the same was done with Valle and perhaps others.
If let’s say the Chicago plot was successful and Valle ended up the dead lone nut would Oswald’s activities still be useful to Angleton? I would say yes.
I’d say starting in 1959 Oswald’s main roles were 1) the mole hunt and 2) as a “dangle” for KGB recruitment who could then be “flipped” so he is working for our side. All of his Mexico City and New Orleans “legend” would still be useful in that way.
The Mexico City episode is the most odd to me. I believe John Newman has suggested that the first visits of Oswald to the consulates were intended to succeed, and that the impersonation only happened when it was clear they had failed.
I’m more inclined to go with Bill Simpich’s theory in “State Secret” that the whole thing was intended to fail, but he also accepts that the first visits and calls were made by the accused. I think the accused probably did go to Mexico, but his exact activities are not established as fact.
John Armstrong thinks the entire Mexico City caper was a hoax, and that the accused never visited Mexico at all, but of course he has the doppelgänger theory to fall back on, and that fills in so many gaps. He totally dismisses the possibility of Mafis involvement. I don’t, even if I don’t think (as Lamar Waldron does) that the Mob orchestrated the whole Mexico City episode. That’s too much.
The remaining withheld AMSPELL documents might at least offer some idea of what Oswald was being used for even if they don’t explain an assassination plot. The Mafia always uses patsies; the CIA doesn’t. If the Mob used Oswald as a patsy when the CIA hadn’t intended it (because someone tipped off the Mafia to the nature of the CIA’s Oswald op), then the Mob would have triggered an immediate cover-up by CIA et al without having to do anything at all except sit back and laugh.
1) I believe the Mob was deeply involved but their primary role was to sit back and laugh.
2) If Oswald was impersonated at all then I’d say that proves a conspiracy and implicates a whole boatload of people many of them extremely powerful.
3) Somewhere there has to be a scrap of paper that proves Oswald being steered by handlers.
4) I take Waldron to be a highly sophisticated paid Agency apologist (so no I don’t believe the Mob orchestrated Mexico City which would absolve guess who).
Bolden’s story has always been very much underappreciated. 
He is truly a heroic figure.  And the story of how JFK invited him to serve on the White House detail is a truly heroic story — and speaks volumes, not about why he was killed, but about why so many were willing to participate in the crime. 
So many great movies could be made just about the minor figures in the JFK saga, Bolden being one of them. What happened to that poor man for simply telling the truth and doing his job could be an Oscar winner. Denzel should play him.
Bolden's story is emblematic of what America really is.
Which reminds me of something I think about almost everyday being a Turner Classic Movies fan: how Hollywood movies were and still are the oligarchy's most effective propaganda tool. They shape our attitudes about ourselves and the country. People forget that movies were strictly regulated and censored from 1934 to 1968 (how Stalinesque). A movie couldn't be distributed unless it met production code requirements. The movies created the myths that Americans believe about both themselves and the country, one of which seems to be that we are a good-natured, well-meaning people who do nothing but good in the world. We think we are the Lone Ranger, riding around fixing everybody's troubles expecting nothing in return. Compare that to the reality of our invasions, coups d'etat, assassinations, sanctions, militarism, and bullying which has resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent people around the world (one estimate puts it at 20 million).
The result of this unending propaganda is that we look stupid to the rest of the world:
What a great comment about Oscar worthy stories. There are so many of them.
I have thought there should be a Vietnam style memorial for JFK researchers alone.
Re distribution: Reminds me of RFK Sr’s book The Enemy Within.... he was encouraged to make a movie of it but declined IIRC because of potential problems with distribution (ie mobsters controlled distribution).
"Estes, after serving a long prison sentence, filed an affidavit in 1984 with the Justice Department swearing that LBJ had recruited him to help arrange eight murders . . . ."
"You bastards trying to send me to jail"? As he left the office, Johnson turned toward the Kennedys, who were standing next to the Oval Office desk, and shouted, "Y'all better stop fucking with me, you son of a bitches."
Johnson clearly was a psychopath every bit as horrible as any other psychopath who has ever been in power in the rest of the world. That fact in itself is probably classified top secret.
For me, the Chicago plot more than anything else throws a wrench into the idea that Oswald was being set up for months (say from April 1963) as the patsy for the assassination. A lot of accounts have Oswald being elaborately framed for months.
I’ve always found Bolden’s story to be highly credible, and that implies the decision to do the hit in Dallas (using Oswald as the fall guy) may only have materialized three weeks before the event, if that. Because assuming the Chicago plot was not designed to be aborted, which makes little sense to me, then the original patsy was supposed to be Thomas Arthur Vallee.
Does anyone else have the same sense about this? I think the Chicago plot was real, but then what was Oswald being used for from April to early November 1963? Or was the Chicago plot only intended as a “test run”? Cuban snipers were reputedly involved. Richard Carr was both a Mafia “made man” and a member of the Chicago PD. He was reportedly in Dallas on assassination day.
Another possibility is that the Chicago plot was an independent Mafia operation, and that when the Deep State agencies got wind of it, they let it be known to the Mob that everything was already set up for Dallas, patsy and all. The CIA somehow blew the Chicago plot's cover because the patsy for that scheme was not ideal (Vallee was "right wing"). CIA wanted a "Commie" taking the blame, so they went with Oswald and Dallas.
I assumed that there were several sets of actors with the same script in several different locations in case some attempts failed due to unforeseen circumstances. Wouldn't the CIA plan for contingencies?
https://www.kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/the-three-failed-plots-to-kill-jfk-the-historians-guide-on-how-to-research-his-assassination
Great article. I met Paul Bleau in Dallas on November. Very intelligent. I take all his points on board, but I’m still not clear on what Oswald was being groomed for in the months before Dallas.
I suppose my point is, while I can accept that there were not only contingency assassination plans but also a “reserve arsenal” of patsies, if Dallas was Plan C or D or whatever, what was Oswald being used for before the beginning of November, when presumably the plot shifted from Chicago to either Tampa or Dallas? That is, are we to believe that all the weird psyop stuff in New Orleans in August and the impersonation business in Mexico City in September-October were aimed at setting Oswald up as a patsy for the assassination of JFK? That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. He was obviously being used for something, but the decision to make him the patsy for the JFK hit must have come later.
Somehow (and I think about this every day), Oswald was (I believe) being used in a plot to kill Castro. I can’t quite work out how, or what the conspirators hoped to do with him once they’d knocked off Fidel, but I believe Oswald figured into either a conspiracy to kill the Cuban leader or else a “false flag” operation to prompt a U.S. invasion of Cuba. I’m led to believe that by something David Phillips wrote in an unpublished manuscript.
I don’t actually lean heavily toward the idea that Phillips was an active, witting conspirator in a plot to kill JFK. Rather, I think he was involved in sheep-dipping Oswald for something else. I think other CIA bigwigs (maybe Bill Harvey and David Morales) were more likely conscious conspirators. Phillips helped with the cover-up, following orders from superiors, etc. He knew what had happened but never elaborated.
I presume the patsy operation fell entirely to James Angleton. IIRC Mr Mowatt-Larssen pointed out that any prospective patsy would have to be trained to follow a bizarre series of instructions without understanding the purpose.
That appears to have been done with Oswald. I would imagine the same was done with Valle and perhaps others.
If let’s say the Chicago plot was successful and Valle ended up the dead lone nut would Oswald’s activities still be useful to Angleton? I would say yes.
I’d say starting in 1959 Oswald’s main roles were 1) the mole hunt and 2) as a “dangle” for KGB recruitment who could then be “flipped” so he is working for our side. All of his Mexico City and New Orleans “legend” would still be useful in that way.
The Mexico City episode is the most odd to me. I believe John Newman has suggested that the first visits of Oswald to the consulates were intended to succeed, and that the impersonation only happened when it was clear they had failed.
I’m more inclined to go with Bill Simpich’s theory in “State Secret” that the whole thing was intended to fail, but he also accepts that the first visits and calls were made by the accused. I think the accused probably did go to Mexico, but his exact activities are not established as fact.
John Armstrong thinks the entire Mexico City caper was a hoax, and that the accused never visited Mexico at all, but of course he has the doppelgänger theory to fall back on, and that fills in so many gaps. He totally dismisses the possibility of Mafis involvement. I don’t, even if I don’t think (as Lamar Waldron does) that the Mob orchestrated the whole Mexico City episode. That’s too much.
The remaining withheld AMSPELL documents might at least offer some idea of what Oswald was being used for even if they don’t explain an assassination plot. The Mafia always uses patsies; the CIA doesn’t. If the Mob used Oswald as a patsy when the CIA hadn’t intended it (because someone tipped off the Mafia to the nature of the CIA’s Oswald op), then the Mob would have triggered an immediate cover-up by CIA et al without having to do anything at all except sit back and laugh.
An assortment of thoughts:
1) I believe the Mob was deeply involved but their primary role was to sit back and laugh.
2) If Oswald was impersonated at all then I’d say that proves a conspiracy and implicates a whole boatload of people many of them extremely powerful.
3) Somewhere there has to be a scrap of paper that proves Oswald being steered by handlers.
4) I take Waldron to be a highly sophisticated paid Agency apologist (so no I don’t believe the Mob orchestrated Mexico City which would absolve guess who).
Yeah I very much agree with this. It looks to me like they had Plan A, B, C for every scenario.
What if Frazier totaled his car driving Oswald to work that morning? Call everything off? My guess is Givens was Plan B to take the fall in Dallas.
I wonder if the SS deleted their records in part because Bolden was on the record saying Kennedy’s life was at risk.
And in part because some of the agents were part of the plot, or at a bare minimum grossly negligent in their duties to protect the president.
Bolden’s story has always been very much underappreciated. 
He is truly a heroic figure.  And the story of how JFK invited him to serve on the White House detail is a truly heroic story — and speaks volumes, not about why he was killed, but about why so many were willing to participate in the crime. 
So many great movies could be made just about the minor figures in the JFK saga, Bolden being one of them. What happened to that poor man for simply telling the truth and doing his job could be an Oscar winner. Denzel should play him.
Bolden's story is emblematic of what America really is.
Which reminds me of something I think about almost everyday being a Turner Classic Movies fan: how Hollywood movies were and still are the oligarchy's most effective propaganda tool. They shape our attitudes about ourselves and the country. People forget that movies were strictly regulated and censored from 1934 to 1968 (how Stalinesque). A movie couldn't be distributed unless it met production code requirements. The movies created the myths that Americans believe about both themselves and the country, one of which seems to be that we are a good-natured, well-meaning people who do nothing but good in the world. We think we are the Lone Ranger, riding around fixing everybody's troubles expecting nothing in return. Compare that to the reality of our invasions, coups d'etat, assassinations, sanctions, militarism, and bullying which has resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent people around the world (one estimate puts it at 20 million).
The result of this unending propaganda is that we look stupid to the rest of the world:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLRR792s_bg&t=181s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5uuIR4LgRI
What a great comment about Oscar worthy stories. There are so many of them.
I have thought there should be a Vietnam style memorial for JFK researchers alone.
Re distribution: Reminds me of RFK Sr’s book The Enemy Within.... he was encouraged to make a movie of it but declined IIRC because of potential problems with distribution (ie mobsters controlled distribution).
Kudos for your memorial idea.
ha ha ha
BTW great videos, thanks.
Important topics.
ha ha ha ha
(since we’re all comedians here anyway...)
Just the other day I sent this video to Jeff....
Let that sink in....
https://rumble.com/v1aiwee-us-spy-operation-that-manipulates-social-media-revealed.html
"Estes, after serving a long prison sentence, filed an affidavit in 1984 with the Justice Department swearing that LBJ had recruited him to help arrange eight murders . . . ."
"You bastards trying to send me to jail"? As he left the office, Johnson turned toward the Kennedys, who were standing next to the Oval Office desk, and shouted, "Y'all better stop fucking with me, you son of a bitches."
Johnson clearly was a psychopath every bit as horrible as any other psychopath who has ever been in power in the rest of the world. That fact in itself is probably classified top secret.
That article should be required reading.