Week in Review: The Oswald File Timeline
JFK Facts has the latest updates — in video, audio, pdf, .doc & hip-hop transcript
When organizing research work, I always make use of a tool that is simple, inexpensive and machine independent: a timeline. Entering facts, data, and documents into chronological order gives information more than order. It can provide a view that gives new meaning to the information — something that isn’t hidden but just out of sight, something that makes a connection, or fires up a re-examination of a previous analysis. Make that timeline in a text file, spreadsheet, or write it in ink.
This week JFK Facts Editor Jefferson Morley picked one day on his timeline — Oct. 10, 1963 — and showed how a now-unredacted CIA document offers a new view of the CIA's knowledge about Lee Harvey Oswald. The Oct. 10 cable dissolves the cover story, fed to the Warren Commission, that the CIA only had a “routine” interest in Oswald before the assassination. A half dozen high-ranking officers were familiar with Oswald’s biography, his leftist politics, his security clearance, his recent arrest, and his contacts with Cuban and Soviet personnel six weeks before JFK was killed.
Who was Reuben Efron?
Recalling the 2023 declassification of a name that was new to JFK researchers, the CIA man who read Oswald’s mail, Chad Nagle delved deep into the story of Reuben Efron and HTLINGUAL, the operation under which the agency intercepted and read Americans’ mail in the Cold War era — including Lee Harvey Oswald’s. It is astonishing that the CIA would conceal Efron’s identity for so long, even if it had something incriminating or embarrassing to hide. The CIA’s six-decade reticence in helping to complete the American historical record meant that JFK researchers seldom, if ever, wondered what Reuben Efron did beyond the occupations listed in his patchy public biography.
Nagle filled in some of the patches in the Efron biography this week.
LBJ to Dulles: Some unpleasant news
Dan Hardway offered a rare gem of historic audio to our discussion of how Allen Dulles came to be named to the Warren Commission. The former House Select Committee on Assassinations investigator cited this phone call that President Lyndon Johnson made to former CIA director Dulles on Nov. 29, 1963, informing him he would be on the commission.
The conversation opens with LBJ apologetically advising Dulles, “I have some unpleasant news for you.”
That’s just the beginning. Listen here.
William Harvey’s widow
As revelations from long-suppressed JFK records call attention to the travels of CIA assassination chief William “Bill” Harvey in late 1963, this interview with C.G. Harvey, his wife and fellow CIA officer, is essential background to the emerging story of her husband’s involvement in the events of 1963. What this CIA widow says about JFK, Jackie, RFK, and the Mafia will amaze you.
The video, audio, and transcript are on JFK Facts’ YouTube channel, linked from the post below.
Hey Boomers, listen to the 2000s
Rapper Eminem’s “Public Enemy #1” is one of the most pointed examinations of the Kennedy assassination in mainstream hip-hop. He conflates his flight of fancy with the tragic deaths of two men who are often name-checked in hip-hop: Tupac Shakur and President John F. Kennedy.
JFK Facts’ Ryan Carter shared that connection:
Flashback to September 7th
When 2Pac was murdered in Vegas
He said it, he predicted his own death, let us never forget it
Should we ever live to regret it
Like the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in broad day
By the crazed lunatic with a gun
…
A reminder to subscribers who asked: The Thursday night conversation continues! Watch for the weekly announcement (with link to the Zoom call) of the freewheeling discussion of the latest developments in the JFK case. And watch the JFK Facts YouTube channel for the archived recordings of the Thursday gatherings, like this recent one on the William Harvey story.
Has everyone seen "The Fog of War," Errol Morris's fantastic interview with and documentary about former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara? It's a must-see. Morris did an incredible job getting the truth about the Vietnam war out of probably the most knowledgeable person in government at that time..
It has been years since I saw it, but my memory is that the heart of the film is McNamara near the end of his life staring into the camera, reflecting upon his actions, answering hard questions, and regretting things he did. It is probably the best interview I have ever seen with a public figure. After a career of lying to the American public, one gets the distinct impression that McNamara finally is telling the truth.
I am repeating what I said in a previous post. The world deserves an interview like this with Marina Oswald before she passes. Just Marina staring into a camera, answering questions, and telling us all what she knows starting with her life in Russia. Why did the Russians allow her to leave so easily? Why did she fear going back? What did LHO think of JFK? How could he afford to travel to Mexico City? What were the sources of his income? Did she know he was a fake defector? What was her motivation for marrying LHO? What did she think of the Paines, Ruth Paine in particular? There are so many questions she could answer. Where's our Errol Morris?
DVD sales would probably be in the millions worldwide.
Here's Ted Yacucci's latest video: "Lee Oswald did not go to Mexico City"
https://youtu.be/ml2H2cv66vU?si=yrkKKbyZ_YrzlOGL