Sunday, November 24, 2013

In Memoriam: Lee Harvey Oswald R.I.P. (1939-1963)



“If Oswald was working for the FBI, it could explain many things […].  It […] might explain a well-documented instance of the FBI destroying evidence after the assassination.  In August 1975, the Dallas Times Herald reported it had recently learned that two weeks before the JFK assassination, Oswald had delivered a note to the Dallas FBI office and that the note had been destroyed after the assassination.  This story prompted an investigation by the Justice Department and eventually became the center of hearings before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.

“It is now certain that two to three weeks prior to the assassination, Oswald came to the Dallas FBI office and asked a receptionist to see Agent [James] Hosty.  When told Hosty was not in, Oswald left a note.  The receptionist, Nancy Fenner, noted that Oswald asked for ‘S.A. [Special Agent] Hosty… [in] exactly those words.’  It’s surprising that Oswald would be so familiar with Bureau jargon.  Years later Fenner recalled the note said something like:  ‘Let this be a warning.  I will blow up the FBI and the Dallas Police Department if you don’t stop bothering my wife—Lee Harvey Oswald.’

“Hosty, who said he was told not to mention the note at the time of the assassination, said the note was not violent in tone and that it said something like:  ‘If you have anything you want to learn about me, come talk to me directly.  If you don’t cease bothering my wife, I will take appropriate action and report this to the proper authorities.’

“Hosty also said the note was folded and expressed doubts that Fenner had read it properly.
“He said that within hours of the assassination, he was called into the office of the special-agent-in-charge, J. Gordon Shanklin.  Hosty said Shanklin was visibly ‘agitated and upset’ and wanted to know about the Oswald note.

“After Oswald had been killed, Shanklin again called in Hosty.  Hosty said Shanklin produced the Oswald note from his desk drawer and said, ‘Oswald’s dead now.  There can be no trial.  Here, get rid of this.’  As Hosty tore up the note, Shanklin cried:  ‘No!  Get it out of here.  I don’t even want it in this office.  Get rid of it!’  Hosty said he took the pieces of note to a nearby restroom and ‘flushed it down the drain.’

“Before the House subcommittee, Shanklin denied any knowledge of the Oswald note.  But assistant FBI director William Sullivan said Shanklin had discussed an ‘internal problem’ concerning a message from Oswald with him and that the presence of the note was common knowledge at FBI headquarters.

“Another Dallas agent, Kenneth Howe, also testified he showed Shanklin the Oswald note the weekend of the assassination.  Existence of the note also was talked about among some members of the Dallas Police Department.

“Mrs. Ruth Paine even mentioned that Oswald had dropped off a note to the FBI in her testimony to the Warren Commission in 1964.  She told the Commission:  ‘[Oswald] told me he had stopped at the downtown office of the FBI and tried to see the agents and left a note…’

“Why then did the Bureau only acknowledge the existence of the note after media reports in 1975?  The House Select Committee on Assassinations said the incident concerning the note was a ‘serious impeachment of Shanklin’s and Hosty’s credibility,’ and that with the note’s destruction, ‘it was not possible to establish with confidence what its contents were.’

“It seems unbelievable, however, that the FBI would knowingly destroy evidence, especially if it would have proven Oswald prone to violence.  Some researchers say a more plausible explanation is that Oswald, as an FBI informant, tried to warn the Bureau about the coming assassination [emphasis added—RG].  This could explain the receptionist’s insistence that the note contained threatening words.  It also could explain why the FBI was so concerned and fearful of the note that it was ordered destroyed.”


            The last words of Lee Harvey Oswald, as compiled by the late and lamented JFK assassination researcher Mae Brussell, can be seen by clicking HERE.  They’re well worth reading. 

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