Dec
08
Lee Harvey Oswald’s Fingerprints.
Updated Dec 12 2022 with Nov 23 fingerprint info.
Updated Dec 14 2022 I have sectioned the piece and grouped content and also added some more additional text.
This is a chapter I, at first, did not want to write, and it shows as I started to type some things down on this matter over four years ago. This is part 1 of 3 about Lee Harvey Oswald’s fingerprints. The palm prints and the nitrate test are the other two. In this I will share all my available information that I have managed to gather and my special thanks go to Malcolm Blunt for the documentation, Terry Martin for the scans of the hallway photographs. Also NARA, MFF, AARC, History Matters and UNT. And research by Michael T Griffith, Harold Weisberg, Henry Hurt and David Lifton.
In this WC draft document (pages 1-3) they present their side of this fake story. Here’s mine.
There have been quite a few researchers discussing the finger prints in conjunction with the rifle. A good one is a letter from Michael T Griffith to the ARRB in Dec 1996, this shows how there were no finger & palm prints that evening tying the rifle to Lee Oswald!
In the 1980’s Jerry D. Rose tried to dig into this with articles in Penn Jones’ The Continuing Inquiry in April 1984 and also in a follow up article in The Third Decade in May of 1985. The annotations are not mine in case you are wondering. They are Harry Livingstone’s. By reading both these articles and combining these with the photographs of the fingerprints that are now available from UNT we are a little wiser, yet some issues remain.
Oswald is being visited in Will Fritz’s office by Captain George “Max” Doughty, Detective J.B. “Johnny” Hicks and Sergeant William E “Pete” Barnes. They arrived to take Oswald’s finger and palm prints, but also apply a nitrate test to determine whether he had fired a rifle.
The Search for the Original Fingerprints sets.
Only a few of the fingerprint sets are available to see publicly in archives and as Warren Commission Exhibits. Original sets that have been digitally reproduced are yellowish in colour. Some are at The Portal to Texas History. Further investigation of those sets shows that not one of the Oswald inked & original fingerprint sets seem to be from Nov 22nd. They only have reproductions of WC exhibits in their archives for that date.
One of the first to report on any fingerprints is Nat Pinkston in his late afternoon report of the 22nd. Day has found a partial print and he wishes to photograph it before it gets lifted.
There is a set of photos made by Jim Murray/Blackstar of the three above mentioned policemen holding Oswald’s fingerprints, palm prints and paraffin test tools. They are paraded around the third floor corridor for the world press to see. The policemen appear out of Room 317 one at a time. W.E. Barnes holds the palm prints, George Doughty shows two fingerprint cards and J.B. Hicks carries an empty tin of wax a brush, a small jar and a scraper.
Careful study of the fingerprint sets put on display by the DPD in the third floor corridor show these sets in enough detail of the prints themselves to ascertain where they are positioned on the fingerprint card. This is based on the comparison with the 5 rows wide and 2 rows down squares printed on the cards and the positions of certain fingerprints of Oswald on these cards.
At first, with just the above linked photos available, I was under the impression that Doughty showed off just one set of fingerprints.
Captain George Doughty with Lee Harvey Oswald’s finger print cards. Photos: Jim Murray/Black Star. Scans by Terry Martin for ROKC from the National Archives in the Richard E. Sprague Collection. Click to enlarge.
A video of this scene in the 3rd floor corridor shows that there are two cards shown. But I can only see one set due to the angle of the camera.
As luck would have it, in Malcolm Blunt’s archive, in a folder titled ‘Newspapers’, I come across the second set. Photographed up close by a news photographer from that opposite angle. And again that set of prints cannot be reconciled with any of the known fingerprint cards that are publicly available in any archive, nor are they presented as Commission Exhibits.
Lt. George Doughty showing off the second set of fingerprints. Thanks to Malcolm Blunt. Click to enlarge.
I came across another set of finger prints also signed by J.B. Hicks, this set is known as CE 627, but is not part of one of the sets shown that evening to the press.
While the HSCA was active a record is made on Jul 7 1978. It states that the original fingerprints and palm prints cannot be found in the archives. While scanning documents from Malcolm Blunt I came across three pages of which two were RIF sheets (ending with 48 and 49) and a cover sheet which states that the files have been withdrawn. After looking at these more carefully I can state that the RIF sheet ending with 49 is the same as the file stored online at the National Archives. But the RIF sheets are not equal as to the font used, check for yourself and compare the one below with the one at the link. The file with the RIF number ending with 48 is nowhere to be found. It gets no mention in Google and this in combination with cover sheet that the file consisting of four pages has been withdrawn by the F.B.I. Now what is so compromising in those four pages for the file to disappear?
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- 180-10108-10148 Withdrawal sheet
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- 180-10108-10148
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- 180-10108-10149
From thereon a search ensues and some are eventually found. The find of these fingerprints, shown on the next page, and the palm prints in the FBI archives described in this undated FBI document is quite something and you wonder whether the other two sets suffered a similar fate and not re-appearing.
During Carl Day’s W.C. testimony however it appears that he had these original sets with him. So what happened to the originals?
Mr. BELIN. With the permission of Commissioner McCloy, would it be possible to have Xerox copies substituted for these so that the original can go back with Lieutenant Day?
Mr. McCLOY. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. As I understand it, these are the last original copies you have of palm prints of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Mr. DAY. Yes.
Mr. BELIN. Were you there when these prints were made?
Mr. DAY. No, sir. The prints that were made in my presence, which I compared with these, I can state are his, were sent to the FBI.
Mr. BELIN. Would these be the same prints as shown on Commission Exhibit 628 and 629?
Mr. DAY. No, sir. They are still not the originals. They had my name on it when I saw them sign it. But I did compare these with ones I saw made personally of Oswald, and I can say this is his left hand, his left palm, and his right palm.
Mr. BELIN. So you are saying 735 and 736 are his right and left palms. What about 628 and 629?
Mr. DAY. 629 is the right palm, and 628 is the left palm of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Mr. BELIN. What about 627, can you state what that is, if you know?
Mr. DAY. That is a set of fingerprints, standard set of fingerprints, of Lee Harvey Oswald taken by Detective J. B. Hicks on November 22, 1963.
Mr. BELIN. You have just examined these with your magnifying glass, is that correct?
Mr. DAY. Yes, sir.
Mr. BELIN. And you so identify these?
Mr. DAY. They are the fingerprints of Lee Harvey Oswald, whose palm prints appear in 735 and 736.
Fingerprints of Lee Harvey Oswald on Nov 22 signed by J.B. Hicks. Undated FBI document (page 6) from the Malcolm Blunt archives.
The signature of Lee Harvey Oswald on that card, is not his own. Oswald would not sign any of the fingerprint cards, so the DPD did it for him.
W.E Barnes in his WC testimony.
Mr. BELIN. Did he request that he have an attorney present at all, or not?
Mr. BARNES. He didn’t request one. He would not sign the fingerprint card when I asked him. We have a place on this card for the prisoner’s signature, and I asked him would he please sign that, and he said he wouldn’t sign anything until he talked to an attorney.
Mr. BELIN. Did he ask for an attorney or say anything about an attorney when you took the paraffin test?
Mr. BARNES. None to me.
Mr. BELIN. What did you say when he said he would not sign the fingerprint card?
Mr. BARNES. That was all right with me.
Mr. BELIN. Did you just take the palm prints, or did you also take fingerprints?
Mr. BARNES. We took both.
Then there are inkless fingerprints, of which there is a set at UNT, these were also made by J.B. Hicks.
Lee Harvey Oswald – Ink free fingerprint set. from UNT. Click pic to enlarge.
He makes mention of taking these inkless prints during his WC testimony.
Mr. HICKS. Let me see now, I took a set of Oswald’s prints from him that night some time. I do not recall.
Mr. BALL. 9 o’clock or so?
Mr. HICKS. It was some time in that area.
Mr. BALL. Where were you when you took the prints?
Mr. HICKS. I was in Captain Fritz’s office. In other words, I made those on an inkless pad. That’s a pad we use for fingerprinting people without the black ink that they make for the records.
- Detective Johnny Hicks in his WC testimony.
Mr. BALL. Did you do any identification work on either the assassination of President Kennedy or the investigation of Tippit’s murder?
Mr. HICKS. Do you mean as far as fingerprints?
Mr. BALL. Yes; and things of that sort.
Mr. HICKS. Let me see now, I took a set of Oswald’s prints from him that night some time. I do not recall.
Mr. BALL. 9 o’clock or so?
Mr. HICKS. It was some time in that area.
Mr. BALL. Where were you when you took the prints?
Mr. HICKS. I was in Captain Fritz’ office. In other words, I made those on an inkless pad. That’s a pad we use for fingerprinting people without the black ink that they make for the records.
Things get even more peculiar when I come across an inkless set in the book First Day Evidence by Gary Savage & Rusty Livingstone. This set differs from the one at UNT, simply by comparing the positions of Hicks’ signature on both. This set is also not known outside this book, it’s unique. it looks like a reproduction of an original to me and dare I say it that this set has been ‘taken’ from the evidence locker, since there is no other archival / online presence of this set of prints. A souvenir.
Reproduction of the fingerprint card inside First Day Evidence by Gary Savage & Rusty Livingstone..
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- Fingerprint card Lee Harvey Oswald Nov 23 1963
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- Fingerprint card Lee Harvey Oswald Nov 23 1963
The inkless set, from the book First Day Evidence by Gary Savage & Rusty Livingstone further above in this article, is ascribed to being taken at Parkland on Nov 25th when Oswald is in the morgue.
Fingerprints Lee Harvey Oswald from Nov 25 1963. From: Getty Images. Click to enlarge.
Oswald’s fingerprints from the morgue are taken early on Nov 25th 1963. Paul Groody, a Dallas mortician, in a sworn statement on Oct 23 1979 (pages 26 & 27) states:
Q: While the body was in the prep room did the FBI or the Secret Service come into the prep room?
A: Yes, I am not sure which, but members of those kind of company, those kind of departments, did arrive with photographic equipment and fingerprinting equipment and go in and fingerprint because we had to clean the fingers off afterwards, and therefore there was that further work done by some authorities.
Q: Did you have to clean each finger on each hand?
A: If I remember correctly, we did. I am not positive on that but at least we know they took fingerprints. We were used to it.
Q: The substance they use is a black, very noticeable substance is that not correct?
A: Yes, that’s true. The black ink they use, and all usually. Its quiet difficult to get good prints, especially after embalming, and especially this one because they don’t come out so good. There is a lot of wrinkling and a lot of drying, you might say, and they wouldn’t have been great prints. I am sure of that, but could be distinguishable.
In a video from the movie The Men Who Killed Kennedy in 1988, Groody states that “agents would come” early on the 25th and that they had fingerprinting equipment with them and had left ink on Lee Harvey’s hands. Showing that they had finger and palm printed him. And they had to remove this ink to make the body be ready for burial.
In Henry Hurt’s book Reasonable Doubt (page 107). In 1983 FBI Agent Drain, who was closely involved in the investigation stated in an interview (with Hurt-BK) that he could not think of any logical reason that the FBI would want further prints from Oswald, since they had already taken sufficient ones for the case. What was even more puzzling to Drain was the report that the agents went to the funeral home, when there had been ample earlier opportunities.
It is hard to believe that the men that were either USSS or FBI agents since both agencies used the widely available set i their documentation. The next two sets from the Secret Service Report are identical to the ones above. These have additional type info added. I have enhanced these two images as they were in quite a bad state on the Mary Ferrell website.
Lee Oswald’s fingerprints in Secret Service CD 78. Pic. from Mary Ferrell. Click to enlarge.
Lee Oswald’s fingerprints in Secret Service CD 78. Pic. from Mary Ferrell. Click to enlarge.
In First Day Evidence by Gary Savage & Rusty Livingstone Savage writes on page 111 Rusty and J.B. Hicks rolled at least three inkless cards and inked card of Oswald that Sunday night in the Parkland morgue.
If the FBI or the USSS did take fingerprints besides the DPD then these have not been shared publicly. And why did they just stick with the same copies shared by the DPD in their documentation? Groody tactfully avoids who they were that walked in with fingerprint equipment.
The Trigger Housing of the Carcano.
Further in the book First Day Evidence by Gary Savage & Rusty Livingstone Savage writes on page 105 “Crime Lab detective Barnes was in the office at the time Lieutenant Day photographed the trigger-housing fingerprints. He later compared the trigger-housing photographs himself to a card of Oswald and told us that he found 3 points of identity. Pete told Rusty and me that there was no doubt in his mind that it was Oswald’s fingerprint.” That by itself is nothing short of astonishing as Barnes never uttered anything of the sort in his WC interview. Besides, three points of identity are not enough anywhere in the USA. A minimum of 10-12 would be ok. The FBI, in 1959, aimed for twelve points of identity. So three points of identity amounts to not much.
The Media.
Dallas newsmen Joe Long and Gary DeLaune of KlIF radio station (RG272 E19 Reel 20 at NARA) both broadcast reports that the rifle contained no fingerprints. “Once again, that late report from police headquarters. No fingerprints found on the weapon which had been located in the building from which the fatal shots were fired. The…rifle, turned over to the FBI, is being sent to Washington …but this is a big disappointment to those investigating today’s assassination.” I have tried to find the statement on any of the YouTube videos of available recordings.
On Saturday when Captain Fritz was asked by WFAA (RG272 E19 Reel 20 at NARA): “Were Oswald’s prints found on the rifle?” He replied “No, Sir.” From: Best Evidence by David Lifton (page 354).
Vincent Drain
After the press conference Oswald is being searched again, has his shirt taken away for the F.B.I. to take with them. It is Vincent Drain who leaves with the rifle, the pistol, fingerprints, palm prints and some of other Oswald’s belongings on a special military plane towards Washington. Drain took possession of the evidence after Henry Wade’s press conference at about 00:30, and not at 23:45 as officially stated by everyone. At 23:30 Vincent Drain is spotted seen behind Wade and Fritz (scroll to bottom) while they talk to the gathered press in front of Room 317 of Robbery & Homicide. Then there is Oswald’s brief press conference at 00:15 and he is still wearing his shirt that becomes part of the evidence that Drain took with him to Washington. Then Oswald has been moved upstairs to the fourth floor to be processed and hands his shirt over. At the same time Henry Wade is giving his press conference with Drain seen standing next to him.
Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade giving his press conference after Oswald’s. Pic.: Fort Worth Star Telegram. Click to enlarge.
Drain handed it over at Headquarters. J Edgar Hoover wrote to DPD Chief Jesse Curry and listed the evidence received in Wa. on Nov 23rd. Oswald has his finger & palm prints taken again since all fingerprint and palm print cards were taken by the FBI. There are two original fingerprint original fingerprint cards at UNT. These sets that are marked Nov 23rd. The signature belongs to Karl P Knight who was the head of the fingerprint division (page 19). The first set below is not dated, but the second one is. Again it appears that Oswald refused to sign the fingerprint cards.
On Nov 29 1963 Vincent Drain creates a report, confirming what Hoover wrote on the 23rd, listing all items of evidence that were taken early on Nov 23. The latent prints appearing in the photograph taken of the rifle, k1, by the Dallas Police Department, are too fragmentary and indistinct to be of any value for identification purposes. Photographs of this weapon taken by this Bureau also failed to produce prints of sufficient legibility for comparison purposes.
Carl Day.
Carl Day in his WC testimony is not sure and would need to further investigate when he knows that the quality of them is not up to sufficient quality.
Mr. McCLOY. Am I to understand your testimony, Lieutenant, about the fingerprints to be you said you were positive—you couldn’t make a positive identification, but it was your opinion that these were the fingerprints of Lee Oswald?
Mr. DAY. Well, actually in fingerprinting it either is or is not the man. So I wouldn’t say those were his prints. They appeared similar to these two, certainly bore further investigation to see if I could bring them out better. But from what I had I could not make a positive identification as being his prints.
When Carl Day passed the rifle on to Vincent Drain he had no positive ID from what he had found near the trigger guard of the rifle and the fingerprints of Oswald delivered to him that evening by Hicks and Barnes. Day was not holding back since he was under oath. He also states this in his statement from Jan 8th. 1964.
Related: Lee Harvey Oswald’s Palm Prints.
Jun
06
Greetings!
First of all a small discovery in Darnell, finally some better focus on the group in the James Darnell film that is about to and is ascending the steps on the bottom left stairs. We can see two women who ascending who both look to the left down on Elm St. Click the photo below. This shot, even though at miserable quality, allows me to discern what is actually happening on the bottom left of the steps. In other Darnell copies the frames are way over exposed and blurred. #payattentionbrian !!!!
The TSBD workers ascending the stairs. Click to enlarge.
At this time my money is on Patricia Ann Donaldson being the woman with the scarf over her head. And the other lady in black (ID still unknown) is the one who stood next together on Elm.
Patricia Ann Donaldson in the Dave Wiegman film on Nov 22 1963. Click to enlarge.
Then the Anatomy papers, I like to think I am done for now. There has been about a two year delay due to my activities with the Malcolm Blunt archives. This delay was needed due to the quality of documentation found at Malcolm’s. And the problem with that was that it was spread all over his filing cabinets inside many unmarked folders. I was not just digitising the archives, but I was discovering at the same time. So that meant that getting these papers ready took way longer than originally thought. After April 2021 I barely looked at them until I had finished with scanning the first phase of Malcolm’s documents in Nov last year. In Dec I started to research, create two new papers and and make amendments to earlier released papers.
Yet I also know that there will be some updated content in the form of quotes of interviews of various people being added in the near foreseeable future. We spoke with Roy Edward Lewis in 2018 and 2022 and this material is being transcribed as we speak. Plus a set of other interviews, so that update will be there by end of Summer. The only other question remains is to condense all work into one file instead of four.
And thanks for the great feedback on my previous article, a newish chapter of the Anatomy of the Second Floor Lunchroom Encounter
I reckon in about a week the papers shall be released for y’all to plough through. Until then!
Feb
17
JFK Revisited Through The Looking Glass & Destiny Betrayed
Autopsy / CIA / Cuba / Dallas Police Department / FBI / HSCA / Jack Ruby / JFK Assassination / LBJ / Lee Harvey Oswald / Parkland Hospital / Photography & Film / Secret Service / TSBD / Warren Commission / Washington
JFK Revisited Through The Looking Glass & Destiny Betrayed
Last November 2021 the new Oliver Stone & Jim DiEugenio documentary film JFK Revisited Through The Looking Glass was released. Oliver Stone had quite a mission getting this documentary shared to the masses as National Geographic and Netflix had passed on screening it. It was his visit and showing at the Cannes festival that got things on track and he managed find distributors. I have watched a fair bit of JFK assassination documentaries these last 20 years, but I always have an issue with all of them, they all intend to cram in as much info as possible in them. Take a detective like Jim Leavelle i/e who was there over the three day period and summarises it in two or three sentences, where is the value in that? It never seems to work, the real evidence is missing and it is only his opinion. Also due to this assassination from a subject p.o.v. being so widespread, there is simply too much information available to squeeze in the allotted time. It is a recipe for failure. These two documentaries suffer the same issue a bit, but this one also has a huge advantage over all the others, it is evidence based for almost 100%. The people you see talking on the screen are the ones that went to the archives in Washington and pulled the records out. Not opinionated lone nutters or conspiracy theorists who never hunted for the evidence ever before. Actually labelling these people in the documentaries as conspiracy theorists is a massive insult especially when it is only archival evidence that is presented. Some reviews of these two films seem to have missed that particular meeting or just have a grudge against Stone from the word go. These type of clowns were there 30 odd years ago and obviously they are present now.
For the record I watched the 2 hour version on Showtime in Nov. 2021 and Feb 2022. And the four hour version on SKY in Dec 2021 and Feb 2022. It appears that the rest of the world gets its chance early March. I will try not to spoil too much, if you cannot handle a spoiler here and there then I suggest you quit now.
The 2 hour version, by the looks of it, uses the same material as the four hour version, but it is edited in a different way and there are some bits that get more prominence in the two hour version than they have in the 4 hour one. I will start with the two hour version titled “JFK: Revisited Through The Looking Glass”. The documentary starts with the announcements of JFK, eventually being shot and next it goes to footage of Parkland hospital where the DPD is busy cordoning the entrance off. The first thing you notice is that some of the HD film scans look very lush. At the same time some of the grainier material looks even grainier. Digitising film either makes it look great or just the opposite, there is no middle ground here. But when it does look great it really does.
DPD and USSS in front of the limo at Parkland hospital. Malcolm Kilduff in the centre of the pic. Click to enlarge.
There is also a shot of reporters leaving the press bus and make their way towards the area above. In this shot we can see at least four Dallas P.D. detectives, wearing their distinctive hats, conferring in front of this bus in the background.
Dallas PD detectives in front of press bus at Parkland hospital while the reporters rush towards the entrance. Click to enlarge
Following is a sequence of footage of Oswald in the third floor corridor inside City Hall, getting shot by Ruby and also the Warren Commission. This sequence differs with the four hour version. The issue I have with it is that there is no proper chronology factor in the footage present and everything is just mixed up and even the audio is just randomly mixed in. It is for dramatic effect, and not much else. Trying to put it in the right order is very difficult, I know as I have tried and managed to put some segments at the right time in my Anatomy of Lee Harvey Oswald’s Interrogations paper (new updated version out in April 2022), but there are also some bits where I have no exact timestamp since some of the footage is silent.
Then the bullets and especially the magic bullet are discussed. The interactive sequence showing the NARA pictures of the Magic bullet (CE 399) and also the chain of evidence is very convincingly presented. The rifle is next with Brian Edwards adding his commentary. I am just over 30 minutes in and the evidence presented up till then is already the death of the Warren Commission’s conclusion and moreover crucifies the sloppy and contradictory work of the DPD, USSS and the FBI.
Barry Ernest and his work on Victoria Adams is next and I will get back about this later as it has more in the longer documentary. The autopsy and its photographs and the people who are involved with them are next. Especially the photographic aspect of it all is lapped up by me, I simply love it.
Parkland hospital and nurses – JFK headshot. Click to enlarge.
New Orleans is next, we get to see William Gaudet of which Malcolm Blunt gathered a fair bit of documents here and here and the other usual aspects such as David Ferrie, Guy banister and Clay Shaw are featured. The James P Doyle film of Oswald handing out pamphlets of the FPCC is of good quality. Then we move to various subjects such as Oswald/CIA/Defection to Russia/Chicago Plot/Africa that are discussed in more detail in the four hour version further below. Overall the two hour version has some really good bits, there is more emphasis on specific elements like the magic bullet in this film. And if you like(d) the two hour version then you will be in hog heaven with the four hour one: JFK: Destiny Betrayed.
The intro music and footage of this one is superb, it is the same music brought to everyone back in the early 90s with Stone’s film, that tension element of it hasn’t aged one single bit. The film starts with the antics of the Warren Commission.
Members of the Warren Commission on their Dallas visit in 1964. Click to enlarge.
There is a bit of Cuba and the CIA/Anti-Castro matters entwined that were being played out in the late 50’s and early 60s. Then it is back to more WC. And then the documentary goes further afield by bringing the mess that the Belgians had left behind in Congo and the CIA is heavily involved with removing and killing Patrice Lumumba and all this is dropped in JFK’s lap and he works hard on getting things sorted. This episode by itself is very interesting to read about. There is also a very good documentary about this era called Murder in the Bush: Cold Case Hammarskjöld. I suggest you try and find it.
Just when you have settled in with a subject matter things change into a different direction. I understand there is only that much time for putting a case forward, but why present it this fragmented? And some of these subjects do return in following chapters. I am reasonably well read on the entire subject matter, but the majority of viewers are not and may be getting confused by this scattered approach. While the Africa segment is good, it deserves some more time. It then switches to the committees such as Church, Schweiker and the HSCA. There are still many documents from these three commissions redacted, classified or simply gone without a trace. My time with Malcolm Blunt’s huge personal archive has given me some good insights about what was going on, but even with what I was able to digitise it still is largely incomplete. Richard Schweiker’s remark on Jack Ruby and the Warren Commission is simply priceless. I will not spoil it any further.
Next is Robert Groden, a person I am not too comfortable with due to his truth economics. I have seen and read a couple myself and I have issues with that. I also find his Zapruder film copy not that good now shown in 2K, that is if it actually has been scanned recently and is not the same copy of what was used in Stone’s movie 30 years ago. I am looking forward seeing this all in 4K. For someone who does not own one iota of copyright on all these films and photos he has submitted for usage he sure has turned it into a lucrative business over the last 40 years. He is credited as a photographic consultant. It seems that the Sixth Floor Museum would not assist Stone with their cache of film and photo materials and this does get brought up somewhat, i/e with the Zapruder film. The Sixth Floor Museum should have cooperated with the Stone crew since they have a goldmine of great quality material. This likewise deserves a frown….it tends to point as to what side they are still on. I reckon Groden, who was part responsible for the HSCA creation and Stone whose film got the ARRB erected have something in common and in part can credit themselves for what they did in retrospect.
Robert Groden, Dealey Plaza. Click to enlarge.
Next thing the first episode of the documentary brings up is Oswald’s alibi and I can only conclude that the makers make a whopper of a mistake by solely relying on the research of Barry Ernest and that is just not good enough. Perhaps ten years ago it may have carried some weight, but not any more. Plus if you can go all guns blazing on the autopsy related matters and bring a set of researchers forward then why not on Oswald’s last 46 hours. In the last ten years there has been a wagon load of new evidence brought up. This website digs a lot deeper than what Ernest wrote and a huge opportunity to set the record straight was missed. I am not sure whether this is because certain politics are being played in the background and only put forward a theory which many older conspiracy theorists have subscribed and cemented themselves to. This is something an uber liar like Will Fritz and fellow law enforcement personnel have put forward and has been a ‘belief’ of these conspiracy theorists ever since. There is a ton of evidence which disputes this lunchroom encounter ever happening. Furthermore there is nothing put forward with regards Oswald’s interrogations and the reports thereof and where and what he was doing during these crucial moments of the JFK Assassination. The job done on this segment of the documentary is a letdown, to say the least. I wish to make clear that I am not putting myself forward as someone that should have been part of this documentary. I will be doing my own thing later this year. The case I have to present will be multi faceted and would not stand a chance, due to time constraints, on a platform as this docu.
Episode two and it’s autopsy time, quite a few heavy hitters are there and it is fact after fact that gets presented to the viewer and I have to say that it is great to see them doing this, for the 2 hour version this was my fave section. The medical & autopsy sections, could fill more than a solid hour by itself. Again the facts obliterate the official version. What does deserve a separate mention is Malcolm Perry who stated during a press conference, of which all audio has been suppressed/confiscated/stolen fill in by yourself, but a transcript 1327 C still exists, and I suggest to check out page 5. The throat wound is an entrance wound and ‘people’ called Dr Perry that same evening and wanted him to change that. That amounts to two frontal shots…….
Then it is back to foreign policy; Vietnam, Algeria, Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia and so on. Followed by more Warren Commission and the shooting sequence, the rifle and the bullets.
Carl Day and the Carcano.
Then Oswald gets his chance to appear and there is a fair bit of hallway footage of which most is already available on YouTube, this is just better quality, but there is too much cutting for my liking. Nor is there any chronology in this segment. Pivotal bits are left out. BUT! The biggest faux pas is the horn honking in the basement sequence just before Ruby kills Oswald and is presented as some sort of ‘go’ signal for the killing to be happening. Nothing could be further removed from the truth. If you watch the entire sequence of film taken way before the shooting you would understand that several times horns are honking as the armored truck which was supposed to be taking Oswald to prison was replaced for Fritz’s car. In the video you can see a car coming in and going out and the horn is being used to alert the gathered cops and press of their movements. The first double honk is at 11:10, the next one at 11:44, then 11:48, at 12:25 a car is coming through and the press needs to break up at roughly the spot where Ruby was positioned before he leaped out, 12:51 another honk, at 13:21 Will Fritz becomes visible and the horn honks again and finally at 13:25 just while Ruby is leaping out the final honk. Nothing funny nor conspiratorial about it. The car is actually coming down the ramp while Oswald is being shot. As you can see Ruby’s jacket is being lit up by the front head light and the car rolled down the ramp while Ruby had jumped in. The car slightly touches Ruby and makes him lose his balance a tad, and is enough for the cops to jump on him and wrestle the gun away from him. This is a blemish on otherwise a very strong documentary. And that is because it did not check the evidence properly.
Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald. Will Fritz has a so called ‘HUH’ moment. Click to enlarge.
That this whole transfer was as amateurish as a local village cabaret show is beyond any reasonable doubt. Will Fritz walked way too far ahead of Oswald and his escort and created a gap for Ruby to jump in to kill him. Fritz’s response to this ‘thing’ was even more laughable and can be seen in the shot above when Ruby has shot Oswald already.
George G Burkley. Click to enlarge.
Episode three starts of with Rear Admiral George G Burkley and more of the autopsy, and he does not care to be quoted on how many bullets entered Kennedy’s body. Well if that isn’t telling then what is. Then over the next 30 or so minutes more facts are coming forward related to the autopsy itself, the photos, the brain and so on, all this has a significant meaning. I will not spoil it any further, see it for yourself while you are machine gunned with documentation and statements. Then it goes into the bullets and the limo. And then it changes direction with Washington politics and the rest of the world. Latin America, Middle East, Cuba and Vietnam are for obvious reasons part of it. All of it is very interesting. John Newman, Doug Horne, James K Galbraith are the select few to add their knowledge to it. Lastly we get to the Air Force One tapes and General Curtis LeMay and the Bethesda autopsy where he was present and smoking a cigar.
The fourth and final episode begins with the intelligence angle(s) related to this case. Oswald being at the centre of it all while in Russia and the intelligence games surrounding it. Tennent ” Pete” Bagley is part of this segment, Bagley is someone Malcolm Blunt has been researching deeply and has been in contact with several times while he visited him in Brussels.
Malcolm Blunt & Oliver Stone. Click to enlarge.
Then it moves to whether the CIA was fully briefed and had records on Oswald and as Jefferson Morley points out that they had him on their radar once he defected to Russia in 1959. Up to a week before the assassination reports were being sent, a find by the ARRB. This is followed by the New Orleans chapter and of course the usual suspects pass by Guy Banister, David Ferrie, Clay Shaw, George Joannides and of course the DRE . The New Orleans chapter by itself would need at least an hour to do it some justice as the material that is around is vast (I should know as I scanned loads of it in).
Then the destruction of the Secret Service records is next, they did this after the ARRB had requested them. They were held in complete disregard and the USSS went along with the destruction anyway. This is then followed by the FBI’s cancellation (by Marvin Gheesling) of the Oswald FLASH only a few weeks before the assassination of JFK. It would mean that Lee Harvey Oswald was not on the security index and the Secret Service would not deem him to be a person of interest. If he had been then they would make sure he would not be in close vicinity of The President’s motorcade. The Chicago and Tampa plots are brought up as well, and it is especially the Chicago one that has some very disturbing facts to present. Jim Gochenaur talked to Elmer Moore and I suggest you check out some of these YouTube interviews after watching his part in this documentary. It is a pity Abraham Bolden is missing from this documentary.
Next are the Civil Rights issues that were a huge thing in the south of the US at that time. The funny thing is that this is very much overlooked when it comes to discussing the JFK Assassination. I myself find elements protruding into the investigation of the TSBD and the DPD in general. People rather avoid talking about it, yet it was quite a big part of Southern society at that time when the after effects of the horrific Jim Crow laws were still in play.
Finally it is back to foreign policy, better yet the change thereof after the assassination of JFK. John Newman shines a strong light on NSAM 273 of which some of the lingo is being deleted and re-written which is ordered by LBJ. Then the final moments are of MLK and RFK, as they were assassinated too. All three in a 5 year timespan.
Overall and taken both works into consideration my end verdict is 8.5/10. Of course there are bits that could have been done better, but take all of it into account and you are looking at a very solid documentary. It baffles me how some people review this documentary and try to nitpick through the wealth of evidence presented and then try to sow doubt or just hammer on about a small dispute without providing one iota of evidence against it. These losers deserve nothing but scorn for their agenda driven rubbish.
I say go watch them both, maybe not all in one go, but there is nothing else of this calibre around. I am upping the ante a tad more by stating that most other JFK assassination documentaries look like dog shit in comparison to the Stone & DiEugenio attempt.
It’s on SKY in the UK.
The links to some of the documents are from Malcolm Blunt’s archive. With thanks.
Sep
03
Summer 2021 Update
Autopsy / CIA / Cuba / Dallas Police Department / FBI / HSCA / Jack Ruby / JFK Assassination / LBJ / Lee Harvey Oswald / Parkland Hospital / Photography & Film / Prayer Man / Secret Service / TSBD / Warren Commission / Washington
Summer 2021 Update
Ok so this year I did a lot of scanning of Malcolm Blunt’s materials for a soon to be fully accessible archive in Nov 2021. There is a lot of material to plough through if you are a student of certain facets of the JFK Assassination. Law Enforcement Agencies, Committees and various individuals all connected in this case are all well represented in this archive. If you have read a decent amount of books on this matter then this archive can help you gain more additional knowledge.
The work done and still ahead…. Click pic to enlarge. Photo: Bartolomy
By the time of its primary release I think I have about 150.000 pages over about 17,000 PDFs ready to be shared. The work will continue for at least another year with regular updates.
I am going to slow down on scanning for the next few months so I can tidy some bits up in the archives and also put the focus back on my own work and this website. I will put the finishing touches to my forthcoming releases of the four(!) Anatomy papers for starters. They have been dormant for most of this year and some of 2020 as well. I hope to have all this done before the anniversary or it will be a X-Mas release read instead.
In November there will be an article written and photographed by me and published in Garrison Magazine, the article will have exclusive pictures I have made of Malcolm and his archive these past three years.
Malcolm Blunt – Tetbury Apr 2019. Click pic to enlarge. Photo: Bartolomy
I am also creating a set of videos in which Malcolm and I are having a chat about his materials. So far two have been posted and I hope to do a few more over the next few months.
Then there are also some talks scheduled such as JFK Lancer, DPUK and Project JFK in November where I will speak in great depth about the above mentioned project and its vast content.
I have some more articles in the pipeline, such as the Minox camera and Oswald’s fingerprints and once I get my papers finished then I shall be developing those articles as well.
And last but not least the movies, which I hope to make a begin with early next year.
Plenty to get on with.
Best regards.
Bart.
Jan
10
The Malcolm Blunt Archives Update
CIA / Cuba / Dallas Police Department / FBI / HSCA / Jack Ruby / JFK Assassination / LBJ / Lee Harvey Oswald / Photography & Film / Prayer Man / Secret Service / Warren Commission / Washington
The Malcolm Blunt Archives Update.
Greetings and happy new year. Hope you have had, under these difficult circumstances, a somewhat decent X-Mas break. I know I have not posted that much and the reason for that is that the Malcolm Blunt Archives have kept me occupied for quite some time now. And especially the second half of 2020 has been a very busy period scanning tens of thousands of pages in. I have been working on this project for more than two years now.
Harry Livingstone’s Files April 2019. Click pic to enlarge.
Starting with Harry Livingstone’s material which then slowly transcended into scanning Malcolm’s files, little did I know how much there was, yet at the same time has proven to be an absolute goldmine filled with rare and never before published documents, audio & video recordings.
Documents, tapes and videos. Click pic to enlarge.
Early Dec 2020, while there was a gap in Covid 19 travel restrictions, Peter Antill and I made our way to Malcolm to see what we could get our hands on to take back with us. Peter and I offloaded the 14 bags we had brought with us, yet I managed to bring ten bags back with me and that was only with 90 minutes left to do so. Two bags fill a drawer of a filing cabinet and contain anything between 2-3,000 pages. If you are wondering what type of content there is, well…..almost anything.
This is by far one of the best document collections when it comes to the JFK Assassination, but also for Dallas matters, anti-Castro, CIA, New Orleans, the ARRB, HSCA and a handful of other commissions investigating. At this point I have created roughly 10,000 PDFs. Scanning will continue for most part of this year trying to complete the digitisation of Malcolm Blunt’s entire archive.
For the first time in 18 months I managed to get access to the files I had worked on in the first half of 2019 while in Tetbury. These files have been kept at a storage site and I was very happy being able to regain access to them. The files in here are much more within my remit.
Click to enlarge.
The coloured boxes are of course Harry Livingstone’s files. Malcolm’s materials in here refer a lot to Dallas Police and FBI. Due to some finds of great documents I am preparing a handful of articles which I will start working on more this month when I am taking a break from scanning.
Click to enlarge.
While the Covid 19 restrictions are in place I will not be able to regain access until some time in March this year. But I have plenty to get on with for now and I reckon I will be working on this archive for the rest of the year. Expect a few cool articles to come in the next six months. And of course The Papers I have been working on these past few years and which are being crammed full with not before seen material, so plenty to look out for.
Jul
08
Nicholas Katzenbach Was Working Hard On Crucifying Lee Oswald.
Upda
Updated Jan 25 2021.
Nicholas Katzenbach. Photo: Boston Globe.
Nicholas Katzenbach was a Deputy Attorney General appointed by President John F. Kennedy in 1962 and worked directly under Robert Kennedy. After the assassination of President Kennedy Katzenbach continued to serve with the Johnson administration until February 11th, 1965.
The first time I came across his name was in the documentary Beyond ‘JFK’: The Question of Conspiracy in which a document from Nov 25th 1963 was brought up. This document states: “The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large; and that the evidence was such that he would have been convicted at trial. Discussions followed on forums and newsgroups. How could Katzenbach do this at such short notice, and doesn’t this show how biased he was? Eh…..yeah!
Katzenbach Memo Nov 25 1964. Click to enlarge.
When the first batch of previously withheld documents were released in 2017 I found this document, that must have been an ‘inspiration’ for Katzenbach’s document. I just went through the released FBI files and noticed that the sentence used on page 3 was very similar to the Nov 25th doc. I had to dig out that document to make sure that I was not mixing things up. The document below is from Nov 24th. Compare both docs and you see that Hoover and Katzenbach were in cahoots on this matter of issuing something that would convince the public of Oswald’s guilt.
Hoover document Nov 24 1963. Click to enlarge.
With that find back then I thought ‘cool I found a link between the two documents.
But there is more. Never thought I would come across this piece while going through the Malcolm Blunt Archives Two pages which are a shocking read from a timing perspective. Bear in mind that Oswald was arrested at about 13:50 hrs and Katzenbach wants to nail Oswald to the cross by 18:15 Dallas time. Lee Harvey Oswald at that time is being interrogated for the second time. and is less than one hour away from being charged for the Tippit murder.
This all puts the whole Dallas investigation into perspective as in who is calling the shots and wants ‘this thing’ over and done with.
Nicholas Katzenbach. Crick to enlarge.
Nicholas Katzenbach Click to enlarge.
