
[Photo: Signed letter from General Walker to Senator Frank Church on June 23, 1975, admitting that he knew that LHO was his April shooter “within days” of the shooting. It’s amazing to me that historians overlooked this.]
SUMMARY
I’ll tersely summarize events in Dallas from 40,000 feet high, so to speak, as we’ve reviewed them over the past few years here. I’ll attempt to maintain a strict chronology with a five-point focus, namely, (1) General Walker; (2) Lee Harvey Oswald; (3) Marina Oswald; (4) Ruth Paine; and (5) Michael Paine.
I’ll briefly include people who interacted with these five.
Aside from relatively minor omissions, I find the WC testimonies of (a) Marina Oswald; (b) Ruth Paine; and (c) Michael Paine to be sufficiently reliable to form a firm foundation upon which to construct a summary. (Readers who disagree with this orientation may wish to stop reading now.) So, let’s proceed chronologically, by the numbers,
GENERAL EDWIN WALKER
1. On April 17, 1961, the Oswalds were still living in the Soviet Union.
2. On April 17, 1961, the Paines were living in a quiet middle-class suburb in Irving, Texas.
3. On April 17, 1961, the US Joint Chiefs were embarrassed by a scandal reported by the US Army newspaper in Germany, Overseas Weekly, about General Edwin Walker. He had told his 10,000 troops and their families that former President Truman and a former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt were “pinko”. European leaders were shocked.
4. The very next day the US Joint Chiefs removed Walker from his command post. They didn’t so much care what Walker believed – they cared that Walker's crass behavior had upset the Allies during the Cold War. So, Walker was shut out the very next day.
5. Seven months later, November 1961, Walker resigned from his distinguished 30-year career of military service. Walker’s rumor that JFK fired him still persists to this day. Actually, JFK offered Walker another command supervising troop education in Hawaii if he would please remain in the Army or please retire normally. An Army resignation scandal would reflect on JFK (and Walker knew it). Yet Walker had resigned from the Army once before, when Ike was President. Walker’s mind was made up.
6. By resigning (not retiring) from the Army, one forfeits one’s Army pension. Still, without visible income, Walker left the Army and headed straight for Dallas (which was not his hometown) directly into a two-story house in the neighborhood occupied by the relatives of billionaire H.L. Hunt.
7. Walker immediately found himself at a desk in an oil company in downtown Dallas. His job was to write and copyright his six political speeches. This he did. Walker and Hunt then began planning a political career for Walker starting with a campaign for Texas Governor in the 1962 election. Walker ran against John Connally, Ralph Yarborough and three others. (Walker’s platform was basically the Dixiecrat ticket of rolling back the Brown Decision.)
8. Walker began immediately writing and copyrighting his radical Rightist speeches. He presented his six speeches to local reactionary political groups in the South and received countless standing ovations.
9. In his speeches, Walker fostered the myth that JFK had fired him over politics. That was untrue and Walker knew it – yet since his rightist allies were obsessed with defeating JFK in the next election – smearing was fair game.
10. Walker promised his audiences and followers that a forthcoming US Senate Subcommittee on Military Preparedness (87th congress) scheduled for mid-spring 1962, would restore his honor and his position in the US Army.
11. When April 1962 arrived, John Connally won with 54% of the vote. The other five candidates split the remainder. Walker came in last place. His one consolation was that a campaign volunteer, Robert Alan Surrey, a professional printer, volunteered to help General Walker as an unpaid business partner. Surrey quickly made Walker solvent with a long-lasting direct mail campaign for printed copies of Walker’s speeches.
12. In May 1962, that US Senate Subcommittee failed to restore Walker to his position of honor in the Army. Instead, Walker became a joke in mainstream politics. He kept his political foothold only among the radical right wing like the KKK and the White Citizens Councils -- anyone who blamed the Communists for the Brown Decision. Was Walker washed up?
MARINA AND LEE HARVEY OSWALD
13. On June 14, 1962, Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO) returned from Soviet Russia to the Dallas/Fort Worth area, where his natal family lived. He brought his new bride, Marina, and their infant daughter, June. He moved in with his brother Robert’s family.
14. General Walker (like all fervent Anticommunists) was outraged that a defector to Soviet Russia could return to Texas with a Russian bride. Walker joined the alarm – Communists were invading Texas!
15. It is quite likely that Walker and Surrey would discuss the problem of the Oswalds’ arrival with Dallas FBI agent James Hosty – who was assigned to monitor the actions of General Walker. Walker wouldn’t shun Hosty but would welcome him. They probably all agreed on a great need to spy on LHO.
16. On July 14, 1962, Lee and Marina Oswald moved in with Lee’s mother, Marguerite Oswald, because his brother Robert’s home was too small for two families.
17. On July 26, 1962, FBI agent John Fain interviewed LHO for the first time, seeking any residue connection between LHO and the Soviet Union. He found none and reported this.
18. On August 10, 1962, LHO could no longer tolerate living with his mother, so he and Marina moved to 2703 Mercedes St. in Fort Worth, on the industrial side of town.
19. Sometime in August 1962, Lee and Marina Oswald were invited into the small community of Russian expatriates in Dallas. They adored Marina right away because of her residue dialect of the Russian aristocracy. Yet LHO was a bizarre, ex-Marine, ex-defector who somehow taught himself to speak Russian at a fair level. Still, he was sullen and resented all these well-to-do Russians in Dallas/Fort Worth. There was tension on both sides.
20. In this same community, however, the Oswalds also met George and Jeanne De Mohrenschildt (DM). George was a wealthy, flamboyant contrarian who delighted in befuddling his friends, so he enjoyed befriending the ex-Marine defector and his Russian wife. After all, Marina was a native of Minsk – George’s hometown.
21. On August 16, 1962, FBI agent John Fain interviewed LHO for a second time. Finding nothing dangerous in LHO, Fain advised FBI Assistant Director Alan Belmont to finally close the LHO casefile. Belmont agreed and they closed the casefile.
22. After FBI Headquarters closed the casefile on LHO in August 1962, James Hosty would regularly ask FBI Headquarters to revive it. Alan Belmont continually denied the request. Evidently Hosty had to reconcile himself to cooperate with General Walker in order to maintain a close watch on LHO.
MICHAEL AND RUTH PAINE
23. George DM was also an oil exploration professor at UT Dallas. He knew lots of oil engineers in Dallas – like Everett Glover and the young Volkmar Schmidt. They shared a commitment to liberal politics. These Yankees held the liberal minority position in Dallas in the 1960’s. (Glover had another friend, Michael Paine the liberal helicopter engineer, having met Michael and Ruth at a Unitarian choir in the 1950’s.)
24. By September 1962, Marina couldn’t abide the poor housing that LHO could afford. They fought endlessly, and Marina was often seen with black eyes. Even LHO’s mother testified that she saw Marina like that. Russian expatriates in Dallas began to spread rumors about LHO.
25. Around this time, Glover – tennis partner of the DM’s – who would visit George and Jeanne for dinner, began to find Marina there. Glover spoke no Russian and Marina spoke no English. The DM’s had to translate their small talk. Yet, George DM likely informed Glover all about the unusual Oswalds.
26. Everett Glover recently separated from his wife and was now living in a rented house with two other oil engineers – Volkmar Schmidt and Richard Pierce.
27. At the end of September 1962, the US faced a new challenge – the Cuban Missile Crisis. During this same month, General Walker saw a way to get back into US politics. He would lead a protest at Oxford University in Mississippi (“Ole Miss”) against JFK's use of Federal forces to protect one Black American, James Meredith, from those who would interfere with his American rights.
28. Sadly, those Ole Miss protests turned into a deadly racial riot that lasted for hours, so on October 1, 1962,
RFK threw General Walker into an insane asylum for a 90 day evaluation. JFK and RFK knew that this was dirty pool, yet they were intent on shutting down Walker’s political career forever. Although the ACLU and public protests got Walker released after only three days, Walker did lose every chance of a mainstream political career. He would never forget or forgive this..
29. In October 1962, the Paines moved closer to the lives of the Oswalds. The Paines came from millionaire families back East; Michael was an engineer at Bell Helicopter, and Ruth was an intellectual out-of-water in Irving, Texas. Perhaps the only mother with a college degree for five miles in any direction, she was religious about her political commitment to learn to speak Russian in order to help stop the Cold War.
30. The Paines, like all US liberals, were offended by Walker’s fascist antics.
31. Yet, in October 1962, Michael and Ruth separated. Michael briefly moved in with Glover, Schmidt, and Pierce. This would have been Michael’s first introduction to the world of Lee and Marina Oswald, insofar as Everett Glover had actually met Marina several times at the home of George and Jeanne DM.
32. Late October 1962 was terrible for Lee and Marina Oswald who were widely reported to be fighting continually. So, George DM transported Marina from home to home within the Russian ex-patriate community in Fort Worth – for a week or two each time.
33. On November 4, 1962, the Oswalds were reunited at a cheap apartment in Dallas, at 604 Elsbeth Street. (They would keep moving.) By Christmas 1962, most Russian expatriates had abandoned Marina since she ultimately returned to LHO.
34. Perhaps the most moving domestic event of January 1963 was the Grand Jury acquittal of General Walker of any crime at Ole Miss the previous year. Generally speaking, the US right wing felt justified, and the US left wing felt mortified. We can easily imagine Everett Glover, Volkmar Schmidt, George DM, and Michael Paine mortified by the acquittal of General Walker.
35. As if to revel in success, starting in February 1963, General Walker teamed up with segregationist preacher Billy James Hargis, in what they called the “Midnight Ride” speaking tour from coast to coast (mainly the Southern US). This would enrage the liberals in Dallas. George DM called it, “Walker’s big showoff.”
36. On February 13, 1963, George DM threw a party for his Russian expatriate friends. He invited his friends to interview LHO for hours if they like, there at his home. He also invited two non-Russian-speaking friends, Everett Glover and Volkmar Schmidt.
37. Schmidt put on an exhibition – to convert LHO from his Marine politics to the liberal position of despising General Walker. During his exhibition, Schmidt declared to LHO, “If somebody had killed Hitler early in his career, think how many millions could have been spared. We should not tolerate fascists!” Thus, Schmidt likened General Walker to Hitler. LHO had no reply.
38. Evidence confirms that Oswald was moved by these arguments, because he repeated this formula to Marina, pretty much word-for-word.
39. George’s party was such a big success that Glover himself chose to throw a similar party at his own home on February 22, 1963. This party wasn’t for Russian expatriates but for Glover’s young oil engineer friends in Dallas. Glover also invited Michael and Ruth Paine since he knew that Ruth wished to learn Russian. At this party Ruth met Marina Oswald and struck a growing relationship that would last until the JFK Assassination.
40. On March 2, 1963, the Oswalds moved down the street to 214 West Neely Street. Ruth and Marina established a written correspondence, and Ruth would drive over to Marina’s for picnics and walks in the park with their small children. Eventually, Marina confided that she was pregnant, and that LHO was pressuring her to return to the USSR, but she wanted to stay in the US.
41. Ruth sprang into action for her new friend. She pleaded with Michael, “Can Marina live with me – if Lee approves?” Michael agreed on condition that they have dinner with the Oswalds so that he could see LHO close-up. Ruth quickly arranged a date with Marina.
42. On Tuesday, April 2, 1963, Michael Paine drove from work to the Oswald apartment on Neely Street. But Marina was still packing the baby bag for the dinner party. So, Michael and LHO sat on the sofa and spoke about politics for a solid half-hour.
43. They agreed generally on Liberal political issues, like Civil Rights. They even spoke about General Walker and they both agreed that the Radical Right in general – “was unfortunate in its thoughts” and Michael testified that both disapproved of General Walker.
44. It was during this meeting that LHO showed Michael Paine a photograph – one version of the infamous Backyard Photograph showing LHO holding a rifle in one hand, two Marxist newspapers in his other hand, and wearing a pistol in holster. (We know this because Michael told Gus Russo and Dan Rather in 1993).
45. Michael Paine admitted his thoughts at seeing the Backyard Photograph. LHO was an immature type of Marxist who was so clueless that he’d pose in such a flashy manner, like a gung-ho rebel with guns, mugging for the camera for the world to see. Authentic rebels join movements, obey leaders, and keep a low profile. LHO was a poser, he testified.
LHO TRIES TO SHOOT GENERAL WALKER
46. Eight days later, on Wednesday April 10th, at 9 p.m., LHO tried to shoot General Walker at home doing his taxes. LHO escaped and then came home around midnight and admitted to Marina what he had done. (According to WC testimony, nobody ever guessed that the Oswalds kept such a terrible secret until Marina revealed it after the JFK Assassination.)
47. The Dallas morning news reported widely that somebody tried to shoot General Walker the night before. Local news buzzed about this for days.
48. According to skilled JFK researcher Dick Russell (The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1992) after George and Jeanne DM obtained sufficient evidence on Saturday, April 13ththat LHO was indeed Walker’s shooter, George hurried to tell Natasha and Igor Voshinin early the next morning – Easter Sunday, 1963.
49. The Voshinins urged George to call the FBI, but George declined. After he left, Natasha called the Dallas FBI immediately and told them. If Dick Russell got his story right, then at least the Dallas FBI had heard on April 14, 1963, that LHO had been Walker’s shooter (despite denials by FBI agent James Hosty).
50. This matched what Walker expressed several times – that he himself knew that LHO had been his April shooter only “days after the shooting”. His signed 1975 letter to Senator Frank Church shown above is only one of multiple documents by Walker on this topic.
51. FBI Headquarters always denied knowing this – and I believe FBI Headquarters. I believe that Natasha Voshinin called the FBI on Easter Sunday 1963 to report that she had a viable suspect in the Walker shooting, her call was routed to James Hosty. Hosty was connected closely with General Walker, having been assigned to his surveillance.
52. If (and only if) Dick Russell is correct, and if Hosty received Natasha’s call, Hosty would have called General Walker right away. Penn Jones Jr., reported in 1965 that James Hosty and his wife met Walker’s business partner, Robert Alan Surrey and his wife, on a regular basis to play Bridge. Hosty very likely told Surrey and Walker that very day.
53. I surmise that before the morning was over, General Walker heard about Natasha’s report that LHO was a prime suspect in the Walker shooting! Like anyone, Walker would instinctively act to prevent his shooter from trying again.
54. Hosty should have reported this to FBI Headquarters right away. But General Walker would have objected. This was too personal. This defector LHO had tried to kill him – at his home. Too often, FBI Headquarters had refused to reopen the Oswald casefile. Surely, they would move too slowly on this.
55. Apparently, General Walker convinced James Hosty to spy on LHO under the radar, independently of FBI Headquarters. Walker would deal with LHO privately – beginning with surveillance starting Easter Sunday. Walker likely asked Hosty to help him unofficially spy on LHO. Evidently James Hosty accepted a proposal of this sort.
56. LHO had no clue about any of these crucial factors. Michael and Ruth Paine had no clue about any of these crucial factors. After his April 2nd dinner party with the Oswalds, Michael Paine gave Ruth permission to ask Marina to move in, yet he himself forgot about the Oswalds for several months. Ruth maintained her written correspondence with Marina.
57. The resigned General Walker receded into the background.
58. Only 14 days after the Walker shooting, LHO fled to New Orleans, his childhood home. He had an aunt, uncle, and cousins there. By May 10th LHO found a cheap apartment at 1700 Magazine Street and a job at Reily Coffee Co., just down the same street – 600 Magazine – and directly across from 544 Camp Street, where LHO was often seen. That was the actual address stamped on his Fake FPCC handbills.
59. None of that seems like a coincidence. Rather, it seems that LHO’s original destination in New Orleans was 544 Camp Street – the Law Office of Guy Banister! Very likely LHO got that job across the street at Reily’s because Reily was friendly with Banister. We have good evidence that LHO’s greaser job was only to keep up appearances, because the WC showed testimony that LHO was often absent from his post at Reily's. LHO’s behavior would show that he was obsessed with the Fake FPCC that Guy Banister had sponsored at 544 Camp Street.
60. I’d emphasize three points: (a) LHO had no interaction with the FPCC before moving to New Orleans; (b) LHO had no interaction with Guy Banister before moving to New Orleans; and (c) after moving to New Orleans, LHO almost immediately joined Guy Banister’s FPCC scam. All this suggests to me that a 3rd party had hastily planned this for LHO, soon after the Walker shooting.
61. One may argue that David Ferrie, partner of Guy Banister, who had known LHO since high-school – was that 3rd party. It is plausible that Ferrie and Banister plotted to help General Walker by using psychology to control LHO. If LHO wanted a full-time job in the CIA, then Ferrie and Banister would pretend to represent the CIA and would promise LHO a full-time job – if only he could pass their ‘test.’ This, anyhow, is how it appears to me.
62. New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison and his staff have already covered the behavior of LHO in their city in the most intricate detail. We cannot say the same for the Dallas D.A.
(to be continued)
--Paul
Copyright © 2021 by Paul Trejo. All Rights Reserved.
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