Peter Lemkin Wrote:The Paines

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The Paines' Participation in the Minox Camera Charade[size=12]by Carol Hewett, Esq.
[/SIZE]Almost every JFK assassination researcher is aware that the Dallas police found, and inventoried, a tiny hi-tech Minox camera amongst Oswald's personal effects when Ruth and Michael Paine's home was searched and that this camera later was omitted from an inventory list once the FBI took over the investigation. What is not generally known is the Paines' role in this camera charade.
There were 3 separate inventory lists itemizing the evidence from the Paine household:

1. 
   
2. [size=12]a Dallas police List,
   
   
3. a joint Dallas police and FBI list, and
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4. [size=12]the FBI Headquarters list.[/SIZE]
   

This camera disappears from List #3. There were four separate sets of photographs of the items removed from the Paine household:

1. [size=12]the Dallas Police Crime Lab revealing the camera,
   
   
2. the joint Dallas police and FBI photos which should have shown the camera,
   
   
3. the altered joint set of photos which omitted the camera, and
   
   
4. the supplement set to #3 which still failed to show the Minox camera.
   

The FBI's early efforts to conceal the existence of the Minox camera did not stay secret for long, as word leaked out amongst news reporters that the FBI had altered its inventory list and that the FBI had pressured the Dallas police to alter its inventory. The FBI was now squarely in the middle of an evidence-tampering dilemma before the Warren Commission investigation was barely underway. One solution would be to produce the original camera, or any Minox camera for that matter, in order to resolve the discrepancy. This is precisely what the FBI did. Many of the documents setting forth the method by which the Minox camera "reappeared" were not released to the public until 1984 and are amongst the Paine files.We now know that the controversy over the Minox camera reached the highest levels of the FBI. Eventfully Hoover demanded that Dallas SAC Gordon Shanklin contact the Dallas Police, Marina Oswald and Ruth Paine to get to the bottom of the problem. Late in January 1964, Dallas FBI Agent Bardwell Odum contacted the Paines. Mr. Paine advised Odum that he still had his Minox camera in a coffee can in his garage, that it had been dropped in salt water a few years ago and that he had repaired the water damage by cleaning the camera with kerosene. According to Paine, the camera seemed to be in good working order but "someone" had bent the shutter and "now" it was not working. Paine recollected that when the law enforcement officers first searched his home, he gave them a drawer of his photographic equipment with everything in it except for the Minox camera. Paine went on to say that he had mentioned to the officers that the Minox camera was in the garage but they did not seem interested in it. This was an obvious lie for the police had in fact taken a Minox camera into custody. Paine also claimed that the Minox light meter seized that weekend belonged to him.
Did the Paines have a prior relationship with Agent Odum that would allow the three of them to participate in a ruse? Mr. Paine told the Warren Commission that he knew "Bob" Odum, casually referring to Bardwell Odum's nickname of "Bob". Odum, incidentally, apparently lived in Irving in 1963 because Irving barbershop owner, Clifton Shasteen, told the Warren Commission that he not only cut Oswald's hair but that he also cut FBI Agent Bardwell Odum's hair. Following her Warren Commission testimony, Ruth Paine wrote the Commission seeking return of various items which belonged to her and her husband; her lists mentions only the Minox light meter and light meter case, not a Minox camera. In all the ensuing correspondence, no mention of the Minox camera is made by the Paines, Rankin or Hoover --- once again suggesting collusion.
The camera as inventoried by the Dallas police, and later by Odum, contained exposed film. In 1977 author Alan J. Weberman obtained copies of these developed photos. 29 photos were produced, some of which depicted a freighter in a harbor and a military installation apparently situated in Central America. One of the military photos shows a blond American which the HSCA must have thought was CIA operative Gerry Patrick Hemming inasmuch as the HSCA juxtaposed two other photos of Hemming next to it for comparison. Other photographs were of Rome, including the Piaza of St. Peter and the Roman Coliseum. Still another photo in the series consists of a pet cat reclining on a checkered tiled floor.
In the 1970's Michael Paine denied having taken such photos despite the fact that he had owned the Minox camera. In 1994, Paine would be questioned again about these matters for the Frontline TV production. This time Paine stated that the camera which was returned to him had been stolen about 5 years after the assassination along with all of the photographs from that era Is he referring to the 29 photos? Why would they have been returned if they were not his in the first place? A theft could not have occurred 5 years after 1963 because the camera marked by Odum was shown to Marina by the HSCA in 1978. In fact Marina was shown two Minox cameras! The source of the second one remains a mystery.
Neither one of the Paines were ever questioned under oath about the camera or the photos. The pictures of Rome could have been taken by Michael during his 1955 travels to Europe for his passport application indicated that he planned to go to Italy. Oswald also indicated on his second passport application of June 1963 that he intended to travel to Italy but there is yet no indication that he actually traveled to Italy at any time. As for the cat, the Paines did in fact own a cat while living in Irving which they gave away to the family of E.E. Bruner because of their little girl's allergies. There exists an independent photo of June Oswald as a toddler playing with a white kitten. So who owned the black and white cat, the Paines or the Oswalds?
Both of the Paines and Bardwell Odum are still alive. They must be relieved of any secrecy oaths and forced to give sworn testimony about this camera. Such testimony may help resolve whether either of the Paines or Lee Harvey Oswald worked in the capacity of an intelligence asset and also whether Michael and Lee worked together.

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Paine and the Patsyby Steven Jones
There are more than 300 released documents of alleged sightings of Oswald before the assassination. Some of these sightings are the mistakes of well-intentioned people; others are reports of kooks and attention-seekers. However, there appear to be a number of credible sightings, enough to indicate that a person or persons was impersonating Lee H. Oswald in the months preceding the assassination. Several researchers, including myself, are in the process of analyzing these sightings. It will take months of further analysis to be able to fully understand their implications.
However, the majority of sightings were reported in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Ruth and Michael Paine who befriended the Oswalds in 1963 lived in Irving. Researcher Vince Palamara gave me a videotape of an interview of Michael Paine on WFAA-TV on November 24, 1963. When I saw this interview I was astonished. In 1963 Michael Paine was a dead ringer for Lee Harvey Oswald. Barbara LaMonica and I showed this tape at the Fourth Decade conference in Fredonia. Everyone agreed to the striking similarity between these two men. Not only did Paine resemble Oswald physically but spoke in the same manner, exhibited similar body language, and even pursed his lips exactly as Oswald did when briefly questioned by reporters for live TV on the night of the assassination.
I will show a brief 3 minute video clip which intersperses segments of Michael Paine talking with segments of Lee Harvey Oswald talking. I hope that this will draw closer scrutiny to the possibility that Michael Paine may well have been used as an Oswald imposter, and also open up discussion on this topic among participants at the conference.

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All in the Family (The Paines)by Barbara LaMonica
Ruth Paine's father, William Avery Hyde, undertook a Department of State/AID assignment to Peru within weeks of the publication of the Warren Report. His first tour of duty out of the country would last almost three years from October 1964 to August 1967. Mr. Hyde's official status was that of a contract employee for CLUSA, the Cooperative League of the USA. His job title was that of Regional Insurance Advisor for Latin America. Indeed, Mr. Hyde who for many years was an insurance executive with Nationwide Insurance Company, was the only individual at the time who was accredited to the Latin America Division of the U.S. Agency for International Development for handling insurance problems. Thus he should be considered an important asset of the U.S. government's economic policies in Latin America during that time period insofar as the promotion of capitalism and modern day business techniques was concerned.
Hyde's tour of duty was not limited to Peru. He provided technical assistance to the launching of insurance cooperatives in Bolivia, Ecuador and Panama. His efforts were directed towards all types of coverage, including life, casualty, automobile, and mortgage insurance and brought him into contact with Latin American credit unions, banks and the housing industry. Furthermore, he urged the State Department to consider the development of a Central American Common Market modeled after the European Common Market. Hyde's experience with insurance cooperatives led him to serve as a consultant to another CLUSAAID cooperative project in Peru called the Artisan Handicraft Project. Inasmuch as Peru's major economic activity consisted of the folk arts, the U.S. government sought to upgrade the cottage industries and to increase the market for Peru's export of handicrafts through modern and large scale foreign retailers such as Sears and Roebuck. This in turn would presumably lead to a better standard of living for workers via higher wages and the development of an accompanying infrastructure.
Ruth's father contributed to the "end-of-tour" report on the Artisan Handicraft Project as it was drawing to a close. This report, which was routed to both the State Dept. and the CIA, was found by assassination researchers at the AID library in D.C. Of special interest to the State Department was Hyde's commentary on problems, both politically and culturally, which AID technical advisors could expect to encounter when working in Latin America. These personal remarks consist of only 3 pages but the content is reminiscent of the report which Oswald made about his observations of life in Russia. In fact, a comparison of the two documents reveals Oswald to be the better writer and more thorough observer (notwithstanding the snide remarks about Oswald's writing and thinking abilities made by Norman Mailer in Oswald's Tale).
From this, we can conclude that William Avery Hyde could have been deemed an important source of information for the Domestic Contacts Division of the CIA which collected data of a sociological and economic nature for its in-house encyclopedias on foreign nations. It is not difficult to imagine that George DeMorhenschild and Lee Harvey Oswald may have served the same purpose for the CIA following their travels abroad. In any case, we now see that there is more to Ruth's Paine's family background than revealed to us by the Warren Commission or the HSCA or Ruth Paine herself.

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Arthur Young and Ruth Forbes Paine Young ---
The Crux of the Matterby William Kelly
Arthur Young is the inventor of the Bell Helicopter and step-father of Michael Paine, who worked at Bell Helicopter's Texas plant and at whose home Lee Oswald stayed on the night before the assassination.
Oswald's wife Marina lived at the Irving, Texas home with Michael Paine's wife Ruth, who visited Arthur Young and his wife, Michael's mother, in the summer of 1963.
In August 1963 a pregnant Marina Oswald wrote a letter to Ruth Paine --- in care of Arthur Young, accepting an invitation to move in with her in Irving until she had her baby. After visiting with Young and Michael's mother at their farm near Philadelphia, Ruth Paine drove to New Orleans, picked up Marina and the alleged assassination rifle, and drove them to Irving, while Oswald went to Mexico City. The rifle was then stored in the Paine's garage until the day of the assassination.
If the assassination of President Kennedy was the result of a covert operation, rather than the act of a deranged loner, then the intelligence networks that operated in conjunction with Bell Helicopter's military arm may have played a role in the murder.
As the last journalist to interview Arthur Young before he died last year, I have developed a unique insight into his life and role in these affairs.
A complete transcript of my interview with him will be released at the conference as well as a summary of my report, which concludes that although Arthur Young is probably responsible for obtaining the job for Michael Paine at Bell Helicopter, it is his wife --- Michael Paine's mother, Ruth Forbes Paine Young --- who was the more important player and has the significant associations with the CIA officials connected with the assassination.
Ruth Forbes is a close personal friend of former OSS operative Mary Bancroft, who was Allen Dulles' wartime mistress. Ruth Forbes also helped organize Cord Meyer's World Federalists and the International Peace Academy (IPA) at the UN, both pivotal organizations involved in the U.S.-Russian-Cuban nexus that developed around the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination.
Both Ruth Forbes Paine Young and Mary Bancroft are still alive today and should be questioned by the Assassination Records Review Board as to any information or documents they may have that should be made part of the permanent JFK Assassination Records Collection at the National Archives. Arthur Paine kept detailed diaries and volumes of notes on his personal activities, as did Ruth Paine and Mary Bancroft.
Ruth Young's association with the World Federalists and IPA are extremely significant because Priscilla Johnson McMillan was also a World Federalist and a neighbor of Cord Meyer, who went on to become head of the CIA's International Organizations Division.
Ruth Young's role in establishing the IPA at the UN places her at the scene of the US-Cuban secret back-channel negotiations regarding detente, which were taking place at the time of the assassination and may have been one of the motives for the murder.
Arthur Young and Ruth Forbes Paine Young are two of the most significant, yet least known players in the assassination drama.
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