16-08-2013, 07:11 PM
John Armstrong asked me to post this for him:
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I would like to share a thought with JFK researchers interested in Oswald's alleged purchase of the rifle.
While HARVEY and Marina were in New Orleans (specifically, at Lake Pontchartrain with the Murrets), LEE Oswald arrived at Robert McKeown's home in Baytown, TX (early Sept, 1963, Saturday morning). LEE Oswald introduced himself to McKeown and repeatedly asked McKeown to acquire and sell rifles to him. McKeown had previously supplied guns and armaments to Castro, and had become a very close personal friend of Castro. McKeown refused to sell rifles to Oswald and he left. If Oswald had purchased a rifle from McKeown, then that rifle would have been found on the 6th floor of the TSBD and an irrefutable link from Oswald to Castro would have been established.
Oswald's attempt to purchase a rifle from McKeown occurred during the first week in Sept., 1963. The thought occurred to me that as of September, the "plotters" had not yet chosen/selected the rifle to be placed on the 6th floor. The FBI took possession of the original Klein's microfilm in the early morning hours of 11/23/63. Photographs of Klein's documents showing that Oswald purchased a MC rifle, allegedly taken from the microfilm, were shown to Klein's VP Waldman for identification (as was the money order). The microfilm subsequently disappeared (not in the National Archives) and FBI photographs are all that remain.
McKeown was interviewed for several hours by the HSCA (I have tape recordings of his interview, obtained from the National Archives). Oswald and McKeown's meeting was discussed at length in Harvey and Lee.
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In John's book, he says that McKeown ran a coffee processing plant in Santiago in the early 1950s with the blessing of Carlos Prio, who was overthrown by Batista in 1952. McKeown was deported by the Batista regime when it was discovered he was supplying weapons to Prio's backers.
By 1956 McKeown was running guns from Miami to Castro's forces, and then the narrative REALLY gets interesting. Here's how John wrote it up on p. 178 of Harvey and Lee:
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In 1957 McKeown returned to his native Texas and lived in Baytown, the small community adjacent to Kemah, Texas, where Jack Ruby collected and stored guns and ammunition for shipment to Mexico. It was in Houston, at the Shamrock Hotel, that McKeown first met Fidel Castro, with whom he began a long and close relationship.
McKeown soon began delivering large quantities of arms, munitions, and supplies to Mexico for delivery to Castro. He was paid with CIA cash bundled in Pan American Bank of Miami wrappers. Castro himself piloted his boat to Mexico, picked up the arms from McKeown, and returned to Cuba....
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The book goes on to describe a letter from Hoover to the Warren Commission describing the "conspiracy" of McKeown and others to send munitions to Castro. Other discussions about LEE Oswald and McKeown are scattered throughout the book in chronological order.
--Jim
============================ QUOTE ON =========================
I would like to share a thought with JFK researchers interested in Oswald's alleged purchase of the rifle.
While HARVEY and Marina were in New Orleans (specifically, at Lake Pontchartrain with the Murrets), LEE Oswald arrived at Robert McKeown's home in Baytown, TX (early Sept, 1963, Saturday morning). LEE Oswald introduced himself to McKeown and repeatedly asked McKeown to acquire and sell rifles to him. McKeown had previously supplied guns and armaments to Castro, and had become a very close personal friend of Castro. McKeown refused to sell rifles to Oswald and he left. If Oswald had purchased a rifle from McKeown, then that rifle would have been found on the 6th floor of the TSBD and an irrefutable link from Oswald to Castro would have been established.
Oswald's attempt to purchase a rifle from McKeown occurred during the first week in Sept., 1963. The thought occurred to me that as of September, the "plotters" had not yet chosen/selected the rifle to be placed on the 6th floor. The FBI took possession of the original Klein's microfilm in the early morning hours of 11/23/63. Photographs of Klein's documents showing that Oswald purchased a MC rifle, allegedly taken from the microfilm, were shown to Klein's VP Waldman for identification (as was the money order). The microfilm subsequently disappeared (not in the National Archives) and FBI photographs are all that remain.
McKeown was interviewed for several hours by the HSCA (I have tape recordings of his interview, obtained from the National Archives). Oswald and McKeown's meeting was discussed at length in Harvey and Lee.
=========================== QUOTE OFF ===========================
In John's book, he says that McKeown ran a coffee processing plant in Santiago in the early 1950s with the blessing of Carlos Prio, who was overthrown by Batista in 1952. McKeown was deported by the Batista regime when it was discovered he was supplying weapons to Prio's backers.
By 1956 McKeown was running guns from Miami to Castro's forces, and then the narrative REALLY gets interesting. Here's how John wrote it up on p. 178 of Harvey and Lee:
=========================== QUOTE ON ============================
In 1957 McKeown returned to his native Texas and lived in Baytown, the small community adjacent to Kemah, Texas, where Jack Ruby collected and stored guns and ammunition for shipment to Mexico. It was in Houston, at the Shamrock Hotel, that McKeown first met Fidel Castro, with whom he began a long and close relationship.
McKeown soon began delivering large quantities of arms, munitions, and supplies to Mexico for delivery to Castro. He was paid with CIA cash bundled in Pan American Bank of Miami wrappers. Castro himself piloted his boat to Mexico, picked up the arms from McKeown, and returned to Cuba....
========================== QUOTE OFF ============================
The book goes on to describe a letter from Hoover to the Warren Commission describing the "conspiracy" of McKeown and others to send munitions to Castro. Other discussions about LEE Oswald and McKeown are scattered throughout the book in chronological order.
--Jim