John Armstrong's Harvey and Lee

[Charles Drago]

I have read Harvey & Lee, and think John's book is a must-read, mainly because of all the new information he has turned up and assembled. It is quite an impressive bit of legwork and digging. I have never had trouble with the idea of Oswald doubles -- Leon in New Orleans, the doubles which seem to have been operating in Dallas several weeks before, etc. But I'm not sure what to make of the principal thesis of the book. Certainly there are lots of difficulties with the identity of Oswald: school records, social security records, being in different places at the same time, non-matching anatomical features or medical history, etc. But one thing has bothered me about the "matching" of two youngsters at such an early age. Can anyone cite statistical information on what it would take to find two kids with extremely close physiognomies who were unrelated? and, once located at that early age, have a high level of certainty that they will remain phenotypically not just similar, but very similar, through their adolescent maturation process?

Let me explain a little further. In the case of the doubles in New Orleans, Mexico City, Dallas, the closeness of the physical match does not seem to be a crucial issue. But the kinds of distinctions in the photographic record John adduces are very subtle, something only a family member like John Pic could really notice. I don't question the ability to find suitable doubles for a 24-year old; my question has to do with doubling from early on.

These are interesting questions -- many of which have been posed by myself and others, few of which have been answered.

Let's keep in mind that this and previous hypothetical from-birth doppelganger gambits would have been instituted and become operational long before the era when cameras became ubiquitous in popular culture. Take, for example, the aliases allegedly chosen by James Earl Ray -- living individuals whose written physical descriptions closely matched his own. None of them looked like Ray, however. But on the printed page, they worked just fine.

Of course in the case of LHO doppelgangers we're dealing with visual IDs. But consider the extant photo(s) of ostensible Oswald doubles John Thomas Masen, William Seymour, Billy Lovelady, Steve Wilson, etc. (ALL OF WHICH I SHOULD BE ABLE TO ATTACH, BUT WHEN I TRY I'M INFORMED THAT I'M AT MY LIMIT OF ATTACHMENT SPACE; MAGDA, WOULD YOU PLEASE INVESTIGATE?); how many can survive "double" status when compared side-by-side to photos of the historic LHO?

How close a resemblance is close enough for government work?

My informed guess is that children of similar age and somatotype were selected and monitored/directed. Those who developed striking facial and physique similarities that lasted into their teens and early adult years were utilized accordingly.