Hidell: A Hypothesis

[David Andrews]

Richard Case Nagell said something about the meaning of "Hidell," but I'm having difficulty recalling it.

Anyone remember?

Dick Russell wrote that the "-ell" in Hidell was copied from the -ell in Nagell, and that he and Oswald used one-ell and two-ell spellings of the names Nagell and Hidell under different alias circumstances. It is possible that these five-letter vs. six-letter versions indicated work for the US some times and the Russians other times (Russell suggests that this is how Nagell used his "Nagel" alias, at least.)

Russell confronted Nagell with the idea that the "Hid-" in Hidell stood for the HID, a South Korean intelligence agency that Nagell worked with in Japan, and that Nagell may have had Oswald working for. Russell said that Nagell looked surprised at this reference, and then avoided the question, refusing to confirm or deny.

The Nagell-Oswald nexus is one of the most fascinating leads to assassination investigation.