John Armstrong's Harvey and Lee

[Jim Hargrove]

Hopefully, John Armstrong will forgive me, but I'm so moved by the discussions in this thread, I'm hereby offering the entire 1947 write-up from John's Harvey and Lee, minus the footnotes, which I can't figure out how to include.

[size=12]1947

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In early 1947 Marguerite and Ekdahl ended their 8-month separation and reunited. Lee was withdrawn from the Covington Grammar School on January 23, 1947 and returned with his mother to Fort Worth. Marguerite enrolled Lee at Lily B. Clayton Elementary School (Fort Worth-school #19), located at 2000 Park Place Avenue, and Lee began attending Lois Lowimore's first grade class on January 27.

Ekdahl, Marguerite, and Lee lived 5 blocks east of the school in Ekdahl's upstairs apartment at 1505 8th Avenue.6 The short, dumpy, heavy-set "Marguerite Oswald" imposter, who was never married to Ekdahl, told the Wa1Ten Commission, "It was in the apartment house downstairs."


Mr. Harry Badour, a neighbor, spoke with the tall, nice-looking Marguerite Oswald on several occasions. From these conversations Badour learned that Marguerite had two older sons who were in a military school and that her youngest son, Lee, was attending the first or second grade at the Lily B. Clayton Elementary School. He remembered Mrs. Oswald had a job, but could not recall where she worked (there is no record that Mrs. Oswald was employed at this time).66

On February 7, Marguerite opened an account at the First National Bank of Fort Worth. A record in the bank's Central Information Files contains a notation, "This is money from a former marriage and is to be kept separate for children of deceased husband."67


After settling into the apartment with Ekdahl, Marguerite introduced herself to
a female neighbor. Marguerite said, "How are you? I am Mrs. Ekdahl." The woman
looked surprised and later, after the two women became friendly, told her that Mr.
Ekdahl had a woman living with him in the apartment while Marguerite was in
Covington, and assumed the woman was Ekdahl's wife.68


W hen Marguerite began to find items around the apartment that belonged to
another woman, she became suspicious and irritated. When Ekdahl was preparing to go
on a trip by train, she called the travel agent and learned that Ekdahl had purchased two
train tickets. Marguerite suspected that Ekdahl was going to take another woman with
him on his trip, and volunteered to drive him to the train station. Ekdahl insisted that
she need not do this and said it would be too much trouble. After stubbornly insisting
that she drive her husband to the station, Ekdahl relented and agreed to let Marguer
24ite drive.69


On February 25 Marguerite finally confronted Ekdahl and asked him about the
other woman. An altercation occurred and, according to subsequent court papers filed
by Ekdahl, "In a violent outburst of temper.....accused Ekdahl of infidelity and threw
a bottle at him." Two weeks later, on March 17, another altercation occurred in which
Ekdahl claimed that Marguerite, "Severely scratched him on his left arm and struck him
several times in the chest." In early April yet another altercation occurred when Ekdahl
complained, "In another outburst of temper, (Marguerite) threw a cookie jar at him."
A final altercation occurred in May when Ekdahl said, "Another outburst of anger and
uncontrollable temper by Marguerite occurred when she threw a glass at him
(Ekdahl)."70 After repeated altercations, Ekdahl finally moved out.


Lee Oswald completed the 1st grade at Lily B. Clayton Elementary on May 30,
1947. His grades were listed as two "Ns" and the rest "B's." At the end of the spring
semester at Chamberlain Hunt, John and Robert returned to Fort Worth and moved into
the apartment at 1505 8th Avenue with their mother.


In the summer of 1947 John Pic worked at Walgreen's for a few weeks and then
began work at the TexGold Ice Cream parlor. T he store was located at 1920 5th Avenue,
four blocks south of the apartment at 1505 8th Avenue. By the end of the summer 15-
year-old Pic was promoted to assistant manager.


Near the end of summer (1947) Marguerite and Ekdahl were still having diffi*
culties with their marriage and were often separated. John Pic recalled, "As I was return*
ing from work (at TexGold), I think we closed the store about 10 o' clock, Mr. Ekdahl
and she drove up and told me that they wouldn't be home that night, that they were
going downtown to the Worth Hotel. This was one of their reunions, and this was one
of their longer separation periods."71


Marguerite and Ekdahl reunited, but she still harbored suspicions that he was
seeing another woman. One day Marguerite telephoned Ekdahl's office to advise that
Mr. Ekdahl's return from an out-of-town trip was delayed. T he short, dumpy, heavy-set
"Marguerite Oswald" imposter told the Warren Commission, "(I) called his office, I was
familiar with, knew his secretary, and I was going to tell her that Mr. Ekdahl would be
delayed 3 or 4 days. But immediately she said, 'Mrs. Ekdahl, Mr. Ekdahl is not in, he
has gone out to lunch.' So I said, the general conversation went 'when will he be back'
and so on, and so that evening I took the car and I went to the Texas Electric Co., works
for the Texaco, the main office in New York, but he was working in Fort Worth at the
time, went to the building and saw him leaving the building and I followed him to an
apartment house, saw him go into this apartment house. T hen I went back home, and
my oldest son, John Edward Pic, who is in the service, had a friend at the house who
was about 2 years older. I told them about what happened. So it was night by this time.
T he kids went with me."72


John Pic's friends Marvin, Goldie and Sammy accompanied Pic and Marguer*
ite to the apartment house where Ekdahl had gone. John Pic's friend, Sammy, knocked
on the door and pretended to have a telegram, while Marguerite stood close by. When
"Mrs. Clary" opened the door to receive the telegram, Marguerite pushed her way in
and confronted both Mrs. Clary, who was wearing a nightgown negligee, and Ekdahl,
who was sitting on the couch in his shirtsleeves. Marguerite made a big fuss and then
left, believing she had grounds for a divorce and large settlement.73 Marguerite and
Ekdahl once again separated.


The Warren Report, p. 674


"Shortly after the divorce, Mrs. Oswald purchased a small house in Benbrook,
25on what is now (101) San Saba Street .....At the end of the summer, (Otis)
Carleton purchased the property."


The Warren Report is not correct. Commission Exhibit 1960-C shows that the
divorce between Ekdahl and Marguerite was final on June 15, 1948. Tarrant County land
records show that Marguerite C. Ekdahl purchased 101 San Saba a year before her divorce from
Ekdahl on July 7, 1947. Tarrant County land records show that Otis Carleton did not purchase
101 San Saba from Marguerite Oswald until four years later, on November 1, 1951.

101 San Saba

On July 7, 1947 Marguerite C. Ekdahl, with a $1500 cash down payment, pur*
chased a new home at 101 San Saba in Benbrook for $3950.74 Tarrant County land
records show that Marguerite Ekdahl leased her house to Buster L. Murray on August
1, 1947 for one year at $50 per month.75 T his is the only Tarrant County record relating
to Buster Murray.


Buster Murray and his wife, Doris, lived at 1617 Hemphill in 1947-48 and at
1919 W. Vickery in 1950, according to Fort Worth City directories. None of the neigh*
bors who lived on San Saba during that time remember anyone named Buster Murray.
Georgia Bell, who lived directly across the street from the Oswald's at 100 San Saba,
remembered Marguerite very well, but said nobody by the name of Murray ever lived
in the house.


Walter and Georgia Bell finished building their new home at 100 San Saba in
early July 1947. A few weeks before they moved into their new home, Marguerite
Oswald moved into her new house across the street at 101 San Saba. Georgia Bell lived
the next 49 years of her life at 100 San Saba, and knew each and every one of her neigh*
bors very well.


I met Georgia Bell in early 1996 and visited with her at 100 San Saba on several
occasions. W hen I met Georgia she was 82 years old and had a very good memory. Geor*
gia remembered Marguerite Oswald well and said that she did not have much furniture,
few clothes, and no car when she moved in. Marguerite, who Georgia described as "short
and fat," often visited her as did Marguerite's neighbor to the east, Mrs. Lucille
Hubbard. Georgia and Lucille often picked up groceries for Mrs. Oswald and chauf*
feured her around Benbrook.


NOTE: When I showed Georgia Bell a photograph of "Marguerite Oswald" standing
in a kitchen washing dishes (circa 1961) she said, "T hat's her, short and fat just like I
remember her." 52-12 But when I showed Georgia a photo taken of the tall, nice-looking
Marguerite Oswald on the day of her marriage to Edwin Ekdahl in 1945 she said, "I
don't know who that is. " 52-13


On one occasion, remembered quite well by Georgia, Marguerite asked her to
buy some groceries. W hen Georgia returned home with the groceries, Marguerite
walked across San Saba to Georgia's house. Georgia recalled, "Marguerite did not offer
to pay for the groceries. She just picked up the groceries without saying a word and
returned to her house. She didn't even pay me or thank me, she just left."


Georgia remembered another occasion when Mrs. Oswald obtained a job as a
practical nurse and needed a car to pick up some of her clothes. 52-14 She said, "Lucille
Hubbard gave Marguerite a ride in her car and took her to a house that Marguerite had
rented 'next to the Stripling School.' Mrs. Hubbard was surprised to find not only a lot
of clothes, but also a lot of furniture in the house."76 Mrs. Hubbard's son, Donald Eu
26gene Hubbard, played with young Oswald around the neighborhood. Georgia remem*
bered that Marguerite lived across the street from her for about six months. During that
time she often had male visitors who arrived by car.


Georgia recalled that before Marguerite moved away from 101 San Saba, around
Thanksgiving of 1947, she had acquired a car. This car may have been the car pictured
in Pic Exhibit #55-a photo taken at the 101 San Saba address. 52-15 John Pic said, "That
old jalopy I have a picture of was falling apart and before I went in the service she had
a ride home from work and the generator wouldn't generate, and the battery wouldn't
battery and it just kept cutting out, so we needed a new car..... She had to get it pushed
every morning to get to work. She would have us out in the street waving down people
to help her get the car pushed."77


The notation "1949" is written on the backside of Pic's photo, but in 1949 the
Oswalds were living at 7408 Ewing. Marguerite may have rented the house after she
moved out because Georgia remembered that the next family to move into the Oswald's
house was a family named "Charbenaur." After the Charbenaurs left, a neighbor who
lived in the 2nd house to the east, Otis Carleton, moved into 101 San Saba after his
(Carleton's) house burned.

Otis Carleton

An FBI report of an interview with Otis Carleton read, "Mrs. Oswald and her
three sons lived in the house which is now 101 San Saba Street in Benbrook. He be*
lieved they lived there for a period of six to eight months (his memory agrees with Geor*
gia Bell).....While they were living there, Mrs. Oswald contacted Carleton and asked him
to come up and inspect her house and give her an estimate as to what she might be able
to sell this property for as she was planning on leaving Benbrook. Mr. Carleton told her
he was a schoolteacher, not a real estate man, but she insisted on him helping her and
he finally agreed to look at the property. He irtspected the property one evening and told
her that he believed she could sell the house and lot for $2750 (she paid $3950).
The next evening Mrs. Oswald came to Carleton's home and told him that she
was going to accept his offer. Carleton was surprised by Marguerite's statement and
asked her what offer she was talking about. Marguerite said the offer to buy her house
for $2750. Carleton told her that he had never made an offer and merely advised her how
much she could expect to receive for her house. Marguerite insisted that he had made
an offer and she was going to hold him to it. She expected him to buy her house.78
NOTE: It appears that Marguerite was extremely anxious to sell this property as evi*
denced by a loss of nearly 32% within a short time. Marguerite made a profit on all real
estate transactions except this one, which is unusual because of a nationwide property
boom following WWI/.


Carleton, at that time, was buying some rental property and finally agreed to buy
the house for $2750, which was $1200 less than Marguerite paid for the house. During
the next few weeks Carleton recalled that he was in and out of the Oswald home on sev*
eral occasions. On one occasion, when he was talking to Mrs. Oswald about the house,
Carleton saw Lee Oswald run through the kitchen door and chase John Pic with a long
butcher knife.


Carleton said the last time he saw the Oswald family was when they left
Benbrook, sometime in 1946 or possibly in 1947 (again, Carleton's memory is consistent
with Georgia Bell's). He recalled that Lee Oswald attended the first grade at Benbrook
School because his daughter, at the time, was teaching the 5th and 6th grades at the
27same school."79 But Benbrook Common School records show that Lee Oswald enrolled and
attended the Benbrook Common School from October 31, 1945 to January 15, 1946-two years
before the Bell and the Oswald houses were built.


NOTE: Tarrant County land records show that Marguerite Oswald purchased 101 San
Saba on July 7, 1947, which agrees with Georgia Bell and Otis Carleton s statements that
she moved into the house during the summer of 1947. T herefore, Lee Harvey Oswald
should have attended the 2nd grade at the Benbrook Common School in the fall of 1947.
But in the fall of 1947, school records show that Oswald attended the Lilly B. Clayton
elementary school in Fort Worth-many miles to the east.


Otis Carleton could have purchased 101 San Saba in 1947 but, according to
Tarrant County land records, Marguerite did not transfer title to the property until
November 6, 1951-4 years after Georgia Bell and Carleton said she moved from
Benbrook.80


A letter to John Pic, in June 1950, further confuses the issue of when Mrs.
Oswald sold the property. Marguerite said in her letter that she was renting the
Benbrook property and, "In two more years Benbrook would have been paid out and
then I would either have a house rent free or else monthly income."81 A week later she
again wrote to Pic and said that she put the Benbrook house up for sale with]. Piner
Powell real estate. 82


QUESTION: ifMarguerite sold 101 San Saba to Otis Carleton in 1947, how could she
list the property for sale with J. Piner Powell Real Estate in June 1950?
A year later, on April 16, 1951, Marguerite wrote to John Pic and said, "Owe just
$979.62 on the Benbrook house."83 T he only house in Benbrook that Marguerite Oswald
owned, according to Tarrant County land records, was 101 San Saba. Marguerite's let*
ters to Pic suggests that she may have owned the Benbrook house, rented or leased it
to Carleton with an option to purchase, and finally deeded it to him on November 6,
1951 after she was paid in full for the house. In 1951, when title to the property was
transferred, the Oswald family was living at 7 408 Ewing, where they had lived for the
past 3 years. As I was researching the property and land records for 101 San Saba, I wondered
what the Oswald family members-]ohn Pic, Marguerite Oswald, Robert Oswald-told the Warren
Commission about 101 San Saba and the summer of 1947.


John Pic's testimony as to the events which occurred during the summer and fall
of 194 7 does not agree with Georgia Bell or Otis Carleton s memory. Pic remembered living
at 1505 8th Avenue in Fort Worth and working at the Tex Gold Ice Cream parlor, a few
blocks away, during the entire summer of 1947.


When John Pic testified before the Warren Commission he was asked about 101
San Saba and said, "I don't know anything about San Saba." He later produced two pho*
tographs, one of which showed the roof and corner of a house, which he said was pur*
chased by his mother in Benbrook following the divorce from Ekdahl (June 1948).84 He
described the house as, "A little 'L' shaped house, being the top of the 'L' was her bed*
room, bathroom, kitchen, and living room with a screened-in porch." Pic told the Com*
mission this was the first and only house built in the area and they moved in during the
summer and out in the early fall. 85


John Pic's memory of living at San Saba for less than three months, after his
mother's divorce from Ekdahl in 1948, does not agree with Otis Carleton and Georgia
Bell's memory of the Oswald's living there for 6-7 months in 1947. Nor does his memory
agree with Tarrant County land records, that show 101 San Saba was purchased by Mrs.
28Oswald on July 7, 1947.


NOTE: John Pic remembered that his mother bought the house, "After the divorce from
Ekdahl." He may, in error, have thought the divorce occurred during one of their sepa*
rations. Marguerite may have purchased101 San Saba immediately after she caught
Ekdahl in Mrs. Clarys apartment, (the summer of1947), lived in the house for3 months,
sold the house to Carleton in the early fall, returned to Ekdahls apartmetJt at1505 8th
Avenue, enrolled Lee at Lily B. Clayton Elementary School, and waited until1951 to
transfer the title to San Saba to Carleton. Perhaps.....


But if Pic was correct, and Marguerite purchased the property after divorcing Ekdahl,
then she purchased the property in the summer of 1948-after they moved from3300
Willing Street but before they moved to [size=12]408 Ewing in September 1948. This may agree[/SIZE]
with John Pic's testimony, but disagrees with Tarrant County land records (1uly7,1947)
which are in agreement with Georgia Bell and Otis Carletons statements that Mrs.
Oswald purchased the property in the summer of 1947.


Robert Oswald testified at length about the first half of 1947, but when Warren
Commission attorney Albert Jenner began to ask Robert about the summer of1947 Com*
mission member Allen Dulles, the former Director of the CIA, asked for an adjourn*
ment.86 W hen Robert's testimony resumed Attorney Jenner said, "This brought us
through the summer of 1948, I believe. Am I correct?"87 Robert Oswald answered, "That
is correct, sir." With the aide of Allen Dulles and Attorney Albert Jenner, testimony from
Robert Oswald about the summer and fall of 1947, and any reference to 101 San Saba,
were avoided.


The short, dumpy. heayy-set Marguerite Oswald imposter was not asked nor did
she volunteer any information about 101 San Saba to the Warren Commission.
There may be an innocent explanation for the contradictory stories surround*
ing 101 San Saba, but there are not sufficient records by which to sort it out so as to be
consistent with witness testimony and land records. San Saba, like Oswald's "birth cer*
tificate" and countless other situations involving the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, remains
confusing.


On July 8, 1947, J.S. Vandiver, of the Chamberlain Hunt Academy, sent a let*
ter to Mrs. E.A. Ekdahl at 1508 W. 8th Avenue in Fort Worth acknowledging receipt
of her $10 deposit for a room reservation for the fall term. Vandiver advised that the room
reservation fee was $10 for each cadet and requested an additional $10 deposit, which
Marguerite apparently never sent.88 John Pic and Robert Oswald did, however, return
to Chamberlain Hunt in the fall.


The FBI report on San Saba


The original FBI report, issued shortly after the assassination, stated that Mar*
guerite Oswald occupied 101 San Saba (1947) before moving to 3300 Willing, where she
moved following her divorce from Ekdahl in the summer of 1948.89 Somehow the FBI
was able to report more details about Oswald's background, within 48 hours of the assas*
sination, than the Warren Commission reported after months of investigation. The FBI's
ability to report on events that occurred in 1947-1948 strongly suggests they had de*
tailed, prior knowledge of Oswald and his family. Yet as FBI agents were preparing their
original report (issued within 48 hours of the assassination), Hoover was telling the public
the FBI had no prior knowledge of Oswald.

Fall of 1947


The question of whether the tall, nice-looking Marguerite Oswald ever occu*
pied 101 San Saba seems to have been settled by Georgia Bell when she said the Mar*
guerite who lived across the street from her was "short and fat." Evidence that the tall,
nice-looking Marguerite Oswald never lived at 101 San Saba comes from Fort Worth
school records. These records show that Lee Harvey Oswald entered Mrs. Florence
Murphy's 2nd grade class at Lily B. Clayton Elementary School, a few blocks from the
apartment at 1505 W. 8th, in the fall of 1947. A photo was taken of young Oswald in
front of their apartment at that time as was a class photo at Clayton Elementary. 52-16 The
Warren Commission (p. 673) reported, "Marguerite continued to live with Ekdahl un*
til January. 1948."


NOTE: There is no doubt that the tall, nice-looking Marguerite Oswald and her family
lived at 1505 8th Avenue in the summer and fall of 1947. 1ohn Pic worked at Tex Gold
Ice Cream and Lee Oswald attended Lily B. Clayton Elementary School in the fall.
If Georgia Bell and Otis Carleton were correct, then a "short and fat" Marguerite Oswald
moved into 101 San Saba in the summer of 1947, which agrees with Georgia Bell's
memory and Tarrant County land records. This woman stored personal effects in a house
near the Stripling School, which may be the same house that the short, dumpy, heavy-set
Marguerite Oswald imposter occupied in 1954 and occupied again in 1963 when Presi*
dent Kennedy was assassinated.


At Clayton Elementary, 7-year-old Lee Oswald met fellow student Phil Vinson.
Vinson recalled, "During recess periods the boys would form into what we called gangs
and engage in friendly wrestling matches or games of touch football. According to the
code of us 7 or 8-year-olds, being in Lee's gang was a high honor. Lee was a leader and
he chose those to serve with him on the grade school playground. In class he remained
quiet and I can recall no disciplinary action being taken against him. He usually an*
swered questions when called upon or told our teacher, Mrs. Murphy, he didn't know
the answer. He appeared to be honest. When we were called upon to read aloud I re*
member that Lee read well, but I also recall that when report card time came around
he didn't post very good grades."90


The Warren Report, p. 673


"That summer, Marguerite obtained what she regarded as proof that Ekdahl was
having some sort of affair.....at a time when Ekdahl was supposed to be out of
town, she went with John and several of his friends to an apartment in Fort
Worth; one of the boys posed as a telegram carrier, and when the door opened
she pushed her way into the apartment and found Ekdahl in his shirt sleeves
in the company of a woman in a negligee. Despite this apparent confirmation
of her suspicions, Marguerite continued to live with Ekdahl until January. 1948."
The Warren Report is incorrect. According to John Pic, Ekdahl was not living
at the apartment when he and Robert returned to the apartment at 1505 8th Avenue for
the Christmas holidays of 1947, and had been separated from Marguerite for nearly 6
months.91 The brothers used their box cameras to take photographs of Lee, sitting on
his bicycle, in the front yard of their home.92 After the holidays, John and Robert re
30turned to Chamberlain Hunt.


Central Intelligence Agency


At the end of WWII the founder of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), "Wild
Bill" Donovan, lobbied for a single intelligence agency in the US which would run se*
cret operations and gather human intelligence ("humint"). Members of Congress, however,
feared that the creation of a secret unregulated agency would eventually lead to a police state similarto the one the allies had just defeated in Germany.


NOTE: Congressional members [size=12]fears proved accurate as the CIA became, over time, the[/SIZE]
"invisible government" of the United States whose policies and objectives often conflicted
and opposed those of our duly elected representatives.


After much debate the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created through
the National Security Act of 194 7 and was, in theory, accountable to the President
through the National Security Council. The language of the Act was written for the
purpose of limiting CIA activities to five specific duties:


1) to advise the National Security Council (NSC) in matters concerning such
intelligence activities of the government departments and agencies as relate to
national security.


2) to make recommendations to the NSC for the coordination of such intelli*
gence activities of the departments and agencies of the government as relate to
the national security.


3) to correlate and evaluate intelligence relating to the national security, and
provide for the appropriate dissemination of such intelligence within the gov*
ernment using where appropriate existing agencies and facilities.....


4) to perform. for the benefit of the existing intelligence agencies, such addi*
tional service of common concern as the NSC determines can be more effi*
ciently accomplished centrally.


5) to perform such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting
the national security as the National Security Council may from time to time
direct.


The duties stated in items 1-4 are clear and limit the CIA's activities to provid*
ing advice, recommendations, correlation and evaluation. But it was the ambiguous lan*
guage contained in the 5th clause that allowed Allen Dulles, CIA Director during the
Eisenhower administration (1952-1960), to open Pandora's box. This clause allowed the
CIA to conduct unsupervised, covert operations, and expand those operations far be*
y ond what the law had intended.


The CIA used the first part of the 5th clause, "To perform such other functions
and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security," to begin conducting
far-reaching, worldwide, clandestine operations. They ignored the second part that said
their activities were to be performed "As the National Security Council may from time
to time direct."


One y ear after the CIA was created they formed a "covert action wing" to deal
with propaganda, economic warfare, preventive direct action, sabotage, anti-sabotage,
subversion against hostile states, and to support the elimination of anti-communist el*
ements that posed a threat to countries of the free world.


For Allen Dulles, who replaced General Walter Bedell Smith as CIA Director
31in 1953, the approval for any operation, covert or otherwise, was easy. His brother, John
Foster Dulles, was the Secretary of State. Allen Dulles always insisted that covert CIA
operations have a "false sponsor" on which to place the blame, if needed, if an opera*
tion was exposed or failed. If and when the Agency was implicated, Dulles wanted to
be able to shift the blame to the "false sponsor" and deny responsibility. A "false spon*
sor" allowed the Agency, in Allen in Dulles' words, to maintain "plausible deniability "
for their covert operations.


Charlie Wilson, a long time friend of Allen Dulles, was the Secretary of Defense
and nearly alway s deferred to the CIA's wishes. Dulles' brother, Secretary of State John
Foster Dulles, said, "For us, there are two sorts of people in the world; there are those
who are Christians and support free enterprise and then there are the others."


NOTE: Many members of Congress were reluctant to give the approval necessary for
creating the Agenq. President Harry S. Truman signed into law the document formal*
izing the existence of the CIA, and later called the Agenq an "American Gestapo."
Truman s successor in 1952, President Dwight Eisenhower, handwrote in the margin on
the master copy of an NSC directive, "No department should ever provide the CIA with
enoufh men. material. overseas facilities or money in such quantity that the CIA could
ever do more than one, small operation, approved by the NSC."


Eisenhower understood that the intent of the act that created the CIA was to limit their
operations to those that were monitored and approved by the National Security Coun*
cil, which reported directly to the President. He was also aware that the ambiguous lan*
guage of clause #5 allowed for potential and far reaching abuse. In President
Eisenhowers farewell address, he warned the public of the threat of incursion on their
civil liberties by the military-industrial complex (CIA).


Under the Eisenhower administration a secret agreement was drawn up that ex*
empted the CIA and their employees from reporting crimes of which it was aware to the
Justice Department. This agreement was so secret that for nearly two decades the At*
torney Generals of the United States were unaware of it's existence.93
The Agency created "201" files for all personnel who either worked for the CIA
or were being used in operations involving members of the CIA. Ex-CIA official Phillip
Agee explained that a "201" file was divided into two parts, which were stored separately
for maximum security. One part (secret) contained the person's true name and sensitive
documents, while the other file (available to outsid investigators) contained only opera*
tional information of a non-sensitive nature.


Career CIA officer Ann Egerter told the House Select Committee on Assassi*
nations (HSCA), "It ('201' files) is so controlled that a normal person running a name
trace would not pick up that (sensitive) information..... Everything would be held by the
case officer." As a result, when Miami news reporter Jefferson Morley asked the CIA a
sensitive question about one of their agents, a spokesperson said, "We think the records
speak for themselves."94


When theAmerican public and investigative agencies are allowed access to only
selected and sanitized CIA records, such as those described by Phillip Agee, then those
records should always be considered suspect and incomplete.


NOTE: With an enormous secret budget, false sponsors, plausible deniability, dual per*
sonnel files, sanitized records that "speak for themselves, " exemption from reporting
crimes, and a supportive administration in the White House, the CIA was able to con
32duct worldwide covert operations with impunity. To keep their operations from being
exposed to the public the CIA only needed to control major elements of the press which,
as we shall see, they succeeded in doing within a short time.

[size=12]from HARVEY AND LEE, BY JOHN ARMSTRONG[/SIZE]