Lyndon Johnson and Mac Wallace - by Joan Mellen

[Tom Bowden]

When the Press Conference was held at the Conspiracy Museum to announce the fingerprint match, Jay and several of his friends were there. Walt Brown was designated as the speaker to the Press. Barr McClellan was also supposed to attend. He did not show up. Walt was left high and dry without support. He was at a disadvantage as he did not have first hand knowledge. I have to say it was the least received of any press conference we held. We had AP, DMN and several local TV stations. The press did not get the full story. I was frankly embarrassed for Walt and the museum. Jay was livid with the non-appearance of Barr. I was under the impression that Nathan would be there with Barr.

Be that as it may, I did meet Nathan on two occasions. The second was the videotaping for use in our French documentary. He came across as being honest and definitely believing in the match. We have a very good copy of the submission to the FBI. The fingerprints are excellent copies.

I think many on this site are being hard on Walt. I believe he has acted in good faith and as I stated before many do not understand the state of Jay's files. I spent several days with him when we were researching Wallace. I have over forty years experience in information retrieval and storage. Jay's was a bastard system and he told me himself that no one else could run it. I am not criticizing Jay because he used what he had. That should not reflect on his data or his work. Perhaps some should put more trust in Jay's faith in Walt.

I patiently wait to read Joan's book and will certainly react to it at that time.