04-11-2013, 02:13 PM
Below is an email from Anthony Summers to many people that John Simkin has posted at the Ed Forum. For those -like myself since the 80's- who have had grave doubts about this man, digest this:
Message from Tony Summers:
*Dropped from the updated Not in Your Lifetime is the alleged episode in Clinton, Louisiana, in which Oswald was apparently sighted in Clinton with Guy Banister and David Ferrie. I long ago went to Clinton myself for the BBC - and interviewed several of the relevant witnesses. They seemed fairly credible at the time.
As the entire thing has been demolished in a book by a researcher I respect, Pat Lambert, I have removed the passage from the text and consigned it to a much briefer note. (See p. 553, n.11)
* All references to the work of Cyril Wecht have been dropped. I spoke at a conference he held, and was amazed to hear him ranting from the stage on the subject. Having taken advice from others I do respect on the forensic area of the case, I felt only what seemed firmer should remain.
* The Tippit chapter is altered - in particular with reference to the pistol bullet evidence. See p. 106 of the new edition - re. "ballistics testimony dispels much of the doubt about Oswald's guilt in the Tippit murder." (I raise my hat to Dale Myers' book on the Tippit case. (p. 499 new edition, Note 2)
* Virtually all the stuff in the old Chapter 20 (Double Image in Dallas) has gone. This was, in the old edition, about supposed sightings of an Oswald that may not have been the real Oswald. Now, I do not even now entirely reject the notion that Oswald was impersonated on occasion before the assassination. (What went on in Mexico City remains unresolved.) Too many of the sighting, however, did not belong in the text. You will now find them summarized in the Notes. (Note 9, at p. 578 of the new edition.)
* The celebrated use of the name Oswald in New Orleans, buying jeeps as early as 1961, was writ large in the earlier editions.It now seems less reliable. I thought it must be mentioned, however, because there's a supporting contemporary document that fitsm in the case in an interesting way. The Deslatte episode now appears only in the Notes (p. 580, n 10)
* The emphasis on Ferrie has changed, retaining Ferrie's early association with Oswald in the Civil Air Patrol but reducing the suggestion of his involvement at the time of the assassination. This because of the excellent, focused research on Ferrie by David Blackburst - who has worked just that seam over recent years, demolishing much of the shaky stuff propagated since the Garrison circus.
* Rose Cheramie. Though I made it a point, years ago, to interview Francis Fruge, the policeman who handled the matter - and found him believable - I was persuaded by forum traffic about Cheramie in the end, and with so much else to include in Not in Your Lifetime, that the episode just is not solid enough.
* Finally, at least in this letter, the dark suggestion that Braden/Brading was guiltily involved in Dallas on the day has gone. I had previously relied to a degree on the reporting of a fellow reporter named Pete Noyes. On closer examination, I felt that - though Braden/Brading (not a nice person) was in Dallas that day - the dark implications that have been drawn were shaky. You won't find him in the index now.
As the author, one is sometimes in a quandary when dropping items. Even in the book's previous edition, I dropped the matter of Oswald's reported outgoing call, while under arrest, to a man named "Hurt" in Raleigh, North Carolina. (One of the two people of that name in the area was a military intelligence veteran.) The HSCA tried years later to follow up, without success - as did I - and Robert Blakey has called the matter "deeply disturbing." As this was said to have been an outgoing call, it remains interesting. On reflection, I am probably right to have dropped mention of this in the text. On the other hand, I should probably have sustained a reference in the notes.
Some of these issues are Solomon-type decisions, and I'm sure I sometimes get them wrong.
Tony Summers
Jim Garrison referred to him- (including in a letter to me)- as "One of the CIA's more accommodating prostitutes" .
Dawn
Message from Tony Summers:
*Dropped from the updated Not in Your Lifetime is the alleged episode in Clinton, Louisiana, in which Oswald was apparently sighted in Clinton with Guy Banister and David Ferrie. I long ago went to Clinton myself for the BBC - and interviewed several of the relevant witnesses. They seemed fairly credible at the time.
As the entire thing has been demolished in a book by a researcher I respect, Pat Lambert, I have removed the passage from the text and consigned it to a much briefer note. (See p. 553, n.11)
* All references to the work of Cyril Wecht have been dropped. I spoke at a conference he held, and was amazed to hear him ranting from the stage on the subject. Having taken advice from others I do respect on the forensic area of the case, I felt only what seemed firmer should remain.
* The Tippit chapter is altered - in particular with reference to the pistol bullet evidence. See p. 106 of the new edition - re. "ballistics testimony dispels much of the doubt about Oswald's guilt in the Tippit murder." (I raise my hat to Dale Myers' book on the Tippit case. (p. 499 new edition, Note 2)
* Virtually all the stuff in the old Chapter 20 (Double Image in Dallas) has gone. This was, in the old edition, about supposed sightings of an Oswald that may not have been the real Oswald. Now, I do not even now entirely reject the notion that Oswald was impersonated on occasion before the assassination. (What went on in Mexico City remains unresolved.) Too many of the sighting, however, did not belong in the text. You will now find them summarized in the Notes. (Note 9, at p. 578 of the new edition.)
* The celebrated use of the name Oswald in New Orleans, buying jeeps as early as 1961, was writ large in the earlier editions.It now seems less reliable. I thought it must be mentioned, however, because there's a supporting contemporary document that fitsm in the case in an interesting way. The Deslatte episode now appears only in the Notes (p. 580, n 10)
* The emphasis on Ferrie has changed, retaining Ferrie's early association with Oswald in the Civil Air Patrol but reducing the suggestion of his involvement at the time of the assassination. This because of the excellent, focused research on Ferrie by David Blackburst - who has worked just that seam over recent years, demolishing much of the shaky stuff propagated since the Garrison circus.
* Rose Cheramie. Though I made it a point, years ago, to interview Francis Fruge, the policeman who handled the matter - and found him believable - I was persuaded by forum traffic about Cheramie in the end, and with so much else to include in Not in Your Lifetime, that the episode just is not solid enough.
* Finally, at least in this letter, the dark suggestion that Braden/Brading was guiltily involved in Dallas on the day has gone. I had previously relied to a degree on the reporting of a fellow reporter named Pete Noyes. On closer examination, I felt that - though Braden/Brading (not a nice person) was in Dallas that day - the dark implications that have been drawn were shaky. You won't find him in the index now.
As the author, one is sometimes in a quandary when dropping items. Even in the book's previous edition, I dropped the matter of Oswald's reported outgoing call, while under arrest, to a man named "Hurt" in Raleigh, North Carolina. (One of the two people of that name in the area was a military intelligence veteran.) The HSCA tried years later to follow up, without success - as did I - and Robert Blakey has called the matter "deeply disturbing." As this was said to have been an outgoing call, it remains interesting. On reflection, I am probably right to have dropped mention of this in the text. On the other hand, I should probably have sustained a reference in the notes.
Some of these issues are Solomon-type decisions, and I'm sure I sometimes get them wrong.
Tony Summers
Jim Garrison referred to him- (including in a letter to me)- as "One of the CIA's more accommodating prostitutes" .
Dawn