[Magazine article by Harold Feldman] Page: 3 of 12
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OSWALD and the FBI ........ Harold Feldman
The Warren Commission should, if
possible, tell us how President Ken-
nedy was killed, who killed him,
and why. But beyond that, it must
tell us if the FBI or any other gov-
ernment intelligence agency was in
any way connected with the alleged
assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. At
this moment, the possibility of such
associations in the young man's
life is intolerably a subject for spec-
ulation.
On the day after the assassina-
tion, the Dallas Chief of Police com-
plained on television that the FBI
had interviewed Oswald about a
week earlier and had failed to in-
form the Dallas authorities of this
fact — something the bureau would
normally do after making contact
with a suspicious Red. Drew Pear-
son also reported this but added,
"In Washington, the FBI denied
that they had interrogated Oswald
recently."
However, Michael Paine, who
with his wife helped take care of
Mrs. Oswald and the two children,
"claimed that FBI agents had visited
Oswald more than one time after
he returned to Dallas from a trip
to Mexico City." Oswald returned to
Dallas from Mexico on October 3,
1963. This report also is contradict-
ed by another:
The FBI picked up the trail again
in Dallas after Oswald's return there
on Oct. 3. He was not interviewed,
but agents checked twice with Mrs.
Ruth Paine, who told them that Os-
wald had gone to work on Oct. 16
in the Texas State School Book De-
pository. (The New York Times,
12/10/63.)
The Minority of One (January,
1964) tells us:
William M. Kline, chief of the
U.S. Customs Bureau investigative
services in Laredo, Texas, stated on
November 25 that Oswald's move-
ments were watched at the request
of "a federal agency at Washington."
(New York Post, November 25.)
Eugene Pugh, U.S. agent in charge
of the Customs office on the Ameri-
can side of the bridge at Laredo,
Texas, said that Osiuald had been
Harold Feldman is a translator and
journalist, living in Philadelphia. As
a translator, he has worked extensive-
ly for the Social Security Administra-
tion. Mr. Feldman is also a frequent
contributor to psychoanalytic journals,
one of his papers having been "The
Hero As Assassin."
86
checked by American immigration
officials on entering and leaving
Mexico. Mr. Pugii admitted to the
New York Herald Tribune that this
7i>as "not the usual" procedure. He
said Americans u'cre not required
to check in with Immigration when i
crossing the border, "but U.S. im-
migration has a folder on Osxvald's
trip."
One thing is clear: the FBI was
in fairly constant touch with Os-
wald's activities. How far these e x-
tacts went is indicated in "the icve-.
lation that the Federal Bureau of
Investigation tried to recruit Oswald
as an undercover informant in Cas-
tro groups two months before ft
Kennedy's death." This report,
which appeared in a Phil
Inquirer dispatch from Dahu^ De-
cember 8, went on:
The FBI attempt to recruit Os-
wald as an informant, an informed
law enforcement source said, was
made in September, just after he
had moved to Dallas from New Or-
leans.
Oswald's mother said an "agent
named Hosty" came to the Irving
house and talked to the young man
at length in his car.
An FBI agent named Joseph Hosty
handles investigations of subversives
for the Dallas field office.
The source said he did not know
if the FBI succeeded in hiring Os-
wald; and the federal agency joould
not discuss the matter.
On January 1, Lonnies Hudkins
of the Houston Post, published a
story under the headline: "Oswald
Rumored as Informant for U.S."
Hudkins found that Oswald did
know agent Hosty. He had Hosty's
home phone, office phone and car
license number — this on the au-
thority of William Alexander, as-
sistant to Henry Wade, Dallas Dis-
trict Attorney.' Alexander had at-
tended the grilling of Oswald on
November 22 and 23. Hudkins
notes that if the FBI had Oswald
under surveillance, the watch could
not have been too close or they
would have known about the rifle
and other matters; but, as a sheriff
deputy put it, "you just wouldn't
think to check out one of your own
stoolies." Hudkins quotes Wade,
himself a former FBI agent, as say-'
ing: "It may be true, but I don't
think it will ever be made public
if it is."
What the public hears of the
FBI's part in the Oswald case is
usually a report that such and such
a witness or authority has been
asked, or ordered, to keep his mouth
shut. Thus, Dr. J. J. Humes of the
Naval Medical Comer in Bethesda.
Md., the man who conducted the
autopsy on the President, seemed
to be the best author-v - ine exact
Or*"-' •" errrv of C • outlets,
'but Huj r hnd been
forbidden to talk." A thirty-four-
year-old machinist named Malcolm
Howard Price said he had looked
through the telescopic sight of Os-
wald's rifle on a rifle range in sub-
urban TV" • - — but "Mr. Price
' to ai>-wer further ques-
s bccause, he said, the FBI had
asked him not to talk. The FBI
here [Dallas] denied this." (The
Neiv York Time$. December 10.)
On December 6, t> e Times had ob-
served :
Most private citizens who had co-
operated with newsmen reporting
the crime have refused to give furth-
er help after being interviewed by
agents of the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation. Dallas city and county
police withdrew their help the same
way. One high officer said he wished
he could answer questions "because
it would save us a lot of work."
The Western Union office in Dal-
las handled frequent messages for
Lee Oswald, but inquiries there
brought the reply that "any details
or comment would have to come
from Washington headquarters of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
It is in the light of this
official coyness that we must con-
sider the possible connection of Os-
wald with the attempted shooting
of General Walker. Oswald's widow
is said to have declared that he
boasted of shooting at that doughty
warrior. In view of her prolonged
seclusion from the public, and even
from relatives, under government
supervision, we must infer that any
statement alleged to be hers at this
time is a deliberate "leak." It is in-
teresting that a similar "leak" at
the beginning of the case — that
a rifle which Mrs. Oswald knew her
husband had kept in a garage was
missing on the morning of the as-
sassination — proved to be false.
The FBI is also reported to have
found a document in Oswald's hand-
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Feldman, Harold. [Magazine article by Harold Feldman], legal document, January 27, 1964; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth338716/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dallas Municipal Archives.