Monday, February 20, 2017

First to Second Evolution – Part 7


For this installment, let's look a little deeper into Kelley's document:

"First Interview of Lee Harvey Oswald" by Secret Service Inspector Thomas J. Kelley

"He said he ate his lunch with the colored boys who worked with him. He described one of them as 'Junior,' a colored boy, and the other was a little short negro boy. He said his lunch consisted of cheese, fruit, and apples, and was the only package he had with him when he went to work."

The two black men referred here are James Jarman and Harold Norman. When they were asked if they had lunch with Oswald they said no.

But did Oswald ever really say he had lunch with them in the first place?

If we check Fritz's transcription notes—which again record what Bookhout originally wrote—we see that Oswald said he "saw two negroes come in." 

So Kelley was twisting things a bit here to make Oswald look like a liar.

(Bookhout did a degree of twisting in this instance as well. In his second, reworked, FBI report, he states that Oswald "recalled possibly two Negro employees walking through the room during this period," contrary to his original notes "saw two negroes come in.")

Some might argue that these are small, minor points. I would disagree. I think these are examples of a larger process underway that was just beginning to pick up steam: the Evolution from First to Second.

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