Hoover's recently released memo; does it prove conspiracy?

[Gary Craig]

11/23/63
Lyndon B. Johnson: Have you established any more about the visit to the Soviet embassy in Mexico in September?

J. Edgar Hoover: No, that's one angle that's very confusing, for this reason - we have up here the tape and the photograph of the man who was at the Soviet embassy, using Oswald's name. That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man's voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy down there. We do have a copy of a letter which was written by Oswald to the Soviet embassy here in Washington, inquiring as well as complaining about the harassment of his wife and the questioning of his wife by the FBI. Now, of course, that letter information - we process all mail that goes to the Soviet embassy. It's a very secret operation.
No mail is delivered to the embassy without being examined and opened by us, so that we know what they receive... The case, as it stands now, isn't strong enough to be able to get a conviction... Now if we can identify this man who was at the... Soviet embassy in Mexico City... This man Oswald has still denied everything. He doesn't know anything about anything, but the gun thing, of course, is a definite trend.

-------------

J. Edgar Hoover: I just wanted to let you know of a development which I think is very important in connection with this case - this man in Dallas (Lee Harvey Oswald). We, of course, charged him with the murder of the President. The evidence that they have at the present time is not very, very strong. We have just discovered the place where the gun was purchased and the shipment of the gun from Chicago to Dallas, to a post office box in Dallas, to a man - no, to a woman by the name of "A. Hidell."... We had it flown up last night, and our laboratory here is making an examination of it.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Yes, I told the Secret Service to see that that got taken care of.

J. Edgar Hoover: That's right. We have the gun and we have the bullet. There was only one full bullet that was found. That was on the stretcher that the President was on. It apparently had fallen out when they massaged his heart, and we have that one. We have what we call slivers, which are not very valuable in the identification. As soon as we finish the testing of the gun for fingerprints ... we will then be able to test the one bullet we have with the gun. But the important thing is that this gun was bought in Chicago on a money order. Cost twenty-one dollars, and it seems almost impossible to think that for twenty-one dollars you could kill the President of the United States.

[Walt Cakebread]

11/23/63
Lyndon B. Johnson: Have you established any more about the visit to the Soviet embassy in Mexico in September?

J. Edgar Hoover: No, that's one angle that's very confusing, for this reason - we have up here the tape and the photograph of the man who was at the Soviet embassy, using Oswald's name. That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man's voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there is a second person who was at the Soviet embassy down there. We do have a copy of a letter which was written by Oswald to the Soviet embassy here in Washington, inquiring as well as complaining about the harassment of his wife and the questioning of his wife by the FBI. Now, of course, that letter information - we process all mail that goes to the Soviet embassy. It's a very secret operation.
No mail is delivered to the embassy without being examined and opened by us, so that we know what they receive... The case, as it stands now, isn't strong enough to be able to get a conviction... Now if we can identify this man who was at the... Soviet embassy in Mexico City... This man Oswald has still denied everything. He doesn't know anything about anything, but the gun thing, of course, is a definite trend.

The case, as it stands now, isn't strong enough to be able to get a conviction

At he time Hoover was telling LBJ that their case was very weak.....The authorities in Dallas were lying through their teeth and telling reporters all kinds of lies.... like saying they had found Lee Oswald's prints on the gun....and the gun was a deadly accurate rifle that was equipped with a telescopic sight...... and they had found the paper sack that Oswald had used to smuggle the rifle into the building..... and on and on....

[John Iacoletti]

Translation of the second way:
"We know Oswald did it, but how on Earth do we ensure the public knows for sure it was Oswald...?"

That's how I read it (the second way).

How could Hoover (or anybody else) have known on Nov 24 that Oswald did it?

[Jake Maxwell]

The case, as it stands now, isn't strong enough to be able to get a conviction

At the time Hoover was telling LBJ that their case was very weak.....The authorities in Dallas were lying through their teeth and telling reporters all kinds of lies.... like saying they had found Lee Oswald's prints on the gun....and the gun was a deadly accurate rifle that was equipped with a telescopic sight...... and they had found the paper sack that Oswald had used to smuggle the rifle into the building..... and on and on....

Walt, Your quotes are poignant and your conclusions the most reasonable.

To Tony Fratini's previous suggestion, that Hoover was willing to rush to judgment and blame Oswald to protect the world from a possible nuclear war - by letting one man "take one" for the country (against his will) - This is the very same logic that would cause someone like Hoover to justify the killing of one person, the president, to change the political direction of the country (foreign policy, etc.), and frame another person to protect the country from internal social chaos and eternal distrust of the FBI, the CIA, the presidency, etc....

Regarding the cover-up: I think Hoover was less fearful, if at all, that Russia and Cuba might be implicated, than that the citizens of our country would discover that we had leaders we can't trust.... And this is possibly what is behind the contemporary argument that we need to keep some JFK files classified because of national security concerns... These concerns have nothing to do with Russia or Cuba - and everything to do with how the US public perceives it's institutions that can become corrupt to the core..... 

[Walt Cakebread]

How could Hoover (or anybody else) have known on Nov 24 that Oswald did it?

More to the point....How could Hoover have known on Nov 24 that Oswald did NOT commit the murder?

And only a bastroid who already knew the truth would want to initiate a campaign to convince the public that the man that he was railroading ( he admitted they had no case against LHO) was the killer.

[Bruce Backlund]

I may be wrong, but I don't think J. Edgar Hoover even turned over this memo to the WC indicating a possible Oswald imposter dated June of 1960?

[Walt Cakebread]

I may be wrong, but I don't think J. Edgar Hoover even turned over this memo to the WC indicating a possible Oswald imposter dated June of 1960?

I get the impression that Hoover was fishing when he drafted this letter.

Hoover wanted to know if Lee Oswald was a US agent and hoped that he would receive information about Lee Oswald's status.

[Bruce Backlund]

I get the impression that Hoover was fishing when he drafted this letter.

Hoover wanted to know if Lee Oswald was a US agent and hoped that he would receive information about Lee Oswald's status.

Yes, looks like one carbon copy, (CC) went to the Office of Naval Intelligence, per what I see on the last line of the document. Unusual Oswald was in the government's radar 3 1/2 years before the assassination.
BB