There is so much detail in the JFK Assassination that one can easily forget to ask the larger questions. Why was Lee Oswald where he was? Why did he suddenly move to Dallas to get a job when his support structure was in Fort Worth? Why did he suddenly move to New Orleans in April of 1963? Why did he abruptly move back in October?
Lee Oswald’s movements match larger geo-political events that were unfolding on the national stage, specifically Cuba.
Act I: Prepping the Patsy
In Act I, Lee Oswald arrives from Russia back to Forth Worth in June of 1962. As an operative fluent in Russian, as a young, impressionable man eager to please, he was the perfect man to use. He is brought back because the powers that be in the CIA are concerned about their young President. Is the President on their team? The tightening embargo on Cuba suggests that he is not. They worry because their bosses in Corporate America are worried. Importers from Central America are worried. Oil men are worried. Foreign leaders are worried. Mobsters are worried. The Pentagon is worried.
The idea of a regime change is floated and discussed. The CIA decides to prepare for the eventuality. “Let’s have a tentative plan that we can build upon,” they say. The word is sent down to an architect, and Lee Oswald is recruited.
Lee works at Leslie Welding until October of 1962 just as the Cuban Missile Crisis is beginning. Then abruptly he decides to leave work and move to the YMCA in Dallas until he can secure a house and work. He didn’t get fired from Leslie Welding; his boss, Tommy Bargas, thought he would make a pretty good sheet metal man; so why leave? He leaves because the decision has been made by the brass: JFK must be managed – killed. And so Lee is moved to Oak Cliff from where the assassination will be staged.
In retrospect, Oak Cliff is where “it” all went down. You drive for show and putt for dough. Dealey Plaza gets the glamor, but the real work is done in Oak Cliff. All the vital elements of the JFK Assassination are there in Oak Cliff. Ruby lives there; the Oswald boarding house is there; the two Oswald residences are there on Neely and Elsbeth. So is the Texas Theater and the site of the Tippit shooting on 10th and Patton. If you are going to set up a patsy, well the patsy should know the area and have a reason for being there. Oak Cliff was the perfect place to stage the assassination; it was close to Dealey Plaza; it was close to the expressways; it was close to a makeshift airport to transport the patsy away – or so he was led to believe.
So Lee putters around Oak Cliff, works at CSJ, makes a pompous ass out of himself to the White Russian Community in order to pass himself off as a communist and takes a shot at Edwin Walker in order to cement his commie credentials. He thought he was living his dream as Herbert Philbrick in ‘I Led Three Lives.’ He thought he was ferreting out commies. But then suddenly he leaves within days of the Walker shooting. Why? No police authority was searching for him. There was no reason to leave. Well, there may have been.
It just so happens that in April of 1963, LBJ announces that JFK is coming to Dallas. If JFK is coming to Dallas, then there is work to be done, prep that is needed for the kill. An assassination team has to be recruited, practiced, housed. Much thinking and ground work has to be done. If you are going to set up a patsy, you certainly don’t want him around asking questions. Lee was a smart guy.
Act II: New Orleans
And so in Act II, Lee is sent by his handler, the architect, down to New Orleans to get him out of the way, to free the architect’s time so as to prep the assassins in Dallas. There in New Orleans, Lee sits, fiddles, and hands out pamphlets furthering his commie credentials. He did this for five months, a blink of the eye in our lives, but an eternity of study for JFK Assassination researchers and enthusiasts. But then just as abruptly, he returns to Dallas via Mexico City on 10/3/63 or thereabouts. Why? Well, a week earlier the papers in Dallas announce to the public that JFK will visit Dallas in November.
But was Lee really in Mexico City? Probably not. Most likely he was at the Parr ranch in South Texas, around which he was spotted. Why? To prep him for the Big Event. After all, time is getting short; the patsy must be brought back to perform his task. He quickly”finds” a job at the TSBD. There he is trained to do his part for history.
Act III: Dallas
Which brings us to Act III, prepping the TSBD, killing the President and JD Tippit.
With JFK killed, the assassin caught, we can sit back, relax and enjoy a cup of coffee.
Fix the Bus 