About the author Philip H. Melanson, 38, was an un-

dergraduate at the University of Con-necticut when Presidont John F. Kemedy was., shot.

"1 was in a class from 12 to 1," Melanson said. "When I came out of the dass, everyone was listening to the news and running around campus."

Seven yoars ago, he became interested in the questions surrounding the assassination aftEr reading a student's paper on tlip subject.

Melanson, chairman of the department of political science at Southeastern Massachusetts University, specializes in national security and pub-lic policies of American politics, and in political theory. He has been with SMU since 1971 arid became a porofessor last year.

He lives in Marion with his wife and two children.

work for them by trying to cover up Oswald's links with that agency, Melamon said. The conspirators "knew that the CIA couldn't say, 'This was a low-level intelligence agent, but that has nothing to do with (the assasination), folks," said Melanscm. "It worl:ed perfectly. To this day, it is like pulling teeth to get documents."

There are still many documents that researchers like Melanson cannot gel.. For example there is Oswald's 1962 income tax return. While his returns are available for other years, the 1962 return still is classified. Melanson said he believes that this may b( secret because it includes -X- references to payments from Otelligence organizations.

As for who there conspirators might have been, Melanson said, that there are an endless number of possible groups who might hav p wanted to see a shakeup in U.S. leadership. "lit is impossIble to figure that out from a distance," Melanson said.

Melanson said NI hopn to c;t7,1 a publisher for his manuscript in time f5r the tw(ptieth anniversnry of the

It'd. year. assination

•-•

Pk f L H. SAYS PcrtN)r 8 Ct. ram L M(G'S 146'7Z PI.( AvnIRN

rs MAAK67) (Ph ID 8 Y C PU.1

oatootei-AIFFiktinegwort-merolisi4ventoo,*.inkuir Apropiemaimahommomm.L----....1

A

No

v. 22, 1963: H

istorian

draw

s'

own conclusions

"H

isto

ry is

no

t wh

at h

ap

pen

ed

, bu

t wh

at th

e

su

rviv

ing

evid

en

ce s

ays h

ap

pen

ed

." Th

e w

ord

s o

f

Da

vid

Ha

ck

ett F

ish

er, a

n h

isto

rian

, are

tap

ed

ab

ov

e

Pro

fes

so

r Ph

ilip H

. Me

lan

so

n's

de

sk

. •

By K

ath

leen M

egan

' Efry

13E

0F

oR

0

ST

AN

OA

RD

-TIM

ES

ST

AF

F W

RIT

ER

•

• /11 L

tV-%

"-/

DA

RT

MO

UT

H —

Was L

ee Harvey O

swald

a viol-en

ce-pron

e, confu

sed, m

ud

dled

Marxist, as th

e Warren

C

omm

ission found? Was he a m

isfit, nevery happy under an

y system h

e lived?

. , O

r was h

e a well-train

ed in

telligence agen

t, a cool cu

stomer, w

orkin

g for the U

nited

States, R

ussia or,

maybe, C

uba? P

rofessor Ph

ilip H

. Melanson of Southeastern M

assa-ch

usetts U

niversity b

elieves Osw

ald w

orked

for the

Cen

tral Intelligen

ce Agen

cy and

was th

e "fall m

an"

for a con

spiracy w

hich

may or m

ay not h

ave inclu

ded

his

work

ing associates.

And M

elanson

LC

IIG

T

CA

Ind

n

iucv

' P

residen

t John

F. K

enn

edy on

Nov. 22, 1963 m

ust b

e exam

ined

to its fullest.

, • "

History is a gu

ide to th

e futu

re," M

elanson

said. "

If this w

atershed event is misunderstood, then it is a risk .

"W

e mu

st kn

ow w

hat d

iseases threaten

the b

ody

politic,"

said M

elanson

. "D

o we h

ave a consp

iracy or a p

roliferation of d

eranged

peop

le? I becam

e convin

ced

that th

is tragic event n

eeded

historical rep

air."

So, in

the last five years, M

elanson

, 38, has traveled

tw

ice yearly to Washington, D

.C. to research governm

ent docum

ents and piece together his own historical account

of who O

swald w

as. Tw

o-hundred five thousand pages of d

ocum

ents later, M

elanson

has w

ritten a 450-p

age ac-count of the assassination and is looking for a publisher.

Melanson says his w

ork is not "a major breakthrough,"

bu

t is a "u

niq

ue con

tribu

tion"

to the literatu

re on th

e assassin

ation b

ecause of th

e very scholarly research

it involved. ' M

elanson

examin

ed th

e same F

BI, C

IA an

d N

ational .-

Archive records studied by other w

riters, but because of h

is trainin

g in research

, he said

he ferreted

out n

ew or .

differen

t material from

the files.

• ! •

RI G

E 1

1

(Please tu

rn to P

age 51

----ime

ore

rwilu

sirrP

inftim

en

tee

rma

ra

Standard-Tim

es Library Photo

On

No

v. 2

2, 1

963, e

ven

ts c

am

e w

ith n

igh

tmare

rap

idity

. Clo

ckw

ise

from

up

per left: P

residen

t Joh

n F

. Ken

ned

y and

his w

ife Jacqu

eline, travel

thro

ug

h D

allas in a m

oto

rcade ju

st befo

re sho

otin

g; b

od

ygu

ard leap

s to th

e lim

ou

sine as it sp

eeds aw

ay; Vice-P

residen

t Lyn

do

n B

. Joh

nso

n takes o

ath

of o

ffice; L

ee H

arv

ey O

sw

ald

sta

nd

s a

ccu

sed

; Ro

bert K

en

ned

y a

nd

the

wid

ow

retu

rn to

Wa

sh

ing

ton

.

•

Research

gives

auth

or in

sigh

ts to

Osw

ald's m

otive

(Contin

ued fro

m P

age 1

)

"It was ve

ry slow

, very u

ngla

rnouro

us w

ork; ve

ry tiring

on th

e e

yes a

nd b

udget, b

ut ve

ry worth

while

. A ca

refu

l

reco

nstru

ction is b

ette

r done th

at w

ay th

en g

ettin

g it fro

m

books."

Mela

nso

n sa

id th

e b

its and p

iece

s of in

form

atio

n h

e's

gath

ere

d sh

ow

convin

cingly th

at O

swald

was w

orkin

g fo

r

a U

.S. in

tellig

ence

force

. F

or in

stance

, there

's the re

fere

nce

in a

1974 W

arre

n

Com

missio

n re

port to

the co

mm

ission's e

ffort to

"find o

ut

what h

e (O

swald

) studie

d a

t the M

onte

rey S

chool."

The sch

ool, th

e D

efe

nse

Language In

stitute

in M

on-

tere

y, Calif., is co

nsid

ere

d th

e lin

guistic W

est P

oin

t for

Am

erica

n m

ilitary a

nd in

tellig

ence

perso

nnel. M

ore

in-

formation on w

hat Osw

ald studied at the Monterey S

chool

is not a

valia

ble

, but ivie

ranso

n b

elie

ves n

e. stuored R

us-

sian.

While

sta

tioned in

the M

arin

es in

Califo

rnia

in

Febru

ary 1

959, O

swald

flunke

d th

e M

arin

e p

roficie

ncy

test in

Russia

n. A

few

month

s late

r, he n

ot o

nly co

uld

understa

nd th

e la

nguage, b

ut co

uld

speak it flu

ently.

Mela

nso

n w

rote

, "Osw

ald

claim

ed to

have

ach

ieve

d th

is

rem

arka

ble

pro

gre

ss by liste

nin

g to

Radio

Mosco

w. B

ut

Radio

Moscow

is n

ot n

ote

d fo

r talk

ing s

low

ly a

nd in

Berlitz-style

pro

se. H

is sudden m

aste

ry would

be im

-

possib

le w

ithout tu

tors o

f som

e kin

d. T

he m

arin

es d

id n

ot

pro

vide th

em

; the M

onte

rey S

chool m

ay w

ell h

ave

."

With

in m

onth

s of le

arn

ing R

ussia

n, in

Octo

ber, 1

959,

Osw

ald

defe

cted to

the S

ovie

t Unio

n. O

swald

's passp

ort

showed that he landed in London and w

as in Helsinki tw

o

days la

ter. M

ela

nso

n sa

ys there

was n

o co

mm

ute

r flight

then th

at co

uld

have

gotte

n h

im th

ere

so fa

st. He e

ither

use

d a

priva

te o

r milita

ry aircra

ft of u

nkn

ow

n o

rigin

. In

additio

n, th

e e

ntire

trip w

ould

have

cost a

t least $

1,5

00,

• while

Osw

ald

's know

n sa

vings w

ere

$203.

t The ye

ar b

efo

re O

swald

's defe

ction th

ere

were

four

Am

eric

an d

efe

ctio

ns to

Russia

— m

ore

than in

the

previous three decades. The S

oviets were suspicious that

' Am

erica

n in

tellig

ence

mig

ht b

e p

lantin

g d

efe

ctors.

"The s

uspic

ions w

ere

corre

ct," M

ela

nson w

rote

.

"Desp

ite re

peate

d re

quests fro

m th

e S

tate

Departm

ent,

the C

IA a

nd m

ilitary in

tellig

ence

would

not re

veal w

hich

defe

ctors w

ere

real a

nd w

hich

were

Am

erica

n a

gents.

Accord

ing, to

a fo

rmer s

ecurity

offic

er fo

r the s

tale

/ittry

,ocopoRP

, N'01.- - -22 7 11 ex

Departm

ent, S

tate

decid

ed to

conduct its o

wn stu

dy o

f

defe

ctors to

try to d

ete

rmin

e fo

r itself w

hich

ones w

ere

real. O

ne o

f the ca

ses still b

ein

g p

ondere

d in

Octo

ber o

f

.1963 w

as O

swald

's, and w

ith g

ood re

aso

n."

After O

swald's defection, the U

.S. D

efense Intelligence

Agency d

id n

ot c

onduct th

e u

sual "n

et d

am

age

assessm

ent," a

lthough O

sw

ald

was k

now

n to

have

info

rmatio

n a

bout th

e u

ltra•se

cret U

-2 sp

y pla

ne. S

uch

reports, designed to assess what secrets a defector m

ight

spill, were standard procedure and had been conducted in

cases of enlisted men w

hose potential threat to Am

erican

secu

rity were

far le

ss than O

swald

's.

"Osw

ald

's retu

rn trip

to A

merica

was a

s myste

rious a

s

his d

epartu

re," a

ccord

ing to

Mela

nso

n. "H

is passp

ort d

id

not bear the stamp of the W

est Germ

an checkpoint where

his R

ussia

n-b

orn

wife

, Marin

a, cro

ssed fro

m E

ast to

West, a

lthough th

ey su

ppose

dly tra

vele

d to

geth

er.

Though O

swald

was su

ppose

d to

have

been a

vola

tile

Marxist, in

his p

erso

nal life

, his in

tere

st seem

ed to

run

more tow

ard spy novels. In addition, he had no friends who

Sta

ff ph

oto

by H

an

k S

eam

an

were

leftists o

r Com

munists. R

ath

er, h

is friends se

em

ed

to h

ave

ties to

the R

ight a

nd to

gove

rnm

ent in

tellig

ence

organizations, Melanson said.

Shortly b

efo

re th

e a

ssassin

atio

n, th

ere

were

about a

half-d

oze

n in

stance

s when a

man w

ho id

entifie

d h

imse

lf

as O

swald

took p

art in

som

e in

crimin

atin

g in

cidence

s. In

one in

stance

, this "O

swald

" walke

d in

to a

car d

eale

rship

,

test d

rove

an a

uto

mobile

, and th

en a

ngrily co

mpla

ined

that if "T

his w

ere

Russia

where

men a

re tre

ate

d like

men," h

e w

ould

have

work fo

r the m

oney to

buy a

car. In

anoth

er in

stance

, "Osw

ald

"walke

d in

to a

gun sh

op a

nd

ord

ere

d a

scope m

ounte

d o

n a

rifle.

The W

arre

h C

om

missio

n la

ter d

iscredite

d a

ll of th

ese

incid

ents b

eca

use

Osw

ald

had a

good a

libi fo

r each

.

"There

is lade doubt that som

eone staged these dramas,"

Melanson said, to set up O

swald.

Mela

nso

n sa

id h

e b

elie

ves O

swald

was se

t up p

artly

because his spy background. T

he co

nsp

iritors w

ere

cleve

r enough to

realize

that a

n

inte

lligence

agency like

the C

IA w

ould

do m

uch

of th

eir

r a