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The phrase “conspiracy theory” is, like “follow the science”, designed to ridicule and obfuscate.

Oswald’s Soviet connections are of course well-known. I think casual observers remain unaware of Ruth Paine (still alive at 93)’s role. She met Oswald and his Russian wife through a Russian emigre community party (Ruth being a student of the Russian language) in February of ‘63 and only two months Ruth later invited the wife & daughter to live with her. Ruth Paine helped Oswald get the job at the Book Depository that put him in position to shoot Kennedy. Oswald spent the night before the assassination in Paine’s house. Oswald stored the rifle in Paine’s garage. Oswald typed a letter to the Soviet embassy on Paine’s typewriter. And Oswald called Paine from the jail after his arrest. Ok, so what were Paine’s connections to the CIA?

- Ruth Paine’s sister, Sylvia Hyde Hoke, was listed as a CIA employee in a 1961 Falls Church, Virginia directory, according to a declassified 1971 CIA document from the Office of Security. Ruth visited Sylvia in September 1963 while traveling, though she has stated she knew nothing of her sister’s CIA connection. Sylvia’s husband, John Hoke, also worked for USAID…

- Ruth Paine’s mother-in-law, Ruth Forbes Paine Young, was a close friend of Mary Bancroft, [ex-OSS] who was a known mistress of former CIA Director Allen Dulles. Bancroft and Dulles spent time with Ruth Forbes on the Forbes family’s private Naushon Island near Cape Cod. Ruth Paine has said she never met Bancroft but confirmed her mother-in-law acknowledged the friendship.

- Ruth Paine’s father, William Avery Hyde, worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) starting in 1964 with the reports he wrote at USAID routed to both the State Department and the CIA. The CIA also considered him for a covert operation in Vietnam in 1957, though he did not ultimately participate.

- Oswald was introduced to Paine by George Mohrenschildt, a Russian emigre with extensive CIA connections. In 1964, Mohrenschildt told the FBI that CIA official J.W. Moore had instructed him to keep an eye on Oswald. In 1977, Mohrenschildt wrote that Moore had instructed him to introduce Oswald to Paine.

- Finally, laughably, Allen Dulles, who JFK had fired as CIA director after the Bay of Pigs fiasco and who was known to be bitter about that, was put on the Warren Commission. Dulles questioned Ruth Paine and her husband Michael Paine under oath without ever disclosing that he knew Ruth Paine’s mother in law through his mistress and had visited Forbes family island because of that relationship. He surely knew the connection but that knowledge does not appear to be documented.

Ok, sorry for the long post but anyone downplaying a CIA connection with Oswald is probably not aware of the above. So hopefully that was a Freeper public service of value to somebody!