Photo shows Ferrie and Lee H Oswald together 1955 (Ferrie told FBI in '63 he didn't know Oswald)

Frontline ^ | Nov. 20, 03 | Frontline

[churchillbuff]

FRONTLINE obtained this photograph from John B. Ciravolo, Jr., of New Orleans. Ciravolo was also a C.A.P. member in 1955 and says he was in the same unit with Oswald and was standing right in front of him in the photo. Ciravolo identified David Ferrie, while former C.A.P. cadet Tony Atzenhoffer, also of New Orleans, identified Oswald and Ferrie in the photograph, and Colin Hammer, who says he served with both men in the C.A.P., also identified both in the photograph.

FRONTLINE located the photographer, Chuck Frances, who says he took the picture for the C.A.P. Francis also said that when he was interviewed by the FBI, he told them Oswald and Ferrie knew each other, but he did not tell them about the photograph. The executor of Ferrie's estate, as well as Ferrie's godson, also picked out Ferrie.

After the Kennedy assassination, David Ferrie told investigators he never knew Lee Oswald. "I never heard David Ferrie mention Lee Harvey Oswald," said Layton Martens, a former C.A.P. Cadet and a close friend to Ferrie until Ferrie's death in 1967.

But when FRONTLINE showed Martens the photograph, he identified Ferrie. "It does indicate the possibity of an associaton," said Martens, "but if and to what extent is another question. Of course we've all been photographed with people, and we could be presented with photographs later and asked, 'Well, do you know this person? Obviously, you must because you've been photographed with them.' Well no, it's just a photograph, and I don't know that person. It's just someone who happened to be in the picture."

"As dramatic as the discovery of this photograph is after thirty years," says Michael Sullivan, FRONTLINE executive producer for special projects, "one should be cautious in ascribing its meaning. The photograph does give much support to the eyewitnesses who say they saw Ferrie and Oswald together in the C.A.P., and it makes Ferrie's denials that he ever knew Oswald less credible. But it does not prove that the two men were with each other in 1963, nor that they were involved in a conspiracy to kill the president."

[#3Fan]

Thought you'd be interested in this one, #3Fan.

Yeah, thanks. I think it fits. I know guys that come from dysfuntional homes who join the service and it becomes like a family to them. That's why they love it and excel, it's their first family. That's why Oswald was being brought along quickly, I'm sure he threw himself into this kind of stuff. It's like "An Officer and a Gentleman" where the lead character says "I got nothin else!". Too bad they turned on him.

[Lancey Howard]

Speaking of Castro and the Cubans, the following information was related to me by a fellow freeper:

Remember E. Howard Hunt, mysterious CIA guy in the Nixon White House who hooked Liddy up with the Cubans for the Watergate break-in?

Mark Lane, in Plausible Denial, discloses a slander trial brought by E. Howard Hunt against The Liberty Lobby's magazine. He won the first round. The Liberty Lobby employed Lane to defend the magazine. Usually the defense to slander is malice. Lane used the defense of "absolute truth," that the magazine's assertion that E. Howard Hunt was in Dallas and involved with the assassination was provably true.

The jury (Miami) found in favor of The Liberty Lobby, which means they found the article to be true. The forewoman of the jury spoke extensively with reporters after the verdict. The story was buried. She raised a big fuss and a short spot was put on the air late at night. That story was more buried than the infamous Intelligence Committee memo.

The original article is printed in the back of Plausible Denial.

The assassination cannot be fully understood without an understanding of the Cuban refugees. Not only were they livid about JFK pulling the support from the freedom fighters at the last minute in the Bay of Pigs, but during the summer of 1963 JFK was shutting down the training camps for anti-Castro Cubans that proliferated around the South. This totally infuriated them. Lee Harvey Oswald had some connections to these camps and to both sides of the Castro issue.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Ping.

[#3Fan]

A big problem with that is Malcom Wallace's print was found in the sniper's nest. He was an LBJ hitman that eliminated an ag official for LBJ since LBJ committed fraud in the cotton markets while in Texas and Marshall was close to charging LBJ with it. I don't think Castro had anything to do with it, nor the Soviet Union.

[narby]

Not long after LBJ died, I heard Cronkite say on the tube that LBJ had told him that Castro had JFK killed. That actually makes a lot of sense, since we now know that JFK was going after Castro at the time.

It also makes perfect sense that of all the countries in the world that we've made peace with, Cuba isn't one of them.

A friend of mine who worked in the late 1970's declassifying documents, said the scuttlebutt was that Castro had JFK killed by Oswald (a known Castro supporter), and we did indeed cover it up to 1) deny a "victory" to the communists, and 2) to prevent a demand in the US for nuclear war to retaliate.

The scuttlebutt continues that this was the reason Kruschev was forced from office. Because we demanded it, because he knew of Castro's effort.

Keeping all this in mind, it's awfully easy to see where people get the stupid idea that it was a "coup" within the US government to kill JFK. Since there certianly was a coverup. It's just that the motives are totally different than what the idiot Oliver Stones of the world would like it to be.

[#3Fan]

Whoa! I better rephrase that:

At least they only they kill each other off. Kennedys, Monroe, Ruby, LBJ, Clinton, Wellstone, Carnahan, Foster, Brown,... It's like the scene at the end of the Pink Panther movie "A Shot in the Dark" where the car blows up and kills everyone in it. Clueseau says, "they were all murderers anyway, except for one who was an extortionist". In this case, Republicans say "they were all murderous Democrats anyway, except for maybe a couple who were extortionist Democrats. ". lol

[Vinnie]

I've been in photos with other people that I don't know.

I saw the Frontline piece. Thought it was very good.

Oswald did it. .(. period, not dot)

[#3Fan]

Not long after LBJ died, I heard Cronkite say on the tube that LBJ had told him that Castro had JFK killed. That actually makes a lot of sense, since we now know that JFK was going after Castro at the time.

Castro used LBJ's hitman to do it? I'm sure LBJ would say Castro did it, since LBJ was actually the one.

[Poohbah]

the fbi banned this book for decades because it showed many corporate/political connections to jfk's assassination.

How did the FBI actually ban a book for ten seconds, let alone "decades?"

[Jhensy]

I've definitely seen this photo before. It's nothing new.

[Itzlzha]

Some of us in the general FILTH classification are fine upstanding Americans ya know!

My sincere apologies...

"Present FILTH excepted, of course!"

[justshutupandtakeit]

Castro did not do this but it was easy enough to wave the spectre of him before those willing to cooperate in the Cover-up aka the Warren Commission so as to avoid a war.

Castro was smart enough to know that if he had anything to do with such a thing it would have been the end of him and the commie regime in Cuba.

However, the best information indicates that the team set up to eliminate ole Fidel was shut down by RFK and then turned against his brother by those refusing to obey orders. They were lied to for months and told that the attempts against Castro had been stopped. In fact they had NOT been stopped.

[MineralMan]

"I attach absolutely no significance to Ferrie's inability to remember a dozen years later that they met."

Good point. I cannot remember but a few names of men I served with in the USAF, and couldn't just a few years later.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Of course you realize that assassination can easily be disguised as "natural causes" by intelligence agencies. See the KGB (John Barron) for examples of such "natural causes." The timing of deaths can be more important than the alleged cause and with this case there are far too many convenient ones. John Roselli, Sam Giancana, Ferrie, various military people all very strange that their deaths thwarted aspects of investigations into the JFK assassination.

[Brilliant]

As Frontline interviewees pointed out, though, just because they appeared in the same photo doesn't mean they knew each other. I get on the elevator every morning with people I don't know. If someone snapped a photo, it would prove nothing.

[churchillbuff]

"IF Ferrie and Oswald were both in the cadet Air Patrol in 1955, then ...."

It's pretty d-mn coincidental

[genefromjersey]

Meds ! Meds !

You're hyperventilating !

[happygrl]

The scuttlebutt continues that this was the reason Kruschev was forced from office

This is the first time I've heard of such linkage...not far-fetched, either.

Khruschev was forced from office one year later in the fall of 1964. His leaving was out-of-character for a Soviet Premier; he was the only leader until Gorbachev to leave office vertically, instead of remaining until he died.

The scuttlebutt is intriguing: what could have caused the Poliburo to demand his vacating office without a charge serious enough to merit execution ?

Quid pro quo for the U.S. not to retaliate against the U.S.S.R. ?

[sharktrager]

The men's room?

[mel]

Makes sense to me