David Atlee Phillips at LHO's press conference?

[Bob]

I don't think Wim will be there (Wim can certainly elaborate), but he should be one of the speakers at the COPA conference...that is for sure. Keep us posted on the events today Joe, and thanks for putting out the word on the site and the forum. Chris, as Joe says, just go to the contents column, and JFK II is the 16th topic from the top.

[Bob]

Some excellent advice from Robert Groden as I try to get some views from some witnesses (reporters) that still might be alive from the LHO midnight press conference..."I might suggest trying to contact any of the surviving reporters and see if they recognize the guy in the picture. But don't tell them who you suspect or why. Most of them are dirty and would not be straight with you."

[Randy Bednorz]

I've been indifferent to this picture. At first I thought another picture of Phillips which I thought had been taken in the early 1960s was sufficiently "different" to warrant doubt -- serious doubt. I'm not so sure, now. Phillips used theatrical disguises -- probably small amounts of facial make-up. Please check, but I think even Antonio Veciana recognized it, and it may be mentioned in Fonzi's "Last Investigation" book. Remember "Benjamin Button?" But I'm also indifferent to whether or not the photo matters, given other evidence. The photo falls into a category of "evidence," no less than does the contested Tramps Photo showing a resemblance to E. Howard Hunt. There is a set of evidence which points to the identity of the Tramps Photo figure as a man named Chauncey Holt. But you see, there are other independent testimonies that Hunt was in Dallas that day. There's a testimony that Lansdale was there, and there is some supporting evidence. To me, it doesn't matter if Phillips was there -- in Dallas on Nov 22 1963. He could have been in Mexico City for all I care.But there's not doubt in my mind -- to distinguish between knowledge, suspicion and belief -- that "Phillips did it."

[Bob]

Randy Bednorz wrote:I've been indifferent to this picture. At first I thought another picture of Phillips which I thought had been taken in the early 1960s was sufficiently "different" to warrant doubt -- serious doubt. I'm not so sure, now. Phillips used theatrical disguises -- probably small amounts of facial make-up. Please check, but I think even Antonio Veciana recognized it, and it may be mentioned in Fonzi's "Last Investigation" book. Remember "Benjamin Button?" But I'm also indifferent to whether or not the photo matters, given other evidence. The photo falls into a category of "evidence," no less than does the contested Tramps Photo showing a resemblance to E. Howard Hunt. There is a set of evidence which points to the identity of the Tramps Photo figure as a man named Chauncey Holt. But you see, there are other independent testimonies that Hunt was in Dallas that day. There's a testimony that Lansdale was there, and there is some supporting evidence. To me, it doesn't matter if Phillips was there -- in Dallas on Nov 22 1963. He could have been in Mexico City for all I care.But there's not doubt in my mind -- to distinguish between knowledge, suspicion and belief -- that "Phillips did it."While I agree with your take that "Phillips did it" Randy, I also think it is VERY important if Phillips, Lansdale and Hunt can be placed at the scene.Okay, lets look at the Phillips compilation again. The sketch on the left is Maurice Bishop (Phillips), the one in center is is the man at LHO's midnight press conference and the one on the right is Phillips near CIA headquarters.Okay, let us now look at the possibilty that Lansdale was in Dealey Plaza walking by the three tramps...What did a General that knew Lansdale very well say about that photo?"The haircut, the stoop, the twisted left hand, the large class ring. It's Lansdale." - Lt. Gen. Victor KrulakOkay, now let us look at Hunt. I do believe Holt was the older tramp, but I do think Hunt was in Dealey Plaza. First, here is a photo of Hunt...Here is a photo that might show him in Dealey Plaza...

[kenmurray]

It appears to me Hunt, Phillips and Lansdale were there that day. That picture of what appears to be Hunt in dealey plaza. walking casually across the street with both hands in his coat pockets.

[Bob]

If you look at the group photo of people walking across to the knoll, right behind "Hunt", you can see an official questioning Mary Moorman about her camera and the classic photo she took.

[kenmurray]

Bob wrote:If you look at the group photo of people walking across to the knoll, right behind "Hunt", you can see an official questioning Mary Moorman about her camera and the classic photo she took. Your right Bob. Good observation.

[Bob]

kenmurray wrote:Bob wrote:If you look at the group photo of people walking across to the knoll, right behind "Hunt", you can see an official questioning Mary Moorman about her camera and the classic photo she took. Your right Bob. Good observation. Indeed. It also appears that "Hunt" came from Moorman's direction. I wonder if the guy questioning Moorman was CIA? Frank Sturgis perhaps? Remember that Jimmy Files said he saw Sturgis in Dealey Plaza that day and that it was basically a CIA convention.

[Bob]

Here is an interesting section about David Phillips in a review Jim DiEugenio did about The Last Investigation by Gaeton Fonzi...What this book does is trace Fonzi's journey into the next two government investigations of the crime: namely the Church Committee, and the House Select Committee on Assassinations. Not as a reporter, but as a participant. Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker asked Fonzi to join his staff on the Church Committee, which was investigating abuses of the intelligence community. Schweiker and Senator Gary Hart both had an interest in the assassination of President Kennedy. So they were allowed to set up a sub-committee to investigate the reaction of the FBI and CIA to the assassination and how this impacted the Warren Commission. One of the most memorable parts of the book is Salandria's warning to Fonzi before he goes to Washington. He tells him, "They'll keep you very, very busy and eventually they'll wear you down." (p. 29)Fonzi ignored Salandria's prophetic words and decided to go anyway. Almost immediately he found out that, as Salandria had warned, there would be sand traps put in his path. Clare Booth Luce sent him on a wild goose chase for a man who did not exist. He later found out she was talking to CIA Director Bill Colby at this time, and further, she was a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, newly organized by David Phillips. He went on another wild goose chase in Key West for a reported sighting of Oswald with Jack Ruby. Fonzi later found out that this man also worked for the CIA. (p. 65) Finally, Fonzi memorably describes his meeting up with both Marita Lorenz and Frank Sturgis. This episode, with Lorenz answering her apartment door with a rifle, calling her agent about a movie offer, and Sturgis eventually getting arrested, is vivid low comedy.From here, the book begins to build its powerful argument for conspiracy in the JFK case. Fonzi's chapter on Sylvia Odio's meeting with Oswald -- or his double -- in Dallas is one of the very best in the literature. (Chapter 11) I would rank it up there with Sylvia Meagher's work on that absolutely crucial witness, except Fonzi can reveal an aspect to her travail that Meagher could not. Namely that the Warren Commission actually joked about her, and never had any intention of taking her seriously. He combines this with the report of the Alpha 66 safehouse in Dallas where Oswald was reportedly seen. He then uses this to describe the background and activities of that particular Cuban exile group.And this is used to segue into his fateful meeting with Alpha 66 ringleader Antonio Veciana. Veciana had just been released from prison on a drug conspiracy charge at the time Fonzi looked him up. And, as Fonzi will note later, Veciana believed that it was his CIA handler Maurice Bishop who was behind that frame-up. Fonzi learned from Veciana that he had seen Bishop with Oswald at the Southland Center in Dallas in the late summer of 1963. In the wake of the assassination, Veciana kept his mouth shut about this of course. And when a government agent named Cesar Diosdato visited him after the murder to ask if he knew anything about Oswald or the assassination, he was even surer to do so. From the physical description Veciana gave, the Church Committee came up with an artist's sketch of Bishop. When Schweiker saw the sketch, he told Fonzi that the face strongly resembled CIA officer David Phillips. And from all the activities that Veciana described to Fonzi, the investigator matched them up with where Phillips was at the time and with what he was doing. And here let me add something important. Most research done in the JFK critical community is made up of reading archival releases, perusing books and periodicals, and doing phone interviews. Reading this book, one understands the difference between that kind of work and what an actual field investigation is. They are worlds apart. People who are good at one, are not necessarily good at the other. They take different skills. The latter necessitates knocking on doors, making appointments, getting leads from one person that lead to another, taking notes and reading them at night, and finally and probably most importantly: knowing how to interview. This kind of sustained and relentless inquiry is what literally jumps off the page of this book. And to really appreciate it, you have to have done it. Fonzi is a first class field investigator. One of the best ever in the JFK field.Fonzi arranged for Veciana to meet Phillips face to face. Phillips acted like he never had seen him or heard of him before. (p. 169-170) This is incredible. Why? Because Phillips, along with his friend and colleague Howard Hunt, was so close to many Cuban exile groups, including Alpha 66. At this meeting, Phillips was so intent on feigning Veciana as a stranger that he asked Fonzi if Veciana was part of the Church Committee staff!That section gives one yet another glimpse inside the narcisstic mind of David Phillips. Phillips fancied himself as someone "theatrically handsome". That exact description and those two words were in Phillips' book Give Us This Day and in the movie The Manchurian Candidate. Coincidence? I think not. The LHO midnight press conference was a large stage for this actor to craft his art. Other actors were there as well...Jack Ruby for instance, acting like he was a reporter. Oswald himself was an actor and never told the press of his intelligence background. Oswald did leave a clue to the press and certainly Phillips though when he uttered, "I'm just a patsy." The patsy was eliminated 36 hours later by the man who acted like he was a reporter at the midnight press conference.Here is the whole review by Jim...http://www.ctka.net/2008/fonzi.html

[Chad Duncan]

the mouth position seems to be the dead giveaway its Phillips. People just hold their mouths a certain way when waiting or in a pause - never noticed that either!