Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

OK, let's start analyzing HGR's first letter. Our goal is to try to determine if it's real or something that SV Anderson concocted, as he claims.

Mission Inn
Riverside CA 92507

Dear Dr. Ralph Cinque:

I hope this letter find you well at the start of the new year. You don't know me but I have been reading your work on Oswald and Billy Lovelady for about a year now (more or less). I am an old man, older than my age would imply. I am 68 years old but suffering from advanced prostate cancer with possibly 9 months left to live. Of course, the damn doctors keep changing their minds as to my prognosis and my life expectancy, which makes me believe that they don't know what the hell they are talking about. Who knows, I might outlive them? I hope I do; then I can piss on their graves. I do not live in Riverside but rather in New Orleans now (I also have a small condo in Provo UT where we spend summerfs with my youngest son and his family.) This week, I am visiting my daughter who does live in Riverside where she is a middle-school biology teacher. (God help her) Since she is off over the Christmas break, my wife and I have flown to sunny southern California to visit Disneyland, Universal Studios, and the damn beach. None of which I found worth the effort, the lines, or the expense, but that is another topic.

RC: That first paragraph said absolutely nothing material. If you ask me whether SV Anderson would devote that much time to making small talk, I would say no. I think he would have gotten right to the point. In a way, it's great that we have SV Anderson claiming to have written the letter because we don't have to consider anyone else. If it was someone else, then SV Anderson is a liar, and that invalidates him by itself. So, if anything, this first paragraph argues for authenticity, in my view. Now continuing:

I am bothering you to let you know that I worked with the man you know as SV Anderson for about 25 years at a high school in one of the mountain states. Anderson and I both joined the staff at that time, moving from an older (and more dangerous) high school in Pocatello, Idaho. We both taught in the Social Studies department- he specialized in US History while I focused on Government and Economics. Our relationship was entirely professional. He never invited me to his house. I only met his wife on a couple of occasions at school district functions, and his children lived outside our school boundaries, so they did not attend our high school.

RC: I don't see SV Anderson as having written that. He surely would not have given accurate information about himself and his family. But, why go into it at all?  Or to that extent? Why give that much information even if it's false?  It would have been very uncomfortable for him to write that stuff about himself- even if he was making it up. I say he would have kept it very short- shorter than that. To me, the above paragraph argues for authenticity.

He told me often of his interest in the KEnnedy assassination, and he was the epitome of the lone-nut advocate. He was rabid in his belief that Oswald acted alone. He told me that he often referred to himself as SV Anderson. While his last name IS Anderson, neither S nor V are his first initials. Personally, I never bought the lone assassin ruse put forth by the WC, and I have maintained a keen interest in the assassination, having been in Dallas on 11/22/63 attending a Pepsi Cola bottler's luncheon at the time. I was a newly-hired 19 year old regional sales rep for Pepsi at that time in my life. So, I missed the assassination and all the excitment that went with it (but I did get to see former VP Richard Nixon and actress Joan Crawford the night before). But, my interest has never waned and I have a great deal about it over the years. Being an old man, by abilities with the computer and the internet are limited. I consider the computer the tool of the devil since I cannot manage to make the damn thing do what I want it to do. And the Internet is a mystery to me as well. I have about 10 sites that I can find my way around, and one of them is Google. While searching for something to read on Oswald, I ran across your site and also some links to an Amazon discussion board or chatroom or whatever the hell you call it where you were arguing with none other than my old partner in teaching, SV Anderson. 

RC: What jumped out at me as a problem with this paragraph is him claiming to be a regional sales director for Pepsi at the age of 19. But, would SV Anderson make up such a thing? That's the beauty of what we're doing: it was either HGR or SV Anderson who wrote this and no one else. Because if it was anyone else, then SV Anderson is a liar for having claimed to write it, and that destroys him outright. So, would SV Anderson make his imaginary person the regional sales director for Pepsi at the age of 19? Would he have thought of that? I say no. Therefore, I say the paragraph argues for authenticity. 

Once I read his comments, I knew in a heartbeat it was him. He is insulting, arrogant, vain, extremely brilliant, VERY well read on information about Oswald and the assassination, very private and protective of his personal life, and frankly, he is an asshole. I never cared for him. But that is not the reason for this letter. As long as I knew him, he was weird. He always seemed to me (and to others in the Social Studies dept) to be hiding something. He rarely talked about his pre-teaching life, and I don't know what he did before he became a teacher. I know he attended the University of Michigan and graduated in the mid-80s (I think). He graduated very high in his class and went to school on a full academic scholarship from some organization he never talked about. In fact, the College Club at school asked all teachers who attended university with scholarship money to speak to the senior class, and we both did, but he never did say who paid for his schooling. He is VERY private about his past and reveals nothing to outsiders. I think I knew him as well as anyone on the campus, and I never really knew him at all. 

RC: I am pretty neutral about the above paragraph. If I had to say whether it was real or fake- if I was forced to make a choice- I would go with real. It's just based on the degree of elaboration and the discomfort that would have been involved for Anderson to say all that. Why bring up the College Club? Why would it occur to Anderson to do that? 

You've mentioned several times that you suspected him of being a government shill or a paid disinformationist. I think you are 100% right. Let me share with you three strange episodes that you might find interesting. On SEVERAL occasions he would receive visitors on campus that arrived in US govt cars (you know the white license plate vehicles). My classroom faced the visitor's parking lot and therefore when lecturing, I could see over the painted strip along the windows (to keep students eyes from straying outside) and see the comings and goings of the visitors parking lot. Anderson was always visited by two people- sometimes two men or sometimes a man and a woman- but NEVER two women. They were always dressed in suits and dresses, and they both always had a briefcase. They met in his classroom with the door closed and sometimes even locked. On one occasion about 4 years ago, I stopped by his room during his conference period (the hour we don't have students) to remind him that his textbook order for the following year had not been turned in yet. I entered the room without knocking (which is standard protocol for teachers who know each other), and I caught the three of them talking in low voices. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but as soon as I entered and approached them they switched the topic to- of all things- the Washington Redskins- almost like it was rehearsed. All I remember them saying is, "The Redskins will punt if the snowball doesn't melt." Of course, this line seemed out of place to me, and I never understood what it meant, but I had the impression that it was some sort of code with a hidden meaning that they didn't want me to understand. I never asked Anderson about it, and he never offered an explanation.

RC: The last part about the secret code does sound like something that Anderson could have made up. But, there is something that occurs early in the paragraph that screams authenticity to me. It's when he said that while lecturing he could see above the stripe that was painted on the window to keep students' eyes from straying outside. Why the heck would Anderson include that? It's so diversionary and unnecessary. He didn't have to say it to get to where he was going. It would have been extraordinarily prescient for Anderson to have thought of including that. Do I give him credit for that much prescience? No, I do not. And that's why I say it sounds authentic. I don't think for one second that Anderson, sitting at his computer, would have thought of saying that. 

OK, that takes us through about half of the first letter. I'm going to get this up now, and then continue with the rest. 

I'll point out, in case you're wondering, that I'm going public with this now because Anderson has revealed that he has the letter. And if he has it, it means that all the bad guys have got it. So, whatever was going to happen to HGR for sending it has already happened. The other shoe has already dropped. So, there is no point in my worrying about it. Stay tuned.