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

Let's talk more about the letter Allen Dulles sent to CIA Dirty-Ops/Lethal Action guy, Bill Harvey.

It's not like they were cousins or old friends from college or squadron mates from the military or anything like that. They weren't personal friends at all. Dulles had always spoken disparagingly of Harvey, saying that he had a "cop mentality." He meant it in a bad way. 

So, why would he write a letter of apology for being out of town when the guy came to Washington? Did he really owe him an apology for that? People have their own lives. They come; they go. Their paths cross or they don't. 

So, what does it mean? Well, first of all, I think it means that Dulles understood that Harvey REALLY wanted to see him. And, it follows from that that Dulles REALLY did not want to see Harvey.

Why? As I said, Dulles was a lawyer, and he was also the Gentleman Spy. He covered his tracks; he protected himself. He knew that Harvey was an operative in the planning of the JFK assassination. He must have felt that that was ample reason to avoid meeting with him. 

So, I suggest (correction: David Talbot suggested in his book) that Dulles deliberately made himself scarce because he did not want to see Harvey. He wrote the letter instead, and the letter is code. 

So, I am going to take the liberty of decoding it. The date of the letter precedes the start of the Garrison investigation by almost a full year, so I'll presume that that was off the radar. 

"All's well. You needn't worry. The Warren Commission Report has been well-received, and it will go down as the official record of the assassination. Of course, there are a few rabble-rousers, such as Mark Lane and Harold Weisberg, but they are limited and manageable. The important thing now is to just proceed with the business of the country and to treat this matter as resolved. It's best we don't meet."

Notice how Dulles signed the letter: Faithfully yours. Faithfully? What was he claiming to have faith in? He was claiming to have faith that the cover-up would work, and the official story would stand. And, he was telling Harvey to have faith.    

Then, dwell on the fact that Harvey kept the letter. He saved it. It was just "sorry I missed you." It's not as though Dulles praised him. It's not as though Dulles thanked him for his patriotism, for his years of devoted service to the CIA and to the country. He just said he was out of town, and see you next time. That's it. Yet, Harvey kept it. 

And by keeping it, Harvey pretty much derailed Dulles' intention. The letter was the meeting. The letter was like Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) signalling Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) in The Sting.