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

On the evening of November 23, 1963, FBI agents stormed the home of Billy and Patricia Lovelady in Dallas, and they were armed: with a photograph of Doorway Man "as big as a desk" according to Mrs. Lovelady.

So, why didn't they storm Oswald's cell at the Austin PD the same way? An honest inquiry would have sought the reaction of both men: not just one of them. 

Look: they had an image of a man whom they had to identify, and they knew he had to be one of two men. Wouldn't they, in all honesty and sincerity, show it to both of them? So, why didn't they show it to Oswald as well as Lovelady? Why only Lovelady?

People from all over the world, upon seeing the Altgens photo, thought they saw Oswald in the doorway wearing his distinctive clothing. That's what started the whole ruckus. So, why wouldn't they ask Oswald about it?

Well, imagine if they had. Imagine what he would have said. 

"Are you kidding? That's me! Of course, it's me! Can't you see it's me? It's my clothes. And it was taken right during the shooting, where you can see JFK reacting to being shot. So, it proves I didn't do it."

And just think: a family member could have visited him in his jail cell or in the visitors' area and shown it to him. If you have a piece of newsprint in your pocket when you visit a prisoner, they can't take it away from you, can they? On what grounds?  

So, his wife or his mother or his brother could have done that, right? Well, not his brother because his brother wasn't really his brother and wouldn't have wanted to help him anyway. But, his wife or his mother could have done it, right? 

Had he lived, wasn't it inevitable that Oswald was going to find out about the Altgens photo? And he was going to have a lawyer eventually, right? And, wouldn't his lawyer have shown it to him and asked him if it was him?  And wouldn't he have screamed that it was? 

And of course, his lawyer would have believed him. Can you imagine Mark Lane or Vincent Salandria in court waving around the picture of Doorway Man from the Altgens photo and pointing to Oswald, saying: "That's him. You want to know about his alibi? Well, he's got one alright, and he's got a picture to prove it. He was standing in the doorway when President Kennedy got shot."

Did the existence of the Altgens photo have something to do with the urgency of getting Oswald killed? If he had lived long enough to see it and to claim that it was him in the doorway, don't you think it would have impressed a lot of people? Including many prospective members of the jury?

The memo below was by Cartha Deke DeLoach, an FBI official who was the FBI's liason with the CIA.

So, the stain of Oswald in the Altgens photo got "washed out" (to use Deke's term) from, supposedly, the FBI talking to Lovelady at his home, where he said it was him. Well, again: why didn't they visit Oswald the same way at the same time? 

Look at the last line of the memo. They apparently were going to send a New York Agent to Washington with the pictures, blowups, etc. (and remember that we know from Paul Rigby that the Altgens6 photo was processed in New York, that it was separated out from the other Altgens photos and delayed.) But now, according to Deke, the trip by the New York agent to Washington could be cancelled. What a relief! And all because Lovelady said it was him in the picture? 

But, did Lovelady really say it was him? How do we know he really did? Maybe they showed up at his house on the 23rd November and TOLD him it was him. That they didn't so much ask him as tell him. And once they told him, they figured it was safe to say that he said it. You know: lie. 

If he said it, then why didn't they sit him down in front of a sea of microphones, and let him tell the world. After all, it was the world who saw Oswald in the Altgens photo. So, why not let Lovelady tell the world otherwise?

It would have had multiple benefits. First, it would have proven that it wasn't just them saying that Lovelady said it. It would have been him saying it. Big difference. So, that's the first benefit. But, the second benefit is that the world would have been able to judge his credibility. Did he seem confident and sincere in saying it? Did he seem rock-solid in his conviction or shaky? Not everyone is a good liar, and sometimes it's easy to tell. 

And then, to top it off, they could have let reporters question Lovelady about it: see how well he held up under cross examination. Why not? What would it have hurt?

But no. Instead, Lovelady went into seclusion. In Dallas, the Dallas PD and the FBI went into overdrive to keep curious people (reporters and photographers, etc.) away from him. And they used harsh methods when necessary. 

Apparently, there was no talking to Lovelady by anybody. In his book, Six Seconds in Dallas, Josiah Thompson wrote that he resolved the Doorman issue by talking to someone at CBS who told him that Lovelady said that it was him. But wait! That was 1969, and Lovelady was still alive. So, why didn't Josiah Thompson, who is supposed to be this great investigator, go to Denver where Lovelady was living at the time and talk to him directly? Why would you rely on hearsay when the man himself was alive and well? 

And why would you believe anything CBS said? Remember, it was Dan Rather of CBS who said that the Zapruder film showed Kennedy turning around (180 degrees) and facing the Depository which resulted in him getting shot in the throat. That is what Dan Rather actually said. 

Did Lovelady really claim he was Doorway Man or were other people just saying that he said it? Look at this FBI letter. Twice, it says that Lovelady described his position in the doorway as being "far left".

I apologize for the small print, but twice it says "far left". 

But, Doorman was in the very center of the doorway, which you can see in this frame from the Wiegman film, which coincides with the Altgens photo. 

So, Doorman was in the center, and he was in the center during Altgens too. It was only because of Altgens acute angle that he appears to be over by the west wall. 

Fact: He was in the exact same spot in Altgens as he was in Wiegman. 

Now, I can understand why FBI agents would think he was next to the wall upon seeing this and without properly analyzing it.

But, how could Lovelady be mistaken about it if he was actually there? Didn't he know where he stood? How could he possibly say far-left?

Well, here is a possibility: maybe he meant HIS far-left per his coming out the door. He was, after all, Black Hole Man, who was standing on the far-left of the doorway: his left.

That's Lovelady on our far right, but it was his far left from his perspective in doing it. 

But, we don't have to argue about this because we know Doorman was in the center and was definitely not anywhere else. Who was on the far left from our perspective? Nobody. That is, unless you want to say that Prayer Man was back in the shadow on the far left. But, nobody has ever tried to claim that Prayer Man was Lovelady. 

The only direct statement we have from Billy Lovelady is this:

With the plaid shirt on? But, Doorman's shirt is not plaid. Plaid means horizontal and vertical lines crossing forming boxes. There isn't a single box on Doorman's shirt. It just looks splotchy from haze, distortion, and light reflection. That's all. Nothing else. 

Why were people calling it plaid? It was just a mistake which caught on. And I'm sure it wasn't Lovelady's word. It was a word that was given to him. He was just signing whatever they wanted him to sign, saying whatever they wanted him to say, anything to avoid having to go to Washington to testify. Why? Because Lovelady knew that he was NOT a good liar. He was scared to death of having to say it out loud. And he must have told them so. "Please don't make me do it!"  The HSCA's own lawyer, Ken Brooten, quit his job to represent Lovelady. I'll say it again: HSCA lawyer Kenneth D. Brooten Jr. quit his job to become Lovelady's lawyer. 

And then before the HSCA Final Report came out, Billy Lovelady died of a fatal first heart attack at the tender age of 41. Apparently, they didn't believe in his lying and acting ability either. Dead men tell no tales. 

We have two letters in which the FBI asserted that Lovelady said he wore a striped shirt on the day of the assassination. One is dated March 2, 1964.

The other is dated March 3. It's at the bottom. 

And of course, they took pictures of Lovelady posing in that shirt and leaving it unbuttoned like Doorman. They would only do that if they were claiming it was the same shirt.

So, there is no doubt whatsoever that, immediately following the assassination, the FBI claimed that Lovelady said that he wore the short-sleeved striped shirt on November 22nd. 

But, let's go back to the beginning. If you saw a figure in a photograph who appeared to be Oswald, wouldn't you ask Oswald about it? Wouldn't you start by asking Oswald? And even if you thought of asking Lovelady about it, wouldn't you give as much thought and as much importance to asking Oswald as well?

Remember, Lovelady was just an after-thought. People around the world didn't even know that he existed when they made their determination. They just saw the Altgens photo and thought they saw Oswald. They weren't comparing Doorman to anyone except Oswald. So again: wouldn't you start by asking Oswald? 

The FBI's entire handling of this, of going only to Lovelady, and then saying what he said rather than bringing him forth to speak for himself, stinks. It stinks out loud. It stinks of bloody, Kennedy-killing murder. It was a deliberate obstruction of justice by the FBI.