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

Postal Inspector Harry Holmes LIED when he told the Warren Commission that Oswald reversed himself about going to Mexico City at the final interrogation. 

That is not a speculation. That is a deduction. The difference between a speculation and a deduction is that they are on opposite ends of the certainty spectrum.

A speculation is the putting forth of a possibility that is not supported by evidence. But, a deduction involves logic. It involves inferring something from something else- that is known to be true and not in dispute. Deduction starts with established facts, and it asks, "What can we infer from those facts? What follows from them, by logical necessity?"

So, what facts are involved in this case? Here they are:  

1. We know that when first asked at the first interrogation, Oswald denied going to Mexico City. Three people attested to that: Fritz, Hosty, and Bookhout.

2. We know that Oswald was NOT being accused of committing a crime in Mexico City.  So, if he went there, he had no reason to lie about it. And especially, when he was being accused of killing the President of the United States and a police officer, he had no reason to lie to police about having gone to Mexico City.

In other words, the gravity of the things they were accusing him of towered over whether he went to Mexico City. And therefore, he would not have lied about the latter when facing the former.  

This is an important issue because at a trial, a defense lawyer might tell the jury, "my client had absolutely no motive to commit this crime." And that packs a punch. We are often told that the prosecution doesn't have to establish motive, but don't believe it. They better establish motive. And usually they do. 

So, our first deduction is that if Oswald had gone to Mexico City, he would have said so when first asked.

3. The final interrogation was a crowded session. It included Fritz, who did the questioning, Holmes, SS Agent Thomas Kelly, SS Agent Forrest Sorrels, and several of Fritz' men. FBI Agent James Bookhout claimed to have arrived late, and he said he just watched it through the glass. Immediately afterwards, he asked Fritz if Oswald said anything of note, and Fritz said no. Now, don't you think that if Oswald had reversed himself on Mexico City, that Fritz would have considered that important? If you check the testimonies of Fritz, Sorrels, and Kelley, you will see that none of them claimed that Oswald reversed himself on Mexico City.

4. Now, let's look at exactly what Holmes told the WC, and it is hilarious. Holmes' credibility was so lacking that even his interrogator David Belin asked him if this wasn't just stuff he read in the newspaper, and he pointed out to Holmes that he wrote a memorandum immediately after the interview, in which he didn't say a word about Mexico City. 

Mr. Belin: Did he ever say anything about going to Mexico? Was that ever covered?
Mr. HOLMES. Yes. To the extent that mostly about--well--he didn't spend, "Where did you get the money?" He didn't have much money and he said it didn't cost much money. He did say that where he stayed it cost $26 some odd, small ridiculous amount to eat, and another ridiculous small amount to stay all night, and that he went to the Mexican Embassy to try to get this permission to go to Russia by Cuba, but most of the talks that he wanted to talk about was how he got by with a little amount.
They said, "Well, who furnished you the money to go to Mexico?"
"Well, it didn't take much money." And it was along that angle, was the conversation.
Mr. BELIN. Did he admit that he went to Mexico?
Mr. HOLMES. Oh, yes.
Mr. BELIN. Did he say what community in Mexico he went to?
Mr. HOLMES. Mexico City.
Mr. BELIN. Did he say what he did while he was there?
Mr. HOLMES. He went to the Mexican consulate, I guess.
(Discussion off the record.)
Mr. BELIN. Now, with regard to this Mexican trip, did he say who he saw in Mexico?
Mr. HOLMES. Only that he went to the Mexican consulate or Embassy or something and wanted to get permission, or whatever it took to get to Cuba. They refused him and he became angry and he said he burst out of there, and I don't know. I don't recall now why he went into the business about how mad it made him.
He goes over to the Russian Embassy. He was already at the American. This was the Mexican--he wanted to go to Cuba.
Then he went to the Russian Embassy and he said, because he said then he wanted to go to Russia by way of Cuba, still trying to get to Cuba and try that angle and they refused and said, "Come back in 30 days," or something like that. And, he went out of there angry and disgusted.
Mr. BELIN. Did he go to the Cuban Embassy, did he say or not?
Mr. HOLMES. He may have gone there first, but the best of my recollection, it might have been Cuban and then the Russian, wherever he went at first, he wanted to get to Cuba, and then he went to the Russian to go by Cuba.
Mr. BELIN. Did he say why he wanted to go to Cuba?
Mr. HOLMES. No.
Mr. BELIN. Did--this wasn't reported in your interview in the memorandum that you wrote?
Mr. HOLMES. No.
Mr. BELIN. Is this something that you think you might have picked up from just reading the papers, or is this something you remember hearing?
Mr. HOLMES. That is what he said in there.

IT WAS NEVER CLAIMED THAT OSWALD WENT TO THE MEXICAN EMBASSY IN MEXICO! MEXICO WAS THE COUNTRY. IS THERE AN AMERICAN EMBASSY IN AMERICA? HE, SUPPOSEDLY, WENT TO THE CUBAN AND RUSSIAN EMBASSIES. BUT, ACCORDING TO THE IDIOT HOLMES, OSWALD WAXED ON AND ON ABOUT GOING TO THE MEXICAN EMBASSY IN MEXICO. 

And, there is another problem with this whole cock and bull story: Holmes said nothing about Oswald reversing himself. Holmes wasn't at the first interrogation, but Oswald was. He knew that he told them that he never went to Mexico City. So, if he was going to reverse himself, he surely would have prefaced it with an admission: "I know I told you I didn't go to Mexico City, but actually, I did."

But no, according to the Idiot Holmes, Oswald just light into talking about how little money he got away with spending in Mexico City because everything was so cheap down there- like he blanked out on what he had just told them less than 48 hours before. Did Lee Harvey Oswald have Alzheimer's disease? 

Taking into account all of the above, we can plainly see that Postal Inspector Harry Holmes lied through his teeth. The fact that he lied is derived from the known facts, as laid out above, none of which are in dispute. 

   
I consider what Harry Holmes did to be EXTREMELY REPREHENSIBLE. I consider it to be vile. And I have to admit that I hate this rotten miserable bastard- with a passion. He was evil.