1-17-96: NOTES ON
by Martin Shackelford                         
                               ASSIGNMENT: OSWALD
                   by James P. Hosty Jr. with Thomas Hosty

Lyndon Johnson

Nov. 23: Requests that the FBI investigate the case, per Shanklin, but
orders them to avoid the Soviet aspect [a good way to direct suspicion
that way].(p. 36)
Nov. 24: After Oswald's death, when Henry Wade declares the case closed,
LBJ orders the FBI to take it over. He said the FBI would report its
findings to him, and he would report them to the public.(p. 64)
Nov. 27: Congress pressures LBJ for public hearings.(p. 86)
LBJ orders protective custody for the Oswalds.(p. 87).
Nov. 28: rumors circulate in the Dallas FBI office that LBJ is planning a
fact-finding panel. (p 97)
Nov. 29: The Warren Commission is announced.(pp. 98-99)
Information was withheld from the Warren Commission staff.(p. 139)

Robert Kennedy

Nov. 23: Requests that the FBI investigate the case, per Shanklin.(p. 36)
Hosty was told RFK recommended appointing Dulles and McCloy to the Warren
Commission. (p. 136)
According to an aide of Rep. Richard Bolling, Bolling was indefinitely
holding up funding for HSCA at the request of RFK's widow Ethel Kennedy.
(pp. 228-229)

FBI Headquarters in Washington

No. 1 was Hoover    No. 2 was Tolson   No. 3 was Alan Belmont
Under Belmont were Divisions 5 and 6 (p. 64)
Division 5 (Security) was headed by William Sullivan (p. 65)
   His protege in Dallas was the ASAC Kyle Clark.(p. 69)
   Bill Branagan, in charge of Russian espionage cases, micromanages
      the interviews of Marina Oswald.(p. 103)
Division 6 (Criminal) was headed by Al Rosen and Jim Malley (p. 64)
Malley was sent to Dallas for the JFK investigation. He took with him
   Dick Rogge and Fletcher Thompson. (p. 67)
No. 4 man was Johnnie Mohr. Gordon Shanklin, Dallas SAIC, was his protege
   and often sought his advice. (p. 60, 69)
Mohr was a bitter enemy of William Sullivan.(p. 187)
Mohr's proteges, James Adams and Harry Bassett, were put in charge of the
   1975 investigation of the Oswald note, and sought to divert attention
   away from Mohr and his protege Shanklin.(p. 187)
The FBI has over 7,000 agents nationwide. (p. 7)
Nov. 22: HQ initially assumed the assassination was by the Far Right.(p.14)
Alan Belmont orders Hosty to cooperate fully with the Dallas Police,
   including sharing information about Oswald.(p. 17) 
At 4:25, Hosty is ordered not to cooperate with the Dallas Police, to
   share NO information with them. Hosty assumes the order comes from Hoover
   or the White House. (p. 26)
In fact, the order came from William Sullivan, who was trying to avoid
   compromising CIA sources on the Mexico City trip.(p. 219). 
William Sullivan orders data on the Oswald Mexico City visit withheld
   from Hosty, unaware Hosty has already seen it and brought it up during
   the interrogation of Oswald. The material is removed from the Oswald
   file, and isn't there when Hosty returns to the office.(p. 31)
Nov. 23: 3 p.m.: HQ sends a list of questions about Oswald. (p. 42)
Early Dec.: Hosty's name is ordered removed from the Oswald section of
   the FBI report.(p. 102)
The Walker bullet is matched to the Oswald rifle.(p. 107)
Hoover and Earl Warren had a longstanding feud; the FBI knew about an
   affair Warren had. (pp. 137-138)
5-6-64: Hoover tells Hosty that he likes LBJ, liked JFK, but that RFK
   "disgusted him." (p. 154). 
Hoover was hostile toward McCloy.(p. 155)
Disciplinary actions are taken against Hosty and others.(pp. 164-167).
Sullivan's feud with Hoover. (pp. 186-187).

Dallas F.B.I. Office

The office covers Dallas and Fort Worth. (p. 3). 
It had about 40 agents.(p. 65)
SAIC was Gordon Shanklin, a protege of Johnnie Mohr. (p. 60)
ASAC was Kyle Clark, a protege of William Sullivan. (p. 69).
The Dallas FBI office had almost nothing on Jack Ruby. As a training
   exercise in 1959, a new agent had used Ruby as a potential criminal
   informant, but obtained no useful information from him. (p. 57). 
John Fain's 1962 contacts with Oswald are summarized. (pp. 43-45)
They reluctantly let Hosty reopen the Oswald case. (p 46)
Nov. 22: Agent Bob Barrett was at the Tippit site, and told Hosty that
   Capt. Westbrook found Oswald's wallet at that location, and showed it
   there to Barrett before they went to the Theater. (p. 62)
Barrett then went with police to the Texas Theater, where a mob
   threatened Oswald. (p. 63)
At Parkland, agent Doyle Williams entered the secured area where LBJ was
   located, and was decked by Secret Service agents before he could identify
   himself.(pp. 63-64)
Nov. 23: Katya and Declan Ford appear at the office offering to provide
   information about Oswald. 
Nov. 24: Agent Charles Brown was in the operating room at Parkland with
   Oswald. (p 61). 
By Nov. 25, the number of agents assigned to Dallas jumped from 40 to
   100. The office took over the building's 7th floor, and divided the
   agents into two groups. Agents investigating Oswald were located on the
   11th floor; those investigating Ruby were located on the 7th floor. (p.65)
Hosty and Warren DeBrueys, both with background on Oswald, are assigned
   instead to the Ruby squad. On the Oswald squad, Bob Barrett is put in
   charge of the Tippit shooting, and the office wiretapper (p. 110), Nat
   Pinkston, is put in charge of Dealey Plaza. Manning Clements heads the
Ruby squad. (p. 68)
3 hours later, at noon, Hosty and DeBrueys are re-assigned to the Oswald
   squad.(p. 70)
Finally obtaining the evidence from the DPD, the FBI photographs each
   individual item.(p. 77)
Nov. 27: The INS interviewed Marina, refusing to let the FBI in until
   they were done; they assured her she would not be deported, thus
   eliminating a threat that might have been useful to the FBI in
   questioning her; then they let the FBI in, and promptly left. (p. 88, 89)
An FBI wiretap picks up Marina referring to those who sent her money,
using the Russian word equivalent to "saps".(p. 89)
Early Dec.: Bob Gemberling is appointed to pull together information
   about the assassination and the Tippit shooting. (p. 102)
2-29-64: At the request of the Warren Commission, Nat Pinkston of the FBI
   taps Marina Oswald's phone. (pp. 109-110)

Gordon Shanklin, Dallas SAIC

"a good man," but very nervous, a chain-smoker.(p. 17)
He was a protege of No. 4 FBI administrator Johnnie Mohr, and often
   sought his advice.(p. 60)
His office is on the 12th floor of the building. (p. 42)
Nov. 22, 7:45 p.m.: confronts Hosty about the Oswald note.(p. 29)
He is very upset, orders Hosty to write a memo about the note (p. 30)
That night, about 11:45, Shanklin summarizes the case against Oswald to
   that point. He says Buell Wesley Frazier ID'd the paper bag found on the
6th floor as the one he saw Oswald carrying that morning.  (p. 32). 
He finally sends the agents home to get some sleep at 12:15 a.m.(p. 33)
Nov. 23: at a 7 a.m. briefing, he reports LBJ and RFK have both requested
the FBI to investigate the case. (p. 36)

Hosty

His grandfather was a Chicago police officer. His father was police
commissioner of River Forest, a Chicago suburb. Hosty considered himself
a midwesterner, not a Texan. (p. 58)
His wife was an ex-model from Chicago who had done Coca-Cola
commercials.(p. 66).
Lifelong Democrat, voted for JFK (p. 19).
His office is on the 11th floor of the building.(p. 35)
He is close to agent Bob Barrett (p. 33)
His investigative focus was primarily on the Far Right, especially the
Minutemen and Ku Klux Klan. (p. 4)
The Edwin Walker case was his top priority.(p. 46)
The Minutemen were suspected in the Walker shooting.(p. 107)
Hosty reopened the Oswald case after John Fain had closed it. (p. 45)
The Oswald case was transferred to New Orleans before Hosty ever made
contact with Oswald.(p 46)
In late October, Hosty learns of the Mexico City trip of Oswald from the
INS, in information he is not supposed to be given by them without CIA
authorization.(p. 48)
On November 1, Hosty learns Oswald is working at the TSBD.(p. 49).
Nov. 21: Hosty reports a Klan member's threat against JFK to the S.S. (p.
6). 
Nov. 22, 11 a.m.: Hosty receives the Oswald case back from the New
Orleans office; it contains none of the reports from the N.O. office.(p.
8) 
Hosty assumed JFK was shot at the Trade Mart, where his wife was working
as a volunteer hostess, so he went there; he assumed the assassination
was committed by the Far Right.(p. 12)
He then went to Parkland Hospital. (p. 13).
But was ordered back to the FBI office. Hearing of the Tippit shooting,
he assumed it was connected to the assassination. (p. 14)
Learning of Oswald's arrest, Hosty "realized" Oswald had committed both
murders. At Ruth Paine's, he was given the handwritten draft of Oswald's
letter to the Soviet embassy about the Mexico City trip. (p. 16)
Hosty is ordered to DPD, encounters Jack Revill in the basement (pp.
17-19).
3:15 p.m., joins James Bookhout in Oswald interrogation. (p. 19)
3:18 p.m. Hosty realizes the unsigned note left for him on Nov. 12 was
from Oswald, not from a right-winger. (p. 21). 
Oswald soon confirms this by mentioning the note.(p. 22) 
They took a break at 4:05 for a lineup. (p. 25) 
Hosty still has his original Oswald interrogation notes, which he forgot
to discard after he dictated his report, and later decided to preserve.
(p. 146; reproduced on photo page 11). 
A waitress and a car salesman both ID Oswald. Hosty recognizes Helen
Markham, as he regularly ate lunch at the Eatwell Cafe. (p. 26)
He sees the entry with his name in Oswald's address book. (p. 27)
Confronted at 7:45 by Shanklin about the Oswald note, he writes a memo
about it.(pp. 29-30). 
Nov. 23: after the 7 a.m. briefing, Hosty is shown the photo of the
Mexico City man, and recommends cropping it. (pp. 36-37)
He dictated a report from he notes of the previous day. (p. 37). 
He interviews Ruth Paine (pp. 38-42).
Nov. 24: At first, Hosty suspected Dallas Police complicity in Oswald's
death. (p. 56). 
The destruction of the Oswald note and memo. (pp. 59-60)
Hosty smells cover-up.(p. 61)
Nov. 25: Hosty learns at 9 a.m. that he is assigned to the Ruby team
instead of the Oswald team, as is Warren DeBrueys from New Orleans.(p.
68)
At noon, the two are reassigned to the Oswald squad.(p. 70)
At 3 p.m., they are told to get all evidence from the Dallas Police, but
Batchelor refuses to release it; lets them look at it.(p. 71)
They go to Lt. Potts' office to look at the evidence, only to find that
two other agents, Ural Horton and Ron Brinkley, are already reviewing it,
but Horton and Brinkley look relieved and leave when Hosty and DeBrueys
arrive. (p. 72)
Early Dec.: Hosty receives a letter of censure for his handling of the
Oswald case. He later learns that the replies he typed to HQ questions
about his Oswald investigation were re-typed and changed before being
sent to HQ. (p. 101)
Hosty co-writes the Oswald compilation of the FBI report with DeBrueys,
but Hosty's name is removed by supervisors at the order of HQ, over
DeBrueys' protests. (p. 102)
Hosty discusses the Silvia Odio story.(pp. 132-134)
On Earl Warren, and the affair the FBI knew about. (p. 137)
5-5-64: Hosty testifies before the Warren Commission. (pp. 139-150)
5-6-64: The next day, he has an audience with J. Edgar Hoover. (pp
154-155). 
5-11=64: Hosty finds the Mexico City documents have been returned to the
Oswald file. (p. 155) 
Sept. 1964: His reaction to the Warren Report. (pp. 160-162).
Disciplinary actions are taken against Hosty and others. (pp. 164-167).
When Hosty is assigned to Kansas City, his friend Bob Barrett helps him
out by buying his house, making a quick move easier.(p. 174).
Hosty feels there was a general coverup of data pointing to the USSR.
(pp. 175-176)
1965: Hosty learns more about Kostikov by accident; that he was from KGB
Division 13, the division in charge of terrorism, sabotage and
assassination. (p. 175)
1972: Hosty is happy when Hoover dies. (p. 180)
1975: The story of the Oswald note comes out. (pp. 186-196)
Hosty sees the Kostikov file, and learns that Kostikov's activities were
discovered by a Southwest U.S. FBI office; that Kostikov was involved in
sabotage activities. (p. 207)
On Rolando Cubela. (p. 212)
Hosty doesn't feel Moscow had advance knowledge of the assassination;
feels there's a possiblity of Cuban involvement. (p. 221)
He does note that Nosenko lied. (p. 225)
HSCA: Robert Blakey had a definite Mafia did it bias from the beginning.
He brought in Gary Cornwell, who had also investigated the Mafia for the
Justice Department. Hosty says Blakey signed a book contract in advance
for a book about the Mafia doing it (p. 229).
Blakey read the Lopez report, asked Lopez if he believed in the tooth
fairy, and spiked the report. (p. 236). 
On the case, Hosty recommends David Belin's book November 22: You Are the
Jury and Gerald Posner's book Case Closed. (p. 249)
He believes the jet-effect theory, and inaccurately declares that only
one witness reported seeing the "puff of smoke". (p. 252).
He p
(incomplete file!)