This coming November will mark the 25th anniversary of the release of
Jean Davison's outstanding 1983 book "OSWALD'S GAME".
In acknowledgment of that approaching quarter-century anniversary, I'd
like to once again say "thank you" to Jean for her exemplary book,
which offers up just about as good a biography on President Kennedy's
assassin as you're likely to find anywhere.
=====================================================
BOOK REVIEW............
"OSWALD'S GAME"
By:
Jean Davison
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Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.
Year Published: 1983.
Foreword by Norman Mailer.
343 Pages.
18 Chapters.
13 Pages of Illustrations/B&W Photographs.
29 Pages of Source Notes.
11-Page Index.
Bibliography.
Hardcover (1st Edition; November 1983).
www.amazon.com/dp/0393017648
www.amazon.com/DVP/review/R3FTAF6Q657O77
http://i24.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/99/da/0d91_1_b.JPG
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Anything I've ever seen written by Jean Davison merits high marks on the
"Common Sense" scale when it comes to evaluating the various aspects of
the John F. Kennedy assassination and Lee Harvey Oswald's obvious
involvement in that 1963 crime.
Davison is an expert on Presidential assassin Lee Oswald, and over the
many years since her 1983 book "Oswald's Game" was published, she has
defended her "Lone Assassin" position (at a variety of public JFK forums)
with grace, dignity, and (above all) a wealth of facts to support the idea
that Oswald was anything BUT an innocent "Patsy" on 11/22/63 (as many,
many conspiracy promoters believe).
As the pages of this book are turned, it becomes easier and easier to
climb inside the mind of Lee Oswald, and assess what probably was going
through this strange man's head when he took it upon himself to carry a
cheap mail-order rifle into work one day and change the course of history.
It's also interesting to note (via these intriguing pages) how Oswald has
been severely mischaracterized by conspiracy theorists over the years as a
person who could easily be manipulated (i.e., a "dupe" who could easily
fall prey to some kind of "Patsy" plot).
When, in reality, Lee Oswald was, himself, an expert "manipulator". This
book details many, many verified instances where Oswald would cleverly
manipulate his wife Marina to serve his own self-serving purposes....and
how he manipulated the officials at the American Embassy in Russia, in
order to secure the proper papers so that he could return to the United
States in 1962 after defecting to the USSR.
There is a clear and distinct PATTERN over many years of Oswald "using"
people to serve his own needs and desires. This man Oswald was no
brain-dead dupe....and would certainly have not been stupid enough to be
suckered in to some assassination plot in November 1963, whereby he would
willingly take his own rifle into his own workplace for the purpose of
handing it over to some co-conspirator, who would in turn use it to kill
JFK.
Conspiracists have too often (almost always, in fact) totally ignored the
type of manipulative and scheming person Lee Harvey Oswald HIMSELF was in
the months and years leading up to November 22nd, 1963.
After reading "Oswald's Game", it's very nearly impossible to NOT say to
yourself dozens of times throughout these chapters: This guy Oswald was
just EXACTLY the type of crackpot Marxist who just might want to take a
potshot at the President of the United States if given THE GOLDEN
OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO (which he was afforded -- on 11/22/63 in Dallas,
Texas).
Here are some of my favorite passages and quotes from "Oswald's Game":
"Is it possible that Castro's warning to American leaders gave Oswald the
idea that Kennedy should be killed? ... Oswald was quoted as telling a
consular official {in Mexico City} that he wanted to 'free Cuba from
American imperialism'. Then he said, 'Someone ought to shoot that
President Kennedy. Maybe I'll try to do it'. {Daniel} Schorr had uncovered
two sources that reported Oswald's threat." -- Pages 22-23
~~~~~~
"This book will present evidence that Castro's public warning did, in
fact, inspire Oswald to assassinate the president. Furthermore, the full
context of Oswald's life directed him toward this reaction. In the final
analysis, the assassination was a natural outgrowth of Oswald's character
and background -- and of the American-backed plots to kill Castro." --
Page 23
~~~~~~
"The argument that Oswald was the tool of a high-level conspiracy does
seem plausible, until one tries to fit it into the context these theorists
always leave out -- the personality and background of Lee Harvey Oswald,
the individual." -- Page 25
Related topic:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.conspiracy.jfk/msg/66803e710380d800
~~~~~~
"Ten days after his interview with Priscilla Johnson, Oswald wrote a
second, remarkable letter to {his brother} Robert. ... He advised his
brother of the following: 1. In the event of war I would kill ANY American
who put a uniform on in defense of the American government -- any
American." -- Pages 38-39
~~~~~~
"For one thing, this model {from "the St. Elizabeths Study"} at least
provides a framework for looking again at Oswald's breathtaking arrogance
-- for instance, the manner in which he threatened to give away military
secrets at the U.S. Embassy and then loudly complained that the embassy
had acted illegally in refusing to let him sign away his citizenship.
Oswald expected his adversaries to abide by the letter of the law, whereas
he did as he pleased. ... The cumulative details of his life reveal more
about him than any category we might use to explain him." -- Page 68
~~~~~~
"{On the subject of "Death", Oswald told George DeMohrenschildt}: 'I have
had enough time in this short existence of mine. What shall I do with
eternity? When a rich man dies, he is loaded with his possessions like a
prisoner with chains. I will die free, death will be easy for me'." --
Page 112
Related topic:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.conspiracy.jfk/msg/9ff403dedacb5d4f
~~~~~~
"The assassination attempt against {General Edwin A.} Walker, like his
defection, revealed Oswald's extreme dedication to his political beliefs.
All else was secondary to him -- his family, even the question of whether
he lived or died." -- Page 131
~~~~~~
"These credentials {presented by Oswald himself within his "resume"}
indicate that {Oswald} saw himself as an experienced political operative
who was qualified to work for the Cuban revolution as a soldier, lecturer,
organizer, agitator, translator, or spy. ... He expected to be welcomed
aboard, and he would then go out and distinguish himself in the Communist
world and work his way up. ... For someone who couldn't hold a job in the
United States, he had some extraordinary ambitions." -- Page 180
~~~~~~
"When these men visited {Sylvia} Odio's apartment {on September 25, 1963},
Kennedy's trip to Dallas had not even been scheduled, let alone announced.
... No one on earth could have known that Oswald would ultimately land a
job in a building that would overlook a Kennedy motorcade.
"But the frame-up theory's ultimate weakness involves the critics'
conception of Lee Harvey Oswald. In every conspiracy book, Oswald is a
piece of chaff blown about by powerful, unseen forces -- he's a dumb and
compliant puppet with no volition of his own. If the man Odio saw was an
impostor, how could the plotters be certain no witnesses would be able to
establish Oswald's presence somewhere else that evening -- unless they
ordered the unsuspecting patsy to stay out of sight?
"And if the real Oswald was used, how did the anti-Castro plotters get
their Marxist enemy to stand at Odio's door to be introduced as a friend
of the Cuban exiles?
"No one has come up with a plausible scenario that can answer those
questions. ... The point to be stressed is this: Sylvia Odio gave
testimony of obvious, even crucial importance, and no one could explain
what it meant." -- Pages 193-195
Related topic:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.conspiracy.jfk/msg/64195df0086af9b4
~~~~~~
"I began to see how similar {Oswald's} encounters with Bringuier and Odio
were. Oswald had approached each of them as an eager volunteer. ... The
age-old role of the provocateur is to encourage acts of violence that will
discredit the group he has infiltrated. ... In other words, the mysterious
Odio incident was another of Oswald's attempts to infiltrate the
anti-Castro underground. The intended victim of this enterprise was not
Lee Harvey Oswald, but Sylvia Odio and the Cuban exiles. Oswald was
plotting against the exiles, not the other way around.
"Unlike the explanations offered by the Warren Commission and its critics,
this solution FITS THE REST OF THE EVIDENCE ABOUT OSWALD. And it makes
better sense, after all, that Oswald went to see Odio for some reason of
his own, than that he was impersonated or duped by his enemies." -- Pages
195-196 [Emphasis is Jean Davison's own.]
~~~~~~
"At 12:30 P.M. {on November 22, 1963}, Lee Harvey Oswald entered history.
Three shots from a sixth-floor Depository window hit Governor Connally
once and the president twice." -- Pages 241-242
Related topic:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.conspiracy.jfk/msg/4a6b3390021d657c
~~~~~~
"Marina could tell that he was guilty. If he hadn't been, she thought,
he would have been loudly protesting his arrest, and besides, she
sensed that he was saying goodbye to her with his eyes." -- Page 249
~~~~~~
"{Dallas Police Detective James R.} Leavelle told the {Warren} Commission
the prisoner {Oswald} seemed very much in control of himself at all times
and added, 'In fact, he struck me as a man who enjoyed the situation
immensely and was enjoying the publicity and everything [that] was coming
his way'." -- Page 253
Related topic:
...
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