Rod Serling and the JFK Assassination - Updated

ROD SERLING AND THE JFK ASSASSINATION


Peter Falk (aka Columbo) plays Ramos Clemente (aka Fidel Castro) in Rod Serling's "The Mirror."

October 20, 1961

"This is the face of Ramos Clemente, a year ago a beardless, nameless worker of the dirt who plodded behind a mule, furrowing someone else's land. And he looked up at a hot Central American sun and he pledged the impossible. he made a vow that he would lead an avenging army against the tyranny that put the ache in his back and the anguish in his eyes, and now one year later the dream of the impossible has become a fact. In just a moment we will look deep into this mirror and see the aftermath of a rebellion....in the Twilight Zone."

"After seizing power, Clemente is told by General DeCruz, the deposed tyrant, that a magic mirror in his office reveals the faces of one's assassins."

"Looking into it, Clemente sees his compatriots advancing on him with machine gun, knives and poison. He kills them all but this brings him no sense of security. When a priest tells him that the people are appalled by the round-the-clock executions he has ordered, Clemente replies that the people are not his concern, that he sees assassins everywhere and is constantly afraid. The priest tells him that tyrants have only one real enemy, 'the one they never recognize - until its too late.'"

"All alone, Clemente spies his own reflection in the mirror, shatters it, then shoots himself. The priest rushes in. 'The last assassin,' he says. 'And they never learn. They never seem to learn.'"

"The 'tyrants living or dead' invoked at the end of 'The Mirror' was clearly a reference to Fidel Castro, whom Falk, as Clemente, is made up to resemble."

"'The Mirror' holds up an imperfect mirror to the real world and in doing so presents more distortions than reflection."

- Marc Scott Zicree - From The Twilight Zone Companion (Bantam Books, 1982)

According to John Simkin at the Education Forum:

“Gordon F. Sander's book ‘Serling: The Rise and Twilight of Television's Last Angry Man’. Sander says that within days of the assassination the United States Information Agency (an organisation very much under the control of the CIA) commissioned Serling to produce a documentary for international distribution about LBJ. Serling accepted the contract and afterwards LBJ sent him his "profound thanks" for his work.”

[ BK Notes: Has anyone seen this documentary? Can someone try to find it and report back? ]

http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=58973&relPageId=126

ROD SERLING IMPERSONATOR WRITES FAKE LETTER TO NEWSWEEK:

January 24, 1964, the Los Angeles Office advised that on January 24, 1964, ROD SERLING, 1490 Monaco Drive, Pacific Palisades, California, advised SA PETER J MEANEY JR, that he had recently received a letter from Newsweek Magazine, New York City, referring to a letter allegedly written by SERLING to that magazine concerning the assassination of President Kennedy. SERLING telephonically contacted Newsweek Magazine advising he had not written any such letter. The following quoted typewritten letter was recently forwarded to SERLING by Newsweek Magazine.

December 26, 1964

Newsweek 444 Madison Ave., New York, New York, 10022

Dear Sirs:

From what I have read, the world will not even begin to consider the validity of the ‘one man’ theory --- or the ‘facts’ and ‘evidence’ that seem to support such a theory notwithstanding --- until it is demonstrably proved (by a bona fide demonstration) that one man --- with such remarkable, devastating effect --- could have fired the unreliable Carcano rife three times, at a moving target, within six seconds. So, please, for the time being, clumsy, heavy-handed F.B.I. ‘leaks’ that seem to answer (or should I say cover) everything but the most important question of all --- the matter of how Lee Oswald did the reputedly impossible, alone.

It shocks me to see how faithfully most of the ‘press’ has represented that it tends to corroborate Oswald’s guilt as prime facto evidence, and that it seems to cast doubt on the man’s guilt as ‘wild rumors.’ Let’s isolate this messy thing to one disturbed individual. Let’s not rock our undemocratic, political ‘ship of state.’ Perish the thought!

There’s nothing like the assassination of a president and the murder of his assassin to reveal how economic control and singularly ‘unfree’ our speech (the press) really is.

Sincerely,

R. Serling

Culver City, California

P.S. As a result of the Dallas tragedy-fiasco, I fully expect an unusual waive of popular cynicism; lawlessness; a general disrespect for law (which we may as well regard as quasi or ‘do-it-yourself’ revolutionary activity), until government comes to more truly reflect the will – in the false consciousness created by the ‘popular press’ – of all the people.

The airmail envelop forwarded by Newsweek, postmarked Los Angeles, California, December 28, 1963, addressed “Letters to the Editor” Newsweek, 444 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, 10022, contains the return address of “R.S., MGM Studios, Culver City, California.”

The Los Angeles Office pointed out that ROD SERLING is a well-known television and motion-picture writer and producer currently producing the television program “Twilight Zone” with offices at MGM Studios, Culver City, California. Mr. SERLING also advised he had recently received a letter from Senator THOMAS KUCHEL, Washington, D.C. dated, December 31, 1963, referring to SERLING’S recent letter urging complete inquiry regarding the KENNEDY assassination. 

SERLING stated he has not written any such letter to KUCHEL or any other person or magazine and has no suspects at this time.

Under date of February 10, 1964, the FBI Laboratory furnished the following information concerning a document examination requested by the Los Angeles Office on February 3, 1964:

Specimens received 2-5-64

Q486 Envelop postmarked “LOS ANGELES, CALIF. 28 DEC 1963 – AM” bearing typewritten address “Letters to the Editor’ NEWSWEEK 444 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK, N.Y. 10022, “ and accompanying one-page typewritten letter dated December 26, 1963, with heading “Newsweek 444 Madison Avenue New York, N.Y. 10022,” beginning “Dear Sir” From what I have read…” and ending “…of all the people.” Signed “R. SERLING”

Available in Bureau

Q487 Two-page typewritten letter dated December 19, 1963, with heading “Senator Thomas H. Kuchel California United States Senate Washington D.C.” beginning “Dear Mr. Kuchel: From what I have read…” and ending on second page “…the Press, television, etc.” Signed “R. SERLING”

Result of examination:

It was concluded that the typewriting on Q 486 and Q487 was prepared on the same typewriter equipped with Corona pica type, spaced ten letters per inch.

It was further concluded that the Serling signatures on Q486 and Q487 were written by one individual.

The typewriting on Q486 and Q487 was not identified in the Anonymous Letter File. Appropriate photographs will be added to the file.

CD 46 FBI Estep Report - http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10447&relPageId=16

THE REAL ROD SERLING WRITES HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT NOVEMBER 22, 1963

Leave it to Rod Serling to put it into perspective for us. As his daughter Anne once noted on her blog:

“After President Kennedy’s assassination, my father wrote something perhaps intended as a letter to a newspaper or magazine editor. It was written on his letterhead and clearly typed by him, not his secretary.”

Rod Serling’s Real Comments after the assassination.

It read:

More than a man has died. More than a gallant young President has been put to death. More than a high office of a land has been assaulted. What is to be mourned now is an ideal. What has been assassinated is a faith in ourselves. What has been murdered is a belief in our own decency, our capacity to love, our sense of order and logic and civilized decorum.

To the Leftists and the Rightists, to the Absolutists,  to the men of little faith but strong hate, and to all of us who have helped plant this ugly and loathsome seed that blossomed forth on a street in Dallas on last Friday — this is the only dictum we can heed now. For civilization to survive, it must remain civilized.

And if there is to be any hope for our children and theirs, we must never again allow violence to offer itself as an excuse for our own insecurities, our weaknesses and our own fears. This is not an arguable doctrine for simply a better life. It is a condition for our continued existence.

BILL KELLY NOTES: Rod Serling attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where Ruth Paine, Coretta Scott King and Max Holland also went to school. Ruth Paine’s brother lives in Yellow Springs today. I attended the nearby University of Dayton, but took classes at Antioch, including one in 1971 on this history of Vietnam taught by a former CIA Siagon Station Chief. I also attended graduate school for one semester at the Antioch Center for Social Research and Action in Baltimore. So it was a bit surprising to learn that Oswald also tried to enroll there after he had dropped out of high school and before he enlisted in the Marines, as detailed in the following documents. 

When I read that Serling had suffered a heart attack while giving a lecture in upstate New York, I wrote him a short letter in care of the hospital, mentioning our mutual association with Antioch and gave him a short poem by William Butler Yeats on the problems of the heart and the mind. A few days later I read that he had died of second massive heart attack. Then, the day after he died, I received a letter from him, and could hear the Twilight Zone theme song as I read the short note thanking me for the poem and saying his illness was worse than reported, and wishing me well.

I also must mention that the real Rod Serling wrote the screenplay for Seven Days in May, a film that JFK encouraged to be made by making the White House available to the film crew when he was out of town. 

OSWALD AT ANTIOCH 

INFORMATION REGARDING OSWALD’S POSSIBLE ATTENDANCE AT ANTIOCH COLLEGE, YELLOW SPRINGS, OHIO

Sgt. DONDALD SWARTZ, Intelligence Unit, Columbus Police Department, advised on November 29, 1963, he had received the following unverified information from a source he declined to identify:

LEE HARVEY OSWALD alleged attended Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, using his true name for a short period of time in 1957 and was dismissed because he was unable to prove his graduation from high school.

OSWALD had lived c/o MICHAEL PAINE and wife, RUTH PAINE nee HYDE, Irving, Texas. RUTH HYDE is a graduate, Class of 1955, of Antioch College…

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=296344

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE DIVISION 4-6-64

Domestic Intelligence Division concurs with the recommendation of the SAC of the Cincinnati Office that no further action is necessary in this matter. Personnel of the Cincinnati Office who were responsible for the poor wording in the report of SA Charles E. Chapman dated 3-25-64 at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the Oswald case have been issued sharp error slips by the SAC of the Cincinnati Office and have been issued emphatic admonitions. The report in question has not been disseminated outside the Bureau. The allegation that Oswald was receiving money orders through the Miami Deposit Bank of Yellow Springs, Ohio, has been completely run out and has proven to have no basis in fact. Amended pages forwarded by the Cincinnati Office are being inserted in the instant report of SA Chapman and the report will then be disseminated to the President’s Commission in our next regular dissemination to the Commission.

FBI operation against New Left at Antioch

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=152615

Ruth Paine & Dr. Carl D. Hyde, M.D. WC Vol. XXIII pg. 504

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=143742

From the Yellow Springs News:

Yarn Registry BLOG – Rumor has it Lee Harvey Oswald was in Yellow Springs

By Dylan Taylor-Lehman

Published: May 7, 2016

From Rod Serling to Hollywood stars, Yellow Springs has its fair share of celebrity associations. But one of its strangest connections is likely its most infamous. According to some theorists, at one point Yellow Springs was said to host none other than Lee Harvey Oswald, the man behind the Kennedy assassination. Was he really here? Why? How? Was it all just part of a larger CIA-led plot?

In the 1960s, Antioch was a hotbed of left wing activism and as such was frequently on the government’s radar. The government kept files on students and student groups connected with the College. When an Antioch grad named Ruth Paine was connected to Oswald, Oswald was in turn connected to the College.

Ruth Paine graduated from Antioch in 1955 and eventually moved to Irving, Texas with her husband and their children. There she befriend Marina Oswald, Lee Harvey’s wife, who had come to the United States with Oswald following his years in Russia. Paine spoke Russian and met Marina through a friend. When Lee Harvey moved around Texas looking for work, Marina and their two children would stay with Paine. In October 1963, Lee Harvey got a job at the Texas Book Depository. On November 21, 1963, he came to retrieve some of his belongings from Paine’s garage, including the rifle he would use to kill Kennedy the next day.

Paine was promptly questioned by the FBI and later testified at the Warren Commission, the official government inquiry into the assassination. Her testimony discusses her time at Antioch where she admits having read The Communist Manifesto as part of a class. She said she had no interest in it later, nor did she have any interest in Das Kapital. (“I have seen the size of the book, and I certainly would not want to read it,” she said in her testimony.)

Paine also discovered by accident that Lee Harvey had attempted to assassinate another government official, who was not wounded. But she was not considered to have any sort of involvement with Oswald and was able to go about her life, eventually becoming a school psychologist. The home where the rifle was concealed was eventually purchased by the city of Irving, Texas and turned into a museum.

The rumors connecting Oswald to Yellow Springs started a few weeks after the assassination. Every city probably seized on the most tenuous Oswald connection.

The Columbus Dispatch wrote an article about the Paine-Antioch connection, noting Paine learned Russian from Marina Oswald, that she considers the Russian language a hobby, and that she is a Quaker and a pacifist. The article published the addresses of Paine’s parents and family, who lived in Columbus, in their entirety. In the same piece, the Dispatch reported that Antioch students were among those involved in a “Fair Play for Cuba” demonstration in front of the statehouse in Columbus.

In November 1963, a Columbus, Ohio police officer received information from an anonymous source that Lee Harvey Oswald had attempted to attend Antioch in 1957 but was not accepted because he couldn’t prove he graduated high school. This has never been verified.

An intelligence agent issued a report in early 1964 suggesting Oswald was receiving money orders through a bank in Yellow Springs. But this allegation was “completely run out and has proven to have no basis in fact,” and the report was not disseminated outside of the office. In fact, a declassified document mentions that the people responsible for this particular rumor were chastised: “Personnel of the Cincinnati Office who were responsible for the poor wording in the report [about] the Oswald case have been issued sharp error slips…and have been issued emphatic admonitions.”

However, it is likely that “official” accounts of his whereabouts will be distorted by the government, as many believe that Oswald was a CIA operative who only appeared to be a pro-Castro agitator. The story goes that when the government orchestrated Kennedy’s assassination, they had the perfect person to blame it on, Oswald, because he was already known as a vocal communist.

Following this logic, some say, Oswald’s connection with Ruth Paine, who also spoke Russian, means that she too was likely a CIA operative. And assuming for a moment that the discrediting of the Oswald-Yellow Springs connection was really government disinformation, Oswald’s connection to Antioch coupled with Paine’s connection to Antioch means that Antioch was or still is connected to the CIA.

In addition to past Antioch professors having connections to security agencies, author Bob Fitrakis writes that a few former members of Antioch’s board of trustees have connections to corporations that provide defense technology solutions to the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and other intelligence agencies. Fitrakis also says that one shouldn’t fail to notice the college’s proximity to Wright-Patt or The Ohio State University, who works very closely with the “CIA’s favorite nonprofit Battelle,” a mysterious research company whose campus is located right next to the university.

However, Antioch may not be a CIA front in toto, it may just have been infiltrated. “If the CIA or U.S. intelligence services were involved in the subversion of America’s most pro-peace college, it wouldn’t be the first time that the progressive college campuses have been infiltrated,” writes Fitrakis. “The CIA subverted the National Student Association in the late 50s and early 60s. The agency also has been accused of subverting everything from fraternities to Fullbright scholars to Peace Corps workers.”

Was Antioch subverted? Was Oswald actually in Yellow Springs? Did Ruth Paine know more than she let on? Maybe we’ll know the answers to these and the infinite other questions about the Kennedy assassination when the rest of associated records are released to the public later this year.

STAY TUNED.