JFK researchers have long been
suspicious of Michael and Ruth
Paine. They were, after all,
guardians of much of the
evidence responsible for
convicting Lee Harvey Oswald in
the eyes of the public. Perhaps
most importantly, Ruth Paine was
responsible for finding Oswald
the job at the Texas School Book
Depository that would put him in
the perfect place to assassinate
President Kennedy — or to take
the fall. The Warren Report
claimed that on October 14,
1963, “at the suggestion of a
neighbour, Mrs Paine phoned the
Texas School Book Depository and
was told that there was a job
opening. She informed Oswald who
was interviewed the following
day...and started to work there
on October 16, 1963.” (R14-15)
What the commission did not see
fit to report was that the
neighbour whom Mrs Paine claimed
had informed her of the job
opening, Linnie May Randle,
flatly contradicted her
testimony. Randle swore before
the commission, “I didn't know
there was a job opening over
there.” (2H247) Just as
suspiciously, as the commission
also knew, Mrs Paine had
withheld from Oswald information
that may have led to a better,
higher paid job.
The day before Oswald began
working at the TSBD, Robert
Adams of the Texas Employment
Commission had phoned the Paine
home to give Oswald a referral
for permanent employment as a
cargo handler at Trans Texas
Airways for $310 per month —
$100 per month more than he
would earn at the depository. As
Adams told the commission, he
“learned from the person who
answered the phone that Oswald
was not there.” Adams left a
message and said that Oswald
should contact him at the
Commission. Receiving no call
from Oswald, Adams phoned the
Paine residence again the
following morning and was
informed by Ruth Paine
(9H389-90) that Oswald had
obtained employment elsewhere.
As Adams told the Warren
Commission, he did not believe
that Oswald was ever informed of
the job referral. (11H481) When
Mrs Paine was questioned about
this matter by the commission,
she first denied any knowledge
of the job possibility, then
vaguely recalled it. Finally she
lied and said that Oswald had
gone “into town with some hopes
raised by the employment
agency...but then reported that
the job had been filled and was
not available to him.” (9H390)
Another suspicious event
involving the Paines occurred on
the day of the assassination. At
1:00 pm on November 22. 1963,
Michael Paine placed a collect
call to his wife to discuss
Oswald's involvement in the
assassination. While the
telephone operator remained on
the line, Michael Paine told his
wife that he “Felt sure Lee
Harvey Oswald had killed the
President but was not
responsible.” Rather ominously
he added, “We both know who is
responsible.” (FBI report of
Robert C. Lish, November 26,
1963, JFK Document No.
105-82555-1437) The most
extraordinary thing about this
call is that it took place one
hour before Oswald's arrest. For
obvious reasons, the Warren
Commission wanted to sweep this
little problem under the rug as
swiftly as possible. During
Michael Paine's testimony, the
ever resourceful commission
attorney Wesley Liebeler changed
the date of the call to the
following day:
LIEBELER: Did you talk to your
wife on the telephone at any
time during Saturday, November
23?
PAINE: I was in the police
station again, and I think I
called her from there.
LIEBELER: Did you make any
remark to the effect that you
knew who was responsible?
PAINE: And I don't know who the
assassin is or was; no. So I did
not. (2H428)
As researcher John Armstrong
pointed out, “Liebeler had phone
company records and an FBI
report in hand which showed the
collect call was placed on
November 22 and not on November
23. By intentionally asking
Michael Paine about a
non-existent telephone call
Liebeler was obstructing justice
and colluding with a witness to
falsify testimony.” (Armstrong, Harvey
and Lee, p. 832)
The above oddities, and many
more besides, demonstrate that
there is much more to the Paine
family than meets the eye. At
the time of the assassination,
Michael Paine was working as a
research engineer with defence
contractor, Bell Helicopter. He
admitted in his Warren
Commission testimony that his
job carried a security clearance
but claimed, somewhat
unbelievably, not to know what
the classification of that
clearance was. (2H385) What
Michael Paine did not reveal,
and what it took researchers 30
years to find out, was that his
stepfather, Arthur Young, was
the inventor of the Bell
Helicopter. As Jim Douglass
noted, “By heritage, Michael
Paine was well connected in the
military-industrial complex.”
(Douglass, JFK
and the Unspeakable, p.
169) His mother was connected to
none other than Warren
Commissioner, Allen Dulles
through her lifelong friendship
with Mary Bancroft who,
according to Douglass, “worked
side by side with Allen Dulles
as a World War II spy in
Switzerland and became his
mistress.” (Ibid)
Ruth Paine's family was directly
connected to the CIA. Researcher
Steve Jones uncovered documented
evidence that the CIA had
approached her father, William
Avery Hyde, in 1957, “to run an
educational co-operative
alliance in Vietnam.” (Jones, New
Evidence Regarding Ruth and
Michael Paine, Kennedy
Assassination Chronicles Vol. 4
issue 4) A few months after the
release of the Warren Report,
Hyde received a three year
government contract from AID
(Agency for International
Development) — an organisation
said to have “extensive” ties to
the CIA. Indeed, as Jones
discovered, Hyde's AID field
reports had been routed through
the Agency. (Ibid) Former
Governor of Ohio and later AID
director John Giligan admitted,
“At one time, many AID field
offices were infiltrated from
top to bottom with CIA people.
It was pretty well known in the
agency who they were and what
they were up to.” (Douglass, p.
170) According to Jones, Ruth
Paine admitted to a close friend
that her father had worked for
the CIA as an “executive agent.”
What she did not tell her friend
was that her sister, Sylvia Hyde
Hoke, was also employed by the
CIA. Steve Jones found
documented evidence that Sylvia
had worked for the Agency as a
staff Psychologist in 1961. When
New Orleans District Attorney
Jim Garrison called Ruth Paine
before a grand jury in 1968, he
asked her if her sister had done
any work for the U.S.
government. Amusingly, she
admitted that Sylvia had a
“government job” but claimed not
to know what agency she worked
for. (Ibid, p. 171)
Most researchers are aware that
Marina Oswald was cut off from
Ruth Paine within days of the
assassination. What the majority
are unaware of is the reason
why. Apparently, she was advised
by the Secret Service to stay
away from Ruth Paine because
“she was sympathizing with the
CIA.” As Marina swore under oath
before the new Orleans grand
jury, “Seems like she had
friends over there and it would
be bad for me if people find out
a connection between me and Ruth
and CIA.” (Ibid p. 173) Bad for
Marina or bad for the official
story?
With the above in mind, there is
one question that must be asked:
Is there any evidence that Ruth
and Michael Paine were involved
in any significant intelligence
activities in 1963? Well, there
is certainly nothing concrete.
Much information about the Paine
family remains classified.
However, buried in volume 19 of
the Warren Commission hearings
and exhibits is a tantalizing
and often overlooked clue.
According to a report written by
Dallas Deputy Sheriff Buddy
Walthers on the day of the
assassination, upon searching
the Paine's garage, officers
found “a set of metal file
cabinets that appeared to be
names and activities of Cuban
Sympathizers.” (19H520) These
metal file cabinets did not make
it onto the Dallas Police
inventory sheets and were never
entered into evidence alongside
Lee Harvey Oswald's belongings.
And if they did not belong to
Oswald, then they must have
belonged to the Paines. And if
Ruth and Michael Paine had a
“set of metal file cabinets”
containing “the names and
activities of Cuban
sympathizers” then they were
most certainly involved in the
same intelligence activities
that most researchers believe
Oswald was involved in during
the summer of 1963. Needless to
say, the whereabouts of these
filing cabinets is currently
unknown.