So What?

A gem from the archives of the old Dellarosa forum finds a surprising statement from Armstrong associate Jim Hargrove. On July 5, 2001, Hargrove responded to Dennis Bartholomew in a discussion about HSCA documents. Bartholomew said:

As an aside, I’m always astounded by the new information that John Armstrong keeps finding.

Hargrove responded:

Me too, and I’m his biggest fan. Amazing how many people (and groups) are gunning for him. I mean, if his conclusions about two Oswalds are wrong, which I doubt, so what?

Where to start?

First, it is interesting that Hargrove is willing to entertain the idea that Armstrong could be wrong about his Harvey & Lee theory. You would think that someone who has worked as hard as he has for as many years as he has would have an unshakeable belief in the validity of the premise. Instead, it seems Hargrove is prepared to accept that the theory is bogus and possibly even sees that as inevitable considering the mounting evidence.

To answer his question-so what?

A lot of people would have paid good for money for nothing. I believe the original price of the book was $39.95 and is currently $80 with shipping. Unless you are independently wealthy, that is quite a bit for a book that is full of bad information. And many folks have paid more than that on the used market, at least those who are not aware of the free PDF floating around on the Internet.

How much time has been wasted both by people promoting the theory and those refuting it? Of course, debunkers like myself believe refuting the theory is a necessary evil. Supporters of the theory will point out that even if it is false Armstrong has found many new documents and that is worthwhile. But if locating and making documents available becomes the primary goal, why didn’t he just put them in one big oversize volume or series of volumes as Jerry Robertson did? I would wager that he could have sold more of that type of book than he did Harvey & Lee since researchers of all stripes would be potential buyers.

Finally, how much damage has been done to the research community? Many will say it is books like Harvey & Lee that are the problem with research today. That is, they are irresponsibly promoting a demonstrably false narrative using a philosophy of the end justifies the means. And if even a few of the reckless ideas found in the book are accepted as fact by some, then researchers are further from the truth in this case instead of closer.

Update

On March 8, 2017, Jim Hargrove said the following at the Education Forum:

I don't remember saying anything like that, and assume you are misstating something I said.

Here are the screengrabs from the old JFK Research Forum that show exactly what I said they did-a wide view of the entire post and a close-up of the relevant quote.