The Bronx Zoo Photo

One of the tenets of the John Armstrong Harvey & Lee theory is the difference in appearance between the two boys in 1952-53. “Lee” was tall and had a dominant personality, while “Harvey” was shorter and more slight in build.

Three witnesses are used by Armstrong and his supporters to bolster their case. In March, 1953, Dr. Milton Kurian allegedly interviewed “Harvey” at Youth House in New York. Kurian described “Harvey” as “thin and very quiet” and estimated his height at 4’8”. Dr. Renatus Hartogs interviewed “Harvey” at Youth House in April, 1953. Although Hartogs offered no height estimate, he described “Harvey” as “thin, malnourished, and reminiscent of children he had seen in concentration camps in Europe.” According to the theory, “Harvey” enrolled at Beauregard School in New Orleans in September, 1953. His homeroom teacher was Myra DaRouse and she remembered “Harvey” as being 4’6” to 4’8” tall. These witness accounts are the only evidence for Armstrong’s statement that “Harvey” was about 4’8” tall during this period.

The following photo of LHO was taken at the Bronx Zoo and represents “Harvey” in August, 1953 according to Armstrong and followers.

But a simple math formula proves that Kurian and DaRouse were mistaken in their remembrances. To find the height of an unknown object in a photograph, all that is necessary is to provide the known height of another object that is in about the same location in the photo. Armstrong associate David Josephs has provided the following information about the Bronx Zoo photo.

The rails at the Bronx zoo are 18" & 36" - yes I did call them to find out.

Methodology

While it is obvious that the top of LHO’s head is the starting point for measurements at the top of the photo, finding the point to start measurements at the bottom of the photo is sometimes tricky. To overcome this problem, I decided to crop the photo at several points near the feet of LHO including the tip of his shoes and a point where I thought the rails started. Using the different lower crop points, I compared the known height of the 18-inch lower rail to the upper rail. After several attempts, I came up with 36.2 inches for the upper rail in comparison to the lower rail and decided that was close enough for this exercise. The rail slants slightly and rather than use photoshop to correct this and be accused of altering the photo, I consistently measured to the top of the rails on the right-hand side. This photo shows the top and bottom reference points used for calculations.

The height in inches of the known object is divided by the same object’s size in the photo. This gives a “ratio” by which the questioned object may be multiplied to find its true height. The following table displays the results.

Item	Known Height	Height in Photo
Lower Rail	18”	1.94”
Upper Rail	36”	3.91”
LHO	n/a	6.97”
LHO Calculated Height (18” Rail)	64.67 inches	5 feet 4.67 inches
LHO Calculated Height (36” Rail)	64.17 inches	5 feet 4.17 inches

Compared to the known heights of the two rails, LHO averages just over 5’4” tall in this photo. It should be noted that LHO was measured in 1952 and found to be 5’4” tall and the slightly over 5’4” figure that I arrived at would be consistent with his normal growth considering variables such as shoes and posture in the Zoo photo. Although my calculations here could be very slightly off, it would not be enough to make up the eight-inch difference between my results and the alleged height of “Harvey” Oswald. In conclusion, the remembrances of Dr. Kurian and Myra DaRouse are proven to be incorrect.