Continuing the discussion regarding items that theorists believe “Ruth [Paine] and her garage provided” to incriminate Lee Harvey Oswald, consider the following Max Good narration from his film The Assassination and Mrs. Paine:
Good (1:15:40): Two weeks after the assassination, as doubts about Oswald's trip to Mexico were surfacing, Ruth miraculously found several incriminating items sitting in a drawer in the room where the Oswalds had stayed.
Before examining the evidence in this matter, a question must be asked. Since the Oswalds used Ruth's house to store many of their personal belongings, what is so "miraculous" about any particular item being found there? Ruth explained in her Warren Commission testimony how these specific items were found:
"And it was not then until perhaps a week or something less after the assassination when an FBI agent asked me was there anything left in the house that would be pertinent, and he and I went together and looked in the drawer in the room where Marina had been staying, and found there [the items Good shows among others]."
What was "incriminating" about these items? Good and his fellow theorists don't say. For instance, there was not a gun found among the items but rather innocuous objects which included coins, postcards, a bracelet and a Spanish-English dictionary. One of Good's "featured" experts, James DiEugenio, said this about the items in his book Destiny Betrayed:
...the Commission now had some corroboration for a trip to Mexico...
Indeed, the items do help make the case that Oswald visited Mexico City, a fact that theorists like DiEugenio deny despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This evidence includes a letter from Oswald to the Soviet embassy and his visa application complete with photo and signature.
The postcards mentioned depicted Mexican scenes including bullfights. In the Spanish dictionary, a written list was found that included the following:
- phone embassy
- get bus tickets
- watch Jai-[A]lai game
- buy silver bracelet
The evidence shows that while in Mexico, Oswald did indeed travel by bus and phone the Soviet embassy about a visa. He may or may not have bought the bracelet in Mexico and there is no proof that he attended the Jai-Alai game. But at the very least, some of this evidence is suggestive of a trip south of the border.
But while Oswald's presence or absence in Mexico City is crucial to many conspiracy theories it is irrelevant when contemplating his guilt in the murders of JFK and Tippit. DiEugenio and Good effectively admit this by providing no explanation for how the items would have been incriminatory. Therefore, as in the case of the Walker note and the backyard photos, it would be pointless for Ruth to plant these things and there is no evidence she did.
Researcher Greg Doudna probably said it best in a post at the Education Forum:
[Ruth] never testified to witnessing a criminal act committed by Oswald, or to having knowledge of a plan or intention on Oswald’s part to commit a criminal act.
She had nothing to do with connecting the sixth floor rifle or any other firearm to Oswald.
She never claimed to hear Oswald express hatred for Kennedy, or any other motive to kill Kennedy.
She never claimed to have seen Oswald be violent, or threaten violence. She gave no testimony incriminating Oswald in the assassination of President Kennedy, the Walker shooting, or the Tippit killing. The characterization [of] Ruth Paine as the second most important witness in history against Lee Harvey Oswald is a misconstrual of reality of epic proportions.
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