JFK Assassination Records in Private Hands

THE MOST SIGNIFICANT JFK ASSASSINATION RECORDS NOT IN THE JFK COLLECTION AT NARA –

A DC FOIA attorney was the first to call my attention to the fact that some of the most significant JFK assassination files are not in the JFK Collection at the National Archives, as the law prescribed, but instead are still in private hands, and something we have found not to be a very safe place.

For example:

1)      Richard Sprague’s HSCA files. The former chief counsel to the House Select Committee on Assassinations took his records with him, and the only records under Richard Sprague’s name in the JFK Collection are the records of Richard Sprague – the computer and imaging expert from New England. Requests by NARA for Sprague’s records have gone unanswered.

2)      Mrs. Lincoln’s Store – The Inheritance. JFK’s personal secretary, Mrs. Evelyn Norton Lincoln, cleaned out the Oval Office and took the tape recording system and tapes, and important Cuban documents – as well as the rocking chair and cigar box – home with her. When she wasn’t invited to Caroline’s wedding, Mrs. Lincoln willed her collection to a total stranger – autograph hound Robert White. White began to sell off the collection, including JFK’s watch and the Oval Office recordings to Christopher Fulton, an American living in Canada. White died of heart attack and Fulton went to Federal prison, and just wrote a book about his experiences – The Inheritance. Mrs. Lincoln also left two unopened trunks with her cousin – Nebraska attorney and judge William Norton, who left the trunks with the local Polk County Sheriff. The Assassinations Records Review Board (ARRB) was notified by Norton of his possession of the trunks, but never obtained them. They apparently are still in Nebraska.

3)      Skorzeny Papers – Maj. Ralph P. Ganis USAF (Ret) purchased the private papers of former German commando leader Otto Skorzeny at auction and discovered his business dealings were a front for covert intelligence operations, and Skorzeny’s network extended to Dallas where its operatives were major players in the Dealey Plaza Operation.

4)      Colonel “Brandy” Brandstetter’s private papers remain with the author of a book about Brandy, who was the head of the Havana Hilton when Castro took over and lived there, and his chief engineer was Manlo Ray, anti-Batista, anti-Castro Cuban leader. Brandy officially served with the Dallas 488^th Intelligence unit headed by Col. Jack Crichton, but reported directly to the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) at the Pentagon. His papers are an untapped treasure trove of intelligence information, much like the Skorzeny Papers.

OTHERS RECORDS IN PRIVATE HANDS – MORE TO COME – STAY TUNED.

Soviet Russian KGB Files 

Mae Brussel’s Archive

Penn Jones’ Collection

Jochem Joestein’s Files

John Judge/COPA Archives 

Earl Golz ‘s Personal Papers

Gerald Blaine’s SS Docs – Including the Tampa Advance Report