Irony of all Ironies - Oswald tried to kill a Conspiracy Theorist

Oswald continued to stalk General Edwin A. Walker in Dallas after his failed murder attempt

General Walker's Turtle Creek Home in Dallas, Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times

Edwin Walker was a conspiracy theorist. Yes, he had all kinds of theories about "One-World Government", the United Nations, Bilderberg's, Communists in the State Department, etc. Most of his crazy ideas came from the John Birch Society, and his own paranoia of dark sinister forces trying to overtake the American way of life. In Dallas, Walker had a sizeable following of like-minded individuals who were Anti-Communists extremists. In fairness to Dallas, there were Birchers all over the country, as well as extreme far right militants and sympathizers. Often these extremists were antisemitic and racists in that era. Times have changed of course, but there was one man that took notice of it all in 1963.

Lee Oswald, after his failed attempt to murder General Walker on April 10, 1963, moved to New Orleans upon the urging of his wife Marina. According to her testimony, she was shaken over the whole Walker shooting affair that her crazy husband attempted. Oswald who was unemployed, agreed and moved to New Orleans to seek work. As everyone knows, Oswald moved back to Dallas in early October 1963.

The following is an excerpt from my writings on Oswald and General Walker in October 1963.

Like the famous 1957 tornado, a political firestorm was preparing to hit Dallas in October 1963 over a major right-wing contention, The United Nations. On October 21, 1963, the Dallas Morning News ran an article on two noted speakers that were coming to town during the annual United Nations Week. Brook Hayes, a special assistant to President Kennedy was due to talk in Dallas during the week to the League of Women Voters. UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson was also scheduled to be in town, upon the invite of Jack Goren, Vice President of Neiman Marcus. Co-sponsored by the Dallas League of Women Voters and the Dallas United Nations organization, Stevenson’s speech on was scheduled on October 24, 1963. With the many Dallas citizens and John Birchers running around town with “Get US Out of the United Nations” bumper stickers on their vehicles, this wasn’t going to be popular. News had already leaked out to all the Dallas John Birchers, National Indignation Convention members and General Walker’s inner circle. Yes, the devil himself, UN Ambassador Stevenson, was coming to Walker’s adopted city to speak on the virtues of the United Nations, and the Jews that ran Neiman Marcus were behind it all. Walker in his conspiratorial mind saw this as a direct challenge to him and his followers. Contemplating this over, the General and his volunteers devised a plan. Reportedly Robert Surrey acted and obtained booking for a rally at the Dallas Memorial Coliseum one day before on October 23rd.

Boosted by a Governor Connally proclamation declaring US Day in Texas, Walker and his associates decided that there was going to be a US Day Rally at the Memorial Auditorium, with General Walker as the keynote speaker.

Dallas Morning News Ad, October 23, 1963

On October 23rd, General Walker took to the Dallas Memorial Auditorium stage and delivered a fiery speech to an estimated 1,200 crowd. The main topic of Walker’s speech of course was the United Nations. In anticipation of Adlai Stevenson’s speech, the following night, Walker told the crowd “Tonight we stand on a battleground identified on this stage as US Day – the symbol of our sovereignty. Tomorrow night there will be a stand here a symbol to the communist conspiracy and it’s United Nations”. Pausing at times through the boisterous cheers and applause, Walker went onto lambast the CIA. Pointing out the agency had over 100,000 employees; he predicted in his typical conspiratorial manner, that soon the CIA would move its actions from foreign countries into individual states. Showing his solidarity with segregationists, he spoke in favor of keeping the voter poll tax in place. Moving into John Birch talking points, Walker ripped apart President Kennedy, former Presidents Eisenhower, Truman and Roosevelt and former Vice President Nixon. Amid the waving US and Confederate flags, he continued on to dismantle the State Department and its Foreign Policy. Turning his sights locally, Walker read off a list of local Dallas organizations that were sponsoring Stevenson’s UN Day speech over the booing of his angry supporters. By all accounts, Walker had whipped the crowd up into a raucous frenzy. However, there was at least one individual present in the auditorium who didn’t share the crowd’s infectious enthusiasm for the General, Lee Harvey Oswald.

The old Dallas Memorial Coliseum on Akard and Young streets was only a short distance (0.7 mile) away from where Oswald worked at the Texas School Book Depository. Evidence strongly suggests that Oswald did attend the Walker US Day Rally. While attending an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) meeting at SMU with Michael Paine (husband of Ruth Paine) on October 25, 1963, the topic of the John Birch Society came up. An audience member mentioned that the John Birch Society should not be considered anti-Semitic. Taking exception to that comment, Oswald stood up and mentioned that he just attended the Walker US Day Rally two days earlier and heard many anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic remarks. Further evidence exists of a letter that Oswald wrote to Arnold Johnson of the Communist Party USA stating that he attended the General Walker ultra-right-wing meeting on October 23rd. Explaining the situation in Dallas, Oswald wrote “as you can see, political friction between left and right is very great here”. Whatever motivation Oswald had for attending the Walker US Day Rally will never be known, but Oswald was right about one thing; Left-Right friction in Dallas was at a fever pitch.

There is some speculation that Oswald intended to make another attempt to kill Walker at the auditorium. I don't share that belief, it would have been next to impossible to escape and surrounded by Walker supporters, Oswald would have been pummeled to death. It's possible he was just stalking and planned on another attempt of his choosing. But that all changed when President Kennedy came to Dallas.

Newsman Jim Lehrer at one time speculated that Oswald planned the assassination on Kennedy in light of escaping and the blame would be placed on squarely on the Dallas Right-Wingers. Although in the early stages, people were at least expecting or blaming the Dallas Extremists to react to the President's visit, just like the Adlai Stevenson incident. It's an interesting theory, but elements don't quite add up to say for sure that was the motive.

On the flip side, another conspiracy theorist did think General Walker was involved.

From Jack Ruby's Psych Exam

Unfortunately, there is no recording or transcript of Walker's speech in the U.S. Day Rally, just newspaper reports. Perhaps one will surface one day, or my research may find one. It would be interesting to hear what exactly Oswald heard at the Dallas Memorial Auditorium.

Here's a good example of a General Walker speech in 1965 at the Comstock speakers conference in Sacramento, California. This will give you a good sense of what Oswald probably heard, albeit two years later.

Caution: Some veiled racist, antisemitic and wild conspiracy remarks are made by Walker.

https://archive.org/details/casacsh_000536