Judyth Vary Baker - Lee Harvey Oswald's Mistress

[GuerrillaUnReal]

About once or twice a year I take a huge run on the JFK Assassination reading all the info I can find and watching documentaries about it. It's a shame that since about 2000, the subject has become so Woo-obfuscated by hacks looking to sell books that unless we see a Soviet style collapse, we'll never know what really happened or which conspiracy theory even has any credence.

The trippiest aspect to me is the story of Lee Harvey Oswald's mistress Judyth Vary Baker who was supposedly some super genius scientist that was allegedly smashing uglies with Lee Harvey around the time he became famous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGrrdTlMpS4

Judyth Vary Baker (née Judyth Anne Vary) is an American artist, writer and poet. Born May 15, 1943, in South Bend, Indiana, she is best known in documentaries, on the Internet, and in books and articles for coming forward with the assertion that she was a close associate of Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin in the murder of President John F. Kennedy, which she claims was a CIA/Mafia conspiracy with Lee Harvey Oswald being a designated scapegoat.

She first decided to tell her story some 38 years after the JFK assassination, claiming she had kept silent out of fear for retaliation from the conspirators, who she says threathened to kill her if she talked. She interpreted the list of witnesses, who died mysteriously over the years, as a tacit justification for her fears. However, after seeing the movie JFK of Oliver Stone, who claimed silent witnesses were cowardeous, Judyth says she mustered the courage to come forward. Judyth's story is generally painted as controversial. She has many supporters as well as disbelievers. Among her supporters are author Edward Haslam, journalist/writer Jim Marrs, british TV producer Nigel Turner, Retired U.S. Army Green Beret Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Marvin (author of Expendable Elite - One Soldier's Journey Into Covert Warfare) and dutch JFK assassination researcher Wim Dankbaar. A few of her staunchest disbelievers are Debra Conway of the JFKlancer.com website and JFK assassination researcher John McAdams, who some researchers claim to be a disinformation asset for the CIA. Today Judyth's goal is to exonerate Lee Harvey Oswald from the charge that he was the assassin of John F. Kennedy.

Early life

Judyth Baker was born in South Bend, Indiana to Donald William and Glorianne Whiting Vary in 1943. She attended Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida.

A wizard student with the highest IQ of her class, on October 17, 1958, she was introduced to Dr. Canute Michaelson, a high-ranking Norwegian geneticist and radiobiologist with CIA ties who had served as a double agent against Hitler. Michaelson's exploits as a spy fascinated her. He provided her with equipment, and contacts with Oak Ridge, after she indicated her interest in finding a cure for cancer. Her patriotic zeal was further enhanced in high school by friendships with retired military officers (especially her science instructor, Col. Phillip Doyle) and anti-Castro Cubans, including a close friendship with fellow student Tony Lopez-Fresquet, the oldest son of Castro's finance minister, who fled Cuba in 1960.

Her stellar research and its results were soon noticed by professors and scientists, with high profile connections in the medical and political world. This resulted in invitations to science programs and science fairs nationwide. In March, 1961, at age 17, she became the first high school student allowed to attend the elite Science Writer’s Cancer Research Seminar, a 5-day national meeting of science writers and the world’s most important cancer research scientists, where her research was inspected by top American Cancer Society (ACS) officials, research scientists, and Nobel Prize winners, who began mentoring her. In April, 1961, she was invited by Director Dr. George Moore to work in his personal laboratory at Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, New York, the oldest important cancer research center in the United States. There she conducted research on melanoma cancers and learned techniques for handling cancers induced by the SV40 monkey virus. She next enrolled in the medical technology program at St. Francis College in her home state of Indiana, where she considered becoming a nun as well as a scientist. Evidence of her conducting cancer research after her training at Roswell Park exists in newspaper articles and citations. Assigned to work with malignant melanoma, at Dr. Alton Ochsner’s suggestion, one of the 18-year-old's research projects is preserved in an Indiana Academy of Science's abstract entitled "Studies on the Increase in vitro of Mitotic Activity and Melanogenesis in the RPMI HA # 5 (7113) Strain Melano." (Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science. V. 71 (1961) p. 71): the abstract mentions that her cancer research was continuing at her lab at St. Francis.

Her work with melanoma in 1961 reflected Dr. Ochsner’s research interests: Ochsner’s work in 1961-1962 on melanoma was important enough to be recorded in his official biography (Surgeon of the South --Wilds & Harkey, 1990, p. 136). Ochsner was the former ACS President (1952): his friends Dr. Harold S. Diehl (the current Vice President of the ACS, in charge of research) and Dr. George Moore testified with Ochsner in court about links between smoking and cancer. All three doctors were impressed that Judyth Vary had induced lung cancer in mice in record time in a high school lab. Ochsner had served with both Diehl and “Wild Bill” Donovan (of OSS and CIA fame) on ACS boards. At this time, Ochsner was in weekly contact with both the AF’s Surgeon General and the US Surgeon General on the Surgeon General’s CIA-attended committee meetings.

Concerned that their daughter might become a nun, her parents removed her from St. Francis. She was attending The University of Florida by Feb., 1962, under a full scholarship, where she resumed research in cancer-related areas under an umbrella of grants and permits. In the Spring of 1963, Ochsner offered her a summer internship at Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, under the direction of the noted cancer research specialist, Dr. Mary S. Sherman, with the promise that she would receive a scholarship for early entry into Tulane Medical School that Fall. Her bus ticket shows she arrived in New Orleans a few days before Lee Harvey Oswald, in mid-April, 1963, two weeks before she was to begin her internship in Dr. Sherman's bone cancer lab.

A top secret bioweapon project in New Orleans

In 1963, Judyth was invited to New Orleans by famous surgeon Dr. Alton Ochnser to serve her country by taking part in another special cancer research project. Judyth soon learned that this was a top secret project to develop a bioweapon in order to terminate the Cuban leader Fidel Castro with a cancer-causing virus. Young and impressionable, Judyth saw Fidel Castro as a cruel communist dictator, a threat to national security and the American way of life. Under direction of Alton Ochsner, well connected and funded by right wing politicians and Texan oil barons, the project was led by Dr. Mary Sherman. Also involved were Lee Harvey Oswald, David Ferrie, Clay Shaw and Guy Banister. Oswald took Judyth under his wings and introduced her to these people. Judyth and Lee grew a liking to each other which developed into a love affair, although both were married.

After the JFK assassination Mary Sherman was murdered, on the day the Warren Commision started its hearings in New Orleans. Guy Banister died too in 1964, reportedly from a heart attack. However, witnesses claim that his office was taped off by the police as "a crime scene". His extensive files were confiscated by the FBI. David Ferrie died from what officially was ruled a suicide, which version is challenged by many researchers believing it was homicide, just before he was to testify in the trial of Jim Garrison, wherein he charged Clay Shaw and Ferrie as participants in the alleged conspiracy to kill JFK. With Ferrie dead, Clay Shaw was eventually acquitted for lack of evidence. These events are described in Edward's Haslam's recent book "Mary's monkey", wherein he makes a case for the thesis that - as a accidental result of these experiments - the polio vaccin of the early sixties was contaminated with a cancer causing monkey virus, better known as SV-40. Hence, he argues this was one of the decisive reasons to keep the bioweapon project secret and hidden from the public, as well as Lee Harvey Oswald's involvement, which contradicts the Warren Commission's conclusion that he was a deranged communist nut without any connections. Haslam takes the reader on a quest to find an explanation for the alarming growth rate of soft tissue cancers in America. "Mary's Monkey" is becoming an underground bestseller with a top 100 position on Amazon.com.

Proof for Judyth's story

Extra-ordinary claims require solid evidence. Although there is heated debate on the veracity of Judyth's story, even her discreditors admit that she can prove the following:

- She lived and worked in New Orleans in the spring and summer of 1963. Both she and Oswald arrived in New Orleans by bus in April and left New Orleans in September. Both she and Oswald moved into apartments the same week, within walking distance of each other. Both she and Oswald rode the same bus to and from the same workplace daily for eleven weeks, with only one bus stop between them.

- She was indeed a promising student with a passion for cancer research, as is evidenced by numerous contemporary newspaper articles.

- She worked in the same company as Lee Harvey Oswald, the Reily Coffee Company, and was hired on exactly the same date as Lee Harvey Oswald by the same small sub-company of Reily's, Standard Coffee Co. Both were subsequently transferred to Reily's one week later. An ad to replace her at Reily's was ordered the day Oswald was fired from Reily's, and she was terminated the same day Oswald was arrested (August 9, 1963) in New Orleans after he handed out pro-Cuban pamphlets. (Judyth asserts the jobs at Reily were a front for their covert activities, arranged by Dr. Ochsner and his allies. A probability study by statistics professor Dr. John Williams, published in The Dealey Plaza Echo in 2006, with a second supporting article published in 2007, concluded that statistically these events could not have occurred by chance.

- She moved back to Florida the same week that Oswald moved back to Dallas.

- After the JFK assassination her promising career as a researcher abruptly ended. (Judyth's explanation is that she was told to keep a low profile and stay silent.)

- Contemporary witnesses corroborate that Judyth and Lee Oswald knew each other and were lovers. One such witness is Anna Lewis (widow of David Lewis who worked for Guy Banister) whose video testimony was made availabe on Google video and the website www.jfkmurdersolved.com by Dutch researcher Wim Dankbaar. A video interview with Edward Haslam, author of Dr. Mary's Monkey, which includes additional supporting evidence for her story, is also available there.

Other sources on Judyth's story

In 2003 British TV producer Nigel Turner made 3 new episodes in his series "The men who killed Kennedy", which aired in England and the USA on the History Channel. One of the episodes, titled "The Love Affair" was dedicated to Judyth's story. Shortly thereafter protests were applied on The History Channel targeting one of the other two episodes, specificly "The Guilty Men" that focused on the alleged involvement of former president and JFK successor Lyndon Baines Johnson. The complaints were led by Johnson's widow, ex-presidents Ford and Carter, and former LBJ aides Jack Valenti and Bill Moyers. An anonymous party bought the rights from The History Channel, including the rights for "The Love Affair" (although it was not attacked) and the programs were never aired again in America.

An extensive video interview of Judyth telling her story is still available on DVD trough the website www.jfkmurdersolved.com.

She is interviewed by veteran assassination researcher Jim Marrs, author of the book "Crossfire, the plot that killed Kennedy"

She had a great interview with George Knapp on Coast where she was feisty, interesting and probably my favorite Knapp interview of all time.

What say you about this story?

[chefist]

What say you about this story?

Also there are many that think Lee Harvey Oswald tried to murder Gen. Edwin Walker in April of 1963...you don't hear that mentioned much...

[GuerrillaUnReal]

Also there are many that Lee Harvey Oswald tried to murder Gen. Edwin Walker in April of 1963...you don't hear that mentioned much...

Yes! I find that so interesting. The more you dig into Lee Harvey Oswald, the more questions you get about this guy. A decorated marine who was immersed in the height of military technology and flirted with intelligence agencies was honorably discharged then a few weeks later wigged out and decided he was going to live in the Soviet Union which made his honorable discharge changed into a dishonorable discharge?

Then you have Oswald supposedly taking shots at the craziest of crazy conservatives back then yet a few months later there was a supposed crazy conservative element to the assassination?

After years and years of flirting with the subject, I can almost believe Oswald acted alone... but who knows?

[chefist]

Yes! I find that so interesting. The more you dig into Lee Harvey Oswald, the more questions you get about this guy. A decorated marine who was immersed in the height of military technology and flirted with intelligence agencies was honorably discharged then a few weeks later wigged out and decided he was going to live in the Soviet Union which made his honorable discharge changed into a dishonorable discharge?

Then you have Oswald supposedly taking shots at the craziest of crazy conservatives back then yet a few months later there was a supposed crazy conservative element to the assassination?

After years and years of flirting with the subject, I can almost believe Oswald acted alone... but who knows?

I love to hear the conspiracies and used to believe some of them...but after the documentary on the magic bullet where they were able to replicate it almost perfectly, then I came to realize that he probably was the only shooter...BUT...did he act alone or was he part of a conspiracy with him as the trigger man?

[GuerrillaUnReal]

I love to hear the conspiracies and used to believe some of them...but after the documentary on the magic bullet where they were able to replicate it almost perfectly, then I came to realize that he probably was the only shooter...BUT...did he act alone or was he part of a conspiracy with him as the trigger man?

That's the thing!  I think the fatal shot came from the 6th floor depository, there's all sorts of good evidence and proof to support that.

I have serious doubts that Oswald was the trigger man. I've seen all the evidence and conspiracy theories but for me the biggest thing is Lee's reaction when he's told he's the suspect for killing the President. It clearly shocks him and he clearly wasn't expecting it. I think he probably did ice the cop but I have serious doubts he was the trigger man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqNWsR87WCY

[chefist]

That's the thing!  I think the fatal shot came from the 6th floor depository, there's all sorts of good evidence and proof to support that.

I have serious doubts that Oswald was the trigger man. I've seen all the evidence and conspiracy theories but for me the biggest thing is Lee's reaction when he's told he's the suspect for killing the President. It clearly shocks him and he clearly wasn't expecting it. I think he probably did ice the cop but I have serious doubts he was the trigger man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqNWsR87WCY

The evidence in the book depository is circumstantial, that is certain, but compelling! Brought in "curtain rods", running down stairs, leaving work before the end of the shift, eye witness to him killing Officer Tippit after Kennedy was assassinated, etc...could someone else have pulled the trigger and Oswald felt he was set up (patsy), perhaps...he killed Tippit out of fear, anger, betrayal, maybe...

[GuerrillaUnReal]

What do you make of Jack Ruby?

[chefist]

What do you make of Jack Ruby?

Well that is what I'm talking about...mob hit in retribution for RFK going after organized crime (who helped get JFK elected)...they used Oswald as the patsy to make it look like a political killing, not a mob hit? That is one angle...Ruby owed the mafia a debt that could only be repaid by killing Oswald...

[GuerrillaUnReal]

Well that is what I'm talking about...mob hit in retribution for RFK going after organized crime (who helped get JFK elected)...they used Oswald as the patsy to make it look like a political killing, not a mob hit? That is one angle...Ruby owed the mafia a debt that could only be repaid by killing Oswald...

Man, what a work of art. I agree with you. I think it was a mob hit with elements of the federal government in on it.

The scariest thing to me was always the Ruby interview where he basically lays out it's a conspiracy and then you never heard from him again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omnpQBa1Euc

I wonder what the mob had on Ruby to have him so controlled.

[chefist]

Man, what a work of art. I agree with you. I think it was a mob hit with elements of the federal government in on it.

The scariest thing to me was always the Ruby interview where he basically lays out it's a conspiracy and then you never heard from him again.

I wonder what the mob had on Ruby to have him so controlled.

The mob and the CIA worked closely together back then, well into the 1990's...JFK had enemies within the CIA because of the Bay of Pigs...the CIA asked for thousands of combatants for the operation, air support, etc from JFK...he only authorized 300 and no air support.  JFK felt they failed and embarrassed him politically, the CIA felt JFK hamstrung them and betrayed those that died...was that enough for certain factions in the CIA to aid (or not prevent) an assassination? Maybe...

[GuerrillaUnReal]

The mob and the CIA worked closely together back then, well into the 1990's...JFK had enemies within the CIA because of the Bay of Pigs...the CIA asked for thousands of combatants for the operation, air support, etc from JFK...he only authorized 300 and no air support.  JFK felt they failed and embarrassed him politically, the CIA felt JFK hamstrung them and betrayed those that died...was that enough for certain factions in the CIA to aid (or not prevent) an assassination? Maybe...

Yeah definitely, there was so much motive there. I don't think the CIA as a whole was behind it because the head of the CIA and top guys in the agency at the time were Kennedy appointees. But I definitely think there were elements that conspired with the MOB to get him. The most interesting thing to me was how sloppy the Warren Commission was and how evidence was ignored or swept under the rug. There's supposedly two films with better angles than the Zapruder film that the government collected from witnesses that have never been seen again. And there's all sorts of witnesses to shenanigans around the picket fence on the Grassy Knoll and a mysterious "Badge Man." Also there was a solid week between the shooting and the investigation where federal agencies got rid of evidence.

MV brought up a good point in the past about how Kennedy's motorcade was late that day. There's a film put out by Robert Groden showing the 6th floor depository with several figures in the windows at the time Kennedy was supposed to drive by which brings up an interesting point of who were those people up in the window and why didn't they notice a fidgety Oswald with a rifle a few feet away from them?

I really don't think Oswald was the guy who fired the fatal shot but from there the story gets so clouded and murky it's impossible to have any other conclusions.

[chefist]

Yeah definitely, there was so much motive there. I don't think the CIA as a whole was behind it because the head of the CIA and top guys in the agency at the time were Kennedy appointees. But I definitely think there were elements that conspired with the MOB to get him. The most interesting thing to me was how sloppy the Warren Commission was and how evidence was ignored or swept under the rug. There's supposedly two films with better angles than the Zapruder film that the government collected from witnesses that have never been seen again. And there's all sorts of witnesses to shenanigans around the picket fence on the Grassy Knoll and a mysterious "Badge Man." Also there was a solid week between the shooting and the investigation where federal agencies got rid of evidence.

MV brought up a good point in the past about how Kennedy's motorcade was late that day. There's a film put out by Robert Groden showing the 6th floor depository with several figures in the windows at the time Kennedy was supposed to drive by which brings up an interesting point of who were those people up in the window and why didn't they notice a fidgety Oswald with a rifle a few feet away from them?

I really don't think Oswald was the guy who fired the fatal shot but from there the story gets so clouded and murky it's impossible to have any other conclusions.

There are some compelling videos and audio from that day. Some have been dispelled, while others remain very interesting. The other aspect about the CIA and government motive are the fact that higher powers felt JFK's apparent sex addiction was putting the nation's security at risk.  It was said that at least two of the women he had slept with while President were Soviet spies.  That was another theory I heard about the government being the perpetrator...

[Lindquistity]

I believe Oswald was involved in the plot to kill JFK, but in what capacity I'm not too sure.

JVB makes it known in her book that Ruby knew Oswald for much of his short life. Both men had common ties to the mob with Carlos Marcello, which leads me to believe that the mafia was involved in the assassination.

Oswald was a liability alive in police custody. Being young, brash and smart, Marcello and his associates couldn't risk the chance that Oswald would eventually talk during questioning.

Now Ruby was solder under the mafia's thumb...a dead man walking. He basically had two options: 1. Kill Oswald and die in prison or 2. Don't kill Oswald and die right here, right now.

We also cannot forget about LBJ and how he was out of sight in his car before Kennedy's limo even made the turn from Houston onto Elm. Johnson also tried every way possible to get he pal Governor Connally out of the limo and replace him with Ralph Yarborough.

Lots of layers to this cake.

[Gruntled]

Just came across this fascinating thread.
I was born in 1950 and as a young child in school [12 yrs old] my family and I were consumed with this
part of American history.
  I, along with my parents and sister, literally saw Ruby kill Oswald live on TV as did many others.
I will never forget the look on Oswald's face after being shot. He grimaced and said something I don't remember.
I remember my father saying "They shot Oswald, They shot Oswald".

What a unbelievable cast of characters, personalities and series of events.
I feel I still don't know what really happened and this continues to intrigue me.
Thanks for the info re: JVB etc. I wasn't aware of her/Oswald.