The Umbrella Man

To the Editor:

Interesting recent piece in The New York Times (video interview) by Josiah Thompson, who makes the assertion that the “umbrella man” from the Zapuder and other films from the JFK assassination was merely a protester, not a conspirator. Thompson was an early critic of the Warren Commission, and author of Six Seconds in Dallas, 1967 — a “conspiracy” theory rendering — contradicting the official findings of that commission. But here’s what he left out of his recent declaration: Further photos show the “umbrella man” calmly folding up the umbrella after the fatal shots, and, while people are hysterical, and scrambling all over the place — including up the grassy knoll toward the stockade fence, where shots seemed to have come from, what does he do then? Sits on the curb in front of the Stemmons Freeway sign with another man looking across the street as if they are waiting for a bus! Totally calm, ignoring the fact the President of the United States has just been shot, possibly killed (they were close enough to see the damage from the head shot).

Sinister? How could they not be phased in the least by the goings on in real time; did they expect what happened to happen? More photos reveal the two men getting up (still calmly and deliberately) and walking in opposite directions. Closeup photos reveal what is extremely certain to be a walkie talkie tucked into his jeans in the rear.

Another “contradiction” to that story is that the man who came forward during the congressional hearings in the late 1970s was never proven to be the man in the photo with the umbrella (that identity has not been revealed), and one of the serious researchers pointed out that, upon close inspection, the umbrella the man brought to the hearings was not the same umbrella in view in front of the freeway sign because it did not have the same number of “spokes” etc.

Finally — other video footage reveals that the man rotated the umbrella as the limo passed by. Also, an umbrella “weapon” is not so far-fetched, because the CIA actually had such a weapon in 1963; it was operative — originated from the British intelligence. JFK’s throat wound was confirmed by every doctor in the ER to be a small caliber entry wound (years later some changed their tune under some “pressure”). A tracheotomy was performed — which was directly over the wound in order to insert a breathing tube. The bullet that entered his throat was never found. A “fleschette” — such as the one mentioned briefly and somewhat offhandedly by Thompson — was a small sized missile which was designed to cause temporary paralysis, and to dissolve upon contact, thus making it impossible to trace or determine its origin.

This info makes the “umbrella man” more than just a protester.

Postscript, not surprisingly, a new video has been made available, “The Lost Bullet” — once again purporting to put an end to speculation of conspiracy. More hogwash.

Michael Luzzi

Boggs Hill Road, Newtown                                   November 22, 2011