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Alphabetical by assassination: An archive with a cryptic bent.

ALPHABETICAL BY ASSASSINATION: AN ARCHIVE WITH A CRYPTIC BENT

The Assassination Archives and Research Center in Washington, D.C. , focuses
on some of America's grimmest hours.

In July 1988, the Nation magazine published ail article by Joseph McBride in
which he investigated George Bush's alleged ties to Cuban exiles in the
aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The connection
piqued the interest and curiosity of James Lesar, president of the
Assassination Archives and Research Center (AARC). He began a check of the
indexes at the AARC to see if he could find any information on Bush and the
Kennedy assassination.

"The Nation article referred to a particular document from the FBI files,"
Lesar recalls. "Not only was the document in our archives, but we uncovered
other documents pertaining to Bush and the Kennedy assassination," documents
that suggest the then-to-be president George Herbert Walker Bush may have
tried to link a political rival to the assassination.

"To relate some hearsay"

According to a Nov. 25, 1963, FBI report filed by Graham W. Kitchel, on the
afternoon of JFK's assassination a man identifying himself as George H. W.
Bush telephoned the FBI in Houston "to relate some hearsay that he had heard
in recent weeks, date and source unknown." suggesting that James Milton
Parrott, an employee of the Harris County (Tex.) Republican Party, "has been
talking of killing the president."

"That FBI document, which we retrieved from documents obtained under the
Freedom of Information ACT [FOIA], indicates that the man was a rival of
Bush's," Lesar reveals. "At first the White House denied the existence of
the report. Later Bush said he didn't recall the incident. That was
kind--of extraordinary, given that everyone recalls what they were doing the
day Kennedy was shot."

The CIA eventually decided the Kitchel report was referring to another
George Bush--even though it states that the informant lived at 5525 Briar in
Houston, President Bush's address in 1963. The Nation disputed the
explanation in a subsequent article by tracking down one George William
Bush, who could not have made the call.

This tenuous connection between George Bush and the Kennedy assassination is
just one nugget of historical information found in one of the country' s most
unusual library-archives. Founded in 1984, the AARC acquires, preserves,
and disseminates information on political assassinations. Many of the
scholars and researchers who don't accept the official explanations of
assassinations--especially those of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and
Martin Luther King, Jr.--go to the center to seek answers.

Located in the heart of downtown Washington, D.C., the AARC is one block
north of FBI headquarters, one block south of the Martin Luther King
Memorial Library, and just around the corner from Ford's Theater. where
President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Interestingly, the three nearby
institutions have an AARC connection. Through numerous FOIA requests, the
center has received much documentation from the FBI files and contains a
wealth of information on both the Kin(, and Lincoln assassinations.

Stacks of paper everywhere

The archives can be found on the fifth floor of the 105-year-old National
Union Building at 918 F Street, N.W. To get to the research treasure, a
visitor takes a 103-year-old elevator run by a full-time elevator operator.
The archives themselves are housed in a cramped office consisting of a
series of small cubicles. Stacks of paper are everywhere. On one wall is a
series of humorous photos showing a Bush makeover into Ronald Reagan.

The makeshift library shelving, looking so old Melvil Dewey himself could
have installed it, holds rows of books on the assassination-some that have
familiar titles and many that don't. The books are arranged alphabetically
by general subject, and then by author within the subject. A huge number of
volumes have been arranged under "miscellaneous."

Examining the rows and rows of books on the Kennedy assassination, a visitor
will quickly grasp the hold that momentous event has had on the American
public.

"Working here is a real education," says Allison Roth, a former research
assistant who is also a student at George Washington University. " Although
much of what we have is public documents, the archives contain lots of
information the public doesn't know about. There is a lot more to
assassinations than the public realizes."

James Lesar's drive and energy, no doubt, have been the catalyst behind the
AARC's development. Located next to Lesar's office, the center dominates
his life.

"Jim is a great trial lawyer and is incredibly dedicated to the AARC, " says
Peggy Adler Robohm, who serves on the AARC's board of directors. " I don't
know where he gets his energy."

Lesar and lawyer Bernard Fensterwald, Jr., who died in April 1991,
co-founded the AARC. Its initial holdings came largely from Fensterwald' s
personal library and the documentary archive collected by the Committee to
Investigate Assassinations. which he founded in 1969. Lesar had worked for
the Committee to Investigate Assassinations and later for Fensterwald' s law
firm.

Linked to intelligence activities

Since its inception, the AARC's resources have been augmented by material
donated by authors and researchers or obtained through FOIA requests.
Collection high-lights include more than 2,000 books on intelligence
agencies and operations and other subjects related to the study of political
assassinations 100,000 pages of FBI headquarters files on JFK's
assassination; 50,000 pages of the Los Angeles Police Department's
investigation into Robert F. Kennedy's assassination; some 24 file cabinets
containing letters, unpublished manuscripts, newspaper articles, government
documents, and other records pertaining to political assassinations;
valuable audiotapes, videotapes, photographs, and films about the
controversies surrounding recent political assassinations; and the Daniel
Brandt computerized index of some 30,000 names linked to intelligence
activities.

The AARC also collects and preserves information to a lesser degree on
foreign assassinations, including those of Benigno Aquinoof the Philippines
and Ol of Palme of Sweden.

Most of the material is stored in file cabinets, with the exception of the
books, which are divided into subject areas and shelved alphabetically. A
computer printout serves as a finding aid, identifying the books by author,
subject, and title. Using his background in freedom-of-information
litigation, Lesar has filed numerous and costly FOIA requests to get more
documents to add to the collection. How long it takes to get the documents
depends on which ones are requested.

"If only a couple of documents are involved, it could take a year or so,"
Lesar explains. "But if there is a lot, it can take a long time." One of
the AARC's FOIA requests was in court for 12 years.

A wide variety of patrons--authors, journalists, freelance researchers, and
others, from as far away as Great Britain and Australia--have used the
center. Even assistants to famed film director Oliver Stone have come by on
two occasions. "Stone's movie JFK has had an impact on the AARC," says
Lesar. "It has generated a tot of interest in our resources."

Lesar has a difficult time keeping up with the increasing number of
reference requests. His full-time assistant, Jonathan Meyers, serves as
coordinator of research and communication. In 1991 an estimated 100
researchers visited the center approximately 800 times, while many others
made requests by phone.

Despite the small staff and high volume of requests, the AARC has a liberal
access policy. The archives are open to anyone who becomes a member at $25
a year. The AARC lends duplicate copies of its books to members for $1 per
book plus postage and will photocopy easily identifiable material and send
it to members for 10 cents a page. Special arrangements may be made to
duplicate photographs.

"Researchers who want to visit the archives should call first," Lesar
advises."People can't just drop by. They should check to be sure someone is
here."

The AARC doesn't, employ a librarian, mainly because of its meager financial
resources. It operates on a $24,000 a year budget, $17,000 of which goes to
paying the rent. "One of our board members has been designated 'librarian, '
but so fir as far as I can tell, he doesn't do anything," Lesar says with a
laugh.

Lesar hopes to raise revenue by microfilming AARC documents and then selling
them to libraries. Presently, he is looking for foundation Support to help
staff the center.

"Within a year or two, I hope to raise sufficient money to get some more
support staff," Lesar explains. "I just need more people to be here full
time. Otherwise, I can't keep being a lawyer and operating the AARC. I will
have to make a choice."

Until that choice is made, it is largely his fascination with the Kennedy
assassination that keeps Lesar motivated. The 30th anniversary of that dark
day in Dallas will be here in two months, and, says Lesar, "in my mind it is
still unresolved."

Thirty years after Dallas

The archives will be able to mark the anniversary with the addition of
300,000 pages of CIA documents, most of which have never before been
available. These are documents that were provided in 1979 to the House of
Representatives special committee on the Kennedy assassination, whose
conclusion that there probably had been a conspiracy to kill the president
contradicted those of the 1964 Warren Commission. The archives is
soliciting bids to place these materials on microfiche and/or CD- ROM.

The release of the documents is the result of a court-approved settlement
reached in July that "should result in greater disclosure" in the future as
well, Lesar says, proudly pointing out that the settlement played a part in
the passage last summer of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination
Records Collection Act of 1992, which mandates a "presumption of disclosure"
unless a review board decides that there is legitimate reason for documents
to remain classified.

Although he does not Subscribe to any one assassination theory, since 1963
Lesar has been convinced that there was a conspiracy to kill the president.
"It's a fundamental and important event in American history," he maintains,
"and we need answers."

PHOTO: James Lesar, Assassination Archives founder and president. (Ron
Chepesiuk)

PHOTO: Allison Roth, a former AARC research assistant, delves into the book
collection. (Ron Chepesiuk)

~~~~~~~~

By RON CHEPESIUK
RON CHEPESIUK is head of special collections at Winthrop College in Rock
Hill, S.C., and a frequent contributor to American Libraries. His articles
have also appeared in Modern Maturity, The Progressive, E: The Environmental
Magazine, Los Angeles Times syndication, and other publications.



Copyright 1993 by American Library Association. Text may not be copied without the express written permission of American Library Association.

Chepesiuk, Ron, Alphabetical by assassination: An archive with a cryptic bent.., Vol. 24, American Libraries, 09-01-1993, pp 706.


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