Michael Paine and the backyard photo

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Michael Paine wrote about the photo in his  manuscript, My Experience with Lee Harvey Oswald. Paine described how Oswald showed him the backyard photo on his first meeting with Lee when Michael and Ruth went to pick the Oswalds up.

Thanks. I've also read that Paine reportedly told the author Gus Russo that Oswald showed him the photo but Russo doesn't include that story in either of his books on the assassination. It seems to me that he would have included that unless Paine told him after the publication of the books.

But Paine didn't say anything about being shown the guns, right? Just the backyard photo.

[Robert Doane]

No mention about being shown guns. In the manuscript Paine recalls going back to the Irving home on 22 Nov, the Police were already there and Ruth showed him the blue blanket that Marina told Police contained the rifle and Michael recalls at another time moving this blanket back and forth, while using his drill press, at the time he thought it contained camping equipment or pipes.

Michael Paine also wrote that on his first meeting with Lee Oswald, he asked Lee why he had returned to the U.S.  from the Soviet Union and Lee replied unless he was part of a paramilitary club he couldn't own a rifle. Lee said this with some disgust and it lowered Michael's estimation of the depth of Lee's interest in socalism.

Michael Paine wrote that he believed Lee Oswald learned about the parade route the day before it occurred, thinking otherwise Lee would have planned differently and kept the rifle in his rented room or brought it to the TSBD earlier and had it hidden.

Michael Paine's manuscript was printed in full for the first time in Sean DeGrilla's Malcontent

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Here's an excerpt from Michael Paine's manuscript (the date on it is 2013) where he mentions seeing the photo. It's a bit blurry but I think readable.

[Charles Collins]

Here’s the part of the manuscript where the photo is mentioned. A couple of things that strike me the most are that it was an 8x10 glossy photo, and that LHO had it sitting out on a table and picked it up and handed it to Michael Paine. Keep in mind that this was the period in which LHO was reportedly planning the assassination attempt on Walker. And that this was the first time LHO had met Michael Paine; and LHO apparently wanted this photo to be part of his first impressions!