Umbrella Man: Suspicious

[Paul J Cummings]

Spotters for what?  Anyone in Dealey Plaza could see and hear the motorcade as it approached but the fantasy conspirators need someone conspicuous to stand out in the open and bring attention to himself?  Unreal. Again, I hope no one actually takes this seriously and are just passing the time with a game of make up a good story because this is Bigfoot and ghost hunter territory.

This was a professional hit with teams. When Joe Smith ran up the grassy knoll he encountered a Secret Service agent who wasn't assigned behind the picket fence. These teams had roles and assignments and a spotter to make this went smoothly. It's amateur hour the way you think the Assassination went down.

[Sean Kneringer]

I posted this press photo last spring. Political protesters were using the umbrella to mock JFK as early as 1961. In fact, Witt referenced this Phoenix protest in his testimony. 

[Chris Davidson]

Until very recently, I had always ignored the issue of Umbrella Man. I've never written a word about him in any of my articles or books. However, now that I've done some research on the matter, I find his actions suspicious and do not believe Louie Witt's story.

Witt's story that the umbrella was intended to protest the appeasement of Hitler by Neville Chamberlain and secondarily by JFK's father is absurd on its face. For starters, the umbrella was never considered to be a symbol of Chamberlain.

What's more, Witt's descriptions of his actions do not match the actions that we see Umbrella Man doing in the Zapruder film. Witt claimed he was just fiddling with the umbrella while trying to open it, but that is not at all what we see in the Z film. In the Z film, Umbrella Man holds his umbrella in the air and pumps it.

Another odd figure on the grassy knoll was the dark complected man (DCM). As the limo passes and while Umbrella Man is pumping his umbrella, DCM thrusts his fist up into the air.

Strangely, Umbrella Man and DCM, presumably strangers, instead of reacting with apparent horror or shock, sit down together on the curb and appear to calmly survey the scene.

In addition, enlargements of footage/photos that show DCM clearly seem to show something that looks like a radio or walkie-talkie protruding from his back pocket.

[Jim Hawthorn]

I think he was just doing, as he said, some heckling of JFK.

This is from his testimony:

Mr. GENZMAN. Why were you carrying an umbrella that day?
Mr. WITT. Actually, I was going to use this umbrella to heckle the President's motorcade.
Mr. GENZMAN, How had you gotten this idea?
Mr. WITT. In a coffee break conversation someone had mentioned that the umbrella was a sore spot with the Kennedy family. Being a conservative-type fellow, I sort of placed him in the liberal camp and I was just going to kind of do a little heckling.
Mr. GENZMAN. Are you saying you were going to use the umbrella as a symbol for the purpose of heckling?
Mr. WITT. I think that would cover it.

The Kennedys - specifically Joe Sr. - were often accused of supporting the appeasement policies of Chamberlain. LBJ took a shot at them during his campaign. I think this was all that he was doing.

But too many conspiracists - not all - can't see any innocent acts in this. Everything for them has sinister purposes. It's a mindset, a worldview, a view of "the government" and "the CIA" and "the deep state" as being behind all sorts of things. Yes, sometimes that is true; but sometimes it's not.

Thanks.

[Michael T. Griffith]

I think that you're on the right track, Michael....  I've long believed that the umbrella was a reminder to JFK that he left the brigade with no aircover when he pulled the "Umbrella of air cover" for the Cubans who were trying to gain a foothold at Bay Of Pigs. Those Cuban's who were under the control of the CIA blamed JFK for their failure and capture by Castro's forces. It wasn't JFK's fault at all....The CIA  was to blame for the failure...but they wouldn't accept the responsibility, and placed the blame on JFK.   John Kennedy being the kind of man he was accepted the blame....( He felt that If it happened on his watch, he was responsible )  The  red rings on the Windows of the TSBD  were also there to remind  JFK that he had betrayed the CIA trained Cuban exiles who were ashore at red beach , and needed the aircover that the CIA had promised them that JFK would provide.

I don't think it would have occurred to JFK in a million years that the pumping umbrella represented his refusal to provide air cover for the Bay of Pigs invasion force.

It is debatable that JFK refused to provide air cover. The story is much more complex than most history books paint it as being. It should be noted that the initial reports on the first air strike said it had been mostly successful, that it had destroyed almost all of Castro's air force--those reports were false. But, perhaps with these reports in mind, and concerned about plausible deniability and the uproar that the first raid had caused, President Kennedy probably felt it was both safe and prudent to cancel the second air attack. Nevertheless, when subsequent events proved that the first raid had not destroyed enough of Castro's air power, Kennedy reauthorized a second air strike. It was scheduled for Sunday night, April 17. Unfortunately, there was a thick cloud cover that night, which made it impossible to carry out the raid. Moreover, after it became apparent that too many of Castro's planes had survived, JFK authorized the B-26s to bomb at will, and on the afternoon of the invasion one bombing raid destroyed an entire battalion of Castro's forces.

[Richard Smith]

Do you really think JFK would see an umbrella in the crowd and think to himself this is a "reminder" of the "umbrellas of air cover" at the Bay of Pigs?

What I think is irrelevant ......

We are in agreement on this point.

[Jerry Freeman]

I suspect that he may not be "quite right"

After seeing reply 33...I am inclined to agree.