Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA

Notes

   [  ] abbreviations used in notes AARB: Assassination Records Review Board GD: Deposition of Anne Goodpasture HMMW: a CIA dispatch ICTL: “It Came to Little,” Win Scott's unpublished memoir written in 1970 MBOP: Mexico Biography of Power by Enrique Krauze MCJFK Chronology: Chronological summary of Win Scott's JFK file MCSHE: Mexico City Station History Excerpts NSAMP: National Security Archive Mexico Project prologue: april 28, 1971 This chapter is based on records in the JFK Assassination Records Collection and interviews . The discussion between Jim Angleton and Janet Scott is based on Angleton’s not entirely reliable testimony to congressional investigators, two cables written by John Horton, who was present, and accounts that Janet Scott gave to her children. The recreated dialogue, informed by these sources, relies on the account in Horton’s cable, in both its language and exposition. For example: Horton wrote that Angleton “advised [Janet] against reading the manuscript as it discussed in open way intimate matter of previous marriage.” I re-create the conversation like this: Angleton: “Janet, you do not want to read what Win wrote.” Janet Scott: “Why not?” Angleton: “It discusses in an open way intimate matters of his previous marriage.” Another example: John Horton wrote of Janet Scott in his cable: “She seemed appalled at idea of publishing manuscript saying that she realized when [her husband] told her of visit to director [meaning CIA director Dick Helms] something was wrong. She also asked [Angleton] about her husband’s motivation in this.” I re-create the exchange as follows: Janet Scott: “I knew something was wrong when he told me he was going to see Helms. Why do you think he wrote it?” Notes [  ]   n o t e s t o p a g e s 1 – 13 Angleton recalled that Janet Scott opened the conversation by asking, “Why did it take so long for you to come?” Janet Scott told others about Win’s request to ask her to type the manuscript, about her sense of being bullied, if not threatened, by Angleton, and about her dislike of the man. The thought attributed to her, “it would have killed Scottie to see Angleton in his house” is based on a comment she made to me during a telephone interview. It was David Phillips who said Angleton looked like a man whose ectoplasm had run out. See The Night Watch: 25 Years of Peculiar Service, 239. The literary license I have taken is faithful to the record. See House Select Committee on Assassinations Interview of James Angleton, October 5, 1978, 125–129, HSCA/Security Classified Testimony 180-10110-1006. John Horton’s cables: Dispatch, DIR to C/WH3, April 29, 1971, 8 pp.; and Dispatch, Eyes Only, to DIR, May 3, 1971. These two cables, written by Horton, Mexico City station chief in 1971, were released by the CIA to Mark Zaid, attorney for Michael Scott. I have also used Michael Scott’s notes on a conversation with Janet Scott, October 1, 1995; and my telephone interview with Janet Scott, March 13, 1996. Angleton’s testimony is not entirely reliable because he says Win’s manuscript was fictional and did not include a chapter on Oswald. The only surviving manuscript is clearly nonfictional and does have a chapter on Oswald. All quotations from Michael Scott, George Leddy, and Gregory Leddy: Interviews conducted in 2006. “The agency had taken possession”: The Zaid material contains index cards of the contents of the material taken from Scott’s home. The material is also described in “Memo from B Hugh Tovar, Chief, Counterintelligence Staff to Chief, Liaison and Oversight Control, PCS: Attachment: Inventory of Mexico City COS Records, May 5, 1977.” “Janet had one urgent request”: John Horton gave another account of Angleton’s visit to Mexico City. In a memorandum for the record, written on February 25, 1992, Horton stated that he had received a phone call from Mark Zaid asking about Angleton ’s visit. Horton declined to speak with him but did record some of his memories of the event. Horton sent the memo to the CIA, which later released it to the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB). Horton’s memo is now found in the ARRB material in the JFK Assassination Records Collection. “pulled a fast one”: Horton cable, April 29, 1971. “some vile knowledge on the part of the agency”: Horton memo, February 25, 1992. Horton was “amazed”: Horton memo, February 25, 1992. Oswald tapes: “HSCA Security Classified Testimony of Melbourne Paul Hartman,” October 10...