[Photograph: Home of Everett Glover; 5723 Southwestern Boulevard, Dallas, rented with two fellow workers at Mobile Oil, Richard Pierce and Volkmar Schmidt. Michael Paine also lived there immediately after separating from Ruth Paine in late 1962. Despite effort, we were unable to find a photograph of Everett Glover.]
We’ve noted that Jacques Zwart, secretary of former CIA Chief Allen Dulles throughout the 1960’s, asked Dulles in 1969 about the real killers of JFK. Dulles replied: “The full answer to the JFK Assassination is right there in the Warren Commission (WC) volumes – but the reader must become an expert at hairsplitting.” We find this intriguing answer by Allen Dulles to be correct.
Yet to truly practice hairsplitting with WC Hearings and Exhibits, we must first read them carefully, and resist projecting our bias onto the text. That’s why, on this site, we stick very closely to the WC testimony as written. Since January 2019, we’ve diligently reported the WC testimony of Dallas witnesses, and today we turn our attention to an obscure character in the JFK saga, namely, Everett D. Glover.
We were unable to find a single photograph or even any obituary notice for Everett D. Glover (1917-????). After the JFK assassination, Glover apparently disappeared from public view. So, our main link to Everett Glover remains his WC testimony. On March 24, 1964, the WC convened in Dallas to ask Everett Glover about his personal relationships with Ruth and Michael Paine, with Jeanne and George De Mohrenschildt (DM), and with Marina and Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO).
That’s a lot of people who were close to the JFK Assassination drama – and Glover knew them all as visitors in his Dallas home. Specifically, Everett organized a party at his Dallas home on February 22, 1963, and all of those people attended that party, as he recalled, along with Volkmar Schmidt, Richard Pierce, Betty MacDonald, and other employees of Mobil Oil Corporation.
Everett Glover was 5 foot two and a well-educated oil exploration professional with Mobil Oil in Dallas since 1955. Around 1956, Glover met Michael Paine at his local Unitarian Church. Michael was a mechanical engineer at Bell Helicopter, and he also sang in a madrigal choir with his wife Ruth. Glover and his wife met Michael and Ruth in that musical context, started a friendship, and joined the madrigal choir. Glover’s wife invited them to sing in the Unitarian choir, which they all did. Glover and his wife celebrated with the Paines upon the birth of their daughter Lynn in 1959, and their son Chris in 1961.
GLOVER MEETS THE DE MOHRENSCHILDT FAMILY
Glover admitted that starting in 1956 he often saw Jeanne DM at the Dallas skating rink and he recognized George DM as her skating partner. Yet when asked specifically about knowing the DM’s, he dated their contact in 1962. Let’s review that part of Glover’s WC testimony.
Mr. JENNER. When did you become close with the De Mohrenschildt family?
Mr. GLOVER. I went to a party at a friend’s house one night [in Spring 1962] at Garland, Texas. There I met Sam Ballen. The topic turned to tennis, which we both liked to play, and Ballen said: “How about tomorrow morning?” and I agreed. The next morning, it turned out to be doubles, and the other couple were the De Mohrenschildts.
Glover goes on for many pages with narratives about the DM’s. He learned that George DM was also an oil exploration professional and had been a professor at UT Dallas for a decade. They lived in the same neighborhood, so Glover began playing tennis regularly with the DM’s, and often had beers afterwards, and dinner at their house.
At that time Glover was married and had a teenage son. George DM was married and had two grown children. Glover learned that Jeanne was George’s fourth wife, and that George was Jeanne’s second husband. He learned the names and ages of their children. Glover learned that George had a daughter for whom he still sought custody, and an older brother who was a professor of history at Dartmouth University.
The DM’s told Glover all about their well-publicized walking tour of Mexico, north to south. George loved sharing his home movies of that thousand-mile walk. Glover learned that the DM walking tour through Mexico was more than a pleasure trip since George’s son had recently died of cystic fibrosis and George was depressed about it. George took a sabbatical from his work as UT professor and oil consultant, in order to walk from the northern border of Mexico to the southern border. Athletic Jeanne joined him gladly.
Glover learned that Jeanne worked for a clothes designer in Dallas. He saw Jeanne as a woman with a great desire to help people – and even to dominate people to help them solve their problems. For example, Jeanne at one time tried to give Glover advice on his own family problems, so that he had to put her in her place.
Glover learned that George DM fought with the Polish National Army in World War II, got out in late 1939, and somehow got a degree in petroleum engineering and became a professor in the US Glover summarized George DM’s personality as:
(i) Cynical;
(ii) Bohemian;
(iii) He went where he wanted, did what he wanted, and dressed as he liked;
(iv) He didn’t care much about what others said;
(v) He liked to play tennis, morning, noon, and night;
(vi) He was immature, like a rebellious teenager who never grew up;
(vii) He was always reacting against authority and never settled down;
(viii) He dreamed of traveling the world alone;
(ix) He was quite outspoken, often with unkind language;
(x) He was rough and overbold with people.
(xi) He was a braggart who would exaggerate his accomplishments.
(xii) He was obsessed with women; he talked about them as they walked by and he honked his horn at them as he drove by.
(xiii) He behaved aggressively toward females.
(xiv) He didn’t show clearly where he stood in his political opinions.
(xv) He criticized JFK’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis; claiming nuclear war risk.
(xvi) He defended Fidel Castro as a little guy who couldn’t be much trouble.
(xvii) He objected when the US newspapers portrayed Khrushchev as a pig.
(xviii) He agreed with Glover that Khrushchev was more liberal than his predecessors.
(xix) He agreed with Glover that the Commie Party in Russia wasn’t going to last long.
Glover observed that the DMs were “very much against religion;” that they didn’t “think very much of organized religion at all.”
Volkmar Schmidt (a German national) was another of Glover’s chums at Mobil Oil. Glover introduced Volkmar to George DM in 1961, and the two became friends for life.
GLOVER MEETS MARINA OSWALD
Glover’s interaction with LHO and Marina Oswald started in late 1962 when Glover met Marina at the home of George and Jeanne DM. As Glover testified:
Mr. JENNER. Did you, during your time here in Dallas, become acquainted with Marina and LHO?
Mr. GLOVER. …Marina came to the De Mohrenschildts several times. The first time I met her and subsequent times, she was also there.
Before Glover met Marina, he explained, the DM’s had told him about LHO, Marina and their situation – that LHO had defected to Russia, started a family with Marina, decided to return to the US with his new family, and was having trouble finding a steady job there in Fort Worth. Also, the DM’s told Glover that the Oswalds had been fighting quite a bit.
Mr. JENNER. You remember that distinctly?
Mr. GLOVER. Yes; I remember that very distinctly, because they were trying to find a place for Marina to stay…She had a baby. And seeking a place for her to stay where she could just get a living…
Mr. JENNER. Your recollection is that either George or Jeanne called you and asked you to come over to their home to meet Marina?
Mr. GLOVER. Yes; I am quite sure that he invited me to come over there, because that was usually the way. They were always inviting me to come over.
Mr. JENNER. Anything said that evening indicating how she had reached the De Mohrenschildt’s home?
Mr. GLOVER. The bus…I had the impression that she was living in Fort Worth at the time…because…I volunteered, since I had a car, to take her down to the bus station with the De Mohrenschildts…on her way back to Fort Worth. And the bus wasn’t leaving right away, and there was a long wait, so we took her over to Fort Worth.
Glover had the impression that Marina and LHO had separated after this period, when Jeanne arranged for various local Russian families to take Marina in for a few days at a time. This was precisely the life situation of LHO and Marina in September 1962.
Marina would come and stay at the DM home, and if Glover and George came in from playing tennis, Marina was often there. This happened a number of times. Glover reports that Jeanne DM was always trying to help people with their problems. George DM was much less interested in such charity, but he went along with Jeanne. Because Marina could speak no English and Glover could speak no Russian, they never spoke – but Glover’s first impression was that Marina was an innocent person caught up in a stressful situation.
So, Glover met Marina Oswald at the DM home in late 1962 on “several occasions,” at first always alone, without Lee. Sometimes she left before dinner, and sometimes she stayed as late as 9pm.
GLOVER MEETS LEE HARVEY OSWALD
The first time that Glover met LHO was also at the DM home – at a formal party – perhaps in early February 1963. George and Jeanne had invited several close friends over to meet the Oswalds – including Glover and Volkmar. (George would not be introduced to Michael or Ruth Paine until 1968). George’s close friends were mainly older Russian expatriates and oil professionals.
Glover could not recall the names of most of the guests. Volkmar Schmidt was invited, but Glover’s other roommate, Pierce, and his close friend Fredricksen were not invited, nor were their other Mobil Oil co-workers.
Glover saw that the Oswalds were poorly attired compared with the other guests. Marina seemed a quiet young girl with a baby over on the bed sofa. She seemed to always have her baby with her. This evening several people talked with LHO. Glover talked only a little. Volkmar Schmidt talked with LHO “considerably,” he recalled.
Glover regarded LHO’s case as bizarre, but he presumed that the FBI would constantly watch anybody who had defected to Russia and returned to the US. Also, George DM had said that some Russians wanted nothing to do with the Oswalds because they might be Red spies. So, George assured them that he had already asked the FBI about LHO in Fort Worth – and the FBI said LHO was “harmless.” Glover remembered this.
Glover’s first impressions of LHO were formed at this party thrown by George, as he watched other people converse with LHO. Glover saw LHO as someone with a lowly background – poor in material, educational, and spiritual possessions – a young man who was dissatisfied with everything. LHO didn’t like America in 1959. He didn’t like Russia in 1962. He didn’t like America in 1963. LHO didn’t fit in with any social or political group and he didn’t even get along with his wife (according to the DM’s). LHO was a maladjusted “ne’er-do-well.”
Well, that in itself was no crime.
EVERETT GLOVER’S NOTORIOUS DINNER PARTY
Only a week or so later, Glover would organize his own party at his own home, to occur on the evening of February 22, 1963. He organized it for his co-workers at Mobil Oil, and their guests. This was to be the second and final time that Glover would see LHO.
It happened like this. After the DM party, Glover spoke with Volkmar Schmidt and Richard Pierce about LHO. Glover asked Pierce if he would like to meet LHO, because the bizarre story was so interesting. Also, Jeanne had confided that Marina needed more society, as LHO objected to her learning English.
Also, Ruth Paine in late 1962 had mentioned to Glover that she planned to teach a course in Russian language at St. Mark’s School, and wanted to brush up on her Russian conversational skills. Glover had known the Paines for years, so he knew that they had never met the Oswalds before. So, Glover told Ruth about his planned party. The Oswalds were poor, he told her, and LHO was a malcontent. But Marina Oswald was a native Russian speaker and she might be interesting for conversation. Ruth and Michael accepted the invitation.
Glover asked George DM for the Oswalds’ contact info. They lived in Dallas, now, on Elsbeth Street, but had no telephone. George gave Glover the phone number of the company where LHO worked (Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall), so Glover called there and invited LHO to this gathering to meet some new people. LHO agreed. Glover would give the Oswalds their ride to the party.
Richard Pierce invited their co-worker, Betty MacDonald. Ruth Paine came, and Glover felt certain that Michael Paine also came. Norm Fredricksen from Mobil Oil was another avid student of Russian language, and he also wanted to speak Russian with the Oswalds. Norm brought his wife. The DM's did not come in at the beginning of the evening, but they came around 9 PM and stayed a short while – perhaps only long enough to show the home movie of their Mexico walk.
This group, like the one at the DM’s home, also interviewed LHO at length. He liked the attention. The discourse was largely about Russia and US politics. Glover’s overall impression was that LHO was a Marxist in theory, who didn’t like what he saw in Russia; so he came back, but apparently he was still unhappy.
LHO did not, as some hoped, express any repentance for defecting to Russia. LHO volunteered no information, but preferred to receive questions from the guests, and answer them with a guarded and mysterious mannerism.
Glover said that most of the questions were about daily life in Russia, for example, about LHO’s job at a factory, and about Marina treated poorly after she married him. LHO described his Minsk apartment with Cubans living in a nearby apartment house, getting indoctrination, education, and privileges from the Minsk authorities. Yet LHO didn’t mention any specific contact with them, or anything specific about liking or not liking the Cubans or Castro.
Volkmar stepped up with the most questions. He challenged LHO’s criticism of JFK and the Bay of Pigs, by citing somebody even worse – the resigned General Edwin Walker who lived down the street from George and Glover. General Walker had recently been acquitted by a Mississippi Grand Jury for his role in the Ole Miss riots of October 1962. Volkmar worked for more than an hour to convince LHO that Walker was a fascist “like Hitler.”
Ruth spent most of her time in a bedroom with Marina, Jeanne, and baby June, speaking Russian.
Glover’s guests pressed LHO about his political views. He had been in Russia. He didn’t think much of it. He didn’t think much of the US system, but he didn’t have many details. When pressed that way, LHO had no real answers, but mainly stayed on the defensive with words like, “I have Marxist ideals but I haven’t found my ideal anywhere.”
Glover’s impression about why LHO didn’t want Marina to learn English was simply his desire to control her. Glover regarded this as all too common, that between a man and wife, one of the two will be the dominating person. Glover remembered his first encounter of Marina at the DM’s home, when Marina wanted a place away from LHO. But now she was apparently reunited with him, quiet and demure.
Glover saw nothing suspicious or dangerous about LHO, who was well behaved at the only two gatherings where Glover had observed him. LHO was defensive, but he seemed to have a steady job and at least that much stability. Though Glover got an overall impression of a maladjusted, immature, ne’er-do-well who didn’t really know what he wanted, LHO did not seem at all desperate or violent at the time.
LHO fled from situation to situation with no clear plan, yet he was well behaved that night; clearly flattered by all the attention – enjoying all these questions from a group of well-to-do engineers. LHO never criticized the US too sharply. He said nothing about any specific political group that he supported. He gave no impression of violence – beyond the feeble act of beating his wife – gossip that the DM’s had shared with Glover.
MARINA, THE RECORD PLAYER, AND THE RECORDS
Though Glover never saw LHO again, he did see Marina again once. It was slightly before the time that the DM’s departed for Haiti, around early May 1963. Here’s how it happened.
Glover had a record player that the DM’s had loaned him a long time ago. Now the DM’s asked Glover to loan that record player to Marina. One evening in early March 1963, when Glover and Pierce were on their way to visit a co-worker for dinner, they drove to the Oswald’s Elsbeth address to deliver it. Glover had picked them up there for his party – and he was unaware that the Oswalds had recently moved walking distance over to a Neely Street apartment.
By coincidence, just as they approached the Elsbeth apartment complex, Marina was wheeling her baby from Elsbeth Street to Neely Street. Glover pulled over. Jeanne had apparently told Marina to expect the record player, so Marina pointed to a small quadraplex on Neely Street where she was headed, and Glover drove there and waited for her. Glover then asked her if LHO was home because the record player’s arm was slightly damaged, and he wanted to explain this to LHO. But LHO wasn’t there at the time. So, Glover handed the record player over to Marina – and that was the last time that Glover ever saw Marina Oswald.
The Paines talked to Glover about the Oswalds after that time, however. In early May 1963 they called Glover and said that Marina had left that record player at their house as she had moved to New Orleans to join LHO there. LHO had lost his job at JCS and moved there some weeks ago, and Marina had been living with Ruth for two weeks but had just moved to New Orleans as well. At that point, Michael Paine delivered the record player back to Glover.
The last time that Glover saw George DM was in May 1963, when George left for Haiti. George gave Glover lots of furniture, he gave Glover the key to his storeroom, and then Glover moved into George’s old home. Soon before George departed for Haiti, he came to the storeroom to have some of his furniture shipped to Haiti. That was the last that Glover saw George, although George sent him letters from Haiti about his oil industry work there. Glover forgot how many times that he replied to George.
In late September, 1963, Glover got another call from the Paines about English records that the DM’s had loaned to Marina – records for Russians learning English. The Paines asked what to do with them. Glover told Michael to bring them to the DM’s storeroom, and he would store them. Michael Paine brought the records over to Glover, visited briefly and told him the news – Marina was again back with Ruth, as LHO had lost his job in New Orleans, and was in the process of moving back to Dallas.
That was the last that Glover had heard about the Oswalds until the JFK Assassination. Shocked by the disturbing news about how somebody that he had invited into his home had been involved in one of the most monstrous acts of US history – and that the DM’s had foolishly drawn Glover into that circle – Glover made plans to move away from Dallas as soon as possible.
That briefly summarizes the WC testimony of Everett D. Glover. In coming weeks we’ll analyze various problems and questions with this testimony.
Regards,
--Paul
Copyright (c) 2021 by Paul Trejo. All Rights Reserved.