Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald by Judyth Vary Baker
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Judyth Vary Baker and The Lie Heard Round the World
A couple of years ago I was doing research for my current book, “View From the Sixth Floor: An Oswald Tale”. It is a work of fiction but I wanted to use some facts to move the story forward. As part of my research I came across a book called “Me and Lee: How I Came to Know, Love, and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald” by Judyth Vary Baker. In spite of the garish cover I opted to give it a read because you never know what you will find when you do research.
By the time I finished that first reading I felt so much sympathy for this woman, no longer a young girl in love but an old woman who had lost the love of her life and had nothing but her memories. I researched her and found varying opinions on the veracity of her tale. This did not surprise me since many researchers and writers have experienced this. After all the assassination of President John F Kennedy is perhaps the biggest unsolved murder in the history of the United States if not the world. I continued reading books both pro and con regarding Lee Oswald’s guilt or innocence in the assassination. I developed my own opinions. I do not believe he was the shooter nor do I believe he knew the assassination was going to take place that day. I suspect he was led to believe something else was going to believe something else was going to happen that might trigger a strike at Cuba thus giving the US military the ability to claim retaliation.
However that is not the point of this review. Back to the book in question “Me and Lee”. I chose to re-read a couple of the books and one of them was Ms Baker’s. As I read these books I would refer to other books covering the same time periods and the memories of other individuals. I also re-read comments and research done by theorists. The more I read the more I became convinced Ms Baker’s book is based on nothing more than the fact she worked at the Reilly Coffee Company in New Orleans during the same brief period Oswald was employed there. The evidence she provides is no more than her words repeated by others. I originally “friended” her on Facebook offering her assistance in finding places to speak on her next tour of the US (this past fall). We developed something of a friendship in private messages which I have kept. This past week I did admit I don’t believe her story and was instantly set upon by her rabid followers. Ms Baker then proceeded to deny we had ever been friends on Facebook, and stated she did not think I had even read her book. This in spite of the fact she provided me a free pre order copy of her book about David Ferrie! I have now been identified as what she and her minions like to call “trolls”, a term reserved for those who express disbelief or disagreement with her story.
Her ability to weave a creative story lacks believability making it even a poor fiction. The book seems more of a self touting tool regarding her high school days as a young science student interested in cancer research. It would have been nice if she stuck to that route. She might have made a positive impact in healthcare. But like many young students she may only have had a flash in the pan idea and went on to marry and have children. I don’t doubt her intelligence. It takes a smart woman to come up with the far-fetched idea she has sold thousands on. But smarter people than she have seen the holes in her story and called her out on them. My own research found she has changed her story more than once usually blaming the changes on others. She claims to live abroad because she is in fear for her life. It amazes me that a group of people who managed to plan and execute the assassination over fifty years ago could not in the ensuing years have managed to remove an unknown and significantly less important person.
If you like a poorly written but amusing fiction about the man accused of assassinating our 35th president you can find better. If you have some empty time on your hands you might be able to get a free copy somewhere. Don’t waste your money on this book. There are far better and more accurate accounts of the events surrounding the assassination and Oswald’s possible involvement.

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