truth-versus-lies/notes-intro-2e.md

NOTES TO INTRODUCTION

1. (Hp) Daily Oklahoman, June 12, 1995.

2. Envelope X; see the three sheets marked with a green letter A at the top.

3. I am considering here only (Qb) Written Investigator Reports. I am leaving out of consideration (Kb) Lincoln Interviews, of which I have made very little use in this book, and which I have not taken the trouble to tabulate; except to the extent that some of the Lincoln interviews also occur among the Written Investigator Reports.

   I am considering here only the Written Investigator Reports that I have received as of March 6, 1998. If I receive more such reports later, I will not bother to change the tabulation.

4. To experimental psychologists, "long-term" memory means any memory spanning more than thirty seconds. But here I use the expression "long-term" to indicate memories of events that have occurred years or decades in the past.

   I have often been surprised to find that other people have failed to remember things that I remember quite clearly. Here is an example:

   When I took German R at Harvard I sat next to a student named Kostinski. We had similar last names and we were the two best students in the class; he was best and I was second-best. Nine or ten years later when I was at Berkeley, in a building that contained the offices of some of the math department's junior faculty and graduate students, I encountered Kostinski, who was pacing back and forth absorbed in thought. I accosted him, saying, "Weren't you in German R at Harvard?" He looked at me blankly. "German R...?" To prod his memory I mentioned the instructor's name. "Miss Dreimanis." Kostinski broke into a broad smile and exclaimed, "Oh! Were you in that class?" I chatted with him for a few minutes, and he told me that he was a graduate student in the math department and was working on his doctoral dissertation. "I thought you were pre-med," I said. He answered, "I was, but I switched to math." Thus I correctly recalled Kostinski's name, his face, and the career he'd planned at the time I knew him, while he did not remember me at all, nor did he remember the designation of Miss Dreimanis's course (German R).

   I am relying on memory for this thirty-year-old anecdote, but any reader who is sufficiently interested can check it out. It shouldn't be very difficult to determine whether the Berkeley math department in 1967, 1968, or 1969 had a graduate student named Kostinski who had taken German R at Harvard in the fall of 1958 and got an A in it.

5. Investigators #2 and #6 told me this at least three times during 1996 and early 1997. In the fall of 1997 I asked for confirmation and received it orally (Qa). Oral Report From Investigator #2, November 10, 1997 reads: "My long-term memory is unusually accurate - confirmed by

Investigator #2

asked Investigator #2 for written confirmation and he/she gave me the following:

"Ted appears to have a good long term memory. Many people who have been interviewed have concurred with Ted's recollection of certain events. For example, Ted recalled that in college he had a classmate X____Y____, who rocked back and forth and Prof. Y____ confirmed this account. [Actually I remembered only the first name of this classmate; I'm not sure I ever knew his last name.] Ted has been able to recall names of teachers and people he knew from over thirty years ago as well as addresses, dates of birth and literature from childhood. [I don't know what dates of birth or literature Investigator #2 is referring to.] He has also recalled floor plans of residences and accurate maps of campuses that he hasn't been at in over thirty years ['accurate maps of campuses' should be deleted]." (Qc) Written Reports by Investigator #2, p.2.

I pointed out to Investigator #2 that "Ted appears to

have a good long term memory" was a considerably weaker statement than the ones he/she had earlier given me orally. Investigator #2 agreed, said that the earlier, stronger statements were correct, and changed his/her written report to read: "Ted has a remarkably good long term memory. ..." (Qc) Written Reports by Investigator #2, p.2.

6. (Ca) FL#423, letter from me to my mother, January 15, 1991, pp. 6,7: "What I especially hope you haven't thrown out is some old letters of mine. ... I'm interested in the accuracy of long-term memory. ... So I'd appreciate it if you could send me either the letters, or photocopies of them... . If it is not convenient for you to crawl up in the attic to rummage around for the letters, then of course you need not do so." (Ca) FL#424, letter from my mother to me, late January, 1991: "I'm too short and stiff to be able to climb safely into the attic... . However, I did find a box full of letters from you in your foot locker. ... I'll send you the box full... ."

   My mother did send me these letters, which comprised almost all of the letters from me that she'd saved from about 1968 through the 1980's, but I never even got around to glancing at them before my arrest. Later, when I was in jail, I was given copies of these letters as well as the older letters (1957-1968) that had been stored in the attic, and other letters written by or to members of my family.

   It is because the past is important to me that I have been interested in the accuracy of long-term memory.

7. (Fc) School Records of TJK, Harvard, p.81.

8. Same, pp. 37, 38.

9. "Ren" is meant as an abbreviation for "Renaissance thought and literature."

10. "hum gen" is an abbreviation for "human genetics."

11. "Eng intel hist" is an abbreviation for "English intellectual history."

12. I can think of two exceptions. For one thing, I remembered incorrectly where my mother got her bachelor's degree. For another thing, my investigators mentioned to me that someone had talked about my carrying a briefcase in high school. I answered that I had carried a briefcase in eighth grade, but not in high school. The investigators then pointed out that in 1979 I still remembered carrying a briefcase in high school, since I recorded in my autobiography an incident involving a briefcase. Autobiog of TJK 1979, p. 28. Since I clearly remembered the briefcase in 1979, I agreed that they were right. Thinking the matter over later, I thought I remembered it as a result of having been needled for carrying a briefcase in eighth grade I had decided not to use one in high school, and did not use one in my freshman and my sophomore years, but went back to carrying a briefcase in my third and last year of high school. Since I recalled that the briefcase incident had happened in American History class, I concluded that I must have had that class in my last-year of high school. I then checked my high school record and found that this was correct. (Fb) School Records of TJK, E.P. High School.

13. I remembered the name of Joel S.'s sister as Gloria, but Joel S. told my investigators that her sister's name was Diane. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #124, Joel S., p.2.

    More significantly, when I wrote my autobiographical notes in 1979, I remembered that my mother had given my address to the daughter of a couple who were friends of my parents because she thought that the young lady and I had common interests and she hoped we would get together. This would have made no sense unless the young lady was living in or near Ann Arbor, where I was at the time; but she told my investigators that she had never lived in Ann Arbor. So it seems that my memory of what my mother wrote me was wrong. (Unless it was my mother who got the facts garbled, which is possible.) See (Ac) Autobiog of TJK 1979, p. 150.

14. For an example see (Ad) Autobiog of TJK 1988 (corrected version), pp. 13, 14.

15. (Qc) Written Reports by Investigator #2, p.5.

16. For example, in (Qb) Written Investigator Reports #34, 47, 59, 60, 82, 85, 124, 146, 154, 161, among others.

17. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #154, Leroy Weinberg, p.2.

18. When I was a teenager, my mother told me that old Mrs. Butcher, who lived next door to the V.'s, had said to her that I was such a nice boy, because I always returned her greeting when I passed her, whereas Norma Jean V. often failed to return her greeting and walked on by without looking at her.

19. (Qb) Written Investigator Report, #47, Dr. L.Hz.

20. (Kb) Lincoln Interviews, p. 18. I remember a good deal of what I talked about with R.Cb. and Dr. L.Hz. On one occasion the patient who preceded me left in a bad mood, and, because R.Cb. had a suspicion that this man might be a wife-beater, she phoned his wife and warned her that her husband was coming home upset. That got us onto the subject of domestic abuse. I mentioned that some studies had found that there was about as much physical abuse of husbands by wives as vice versa. Dr. L.Hz. answered that the wives probably didn't do much damage because they weren't strong enough. "I've had women pound on me," he said, "and it didn't bother me." I replied, "Some women are strong enough to hit hard." R.Cb. agreed, and mentioned a local woman who had knocked some man down. I said that some time earlier I had read an article in a news magazine (probably Time) about domestic abuse. I mentioned that the article had taken the same position as Dr. L.Hz.: Because women were smaller they probably didn't do much damage. But, I continued, in the next issue of the same magazine there was a letter from an emergency-room doctor who said that in his experience women often did plenty of damage, because they were more likely than men to use weapons; he mentioned husbands who had been slashed with an axe or scalded with boiling water. As the conversation continued I asked R.Cb. and Dr. L.Hz., "Why do they [the abused women] marry jerks like that?" R.Cb. and Dr. L.Hz. answered, "Low self-esteem; maybe their fathers abused them and they think that's a normal relationship...[etc.]." Either R.Cb. or Dr. L.Hz. mentioned something about a television program on the subject.

    On other occasions Dr. LHz. and I talked about the soluble compounds of gold, about gypsum, plaster of Paris, and Portland cement, and other subjects, and I could go on and on recounting the details of these conversations, but I think I've said enough to show that Dr. L.Hz's claim that I was so quiet as to seem odd is ludicrous.

21. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #34, Dale Eickelman, pp. 4,5. It is my sophomore year in college, not high school, that is referred to, since Professor Eickelman correctly states that I visited his home during the summer following my freshman year at Harvard.

22. The eight are Larry S., Bob C., Barbara B., Jerry U., Bob Pe., Tom Kn., G.Da., Terry L. Six of these eight friendships are documented, but four are documented only by my own autobiographies. Two have been confirmed independently (Bob Pe. by Bob Pe. himself, Tom Kn. by Tom Kn.'s mother). For references see Chapter III, pp. 79, 87, 88, and associated footnotes. Of the other friends, my investigators spoke only to one: G.Da., who neither confirmed nor denied that I was good friends with him. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #28, G.Da. Actually I was close to G.Da. only during one school year. With Jerry U. I was friends from seventh or eighth grade through the summer following my first year at Harvard; with the others I was friends for shorter periods. Jerry U., Bob Pe., and Tom Kn. visited my home, and I visited their homes, on multiple occasions. I visited the homes of Bob C., G.Da., and Terry L. on various occasions, but I don't clearly remember that any of them visited my home. I took two extended excursions with Bob C. In a letter written in 1958, my mother confirmed that I had several friends: (Fc) School Records of TJK, Harvard, p. 18.

23. One reason why Eickelman never encountered any friends at my house and why I never brought any friends to his house was that I never much liked him. In fact, I thought he was somewhat of a creep: (Ac) Autobiog of TJK [text unknown] intended to spend time with him only when he thrust himself on me [text unknown] think of nothing better to do. Thus, if I had had a friend with me, and if Eickelman had phoned to suggest that we get together, I probably would have put him off with some excuse. (Since our homes were so far apart, Eickelman and I generally phoned before visiting one another.)

    In his interview with my investigators, (Qb) Written Investigator Report #34, p.2, Professor Eickelman related a particularly grotesque anecdote about me. Since he may have related the same anecdote to the FBI, and since the Justice Department has a habit of leaking things about my case, I had better take this opportunity to state that the anecdote is false. Anyone who knows my mother at all well knows that I would never have dared to do such a thing in her presence. If I had done it she would have been horrified beyond all description; when we got home I would have received a vicious tongue-lashing and I wouldn't have heard the end of it for months afterward.

    Professor Eickelman's memory is playing some trick on him here. He is perhaps recalling something that either he or I did not in my mother's presence but under very private circumstances. I could give a plausible explanation for this recollection of Professor Eickelman's, but I will refrain from doing so because I am not anxious to reveal information that would cause embarrassment both to me and to Professor Eickelman.

24. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #157, G. and D.W., p.4.

25. (Ba) Journals of TJK, Series III #5, March 26, 1975, pp. 32-36.

26. (Ca) FL #154, letter from me to my parents, late March, 1975, pp. 2,3. Both in this letter and in the journal entry it is mentioned that Pinkston talked to me about the KGB in a low tone, so that G.Wi. couldn't hear. However, as we were driving back down off the mountain I told G.Wi. about what Pinkston had said to me. Moreover, the next spring (1975), G.Wi. met Pinkston up on the mountain again, and later told me that Pinkston was a nice, helpful fellow, "but he did talk a little bit about the KGB." It was on this second meeting that G.Wi. learned Pinkston's name. Some time later he told me that Pinkston had died. I understand that Larry Davis, the local game warden for the Lincoln area at the time, had been bringing groceries up to Pinkston, and it's possible he may be able to confirm some of this information.

27. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #87, Russell Mosny 1996, p.1.

28. (Ac) Autobiog of TJK 1979, p. 25.

29. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #30, L.D., p.2.

30. (Ac) Autobiog of TJK 1979, p.21.

31. (Da) Ralph Meister's Declaration, p. 2, paragraph 7.

32. Same, pp. 2,3, paragraphs 8-10.

33. For example, (Qb) Written Investigator Reports #6, K.B., p.1; #134, Lois Skillen, p.8; #152, E. Wr., p.3. Also see Note 57.

34. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #151, Chris Waits. (Hj) Blackfoot Valley Dispatch, January 29, 1998, February 5(?), 1998, February 12, 1998.

35. (Qb) Written Investigator Reports.

36. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #79, Patrick McIntosh, p.1.

37. Same, p.5.

38. Same, p.6.

39. Same, p.8.

40. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #77, John Masters, p.1.

41. Same, p.3.

42. Same, pp. 3, 4.

43. Same, p.5.

44. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #98, W.Pr., pp. 4, 5.

45. Same, p.5.

46. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #28, G.Da., p.4.

47. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #104, Roger Podewell, p.3.

48. Jeanne En. lists these as the usual participants. See (Qb) Written Investigator Report #33, K.H. and Jeanne En., p.13. Dale Es. lists the usual participants as himself, my brother, my parents, David and Shirley Hbr. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #32, Dale Es., p.7. I had never heard of David and Shirley Hbr. until I read this report. At the one colloquium I attended, the participants were those I've listed.

49. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #32, Dale Es., pp. 7,8.

50. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #33, K.H. and Jeanne En., pp. 14, 15.

51. Same, p.10.

52. (Ca) FL #293, letter from David Kaczynski to me, October 1 or 2, 1984.

    In reference to the attitudes that my brother and the En.'s held toward me at the time of Dan's suicide, it may be worthwhile to quote also another letter of my brother's. At some point during 1984, knowing that my brother was going to visit K.H. and Jeanne, I sent him in care of them three cartoons that I had drawn, with some humorous commentary in Spanish. In reply Dave wrote me (Ca) FL #289, Summer, 1984, pp. 2-4:

    "I ended up having to translate your long letter...

It was

on us in the process. I gathered that in your historiography of boasts there was somewhat of a serious message as well. Your humor is so inventive and so highly original that I never cease to marvel at it, while at the same time finding it a pity that it's restricted to such a small audience. You asked me once whether K.H. and Jeanne are in any way capable of being offended by coarse humor. Now I can tell you that [K.H.] enjoyed the two cartoons which might have been considered coarse immensely, whereas Jeanne's reaction seemed rather complicated. ... [S]he pointed out some very artful touches in your cartoons. And I found myself very much in agreement with her. Have you ever thought of trying to sell your cartoons to magazines? ... I honestly and I believe without [text unknown] cartoons on the average the most interesting I've ever seen."

This does not contradict in any specific way what K.H.

and Jeanne told the investigators about me, but it doesn't comport very well with the image of me that they conveyed.

53. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #33, K.H. and Jeanne En., pp. 7-10.

54. (Ca) FL #304, letter from me to David Kaczynski, late spring or summer of 1985, p.1: "I was amused by the Mexican comic book. (But you should have included a critical analysis by [K.H. En.] explaining the hidden philosophical messages.)"

    (Ca) FL #220, letter from me to David Kaczynski, August 28, 1979, p.2:

    "[K.H.] sent me a copy of a 'Red Sonja*' comic book (footnote: *An absurd female hero), asserting that 'to imaginative minds it drips of philosophical lessons.'

    "In reply I sent him [mimicking Nietzsche's style]:

    "'I have no time** to listen to thy teaching, Zarathustra,' said the small man, 'For I must mow my lawn and tend my melons; I have no time to listen to prophecies. I have no time to be an arrow of longing for the farther shore.' (footnote: **[K.H.] wrote that he would read some Nietsche [sic], except that he had no time because he was too busy mowing his lawn, tending [melons; the rest of this footnote is cut off on the Xerox copy that I have.].)

    "'How then,' answered Zarathustra, 'hast thou time to read the book of a naked harlot pretending to be a hero? Knowest thou not that a dark cloud hangs over men and that even now are falling one by one the heavy drops that herald the lighting? What then signify thy lawnmower and thy melons? Verily, thou art become as the last man.' Thus spake Zarathustra. - Nietsche [sic], Zarathustra, part 5." (The footnotes were in the original letter. According to Nietzsche, the "last man" is a despicable and degenerate human type.)

    This is a sample of the way I used to tease K.H. about his comic-book philosophy. I intended the teasing to be gentle and humorous, but it may be that I wounded K.H. without realizing it.

55. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #29, Peter L. Duren, pp. 9,10.

56. (Qb) Written Investigator Reports #28, G.Da., p.2; #55, John Je., pp. 1,2. Ray Janz's story was reported in (Hm) San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 1996; (Hn) Chicago Tribune, April 16, 1996; (Ja) Mad Genius, p. 26. According to all three of these reports, Janz stated that I used a pocket protector.

57. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #32, Dale Es., pp. 1,2.

58. Same, p. 4.

59. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #134, Lois Skillen, pp. 3, 6-8.

60. Professor Eickelman reported to my investigators that Harvard was attempting to recruit him. (Qb) Written Investigator Report #34, Dale Eickelman, p.1.

61. (Hk) Scientific American, May, 1997, pp. 24, 28.