Did Eugene Dinkin Try to Stop the JFK Assassination?

The Yipster Times, January - February 1977

Private First Class Eugene Dinkin was a crypto operator stationed in Germany. In the fall of 1963, he started reviewing the Stars and Stripes newspaper and became convinced that there were subliminal messages pointing to the assassination of JFK. He tried to warn people that JFK would be killed on Thanksgiving Day in November 1963, but ended up being sent to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington for psychiatric treatment.

Dinkin's story was told by Dick Russell in his book The Man Who Knew Too Much (see pages 552 - 557 in the first edition), and James DiEugenio has published three articles about Dinkin on his website.

So, let's dive in and take a deep look at the Dinkin story. Let's have a look at what was being said in 1963 - 1964.

The FBI interviewed Dinkin in April 1964, and he told them the nature and genesis of his suspicions:

Note that Dinkin's suspicions were not related to any work in cryptography. Dinkin had taken courses in psychology in college and he felt he that could interpret the subliminal messages that he believed were embedded in the Stars and Stripes newspaper and in certain Hearst newspapers.

Dinkin did not go to his superiors with this information although he did discuss it with some of his military friends:

Dinkin believed that the assassination would take place on Thanksgiving Day -- that was the "semi-religious occasion" mentioned above. He also claimed that he sent a letter to Robert Kennedy on October 16, 1963, warning him of the plot.

Dinkin told the FBI he was already in trouble with the military because he was refusing to buy U.S. bonds:

Dinkin was then transferred:

That poor Marine who had to listen to Dinkin and his theories. Dinkin said he was then told to undergo psychiatric evaluation on November 5, 1963, but instead he went AWOL -- traveling to Switzerland using a "false army identification card with forged travel orders":

Here is a teletype that the CIA sent to the White House, the Secret Service, the State Department and the FBI on November 29, 1963:

I'm not surprised that the reporter did not really believe Dinkin.

When Dinkin returned from his trip to Geneva, he was held in detention, and then he claimed his papers were then stolen:

I don't know why they would take Dinkin's "proofs" since they all came from public sources. Dinkin could reassemble his so-called evidence.

In a later post, you will see Dinkin's proofs.

Dinkins underwent psychiatric evaluation in November 1963 which resulted in a recommendation that he be discharged from the military.

He was then admitted to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington on December 5, 1963:

Here is how Dinkin described the psychiatric examinations:

Even Dinkin realized that his claims were crazy:

Dinkin "stated he was well aware that his theory and the facts surrounding his attempts to bring his theory to the proper authorities was extremely "wild" and could be construed by a person untrained in psychology to be 'crazy.'"

While Dinkin was at Walter Reed Hospital his mother wrote to Attorney General Robert Kennedy:

Mrs. Dinkin writes that her son was initially taken for a psych evaluation because of the bond issue:

Eugene was sent to Landstahl Hospital in Germany for a psycho-evaluation because he refused to take a Bond after having read [the] book ("Living Bill of Rights") which was sent to him by Justice W. O. Douglas") He wrote to the Overseas Weekly and afterwards lost his crypto security clearance. While enroute to Landstahl, Col. Dickson and Lt. Col. Black came into the orderly room of his company and phoned Psychiatrist Col. Hutson and gave him a direct order to find him psychologically unfit to handle security information, and to write a Paranoic evaluation. He claims this to be a frame up.

Then Mrs. Dinkin writes that "several weeks later through his data, he became convinced that Pres. Kennedy would be assassinated in the month of November -- most likely Nov. 28th, 1963."

So, Dinkin's psychological problems were being examined before he brought up his theories on the assassination.

Herbert Miller, the Assistant Attorney General, forwarded her letter to the Secretary of the Army:

And he also wrote back to Mrs. Dinkin:

The Army replied to Mrs. Dinkin:

I do not know if Army personnel were pressured to buy bonds, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Mrs. Dinkin also wrote to Senator Everett Dirksen, and here is the Army's response to her letter: (I don't have a copy of Mrs. Dinkin's letter but it must have been similar to the one above).

Lippincott says that Dinkin was a "crypto operator" He was probably operating some the cryptography machines, and you can see here that a crypto operator was a relatively low-level job.

Overseas Weekly was a tabloid newspaper that was initially banned at military bases. I guess the Army was not happy that Dinkin wrote them a letter for publication. That resulted in his transfer to duties that did not need a security clearance.

Dinkin had his first psych examination in September. It's interesting that he described the Stars and Stripes as a "right wing nazi scum paper." And you can also see an example of his supposed ability to decode images:

His specific references included two headlines pertaining to President Kennedy, between which appeared a picture of Mr. Gromyko, thus allegedly typing together President Kennedy and communism.

Dinkins was definitely upset over the issues of buying bonds:

So, Dinkin might have had several articles published in Overseas Weekly.

And here is a clue as to how his fellow Marines felt about him:

The last line reads: "All with whom subj talked assessed him as crackpot."

The FBI report on the interview was forwarded to the Warren Commission:

I'm not surprised that the Warren Commission did not ask Dinkin to testify, just as they did not ask psychic Jeane Dixon to testify. After all, she predicted the JFK assassination in 1956, no?

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Mary 13, 1956

Coming Up: Eugene Dinkin, Part Two -- Jim Garrison Gets Interested.