New LGF reader David Mehl has another interesting observation about the forged CBS Killian memos, that has nothing to do with fonts or computers. He sent an email to typography expert Joseph M. Newcomer, and gave me permission to publish it here:

Joseph (Flounder),

Thanks for your clear analysis of CBS’s so-called Bush memos. I’ve recreated them in Word, as you suggested. and the ease of doing so was surprising. It is easy to see that these documents have to be modern. Just for the fun of it, I also tried changing the font on my versions of the memos to see the effect. As you would expect, the word wraps and vertical letter alignments become impossible to recreate.That may be an easy way to show someone what happens when the font changes, and help them understand that the memo’s are typed in MS’s TrueType font.

However, I also wanted to point out a couple of thing that seem to be missing in the “Bush Memos” to add to your already extensive analysis. Having been around from the days of typewriters (and long enough to laugh at your 8.0 MHz turbot joke) I noticed that something else seemed to be wrong with CBS’s “Bush memos”. Something was missing that no typist worth her salt would ever leave off.

First, where was no little string of upper and lower case letters down at the bottom of almost every typed letter and memo that I’ve ever seen? I checked my old files, and those old typewritten letters from the bosses always have a “PDQ/dcm” or “XYZ:abc” down at the bottom. Even my copies of letters typed in the typing pool, have a “DCM:abc” at the bottom. In case you don’t remember, the upper case letters were the initials of the author while the lower case initials would be the typist’s initials. In a typing pool, the initials let the boss find who had done the work, while a personal secretary got to sign her work at the bottom.

Think about it. How else could Killian’s typist/secretary KNOW that she did not type these 30 year old memos with just a glance at the copies? She certainly cannot remember every single page that she ever typed. But must have noticed that those initials are not at the bottom of the page, and know that she always put those initials down there.

The only time that typed letters and memo’s don’t have initials was when the author typed it. And I understand that Jerry Killian was a poor typist, and could not have produced these memo’s by himself. Finally, why would a boss ever have access to a fancy, adjustable font, typewriter. Only an experienced and trained typist, who could make good use of an expensive machine, would ever be allowed to touch it.

Another thing is also missing, at least on the first memo addressed to Bush. Where is the notation about “cc: file” that would describe the distribution of the Carbon Copies to file and any one else who got a copy. No typist would type two copies of a letter one at a time. Up until the time of copy machines, she would always make one or two carbon copies, and note the expected distribution of them at the bottom of the memo/letter.

Even though copy machines really started showing up in the 70’s, this style of cc notation at the bottom of the page continued until the typing pools were ended in the mid- 90’s. Only when new typist, who had never used carbon paper or typewriters, started typing documents on computers did we all stop using the CC notation at the bottom of the page. Now most people have forgotten what CC and BCC (blind carbon copy) really mean, even if they still use the notation when they address emails. ;-)

That said, if there was is no CC (or BCC) notation at the bottom of the first CBS memo, addressed directly to Bush, then there should NOT be a copy of it. The typist used this notation to tell the author what was going to happen to any copies of the letter. If there was not CC or BCC, then there should never be a copy, just an original. With no CC at the bottom then the “copy” that CBS has would have to be from that original, and I very much doubt that could be the case.

I know these issues are not as conclusive as your extensive type font analysis. Yes, maybe the TxNG did not put initials at the bottom of memos. Maybe they did not use CC and BCC notation. But that should be easy enough to check if we had access to the Unit’s files. These issues are another, potential, straw on CBS’s back.

David Mehl