This post looks at #3 on the list of WPR records: the CIA file for EDWARD G TICHBORN. What was Tichborn’s true name and who did he work for? Keep reading, all is revealed in this note!
Back story
Edward G. Tichborn is not a storied figure among JFK assassination researchers, but the name should be familiar to constant readers of this blog. I wrote a post back in 2023 on Tichborn, available here.
For those unable to click on links, or who want the short-short version NOW, Tichborn was the pseudonym of a CIA contract agent whose true name was Henry P. Lopez. Since there are multiple people named Lopez in this story, I’ll continue to call him Tichborn.
Tichborn was a peripheral figure in the assassination story. To understand why he was of interest to investigators, you really should click on the link above, because it’s a long story and I’m not going to copy that whole post here.
The super short version is that Tichborn was supposed to be able to corroborate a claim about Oswald’s relationship with Silvia Duran, the woman who processed Oswald’s (unsuccessful) request for a Cuban visa.
In pursuit of this detail, HSCA investigator Ed Lopez requested Tichborn’s 201 file. CIA provided a four volume file, which Lopez apparently did not go through completely (he was only interested in this one detail). Ultimately, Lopez decided Tichborn was irrelevant to his report.
The request, and Lopez’s persual of the file, was enough to make the file a part of the ARC.
The release of the Tichborn 201
The CIA released the Tichborn file to NARA very reluctantly.
Why? First, it had only the most ephemeral connection to the assassination story. Second, CIA lost track of Tichborn around 1968~69, and were unable to find out how much impact it would have on his life if he were identified as a CIA contract agent. Third, Tichborn did some very interesting things for CIA in the 9 years he was on contract, and CIA didn’t want to release the details.
The first volume of the Tichborn file, the one HSCA investigators mentioned in their report, was released in 1994 in a very “sanitized” form, with both his true name Lopez and his pseudonym Tichborn almost completely blanked out. (It’s all in the old post, go on, click the link!)
The other three volumes were not released until 2017, and even then they had extensive sections removed via WPRs, leaving lots and lots of blank pages. Even the 2023 release left 70+ WPRs in three of the four volumes.
| record # (2018) | 2023 link | 2025 link | record info |
|---|---|---|---|
| *104-10174-10064 | 2023 link | 2025 link | 201 file vol 1 |
| *104-10174-10068 | 2023 link | 2025 link | 201 file vol 2 |
| 104-10218-10009 | 2023 link | 2025 link | 201 file vol 3 |
| *104-10174-10069 | 2023 link | 2025 link | 201 file vol 4 |
The records marked with an asterisk are the ones with WPRs. The last one of these, volume 4, was #3 in the WPR top ten list, with 50 pages of blankness. Like all the CIA records posted in 2025, these are now released in full.
Tichborn and ICAP
As I pointed out in my 2023 post, Tichborn had a very interesting career in the CIA. (You really should click on the link!) “Tichborn” was a graduate of Harvard Law School and an enthusiastic partisan of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party in California, working for people like James Roosevelt, Helen Gahagan Douglas, and Adlai Stevenson, even running for state office himself.
It is thus not surprising that his work for CIA was basically as an election adviser, conducting electoral polls and laying out strategies during elections throughout Latin America.
CIA efforts at influencing elections in other countries has long been suspected, known in a few cases, and strongly criticized. But how did CIA do it? Many seem to have assumed that they bribed and strong armed and pumped out dark black propaganda. How many people thought CIA was spending its money on electoral polls in Chile, Argentina, and El Salvador?
The details of this sort of work were of course secret, but going through the latest releases, I believe that the CIA considered the most sensitive part of Tichborn’s career to be his cover. What was his cover? It was his job at a company called ICAP.
What was ICAP? A memo in volume 1 of Tichborn’s file explains what it was and why Tichborn wound up there:
DODS (CIA’s Division of Domestic Operations) indicated an interest in Lopez’s background (Economics and Law) as a possible Latin American specialist for the International Capital Corporation (ICAP). ICAP is an Agency proprietary corporation, which was established by John P. C. Train, a contract employee of the Agency, who owns and manages the Park Avenue firm of Train, Cabot, & Associates, a bona-fide investment management firm which has the ICAP as one of its subsidiary companies.
Most of the whole page redactions are related to ICAP, including material as diverse as ICAP brochures and advertising copy, Tichborn’s contract, and a long report by Tichborn on the possibility of expanding ICAP’s presence in Spain.
Although the memo calls ICAP an Agency proprietary, it seems that Train had money invested in ICAP and was making a profit. There was thus tension between the Agency and Train over the use of Tichborn’s time, with Train wanting as much of this highly skilled employee’s time as possible, while CIA had political action eggs to fry. Interesting.
Another series of interesting whole page redactions (and many paragraph and block redactions as well) involved the dark subject of covert tax returns. There were problems with these involving a number of people in Mexico, including BENADUM, LICOOKIE, and Tichborn.
Funny, I must have missed this part in Ian Fleming’s books. And despite the realistic portrayal of espionage as a bureaucracy in John Le Carre’s books, I don’t remember Smiley sweating over tax returns for his Latvian and Lithuanian agents either.
Finally, there were extensive redactions to remove the names and personal details of Tichborn’s family members, including his wife, his children, his parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts. All such details are now released in full. Mission accomplished.
My two cents
It was always clear that Tichborn’s files were NOT JFK relevant. They have nothing to offer JFK researchers. They do, however, offer an interesting insight into some of the more obscure corners of the cold war. No assassins or warriors here. Instead, imagine a covert James Carville. It’s like a zen koan: the sound of one hand clapping.
(Hat tips to Jerry Shinley and Larry Haapanen for interesting comments on ICAP and John Train that drew my attention to ICAP.)