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A Good Man Is Hard to Find — My Search for Ronald H. Tammen, Jr.

A new take on Ronald Tammen's 1953 disappearance from Miami University

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Backgrounder

Introduction
Who Is (or Was) Ronald Tammen?
April 19, 1953
The Investigations
My Ongoing Quest…
On Not Taking ‘No’ for an Answer
FAQs
Putting Things Together (Discussion)
NEW! The 10-Minute Ronald Tammen Speed Read
Room 225 Fisher–The Ron Tammen Chat Room
The *New* Good Man FOIA Scoresheet

Blog Posts at a Glance

YEAR 2023

November 10 -- Reuben Robertson, Jr. and Miami University President John Millett knew each other during WWII!
October 29 -- Kismet: how the chief architect of WWII’s Japanese-American internment camps went from infamous racist to president of Champion Paper and Fibre in Hamilton, Ohio
September 19 -- Louis Jolyon West’s relatively rocky start with the CIA: How a ‘talkative,’ ‘unconventional’ ‘champion of the underdog’ became the face of MKULTRA
August 28 -- When Doc met Jolly: the sequel
August 16 -- Remembering Bob Schuette, aka ‘Shoots,’ who helped solve 2 mysteries regarding Ron Tammen
August 5 -- The book project
July 28 -- Why I think the USAF Surgeon General’s Office wanted St. Clair Switzer to be their liaison to Project Artichoke
June 30 -- In recognition of the upcoming July 4th holiday and the 57th anniversary of FOIA, I give you the Psychological Strategy Board report from Sept. 5, 1952
June 18 -- Did St. Clair Switzer know Sidney Gottlieb, the father of MKULTRA? A document from March 1953 tells us he did
June 11 -- The OTHER report: How I think Doc Switzer spent the summer of ’52
June 2 -- I don’t think Louis Jolyon West wrote the research proposal to develop a hypnotic messenger after all*
May 14 -- Some mothers are a bit more…complicated
April 19 -- Part 4: Was someone from Champion Paper and Fibre helping support St. Clair Switzer’s research activities in 1953?
April 19 -- Part 3: The military-industrial complex in Hamilton, Ohio
April 19 -- Part 2: Desperately seeking Dorothy
April 19 -- Part 1: A woman named Dorothy Craig wrote a check to Ron Tammen shortly before he disappeared. Did the university ask her why?
April 19 -- Introduction: In recognition of the 70th anniversary of Ron Tammen’s disappearance, four fairly major blog posts in one fell swoop
March 12 -- It’s Sunshine Week! Let the Sunshine In
January 1 -- Breaking the CIA’s MKULTRA code, part deux

YEAR 2022

December 29 -- More evidence that St. Clair Switzer was on the CIA’s payroll
November 27 -- Ron Tammen had two missing person file numbers
October 1 -- Was Ron Tammen spotted by H.H. Stephenson at the Adirondack Inn?
August 25 -- More evidence that St. Clair Switzer was involved in something in 1956-57 that he didn’t want to talk about
August 19 -- A rift between friends: Did Doc Switzer and Everett Patten have a falling out?
July 3 -- In honor of July 4th, some additional musings on FOIA and Ron’s missing person documents
May 27 -- I now know for sure where room 1126 was…
February 23 -- You guys. The ‘Ident Missing Person File Room’ wasn’t in the Hoover Bldg after all. And wait till you find out who I think was overseeing it.
February 1 -- Tuesday two-fer: two new pieces of evidence that support our theory that Ron Tammen was alive in 2002
January 23 -- Mini bonus post: Were Richard Cox’s FBI documents kept in the Identification Division’s ‘missing person file room’ too?
January 21 -- I think I may know where the FBI’s ‘missing person file room’ was located

YEAR 2021

December 30 -- More smoking evidence that Ron Tammen was alive in 2002
December 19 -- On this date in 1958, FBI Headquarters wrote an ‘airtel’ to the Cincinnati Field Office that might have something to do with Ron Tammen…why?
December 4 -- The Cincy files, part 2: some quasi-relevant reading material in honor of today’s game
November 16 -- Putting a dent in the Ident files: more evidence that the FBI knew what happened to Ron Tammen in 1973
October 28 -- Halloween 2021 and the muzzling of…me
October 22 -- Halloween 1973 and the muzzling of Joe Cella
October 6 -- The tinderbox and the match: the honest truth about the St. Louis fire of 1973
September 24 -- Zeroing in on Ron’s ‘zero’ file
September 17 -- The second man, part 2: a Friday-night document drop
September 4 -- Did Richard blackmail Ron?, part 2
August 29 -- The second man
August 15 -- The sabbatical: how I think St. Clair Switzer and a well-known MKULTRA psychiatrist spent the summer of 1957
August 6 -- The Cincy file
July 23 -- For Marjorie, the woman who brought Ron Tammen into the world
July 11 -- The FBI’s plagiarized narrative
July 10 -- As long as we’re talking about 2008…why did the FBI destroy a file on Tammen in the middle of a reopened investigation?
July 9 -- Why did subsequent FBI reports fail to mention what officials had learned in 2002?
July 7 -- The eager, anguished fingerprint expungement of June 2002
June 12 -- If the Privacy Act was the reason that Ron Tammen’s fingerprints were expunged, then guess what? Ron was alive in 2002
June 3 -- Breaking: the 9-5-52 Project Artichoke report wasn’t typed on St. Clair Switzer’s typewriter*
May 20 -- How did Doc Switzer get tangled up with the CIA? All roads lead to the RDB
May 10 -- Here it is: the document that allowed the FBI to expunge Ron Tammen’s fingerprints 30 years ahead of time
May 5 -- Finally, an answer: Why Ronald Tammen’s fingerprints were expunged and why it makes so much sense
April 30 -- Lies, deceit, and why I’ve come to believe that Ron Tammen’s story is bigger than we realize
April 18 -- 68th anniversary bonus post: What does Ron Tammen’s handwriting say about his personality?
April 11 -- Purged: All about the OTHER document that used to be inside Ron Tammen’s fingerprint jacket…
February 19 -- That cryptic note about H.H. Stephenson? It was probably written in 1976, NOT 1953
January 18 -- A Friday night insurance payment

YEAR 2020

December 23 -- Proof of a cover-up, part 2: hidden buzzers, forbidden words
November 30 -- Wait…was Ron being blackmailed by Richard?!
November 21 -- A 1950s Thanksgiving meditation, by Ronald H. Tammen, Jr.
November 17 -- Was Ron being blackmailed?
November 15 -- Follow the lie$, part 2: But wait, there’s more
November 14 -- Follow the lie$
October 28 -- The Official AGMIHTF Guide to ‘Who’s Who’ in Oxford Cemetery
August 31 -- Remembering Marcia Tammen
August 18 -- Proof of a cover-up
August 11 -- My theory on Ron Tammen’s exact location the moment he disappeared, and other thoughts*
July 8 -- The layperson’s unofficial, unauthorized FBI fingerprint protocol playbook**
June 14 -- The Ident files
April 19 -- The Wright Patt Connection, Part 2 — BONUS EDITION
April 18 -- The Wright Patt Connection

YEAR 2019

April 19 -- The ‘I&I’ guys: Why I think Ronald Tammen’s psychology professor had a hand in his disappearance
April 7 -- MKULTRA and ‘U’
March 25 -- Hypnosis—what’s doable, what’s doubtable (part 2)
March 5 -- Hypnosis—what’s doable, what’s doubtable (part 1)
March 1 -- The hypnotists of Oxford, Ohio
February 16 -- A chance encounter in Wellsville
February 2 -- The accidental, unlikely, real-life, and unsung heroes of MKULTRA
January 20 -- The return of Commander Robert Jay Williams
January 11 -- Was the CIA secretly recruiting gay men in the 1950s?

YEAR 2018

December 23 -- An ode to Joe on his 98th birthday
December 7 -- FOIA follies
November 22 -- Your Thanksgiving dinner icebreaker: Was Ronald Tammen gay?
November 1 -- A late-night knock at the door
October 6 -- A dead body in Georgia
September 15 -- The fish in Ron’s bed
August 29 -- A case of amnesia, part 3: Three youths from Ohio
August 9 -- A case of amnesia, part 2: Things in Ron’s background
August 2 -- A case of amnesia, part 1
May 14 -- Ronald Tammen’s moment of crisis
April 28 -- You have questions? Here are some answers.
April 19 -- The open psych book
April 9 -- Closing a couple loops: Why Ronald Tammen was fingerprinted as a child, and why the FBI considered his prints ‘criminal’
March 10 -- On April 19, 2018, Ronald Tammen will be missing for 65 years. Here’s how the ‘Good Man’ blog is commemorating the anniversary.
February 22 -- Was Ronald Tammen hiding out as a technician at Welco Industries in 1973?
February 3 -- Hoover, JFK, and the day the FBI stopped writing to the Tammens
January 16 -- The dog handler, the dad, and the director
January 1 -- Did Ronald Tammen cross paths with Richard Colvin Cox?

YEAR 2017

December 14 -- The missing fingerprints, part 4*
November 30 -- The missing fingerprints, part 3*
November 9 -- The missing fingerprints, part 2
October 29 -- The REAL phantoms of Oxford, Ohio
October 22 -- The missing fingerprints
October 8 -- Chuck Findlay’s story
September 25 -- What would an introvert do?
September 16 -- Ronald Tammen’s hectic, demanding, difficult, jam-packed, very busy day, part 2
August 30 -- Ronald Tammen’s hectic, demanding, difficult, jam-packed, very busy day, part 1
August 18 -- Why did Ron Tammen get his blood typed?
August 4 -- The woman from Hamilton
July 23 -- Happy birthday, Ronald Tammen
July 16 -- Hitting the lottery
July 8 -- 8:30, 10:30…does it really matter?
July 4 -- On birthdays, memories, and song practice
June 28 -- When memories collide, part 2: Song practice, the University of Kentucky, and a meeting over coffee
June 16 -- When memories collide, part 1: The Delts, song practice, and a momentous walk home
April 14 -- Seeking Grace — the girl who went to the prom with Ronald Tammen

Latest AGMIHTF Updates from Facebook

If you're interested in keeping up with the finer details of my research (e.g., small developments that may not warrant a full blog post), here are some quickie updates on Facebook.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find: My Search for Ronald H. Tammen, Jr.

1 week ago

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We’re in NYC with Uncle Dave and Wayne for our favorite holiday. Which doggo are you rooting for in the National Dog Show? ... See MoreSee Less

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A Good Man Is Hard to Find: My Search for Ronald H. Tammen, Jr.

3 weeks ago

Here ya go: proof that Reuben Robertson, Jr. and Miami University President John Millett worked together during WWII (5-minute read)ronaldtammen.com/2023/11/10/rbr2-and-john-millett/ ... See MoreSee Less

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A Good Man Is Hard to Find: My Search for Ronald H. Tammen, Jr.

3 weeks ago

Oh...you guys...this is so interesting. You know how Reuben B. Robertson, Jr., president of Champion Paper and Fibre, had sat on the committee that selected the next president of Miami University to replace the deceased Ernest Hahne, and their selection, John D. Millett, was approved on March 28, 1953? (Millett wouldn't officially start as president until the upcoming fall, though he soon started to prepare for his new duties, including attending the June 1953 Board of Trustees meeting.)As it turns out, I now have compelling evidence that Reuben B. Robertson and John D. Millett had worked in VERY close proximity to one another during the first part of WWII......which tells me that the two men were acquaintances, perhaps even friends, since the war......which means that Reuben B. had very likely recruited John D. to apply for the post at Miami when Reuben was chosen for the selection committee.......which could very well mean that, once John D. had been announced as the president-elect in March, if Reuben B. had anything to discuss with him, John D. would have probably taken his call......even if the topic seemed a little, oh, I don't know, "out there"......like a check ...written by one of Reuben's employees......to that poor young man who'd recently disappeared from the very university that John D. had just been hired to lead.I'll be posting about how the two men knew each other as soon as I'm able. But I just had to share. ... See MoreSee Less

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A Good Man Is Hard to Find: My Search for Ronald H. Tammen, Jr.

1 month ago

Several years ago, I tried to find an OCR tool that could decipher letters that had been scribbled over to see if I could confirm the names of Major Louis J. West and Lt. Colonel Switzer in the third paragraph of the CIA's Jan. 14, 1953 memo. (I'm linking to that memo in the comments.) I was told by someone who uses OCR in their job that there really wasn't a tool out there that could "see" letters better than the human eye. Nevertheless, I'll give these a try, since technology may have changed since then and my eyes *can* decipher the shapes of certain letters beneath the scribbles. If anyone has thoughts/suggestions, feel free to weigh in. ... See MoreSee Less

Our search for the best OCR tool in 2023, and what we found

www.muckrock.com

A side-by-side comparison of five OCR tools using multiple kinds of documents from DocumentCloud.

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A Good Man Is Hard to Find: My Search for Ronald H. Tammen, Jr.

1 month ago

At roughly the same time Reuben Robertson was talking about bringing Karl Bendetsen on board at Champion Paper and Fibre, the public was learning that Bendetsen had overseen the Japanese-American internment operation during WWII like a "little Hitler." Still...Champion went ahead and hired him.ronaldtammen.com/2023/10/29/kismet-how-the-chief-architect-of-wwiis-japanese-american-internment-... ... See MoreSee Less

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© 2017-2023 A Good Man Is Hard to Find–My Search for Ronald H. Tammen, Jr. and ronaldtammen.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jennifer Wenger and/or ronaldtammen.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

FBI FOIA Documents on Ronald Tammen

The Phantom of Oxford, part 1 of 2 (YouTube.com)

The Phantom of Oxford, part 2 of 2 (YouTube.com)

Ronald Tammen’s birth certificate

Ronald Tammen’s Selective Service Records (5th row from bottom)

Ronald Tammen’s Selective Service Registration

St. Clair Switzer’s Yale Transcripts (includes Miami Univ and Univ of Wisconsin)

St. Clair Switzer’s 1951 Application to Air Research & Development Command (ARDC)

A large sample of Carl Knox’s Notes

Pages in Tammen’s Psychology Book

My theory is that Tammen's psychology book was open to these two pages on his desk when he disappeared. Although Carl Knox said in his notes that the book was open to HABITS -- all caps and underlined twice -- I believe Tammen was reading the other page with the subhead "Post-hypnotic suggestion." See the 65th anniversary video on facebook.com/agmihtf for how I reached this conclusion.