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I just finished reading a book of eulogies by William F. Buckley Jr., edited by James Rosen. It is - unfortunately - titled A Torch Kept Lit which wouldn't normally grab my interest. However, I have long admired Mr. Buckley's style and I attended the service at Manhattan's Central Synagogue in 1980 for Allard Lowenstein, when he delivered one of his superb eulogies. Ted Kennedy - himself no slouch when it came to eulogies - also delivered one that day. (I left the synagogue thinking to myself, 'well, it's the end of the sixties' and got on the subway.( Less than 9 months later, John Lennon would be killed a bit uptown.) I read and liked a book written earlier about John Mitchell and Watergate by the editor Rosen, but I bought the Kindle because it was Buckley related. Rosen received a grant from the Buckley Foundation to write it. Whatever one's political ideas might be, I'd suggest it difficult not to be impressed and moved emotionally and intellectually by some of Buckley's writings. He wrote of sailing and religion and friends; and he wrote beautifully. As many of the readers of this forum know, Howard Hunt and Buckley shared, at a young age, a year of employment, in Mexico City, with the CIA. As many may not know, George de Mohrenschield - the buddy of the then 24 year old Lee Oswald, worked for Buckley's Dad's oil company. He had Buckley's phone number, as he had that of George H.W. Bush, in his phone book , the day he was found dead with a shot to the head.(via bruce adamson--but that's for another thread) After that, Buckley went his way and Hunt stayed put. Each had a lot more to do during their lifetimes. Each authored spy fictions. Hunt was nearing death, and was writing about what he wanted history to know. He wanted the godfather of his kid and his best friend to write an intro to this last book. Best buddy Buckley replied to this request, according to Rosen, that he'd do so, after Howard removed some "grassy knoll" stuff. Now Rosen blithely skates over the details of Buckley's editorial excision, but my curiosity was piqued. Less than a dozen years after JFK's murder, Hunt was widowed by a questionable death of his wife - who also was employed by the CIA - in a plane crash while carrying a large amount of cash during the Watergate crisis. He told His. Only. Son. - whose mother died in this crash, that his employer was involved in executing a plan to eliminate JFK and that the same group - more or less- wanted to do the same to Castro. Hunt filmed himself while he told this to his son. John Rosselli told a similar story to Jack Anderson and ended up dismembered in a Florida Bay not long afterwards. In the the same decade, a memo - or a fabrication of a memo, or a disinformation memo - surfaced that said the CIA had to Cover-Their-A- about Hunt being in Dallas. In the 1980's, Hunt was unable to explain his whereabouts on November 22,1963 during a libel trial described in Mark Lane's Plausible Denial. So which is it: a) Hunt - facing death, started feeling that the same people who put him in prison, who didn't get funds to their families right away and who likely killed his wife, were set to throw him under the bus if Congress ever really looked into the JFK murder. He wanted and needed to confess. He knew that forgiveness might be delayed, but repentance was imperative. Repentance required facing and acknowledging the truth. Buckley didn't believe him; takes it as a version of what he heard Hunt told attorney (and active member here) Douglas Caddy -- that it was a UFO thing. WFB thinks this is yet another piece of disinformation, and doesn't want to be associated with such a topic. b)Buckley saw this as a confession - and as an attempt at redemption - and didn't feel qualified to comment on either. c) Buckley saw this as the result of senility on the part of his friend, and spared him the embarrassment of publication. d ) Buckley and he had an understanding that national security propaganda depended on contradiction and deception.The loyalty they shared with their one time employer, trumped loyalty to their shared God and Church; their families and Country. Hunt, at it far longer than Bill, can't keep mum about some of the acts he was part of; Bill, at it only a year, doesn't want to know, or doesn't think it right, even if true, to publish it since they promised to keep mum. e) Rosen is unreliable as a source. Any other alternatives? ( fwiw: I think b; I think Rosen suggested c)

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my book, Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate and the CIA on the 'dirty tricks' used by the Nixon campaign in the 1968 and 1972 elections - the Anna Chennault affair, the Ellsberg break-in and Watergate. The book is now in stock at Amazon and I am happy to answer questions about it here. Here's a summary and some advance reviews: SUMMARY The victory of Richard Nixon in the US presidential election of 1968 swung on an “October Surprise”— a treasonous plot engineered by key figures in the Republican Party to keep the South Vietnamese government away from peace talks in Paris, costing thousands of American lives. Dirty Tricks provides compelling new evidence of Anna Chennault’s Nixon-approved role in sabotaging the peace talks and ensuring a Nixon White House. Dirty Tricks also provides the first detailed analysis of the CIA’s recently-released internal history of Watergate, documenting the backgrounds of the burglars and their associations with the Agency in unprecedented detail, and how the Nixon White House sought to implicate the CIA in the emerging scandal. CIA Director Richard Helms’ relationship with Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt was much closer than previously disclosed and the CIA agent inside the plot was sent on a double agent mission by American intelligence after he got out of prison. The alleged target of the Watergate break-ins was DNC chairman Larry O’Brien’s phone. Dirty Tricks reveals that the burglars didn't know where O’Brien’s office was and tapped the wrong phone with a bug that didn't work while O’Brien was in Miami preparing for the 1972 convention. Prosecutor Earl Silbert could "never determine the precise motivation for the burglary” but Dirty Tricks explains the political and sexual nature of the calls overheard on DNC official Spencer Oliver’s phone, and why no bug was found at the DNC until three months after the Watergate arrests. Drawing on newly-declassified files and previously-unpublished documents, Dirty Tricks debunks the myths around Watergate and deepens our understanding of the “dirty tricks” that undermined democracy during the Nixon years. These scandals turn on the covert action of two powerful interest groups—the senior CIA officers around Helms, and the key advisers around Nixon – in this chilling story of political espionage and deception. REVIEWS “While we have fundamental disagreements about 'Watergate' and the Deep State agenda that shaped it, O’Sullivan is to be congratulated on an impeccably researched work of investigative reporting that adds greatly to our understanding of the affair and its mysteries" - Jim Hougan (author, Secret Agenda). “Dirty Tricks goes well beyond anything yet published, in revealing the mysterious links between the Watergate scandal and the CIA. Was the bungled burglary part of an internecine effort to topple President Nixon? Was the cover-up for fear of secrets being divulged, from a Washington call-girl ring to the Kennedy assassination? This meticulously-researched book draws upon never-before-seen documents in addressing such questions, in a spy-versus-spy story that fills in major gaps in our recent history" - Dick Russell (author, The Man Who Knew Too Much). “Shane O’Sullivan’s new book on Watergate, Dirty Tricks, draws on the millions of records that have become available since 2016, chiefly from the CIA. Anyone interested in comparing that crisis with the present needs to consult the fresh information and perspectives in this well-researched and timely book" - Peter Dale Scott (author, The American Deep State: Big Money, Big Oil, and the Struggle for U.S. Democracy). “This brilliantly researched book will bring back fond memories to those of us who, as was said at the time, wallowed in Watergate. It provides a new generation with the opportunity to relive this intense experience" - Alan Galbraith (attorney for the Democratic National Committee, 1972).

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my book, Dirty Tricks: Nixon, Watergate and the CIA on the 'dirty tricks' used by the Nixon campaign in the 1968 and 1972 elections - the Anna Chennault affair, the Ellsberg break-in and Watergate. The book is now in stock at Amazon and I am happy to answer questions about it here. Many of the key players in Watergate are also central to the debate about the JFK assassination. The book includes a lot of new information on the CIA and post-CIA work of Howard Hunt, Rolando Martinez and James McCord and reveals that one of the Watergate burglars claimed to have been in Dallas on 11.22.63. The book documents a double agent mission one of the burglars was sent on by American intelligence after he got out of prison and sheds a whole new light on Antonio Veciana and the Maurice Bishop story. Here's a summary and some advance reviews: SUMMARY The victory of Richard Nixon in the US presidential election of 1968 swung on an “October Surprise”— a treasonous plot engineered by key figures in the Republican Party to keep the South Vietnamese government away from peace talks in Paris, costing thousands of American lives. Dirty Tricks provides compelling new evidence of Anna Chennault’s Nixon-approved role in sabotaging the peace talks and ensuring a Nixon White House. Dirty Tricks also provides the first detailed analysis of the CIA’s recently-released internal history of Watergate, documenting the backgrounds of the burglars and their associations with the Agency in unprecedented detail, and how the Nixon White House sought to implicate the CIA in the emerging scandal. CIA Director Richard Helms’ relationship with Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt was much closer than previously disclosed and the CIA agent inside the plot was sent on a double agent mission by American intelligence after he got out of prison. The alleged target of the Watergate break-ins was DNC chairman Larry O’Brien’s phone. Dirty Tricks reveals that the burglars didn't know where O’Brien’s office was and tapped the wrong phone with a bug that didn't work while O’Brien was in Miami preparing for the 1972 convention. Prosecutor Earl Silbert could "never determine the precise motivation for the burglary” but Dirty Tricks explains the political and sexual nature of the calls overheard on DNC official Spencer Oliver’s phone, and why no bug was found at the DNC until three months after the Watergate arrests. Drawing on newly-declassified files and previously-unpublished documents, Dirty Tricks debunks the myths around Watergate and deepens our understanding of the “dirty tricks” that undermined democracy during the Nixon years. These scandals turn on the covert action of two powerful interest groups—the senior CIA officers around Helms, and the key advisers around Nixon – in this chilling story of political espionage and deception. REVIEWS “While we have fundamental disagreements about 'Watergate' and the Deep State agenda that shaped it, O’Sullivan is to be congratulated on an impeccably researched work of investigative reporting that adds greatly to our understanding of the affair and its mysteries" - Jim Hougan (author, Secret Agenda). “Dirty Tricks goes well beyond anything yet published, in revealing the mysterious links between the Watergate scandal and the CIA. Was the bungled burglary part of an internecine effort to topple President Nixon? Was the cover-up for fear of secrets being divulged, from a Washington call-girl ring to the Kennedy assassination? This meticulously-researched book draws upon never-before-seen documents in addressing such questions, in a spy-versus-spy story that fills in major gaps in our recent history" - Dick Russell (author, The Man Who Knew Too Much). “Shane O’Sullivan’s new book on Watergate, Dirty Tricks, draws on the millions of records that have become available since 2016, chiefly from the CIA. Anyone interested in comparing that crisis with the present needs to consult the fresh information and perspectives in this well-researched and timely book" - Peter Dale Scott (author, The American Deep State: Big Money, Big Oil, and the Struggle for U.S. Democracy). “This brilliantly researched book will bring back fond memories to those of us who, as was said at the time, wallowed in Watergate. It provides a new generation with the opportunity to relive this intense experience" - Alan Galbraith (attorney for the Democratic National Committee, 1972).

Hi, I started re-reading Mark Lane's "Plausible Denial" and "Last Word" yesterday. To my knowledge, I'm currently lacking any books specific to E Howard Hunt, Frank Sturgis, and Marita Lorenz, but have found some articles online that I plan to print and study in the next few days. I want to order and read the book by Hunt's son. I've heard some of their stories before but am going back over everything again and wanted to give Hunt further consideration. When I first read "Plausible Denial" and "Last Word", I don't think I was aware of Hunt's alleged confession. Now that I am, I'm going to go back and reconsider the story and these individuals carefully. So, before I start digging in, I was curious about everyone's opinion on E Howard Hunt and his possible involvement. I seem to remember H. R. Haldeman saying that Nixon's reference to any possible investigation of Hunt was that it (a close governmental investigation of Hunt) could open up the "whole Bay of Pigs thing", which in Haldeman's opinion was a veiled reference to the JFK assassination. Does information from the Liberty Lobby lawsuit line up with Hunt's confessions, or is there conflicting information that makes Hunt's confessions suspect? Any casual insight, or recommendations for further reading is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

This is a conversation between Gerry Patrick Hemming and myself (Greg Burnham) that took place in early 1999. The clip picks up just after I asked him if he knew E. Howard Hunt. Gerry, in classic form, deftly dismisses Hunt as a “Hollywood type”. He compares Hunt to what is referred to in the paratrooper business as a “Hollywood Jump” [read: no equipment]. The disdain in his voice is palpable. Gerry Patrick Hemming on E. Howard Hunt