New Book: JFK and the Unspeakable

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157075755...ASIN=1570757550

Does anyone know anything about this upcoming book? I like the title. After a whole generation has been trained to remove the assassination from history by magazines typing the words conspiracy thoery, it IS necessary to say why it matters, especially for those forty years and younger. It is absurd that this should be in need of emphasis and is in further testimony that we are all living in Orwell's liver. Got a light?

Edited June 4, 2008 by Nathaniel Heidenheimer

[Michael Hogan]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157075755...ASIN=1570757550

Does anyone know anything about this upcoming book? I like the title. After a whole generation has been trained to remove the assassination from history by magazines typing the words conspiracy thoery, it IS necessary to say why it matters, especially for those forty years and younger. It is absured that this should be in need of emphasis and is in further testimony that we are all living in Orwell's liver. Got a light?

Apparently in 1998 the author wrote a 17-page pamphlet entitled: Compassion and the Unspeakable in the Murders of Martin, Malcolm, JFK, RFK.

http://www.amazon.com/Compassion-unspeakab...432&sr=1-12

Charles Drago started a thread about it here: http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.ph...mp;#entry140562

More info here: http://portinexile.blogspot.com/2008/03/jf...books-4308.html

Edited April 13, 2008 by Michael Hogan

[Ronald R. Williams]

The CTKA site now has a review by Jim DiEugenio of JFK and the Unspeakable.

http://www.ctka.net/2008/jfk_unspeakable.html

Ron W

[John Simkin]

Interesting review. It includes the following:

Michael Paine did not just work at Bell Helicopter. He did not just have a security clearance there. His stepfather, Arthur Young, invented the Bell helicopter. His mother, Ruth Forbes Paine Young, was descended from the Boston Brahmin Forbes family -- one of the oldest in America. She was a close friend of Mary Bancroft. Mary Bancroft worked with Allen Dulles as a spy during World War II in Switzerland. This is where Dulles got many of his ideas on espionage, which he would incorporate as CIA Director under Eisenhower. Bancroft also became Dulles' friend and lover. She herself called Ruth Forbes, "a very good friend of mine." (p. 169) This may explain why, according to Walt Brown, the Paines were the most oft-questioned witnesses to appear before the Commission.

Ruth Paine's father was William Avery Hyde. Ruth described him before the Warren Commission as an insurance underwriter. (p. 170) But there was more to it than that. Just one month after the Warren Report was issued, Mr. Hyde received a three-year government contract from the Agency for International Development (AID). He became their regional adviser for all of Latin America. As was revealed in the seventies, AID was riddled with CIA operatives. To the point that some called it an extension of the Agency. Hyde's reports were forwarded both to the State Department and the CIA. (Ibid)

Ruth Paine's older sister was Sylvia Hyde Hoke. Sylvia was living in Falls Church, Virginia in 1963. Ruth stayed with Sylvia in September of 1963 while traveling across country. (p. 170) Falls Church adjoins Langley, which was then the new headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, a prized project of Allen Dulles. It was from Falls Church that Ruth Paine journeyed to New Orleans to pick up Marina Oswald, who she had been introduced to by George DeMohrenschildt. After she picked Marina up, she deposited her in her home in Irving, Texas. Thereby separating Marina from Lee at the time of the assassination.

Some later discoveries made Ruth's itinerary in September quite interesting. It turned out that John Hoke, Sylvia's husband, also worked for AID. And her sister Sylvia worked directly for the CIA itself. By the time of Ruth's visit, Sylvia had been employed by the Agency for eight years. In regards to this interestingly timed visit to her sister, Jim Garrison asked Ruth some pointed questions when she appeared before a grand jury in 1968. He first asked her if she knew her sister had a file that was classified at that time in the National Archives. Ruth replied she did not. In fact, she was not aware of any classification matter at all. When the DA asked her if she had any idea why it was being kept secret, Ruth replied that she didn't. Then Garrison asked Ruth if she knew which government agency Sylvia worked for. The uninquiring Ruth said she did not know. (p. 171) This is the same woman who was seen at the National Archives pouring through her files in 1976, when the House Select Committee was gearing up.

When Marina Oswald was called before the same grand jury, a citizen asked her if she still associated with Ruth Paine. Marina replied that she didn't. When asked why not, Marina stated that it was upon the advice of the Secret Service. She then elaborated on this by explaining that they had told her it would look bad if the public found out the "connection between me and Ruth and CIA." An assistant DA then asked, "In other words, you were left with the distinct impression that she was in some way connected with the CIA?" Marina replied simply, "Yes." (p. 173)

Douglass interpolates the above with the why and how of Oswald ending up on the motorcade route on 11/22/63. Robert Adams of the Texas Employment Commission testified to having called the Paine household at about the time Oswald was referred by Ruth -- via a neighbor-- to the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) for a position. He called and was told Oswald was not there. He left a message for Oswald to come down and see him since he had a position available as a cargo handler at a regional cargo airline. Interestingly, this job paid about 1/3 more than the job Oswald ended up with at the TSBD. He called again the next day to inquire about Oswald and the position again. He was now told that Lee had already taken a job. Ruth was questioned about the Adams call by the Warren Commission's Albert Jenner. At first she denied ever hearing of such a job offer. She said, "I do not recall that." (p. 172) She then backtracked, in a tactical way. She now said that she may have heard of the offer from Lee. This, of course, would seem to contradict both the Adams testimony and common sense. If Oswald was cognizant of the better offer, why would he take the lower paying job?

In addition to his work on the true background of the Paines, which I will return to later, Douglass' section on the aborted plot against Kennedy in Chicago is also exceptional. The difference between what Douglass does here and what was done in Ultimate Sacrifice is the difference between confusion and comprehension. After they were informed of a plot, the police arrested Thomas Vallee on a pretext. Interestingly Dan Groth, the suspicious officer in on the arrest of Vallee, was later part of the SWAT team that assassinated Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in 1969. (p. 204) Groth took several lengthy leaves from Chicago to Washington for special training under the auspices of the FBI and CIA. Groth never had a regular police assignment, but always worked counter-intelligence, with an early focus on the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. (Ibid)

[John Simkin]

http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_9216329

Visiting anarchist author claims government killed Kennedy

By LARRY MITCHELL - Staff Writer

Article Launched: 05/10/2008 12:36:13 AM PDT

CHICO -- As an anarchist, Jim Douglass says he has no respect for the power of the presidency.

So, he continues to be surprised that he's written a book about the assassination of President Kennedy.

Douglass holds Kennedy himself in high esteem, however.

Every Thanksgiving, which is around the time of year Kennedy was killed, Douglass said he gives special thanks for the slain president. If it weren't for Kennedy, the world would have been destroyed by nuclear weapons by now, he said.

Douglass, who lives in Birmingham, Ala., is in Chico this weekend, talking about his newly published 544-page book, "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters."

A Catholic theologian and pacifist, Douglass has written several books about non-violence and the principles of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. This latest book, which he spent 12 years researching and writing, is something quite different for him.

Kennedy was killed by his own government because he embraced world peace, Douglass said. The assassination was coordinated by the CIA, he added.

When his presidency began, Kennedy stood firmly behind the thinking and policies that fueled the Cold War, Douglass said, But he underwent a critical change during the Cuban missile crisis.

In that episode, when the world may have come closer to nuclear war than at any other time, Kennedy and Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev, through a series of communications, made commitments to peace that put them at odds with the military leaders of their countries, Douglass said. As a result, he said, Khrushchev was removed from power, and Kennedy was assassinated.

Douglass said Kennedy fell victim to the "military-industrial complex" described by President Eisenhower.

The author said America's corporate leaders are dedicated above all to expansion and profit, and its military chiefs are committed absolutely to dominance. Neither could abide Kennedy embracing world peace, seen most clearly in a speech he gave in June of 1963, when he called for ending the Cold War, Douglass said. Five months later, Kennedy was dead.

The author said he hoped his book will get people to recognize the power of America's military-industrial complex.

That complex can be dismantled, he asserted.

Douglass said he and his wife, Shelley, have been part of the Catholic Worker movement for many years. Its followers pursue non-violence, voluntary poverty, and prayer, and they extend hospitality to the poor. Douglass will spend the weekend in Chico, making a number of appearances today:

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

This book is selling SURPRISINGLY WELL. It is about to crack the top 1000 of Amazon. Perhaps it is worth giving it a push? It is often necessary to create a common denominator text for a society to begin discussing a big, long-ignored problem. I have posted about it on ten major newspaper sites. Check out some of these reviews.

http://www.maryknollmall.org/description.c...8-1-57075-755-6

In a year that has already produced pro-conspiracy books from Harvard University PRess (ok in my opinion) and former Washington Post Editor Jefferson Morley (absolutely essential) this sounds like it could be the best pro-conspiracy argument ever.

I have never seen reviews like this.

“Jim Douglass proposes a shocking rereading of the Kennedy presidency and assassination. He depicts a president deeply changed by the Cuban missile crisis and determined to end the Cold War with the USSR, change relations with Cuba and withdraw the troops from Vietnam. Thereby he became ‘marked for assassination.’ Douglass' message is that the greatest obstacle to world peace was and still is the secret National Security State that was built in the U.S. by the Cold War. To create a more peaceful world, U.S. Americans will have to take seriously the need to dismantle this secret government. Are we willing to take the risks?”—Rosemary Radford Ruether, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

“As always, Jim Douglass, a digger for facts and a debunker of myths, raises questions that cry out for answers—ones we deserve but haven’t been getting.”—Colman McCarthy, author, I’d Rather Teach Peace

“One of the most important books in recent years, JFK and the Unspeakable sheds the light of truth on our war-making government and its pursuit of global domination at all costs. I hope many churchpeople will read it to understand the depth of our country’s unspeakable darkness and be free, in the spirit of John Kennedy and Jim Douglass, to pursue ‘peace for all humanity.’” —John Dear, S.J., author, Living Peace

“For those who think that economics and politics are merely profane matters without spiritual roots and consequences, reading James Douglass should be a giant step toward right-mindedness. Bluntly stated, he has painstakingly unmasked the normalized politics of our marauding, perpetual-war economy as nothing less than the willful embracing of the Unspeakable, the voice from whence the spirits of havoc and horror, deceitfulness and murder are begotten.”—(Rev.) Emmanuel Charles McCarthy

“Reading this book brings astonishment and deep sadness because of what might have been. Readers will, I hope, be inspired to work for a return to the kind of leadership JFK offered.”—Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton "JFK and the Unspeakable is an exceptional achievement. Douglass has made the strongest case so far in the JFK assassination literature as to the Who and the Why of Dallas. The conjunction of unrestrained elements in cold war America—defense industry elites, Pentagon planners, and the heads of the intelligence community—were the forces that led inexorably to Dallas and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.”--Gerald McKnight, author, Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why

“With penetrating insight and unswerving integrity, Douglass probes the fundamental truths about JFK’s assassination. If, he contends, humanity permits those truths to slip into history ignored and undefined it does so at its own peril. By far the most important book yet written on the subject.”—Gaeton Fonzi, former Staff Investigator, US House Select Committee on Assassinations

“Douglass presents, brilliantly, an unfamiliar yet thoroughly convincing account of a series of creditable decisions of John F. Kennedy—at odds with his initial Cold War stance—that earned him the secret distrust and hatred of hard-liners among the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA. Did this suspicion and rage lead directly to his murder by agents of these institutions, as Douglass concludes? Many readers who are not yet convinced of this ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ by Douglass’s prosecutorial indictment will find themselves, perhaps—like myself—for the first time, compelled to call for an authoritative criminal investigation. Recent events give all the more urgency to learning what such an inquiry can teach us about how, by whom, and in whose interests this country is run.”—Daniel Ellsberg, author, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers

“For forty years Jim Douglass has been our leading North American Catholic theologian of peace. But this monumental work on the witness of JFK is something deeper still. Douglass is trying to get us to connect the dots between our ‘citizen denial,’ the government’s ‘plausible deniability,’ and the Unspeakable. This book has the potential to change our narrative about our country, and our lives as citizens and disciples. May we have ears to hear these truths, hearts able to bear their burden, and hands willing to build a new story.”—Ched Myers, author, Binding the Strong Man: A Political Reading of Mark’s Story of Jesus

“This book’s story of JFK and the ‘unspeakable’ is a stunning mix of political thriller and meticulous scholarship. Even as it points persuasively to rogue powers at work in the U.S. military-industrial complex, it also witnesses to the power of spirit, inspiring prophetic voices like Thomas Merton’s, turning a president like John Kennedy toward peace, thus also enabling readers to see into the current deep structure of U.S. war and empire. Douglass’s book offers a goldmine of information and is indispensable for building prophetic spirit and hope.”—Mark Lewis Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary

“A remarkable book: devastating in its documented indictment of the dark forces that have long deformed the public life of this country, while also illuminating JFK’s final vision of world peace and documenting beyond reasonable doubt the unspeakable assassination of our last partially admirable president. This book should be required reading for every American citizen.”—Richard Falk, Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University

“This is the most thoroughly researched and documented book ever written about President Kennedy’s determination to prevent a nuclear war—and how his success in that struggle cost him his life. And yet, Douglass leads us well beyond the ‘whodunit’ dimensions of the story. He leads us straight into the urgent implications for the present, into what Thomas Merton called the ‘unspeakable.’ In the shadows of our own time we begin to become better prepared to break free of the violence that threatens all of us today.”—Don Mosley, co-founder Jubilee Partners

“A remarkable achievement, outstanding even in an overcrowded field. It is profoundly conceived, researched, considered, argued, and written. Douglass shows persuasively how Kennedy’s innovative steps in foreign policy produced dangerous opposition within his own national security establishment. Not all will agree with his detailed speculation as to what happened in Dallas. But Douglass’s large picture of America’s political agony is, I believe, incontrovertible and certain to last.”--Peter Dale Scott, author Deep Politics and the Death of JFK

"Jim Douglass’s spiritual and eloquent telling of President John F. Kennedy’s martyrdom for peace is a peerless and extraordinary historical contribution.”—Vincent J. Salandria, author, False Mystery: Essays on the Assassination of JFK

“Douglass writes with moral force, clarity, and the careful attention to detail that will make JFK and the Unspeakable a sourcebook for many years to come, for it provides us with the stubborn facts needed to rebuild a constitutional democracy within the United States.”--Marcus Raskin, co-founder, Institute for Policy Studies

“Jim Douglass never ceases to surprise us, taking us where we do not expect or often wish to go. In this fascinating work he links politics and spirituality. In re-forming the past he reshapes the future, with hope, thank God.”--Bill J. Leonard, Dean and Professor of Church History Wake Forest University Divinity School

“Jim Douglass is a courageous and single-minded Christian whose convictions are reflected in his life and witness. In this provocative new book, he brings together history and spirituality at the intersection of one of the most pivotal—and yet still mystifying—events of the past century. A myth-exploding story and compelling read.”--Timothy George, Dean Beeson Divinity School of Samford University

“In JFK and the Unspeakable Jim Douglass steadily guides us toward a strategy of peace. By dramatizing JFK’s remarkable conversion away from a U.S. foreign policy based on military threat and force, Douglass holds forth hope for current generations to similarly dismantle our addiction to war. Douglass’s dedication to nonviolence could have salvific effects as people ponder this astonishing book.”—Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence

An astonishing new examination of the Kennedy assassination and its meaning today for the struggle for peace.

James Douglass lays out the journey that led JFK in the course of three years from his position as a traditional ColdWarrior to his determination to break with the logic of the Cold War and lead the world in an entirely different direction. This sequence of steps led his adversaries in the military and intelligence establishment to view him as a virtual traitor who had to be eliminated.

Douglass’s book has all the elements of a political thriller. But the stakes couldn’t be higher. Only by understanding the truth behind the murder of JFK can we grasp his vision and assume the urgent struggle for peace today.

“For forty years Jim Douglass has been our leading North American Catholic theologian of peace. But this monumental work on the witness of JFK is something deeper still. . . .This book has the potential to change our narrative about our country, and our lives as citizens and disciples.May we have ears to hear these truths, hearts able to bear their burden, and hands willing to build a new story.”—Ched Myers, author, Binding the Strong Man

James W. Douglass is a longtime peace activist and writer.He and his wife Shelley are co-founders of the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington, and Mary’s House, a Catholic Worker house of hospitality in Birmingham, Alabama. His books include The Nonviolent Cross, The Nonviolent Coming of God, and Resistance and Contemplation.

_________________

Operation Mockingbird Spartacus:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmockingbird.htm

Operation Mockingbird Education Forum

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=5142

[Jack White]

I was sent a free advance copy of the book by the publisher (anyone else?).

That always raises my suspicions.

I have not read any of it yet.

Jack

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

Jack, keep your suspicions raised; nothing wrong with that. However one explanation might be that the book is published by a small publisher without the add budget of the Corporate Liars so sending the book to well known researchers like yourself was perceived as a low budget word of mouth strategy. I have no problem with promoting books that are good and seek the truth. Wish there were more emphasis on spreading the word.

[Jack White]

Jack, keep your suspicions raised; nothing wrong with that. However one explanation might be that the book is published by a small publisher without the add budget of the Corporate Liars so sending the book to well known researchers like yourself was perceived as a low budget word of mouth strategy. I have no problem with promoting books that are good and seek the truth. Wish there were more emphasis on spreading the word.

I will eventually read the book. I reserve my opinion till then.

But I was immediately put off by the very small type size and

the "grayness" of the ink used. Not easily read by someone with

glasses. Publishers ought to know that bigger type sizes and

blacker ink help readership.

Jack

[Mike Williams]

Jack,

Sure can relate there. I have read a few books lately that were older issues and small type and light ink. I do not wear glasses yet, but perhaps very soon.

I think I will order a copy and give this book a read, does sound very interesting.

Mike

[Tim Gratz]

Kennedy was killed by his own government because he embraced world peace, Douglass said. The assassination was coordinated by the CIA, Douglass added.

What a ridiculous statement. As I have posted before, it is intellectual sloppiness at best to state the JFK was killed by "the government". The U.S. government consists of three branches: the executive; the legislative and the judicial. Presumably Douglass does not claim that Congress secretly voted to engage someone to kill the President, or even that high-ranking members of Congress were involved. Re the judicial branch, I suspect Douglass never argues that Earl Warren orchestrated a cover-up to shield his own role as a conspirator. The CIA is part of the executive branch of government. There is of course not a scintilla of evidence that the CIA as an institution killed JFK. But even if one wanted to enter fantasy land and argue that John McCone and Richard Helms together plotted the murder, one cannot state that means our "government" did it.

It is one thing to argue, even in the absence of any evidence, that certain high-ranking members of the US government were involved in a conspiracy but it violates all principles of clarity (and honesty) to claim as Douglass apparently does that "the U.S. goverrnment" did it.

I would also add that it is a strange sense of Christian ethics for Douglass to charge someone with murder based on a paucity of evidence.

I think the members of divinty schools who endorse the Douglass book are as wrong-headed as the mystery writers who so enthusiastically endorsed the Bugliosi book.

[Tim Gratz]

Those who think JFK had become a peacenik would do well to read the speech he was to deliver at the Trade Mart.

[John Geraghty]

Jim Douglas is fairly well known for his work on the Martin Luther King assassination. He was the only journalist to cover the civil trial brought by the Kings in 1999.

He spoke this year at COPA's conference in Memphis, http://www.politicalassassinations.com/Memphis.html

I just got a copy of the dvd of the conference. I will be uploading extracts from talks by Jim Douglas, Judge Joe Brown, John Judge and others to youtube fairly soon.

You will be able to see them at www.youtube.com/user/COPAorg

I recently uploaded video of Philip Van Praag discussing his new evidence on the RFK case on CBS. The video has been viewed more than 2,700 times in a few short days.

John

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

This book is dangerous for the controlled-left Kennedy bashers. If it manages to get inside Amazon 1,000 Sir Alex will have to get out the GTO for another muscular drive-by in Counterpunch.

It is the clearest answer to the charges that Kennedy was and remained a Cold Warrior who was killed by his own anticommunist experimentation. It answers this by consistently juxtaposing JFK's Cold War words with very immediate pressures he was receiving from the JCS and CIA. Never before have the apparent contradictions within JFKs Cold War related foreign policies been so thoroughly contextualized.

This book is could have a historic impact, provided it gets read by a critical mass of people.

[Paul Rigby]

I would also add that it is a strange sense of Christian ethics for Douglass to charge someone with murder based on a paucity of evidence.

It is an even stranger ethical grasp that compels such as Tim Gratz to rush to the defence of an organization that a) continues to lie and withhold critical evidence in the case under discussion; and has such a well-documented penchant for assassination, mass murder and subversion.

All things considered, I'd sooner listen to a scorpion or hyena on morality than you, Tim.

Paul