Josefa Johnson

[Guest Tom Scully]

What are the random odds that when Thomas J. Devine met with George DeMohrenschildt in New York in 1963, that DeMohrenschildt would be "connected" to Devine's former petroleum exploration partner and alleged fellow CIA asset, George HW Bush, and that DeMohrenschildt's best man in his 1943 wedding to Dorothy Pierson, a man named Baron Sten Goddert Wrede, would be "connected" to cousins of Devine's boss, John Train?

(See details in prior posts on this page, and in the following article excerpts.)

http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=rome...s&scoring=a

DOROTHY R. PIERSON BECOMES BRIDE HERE; Wed to Geo. de …

- New York Times - Jun 17, 1943

Miss Dorothy Romeyn Pierson, daughter of Mrs. Lorenzo Cantagalli, now residing ... Dimitri S, de of 950 Park Avenue, and Baron Geddard Wrede of Washington....

http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=cart...&lnav=hist3

Meat 10 Be Weekly .

Palm Beach Post - Google News Archive - Apr 19, 1943

... Aubrey Cartwright was hostess. Mrs. Cartwright and her guest Mrs. Alva See, return to New York Wednesday. ... Baron Goddert Wrede, Reynaldo Luza, Morin Hare. ...

Related web pages

HOLIDAYS STEP UP PACE FOR PALM BEACH COLONY .

Miami News - Google News Archive - Dec 19, 1948

Aubrey Cartwright, . back at Estella after the sum mer at her villa at Cap d' Antibes, gave a dinner for her guest, Baron Wrede, the Finnish diplomat. .

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.htm...4D0405B8689F1D3

MRS. CARTWRIGHT, OIL HEIRESS, DIES; Grandchild of H.H. Rogers, Co-Founder of Standard, Succumbs in France

August 27, 1956, Monday

Mrs. Beatrice Benjamin Cartwright, an heiress who was prominent in society in this country and abroad, died Saturday at her villa in Cap d'Antibes, France, after a long illness. Her New York home was at 820 Fifth Avenue.

http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=Mrs....s&scoring=a

… , OIL HEIRESS, DIES; Grandchild of HH Rogers, Co-Founder of...

$3.95 - New York Times - Aug 27, 1956

... died Saturday at her villa in Cap d'Antibes, France, after a long illness. ... William Evarts Benjamin and a granddaughter of the late H. H, Rogers, ...

http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=beat...les+cartwright+

… ANNOUNCED OF MRS. CARTWRIGHT; Granddaughter of Late Henry H. …

$3.95 - New York Times - May 30, 1940

Beatrice Benjamin Cartwright, daughter of 'the late Mr. and. ... Captain Charles Aubrey Cartwright of the British Navy was the former Miss Benjamin's third ,,,,,

.

http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=*bor...s&scoring=a

Angela Atwell Weds Quietly at St. Patrick's

Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - ProQuest Archiver - Mar 13, 1932

Mrs. Cnrtwright Is the former Mrs. Alexander Dallas Bache Pratt, born Beatrice Benjamin, daugh- ter of the William Evarts Benjamins,

http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=*For...s&scoring=a

COL. ROGERS WEDS MRS. BASIL MILES; Paris Ceremony Uniting …

- New York Times - Jul 17, 1929

The marriage of Mrs. Basil Miles and Colonel Henry H. Rogers of New York took place at 11:30 A.M. today in the City Hall of the fashionable Sixteenth .

For Colonel Ropers the witnesses were his nephew, Captaln Charles Cartwright, and Mra Gordon Leith, who was proxy for Colonel Gordon Leith. The religious ceremony was conducted by the Rev. Dr. Verne at the Protestant Church of Saint Germain, immediately after the civil marriage. Mrs. Miles was given in marriage by her cousin, Count Andre Zichy. Count and Countess Zichy were the only persons present besides the witnesses. The ceremony took place in the strictest . Colonel and MTR. Ropers left for an extended motor trip. The bride of Colonel Ropers, a Standard Oil notable, recently divorced by his wife in Utrecht,

Mrs. Rogers'and Mrs. Mile's 'were seen together in Paris as late as July 13, when. they declined

to confirm the report that the s divorced husband intended to marry;the latter :' '' ' . ' : ' -- '

Much ,secrecy surrounded Mrs. Rogers's divorce.

Wliea slie established a residence on the Avenue Montaigne,

just off the Avenue des Champs Elysees, last May it was believed it was preparatory to petitioning the Paris courts. for a divorce.

Less than a week ago the first word came that she 'had obtained an absolute divorce in Utrecht.

The first Mrs. Rogers was Mary Benjamin, a member of one of New York's oldest families.

She married Mr: Rogers in 1900, when he was 21 and a junior at Columbia University.

They are the parents of Mrs. Arturo Peralta Ramos, w hose marriage as Millicent Rogers to Count Ludwig Salm von Hoogstraeten in January, 1924, aroused much interest.

http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=mill...s&scoring=a

COUNTESS SALM TO RETURN; Former Millicent Rogers Books Passage …

- New York Times - Aug 11, 1927

Countess Salm, the former Millicent Rogers, and Arturo Peralta Ramos of Argentina , to whom she is engaged, have each booked passage on the steamship Olympic, ...

Countess Salm And Her Fiance To Sail Aug. 17 . - Evening Independent - Google News Archive

Millicent Rogers Is Engaged to AP Ramos, Parents... - New York Times

Condensed version:

Henry Huddleston Rogers, business partner of John D. Rockefeller, died in 1909.

His son, Col. Henry H. Rogers, described above, was the father of Millicent Rogers, who married Ludwig Salm and

had a child with him in 1925. That child was the first cousin of the children of John Train's aunt Maude, who had married Ludwig Salm's brother.

The sister of Col. Henry H. Rogers, aunt of his daughter, Millicent, was Anne Engle Rogers:

http://en.wikipedia....iam_E._Benjamin

William Evarts Benjamin married Anne Engle Rogers, eldest daughter of Abbie Palmer (née Gifford) Rogers and Henry Huttleston Rogers, an industrialist millionaire who was a principal of Standard Oil. They had 2 children, Beatrice Benjamin Cartwright and Henry Rogers Benjamin.

Beatrice Benjamin Cartwright was the gracious hostess, described in articles from 1943 and 1948, displayed above,

of Baron Sten Goddert Wrede, who served as George DeMohrenchildt's best man in 1943.

There is an intriguing website that, is a history of religion in US Politics and the eminently important 1954 Tax Code, which had everything to do with Lyndon B Johnson's

victorious 1954 campaign against Dudley T. Dougherty, [On July 25, 1946 the day of the Texas primary, while the Senate was holding round-the-clock sessions on the atomic energy bill, the teletype reported that Johnson had beaten Dougherty, 875,000 to 350,000. The results were announced on the floor of the Senate.]

pages 178-79 of LBJ: A Life - Irwin Unger Debi Unger

the latter was visited by Madame Nhu before the Kennedy Assassination.....

I discovered some rather interesting facts about the cast of characters in this mini-drama.

The Article and URL are listed below

More Honored In The Breach: A Historical Perspective On The Permeable IRS Prohibition On Campaigning By Churches

http://www.bc.edu/bc...42_4/01_FMS.htm

Many of Johnson's tactics consisted of the typical parry-and-thrust of campaigning whereby his supporters engaged in such activities as challenging Dougherty's attendance record in the legislature, soliciting support from prominent conservatives, and seeking evidence of special favors received by Dougherty. Johnson also had his staffers and others keep close tabs on Dougherty's campaign appearances and the work of his supporters and to report back on his progress.

However, other tactics were of a different character which reflected a more aggressive campaigning style and indicated that Johnson was willing to pursue a number of different tactics to rout his opponent. Dougherty, in a letter written to Johnson after his defeat, explained, in a sardonic manner, his use of "vigorous artillery" against Johnson "since some of your people put out a little poison as always happens in campaigns and since others were kind enough to wire tap my home." Given the source, this accusation must be discounted. Another associate of Dougherty's, Igor Cassini,[54 According to an undated report found in Lyndon Johnson's files describing the "'Dougherty Team' of smear artists and poison-pen experts," Igor Cassini was a "Russian-born Count who writes a column of society chit-chat for New York newspapers." Report (undated) (on file with author). Apparently, he appeared under the pseudonym Cholly Knickerbocker and also hosted a society television program. See Mark Eldon Young, Lyndon B. Johnson's Forgotten Campaign: Re-election to the Senate in 1954, at 3 (1993) (unpublished M.A. report, University of Texas) (on file with University of Texas at Austin Library); Letter from Igor Cassini to Richard Berlin, July 26, 1954, LBJ Library Special Political File (headed "Office of 'Cholly Knickerbocker'").] complained about being kicked off the air by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) after he conducted a favorable television interview with Dougherty and Coke Stevenson.[55 A transcript of the offending television interview was appended to a letter sent by Johnson to Edwin L. Weisl, a Wall Street attorney and long-time fundraiser for Johnson. See Dallek, supra note 38, at 162, 251, 308; Letter from Lyndon Johnson to Edwin Weisl, July 5, 1954, LBJ Library Special Political File. The transcript contained several inflammatory remarks from Coke Stevenson concerning the 1948 election to the effect that "I don't believe that the public ought to reward a man by re-election to the United States Senate who was never honestly elected to begin with." Letter from Lyndon Johnson to Edwin Weisl, July 5, 1954, LBJ Library Special Political File. Cassini replied, "[w]ell, in that case he certainly, he has no right at all to be there, because I understand there were some peculiar things that happened during the last election." Id. This transcript was sent in response to an earlier letter, whereby Weisel promised to Johnson that he was "taking this up immediately with his [Knickerbocker's] superiors and I am sure that no recurrence will happen." Letter from Edwin Weisl to Lyndon Johnson, June 24, 1954, LBJ Library Special Political File. Clearly, Johnson was incensed by the interview, as is apparent from an earlier letter he sent to Weisl asserting, "I don't know why Cholly Knickerbocker would voluntarily inject himself into Texas affairs, but he has." Letter from Lyndon Johnson to Edwin Weisl, June 22, 1954, LBJ Library Special Political File. Johnson went on to add, "I assume he doesn't know that Dougherty is a chronic alcoholic, a crackpot, and a screwball of the first order, who happened to inherit 16 thousand barrels of daily oil production." Id. He also complained about other out-of-state organizations, including CCG, "flooding the State with scurrilous literature." Id.]

Johnson was very thin-skinned with respect to Stevenson's involvement in the campaign, [56 See Letter from Lyndon Johnson to Harlan Fentress, June 17, 1954, LBJ Library Special Political File ("Coke can get a much better headline on the front page by saying he is not vindictive but is going to make a radio speech against me than I can by making a speech on the Senate floor on an important Texas problem."). This sensitivity extended to tracking down information about a satirical radio commercial Dougherty was airing called "The Darling of Duval County." See Letter from Lyndon Johnson to Howard Davis, July 23, 1954, LBJ Library Special Political File ("I am glad to have this information about the singing commercial"); Letter from Adrian Spears to J.J. Pickle, July 23, 1954, LBJ Library Dougherty, Dudley, July 1954 File ("I also checked with station K.O.N.O. with reference to the jingle being played on behalf of Dougherty, and the words are enclosed herewith on a separate sheet."). ]

which helps to explain why, after the incident, Cassini wrote a letter to Richard Berlin, the president of the Hearst Corporation, seeking his commiseration by explaining, "unfortunately, this got me into trouble with NBC, because the Washington office received a call from Sen. Johnson's office, saying that they wanted to sue me (or so they said), and they threw the show off the air in order to appease the senator. I'm sure Senator Johnson didn't request this, but you know how jittery they can be in broadcasting stations."

[ 57 Letter from Igor Cassini to Richard Berlin, July 26, 1954, LBJ Library Special Political File. Berlin duly forwarded the letter to Johnson. See Letter from Richard Berlin to Lyndon Johnson, July 28, 1954, LBJ Library Special Political File.]

In an earlier memorandum to Johnson, one of his aides reported that he had spoken to Frank Russell of NBC who had ordered a transcript of the interview and that, "f the tape shows any thing like what was reported Cassini will not be carried after this Sunday."[58 Memorandum to Lyndon Johnson from "Walter," June 30, 1954, LBJ Library Memoranda 1954 File. "Walter" is apparently Walter Jenkins, a longtime aide of Johnson's. See Dallek, supra note 38, at 186–87.The memorandum concluded with Russell's observation that "he would keep Senator Johnson completely out of it, and that whatever is done would be done purely by the network."]

Another aspect of Igor Cassini, not to mention his legal battle with Robert Kennedy, and the suicide of Charlene Stafford Wrightsman (1927 - 1963)

is that he was personally involved in dispatching Alfred Davidson, Jr. to Dallas before the assassination of JFK, late September early October where he became familiar with Jack Ruby. The credit manager of Neiman-Marcus who fixed the contact between the two died......

Take note that the introduction to Jack although via telephone, was due to the efforts of the Credit Manager of Neiman Marcus, who is, of course, unnamed.

Seven days before the assassination of President Kennedy, an obituary for William Cofer, a credit manager for Neiman Marcus, appeared in the Dallas Morning News.

See

November 15, 1963 DMN "Rites Planned Saturday For W.F. Cofer."

See Thread 1940's History & Background Chicago Mob, Mae Belcher Atty General Tom Clark

If there is anything else that is worth mentioning, it is that the article mentions the Johnson campaign noted that Dougherty's support was out of state

which, said support included some very serious right wing groups........

If anyone finds Dudley T. Dougherty interesting, you may want to peruse the Texas Game Management Agency thread.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=16491&st=15

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=cohn%20edwin%20weisl&cp=9&safe=off&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbo=u&tbs=bks:1&source=og&sa=N&tab=wp&psj=1&fp=d46d7fcb6d497136

Carol Felsenthal - 1998 - 512 pages - Google eBook - Preview

In his book about LBJ, Johnson aide Jack Valenti writes that on Friday, March 13, 1964, five months before the dedication, Edwin L. Weisl Sr., a Wall Street lawyer who had close ties to President Johnson and even closer ties to Roy Cohn ..

...Edwin Weisl, Sr. was also a close friend and mentor of Lyndon Johnson. His son, Edwin Weisl Jr., was an assistant attorney general in the Johnson administration. Weisl worked closely with Paul Ziffren, the Democratic National Committeeman from California. Los Angeles Times gossip columnist Joyce Haber considered Korshak, Wasserman, Paul Ziffren and their wives the “the Big Six” of the “Super-A’s” of the social set. Ziffren was originally from Chicago. He was so close to the Democratic National Committeeman from Illinois, Jake Arvey, that he was considered a relative. ...

Edited February 9, 2011 by Tom Scully

[Douglas Caddy]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7519011.html

I reside a block from this old house in Houston and when I saw it go up for sale a week ago I alerted a friend who is close to reporters at the Houston Chronicle. The result is this news story. I am no fan of LBJ but I did not want the house to be sold and torn down. As historic as it is I doubt that a buyer will pay the asking price of $425,000.

Edited April 16, 2011 by Douglas Caddy