David Talbot's New Book Brothers

[Don Jeffries]

Mr. Talbot,

Just a few questions for you. I think your book is great, and want to commend you for taking a courageous stance on this issue. I tend to agree with Myra's view that LBJ had advance knowledge of the assassination. I think that there was an undercurrent of belief among several Kennedy loyalists that LBJ was behind the whole thing. If you read "Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye," by O'Donnell and Powers, there are several hints at this during their recounting of the events afer the assassination. I believe Evelyn Lincoln was the most outspoken Kennedy loyalist about this. Don't know if she ever directly accused LBJ of anything, but she was bitter about the way he acted after the assassination, and claimed that the last thing JFK told her was that LBJ was going to be replaced on the ticket in 1964. Unfortunatly, O'Donnell, Powers and Lincoln are all dead, and thus you couldn't have interviewed them. I'm wondering if you sensed anything like this from the people you did interview.

On another point, I was watching your fine speech from the San Francisco book store on C-SPAN recently, and wondered if the man who asked a question near the end was your real-life brother, Stephen. Hope you don't mind me mentioning this, but as a trivia buff, I'm well aware that Stephen Talbot played Gilbert Bates on "Leave It To Beaver" for several years. I'm curious as to whether Stephen shares your views on the JFK assassination. In the same vein, did your father, Lyle (for those of you who don't know, Lyle Talbot enjoyed a long career in Hollywood, playing Ozzie's best friend on "Ozzie and Harriet" and appearing in the cult classic "Plan 9 From Outer Space," among many other things) have any views on this subject? I know he was politically active in union affairs, but did he think there was a conspiracy to kill JFK? Thanks in advance, and again- congratulations on a fine book.

[John Simkin]

I think your book is great, and want to commend you for taking a courageous stance on this issue. I tend to agree with Myra's view that LBJ had advance knowledge of the assassination. I think that there was an undercurrent of belief among several Kennedy loyalists that LBJ was behind the whole thing. If you read "Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye," by O'Donnell and Powers, there are several hints at this during their recounting of the events afer the assassination. I believe Evelyn Lincoln was the most outspoken Kennedy loyalist about this. Don't know if she ever directly accused LBJ of anything, but she was bitter about the way he acted after the assassination, and claimed that the last thing JFK told her was that LBJ was going to be replaced on the ticket in 1964.

Two relevant quotes from Evelyn Lincoln:

(1) Kennedy and Johnson (1968)

"As Mr. Kennedy sat in the rocker in my office, his head resting on its back he placed his left leg across his right knee. He rocked slightly as he talked. In a slow pensive voice he said to me, 'You know if I am re-elected in sixty-four, I am going to spend more and more time toward making government service an honorable career. I would like to tailor the executive and legislative branches of government so that they can keep up with the tremendous strides and progress being made in other fields.' 'I am going to advocate changing some of the outmoded rules and regulations in the Congress, such as the seniority rule. To do this I will need as a running mate in sixty-four a man who believes as I do.' Mrs. Lincoln went on to write "I was fascinated by this conversation and wrote it down verbatim in my diary. Now I asked, 'Who is your choice as a running-mate?' 'He looked straight ahead, and without hesitating he replied, 'at this time I am thinking about Governor Terry Sanford of North Carolina. But it will not be Lyndon.'"

(2) Letter to Richard Duncan, a teacher at Northside Middle School in Roanoke (7th October, 1994)

"As for (sic) the assassination is concerned it is my belief that there was a conspiracy because there were those that disliked him and felt the only way to get rid of him was to assassinate him. These five conspirators, in my opinion, were Lyndon B. Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, the Mafia, the CIA, and the Cubans in Florida."

[David Talbot]

Hello Myra, William and Don -- re: LBJ, you're right, Myra, we're unlikely to find anything original at this point. Even Howard Hunt's provocative remarks about Johnson as the instigator of the plot were speculative (even if you find Hunt credible, as I basically do, though I think he dances around the truth in his confessions to his son, St John).

William, yes, I'm ready for more rounds -- I've grown used to the idea that once you enter the Kennedy fray, there is no going back.

Don-- yes, I agree that some people in the Kennedy circle suspected LBJ. I found no evidence that Bobby did, but I did talk to at least one Kennedy insider who did -- Joe Dolan. (I think this made it into a footnote in my book.)

And yes, it's true that I come from a Hollywood family, and that my brother Steve (former child actor, now a producer for PBS' "Frontline") was in the crowd at San Francisco's Book Passage when I spoke. Very observant of you! You must be a big "Leave It to Beaver" fan! I would say that, like most journalists, Steve was initially skeptical of my take on Dallas. But after reading my book, I think he's been swayed. Speaking of "Brothers," Steve is a very loyal big brother.

My Dad, Lye Talbot, was a colorful old Hollywood guy (was signed by Warner Bros with that first wave of talking actors in the early 1930s, including Bogie and Bette Davis) and did indeed co-found the Screen Actors Guild. Despite his strong pro-unionism,he was pretty conservative when I was growing up --took us to Nixon rallies in 1960 and voted for Goldwater. But he became increasingly liberal in his later years (voted for McGovern!) -- and used to publicly trash his old SAG colleague Ronnie Reagan during RR's presidency whenever he got the chance. I don't remmember ever talking with my father about Dallas --but before he died, he and I went to see Oliver Stone's "JFK" and we were both very moved by it. I had always been haunted by the assassination as a kid, but it was that film that drove me to begin looking into it as a journalist.

[James Richards]

Don-- yes, I agree that some people in the Kennedy circle suspected LBJ. I found no evidence that Bobby did, but I did talk to at least one Kennedy insider who did -- Joe Dolan. (I think this made it into a footnote in my book.) (David Talbot)

David,

Do you know if Joe Dolan was the man that RFK sent to Alabama in September of 1963 to observe the integration of black students at the Graymont Elementary School?

James

[John Simkin]

David, have you seen this Prensa Latina story:

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7...amp;language=EN

Washington, Jun 23 (Prensa Latina) Former US Attorney General Robert Kennedy, brother of murdered President John F. Kennedy, personally headed a ploy to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro, a memorandum by the White House reveals Saturday.

The document, disclosed by the George Washington University s National Security Archive, refers to a conversation between former President Gerard Ford and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, on January 4, 1975.

In the talk, Kissinger told Ford that once CIA director Richard Helms confirmed Robert Kennedy led an assassination plan against the Cuban leader.

"Robert Kennedy personally managed the operation on the assassination of Castro," Kissinger told Ford.

The archives corroborate arbitrary actions of domestic surveillance, kidnappings, assassination plots against foreign leaders, and chemical trials with humans, among other shocking disclosures.

Current CIA director Michael Hayden stated on Thursday that all of declassified documents will be made known next week, though some information was already divulged by the National Security Archive s web page.

The intelligence reports, with the allegoric name "The Family Jewels," also provide details on infiltration of leftist groups in Latin America and other world regions in the 1960s.

Furthermore, it will be disclosed how the CIA organized its espionage in China, Cuba, and the former Soviet Union, and its constant supervision of several US journalists, according to the sources.

Is this an attempt to counteract your book? They are using this quote from Kissinger as if it is definitely true. However, the story came from Helms and was probably part of a disinformation campaign against Robert Kennedy.

It will be very interesting if the CIA publish Cleveland Cram's report on "The Family Jewels". He not only saw the documents but interviewed the CIA officers involved. I have read Cram's other report that he wrote for the CIA, Of Moles and Molehunters: A Review of Counterintelligence Literature. This document was declassified in 2003. It is an impressive piece of work. Cram, who was a talented historian before he was recruited by the CIA, is both perceptive and honest.

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

[Myra Bronstein]

David,

The material in your book about the motivation behind Mary Meyer sharing LSD with President Kennedy was pretty jaw-dropping, certainly a revelation to me.

And the entire time I was wondering about Timothy Leary and whether or not he was CIA.

If Leary was CIA then Meyer, presumably inadvertently, played right into the CIA's hands by giving them one more thing to use against JFK and/or one more reason to hate JFK. (Actually you make the case that the episode(s) hurt him anyway since the CIA was aware of them.)

Do you think Leary was CIA? Did you find any evidence that he was CIA?

Thanks.

Myra

[Dawn Meredith]

David,

It was great to see you featured in Time mag AND on coast to coast last night. The host (Ian ) seemed well -versed on the subject too, such a nice departure from the Chris Matthews show. He was so rude to you, I will not watch him now. I hope this great exposure keeps up.

Dawn

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

John-- you mentioned the La Prensa story re: RFK and Cuba. A fried told me he saw something similar on CNN yesterday morning, something linking

RFK to Cuba asssassination attempts. It is beginning to sound like this might be the lead of the big release next week. It is interestiing that they

are going for a big splash with this release. You can tell by the way they made the announcement on Thursday to build interest, and then said the

details will come out next week. As a result, at least twice the number of people will see this stuff.

It sure would be great if we could get information out about Operation Mockingbird in conjunction with this big splash next week. Also some

comparisons of the "strategic leaks" ( ie that point in the wrong direction away from key people in Operation 40), that occured as part of the

Church Committe partial-revelations of the 1970s. This represents a chance to show the excellence and deep relevence of your Operation Mockingbird

research to current events.

Remember, not a lot of people in their twenties and thirties (and forties?) even know what the heck the Church Committee was. I hope thier will be a

whole lot of cut and pastin' by members on different sites to put this weeks disinformation in context. This could also get a lot of people looking at

Spatacus/ Education Forum for the first time.

[Charles Drago]

Let's make lemonade from this lemmon!

The entire Kissinger angle is a class/courtroom example of how disinformation and targeting the future works.

It also exposes the superficiality of the media and punditry. They are INCAPABLE of seeing beneath the surface.

But this is good news.

Here's how we awaken, educate, and enlist our somnambulistic allies: We do not reference this hang-out without explaining how and why Kissinger's claim must be discounted.

It might go something like this:

"But Chris, here's what you're missing and what you have to understand. There is every good reason to believe that what Henry and Helms were saying was designed as a cover story. In point of fact ... "

Chris Matthews, over the past two or three editions of "Noballs" ... I mean "Hardball" ... has put his dillitanteism on display by dropping names related to '60s CIA operations. He declares his ignorance with an air of pride.

He needs to be called on this. Publicly. In the same tone in which he addressed David Talbot in re LHO's TSBD employment opportunity.

Shame the no good son of a b***h. Force him into the truth.

Charles

[Chris Cox]

Along the "Beave" six degrees...is it true Babs B (the mom with the pearls) was related to Sherman B who hosted Hoover and Jack at his Stork Club and who's son in law, Rorke (son of NYC DA?) disappeared with Sullivan 9/63 on an anti-Castro raid? And Dave, isn't it a bit weird that CIA this week quotes Kissinger (in the documents release article DC Post) as saying RFK was behind the raids against Castro regime as Cuba concurs? Yikes!

[Don Jeffries]

I find the CIA release to be timed suspiciously as well. All of these "blame Bobby" for the assassination attempts against Castro reports can be traced back to the same source; the CIA (usually Richard Helms). As for Kissinger's views on this- what a joke. Does anyone find Kissinger credible about anything?

David- thanks for the info. regarding your family. I am indeed an afficianado of "Leave It To Beaver." I've heard that Stephen is not interested in appearing with the other cast members for reunions, and reluctant to speak about his role on the show. Tell him that he should be very, very proud to have been associated with one of the greatest sitcoms in the history of television. Thanks for the tidbits about your dad. It's great to picture him attending "JFK." I know he lived to a ripe old age, so he must have been about 90 when he saw it. You are very lucky to have had such a colorful father in your life for so many years. Congratulatons again on a great book.

Edited June 25, 2007 by Don Jeffries

[John Dolva]

I find the CIA release to be timed suspiciously as well. All of these "blame Bobby" for the assassination attempts against Castro reports can be traced back to the same source; the CIA (usually Richard Helms). As for Kissinger's views on this- what a joke. Does anyone find Kissinger credible about anything?

David- thanks for the info. regarding your family. I am indeed an afficiandado of "Leave It To Beaver." I've heard that Stephen is not interested in appearing with the other cast members for reunions, and reluctant to speak about his role on the show. Tell him that he should be very, very proud to have been associated with one of the greatest sitcoms in the history of television. Thanks for the tidbits about your dad. It's great to picture him attending "JFK." I know he lived to a ripe old age, so he must have been about 90 when he saw it. You are very lucky to have had such a colorful father in your life for so many years. Congratulatons again on a great book.

The timing of much is suspect, whether it is Pro or Anti-Cuba Centric theories. It keeps an arguably discreditable scenario on the top of the agenda. More so considering the massive Bush Gov. funded anti-cuba propaganda under way. Focusing on Kissinger, the person, irrespective of the content, rasises other specters as well. Applying Dale Scott's 'negative template' analysis is revealing.

[David Talbot]

The "new" CIA is reviving one of its oldest dirty tricks with this Bobby Kennedy smear. And yes, consider the sources-- Kissinger and Helms. I explain the genesis of this attack on RFK in my book. I just blogged about it in Salon. Here's part of what I wrote:

The CIA's new honesty is also far from complete. There is nothing in the family jewels about agency officials long suspected by congressional investigators and researchers of ties to the Kennedy assassination, including deceased agents such as William Harvey, David Phillips, David Morales and George Joannides. The agency continues to keep these records under wraps, in brazen defiance of the law.

In fact, the agency could not help taking another whack at the Kennedys with the release of its family jewels. Press reports about the declassified CIA secrets laid the blame for the assassination efforts against Fidel Castro directly on then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy. What's the original source for this anti-Kennedy smear? None other than Richard Helms, the No. 2 man at the CIA during the Kennedy presidency and a bitter enemy of the two brothers.

Helms, desperately trying to head off congressional investigations into CIA abuses in the post-Watergate period, warned that he would drag RFK -- by then conveniently dead -- into the Castro controversy. By doing this, the wily Helms was clearly trying to intimidate the Democratic-controlled Congress. At a lunch meeting in January 1975, Helms told his friend Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that "Robert Kennedy personally managed the operation on the assassination of Castro" -- confident that Kissinger would spread this around Washington, as he quickly did. Helms knew his accusation against RFK was a lie, and when later pressed by the Church Committee to provide proof, he could not, admitting that the CIA had misled Bobby about its plots. In truth, RFK was appalled when he learned that the agency was collaborating with the Mafia to kill Castro -- and Kennedy believed that he shut down this sinister operation. But he did not succeed -- the CIA continued to conspire against Castro for years after the Kennedys were removed from power.

Spreading poisonous disinformation about the Kennedys has long been one of the CIA's oldest family jewels. Helms' loyal aide Sam Halpern was a master at disseminating these lies to the press for years. But don't expect the agency to come clean about this any time soon.

PS The fact that media is once again falling for this old lie -- including NPR's Daniel Schorr, the blithering idiot Chris Matthews, CNN etc -- once again shows how deeply misinformed the press is about this hugely important chapter in our history. I can't tell you how fed up I am with my profession.

http://www.salon.com/books/authors/talbot/about/blog.html

[Don Jeffries]

David,

It's great to know that at least one journalist doesn't buy these lies about the Kennedys. The mainstream media was quick to publish and accept Judith Campbell Exner's claims, while at the same time dismissing any and all information contrary to the lone-assassin myth as just more dreaded "conspiracy theories." The underlying theme of all this is that "the Kennedys were no different from all other politicians, JFK would not have gotten us out of Vietnam, the old man was a corrupt bastard who stole the election and JFK/Bobby was actually responsible for the assassination and probably deserved it anyway." The saddest part of this is that the so-called "left" is just as guilty of this anti-Kennedy rhetoric as the most conservative elements on the right. You don't see supposed "leftists" like Christopher Hitchens or Alexander Cockburn castigating the memory of FDR or Truman, but it's always open season on the Kennedys. If you haven't already done so, you might be interested in reading Jim DiEugenio's excellent two-part article that touches on this subject. It was published in Probe magazine, and was available online quite recently, so it should still be so. It was called "The Posthumous Assassination Of John F. Kennedy," and you could probably find it via a simple Google search.

[John Dolva]

dbl post

Edited June 25, 2007 by John Dolva