Suite 8F Group

[James Richards]

There is no coincidence that there have been so many false “intelligence” documents that have been produced on UFOs. I am thinking in particular about the so-called FBI memo that linked Dorothy Kilgallen, Marilyn Monroe, JFK and UFOs. I think this is an attempt to discredit JFK researchers. It is noticeable how people like John McAdams often adds the comment about researchers that as well as being conspiracy theorists that they also believe in UFOs. This is a clever tactic, I for one, begin to have doubts about the intelligence of a researcher when it is revealed that they believe in a government conspiracy to hide the existence of UFOs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi John,

It is also interesting how the media has successfully linked the term, Unidentified Flying Object with strange and frightening aliens. In its simplest form, just because something is a UFO hardly suggests that it came from another planet. Earthly origins should be the first place one should look.

I hold the view that 99.9% of UFO's can be explained. It is a fascinating subject but a hard one to approach because as soon as one mentions UFO, one automatically falls into the catagory of believing extraterrestrial beings have visited our planet and a huge conspiracy exists to cover it up.

James

Edited January 17, 2005 by James Richards

[John Simkin]

I would like to return to the case of James Forrestal, Harry Truman’s Secretary of the Navy. I have also explained in the thread on Jack Anderson how Drew Pearson got rid of Forrestal. However, it is worth repeating here as it has links to the Suite 8F Group.

Pearson was opposed to Forrestal’s political views. He claimed that Forrestal had “an obsession that the Cold War was the prelude to a shooting war”. Pearson, who was a Quaker, believed that if Forrestal remained in post, America would eventually go to war with the Soviet Union. He therefore decided to get Forrestal removed.

He relied on leaks. One such leak concerned the deal that Forrestal had done with Saudi Arabia. Pearson was told that that the US Navy had been overcharged for the oil it had obtained from Saudi Arabia. As I have explained earlier, LBJ’s group attempted to control who was Secretary of the Navy. This was partly because of the huge oil contracts that they dished out. Forrestal, based in New York, was not under their control. It was in their interests to get rid of Forrestal. Did LBJ leak this story to Pearson? Or did it come from another member of this group? However, It was this story about Saudi oil that helped to bring Forrestal down.

Truman moved Forrestal to the post as Secretary of Defense. To Pearson, this was an even more dangerous position for him to hold. He continued his campaign and on 28th March, 1949, Truman sacked Forrestal. Soon afterwards, Forrestal, suffering from depression, was admitted to Bethesda Hospital. On 22nd May 1949 Forrestal committed suicide by throwing himself out of a 16th-floor hospital window.

[John Simkin]

Korth was forced to resign over the TFX scandal. It was always important for the Suite 8F Group to have their man as Secretary of the Navy. Not only did he influence federal contracts for aircraft, ships, etc. he was also responsible for the purchase of oil for the American naval fleet. Look at who held this post between 1933 and 1963. Anderson, Connally and Korth were all part of the Suite 8F Group. Does anyone know if any others fell into this category? 

Charles F. Adams..........................5 Mar 1929 - 4 Mar 1933

Claude A. Swanson...................... 4 Mar 1933 - 7 Jul 1939

Charles Edison...............................2 Jan 1940 - 24 Jun 1940

Frank Knox...................................11 Jul 1940 - 28 Apr 1944

James Forrestal............................. 19 May 1944 - 17 Sep 1947

John L. Sullivan..............................18 Sep 1947 - 24 May 1949

Francis P. Matthews...................... 25 May 1949 - 31 Jul 1951

Dan A. Kimball..............................31 Jul 1951 - 20 Jan 1953

Robert B. Anderson.......................4 Feb 1953 - 3 Mar 1954

Charles S. Thomas........................ 3 May 1954 - 1 Apr 1957

Thomas S. Gates........................... 1 Apr 1957 - 8 Jun 1959

William B.Franke............................8 Jun 1959 - 19 Jan 1961

John B. Connally, Jr....................... 25 Jan 1961 - 20 Dec 1961

Fred Korth.....................................4 Jan 1962 - 1 Nov 1963

Paul H. Nitze................................. 29 Nov 1963 - 30 Jun 1967

I am now going to answer my own question. I have been reading Evan Thomas’ The Very Best Men: The Early Years of the CIA (1995). He includes some interesting information about the development of covert operations in the CIA.

Thomas points out that after the war a group called the Georgetown Crowd emerged in Washington. This group included Frank Wisner, George Kennan, Richard Bissell, Desmond FitzGerald, Joseph Alsop, Tracy Barnes, Philip Graham, Katharine Graham, David Bruce, Clark Clifford, Walt Rostow, Eugene Rostow, Chips Bohlen and Paul Nitze.

This group was concerned about the spread of communism and began lobbying for a new intelligence agency. They gained support for this from James Forrestal, the Defense Secretary. With the help of George Kennan, the Office of Special Projects was created in 1948. Wisner was appointed director of the organization. Soon afterwards it was renamed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). This became the espionage and counter-intelligence branch of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Wisner was told to create an organization that concentrated on "propaganda, economic warfare; preventive direct action, including sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition and evacuation measures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, and support of indigenous anti-Communist elements in threatened countries of the free world."

In 1950 Nitze became head of Policy Planning in the State Department. In this post he was the principal author of a highly influential secret National Security Council document, United States Objectives and Programs for National Security (NSC-68), which provided the strategic outline for increased U.S. expenditures to counter the perceived threat of the Soviet Union.

This Georgetown Crowd became associated with the Suite 8F Group in 1953. This was through the friendship of Philip Graham and Lyndon Johnson. It was Graham and Joseph Alsop who persuaded JFK to accept LBJ as his running-mate in 1960.

It was LBJ who encouraged JFK to appoint John Connally of the Suite 8F Group as Navy Secretary. This was an important post and controlled a great deal of federal spending, including the contract to provide oil to the Navy. When Connally became Governor of Texas, LBJ arranged for fellow Texan, Fred Korth, to become the new Navy Secretary.

In November, 1963, Korth was forced to resign as a result of accusations of corruption following the award of a $7 billion contract for a fighter plane, the TFX, to General Dynamics, a company based in Texas. JFK/LBJ could not of course afford to appoint another Texan in this post. Instead they selected Paul Nitze of the Georgetown Crowd for the job. Nitze was an interesting choice, he was married to Phyllis Pratt, a Standard Oil heiress.

Nitze’s early career is also worth looking at. In 1927 he worked as an investment banker in Wall Street. Over the next few years Nitze became extremely wealthy from his business activities in New York. During this period he worked for C. Douglas Dillon and Jim Forrestal at Dillon, Read & Company. (JFK of course appointed the Republican Dillon to be his Secretary of the Treasury in 1960).

In 1940 Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Jim Forrestal as under secretary of the navy with special responsibility for procurement and production. Forrestal invited Nitze to join him in Washington.

Along with Connally, Nitze joined the Nixon administration after the resignation of LBJ. In 1969 President Richard Nixon appointed Nitze as a member of the US delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT). Nitze also served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for international affairs (1973–76). Nitze is credited with forcing President Jimmy Carter to withdraw from the Salt Treaty negotiations.

[John Simkin]

In November, 1963, Korth was forced to resign as a result of accusations of corruption following the award of a $7 billion contract for a fighter plane, the TFX, to General Dynamics, a company based in Texas. JFK/LBJ could not of course afford to appoint another Texan in this post. Instead they selected Paul Nitze of the Georgetown Crowd for the job. Nitze was an interesting choice, he was married to Phyllis Pratt, a Standard Oil heiress.

Probably just a coincidence but Campbell James, another heir to a Standard Oil fortune, worked as a CIA agent under Desmond FitzGerald, who was head of Chief of the Cuban Task Force when JFK was assassinated.

[Pat Speer]

I believe this is a valuable thread and worth keeping alive. I recently read something about Robert Anderson which I believe should be included here.

According to a Phillip Bonsal article in the January 1967 edition of Foreign Affairs, the Castro government was still on the fence in early 1960, but was pushed into the Soviet sphere of influence largely through American miscalculations, many of them made by Secretary of the Treasury Robert Anderson. In May 1960, Castro decided to bring in a million barrels of Russian crude oil, and was pressuring the British and American refineries still running in Cuba into refining the crude. Anderson, however, saw where this was heading, a situation where the Russians could under-cut the over-priced Venezuelan crude of the American companies throughout Latin America, and use their oil to gain leverage. And this could not be allowed to happen. And so he called a meeting in early June where he recommended as Secretary of the Treasury that the oil companies refuse to refine the Russian crude. Of course this caused Castro to nationalize the oil companies, which caused the U.S. to reduce the Cuban sugar quota to zero, which caused Castro to nationalize the Cuban sugar mills, which opened the door for the Russians to buy up all the Cuban sugar and exchange it for oil, effectively making Cuba a satellite of the Soviets.

Thus, Anderson's misguided loyalty to the U.S. oil industry pushed the world towards the brink of a nuclear war. This helps explain why Anderson was such a big advocate of assassinating Castro (as per Bissell's memoirs), and makes Ike's near-worship of the man more suspect. It should be remembered that Ike supported the oil industry's campaign on off-shore drilling, and that the oil industry supported him right back.

(He does make note in his memoirs, however, of his disgust with an oilman who gave a ton of business to a young businessman who just so happened to be the son of a Senator, in hopes of trying to buy influence with the young man's father. The father? Prescott Bush. The son? George HW Bush. )

Edited February 27, 2005 by Pat Speer

[John Simkin]

According to a Phillip Bonsal article in the January 1967 edition of Foreign Affairs, the Castro government was still on the fence in early 1960, but was pushed into the Soviet sphere of influence largely through American miscalculations, many of them made by Secretary of the Treasury Robert Anderson.  In May 1960, Castro decided to bring in a million barrels of Russian crude oil, and was pressuring the British and American refineries still running in Cuba into refining the crude.  Anderson, however, saw where this was heading, a situation where the Russians could under-cut the over-priced Venezuelan crude of the American companies throughout Latin America, and use their oil to gain leverage.  And this could not be allowed to happen.  And so he called a meeting in early June where he recommended as Secretary of the Treasury that the oil companies refuse to refine the Russian crude.  Of course this caused Castro to nationalize the oil companies, which caused the U.S. to reduce the Cuban sugar quota to zero, which caused Castro to nationalize the Cuban sugar mills, which opened the door for the Russians to buy up all the Cuban sugar and  exchange it for oil, effectively making Cuba a satellite of the Soviets.

Thus, Anderson's misguided loyalty to the U.S. oil industry pushed the world towards the brink of a nuclear war.  This helps explain why Anderson was such a big advocate of assassinating Castro (as per Bissell's memoirs), and makes Ike's near-worship of the man more suspect.  It should be remembered  that Ike supported the oil industry's campaign on off-shore drilling, and that the oil industry supported him right back.

(He does make note in his memoirs, however, of his disgust with an oilman who gave a ton of business to a young businessman who just so happened to be the son of a Senator, in hopes of trying to buy influence with the young man's father.  The father? Prescott Bush.  The son?  George HW Bush. )

Fascinating information about Robert Anderson. Is the article online?

I think I have found another member of the Suite 8F Group. His name is John Tower. He was born in Houston (later moved to Dallas). The key members of the Suite 8F group were all active in the Democratic Party. That had to be the case as the Democrats controlled Texas. However, Tower was a leading figure in the Republican Party and represented the changes that were taking place in the political landscape.

In May, 1961, Tower became the first Republican senator elected in Texas since 1870. This marked the beginning of the end for the Democrats in Texas. The problem got even worse after the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The emergence of John Tower posed a serious threat to the Suite 8F Group. However, by 1965 this problem had obviously been solved as Richard Russell allowed Tower to join his Senate Armed Services Committee. He also became a member of the Joint Committee on Defense Production. The control of both these committees was vitally important to the Suite 8F Group.

In 1981 Tower became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. By this time he had developed a reputation of someone who looked after the oil and armaments industries in Texas. Under Tower’s guidance defense spending rose to $211 billion a year.

In January, 1985, Tower retired from the Senate in order to become a highly-paid defense consultant (his company, Tower, Eggers, and Greene Consulting was based in Dallas and Washington). However, two weeks after leaving the Senate Ronald Reagan appointed him as chief United States negotiator at the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks in Geneva. I am sure he made a good job of bringing an end to the arms race.

In November 1986, Reagan persuaded Tower to chair the President's Special Review Board to study the actions of the National Security Council and its staff during the Iran-Contra affair. I am sure he made a good job of that as well.

In 1989 President George Bush selected Tower to become his Secretary of Defense. However, the Senate refused to confirm his nomination because of his known links with the arms industry. As Steven Waldman reported in the Washington Monthly: "There was no solid proof Tower did anything illegal when he was a defense consultant after leaving government, but his closeness to the industry makes it doubtful he would have been sufficiently critical of contractors' products and claims." This was the first rejection of a cabinet nominee in more than 30 years.

Tower knew where all the bodies were buried. Was Bush worried that Tower would talk unless he was given a top job like the Secretary of Defense? If that is so, when the Senate rejected him, did he become a man who might talk about what he knew about the CIA and corruption in the Senate.

John Tower was killed in a plane crash new New Brunswick, Georgia, on 5th April, 1991. According to the New York Times the “failure of a severely worn part in the plane’s propeller control unit caused the aircraft to spin out of control.”

I am interested in discovering the names of the oil and armaments companies that Tower was working with. I have ordered a copy of Tower’s autobiography, Consequences: A Personal and Political Memoir. I have also ordered a copy of Rodney Stich’s Defrauding America, that apparently looks at Tower relationship with the CIA and the armaments industry. Does anybody else have copies of these books or any other information that links Tower to the Suite 8F Group?

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

[Pat Speer]

Fascinating information about Robert Anderson. Is the article online?

I am interested in discovering the names of the oil and armaments companies that Tower was working with. I have ordered a copy of Tower’s autobiography, Consequences: A Personal and Political Memoir. I have also ordered a copy of Rodney Stich’s Defrauding America, that apparently looks at Tower relationship with the CIA and the armaments industry. Does anybody else have copies of these books or any other information that links Tower to the Suite 8F Group?

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

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I found the article in a 1972 book called The Borzoi Reader in Latin American History which I picked up for a quarter at a bookstore. Not everything in my post came from the article, e.g. Bonsal never states that the Venezuelan oil was over-priced, and he doesn't trash Anderson by name. He does make it clear the Secretary of the Treasury met with the oil executives in Washington and urged them not to co-operate with Castro, without informing the State Department of this meeting. Bonsal, by the way, is listed as having been the Ambassador to Cuba from 59 to 61, the time in question, so he should have been informed. The Borzoi reader sums up the article by stating that Bonsal maintains the United States did not force Castro and Che Guevara into the Soviet camp but was "unwisely cooperative in removing obstacles to their chosen path." Which I believe is a diplomatic way of saying the Eisenhower Administration, and Anderson in particular, screwed up bigtime.

I have a 1962 book by Tower with a forward by Barry Goldwater, in which Tower vomits forth Goldwater's anti-communist and states rights gospel. No mention of his cronies. I do find it hard to believe a Goldwater Republican would play ball with LBJ, but politics (and greed) make strange bedfellows.

Edited March 1, 2005 by Pat Speer

[Shanet Clark]

John,

I suspected John Tower about the time of the cover-up he orchestrated on the Iran Contra commission. The parameters were set in such a way that the commission would not discuss the OCTOBER SURPRISE of 1980, which launched the entire support effort toward Iran, TOW weapons, spare parts etc. The book LANDSLIDE is an excellent overview of the Oliver North NSC actions in Iran under ADMIRAL POINDEXTER.

I think you will find that the publicly stated reason for Tower's being refused the top defence position was his sexual proclivities, affairs, womanizing, and alcoholism.

[James Richards]

Here'a a curious news clipping regarding John Tower.

James

[Pat Speer]

Here'a a curious news clipping regarding John Tower.

James

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's probably just a coincidence but it should be pointed out that the two men in government Oswald wrote to in order to help him with his dishonorable discharge were John Connally and John Tower. Both of them would presumably have been aware of Oswald's history and could therefore have been involved in fingering him as a patsy.

I don't necessarily believe this, but it should be acknowledged.

Edited March 1, 2005 by Pat Speer

[James Richards]

It's probably just a coincidence but it should be pointed out that the two men in government Oswald wrote to in order to help him with his dishonorable discharge were John Connally and John Tower. Both of them would presumably have been aware of Oswald's history and could therefore have been involved in fingering him as a patsy. (Pat Speer)

Indeed, Pat.

This clipping outlines what went down there. Interesting to note the name of Tower's Executive Secretary, a woman named Linda Lee Lovelady. I wonder if she is related to ....

Forget it. Let's not go there.

James

[John Simkin]

Interesting that he wrote to two right wingers, John Tower and John Connally, but not to the liberal Ralph Yarborough.

[Shanet Clark]

Oswald always wrote in a bureaucratic and hedged style that showed signs of coaching. He was false in Japan, false in Minsk and false in Dallas.......

[Pat Speer]

To be fair about Tower, it should be pointed out that he was Vice-Chairman of the so-called Church Committee, and signed his name to "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders," which went further than any other public document in its criticism of the CIA. A similar committee started in the House of Reps, led by Otis Pike, was not allowed to publish its report. (Although Daniel Schorr snuck a copy to the Village Voice.)

On the other hand, the Church Committe was in many ways a "limited hang-out," which along with the behavior of CIA Director William Colby, assured the people that the U.S. was cleaning up its act, even while it was sweeping its worst crimes under the rug. It should be noted that Church and Tower both stated that they didn't believe there was sufficient evidence to begin an inquiry into the CIA's role in the Kennedy Assassination, although I believe they did condone an investigation into the CIA's lack of co-operation with the Warren Commission. It was Senator Schweiker who pushed for a new investigation, and I'm pretty sure his interest was piqued in large part by the possibility of Castro's involvement.

[Pat Speer]

Ooops... Double Post.

Edited March 2, 2005 by Pat Speer