Gerald Ford: Was he telling the truth?

[Duke Lane]

...

In Gerald D. McKnight's great book, Breach of Trust ... Recently released documents show that DeLoach had a series of meetings with Ford while he was a member of the Warren Commission. They worked together in making sure that Warren Olney III did not become chief counsel of the WC. Olney was considered to be too "liberal" and in the past had criticised the FBI.

DeLoach and Ford also tried to get Norman Redlich removed as J. Lee Rankin's special assistant. ... Gerald Ford joined in the attack and at one closed-door session of the Warren Commission he called for Redlich to be dismissed. Earl Warren and J. Lee Rankin both supported him and he retained his job. However, it is believed that this campaign had the desired impact on Redlich's desire to ask awkward questions.

The Redlich incident is well documented, and in reality, he got to keep his job because only Jerry Ford wanted him gone, and he could not get a second to bring his motion to vote. It would be interesting to see exactly how Ford presented the WC's decision to the floor of Congress inasmuch as, when the decision was made to keep Redlich - or some might more correctly say "failed to have been made" to get rid of him - Ford said that he'd be glad to inform Congress of the result of the WC's deliberations and that he would also be glad to add his personal, opposing opinion to the record that he'd never have hired Redlich in the first place had he known of his supposed associations, and thought he should be fired then.

The other members of the Commission effectively (tried to?) shut him down by emphasizing the need for the Commission to show unanimity among themselves at all times, and not appear to have petty internal squabbles between the members. As much as Ford seems to have acceded to the will of the majority, I wonder what he really said (if anything) when he went back to Congress to tell them about the "Red" on Warren's staff. He really was something of a weasel in many of these proceedings.

As to the Olney affair, it doesn't seem to have happened, in my opinion. See the thread Olney v. Rankin and see if you agree.