Don B. Reynolds and LBJ

[John Simkin]

I found this on Namebase very interesting. I have just managed to get a copy from a bookshop in Ireland. It includes details about the Don B. Reynolds case:

Winter-Berger, Robert N. The Washington Pay-Off: An Insider's View of Corruption in Government. New York: Dell Publishing, 1972. 336 pages.

Robert Winter-Berger was a Washington lobbyist from 1964-1969, and he got out just in time. The next year his friend Nathan Voloshen, who had underworld connections and was a political fixer for House Speaker John W. McCormack, was indicted along with McCormack's aide Martin Sweig. McCormack faked ignorance and was allowed to resign quietly, while Winter-Berger was mentioned in the press. He had spent five years watching McCormack, Sweig, Voloshen, and many others pass around envelopes filled with cash in exchange for political favors; the indictments reflected only the tip of the iceberg. During those five years, Winter-Berger took notes and was in the habit of saving every scrap of evidence. This name-intensive book is the result.

If bribes, double-dealing, kickbacks, blackmail, and corrupt judges sound like grist for Hollywood, imagine the same thing happening in Capitol Hill offices, day in and day out. Once while Winter-Berger is sitting in McCormack's office, Lyndon Johnson storms in, alternately cursing and crying over his Bobby Baker problems. After a few minutes of this, Johnson finally notices Winter-Berger, and asks McCormack, "Is he all right?" "Yes, he's a close friend of Nat's," replies McCormack. LBJ then gets an idea - he tells Winter-Berger to take a message to Nat for delivery to Bobby Baker, offering Baker a million dollars to take the rap and keep his mouth shut.

[James Richards]

A couple of interesting characters there for sure, John.

Nathan Voloshen's underworld connections come primarily in the form of Albert Parvin. Parvin was 30% owner of the Flamingo in Las Vegas. He was tight with William Israel Alderman aka Ice-Pick Willie and Meyer Lansky.

In 1960, Parvin set-up the Parvin Foundation which was to do with educating the developing leadership in Latin America. Interesting to note that some of Parvin's Las Vegas associates were having their own problems with the Castro revolution.

In 1966, Parvin bought the Fremont Hotel and then tried to acquire several others which generated an investigation. At this point, Voloshen was in Parvin's employ well and truly.

As a sidebar; Time Magazine claimed that RFK was the one responsible for the dismissal of Voloshen as a consultant to the House Education and Labor Committee. Voloshen died in 1971.

Nathan Voloshen below.

BTW, Robert Winter-Berger was the producer of plays in New York during the early 1950's.

FWIW.

James

Edited March 7, 2006 by James Richards

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Winter-Berger, Robert N. The Washington Pay-Off: An Insider's View of Corruption in Government. New York: Dell Publishing, 1972. 336 pages.

Once while Winter-Berger is sitting in McCormack's office, Lyndon Johnson storms in, alternately cursing and crying over his Bobby Baker problems. After a few minutes of this, Johnson finally notices Winter-Berger, and asks McCormack, "Is he all right?" "Yes, he's a close friend of Nat's," replies McCormack. LBJ then gets an idea - he tells Winter-Berger to take a message to Nat for delivery to Bobby Baker, offering Baker a million dollars to take the rap and keep his mouth shut.

I read this book some years ago and was very sceptical of this sensational story. Why would LBJ send an offer of $1M to Bobby Baker via a messenger who was a stranger to him? Surely LBJ had trusted couriers to do this kind of work, assuming he could not speak to Baker directly?

This sounds like a juicy story invented to make the book saleable, but the argument against this is that McCormick was still alive when Winter-Berger's book was published.

[Pat Speer]

Winter-Berger, Robert N. The Washington Pay-Off: An Insider's View of Corruption in Government. New York: Dell Publishing, 1972. 336 pages.

Once while Winter-Berger is sitting in McCormack's office, Lyndon Johnson storms in, alternately cursing and crying over his Bobby Baker problems. After a few minutes of this, Johnson finally notices Winter-Berger, and asks McCormack, "Is he all right?" "Yes, he's a close friend of Nat's," replies McCormack. LBJ then gets an idea - he tells Winter-Berger to take a message to Nat for delivery to Bobby Baker, offering Baker a million dollars to take the rap and keep his mouth shut.

I read this book some years ago and was very sceptical of this sensational story. Why would LBJ send an offer of $1M to Bobby Baker via a messenger who was a stranger to him? Surely LBJ had trusted couriers to do this kind of work, assuming he could not speak to Baker directly?

This sounds like a juicy story invented to make the book saleable, but the argument against this is that McCormick was still alive when Winter-Berger's book was published.

Several years ago, I came across three books with the word Pay-off in the title in the same used book store. All are worth reading. One was Pay-Off, which had a chapter on Jack Halfen and his pay-offs to LBJ, and another chapter in which Carlos Marcello defended his right to make political contributions just like any other businessman. The second book was the Washington Pay-Off, in which Winter-Berger recounted his sensational tale of LBJ and McCormick, and the third was The 100 Million Dollar Pay-Off, by forum member Douglas Caddy, which, if I remember correctly, dealt primarily with the massive influence of labor unions, including the Teamsters, on Washington.

Perhaps Mr. Caddy can tell us more about his book and whether he found evidence of inordinate Teamster influence over LBJ. We know there were ties between the Teamsters, Nixon and Reagan. If LBJ was under the influence of both the Teamsters and Marcello, that might explain a few things.

Edited March 7, 2006 by Pat Speer

[John Simkin]

I thought it might be a good idea to provide a referenced account of the Don B. Reynolds' story:

Bobby Baker had been forced to resign on 7th October, 1963. Baker, like Fred Korth (he resigned at the end of October), was accused of corruptly obtaining federal contracts. The previous year he had had established the Serve-U-Corporation with his friend, Fred Black, and mobsters Ed Levenson and Benny Sigelbaum. The company was to provide vending machines for companies working on federally granted programs. In September, 1963, Ralph Hill, the owner of Capitol Vending Company, filed suit against Baker and the Serv-U Corporation. Hill’s business partner was Congressman John McMillan of South Carolina. Hill claimed that he had paid Baker $5,000 in payoff money in order to get a vending machine concession at Melpar, a Virginia-based company which manufactured missile components.

In his autobiography, Wheeling and Dealing, Baker claims that Lyndon Johnson became very concerned with these events. He sent Walter Jenkins to ask him to quietly settle the lawsuit as he believed that Robert Kennedy was attempting to get him removed from office. Jenkins told Baker: “The boss (Johnson) would hate to see these things blown up. Reporters have been around asking questions and he’s afraid Bobby Kennedy’s putting them up to hanging something on you so as to embarrass him.” (1)

Johnson was right that Robert Kennedy was out to get him. Burkett Van Kirk, chief counsel for the Republican minority on the Senate Rules Committee later told Seymour Hersh that Senator John Williams of Delaware was being fed information by Robert Kennedy about the involvement of Lyndon Johnson and Bobby Baker in a series of scandals. Williams, the Senate’s leading investigator of corruption, passed this information to the three Republicans (John Sherman Cooper, Hugh Scott and Carl Curtis) on the ten-member Rules Committee. However, outnumbered, they were unable to carry out a full investigation into Johnson and Baker. Van Kirk claimed that Robert Kennedy supplied this information because he wanted “to get rid of Johnson.” (2)

In his autobiography, Forty Years Against the Tide, Carl Curtis gives an insider view of the attempted investigation into the activities of Lyndon Johnson, Bobby Baker, Walter Jenkins and Fred Black. According to Curtis, Johnson managed to persuade the seven Democrats to vote against hearing the testimony of important witnesses. This included Margaret Broome, who served as Bobby Baker’s secretary before the position was taken by Carole Tyler, who later became his mistress. Tyler did testify but refused to answer questions on the ground that she might incriminate herself. Tyler was later to die in an airplane crash on the beach near the Carousel Motel, owned by Bobby Baker. (3)

In his autobiography, Curtis described Baker, Jenkins and Black as “contact men”. He added: “Contact-men existed primarily to obtain for their clients and themselves some share of the vast pool of riches in the possession of swollen centralized political bureaucracies. The more impressive a contact-man’s political connections, the better he and his clients would fare.” (4)

According to W. Penn Jones, “Bobby Baker was about the first person in Washington to know that Lyndon Johnson was to be dumped as the Vice-Presidential candidate. Baker knew that President Kennedy had offered the spot on the ticket to Senator George Smathers of Florida... Baker knew because his secretary. Miss Nancy Carole Tyler, roomed with one of George Smathers' secretaries. Miss Mary Jo Kopechne had been another of Smathers' secretaries.” (5)

It is clear that Johnson knew he was going to be dumped as Vice President although it was not clear who his replacement was going to be. Johnson was also aware that Attorney General Robert Kennedy was leaking information to the Senate Rules Committee about his corrupt activities.

Robert A. Caro points out in Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, that this corruption was organized by close political associates such as John Connally, Ed Clark, Cliff Carter, Walter Jenkins, Tommy Corcoran and Jesse Kellam. Caro argues that this money often came from the armaments or oil industries. George and Herman Brown, the co-owners of Brown & Root (Halliburton) were probably his main suppliers of money. Caro also quotes Claude Wild, chief lobbyist of the Gulf Oil Corporation, of having the task of paying Johnson, via Walter Jenkins, $50,000 in 1960. (6)

It was however, the TFX contract that was Johnson’s main source of stress at this time. Johnson knew that John Williams had arranged for Don. B. Reynolds to appear before a closed session of the Senate Rules Committee on 22nd November, 1963. Reynolds told of seeing a suitcase full of money which Bobby Baker described as a "$100,000 payoff to Johnson for his role in securing the Fort Worth TFX contract". His testimony came to an end when news arrived that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. (7)

According to Edward Jay Epstein, Reynolds also provided information to the Warren Commission. Reynolds said that Bobby Baker had told him that Kennedy "would never live out his term and that he would die a violent death." Baker had also said that "the FBI knew that Johnson was behind the assassination". (8)

In the weeks following the death of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson seemed fairly preoccupied with the testimony of Don B. Reynolds before the Senate Rules Committee. His concerns grew when B. Everett Jordan, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, phoned Johnson on 6th December, 1963, to tell him that someone had leaked details of Reynolds’ testimony to the investigative journalist, Clark Mollenhoff. Jordan insisted he was doing his best to keep the information from becoming public: “I’m trying to keep the Bobby (Baker) thing from spreading… Because hell, I don’t want to see it spread either. It might spread a place we don’t want it to spread… Mighty hard to put a fire out when it gets out of control.” (9)

This telephone call reveals that Jordan and Johnson were not only concerned with covering-up the Bobby Baker story. The corrupt awarding of the TFX contract was only part of a much larger scandal that has never been fully exposed. I mean by this the way that the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence Complex had been fully integrated into the American political system. As Ernest Fitzgerald pointed out in his book, The Pentagonists: An Insider's View of Waste, Mismanagement, and Fraud in Defense Spending: "In other banana republics the military comes to power with a sudden coup and the installation of a junta. Here it is different.... America runs on money. And the military has quietly come to vast economic power by taking vast amounts of the federal income for itself." (10)

Johnson also made an interesting telephone concerning the Bobby Baker scandal to George Smathers on 10th January, 1964. Clark Mollenhoff had reported in the Des Moines Register, that Ellen Rometsch had been “associating with Congressional leaders and some prominent New Frontiersmen”. (11) At the time, Rometsch was being investigated by the FBI as a possible Soviet spy. Robert Kennedy asked J. Edgar Hoover to help persuade Everett Dirksen and Mike Mansfield to stop a Senate investigation into Mollenhoff’s claim. (12)

However, soon after the assassination of John Kennedy, B. Everett Jordan, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, announced that he intended to look into reports of “party girls in Bobby Baker’s circle”. This was probably an attempt to put pressure on Robert Kennedy to keep quiet about events relating to his brother's assassination. This was only a short-term measure as when a committee member attempted to ask one witness about Bobby Baker’s girls, Jordan ruled him out of order. (13)

In the telephone call to George Smathers, Johnson points out that Bobby Baker has a tape-recording of politicians and U.S. officials at his town house and the Quorum Club. Johnson tells Smathers that the tape “involves you and John Williams and a number of other people.” Smathers replies that he knows about the tape and that it also includes the voices of Baker’s girls as well as Hugh Scott, one of the Republican members of the Senate Rules Committee, who along with Carl Curtis and John Sherman Cooper, had been asking awkward questions about Johnson on the Senate Rules Committee. Scott, Curtis and Cooper were the only Republican members on the committee. John Williams, also apparently on the tape was the man who had been supplying the Republicans with information about the Bobby Baker case that he had received from Robert Kennedy. (14)

Johnson also adds that Robert Kennedy is also on the tape. Smathers’ replies: “Thank God, they’ve got Hugh Scott in there. He’s the guy that was asking for it. But she also mentioned him, which is sort of a lifesaver. So I don’t think that’ll get too far now. Jordan’s orders.” Johnson is still concerned about the damage that Scott can do and orders Smathers to do what he can to “make them (the Republicans) behave”. He also adds that Richard Russell was also working behind the scenes to stop the story reaching the public. (15)

Johnson then goes on to discuss the Don B. Reynolds case with Smathers. He confesses that he has a copy of Reynolds’ FBI file. The only problem is “there ain’t a goddamn thing in it that they can even indict him on.” Smathers’ replies that the best way to stop the story emerging is to get Everett Dirksen (Republican leader in the Senate) and Thomas Kuchel (Republican Senate Whip) on their side. According to Smathers they should be willing to keep quiet about it as there is evidence that Dirksen and Kuchel have also been involved “with this German girl” (Ellen Rometsch).

Johnson now launched a smear campaign against John Williams, the man they called the "conscience of the Senate". He arranged for the IRS to carry out an investigation into his tax returns. According to Victor Lasky: “This meant the senator had to leave Washington and submit to a line-by-line audit by an IRS agent. It also meant that Williams had to curtail his personal investigation into Baker’s tangled affairs.” (16)

An official working for Johnson told Williams that his mail was being intercepted and read before it was delivered. Williams went to the press with this story but despite an editorial in the Washington Star that stated: “The Senate should be totally outraged. Obviously someone high in the Executive Branch issued the instructions for this monitoring.” However, the rest of the press ignored this story. (17)

Johnson also ordered his aides, Walter Jenkins (18) and Bill Moyers (19) to obtain information that they could use to blackmail Reynolds into silence. When this failed, this information was then leaked to Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson. As a result, The Washington Post reported that Reynolds had in the past “brought reckless charges in the past against people who crossed him, accusing them of being communists and sex deviates”. (20)

The treatment of Reynolds in the press had an impact on other potential witnesses. One important businessman, who previously had promised Williams he would provide evidence, told him: “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Senator. I never talked to you before in my life. I’m sorry, but I’m sure you understand.” (21)

The investigation into the role Johnson and Baker played in obtaining the TFX contract therefore came to an end. The original contract was for 1,700 planes at a total cost of $5.8 billion, or about $3 million per plane. By the time they were delivered they cost over $9.5 million per plane. General Dynamics had been saved from bankruptcy by the TFX contract. (22)

As Kirkpatrick Sale pointed out: “It turned out by 1966 to have a totally unworkable design – the wings kept falling off – so Johnson gave it top priority; and when it was finally sent into combat and proved to be totally unworkable, grounded within the first few months, no one seemed to care much, since the whole thing had effectively spread more than $6 billion of federal money around the land, much of it ending up in Texas pockets.” (23)

Notes

1. Bobby Baker, Wheeling and Dealing, 1978 (pages 172-176)

2. Seymour Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot, 1997 (page 407)

3. Bobby Baker, Wheeling and Dealing, 1978 (pages 200-202)

4. Carl T. Curtis, Forty Years Against the Tide, 1986 (page 248)

5. W. Penn Jones Jr., Texas Midlothian Mirror (31st July, 1969)

6. Robert A. Caro, Master of the Senate, 2002 (page 406)

7. Bobby Baker, Wheeling and Dealing, 1978 (page 194)

8. Edward Jay Epstein, Esquire Magazine, December, 1966

9. B. Everett Jordan, telephone conversation with Lyndon B. Johnson (5.34 p.m., 6th December, 1963)

10. Ernest Fitzgerald, The Pentagonists: An Insider's View of Waste, Mismanagement, and Fraud in Defense Spending, 1989 (page 70)

11. Clark Mollenhoff, Des Moines Register (26th October, 1963)

12. Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, 1988 (pages 906-914)

13. Michael R. Beschloss, Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1997 (page 158)

14. Carl T. Curtis, Forty Years Against the Tide, 1986 (page 243-281)

15. George Smathers, telephone conversation with Lyndon B. Johnson (9.01 p.m., 10th January, 1964)

16. Victor Lasky, It Didn’t Start With Watergate, 1977 (page 146)

17. John Barron, The Case of Bobby Baker and the Courageous Senator, Reader’s Digest (September, 1965)

18. Walter Jenkins, telephone call to Lyndon B. Johnson (7.30 p.m. 27th January, 1964)

19. Bill Moyers, telephone call to Lyndon B. Johnson (6.28 p.m. 3rd February, 1964)

20. The Washington Post (5th February, 1964)

21. Victor Lasky, It Didn’t Start With Watergate, 1977 (page 149)

22. Kirkpatrick Sale, Power Shift, 1975 (page 137)

[Pat Speer]

Thanks, John, for that summation. It's also worth repeating that towards the end of his term, and as the TFX contract was dying, Johnson closed the naval shipyards and announced that all future naval vessels would be constructed in private shipyards, including ones owned by General Dynamics. Another deal worth billions...

[John Simkin]

Thanks, John, for that summation. It's also worth repeating that towards the end of his term, and as the TFX contract was dying, Johnson closed the naval shipyards and announced that all future naval vessels would be constructed in private shipyards, including ones owned by General Dynamics. Another deal worth billions...

Would be interested in hearing more about this. Johnson attempted to stop Hugh Scott from making a fuss over the Bobby Baker by threatening disclosures about his relationship with lobbyist, Claude Wilde. Johnson also told Scott that he would use his influence to "close down the Philadelphia Navy Yard unless Senator Scott closed his critical mouth".

Scott resigned in 1976 after a Senate investigation into allegations that he had received illegal cash contributions from Gulf Oil Company. Claude Wilde worked for Gulf Oil and also testified that he was the man who paid Johnson $50,000 in 1960.

[William Kelly]

I thought it might be a good idea to provide a referenced account of the Don B. Reynolds' story:

Bobby Baker had been forced to resign on 7th October, 1963. Baker, like Fred Korth (he resigned at the end of October), was accused of corruptly obtaining federal contracts. The previous year he had had established the Serve-U-Corporation with his friend, Fred Black, and mobsters Ed Levenson and Benny Sigelbaum. The company was to provide vending machines for companies working on federally granted programs. In September, 1963, Ralph Hill, the owner of Capitol Vending Company, filed suit against Baker and the Serv-U Corporation. Hill's business partner was Congressman John McMillan of South Carolina. Hill claimed that he had paid Baker $5,000 in payoff money in order to get a vending machine concession at Melpar, a Virginia-based company which manufactured missile components.

In his autobiography, Wheeling and Dealing, Baker claims that Lyndon Johnson became very concerned with these events. He sent Walter Jenkins to ask him to quietly settle the lawsuit as he believed that Robert Kennedy was attempting to get him removed from office. Jenkins told Baker: "The boss (Johnson) would hate to see these things blown up. Reporters have been around asking questions and he's afraid Bobby Kennedy's putting them up to hanging something on you so as to embarrass him." (1)

Johnson was right that Robert Kennedy was out to get him. Burkett Van Kirk, chief counsel for the Republican minority on the Senate Rules Committee later told Seymour Hersh that Senator John Williams of Delaware was being fed information by Robert Kennedy about the involvement of Lyndon Johnson and Bobby Baker in a series of scandals. Williams, the Senate's leading investigator of corruption, passed this information to the three Republicans (John Sherman Cooper, Hugh Scott and Carl Curtis) on the ten-member Rules Committee. However, outnumbered, they were unable to carry out a full investigation into Johnson and Baker. Van Kirk claimed that Robert Kennedy supplied this information because he wanted "to get rid of Johnson." (2)

In his autobiography, Forty Years Against the Tide, Carl Curtis gives an insider view of the attempted investigation into the activities of Lyndon Johnson, Bobby Baker, Walter Jenkins and Fred Black. According to Curtis, Johnson managed to persuade the seven Democrats to vote against hearing the testimony of important witnesses. This included Margaret Broome, who served as Bobby Baker's secretary before the position was taken by Carole Tyler, who later became his mistress. Tyler did testify but refused to answer questions on the ground that she might incriminate herself. Tyler was later to die in an airplane crash on the beach near the Carousel Motel, owned by Bobby Baker. (3)

In his autobiography, Curtis described Baker, Jenkins and Black as "contact men". He added: "Contact-men existed primarily to obtain for their clients and themselves some share of the vast pool of riches in the possession of swollen centralized political bureaucracies. The more impressive a contact-man's political connections, the better he and his clients would fare." (4)

According to W. Penn Jones, "Bobby Baker was about the first person in Washington to know that Lyndon Johnson was to be dumped as the Vice-Presidential candidate. Baker knew that President Kennedy had offered the spot on the ticket to Senator George Smathers of Florida... Baker knew because his secretary. Miss Nancy Carole Tyler, roomed with one of George Smathers' secretaries. Miss Mary Jo Kopechne had been another of Smathers' secretaries." (5)

It is clear that Johnson knew he was going to be dumped as Vice President although it was not clear who his replacement was going to be. Johnson was also aware that Attorney General Robert Kennedy was leaking information to the Senate Rules Committee about his corrupt activities.

Robert A. Caro points out in Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, that this corruption was organized by close political associates such as John Connally, Ed Clark, Cliff Carter, Walter Jenkins, Tommy Corcoran and Jesse Kellam. Caro argues that this money often came from the armaments or oil industries. George and Herman Brown, the co-owners of Brown & Root (Halliburton) were probably his main suppliers of money. Caro also quotes Claude Wild, chief lobbyist of the Gulf Oil Corporation, of having the task of paying Johnson, via Walter Jenkins, $50,000 in 1960. (6)

It was however, the TFX contract that was Johnson's main source of stress at this time. Johnson knew that John Williams had arranged for Don. B. Reynolds to appear before a closed session of the Senate Rules Committee on 22nd November, 1963. Reynolds told of seeing a suitcase full of money which Bobby Baker described as a "$100,000 payoff to Johnson for his role in securing the Fort Worth TFX contract". His testimony came to an end when news arrived that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. (7)

According to Edward Jay Epstein, Reynolds also provided information to the Warren Commission. Reynolds said that Bobby Baker had told him that Kennedy "would never live out his term and that he would die a violent death." Baker had also said that "the FBI knew that Johnson was behind the assassination". (8)

In the weeks following the death of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson seemed fairly preoccupied with the testimony of Don B. Reynolds before the Senate Rules Committee. His concerns grew when B. Everett Jordan, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, phoned Johnson on 6th December, 1963, to tell him that someone had leaked details of Reynolds' testimony to the investigative journalist, Clark Mollenhoff. Jordan insisted he was doing his best to keep the information from becoming public: "I'm trying to keep the Bobby (Baker) thing from spreading… Because hell, I don't want to see it spread either. It might spread a place we don't want it to spread… Mighty hard to put a fire out when it gets out of control." (9)

This telephone call reveals that Jordan and Johnson were not only concerned with covering-up the Bobby Baker story. The corrupt awarding of the TFX contract was only part of a much larger scandal that has never been fully exposed. I mean by this the way that the Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence Complex had been fully integrated into the American political system. As Ernest Fitzgerald pointed out in his book, The Pentagonists: An Insider's View of Waste, Mismanagement, and Fraud in Defense Spending: "In other banana republics the military comes to power with a sudden coup and the installation of a junta. Here it is different.... America runs on money. And the military has quietly come to vast economic power by taking vast amounts of the federal income for itself." (10)

Johnson also made an interesting telephone concerning the Bobby Baker scandal to George Smathers on 10th January, 1964. Clark Mollenhoff had reported in the Des Moines Register, that Ellen Rometsch had been "associating with Congressional leaders and some prominent New Frontiersmen". (11) At the time, Rometsch was being investigated by the FBI as a possible Soviet spy. Robert Kennedy asked J. Edgar Hoover to help persuade Everett Dirksen and Mike Mansfield to stop a Senate investigation into Mollenhoff's claim. (12)

However, soon after the assassination of John Kennedy, B. Everett Jordan, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, announced that he intended to look into reports of "party girls in Bobby Baker's circle". This was probably an attempt to put pressure on Robert Kennedy to keep quiet about events relating to his brother's assassination. This was only a short-term measure as when a committee member attempted to ask one witness about Bobby Baker's girls, Jordan ruled him out of order. (13)

In the telephone call to George Smathers, Johnson points out that Bobby Baker has a tape-recording of politicians and U.S. officials at his town house and the Quorum Club. Johnson tells Smathers that the tape "involves you and John Williams and a number of other people." Smathers replies that he knows about the tape and that it also includes the voices of Baker's girls as well as Hugh Scott, one of the Republican members of the Senate Rules Committee, who along with Carl Curtis and John Sherman Cooper, had been asking awkward questions about Johnson on the Senate Rules Committee. Scott, Curtis and Cooper were the only Republican members on the committee. John Williams, also apparently on the tape was the man who had been supplying the Republicans with information about the Bobby Baker case that he had received from Robert Kennedy. (14)

Johnson also adds that Robert Kennedy is also on the tape. Smathers' replies: "Thank God, they've got Hugh Scott in there. He's the guy that was asking for it. But she also mentioned him, which is sort of a lifesaver. So I don't think that'll get too far now. Jordan's orders." Johnson is still concerned about the damage that Scott can do and orders Smathers to do what he can to "make them (the Republicans) behave". He also adds that Richard Russell was also working behind the scenes to stop the story reaching the public. (15)

Johnson then goes on to discuss the Don B. Reynolds case with Smathers. He confesses that he has a copy of Reynolds' FBI file. The only problem is "there ain't a goddamn thing in it that they can even indict him on." Smathers' replies that the best way to stop the story emerging is to get Everett Dirksen (Republican leader in the Senate) and Thomas Kuchel (Republican Senate Whip) on their side. According to Smathers they should be willing to keep quiet about it as there is evidence that Dirksen and Kuchel have also been involved "with this German girl" (Ellen Rometsch).

Johnson now launched a smear campaign against John Williams, the man they called the "conscience of the Senate". He arranged for the IRS to carry out an investigation into his tax returns. According to Victor Lasky: "This meant the senator had to leave Washington and submit to a line-by-line audit by an IRS agent. It also meant that Williams had to curtail his personal investigation into Baker's tangled affairs." (16)

An official working for Johnson told Williams that his mail was being intercepted and read before it was delivered. Williams went to the press with this story but despite an editorial in the Washington Star that stated: "The Senate should be totally outraged. Obviously someone high in the Executive Branch issued the instructions for this monitoring." However, the rest of the press ignored this story. (17)

Johnson also ordered his aides, Walter Jenkins (18) and Bill Moyers (19) to obtain information that they could use to blackmail Reynolds into silence. When this failed, this information was then leaked to Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson. As a result, The Washington Post reported that Reynolds had in the past "brought reckless charges in the past against people who crossed him, accusing them of being communists and sex deviates". (20)

The treatment of Reynolds in the press had an impact on other potential witnesses. One important businessman, who previously had promised Williams he would provide evidence, told him: "I don't know what you're talking about, Senator. I never talked to you before in my life. I'm sorry, but I'm sure you understand." (21)

The investigation into the role Johnson and Baker played in obtaining the TFX contract therefore came to an end. The original contract was for 1,700 planes at a total cost of $5.8 billion, or about $3 million per plane. By the time they were delivered they cost over $9.5 million per plane. General Dynamics had been saved from bankruptcy by the TFX contract. (22)

As Kirkpatrick Sale pointed out: "It turned out by 1966 to have a totally unworkable design – the wings kept falling off – so Johnson gave it top priority; and when it was finally sent into combat and proved to be totally unworkable, grounded within the first few months, no one seemed to care much, since the whole thing had effectively spread more than $6 billion of federal money around the land, much of it ending up in Texas pockets." (23)

Notes

1. Bobby Baker, Wheeling and Dealing, 1978 (pages 172-176)

2. Seymour Hersh, The Dark Side of Camelot, 1997 (page 407)

3. Bobby Baker, Wheeling and Dealing, 1978 (pages 200-202)

4. Carl T. Curtis, Forty Years Against the Tide, 1986 (page 248)

5. W. Penn Jones Jr., Texas Midlothian Mirror (31st July, 1969)

6. Robert A. Caro, Master of the Senate, 2002 (page 406)

7. Bobby Baker, Wheeling and Dealing, 1978 (page 194)

8. Edward Jay Epstein, Esquire Magazine, December, 1966

9. B. Everett Jordan, telephone conversation with Lyndon B. Johnson (5.34 p.m., 6th December, 1963)

10. Ernest Fitzgerald, The Pentagonists: An Insider's View of Waste, Mismanagement, and Fraud in Defense Spending, 1989 (page 70)

11. Clark Mollenhoff, Des Moines Register (26th October, 1963)

12. Taylor Branch, Parting the Waters, 1988 (pages 906-914)

13. Michael R. Beschloss, Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1997 (page 158)

14. Carl T. Curtis, Forty Years Against the Tide, 1986 (page 243-281)

15. George Smathers, telephone conversation with Lyndon B. Johnson (9.01 p.m., 10th January, 1964)

16. Victor Lasky, It Didn't Start With Watergate, 1977 (page 146)

17. John Barron, The Case of Bobby Baker and the Courageous Senator, Reader's Digest (September, 1965)

18. Walter Jenkins, telephone call to Lyndon B. Johnson (7.30 p.m. 27th January, 1964)

19. Bill Moyers, telephone call to Lyndon B. Johnson (6.28 p.m. 3rd February, 1964)

20. The Washington Post (5th February, 1964)

21. Victor Lasky, It Didn't Start With Watergate, 1977 (page 149)

22. Kirkpatrick Sale, Power Shift, 1975 (page 137)

I have Clark Mollenhoff's book The Pentagon, in which he devotes a chapter to the TFX scandle and its Texas connections with Connally, Korth and General Dynamics.

There's no mention of Don Reynolds though.

I'm also interested in the Rometsch connection. Can anyone get a copy of the Oct. 25, 63 article in the Des Moines Register?

Johnson also made an interesting telephone concerning the Bobby Baker scandal to George Smathers on 10th January, 1964. Clark Mollenhoff had reported in the Des Moines Register, that Ellen Rometsch had been “associating with Congressional leaders and some prominent New Frontiersmen”. (11) At the time, Rometsch was being investigated by the FBI as a possible Soviet spy. Robert Kennedy asked J. Edgar Hoover to help persuade Everett Dirksen and Mike Mansfield to stop a Senate investigation into Mollenhoff’s claim. (12)

11. Clark Mollenhoff, Des Moines Register (26th October, 1963)

[William Kelly]

The discrediting of Donald B. Reynolds

http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:2QILd5...;cd=8&gl=us

But did it? In fact, the report was not written by the FBI at all, but rather by a team of Justice Department functionaries who boiled down hundreds of pages of raw FBI interviews. Unlike Reynolds, none of the persons interviewed by the FBI were under oath. The only part of Reynolds' testimony that has at any time been tested by a sworn statement from an adversary witness turned out to be true: that was Reynolds' claim that he had purchased advertising time on a Johnson-owned Austin TV station in return for selling insurance on Johnson's life. The claim was recently corroborated in substance by former White House Aide Walter Jenkins.

[Guest Tom Scully]

The discrediting of Donald B. Reynolds

http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:2QILd5...;cd=8&gl=us

But did it? In fact, the report was not written by the FBI at all, but rather by a team of Justice Department functionaries who boiled down hundreds of pages of raw FBI interviews. Unlike Reynolds, none of the persons interviewed by the FBI were under oath. The only part of Reynolds' testimony that has at any time been tested by a sworn statement from an adversary witness turned out to be true: that was Reynolds' claim that he had purchased advertising time on a Johnson-owned Austin TV station in return for selling insurance on Johnson's life. The claim was recently corroborated in substance by former White House Aide Walter Jenkins.

This 1964 article reported that Reynolds and a South Carolina congressional crony of Bobby Baker, a Rep. John McMillan, had been engaged in quid pro quo, "asset exchanges", since as far back as 1950:

Shadow Over Baker Probe .

St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive - Mar 12, 1964

The grateful Reynolds bought a brand new black Cadillac for mcmillan but claimed the Congressman repaid the it cost. kirk back. Reynolds aim testified that ...

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=Cad...=1&ie=UTF-8

McMillan's Friend Tells Of Car Sale

Pay-Per-View - Washington Post - ProQuest Archiver - Aug 1, 1961

Don B. Reynolds, dapper Silver Spring insurance man, yesterday acknowledged his "middle man" role in buying a new, cutrate Cadillac sedan for Rep. ...

McMillan's Car Deal Is Recalled

Pay-Per-View - Washington Post - ProQuest Archiver - Feb 7, 1965

John L. McMillan (D-S.C.) as partial payment for a new Cadillac in 1961 has emerged in the files of Senate investigators looking into the Bobby Baker case.

My interest in this was driven by a 13 year old article:

http://www2.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi...=009&sc=442

ON ECONOMICS: -- How Kennedy Assassination Affected Some Stock Prices

JONATHAN MARSHALL

Monday, November 18, 1996

....But the facts speak tellingly about how accidents of history can affect great fortunes.

A postscript for assassination buffs: No individual stood to lose more from the TFX scandal than Chicago investor Henry Crown, who owned 20 percent of General Dynamics. His personal attorney, Albert Jenner, became a senior staff attorney on the Warren Commission, in charge of investigating the possibility of a conspiracy. In later years, Jenner also represented Chicago labor racketeer Allen Dorfman. Dorfman's stepfather Paul, a leading figure in the Chicago mob, ran the Waste Handlers Union in Chicago in 1939 with Jack Ruby, Lee Harvey Oswald's future killer.

Both Dorfmans hated the Kennedy family. Robert Kennedy had hauled them before a Senate crime panel in the late 1950s, where they took the Fifth Amendment.

Allen Dorfman was murdered, gangland-style, in 1983 in the company of another friend of Ruby, Irwin Weiner. Attorney Jenner obtained Weiner's acquittal in a 1975 federal labor racketeering case after the government's leading witness was shotgunned to death.

Weiner was called to testify in 1978 before the House Select Committee on Assassinations about his relationship with Ruby, including a phone conversation with Ruby shortly before the assassination. He said the call was innocent.

The committee was investigating the theory -- which it never proved -- that organized crime had Ruby silence Oswald to disguise its own role in the Kennedy assassination.....

There are a startling number of "coincidences" related to this:

http://dspace.wrlc.org/doc/bitstream/2041/...123xdisplay.pdf

DREW PEARSON MERRY-GO-ROUND, RELEASE SAT,, NOV, 23,

JACK ANDERSON SAYS: LYNDON JOHNSON LURKS IN BACKGROUND OF

TFX CONTRACT;

BOBBY BAKER KNOWS WHERE A LOT OF TFX SKELETONS

ARE BURIED; SEN, MCCLELLAN MAY DIG DEEPER,...

....GENERAL DYNAMICS' BOARD CHAIRMAN, HENRY CROWN, SLIPPED AROUND. WASHINGTON BUTTONHOLING POLITICIANS. HE. KNEW ...

Up until November 22, 1963, the trend of inquiry had been squeezing both Henry Crown and LBJ, but by December 15th, the McClellan senate sub-committee inquiry into the DOD award of the $6 billion TFX contract had been suspended. The behind closed doors November 22 testimony of Don B. Reynolds to senate minority Rules Committee counsel Burkett Van Kirk, was officially kept secret until after the release of the WC report and the 1964 presidential election.

On December 16, 1963 in a Warren Commission executive session, despite this:

http://books.google.com/books?q=evica+Henr...nG=Search+Books

And We are All Mortal: New Evidence and Analysis in the John F. Kennedy ...‎ - Page 388

by George Michael Evica - 1978 - 465 pages

The Jenner-Henry Crown connection alone should have suggested conflict of

interests to those responsible for selecting the Warren , Commission's counsel, ...

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en...94&ie=UTF-8

Stern v. Material Service Corp.,Stern v. Material Service Corp., 194...

Subscription - Appellate Court of Illinois, First... - Fastcase - Oct 23, 1963

Albert E. Jenner, Jr., Benjamin Z. Gould, Kenneth J. Burns, Jr., ... The complaint also alleged that the Material Service Corporation denies all the claims ...

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=joh...=1&ie=UTF-8

People

Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - ProQuest Archiver - Aug 11, 1969

John J. Crown, vice president of Henry Crown & Co. and a partner in the law firm of Jenner & Block, was elected a director of the...

John J. Crown, judge, philanthropist

- Chicago Sun-Times - NewsBank - Mar 6, 1997

John J. Crown, 67, a former Cook County Circuit Court judge and youngest son of Henry Crown... In 1959, he joined the law firm of Jenner & Block. ...

....Earl Warren seemed to be pushing the other Commission members for the appointment of Henry Crown's attorney, and Crown's son's law partner, Albert Jenner, as Senior WC Assistant Counsel:

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=172531

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=172532

Crown, head of a group that owned the Empire State Building from 1954 to 1961, had done this "favor" in the past, for Earl Warren's daughter:

http://books.google.com/books?q=crown+QUIT...nG=Search+Books

The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark‎ - Page 347

by John Tauranac - Travel - 1995 - 384 pages

Escorted by Colonel Crown and his wife, the couple was introduced to the Empire

... and, quite inexplicably, to Miss Virginia Warren, daughter of Chief ...

"...The building got it's money's worth in free publicity. The

queen said the view was "the most beautiful thing" she had ever

seen. She and Prince Philip were then guests at a reception in

the executive lounge. Escorted by Colonel (Henry) Crown and

his wife, the couple was introduced to the Empire State Building

directors and their wives, and QUITE INEXPLICABLY, to MISS VIRGINIA WARREN,

daughter of Chief Justice Earl Warren..."

For years before her 1960 marriage to VP in charge of ABC News and TV quiz show, "What's My line" host, John C. Daly,

who was one of the last people to see show panelist Dorothy Kilgallen alive, Virginia Warren could be seen frequently on the arm of Henry Crown's principle business partner and friend, Conrad N. Hilton, also a friend of her father, Earl Warren:

"To John Daly, 51, imperturbable moderator of CBS's What's My Line?, and Virginia Warren Daly, 37,

eldest daughter of Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl ..."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...,834752,00.html

http://books.google.com/books?um=1&q=C...nG=Search+Books

The silver spade: the Conrad Hilton story‎ - Page xx

by Whitney Bolton - 1954 - 230 pages

"... he attended the opening of the Supreme Court, escorting Virginia Warren, daughter of the Chief Justice Earl Warren. Hilton is an old friend of Warren...."

http://books.google.com/books?um=1&q=C...nG=Search+Books

Saturday Review‎

by Bernard Augustine De Voto - American literature - 1958

Page 34

Conrad Hilton came in with Virginia Warren, daughter of the Chief Justice of the

United States, on his arm. And later, limbo dancers from Trinidad showed ...

No preview available - About this book - Add to my library - More editions

Pleasure Island: Tourism and Temptation in Cuba‎ - Page 191

by Rosalie Schwartz - History - 1997 - 247 pages

Conrad Hilton brought his own bodyguard, as did Virginia Warren, daughter of the

US chief justice. A trio of uniformed guards accompanied the Hollywood ...

http://search2.ancestry.com/gg-pg.ashx?db=...p;pid=501275653

January 23, 1956

Columnist Earl Wilson

Dallas-

I whizzed over here with Greer Garson, Ann Miller, Virginia Warren, and other beautiful

dolls to catch the opening of the Statler Hilton and heard a crazy mixed-up story.....

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=hil...r=&ie=UTF-8

WALDORF MARKS 25 YEARS AT SITE; Dances, Menus From Past and Noted...

- New York Times - Sep 29, 1956

Guests of Mr. Hilton were Mr.and Mrs. Edward L. Buckley,Mr. and Mrs. Dean Carpenterand Miss Virginia Warren. At the table of Mr. and Mrs.Joseph P. Binns ...

AIRLINER TURNS BACK; Hilton Party on Plane Included Mrs. Warren and...

- New York Times - Nov 29, 1958

Hilton. The plane s passengers included Mrs. Earl Warren, I wife of the Chief Justice of the IUnited States, their.daug]ter, !Virginia, and a number of ...

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=con...Search+Archives

Taking Account of Henry Crown; SPOTLIGHT Taking Account of the Crowns

- New York Times - Dec 12, 1976

Henry Crown was one of seven children of an immigrant salesman. ... Corporation, a result of helping Conrad N. Hilton found that company and of providing ...

Related web pages

Personality: A Colonel Upholds Autonomy; Henry Crown Heads a General...

- New York Times - Feb 21, 1960

Henry Crown of Chicago's Material Service Corporation is a man who ... Next to Conrad Hilton, he is the second largest stock-! holder in the Hilton Hotels. ...

The documentation supporting the Chicago mob ties of Henry Crown and Conrad Hilton will take up several more posts....

In the center of it all, is Irv Kupcinet:

http://books.google.com/books?id=QCoXAAAAI...UCZPGyASQsIC-CA

Kup's Chicago‎ - Page 53

by Irv Kupcinet - Chicago (Ill.) - 1962 - 286 pages

"But I'ma hotelman," Hoy protested. "I know nothing about mixing concrete. ...

"Maybe not", said Crown. "But without being a cook you've done an excellent job of running the Pump Room. Yielding to Crown's persuasion, Hoy began a new career at age forty-" ...

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=hoy...user_hdate=1960

Division Chief Raised By General Dynamics

- New York Times - May 6, 1960

Patrick H. Hoy General Dynamics Corporation announced yesterday the election of Patrick H. Hoy as a senior vice president of the company. ...

HOTEL MAN IN NEW POST; Hoy Becoming President of Material Service

- New York Times - Mar 31, 1960

His appointment was announced jointly yesterday by Frank Pace Jr., chairman of General Dynamics, and Henry Crown, chairman of Material Service. Mr. Hoy had ...

http://books.google.com/books?q=crown%20ch...sa=N&tab=np

The Defender: The Story of General Dynamics‎ - Page 228

by Roger Franklin - Technology & Engineering - 1986 - 385 pages

Crown rapidly demolished the faint hope that he would stay close to Chicago and

... He brought in several Chicago cronies, including one, Patrick H. Hoy, ...

http://books.google.com/books?id=QJ-WirJls...rch_s&cad=0

Deep Politics and the Death of JFK‎ - Page 179

by Peter Dale Scott - History - 1996

"....Blakey chose to link Rosselli to Trafficante, by citing his "management role" in

the Havana Sans Souci casino. More pertinent was probably the fact that the Sans Scouci was operated, at this time, by Dave Yaras and Lenny Patrick, the suspected killers of James Ragen (9 AH 948). Also at this time, Rosselli's most constant companion was "Major" Charkes "Babe" Baron, a suspected murderer who was also a brigadier-general in the Illinois National Guard. Baron was a protege of Chicago Democratic machine leader Jake Arvey, as were Yaras and Patrick; and an even closer friend of Patrick Hoy, the Henry Crown employee at General Dynamics who arranged for Sidney Korshak to work for Hilton Hotels. Hoy was also the general manager of the Sherman Hotel in Chicago, a hangout frequented ny Ruby and Jones in 1947 (22 WH 366; 24 WH 518 Chicago crime commission, report, 1963)"....

I have been unable to find out why Warren and Fortas did not participate in this shareholder suit decision:

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?q=sur...=1&ie=UTF-8

It named Crown and Conrad Hilton "and their families" as defendants. If Warren recused himself in this case, where were his ethics, two years earlier, during his push to appoint Jenner to the WC? Why didn't WC chief counsel, J. Lee Rankin, or any of the other WC members or assistant counsels, regard General Dynamics and Henry Crown as people (targets) of interest, in the investigation; Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson, as well as republicans on two senate committees, must have? Would the first WC Earl Warren choice, Warren Olney, the man John McCloy forced out of consideration, have handled the appointment of Albert Jenner, differently?

http://books.google.com/books?id=7n_sF3PSv...1&ct=result

Evica published his point about Albert Jenner's obvious conflict of interest, 30 years ago. Is this route of inquiry into who sent Ruby to shoot Oswald, a "dead end". for reasons I am not yet recognizing?

Edited January 2, 2009 by Tom Scully

[John Simkin]

It named Crown and Conrad Hilton "and their families" as defendants. If Warren recused himself in this case, where were his ethics, two years earlier, during his push to appoint Jenner to the WC? Why didn't WC chief counsel, J. Lee Rankin, or any of the other WC members or assistant counsels, regard General Dynamics and Henry Crown as people (targets) of interest, in the investigation; Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson, as well as republicans on two senate committees, must have? Would the first WC Earl Warren choice, Warren Olney, the man John McCloy forced out of consideration, have handled the appointment of Albert Jenner, differently?

http://books.google.com/books?id=7n_sF3PSv...1&ct=result

Evica published his point about Albert Jenner's obvious conflict of interest, 30 years ago. Is this route of inquiry into who sent Ruby to shoot Oswald, a "dead end". for reasons I am not yet recognizing?

Welcome to the forum Tom. Your research into these characters is very interesting. Have you read Russ Baker's new book, Family of Secrets? He has some interesting things to say about Albert Jenner. Russ is a member of the forum and is taking questions on his book here:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=13858

[John Simkin]

Does anyone know if this is the same Don B. Reynolds:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-09-11/news/0509110126_1_il-state-road-late

[Guest Tom Scully]

John, Reynold's age was reported as 48 in early 1964. I think it it likely he died in 1993.:

http://www.google.com/search?q=don+b+reynolds&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#ds=n&pq=reynolds+successful+in+surance+man+amiability&hl=en&sugexp=gsih&cp=10&gs_id=gq&xhr=t&q=reynolds+%22successful+in+surance+man%22+amiability&qe=cmV5bm9sZHMgInN1Y2Nlc3NmdWwgaW4gc3VyYW5jZSBtYW4iIGFtaWFiaWxpdHk&qesig=SVsG7ttGqjh4PD3vfX55Ig&pkc=AFgZ2tlVQGXoT-iTF0spCxUcuReAcP32BocrArnb6mqyGUB7l2yZAVCp_cI8zbyGb9I6D0OHPuFYghsdkxI8Qr4769NOsy9Z4A&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbs=ar:1&tbm=nws&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=reynolds+%22successful+in+surance+man%22+amiability&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=8076689d82f4620f&biw=1320&bih=654

Key Baker Figures

‎

Pay-Per-View - Boston Globe - Feb 9, 1964

Albert Young pots and pan manufacturer says Mr Reynolds likes to brag bit when he ... 48yearold successful in surance man with an easy amiability typical of ..

--, Key Baker Figures

‎

Pay-Per-View - Boston Globe - Feb 9, 1964

48yearold successful in surance man with an easy amiability typical of salesmen everywhere he talks freely and persuasively in an urbanized South Carolinian

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1931058552.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Feb+09%2C+1964&author=&pub=Boston+Globe+%281960-1979%29&desc=--%2C+Key+Baker+Figures&pqatl=google

Augusta, GA straddles the border of Georgia/South Carolina, "Don" is an unusual, legal first name. :

http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi

REYNOLDS, DON B 20 Jan 1915 18 Aug 1993 78 30904 (Augusta, Richmond, GA) (none specified) District of Columbia

[Guest Tom Scully]

Don B Reynolds was raised in Lamar, SC, a town of 1,000 resident today, with nearly one quarter now living below the poverty line. His 94 years old sister Mary Lou Reynolds talked of Lamar as recently as in 2009.

I can find no obituary or grave of Don B. Reynolds, but I'll stick by the SSDI data; August 18, 1993 as his date of death.

A sister who was a WaPo reporter and then joined Don in the Foreign Service...hmmm! Would the story of Reynolds have played out any differently if the WaPo publisher had the integrity to report in 1963 or by early 1964 that Reynold's sister was a former longtime WaPo reporter and editor who had resigned to work in the Foreign Service?

Inscription:wife of Rosser J. Eastham. Journalist

(Photographed on right side of page, with President Truman)

Heaven Never Helps The Man Who Will Not Act Sophocles...

‎

Rock Hill Herald - Dec 13, 1945

... by the American Newspaper Women's Club in the Mayflower Hotel In Washington. ... chairman of the reception, Genevieve Reynolds, president of the group; ...

Mrs. Truman Dirts. Loses 20 Pounds During Summer .

‎

Youngstown Vindicator - Aug 4, 1949

... summer in Missouri appeared here Wednesday at a reception Genevieve Reynolds covering the reception for the Washington Post said Mrs Truman disclosed as ..

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:1B2kO4TxCO4J:dspace.wrlc.org/doc/bitstream/2041/50829/b18f18-0912zdisplay.pdf+Footnote+No,+2--Semtor+Williams+advised+the+Senate+that+Reynolds&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShCyfOy2DQl_EmSb2oH8pd1gZ5Bk5PMkUlP4skjnnkf7NZlXx9ElM-w30WIbpB_bGP2PSv6Yw2ObcjAlxIRE-yuXAS_xiw_8zUP7XYTOchj6lmA1koLDghFrJtYMdQRfk0VArEf&sig=AHIEtbRlMOx7wO0glfg2p7yNJrboSWXP4A

Jack Anderson Washington Merry-Go-Round

MGR FOR RELEASE Saturday, Sept, 12, 1964

Footnote No, 2--Semtor Williams advised the Senate that Reynolds

had asked him t o delete a name from h i s confession. Censored out was

the name o f Rep, John McMillan, D-S,C., who first put Reynolds

together with MoCloskey. McMillan surrounded himself with bright

young men from South C a r o l i n a . who liked t o make a fast buck,

This t i g h t l i t t l e c i r c l e inoluded both Bobby Baker of Piokena, S.C.,

Don Reynolds o f Lamar, S,C, They worked together t o f a t t e n one another's pocketbooks until

Reynolds turned against Baker.

http://dspace.wrlc.org/doc/bitstream/2041/50829/b18f18-0912zdisplay.pdf

http://www.google.com/search?q=Lamar%2C+S.C.%2C&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbs=ar:1&tbm=nws&source=hp&q=reynolds+attache+at+the+U.S.+Embassy+in+Brazil+from+1950+to+1953+&psj=1&oq=reynolds+attache+at+the+U.S.+Embassy+in+Brazil+from+1950+to+1953+&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=7229l7229l1l8491l1l1l0l0l0l0l237l237l2-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=38429670063bf639&biw=1320&bih=654

Washington Post - Oct 22, 1988

Genevieve Reynolds Eastham 77 retired press director and assistant public relations director for the

D.C. chapter of the American Red Cross died of cancer.

She had worked as a reporter and editor for The Washington Post from 1937 to 1950 and was

assistant press attache at the U.S. Embassy in Brazil from 1950 to 1953.

Mrs Eastham was born in Lamar S.C. and graduated from the University of South Carolina She moved to

Washington and joined the news staff of The Post after college. Survivors include her husband Rosser

Eastham of Charlottesville two sisters Mary Lou Reynolds of Augusta and Constance Nelson of Madison Wis

and a brother Don B Reynolds of Washington

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=don+b+reynolds+cia&btnG=#q=madison+nelson+connie+sister+in+law+%22mary+lou+reynolds%22&hl=en&safe=off&tbm=nws&prmd=imvnso&source=lnt&tbs=ar:1&sa=X&psj=1&ei=6xF4Tva4CoHgiALrhZjxCg&ved=0CA8QpwUoBQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=38429670063bf639&biw=1320&bih=654

State, The : SOUTH CAROLINA OBITUARIES

‎

$2.95 - The State - Dec 8, 1999

MADISON WisServices for RobertBob C Nelson 81 will be held at 11 a.m. ... Surviving are his wife of 53 years Connie son Robert R daughterinlaw Hiroko ... Arvan of Boulder Colo niece Cende Holmes of Houston sisterinlaw Mary Lou Reynolds ...

The obit immediately above is of Don's brother in law, husband of Constance Reynolds Nelson.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Lamar%2C+S.C.%2C&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aunofficial&tbs=ar:1&tbm=nws&source=hp&q=%22*Baker+scandal+once+t+o+l+d+the+Federal+Bu+reau+of+Inves+tigation+%22&psj=1&oq=%22*Baker+scandal+once+t+o+l+d+the+Federal+Bu+reau+of+Inves+tigation+%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=7533l7533l0l9484l1l1l0l0l0l0l260l260l2-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=38429670063bf639&biw=1320&bih=654

Tale of Sex and Perverts Dots Report on Reynolds

‎Pay-Per-View - Chicago Tribune - Jul 2, 1965

Washington July 1Don B Reynolds the star witness in. Ulu D U U U y. Baker scandal once t o l d the

Federal Bu reau of Inves tigation t h at while in the service of the s t a t e depart ment overseas he

incurred the animosity of foreign service. Reynolds. nel for instigating an inves tigation of

homosexuals that brought the firing of many high officials of the department. Reynolds also said he sus

pected foreign nationals em ployed overseas by the United States and some who came here to work were

engaged in espionage. This information is contained in a justice department sum mary of data in the FBI

now in the hands of the Senate rules committee which inves the Baker scandal

One of the suspects all designated alphabetically instead of by name is said to have taker partly naked

pictures of the fiancee of a CIA undercover agent for blackmail and se duction purposes Reynolds in dicated

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lSRKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5yINAAAAIBAJ&pg=5021,585452&dq=*-that-he-gained-readmission-but-was-discharged-again-in-1940-for-failing-in-chemistry&hl=en

Star Witness In Bobby Baker Case Had Interesting Record As...

‎

Press-Courier - Feb 4, 1964

... that he was dropped in January, 1938 for academic deficiency, that he gained readmission but was discharged again in 1940 for failing in chemistry. .

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/03/01/met_513123.shtml

Seniors agree Depression was worse than today

By Preston Sparks

Staff Writer

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Residents of Washington Commons get together to share memories of the difficulty of the Great Depression in the 1930s.....

...."It really brings back emotions you had when you were really young," said Mary Lou Reynolds, who was 12 and living in Lamar, S.C., when the stock market crashed in 1929. "I think it (today's economy) is something that's affecting us. We're seeing ours dry up, too. ... We're getting fearful, too."

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2010-03-29/retired-social-workers-be-honored-service?v=1269964733

Retired social workers to be honored for service | The...

‎

Augusta Chronicle - Mar 29, 2010

Six retired social workers were honored for their contributions to the profession in ... Betty Frank Mary Lou Reynolds Edythe Dimond Ernestine Thompson Pat ...

....Reynolds, who served as the director of the Augusta chapter of the American Red Cross, will receive the administration award for her 28 years of service in social work.

Sister, Constance R Nelson is still living in Madison, WI, and the rest of the family is interred in a Lamar, SC cemetery,

except still living sister Mary Lou Reynolds, and deceased brother Don B., who was probably not invited!:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=reynolds&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1963&GSdyrel=in&GSst=43&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=39863051&df=all&

William Baron Reynolds, 1877 - 1963

Edited September 20, 2011 by Tom Scully

[John Simkin]

Great detective work Tom. Is there any evidence that he ever talked about his relationship with LBJ after 1964?