David Talbot : Haynes Johnson

[John Simkin]

A small observation perhaps, but I feel an important one: according to David Talbot's interviews, RFK said on the phone to his friend and relatively more liberal Cuban, Harry Ruiz Williams, "One of your guys did it", with Haynes Johnson nearby.

However, Haynes Johnson according to an article, repeated later in Fatal Sacrifice(p.137) was recipient of this statement, as he had been writing his book on the Bay of Pigs and aftermath, using the rightwing Manuel Artime faction as a primary source.

Can this be clarified? It may indicate what RFK knew of LHO and his affiliations, I suspect. PS I have Talbot's book on order.

[David Talbot]

The confusion begins with Haynes himself, who originally reported in the Washington Post that Bobby said it to Harry Williams -- and then later reported that Bobby said it to him. I sought to clarify this directly with Haynes, who told me that he got it right the first time. So Bobby told the Cuban exile leader, "One of your guys did it." This is enormously important. Because, as I say in the book, RFK is connecting Oswald (who has already been arrested and I believe is known to Bobby) to the anti-Castro movement. In other words, Bobby is not buying the CIA/FBI line that Oswald is a Communist agent. And when Bobby tells his good friend Harry (the only exile leader he really trusted) "one of your guys did it" -- in effect, he's saying "one of OUR guys did it" since Bobby himself was in charge of overseeing that movement for his brother. I think the plotters wanted Bobby to feel this way, to blame himself.

[John Simkin]

The confusion begins with Haynes himself, who originally reported in the Washington Post that Bobby said it to Harry Williams -- and then later reported that Bobby said it to him. I sought to clarify this directly with Haynes, who told me that he got it right the first time. So Bobby told the Cuban exile leader, "One of your guys did it." This is enormously important. Because, as I say in the book, RFK is connecting Oswald (who has already been arrested and I believe is known to Bobby) to the anti-Castro movement. In other words, Bobby is not buying the CIA/FBI line that Oswald is a Communist agent. And when Bobby tells his good friend Harry (the only exile leader he really trusted) "one of your guys did it" -- in effect, he's saying "one of OUR guys did it" since Bobby himself was in charge of overseeing that movement for his brother. I think the plotters wanted Bobby to feel this way, to blame himself.

I think this helps to explain RFK’s willingness to go along with the cover-up. It makes perfect sense to let RFK know before the assassination that a man named Lee Harvey Oswald was being groomed to assassinate Castro. Then, when he is named as JFK’s killer, RFK is then implemented in his brother’s death. In other words, RFK is being blackmailed into silence.

RFK now has to play the long game. He encourages his aides to carry out an investigation into the assassination while at the same time he gives his support to the conclusions of Warren Commission. RFK does this in order to protect the reputation of both his brother and himself. RFK’s plan is to wait until he becomes president. He will then be in a position to control the new investigation into the JFK assassination. This could therefore be the connection between the assassinations of JFK and RFK. The people behind the killing of JFK could not allow RFK to become president.

However, if RFK knew there was a connection between Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassination of JFK and the Kennedy/CIA plots against Castro, so would LBJ. If that was the case, it would have been tempting for LBJ to have made this public via the initial investigation. This would have destroyed RFK’s political career and the political reputation of JFK. The fact that LBJ did not do that suggests that he was very keen that a full investigation of the assassination never took place.