Three Phases of Castro Plots

[William Kelly]

Those who promote the Mafia as primary suspects in the assassination always focus on the early plots to kill Castro that originated in the Eisenhower administration, and included the Mafia as contract agents, but as Debra Conway points out in this article, there were three phases of assassination plots, and the later ones are more significant, at least in connection with what happened at Dealey Plaza.

This is an important article that sets much of the record straight. - BK

US - CUBA RELATIONS CASTRO ASSASSINATION PLOTS

INTRO: Subject: Three Phases of Assassination

by Debra Conway

http://www.jfklancer.com/cuba/castroplots.html

My dissatisfaction with authors and producers who rewrite history relative to when events actually happened, or who said what to whom, led me to this project consisting of gathering, studying, and interpreting documentary evidence putting together information on the CIA and Mafia's attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro.

It also considers the evidence of when President Kennedy and AG Robert Kennedy knew of the Mafia's involvement against Castro, versus knowing of specifically of the assassination plots. Whether either was directed from the White House, as some claim, is suspect. The record does show by May 1961, however, the Attorney General and FBI Director Hoover were aware that the CIA had earlier used Giancana in an operation against Cuba and FBI files contained two memoranda which, if simultaneously reviewed, would have led one to conclude that the CIA operation had involved assassination.

Phase One: Aug. 1960 until Nov 15 '61, Mafia members, John Rosselli, Sam Giancana, and Santos Trafficante, (AKA Santo Trafficante) under James O'Connell. These activities were exposed when Giancana's 1960 wiretap of a Las Vegas hotel room was investigated by the FBI in 1961 and revealed in part to Robert Kennedy on May 22, 1961.

Phase Two: Late 1961 or Early 1962. Operation MONGOOSE under William Harvey begins. Harvey continues to work with Rosselli, while bringing in QJWIN with ZR/RIFLE on a separate course.

Phase Three: Dec 1963, ZR/RIFLE is still in effect, continued contact with Rosselli under William Harvey; AM/LASH under Desmond FitzGerald, and also RFK's activities with the exiles.

Note on Phase Three -- I believe the conspirators used using the Castro plots for "window dressing" for the true plot to assassinate President Kennedy and may not have been true attempts to kill Castro at all, but a way to implicate others (false sponsors).

These plots resulted in a what I call a "checkmate" situation for Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who we now know played a major role in rendering inaccessible much evidence in the case of his brother's murder. The deep remorse shown by RFK and his actions afterwards are only explainable when we allow that he believed --or was led to believe-- he was somehow responsible for his brother's death through his continued encouragement -- however innocent -- of the Cuban exiles and their actions against Castro.

In fact, the President was clearly working the "Second Track*" of possible rapprochement with Castro the last year of his life. In an interview with author Anthony Summers, Arthur Schlesinger stated:

"Undoubtedly if word leaked of President Kennedy's efforts (rapprochement), that might have been exactly the kind of thing to trigger some explosion of fanatical violence. It seems to me as a possibility not to be excluded."

Though official communication always describes "Mongoose" (Phase Two) activities as a "sabotage and harassment" campaign, the statements and claims of RFK's actions regarding his knowledge or direction of the Castro plots made in Gus Russo's book, "Live By The Sword" and also Richard Mahoney's book "Sons and Brothers" should be examined and followed-up.

Indeed, Phase Three is the crucial time period where RFK was most actively acting independently of the CIA and possibly the President himself.

Not only was there a two-track position on Castro, the same concept was applied to the Cuban exiles:

On March 29, '63, JFK calls a meeting of the ExComm (Executive Committee) to discuss the exile raids against Cuba, stating:

"The question is whether we should take direct action in the U.S. to cut off their (Cuban Exiles) supplies or whether we should try to advise them to attack Cuba but not the Russians, with the result that the raids would draw less press attention and arouse less acrimony in Moscow. The AG feels the raids can be slowed down using the Coast Guard and "prosecute cases against those who are supplying ammunition to the raiders."

This is the same time Robert Kennedy's phone logs show continued contact with the exile groups. Could these men told him or been involved with the Castro plots?

I place great importance to Castro's interview with Daniel Harker on September 7, '63, where Castro warns that U.S. leaders aiding terrorist plans to eliminate Cuban leaders will themselves not be safe. The CIA and Cuban exiles reading these remarks just two days later in both the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Miami's Herald could not but react strongly.

Though there is no evidence that Castro knew of the AMLASH plot, the coincidence of Cubela being in Brazil shortly before this interview cannot be denied. Indeed, the Church committee report states:

The individual who was the CIA "point of record" for working with the WC wrote in 1975: "There can be no question from the facts surrounding the Castro appearance, which had not been expected, and his agreement to the interview, that this event represented a more-than-ordinary attempt to get a message on the record in the US.

The listing of events in the timeline are not complete by any means and is an ongoing project for me. This version of it is a basic, but far-reaching listing of both government and research sources. I would have to write another book to list all the sources and also hundreds of government documents that point to the conclusion I have come to. However, reading the timeline and using sources of this same time period, I believe the reader will find the Phase One; Phase Two; Phase Three programs easy to recognize.

The crucial thread running through all phases is that the CIA ran its own programs, frequently in direct opposition to whatever the State Department or the current president's plans might be. Indeed, the administration's meetings and decisions made seem to be on a different world altogether from the CIA's maneuvers. Meetings with one group constantly defeated the objections and decisions of another.

Why did the CIA not give information on the Castro assassination attempts to the Warren Commission? In 1975, in his Church Committee testimony, Richard Helms was asked if he was charged with furnishing the Warren Commission information from the CIA, information that he thought was relevant?

Helms: No sir, I was instructed to reply to inquiries from the Warren Commission for information from the Agency. I was not asked to initiate any particular thing.

Senator Morgan:in other words if you weren't asked for it, you didn't give it?

Helms: That's right, sir.

(Helms testimony, 7/17/75) Debra Conwayß

UPDATE:

Summary by Tim Howells:

III - 1963: THE PLOTS INVOLVING CUBELA (AMLASH) WERE ALSO HIDDEN FROM THE KENNEDYS BY THE CIA

Robert Kennedy had William Harvey replaced by Desmond Fitzgerald. In spite of this change, the plots went forward, and did so with the full support of Fitzgerald. As has been pointed out, Fitzgerald encouraged a renaissance of the "Technical Services" craziness(in this case proposing that an exploding sea shell be strategically placed so that Castro would notice it and hold it up to his ear). He also participated in the attempt to get a dissatisfied Cuban official, Rolando Cubela Secades, to kill Castro. When Cubela asked to meet with Robert Kennedy, he was given a meeting with Fitzgerald instead, and he claimed that he represented Kennedy. On the very day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated, CIA agents met with Cubela in Paris and delivered to him a pen filled with poison with which he was supposed to kill his boss.

But an attempt to deal with Castro in a very different way was also underway on the very day of the Kennedy assassination. William Atwood and Lisa Howard were contacting Cuban officials at the President's personal request to initiate discussions aimed at normalizing relations.

We are forced to one of two conclusions:

1) Desmond Fitzgerald continued in the tradition of Bissell and Harvey to promote plans for the assassination of Fidel Castro without the approval or knowledge of the Kennedy administration.

OR

2) Even as John F. Kennedy was holding out the olive branch to Castro, he was actively trying to have him killed.

Tomnln contributed very important information taken from the Church Report that appears to decide this issue conclusively in favor of conclusion

(1): CHURCH COMMITTEE BOOK V......(page 72)

"In late July 1964, an FBI informant again reported that the CIA had meetings with the Cuban official (AMLASH). This report indicates that that the purpose of those meetings had been to plan the assassination of Castro. The informant reported that the Cuban official had been unhappy with the CIA response that Attorney General Kennedy had refused to support the plan. Because the informant requested that the bureau not inform the CIA or the White House about this report, it was not disseminated outside the FBI. Headquarters advised the field office in contact with the informant, to keep them advised. The FBI supervisor involved noted on his copy of the communication to the field office, that the bureau, acting on orders from the Attorney General, was investigating a reported underworld plot against Castro, and that this might be the same as the alleged plot involving the Cuban (AMLASH)."

Jan 1, '63 The Special Group Augmented is replaced by a different oversight organization, the Special Group , chaired by McGeorge Bundy. Although Mongoose is abolished, the CIA arm, Task Force W, continues to exist as the Special Affairs Staff, located at the CIA's Miami station. William Harvey, formerly the head of Task Force W, is replaced by Desmond FitzGerald as head of the Special Affairs Staff. Operations against Fidel Castro continue during 1963 under FitzGerald, despite earlier Kennedy directives to halt all Cuban operations. In addition to continuing attempts on Castro's life over the course of the year, CIA teams carry out at least six major operations in Cuba aimed at disrupting the Cuban government and economy. (Cuba, Operation Mongoose, 1/28/63; Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, 11/20/75, p. 170)

Harvey's replacement by Desmond FitzGerald and the scuttling of the Rosselli operation did not end but only redirected the CIA's attempts to kill Castro.

One of FitzGerald's early inspirations was fanciful and impractical, appealing to his temperamental fondness for the clever and the ingenious. It called for the Technical Services Division to rig an exploding seashell, which would be placed on the sea floor in an area where Castro liked to go skin diving. Like many CIA people, in love with the subtle and the artful, FitzGerald was fascinated by gadgets and resented skeptics who dourly suggested they would cost too much or would fail to work or weren't even needed at all. He was downright petulant at times. When Sam Halpern once protested that a fancy new communications device just wasn't going to work, FitzGerald said, "If you don't like it, you don't have to come to meetings anymore."

Halpern protested that the seashell plan was inherently impossible to control. How could they be sure that Castro would be the one to find it? Besides, the best assassinations do not appear to be assassinations at all, while Castro blowing up on the ocean floor would point a finger directly at the United States. Similar protests had been made about the plan to give Castro a box of poisoned cigars. He might hand them all out to a delegation of visiting schoolteachers. If the idea was to kill Castro, they had to find something which would get him and no one else. FitzGerald's ideas weren't turning out any better than the earlier ones, such as the proposal to provide Castro with a poisoned wet suit to be delivered by James B. Donovan, an American lawyer negotiating the release of the Bay of Pigs prisoners. The Technical Services Division had duly purchased a suit and contaminated the breathing apparatus with tubercle bacilli and the suit itself with fungus spores which would cause a chronic skin disease called Madura foot.

Critics of this plan claimed that its authors had neglected the most elementary points: for example, the fact that it was in effect a gift from the United States (the idea was to keep it secret), or Donovan's feeling about being the gift-giver in this plot. If he didn't know, after all, he might try on the suit himself. As it happened, Donovan gave Castro a wet suit entirely on his own, and the CIA's wet suit was destroyed.

But FitzGerald did not abandon the problem. Eventually he came up with a serious effort to use a major in the Cuban army, in contact with the CIA since 1961, named Rolando Cubela. (As originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, August 1979 "Inside the Department of Dirty Tricks" by Thomas Powers)

http://www.theatlantic.com/unbound/flashbks/cia/powers.htm

Jan 4, 63 - The Standing Group, an NSC group that eventually replaces the ExComm in reviewing U.S. policy toward Cuba, discusses McGeorge Bundy's proposal of opening communications with Fidel Castro. Bundy later notes that the "gradual development of some form of accommodation with Castro" became a standard item in lists of policy alternatives considered by the Kennedy administration. Nonetheless, U.S. policy toward Castro vacillates considerably in the months after the missile crisis. Even as secret approaches to Castro are being weighed, the Kennedy administration also contemplates Pentagon proposals for military action against Castro, as well as a wide range of economic and covert programs to weaken the Castro government. (Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, 11/20/75, p. 173)

Jan 8, 63 - JFK writes NSAM 213 : Interdepartmental Organization for Cuban Affairs approving a detailed organization plan for coordinating management "of all aspects of our current policy toward Cuba," giving day-to-day coordinating responsibility to the Dept of State while "final responsibility of course, remains with the President."

Jan 25, 63 - At its first meeting in over a month and during subsequent sessions, the ExComm considers various long-range plans to pressure Fidel Castro. The United States wants Castro removed from power but it recognizes that if this proves impossible, then it wants him to be independent of the Soviet Union. Policy papers suggest that the ultimate objective is replacement of the government by "one fully compatible with the goals of the United States." (Participation in Cuban Missile Crisis Meetings, October 1962, 10/5/68)

Feb 2, '63 - CIA officially sets up new Domestic Operations Division under Tracy Barnes, chief of the psychological and paramilitary staff for the Agency 's clandestine branch during the Bay of Pigs, when he worked with David Atlee Phillips as propaganda chief; Phillips takes over Cuban operations on orders from FitzGerald. E. Howard Hunt is shifted from chief of the covert action staff in the Western European Division to a deputy position in Barnes ' new division. (Fonzi chronology p 419)

Feb, 63 - Harvey Demoted: Harvey is officially removed from his post as head of Project Mongoose on orders from Robert Kennedy and is reassigned to the Rome station as chief of station effectively taking him out of action. He meets with Rosselli in Washington, DC. (Inspector General 's Report, p 53) See entry for Oct 30th.

Harvey gets back in touch with Rosselli in Miami and Los Angeles (Feb 13). Harvey is reportedly seen in Florida meeting with Rosselli as late as June 1963 and visited anti-Castro camps there. Asset is paid $2,700 for expenses. They agree to put assassination plots on hold but leave the bounty of $150,000 active. (Church Committee, 1975)

AM/LASH plot against Castro revived headed by Harvey 's replacement, FitzGerald, using Castro government official Cubela, an associate of the Cuban "asset" who had been recruited by Trafficante for first attempt.

Two-Tracks: JFK and the State Dept. begin their own two-track process towards Cuba. The Republican right adopts the cause of liberating Cuba from Castro. (Mahoney p266)

RFK takes former Bay of Pigs prisoner, Brigade 2506 's Manual Artime on skiing vacation returning him to Miami with CIA retainer to revive his "Movement for the Recovery of the Revolution." As a condition for this support Artime and Ruiz Williams supported the Kennedy plan to integrate the Bay of Pigs veterans into U.S. Armed Forces. Nearly half the brigade members sign up for a special army training program at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. 300 others, including former 2506 frogman Blas Casares and underground organizer Jorge Recarey, achieve officer rank after completion of the Special Officers ' Training Program at Fort Benning, Georgia, in Mar 1963. (Mahoney p 265)

Spring, 63 - Life magazine editorially adopts the cause of the exiles as its own with photo essays. Clare Luce Booth, wife of Time-Life magazine publisher Henry Luce, former congresswoman, and U.S. ambassador, helped finance an anti-Castro platoon. The Luces walk out of White House luncheon with JFK after refusing to tone down coverage of the exile raids and leave Cuba to the devices of the president. Luce calls meeting at Time-Life headquarters in New York, stating Time, Inc. was declaring war on Cuba. Contact was to be made with principal exile groups to arrange for reporters and photographers to go along on raids. Time, Inc would provide logistical and financial assistance. Note: Life purchased ship-to-shore radios for Alpha 66 and paid commandos for exclusive stories; it also provided life insurance for commandos and correspondence. (Turner and Hinckle, p186-187)

Mar 19, '63 - At a press conference in Washington arranged by spymaster Bishop, Alpha 66 leader Veciana announces that his anti-Castro forces have raided a "Soviet fortress" and ship in a Cuban port east of Havana, causing a dozen Soviet casualties and serious damage. Veciana says his purpose is "to wage psychological warfare against the government of Premier Fidel Castro and the Soviet troops supporting him." The New York Times says the Kennedy administration is "embarrassed by the incident." (Fonzi chronology p 419)

Mar, 63 - Meeting of NSC discusses Castro 's lending assistance to revolutionary movements outside Cuba. RFK sends JFK two memos urging more action. JFK answers neither one. (Mahoney p266; Schlesinger pp580-81)

Mar 18, 63 - Exiles on Attack: Attack on anchored Soviet vessel Lvov (L'Gov), off northern coast of Cuba, by members of Alpha 66 organized by CIA 's "Maurice Bishop," aka David A. Phillips (who hoped to provoke the president and Russia into another confrontation) and Second Front commandos. The commandos then went ashore and attacked a Soviet infantry camp wounding twelve soldiers. Afterwards the group held a press conference to brag about their actions. (Turner & Hinckle p174;Cuba, The US and Russia 1960-1963, pp126-127) Soviet Union delivers angry protest. (U.S.-Cuba Relations, 1960-1963: Neutrality Enforcement and the Cuban Exiles During the Kennedy Administration)

Note: On March 19 , the Department of State issued a statement that it was "strongly opposed to hit-and-run attacks on Cuba by splinter refugee groups." The statement continued, "such raids do not weaken the grip of the Communist regime on Cuba--indeed they may strengthen it." The statement concluded that the U.S. Government was investigating the raid to see if U.S. law was violated. (For text, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1963, pp. 266.) In his press conference, Kennedy stated that "our best information was that they did not come from the United States." He also stated that the United States did not support the group and had no connection with it. (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963, pp. 277-278)

Note: Under Secretary Ball had nine telephone conversations with Department of State, Justice, and White House officials between 9:10 a.m. and 2:15 p.m., March 19, prior to the release of the Department of State's statement. Ball was told by U. Alexis Johnson that the United States had no connection with Alpha 66; but as Ball observed, "nobody is going to believe this." Ball noted that the actions of Alpha 66 were in clear violation of the U.S. neutrality laws. (Kennedy Library, Ball Papers, Telephone Conversations, Cuba)

Mar 21, 63 - President Kennedy criticizes recent attacks on Cuba by Cuba "exiles," saying that the raids only "strengthened the Russian position in Cuba." (NYT, 3/22/63) Earlier in the day JFK expressed some concern why we were without good intelligence on the intentions of these groups. (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, Exiles, 3/63)

Mar 26, 63 - The anti-Castro group L-66 attacks and sinks the Soviet ship Baku as it loads Cuban sugar at the harbor of Caibarien, Cuba. The assault on the Baku, as well as the one on the L'Gov a week earlier, are among the most serious attacks that have taken place during the year, and both incidents were strenuously protested by the Soviet Union and Cuba as CIA instigated: "CIA bandits hiding behind the skirts of Cuban malcontents". ( Pravda; Summary of Major Raids Carried Out by Anti-Castro Groups, ca. 4/63; NYT, 3/28/63)

Note: The Lambda 66 Cuban exile group attacked the Soviet ship Baku when it was loading sugar in the Cuban port of Caibarien. The raiders had a free lance photo journalist aboard for Life magazine, Andrew St. George. (Turner & Hinckle, p174; Life Apr 12, 19

63; Memoranda from Chase to McGeorge Bundy and Clifton to the President, March 27.)

Mar 29, '63 - JFK calls a meeting of the ExComm to discuss the exile raids against Cuba, stating: "The question is whether we should take direct action in the U.S. to cut off their supplies or whether we should try to advise them to attack Cuba but not the Russians, with the result that the raids would draw less press attention and arouse less acrimony in Moscow." McCone feels there will be intense public and press criticism if the US stands down these raids. Rusk states the raids will be blamed on the US no matter what we say. "If we decide that such raids should be conducted, we should plan them ourselves and see that they are carried out under our control rather than as now occurs." McNamara says the raids can be stopped if the Navy is used or "if we don 't want to stop the raids, we can modify them, making it difficult for the raiders to attack targets not of our choosing." The AG feels the raids can be slowed down using the Coast Guard and "prosecute cases against those who are supplying ammunition to the raiders."

The President asked the Attorney General to meet with Mr. McCone and representatives of State, Defense, and the White House to draft an action program for his approval, to include the following points:

a. Guidance by the CIA to the raiding groups.

b. Discussion with the British about the use of the Bahama Islands by the raiders.

c. Consideration of whether we should inform the press for background that the raiders are taking off from the Bahamas.

d. Preventing the planned airplane raid, if necessary, announcing that we intend to stop the raid so that if it takes place, then all would be fairly and clearly warned.

e. Ways of preventing the return of raiders leaving U.S. jurisdiction.

(Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Executive Committee, Meetings, Vol. IV, 38-42, 1/25/63-3/29/63. Top Secret. The meeting lasted until 1:30 p.m. (President's Appointment Book) and was the last meeting of the Executive Committee.)

Apr, 63 - According to his testimony, Harvey receives phone call from Rosselli.

Beginning in April, the Mafia begins arming and organizing the Cuban exile movement to relaunch the anti-Castro cause. Dr. Paulino Sierra Martinez, a Cuban attorney from Chicago known to almost no one in the exile community in Miami surfaced in south Florida to form a united front called the Junta de Gobierno en Exilio. Sierra was accompanied to Florida by an entertainer from Dallas named William Trull. FBI reports reveal they hardly knew each other and gave conflicting versions of why they teamed up. (Mahoney pp269-270; Staff Summary file for Paulino Sierra Martinez, HSCA. Also HSCA Staff Summary of CIA file, n.d.)

Meetings of the Special Group continue discussions on Cuban operations, specifically on the exile activities. Further concern is the early negotiations of the Nuclear Test Ban treaty. (Department of State, INR/IL Historical Files, S.G. 83)

Mafia begins arming and organizing the Cuban exile movement supposedly to relaunch the anti Castro cause. (Mahoney p 269)

Apr 1, '63 - The New York Times reports: "Seventeen heavily armed Cuban exiles planning to attack a Soviet tanker off Cuba were seized yesterday by a British force on a solitary islet in the Bahamas chain. The capture was apparently the first result of an agreement worked out late last week by Washington and London to cooperate in preventing raids by opponents of Premier Fidel Castro [in Miami], Cuban exiles reacted with a mixture of anger, defiance and gloom." The anti-Castro raiding party was led by Jerry Buchanan, a member of Frank Sturgis ' International Anti-Communist Brigade. (Fonzi chronology p 419)

Apr 3, 63 - Official sabotage operations against Cuba have been discontinued, McGeorge Bundy tells participants in a high-level administration meeting on Cuba, because the Special Group "had decided...that such activity is not worth the effort expended on it." This cessation of sabotage operations is short-lived however; President Kennedy approves a new set of operations on June 19 (see entry for June 19, 1963). (Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, 11/20/75, p. 173)

Apr 5, '63 - Kennedy Administration reveals it is assigning more Navy and Customs planes and boats to police the Florida straits against continuing anti-Castro raids. (Fonzi chronology p 419)

Apr 9, '63 - Memorandum From the Secretary of the Army's Special Assistant (Califano) to the Secretary of the Army (Vance) states items of sabotage and propaganda concerning Cuba. (Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OSD Files: FRC 77-0131, Sabotage/Destruction.)

Apr 11, '63 - JFK writes private letter to Khrushchev concerning the test ban and states: "We are also aware of the tensions unduly created by recent private attacks on your ships in Caribbean waters; and we are taking action to halt those attacks which are in violation of our laws. In particular, I have neither the intention nor the desire to invade Cuba; I consider that it is for the Cuban people themselves to decide their destiny. I am determined to continue with policies which will contribute to peace in the Caribbean." (the full text of the letter is in Foreign Relations, 1961-1963, volume VI, pages 265-268)

Just days later: A memo from Gordon Chase of the NSC staff to McBundy relates discussion of Cuba covert actions including "Black Operations and Sabotage Targets" among the "Cottrell Committee." Minutes from the meeting state:"General--Dez (Califano/FitzGerald) feels that the President wants some action. Dez is working on a program which will show continuous motion. The soft targets, which are generally unimportant, will be first because they require the least preparation. As time goes on, however, we will be hitting some harder and more important targets." (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, General, 4/1-4/20/63)

Apr-Jun, 63 - RFK phone logs show continued contacts with exile leaders.

Apr 13-21, 63 - Harvey is at the Plantation Yacht Harbor motel/marina in Plantation Key, Florida according to his QJWIN/ZRRIFLE expense records. "John A. Wallston" (Rosselli 's alias was John A. Ralston), who listed his address as 56510 Wilshire Blvd the Friars Club in Los Angeles was registered in the next room which was charged to Harvey 's room #22. Harvey spent at least three days there making calls to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Perrine, FL (possibly JM/WAVE station). Records show a boat was chartered to go to Islamorada, FL. There is reimbursement for dinner for three (two unofficial Americans and Harvey) at the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami on April 20 and also "operational hotel rooms" at the Eden Roc Hotel in Miami. (Twyman pp 442-443; Mahoney p 268)

Apr 15, '63 - A memo prepared by McCone analyzing the situation in Cuba reads: "Castro's talks with (James) Donovan have been mild in nature, conciliatory and reasonably frank. Of greater significance is Dr. Vallejo's private statements to Donovan that Castro realizes he must find a rapprochement with the United States if he is to succeed in building a viable Cuba. Apparently Castro does not know how to go about this, therefore the subject has not been discussed with Donovan." (See also Memo from McCone to JFK Apr 10, '63, with same information. Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, JOB 80-B01285A, DCI's Meetings with the President, 1 April-30 June 1963. Secret; Eyes Only. A note on the top of the memorandum reads: "Read by the Pres 4/10 at 1:00 p.m. Note retained."; Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, Cuba, Intelligence Material, Vol. V.)

In a meeting with JFK in Palm Beach, McCone raised the question of the "possibility of working on Castro with the objective of disenchanting him with his Soviet relations causing him to break relations with Khrushchev, to effect the removal of Soviet Troops from Cuba, reorient his policies with respect to Latin America, and establish in Cuba government satisfactory to the rest of the Hemisphere." McCone offered the president two ways to solve the Cuban problem: either in the manner outlined above or alternately, by bringing consistent pressure of every possible nature on Khrushchev to force his withdrawal from Cuba, and then to bring about the downfall of Castro by means which could be developed after the removal of the Soviets troops (but not before) and thereafter establish a satisfactory government in Cuba. I stated to the President that we were studying both courses of action and I had not made up my mind concerning the feasibility of either plan. The President thought both approaches should be carefully examined and suggested the possibility of pursuing both courses at the same time." (Central Intelligence Agency, DCI/McCone Files, Job 80-B01285A, DCI Meetings with the President, 1 April-30 June 1963. Drafted by McCone on April 16.)

Apr 18, '63 - Memorandum From the Coordinator of Cuban Affairs (Cottrell) to the Special Group listing "Proposed New Covert Policy and Program Towards Cuba" for consideration of the new Special Group. Efforts are to be concentrated in the effort to have Russia remove forces from Cuba.

Note: A note on the bottom of this memorandum indicated it was prepared for the April 18 meeting of the Special Group, which deferred consideration of this paper until April 25.

Manchester, "Death of a President", p. 46: Some of the Lone Star faithful looked forward to the induction into the Presidency of a lanky, two-gunned nonfictional John Wayne. That spring Cuban exiles living in Miami recieved a broadside declaring: "Only through one development will you Cuban patriots ever live again in your homeland as freemen, responsible as must be the most capable for the guidelines and welfare of the Cuban people." This blessing would come to pass if an inspired Act of God should place in the White House within weeks a Texan known to be a friend of all Latin Americans...though he must under present conditions bow to the Zionists who since 1905 came into control of the United States, and for whom Jack Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller and other members of the Council of Foreign Relations and allied agencies are only stooges and pawns. Though Johnson must now bow to these crafty and cunning Cumminist-hatching Jews, yet, did an Act of God suddenly elevate him into the top position would revert to what his beloved father and grandfather were, and to their values and principles and loyalties. The dodger, decorated with cowpokes and a profile of the Alamo, was dated April 18, 1963, and signed, "A Texan who resents the Oriental influence that has come to control, to degrade, to pollute and enslave his own people."

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...bsPageId=362670 Commission Document 1107 (the FBI Gemberling Report of May 15, 1964).

Apr 21, 63 - McGeorge Bundy submits to the NSC's Standing Group a memo on "Cuba Alternatives" discussing "possible new directions" for U.S. policy toward Cuba. Three possible alternatives are identified: forcing "a non-Communist solution in Cuba by all necessary means," insisting on "major but limited ends," or moving "in the direction of a gradual development of some form of accommodation with Castro." (Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, 11/20/75, p. 171)

Exile leaders accuse JFK of "breaking promises and agreements" for a second invasion.

Apr 27 - May 23, 63 - Fidel Castro and a large entourage begin a five-week, fourteen-city visit to the Soviet Union.

May 1, 63 - After her lengthy interview with Fidel Castro, ABC News Anchorwoman Lisa Howard is debriefed by the CIA when she returned to the U.S. She emphasized his interest in better relations with Washington, and offered to play the role of diplomatic intermediary between the two countries. The notation "PSAW" in the top right-hand corner of the document signifies that the memorandum was read by President Kennedy. (CIA, "Interview of U.S. Newswoman with Fidel Castro Indicating Possible Interest in Rapprochement with the United States.")

May, 63 - FBI scrutinizes the activities of Alpha 66.

May13, '63 - A draft memorandum from Sherman Kent to McGeorge Bundy titled:

"Developments in Cuba and Possible US Actions in the Event of Castro 's Death," prepared by the Office of National Estimates of the CIA, at Bundy 's instruction, it "represents our best and most careful effort in the time available."

This memo is a general analysis of the situation with Cuba and prospects for US action after Castro 's death. "We believe the odds are that upon Castro 's death his brother Raul or some other figure in the regime would, with Soviet backing and help, take over control." (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, meetings and Memoranda Seriers, Standing Group Meeting, 5-28-63)

May 19, '63 - The Miami News reports in an article titled, "Gamblers Pop Out of Exile Grab Bag" that Chicago-based gangsters were behind the government-in-exile move.

Note: One of the promoters of a united front meeting in Miami in May was George Franci, a Trafficante asset.

Jun, 63 - Rosselli came to Washington to meet with Harvey who picks him up at Dulles Airport and takes him to dinner. This was to be their official last meeting. FBI surveillance of Rosselli picks up the meeting. Harvey meets with FBI 's CIA liaison Sam Papich the next morning. Harvey explains that he was terminating an operational association with Rosselli. Papich reminds Harvey of the FBI rule requiring FBI personnel to report any known contacts between former FBI employees and criminal elements and that Papich would have to report to Hoover that Harvey had been seen with Rosselli. Hoover and the Justice Dept. liaison Courtney Evans were given detailed reports on the contact. (Mahoney p 286, note 97, p 412)

Jun 5, 63 - CIA transmits than a half dozen intelligence reports indicating that Castro was interested mending the U.S.-Cuban conflict and establishing normal ties. (CIA, "Reported Desire of the Cuban Government for Rapprochement with the United States.")

Jun 10, 63 - JFK 's speech at the American University

Jun 8, '63 - Pawley, of Life magazine, boards a CIA flying boat to rendezvous off the coast of Oriente province with his own yacht, the Flying Tiger II that will be used by exiles for a mission. He is accompanied by Rip Robertson, a Life photographer, Eddie Bayo, a respected veteran anti-Castro raider determined to lead a sortie into Cuba to liberate the Russian officers who supposedly want to defect to the US. These officers were said to know the location of Soviet nuclear missiles on the island, missiles that were never removed by the Soviet Union despite its commitment to do so. The plan is to meet up with the Flying Tiger II two days later with the Soviet officers in hand but Bayo and his comrades were never heard from again. This becomes known as the Bayo-Pawley affair. (Mahoney pp272-273)

Jun 19, 63 - Following a Special Group meeting, President Kennedy approves a new sabotage program against Cuba. Whereas Operation Mongoose was aimed at eventually sparking an internal revolt, the new program seeks a more limited objective: "to nourish a spirit of resistance and disaffection which could lead to significant defections and other by-products of unrest."

Numerous sabotage efforts against important economic targets are authorized by the Special Group during the autumn of 1963, and U.S.(CIA)-assisted raids and assassination plots are not completely terminated until 1965 (see entries for October 3 and 24, 1963). (Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, 11/20/75)

Note: RFK has formed close ties to several Cuban exiles: Roberto San Roman, Enrique Ruiz-Williams, and in '63, Manuel Artime. RFK 's "interference" led to arguments with Harvey (who routinely refers to the AG as "that xxxxer)."

By this time Miami is no longer controlled by Washington. Besides Rosselli 's kill team, Operation 40, a ZR/RIFLE unit created prior to the Bay of Pigs, brought together Cuban mob henchmen like Eladio del Valle and Rolando Masferrer, soldiers of fortune like Frank Sturgis, and CIA case officers like Col. William Bishop and David Morales, who managed assassins. (Mahoney p 174-175;HSCA staff reports)

Jun 27, 63 - Harvey, winding up his headquarters responsibilities in preparation for assignment in Rome, writes a memo stating that the original justification for employing QJWIN (asset developed for original ZR/RIFLE projects.) no longer existed and raised the question of QJWIN 's termination. He is not terminated until Feb 14, 1964.

Jul 8, 63 - U.S. restricts currency transactions with Cuba, including freezing $33,000,000 of Cuban deposits in U.S. banks.

Jul 9, 63 - U.S. Customs officials arrest members of 30th November Revolutionary Movement on Florida key with weapons.

Jul 15, '63 - Miami News Latin American editor Hal Hendrix breaks story, "Backstage With Bobby," detailing RFK 's role as the architect of the Nicaragua-based front against Castro. (Mahoney, p265; FBI memo, Re: Anti-Fidel Castro Activities Internal Security, 105-1742, 19 July, 1963, HSCA, AA)

Note: This newspaper story was discussed in the Jul 16, '63 meeting of the "Standing Group": Report by Mr. FitzGerald -- There was a discussion of the wide-spread press reports that the U.S. was backing Cuban exiles who are planning raids against Cuba from Central American States. One news article shown the Attorney General was headed "Backstage with Bobby" and referred to his conversations with persons involved in planning the Cuban raids./6/

/6/The story, by Hal Hendrix, was in the Miami Herald, July 14, 1963.

In the discussion as to how to deal with the press reports, the Attorney General suggested that we could float other rumors so that in the welter of press reports no one would know the true facts. Mr. McCone agreed that it would be possible to confuse the situation in this manner. [5 lines of source text not declassified] (Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Meetings and Memoranda Series, Standing Group Meeting, 7/16/63)

Jul 24, 63 - A group of anti-Castro Cubans arrives in New Orleans from Miami and joins a training camp off Lake Ponchatrain. Members are from the International Anti-Communist Brigade, established by Frank Sturgis and Gerry Hemming. The Senate Intelligence Committee Report would later claim that " A ' life-long friend of AMLASH/Cubela," had helped procure explosives for the camp. "A" is Victor Espinosa Hernandez, who obtained the explosives from Richard Lauchli, cofounder of the paramilitary right-wing Minutemen. During the Garrison investigation, reports were received that LHO and Ferrie were seen at this camp. (Fonzi chronology p 420)

Jul 31, 63 - FBI raid seizes more than a ton of dynamite, 20 bomb casings, napalm material, and other devices at William Julius McLaney 's, a well known Havana gambler (and brother of Mike McClaney, former casino owner in Cuba) home at Lacombe, La., in the Lake Ponchatrain, New Orleans area. Loren Eugene Hall, and supposedly, Ferrie is working with this group, not part of the IAB camp. No one is charged. Articles appear in the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Aug 1, 2, and 4, '63.

Summer-Fall '63 - Raids and seizures apparently are commonplace in this period. Reports in the files of intelligence agencies in mid-1963, document a series of meetings among major leaders of the anti-Castro movement. These reports indicate that some of these leaders claimed the support of the US Govt. Such meetings followed the June '63 decision of the Special Group to step up various covert operations designed to encourage dissident groups inside Cuba, to worsen economic conditions in the country, and to cause Cubans to doubt the ability of the Castro regime to defend the country. (Book V Final Report of the [senate] Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, 4/23/76; Memorandum for the Special Group, 6/19/63)

Aug 16, 63 - Chicago Sun-Times reports CIA had dealings with the underworld figure Giancana from 1959 to before the Bay of Pigs. This prompted CIA Director McCone to ask the Deputy Director for Plans, Helms, for a report about the article.

Helms sends a memorandum to McCone forwarding a copy of the May 14, '62 memo for the record sent to AG Kennedy following the May 7 briefing on the gambling syndicate, phase one. This is the earliest date on which there is evidence of McCone 's being aware of any aspect of the CIA operation against Castro involving Giancana and that it involved assassination. (Senate Assassination Plots Committee Report)

Aug, 63 - According to FBI report, a Latin American military officer attends a Cuban exile group meeting and talks of assassination.

Aug 20, 63 - Chicago Sun Times reports further on the CIA-Mafia plots citing an incident in which Giancana speaks out an FBI agent following him saying, "Why don 't you fellows leave me alone? I 'm one of you."

Early Sept, 63 - Talks between the Cuban delegate to the UN, Lechuga, and a U.S. delegate, William Attwood, are proposed by the Cubans. RFK encourages the effort. Attwood reports regularly to the White House and to Adlai Stevenson, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. (Fonzi chronology p 421)

Manuel Rodriguez registers as alien in Dallas, sets up local chapter of Alpha 66.

Sept 7, 63 - AM/LASH: CIA case officers in Brazil have their first meeting with AM/LASH (Rolando Cubela) since prior to Missile Crisis. They cable Fitzgerald that he would perform an "inside job" on Castro 's life and is awaiting a U.S. plan of action. Helms authorizes a meeting between his deputy Fitzgerald and Cubella. This news could have leaked to Cuban exile groups in New Orleans. (Mahoney p286)

Note: Rolando Cubela Secades: a hero of the Castro revolution and an official in the Casto regime. The CIA had opened contacts with him in 1961 when he became disenchanted with increasing Soviet interference in Cuban affairs. He spoke of defecting but was asked to stay in Havana as a source. Interviewed in 1978 by Anthony Summers, while serving a life sentence for plotting against Castro, he claimed the proposal to kill Castro came entirely from the American side. A cording to Summers, the CIA used a leading Cuban exile in its long-running series of contacts with Cubela: Manuel Artime, one of the exiles most favored by RFK.

According to interview notes by a congressional investigator: Artime claimed "he had direct contact with JFK and RFK personally. They in turn contacted the CIA. AM/LASH was proposed by JFK" (Summers Not In Your Lifetime, p249) In an interview conducted in Havana in May 1997, National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcon allowed that Cubella may have been a Castro plant. (Mahoney interview) Note: Cubella as double agent?

Castro gives impromptu interview to reporter Associated Press reporter Daniel Harker. And in that interview Castro warns that U.S. leaders aiding terrorist plans to eliminate Cuban leaders will themselves not be safe. He added, "Yet the CIA and other dreamers believe their hopes of an insurrection or a successful guerrilla war. They can go on dreaming forever."

Note: This account of the interview appeared in the Miami Herald, p. 1A on Sept 9, '63. While other major newspapers carried the story, some did not include Castro 's warning. The entire report was in the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Sept 9, '63. The individual who was the CIA "point of record" for working with the WC wrote in 1975: "There can be no question from the facts surrounding the Castro appearance, which had not been expected, and his agreement to the interview, that this event represented a more-than-ordinary attempt to get a message on the record in the US. (CIA memo 5/23/75) A CIA analyst on Cuban affairs reached a similar conclusion. (Briefing of [senate] Select Committee staff. 1/7/76)

Sept 12, 63 - Considering Castro 's recent statements, the Cuban Coordinating Committee meets to conduct a broad review of U.S. contingency plans. They agree there is a strong likelihood Castro will retaliate in some way against the rash of covert activity in Cuba; however an attack on the U.S. is considered unlikely. (Book V Final Report of the [senate] Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, 4/23/76)

Sept 18, 63 - William Attwood, deputy U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote memo for Adlai Stevenson and other U.S. officials, requesting authorization to make secret contact with Cuba's UN Ambassador Carlos Lechuga. The White House granted permission, and the first discussion took place at the New York apartment of ABC News Anchorwoman, Lisa Howard.

Sept 27, '63 - The Coordinator of Cuban Affairs prepared a memo listing assignments for contingency papers relating to a possible retaliatory actions by the Castro regime. (Memorandum to the Indepartmental Coordinating Committee of Cuban Affairs, from Coordinator of Cuban Affairs, 9/27/63.)

Oct 3, 63 - Arthur Krock 's NYT article "The Intra-Administration War In Vietnam," quotes Vietnam reporter Richard Starnes: ..."if the United States ever experiences [an attempt at a coup to overthrow the government] it will come from the CIA and not the Pentagon." The agency "represents a tremendous power and total unaccountability to anyone."

Oct 10, '63 - FBI is told by an informant the CIA is meeting with AM/LASH.

Oct 24, 63 - French reporter Jean Daniel, conducts a brief interview with JFK before setting off on an assignment in Cuba. Though JFK is critical of Castro, he suggests Daniel broach the subject of reestablishing U.S. - Cuba relations with Castro, asks Daniel to report back to him. (Daniel, "Unofficial Envoy: A Historic Report from Two Capitals,"New Republic, Dec 14, '63)

Oct 29, 63 - Desmond FitzGerald, a senior CIA official, meets AM/LASH. Fitzgerald tells him that a coup against Castro would receive U.S. support. Fitzgerald is introduced to AM/LASH as a "personal representative of Attorney General Kennedy." The Church committee found no evidence that the AG RFK authorized, or was aware of this representation. Helms testified he did not seek the AG 's approval because he thought it was "unnecessary." (Book V Final Report of the [senate] Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, 4/23/76;Helms, 6/13/75, pp 117-118)

Nov 4, 63 - Case officer is told by Fitzgerald that AM/LASH can be informed the rifles, telescopic sights, and explosives will be provided.

Nov 12, 63 - Memorandum for the record relates a meeting of on Cuban Operations. McCone gave a brief summary of recent developments inside Cuba. FitzGerald reported on Cuban operations under six main headings: (a) Covert Collection, ( Propaganda, © Economic Denial, (d) Disaffections in the Military, (e) Sabotage and Harassment, and (f) Support of Autonomous Anti-Castro Groups.

The consensus was that since CIA's sabotage operation is in the main low cost and since it does worry the Castro regime, denies him some essential commodities, stimulates some sabotage inside Cuba and tends to improve the morale of the Cubans who would like to see Castro removed, CIA should proceed with those operations planned for the coming week end (November 15 though 17). The view was expressed that CIA, in connection with the Department of Defense, should concentrate on attempting to catch Castro red-handed delivering arms to Communist groups in Latin American countries. (Department of State, INR Historical Files, Special Group Meeting No. 105)

NSC official Gordon Chase drafted a memorandum in order to present arguments in favor of improved relations. The memo was drafted as the first major meeting between high level Cuban and U.S. officials to discuss better relations was being organized; that meeting was aborted by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. (NSC, "Some Arguments Against Accommodation--A Rebuttal," November 12, 1963; )

Nov 16 -18, '62 - Rosselli takes a trip: he buys a ticket -- in his own name -- to Phoenix, booked reservations a Mountain Shadows resort (with two female guests) also in his own name. The FBI then finds out Rosselli is on his way to Washington DC to see a congressman so feeling he is developing an alibi, they tail him. (Mahoney p284)

Nov 18, '62 - Rosselli, apparently canceling plans to go to Washington, leaves instead for Las Vegas, where he can make calls and conduct meetings free from FBI surveillance. (Mahoney p284)

Nov 18, 63 - JFK makes public appearance in Tampa under tight security and delivers a speech on Cuban policy.

Nov 19, 63 - JFK 's Dallas motorcade route is published in Dallas newspapers.

RFK calls JFK to see if he can squeeze Helms into schedule. The CIA claim hard evidence of Castro 's attempt to overthrow the government of Venezuela. A half hour later, Helms and RFK walk into the Oval Office with a submachine gun recovered from an arms cache in Venezuela. On the stock was the official seal of Cuba. Knowing JFK 's consideration of a rapprochement with Castro, Helm 's visit was meant to torpedo any such notion. (Mahoney pp285-286)

Castro contacts reporter Daniel and spends six hours talking to him about U.S.-Cuban relations. (Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, 4/23/76; Daniel, "When Castro Heard the News," New Republic, 12/7/63)

Gordon Chase reported in a memo on the discussions between Attwood and Castro's aide de camp, Dr. Rene Vallejo, on a meeting in Cuba or New York. (White House, Talks with Cuba , November 19, 1963)

Nov 20, 63 - CIA officer telephones AM/LASH for meeting on Nov 22. As a signal that his request for weapons, specifically, a high-powered rifle with telescopic sighs or some other weapon which could be used to assassinate Castro from a distance, will be granted, the officer states this is the meeting AM/LASH requested . This is the first indication that he might receive the specific support that he had requested. (Book V Final Report of the [senate] Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, 4/23/76; 1967 Inspector General 's Report, p 90)

Note: July '64 - An FBI informant again reported that the CIA had meetings with the Cuban official (AMLASH). This report indicates that that the purpose of those meetings had been to plan the assassination of Castro. The informant reported that the Cuban official had been unhappy with the CIA response that Attorney General Kennedy had refused to support the plan. Because the informant requested that the bureau not inform the CIA or the White House about this report, it was not disseminated outside the FBI. Headquarters advised the field office in contact with the informant, to keep them advised. The FBI supervisor involved noted on his copy of the communication to the field office, that the bureau, acting on orders from the Attorney General, was investigating a reported underworld plot against Castro, and that this might be the same as the alledged, and that this might be the same as the alledged plot involving the Cuban (AMLASH)." (Book V Final Report of the [senate] Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, 4/23/76, pg72)

Nov 22, 63 - Assassination in Dallas : JFK is shot and killed during a motorcade through downtown Dallas. Texas Governor John Connelly is seriously wounded. A Dallas policeman, J.D. Tippet is found shot dead in the nearby residential street by passersby shortly afterwards.

Fitzgerald meets with AM/LASH in Paris to provide poison pen to assassinate Castro. Upon conclusion of the meeting they learn of the President 's assassination. (Book V Final Report of the [senate] Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, 4/23/76)

Documents released in 1997 show that RFK is scheduled to meet secretly with Manuel Artime, Roberto San Roman, and Harry Williams. It is not known if this meeting had in fact occurred when the news of JFK 's death arrived. According to author William Turner in an interview by with Williams, "on that day he was meeting with CIA safe house in northwest Washington with Richard Helms, Howard Hunt, and several other CIA agents. Williams stated" it was the most important meeting I ever had on the problem of Cuba" with plans for this invasion from the Dominican Republic crystallizing. (Russo, 289; Hinckle and Turner, 251; Memo For the Secretary of the Army/Attn: Jos. Califano, "Training of Cuban Refugees in Nicaragua," 12-11-63)

Note: After learning of the assassination and LHO 's New Orleans connections with anti-Castro exiles, RFK calls Williams stating, "One of your guys did it." Williams was at home in Florida working with "Bay of Pigs" author Haynes Johnson. This is confusing when considering Williams ' statement that he attended a meeting in D.C.

Reporter Daniel meets with Castro again spending most of the day with him. Daniel 's report of this meeting "When Castro Heard the News," describes Castro 's reaction to word of the assassination. After word that President Johnson had been sworn in reached Castro, he asked: "What authority does he exercise over the CIA?" (Book V Final Report of the [senate] Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities, 4/23/76; Daniel, "When Castro Heard the News," New Republic, 12/7/63)

Robert Kennedy calls CIA Director McCone and asks "Did the CIA kill my brother?" McCone, who is continually out of the loop, says no. (Sheridan)

Nov 23, 63 - LHO is charged for assassinating the president.

CIA headquarters cables AM/LASH case officer and orders him to break contact with AM/LASH because of the president 's assassination and return to headquarters. Plot temporarily abandoned.

RESOURCES:

• For the most reliable and current information on William Harvey, I recommend the reader pair this memo with Noel Twyman's bookBloody Treason, specifically the chapter "The Cuban Obsession."

• See also documents D152. CIA / MAFIA DOCUMENTS: William Harvey, James O'Connell, Phase I of the CIA-Mafia Castro Assassination plots (click here for index)

• White House Appointment books of Robert Kennedy , 1961, 1962, 1964. Released 5-97 from the JFK Library. D112.564 pages.

• JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF DOCUMENTS ON US-CUBAN WAR PLANS AND COVERT OPS, 2310 pages. The National Archives released pages of previously classified files from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. These documents (formally called Records Group 218 and records Group 335) have also been called the Califano Collection, and include materials originally classified "Top Secret/Sensitive" and in sections labeled "JCS Central Files," Lemnitzer Papers," "Taylor Papers;""Wheeler Papers;" and "Califano Papers." The documents deal with contingency plans to topple the Castro regime (and to invade Cuba) in the period 1961 - 64. Included are documents pre-Bay of Pigs (i.e., the JCS approval of the original invasion plan), then post Bay of Pigs material as to what went wrong; then plans to oust Castro in 1962; and finally plans to oust him in 1963 and 1964, under the guise of a U.S.-inspired coup. The news stories released in mid November -which focused primarily on some rather hare-brained "James Bond" type schemes really do not capture the full extent of what is in this collection.

• JFK Revisited ,A noted historian and Kennedy Administration insider refutes the revisionist version of JFK's legacy, By Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

• KENNEDY AND CASTRO: THE SECRET QUEST FOR ACCOMMODATION Edited by Peter Kornbluh

• FRUS 1961-63, Vol. XI Cuba: Kennedy Admin. Volumes

• FRUS 1961-63, Vol. XI Cuba: 421-443 documents and memos

• HSCA: THE EVOLUTION AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE CIA SPONSOREDASSASSINATION CONSPIRACIES AGAINST FIDEL CASTRO

• President's Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States: Files - Narrative Summary

• Results of the Hearings on CIA misdeeds, 1973 Church Committee. NCOIC

[Greg Parker]

"Califano Papers." The documents deal with contingency plans to topple the Castro regime (and to invade Cuba) in the period 1961 - 64.

Bill. by coincidence, I recently posted about these papers. I think they are of great importance in understanding the prevailing mindset of key decision-makers, and how "problems" were attacked, always with a view toward public perception and/or public deception.

In this post however, I zoomed in on one line, as to me, it looks like an inadvertent admission that Hungary was no spontaneous uprising as always claimed (and in fact, I'd already destroyed that myth in my Operation Redskin piece)

http://reopenkennedycase.forumotion.net/ci...gencies-t23.htm

[William Kelly]

"Califano Papers." The documents deal with contingency plans to topple the Castro regime (and to invade Cuba) in the period 1961 - 64.

Bill. by coincidence, I recently posted about these papers. I think they are of great importance in understanding the prevailing mindset of key decision-makers, and how "problems" were attacked, always with a view toward public perception and/or public deception.

In this post however, I zoomed in on one line, as to me, it looks like an inadvertent admission that Hungary was no spontaneous uprising as always claimed (and in fact, I'd already destroyed that myth in my Operation Redskin piece)

http://reopenkennedycase.forumotion.net/ci...gencies-t23.htm

Hey Greg,

Sorry I missed that on your site and thanks for calling attention to it.

I think Debra's article is important in determining which Castro assassination plots are connected to Dealey Plaza, and which ones aren't.

And Yea, the Califano docs are really important too, and were included by ARRB with the JCS records.

He was right there in the room with them as Assist. to Sec Army when they planned the contingencies for coup in Cuba, but he was left out in the hall when Col. Higgins and Des Fitz gave their Valkyrie briefing to the Joint Chiefs.

And Califano is still alive, and working out of his non-profit foundation that is adjacent to but not affiliated with Columbia University in New York city.

It would be neat if John Simkin could convince him to check in and answer some questions.

As for the Hungary uprising, I'm pretty sure that was encouraged by CIA assets, and I think Frank Wisner promised them assistance if they revolted, but then renigged when the revolt was brutally crushed.

I would think that Hungary experience was on some people's minds when they riot in Iran.

As Dean Rusk was quoted as saying, "Starting a riot is easy, keeping the economy strong is what's hard," or something like that.

BK