Lyndon Johnson canceled Air Force plane for top brain surgeon for dying Robert Kennedy

[Guest Robert Morrow]

Lyndon Johnson canceled Air Force plane for top brain surgeon for dying RFK

[C. David Heymann, RFK: A Candid Biography Of Robert F. Kennedy, p. 505]

Ted Van Dyk: In the middle of the night I was shaken awake by David Gartner, a personal aide to the vice president. And Dave said, Humphrey says get up, Robert Kennedy's been shot. And I said, David, that's a sick joke. He said, No, no, Robert Kennedy's been shot.

So I got up and Humphrey was absolutely distraught, he was just absolutely beside himself with anxiety and concern. And we then received a telephone call from Steve Smith and Pierre Salinger in California. They said, There's a brain surgeon we trust in Boston. Could you arrange for a private plane to fly him to Los Angeles? Because Robert Kennedy's still alive and there's a possibility of saving him.

Humphrey called up the commanding general of the air force, who happened to be there at the academy. And Humphrey said, Will you please dispatch this plane? The general said, "I surely will."

Ten minutes later we received a call from an aide in the White House: President Johnson had canceled the plane because Humphrey had no authority to send it. The fact was, Johnson preferred Robert Kennedy dead.

It was one of the most heinous acts I've ever experienced in my life, and it all but broke Humphrey's heart. [C. David Heymann, RFK: A Candid Biography Of Robert F. Kennedy, p. 505]

--Ted Van Dyk, Aide to then Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey

Bio: Ted Van Dyk has been active in national policy and politics for more than 30 years. He began active military duty in 1957 as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst. His subsequent jobs have included Soviet specialist and intelligence analyst at the Pentagon; senior assistant to Vice President Hubert Humphrey and coordinator of foreign assistance programs in the Carter Administration, to name just a few. He also served as a senior political and policy advisor to seven Democratic presidential candidates. Since early 2001, he has been an editorial-page columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and has continued writing periodically for national publications.

http://www.washington.edu/alumni/clubs/communication/newsletter/200609/halloffame.html

AND IN A RELATED NOTE:

LYNDON JOHNSON HAD A MURDEROUS ATTITUDE TOWARDS ROBERT KENNEDY -

"I'll cut his throat if it's the last thing I do."

Robert Caro describes the LBJ-RFK relationship post 1960 Democratic convention, where RFK had moved heaven and earth attempting to keep LBJ off the 1960 Democratic ticket. Caro:

John Connally, who during long days of conversation with this author was willing to answer almost any question put to him, no matter how delicate the topic, wouldn't answer when asked what Johnson said about Robert Kennedy. When the author pressed him, he finally said flatly: "I am not going to tell you what he said about him." During the months after the convention, when Johnson was closeted alone back in Texas with an old ally he would sometimes be asked about Robert Kennedy. He would reply with a gesture. Raising his big right hand, he would draw the side of it across the neck in a slowing, slitting movement. Sometimes that gesture would be his only reply; sometimes, as during a meeting with Ed Clark in Austin, he would say, as his hand moved across his neck, "I'll cut his throat if it's the last thing I do." [Robert Caro, "The Passage of Power," p. 140]

LBJ slitting his finger across his throat at the mention of Robert Kennedy, spring 1968:

“And friendliness, though, was quickly fleeting. Eugene McCarthy soon paid a courtesy call to the Oval Office, and when McCarthy mentioned Kennedy, the president said nothing.; instead he drew a finger across his throat, silently, in a slitting motion. Later that week, Johnson exploded at press reports of the April 3 meeting with Kennedy and Sorensen, whom, he now charged, had leaked the story to score political points.”

[Jeff Shesol, Mutual Contempt, p. 444]

Edited June 9, 2014 by Robert Morrow

[Pat Speer]

Although Heymann is a serial fibber, there may be some truth to this one. No less than Ramsey Clark has admitted that Johnson's buddy Hoover deliberately timed the release of info about James Earl Ray's arrest to interfere with TV coverage of RFK's funeral. If you've ever taken a peak at the FBI file of Robert Kennedy, moreover, you'll find that Hoover sent agents to a gathering in RFK's honor, not to honor Kennedy, but to report on who was there and whether they were crying, etc. In other words, he wanted to know who was loyal to Kennedy, and thus, who he should consider an "enemy." Johnson was of the same mind-set. It is still little-appreciated in academic circles, but Johnson was completely obsessed with the thought RFK was gonna get him, and find some way to blame him for the JFK assassination. Johnson made at least three phone calls to Fortas in which he claimed Bobby was behind Mark Lane, etc, and that they were all out to get him.

[Ken Davies]

Paranoia, guilt or both?

[Guest Robert Morrow]

Paranoia, guilt or both?

FEAR - that Robert Kennedy, if elected president, was going to re-open the Kennedy investigation and hang Lyndon Johnson once and for all. Notice how Humphrey, RFK's main opponent in the Demo primary, is trying to save RFK and Lyndon Johnson is trying to kill him.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Robert Morrow

[David Lifton]

Although Heymann is a serial fibber, there may be some truth to this one. No less than Ramsey Clark has admitted that Johnson's buddy Hoover deliberately timed the release of info about James Earl Ray's arrest to interfere with TV coverage of RFK's funeral. If you've ever taken a peak at the FBI file of Robert Kennedy, moreover, you'll find that Hoover sent agents to a gathering in RFK's honor, not to honor Kennedy, but to report on who was there and whether they were crying, etc. In other words, he wanted to know who was loyal to Kennedy, and thus, who he should consider an "enemy." Johnson was of the same mind-set. It is still little-appreciated in academic circles, but Johnson was completely obsessed with the thought RFK was gonna get him, and find some way to blame him for the JFK assassination. Johnson made at least three phone calls to Fortas in which he claimed Bobby was behind Mark Lane, etc, and that they were all out to get him.

Pat,

Where is the "RFK file" with this sort of information? Is it posted somewhere, or is this information you received privately via FOIA?

DSL