Clifton C. Carter

[John Simkin]

According to R. Harris Smith, Clifton C. Carter served with the OSS in Italy. His second-in-command was Major J. H. Angleton, the father of Jesus Angleton. Smith points out that he was the brother of Marshall Carter, who was later to become Deputy Director of the CIA (1962-65) and Director of the National Security Agency (1965-69).

Is this the same Clifton C. Carter that worked as an aide to Lyndon B. Johnson?

[Tim Gratz]

Well that is an interesting connection if it is the same man.

[John Simkin]

Well that is an interesting connection if it is the same man.

It seems Namebase believes they are two different men.

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb01?_CART...28LBJ%20AIDE%29

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb01?_CARTER_CLIFTON_C

However, Danial Brandt at Namebase seems be aware that the two men both shared C. as a middle name. LBJ's aide middle name was Crawford. I have been unable to discover the middle name of OSS Clifton Carter. Nor does he appear anywhere on the web except for on Namebase.

[John Simkin]

It seems that Vince Palamara believes the two men are the same person:

http://www.acorn.net/jfkplace/03/VP/0006-VP.html

Clifton C. Carter and Dead Agents: From "Computers and People" magazine, March 1975 written by Grace Vale [inc. footnoted citations in brackets] "Clifton C. Carter: Intelligence Agent In September, 1963, the late Clifton C. Carter, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson's chief adviser, set up an office in Austin, Texas [Manchester, p. 13]. Carter, a former intelligence agent*, commanded OSS operations in Italy during World War II** [R. Harris Smith, "OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency," (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), p. 98]. His brother was General Marshall S. Carter, Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1963, and later head of the National Security Agency, which engages in communications intelligence [ibid., and p. 98n].

On November 22 [1963], Clifton Carter was manning communications in the car following Johnson's. Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell, the brother*** of General Charles P. Cabell[David Wise and Thomas B. Ross, "The Invisible Government" (New York: Bantam Books, Inc.,1964), p. 107], General Carter's predecessor as Deputy Director of the CIA, was in the motorcade in a car directly behind Clifton Carter's. After the assassination, Clifton C. Carter remained close to Johnson, staying overnight at his house for the next few days, and continued to meet with him every day in the White House during the first part of his Presidency, although Carter never actually worked in the White House [Michael Amrine, "This Awesome Challenge: The Hundred Days of Lyndon Johnson," (New York: Popular Library, 1964), pp. 25 & 70].

General Marshall S. Carter, His Brother When General Charles Cabell left the CIA after the Bay of Pigs, Nelson Rockefeller was advising the new CIA Director, John McCone, who owned a million dollars worth of stock in Standard Oil in California [James Hepburn, "Farewell America", p. 321]. Governor Rockefeller recommended General Marshall S. Carter as the new Deputy Director of the Agency, according to Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr., former Executive Director of the CIA [Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr., "The Real CIA," (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968), pp. 236-237]." ---- My footnoted comments: *as was Secret Service advance agent Winston G. Lawson, a former CIC agent in the Army stationed at Fort Holabird, MD [4 H 318], during roughly the same time period as Richard Case Nagell (fellow agent Louis B. Sims also served here at the same time [RIF#180-10093-10022]).

In addition, a Lt. Col. George Whitmeyer, who taught Army Intelligence, rode in the pilot car with Jack Puterbaugh, DNC advance man from the Agriculture Department [billy Sol Estes, Henry Marshall, Orville Freeman...Mac Wallace], although Whitmeyer was not scheduled to ride in the car in the first place[RIF#180-10074-10396]! **along with James Jesus Angleton, Ray Rocca (later, CIA liaison to the Warren Commission), and Paul J. Paterni (Deputy Chief of the Secret Service who inspected the limousine on the night of 11/22/63, as well as investigated LHO's income tax check, among other things [see KAC journal Spring 1998 issue---article by author entitled "The Secret Service: In Their Own Words"] ***other interesting connections/ relationships: Gaspard D'Andelot Belin, the General Counsel and the Acting Secretary of the Treasury [C. Douglas Dillon was on a crowded Cabinet plane on 11/22/63], was married to Harriet Lowell Bundy, a member of the William and McGeorge Bundy family [see KAC article mentioned above]. A Secret Service Inspector who would go on to debrief agents after 11/22/63 (and rise to Chief Inspector), N. Jackson Krill, was also a former member of the OSS [ibid]. Lt. Col. George J. McNally, Chief of the Army Signal Corps on 11/22/63 in Texas, was also a former Secret Service agent (1935-1942)[ibid]! Chief James J. Rowley was a former agent of the FBI before joining the Secret Service (he was also a very good friend of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover) [5 H 450]. --- DEAD AGENTS TELL NO TALES: The first agent to die after Dallas: ATSAIC/ Shift Leader Stewart G. "Stu" Stout, Jr., stationed at the Trade Mart on 11/22/63. Died of a sudden heart attack IN THE WHITE HOUSE in either late 1963 or early 1964 [further correspondence with former agent Rex W. Scouten and interviews with Floyd M. Boring and Samuel A. Kinney. Interestingly, both Boring and agent Donald J. Lawton seemed oblivious to the documented fact that Stout WAS in Dallas! Only Scouten would give me the cause of death---the others would NOT]---Stout quit the agency very soon after the assassination and became a White House Usher with Rex Scouten, the current White House Curator who also served with Stout during the Truman years (Stout was also in a building---Blair House---during another November day when shots were fired at a president). The second agent to die after Dallas: Fellow ATSAIC/ Shift Leader Emory P. Roberts, the commander of the Secret Service follow-up car on 11/22/63. Soon after the assassination, according to interviews with Kinney, Emory became the Off-Records Secretary to President Johnson while still a member of the Secret Service[apparently no relation to Mrs. Juanita Roberts, Johnson's Chief Private Secretary]. He died in the late 1960's, the same time an unnamed agent took his life "in the late sixties, in Washington, with his own weopon. There were signs that he was beginning to buckle," according to agent Chuck Rochner ["George Rush, "Confessions of an Ex-Secret Service Agent" (New York: Pocket Books, 1988), pp. 216-217]!

What did these men have in common? They were one of only three total Shift Leaders of the White House Detail; They were both on the Texas trip; They spoke to NOONE in officialdom (only Roberts spoke to anyone at all: William Manchester, author of "THe Death of a President"); They died mysteriously and suddenly, and at a relatively young age (late 40's to early 50's).

Vince Palamara

[John Simkin]

Larry Hancock has emailed me to say that the two Clifton C. Carters are different men.

Anyway, here is what I have on Carter.

Clifton Crawford Carter was born in Bryan, Texas, in 1918. During the Second World War Carter served under Captain Edward Clark (according to Barr McClellan, Clark was involved in the JFK assassination).

After the war Carter worked for Lyndon B. Johnson. According to the historian, Alfred Steinberg (Sam Johnson's Boy), Carter was used to smear political rivals such as Ralph Yarborough.

In 1948 Carter ran LBJ's campaign to win a seat in the Senate. His main opponent in the Democratic primary (Texas was virtually a one party state and the most important elections were those that decided who would be the Democratic Party candidate) was Coke Stevenson. Johnson was criticized by Stevenson for supporting the Taft-Hartley Act. The American Federation of Labor was also angry with Johnson for supporting this legislation and at its June convention the AFL broke a 54 year tradition of neutrality and endorsed Stevenson.

LBJ asked Tommy Corcoran to work behind the scenes at convincing union leaders that he was more pro-labor than Stevenson. This he did and on 11th August, 1948, Corcoran told Harold Ickes that he had "a terrible time straightening out labor" in the Johnson campaign but he believed he had sorted the problem out.

On 2nd September, unofficial results had Stevenson winning by 362 votes. However, by the time the results became official, Johnson was declared the winner by 17 votes. Stevenson immediately claimed that he was a victim of election fraud. On 24th September, Judge T. Whitfield Davidson, invalidated the results of the election and set a trial date.

A meeting was held that was attended by Tommy Corcoran, Francis Biddle, Abe Fortas, Joe Rauh, Jim Rowe and Ben Cohen. It was decided to take the case directly to the Supreme Court. A motion was drafted and sent to Justice Hugo Black. On 28th September, Justice Black issued an order that put Johnson's name back on the ballot. Later, it was claimed by Rauh that Black made the decision following a meeting with Corcoran.

On 2nd November, 1948, Johnson easily defeated Jack Porter, his Republican Party candidate. Coke Stevenson now appealed to the subcommittee on elections and privileges of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. Corcoran enjoyed a good relationship with Senator Styles Bridges of New Hampshire. He was able to work behind the scenes to make sure that the ruling did not go against Johnson. Corcoran later told Johnson that he would have to repay Bridges for what he had done for him regarding the election.

In January, 1957, Carter became head of Johnson's statewide political organization. According to Ralph Yarborough, Carter was Johnson's bagman: "He (Carter) was a very sharp operator, Lyndon could trust him to pick up the money and keep his mouth shut."

Carter played an important role in collecting money from Washington lobbyists for Johnson's election campaigns. He also dealt with members of the Suite 8F Group such as George Brown and Herman Brown (Brown & Root), Jesse H. Jones (Reconstruction Finance Corporation), Gus Wortham (American General Insurance Company) and James Abercrombie (Cameron Iron Works).

In his book Lyndon Johnson: Master of the Senate, Robert A. Caro claims that cash was collected by Carter, Bobby Baker, Edward A. Clark or Walter Jenkins in Texas and then brought to Johnson in Washington. Caro quotes Clark as saying that Johnson always wanted contributions given outside the office.

In 1960 Henry Marshall was asked by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to investigate the activities of Billie Sol Estes. Marshall discovered that over a two year period, Estes had purchased 3,200 acres of cotton allotments from 116 different farmers. Marshall wrote to his superiors in Washington on 31st August, 1960, that: "The regulations should be strengthened to support our disapproval of every case (of allotment transfers)".

When he heard the news, Billie Sol Estes sent his lawyer, John P. Dennison, to meet Marshall in Robertson County. At the meeting on 17th January, 1961, Marshall told Dennison that Estes was clearly involved in a "scheme or device to buy allotments, and will not be approved, and prosecution will follow if this operation is ever used."

Marshall was disturbed that as a result of sending a report of his meeting to Washington, he was offered a new post at headquarters. He assumed that Bille Sol Estes had friends in high places and that they wanted him removed from the field office in Robertson County. Marshall refused what he considered to be a bribe.

According to Billie Sol Estes he had a meeting with Carter and Lyndon B. Johnson about Henry Marshall. Johnson suggested that Marshall be promoted out of Texas. Estes agreed and replied: "Let's transfer him, let's get him out of here. Get him a better job, make him an assistant secretary of agriculture." However, Marshall rejected the idea of being promoted in order to keep him quiet.

Estes, Johnson and Carter had another meeting on 17th January, 1961, to discuss what to do about Henry Marshall. Also at the meeting was Mac Wallace. After it was pointed out that Marshall had refused promotion to Washington, Johnson said: "It looks like we'll just have to get rid of him." Wallace, who Estes described as a hitman, was given the assignment.

On 3rd June, 1961, Marshall was found dead on his farm by the side of his Chevy Fleetside pickup truck. His rifle lay beside him. He had been shot five times with his own rifle. Soon after County Sheriff Howard Stegall arrived, he decreed that Marshall had committed suicide. No pictures were taken of the crime scene, no blood samples were taken of the stains on the truck (the truck was washed and waxed the following day), no check for fingerprints were made on the rifle or pickup.

Billie Sol Estes later told the grand jury that he met Carter and Mac Wallace at his home in Pecos after Henry Marshall was killed. Wallace described how he waited for Marshall at his farm. He planned to kill him and make it appear as if Marshall committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. However, Marshall fought back and he was forced to shoot him with his own rifle. He quoted Carter as saying that Wallace "sure did botch it up." Johnson was now forced to use his influence to get the authorities in Texas to cover-up the murder.

Marshall's wife (Sybil Marshall) and brother (Robert Marshall) refused to believe he had committed suicide and posted a $2,000 reward for information leading to a murder conviction. The undertaker, Manley Jones, also reported: "To me it looked like murder. I just do not believe a man could shoot himself like that." The undertaker's son, Raymond Jones, later told the journalist, Bill Adler in 1986: "Daddy said he told Judge Farmer there was no way Mr. Marshall could have killed himself. Daddy had seen suicides before. JPs depend on us and our judgments about such things. we see a lot more deaths than they do. But in this case, Daddy said, Judge Farmer told him he was going to put suicide on the death certificate because the sheriff told him to." As a result, Lee Farmer returned a suicide verdict: "death by gunshot, self-inflicted."

Sybil Marshall hired an attorney, W. S. Barron, in order to persuade the Robertson County authorities to change the ruling on Marshall's cause of death. One man who did believe that Marshall had been murdered was Texas Ranger Clint Peoples. He had reported to Colonel Homer Garrison, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, that it "would have been utterly impossible for Mr. Marshall to have taken his own life."

Peoples also interviewed Nolan Griffin, a gas station attendant in Robertson County. Griffin claimed that on the day of Marshall's death, he had been asked by a stranger for directions to Marshall's farm. A Texas Ranger artist, Thadd Johnson, drew a facial sketch based on a description given by Griffin. Peoples eventually came to the conclusion that this man was Mac Wallace, the convicted murderer of John Kinser.

In the spring of 1962, Billie Sol Estes was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on fraud and conspiracy charges. Soon afterwards it was disclosed by the Secretary of Agriculture, Orville L. Freeman, that Henry Marshall had been a key figure in the investigation into the illegal activities of Billie Sol Estes. As a result, the Robertson County grand jury ordered that the body of Marshall should be exhumed and an autopsy performed. After eight hours of examination, Dr. Joseph A. Jachimczyk confirmed that Marshall had not committed suicide. Jachimczyk also discovered a 15 percent carbon monoxide concentration in Marshall's body. Jachimczyk calculated that it could have been as high as 30 percent at the time of death.

On 4th April, 1962, George Krutilek, Estes chief accountant, was found dead. Despite a severe bruise on Krutilek's head, the coroner decided that he had also committed suicide. The next day, Estes, and three business associates, were indicted by a federal grand jury on 57 counts of fraud. Two of these men, Harold Orr and Coleman Wade, died before the case came to court. At the time it was said they committed suicide but later Estes was to claim that both men were murdered by Mac Wallace in order to protect the political career of Lyndon B. Johnson.

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations also began to look into the case of Billie Sol Estes. Leonard C. Williams, a former assistant to Henry Marshall, testified about the evidence the department acquired against Estes. Orville L. Freeman also admitted that Marshall was a man "who left this world under questioned circumstances." On 27th July one witness testified that Lyndon B. Johnson was getting a rake-off from the federal agricultural subsidies that Estes had been obtaining.

It was eventually discovered that three officials of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration in Washington had received bribes from Billie Sol Estes. Red Jacobs, Jim Ralph and Bill Morris were eventually removed from their jobs. However, further disclosures suggested that the Secretary of Agriculture, might be involved in the scam. In September, 1961, Billie Sol Estes had been fined $42,000 for illegal cotton allotments. Two months later, Freeman appointed Estes to the National Cotton Advisory Board.

It was also revealed that Billie Sol Estes told Wilson C. Tucker, deputy director of the Agriculture Department's cotton division, on 1st August, 1961, that he threatened to "embarrass the Kennedy administration if the investigation were not halted". Tucker went onto testify: "Estes stated that this pooled cotton allotment matter had caused the death of one person and then asked me if I knew Henry Marshall". As Tucker pointed out, this was six months before questions about Marshall's death had been raised publicly.

However, the cover-up continued. Tommy G. McWilliams, the FBI agent in charge of the Henry Marshall investigation, came to the conclusion that Marshall had indeed committed suicide. He wrote: "My theory was that he shot himself and then realized he wasn't dead." He then claimed that he then tried to kill himself by inhaling carbon monoxide from the exhaust pipe of his truck. McWilliams claimed that Marshall had used his shirt to make a hood over the exhaust pipe. Even J. Edgar Hoover was not impressed with this theory. He wrote on 21st May, 1962: "I just can't understand how one can fire five shots at himself."

Joseph A. Jachimczyk also disagreed with the FBI report. He believed that the bruise on Marshall's forehead had been caused by a "severe blow to the head". Jachimczyk also rejected the idea that Marshall had used his shirt as a hood. He pointed out that "if this were done, soot must have necessarily been found on the shirt; no such was found."

The Robertson County grand jury continued to investigate the death of Henry Marshall. However, some observers were disturbed by the news that grand jury member, Pryse Metcalfe, was dominating proceedings. Metcalfe was County Sheriff Howard Stegall's son-in-law.

On 1st June, 1962, the Dallas News reported that President John F. Kennedy had "taken a personal interest in the mysterious death of Henry Marshall." As a result, the story said, Robert Kennedy "has ordered the FBI to step up its investigation of the case."

In June, 1962, Billie Sol Estes, appeared before the grand jury. He was accompanied by John Cofer, a lawyer who represented Lyndon B. Johnson when he was accused of ballot-rigging when elected to the Senate in 1948 and Mac Wallace when he was charged with the murder of John Kinser. Billie Sol Estes spent almost two hours before the grand jury, but he invoked the Texas version of the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer most questions on grounds that he might incriminate himself.

Tommy G. McWilliams of the FBI also appeared before the grand jury and put forward the theory that Henry Wallace had committed suicide. Dr. Joseph A. Jachimczyk also testified that "if in fact this is a suicide, it is the most unusual one I have seen during the examination of approximately 15,000 deceased persons."

McWilliams did admit that it was "hard to kill yourself with a bolt-action 22". This view was shared by John McClellan, a member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He posed for photographs with a .22 caliber rifle similar to Marshall's. McClellan pointed out: "It doesn't take many deductions to come to the irrevocable conclusion that no man committed suicide by placing the rifle in that awkward position and then (cocking) it four times more."

Despite the evidence presented by Jachimczyk, the grand jury agreed with McWilliams. It ruled that after considering all the known evidence, the jury considers it "inconclusive to substantiate a definite decision at this time, or to overrule any decision heretofore made." Later, it was disclosed that some jury members believed that Marshall had been murdered. Ralph McKinney blamed Pryse Metcalfe for this decision. "Pryse was as strong in the support of the suicide verdict as anyone I have ever seen in my life, and I think he used every influence he possibly could against the members of the grand jury to be sure it came out with a suicide verdict."

Billie Sol Estes trial began in October 1962. John Cofer, who was also Lyndon Johnson's lawyer, refused to put Estes on the witness stand. Estes was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to eight years in prison. Federal proceedings against Estes began in March 1963. He was eventually charged with fraud regarding mortgages of more that $24 million. Estes was found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

In 1964 J. Evetts Haley published A Texan Looks at Lyndon. In the book Haley attempted to expose Johnson's corrupt political activities. This included a detailed look at the relationship between Estes and Johnson. Haley pointed out that three men who could have provided evidence in court against Estes, George Krutilek, Harold Orr and Howard Pratt, all died of carbon monoxide poisoning from car engines.

The case was taken up by the journalist Joachim Joesten. In his books, The Dark Side of Lyndon Baines Johnson (1968) and How Kennedy was Killed: The Full Appalling Story (1968), Joesten argues that Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy and was as a direct result of the scandals involving Billie Sol Estes and Bobby Baker.

After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Carter became Johnson's chief fundraiser. He was officially executive director of the Democratic National Committee. Johnson sold $1,000 memberships to the Johnson Club with the pitch: "Members are assured of a direct relationship with President Johnson".

In 1966 Carter was forced to resign as executive director of the Democratic National Committee after questions were raised about his fundraising techniques.

Clifton Carter died on 22nd September, 1971. Carter was only 53 years old. Mac Wallace also died in 1971 (a car accident). Why 1971. Well, Billie Sol Estes was released from prison in 1971. He had told friends that when he was released he would tell the full story. This did not happen as he was sent back to prison for income tax evasion. He did tell the full story in 1984 but by that time there was no one left alive to back up his story.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKcarter.htm

[Mark Stapleton]

It seems that Vince Palamara believes the two men are the same person:

http://www.acorn.net/jfkplace/03/VP/0006-VP.html

Clifton C. Carter and Dead Agents: From "Computers and People" magazine, March 1975 written by Grace Vale [inc. footnoted citations in brackets] "Clifton C. Carter: Intelligence Agent In September, 1963, the late Clifton C. Carter, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson's chief adviser, set up an office in Austin, Texas [Manchester, p. 13]. Carter, a former intelligence agent*, commanded OSS operations in Italy during World War II** [R. Harris Smith, "OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency," (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), p. 98]. His brother was General Marshall S. Carter, Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1963, and later head of the National Security Agency, which engages in communications intelligence [ibid., and p. 98n].

On November 22 [1963], Clifton Carter was manning communications in the car following Johnson's. Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell, the brother*** of General Charles P. Cabell[David Wise and Thomas B. Ross, "The Invisible Government" (New York: Bantam Books, Inc.,1964), p. 107], General Carter's predecessor as Deputy Director of the CIA, was in the motorcade in a car directly behind Clifton Carter's. After the assassination, Clifton C. Carter remained close to Johnson, staying overnight at his house for the next few days, and continued to meet with him every day in the White House during the first part of his Presidency, although Carter never actually worked in the White House [Michael Amrine, "This Awesome Challenge: The Hundred Days of Lyndon Johnson," (New York: Popular Library, 1964), pp. 25 & 70].

General Marshall S. Carter, His Brother When General Charles Cabell left the CIA after the Bay of Pigs, Nelson Rockefeller was advising the new CIA Director, John McCone, who owned a million dollars worth of stock in Standard Oil in California [James Hepburn, "Farewell America", p. 321]. Governor Rockefeller recommended General Marshall S. Carter as the new Deputy Director of the Agency, according to Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr., former Executive Director of the CIA [Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr., "The Real CIA," (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1968), pp. 236-237]." ---- My footnoted comments: *as was Secret Service advance agent Winston G. Lawson, a former CIC agent in the Army stationed at Fort Holabird, MD [4 H 318], during roughly the same time period as Richard Case Nagell (fellow agent Louis B. Sims also served here at the same time [RIF#180-10093-10022]).

In addition, a Lt. Col. George Whitmeyer, who taught Army Intelligence, rode in the pilot car with Jack Puterbaugh, DNC advance man from the Agriculture Department [billy Sol Estes, Henry Marshall, Orville Freeman...Mac Wallace], although Whitmeyer was not scheduled to ride in the car in the first place[RIF#180-10074-10396]! **along with James Jesus Angleton, Ray Rocca (later, CIA liaison to the Warren Commission), and Paul J. Paterni (Deputy Chief of the Secret Service who inspected the limousine on the night of 11/22/63, as well as investigated LHO's income tax check, among other things [see KAC journal Spring 1998 issue---article by author entitled "The Secret Service: In Their Own Words"] ***other interesting connections/ relationships: Gaspard D'Andelot Belin, the General Counsel and the Acting Secretary of the Treasury [C. Douglas Dillon was on a crowded Cabinet plane on 11/22/63], was married to Harriet Lowell Bundy, a member of the William and McGeorge Bundy family [see KAC article mentioned above]. A Secret Service Inspector who would go on to debrief agents after 11/22/63 (and rise to Chief Inspector), N. Jackson Krill, was also a former member of the OSS [ibid]. Lt. Col. George J. McNally, Chief of the Army Signal Corps on 11/22/63 in Texas, was also a former Secret Service agent (1935-1942)[ibid]! Chief James J. Rowley was a former agent of the FBI before joining the Secret Service (he was also a very good friend of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover) [5 H 450]. --- DEAD AGENTS TELL NO TALES: The first agent to die after Dallas: ATSAIC/ Shift Leader Stewart G. "Stu" Stout, Jr., stationed at the Trade Mart on 11/22/63. Died of a sudden heart attack IN THE WHITE HOUSE in either late 1963 or early 1964 [further correspondence with former agent Rex W. Scouten and interviews with Floyd M. Boring and Samuel A. Kinney. Interestingly, both Boring and agent Donald J. Lawton seemed oblivious to the documented fact that Stout WAS in Dallas! Only Scouten would give me the cause of death---the others would NOT]---Stout quit the agency very soon after the assassination and became a White House Usher with Rex Scouten, the current White House Curator who also served with Stout during the Truman years (Stout was also in a building---Blair House---during another November day when shots were fired at a president). The second agent to die after Dallas: Fellow ATSAIC/ Shift Leader Emory P. Roberts, the commander of the Secret Service follow-up car on 11/22/63. Soon after the assassination, according to interviews with Kinney, Emory became the Off-Records Secretary to President Johnson while still a member of the Secret Service[apparently no relation to Mrs. Juanita Roberts, Johnson's Chief Private Secretary]. He died in the late 1960's, the same time an unnamed agent took his life "in the late sixties, in Washington, with his own weopon. There were signs that he was beginning to buckle," according to agent Chuck Rochner ["George Rush, "Confessions of an Ex-Secret Service Agent" (New York: Pocket Books, 1988), pp. 216-217]!

What did these men have in common? They were one of only three total Shift Leaders of the White House Detail; They were both on the Texas trip; They spoke to NOONE in officialdom (only Roberts spoke to anyone at all: William Manchester, author of "THe Death of a President"); They died mysteriously and suddenly, and at a relatively young age (late 40's to early 50's).

Vince Palamara

Did I read that right? Angleton was in the pilot car? Anyway, I'll go out on a limb and suggest that Carter was manning communications in the car behind LBJ's in order to keep LBJ apprised of developments.....and we know what kind of developments, don't we? Wasn't LBJ seen talking into a communications device?

Palamara's work on the motorcade/SS, despite the apparent conspiracy of fear and silence is really important stuff, IMO. Agents like Floyd Boring and Emory Roberts hardly rate a blip on the research radar, although their actions were extremely suspicious, IMO. Roberts, while working with LBJ as "records secretary", dies suddenly in the late 60's--no other details about this can be found. What the hell is going on here?

Also, agent Stu Stout was out of the loop, waiting at the Trade Mart, and according to Palamara, most upset about what happened. Then he dies suddenly in late '63 or early '64. So, how? Under what circumstances? Is that all we get?

Whitmeyer's unsheduled appearance in the pilot car has also never been explained.

Just because they're called the Secret Service doesn't mean every detail of their actions and seemingly mysterious deaths should be kept a secret.

This is material which is much more promising than endless arguments over whether the Z film was faked or the activities of amorphous anti-Castro groups. Am I the only one who believes this?

[Thomas Graves]

This is material which is much more promising than endless arguments over whether the Z film was faked or the activities of amorphous anti-Castro groups. Am I the only one who believes this?

____________________________________________

Mark,

FWIW, I agree with you.

--Thomas

____________________________________________

[James Richards]

A couple of trivia items regarding Carter.

In WW2, he was awarded with the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre.

Carter's brother Johnny, was an official in the Postmaster General's Office in Washington.

Carter named one of his sons Lyndon.

Carter and LBJ below.

James

[John Simkin]

In WW2, he was awarded with the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre.

Have you anymore details on this? Where did you get this information?

[James Richards]

In WW2, he was awarded with the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre.

Have you anymore details on this? Where did you get this information?

[Mark Stapleton]

This is material which is much more promising than endless arguments over whether the Z film was faked or the activities of amorphous anti-Castro groups. Am I the only one who believes this?

____________________________________________

Mark,

FWIW, I agree with you.

--Thomas

____________________________________________

Thomas,

Thanks. At least I'm not the only one who thinks this way. I think the research community spends too much energy flogging horses that are well and truly dead and insufficient time pursuing aspects of the case which, in my opinion, have much greater promise. Of course, I'm working on the assumption that the research community wants to discover who was actually responsible for the assassination.

Edited January 31, 2006 by Mark Stapleton

[Tim Gratz]

Mark Stapleton wrote:

Did I read that right? Angleton was in the pilot car?

Mark, you read it correctly but as I suspect you suspect it's garbage.

Who was in the motorcade is fairly simple research:

The lead car.--Described as a "rolling command car," this was an unmarked Dallas police car, driven by Chief of Police Curry and occupied by Secret Service Agents Sorrels and Lawson and by Dallas County Sheriff J. E. Decker. The occupants scanned the crowd and the buildings along the route. Their main function was to spot trouble in advance and to direct any necessary steps to meet the trouble. Following normal practice, the lead automobile stayed proximately four to five car lengths ahead of the President's limousine

This is from the Warren Commission Report. It is true that Carter was in a car, with three SS agents (including the driver), immediately behind the VP "limousine".

Rather disturbing that Palarma got this fundamental stuff wrong.

[John Simkin]

If Billie Sol Estes is telling the truth, it needs to be shown that Clifton Carter knew Mac Wallace. Evidence of this appears in Bill Adler's article in The Texas Observer (7th November, 1986)

Three months after Mac Wallace walked out of the Travis County Courthouse. he went to work for Temco, Inc., in its electronics and missiles plant in Garland. Except for a short spell, he remained with the company until February of 1961. It was in January of that year, claims Billie Sol Estes, that Wallace, Billie Sol, Cliff Carter and Lyndon Johnson met at Johnson's house in Washington to discuss killing Henry Marshall. Little is known about Wallace's whereabouts that month, other than at some point he was arrested in Dallas for public drunkenness; it cannot be confirmed that Wallace was in Washington around the time of the inauguration - when the meeting supposedly took place.

But Wallace knew Cliff Carter. The two were in Washington together the previous summer, when Johnson was making a run for the 1960 presidential nomination. Wallace was seen at least three times at campaign functions, always accompanied by Cliff Carter, according to Lucianne Goldberg, who worked in the campaign press office. Goldberg recalled that Carter introduced her to Wallace in a hospitality suite at the Mayflower Hotel. "I just knew him and remember him because that was sort of what we were all about remembering everybody you meet, because you never knew where they were going to end up," said Goldberg, who was 23 and known as Lucy Cummings back then. "We were all on the make, as young people around politicians are."

Goldberg, now a literary agent in New York, told the Observer she noticed Wallace "a couple of times" at Johnson campaign headquarters at the Ambassador Hotel. "I'd be sitting at my desk and there'd be a lot of people milling around and I'd see him with his thumbs hooked into his belt the way those (Texas) guys do. " Goldberg could not recall any conversation she had with Wallace, "other than, 'wanna go have a drink,' that kind of thing, which I never did."

[Joseph Backes]

On 1/31/2006 at 12:58 PM, Mark Stapleton said:

Did I read that right? Angleton was in the pilot car? Anyway, I'll go out on a limb and suggest that Carter was manning communications in the car behind LBJ's in order to keep LBJ apprised of developments.....and we know what kind of developments, don't we? Wasn't LBJ seen talking into a communications device?

Palamara's work on the motorcade/SS, despite the apparent conspiracy of fear and silence is really important stuff, IMO. Agents like Floyd Boring and Emory Roberts hardly rate a blip on the research radar, although their actions were extremely suspicious, IMO. Roberts, while working with LBJ as "records secretary", dies suddenly in the late 60's--no other details about this can be found. What the hell is going on here?

Also, agent Stu Stout was out of the loop, waiting at the Trade Mart, and according to Palamara, most upset about what happened. Then he dies suddenly in late '63 or early '64. So, how? Under what circumstances? Is that all we get?

Whitmeyer's unsheduled appearance in the pilot car has also never been explained.

Just because they're called the Secret Service doesn't mean every detail of their actions and seemingly mysterious deaths should be kept a secret.

This is material which is much more promising than endless arguments over whether the Z film was faked or the activities of amorphous anti-Castro groups. Am I the only one who believes this?

No, you did not read that right. It's not your fault as Vincent Palamara is a terrible writer.  I like Vince. I do. He is a great asset and a great researcher.  He just cannot write.  

He cannot write a sentence to save his life. He’s always interrupting himself before he finishes a sentence to add new information that often has nothing to do with the idea that he started the sentence with.  It’s maddening.  He cannot limit himself to one idea per sentence and then stopping that sentence with a period.  No, no, no, he has to shove brackets, parenthesis, footnotes, endnotes and the kitchen sink in.  He cannot stop and then start a new sentence.  If the story is Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a bail of water Vince would give you Jack’s complete life story, personal and professional background, names of teachers he had, where they lived, where they got an education, where Jack grew up, who lived next to Jack, how they’re related to various mob, and political figures, and insert hundreds of brackets and parentheses as he tells those stories only to interrupt himself a few hundred times as something will spark a memory of many other things none of which have anything to do with Jack before he goes back to the original story he wanted to tell, if he ever does, picking it up if we're very lucky with the “and Jill,” part.  

Somewhere Sam Kinison screams, “UGH! UGH! UGHHHHH!!!!”  

Palamara wants to talk about how several key figures in the JFK assassination have Army Intelligence backgrounds.  But, he makes a word salad instead. 

"General Marshall S. Carter, His Brother When General Charles Cabell left the CIA after the Bay of Pigs, Nelson Rockefeller was advising the new CIA Director, John McCone, who owned a million dollars worth of stock in Standard Oil in California [James Hepburn, "Farewell America", p. 321]."  

Now I defy you to figure out what the hell Vince is trying to say here.  Clifton Coleman Carter ( not the LBJ's aide ) had a brother, General Marshall S Carter.  What does this sibling relationship between these two men have to do with Nelson Rockefeller advising CIA director John McCone? Nothing. Yet, Vince makes a link.  Why? Because without explicitly saying so Vince wants to say there was a conflict of interest.  So, in a rare moment of clarity Vince writes that Rockefeller recommended McCone hire General Marshall S Carter as CIA Deputy Director, which McCone did.  

Then Vince writes "My footnoted comments: *as was Secret Service advance agent Winston G. Lawson, a former CIC agent in the Army stationed at Fort Holabird, MD [4 H 318]

Huh? What do you mean Vince? That Lawson was advising McCone? Vince does not explain what a CIC agent even is.  And before Vince can explain what he means he’s off telling you that Winston Lawson worked in the Army at Fort Holabird.  And before he can finish and support that idea he has to tell you that Lawson's time at Ft. Holabird was at about the same time as Richard Case Nagell.  And before he explains who in the hell Richard Case Nagell is ( Yes, I know who he is  but he should be explained to the reader ) Vince has to tell you that Louis B Sims also worked at Ft. Holabird.  And he doesn’t explain who in the hell Sims is or why he’s bringing him up.

And he continues as though there is a well written narrative flow here on the topic of people with Army intelligence backgrounds with this:

"In addition, a Lt. Col. George Whitmeyer, who taught Army Intelligence, rode in the pilot car with Jack Puterbaugh, DNC advance man from the Agriculture Department [billy Sol Estes, Henry Marshall, Orville Freeman...Mac Wallace], although Whitmeyer was not scheduled to ride in the car in the first place [RIF#180-10074-10396]! **along with James Jesus Angleton, Ray Rocca (later, CIA liaison to the Warren Commission), and Paul J. Paterni (Deputy Chief of the Secret Service who inspected the limousine on the night of 11/22/63, as well as investigated LHO's income tax check, among other things [see KAC journal Spring 1998 issue---article by author entitled "The Secret Service: In Their Own Words"]

Again, what the hell is Vince talking about? The Agriculture Dept links Billie Sol Estes with Henry Marshall, Orville Freeman and Mac Wallace. Orville Freeman was the Secretary of Agriculture under JFK and LBJ. The Agriculture Department is the link.  Not Jack Puterbaugh.  And no, Billie Sol Estes, Henry Johnson, Orville Freeman and Mac Wallace were not in the pilot car.  Do you see how Palamara did not properly introduce the idea of people with Army Intelligence backgrounds? And he brings up people without clearly explaining how and why he moves from one person to another? He cannot simply say where Jack Puterbaugh came from and leave it alone. No, no, no, oh the Agriculture Deparment, that means I must bring up Bille Sol Estes.  And then without explaining the link is Army Intelligence background he brings up James Jesus Angleton, Ray Rocca, and Paul Paterni as though they're in the pilot car too with those five guys from the Agriculture department.  

So, since Palamara brought it up let's quickly explain Billie Sol Estes.  

The Billie Sol Estes scandal is best summed up on Wikipedia.“In the late 1950s, Estes was heavily involved in the Texas anhydrous ammonia business. He produced mortgages on nonexistent ammonia tanks by convincing local farmers to purchase them on credit, sight unseen, and leasing them from the farmers for the same amount as the mortgage payment, paying them a convenience fee as well. He used the fraudulent mortgage holdings to obtain loans from banks outside Texas who were unable to easily check on the tanks.

"At the same time, United States Department of Agriculture began controlling the price of cotton, specifying quotas to farmers. The program included an acreage allotment that normally was not transferable from the land it was associated with, but which could be transferred if the original land was taken by eminent domain.

"Estes worked out a method to purchase large numbers of cotton allotments by dealing with farmers who had been dispossessed of land through eminent domain. He convinced the farmers to purchase land from him in Texas and transfer their allotments there, with a mortgage agreement delaying the first payment for a year. Then he would lease the land and allotments back from the farmer for $50 per acre. Once the first payment came due, the farmer would intentionally default and the land would revert to Estes; in effect, Estes had purchased the cotton allotments with the lease fees. However, because the original sale and mortgage were a pretext rather than a genuine sale, it was illegal to transfer the cotton allotments this way.”

Estes like a typical grifter claimed his prosecution was political.  

And again from Wikipedia, "

“In 1962, after information came to light that Estes had paid off four Agriculture officials for grain storage contracts, President John F. Kennedy ordered the Justice Department and FBI to open investigations into Estes' activities and determine if Secretary of Agriculture Orville L. Freeman had also been "compromised" (Freeman was cleared).[3] Congress conducted hearings on Estes' business dealings, including some that led to Vice President Johnson, a long-time associate of Estes.[4]

"In 1963 Estes was tried and convicted on charges related to the fraudulent ammonia tank mortgages on both federal and state charges and was sentenced to 24 years in prison. His state conviction was later overturned by the United States Supreme Court in Estes v. Texas, 381 U.S. 532 (1965). His appeal hinged upon the alleged impossibility of a fair trial due to the presence of television cameras and broadcast journalists in the courtroom. He prevailed by a 5–4 vote. Estes was paroled in 1971. Eight years later, he was convicted of other fraud charges and served four more years.”  

None of this is necessary or relevant to the fact that Lt. Col. George Whitmeyer rode in the same car in the motorcade with Jack Pauterbaugh. 

Now to the heart of the matter, the two Clifton C Carters are two different men.  If you bother to learn the middle name you're not going to be confused by this.  Actually, there was a 3rd Clifton C Carter, he was a Brigadier General.  He was the father of Clifton Coleman Carter and Marshall Sylvester Carter.  This Clifton Carroll Carter is really the first. He was born in Kentucky on July 12, 1876.  He died 20 Sep 1950 and is buried in Arlington. Clifton Carroll Carter is the father of Clifton Coleman Carter and Marshall Sylvester Carter.  

Clifton Coleman Carter was born in Fort Monroe, Hampton City, Virginia on 15 Dec 1903.  He died 7 Jan 1967 in Naples, Florida.  He too is buried in Arlington.  

Marshall Sylvester Carter was born 16 Sept 1909.  He died 18 Feb 1993.  He is buried at Arlington. 

These three Carter men have nothing to do with Clifton Crawford Carter, the LBJ aide.  

Clifton Crawford Carter, the LBJ aide was born on 2 Aug 1918 in Bryan, Texas.  So far I have found nothing to indicate Clifton Crawford Carter was ever involved in Army Intelligence or the OSS.  

Edited September 11, 2021 by Joseph Backes