Priscilla L. Johnson

[William Kelly]

I found it very interesting that the PBS special Oswalds Ghost-- in which CIA friendlies Prscilla L. Johnson and Hugh Aynesworth are featured prominantly-- was presented in a left-liberal framework i.e. how "conspiracy theorists" had

stunted the gowth of the left. etc.

In the book The Assassinations, Pease and James DiEugenio compile quite a nice group of quotes from these authors showing

their complicity with the CIA.

If one wanted some counterhegemonic action, one could do worse than spread these articles-- or quotes from them-- on so-called left sites, asking, in effect, why are such CIA friendlies being invited to contribute so abundantly in a movie that pretends to be left-liberal.

Nate, I don't think the assassination of President JFK can be diagnosed in simplistic Liberal - Conservative, Right Wing - Left Wing, Democratic - Republican, etc. perspectives. They just don't work in trying to understand what happened at Dealey Plaza. It's not about being liberal or conservative, right wing or left wing, democrat or republican, its about truth, justice and the american way.

Nor does the Lone Nut - Conspiracy Theoristis model work, because they limit the approach one takes in trying to understand and essentially solve a political homicide. To really figure it out you not only can't come from a standardized idelogy, but you can't have selected a suspect you want to pin it on.

The ranks of open minded independent researchers and investigators determined to answer the outstanding questions are dwindling, rather than increasing, but depending on liberals is not the answer.

And as for Priscilla Johnson McMillan, I would suggest that those looking closer at her career focus on her time with her father and Stalan's daughter, her time in Philadelphia at the Main Line Quaker college, and her association with the World Federalists, founded by her former neighbor Cord Meyer, Jr.

BK

Edited June 5, 2008 by William Kelly

[Greg Parker]

A Marriage of Connivance?

Even if this is all true, and even if the guy's memory is accurarate (he does not recall the name of the important man he actually met and spoke to, but he DOES recall the name of the nobody HE had NEVER MET but whose name just supposedly happened to be mentioned in conversation -- go figure) how does it constitute evidence of connivance and who is supposed to be conniving with whom, and for what purpose?

Ray, he may well have remembered the name of the official immediately following the assassination - just as he remembered Oswald's. It should not however, be difficult to understand how he would continue to recall Oswald's name over the years, but forget the official's name. Especially since he placed no importance on what he'd been told, until he spoke to PMJ in '82.

After hearing what PMJ had to say, he asked his wife what she recalled - without giving any clues as to what he remembered, or why he was asking. Her memory of the incident was in line with his. Fact is, he makes no big song and dance over it, and says he mentions it in his book only for whatever it is worth.

The evidence of connivance is that the Embassy allegedly had no knowledge of the Oswald marriage until nearly a month after it. Moreover, in other cases of US citizens wishing to marry Soviet citizens - the embassy did apparently send a witness - but only after every attempt had been made to discourage the marriage. Here we have no apparent discouragement, a witness from the embassy to the wedding, and an apparent cover-up of that.

PMJ's reaction, as recorded in the book, indicates she was very concerned about the implications.

[J. Raymond Carroll]

PMJ's reaction, as recorded in the book, indicates she was very concerned about the implications.

Greg:

Priscilla's reactions are nothing to get excited about, IMO. Look at her Medgar Evers theory in the Boston Post yesterday, and her theory that Lee Oswald shot JFK because he liked him.

Here we have an anonymous witness who supposedly said that he attended the wedding of Lee Oswald as a representative of the U.S. government. Since I know nothing about this anonymous individual, and since there is no corroboration for his story (assuming he ever existed), I would give it as much credence as one of Priscilla's assasination theories.

[Greg Parker]

PMJ's reaction, as recorded in the book, indicates she was very concerned about the implications.

Greg:

Priscilla's reactions are nothing to get excited about, IMO. Look at her Medgar Evers theory in the Boston Post yesterday, and her theory that Lee Oswald shot JFK because he liked him.

Apples and oranges, Ray. You're trying to compare her LN theory to her reaction to a piece of potentially conspiratorial information.

Here we have an anonymous witness who supposedly said that he attended the wedding of Lee Oswald as a representative of the U.S. government. Since I know nothing about this anonymous individual, and since there is no corroboration for his story (assuming he ever existed), I would give it as much credence as one of Priscilla's assassination theories.

I find Prof Graham and his wife to be ideal witnesses. No axes to grind and unaware of the potential importance of their information for nearly 20 years.

Profile from MIT History Faculty:

Loren R. Graham

Professor Emeritus, of the History of Science

Loren R. Graham is Professor Emeritus, of the History of Science in the Program in Science, Technology and Society. Professor Graham received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and a Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) from Purdue University in 1986. Professor Graham specializes in the history of science and the study of contemporary science and technology in Russia. His recent publications include Science and the Soviet Social Order (1990), Science, Philosophy and Human Behavior in the Soviet Union (1987), Science in Russia and the Soviet Union: A Short History (1993), The Ghost of the Executed Engineer (1993); A Face in the Rock (1995); and What Have We Learned About Science and Technology from the Russian Experience? (1998). His Science, Philosophy and Science in the Soviet Union was nominated for the National Book Award. In 1996 he received the George Sarton medal of History of Science Society and in 2000 he received the Follo Award of the Michigan Historical Society for his contributions to Michigan history. He is a fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Natural Science.

His book containing the incident and PMJ's reaction: Moscow Stories:

http://www.amazon.com/Moscow-Stories-Loren...m/dp/0253347165

Edited June 5, 2008 by Greg Parker

[Karl Kinaski]

CIA- Granny PJM lies when open her mouth, but fascinating: by the End of 1959 she was probably the only person on earth, who knew Oswald and JFK personally.

(In the fifties she was Senator Kennedys "foreign- policy- adviser".)

Edited June 5, 2008 by Karl Kinaski

[J. Raymond Carroll]

I find Prof Graham and his wife to be idea witnesses. No axes to grind and unaware of the potential importance of their information for nearly 20 years.

I am sure professor Graham and his wife are fine people, but they did not claim to witness anything. The "witness" here is the anonymous gent who SAID he attended Lee Oswald's wedding. We don't even know his name, so how can we possibly confirm that his story is true?

Even if Professor Graham had a photographic memory (and clearly he does not, since he does not remember the name of the person he met) his story amounts to a piece of hearsay.

[Greg Parker]

I am sure professor Graham and his wife are fine people, but they did not claim to witness anything. The "witness" here is the anonymous gent who SAID he attended Lee Oswald's wedding. We don't even know his name, so how can we possibly confirm that his story is true?

Even if Professor Graham had a photographic memory (and clearly he does not, since he does not remember the name of the person he met) his story amounts to a piece of hearsay.

Yes, Ray. You are correct. It is hearsay. Good enough for the WC -- good enough for me! (on a case by case basis).

He does not now remember the person's name. He may have still remembered at the time of the assassination.

The person was dressed in Western attire, spoke with an American accent, but was not part of exchange student crowd. In short, he said he was from the embassy, and nothing about his appearance would have suggested otherwise.

Moving on to what he allegedly said to Graham and his wife: how did he know an American had recently been married in Minsk unless, as he claimed, he was actually there? Such an event was hardly commonplace...

[J. Raymond Carroll]

Moving on to what he allegedly said to Graham and his wife: how did he know an American had recently been married in Minsk unless, as he claimed, he was actually there? Such an event was hardly commonplace...

Without knowing who the gentleman is (or was) I have no way of knowing that. I think we can agree that Graham's story -- by itself -- proves nothing. At best, it provides a suspicion, or a lead to be followed up. If you think it is a worthwhile lead then good luck in your pursuit. For myself, I hae me doots.

[Jim Root]

William Kelly wrote:

"Among the things PJM says she left out of her book is the fact that Oswald sent a letter to Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany, saying that he could get their signal in Minsk, an interesting tidbit given the fact that Mrs. Paine met Lee and Marina at a party at the home of the son of a Radio Liberty broadcaster."

A few weeks ago I wrote about PJM in my Whitney Shepardson Thread.

I pointed out that Whitney SHepardson, besides being a close friend of John J. McCloy, was a founder of the Free Europe Committee and Radio Free Europe (Radio Liberty) along with Allen Dulles, and Dimitri Von Mohrenschildt (brother of George De Mohrenschildt). It was also pointed out that just prior to PJM going to Russia and her meeting with Oswald she would spend time in the offices of Radio Liberty as well.

My first question would be, "Did PJM say when Oswald wrote to Radio Liberty?"

This Shepardson connection is intriquing to me because 4 months before Oswald was to enter Russia via Helsinki, Shepardson was getting together with the old OSS gang that had great connections in Helsinki. The problem I'm finding is that the Stockholm OSS Station (which ran operations in Finland) is not even mentioned in William Donovon's biography. Recently I have learned that several persons in OSS Stockholm were part of a super secret operation known as "The Pond" that was known only to the highest persons in governement during WWII which would have included John J. McCloy. Richard Helms was also a member of the OSS Stockholm team and it is Helms that is monitoring the movements prior to the assassination of JFK.

A documented letter to Radio Liberty could be used to support a suggestion that Whitney Shepardson may have been a player in Oswald's movements into and out of the Soviet Union while providing a plausible connection to both Richard Helms and Dimitri Von Mohrenschildt (and his brother George) as well as a connection to John J. McCloy.

Thoughts?

Jim Root

[William Kelly]

Assassination is Contagious

http://blog.h-bombbo...]</span></span>

Hillary's Gaffe

- By Priscilla Johnson McMillan

Shock ran through many of us recently when Hillary Clinton raised the specter of Robert Kennedy's assassination just forty years ago, in June, 1968. Although Mrs. Clinton regarded her comments as innocent, they were shocking precisely because fear for the safety of Barack Obama has been a disquieting undercurrent throughout the primary season. That Mrs. Clinton, whose White House years ought to have made her acutely aware of the danger of assassination, should have made such a slip is more than shocking. It was, unfortunately, an incitement.

While writing a biography of Lee Harvey Oswald, I learned that there is a web of associations in the mind and emotions of the assassin that leads him toward his victim. Almost anything can contribute. Oswald, for example, may have begun to consider committing an act of political violence around New Year's, 1962, when he was living in Minsk, USSR. There, he heard a relative of his wife, Marina, recount in hushed, frightened tones the details of a shooting attempt on Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev that had just taken place at a nearby hunting lodge. Commenting on the secrecy that surrounded the attempt, Oswald said, "If this had happened in America, it would have been in all the newspapers and everyone would be talking about it."

Shock ran through many of us recently when Hillary Clinton raised the specter of Robert Kennedy's assassination just forty years ago, in June, 1968. Although Mrs. Clinton regarded her comments as innocent, they were shocking precisely because fear for the safety of Barack Obama has been a disquieting undercurrent throughout the primary season. That Mrs. Clinton, whose White House years ought to have made her acutely aware of the danger of assassination, should have made such a slip is more than shocking. It was, unfortunately, an incitement.

While writing a biography of Lee Harvey Oswald, I learned that there is a web of associations in the mind and emotions of the assassin that leads him toward his victim. Almost anything can contribute. Oswald, for example, may have begun to consider committing an act of political violence around New Year's, 1962, when he was living in Minsk, USSR. There, he heard a relative of his wife, Marina, recount in hushed, frightened tones the details of a shooting attempt on Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev that had just taken place at a nearby hunting lodge. Commenting on the secrecy that surrounded the attempt, Oswald said, "If this had happened in America, it would have been in all the newspapers and everyone would be talking about it."

For Oswald, another suggestive event appears to have occurred on June 12, 1963, when civil rights leader Medgar Evers was slain by a sniper outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi, a city close to New Orleans, where Oswald by then was living.

But the associations that affected Oswald most had to do with President Kennedy himself. Oswald was attracted by Kennedy's youth and the spirit of hope he conveyed. And there were personal resemblances. Kennedy was, like Oswald during the summer of 1963, a husband and father of a young daughter, with another child expected soon. We know that these similarities were in Oswald's mind because he talked about them to his wife Marina. When the Kennedys' son Patrick was born prematurely in August and died, the Oswalds took it very much to heart and were afraid that something similar would happen to their child. Oswald had often told Marina that he wanted enough children for a "whole football team," like the Kennedy family, and, during the summer of 1963, boasted that he would be "President" or "Prime Minister" some day.

Not only does a chain of suggestion frequently lead an assassin to his victim: the act of assassination itself is, to an appalling degree, contagious. As convicted bank robber named James Earl Ray watched reports of President Kennedy's assassination on a rickety television set at the federal penitentiary in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1963, he jumped up, a fellow convict later reported, and shouted, "I'm going to kill that n King." Less than five years later, he did.

There are other signs pointing to the contagious nature of assassination, among them the sequence of events from the Evers shooting of June, 1963, to that of John Kennedy in November the same year, to those of Malcolm X in 1965, Martin Luther King in April, 1968, Robert Kennedy in June of that year and, finally, the attempt on former Alabama Governor George Wallace in a Maryland shopping center in 1972.

Not only is the crime of assassination contagious: most people, at some level, know it. That knowledge accounts for the curtain of silence that until recently has enveloped the anxiety many people – and not only blacks -- feel about the peril that constantly confronts Barack Obama. Even the dismay that greeted Mike Huckabee's careless gaffe before the NRA failed to inhibit Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton, who has been protected by the Secret Service since 1992, raised the taboo subject, and in a way that could only lead emotionally troubled members of the public to thoughts of her rival for the nomination.

The trouble is that because of the contagiousness – and, for many, the parricidal appeal – of the act of assassination, Mrs. Clinton's intentions do not matter. A remark such as hers only compounds the atmosphere of suggestion.

Edited May 21, 2012 by William Kelly

[Guest Tom Scully]

I've found that Priscilla Johnson's father, Stuart H. Johnson, ate his last meal with and was last seen alive in March, 1969, at the home of James Augustus Thomas of Locust Valley, L.I. I've found that Thomas's sister, and of course, Thomas, are cousins of Allen Dulles's mother, and that Thomas's sister, Eleanor Lansing Thomas, was maid of honor in Dulles's daughter, Clover's wedding, and was described as her cousin. :

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9636&st=75#entry252583

I am going to post a number of article images to provide an easy source for researching Priscilla Johnson's father, mother, aunts and uncles. :

This should display as "Ward. Mary Post," the obituary of the mother of Eunice C. Johnson, and grandmother of Priscilla Johnson.

Obituary 9 -- No Title

New York Times - Nov 28, 1956

-Diary Post, beloved wife of the lath E. , devoted mother !o Eunlce C. Johnson. Dorothy C. Smith Iierbert Mason Clapp, Edward M. Ward and George E. Ward ...

Mary Post Ward was the widow of her second husband, E. Mortimer Ward. She had four children with her first husband, anfd divorced him a few years before this was reported.: Henry Mason Clapp was Priscilla Johnson's biological grandfather.::

‎

New York Times - Nov 27, 1956

Mary Post Ward, widow of E. Mortimer Ward a retired) shipping executive, died today) at the Community Hospital in. Glen Cove, after a long illness. She was 84 ...

Did Herbert Mason Clapp's Wife Shoot Him' .

1. ‎
   Deseret News - Dec 9, 1910
   Herbert— Mason Clapp, a wealthy club man of this city, is In a hospital with a bullet in his head and likely to die and his wife Is looked up charged with having ...
   
2. 
   DIVORCE SEQUEL TO SHOTS.; Court Frees Herbert Mason Clapp...
   ‎
   New York Times - May 30, 1912
   Herbert Mason Clapp to-day obtained a decree of divorce from his wife on statutory grounds. The marital troubles of Mr. and Mrs. Clapp attracted unusual ...
   
3. 
   … Shot By His Wife .Mm .Herbert Mason Clapp Danger Ously...
   ‎
   Gettysburg Times - Dec 13, 1910
   Philadelphia, Dec. Herbert Ma son Clapp, a wealthy clubman, Is in a hospital with a bullet In his head and likely to die, and his young wife is under arrest, ...
   
4. 
   In Self D .Herbert Mason Clapp In Hosp'tal With Wound In...
   ‎
   Warsaw Daily Times - Dec 15, 1910
   of Herbert Mason Clapp, the wealthy clubman, now in St. joseph's hospital with a bullet in his neck, confessed to the po lice that she deliberately shot her bus ...
   

Sad to say, the first time out, Priscilla's mother, Mary Eunice Clapp also made a poor choice of spouse selection, Bradisjh Johnson Carroll, Jr.

Mary Eunice Clapp Carroll quietly divorced and marrried again, for life.:

BRADISH J. CARROLL WEDS THIRD riE; His i}Iarrlage to Miss...

‎

New York Times - Sep 18, 1927

She is now l%.[rs. Stuart Z. Johnson of Mill Neck, LI One month after his first divorce Mr. Carroll was married to Iv!iss Gladys E. Zielian, who was a member of the ..

Not long after that :

A Daughter to Mrs. Stuart Johnson.

‎

New York Times - Jul 21, 1928

A Daughter to Mrs. Stuart Johnson. ... Mrs. Johnson was before her marriage Miss Eunice Ward, and is the daughter of Mr_ and Mrs. E. Mortimer Ward.

[Guest Tom Scully]

......................

From one of Mr Whitmey's articles: It was pointed out that, according to Mr. Butler at the "OO Office" in Boston, Priscilla was "...allowed to use the Harvard-Russian Research Center for her own work, mainly the writing of articles and a book, but that she has no other official relationship to the center."

And from: http://daviscenter.f...o_mcmillan.html is this:

Priscilla Johnson McMillan

M.A., Harvard-Radcliffe, 1953

Independent Historian

Center Associate, Davis Center

The grad student she mentions as being present when Oswald tried to"defect" was Edward L Keenan.... from Harvard. Now a Prof of Russian History and still closely associated with Harvard.

I believe she knew Keenan, and that Keenan was present at the embassy specifically to witness what was about to go down. He had travelled to Moscow from Leningrad University at a time it was forbidden for foreign students to do so.

Namebase has an entry for a "Edward L Keenan"

KEENAN EDWARD L

* Council on Foreign Relations. Membership Roster. 1985

* House and Senate. Iran-Contra Committee Members and Staff. 1987

* Washington Post 1989-03-26 (C6)

I can't say for certain however, it is the same porson.

Priscilla Johnson appears to have been one of those people on the "outside" of CIA with ongoing contacts with it. Here are a few relevant documents. The list is not complete, just things that caught my eye running a search.

1958 request for approval of use of Johnson as agent, already noted as "informant":

http://www.maryferre...amp;relPageId=2

Jul 1962 memo regarding request to utilize Johnson as a news editor and writer for magazines subsidized by [XX]LEAFAGE under project [XX]OPERA:

http://www.maryferre...amp;relPageId=2

Dec 1962 redacted (probably not now, couldn't find another copy) contact report noting "Priscilla Johnson was selected as a likely candidate to write an article..":

http://www.maryferre...bsPageId=466620

May 1963 approval for clearance to use Johnson for debriefing purposes in project [XX]DINOSAUR (presumably AEDINOSAUR, as it had to do with her contacts with Soviets):

http://www.maryferre...amp;relPageId=2

Dec 1963 note discussing Oswald contact with Johnson, "who has been of interest to this Agency in several instances."

http://www.maryferre...bsPageId=456406

Feb 1964 contact report:

http://www.maryferre...bsPageId=383080

Priscilla Johnson's intersections with the JFK case are interesting. Beyond her contact with Marina leading to the book Marina and Lee, there are more curious/suspicious episodes. Prime among these is the finding of the bus ticket which "proved" that Lee Oswald had been to Mexico City. After the Dallas Police and FBI had turned Ruth Paine's house upside down, Priscilla and Marina together found this ticket several months later (August 1964) in a "Spanish magazine." Commissioner Richard Russell was highly skeptical of this when he grilled Marina in the last interview the Commissioners conducted, on September 6, less than 3 weeks before the Warren Report went to print:

http://www.maryferre...absPageId=17412

Peter Whitmey mentions this episode in Part 3 of his excellent Priscilla and Lee:

http://www.jfk-info.com/pjm-tit.htm

Rex

Once again, many thanks to Rex for bringing so much to the banquet. Besides Traficante, other new additions to the MFF's collection of HSCA files include this very enlightening HSCA "interview" with PJM in which she reveals some interesting details and some new names, but holds back on the big ones.

http://www.maryferre....do?docId=95329HSCA Testimony of Priscilla Johnson-McMillan, 2 Feb 1978, Part 1. Priscilla Johnson-McMillan is the journalist who interviewed Oswald in 1959 in Moscow and later wrote Marina and Lee. The HSCA questioned her about many things, including CIA connections. HSCA Testimony of Priscilla Johnson-McMillan, 2 Feb 1978, Part 2

The New York Times - Mar 2, 1967 article cited below displays a description of 300 students exchanged from each of the two countries since 1958, and names just a few who are accused in Pravda of conduucting espionage missions for the CIA. Those named, including Keenan, denied any relationship, and in Keenan's case, even any contact with the CIA.:

SOVIET SAYS CIA ABUSES EXCHANGE; Pravda Asserts Scholars...

‎

New York Times - Mar 2, 1967

... Edward L. Keenan of Harvard University and A2ichael M. Luther of Hunter College also had been assigned by the agency to perform missions in the Soviet .

[William Kelly]

HAS ANYONE CHECKED THESE RECORDS TO SEE IF THEY REFLECT ON PJM?

JFKCountercoup2: FBI Files on Stalin's Daughter

AP/ November 19, 2012, 2:41 PM

FBI releases its files on Stalin's daughter

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57551865/fbi-releases-its-files-on-stalins-daughter/

Last Updated 2:41 p.m. ET

MADISON, WIS.Newly-declassified documents show the FBI kept close tabs on Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's only daughter after her high-profile defection to the United States in 1967, gathering details from informants about how her arrival was affecting international relations.

The documents were released Monday to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act following Lana Peters' death last year at age 85 in a Wisconsin nursing home. Her defection to the West during the Cold War embarrassed the ruling communists and made her a best-selling author. And her move was a public relations coup for the U.S.

One April 28, 1967, memo details a conversation with a confidential source who said the defection would have a "profound effect" for anyone else thinking of trying to leave the Soviet Union. The source claimed to have discussed the defection with a Czechoslovak journalist covering the United Nations and a member of the Czechoslovakia "Mission staff."

"Our source opined that the United States Government exhibited a high degree of maturity, dignity and understanding during this period," according to the memo, prominently marked "SECRET" at the top and bottom. "It cannot help but have a profound effect upon anyone who is considering a similar solution to an unsatisfactory life in a Soviet bloc country."

When she defected, Peters was known as Svetlana Alliluyeva, but she went by Lana Peters following her 1970 marriage to William Wesley Peters, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. Peters said her defection was partly motivated by the Soviet authorities' poor treatment of her late husband, Brijesh Singh, a prominent figure in the Indian Communist Party.

Another memo dated June 2, 1967, describes a conversation an unnamed FBI source had with Mikhail Trepykhalin, identified as the second secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.

The source said Trepykhalin told him the Soviets were "very unhappy over her defection" and asked whether the U.S. would use it "for propaganda purposes." Trepykhalin "was afraid forces in the U.S. would use her to destroy relationships between the USSR and this country," the source told the FBI.

An unnamed informant in another secret memo from that month said Soviet authorities were not disturbed by the defection because it would "further discredit Stalin's name and family."

Stalin, a dictator held responsible for sending millions of his countrymen to their deaths in labor camps, led the Soviet Union from 1941 until his death in 1953. Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev, denounced him three years later as a brutal despot.

And even though Peters denounced communism and her father's policies, Stalin's legacy haunted her in the United States.

"People say, 'Stalin's daughter, Stalin's daughter,' meaning I'm supposed to walk around with a rifle and shoot the Americans," she said in a 2007 interview for a documentary about her life. "Or they say, 'No, she came here. She is an American citizen.' That means I'm with a bomb against the others. No, I'm neither one. I'm somewhere in between."

Another FBI source, reporting on a 1968 May Day celebration in Moscow, said "the general feeling" is that she defected "because she was attracted by the material wealth in the United States."

George Kennan, a key figure in the Cold War and a former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, advised the FBI that he and Alliluyeva were concerned Soviet agents would try to contact her, a December 1967 memo reveals. The memo notes that no security arrangements were made for Peters and no other documents in the file indicate that the KGB ever tracked her down.

Many of the 233 pages released to the AP were heavily redacted, with the FBI citing exemptions allowed under the law for concerns related to foreign policy, revealing confidential sources and releasing medical or other information that is a "clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

An additional 94 pages were found in her file but not released because the FBI said they contain information involving other government agencies. Those pages remain under government review.

More than half of the pages released to AP were copies of newspaper articles and other media coverage of her defection.

In one somewhat humorous exchange, a person whose name was redacted wrote directly to then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover asking that Hoover forward a letter on to "Joe Stalin's daughter." The author tells Hoover he can feel free to censor, alter or delete any portion of his letter to her as needed.

"I believe, Svetlana has given us (FREE NATIONS) the greatest opportunity to enlighten (and educate) the RUSSIAN people (and also those within the Communist controlled nations), as to what they are losing in continuing their impossible, or unacceptable present governmental system of Administration," the letter to Hoover said.

The file contains Hoover's terse three-sentence response denying his request, saying the FBI does not forward mail.

"I trust you will understand," Hoover wrote.

FBI Releases Classified Documents About Stalin's Daughter's Defection

http://www.ibtimes.com/fbi-releases-classified-documents-about-stalins-daughters-defection-890548

Following a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the AP, the FBI has released newly declassified documents about the famous 1967 defection of Josef Stalin's daughter, Svetlana.

Documents show that the bureau kept close tabs on Svetlana, later known as Lana Peters, who died at the age of 85 last year in Wisconsin.

The AP discovered a memo, prominently marked "SECRET," among the dossier that predicted her defection would have a "profound effect" on those seeking to escape unsatisfactory conditions in Soviet bloc countries.

Known as Svetlana Alliluyeva (her mother's maiden name), she married American architect William Wesley Peters, chief disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright, in 1970. They had a daughter and later divorced.

Svetlana said her departure was partly due to how poorly Soviet authorities treated her late husband Brijesh Singh, a leading figure in the Indian Communist Party. But one document in the unveiled package claims she was drawn to the U.S. because of its material wealth.

According to another memo, the Soviet leadership feared the U.S. would use Peters' defection for propaganda purposes. Another unnamed informant, however, claimed that the Soviets were unmoved by Peters' escape, as it would only discredit Stalin -- who had been officially denounced by then.

Americans, including top diplomat and Cold War expert George F. Kennan, feared that Soviet agents would attempt to contact Peters in the U.S., but no mention of special security arrangements or incidents were discovered by the AP.

The FBI, under FOIA exemptions, heavily redacted much of the 233-page file. It is allowed to do so for information related to foreign policy, confidential sources, and private matters, such as medical histories. Another 94 pages were not released because the bureau said they dealt with other government agencies. According to the AP, more than half of the information released consisted of newspaper articles and other already public information.

Lana Peters Files: FBI Releases Documents On Life Of Josef Stalin's Only Daughter After Defection

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/19/lana-peters-files-josef-stalin_n_2159858.html

MADISON, Wis. — Newly declassified documents show the FBI kept close tabs on Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's only daughter after her high profile defection to the United States in 1967, gathering details from informants about how her arrival was affecting international relations.

The documents were released Monday to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act following Lana Peters' death last year at age 85 in a Wisconsin nursing home. Her defection to the West during the Cold War embarrassed the ruling communists and made her a best-selling author. And her move was a public relations coup for the U.S.

One April 28, 1967, memo details a conversation with a confidential source who said the defection would have a "profound effect" for anyone else thinking of trying to leave the Soviet Union. The source claimed to have discussed the defection with a Czechoslovak journalist covering the United Nations and a member of the Czechoslovakia "Mission staff."

"Our source opined that the United States Government exhibited a high degree of maturity, dignity and understanding during this period," according to the memo, prominently marked "SECRET" at the top and bottom. "It cannot help but have a profound effect upon anyone who is considering a similar solution to an unsatisfactory life in a Soviet bloc country."

When she defected, Peters was known as Svetlana Alliluyeva, but she went by Lana Peters following her 1970 marriage to William Wesley Peters, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. Peters said her defection was partly motivated by the Soviet authorities' poor treatment of her late husband, Brijesh Singh, a prominent figure in the Indian Communist Party.

Another memo dated June 2, 1967, describes a conversation an unnamed FBI source had with Mikhail Trepykhalin, identified as the second secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C.

The source said Trepykhalin told him the Soviets were "very unhappy over her defection" and asked whether the U.S. would use it "for propaganda purposes." Trepykhalin "was afraid forces in the U.S. would use her to destroy relationships between the USSR and this country," the source told the FBI.

An unnamed informant in another secret memo from that month said Soviet authorities were not disturbed by the defection because it would "further discredit Stalin's name and family."

Stalin, a dictator held responsible for sending millions of his countrymen to their deaths in labor camps, led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev, denounced him three years later as a brutal despot.

And even though Peters denounced communism and her father's policies, Stalin's legacy haunted her in the United States.

"People say, `Stalin's daughter, Stalin's daughter,' meaning I'm supposed to walk around with a rifle and shoot the Americans," she said in a 2007 interview for a documentary about her life. "Or they say, `No, she came here. She is an American citizen.' That means I'm with a bomb against the others. No, I'm neither one. I'm somewhere in between."

Another FBI source, reporting on a 1968 May Day celebration in Moscow, said "the general feeling" is that she defected "because she was attracted by the material wealth in the United States."

George Kennan, a key figure in the Cold War and a former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, advised the FBI that he and Alliluyeva were concerned Soviet agents would try to contact her, a December 1967 memo reveals. The memo notes that no security arrangements were made for Peters and no other documents in the file indicate that the KGB ever tracked her down.

Many of the 233 pages released to the AP were heavily redacted, with the FBI citing exemptions allowed under the law for concerns related to foreign policy, revealing confidential sources and releasing medical or other information that is a "clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

An additional 94 pages were found in her file but not released because the FBI said they contain information involving other government agencies. Those pages remain under government review.

More than half of the pages released to AP were copies of newspaper articles and other media coverage of her defection.

In one somewhat humorous exchange, a person whose name was redacted wrote directly to then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover asking that Hoover forward a letter on to "Joe Stalin's daughter." The author tells Hoover he can feel free to censor, alter or delete any portion of his letter to her as needed.

"I believe, Svetlana has given us (FREE NATIONS) the greatest opportunity to enlighten (and educate) the RUSSIAN people (and also those within the Communist controlled nations), as to what they are losing in continuing their impossible, or unacceptable present governmental system of Administration," the letter to Hoover said.

The file contains Hoover's terse three-sentence response denying his request, saying the FBI does not forward mail.

"I trust you will understand," Hoover wrote.

[Guest Tom Scully]

Bill, so far I have not found a link to the released documents. There is no mention of Priscilla Mary Post Johnson in the wikipedia bio article on Svetlana. Marina and Svetlana are Priscilla's girls.

A couple of observations I find interesting. :

I detect no background pattern of edits, but it seems there is a result of the imprint in relevant wikipedia articles of the name

Priscilla McMillan Johnson nearly disappearing except in footnotes and other supporting references.:

http://en.wikipedia....oldid=378553748

*''[[Marina and Lee]]'', by Priscilla Johnson McMillan

(→‎See also: removed "Marina and Lee"/no article)

The wikipedia member who removed the long included reference to Priscilla's book in the Marina Oswald article, was banned

soon after for other reasons. The section of the Marina article has remained the same for more than two years.:

http://en.wikipedia....i/User:2tuntony

Priscilla gets more "play" in the wikipedia Ruth Paine article than she does in either Oswald's or Marina's articles :

..............

Priscilla"s name must be divorced from history,she had too many coincidental interactions with folks linked directly to CIA, Dulles, and Bush (Rockefeller).

[Guest Tom Scully]

Oswald and the CIA: The Documented Truth about the Unknown ... - Page 64

books.google.com/books?isbn=1602392536

John Newman - 2008 - Preview - More editions

....Historians now have the unenviable task of trying to figure out whether the CIA was inventing a false Priscilla Johnson or whether it was incapable of telling the difference between two people born five years and three thousand miles apart .

http://www.opednews....ent=a&id=117394

August 22, 2010

THE JFK CASE: THE TWELVE WHO BUILT THE OSWALD LEGEND (Part One: Mother, Meyer, and the Spotters)

By Bill Simpich

....Three Priscillas?

Johnson was identified with a different number in this 1956 CIA application (52373) than in her 1952 application (71589). The response from Security in 1956 is odd, stating "she was apparently born 23 September 1922 in Stockholm, Sweden, rather than 19 July 1928 at Glen Cove, New York." Did someone try to slip Johnson by CIA management by another number? This puzzle only deepens.

This 1956 application was withdrawn a few months later, but emerged again in 1958. On April 10, Cord Meyer sent a cable to Western Europe expressing interest in Johnson, right after Johnson applied for a Soviet visa in Paris. A couple weeks later, a request went out seeking approval for Johnson to become a "REDSKIN traveler and informant",and that "SR/2 (Soviet Russia Division #2) will have primary responsibility of handling agent."

Other memos, one sent by "SR/RED/O'Connell", illustrate that three Priscillas have now emerged: Besides the original Priscilla Mary Post Johnson, we now also see the names "Priscilla McClure Johnson, Priscilla McCoy." It's still uncertain what this means, other than two months of apparent confusion and very poorly redacted forms between April-June 1958.....

Thomas Frederick McCoy was the formerly the highest ranking CIA official for Southeast Asia. He was the husband of Priscilla L. Johnson, the daughter of US diplomat and Rockefeller associate in Bar Harbor, ME, Haslett Johnson. Priscilla Livingston Johnson was born in Stockholm in 1922.

Eugene McCarthy's D.C. neighbor and 1968 campaign executive, John Safer, age 90, earlier this year published the following about his view of JFK and LBJ and Vietnam, and about the roles of McCoy and his best friend, Clark Clifford law partner and former CIA agent Tom Finney in McCarthy's campaign.:

eugene mccarthy and the vietnam war - John Safer

johnsafer.com/mywords/my.../eugene-mccarthy-and-the-vietnam-wa...

Spellman's interest in Vietnam lay in its large Catholic population, and it casts no discredit on the Cardinal's memory that he used his influence in an attempt to save the lives of ..... The details were arranged, and McCoy became an important asset. ... Shortly thereafter, he told me that his closest friend was Tom Finney.

John Safer is a man heavily promoted on wikipedia.:

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/John_Safer

....Safer continued as a precocious student. Fluent in French, he entered high school at the age of eleven and graduated when he was fourteen. He was pressured by his mother to enroll at Harvard University. Safer, uncomfortable at the thought of being a fourteen year old college student, deliberately failed the Harvard entrance exam by handing in blank pages. [2]......

At the age of sixteen, Safer entered George Washington University where he majored in economics. He became an assistant to Professor Edward Acheson –– brother of the United States Secretary of State Dean Acheson –– who became a mentor. At the beginning of World War II, Safer enlisted in the United States Air Force to become a flying cadet.

Safer became a first lieutenant and served in India, Burma and China. When the war ended in 1945 he opted for an additional year in the Air Force hoping to fulfill a dream of seeing Europe's great works of art while he was stationed there. His new assignment allowed him to visit the Parthenon, the Tate, and the Louvre. While in Rome, he learned that he was suddenly to be transferred to Athens. Unwilling to leave Italy without visiting the Accademia in Florence, Safer "borrowed" a jeep to make the drive to see Michelangelo's David. The Accademia was closed but he convinced the caretaker to let him in....

.....After Safer graduated from Harvard Law School in 1949 his fascination with the emerging technology and promise of television prompted him to take a job as a handyman at WXEL in Cleveland, Ohio.....

In 1971 the renowned art collector and U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, Walter Annenberg, invited Safer to have an exhibition at the American Embassy in London.

In 1972 President Gerald Ford presented Safer's Limits of Infinity to King Juan Carlos of Spain as a gift of state. This in turn led to several major events in Safer's sculptural career. As a result of a news report of President Ford's gift, the Dean of Harvard Law School sought to acquire a Safer sculpture for the school..... John McArthur, the Dean of Harvard Business School visited the palace at Zarzuela where King Juan Carlos had installed Limits of Infinity. Moved by the sculpture, Dean McArthur returned to America and commissioned Safer's 20-foot-high (6.1 m) Search for Harvard Business School. The patinated bronze was installed on the Business School grounds in 1984 adjacent to the spot where Safer's daughter, Janine, received her MBA five days later.....

We are left to make of all of this, what we will; a recap of backgrounds and relationships.:

In his 1968 presidential campaign, in addtion to known CIA clandestine operatives McCoy and Finney, Eugene McCarthy was assisted by two other men who had backgrounds easily associated with

U.S. intelligence and espionage work, McCarthy's neighbor John Safer, and Larry Merthan, WWII bomber navigator fluent in German, who had worked for the State Dept. in Stuttgart in 1946 and temporarily left his law practice in 1959 to work for a State Dept. educational program in West Germany. He married Bill Harvey's secretary, later Rosalind Carter's White House assistant, Rita Chapowicki. Rita's sister was a Navy nurse "installed" by George Burkley in response to JFK's choice of his own female personal physician. Nurse Elizabeth Chapowicki and Navy Capt. George Burkley continued at the White House through the administration of LBJ.

So, one or the other of the two Chapowicki sisters was in an intimate White House position during nearly the entire administrations of the three democratic party affiliated US presidents in office between 1961 and 1981, and Rita Chapowicki's husband Larry was

close to democratic senator and presidential candidate McCarthy.

1. 
   Navy Nurses Celebrate 100 Years of Dedicated Service - The Globe ...
   www.camplejeuneglobe.com/.../article_9bf3f5cb-1732-56e3-adb9-...
   May 15, 2008 – In February 1961, Navy Nurses LTJG Elizabeth Chapowicki and LTJG Dolores Cornelius are assigned to the White House Medical Unit ...
   ....In February 1961, Navy Nurses LTJG Elizabeth Chapowicki and LTJG Dolores Cornelius are assigned to the White House Medical Unit (WHMU). Although, Navy Nurses attended to the medical care of the president as far back as the Woodrow Wilson administration, these two nurses are the first military nurses to serve in the WHMU.
   
2. 
   The Daily Banner, vol. 73, no. 297, October 8, 1965 :: Putnam ...
   digital.library.depauw.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/.../18 Navy I.t Elizabeth Chapowicki. sta-tioned at the White House on nursing duty since ... Nurse Chapowicki ministered to John-son when he was a Bethesda patient ...
   
3. 
   Us
   news.google.com/newspapers?nid=757&dat=19651015... Elizabeth Chapowicki, a Navy nurse who cared for. him during the Januar