The Military Industrial Complex

[Anthony Frank]

Senator Barry Goldwater was very radical and certainly had no chance of winning a race against President Johnson, but the Military Industrial Complex would have been way better off with Goldwater as President.

The only states that went to Goldwater in 1964, besides his home state of Arizona, were five Southern segregationist states; Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina.

But as I have cited many times, the people that killed President Kennedy were also planning on killing President Johnson on Saturday, October 31, 1964, so that Goldwater would win the election on Tuesday, November 3, 1964.

What stopped them was the fact that the Suffolk County Police discovered their fall guy.

On October 31, 1964, Suffolk County Police arrested Robert Babcock 300 yards from Republic Aviation Corporation in New York, where President Johnson stepped from his plane on the company’s airstrip eight minutes later.

He was arrested because he had a telescopic rifle on the seat beside him and a loaded shotgun in his trunk. Detectives spotted him in a routine check and took him into custody twenty minutes before the President passed by.

[see Dallas Morning News, 11/1/64, page 10, & New York Times, 11/1/64, page 78]

“The President’s motorcade had been expected to make a number of stops along the motorcade route . . .”

Robert Babcock was questioned by Suffolk County Police and the Secret Service, and “said first that he had been going on a hunting trip when he decided to stop and see the motorcade. He then said he made a bet with barroom acquaintances that he could do what he did without being detected.”

“He was charged with disorderly conduct and jailed for the night.”

There were no bullets for the telescopic rifle, which would have been conducive to persuading him to take this action, but that would be easily rectified, and Robert Babcock would have found it impossible to understand how the murder weapon could be alleged to have been in his possession, and why the loaded shotgun in his trunk made him look more guilty.

The Suffolk County Police gave an alibi to a man who wasn’t supposed to have one, a man who was intrinsic to a Presidential assassination, and the “Secret Service” was so easily appeased because they knew their plans had gone awry and they wanted this to receive as little attention as possible. Where, when, why, and how he obtained the weapons, or if he owned them, was instantaneously of no significance, and the anonymous “barroom acquaintances” that persuaded him to take this action by making a bet with him remained anonymous, while he was simply charged with “disorderly conduct.”

The easily duped Mr. Babcock could’ve simply driven to the area of the first scheduled stop after one or more of the “barroom acquaintances” told him where it was. They could have also told him that where he would park wasn’t actually near the first scheduled stop. Or he could have even been told to first park along the motorcade route, and then drive a certain distance behind the motorcade as it traveled to the area of the first scheduled stop as part of the bet.

The “barroom acquaintances” were undoubtedly sure that he intended to carry out their plans as he left.

As he embarked on his daring venture, his instigators could have also said, “We know nothing’s going to happen but if it does, just get in your car and get out of there,” which would have been very conducive to making it look like he was the assassin.

Pulling out their money and saying, “We’ll see you when you get back, and we’ll know if you didn’t do it,” would have affirmed Robert Babcock’s idea that he was going to come into some easy money with a simplistic act.

Whatever the exact details of this assassination plan were, one thing is certain; those who assassinated President Kennedy were going to assassinate President Johnson on October 31, 1964, and Robert Babcock was going to be the accused assassin.

What is also crystal clear from the details given, is that a man can be paid money to sit along the motorcade route of the President of the United States with a telescopic rifle on the seat beside him and a loaded shotgun in the trunk, and the United States “Secret Service” will do nothing but charge him with disorderly conduct and jail him for the night.

After Kennedy was assassinated the prevailing opinion from politicians of both parties and even among Goldwater’s own supporters, was that only a moderate Republican, not the ultra-conservative Barry Goldwater, could defeat President Lyndon Johnson in the 1964 election. Obviously, assassinating President Johnson on Saturday, October 31, 1964, would’ve easily rectified this problem and assured that Barry Goldwater would be elected President of the United States on Tuesday, November 3, 1964.

The 25th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for Presidential succession and the appointment of a new Vice President, didn’t become part of the Constitution until February 1967. There was no Vice President on Saturday, October 31, 1964.

Representative John W. McCormack of Massachusetts, elected Speaker of the House in January 1962 after House Speaker Sam Rayburn died, would have become President, and no state in the South, nor the state that would elect Ronald Reagan as Governor in 1966, conservative California, “the heart of Western conservatism” that flourished in the mountain states, would be going to the liberal Representative from Massachusetts, who would have two days to convince people that he should be President; two days to convince people that his thirty-four months as Speaker of the House made him more qualified to be President of the United States than the well-traveled high-profile Barry Goldwater.

Liberal Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, who was President Johnson’s running mate, certainly wouldn’t have fared much better in a race with Barry Goldwater, and there would have been mass confusion on November 3, 1964, as people voted in a contest between a dead President and Barry Goldwater.

People who were determined to vote against Goldwater would have to figure out whether they were trying to elect President McCormack or, if when they voted for the Johnson-Humphrey ticket, they were trying to elect Hubert Humphrey to the Office of President.

Were they trying to elect President McCormack while electing Hubert Humphrey to the Office of Vice President, or were they trying to elect one of them to the Office of President while not electing anyone to the Office of Vice President?

If Senator Humphrey declared that he had a better chance of defeating Barry Goldwater, or if he declared that he was entitled to be the nominee, it certainly would have compounded the confusion during the two days that “President McCormack” would have had in which to announce his candidacy.

Devout opponents of Barry Goldwater would have to tune in to the news, read the newspapers on Sunday and Monday, and try to find out from polling officials just who and what they were voting for as they futilely tried to prevent Barry Goldwater from being elected President.

The “Secret Service” would have realized their goal of having Barry Goldwater elected President.

Robert Babcock’s story about a bet with “barroom acquaintances” wouldn’t have helped him any more than a letter to “President Goldwater” stating, as a very upset Lee Harvey Oswald once said, “I emphatically deny these charges.”

And let's not forget that the fall guy in Kennedy's assassination was encouraged too.

On January 19, 1970, “Senator Richard B. Russell, Democrat of Georgia, said today he never believed Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy without at least some encouragement from others . . . The 72-year-old Senator made the statements to newsmen in response to questions prompted by an article in the Washington Post based on a series of taped interviews he recorded . . . Senator Russell said the Warren Commission was not able to investigate specifically the source of such possible encouragement, and he added he could not pinpoint it.”

[see New York Times, 1/20/70, page 16]

There you have it. They were going to kill Johnson right before the election to make sure Goldwater was elected President, and the Military Industrial Complex couldn't have a better President than the extreme far-right Senator Barry Goldwater.

Tony

[John Simkin]

Senator Barry Goldwater was very radical and certainly had no chance of winning a race against President Johnson, but the Military Industrial Complex would have been way better off with Goldwater as President.

The only states that went to Goldwater in 1964, besides his home state of Arizona, were five Southern segregationist states; Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina.

But as I have cited many times, the people that killed President Kennedy were also planning on killing President Johnson on Saturday, October 31, 1964, so that Goldwater would win the election on Tuesday, November 3, 1964.

What would Goldwater have done for them that LBJ did not do for them?

I also question what would have happened if LBJ had been assassinated in October. If this had happened I would have thought the election would have been postponed in order to allow the Democrats to put up another candidate. If not, LBJ’s running mate, Hubert H. Humphrey, would have taken on Goldwater. The American people would have elected Humphrey. Partly out of sympathy but mainly as a result of trying to prevent a gunman from deciding who should become president.

I think Bush’s best chance of being elected is to arrange a failed assassination attempt on his life just before the election.

[Anthony Frank]

Humphrey was a liberal from the extremely liberal state of Minnesota. No state in the South would be going to him, and the conservative mountain states would not go to him either. Just like those states wouldn't be going to liberal Representative John McCormack of Massachusetts, who would have become President had they assassinated Johnson.

There is talk right now about postponing the 2004 election in the event of a terrorist attack.

"A senior House Democratic lawmaker was skeptical on Sunday of a Bush administration idea to obtain the authority to delay the November presidential election in case of an attack by al Qaeda . . . 'I think it's excessive based on what we know,' said Rep. Jane Harman of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, in a interview on CNN's Late Edition."

The Democrats could not have delayed the election. They couldn't dictate that there would be no election on Tuesday after Johnson was assassinated on Saturday. They would have fielded either McCormack or Humphrey who would lose to the well-traveled, high profile Barry Goldwater.

The fact remains that the optimal scenario for the Military Industrial Complex would have been the election of Barry Goldwater, who was very radical, as opposed to Johnson, who supported a good deal of liberal programs after he became President.

Then you have the question of why Goldwater even ran, if it wasn't for the idea that his "behind-the-scenes" backers were going to assassinate President Johnson right before the election.

If they hadn’t killed Kennedy, Goldwater would not have run for the Presidency. To make that case, I present the following:

On August 4, 1963, it was reported that “Senator Barry Goldwater has returned a campaign contribution . . . saying he has no plans to seek the Presidency.”

In returning the contribution, he wrote: “I have already announced my intention of seeking a third Senate term in 1964 and have established a campaign organization for this purpose. If you care to resubmit your contribution for this effort, I would of course be most grateful.”

On September 22, 1963, Goldwater declined an invitation from the president of the University of New Hampshire Republican Club to visit New Hampshire, which had the first of the presidential primaries in March 1964, and he wrote, “My plans at present are to run for re-election to the US Senate . . . The balance of my schedule for this year has been completely filled for some time,” which undoubtedly included his visit to Texas where he rode from the airport in an open convertible while fans chanted "We want Barry" and waved "Goldwater for President signs" exactly six weeks before Kennedy was assassinated.

Back on June 1, 1963, a Washington Post columnist had written a column about Goldwater’s reluctance to seek the Presidency, writing: “I think his reluctance to make the final decision is real. It is not a pose . . . Goldwater cherishes his position in the Senate . . . It is the forum from which he has won the undisputed leadership of the conservative forces in the United States . . . Since he must run for re-election in Arizona next year, he would not relish losing his Senate seat in a possibly futile campaign for the White House.”

“He does not assume that President Kennedy cannot be defeated, but he considers at this stage the odds are clearly on the side of the President’s re-election.”

On Friday, October 11, 1963, the Dallas Morning News had written an article about Goldwater speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania the night before his high profile trip to Texas on the 11th, and it said: “The Arizona Republican said he really preferred to stay in the Senate and thought his services might be more useful there.”

On October 19, 1963, Senator Barry Goldwater stated, “Actually, I’m trying to think of reasons why I should become a candidate and I’m coming up with some negative answers.”

On November 10, 1963, Goldwater responded to questions and said: “I don’t intend to announce something I am not yet decided upon doing . . . There are others who are equally insistent that I wait until I am convinced it is something I should do . . . If and when I become a candidate . . . I have not decided to become a candidate . . . I haven’t done any campaigning for myself and won’t unless I decide in January to seek the Republican nomination . . . whether or not I decide to run.”

A Harris Survey, published on November 18, 1963, four days before Kennedy was cut down, analyzed the balance between liberals and conservatives and it stated: “The key, however, rests with middle-of-the-road voters . . . It is immediately evident that the balance of power rests with the politically more numerous moderate group . . . President Kennedy, however, already has a substantial edge among moderates. It remains to be seen just how well Goldwater can cut down this advantage.”

Now let's look at how Kennedy's death affected the prospect of a Goldwater candidacy.

On November 24, 1963, the New York Times wrote: “The prospect of Mr. Johnson’s nomination appeared likely to produce a liberal Republican opponent.”

The article said this was to “capitalize” on “the new President’s greatest potential weakness” which was “his lack of appeal to independent and liberal voters.” It even cited “former Vice-President Richard M. Nixon” who is “less readily identified as a liberal,” but whose “considerable vote-getting record in 1960” and whose “political acceptability in diverse wings of the party leadership continue to make him a strong contender.”

On December 5, 1963, Washington Post columnists Evans and Novak wrote about the “sharp falloff, sharper than was first apparent, in Senator Barry Goldwater’s strength after President Kennedy’s death . . . Now, even some of his own supporters admit that a totally different kind of candidate is required against President Johnson.”

On December 11, 1963, the Washington Post reported: “Politicians in both parties have felt that the Senator’s chances for the nomination were hurt by the accession of President Johnson, a Southerner.”

On December 27, 1963, an article in the Washington Post reported that the National Committee for an Effective Congress, “a nonpartisan political committee,” received “a staff report asserting that President Johnson’s accession to the White House had damaged Goldwater’s chances of landing the nomination. It said the Republicans are now looking for a middle-of-the-road candidate.”

The article also gave the views of the Republican Mayor of San Francisco, where the Republican convention was being held in 1964.

“Republican Mayor George Christopher of San Francisco said yesterday that Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater has lost ground in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination.”

Christopher stated that there was “a remarkable change in sentiment.”

“Christopher, too, said the reason for the change is the death of President Kennedy and the probability that President Johnson will be the Democratic nominee in 1964. Before Mr. Kennedy was assassinated, Christopher said, he had believed Goldwater was the leading contender for California’s 86 GOP national convention votes.”

Besides the likelihood of “a liberal Republican opponent” to run against President Johnson, the New York Times also reported on November 24, 1963, that although Johnson “has lost some standing among Southerners . . . he could still fend off a Goldwater challenge in the South more successfully than Mr. Kennedy might have. Without a substantial number of electoral votes in the South, it is considered doubtful that a candidate of the right such as Mr. Goldwater could win.”

On Friday, January 3, 1964, exactly six weeks after the KGB officers killed President Kennedy, their man Barry Goldwater announced his candidacy, despite the fact that on October 10th he “said he really preferred to stay in the Senate and thought his services might be more useful there,” despite the fact that on October 19th he was “trying to think of reasons” why he should become a candidate and “coming up with some negative answers,” and despite the fact that Kennedy’s death seemingly sounded the death knell for the impetus that was supposed to push Goldwater into the 1964 race.

When he returned the campaign contribution on August 4, 1963, saying that he has no plans to seek the Presidency, he also wrote: “Circumstances might develop which could compel me to alter my present course.”

Why did Goldwater "give up his cherished Senate seat in a futile campaign for the White House" if they weren't going to assassinate Johnson right before the election and make sure it wasn't a "futile campaign?"

Edited July 12, 2004 by Anthony Frank