JFK and the Ku Klux Klan

[Terri Williams]

Where's J. Edgar Hoover in all this? A Johnson crony and Kennedy enemy whose agency had infiltrated the Klan for at least three decades by 1963?

"infiltrate"! Is that what they did? I heard Hoover was a Grand Dragon at one point. Yes I have often wondered that, too. Where was Hoover in all that? I place my bets on Hoover having his hand in it. In fact once again, my liver will be quite dillied if Hoover was not involved in carrying out some of the logistics, as well as in covering up. I can't see him keeping quiet throughout the whole time period. It would make sense that he was involved in a primary way, at least in the death of RFK, since he hated the man so, but most likely more.

It also would make sense that Hoover was friendly with Dr ---- ------- -------, a very inventive pathologist.

[Paul Trejo]

So, you're partially correct, Terri, in my opinion, that is, LBJ certainly knew more about the JFK assassination than he ever admitted -- however, it wasn't because he was a member of the KKK. As Robert Morrow rightly said, LBJ was an enemy of the KKK. But for purposes of National Security, LBJ would protect the identities of the real JFK assassins for 75 years. That's my opinion.

That makes sense to me, since he certainly DID manage to let the real assassins live out their lives in peace and prosperity.

I have no proof, but I know that ------ --- ----- was the man who actually pulled the trigger, that shot the bullet, that killed JFK. It was not at all beyond the man to do such a thing. My uncle was also present at what was a 'Turkey Shoot'. I have heard tell of another man named Malcolm Wallace who may have been the third shooter. No matter who it was, I am convinced there were three marksmen that day in Dallas; only one of them is attributed with having fired the fatal shot.

But the files sealed until long after the cows come home, must contain more than just info on Oswald. If LBJ was in on the cover up, there would have been such things as the letter I wrote to JFK to warn him. If I live long enough, I would like the letter back; it is my only evidence that I have not made this whole 'theory' up.

Without it, I trudge forward to open the bag a little so to speak, ahead of schedule. I am not sure what harm it could do now, most of the guilty are dead. No one has ever listened to me in the past and I must say I am surprise anyone does now, but I will say in my defence, I have not said anything that didn't actually happen. I have not made up any 'facts'. That's what it was like in the south in the fifties and sixties, total apartheid. It has morphed into the various right wing groups today.

Besides, it is common knowledge among racists, just who killed JFK AND where he is from. The info racist groups in Canada have about the JFK assassination did NOT come from me; it came from the Klan.

Terri, I think your claims have merit, even if it turns out that your uncle was only one of the many possible shooters at JFK on 22 November 1963.

According to my theory, your uncle fits the profile -- he was among the thousands of radical right-wing Minutemen obedient to ex-General Edwin Walker who gathered reguarly throughout 1963 to call for the execution of the "traitor" and Communist JFK who was selling the USA out to the United Nations and the USSR.

These right-wing vigilantes -- who would have quickly accepted anybody from the KKK on their side, as well as any radical Cuban Exile -- operated completely underground, without oversight from any governmental agency. They were also a magnet for rogue CIA and rogue FBI defectors. If there were CIA and FBI spies that infiltrated them (e.g. Harry Dean) and reported what they saw, then obviously their words fell on deaf ears.

ATF agent Frank Ellsworth told the Warren Commission point blank that "the most likely suspects for the JFK assassination in Dallas were General Walker and the Minutemen." Nothing whatsoever came from his admonitions.

David Andrews asked about Hoover's role in all this -- I also wonder. Mark Knight wrote that Hoover knew about the Carlos Marcello contract on JFK and did nothing about it; and Sylvia Meagher wrote that Hoover was clearly an accomplice 'after the fact'. Harry Dean says that he himself reported to the FBI about his eye-witness account of hearing ex-General Edwin Walker identify Lee Harvey Oswald as the patsy in a plot to kill JFK at the same time that my Congressman, John Rousselot, handed a suitcase full of money to war hero Guy Gabaldon in the company of Loran Hall and Larry Howard, and the FBI never responded to his report. This makes me suspect Hoover.

Yet I'll personally withhold judgment against Hoover until more evidence is in. At the very worst I'm inclined to believe that J. Edgar Hoover was willing to look the other way as the countless enemies of JFK made closer and closer circles around JFK. Hoover was indeed threatened by the Kennedys on many levels. Gerry P. Hemming wrote (on this very FORUM in 2005) that he was the one who personally accepted money from RFK to find dirt on J. Edgar Hoover, and he quickly and easily did so -- very compromising photographs. In exchange for those, Hoover was obliged to hand over his compromising photographs of the Kennedys. At that point, said Hemming, Hoover was out to frame Interpen for anything he could.

In my theory, however, since Hoover came up with the "Lone Nut theory of Oswald," he cannot belong to the plot to kill JFK -- because those who plotted to kill JFK proposed the "Communist theory of Oswald." in order to inspire the USA to invade Cuba. That tells me that, no matter how much J. Edgar Hoover hated the Kennedys, his role in the assassination was at the very worst to ignore reports that came his way, and to look the other way as the inevitable happened.

See -- the Kennedys had so many enemies that all the government had to do was "look the other way" for a few weeks at most. I think that's what happened.

Finally, Terri, I find your account interesting on many levels. Your descriptions of your home town when you were growing up are fascinating; I believe many readers want to read a lot more about the KKK in the mid-20th century South -- especially Yankee readers. I also believe that your portrait of the South in the early 1960's offers the most appropriate background for understanding how and why JFK was assassinated when he came to the South. This would be the case whether or not your uncle turns out to be the fatal shooter of JFK.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited January 6, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Ken Pierce]

So Paul, in light of your thinking Terri's "claims have merit", does that mean you think Gabaldon enlisted Terri's uncle?

[Terri Williams]

To be clear, my uncle never fired the fatal shot. He was a bad shot. He shot his own right middle toe off in a hunting accident when young. I suspect it kept him from becoming a cop. ------ --- ----- IS the man who fired the fatal shot. He was a National Guard Reservist.

My grandmother bragged about having Bannister in her home for supper with "Bubba" and bragged, on November 22, '63, that Uncle Bubba had a hand in what happened in Dallas, claiming I should be proud of him. I have no proof that he was even in Dallas on that date, but I believe he did live in Texas at the time and my grandmother's behaviour would make no sense at all, unless Uncle Bubba was in Dallas and part of the coup.

I have often felt that Bubba must have been "hired on" in Dallas as only a special position, but he could have been CIA. I have no proof of that. I do have information about him on other cases, elsewhere. There is always DNA for those other cases, if FBI cared to look.

About Hoover, I just can't see him keeping quiet. It is plausible that he gave advice on plans and made suggestions for cover ups. From what I have heard from the Klan in Mississippi, Hoover WAS Klan.

Another point I wanted to make, is that traditionally the south had always voted democratic. But if you consider that Kennedy and Barnett were both Democrats, you can see the vast gulf of difference between national Democrats and the party at state level in the south. Ross Barnett was certainly more a Republican in his views.

Edited January 6, 2013 by Terri Williams

[Michael Hogan]

.....About Hoover, I just can't see him keeping quiet. It is plausible that he gave advice on plans and made suggestions for cover ups. From what I have heard from the Klan in Mississippi, Hoover WAS Klan.

John Drabble is a historian that has published a series of articles and papers on COINTELPRO - WHITE HATE, "the FBI's domestic covert action program against the Ku Klux Klan 1964-1971."

http://cointelprowhi...0&max-results=1

An excerpt from one of Drabble's articles:

The FBI, COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE and the Decline of Ku Klux Klan Organizations in Mississippi, 1964-1971

Introduction

In September 1964, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a highly secretive and extralegal counterintelligence program, known as "COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE." This covert action program sought to "expose, disrupt and otherwise neutralize" Ku Klux Klan groups, whose violent vigilante activities had begun to alarm the nation, and with it, the national government. This article will assess that program's effect on Klan groups in Mississippi, between 1964 and 1971, when the program was exposed. In doing so, it will add an entirely new dimension to the question of how and why an important change in race relations came to one state in the American South during this period.

......To begin this process, I have chosen to trace systematically each documented covert operation used by the FBI against Klan groups and Klansmen in Mississippi, to assess their effects. My research is based primarily upon the COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE file. I also use documents from the MIBURN file, an investigation of the murder of three civil rights activists in Neshoba County in June 1964, as well as FBI intelligence files I obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Additional conclusions are drawn from white supremacist publications I acquired from a number of archival collections.

The COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE operation endeavored to expose and disrupt Klan activities, cause disillusionment, and create factional splits within Klan organizations. It aimed to increase animosity and factional activities among Klansmen, and cause expulsions and defections from the Klans. A careful reading of these sources indicates that COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE operations aggravated factionalism in Mississippi, contributing to the splintering of Mississippi's Klan organizations. They discredited high-ranking Klan officers, many of whom were purged or quit. They brought about resignation, frustration and fear among rank and file Klan members, which, in turn, brought about drastic reductions in the membership rolls and the concurrent disbanding of most of the local Klan units in the state. In combination with criminal prosecutions, this article concludes, COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE vitiated all of the KKK organizations that operated in Mississippi.

For those wanting to read a more complete version of John Drabble's paper, see this post from another Forum thread on the Klan:

http://educationforu...53

[Terri Williams]

.....About Hoover, I just can't see him keeping quiet. It is plausible that he gave advice on plans and made suggestions for cover ups. From what I have heard from the Klan in Mississippi, Hoover WAS Klan.

John Drabble is a historian that has published a series of articles and papers on COINTELPRO - WHITE HATE, "the FBI's domestic covert action program against the Ku Klux Klan 1964-1971."

http://cointelprowhi...0&max-results=1

An excerpt from one of Drabble's articles:

The FBI, COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE and the Decline of Ku Klux Klan Organizations in Mississippi, 1964-1971

Introduction

In September 1964, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a highly secretive and extralegal counterintelligence program, known as "COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE." This covert action program sought to "expose, disrupt and otherwise neutralize" Ku Klux Klan groups, whose violent vigilante activities had begun to alarm the nation, and with it, the national government. This article will assess that program's effect on Klan groups in Mississippi, between 1964 and 1971, when the program was exposed. In doing so, it will add an entirely new dimension to the question of how and why an important change in race relations came to one state in the American South during this period.

......To begin this process, I have chosen to trace systematically each documented covert operation used by the FBI against Klan groups and Klansmen in Mississippi, to assess their effects. My research is based primarily upon the COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE file. I also use documents from the MIBURN file, an investigation of the murder of three civil rights activists in Neshoba County in June 1964, as well as FBI intelligence files I obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Additional conclusions are drawn from white supremacist publications I acquired from a number of archival collections.

The COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE operation endeavored to expose and disrupt Klan activities, cause disillusionment, and create factional splits within Klan organizations. It aimed to increase animosity and factional activities among Klansmen, and cause expulsions and defections from the Klans. A careful reading of these sources indicates that COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE operations aggravated factionalism in Mississippi, contributing to the splintering of Mississippi's Klan organizations. They discredited high-ranking Klan officers, many of whom were purged or quit. They brought about resignation, frustration and fear among rank and file Klan members, which, in turn, brought about drastic reductions in the membership rolls and the concurrent disbanding of most of the local Klan units in the state. In combination with criminal prosecutions, this article concludes, COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE vitiated all of the KKK organizations that operated in Mississippi.

For those wanting to read a more complete version of John Drabble's paper, see this post from another Forum thread on the Klan:

http://educationforu...53

Thanks for the link. I will read it later. Yes there was an investigation into the three civil rights workers who were murdered by the Klan in Neshoba in June of 1964.... and thousands of other murder victims had gone before and after them. My friend, Junior Ransom, was murdered in Terry in August of 1964, but there was and never will be an investigation into his death, even though I know who did it.

I left the south in 1970, but when visiting in the decades afterward, I did see an improvement in the atmosphere of my hometown. By the 80's the white and blacks of Mississippi who had disagreed with the Klans, but had not spoken out in fear of reprisal, began to become unafraid. I was one of those, which is why I was sent away. Blacks were retaliating and it WAS scaring the Klan. I don't know how much effect the FBI had on things, but it was when the blacks started organizing and retaliating that things started to cool off. I still say the FBI WERE Klan, at least the ones with power and position to get away with it. In fact, from what I have seen, most law enforcement are racists, so it does not makes sense that the FBI are so squeaky clean.

Even after the death of JFK, I was still not afraid of the Klan, and was still unaware of the pressure the Klan was putting on my family. It wasn't until after the lynching of my friend that I became afraid. My grandmother had threatened that I would be thrown in the fire too, if I tried to stop what was happening to Junior. She was very much Klan, but her father had not been, although he did not speak out against them openly, out of fear. My great grandfather would have been happy if there had never been any sort of racism. He would have preferred it that way, but his daughter, my grandmother was a fanatic. Her daughter, my mother, was not at all racist and the two of them fought on many occasions. My grandmother even burned the Dr Suess book, 'Star Bellied Sneeches' my mom had sent us, because she felt it was deplorable literature for children, inciting a mixing of races.

My mother had spent time in Whitfield for sitting on the back of the bus. Shock treatment for three months. My grandmother saw to it and was pressured into committing her daughter to the mental facility by the Klan. Also my grandmother wanted to make sure they would not retaliate against the rest of the family.

The Klan was like a trapped snake back then. The world was crushing in on the way of life white Klansmen had built up for well over two centuries. It was the final death nell of the Civil War for the south, integration, blacks voting and ELECTING blacks. It was a very big deal in the south.

Edited January 8, 2013 by Terri Williams

[Paul Trejo]

So Paul, in light of your thinking Terri's "claims have merit", does that mean you think Gabaldon enlisted Terri's uncle?

Ken, to speak of Gabaldon here is topical in my theory, although my theory is anything but settled. Anyway, in my personal view so far, there were so many people involved in the JFK assassination plot that there's plenty of blame to go around.

For example, I accept Harry Dean's claim that Guy Gabaldon was involved in the arm of this plot that reached into Southern California. This is also where Loran Hall and Larry Howard entered the picture. Yet Harry's eye-witness account does not (to the best of my knowledge) extend all the way to Dallas. Harry saw what he reported that he saw -- and the rest of Harry's theory is his own interpretation of events based upon what he could see from his single viewpoint.

I happen to accept Harry's eye-witness account as truth, and I build on that. Yet that doesn't mean that I accept all of Harry's interpretation of events that occurred outside of his eye-witness account. Harry Dean says he saw ex-General Walker and Guy Gabaldon at a secret John Birch Society (and quasi-Minutemen) meeting in September 1963 discussing Lee Harvey Oswald and the future assassination of JFK. I take that as fact. Now, does this mean that Harry's conclusions about Dallas must be correct? Not necessarily, because (to the best of my knowledge) Harry wasn't in Dallas on 22 November 1963. Anything could have happened at that point -- literally anything.

For example, the crew that was supposed to be on the front lines that day might have been held up in traffic, and another crew had to take their place. Jim Garrison thought there had to be at least three crews. Other researchers thought that there were at least five crews. The estimate of the number of shots fired ranges from three to twelve, as I've read them. The truth will be hard to find, but we must start with the ground-crew, in my opinion. That means (to me) that the Dallas players will probably play the leading role.

It is possible (but not certain) that Guy Gabaldon was the leader of only one critical task, namely, management of the patsy. That is what Harry Dean's eye-witness account seems to guarantee. Guy Gabaldon was in direct and close contact with Loran Hall and Larry Howard. We can connect these two with Gerry Patrick Hemming, who confessed to A.J. Weberman that he convinced Lee Harvey Oswald to sell his Manlicher-Carcano rifle for double its going price, and to bring it to work on 22 November 1963, and leave it on the 6th floor for his friend to pick up. I accept that. Since we can connect Hemming directly with Loran Hall and Larry Howard, then I will surmise that Guy Gabaldon managed Hemming's participation, as well. These are tiny roles, but totally necessary for the big picture.

Therefore, it is not necessary for me even to conclude, along with Harry Dean (whom I respect and admire) that Hall and Howard were the JFK shooters. They did their part by managing to manipulate and position Oswald in Mexico and in Dallas. That was what they were ordered to do (as Harry Dean witnessed it) and that is what they did, and if they did any more than that, then we simply have no eye-witness confirmation of that extra work (to the best of my knowledge).

Let's take a moment to reflect, Ken, on our situation today, fifty years after 1963. Now is the time when we might expect the real shooters to come forward to stake their claim to history. There was more than one shooter -- how many were there? Not as "groups" (like the CIA, FBI, Minutemen, KKK, JBS, Mafia, Cubans, etc.) but as individuals? This identification stage has already begun. Aside from Lee Harvey Oswald theorists have proposed the individual names of Roscoe White, James Files, Charles Nicoletti, Loran Hall, Larry Howard, Johnny Roselli, Tony Cuesta, Eladio Del Valle, Herminio Diaz Garcia, even J.D. Tippit and a growing list of others. Who knows where it will end?

What we might surmise about the individual names offered so far is that they were all racists and they were all right-wing fanatics. Terri's description of this person she believes shot JFK matches this profile. Terri proposes that somebody from her childhood (not her uncle) was the shooter and I believe that she is earnest in her proposal. I'm even willing to place this person in Dealey Plaza on 22 November 1962 -- but that doesn't prove that this person fired the fatal shot. There were at least nine expert rifleman in Dealey Plaza that day, and only one of them fired the fatal shot.

Who will it turn out to be? That's the big question today. Roscoe White was an excellent candidate, in my opinion, but his family lost their empirical evidence, so we have no final proof. What we are all waiting for, IMHO, is that final proof of the final shooter -- the Rosetta Stone of the JFK conspiracy theorists.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited January 11, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

John Drabble is a historian that has published a series of articles and papers on COINTELPRO - WHITE HATE, "the FBI's domestic covert action program against the Ku Klux Klan 1964-1971."

...

In September 1964, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a highly secretive and extralegal counterintelligence program, known as "COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE." This covert action program sought to "expose, disrupt and otherwise neutralize" Ku Klux Klan groups, whose violent vigilante activities had begun to alarm the nation, and with it, the national government. ...

Michael, although I agree that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI worked to "neutralize" the KKK in America, we must also consider the other side, namely, that J. Edgar Hoover spent more time and money spying on Martin Luther King, Jr. than any other single American.

We should not conclude that the FBI was a friend to the Civil Rights movement in the USA, simply because they opposed the KKK here and there. We should also bear in mind that JFK and RFK took a public position of condemning the vigilante raids against Cuba, and closed down Minutemen and other vigilante training camps -- while at the same time they continued underground and secret activities against Castro's Cuba.

In other words -- some actions that powerful public figures perform for the Mass Media are strictly intended for public consumption, while privately they may hold different attitudes.

For example, J. Edgar Hoover was a zealous Anticommunist -- and yet he also convinced himself and his followers that the Civil Rights movement -- especially with regard to Negroes -- was part of the Communist movement and the USSR underground. That is, Hoover twisted his Anticommunism to attack the USA Civil Rights movement!

Granted, Hoover might have believed this fantasy in his heart. But the end result was racist business as usual, was it not? Terri's perception that the FBI acted to suppress the rights of black Americans to an equal extent as the KKK did, has real merit in the light of actual history. .

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited January 10, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

...What we might surmise about the individual names offered so far is that they were all racists and they were all right-wing fanatics. Terri's description of this person she believes shot JFK matches this profile...

Having said this, I must remove Lee Harvey Oswald from the line-up on the basis of this characteristic alone. This adds contour to my theory -- it is becoming increasingly clear to me that the perpetrators of plot to kill JFK were motivated by the Brown decision, also known as the 2nd Reconstruction, which comes to a peak with JFK's Civil Rights address of 11 June 1963:

.

This was soon followed by MLK's "I have a dream" speech of 28 August 1963.

The massive right-wing resistance to the 2nd Reconstruction yielded organizations like the White Citizens' Councils (later renamed to Citizens' Councils) which openly called for the impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren for his 1954 decision in Brown v. The Board of Education.

Ex-General Edwin Walker played a vocal role in the Citizens' Councils after his conscience was torn in Arkansas following his obedient fulfillment of Eisenhower's demand to racially integrate Little Rock High in 1957. Walker's politics were increasingly molded by the 2nd Reconstruction, by the Citizerns' Councils, and by segregationist neo-Christian preachers like Dr. Billy James Hargis. All this pressure was heightened by the threat of Communist Cuba, so that new groups like the JBS and the Minutemen sprang up for a new generation.

The paramilitary groups among these rightists became Edwin Walker's new troops after his loss of command over the 24th Infantry Division in Augsburg, Germany in early 1961. Along with Harry Dean, I place my suspicions on Edwin Walker, the Minutemen and their fellow travelers regarding the JFK plot. Our suspicions are confirmed by ATF Agent Frank Ellsworth who told the Warren Commission via the FBI that his evidence pointed directly to "General Walker and the Minutemen."

There is no doubt in my mind that the KKK was a kindred spirit of the Minutemen and joined in the same White Citizens' Council meetings. All of this gives further plausibility to Terri Williams' claim that some KKK member in her family was a Dallas shooter on that fateful day.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited January 11, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Michael Hogan]

John Drabble is a historian that has published a series of articles and papers on COINTELPRO - WHITE HATE, "the FBI's domestic covert action program against the Ku Klux Klan 1964-1971."

...

In September 1964, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a highly secretive and extralegal counterintelligence program, known as "COINTELPRO-WHITE HATE." This covert action program sought to "expose, disrupt and otherwise neutralize" Ku Klux Klan groups, whose violent vigilante activities had begun to alarm the nation, and with it, the national government. ...

Michael, although I agree that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI worked to "neutralize" the KKK in America, we must also consider the other side, namely, that J. Edgar Hoover spent more time and money spying on Martin Luther King, Jr. than any other single American.

We should not conclude that the FBI was a friend to the Civil Rights movement in the USA, simply because they opposed the KKK here and there. We should also bear in mind that JFK and RFK took a public position of condemning the vigilante raids against Cuba, and closed down Minutemen and other vigilante training camps -- while at the same time they continued underground and secret activities against Castro's Cuba.

In other words -- some actions that powerful public figures perform for the Mass Media are strictly intended for public consumption, while privately they may hold different attitudes.

Paul, my post had nothing to do with Hoover's views on Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. Nor did I offer the opinion anywhere that Hoover was a friend of that movement.

For example, J. Edgar Hoover was a zealous Anticommunist -- and yet he also convinced himself and his followers that the Civil Rights movement -- especially with regard to Negroes -- was part of the Communist movement and the USSR underground. That is, Hoover twisted his Anticommunism to attack the USA Civil Rights movement!

Granted, Hoover might have believed this fantasy in his heart. But the end result was racist business as usual, was it not? Terri's perception that the FBI acted to suppress the rights of black Americans to an equal extent as the KKK did, has real merit in the light of actual history. .

Paul, do you believe that Hoover was a member of the Klan? Do you believe he was a Grand Dragon in that organization? Do you believe Hoover WAS Klan?

Those ideas are what my link was addressing. Just curious, did you read Drabble's paper?

[Terri Williams]

...What we might surmise about the individual names offered so far is that they were all racists and they were all right-wing fanatics. Terri's description of this person she believes shot JFK matches this profile...

Having said this, I must remove Lee Harvey Oswald from the line-up on the basis of this characteristic alone. This adds contour to my theory -- it is becoming increasingly clear to me that the perpetrators of plot to kill JFK were motivated by the Brown decision, also known as the 2nd Reconstruction, which comes to a peak with JFK's Civil Rights address of 11 June 1963:

.

This was soon followed by MLK's "I have a dream" speech of 28 August 1963.

The massive right-wing resistance to the 2nd Reconstruction yielded organizations like the White Citizens' Councils (later renamed to Citizens' Councils) which openly called for the impeachment of Chief Justice Earl Warren for his 1954 decision in Brown v. The Board of Education.

Ex-General Edwin Walker played a vocal role in the Citizens' Councils after his conscience was torn in Arkansas following his obedient fulfillment of Eisenhower's demand to racially integrate Little Rock High in 1957. Walker's politics were increasingly molded by the 2nd Reconstruction, by the Citizerns' Councils, and by segregationist neo-Christian preachers like Dr. Billy James Hargis. All this pressure was heightened by the threat of Communist Cuba, so that new groups like the JBS and the Minutemen sprang up for a new generation.

The paramilitary groups among these rightists became Edwin Walker's new troops after his loss of command over the 24th Infantry Division in Augsburg, Germany in early 1961. Along with Harry Dean, I place my suspicions on Edwin Walker, the Minutemen and their fellow travelers regarding the JFK plot. Our suspicions are confirmed by ATF Agent Frank Ellsworth who told the Warren Commission via the FBI that his evidence pointed directly to "General Walker and the Minutemen."

There is no doubt in my mind that the KKK was a kindred spirit of the Minutemen and joined in the same White Citizens' Council meetings. All of this gives further plausibility to Terri Williams' claim that some KKK member in her family was a Dallas shooter on that fateful day.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

The White Citizens' Council was formed out of fear of what might happen to the young white kids if they had to attend school with black kids. New 'Academies' sprang up soon, governed by WCC's, to give white kids a private place to go to school, so that the government had no control. Whites, in the Klans and associated groups and mindsets, were terrified of Blacks having the vote. It was the vote, in the hands of a people who Whites knew they had wronged for a long long time, that frightened Whites. The Whites in power in the South back then did not want to give Blacks the vote. The only way they had maintained power over the centuries, was by inflicting fear, deprivation and the denial of education. The cute little voter registration test that Whites came up with, in response to allowing Blacks the vote.

But if the vote was going to be given to Blacks, Whites prepared to avoid the inevitable possibility integration opened up. Not only was integration giving Blacks the right to vote at long last, it also presented the possibility that young Whites might "mix" with Blacks, THAT was the biggest fear, Mixing of the Races. That's when Terry Academy, a private school for whites only, was started, I believe. Sometime in the '60's, "Whites Only" schools began to spring up around the south.

"the perpetrators of plot to kill JFK were motivated by the Brown decision, also known as the 2nd Reconstruction, which comes to a peak with JFK's Civil Rights address of 11 June 1963 & MLK's "I have a dream" speech of 28 August 1963, the White Citizens' Councils, groups like the JBS and the Minutemen sprang up for a new generation"

Oh Yes! All of those events created waves of anger throughout the south. Bannister started coming to town, rallies were held quite frequently, the atmosphere in Terry was charged with excitement, anger, righteousness and malice. The scent of blood was in the air as Blacks were used as 'mascots' in the preparations.

The Minutemen were controlled by Klan, at least the branch in the 'South'. There might be a few that were not in the Klan, but they must have known not to step out of line, given what they might also have participated in or knew of. Like I said before, the three civil rights workers who were murdered, were not the first nor the last. In fact, in my hometown, it was acceptable to say there had been only "two" civil rights' workers who were murdered. As far as people like my grandmother were concerned, the big deal was made over the whole affair because of the two white people murdered. Blacks were murdered all the time back then and no one made a big deal about that, so when speaking on the subject of the murdered civil rights' workers, in my hometown, it was always referred to as "the Two Civil Rights' Workers", not three.

I am not as well versed on evidence as other members of this forum, I only know the subject from the view point of someone who lived in the south at that time, where there seems to have been a different reaction to the death of JFK, MLK & RFK than in the rest of the country, possibly world. There was a different mindset in the south in 1963 (and earlier) than there was in the North. I had come from the North (New York) in July of 1963, so I know for a fact that the mindset of the people in the North, for he most part, was quite opposite to that of the mindset in the South. It was quite a startling contrast.

The differences really stood out, the segregation, the disrespect for Blacks, but what stood out the most was the hatred southerners felt for Kennedy. In the North, Kennedy was well loved and admired for his courage, but in the South, he was most righteously (in the White mindset) despised. The Whites had a Cause: to maintain power in the South, possibly even in the White House. They did not want to give up power and face changes to their way of life. That's what seemed to have driven the people of my hometown during that time period. In the end, things did change there and they have had to accept the inevitable. There are fewer KKK members in the south now, but there seems to be more in other part of the country, even in Canada, now.

Some of the members from my hometown moved Northwest. My uncle lived out his days on the west coast. He traveled the Pacific Northwest, through Canada into Alaska, throughout his life. He is dead now.

Racism is not dead, though, nor are the groups that sponsor such hatred, quashed.

[Paul Trejo]

Paul, my post had nothing to do with Hoover's views on Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. Nor did I offer the opinion anywhere that Hoover was a friend of that movement.

That's quite correct, Michael. You did not suggest that Hoover was a friend of Civil Rights, but Drabble's article might be interpreted as an Either/Or proposition -- i.e. "one is either 100% for the KKK or 100% against the KKK and there is no middle ground." Yet reality tends to suggest shades of grey.

Paul, do you believe that Hoover was a member of the Klan? Do you believe he was a Grand Dragon in that organization? Do you believe Hoover WAS Klan?

Those ideas are what my link was addressing. Just curious, did you read Drabble's paper?

Michael, I don't believe Hoover was a member of the Klan. I don't believe that Hoover was a Grand Dragon in the Klan.

As for Terri's hyperbole that Hoover was the Klan, I take that as intended, IMHO, when I take it as hyperbole.

Also, I did read Drabble's paper, and found it interesting and valuable. It's a triumphant article, claiming total victory over the Klan in Mississippi. According to Drabble, if it weren't for the FBI, the Klan would have been much, much worse than it is, i.e. it would have been united and enormous.

That is speculation. Drabble provides (as far as I can see) no social statistics to demonstrate his claims. Drabble succeeds in showing that a long-term, well-funded FBI program of infiltrating the KKK did take place in the 1960's. After the 1960's, to the best of my knowledge, Civil Rights workers were no longer murdered with impunity in Mississippi -- and so one may tend to agree with the conclusions suggested by Drabble.

Or not. I remember in the late 1970's, when I lived in Hollywood, California, we saw a local news story about a mixed-race couple who were shot in broad daylight in a public park. The perpetrator exclaimed to the Press, "My name is ____ and I'm against race-mixing and communism!" So the KKK fire may have dissipated in the 1960's, but it was not extinguished, and might even have spread beyond Mississippi.

My original point is that J. Edgar Hoover, while bringing the KKK under control in Mississippi, nevertheless spent more FBI time and money spying on Martin Luther King, Jr. than any other American. Every activity of MLK's life was taped and photographed by the FBI. IMHO that is comparable to the actions of the KKK. From this viewpoint, Hoover seemed only to demand a higher role than the Grand Dragon in monitoring and controlling black Americans.

As it turns out, MLK, like JFK, had a weakness for women. So J. Edgar Hoover kept a photo-library of MLK's liaisons (just as he kept a photo-library of JFK's liaisons) and he tried to bribe the King family (just as he tried to bribe the Kennedy family) with threats to publish these photographs.

One might grant that spying and blackmail are at least more genteel than lynching. On that point, I'm willing to agree.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited January 12, 2013 by Paul Trejo

[Terri Williams]

Michael, I don't believe Hoover was a member of the Klan. I don't believe that Hoover was a Grand Dragon in the Klan.

As for Terri's hyperbole that Hoover was the Klan, I take that as intended, IMHO, when I take it as hyperbole.

I never said I know for a fact that Hoover was a Klansmen, but I did hear the Klan in my hometown make the claim. Maybe it was hyperbole on their part. However, if FBI DID infiltrate, not join, the Klan, they would have known about the man across the road from me. Why then was he never busted? Unless of course it is more "hyperbole", which I assure you, it is not. I will always know and say, FOR A FACT, that ______ ___ _____ killed JFK, no matter who else is capable of discerning the truth.

You state that Hoover spent great deals of money chasing MLK around for dirt. That tactic sounds Klan to me. Hoover was no friend of JFK or RFK. Why? Because RFK was going after the Mafia, which Hoover claimed did not exist? It seems to me that Hoover was really good at overlooking fact.... or he had ulterior motives, payoffs. If he would climb into bed with the Mafia, why would it be so far fetched to think he was also a Klansmen? He certainly used a lot of money to blackmail, which was another Klan tactic that was used against "enemies" with money and power. Hoover Blackmailed the Kennedy's & Martin Luther King Jr.

What is it that a squeaky clean FBI agent would do with evidence of blackmail? Please, it is hyperbole to think the FBI are such champions against crime. Hoover never solved the crime and it was a crime that the president was shot.... and killed. Hoover never did anything about it. Not much of an investigator, even with all his "infiltrating".

As for busting the Klan in Mississippi in their chops, what year did that happen exactly? The Klan are very much like snakes. You don't see them, are lucky if you hear them and better be two steps ahead if your hunting them.

Edited January 12, 2013 by Terri Williams

[Terry Adams]

Terri,

Is there any way, without putting yourself in physical danger, that you can find hard evidence about this person and his involvement in the assassination. I know that some, myself included, felt that Gerry Hemming had a part in it, but he never indicated that he was. You are the first that has come on the forum and said that you "know" who the shooter was. I am asking, while making every effort not to be pointedly ignorant, can you find anything to help in bringing the killer(s) to justice, albeit posthumously?

[Paul Trejo]

...If the FBI DID infiltrate, not join, the Klan, they would have known about the man across the road from me. Why then was he never busted? Unless of course it is more "hyperbole", which I assure you, it is not. I will always know and say, FOR A FACT, that ______ ___ _____ killed JFK, no matter who else is capable of discerning the truth.

You state that Hoover spent great deals of money chasing MLK around for dirt. That tactic sounds Klan to me.

...If [Hoover] would climb into bed with the Mafia, why would it be so far fetched to think he was also a Klansmen? ... Blackmail...was another Klan tactic...

What is it that a squeaky clean FBI agent would do with evidence of blackmail? Please, it is hyperbole to think the FBI are such champions against crime...

Terri, I think your points are hitting home with many researchers here. Hoover has long been a suspect by many researchers. As for the FBI, they are only human, after all, and some of them even vote on the extreme right. We can probably expect most FBI agents to be right-wing. For example, James Hosty, the FBI agent assigned to monitor Lee Harvey Oswald, was also a bridge partner with Nazi publisher Robert Allen Surrey. Now, one might argue that Hosty was spying on Surrey during these bridge games -- or not.

In other words, it is entirely possible and plausible to claim that people in the FBI could also be sympathetic to the goals of the KKK. They might disagree with some KKK tactics (i.e. lynching) but they might agree with other KKK tactics (i.e. spying and blackmail).

You mention the link between Hoover and the Mafia, and you ask whether a person linked to the Mafia could also be linked to the KKK. Of course it's possible, but sociologically it wasn't common because Mafia folks tend to be Catholic while KKK people tend to be White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP). Naturally there would be "intermarriage" here and there. But for the most part, a person was either one or the other and not both.

One might argue that Hoover kept his connections with the Mafia and resisted prosecuting them because in this way he could monitor them more closely (like Hosty monitoring Surrey). Or not. It is also possible that Hoover became corrupt after so many generations of associating with hoodlums.

The critics in your thread, Terri, seem to insist on making fine-point distinctions between the enemies of JFK. The KKK is not the FBI is not the Mafia. Hoover was not a member of the KKK (unless somebody has proof). For example, Michael points out the research done by John Drabble about COINTELPRO-White Hate, an FBI domestic spying program against the KKK from 1964 to 1971. Hoover probably wouldn't infiltrate the KKK if he was a member of the KKK (although one can imagine a TV-drama showing Hoover the Grand Dragon sending the FBI to pretend to infiltrate the KKK, to fool the American public).

Yet other researchers will be quick to remind them that the FBI used the Mafia to do dirty work at times (just as the CIA used the foreign Mafia in foreign lands to do dirty work at times). When something less-than-legal has to be done, the Mafia can be effective contractors -- as the story goes.

As for the KKK, which is your own circle of expertise, Terri, based on your personal experience, I think JFK researchers have tended to neglect the KKK. The Warren Commission neglected any KKK investigation. Jim Garrison neglected a KKK investigation. The HSCA neglected a KKK investigation. One might argue that they all neglected the KKK because they had no evidence to work with. One might also argue that they all neglected the KKK because the KKK is simply that clever -- after all, it has been 50 years and the Case is still open.

My own research tends to circle around ex-General Edwin Walker, the JBS and the Minutemen. Yet the more I research these elements, the more connections I find with something called the White Citizens' Councils. And the more I look into the White Citizens' Councils, the more I find the hand of the KKK.

So, Terri, I must admit that you have my attention. Any details you can provide about this new turn in JFK research would be most welcome, IMHO.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

<edit typos>

Edited January 13, 2013 by Paul Trejo