What is disinformation in the JFK case?

[Robert Harper]

Merriam’s dictionary defines disinformation as:  false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth.

In 1939, a writer describing Nazi intelligence activities noted, "The mood of national suspicion prevalent during the last decade ... is well illustrated by General Krivitsky's account of the German 'Disinformation Service,' engaged in manufacturing fake military plans for the express purpose of having them stolen by foreign governments.

 Although the Nazis were accused of using disinformation back in the 1930s, the noun and the practice are most often associated with the Soviet KGB. Many people think "disinformation" is a literal translation of the Russian "dezinformatsiya," which means "misinformation," a term the KGB allegedly used in the 1950s to name a department created to dispense propaganda.

 A recent usage appeared in The New York Times when it reported this year that members of the Myanmar military organized systematic disinformation campaign to demonize the country's Muslim Rohingya minority group.

The words initial usage – and what seems to be considered its present usage – involves an element of deception. It is different than say, the “gray propaganda” Bill Simpich wrote about, or the “limited hang-out” from CIA Watergate days.

The following passage I encountered in a book from 1968, Farewell America:

President Kennedy's assassination was the work of magicians. It was a stage trick, complete with accessories and false mirrors, and when the curtain fell the actors, and even the scenery, disappeared.

Now I didn’t understand that thought until many years later. It took me many books to read and re-read to get to the point of seeing the panorama that someone like Salandria – or Castro - understood right away. The context presented by Talbot and Douglass in their books also helped me see the canvas on which the murder was done.

Researcher Michael Chambers stated that James Hepburn in the book Farewell America cited the following information concerning HUNT: HUNT had been in his 7th Floor office in the Mercantile Building and watched JFK ride by his window. After shots range out, HUNT fled Dallas with 6 men and 2 cars.

HUNT fled to Mexico. HUNT stayed in Mexico for about a month at a hideout location.

 Author Laurent Guyenot writes: ... arrangements were made for two French Intelligence operatives to conduct, over a three-year period, a quiet investigation that involved hundreds of interviews in the United States. Their report, replete with innuendo about Lyndon Johnson and right-wing Texas oil barons, was delivered to Bobby Kennedy only months before his own assassination in June of 1968. After Bobby’s death, the last surviving brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, showed no interest in the material. The investigators then hired a French writer by the name of Hervé Lamarr to fashion the material into a book, under the pseudonym of James Hepburn. The book was first published in French under the title L’Amérique brûle, and was translated under the title Farewell America: The Plot to Kill JFK.

In a recent thread, James DiEugenio dismissed this book saying: Vosjoli was the main author of the disinfo tome Farewell America. 

In that thread, I asked Mr DiEugenio: .. this is, I think, the second time you have referred to this book as "disinformation." I didn't understand your first usage, nor this one. I have the book, published in Belgium in 1968, and it says on the jacket that the author - James Hepburn - is a PhD in Economics, who met RFK, and put this book together "with the assistance of various European and American specialists." The book is well written, and in sync with other non-Warren Commission authors like Lane, Meagher, Salandria, Jones, Joetsen etc. He mentions attempts in Chicago and Miami; He quotes Dwight MacDonald and the need for scepticism about reported facts. He frequently quotes JFK's speeches on moderation and peace. (A footnote on one page enlightened the reader that the FBI could only arrest a suspect if it was thought a conspiracy had taken place; otherwise, it was Texas law enforcers in charge. Such was changed later when they made killing a President, a Federal crime) He has a diagram of Dealey Plaza suggesting multiple shooters and covers incompetence and/or corruption, all over the place. The author also wrote one of my favorite sentences on the case: "A secretary whose married boss is planning an amorous weekend in Miami takes more precautions than Ken O'Donnell did for John Kennedy in Dallas." This book looks at Oil money, the Secret service, Texas justice and military interests opposed to JFK. I found few errors of fact. So how - and why - is this called "disinformation?"

Now James is a busy guy and has posted almost 5000 times; I used to think one just had to think a thought and James would reply. However, in this case, he didn’t. So, I wanted to know what other members might understand by the word disinformation and, whether or not Farewell America qualifies as such.

Since an element of deception is implied in the word, I could understand how, say, Epstein’s first book might be considered such since his source was Angelton and he wanted to divert attention to Russia. The book Double Cross, stressing the primacy of the mob, might be another example.

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

 

[Ron Ecker]

The official government story as presented in the Warren Report is disinformation. That is the paramount fact we have to deal with, irrespective of how much disinformation may be found in some books on the assassination. I imagine that books that conclude there was a conspiracy may contain wrong information or a lot of speculation as opposed to being deliberately deceptive. Books supporting the WC are disinformation by definition whether they know it or not.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Ron Ecker

[David Andrews]

The encyclopedic style and lyrical prose used in Farewell America to summarize American political conditions c. 1963 are a smoke-and-mirrors act in themselves.  A kind of seduction for a left-wing audience.  That and the elegiac, pseudo-intellectual tone, for instance dragging in Calvin and de Tocqueville, who would be horrified, from their respective pedestals among the Immortals, to learn of an American coup.

"Laying it on a bit thick," the English say.

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by David Andrews

[Paul Brancato]

I think Jim should present evidence that De Vosjoli was behind this book. 

[Denny Zartman]

Hi Robert,

I haven't read Farewell America yet. Looks like it's out of print. The copies I do see for sale are pretty pricey now, but it appears to be reproduced online here:

Farewell America

I'll definitely check it out. It sounds interesting and your summary appears reasonable.

[Steve Thomas]

3 hours ago, Robert Harper said:

Researcher Michael Chambers stated that James Hepburn in the book Farewell America cited the following information concerning HUNT: HUNT had been in his 7th Floor office in the Mercantile Building and watched JFK ride by his window. After shots range out, HUNT fled Dallas with 6 men and 2 cars.

HUNT fled to Mexico. HUNT stayed in Mexico for about a month at a hideout location.

 

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.

 

This is the second time in two days that I have encountered the idea that H.L. Hunt fled to Mexico after the assassination of JFK.

The other occasion was this passage:

Is There Evidence And Links That Implicate H. L. HUNT in the Assassination Of JFK?

Ralph Thomas·Monday, August 27, 2018

Posted on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/notes/ralph-thomas/is-there-evidence-and-links-that-implicate-h-l-hunt-in-the-assassination-of-jfk/10156538526677350/

 

“Evidence shows that H. L. HUNT fled from Dallas right after the assassination to a hideout ranch in Mexico. Evidence also indicates that GENERAL EDWIN WALKER had joined him there."

"In the new book by JOHN CURINGTON called H.L. Hunt: Motive & Opportunity , CURINGTON confirms a long known rumor that MARINA OSWALD had been delivered to Hunt’s office just days after the assassination. She arrived in a black limousine that had US government tags. What she was doing there is unknown. At this time period, MARINA OSWALD had been under the protective custody of the Secret Service. According to CURINGTON, MARINA OSWALD was in the HUNT offices for some 20 minutes. Since H. L. HUNT had supposed to have been in Mexico, this is somewhat puzzling.”

He offers the possibility that H.L. Hunt snuck back to Dallas covertly, or that Marina met with a different member of the Hunt family.

 

Thomas says that, “Researchers Ted Rubinstein, Michael Chambers, Diane Olson Dowd, Jessica Shores, Gaylon Ross, James Hepburn, John Bevilaqua and Dick Russell have added to the building links and evidence found in this material.”

 

Perhaps, Ralph Thomas got this information from James Hepburn.

 

Steve Thomas

[Paul Brancato]

wrong information is not the same as disinformation, clearly. 

I personally have no knowledge of what Hunt, Walker, de Vosjoli did after the assassination. If Marina did visit Hunt’s offices it doesn’t mean HL was there. I have not read Curington’s new book. Has anyone? He would know where Hunt was. 

I have a copy of Farewell America. Anyone have something they want me to look up let me know. I’m hoping RFK Jr. can join, in some fashion, with the community of truth seekers and try to answer some questions. I certainly have a few, pertaining to what became of his father’s personal effects, letters etc.

[W. Niederhut]

         I don't know if this forum has specifically discussed the history of propaganda in the twentieth century, beginning with Edward Bernays book, Propaganda-- which was, allegedly, Joseph Goebbels favorite book.  Certainly, the Soviets were experts on the subject, as were the American WWII OSS/CIA veterans who seem to have been intimately involved in managing the decades-long disinformazia about JFK's assassination here in the United States.

       I had never read much about the subject-- including Bernays foundational writings -- until after I began to study the JFK assassination research literature a few years ago.

      I noticed that Laurent Guyenot also studied the work of Bernays in the process of writing his book, 50 Years of Deep State-- From JFK to 9/11.

      Understanding the modern "technology" of propaganda and disinformation-- including CIA Operation Mockingbird and its permutations -- seems like a kind of Rosetta Stone for the interpretation of modern U.S. history, as in Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick's,  Untold History of the United States.

[David Andrews]

On archive.org, Farewell America is reproduced up to page 81 - I suspect there's some pages of its Bonjour Tristesse glory missing.

https://archive.org/details/FarewellAmerica/page/n79

Farewell America also available in .pdf on p. 3 of Robert Morrow's kindly uploaded Box of JFK Assassination books:

https://app.box.com/s/8b408e6999f8799dfd0a?page=3

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by David Andrews

[Paul Brancato]

4 hours ago, Steve Thomas said:

This is the second time in two days that I have encountered the idea that H.L. Hunt fled to Mexico after the assassination of JFK.

The other occasion was this passage:

Is There Evidence And Links That Implicate H. L. HUNT in the Assassination Of JFK?

Ralph Thomas·Monday, August 27, 2018

Posted on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/notes/ralph-thomas/is-there-evidence-and-links-that-implicate-h-l-hunt-in-the-assassination-of-jfk/10156538526677350/

 

“Evidence shows that H. L. HUNT fled from Dallas right after the assassination to a hideout ranch in Mexico. Evidence also indicates that GENERAL EDWIN WALKER had joined him there."

"In the new book by JOHN CURINGTON called H.L. Hunt: Motive & Opportunity , CURINGTON confirms a long known rumor that MARINA OSWALD had been delivered to Hunt’s office just days after the assassination. She arrived in a black limousine that had US government tags. What she was doing there is unknown. At this time period, MARINA OSWALD had been under the protective custody of the Secret Service. According to CURINGTON, MARINA OSWALD was in the HUNT offices for some 20 minutes. Since H. L. HUNT had supposed to have been in Mexico, this is somewhat puzzling.”

He offers the possibility that H.L. Hunt snuck back to Dallas covertly, or that Marina met with a different member of the Hunt family.

 

Thomas says that, “Researchers Ted Rubinstein, Michael Chambers, Diane Olson Dowd, Jessica Shores, Gaylon Ross, James Hepburn, John Bevilaqua and Dick Russell have added to the building links and evidence found in this material.”

 

Perhaps, Ralph Thomas got this information from James Hepburn.

 

Steve Thomas

I’ve ourchased Curington’s book on kindle and read some. He never says anything about Hunt going out of town, and although he was not in the room, he was in the lobby when Marina was dropped off by black limo and went up the elevator. He surmises that Marina and Hunt met, and that it was probably an offer of sympathy from Hunt to Marina which may have included cash. He does however state that Hunt inquired of him what the security around Oswald was like, and that Hunt spoke with Dallas crime boss Joe Civello on nov. 23.  

[Guest]

The disinformation card is played regularly within the UFO community - and what do you know, there actually have been some genuine government disinformation efforts.  Google Richard Doty and Paul Bennewitz and you'll get the idea.  As I said on another thread, however, typically the disinformation card is simply the last refuge of a zealot who sees his own theories crumbling before his eyes.  It's just a last-ditch attempt, a form of ad hominem attack,  to cast doubt on someone who is making you look silly.

My understanding of disinformation is an intentional effort (1) to sow confusion, steer researchers down blind alleys to prevent them from getting at some truth that the disinformation agent wants to conceal, or steer them away from that truth when they get too close; (2) to make their efforts look ridiculous in the eyes of the public; or (3) simply to observe their methods of dealing with the disinformation.  All of these purposes have been demonstrated or strongly suspected within the UFO community.

Simply being wrong in your analysis and interpretation of the evidence  isn't disinformation.  Strongly opposing someone else's theory isn't disinformation.  I don't know enough about Farewell America to comment intelligently, but my guess would be that to call it a "disinformation tome" would be a careless and illegitimate use of that characterization.  Who was the disinformation agent and what was the objective?

I can see how the conspiracy community might regard the Warren Report as containing "disinformation."  There was unquestionably a motivation to downplay any association between Oswald and the Russians or Cubans and any role of the Russians or Cubans in the assassination.  So that fits item (1) above - which doesn't necessarily mean the entire Warren Report was disinformation or its conclusions were wrong.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Guest

[Jake Hammond]

It comes back to the wider issue of ' what conversations were had'. Thats what we're really trying to find out here. Not even what happened but what was the exact intent and what words were used to action that intent and by whom.  Disinformation IMO is deliberate. The WC covering things up is not disinformation, its the publishing of incorrect information. The CIA's top boys sitting around a table smoking cigars and talking about how to throw red herrings in and who to persuade to make up a story.... thats disinfo. 

 

[Ron Bulman]

When witnesses testimony or statements are changed by the FBI or the Warren Commission itself to me that's disinfo.  So is moving the back wound up.  Posner and Bugliosi, among others, ignoring facts they have to know (they're not That ignorant) that are relevant to the info they are presenting is also disinfo.  Discrediting researchers and writers per the instructions the CIA came up with in 1967 (?) for it's agents to suggest to journalists is disinfo, IMO.

[Cory Santos]

I suppose because I represent the Lear family, am a former government attorney and proudly am a member of the FBI Infragard that I must be a disinformation agent?  I dont see much of a definition for this.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Cory Santos

[James DiEugenio]

Since  my name has come up here, let me reply.

First, according to Joan Mellen's well documented book Our Man In Haiti, H L Hunt went to Washington not Mexico after the assassination. (p. 345)  This was at the request of employee Paul Rothermel.  He stayed at the Mayflower Hotel.

That book is worth reading just for the appendix she has on HL Hunt and the CIA.  For Rothermel turned out to be a CIA asset who later regaled researchers with tales about the Hunts and the JFK case.

Secondly, for about the ninth time: Does anyone read my books?  I do put a lot of work into them and you will find information there you will not find anywhere else.  I understand there are so many crappy books out there that the market is glutted with baloney.  But still, if you know me I am not that kind of writer.

At the end of Chapter 12, of Destiny Betrayed, second edition, i spend about seven pages on Boxley/Wood.  In those pages, I discuss the genesis of Farewell America.  Harold Weisberg did some of the most remarkable work I have ever seen done by one researcher on its ostensible writer Hepburn/Lamarr.  Weisberg tracked Lamarr everywhere he went because he was very suspicious of him and his sources.  He found out that one of the guys he worked with in America was, presto, CIA agent, Boxley.  As Harold accumulated more and more information about that book, he began to coordinate the info with the sources.  He then turned over his file to Garrison and Ivon.  At the top of the file was the name Philippe de Vosjoli. In my book I describe the final encounter between Garrison, Ivon and Lamarr.

When I read this file many years ago, I did not know who this guy was.  But in reading Mangold's book on Angleton I did find out who he was.  Then  i understood why the book was composed the way it was, accusing the Hunt family specifically.  I also understood why Lamarr would not tell Garrison who his sources were, since Weisberg had found out who they really were.  And they were not from French Intelligence. (See Destiny Betrayed, pp 281-83)