Watergate and the Assassination of JFK

[Shanet Clark]

While there may have been personal reasons for Dean wanting to go into the Watergate, the theory that Dean somehow orchestrated the whole deal is bunkum, most likely designed to punish Dean for his refusing to take the fall.  The Cubans were told they were getting dirt connecting McGovern with Castro while the two phones tapped were not coincidentally both connected to former Hughes employees.  One theory, and I think it's a good one, is that Nixon was worried O'brien would pull an October Surprise on him and reveal the payoffs from Hughes  just before the election.  His ties to Hughes hurt him in 60 and 62 and Nixon was not about to let it happen again.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pat, that is the consensus, you are right. The tasking issue is complex though, John Dean was more powerful within the White House than people thought. He has been shown to have lied in a number of instances; where he said he checked with Haldeman before going forward on the taps...The Larry O'Brien theory of a Hughes file (on Nixon) in the DNC desk is the leading long term theory for the motivation, but the call girl ring, sexual extortion and Dean's personal agenda is the new challenger to the O'Brien theory.

Of course it is eminently germane to the JFK assassination because of the presence of Howard Hunt, McCord, Sturgis, Martinez, Gonzales and Bernard Barker, who has been shown to be the "Secret Service" man behind the fence in Dealey Plaza 11/22/63.....Hunt and McCords priorities were mixed and murky.

[Pat Speer]

I'm convinced that the Hughes/Maheu/O'Brien relationship was the reason for the break-in. Of course, Dean may have tagged on his own agenda once it was a go. The Liddy/Hunt plan to break-in Hank Greenspun's office (with the supposed intent of finding dirt on Muskie) is just too much a coincidence, as Greenspun was probably Maheu's strongest ally.