Hugh McDonald

[Alan Espy]

I know this has been discussed somewhat before but I can't find it. One of the earliest conspiracy books I read was Hugh McDonald's book, which I believe was called Appointment in Dallas. In it he claimed to have met with Saul, the actual triggerman. This book was the first to arouse my curiosity on the subject.

Why did McDonal'd book not cause a bigger stir? He seemed to have impeccable credentials and wrote his book before there was "real money" in writing about conspiracy theories. Were there any grounds ever advanced to discredit McDonald and his motives? Just curious about this.

[William Kelly]

I know this has been discussed somewhat before but I can't find it. One of the earliest conspiracy books I read was Hugh McDonald's book, which I believe was called Appointment in Dallas. In it he claimed to have met with Saul, the actual triggerman. This book was the first to arouse my curiosity on the subject.

Why did McDonal'd book not cause a bigger stir? He seemed to have impeccable credentials and wrote his book before there was "real money" in writing about conspiracy theories. Were there any grounds ever advanced to discredit McDonald and his motives? Just curious about this.

Like Peter Noyes' Legacy of Doubt and The Man on the Grassy Knoll, McDonald's books, and there were a few, were strictly pulp paperback, and not published in hardbound.

McDonald was a cop and security specialist, I think for Goldwater for awhile, and his tale of meeting Saul in London and Saul confessing to being an assassin AND the mystery man in Mexico City, sure makes good for True Detective but falls short of real journalism and history.

Just my opinion, in answer to your question.

Others might know more.

BK

[Larry Hancock]

Alan, McDonald's second book went a great deal further than the first - in it he specifically identified Russia and certain senior Soviets as being behing the plot. He also discussed exactly how and where they recruited VP Johnson as part of the plot. McDonald provided documents to support that as well as cited specific source names.

All this detail may not have gotten much public attention but it got an immense amount of attention from the CIA, espcially because of his claims about his services to them and his contacts there.

Run a NARA search on he and his books and spend a while browsing what their internal memos reveal about his connections and relationship.

It would be a fascinating thing to know exactly who was feeding him his information and with what purpose. It has all the feel of....well a certain senior counter intelligence CIA officer comes to mind. If so it wouldn't have been his first such disinformation exercise...

-- Larry

[James Richards]

This document may be of some interest.

FWIW.

James

[Larry Hancock]

James may have additional info on his clearance but it should be pointed out that McDonald did have an ongoing relationship with CIA for some period because they were interested in his patented "Identikit" product. He was a full time law enforcement officer.

That relationship fell apart pretty quickly once he started writing books on JFK.

As I mentioned, a scan on the NARA site will produce a host of documents on McDonald and much can be learned even from the cover sheets and descriptions.

[John Simkin]

Alan, McDonald's second book went a great deal further than the first - in it he specifically identified Russia and certain senior Soviets as being behing the plot. He also discussed exactly how and where they recruited VP Johnson as part of the plot. McDonald provided documents to support that as well as cited specific source names.

I agree. In 1963 McDonald was Division Chief, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. According to McDonald, he was "frequently granted leave to be of service to several government agencies". It was while he was on one of these jobs, Head of Security for Barry Goldwater, that he employed former ex-CIA agent, Herman Kimsey.

Soon afterwards, Kimsey told McDonald the story about Saul (Georgi Visko). Kimsey claimed that John F. Kennedy was killed on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev. The operation was planned by the KGB. Saul and Lee Harvey Oswald were both recruited to fire at Kennedy. Oswald was told to miss on purpose whereas Saul's job was to kill Kennedy. McDonald claims he interviewed Saul who backed-up this story. His book about the assassination, Appointment in Dallas, was published in 1975.

After the publication of the book, McDonald was contacted by Anatoli Cherenkov of the KGB. Cherenkov claims that Mikhail Tsymbal (KGB chief in Paris) had a meeting with Lyndon B. Johnson in Helsinki, Finland, in the summer of 1963. At this meeting LBJ was told that John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy, intended to have him prosecuted over the Bobby Baker affair. In order to save himself from being sent to prison, LBJ is told he will have to cover-up the assassination of Kennedy. According to Cherenkov, Johnson agreed to these demands. An account of this meeting appeared in LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy (1978).

Some of this story is true. For example, Robert Kennedy was leaking information about LBJ and the Bobby Baker scandal to John Williams, who in turn was giving it to Republican members of the Senate Rules Committee. This was an investigation that was closed down by LBJ after he became president.

To me Hugh McDonald's book is a CIA disinformation exercise. It is no coincidence that they selected McDonald for the task. He worked for Goldwater and right-wing Republicans wanted to implicate the Soviets and LBJ in the conspiracy.

Recently I received a batch of documents and articles from a CIA source suggesting that LBJ was involved in the assassination of JFK. As I have argued on another thread, in my opinion, the real conspirators, also planted evidence to implicate LBJ in the assassination.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2310

You will find a biography of Hugh McDonald here:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmcdonaldH.htm

[Pat Speer]

Alan, McDonald's second book went a great deal further than the first - in it he specifically identified Russia and certain senior Soviets as being behing the plot. He also discussed exactly how and where they recruited VP Johnson as part of the plot. McDonald provided documents to support that as well as cited specific source names.

I agree. In 1963 McDonald was Division Chief, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. According to McDonald, he was "frequently granted leave to be of service to several government agencies". It was while he was on one of these jobs, Head of Security for Barry Goldwater, that he employed former ex-CIA agent, Herman Kimsey.

Soon afterwards, Kimsey told McDonald the story about Saul (Georgi Visko). Kimsey claimed that John F. Kennedy was killed on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev. The operation was planned by the KGB. Saul and Lee Harvey Oswald were both recruited to fire at Kennedy. Oswald was told to miss on purpose whereas Saul's job was to kill Kennedy. McDonald claims he interviewed Saul who backed-up this story. His book about the assassination, Appointment in Dallas, was published in 1975.

After the publication of the book, McDonald was contacted by Anatoli Cherenkov of the KGB. Cherenkov claims that Mikhail Tsymbal (KGB chief in Paris) had a meeting with Lyndon B. Johnson in Helsinki, Finland, in the summer of 1963. At this meeting LBJ was told that John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert Kennedy, intended to have him prosecuted over the Bobby Baker affair. In order to save himself from being sent to prison, LBJ is told he will have to cover-up the assassination of Kennedy. According to Cherenkov, Johnson agreed to these demands. An account of this meeting appeared in LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy (1978).

Some of this story is true. For example, Robert Kennedy was leaking information about LBJ and the Bobby Baker scandal to John Williams, who in turn was giving it to Republican members of the Senate Rules Committee. This was an investigation that was closed down by LBJ after he became president.

To me Hugh McDonald's book is a CIA disinformation exercise. It is no coincidence that they selected McDonald for the task. He worked for Goldwater and right-wing Republicans wanted to implicate the Soviets and LBJ in the conspiracy.

Recently I received a batch of documents and articles from a CIA source suggesting that LBJ was involved in the assassination of JFK. As I have argued on another thread, in my opinion, the real conspirators, also planted evidence to implicate LBJ in the assassination.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2310

You will find a biography of Hugh McDonald here:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmcdonaldH.htm

McDonald's second book was co-written with Robin Moore of French Connection and Green Berets fame. I believe he is still alive. If so, he ought to have some interesting stories to tell.