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CIA assets in JFK's Administration


John Simkin

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Does anyone who know who these gentlemen are? They are important as CIA money was paid to persuade JFK to appoint them to important posts in his administration.

Two other clues.

One was a member of the OSS and closely linked with top figures in the CIA. In 1963 he played an important role in keeping JFK out of the John Profumo scandal. (He is the one wearing a uniform).

The other one was a member of the Republican Party who was one of the largest funders of Richard Nixon's 1960 presidential campaign. After leaving JFK's government he continued to be a major fund raiser for the Republicans.

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Correct, Clarence Douglass Dillon, GOP Secretary of the Treasury under JFK and executive cabinet officer of the Secret Service on 11/22/63.

If you are interested in this angle, it is on my Seminar thread: "was JFK's assassination legal?"

It concerns the possibility of executive sanction due to incapacity, and considers that the Warren Commission report and the contemporaneous Twenty Fifth Amendment to the Constitution both, together, can explain Dallas...

I believe the driver, Mr. GREER, was just following orders when he drove at walking speed through an armed ambush.

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Correct,  Clarence Douglass Dillon, GOP Secretary of the Treasury under JFK and executive cabinet officer of the Secret Service on 11/22/63.

Right. Do you know why the CIA wanted him to be Secretary of the Treasury?

I was shocked to discover that Dillon also played a role in Executive Action.

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Doug Dillon was in the film "executive action" ?

That totally blows my mind.

In the WISE MEN book, Dillon is shown to be Robert Lovett's

choice for treasury when Lovett himself demurred for health

reasons.

What is the CIA connection?

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Doug Dillon was in the film "executive action" ?

That totally blows my mind.

In the WISE MEN book, Dillon is shown to be Robert Lovett's

choice for treasury when Lovett himself demurred for health

reasons.

What is the CIA connection?

Shanet,

I believe the Executive Action John Simkin was referring to was the CIA program for eliminating the leaders of foreign powers found undesirable by the u.s. government.

Some people think it was this killing mechanism that was used to kill President Kennedy.

Some people think that Dillon had to be in place as head of the Secret Service so that he could give the order to pull the body from Parkland Memorial Hospital, as an honest autopsy would be fatal to the plotters' lone gunman scenario.

Some people think that a lot of the old boy OSS/CIA network found their way into the Council on Foreign Relations. These people also believe the CIA was just the strong arm of the CFR, doing its bidding as a kind of invisible government.

Some people know Allen Dulles was a founding member of the CFR in 1921. He was in and out of government for forty years by the time Kennedy was elected president. Important people like Dillon and Lovett were important in government and the CFR.

So where John Simkin uses the term CIA, I prefer the term CFR. If you don't know what I am writing about, maybe it's time you and a lot of other people need to find out.

John

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Is the uniformed man David Bruce?

Very impressive. I have never head David Bruce’s name mentioned in relation to the JFK assassination.

It was while researching Operation Mockingbird that I came across the connection. It all started in 1948 when Frank Wisner was approached to become director of a new organization called the Office of Special Projects. Soon afterwards it was renamed the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC). This became the espionage and counter-intelligence branch of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Wisner had served under Allen Dulles while in Germany at the end of the war. He was well-known as a passionate anti-communist. The organization was actually the brain child of George Kennan and Wisner. It was established after it got the backing of James Forrestal, the Defense Secretary, another passionate anti-communist.

One of the first things that Wisner did as Director of OPC was to create Operation Mockingbird. a program to influence the American media. Wisner recruited Philip Graham (Washington Post) to run the project within the industry. According to Deborah Davis (Katharine the Great): "By the early 1950s, Wisner 'owned' respected members of the New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other communications vehicles."

Wisner also began recruiting old friends into the OPC. These either came from his time working in the New York Stock Exchange or from his time in the OSS. This included Richard Bissell, Tracy Barnes, Desmond FitzGerald and Cord Meyer. Wisner also brought into the group men who were to become important to Operation Mockingbird and other covert operations. This included people like Joseph Alsop, Philip Graham, David Bruce, Clark Clifford, Arthur Schlesinger (was with Wisner in the SOS in Germany), Chips Bohlen, Charles Thayer and Paul Nitze. These became known as the Georgetown crowd. Others linked to this group was George Kennan, Dean Acheson, McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy.

Also a member of the Georgetown crowd was Kim Philby, the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) liaison in Washington. Wisner grew very fond of Philby and was unaware that he was a Soviet spy betraying all his operations to his masters in Moscow. He was eventually exposed by William Harvey, who was very much not part of the Georgetown crowd.

The important thing to remember is that these people were products of their past. While it is true that they all fervent anti-communists they held liberal views on domestic issues (partly as a result of developing their early political views while at university during the depression). They all saw themselves as intellectuals and were repulsed by the racist views held in the Deep South. Most came from the North (although Wisner, the leader of the group had been born in Mississippi). They were mainly supporters of Harry Truman and in 1952 and 1956 tended to favour Adlai Stevenson over Dwight Eisenhower.

J. Edgar Hoover grew increasingly concerned about the power of the OPC. He told Harry Truman that they were like an “American Gestapo”. Hoover began investigating them and found a great deal about what they had got up to in their youth. This included supporting liberal causes in the 1930s. This information was passed to Joseph McCarthy who then tried to use it to oust these figures from the government and the CIA. Those targeted included Cord Meyer, Joseph Alsop, Chips Bohlen, Charles Thayer, Paul Nitze, Dean Acheson and William Bundy.

Of these only Charles Thayer was forced to resign (it concerned a story about his sex life). Wisner was furious with McCarthy and used figures from Operation Mockingbird (Drew Pearson, Edward Murrow, William S. Paley, Joseph Alsop, etc.) to bring him down. Ironically, McCarthy did not know about Alsop’s secret homosexuality. Kim Philby and the KGB did and in 1957 photographs were taken of him in a Moscow hotel with a homosexual agent. What Hoover would have given for that photograph.

Wisner had a mental breakdown after the Hungarian Uprising (these were men with a conscience) and he was replaced by Richard Bissell as head of OPC.

At the beginning of 1960 LBJ was the man chosen as their preferred presidential candidate. Nixon was too closely identified with Eisenhower, a man who had been a great disappointment to them. They had been concerned by his decision to have a summit meeting with Khrushchev in Paris in May, 1960. It was now clear that Khrushchev was willing to negotiate an end to the Cold War. Eisenhower, coming to the end of his time as president, wanted to leave this as his legacy. Bissell decided to undermine the summit by arranging for the U-2 spy plane to go on a mission over the Soviet Union on 1st May, 1960. As this was May Day Soviet airspace was virtually empty and they therefore picked up the U-2 the moment it crossed the border. On 7th May Khrushchev made a speech where he revealed that the U-2 spy plane had been shot down near Sverdlovsk. That put paid to Eisenhower’s peace negotiations.

LBJ was OPC’s original choice as president. However, despite the help given by Graham and other members of Operation Mockingbird, by the summer of 1960 it was clear that LBJ was not going to get the nomination. The strategy had to change. JFK became their candidate.

Dulles already had a close relationship with JFK. This is revealed by an incident that took place on 13th March, 1960. Oatsie Charles and Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, attended a dinner party at JFK’s house in Georgetown. At the end of the meal JFK asked Fleming how he would get rid of Castro. Fleming outlined several different methods.

At 7.45 the next morning, Allen Dulles phoned up Oatsie Charles and asked to be put into contact with Ian Fleming. Dulles said he had heard that Fleming had “developed some interesting ideas of how to deal with Castro” and he wanted to hear them personally.

Bissell asked Joe Alsop to arrange a meeting with JFK. Both men attended a dinner party at Alsop’s house in August. This was followed by several other meetings. Bissell was impressed with JFK. What he liked was his anti-communism. More importantly, he liked the way he intended to deal with it. Bissell told friends that JFK was “action-orientated” and “impatient with bureaucracy”. Bissell was convinced that a JFK presidency would get “quick results”. Bissell, who had supported Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, compared the two men. Whereas Stevenson was Cicero, JFK was Caesar.

However, there were still deals to be done. This is why Philip Graham had his meeting with JFK after he won the nomination. JFK would be given the full support of Operation Mockingbird as long as he took LBJ as his running-mate. They also wanted two of their friends to be given senior posts in his administration. Douglas Dillion as Secretary of the Treasury and David Bruce as Secretary of State. JFK agreed to Dillion but rejected Bruce for this post. Instead he was appointed as Ambassador to London. This was an important post for the CIA to get as Britain was seen as its staunchest ally in its fight against communism.

Although I have yet to find any evidence of this I suspect that Bissell got a third person into the administration. This was McGeorge Bundy as National Security Adviser. He proved to be a Bissell loyalist during the problems over Cuba.

Another Bissell supporter was Chester Bowles. In early 1961 he attempted to persuade JFK to appoint Bissell as Secretary of State. JFK refused saying that Bissell was going to take Allen Dulles job as director of the CIA on 1st July, 1961.

Why did Bissell want Dillon as Secretary of the Treasury? We know that Bissell and Dillon were close friends (they had met while students at Gorton School). Dillon had been a source of information and encouragement while serving as Under Secretary of State in Eisenhower’s administration. He met Lumumba in July, 1960. Dillon came to the conclusion that Lumumba was a communist. He told Bissell about this. A few days later Lumumba’s assassination was discussed at a National Security Council meeting (21st July).

Is it possible that OPC had joined forces with Suite 8F Group. Had LBJ brought these two groups together. They were both groups who cared a great deal about military spending. The Suite 8F Group was also concerned about the Texas oil industry. This included getting federal contracts from the Secretary of the Navy. Take a look at the three people who held this post in JFK and LBJ’s administration: John Connally (January, 1961 – December, 1961), Fred Korth (December, 1961 to November, 1963) and Paul Nitze (November, 1963 to June, 1967). The first two were members of Suite 8F and Nitze was a member of Bissell’s Georgetown crowd.

The other thing that Suite 8F cared about was the Oil Depletion Allowance. Dillon, as Secretary of the Treasury was in a good position to block that move. Dillon was eventually replaced by Henry Hammill Fowler in 1965. He was someone who was at Yale with Bissell. He also worked as assistant general counsel of War Production Board in Germany after the war. He was also a member of the National Security Council. I have yet to discover if Fowler was a member of Bissell’s group but it seems likely and could be further evidence of how the Suite 8F Group and the CIA worked together during the 1960s.

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Good stuff, John. Excellent information.

With intellectuals like Barnes and Fitzgerald, it does make one wonder what their relationship with David Morales was like. Morales not exactly coming from the same social setting.

In fact how Morales was viewed, or indeed what is likely more relevant, is how Morales viewed them; may be a key to putting the assassination together.

Rogue Agency action (and the subsequent funding of such) verses sanctioned operations is an interesting dichotomy. Who really held sway and how that power was utilized to effect policy is a deep chasm indeed.

James

Edited by James Richards
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With intellectuals like Barnes and Fitzgerald, it does make one wonder what their relationship with David Morales was like. Morales not exactly coming from the same social setting.

In fact how Morales was viewed, or indeed what is likely more relevant, is how Morales viewed them; may be a key to putting the assassination together.

Good point. Morales was definitely not part of the Georgetown crowd. Nor was William Harvey. David Atlee Phillips was on the fringes. So was Ted Shackley. They were of course the two men who were linked to Morales.

Frank Wisner, Richard Bissell, Desmond FitzGerald and Tracy Barnes had a very similar attitude to the world. Morales, Hunt and Harvey despised them, seeing them as idealistic amateurs (they held similar views on the Kennedys). Phillips wanted to be associated with the Georgetown group. After all, they had the power. However, he was willing to conspire with Morales, Hunt, etc. when it suited him.

I am convinced that Wisner, Bissel, FitzGerald and Barnes had nothing to do with the assassination. However, I would not be able to say the same thing about Phillips, Morales, Hunt, etc.

FitzGerald was the only CIA Georgetown crowd who survived the Bay of Pigs scandal. One interesting story about FitzGerald. His wife said that he was close to tears when he heard JFK had been assassinated. However, the only time she saw him cry was when he witnessed Ruby kill Oswald. “Now we’ll never know”. FitzGerald told his wife that he thought that the JFK’s assassination was linked to events in Cuba.

FitzGerald liked and respected JFK. He did not feel the same way about Robert Kennedy. FitzGerald complained to his family that throughout 1964 RFK continued to urge him to get rid of Castro. This is why he remained in contact with Cubela until just before he was arrested. FitzGerald was only following orders.

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John, an interesting post.

I agree with Fitzgerald that the assassination was probaly linked to Cuba.

As you know, it is my current position that the assassination was a defensive move by Fidel. The second most probable scenario, IMO, is anti-Castro Cubans did it to get rid of a president they thought was prepared to give Fidel a safe harbor, and to blame a Castroite for the act, to prompt an invasion of Cuba.

I do not believe anyone from the CIA was involved in the assassination but I also believe the CIA caused it by its multiple plots against Castro.

Reminds me of the scene from the 2004 movie Collateral. After the dead body of the drug dealer falls on Will Smith's cab, Smith says to Cruise: "You killed him!" to which Cruise replies: "No, I just shot him. The bullet and the fall killed him."

Well, the CIA just set the plot into operation by its repeated attempts to kill Castro. The CIA was as resonsible for JFK's death, IMO, as if it had pulled the trigger.

So I think JFK, most likely, was killed by pro Castro Cubans--but I admit it could have been anti-Castro Cubans.

Fitzgerald had been warned that Cubela was probably a double agent. He knew his agent Sanchez was in Paris to deliver an assassination weapon to Cubela, at the very moment JFK was killed. Rightly or wrongly, Fitzgerald must have feared that Cubela was a double agent and that his decision to proceed with Cubela cost the President his life.

I believe the phone call from Fitzgerald to RFK indicates RFK, at least, was aware of the Cubela operation. If so, RFK probably had the same concerns Fitzgerald did. RFK was also probably worried that his war on the Mafia could have backfired, costing his brother's life.

As Joseph Trento once commented, how could the CIA kill JFK when it couldn't even kill Castro, even with the help of the mafia? And the answer to why the CIA could not kill Castro was because it failed to share its plans with other branches of our government. Had it done so, it would have learned (from the BNI) that one of its Mafia partners was probably an agent for Castro.

Edited by Tim Gratz
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