Hello everyone! I am a new member of this forum and have read with interest the debate about Lyndon B. Johnson's motives in 1960. I think some caution is needed here.
Lyndon B. Johnson isn't exactly one of my favourite politicians. As a matter of fact i think he was the worst president in the US after the war, he was a xxxx, whealer-dealer, blackmailer, war-monger and i don't know what. He was perhaps a murderer too, the information about him, Billie Sol Estes and Malcolm Wallace doesn't smell good. (The Kennedy assassination isn't the only murder in which he is a suspect). And for him the assassination came at a very convenient time, so it is no coincidence he is a suspect. But i am not at all convinced that he was involved. And if we are to conclude that he planned the assasination already in 1960 i think we need either solid evidence about such planning or we must at least be able to exclude other possible motives for his actions.
Many take it for granted that Johnson had "the means and the motives" to carry out and cover up the assassination. I have no problems with the motives, but i am not sure about the means. Many suspect involvement by rogue elements in the CIA, the military or the secret service. But if that is the case, is it so obious that Johnson could conspire with them? The vice president is not the second most powerfull politician in the US, that is why we are having this discussion. The Vice President is not part of the daily decission-making in most US administrations.
It has also been suggested that Johnson was involved in another way: by conspiring with Texas oil millionaires and criminals like Billie Sol Estes and Malcolm Wallace. This theory can't be dismissed, but there are some problems with it. First of all, if Billie Sol Estes' confession is the whole story about the murder we will have a huge "surplus" of information. What about the mobsters who confessed involment both before and after the assassination, all the smoke comming out of New Orleans, Oswald's mysterious trip to Mexico City and more? I may have missed something, but i find it difficult to link this to Estes' confession about what took place. I also think a very good question was raised in an earlier post: If Johnson was involved, why isn't it possible to find evidence against him in CIA and FBI documents? This is very relevant in the Estes-Wallace theory. If Johnson was behind a conspiracy that did not include the FBI or the CIA, why haven't these agencies tried to uncover it? It could clear them from suspicion. Lyndon B. Johnson's legacy would take a heavy beating, but the power structures in Washington would not suffer from it.
So what were Johnson's motives in 1960? It is not easy to rationalize about his actions, we can only speculate. He might have thought that Kennedy would die, or even believe he would be murdered, and therefore see this as a chance to be president. He was cynical enough to make such calculations, but that does not have to mean he was involved in the murder. Another possible reason is that he miscalculated his position as a Vice Precident. He might have thought that the scandals that threatened his carreer in 1963 would not be known if he was vice president, that the White House would protect his secrets because they could threaten the entire administration. It also possible that he thought his abilities as a blackmailaer would secure him more power than VPs usually have. He perhaps even thought he could blackmail Kennedy out of office or compromize him one way or the other to force him to resign. There are many possible reasons for Johnson's actions in 1960, i think we need more solid evidence if we are to believe he planned the assassination already then.