Robert Harper

When I read the books Murder in the Vatican and In God's Name about the likely murder of the one month Pope - John Paul - who was investigating the BCCI/Calvi scandal, I thought of Kilgallen's death which mirrored his. I don't know whether she - or the Pope - would have been able to "blow the case wide open" but it seems each was on to something very pertinent and each was presented in death in ways at odds with how they lived.

One of the best synopses of the case I've read. Surprisingly (for an MD anyway) it reads clearly and succinctly with no wasted words or confusing tics in the narrative. The personal side of it adds a dimension missing from many accounts. Not long ago I finished Joan Mellen's book on the USS Liberty and her account of Captain McGonagle's submission to the ordered narrative is as distressing as that of Admiral Burke's fall on the sword. What about all the stuff we learned about the Nuremberg Trials and the obligation to act with one's conscience? Whistle-blowers of war crimes are still imprisoned and bureaucratic loyalty seems to be higher than that to the country itself. If anything is missing from the essay, I think it is David Lipton's observations in his book Best Evidence. Doug Horne's volume on Bethesda certainly drew from this, and I think history will show that the young UCLA student who sensed a trick at the hospital and then pursued that instinct as he wrote the book, will stand as a principal in the case. When I first read his book, I thought it was either the nuttiest thing written up to that point or one of the most important books of the past half century. At the time, I thought the former might be the case; I'm now convinced it was the latter.

It has taken me awhile to come to the realization of this referenced article that such was the case. I recently read Douglas Valentine's book, The CIA as organized crime, which doesn't hold back any punches. His earlier books--The Strength of the Wolf and the Phoenix Program prepared me for a scholarly and researched examination, and he doesn't disappoint. These OSS guys were from corporate law firms and they all had the killer instinct restricted by the rules of the judicial system. Having a taste of having no rules, unlimited budget and scope, and the use of violence, freed their inner devil, and they loved it. It is antithetical to the formation of America and a pistol packed conglomerate whose only purpose seems to be the same they practiced in civilian life only this time they could use "plausible deniability" and "national security" as shields to go along with their swords. It is a sickening back door way to control the population and it remains a blight on the "American Experiment."

I was just out of High School, heading to college in the Fall. A few of us joined the crowd in Central Park. The word was out to "wear white" and while I might have had a white shirt on, a friend came in a white linen suit with a tie, scarf, shoes and hat, all white.There were 3 large TV screens placed on a triangular base and each of the 3 networks had their own screen. We watched Walter Cronkite. Various booths were selling "moon burgers" and, of course, the atmosphere was festive with little police presence and over 50,000 people. Later that summer, my white suited friend and my older brother attended Woodstock and in the Fall, the big march against the Vietnam War occurred in midtown. "This magic moment" - as the Drifters and Jay and the Americans sang - was certainly in the air that night, though it continued to fade right up to today.

I have been away from things for a spell, but reading this thread has been a welcome back. Thanks to all for your reviews, thoughts, research and references. Thanks also Joe B. for allowing a good laugh to pop out when describing his snoring co-conspirator. Also, a belated kudos to Jim D. who actually read and wrote about the Bugliosi doorstop. I am able to wade through most things, but I simply couldn't take it. His opening was reminiscent of Manchester's version of the day as well as the b&w film "Four Days" but once he shifts into prosecutor mode--escape screams for attention. I think Stone's work is America's "Guernica" which, like Picasso's work (in b&w, btw) is work which will forever evoke the feelings of horror and dismay for a country. At some future time, someone will write the great JFK play and when that happens, it will be part of all cultures and all historical studies starting at a young age. There are millions of words written about Julius Caesar, and hundreds of thousands by him alone, yet the "truth" of what "Caesar" means will always be evoked through the brilliance of Shakespeare's play. I mentioned in another thread the short play Frame 312 by Keith Reddin. I wrote to him after reading it and just offered my two cents that he pursue 2 more short pieces to make it a trilogy. Maybe such could be a stage springboard until the "Shakespeare version" arises. I often quote the late playwright and actor Sam Shepard, who said that "ideas emerge from plays, not the other way around." My appreciation for Arthur Miller's work is based on precisely such skill. After all, wasn't it one of the Hollywood moguls who said "If you want to send a message, use Western Union?"

Stephen Greenblatt is among the elite of Renaissance scholars, and his works include a very readable bio of Shakespeare, two incisive and penetrating books on self-fashioning and cultural negotiations, and one on the concept of Purgatory which I found so engaging that I ended up eventually visiting Wittenberg to see where Martin Luther lived and taught and where Hamlet went to college. His recent work is called Tyrant and in it, he examines traits in the characterizations of Shakespeare’s plays which depict elements of what makes a tyrant. Usually usurpation of some sort is involved, but Greenblatt emphasizes the inner over the contextual. He never mentions a contemporary politician. I am posting a few segments from the book as well as his use of the word “unspeakable” : Why do large numbers of people knowingly accept being lied to? How does a figure like Richard III or Macbeth ascend to the throne?...Such a disaster Shakespeare suggested could not happen without complicity..His plays suggest that he could best acknowledge the truth-to possess it and not perish of it-through the artifice of fiction or through historical distance… carefully kept at least a full century between himself and the events he depicted. ..the word “politician” for Shakespeare was virtually synonymous with hypocrite: Get thee glass eyes’ rages Lear, And, like a scurvy politician/Seem to see the things thou dost not. In the Henry VI trilogy he depicts a peasant uprising of 1450 led by a Jack Cade who proves himself to be an effective demagogue, the master of voodoo economics…Cade keeps producing demonstrable falsehoods about his origins and making wild claims about the great things he will do and the crowds eagerly swallow them. To be sure, his neighbors know that Cade is a congenital xxxx…Drawing on an indifference to the truth, shamelessness and hyper inflated self-confidence, the loudmouthed demagogue is entering a fantasyland…when the mob having broken through London’s defenses stream into the City…Cade experiences the full flush of triumph: Be it known that I am the broom that must sweep the Court clean of such filth as thou ar.t The horrors of the war epitomize the breakdown of basic values—respect for order, civility and human decency—which paves the way for the tyrant’s rise. Richard III builds on these characteristics in another play of the rise of a tyrant who usurps the crown. Richard has the compulsive desire to dominate. He is pathologically narcissistic and supremely arrogant…He divides the world into winners and losers. The winners arouse his regard insofar as he can use them for his own ends., the losers arouse only his scorn. The public good is something only losers like to talk about. What he likes to talk about is winning. A cynical insider like Queen Margaret knows better. How can tyrants safely govern home, she asks, Unless abroad they purchase great alliance? Dominating others serves to shore up lonely Richard’s damaged self-interest, to ward off the pain of rejection...Exercising power, particularly the kind of power that throws people off balance, reduces his own sense of chaotic disproportionateness, or at least he hopes…He knows what he feels, what he lacks, and what he needs to have(or at least longs to have) in order to experience joy. He is a gifted deceiver: Why I can smile and murder whiles I smile, he says, congratulating himself. One of Richard’s uncanny skills – and in Shakespeare’s view, one of the tyrants most characteristic qualities—is the ability to force his way into the minds of those around him… (who) are drawn irresistibly to normalize what is not normal….Richard is so obviously and grotesquely unqualified for the supreme position of power that they dismiss him from their minds. Their focus is always on someone else until it is too late A succession of murders clears the field of most of the significant impediments, actual or potential to Richard seizing power. But it is striking that Shakespeare does not envisage the tyrant’s climatic accession to the throne as the direct result of violence. Instead it is the consequence of an election. To solicit a popular mandate, Richard conducts a political campaign complete with a fraudulent display of religious piety, the slandering of opponents, and a grossly exaggerated threat to national security....During the play Richard has his scribe backdate an indictment against a friend now enemy.. The whole business is a lie, to cover the extrajudicial murder of one of Richards enemies: Who is so gross That cannot see this palpable device? Yet who so bold but says he sees it not The play does not encourage a rational identification with Richard’s political goal. But it does awaken a certain complicity, the complicity of those who seek vicarious pleasure in the release of pent-up aggression, in the black humor of it all, in the open speaking of the unspeakable.

Sand castle, Texas 2019

Just when I thought I had seen every interview worth seeing, bam. Watching this and learning that Marina's experience was similar to our own has been enlightening. I also caught her mention that she didn't understand the language, but knew "something had happened in the motorcade" and when her host (Mrs Paine) arrived home right after that - before the police came to the house asking if Lee had a rifle - she learned that JFK was dead and that the shots had come....from... the building where Lee works! ....Way ahead of everyone else, the crowd watching saw JFK's head go backwards - Mrs Paine had located the source of the shooting within... minutes?..hours? I read the LaFontaine book but thought some of that had been debunked; I'll spend some time reviewing threads, maybe even look through the book again, but Marina's narrative rang true to me.

Requiescet in pace, Mr. Albarelli. His book A Terrible Mistake was a flesh and blood account of the costs of MKULTRA and evokes a bittersweet accounting of the horror that the Frank Olson family endured. His book Secret Order, on the "synchronicity" of the JFK killing offers a mind bending series of connections, all worth knowing about. I thought of him recently when I came across this You Tube video which I think of as a sort of cocktail mix :JFK/ Nixon/ Forrestal/ Project Paperclip/ Howard Hughes/ Tesla & Trump. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nh69vhSftk

In the FWIW department, the one Hollywood union - the The American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), has the fewest members, and primarily represented, "exotic dancers." When actress Penny Singleton (who had been active in supporting the 1967 strike of the AGVA-represented Rockettes against Radio City Music Hall), was elected president of AGVA in 1969, she became the first woman to be president of an AFL-CIO union. They were regularly investigated for lubricating organized crime's interest in territories. You might recall that Ruby often said he called the union number and discussed "issues" with them with colleagues. I don't think there is any question that he was associated with the City's organized crime structure.

Readers might appreciate knowing that Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez chose his professional name, Martin Sheen, in part as tribute to Bishop Fulton J Sheen who was declared "Blessed" by the Vatican and is on the way , along with Dorothy Day of Catholic Worker fame , to Sainthood. Associated Press June 10 2019 NEW YORK - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is going home. The Catholic Archdiocese of New York said Sunday it’ll cooperate in transferring Sheen’s remains from Manhattan to Peoria, Illinois, after a court ruled Sheen’s niece could bury him there. Sheen, known for his revolutionary radio and TV preaching, has been interred under St. Patrick’s Cathedral’s altar since his 1979 death. Sheen’s niece, Joan Cunningham, argued that burying him in Peoria, where he was ordained 100 years ago, would improve his chances at sainthood.

Right on the button. I find it extremely difficult to include Harriman among the plotters. He offered his Georgetown home to Jackie and his wife objected to some aspect of that stay - too long, not invited etc. - and Harriman wasn't the Iago type. I'm still agnostic about certain individuals - Acheson, Bundy, McCloy, Rockefeller. I'm less agnostic and more persuaded that Angleton, Dulles, and Lemnitzer were.

And whenever such occurs, you can be sure it's the narrative of those to whom he is indebted that he spouts. I doubt he said anything original in his life. Role model for future boot-lickers and sycophants of all kinds.

He was. When I read the start of this thread, I started zipping around and had forgotten these two guys --Salandria and Feldman. Imagine if men of such insight and character had been in charge of the killing. A quote from the links studied: Feldman discussed the case with Salandria on Saturday 23rd November, 1963. Feldman like Salandria, believed Oswald was innocent. Nearly 20 years previously he had published an article on the psychology of assassins entitled The Hero as Assassin . "He has denied his guilt consistently, which no other lone assassin in history had ever done. They usually brag about it." Feldman added: "Look, Oswald will probably be killed. And they'll get a Jew to do it, because they always involve a Jew in these things." Salandria replied: "If Oswald is killed this weekend by a Jew, then we must look for a WASP conspiracy."

Just found this and loved it. LHO needed a respectful person officiating at his funeral and glad that he had it. My impression at the time was that no one would go near the Oswald family and that the burial was in the dark.( TCU - I think - once offered an Honorary degree to JFK and then rescinded the offer; I even think it was set for November 63.) Any personal connection - however removed "by degrees of separation" intensifies when the subject is embedded in your mind, no? Novelist Walker Percy often wrote of moments when one "connects" with a scene depicted on film which was also personally visited; or when one has a picture taken in front of a childhood home - the implication being that one places oneself in time by recognizing a period of time affected between seeing something and being there, or living one place and then returning after living in another. It's an existential moment of sorts--you are newly defined by noting the connection; you can't but help review the passage taken.

When I first encountered David on the Forum, I encountered a pit bull style provoking a defense. Since then, I'd notice airy, erudite and sometimes JD Salingeresque commentary as well as some precision darts of research that made its point. This latest post, with it's appeal to the juncture of thought and emotion, creates a narrative suitably directed at the brain and heart, while leaving the jugular alone. A toast!

I read his book and other articles but never saw this. It's as if a quarter of a century in time only intensified his observations and insights rather than blur any impact through time past. His candor and flow of thought is impressive and his confidence, his feeling of authority based on this confidence, is enabling . Like Bollyn and Griffen and Marshall and others on the 9/11 rigmarole, he "got it" early and got it clearly. Makes one imagine what if there had been an inquiry lead by Salandria? Imagine.. Footfalls echo in the memory towards the path we didn't take into the rose garden. TS Eliot (next day) I should have written "suggested by TS Eliot" instead of leaving the impression he wrote what I "quoted" from memory. The actual lines occur in the opening segment of his haunting Four Quartets: Footfalls echo in the memory / Down the passage which we did not take / Towards the door we never opened / Into the rose garden

I had Yesterday morning I read this thread at the start of another beautiful Spring Dutch day; it chilled me so much I couldn't linger on the Forum and had to try and find warm blood. All these years later, yet it hits its an open target and scores.

Although I followed the OJ case from the start and attended the trial, I never had any interest in the Manson case, wasn't interested in Helter Skelter. This thread opened up yet another can of worms to now dig into, while I slide down the JFK+ rabbit hole. I have been reading Victor Thorn's writings and discovered another few whoppers; he makes a compelling case for Bilary being a CIA construct. Frankly, this made more sense to me than anything they said or did.

Pat--Thanks for this. For a number of years I'd check whether or not Pearson's Vol 2 was published. It was my understanding that his stepson (I erred in referring to him as son in law) had them stashed at U of Texas. I read Vol 1 few years back and was surprised he was so attached to everything--he'd casually note for instance, that he'd just written a speech for Adlai or Johnson; or been contacted by so and so. It's a pretty hefty book covering a decade and I was certainly interested in reading Vol 2. By definition, the diarist is writing to be read, so I don't know how candid he would have been about 1961-1963. The papers sat for over 40 years without publishing and I just found that Harvard has printed Vol 2 in a 2015 copyright. Since his death, his ties to the Mockingbird process has been studied and the stepson - a lawyer who edited the first volume - passed away and let #2 sit in purgatory without readers. I think whoever edited or whoever got the material after the 1974 publication likely altered it, so I'm not springing for this way overdue sibling.

Couldn't not say something to someone, so left this comment on John Barbour's You Tube of today: Speaking mind says: Happy Birthday JFK ! We now know the truth of what happened to you and why it happened. You weren't a shil for special interests, you were against colonialism in all forms, worldwide. You were smart, witty, rarely wasted a sentence in public. You were widely loved and you inspired untold millions of people to reach for happiness--which, as you said, was defined by the Greeks as performing one's ability - whatever it is - at a level of excellence. You were a genuine war hero who dragged a shipmate - with your teeth -for a mile in the sea. Your great June 1963 American Univ Commencement Address will stand with Washington's and Eisenhower's Farewell Address. Presidents who are pure - who are not grifters or shils - remain in our memory because of their character and integrity while performing the work that gave them happiness. We salute you again, Mr President. It has not been the same since.

from the Diaries of Drew Pearson 1949- 1959 Oct 24 1959:...We had dinner with Mickey Cohen,who is hipped on helping his strip-tease friend, Candy Barr, sentenced to fifteen years in a Texas jail for possession of marijuana. Unquestionably, it was too harsh a sentence, but what was in the judge's mind no doubt was the black record of her arrests for prostitution and the pornographic motion picture which is still shown in Tiajuana. I told Mickey that I had taken the matter up carefully with the Governor of Texas, but that the Governor was not going to stick his neck out, especially in view of the picture. Mickey put up quite an elegant plea that a girl has to be forgiven mistakes for youth and that she was only fourteen or fifteen at the time that happened. Of course, I'm inclined to get on my white steed and go charging off for various lost causes, but this is one which I don't enthuse over. The diaries were published after his death by his stepsonTyler Abell in 1973. He spoke of the "staggering amount of words" in the complete diary, yet Volume 2 never came out.

Epoch Times not only gives journalism some of its reputation back, it also offers on its You-Tube site "Declassified"--an anchor named Gina Shakespeare--who not only seems to know the material and speak clearly, she's also quite pleasing on the eye. The reported "Spygate" first and did it masterfully.

Since my ill-thought-out effort to "send Joe Bauer to Dealey Plaza" faded into the mist, I am hopefully rescuing that intent by donating the $100 to the Forum fund. It will serve the purpose intended-- assisting the perception of Dallas, 1963. ( I think the go-fund-me process might be best of all so that people aren't put off by a subscription when they come to the site; unlike paypal it is easier and more versatile to use, imho.)