Jim DiEugenio’s review of David Talbot’s book Brothers

Myra Bronstein · July 21, 2007

And what can you tell us about Mary Meyer's infamous diary?
Was Mary's assassination timed so that her friend Ann Truitt was gone and therefore unable to retrieve the diary herself?

I am sure that this was the case. In 1963 Ben Bradlee sent Jim Truitt to Tokyo in order to become the Japan bureau chief for Newsweek. This of course meant that Mary Meyer's closest friend, Ann Truitt, would be out of the country. We also know that Ben Bradlee was at this time a CIA asset. For example, see Deborah Davis' book on Katharine Graham, for evidence of this.

On the evening that Mary Meyer was murdered, Ann Truitt phoned Antoinette (Tony) Bradlee and asked her to go and get the diary. Unfortunately, she told her husband, Ben Bradlee about this. Bradlee later recalled what he did after Truitt's phone-call: "We didn't start looking until the next morning, when Tony and I walked around the corner a few blocks to Mary's house. It was locked, as we had expected, but when we got inside, we found Jim Angleton, and to our complete surprise he told us he, too, was looking for Mary's diary."

In 1965 Katharine Graham appointed Bradlee as assistant managing editor of the Washington Post under Alfred Friendly, his former colleague at USIE. Bradlee then recruits Jim Truitt to the Washington Post. However, Bradlee sacks Jim Truitt in 1969. As part of his settlement he took $35,000 on the written condition that he did not write anything for publication about his experiences at the Washington Post that was "in any way derogatory" of the company.

It is worth quoting Deborah Davis in Katharine the Great (1979) for an explanation why Jim Truitt went public with his information about the Meyer murder: "It is only a matter of time, Angleton feels, until Bradlee makes a serious mistake, as he eventually does with the publication of Conversations with Kennedy, in which he mentions that Mary Meyer was murdered, but only in a footnote. A former Post editor named James Truitt is enraged at this; according to Truitt, Bradlee has forced him out of the paper in a particularly nasty fashion, with accusations of mental incompetence, and now Truitt decides to get back at Bradlee by revealing to other newspapers his belief that Bradlee's story on the Cord Meyers in Conversations with Kennedy was not the whole story; that Mary Meyer had been Kennedy's lover and that the day of her murder, James Angleton of the CIA searched her apartment and burned her diary."

Thank you John.

I wonder if the diary was enough of a factor to be a/the motive in her murder.

Peter Janney · July 29, 2007

Let me try to answer some of the question that the members of this panel have raised, based on my research for my book (tentatively entitled Mary's Mosaic).

.

The question has been asked who really was "William L. Mitchell," the alleged assassin of Mary Pinchot Meyer? What we know about Mitchell is that the day after the murder, he went to police in Washington and told them that he believed he passed Mary Meyer on the towpath as he was running east back to Key Bridge and she was walking west toward Fletcher's Boat House. Mitchell told police that a black man (who just happened to fit Ray Crump's description - the man who was charged with the murder) was following her about six hundred feet behind her. Mitchell told police that he ran the towpath regularly, worked at the Pentagon, and was a part time teacher at Georgetown University. Mitchell testified at Crump's murder trial in July, 1965, but his testimony was largely discredtied by Crump's attorney, Dovey Roundtree, Esq. who became a legend after getting Crump acquitted.

Mitchell was listed in the DoD directory in the fall of 1964 as "2nd Lt. William L. Mitchell." But then he disappears from the directory in the winter (1965). He shows up at the trial (July, 1965) and tells reporter Roberta Hornig that he is now a full time teacher in the mathmatics department at Georgetown University (GTU). The only problem with this is that there is no record of any "William L. Mitchell" ever teaching at Georgetown. Leo Damore thoroughly researched this in 1991-2. I again researched it a couple of years ago: there is no record of any "William L. Mitchell" teaching in ANY department at GTU.

Mitchell's place of residence was an apartment at "The Virginian" at 1500 Arlington Blvd. in Arlington, Va. Damore researched this address and found evidence that this was a known CIA safehouse. I followed this up two years ago and two former CIA personnel confirmed that it was indeed an agency safehouse, as were certain teaching appointments at GTU.

In my possession are several hours of tape recorded interviews between Damore and Crump's attorney Dovey Roundtree, Esq. (Award winning author Katie McCabe is now finishing the authorized biography of Dovey Rountree). Both Roundtree and Damore talk about Mitchell and how "convenient" his testimony was, and they both suspected his involvement. Mitchell never returned any of Roundtree's calls before the trial, and Damore could never locate him. So, as a last resort, Damore wrote Mitchell a letter and sent it to his last known address, the address given in the court transcript.

During the very late evening of 3/30/93, "Mitchell" contacted Damore by telephone. The call allegedley lasted more than two hours into the early morning of 3/31/93. At approximately 8:30am on the morning of 3/31/93, Damore called his attorney and good friend Jimmy Smith. Damore started to tell Jimmy about the call and Jimmy started taking notes - 5 pages of them. I have these notes and I have a recorded interview with Attorney Smith going over every detail of his notes.

"Mitchell" told Damore that he had been very impressed with his book Senatorial Priveledge (SP) and what he had uncovered. He wanted to tell Damore what happened but did not want to be the fall guy. "Mitchell" told Damore that he had several aliases, had been a former FBI agent, and then was recruited into the CIA. He had been assigned to surveillance of Mary Meyer right after the Warren Commission had been released. The order then came down to terminate her. There are a number of other details that I do not want share at this point because they are central to my book.

Damore told his attorney that he had taped the call, but I could never find the tapes. I have substaniated however from talking to two of Damore's closest friends that he became quite anxious subsequent to this call in the weeks following because he believed he was being watched.

I have not given up finding the real identity of "William L. Mitchell." But my main military researcher, Roger Charles who won the prestigious Peabody Award for his research with SY Hersch on Abu Ghraib for 60 Minutes II, says the area that Mitchell worked in at the Pentagon was surrounded by other CIA spooks. Charles feels that there is a good case to be make that "Mitchell" was CIA.

Ironically, the last job my father had at the CIA was "Director of Personnel" when he died in 1979.....

Now, let's look at another question: Why was Mary Meyer assassinated (not murdered) ? Mary was killed two weeks after the Warren Commission was released. She bought a paper back condensced version of the WC the day it was released and started reading it. She was furious. She knew it was a complete whitewash, and wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. She told friends that she was thinking seriously of coming out and revealing the truth of what she knew. Allegedley, she confronted Angleton and her former husband Cord about the absurdity of the WC. I think she knew at this point that certain people within the Agency had engineered the assassination. For the future of the CIA, she was definitely a big problem. And she was courageous enough to speak out.

Robert Morrow in his book First Hand Knowledge (Morrow, Robert. First Hand Knowledge. New York: S.P.I. Books, 1992. pp. 274-280) recounts his encounter with another CIA assett who tells him that Mary Meyer has told another CIA wife too many things and that she is trouble. Substaniating this event, I have an account from another CIA official who worked under Richard Helms in the Plans Directorate that they had asked another "helpful" CIA wife to talk to Mary and "settle her down...." in an effort to keep her quiet.

In David Talbott's new book Brothers, the author mentions Bill Walton and how Bobby Kennedy urged him to keep his trip to Russia right after the JFK assassination and take a message to Georgy Bolsholakov. Bobby knew Oswald was just the patsy, and eventually came to believe that the Agency was deeply involved in his brother's demise. Bill Walton was also an artist and a very good friend of Mary Meyer's. He would often escort her to White House social events, knowing full well the affair she was having with JFK. Without going into further details, let's just say that Walton talked to Mary after the assassination and tried to help with her grief.

Mary knew too much. As someone once said, "she knew where all the bodies were buried....." They had to get rid of her because she was too independent and could not be controlled. Think of the trouble she would have caused.

I have not forgot about further comments about Timothy Leary and the CIA and will tackle that one shortly.

Peter Janney · July 29, 2007

I want to say a few things about Mary Pinchot Meyer's diary. I will also say now that earlier this year Ben Bradlee allowed me to interview him for my book and film, having refused to talk about Mary Meyer et al. to any other authors regarding this subject matter. (I have known Ben since I was a child as our families spent much time together). There are details about this interview that I am not willing reveal right now, because I don't want to give it away. But allow me to say this:

First of all, I believe it is a myth that Mary Meyer entrusted her diary to Jim Angleton, should anything "happen" to her. I understand that her good friend Anne Truitt called the Bradlees the night of the murder from Japan saying that "Mary had entrusted her diary to Jim Angleton...." No one has ever asked the question how Anne and Jim Truitt found out about Mary's murder within a couple of hours of Ben Bradlee having gone to the morgue at approximately 6:00pm the evening of the murder. Who called Anne & Jim Truitt to tell that what was going on? I think I know who that was.

Secondly, it wasn't just the diary that was being looked for. Mary had in her possession a lot of "private" letters, some of which were from JFK. All of these papers, including the diary, were given to Jim Angleton. Angleton returned some of the letters to the people who wrote them, one of which was Mary's former lover the artist Ken Noland. Noland told this to author Nina Burleigh in an interview of which I have a copy.

Angleton never destroyed the diary and made at least one and very possibly three copies of it. He showed it to two people that I know of, even after giving back the original to Mary's sister Toni Bradlee. Toni then in the presence of Anne Truitt burned what Angleton gave back to her in her fireplace.

What was in the diary? We may never know exactly, but it was a lot more than just "vague references to Mary's affair with JFK." After JFK was assassinated, it is pretty clear that Mary was very upset. I dare say she used her diary to write about a lot of things, and certainly what she was finding out. We know for sure now from David Talbott that Bill Walton, who was a dear friend of Mary's and who would escourt her to White House social functions so that she and JFK could from time to time have a few moments together, knew much of what Bobby Kennedy suspected - that his brother's death was indeed a conspiracy at the highest levels.

Not too long ago, I tried to interview Anne Truitt's daughter, given that Anne herself had recently died. Anne Truitt was one of Mary Meyer's closest friends. The daughter would not talk because she was still afraid she might be harmed for what she knew, even after 40 years has gone by.

J. Raymond Carroll · July 29, 2007

Robert Morrow in his book First Hand Knowledge (Morrow, Robert. First Hand Knowledge. New York: S.P.I. Books, 1992. pp. 274-280) recounts his encounter with another CIA assett who tells him that Mary Meyer has told another CIA wife too many things and that she is trouble.

Mr. Janney: Thank you for posting this fascinating material, and good luck with your book project.

A word of caution: Even a busted clock is right twice a day, but you should know that Robert Morrow is considered a person of very doubtful credibility in JFK/RFK research circles.

John Davis (author of Mafia Kingfish) was working on a book on Mary Meyer. I heard that John suffered a serious stroke some time ago and may have been forced to give up the project. Perhaps he would share the results of his own research with you.

Terry Mauro · July 29, 2007

Let me try to answer some of the question that the members of this panel have raised, based on my research for my book (tentatively entitled Mary's Mosaic).
.

The question has been asked who really was "William L. Mitchell," the alleged assassin of Mary Pinchot Meyer? What we know about Mitchell is that the day after the murder, he went to police in Washington and told them that he believed he passed Mary Meyer on the towpath as he was running east back to Key Bridge and she was walking west toward Fletcher's Boat House. Mitchell told police that a black man (who just happened to fit Ray Crump's description - the man who was charged with the murder) was following her about six hundred feet behind her. Mitchell told police that he ran the towpath regularly, worked at the Pentagon, and was a part time teacher at Georgetown University. Mitchell testified at Crump's murder trial in July, 1965, but his testimony was largely discredtied by Crump's attorney, Dovey Roundtree, Esq. who became a legend after getting Crump acquitted.

Mitchell was listed in the DoD directory in the fall of 1964 as "2nd Lt. William L. Mitchell." But then he disappears from the directory in the winter (1965). He shows up at the trial (July, 1965) and tells reporter Roberta Hornig that he is now a full time teacher in the mathmatics department at Georgetown University (GTU). The only problem with this is that there is no record of any "William L. Mitchell" ever teaching at Georgetown. Leo Damore thoroughly researched this in 1991-2. I again researched it a couple of years ago: there is no record of any "William L. Mitchell" teaching in ANY department at GTU.

Mitchell's place of residence was an apartment at "The Virginian" at 1500 Arlington Blvd. in Arlington, Va. Damore researched this address and found evidence that this was a known CIA safehouse. I followed this up two years ago and two former CIA personnel confirmed that it was indeed an agency safehouse, as were certain teaching appointments at GTU.

In my possession are several hours of tape recorded interviews between Damore and Crump's attorney Dovey Roundtree, Esq. (Award winning author Katie McCabe is now finishing the authorized biography of Dovey Rountree). Both Roundtree and Damore talk about Mitchell and how "convenient" his testimony was, and they both suspected his involvement. Mitchell never returned any of Roundtree's calls before the trial, and Damore could never locate him. So, as a last resort, Damore wrote Mitchell a letter and sent it to his last known address, the address given in the court transcript.

During the very late evening of 3/30/93, "Mitchell" contacted Damore by telephone. The call allegedley lasted more than two hours into the early morning of 3/31/93. At approximately 8:30am on the morning of 3/31/93, Damore called his attorney and good friend Jimmy Smith. Damore started to tell Jimmy about the call and Jimmy started taking notes - 5 pages of them. I have these notes and I have a recorded interview with Attorney Smith going over every detail of his notes.

"Mitchell" told Damore that he had been very impressed with his book Senatorial Priveledge (SP) and what he had uncovered. He wanted to tell Damore what happened but did not want to be the fall guy. "Mitchell" told Damore that he had several aliases, had been a former FBI agent, and then was recruited into the CIA. He had been assigned to surveillance of Mary Meyer right after the Warren Commission had been released. The order then came down to terminate her. There are a number of other details that I do not want share at this point because they are central to my book.

Damore told his attorney that he had taped the call, but I could never find the tapes. I have substaniated however from talking to two of Damore's closest friends that he became quite anxious subsequent to this call in the weeks following because he believed he was being watched.

I have not given up finding the real identity of "William L. Mitchell." But my main military researcher, Roger Charles who won the prestigious Peabody Award for his research with SY Hersch on Abu Ghraib for 60 Minutes II, says the area that Mitchell worked in at the Pentagon was surrounded by other CIA spooks. Charles feels that there is a good case to be make that "Mitchell" was CIA.

Ironically, the last job my father had at the CIA was "Director of Personnel" when he died in 1979.....

Now, let's look at another question: Why was Mary Meyer assassinated (not murdered) ? Mary was killed two weeks after the Warren Commission was released. She bought a paper back condensced version of the WC the day it was released and started reading it. She was furious. She knew it was a complete whitewash, and wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. She told friends that she was thinking seriously of coming out and revealing the truth of what she knew. Allegedley, she confronted Angleton and her former husband Cord about the absurdity of the WC. I think she knew at this point that certain people within the Agency had engineered the assassination. For the future of the CIA, she was definitely a big problem. And she was courageous enough to speak out.

Robert Morrow in his book First Hand Knowledge (Morrow, Robert. First Hand Knowledge. New York: S.P.I. Books, 1992. pp. 274-280) recounts his encounter with another CIA assett who tells him that Mary Meyer has told another CIA wife too many things and that she is trouble. Substaniating this event, I have an account from another CIA official who worked under Richard Helms in the Plans Directorate that they had asked another "helpful" CIA wife to talk to Mary and "settle her down...." in an effort to keep her quiet.

In David Talbott's new book Brothers, the author mentions Bill Walton and how Bobby Kennedy urged him to keep his trip to Russia right after the JFK assassination and take a message to Georgy Bolsholakov. Bobby knew Oswald was just the patsy, and eventually came to believe that the Agency was deeply involved in his brother's demise. Bill Walton was also an artist and a very good friend of Mary Meyer's. He would often escort her to White House social events, knowing full well the affair she was having with JFK. Without going into further details, let's just say that Walton talked to Mary after the assassination and tried to help with her grief.

Mary knew too much. As someone once said, "she knew where all the bodies were buried....." They had to get rid of her because she was too independent and could not be controlled. Think of the trouble she would have caused.

I have not forgot about further comments about Timothy Leary and the CIA and will tackle that one shortly.

**************************************************************

"Ironically, the last job my father had at the CIA was "Director of Personnel" when he died in 1979....."

If you don't mind me asking, how many years and how many different levels of employment did your father have with the C.I.A.? And, how old was your father when he died in 1979?

Thank you.

Peter Janney · July 29, 2007

Robert Morrow in his book First Hand Knowledge (Morrow, Robert. First Hand Knowledge. New York: S.P.I. Books, 1992. pp. 274-280) recounts his encounter with another CIA assett who tells him that Mary Meyer has told another CIA wife too many things and that she is trouble.

Mr. Janney: Thank you for posting this fascinating material, and good luck with your book project.

A word of caution: Even a busted clock is right twice a day, but you should know that Robert Morrow is considered a person of very doubtful credibility in JFK/RFK research circles.

John Davis (author of Mafia Kingfish) was working on a book on Mary Meyer. I heard that John suffered a serious stroke some time ago and may have been forced to give up the project. Perhaps he would share the results of his own research with you.

I am aware that Robert Morrow's reputation as a researcher is questionable in some circles. But both Dick Russell ("The Man Who Knew Too Much) and Noel Twyman ("Bloody Treason") have used some of Morrow's assertions and have found that they checked out with other sources.

Furthermore, the actual day that Nina Burleigh called Morrow to interview him for her book on Mary Meyer his good friend John Williams was present during this call. Burleigh tried to completely blow off everything Morrow said, completely discrediting him in her book. She also attempted to do the same thing when she interviewed Dovey Rountree (Crump's attorney), subsequently suggesting that Crump was actually guilty. But Roundtree's authorized biographer, Katie McCabe, was physically present when Burleigh interviewed Dovey and was astounded to read how Burleigh had twisted many things that Roundtree had said. John Williams told me in no uncertain terms that Morrow was more upset at Mary Meyer's death than he was JFK's, as did Morrow's wife.

My father entered the CIA in 1949-50, having graduated from Yale University with a master's degree in Russian Area Studies. At one time he ran what was called "OCI," or the Office of Current Intelligence. He held a number of different jobs throughout his career, one was in Science & Technology that I know of, but many others I don't know of. He died young at 59 years old when he was director of personnel. He was career CIA.

I knew John Davis but not well. I actually have a copy of his unfinished manuscript on Mary Meyer. A good friend of Davis' asked John "what happened to your book on Mary?" Davis replied "I decided I wanted to live." Davis' friend told me in no uncertain terms that John's life had been threatened and he was told not to publish what he had. Davis, of course, was using much of Leo Damore's research, which I originally tried to procure for Nina Burleigh's book.

Terry Mauro · July 29, 2007

Robert Morrow in his book First Hand Knowledge (Morrow, Robert. First Hand Knowledge. New York: S.P.I. Books, 1992. pp. 274-280) recounts his encounter with another CIA assett who tells him that Mary Meyer has told another CIA wife too many things and that she is trouble.

Mr. Janney: Thank you for posting this fascinating material, and good luck with your book project.

A word of caution: Even a busted clock is right twice a day, but you should know that Robert Morrow is considered a person of very doubtful credibility in JFK/RFK research circles.

John Davis (author of Mafia Kingfish) was working on a book on Mary Meyer. I heard that John suffered a serious stroke some time ago and may have been forced to give up the project. Perhaps he would share the results of his own research with you.

I am aware that Robert Morrow's reputation as a researcher is questionable in some circles. But both Dick Russell ("The Man Who Knew Too Much) and Noel Twyman ("Bloody Treason") have used some of Morrow's assertions and have found that they checked out with other sources.

Furthermore, the actual day that Nina Burleigh called Morrow to interview him for her book on Mary Meyer his good friend John Williams was present during this call. Burleigh tried to completely blow off everything Morrow said, completely discrediting him in her book. She also attempted to do the same thing when she interviewed Dovey Rountree (Crump's attorney), subsequently suggesting that Crump was actually guilty. But Roundtree's authorized biographer, Katie McCabe, was physically present when Burleigh interviewed Dovey and was astounded to read how Burleigh had twisted many things that Roundtree had said. John Williams told me in no uncertain terms that Morrow was more upset at Mary Meyer's death than he was JFK's, as did Morrow's wife.

My father entered the CIA in 1949-50, having graduated from Yale University with a master's degree in Russian Area Studies. At one time he ran what was called "OCI," or the Office of Current Intelligence. He held a number of different jobs throughout his career, one was in Science & Technology that I know of, but many others I don't know of. He died young at 59 years old when he was director of personnel. He was career CIA.

I knew John Davis but not well. I actually have a copy of his unfinished manuscript on Mary Meyer. A good friend of Davis' asked John "what happened to your book on Mary?" Davis replied "I decided I wanted to live." Davis' friend told me in no uncertain terms that John's life had been threatened and he was told not to publish what he had. Davis, of course, was using much of Leo Damore's research, which I originally tried to procure for Nina Burleigh's book.

***************************************************************************

"My father entered the CIA in 1949-50, having graduated from Yale University with a master's degree in Russian Area Studies. At one time he ran what was called "OCI," or the Office of Current Intelligence. He held a number of different jobs throughout his career, one was in Science & Technology that I know of, but many others I don't know of. He died young at 59 years old when he was director of personnel. He was career CIA."

Thank you, for being so forthcoming with this. My God, that is far too young, indeed! I'm sure the stress of the job alone, can take its toll on a body, health-wise.

As far as the release of your book is concerned, have you ever thought of hiring a body-guard, or someone you completely trusted, or could count on against all odds? It might be in your best interests, especially when your book goes to the presses. You're going to need to make sure someone has your back for you, considering the impact of the information you're about to reveal, and what effect it may have on the status quo.

Edited July 29, 2007 by Terry Mauro

Myra Bronstein · July 30, 2007

...
Now, let's look at another question: Why was Mary Meyer assassinated (not murdered) ? Mary was killed two weeks after the Warren Commission was released.

...

That is true and I never noticed it before.

Very interesting.

Thank you for pointing that out, and for your other insights Peter.

John Simkin · July 30, 2007

Members of the forum might be interested in the fact that Nina Burleigh discussed her book on Mary Pinchot Meyer here:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4641

Peter Janney · July 31, 2007

I would like to say a little about Mary Meyer's relationship with Timothy Leary and her own interest in psychedelic drugs and what actually happened with JFK with regard to this matter. A number of you have asked for comments on this subject matter and frankly, it is one of my favorite subjects in my book.

First of all, I want readers to know that I grew up in the 1960s and was very much involved in the counterculture movement and the Vietnam War protest movement. As I make clear in my book, my relationship with my father really started coming apart at the seams in 1969 and 1970, and never recovered. I also studied hallucinogenic drugs intensively and I dare say that for me the responsible use of hallucinogenics was an integral part of my own personal evolution. Having trained as licensed clinical psychologist (and remaining so today, though not currently in professional practice), I believe that such substances like LSD have been deeply misunderstood most of the time by our culture, largely due I might add to certain forces within the CIA in the late 1960s and 1970s and their various campaigns of disinformation. Mind you, I am not advocating illicit drug usage, but we live in world largely devoid of real, genuine mystical and religious experience. This is unfortunate because this kind of experience can have a deep, lasting positive effect upon those who want it. And the latest research in this area proves that to be the case. (see attachment to this post).

When Mary Meyer’s son Michael was tragically killed by being hit by a car in December 1956, she was plunged into a place of inconsolable grief. Not wanting to endlessly brood, and on the advice of her lover Ken Noland at the time, she entered Reichian Therapy with Dr. Charles Oller, M.D. in Philadelphia, Pa. Dr. Oller was a first generation protégé of Wilhelm Reich, M.D., possibly one the greatest psychoanalytic thinkers ever and certainly revolutionary in his therapeutic techniques.

Reichian Therapy and some of its offshoots such as Bioenergetics, and Rolfing are not examples of “sex drenched” techniques for healing mental illness, as some authors have described it. Nothing could be further from the truth. The real aim of all Reichian Therapy was to help people FEEL all their feelings as deeply as possible, so as not to be afraid of feeling anything. It was Reich’s belief, for instance, that people who were endlessly stuck in their grief or depression were not allowing themselves to really feel deeply enough, and that is why they remained stuck. Reich sought to first assist people in breathing correctly and would have patients lie down on a platform bed in their underwear so that he could begin to help them breath more freely; hence he often remarked that “all anxiety was basically just excitement without the support of oxygen.”

Mary Meyer was fearless as a seeker. She was not interested in a more traditional, conventional psychoanalytic therapy or psychoanalysis so prevalent in the late 1950s. With Dr. Oller, I believe she was able to largely overcome her crippling grief and sadness, because Oller encouraged her to keep taking it as deeply as she could. Hence, there would times she would be lying on his bed literally kicking and screaming while sobbing inconsolably, while he was working with her, all the while encouraging her to keep surrendering to whatever was moving through her. Now, having been a patient in Reichian Therapy myself, I can tell you first hand that after a certain amount of time, one begins to lose one’s fear about feeling any number of things, no matter how painful the circumstances. This is, in part, a real liberation.

As Mary continued to resolve her deeper grief, Ken Noland also introduced her to LSD. Not too much is known as what specifically Mary experienced in her own LSD exploration, but it was significant enough for her to seek out Tim Leary in the Spring of 1962, as Leary recounts in his book Flashbacks.

I believe that what Leary largely wrote in Flashbacks about Mary is true. I based that on several sources, one of which is a two hour long recorded interview that Leo Damore did with Tim Leary in November of 1991. No one else has this interview, though I did allow David Talbott a copy of it and he credits me in his book for it. There will be a number of other details in my book that substantiate Leary’s relationship with Mary Meyer and corroborate much of what he wrote about Mary in Flashbacks.

Mary did in fact believe that substances like LSD could change the thinking and world view of people who took it. That is why she was working with a group of women who had access to high level government officials. She was training them how to best make use of LSD and Leary assisted her in this process. Leo Damore believed that Katherine Graham ( of Washington Post fame) was a member of that group. Unfortunately, the two women who are still alive and who could shed light on this subject will not talk with me.

Did Mary Meyer and JFK do LSD together? Yes, but only once to my knowledge. (Even Jim Angleton admitted this fact, having read Mary’s diary). It was in the early Spring of 1963 at Joe Alsop’s house in Georgetown, where they regularly met sometimes. Do we know what happened during that experience? No, not directly. But consider this:

After the Cuban Missile Crisis in October, 1962, JFK was reportedly very upset and sometimes despondent, having come so close to a nuclear showdown. It was Mary Meyer, among others I am sure, who tried to convince him that the Cold War and the mentality that went along with it was completely futile and would lead only to eventual disaster. Mary tried to impress upon JFK the need for exploring a completely different world view. JFK had heard his brother Bobby talk about his wife’s LSD therapy for alcoholism in Los Angeles. Bobby was reportedly very intrigued by the possibilities of LSD.

If in fact Mary and JFK had a LSD experience in the early Spring of 1963, how could we judge the evidence that this might have occurred? I can only make the case that the last eight months of JFK’s life and especially his political life were possibly his most prolific moments as a world leader and as a proponent of world peace, for this was now a man whose political consciousness and world view had changed radically since he took office.

JFK’s speech at the American University graduation on June 10, 1963 may be the most remarkable presidential speech ever given. In it, he repudiated the Cold War, saying that we all had to find a way to live together, otherwise we would all perish. But even more importantly, he let it be known, albeit parenthetically, that he was no longer going to kiss any more ass in the Pentagon and the CIA. For in this speech, he made it clear that he was striking out on a new path, a path of his own choosing, a path of his own independence. He wanted to leave a legacy of world peace.

During the summer of 1963, he engaged in backchannel communication with Khrushchev behind the backs of the Pentagon and CIA to find common ground for a limited nuclear arms test ban treaty which was ratified by the US Senate in September.

Also in September (1963) with Mary Meyer’s help, JFK enlisted the support of Bill Attwood (a former boyfriend of Mary’s who JFK had cut in on at a prep school dance in 1936, having seen the chimera of Mary in the distance), again behind the back of the CIA and Pentagon, to seek out a rapprochement with Fidel Castro. In October (1963) Cuban UN Ambassador Carlos Lechuga delivered an official message to President Kennedy that Fidel Castro desired a lasting peace with the United States.

JFK made it clear to his closest personal aides and friends that once he was re-elected in 1964, he would end the Vietnam War, even though in public he kept his options open and pretended to be more hawkish (This had been completely documented now). His intention was clear as evidenced by National Security Action Memo (NSAM) 263.

And I think we all know what he planned for the CIA when he would be re-elected: neuter it !

But it would be incorrect to say that this was all the effect of his having had one LSD experience. I don’t think it was. LSD was, and is, a catalyst for change, growth, evolution, but the human will is the strongest factor. People don’t change unless they are damn well ready.

A central part of my point of view about Mary and JFK is that their relationship, and by that I principally mean Mary’s love for him and their love for each other, was an extremely important variable in his choice to proceed down a totally new path of political action, the path toward world peace and how to set the stage for it. With Mary, JFK finally found redemption with a woman who could stand up to him, challenge him, and love him, all simultaneously. According to what Kenny O’Donnell (JFK’s special primary assistant) finally told Leo Damore, “he (JFK) was in love with Mary.... He was going to leave Jackie to be with her after he left office.”

The story of Mary and Jack is the story of how the world would have changed for the better, had he lived to fulfill his destiny, despite all his flaws both personal and political. It is no wonder then, that shortly after the assassination, Mary – once again sobbing inconsolably - called her friend Tim Leary, saying “they killed him. He was changing too fast. They couldn’t control him anymore......”

Psychedelic_mushrooms_earn_serious_2d_look_from_science___The_Boston_Globe.pdf

Peter Janney · July 31, 2007