LBJ Tapes: The Key Evidence?

[Ron Ecker]

Nixon claims he was in a taxi in Dallas (on his way to the airport) when he heard about the assassination. As soon as he got home he phoned Hoover. Nixon writes: “He came right on the line and without wasting words I asked, “What happened? Was it one of the right-wing nuts?” “No,” he replied, “it was a Communist”.

Nixon does not say what time he arrived back but it is clear that Hoover knew that Oswald was a communist soon after he was arrested. Or did he know that before he was arrested?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nixon flew out of Dallas that morning. He was in a taxi in New York City, not Dallas, when he heard of the assassination.

[John Simkin]

Another important figure in the cover-up was James Eastland. He was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Several senators had approached Eastland about having an open inquiry into the assassination. LBJ phoned him at 3.21 pm on 28th November.

(1) Lyndon B. Johnson: Jim, on this investigation - this Dallas situation - what does your committee plan to do on it? ...

(2) James Eastland: We plan to hold hearings and just make a record of what the proof is. That's all. Show that this man was the assassin... We've had a great number of Senators that have come to us to request it, beginning with Morse... Now if you want it dropped, we'll drop it.

(3) Lyndon B. Johnson: I had this feeling - this is very confidential and I haven't proposed it to anybody and I don't know that I would - but we've got a pretty strong states' rights question here and I've had some hesitancy to start having a bunch of Congressional inquiries into violation of a state statute, and it might...

(4) James Eastland: You see, we've got a bill in to make it a federal...

(5) Lyndon B. Johnson: I know it, but you haven't got any law and it might set a precedent that you wouldn't want to have. I talked to some of the fellows about it day before yesterday. Russell was down here for luncheon.

(6) James Eastland: Now, there's one of them that's urged it.

(7) Lyndon B. Johnson: Now my thought would be this, if we could do it - we might get two members from each body. You see, we're going to have three inquiries running as it is.

(8) James Eastland: Well, I wouldn't want that. That wouldn't do.

(9) Lyndon B. Johnson: And if we could have two Congressmen and two Senators and maybe a Justice of the Supreme Court take the FBI report and review it... I think it would - this is a very explosive thing and it could be a very dangerous thing for the country. And a little publicity could just fan the flames. What would you think about if we could work it out of getting somebody from the Court and somebody from the House and somebody from the Senate and have a real high-level judicial study of all the facts?

(10) James Eastland: Well, it would suit me all right. Now you'd have - there's going to be some opposition on the committee...

(11) Lyndon B. Johnson: If it is all right with you, I'm not worried about your committee. I know what you can handle.

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

Commentary

(2) This is a reference to Wayne Morse, a man who Eastland, a staunch segregationist, had been in conflict with for many years. Eastland appears to be saying, if Morse is in favour on an inquiry, I am against it.

(3) Eastland was a strong champion of states’ rights. He had used these arguments to block federal integration plans. Therefore LBJ plays on this aspect of any possible Senate investigation of the assassination.

(5) This is a reference to Richard Russell of Georgia. LBJ, Eastland and Russell had all worked together in blocking civil rights legislation since the 1940s.

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

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

[John Simkin]

Probably LBJ closest political friend was Richard Russell from Georgia. A lifelong bachelor, Russell dedicated his life to politics. He held extreme right-wing views and told his constituents during an election campaign against Eugene Talmadge: "As one who was born and reared in the atmosphere of the Old South, with six generations of my forebears now resting beneath Southern soil, I am willing to go as far and make as great a sacrifice to preserve and insure white supremacy in the social, economic, and political life of our state as any man who lives within her borders."

Russell developed a reputation as the leader of the white supremacists in the Senate. Russell participated in his first filibuster of a civil rights bill in 1935 when he stopped an anti-lynching bill (Costigan-Wagner Act) with 6 days of nonstop talking.

By the end of the Second World War Russell was the acknowledged leader of the Southern bloc in the Senate. In 1950 it was suggested that Russell should become head of the Democratic Party in the Senate. Russell declined the offer and instead gave his support to his great friend, Lyndon B. Johnson, the recently elected senator from Texas. Russell's decision enabled Johnson to become the most powerful man in the Senate.

Russell spent most weekends with Johnson. He was such a regular visitor that Johnson's daughters affectionately referred to Russell as "Uncle Dick".

LBJ phoned Russell about the assassination at 4.05 p.m. on 29th November:

(1) Lyndon B. Johnson: I talked to the leadership on trying to have... about a seven-man board to evaluate Hoover's report... I think it would be better than.. having four or five going in the opposite direction.

(2) Richard Russell: I agree with that, but I don't think that Hoover ought to make his report too soon.

(3) Lyndon B. Johnson: He's ready with it now and he wants to get it off just as quick as he can.

(4) Richard Russell: Oh-oh.

(5) Lyndon B. Johnson: And he'll probably have it out today. At most, on Monday.

(6) Richard Russell: Well, but he ain't going to publish the damned thing, is he?

(7) Lyndon B. Johnson: He's going to turn it over to this group and there's some things about it I can't talk about.

(8) Richard Russell: Yeah, I understand that, but I think it be mighty well if that thing was kept quiet another week or ten days. I just do.

(9) Lyndon B. Johnson: They're taking this Court of Inquiry in Texas and I think the results of that Court of Inquiry, Hoover's report, and all of them would go to this group.... Now here's who I'm going to try to get on it... I don't think I can get any member of the Court. I'm going to try to get Allen Dulles. I'm going to try Senator Russell and Senator Cooper from the Senate...

(10) Richard Russell: Oh no, no, no, get somebody else now.

(11) Lyndon B. Johnson: Now wait a minute, now I want to try to get...

(12) Richard Russell: I haven't got time.

(13) Lyndon B. Johnson: Jerry Ford. It is not going to take much time but we've got to get a states' rights man in there1 and somebody that the country has confidence in. And I'm going to have Boggs in... I think that Ford and Boggs would be pretty good. They're both pretty young men.

(14) Richard Russell: They're both solid citizens.

(15) Lyndon B. Johnson: And I think that Cooper as a Republican and you're a good states rights' man. I think we might get John McCloy . . . and maybe somebody from the Court.... Who would be the best then if I didn't get the Chief?

(16) Richard Russell: I know you wouldn't want Clark hardly.

(17) Lyndon B. Johnson: No, I can't have a Texan.

(18) Richard Russell: Really, Mr. President, unless you really think it would be of some benefit, it would really save my life. I declare I don't want to serve.

(19) Lyndon B. Johnson: I know you don't want to do anything, but I want you to. And I think that this is important enough and you'll see why. Now, the next thing: I know how you feel about this CIA, but they're worried about having to go into a lot of this stuff with the Foreign Relations Committee. How much of a problem would it give you to just quietly let Fulbright and Hickenlooper come into your CIA committee?

(20) Richard Russell: As long as it is confined to those two, it wouldn't present any problem at all. (Gap in the transcript.)

(21) Richard Russell: Now you're going to let the Attorney General nominate someone, aren't you?

(22) Lyndon B. Johnson: No. Uh-uh.

(23) Richard Russell: Well, you going to have Hoover on there?

(24) Lyndon B. Johnson: No, it is his report.

(25) Richard Russell: Oh, that's right, that's right. It wouldn't do. ... Let me see, if I think of a judge in the next thirty or forty minutes...

(26) Lyndon B. Johnson: What do you think about a Justice sitting on it? You don't have a President assassinated but every fifty years.

(27) Richard Russell: They put them on the Pearl Harbor inquiry, you know.

(28) Lyndon B. Johnson: I know. That's why he's against it now.

(29) Richard Russell: Afraid it might get into the courts?

(30) Lyndon B. Johnson: I guess so, I don't know.

(31) Richard Russell: That's probably the theory of it....

(32) Lyndon B. Johnson: Give me the arguments why they ought to.

(33) Richard Russell: The only argument about it is that, of course, in a matter of this magnitude... the American people would feel reassured to have a member of the highest Court... If you would have some top-flight state Supreme Court Chief Justice - but they're not known all over the country... This thing in television and radio has narrowed the group of celebrities. I don't know. You've got some smart boys there around you who can give you the name of some outstanding Circuit Court judge.

(34) Lyndon B. Johnson: Okay. You be thinking.

Commentary

(10) Russell makes it clear very early on that he is unwilling to serve on the Warren Commission.

(13) This is the same argument that LBJ used with James Eastland (see above). This is not surprising as they had worked hard together in blocking federal civil rights legislation.

(16) Russell is referring to Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark, an old Texas friend of Johnson.

(19) J. William Fulbright of Arkansas was the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. An independent thinker, Fulbright could be a problem in his efforts to cover up the assassination.

(24) LBJ makes it clear that the Warren Commission will be rubber-stamping Hoover’s report on the assassination.

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

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

[John Simkin]

LBJ phoned Russell a second time on 29th November at 8.55 p.m. In some ways, this is the most significant of all LBJ's calls following the assassination. It is very long but I believe it needs to be looked at in full.

(1) Lyndon B. Johnson: Dick, I hate to bother you again but I wanted you to know that I made that announcement.

(2) Richard Russell: Announcement of what?

(3) Lyndon B. Johnson: Of this special commission.

(4) Richard Russell: Oh, you have already?

(5) Lyndon B. Johnson: Yes. May I read it to you? (reads from the statement)...

(6) Richard Russell: I know I don't have to tell you of my devotion to you but I just can't serve on that Commission. I'm highly honoured you'd think about me in connection with it but I couldn't serve on it with Chief Justice Warren. I don't like that man. I don't have any confidence in him at all. So you get John Stennis.

(7) Lyndon B. Johnson: It has already been announced and you can serve with anybody for the good of America and this is a question that has a good many more ramifications than on the surface and we've got to take this out of the arena where they're testifying that Khrushchev and Castro did this and did that and chuck us into a war that can kill 40 million Americans in an hour. And you would put on your uniform in a minute. Now the reason I've asked Warren is because he is the Chief Justice of this country and we've got to have the highest judicial people we can have. The reason I ask you is because you have that same kind of temperament and you can do anything for your country. And don't go to giving me that kind of stuff about you can't serve with anybody. You can do anything.

(8) Richard Russell: It is not only that. I just don't think the Chief Justice should have served on it.

(9) Lyndon B. Johnson: The Chief Justice ought to do anything he can to save America and right now we've got a very touchy thing. And you wait until you look at this evidence.... Now I'm not going to lead you wrong and you're not going to be an Old Dog Tray.

(10) Richard Russell: I know that but I have never...

(11) Lyndon B. Johnson: You've never turned your country down. This is not me. This is your country... You're my man on that commission and you're going to do it! And don't tell me what you can do and what you can't because I can't arrest you and I'm not going to put the FBI on you. But you're goddammed sure going to serve - I'll tell you that! And A.W. Moursund is here and he wants to tell you how much all of us love you. Wait a minute.

(12) Richard Russell: Mr. President, you ought to have told me you were going to name me.

(13) Lyndon B. Johnson: I told you! I told you today I was going to name the Chief Justice when I called you.

(14) Richard Russell: You did not. You talked about getting somebody from the Supreme Court. You didn't tell me you were going to name him.

(15) Lyndon B. Johnson: I told you! I told you I was going to name Warren...

(16) Richard Russell: Oh no! ... I said Clark wouldn't do.

(17) Lyndon B. Johnson: No, that's right, and I've got to get the highest Justice I can get. He turned Bobby Kennedy down! Bobby and they talked to him and he just said he wouldn't serve under any circumstances. I called him down here and I spent an hour with him and I begged him as much as I'm begging you. I just said, "Now here's the situation I want to tell you."

(18) Richard Russell: You've never begged me. You've always told me.

(19) Lyndon B. Johnson: No, I haven't. No I haven't.

(20) Richard Russell: Mr. President, please now...

(21) Lyndon B. Johnson: No! It is already done. It has been announced.

(22) Richard Russell: You mean you've given that...

(23) Lyndon B. Johnson: Yes sir. I gave the announcement. It is already in the papers and you're on it and you're going to be my man on it and you just forget that. Now wait a minute. A.W. wants to say a word to you and I'll be back.

(24) A. W. Moursund: Hello, Senator. We were just sitting here talking and he says, "I've got one man that's smarter than all the rest of them put together."

(25) Richard Russell: You don't have to butter me up.

(26) A. W. Moursund: I ain't buttering you up. Senator. You know I'm not that kind of a fellow. I just heard that and I wanted you to know it. Hell, he's depending on you. You know that.

(27) Richard Russell: I don't know when I've been as unhappy about a thing as I am this.

(28) A. W. Moursund: I know, but you can take them. God Almighty, you've taken it for years and the hard ones and the tough ones, and you can take care of it and you can take care of yourself.

(29) Richard Russell: How are things down in Texas? Kill any deer down there?

(30) A. W. Moursund: But you come see us. But don't say you can't do anything 'cause you're the best can-do man there is.

(31) Richard Russell: Oh, no, oh, no.

(32) Lyndon B. Johnson: Dick? Now we're going into a lot of problems... I saw Wilkins today and had a long talk with him. Now these things are going to be developing and I know you're going to have your reservations and your modesty.

(33) Richard Russell: Oh...

(34) Lyndon B. Johnson: Now, wait a minute! Wait a minute! Now your President's asking you to do these things and there are some things I want you in besides civil rights and, by God, you're going to be in 'em, because I can't run this country by myself.

(35) Richard Russell: You know damned well my future is behind me, and that is not entering into it at all.

(36) Lyndon B. Johnson: Your future is your country and you're going to do everything you can to serve America.

(37) Richard Russell: I just can't do it. I haven't got the time.

(38) Lyndon B. Johnson: All right, we'll just make the time.

(39) Richard Russell: With all my Georgia items in there.

(40) Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, we'll just make the time. There's not going to be any time, to begin with. All you're going to do is evaluate the Hoover report he has already made.

(41) Richard Russell: I don't think they'll move that fast on it.

(42) Lyndon B. Johnson: Okay, well then, we won't move any faster than you want to move... The Secretary of State came over here this afternoon. He's deeply concerned, Dick, about the idea that they're spreading throughout the Communist world that Khrushchev killed Kennedy. Now he didn't. He didn't have a damned thing to do with it.

(43) Richard Russell: I don't think he did directly. I know Khrushchev didn't because he thought he'd get along better with Kennedy.

(44) Lyndon B. Johnson: All right, but we've...

(45) Richard Russell: I wouldn't be surprised if Castro had.

(46) Lyndon B. Johnson: All right then, okay. That's what we want to know. And people have got confidence in you and you can be just surprised or not surprised. They want to know what you think...

(47) Richard Russell: You're taking advantage of me...

(48) Lyndon B. Johnson: No, no, no. . . . I'm going to take a hell of a lot of advantage of you, my friend, 'cause you made me and I know it and I don't ever forget. And I'll be going to be taking advantage of you a good deal. But you're going to serve your country and do what is right and if you can't do it, you get that damned little Bobby up there and let him twist your tail and put a cocklebur under it. Where is he?

(49) Richard Russell: I don't know. He's in Atlanta tonight.

(50) Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, you just tell him to get ready because I'm going to need him and you just tell him that.

(51) Richard Russell: I saw he and Vandiver this afternoon for about thirty minutes. They came by here.

(52) Lyndon B. Johnson: Just tell either one of them that I just would like to use them anyplace because I'm a Russell protege and I don't forget my friends and I want you to stand up and be counted and I don't want to beg you, by God, to serve on these things....

(53) Richard Russell: I know, but this is a sort of rough one.

(54) Lyndon B. Johnson: No, it is not rough. What is rough about this? They had a full-scale investigation going, Dick, with the TV up there. They had the House Un-American Activities Committee in it.

(55) Richard Russell: They shouldn't have done it.

(56) Lyndon B. Johnson: Of course, but how do I stop it? How do I stop it, Dick? Now don't tell me that I've worked all day and done wrong.

(57) Richard Russell: I didn't say you'd done wrong. I just said... it could have been stopped some other way. . . .

(58) Lyndon B. Johnson: What do you think I've done wrong now by appointing you on a commission?

(59) Richard Russell: Well, I just don't like Warren.

(60) Lyndon B. Johnson: Of course, you don't like Warren, but you'll like him before it is over with.

(61) Richard Russell: I haven't got any confidence in him.

(62) Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, you can give him some confidence. Goddamn it! Associate with him now... I'm not afraid to put your intelligence against Warren's. Now by God, I want a man on that commission and I've got one!

(63) Richard Russell: I don't know about the intelligence, of course, and I feel like I'm being kidded, but if you think...

(64) Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, if you think now Dick, do you think I'd kid you?

(65) Richard Russell: If it is for the good of the country, you know damned well I'll do it and I'll do it for you, for that matter...

(66) Lyndon B. Johnson: Dick, do you remember when you met me at the Carlton Hotel in 1952? When we had breakfast there one morning?

(67) Richard Russell: Yes, I think I do.

(68) Lyndon B. Johnson: All right. Do you think I'm kidding you?

(69) Richard Russell: No, I don't think you're kidding me. But I think - well, I'm not going to say any more, Mr. President. I'm at your command and I'll do anything you want me to do.

(70) Lyndon B. Johnson: You damned sure going to be at my command! You're going to be at my command as long as I'm here.

(71) Richard Russell: I do wish you be a little more deliberate and considerate next time about it but... if you've done this, I'm going to... go through with it and say I think it is a wonderful idea.

(72) Lyndon B. Johnson: I'm going to have you on a good goddamned many things that I have to decide.... I've served under you and I don't give a damn if you have to serve with a Republican, if you have to serve with a Communist, if you have to serve with a Negro, or if you have to serve with a thug - or if you have to serve with A.W. Moursund.

(73) Richard Russell: I can serve with a Communist and I can serve with a Negro. I can serve with a Chinaman.

(74) Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, you may have to serve with A.W. Moursund!

(75) Richard Russell: And if I can serve with A.W. Moursund, I would say, "Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to serve with you, Judge Moursund." But - we won't discuss it any further Mr. President. I'll serve.

(76) Lyndon B. Johnson: Okay, Dick, and give Bobby my love and tell him he'd better get ready to give up that fruitful law practice he's got.

(77) Richard Russell: He's been appointed to the Georgia Court of Appeals. Now, you see, I got him on there. He's making as much money as I am.

(78) Lyndon B. Johnson: What about Vandiver?

(79) Richard Russell: Well, he's running for Governor next time and he'll be elected.

(80) Lyndon B. Johnson: Who in the hell is going to help me besides you?

(81) Richard Russell: Those boys will help you if you need them.

(82) Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, I need 'em.

(83) Richard Russell: Goddamn it, they're harder for you than I was - remember?

(84) Lyndon B. Johnson: No, nobody ever has been more to me than you have, Dick - except my mother.

(85) Richard Russell: (laughs scoffmgly)

(86) Lyndon B. Johnson: No, no, that's true. I've bothered you more and made you spend more hours with me telling me what's right and wrong than anybody except my mother.

(87) Richard Russell: You've made me do more things I didn't want to do.

(88) Lyndon B. Johnson: No, no, I never made you do anything that was wrong. I never...

(89) Richard Russell: I didn't say "wrong." I said more things I didn't want to do. But Bobby and Ernie are two of the most loyal friends you've got on earth.

(90) Lyndon B. Johnson: I know that.

(91) Richard Russell: They both called me up and said, "You've just got to do whatever Mr. Johnson says."

(92) Lyndon B. Johnson: No ... I just want to counsel with you and I just want your judgment and your wisdom.

(93) Richard Russell: For whatever it's worth, you've got it.

(94) Lyndon B. Johnson: I'm going to have it 'cause I haven't got any daddy and you're going to be it. And don't just forget that.

(95) Richard Russell: Mr. President, you know - I think you know me.

(96) Lyndon B. Johnson: I do. I do. I know you're for your country and - period. Now you just get ready to do this and you're my man on there.

(97) Richard Russell: If you hadn't announced it, I would absolutely be...

(98) Lyndon B. Johnson: No you wouldn't. No, you wouldn't.

(99) Richard Russell: Yes, I would. Yes, I would.

(100) Lyndon B. Johnson: Warren told me he wouldn't do it under any circumstances. Didn't think a Supreme Court Justice ought to go on... He said a man that criticized this fellow that went on the Nuremberg trial - Jackson. And I said, "Let me read you one report." And I just picked up one report and read it to him, and I said, "Okay, now, forty million Americans involved here."

(101) Richard Russell: I may be wholly wrong. But I think Mr. Warren would serve on anything that would give him any publicity.

(102) Lyndon B. Johnson: You want me to tell you the truth? You know what happened? Bobby and them went up to see him today and he turned them down cold and said, "No." Two hours later, I called him and ordered him down here and he didn't want to come. I insisted he come. He came down here and told me no - twice. And I just pulled out what Hoover told me about a little incident in Mexico City and I said, "Now I don't want Mr. Khrushchev to be told tomorrow - and be testifying before a camera that he killed this fellow and that Castro killed him and all I want you to do is look at the facts and bring in any other facts you want in here and determine who killed the President. And I think you put on your uniform in World War I, fat as you are, and would do anything you could to save one American life. And I'm surprised that you, the Chief Justice of the United States, would turn me down." And he started crying and he said, "I won't turn you down. I'll just do whatever you say." But he turned the Attorney General down!

(103) Richard Russell: You ought not to be so persuasive.

(104) Lyndon B. Johnson: I think I ought to.

(105) Richard Russell: I think you did wrong in getting Warren, and I know damned well you did wrong in getting me. But we'll both do the best we can.

(106) Lyndon B. Johnson: I think that's what you'll do. That's the kind of Americans both of you are. Good night.

Commentary

(1) Although Russell made it clear in the phone call that took place at 4.05 p.m. that he was unwilling to serve on the Warren Commission, LBJ gives him no option after he announces details of its membership to the media. Why was it so important for LBJ to have Russell on the Warren Commission?

(6) John Stennis was another right-wing white supremacist from the Deep South (Mississippi). Russell, rightly asks why another political ally cannot not serve on the Warren Commission.

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

One of the reasons given by Russell why he does not want to serve on the commission is the chairman, Earl Warren. At the time Warren was hated by white supremacists in the Deep South. The main reason for this was that he had voted for banning segregation in America's schools. He now became a target of right-wing groups and Robert Welch, the leader of the John Birch Society, described Warren as being a member of a Communist conspiracy. Other white supremacists such as George Wallace and James Eastland joined in these attacks. At one rally in Los Angeles there were calls for Warren to be lynched.

However, this was only a small blip on his record as a hardline conservative. For example, in November 1938 Culbert Olsen was elected as Governor of California, the first member of the Democratic Party, to hold this office for forty-four years. The following year, Warren, a member of the Republican Party, was appointed California's attorney general.

One of Olsen's first acts was to pardon Tom Mooney, a trade union leader who had been falsely convicted of a bombing which occurred in San Francisco in 1916. Although strong evidence existed that the District Attorney of the time, Charles Fickert, had framed Mooney, the Republican governors during this period refused to order his release. In October 1939, Olsen pardoned Warren Billings, a friend of Mooney's who had also been imprisoned for the bombing.

Warren had disagreed with Olsen's actions. As a member of the state Judicial Qualifications Commission, he blocked confirmation of the Olsen's nominee to the state Supreme Court, Max Radin, a man he considered to be too radical for this post.

Warren also upset liberals and supporters of human rights by the role he played in dealing with people of Japanese descent during the Second World War. Most of these people lived in California. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, these people were classified as enemy aliens. Warren, as attorney general, urged that these people should be interned.

On 29th January 1942, the U.S. Attorney General, Francis Biddle, established a number of security areas on the West Coast in California. He also announced that all enemy aliens should be removed from these security areas. Three weeks later President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the construction of relocation camps for Japanese Americans being moved from their homes.

Warren's extreme views on internment was popular with most people in California and this enabled him to defeat Culbert Olsen as governor in 1943. He held the post for the next ten years. Warren was also selected as running-mate for Thomas Dewey in 1948. However, Dewey was defeated by Harry S. Truman in the election.

Warren hoped to become the Republican Party's candidate in the 1952 presidential election. He lost out to Eisenhower who went on to become president. Warren was rewarded for his loyalty by being appointed by Eisenhower to the post of chief justice of Supreme Court.

Russell would have been fully aware of Warren’s record and could be guaranteed to support the establishment in this time of crisis. It is hard to believe that Warren was the real reason why he did not want to be a member of the commission.

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

(7) LBJ once again reinforces the point that the Warren Commission will need to support the idea that Oswald was the lone gunman and not part of a communist conspiracy. “It has already been announced and you can serve with anybody for the good of America and this is a question that has a good many more ramifications than on the surface and we've got to take this out of the arena where they're testifying that Khrushchev and Castro did this and did that and chuck us into a war that can kill 40 million Americans in an hour.”

This is a common argument made by LBJ during the days following the assassination. This raises several questions. (1) Why is LBJ so convinced that JFK had not been killed as a result of a communist conspiracy? Hoover has already provided him with a considerable amount of evidence that Oswald was linked with left-wing groups, the KGB, the Soviets, Castro’s Cuban government, etc. Why is he in such a hurry for the public to be convinced that it was the act of a lone gunman? Even if the FBI discovers that Oswald was part of a communist conspiracy, will this in itself lead to a nuclear war? Does this mean that LBJ has to order an invasion of Cuba? Even if he does, will the Soviet Union, attack the United States with nuclear warheads. Surely the Soviets would have reacted in the same way as the American did when they invaded Hungary in 1956? The whole of the Cold War shows that both sides were given freedom to control their own geographical area. This argument that unless Oswald is found guilty of being the lone assassin there will be a nuclear war is ridiculous. Yet, LBJ uses it over and over again. There has to be another reason why he wants the Warren Commission to come up with the idea that Oswald was a lone assassin.

(11) LBJ tells Russell he is going to be “my man on the commission”. LBJ has control over a large number of senators who could play this role. Why Russell? In fact, Russell turns out to be of little use to LBJ in this role. Russell rarely attended meetings of the commission and played virtually no role in shaping its conclusions. It was Allen Dulles and John McCoy who did this for LBJ. There has to be another reason why LBJ wants Russell on the commission.

(17) LBJ tells Russell that Warren also refused to be a member of the commission. When Bobby Kennedy fails to convince Warren, LBJ has to take over. (Once again LBJ is not telling the truth, it was Nicholas Katzenbach who had been involved in the negotiations with Warren). Why is Warren so much against heading the commission. He has already made a speech where he suggests that JFK has been killed as a result of a political conspiracy (he does not identify the group but most observers have assumed he was talking about the far-right in America). Does Warren know that LBJ is going to blackmail him into producing a report that Oswald was a lone assassin? Warren, a political animal, knows this will result in damaging his reputation as a fair-minded judge. Understandably, Warren is fighting like mad not to be given the job.

(24) A. W. Moursund, a former judge, is a long-time friend of both LBJ and Russell. Over the years the three men have been business partners (ranching, real estate and banking). They also have spent time together socially (dominoes and hunting). Moursund’s role is to convince Russell that he will be letting the team down if he refuses to serve on the commission.

(32) This is a reference to Roy Wilkins of the NAACP. This is possibly meant as a threat. LBJ might be suggesting that if Russell does not join the commission, he will give his support to the Civil Rights Act that Russell was leading the campaign against in Congress.

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

(42) LBJ once again returns to the subject of a possible communist conspiracy: “The Secretary of State came over here this afternoon. He's deeply concerned, Dick, about the idea that they're spreading throughout the Communist world that Khrushchev killed Kennedy. Now he didn't. He didn't have a damned thing to do with it.” Who has told him this? The CIA? Hoover? The people who were behind the assassination?

As Larry Hancock points out in his book, Someone Would Have Talked (2003), LBJ always appeared to know that the Soviets were not behind the assassination. For a long time it was believed that a Soviet nuclear attack would be preceded by the assassination of America’s political leadership. Yet, LBJ’s actions in the hours following the assassination gives the impression that he never thought this was the case. Why was he so certain about this?

(45) Russell agrees about the Soviets but still believes that Castro could have been behind the assassination. LBJ is not concerned with what Russell thinks. He knows that once he becomes a member of the commission he will go along with rubber-stamping Hoover’s report. (LBJ is of course still busy at making sure that Hoover writes the report that he wants).

(51) Ernest Vandiver, a politician in Georgia who is related to Russell.

(66) It is not known what this reference to the Carlton Hotel in 1952 means. Is this code for something that LBJ has over Russell? Is this blackmail taking place? It definitely does the trick and after this Russell appears to be willing to join the commission.

(102) This is part of LBJ’s script that he did not have to use to persuade Russell to serve. It is worth taking a close look at this passage: “Bobby and them went up to see him (Warren) today and he turned them down cold and said, "No." Two hours later, I called him and ordered him down here and he didn't want to come. I insisted he come. He came down here and told me no - twice. And I just pulled out what Hoover told me about a little incident in Mexico City and I said, "Now I don't want Mr. Khrushchev to be told tomorrow - and be testifying before a camera that he killed this fellow and that Castro killed him and all I want you to do is look at the facts and bring in any other facts you want in here and determine who killed the President. And I think you put on your uniform in World War I, fat as you are, and would do anything you could to save one American life. And I'm surprised that you, the Chief Justice of the United States, would turn me down." And he started crying and he said, "I won't turn you down. I'll just do whatever you say." But he turned the Attorney General down!”

Warren has clearly been blackmailed into serving as head of the commission. What did happen in Mexico City? Whatever it was, it was serious enough to persuade Warren to change his mind. Maybe something similar happened in the Carlton Hotel in 1952?

I will put forward my theory on why LBJ wanted Russell on the commission in my next posting.

[John Simkin]

The two phone calls that took place between LBJ and Russell on 29th November reveal some interesting points. This includes:

(1) Earl Warren was adamant that he did not want to serve as chair of the presidential commission.

(2) Richard Russell was adamant that he did not want to serve on the Warren Commission.

(3) LBJ was determined that both Warren and Russell should serve on the commission.

One can understand why LBJ wanted Warren to head the commission. As Chief Justice his status would help persuade the public that his report was fair and unbiased. The fact that he was a Republican also helped him with this PR exercise.

LBJ and Hoover also had information on Warren that could be used to blackmail him into providing the report that they wanted.

Warren was obviously reluctant to serve as he feared it would damage his reputation as an unbiased judge (it did). His name will always be associated with the cover-up of the assassination.

The case of Richard Russell is very different. LBJ had blackmail information on most of those in the Senate. This is revealed in both the LBJ tapes and by Robert Kennedy in the interview he gave to Anthony Lewis about the Bobby Baker case (see pages 128-133 of Robert Kennedy: In His Own Words, Bantham, 1988). His files were as extensive as those of Hoover (in fact, they probably worked together on these files). As Russell argued on the phone, why didn’t LBJ appoint John Stennis instead?

I suspect Russell felt he was being set up. Once he had signed the Warren Commission report he would be in no position to criticize it later. It was vitally important to make Russell part of the cover-up.

It seems clear to me that LBJ expects to have problems with Russell in the future and therefore wants to tie him into the cover-up. It is fairly clear that Russell does not know who was behind the assassination at this stage. He will be told later. He will then know why he cannot ever pass on this information.

This of course still not explain why he needed Russell? To understand that I think you have to grasp what role Russell had at this time. Russell was the leader of the white supremacists in the Senate. Over the years Russell had organized the destruction of all proposed Civil Rights legislation that attempted to go through the Senate. In 1963 he was the leader of 18 Southern Democratic senators determined to filibuster the recently proposed Civil Rights bill.

In the past LBJ had been part of this team that constantly prevented effective Civil Rights legislation being passed. We now know that after the assassination of JFK he changed his mind about the subject and forced through the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcivil64.htm

I have always found this to be one of history’s mysteries. LBJ had always been a staunch opponent of Civil Rights legislation. This included running a smear campaigns against those in the Democratic Party, like Ralph Yarborough, who did support this legislation. LBJ may or may not have been a racist. However, his financial supporters were. They would have to be given good reasons for this change of opinion? So would Russell?

When I got copies of all LBJ’s taped conversations (1963-64) I read them for clues to why he changed his mind on this subject. The main clue came from a conversation that was not about civil rights. It was a phone call LBJ made to George Smathers on 23rd November, 1963. Smathers is a name that constantly crops up while researching the assassination. I think he was definitely one of a group of political figures (Richard Russell, James Eastland, John McCormack, Lawrence O’Brien, Abe Fortas, Carl Albert, Walter Jenkins) who appear to know a great deal about the assassination.

At this time Smathers was a member of the Senate Finance Committee. In the preceding months Smathers had played an important role in blocking Kennedy’s Finance Bill that had been introduced in January 1963. One of the purposes of this bill was the closing of several tax loopholes that would have hurt LBJ’s financial backers. However, in this phone call, LBJ orders Smathers to let this bill through. LBJ gives the argument that if the bill continues to be blocked it “would destroy the party and destroy the election, and destroy everything”. Smathers does not question these strange comments and instead starts a conversation about who the next vice president is going to be.

So it seems that within a few days of the assassination LBJ was ready to abandon the policies of his financial backers. Why would he do this? I believe there is only one explanation? LBJ was being blackmailed. I suspect one of those very close to JFK had discovered who had really killed the president. Although LBJ was not involved in planning the assassination, he could not afford for a full investigation into it to take place. Partly because of what it would reveal about his own political scandals. Also because he had already knew that evidence had been planted in the Texas School Book Depository that fully compromised LBJ in the assassination (Mac Wallace’s fingerprints).

This JFK insider was obviously on the left of the party and felt passionately about Civil Rights legislation. He came to the conclusion that LBJ was the only president capable of getting this legislation through Congress. JFK of course had no chance of doing this. JFK was only elected because of the deals they had done with racist politicians from the Deep South such as Russell, Eastland and Talmadge. This was an agreement not to get involved in civil right issues in their territory. Another part of the deal was to tackle the power of the labour unions in the South.

Now this person had the information to force LBJ to do this. In turn, LBJ had the information to force people like Russell to let the legislation through.

Soon after the assassination of JFK Russell told the Senate: "We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our (Southern) states." Russell successfully organized his troops for the next six months.

However, on the 15th June, 1964, Russell privately told Mike Mansfield and Hubert Humphrey, the two leading supporters of the Civil Rights Act, that he would bring an end to the filibuster that was blocking the vote on the bill. This resulted in a vote being taken and it was passed by 73 votes to 27.

When LBJ signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act he made a prophecy that he was “signing away the south for 50 years”. This proved accurate. In fact, the Democrats have never recovered the vote of the white racists in the Deep South. This is the electorate that now gives its support to the Republican Party.

Who was this insider blackmailing LBJ? Impossible to say, however, I don’t think it was Robert Kennedy. In 1963/64 he was far from being a passionate supporter of Civil Rights. I think there are two possible candidates: Harris Wofford or Ralph Yarborough:

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

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

[John Simkin]

The next recorded conversation between LBJ and Richard Russell took place on 13th May, 1964. Also with Russell was B. Everett Jordan. Remember, this conversation took place at a time when LBJ and Russell were supposed to be in bitter dispute about the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Russell had just told the Senate: "We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our (Southern) states." This is not reflected in the conversation. Instead, the issue that seems to concern them is the Bobby Baker case.

Richard Russell: I'm mighty sorry I couldn't go to Georgia with you but you had a fine reception down there.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Aw, couldn't have been better. I missed you. That was the only thing wrong with the trip.

Richard Russell: I had to talk to the junior chamber of commerce.. I'm all right with the old ones. I'll never get back in with the young women, but I'm trying to get back in with the young men...

Richard Russell: Now listen, I'm down here with Everett Jordan and he's sweating blood about this danged Bobby Baker thing. They had a hell of a big revival of it up here today. ... It looks to me like they're just trying to keep the damned thing

open. . . . Everett is greatly bothered about it. ... He asked me to come down here, said he had to have some help. I don't know how to help him.

B. Everett Jordan: I'm worried. They made a hell of a fight on this thing on the floor today.... They've already said they're going to drag Walter Jenkins down here. Of course, I know they can't, but you'd have to stop it. That'd be embarrassing... They want to get into campaign expenses. Baker putting out money to Senators, controlling who was going on committees.... It's the damnedest mess you ever saw. The press just eats it up. ... I need some help and I need it bad... If you'd call Mike...

Lyndon B. Johnson: I'm not the one to call Mike. ... If I had any influence with Mike, he never would have fired Bobby.

B. Everett Jordan: What about Hubert?

Lyndon B. Johnson: I'm afraid to say I'll talk to anybody 'cause they'll say the White House is calling. . . . But I'll do what I can.

Richard Russell: Dirksen... of course, if it looks like there's going to be an investigation, he's going to run like hell 'cause he's one of the last fellows up here that wants an investigation.

Lyndon B. Johnson: You ought to tell Dirksen that too, Dick. . . .

Richard Russell: I'm doing the best I can, Mr. President, but God knows, I've got a hell of a lot to do. I sat up last night till eleven-thirty reading the FBI reports on some son of a bitch - this fellow Rankin on the Warren Commission. Everybody's raising hell about him being a Communist and all, a left-winger. The FBI was investigating. Eight thousand pages of raw material. There ain't but twenty-four hours a day. 'Course, I know I'm talking to a man that's got a hell of a lot more to do than I have. You's the only man in Washington that does.

[John Simkin]

The last conversation between LBJ and Richard Russell about the Warren Commission took place at 7.54 p.m. on 18th September, 1964. Russell makes clear he did not believe in the magic bullet theory. LBJ agreed. Russell claims that he was forced to sign it by a "little old threat". Hale Boggs and John Sherman Cooper also jected this theory. According to them, it was John McCloy who was the main enforcer.

Richard Russell: That danged Warren Commission business, it whupped me down so. We got through today. You know what I did? I... got on the plane and came home. I didn't even have a toothbrush. I didn't bring a shirt.... Didn't even have my pills-antihistamine pills to take care of my em-fy-see-ma.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Why did you get in such a rush?

Richard Russell: I'm just worn out, fighting over that damned report.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, you ought to have taken another hour and gone get your clothes.

Richard Russell: No, no. They're trying to prove that the same bullet that hit Kennedy first was the one that hit Connally, went through him and through his hand, his bone, and into his leg... I couldn't hear all the evidence and cross examine all of them. But I did read the record.... I was the only fellow there that ... suggested any change whatever in what the staff got up.' This staff business always scares me. I like to put my own views down. But we got you a pretty good report.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, what difference does it make which bullet got Connally?

Richard Russell: Well, it don't make much difference. But they said that... the commission believes that the same bullet that hit Kennedy hit Connally. Well, I don't believe it.

Lyndon B. Johnson: I don't either.

Richard Russell: And so I couldn't sign it. And I said that Governor Connally testified directly to the contrary and I'm not gonna approve of that. So I finally made them say there was a difference in the commission, in that part of them believed that that wasn't so. And of course if a fellow was accurate enough to hit Kennedy right in the neck on one shot and knock his head off in the next one - and he's leaning up against his wife's head - and not even wound her - why, he didn't miss completely with that third shot. But according to their theory, he not only missed the whole automobile, but he missed the street! Well, a man that's a good enough shot to put two bullets right into Kennedy, he didn't miss that whole automobile... But anyhow, that's just a little thing.

Lyndon B. Johnson: What's the net of the whole thing? What's it say? Oswald did it? And he did it for any reason?

Richard Russell: Just that he was a general misanthropic fellow, that he had never been satisfied anywhere he was on earth - in Russia or here. And that he had a desire to get his name in history.... I don't think you'll be displeased with the report. It's too long.... Four volumes.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Unanimous?

Richard Russell: Yes, sir. I tried my best to get in a dissent, but they'd come round and trade me out of it by giving me a little old threat.

[Pat Speer]

John, I think you're quite correct in looking through the Johnson tapes for hints at what really happened. I think you're wrong however in thinking there was anything mysterious in Hoover's calling Ruby "Jacob Rubenstein." Hoover was an old racist, anti-semitic bastard. It makes perfect sense that, given that Ruby's name was originally Rubenstein, Hoover would automatically assume that Ruby's first name was also changed, and then call him by his former name as a demonstration of his contempt. Kinda like people who still call Muhammad Ali by his former name, Cassius Clay.

I've noticed many things myself which make me wonder about Johnson. On pg. 330 of Reaching for Glory, for example, McGeorge Bundy says to Johnson, in a May 18 1965 discussion of the Dominican Crisis, "I propose to say to Mr. G within the next half hour...he can expect you to move in the two directions which Mr. Davidson discussed with you this afternoon, with respect to troops and assistance." On the day before, Johnson's wife Lady Bird recorded in her diary that Abe Fortas came upstairs for lunch and discussed the Dominican situation. She says "I do not know, try not to know much that's going on...The names Mr. G and Davidson...go back and forward. Sometimes I wonder if such people exist." At the bottom of 330, author Michael Beschloss declares confidently that Mr. G is a code name for Silvestre Guzman, Johnson's choice to lead a new coalition government, and that Davidson is a code name for Fortas.

But this struck me as odd. It just didn't sound reasonable that Fortas would talk about himself in code in front of Lady Bird. After all, what would be the point? As first lady, and, in particular, as Johnson's devoted wife, she was privy to many of the man's personal and professional secrets. And why would Bundy use this same code the next day? What could be so secret about a well-known Presidential friend and adviser having a discussion with the President? Well, what could be going on? And who's Davidson?

This led me back to another book, Mafia Kingfish, by John Davis. On pg. 346, it is explained that I. Irving Davidson was the King of Washington lobbyists, and that he represented both Carlos Marcello and the CIA. It is further explained that over the years he'd represented a number of dictators, including Trujillo, the former dictator of the Dominican. Further, it is stated that Davidson had been the middle man handling pay-offs between Hoover's buddy, oilman Clint Murchison, and Johnson's protege, Bobby Baker. It occurred to me that this may be the Davidson in question. This led me to remember that in Michael Dornan's book Pay-Off, Dornan cites an interview with Marcello where he admits "I've spent a whole lot of money on campaign contributions and I've spread the word to people to support my candidates. What's wrong with that?...You don't hear that it's terrible that the banks or the utilities or the oil companies are supporting so-and-so...I provide a lot of jobs. Why shouldn't I have the same right as these big oil companies to try to elect my friends to office?" Elsewhere in the book, Dornan relates the story of Jack Halfen, who'd run a gambling syndicate in Houston and had conducted pay-offs for the mob to the tune of 100,000 a week (in the 1950's!) before his conviction in 1954. In his trial, Halfen refused to reveal who he'd been paying-off, but he acknowledged to Dornan that he'd had business dealings with Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, former Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark (Ramsey Clark's father), and congressman Albert Thomas (whose retirement dinner was the stated reason for JFK's trip to Texas), a who's who of Texas politics.

But, if Davidson were having secret meetings with Johnson regarding the Dominican crisis, and he was representing the mob in these meetings, what on earth were they up to?

Well, in Mafia Princess, a book by Sam Giancana's daughter, co-written with a researcher named Thomas Renner, a series of memos, starting with a May 6 1965 letter from J Edgar Hoover to LBJ's special assistant Marvin Watson, are cited. The Hoover letter says "This information relates to reported efforts of Samuel M. Giancana and his associates to take advantage of the revolution in the Dominican Republic by organizing gambling casinos in that country to be under the control of the Chicago underworld. " An attached letter explains "Apparently arrangements have been made with government which, it is assumed, will take control of Dominican Republic, for Chicago group to open gambling operations as soon as situation quiets down." A month later a follow-up memorandum states " It was learned that the persons fronting for the Chicago hoodlum organizations were apparently dealing with individuals behind the initial revolt which occurred in the Dominican Republic."

Did Johnson cut a deal with the mob to allow their move into the Dominican? Did he do this to pay back an old debt? After all, following the Dominican crisis, all plans for a second invasion of Cuba were called off. Was this because Johnson was scared of the negative reaction, or because he no longer owed the sponsors of the invasion?

When one ponders the identitiy of "Davidson," these become legitimate questions.

[Pat Speer]

More on Davidson:

In the HSCA staff report on George de Mohrenschildt, Oswald's best friend, Davidson makes another appearance.

It is noted that within weeks of de Mohrenschildt's departure for Haiti, a short time after Oswald supposedly took a shot at General Walker, de Mohrenschildt appeared in Washington before the Assistant Director of the Office of Intelligence of the Army, and a Tony Czaikowski of the CIA, and requested that the U.S. marines invade Haiti and overthrow Papa Doc Duvalier, de Mohresnchildt's employer. De Mohrenschildt was accompanied by a banker named Clemard Charles, who'd set up the meeting through a CIA and army intelligence officer named Sam Kail (who'd recruited Sturgis to work for the CIA while they were both still living in Cuba.) De Mohrenschildt had been hired by Duvalier, let us remember, to do a development survey of Haiti. Included in his plans, submitted July 27, 1962, and available as De Mohrenschildt exhibit 5 in the Warren Report, were his plans to build a casino. Did the mob get angry when Duvalier changed his mind???

Davidson's name comes into the De Mohrenschildt report in regards to a Sept. 29 1964 Washington Post article, which states that Clemard Charles backed Duvalier in the purchase of two T-28 jet fighters, and that these planes were flown illegally from Dallas to Haiti. According to this article, Washington lobbyist Davidson visited Haiti in May 1963--around the same time Charles and de Mohrenschildt were in Washington--with two Dallas arms suppliers.

When asked about this by the HSCA, Davidson denied any involvement in arms deals on behalf of Haiti, but did acknowledge to working as a lobbyist for Duvalier for a number of years. He also denied any knowledge of George De Mohrenschildt, until 1978, when an article by the Washington Star described an FBI memo mentioning that Davidson had met with the FBI in connection to the Kennedy assassination. The memo, directed to Deke Deloach, from T.E. Bishop and Hobson Adcock notes that Davidson met with the agents at FBI headquarters Oct. 31, 1967, and that Davidson had requested the meeting in an Oct. 28 phone call to Clyde Tolson. In the meeting Davidson said he'd been approached by Hugh McDonald (a researcher, detective, and former intelligence officer who would eventually write Appointment In Dallas and LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy), and Leonard Davidov, and that the two men were looking for information on George De Mohresnschildt. Davidson informed the FBI he'd inquire about the men and keep the FBI informed, telling them his concern was that of protecting President Johnson from being "smeared." (Sure enough, McDonald's second book connected LBJ and DeMohrenschildt with the conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.) The FBI memo goes on to say that Davidson had spent the previous weekend in Dallas, supposedly to attend a football game (The Cowboys were owned by Clint Murchison, Jr., I believe), but that he very well could have been inquiring about De Mohrenschildt, as he lived there as well. Davidson told the HSCA that he had never met with the FBI agents but admits that he was contacted by De Mohrenschildt and Davidov, and that he did relate the substance of the meeting to the bureau. (??? This makes me wonder if Tolson and Hoover didn't create fake paper trails using the names of their subordinates when they were in fact the source.)

The HSCA report also relates that a CIA Office of Security memo dated Jan 7 1964 reported that a "confidential informant" had advised that Duvalier had sent Davidson a confidential message the last week of December 1963.

This all stinks like week-old fish. Did the mob's killing Kennedy scare Duvalier into buying weapons from them? Did Davidson go to Tolson to warn LBJ about McDonald's investigation? Or was it a way of reminding Hoover who really ran the country??? There is plenty of room to speculate. And Bundy's and Lady Bird's mentioning of the name Davidson opens up the door to that room.

Edited November 7, 2004 by Pat Speer

[Tim Carroll]

In the meeting Davidson said he'd been approached by Hugh McDonald (a researcher, detective, and former intelligence officer who would eventually write Appointment In Dallas and LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy), and Leonard Davidov, and that the two men were looking for information on George De Mohresnschildt.  Davidson informed the FBI he'd inquire about the men and keep the FBI informed, telling them his concern was that of protecting President Johnson from being "smeared." (Sure enough, McDonald's second book connected LBJ and DeMohrenschildt with the conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.) 

The HSCA report also relates that a CIA Office of Security memo dated Jan 7 1964 reported that a "confidential informant" had advised that Duvalier had sent Davidson a confidential message the last week of December 1963.

This all stinks like week-old fish.  Did the mob's killing Kennedy scare Duvalier into buying weapons from them?  Did Davidson go to Tolson to warn LBJ about McDonald's investigation?  Or was it a way of reminding Hoover who really ran the country???  There is plenty of room to speculate.  And Bundy's and Lady Bird's mentioning of the name Davidson opens up its door.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've always been fascinated by McDonald's books. McDonald does have an interesting resume, including the invention of the Identi-Kit identification system. He specifies that the hitman, Saul, was at the Bay of Pigs (Rip Robertson or Grayston Lynch?), that his CIA contact in D.C. was Herman Kimsey, who in '64 began to work for McDonald in Goldwater's security detail (so who would that be?), that Saul was hired and paid in Haiti by a man named "Troit" who had been at the Bay of Pigs training camp in Guatemala (deMorenschildt was in Guatemala at that time), that Troit referred to an emotionally unstable "friend" whom he had convinced he was working for the government and that he wanted the friend to take a few shots at JFK to "scare him into realizing" the need for greater protection, but actually "firing cover" under which Saul would fire frangible bullets. Nice story, despite its reliance on the SBT - Oswald firing thrice, Saul firing twice - with the most specific detail provided being that Saul, the assassin, was the Mexico City Oswald shown in the CIA photos.

Tim

P.S. I've considered that Oswald did fire the Carcano wildly as part of what he thought was a counter-demonstraton, either on behalf of the administration as mentioned in H.L. Hunt's security chief's memo of 11/4/63, or as an Operation Northwoods-type supposed Castro attempt, pretextualizing an invasion. But an aside to that speculation is that Oswald did make attempts to contact Gov. Connally when he was Secretary of the Navy to get his dishonorable discharge changed (we can only imagine on what basis). While Oswald is remembered as having been favorable toward JFK, he had a personal animosity toward Connally that could have led him to take his prescribed mission a bit far, leading to the Connally wounding as well as the wildly astray Tague shot.

Edited November 6, 2004 by Tim Carroll

[Antti Hynonen]

Tim Carroll Posted Nov 5 2004, 11:22 PM

  QUOTE(Pat Speer @ Nov 5 2004, 03:02 PM)

In the meeting Davidson said he'd been approached by Hugh McDonald (a researcher, detective, and former intelligence officer who would eventually write Appointment In Dallas and LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy), and Leonard Davidov, and that the two men were looking for information on George De Mohresnschildt.  Davidson informed the FBI he'd inquire about the men and keep the FBI informed, telling them his concern was that of protecting President Johnson from being "smeared." (Sure enough, McDonald's second book connected LBJ and DeMohrenschildt with the conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy.) 

The HSCA report also relates that a CIA Office of Security memo dated Jan 7 1964 reported that a "confidential informant" had advised that Duvalier had sent Davidson a confidential message the last week of December 1963.

This all stinks like week-old fish.  Did the mob's killing Kennedy scare Duvalier into buying weapons from them?  Did Davidson go to Tolson to warn LBJ about McDonald's investigation?  Or was it a way of reminding Hoover who really ran the country???  There is plenty of room to speculate.  And Bundy's and Lady Bird's mentioning of the name Davidson opens up its door.

I've always been fascinated by McDonald's books. McDonald does have an interesting resume, including the invention of the Identi-Kit identification system. He specifies that the hitman, Saul, was at the Bay of Pigs (Rip Robertson or Grayston Lynch?), that his CIA contact in D.C. was Herman Kimsey, who in '64 began to work for McDonald in Goldwater's security detail (so who would that be?), that Saul was hired and paid in Haiti by a man named "Troit" who had been at the Bay of Pigs training camp in Guatemala (deMorenschildt was in Guatemala at that time), that Troit referred to an emotionally unstable "friend" whom he had convinced he was working for the government and that he wanted the friend to take a few shots at JFK to "scare him into realizing" the need for greater protection, but actually "firing cover" under which Saul would fire frangible bullets. Nice story, despite its reliance on the SBT - Oswald firing thrice, Saul firing twice - with the most specific detail provided being that Saul, the assassin, was the Mexico City Oswald shown in the CIA photos.

Tim,

In my opinion part of that theory would work. I'm wondering if there is a connection between Gen. Edwin Walker and George DeMohrenschildt?

That connection might help in explaning the pot shot taken at him in April 1963.

[John Simkin]

I've always been fascinated by McDonald's books.  McDonald does have an interesting resume, including the invention of the Identi-Kit identification system.  He specifies that the hitman, Saul, was at the Bay of Pigs (Rip Robertson or Grayston Lynch?)

In his book LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy, Hugh McDonald provides more information on Saul. He claims that he also used the cover name Georgi Visko. If that is the case, Saul probably had an East European accent (McDonald said that his “background lies in the Ukraine”) According to McDonald, his CIA code name was “Carrion”. Herman Kimsey (CIA) first met Saul in Bogota in 1955 (at the time he was using the name Visko).

[John Simkin]

I've always been fascinated by McDonald's books.  McDonald does have an interesting resume, including the invention of the Identi-Kit identification system.  He specifies that the hitman, Saul, was at the Bay of Pigs (Rip Robertson or Grayston Lynch?)

Hugh McDonald wrote two books about the assassination of JFK: Appointment in Dallas (1975) and LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy (1976).

McDonald worked for Military Intelligence (1946-1954). He also worked as a detective for the Los Angeles Police Department (1949-67). 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. It was Kimsey who told McDonald the story about Saul (Georgi Visko). The story was that JFK was killed on the orders of Nikita Khrushchev and planned by the KGB. Saul and Oswald were both recruited to fire at JFK. Oswald was told to miss on purpose whereas Saul was to kill JFK. McDonald claims he interviewed Saul who backed-up this story. For some reason that is never explained, Saul refused to tell McDonald where he was standing when he fired at JFK. Nor does McDonald explain why Kimsey and Saul told him this story.

After the publication of Appointment in Dallas (October, 1975) McDonald was contacted by Anatoli Cherenkov of the KGB (January, 1976). Cherenkov claims that Mikhail Tsymbal (KGB chief in Paris) had a meeting with Lyndon Johnson in Helsinki, Finland, in the summer of 1963. At this meeting LBJ is told that Kennedy intends to have him prosecuted over the Baker affair. In order to save himself from being sent to prison, LBJ is told he will have to cover-up the assassination of JFK. LBJ agrees to these demands. Here is a passage in 'LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy' about this meeting:

Johnson rose again and walked over to the window in back of the Soviet agent. On this bright, sunny day the conversation seemed unreal to him. Staring out of the window he tried to keep his composure intact. The solid look of the buildings helped. They were real. The azure blue color of the sea surrounding Helsinki reminded him of the Texas gulf in the spring. They were on the second floor. He could see people below, walking rap¬idly, hurrying about their business. He envied them. He, the Vice President of the United States, would have changed placed with the poorest of them. Instinctively, Lyndon Johnson knew the purpose of the meeting. He hunched his huge shoulders, turned around and walked back to his chair. "You're right. Bob Kennedy would get me if I gave him a chance. They both hate me. Give them the information you have, and they will destroy me."

"Much more than destroy you politically, Mr. Johnson. You know, of course, of Mr. Kennedy's investigation into the affairs of a Robert Baker?"

"I know. He'll never make it there."

"You are wrong. He is going to succeed in opening up that affair. We know this, Mr. Johnson, because we're part of the process. When that happens, you not only will be destroyed politically, you will go to prison, which is exactly what Robert Kennedy and the President,, want. There is no escape, sir, if John Kennedy remains President of your country."

Johnson leaned forward, no longer nervous but hard, tough, a fighter. "What do you propose?"

Tsymbal poured tea then pinned the Vice President with his dark eyes. "I propose, sir, to assassinate President dent John F. Kennedy, thereby making you the President. That fact will solve your problems and many of ours."

Johnson never blinked an eye. "Where do I fit in?" The question represented complete surrender to the Russian.

"Your part is simple. The action is planned in every detail. You will not want to know those plans. We understand that the President will be in Dallas, Texas. You must give us the details of that trip. After the assassination we will expect you to arrange an investigation that keeps our government in the clear. For these small things, Mr. Johnson, we offer you the Presidency of the United States and your reputation."

Johnson's voice lowered in resignation. "Who gets that information?" "A Mr. Albert Osborne," the Russian answered triumphantly. "He will be at the Hilton Hotel in Dallas. Send it in a plain envelope so if it falls into the wrong hands, no one can trace it. On the upper left corner of the envelope write the name `Mason,' just that single word. After the action, call us on a secure line at the first possible moment, and we will have a plan for the coverup investigation. At that time, my friend, you will be the President of the United States."

Johnson nodded and stood up. "Mr. Tsymbal, it has been an important and useful meeting."

The Russian walked him to the door and held it open, speaking so that those in the outer office could hear. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Vice President. Please tell President Kennedy that Premier Khrushchev sends his best wishes."

As you can see, the book is written as a novel. It has no index, notes or references. It is of course a lot of nonsense and is not to be taken seriously. It is never explained what motives Saul, Kimsey and Cherenkov had for telling McDonald this story. We are supposed to believe that Nikita Khrushchev plans the assassination of JFK because of his humiliation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. As JFK is such an effective Cold War leader, he has to be removed and replaced with the far more accommodating LBJ.

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

[John Simkin]

On Sunday, September 26, 2004 Bob Vernon posted the following on the JFK Lancer board:

"The 'Mexico City LHO' ('Saul') image as you call it was identified in 1992 by my late friend and associate Joe West, a Certified Legal Investigator. He met with this man in Paris, Texas. The man's name is Phillip Jordan."

As usual, Vernon was wrong. It was a man called Andy Burke who named Jordan as Saul. Burke had signed a contract with Ricky White, the brother of Roscoe White, to write a book on the JFK assassination. He got the story from former Dallas police captain named Richard Abshire.

Kevin Walsh eventually interviewed Phillip Jordan on July 24, 1990. Walsh concluded that Jordan "is obviously not the man in the Mexico City photograph." Nor was Jordan a CIA agent.

[Pat Speer]

I believe that McDonald believed in the veracity of his book. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me that a man with McDonald's background would make it all up. The FBI documents referred to in the HSCA's report on de Mohrenschildt confirm that McDonald conducted an investigation, and that this investigation was considered worrisome. It's possible the "Saul" character fed McDonald a bunch of B.S. and that other agents of some sort or another continued feeding him B.S. to throw him off the track.