John Henry Faulk and the assassination of JFK

[John Simkin]

Does anyone know if John Henry Faulk had anything to say about the JFK assassination?

Faulk is an interesting character and one of the leading radical figures in Texas in 1963. Faulk was a leading radio broadcasters in Texas after the war. He joined WCBS for a four-hour morning talk show, the John Henry Faulk Show in the early 1950s. Page S. Foshee has argued: "Radio provided Faulk the audience he, as a storyteller, craved... The program, which featured music, political humor, and listener participation, ran for six years." Studs Terkel described him as a storyteller in the tradition of Mark Twain.

Faulk was also an active member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. At the time there was a struggle for control between conservative and liberal members. Faulk was determined that the actors' union take a stand against the McCarthyite practice of blacklisting entertainers with alleged connections to the American Communist Party. Faulk and his friends eventually gained control of the organisation.This upset Vincent Hartnett, the publisher of Red Channels and the founder of Aware, which published a series of bulletins that were distributed to industry executives about the political views of potential employees.

Faulk lost his job and later discovered that Aware had labeled him a communist because of his involvement in the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union. With the encouragement and financial support of Edward R. Murrow, Faulk sued Hartnett and Johnson. Faulk engaged New York attorney Louis Nizer to take his case whereas Roy Cohn appeared for the defence. On June 28, 1962, the jury awarded Faulk the largest libel judgment in history to that date - $3.5 million. An appeals court later lowered the amount to $500,000. His case helped to break the blacklist for others but CBS refused to rehire him and he never returned to radio broadcasting.

Faulk remained an outspoken figure in Texas and I wonder if he ever took a look at the Kennedy assassination.

Phil Ochs recorded a song about Faulk.

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

[Greg Parker]

From the Faulk Papers

box 3E202 Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom in Iran, 1978-1979 Committee to Investigate Assassins, 1969-1976, undated

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00010/cah-00010.html

[John Simkin]

From the Faulk Papers

box 3E202 Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom in Iran, 1978-1979 Committee to Investigate Assassins, 1969-1976, undated

http://www.lib.utexa.../cah-00010.html

Thank you for that. Unfortunately, the material is not online and you have to be in Texas to gain access to this material. There is a 50 minute television program on Faulk that I intend to watch later today.

[John Simkin]

John Henry Faulk does not say anything about the JFK assassination but has plenty to say about American foreign policy and the way the media reports events. A very interesting figure who deserves a detailed biography on Spartacus. I have just purchased his book, The Uncensored John Henry Faulk (1985), on Amazon.

[Michael Hogan]

Does anyone know if John Henry Faulk had anything to say about the JFK assassination?

Faulk is an interesting character and one of the leading radical figures in Texas in 1963. Faulk was a leading radio broadcasters in Texas after the war. He joined WCBS for a four-hour morning talk show, the John Henry Faulk Show in the early 1950s. Page S. Foshee has argued: "Radio provided Faulk the audience he, as a storyteller, craved... The program, which featured music, political humor, and listener participation, ran for six years." Studs Terkel described him as a storyteller in the tradition of Mark Twain.

Faulk was also an active member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. At the time there was a struggle for control between conservative and liberal members. Faulk was determined that the actors' union take a stand against the McCarthyite practice of blacklisting entertainers with alleged connections to the American Communist Party. Faulk and his friends eventually gained control of the organisation.This upset Vincent Hartnett, the publisher of Red Channels and the founder of Aware, which published a series of bulletins that were distributed to industry executives about the political views of potential employees.

Faulk lost his job and later discovered that Aware had labeled him a communist because of his involvement in the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists union. With the encouragement and financial support of Edward R. Murrow, Faulk sued Hartnett and Johnson. Faulk engaged New York attorney Louis Nizer to take his case whereas Roy Cohn appeared for the defence. On June 28, 1962, the jury awarded Faulk the largest libel judgment in history to that date - $3.5 million. An appeals court later lowered the amount to $500,000. His case helped to break the blacklist for others but CBS refused to rehire him and he never returned to radio broadcasting.

Faulk remained an outspoken figure in Texas and I wonder if he ever took a look at the Kennedy assassination.

http://www.spartacus.../USAfaulkJH.htm

As noted on John's Spartacus page, Faulk wrote a book based on the above titled Fear on Trial. (1963)

In a 1975 made for TV movie with the same name, actor William Devane played the role of Faulk and George C Scott played the role of Nizer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipIrHAzm_i8

In 1969 John Henry Faulk was on the Board of Directors of The Committee to Investigate Assassinations: http://jfk.hood.edu/...Misc-SG-095.pdf

Faulk narrated the Roger Craig documentary, The Man Who Knew Too Much: http://jfk.hood.edu/...ry/Item 137.pdf

John, thank you very much for what you wrote elsewhere.

[John Simkin]

In 1969 John Henry Faulk was on the Board of Directors of The Committee to Investigate Assassinations: http://jfk.hood.edu/...Misc-SG-095.pdf

Faulk narrated the Roger Craig documentary, The Man Who Knew Too Much: http://jfk.hood.edu/...ry/Item 137.pdf

That does not really surprise me after watching the documentary above. He reminds me of Jim Marrs, another great Texan, who I had the pleasure to meet a few years ago in Dallas.

[Michael Hogan]

In 1973, the Committee to Investigate Assassinations sponsored a two-day conference at Georgetown University. One of the topics was Assassinations and the Media.

The speakers were Robert Kaiser, Donald Freed, Harold Weisberg, Ted Charach, Peter Noyes, and Fred Cook. John Henry Faulk was the moderator.

http://www.maryferre...81&relPageId=16

From Tom Miller's The Assassination Please Almanac:

In Texas, where one speaks quietly about the assassination even if one is serious, humorist John Henry Faulk, banned from radio and television for attacking the blacklist,

mixes assassination humor into after-dinner speeches. At a 1973 assassination conference in Washington, D.C., researchers who had worked the case for years stared

in bewilderment as Faulk tossed out one-liners about the Warren Commission. (Page 28)

[John Dolva]

Some things that I found helpful about learning more about this seemingly very interesting character.

MLK and Faulk, and others.

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd10/074742.png&otherstuff=13|59|0|26|4|1|1|73784|

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd11/086930.png&otherstuff=99|140|0|5|8|1|1|85853|

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd11/088737.png&otherstuff=99|159|0|34|2|1|1|87639|

http://mdah.state.ms.us/arrec/digital_archives/sovcom/result.php?image=/data/sov_commission/images/png/cd11/088741.png&otherstuff=99|159|0|35|1|1|1|87643|

for some likely relevant background:

The Congress for Cultural Freedom - CIA Covert Operations in the European Arts Scene

http://www.bilderberg.org/ccf.htm

http://usm.maine.edu/library/specialcollections/political-buttons

''...worker safety.

4. Gus Hall President / Jarvis Tyner Vice-Pres. Peace, Jobs, Freedom vote Communist

The American Communist Party supports workers and the environment, and the responsible use of capital. It had its American founding in 1910, but the party declined in the face of political persecutions during the 1950’s. However, the party is currently gaining some popular sympathy, especially since it supports allworking class people against all forms of national oppression.

5. Free the Shah’s Political Prisoners Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom in Iran

In 1976, Iranian exiles, with the help of New York intellectuals and graduate students, formed the Committee for Artistic and Intellectual Freedom in Iran. The committee, along with Amnesty International and The International League for Human Rights, put pressure on the Shah’s regime to improve human rights in Iran.

6. U.S. BASES OUT OF THE PHILIPINES!

Since 1947 the U.S. had operated military training bases in the Philippines under a Military Bases Agreement. In 1991, the Philippine Senate rejected the bases treaty, and ordered the U.S. to convert its bases to civilian use. Subsequently, the U.S. and the Philippines have developed their economic and commercial relations in lieu of military aid. However, the U.S. and the Philippines still maintain a Mutual Defense Treaty.

7. FREEDOM AND PEACE PARTY

Founded in 1967, the Peace and Freedom Party...''

It's worth reading the following. keeping in mind '52 and also looking at the Iran Iraq war in detail. Including the struggle of the Kurds through this time.

The Pahlavi Monarchy Falls

http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch29ir2.htm

If I had an opportunity I'd like to know Faulks opinion re Al Shairati. I think that coulld be a defining Opinion.

''Two men had been prominent in the rising against the Shah. One was Khomeini, whose education was parochial, in other words he was Madrasa-trained. The other, Ali Shariati, had both a traditional education in religion and he was also a sociologist with a Ph.D. from France's Sorbonne University. The portraits of both Shariati and Khomeini were carried on placards in demonstrations and the portraits of both were displayed side by side in people's homes. Shariati had been popular with students and Iran's religious communities, with thousands of students and non-students having flocked to his lectures, fascinated by his point-of-view. He had been imprisoned under harsh conditions by the Shah's regime and in 1975 released following popular and international pressure. Shariati favored a reinterpretation of the Islamic faith in order to take it back, he believed, to its true meaning, including its commitment to social justice. He was hostile to "Westernization." He has been described as a utopian. His mentor, the French existentialist Jean Paul Sartre, said that if he were to choose a religion "it would be that of Shariati's." Shariati disliked U.S. influence in Iran. He was driven into exile as Khomeini had been. In June 1977, three weeks after having arrived in England, he was found dead in his apartment. His followers suspected the Shah's security agency, SAVAK.''

Also at this time Mid Late '70s: Nicaragua, El Salvador etc.