Thoughts on the Cover-Up

[Jon G. Tidd]

Further thoughts on the cover-up:

The cover-up, if there was one, appears to have begun early on the afternoon of the assassination. Not with the framing of Oswald, IMO. The frame job, I believe, was part of the assassination planning. The cover-up, in my view, began when the Establishment seized upon the idea was the sole assassin; perhaps began when McGeorge Bundy stated that there was no conspiracy.

It's difficult to think clearly about the cover-up, because at each turn one is confronted with the question "why?". Why did Humes burn his notes, burn his first draft, lie, and commit other wrongs? Because he was ordered to do so? Because he was coerced to do so? Because he was incompetent and bumbling? I believe one has to rule out that he was part of a plot to kill JFK. And what about McCone, whom I believe received two sets of briefing boards by the morning of Monday, November 25. Was he part of a plot to kill JFK? I don't think so. But he appears to be key to the early cover-up. I don't think anyone was in a position to coerce McCone. So his reason(s) for covering up likely differ from Hume's.

It seems to me the key to understanding the very first hours of the cover-up is to focus on the key players -- Bundy, Hoover, Humes, LBJ, McCone, possibly others -- and to see if they have any common nexus. I'm most suspicious of Bundy, because he spoke early and unequivocally as a high-ranking officer of the Executive Branch. Hoover, Humes, and McCone all worked farther down the Executive Branch food chain.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Jon G. Tidd

[Ron Ecker]

I'm most suspicious of Bundy, because he spoke early and unequivocally as a high-ranking officer of the Executive Branch. Hoover, Humes, and McCone all worked farther down the Executive Branch food chain.

It's interesting that Bundy was in a unique position in the Executive Branch that day because almost the entire Cabinet was in a plane over the Pacific en route to Japan at the time of the assassination. This left an Executive Branch power vacuum in Washington that Bundy stepped in and filled. Was this a coincidence?

Defense Secretary McNamara was in DC, having just returned from the Honolulu Conference, but by his own account no one at the Pentagon even told him the news that JFK had been shot. He learned it through a phone call from RFK, and did nothing. (Fast forward to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld doing nothing during the 9/11 attacks.) McNamara learned through a second call from RFK that JFK was dead. McNamara thus portrays himself as being out of the loop that day as far as doing anything at all.

If the Tokyo flight and Bundy's resulting position of influence that day was not a coincidence, then it was part of the assassination planning.

[Paul Brancato]

Jon and Ron - where do your suspicions about Bundy lead? I agree with you btw.

[Ron Ecker]

Jon and Ron - where do your suspicions about Bundy lead? I agree with you btw.

For me it would mean an inside job.

[Jon G. Tidd]

Paul,

I ask, who were Bundy's patrons or sponsors? I believe they were members of the Eastern Establishment who had reasons to want JFK gone.

[Paul Brancato]

Agree.

[Cliff Varnell]

Paul,

I ask, who were Bundy's patrons or sponsors? I believe they were members of the Eastern Establishment who had reasons to want JFK gone.

W. Averell Harriman.

[David Andrews]

Paul,

I ask, who were Bundy's patrons or sponsors? I believe they were members of the Eastern Establishment who had reasons to want JFK gone.

W. Averell Harriman.

Rockefeller family.

We've been down these roads before - without drawing conclusions about the assassination or cover-up.

Edited February 4, 2016 by David Andrews

[Jon G. Tidd]

David Andrews,

Arrows of suspicion from different directions point at such members of the Eastern Establishment as far as I'm concerned.

My guess is that they orchestrated the hit and Oswald's framing; and left the dirty work of the cover-up largely to the FBI.

My further guess is that both LBJ and Hoover could see what had happened and what was happening.

[Ron Ecker]

My further guess is that both LBJ and Hoover could see what had happened and what was happening.

I believe LBJ must have known ahead of time, if he wasn't involved in the plot himself. Would someone of his known nature, someone who had apparently killed before (see Mac Wallace), let himself be prosecuted and likely sent to prison for corruption, if the death of JFK would prevent it by giving him the presidency to which he had so aspired? Talk about who benefits! Time was running out on LBJ, and if he didn't take action it must have been because he knew that someone else was going to take care of JFK.

[Jon G. Tidd]

Ron,

In my opinion, the time and the place of the assassination were critical.

Dallas was perfect.

LBJ did not have to kill JFK. He was going to be a suspect in any event. Witness "Macbird".

LBJ was pinned to the ropes.

Don't fall for the obvious.

[Kirk Gallaway]

Further thoughts on the cover-up:

The cover-up, if there was one, appears to have begun early on the afternoon of the assassination. Not with the framing of Oswald, IMO. The frame job, I believe, was part of the assassination planning. The cover-up, in my view, began when the Establishment seized upon the idea was the sole assassin; perhaps began when McGeorge Bundy stated that there was no conspiracy.

It's difficult to think clearly about the cover-up, because at each turn one is confronted with the question "why?". Why did Humes burn his notes, burn his first draft, lie, and commit other wrongs? Because he was ordered to do so? Because he was coerced to do so? Because he was incompetent and bumbling? I believe one has to rule out that he was part of a plot to kill JFK. And what about McCone, whom I believe received two sets of briefing boards by the morning of Monday, November 25. Was he part of a plot to kill JFK? I don't think so. But he appears to be key to the early cover-up. I don't think anyone was in a position to coerce McCone. So his reason(s) for covering up likely differ from Hume's.

It seems to me the key to understanding the very first hours of the cover-up is to focus on the key players -- Bundy, Hoover, Humes, LBJ, McCone, possibly others -- and to see if they have any common nexus. I'm most suspicious of Bundy, because he spoke early and unequivocally as a high-ranking officer of the Executive Branch. Hoover, Humes, and McCone all worked farther down the Executive Branch food chain.

What I tend to think is that is that Hume was approached as others such as Earl Warren by LBJ,(but by maybe a Naval Intelligence source?) that sources on high say that Oswald is tied to Castro and it's Hume's patriotic duty to perform certain tasks as instructed to follow a concocted lone gunman story to avert possible Nuclear War.