Ford Question

[Ron Bulman]

I turned 18 in 1974, wasn't politically involved.  Just saw the evening news occasionally.  Looked at the newspaper beyond the sports section a little. I remember Watergate in the news then Nixon resigning.  Then we had a new president.  A friendly to the camera smiling one after Nixon.  Pipe smoking, skied with the family at Vail, teenage kids, dogs.  A relief after Nixon and Watergate, kinder gentler news.  I don't remember anything mentioned about him being on the Warren Commission.  Just because I wasn't paying attention or was it ignored at the time?  Just kind of smoothed over?  If it was acknowledged was it in support of him as an "Honored" member of it?

Nothing about being Hoover's informant on the commission for the FBI.

Was Ford just a stooge again/overall?

[James DiEugenio]

Ford was more than just a stooge I think.  He was a willing pawn in the game.

We know this from the deal he did with Nixon, and I really do not think anyone can misconstrue that.  On top of the pardon he let Nixon take all those papers and tapes with him when he left.  Congress had to pass a law to try and get them back. Which Nixon fought with a fleet of lawyers for decades. 

Then there was his loading up the Rockefeller Commission because, as he blurted out, they had to cover up state secrets.  When someone asked, what secrets,  he said, like assassinations.

Then there was his maneuvering to end the Church Committee around the Welch funeral.  On that one he cooperated with Kissinger and David Phillips.

And there was his disclosure to d'Estang, about knowing there was some kind of organization behind the JFK case, but he could not figure out what it was.

Ford was one of these guys who did not think Americans could handle the facts of what was really going in with the republic.  Only guys like himself could do that.   

Nice one Jerry.

 

 

[Joe Bauer]

When Ford was President I was employed as a gardener ( part of a small crew ) in Pebble Beach, CA.

Home to the famous "Pebble Beach" public golf course and the lesser known but even more exclusive "Cypress Point" private golf course.

President Ford would come to play golf during one of the big tournaments there ( A T & T ) and stay at the large estate home of an oil executive by the name of Darius Keaton.

Just mentioning this in the "Birds Of A Feather" context.

Darius Keaton Jr.; Oil Executive, Golf Champion

 

Darius N. "Dee" Keaton Jr., 76, former oil company executive and champion amateur golfer. Born in Atlanta, Keaton served in France and Germany during World War II, attended Washington State University and graduated from UC Berkeley. He worked with Union Oil Co., Signal Oil and Gas Co. and, with Leonard Firestone, co-owned Edgington Oil Co. Keaton, a director in Santa Fe International Corp., an Alhambra-based oil exploration company, was sentenced in 1987 to two months in prison, five years' probation, 1,000 hours of community service and an $11,000 fine after pleading guilty to two felonies for insider trading. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged him with wire fraud and violating SEC regulations over his trading of stock and stock options in 1981, shortly before Santa Fe was acquired by Kuwait Petroleum Corp. A champion athlete in high school and college, Keaton focused on golf as an adult and played for many years in what is now called the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. With his partner Hale Irwin, he won the tournament in 1976. He was a director and former president of the Monterey Peninsula Golf Foundation, the charitable group that runs that tournament. On Friday in San Francisco.

650 × 610

his golfing buddies Darius Keaton ...

upi.com

 

[Joe Bauer]

Years ago I happened to catch a radio interview of former FBI agent James Hosty of the Dallas, TX field office who was assigned the Lee Harvey Oswald file up to the time of 11,22,1963.

The focus of the interview was Hosty's book "Assignment: Oswald."

You remember James Hosty?

He was the agent who when called to testify to the Warren Commission in early 1964, didn't mention his burning of Oswald's FBI file and then flushing this down a toilet upon orders from his superior the day Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby.

The CHAIRMAN. "Would you raise your right hand, please, and be sworn? Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give before this Commission shall be THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH ... so help you God?"
 

Mr. HOSTY. "I do." 
 

When asked later in a public interview why he didn't mention the Oswald file destruction in his  "whole truth" testimony to the Warren Commission that day in early 1964 Hosty smugly chuckled " they didn't ask." 

Ha, ha, ha.

Like keeping this unbelievably important Oswald file information destruction action on the part of the Dallas FBI office from the Warren Commission was ... no big deal !

Like this action would have elicited no more interest and questions from the Commission members than mentioning Oswald's minimal baloney sandwiches and milk dietary preferences.

Can anyone here imagine the stunned impact look on the Commission member's faces if Hosty had voluntarily mentioned in his testimony this Oswald file destruction action by him on 11,24,1963 on orders from his FBI supervisor?

That revelation would have ( should have) rocked the investigation to it's preconceived lone gunman core.

Getting back to this radio interview of Hosty regards his book "Assignment: Oswald"

Hosty went on and soon enough just blurted out this tid-bit about the Warren Commission and their investigation.

He told the interviewer "We had three of them. Ford, Russell and ..."

Hosty seemed to temporarily forget the name of the other Warren Commission member besides Gerald Ford and Richard Russell Jr. who he clearly inferred was working with his employer the F.B.I. in providing them continuous inside information on their investigation.

Amazingly the interviewer just quickly interrupted Hosty and interjected some other innocuous comment and question about Hosty's book, seemingly oblivious to the importance of what Hosty had just revealed to him and his radio audience regards this admission by Hosty of how compromised the so-called independent Warren Commission was by the FBI.

And who was this third FBI informant Commission member Hosty was about to identify?

Ford was so compromised.  His JFK truth loyalty was trumped by his F.B.I. loyalty.

And my guess is that Ford did what the Rockefeller's ( and Hoover ) told him to do.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Joe Bauer

[W. Niederhut]

   Didn't J. Edgar Hoover have a sex tape of Gerald Ford cavorting with the East German spy Ellen Rometsch?

   Can't recall where I read that salacious story, but I was under the impression that Hoover had Gerald Ford by the short hairs during the Warren Commission "investigation."

[Ron Bulman]

2 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

   Didn't J. Edgar Hoover have a sex tape of Gerald Ford cavorting with the East German spy Ellen Rometsch?

   Can't recall where I read that salacious story, but I was under the impression that Hoover had Gerald Ford by the short hairs during the Warren Commission "investigation."

I didn't remember it being Rometsch but thought I'd read that Hoover had a tape of Ford in a Washington hotel room with a woman other than his wife fooling around.  Found this.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10024064841

If Baker is the source maybe it should be taken with a grain of salt.  On the other hand if Hoover had such a tape there's a good chance his old buddy LBJ knew about it which could have been a source for Baker as well as other contacts of his.  I need to read the politico article it comes from. 

Edited July 10, 2019 by Ron Bulman

[Paul Jolliffe]

On 7/9/2019 at 7:31 AM, James DiEugenio said:

Ford was more than just a stooge I think.  He was a willing pawn in the game.

We know this from the deal he did with Nixon, and I really do not think anyone can misconstrue that.  On top of the pardon he let Nixon take all those papers and tapes with him when he left.  Congress had to pass a law to try and get them back. Which Nixon fought with a fleet of lawyers for decades. 

Then there was his loading up the Rockefeller Commission because, as he blurted out, they had to cover up state secrets.  When someone asked, what secrets,  he said, like assassinations.

Then there was his maneuvering to end the Church Committee around the Welch funeral.  On that one he cooperated with Kissinger and David Phillips.

And there was his disclosure to d'Estang, about knowing there was some kind of organization behind the JFK case, but he could not figure out what it was.

Ford was one of these guys who did not think Americans could handle the facts of what was really going in with the republic.  Only guys like himself could do that.   

Nice one Jerry.

 

 

Jim,

What kind of leverage did Nelson Rockefeller have on Jerry Ford to compel him to appoint Rockefeller as his VP? Since Ford himself was almost assassinated twice in 1975, should we wonder if these were examples of the Rockefeller/Deep State attempts to control/threaten/dispose of Ford?

I recently learned that the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 made the third person in line (after the P and the VP) the Speaker of the House, not the Secretary of State. President Truman did not have a VP until January of 1949. He believed that the VP ought to be elected and since the Secretary of State was appointed by the President, Truman wanted the third in line to be someone who represented as many people as possible - the Speaker of the House, not the Secretary of State. 

Thus the Act of 1947.

Interestingly, Truman fired his Secretary of State, James Byrnes, in 1947. 

Nelson Rockefeller himself had served as  Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs until fired by President Truman in 1945. So, under the old system, NR was only a short step away from being the third in line to the presidency. 30 years later, NR was only a mis-fired Colt 45 away.

 

[David Andrews]

Nixon's two admins were filled with former Rockefeller associates - Kissinger, Haig, Butterfield are just the top-of-the-head names.  If you listen to Ray Locker on MWN, Spiro Agnew was forced to resign in a corruption scandal so that Nixon could also be forced out, without the unworkable Agnew in succession.  So, Ford became a non-elected V-P, and then Nelson Rockefeller a second V-P appointment.  Sometimes things are just as naked as they appear!

Edited July 10, 2019 by David Andrews

[James DiEugenio]

Of the whole Halloween Massacre, which I described in my essay, The Greenfield-Cohen-Rice Suck Up,  the only aspect of that which Ford ever expressed any regret over was giving Rockefeller the word that he was out in 1976.  He said he should have not given in to the ultraconservatives on that one.  But Rockefeller was so associated with Kissinger there was no other way to do it.

I looking at that election, in 1976, its amazing how close it was.  I mean, this was after Watergate tarred the GOP, after Ford lost 23 points in popularity after his pardon of Nixon.  And still, Carter barely won.  I am pretty sure, it was the last time any Democrat took the majority of states in the south.  I voted for Udall.  Jerry Brown made a mistake by getting in so late.  Carter was not a very good president overall. Although I will grant he is probably the best ex president of modern times.  He lives in a 167,000 dollar house.  Even though he has a pension of 210 K from the government.  Unlike Biden, Obama, Clinton, Ford etc, he did not cash in.  His main preoccupation is his books .  He has written over 40  of them.

 

[S.T. Patrick]

When Ford asked Rockefeller to consider being VP, Rockefeller was going to take it, but told Ford he'd need a day to "discuss it with his family." Rockefeller came back and, in essence, "pulled a Cheney." He told Ford that he'd need to be an "active vice-president." I think Ford called it a "working vice president." Ford then tells Rockefeller, "I'd like you to do in the domestic field what Henry [Kissinger] is doing in the international field." Richard Nixon had considered choosing Nelson Rockefeller over Ford as VP (for a split second). Nixon basically thought Ford was not bright enough to prove a threat or succumb to the intrigues that were disloyal to the president. Nixon also was dead set against plucking someone from the Eastern Establishment to be a heartbeat away. Rockefeller hasn't been cozy with Nixon, anyway. Nixon snubbed him at the Waldorf-Astoria on election night in 1968, and Nixon had a streak of class/regional envy in him, anyway. So, as Ray Locker points out in the excellent Haig's Coup, Haig works with Ford to secure a pardon as a means by which Ford would be nominated. To extrapolate that out, the pardon also means that the article of impeachment would not go forward. What was in those articles? A to-be investigation of the Moorer-Radford spy ring, which would have led straight to Haig. So, by choreographing the VP replacement, Haig once again saves Al Haig from professional/historical ruin and potentially prison.    

[Joe Bauer]

6 hours ago, S.T. Patrick said:

When Ford asked Rockefeller to consider being VP, Rockefeller was going to take it, but told Ford he'd need a day to "discuss it with his family." Rockefeller came back and, in essence, "pulled a Cheney." He told Ford that he'd need to be an "active vice-president." I think Ford called it a "working vice president." Ford then tells Rockefeller, "I'd like you to do in the domestic field what Henry [Kissinger] is doing in the international field." Richard Nixon had considered choosing Nelson Rockefeller over Ford as VP (for a split second). Nixon basically thought Ford was not bright enough to prove a threat or succumb to the intrigues that were disloyal to the president. Nixon also was dead set against plucking someone from the Eastern Establishment to be a heartbeat away. Rockefeller hasn't been cozy with Nixon, anyway. Nixon snubbed him at the Waldorf-Astoria on election night in 1968, and Nixon had a streak of class/regional envy in him, anyway. So, as Ray Locker points out in the excellent Haig's Coup, Haig works with Ford to secure a pardon as a means by which Ford would be nominated. To extrapolate that out, the pardon also means that the article of impeachment would not go forward. What was in those articles? A to-be investigation of the Moorer-Radford spy ring, which would have led straight to Haig. So, by choreographing the VP replacement, Haig once again saves Al Haig from professional/historical ruin and potentially prison.    

Very interesting and informative S.T.Patrick.

Thanks for posting this.

[Pat Speer]

Ford wasn't as big an FBI toady as people assume. 

From patspeer.com chapter 1b

 

1. From the transcript of the 12-16-63 Executive Session of the Warren Commission: 

Chief Justice Earl Warren:  Well, gentleman, to be very frank about it, I have read that report two or three times and I have not seen anything in there yet that has not been in the press. 

Senator Richard Russell:   I couldn’t agree with that more.  I have read it through once very carefully, and I went through it again at places I had marked, and practically everything in there has come out in the press at one time or another, a bit here and a bit there.

A short while later, Congressman Gerald Ford asked if the Commission should heed Acting Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach’s written request they release the FBI’s findings to the public. After they decided to hold off, Ford explained why he asked.

Congressman Gerald Ford:  I was called by one of the top AP or UP people here, and he didn’t know that you had received the letter (from Katzenbach) and we had copies, but he was one of the top AP or UP people at Dallas at the time.  He said “Jerry, I’m surprised that we got, and the other press services got, stories out the very same day.”  In effect, he was saying what they have asked us to do.  The minute he said that it led me to the belief that he was inferring that there had been a deliberate leak from some agency of the Federal Government, and now they wanted us to confirm by Commission action what had been leaked previously.  Now, somebody had to give this information to both AP and UP in order for that to happen...

Chief Justice Earl Warren:  I read those dispatches.

Congressman Gerald Ford: :  Didn’t that come to your mind?

Chief Justice Earl Warren:  Surely did.  I spoke to Katzenbach about it.

Senator Richard Russell:  I mentioned that the first day we sat here. 

Chief Justice Earl Warren:  Yes, you did.  Senator Russell asked Katzenbach where it could have come from and he said there was only one source. (Note: He means Hoover.)

 

Senator Richard Russell:  Do you recall the first day I asked him that?

John McCloy:  There were leaks long before we got the documents.

Congressman Hale Boggs:  And after that, at the second meeting, there was the Evening Star with that whole thing.

Senator Richard Russell:   Every day there was something.

Chief Justice Earl Warren;  Yep, until it was all out and I tell you frankly I just didn’t find anything in that report that has not been leaked to the press.

 

2. "After raising the possibility in the 12-16 executive session that Hoover was behind all the leaks, Congressman Ford met the next day with the FBI's most wanted leaker, Cartha DeLoach. Despite his earlier promise to keep the FBI "thoroughly advised" on the workings of the commission, however, Ford decided to keep the confidence of his fellow commissioners and instead told DeLoach that, in DeLoach's words, "There was no criticism of the FBI at yesterday's meeting. There was no allegations by anyone, including the Chief Justice, that the FBI had leaked portions of this report." Apparently, DeLoach figured out that Ford was onto him. His 12-17 memo on this conversation reflects that "I went over very carefully with Congressman Ford that the FBI had not had any "leaks" whatsoever. I told him we were well aware that the department had done considerable talking; furthermore, it now appeared somewhat obvious that members of the Commission were beginning to leak the report. I referred to this week's issue of "Newsweek" magazine which contains a rather clear analysis of the report. I told Congressman Ford that "Newsweek" was owned by the "Washington Post" and that apparently someone was trying to curry favor. I told him we, of course, did not get along very well with either the 'Washington Post" or "Newsweek." 

Even if he was telling the truth about the leaks to Newsweek, DeLoach knew full well the leaks began in the beginning of the month, before either the Justice Department or the Commission had come into possession of the FBI's report. As DeLoach and Hoover were too clever by half, it also makes sense that they would attempt to cut off speculation they were the source of the leaks by leaking it through sources outside their usual pattern. It seems probable, then, that DeLoach, as Hoover, was trying to blame the Commission for leaks that he himself had orchestrated."

 

3. "On 12-20-63 Hoover aide Cartha DeLoach wrote a second memo regarding the 12-16 executive session of the Warren Commission. Even though Congressman Ford had hid the commission's discussion of Hoover's leaks from DeLoach, this discussion was leaked right back to Hoover anyhow. Deloach wrote: "Pursuant to the Director's instructions, I met with Senator Richard B. Russell at 3:45 p.m. Inspector Jim Malley accompanied me. I told the Senator that the Director probably had the greatest respect for him than any other man on the Presidential Commission; consequently, the Director was most anxious that any misimpression which the Senator might have gotten, regarding leaks concerning the captioned matter, be straightened out immediately. I mentioned that the Director had maintained throughout that there should be no press release unless it emanated from either the President or either the Presidential Commission...I told him that there had been others who thought that a press release, based upon the FBI report, should be issued immediately. I reiterated that under no circumstances had we "leaked" any information...The Senator inquired as to the identity of the sources who had been "leaking" information. I told him it appeared quite obvious that considerable of the information came from the Dallas Police...I told him also that the (Justice) Department undoubtedly had "leaked" considerable information...Senator Russell told Mr. Malley and me that he was glad to hear an FBI denial in the matter...He (Russell) stated that Attorney General Katzenbach had directly implied that the "leaks" had come from the FBI. He quoted Katzenbach as telling the members of the Presidential Commission, "J. Edgar Hoover has chewed his men out for leaking information and they won't be doing any more of this." (Note: to this, Hoover added in his own handwriting, "This certainly shows Katzenbach's true colors.") DeLoach's memo, continued: "I told the Senator that Katzenbach was obviously lying in implying such action on the part of FBI representatives. The point was made that sometimes a person tries to cover up his own guilt by blaming others." 

That last line may be one of the most ironic ever written, for it has been the verdict of almost everyone to study the matter that Hoover and Deloach were in fact the ones behind the leaks. When asked in 1978 by the HSCA who leaked the FBI report, Katzenbach responded: "I think that the Bureau leaked it. The Bureau constantly leaked things of this kind and constantly denied it and constantly blamed it on other people. There is not a reporter in town who does not know that...I wanted a formal statement."As discussed previously, in his 1976 interview with the staff of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Operations (The Church Committee), the former Chief of the FBI's Domestic Intelligence Division, William Sullivan, confirmed that it was indeed Hoover who had ordered the report "leaked."  

Edited July 11, 2019 by Pat Speer

[James DiEugenio]

If one reads he three articles of impeachment passed by the House, I don't see anything in there about the Moorer-Radford spy ring,:

https://watergate.info/impeachment/articles-of-impeachment

[S.T. Patrick]

I think the Ford-as-FBI connection is somewhat psychological. He applied to be an agent earlier in life and was turned down. I think he always loved the idea of being FBI, even when he wasn't. I have no evidence of this, but he was probably also someone who liked the FBI-related television shows and movies of the era. I think Ford has a lofty view of the FBI rather than a realistic one. 

Edited July 11, 2019 by S.T. Patrick

[S.T. Patrick]

I apologize. I misspoke completely and mixed the two up. The articles would have sent a further, deeper investigation into the wiretaps, which would have exposed Haig. Locker makes the case that a big part of Nixon's insistence on using the taping system was to keep a record of Kissinger's statements. Apparently, Kissinger had been a part of the wiretapping and was trying to distance himself from all things Watergate et al as time went on. Haig knew a deep investigation of Article 2.2 would lead to him. This is how Locker explains it. I apologize for confusing the wiretapping with the spy ring.  

Edited July 11, 2019 by S.T. Patrick