RIP Richard A. Sprague

[Richard Booth]

3 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

In fact, he actually flew down there to interview the Tarasoffs.  And he came back with the typewriter they used for the transcripts. Why?  He thought David Phillips had altered them.

He had good reason to believe that. What the Tarasoffs said was on the call and what ended up in the transcript are two different things entirely.

[James DiEugenio]

Richard, you know what Sprague said about that?

In an interview he did for Probe magazine in the nineties, he said that after he got back form Mexico is when all heck broke loose about the committee.

He resigned.

 Looking back, he told the interviewer that he would be willing to wager that the typewriter was in some warehouse today and had never been tested.

[Ron Bulman]

5 hours ago, Jamey Flanagan said:

With all due respect, what's more high profile than the President? Lol! And not saying definitively that he was disposed of but look at the case of Hale Boggs. Something could have been done like that or like Hoffa where he just disappeared. I mean, they don't have to shoot you down in the street like they did Kennedy. They could have found a more discreet way to kill JFK, but they wanted it to be brutal to send a message. It wasn't just business, it was personal even though most of their animosity was more towards Bobby. Anyway, besides just disappearing, how many heart attacks, suicides and cases of cancer happened to people who stood in the way of the perpetrators? Garrison was never killed but had it been their last option I don't believe they would have hesitated to eliminate him. Of course they try to discredit first but if that wasn't completely successful they would've took him out. No doubt in my mind!

Between the Shaw trial, his NBC response, the Playboy interview and more Garrison became high profile at the time.  Taking him out would have aroused further pubic suspicion about him being right about government involvement in the JFKA, as well as RFK an MLK.  They could discredit and take him down.  Which they did.  

But yes, a similar approach was used on Sprague & Tannenbaum.

jmo

Edited April 9, 2021 by Ron Bulman

[Joe Bauer]

20 hours ago, Jamey Flanagan said:

With all due respect, what's more high profile than the President? Lol!

 

 

And not saying definitively that he was disposed of but look at the case of Hale Boggs. Something could have been done like that or like Hoffa where he just disappeared. I mean, they don't have to shoot you down in the street like they did Kennedy. They could have found a more discreet way to kill JFK, but they wanted it to be brutal to send a message. It wasn't just business, it was personal even though most of their animosity was more towards Bobby. Anyway, besides just disappearing, how many heart attacks, suicides and cases of cancer happened to people who stood in the way of the perpetrators? Garrison was never killed but had it been their last option I don't believe they would have hesitated to eliminate him. Of course they try to discredit first but if that wasn't completely successful they would've took him out. No doubt in my mind!

Exactly.

Like Sprague, I also believe the Leopoldo/ Angelo/ Leon Oswald Sylvia Odio visit story and it's incredibly strong conspiracy indication importance.

The Warren Commission's dismissal of her story is one of the most suspiciously irrational and neglectful actions of their performance.

Mr. Gerald ( no proof of Oswald and Ferry ever interacting or knowing each other ) Posner threw another false credibility damaging propaganda bone out there with his assessment of Sylvia Odio being a pathological histrionic case.

Yet, Sylvia Odio's sister Annie was right there just feet behind Sylvia during her supposed histrionic Cubans with Leon Oswald visit spell Posner alleges. She has also backed up much of Sylvia sworn oath testimony. Was she also afflicted with a sever case history of histrionic behavior?

Edited April 9, 2021 by Joe Bauer

[Joe Bauer]

I wonder if Sprague and Tannebaum resigned mostly because they knew the fix was in and they would never be able to overcome it? And maybe even felt their lives could be in danger if they pursued the case as they wanted to, but would never admit this outside of their tightest circle?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Joe Bauer said:

I wonder if Sprague and Tannebaum resigned mostly because they knew the fix was in and they would never be able to overcome it? And maybe even felt their lives could be in danger if they pursued the case as they wanted to, but would never admit this outside of their tightest circle?

Also, I think men of integrity would not want their names attached to a sham or deception. 

[Joe Bauer]

18 minutes ago, Chris Barnard said:

Also, I think men of integrity would not want their names attached to a sham or deception. 

That's for sure one of the main reasons.

[James DiEugenio]

Tanenbaum and Lewis both knew the HSCA was not going to succeed once Sprague was out.  

That is why they did not stick around. But they did not want the whole thing to just collapse.

Tanenbaum just stuck around as a caretaker, although he did do some good things, like open up the New Orleans inquiry.  Lewis tried to find a replacement for Sprague.  But could not.

Dodd then got that assignment.

[Guest]

James, it might be nice if your site eulogised Sprague in an article and described the precarious situation he was in and why he resigned. If you haven’t already?! I think it would make a very pertinent piece and you clearly have done the research. 

[George Govus]

In the meantime there is The Last Investigation, Chris, by Gaeton Fonzi. Somewhat dated, now, but an inside account. If you haven't read that. I really couldn't put it down. Me, I have to snag The Assassinations.

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, George Govus said:

In the meantime there is The Last Investigation, Chris, by Gaeton Fonzi. Somewhat dated, now, but an inside account. If you haven't read that. I really couldn't put it down. Me, I have to snag The Assassinations.

Thanks George. I need to re-read it. I have the audiobook version and definitely nodded off in parts late at night from fatigue. I thought the book was great. Another honest guy. 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Chris Barnard

[Kishan Dandiker]

On 4/9/2021 at 6:46 PM, Chris Barnard said:

Thanks George. I need to re-read it. I have the audiobook version and definitely nodded off in parts late at night from fatigue. I thought the book was great. Another honest guy. 

Up there with On the Trail of the Assassins as, in my opinion, the best book on the subject. 
 

I remember watching a speech Tanenbaum gave where he said that one of the people he was  reporting to was so nonplussed about the whole thing that he asked how the investigation into RFK’s murder was going. I would’ve walked as well if I was working hard like Sprague and Tanenbaum only for the investigation to be controlled by incompetents. 

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by Kishan Dandiker

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Kishan Dandiker said:

Up there with On the Trail of the Assassins as, in my opinion, the best book on the subject. 
 

I remember watching a speech Tanenbaum gave where he said that one of the reporting to was so nonplussed about the whole thing that he asked how the investigation into RFK’s murder was going. I would’ve walked as well if I was working hard like Sprague and Tanenbaum only for the investigation to be controlled by incompetents. 

 

Thanks Kishan, I haven’t read Garrison’s book yet. I have Fletcher Prouty’s “The Secret Team” & Dick Russell’s “The man who knew too much” to get through. I am just on a ferry back to the UK and have Fletcher’s in my bag. 

[Calvin Ye]

On 4/8/2021 at 12:56 PM, James DiEugenio said:

Glad you brought that up about Garrison.

See, if we are thinking on a macro level, there is a direct line to be drawn here.

It goes from:

Jim Garrison

to Richard Sprague

to Judge Joe Brown

to Gary Webb. 

These were all what I call bete noire cases: JFK, MLK, the CIA and drugs. No one, no matter what the reputation you have before, can be allowed to take them on for purposes of explication.  So they find a way to detonate you in public, always with the help of the media.  In fact, when the first wave of stories hit about Sprague, he tried to laugh it off at dinner.  But Chris Sharrett, a photo analyst on the HSCA staff said to himself:  This is Garrison all over again.

You forgot about Mike Ruppert and Rodney Stich

[Ron Bulman]

10 hours ago, George Govus said:

In the meantime there is The Last Investigation, Chris, by Gaeton Fonzi. Somewhat dated, now, but an inside account. If you haven't read that. I really couldn't put it down. Me, I have to snag The Assassinations.

The Assassinations will be well worth your money and time.  It's essential reading imho.  

Jim DiEugienio's article The Sins of Robert Blakey is almost worth it alone.  I'm not a historian but to my knowledge there is no better summation on the formation and destruction of the HSCA.  Including the work of Sprague and his destruction.  First by the leaders of the House. Speaker Carl Albert and Majority Leader Tip O'Neil, then the LA Times, NYT and Wa Po.  Henry Gonzales melt down finished them all off.

The HSCA was essentially formed as a result of the son of Congressman Tom Downing viewing the Zapruder film and insisting his dad see it.  Though Gonzales original bill also was piggybacked, and, he first recommended Sprague.

The book is much more though.  It first introduced me to the work of several whose names I'd only read.  Donald Gibson, John Armstrong, Bill Davey, John Newman, Carol Hewitt, David Mantik, Lisa Pease, Gary Aguilar.  And more by James Douglass, Gaeton Fonzi, and Cyril Wecht.

Edited April 10, 2021 by Ron Bulman