RIP Richard A. Sprague

[James DiEugenio]

Thanks for that Ron.

I do no think that  list of luminaries will ever be matched again.

 

[Ron Bulman]

On 4/9/2021 at 10:28 PM, James DiEugenio said:

Thanks for that Ron.

I do no think that  list of luminaries will ever be matched again.

 

Thank you for your work.  Lisa as well and so many more who contributed.

Sprague was, and still is an American Hero imho.  He fought the good fight.

His refusal to sign the agreement with the CIA doomed him and the HSCA.

It was a middle finger to suppression of the Truth.

Just like with Garrison they brought out whatever it took to bring him down.

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Ron Bulman

[Gene Kelly]

Sprague was a Philadelphia legend ... he would've gotten to the bottom of the JFK case (no doubt) and it would've taken all the CIA could bring to the table to ultimately stop him.  He was - in a word - relentless, and took on all comers.  I once heard him speak, and he highly respected in legal circles. Richard Aurel Sprague - the middle name is short for Aurelius, as in Marcus - Penn Law ’53, son of a Jewish mother and stepson of a Quaker father, first tasted power when he joined the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office in 1958. He was an assistant to Philadelphia District Attorney Arlen Specter (his mentor) from 1966-1974 ... a Democrat in a Republican's office. During the 17 years he worked in the district attorney's office, he prosecuted more than 10,000 cases, and won 69 out of 70 first-degree murder trials. It was written that he so admired his boss (Specter) that he turned down an offer from Democratic leaders to run for DA; the Democrats then nominated F. Emmett Fitzpatrick, who trounced Specter in the election ... and later fired Sprague.  Sprague was a pallbearer at Specter's funeral in 2012.  I loved this quote:

He represented heir and philanthropist John E. du Pont in his headline-grabbing 1996 murder case for the slaying of wrestler David Schultz, mounting an insanity defense. When prosecutors questioned how du Pont could be insane when he signed a contract agreeing to pay a $1 million retainer to his lawyer, Mr. Sprague responded: “That was his one moment of lucidity.”

[Gene Kelly]

Just curious, but does anyone find it ironic that Dick Sprague's mentor was Arlen Specter, and that he was a pallbearer at Arlen's funeral?  While Vince Salandria and Gaeton Fonzi  (both Philly guys) opposed Specter later in life (Vince called him out as a "fraud"), Sprague was far more accommodating of their relative differences.  However, I would also point out that Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love. 

Of course, Ruth Hyde Paine also spent time in Philadelphia after graduating from Antioch College in Ohio. She  went to Philadelphia to become playground director and teacher of folk-dancing at Germantown Friends School. While there she met Michael Paine, and they married in 1957 and lived in suburban Media/Paoli, before moving to Irving, Texas in 1959. They had two children but separated  in September 1962, divorcing in 1970.  Ruth moved back to Philadelphia with her children in 1971, and took a job as the Principal of Greene Street Friends School (close to where I grew up).  She lived there with her daughter and mother until 1975, when she moved to Florida and became a school psychologist. 

[Ron Bulman]

9 hours ago, Gene Kelly said:

Just curious, but does anyone find it ironic that Dick Sprague's mentor was Arlen Specter, and that he was a pallbearer at Arlen's funeral?  While Vince Salandria and Gaeton Fonzi  (both Philly guys) opposed Specter later in life (Vince called him out as a "fraud"), Sprague was far more accommodating of their relative differences.  However, I would also point out that Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love. 

Of course, Ruth Hyde Paine also spent time in Philadelphia after graduating from Antioch College in Ohio. She  went to Philadelphia to become playground director and teacher of folk-dancing at Germantown Friends School. While there she met Michael Paine, and they married in 1957 and lived in suburban Media/Paoli, before moving to Irving, Texas in 1959. They had two children but separated  in September 1962, divorcing in 1970.  Ruth moved back to Philadelphia with her children in 1971, and took a job as the Principal of Greene Street Friends School (close to where I grew up).  She lived there with her daughter and mother until 1975, when she moved to Florida and became a school psychologist. 

Yes Gene.  The first time I read about Sprague working for Specter all those years I thought it was not just ironic but odd.  Specter, creator of the magic, single, pristine bullet fantasy.  Sprague the damn the torpedo's crusader for the truth of the HSCA, who wouldn't sign the agreement with the CIA he would be investigating in the course of his investigation.  His investigation doomed by them (I believe) he went on to an extraordinarily successful career.  Specter, a Democrat until 1965 eventually rides the magic bullet all the way to Republican Senator in 1981.

Kind of like why did Connally change from Democrat to Republican, after he'd been shot in Dallas?   

Edited April 20, 2021 by Ron Bulman

[Benjamin Cole]

It sure looks like Dick Sprague and Jim Garrison were torpedoed. 

There was a lesser episode, but with same dread intent, made in the RFK case: Some elements tried to torpedo the Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Thomas Noguchi, who performed what Cyril Wecht has called a good autopsy. 

Noguchi found that RFK was shot from behind at very close range. 

Trying to square Noguchi's findings with the Sirhan shooting scenario...well, like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. 

I will put together a piece on the media hatchet job done on Noguchi. 

One starts to see a pattern....

 

 

[Ron Bulman]

2 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

It sure looks like Dick Sprague and Jim Garrison were torpedoed. 

There was a lesser episode, but with same dread intent, made in the RFK case: Some elements tried to torpedo the Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Thomas Noguchi, who performed what Cyril Wecht has called a good autopsy. 

Noguchi found that RFK was shot from behind at very close range. 

Trying to square Noguchi's findings with the Sirhan shooting scenario...well, like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. 

I will put together a piece on the media hatchet job done on Noguchi. 

One starts to see a pattern....

 

 

The pattern is Dulles, Angleton, the Rockefellers.

[Benjamin Cole]

Ron B.

 

OK, I will bite. How are the Rockefellers involved? 

[Gene Kelly]

Noguchi was set up by an Englishman named Donald Stuart, who appeared on the LA scene just after the shooting.  Stuart "volunteered" to be Noguchi's deputy three weeks after RFK's murder.   He was obviously inserted by the plotters to monitor the Coroner's work and eventually discredit Noguchi.  

Noguchi’s autopsy showed that Kennedy was hit two other times from behind, and a fourth shot fired from behind went through his suit coat without hitting him. Dr. Donald Stuart had been hired as Deputy medical examiner for Coroner Noguchi, and he later testified that Noguchi used amphetamines, that he rejoiced at RFKs death (because it would make him famous) and that he acted mentally unstable.  Three years later Stuart was arrested, as he was a fake with phony medical degrees. Noguchi was later run out of office for his unorthodoxy.

Noguchi’s high visibility and the high level of criticism prompted the county board to force him from office twice ... in 1969 and 1982.  In both cases he fought back, regaining his post the first time but losing it the second, despite a five-year battle that he took all the way to the state Supreme Court.  He was accused of mismanagement, using the office to promote his personal projects and indiscretion for his public disclosures about the deaths of several Hollywood stars.  The “fighting coroner,” as he had come to be known, was banished to County-USC Medical Center as a pathologist and teacher.  He retired in 1999 but  continues to teach at USC.  He is currently 94 years old.

 

[Ron Bulman]

16 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Ron B.

 

OK, I will bite. How are the Rockefellers involved? 

John Foster Dulles was the head of the Sullivan and Cromwell law firm, the "front desk" for them and Standard oil.  Allen was a lead lawyer representing their interests world wide since the 1920's.  When they formed the Council on Foreign Relations, and made Allen and Foster members.  Standard Oil selling oil to the poopoo's after WWII started.  They were reprimanded lightly for that.  United Fruit - Guatemala.  David was head of the CFR in 1963.  The Dulles never left their service.  Allen never left the service of the CIA, even after being fired by JFK.  Just the tip of the iceberg.  I'm no expert on it all.  Corrections invited.

[James DiEugenio]

One other point.

In late 1966, CBS sent Gordon Manning and Les Midgley to California to consult with two lawyers for the company: Edwin Huddleson, in private practice, and Bayless Manning, Dean of Stanford Law School. These two lawyers recommended against doing a critical series on the WR.  Which is what the CBS series started out as.  In fact, both lawyers suggested the opposite: making a series contra the critics' books.  Which is what happened.  

In 1971, David Rockefeller appointed Bayless Manning the first president of the CFR.

https://kennedysandking.com/john-f-kennedy-articles/why-cbs-covered-up-the-jfk-assassination

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by James DiEugenio

[Benjamin Cole]

2 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

John Foster Dulles was the head of the Sullivan and Cromwell law firm, the "front desk" for them and Standard oil.  Allen was a lead lawyer representing their interests world wide since the 1920's.  When they formed the Council on Foreign Relations, and made Allen and Foster members.  Standard Oil selling oil to the poopoo's after WWII started.  They were reprimanded lightly for that.  United Fruit - Guatemala.  David was head of the CFR in 1963.  The Dulles never left their service.  Allen never left the service of the CIA, even after being fired by JFK.  Just the tip of the iceberg.  I'm no expert on it all.  Corrections invited.

I entirely agree that from the days of Smedley Butler through the present, US foreign-military policy has always reflected the preferences of the multinationals, or globalists.  

WWII was a shining exception, in many regards. 

A lot about this is concerning, even more so that the multinationals today are larger and more powerful than ever. Sheesh, United Fruit and Freeport Sulphur are pipsqueaks compared to the BlackRocks, Apples, Wal-Marts, Googles, GMs and Disneys of today.

The US military has become a mercenary global guard service for multinationals----a million miles from what the Founding Fathers intended, which was a largely citizen-militia called up to fight foreign invasions when necessary.

The revolutionists who created America loathed, detested and reviled standing armies, and warned against foreign entanglements. 

To speak this way today is to be regarded as a ingrate Putin-lover who coddles terrorists, or a Neanderthal isolationist nativist.

Still the most amazing speech of all time is President Eisenhower's farewell address. 

This multinational ruling class of people heavily cultivated the post-JFKA media environment, perpetuated a fiction, flummoxed justice. Destroyed Garrison, destroyed Sprague, went after LA Coroner Thomas Noguchi, and too much else to catalog.  

Did they order the JFKA? Harder case to make. Their underlings were involved. In the RFK case too, likely.  

 

 

 

 

 

[James DiEugenio]

Len Osanic and I will be talking about the removal of Sprague from the HSCA this week on BOR.

I did interviews with people who were there at the time, plus Probe did an interview with Sprague about his demise.

The guy accomplished so much in the brief time he was there.

[Gene Kelly]

Jim

What do you make of Dick Sprague remining such a close friend of Arlen Specter?   While I don't doubt Sprague's sincerity in getting the HSCA rolling, he must've known that it might ultimately reflect poorly on his friend and mentor.   As Sprague was not shy about being direct and controversial, I would've loved to have been a 3rd party to some of their candid discussions.  In contrast, Vincent Salandria was not so kind towards Specter's legacy.  Nonetheless, Specter mentored many prominent Philadelphian's, giving career starts in the legal profession to Ed Rendell and a slew of high profile judges, prosecutors and private practitioners.  But Specter’s first assistant district attorney was Richard Sprague , who called Specter "the best district attorney Philadelphia has ever seen" and who is credited with transforming the office from an entity consumed by cronyism into a professional office. Specter was also the first DA to hire women and ethnic minorities in great numbers, and was later praised by his colleagues:

“He made sure women took a proper role within the office ... he hired a group of women and made sure they all had the same opportunities as the men. Same with minorities. You just had to be qualified and then he worked your tail off. You didn’t have to be the smartest person in the room but everyone was accountable.”

All of his proteges (including Sprague) kept in touch with Specter over the years, and maintained that admiration even though some were disappointed with his grilling of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings in 1991. Sprague himself was praised by no less than F. Lee Bailey, who stated: 

“If I were in serious trouble of any kind, or if I needed advice or help on a matter of great importance, Dick Sprague is the guy I would call. He is, and has been for many years, one of the greatest courtroom lawyers in America. There are very, very few real trial lawyers that I would rank with him.”

One thing that I never realized was - the day that Sprague resigned from the HSCA - was the same day that George De Mohrenschildt was found dead.  The night before the Committee vote, they sent an investigator to serve him a subpoena but that same night he received the subpoena from the Committee, he was found dead.  I have no doubt the HSCA would've turned out very differently, had Sprague been allowed to say on. Sprague's legal passion is best summed up by the following quote from the Penn Law Journal: 

“I don’t take a case for the money — I take it if the legal aspects interest me, or the people. I’m looking for really good legal issues. As a result, a lot of the cases I wind up handling are better known.  The way to judge a society is not by how it treats its saints, but how it treats its sinners.  The federal courts used to be very good at protecting the the constitutional and privacy rights of anyone who appeared before them. That has dropped, probably because of 9/11, with putting national security ahead of personal rights.  In general today, there’s a greater interest in protecting government against the individual. But government is very strong; it’s the individual who needs to have his rights protected".

Gene

[James DiEugenio]

From my understanding, Sprague understood that although Specter was a good lawyer, he was really a political animal.

Sprague owed Specter for making him first assistant.  That way he handled the high profile felony cases and developed a name in the city.  It was that name that allowed him to take on the Yablonski case, which really made him well known. BTW, Tanenbaum is writing a book on that case.

It you take a look at what Sprague achieved in just a few months, he did a nice job with the HSCA.  And he was really going to launch a homicide investigation. And yes, the Baron's death happened on the day Sprague left.  Talk about a bad day.