Marina's Interrogation and the Fingerprints of Intelligence

[Chuck Schwartz]

Jack C. met Earle Cabell in college.  Per Wikipedia, "Cabell was born in Dallas. He attended Texas A&M University, where he met Jack Crichton ". Earle was a CIA Asset and Mayor of Dallas during JFKA.

[Gene Kelly]

Agreed Chuck ... I saw that association too: he attended Texas A&M University between 1933-1937 with fellow students Harvey Bright and Earle Cabell. Harvey Bright developed extreme right-wing political opinions and - along with his friends, Clint Murchison, Sid Richardson, George and Herman Brown and H. L. Hunt - was a supporter of the John Birch Society. They also funded politicians in the Senate to ensure the preservation of the oil depletion allowance. Bright, along with Edgar Crissey and  Lamar Hunt, helped to pay for the full-page, black-bordered anti-Kennedy advertisement that ran in the Dallas Morning News on the day that JFK was assassinated. The advert, placed by Bernard Weissman, attacked Kennedy's foreign policy as being anti-American and communistic. 

Gene

[Ron Bulman]

I'm sure Gene and most likely Chuck are aware Mayor Earle Cabell was the brother of General Charles Cabell of the CIA, fired by JFK after the Bay of Pigs along with Bissell and Director Allen Dulles.  One might infer that Crichton among other things was helping choose the motorcade route at the behest of the still active Dulles and his former (still) Director of Counter Intelligence James Jesus Angleton, Oswald's ultimate "handler" some might say.

[Chuck Schwartz]

Ron, yes, these were main players in the JFKA. And , it was Dulles who ran the WC.

[Gene Kelly]

President Kennedy asked for Charles Cabell’s resignation and he was replaced in February 1962 as CIA deputy director. General Cabell’s subsequent hatred of Kennedy became an open secret in Washington. He would later return to the Pentagon, after being relieved of his position at the CIA by JFK, where he would describe the President as a “traitor”. Cabell never forgave the President, and criticized him publicly and often. On one such occasion in 1962, he was introduced to the Foreign Policy Association of New Orleans by Clay Shaw. 

His brother, Earle Cabell, became the Texas state chairman in 1955 of the Crusade for Freedom organization, which actively opposed the spread of communism. The Crusade had been started in 1949 in New York city, where many of its members were active in the Council on Foreign Relations.  It began as the National Committee for Free Europe (NCFE), a private non-profit group. Founding members included Allen Dulles, then a Wall Street lawyer and soon to become CIA director. This led to the well-known Radio Free Europe operation, which began broadcasting in 1950 to countries behind the Iron Curtain. While the operation did take in private donations, the vast majority of its funding came from the CIA. Crusade for Freedom chapters in different US cities helped obscure the true source of funds. The recently released CIA 201 file opened on Earle Cabell in 1956, and the secrecy agreement that he signed, may’ve been related to his once-prominent role in this organization. When the ARRB came across the CIA records connected to Earle Cabell, they marked them as “Not Believed Relevant” and delayed their release.  The person who presented Jacquelin Kennedy with a bouquet of red roses at Love Field on November was Elizabeth (Dearie) Cabell, the wife of the mayor.  Jackie later stated: 

"Every time we got off the plane that day, three times they gave me the yellow roses of Texas. But in Dallas, they gave me red roses. I thought how funny, red roses … so all the seat was full of blood and red roses."  - Jackie Kennedy  

Mayor Earle Cabell allegedly received death threats prompting police protection after the assassination. The treats came that weekend after he accepted an invitation from San Antonio Mayor Walter McAllister to join him and a delegation of other Texas mayors at the funeral in Washington. The mayor of Dallas is largely a ceremonial post in city government; a professional city manager/administrator is hired by the city council to run the day-to-day city operations.  In Cabell's Warren testimony taken in July 1964, Leon Hubert mainly focused on the distinctions in roles between the mayor and the city manager (appearing to absolve Cabell of any influence with the DPD or the motorcade route):

Mr. HUBERT - Could you describe briefly for us the relationship between the mayor and the council and the city manager? Mr. CABELL - Well, it is the relationship of the general manager of a corporate entity and his board of directors, with most day-to-day contact being made through the mayor as the presiding officer of that board. HUBERT - In other words, the city manager really has the detailed administration of city affairs?  CABELL - He is entirely responsible for the administrative functions of the city government.

 

Mr. HUBERT - Does the council make any other appointments than the appointment of the city manager? Mr. CABELL - Yes; the direct appointees of the council are the city attorney, the city secretary, the supervisor of public utilities, and the city auditor, the city auditor being nominated by the Dallas Clearing House Association.  HUBERT - I understand then that the chief of police is appointed by the city manager completely?  CABELL - That is correct; and is responsible only to the city manager.

Mr. CABELL - I have done a great deal of hunting and also used military shoulder guns, as well as hunting rifles ... there was no question in my mind as to their being from a high-powered rifle and coming from the direction of the building known as the School Book Depository. 

The SMU papers of Earle Cabell contain the following information of his career after the assassination:

After carefully guiding the city through the aftermath of the assassination, Cabell decided to resign as mayor and work for Dallas at the national level. Running as a Democrat in the fall of 1964, Cabell defeated the incumbent, conservative Republican Bruce Alger, for the Fifth District Congressional seat. Cabell served four successive terms until 1972, when the boundaries of his Fifth District were redrawn in a more conservative electorate. Cabell lost the 1972 election to Republican Alan Steelman, prompting Cabell's retirement from all political activity. The Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, named for the former Dallas mayor, is located in the Government District of downtown Dallas, on 1100 Commerce Street. Earle and Dearie were present in 1974 at the dedication of the Earle Cabell Building in downtown Dallas; it was one of Cabell's last public appearances. After several years of failing health, Earle Cabell died in Dallas in September 1975.

[Ron Bulman]

10 hours ago, Gene Kelly said:

President Kennedy asked for Charles Cabell’s resignation and he was replaced in February 1962 as CIA deputy director. General Cabell’s subsequent hatred of Kennedy became an open secret in Washington. He would later return to the Pentagon, after being relieved of his position at the CIA by JFK, where he would describe the President as a “traitor”. Cabell never forgave the President, and criticized him publicly and often. On one such occasion in 1962, he was introduced to the Foreign Policy Association of New Orleans by Clay Shaw. 

His brother, Earle Cabell, became the Texas state chairman in 1955 of the Crusade for Freedom organization, which actively opposed the spread of communism. The Crusade had been started in 1949 in New York city, where many of its members were active in the Council on Foreign Relations.  It began as the National Committee for Free Europe (NCFE), a private non-profit group. Founding members included Allen Dulles, then a Wall Street lawyer and soon to become CIA director. This led to the well-known Radio Free Europe operation, which began broadcasting in 1950 to countries behind the Iron Curtain. While the operation did take in private donations, the vast majority of its funding came from the CIA. Crusade for Freedom chapters in different US cities helped obscure the true source of funds. The recently released CIA 201 file opened on Earle Cabell in 1956, and the secrecy agreement that he signed, may’ve been related to his once-prominent role in this organization. When the ARRB came across the CIA records connected to Earle Cabell, they marked them as “Not Believed Relevant” and delayed their release.  The person who presented Jacquelin Kennedy with a bouquet of red roses at Love Field on November was Elizabeth (Dearie) Cabell, the wife of the mayor.  Jackie later stated: 

"Every time we got off the plane that day, three times they gave me the yellow roses of Texas. But in Dallas, they gave me red roses. I thought how funny, red roses … so all the seat was full of blood and red roses."  - Jackie Kennedy  

Mayor Earle Cabell allegedly received death threats prompting police protection after the assassination. The treats came that weekend after he accepted an invitation from San Antonio Mayor Walter McAllister to join him and a delegation of other Texas mayors at the funeral in Washington. The mayor of Dallas is largely a ceremonial post in city government; a professional city manager/administrator is hired by the city council to run the day-to-day city operations.  In Cabell's Warren testimony taken in July 1964, Leon Hubert mainly focused on the distinctions in roles between the mayor and the city manager (appearing to absolve Cabell of any influence with the DPD or the motorcade route):

Mr. HUBERT - Could you describe briefly for us the relationship between the mayor and the council and the city manager? Mr. CABELL - Well, it is the relationship of the general manager of a corporate entity and his board of directors, with most day-to-day contact being made through the mayor as the presiding officer of that board. HUBERT - In other words, the city manager really has the detailed administration of city affairs?  CABELL - He is entirely responsible for the administrative functions of the city government.

 

Mr. HUBERT - Does the council make any other appointments than the appointment of the city manager? Mr. CABELL - Yes; the direct appointees of the council are the city attorney, the city secretary, the supervisor of public utilities, and the city auditor, the city auditor being nominated by the Dallas Clearing House Association.  HUBERT - I understand then that the chief of police is appointed by the city manager completely?  CABELL - That is correct; and is responsible only to the city manager.

Mr. CABELL - I have done a great deal of hunting and also used military shoulder guns, as well as hunting rifles ... there was no question in my mind as to their being from a high-powered rifle and coming from the direction of the building known as the School Book Depository. 

The SMU papers of Earle Cabell contain the following information of his career after the assassination:

After carefully guiding the city through the aftermath of the assassination, Cabell decided to resign as mayor and work for Dallas at the national level. Running as a Democrat in the fall of 1964, Cabell defeated the incumbent, conservative Republican Bruce Alger, for the Fifth District Congressional seat. Cabell served four successive terms until 1972, when the boundaries of his Fifth District were redrawn in a more conservative electorate. Cabell lost the 1972 election to Republican Alan Steelman, prompting Cabell's retirement from all political activity. The Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse, named for the former Dallas mayor, is located in the Government District of downtown Dallas, on 1100 Commerce Street. Earle and Dearie were present in 1974 at the dedication of the Earle Cabell Building in downtown Dallas; it was one of Cabell's last public appearances. After several years of failing health, Earle Cabell died in Dallas in September 1975.

Thanks for this Gene.  I've never dug into the Cabell brothers.  I was aware of some of this but not near all of it.  I do remember the radio TV and newspaper ads as a child in the FW/D area for Cabell's Milk.  Which I believe I later read of dairy being a family business in Dallas back into the 1800's.  Seems like one of their grandfathers was a Confederate General in the not so Civil War.  I also think I remember their father or perhaps a grandfather being Mayor of Dallas.

All quite interesting given Earl's position as mayor and a CIA asset in 1963, and, Charles former CIA assistant director position and open hatred of JFK.  Both worthy of suspicion and further investigation regarding pulling strings behind the scene in the assassination.  Earle implying the mayor had no influence over the Police Chief or DPD, or, for that matter the Sheriff or his department sounds like bs to me.       

[Joe Bauer]

23 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

 

All quite interesting given Earl's position as mayor and a CIA asset in 1963, and, Charles former CIA assistant director position and open hatred of JFK.  Both worthy of suspicion and further investigation regarding pulling strings behind the scene in the assassination.  Earle implying the mayor had no influence over the Police Chief or DPD, or, for that matter the Sheriff or his department sounds like bs to me.       

Sounds like BS to me also Ron.

Cabell was communicating with Chief Curry a lot that weekend.

Don't tell me that Cabell didn't have influence. A lot of it imo.

[Chuck Schwartz]

And, as a footnote, Earle Cabell's grandfather, William Cabell, was a generald in the confederate army during the Civil War.  He was based out of Arkansas.  He moved his family to Dallas in the early 1870's.

[Chuck Schwartz]

William Cabell was a "general."

[Gene Kelly]

The Texas State Historical Association "Handbook of Texas" has a detailed biography that includes the following:

Both his father and grandfather (Gen. William L. Cabell) served as mayor of Dallas.  After one term each at Texas A&M and Southern Methodist University, he went to work for Morning Glory Creameries in Houston, then moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he bought a milk and ice cream business. After the business failed in 1932, Cabell and his wife returned to Dallas, where he and his brothers pooled their resources to form Cabell’s, Inc., an ice cream company that opened a chain of ice cream parlors specializing in five-cent double-dip ice cream cones. In 1961 he defeated the candidate endorsed by the Citizens Charter Association, became the first full-time volunteer mayor of Dallas, and worked out of an office in city hall rather than a business office like his predecessors.

His Warren Commission testimony seems to be an odd line of questioning by Leon Hubert, with much of it focused on his contacts with Chief Curry ... its almost as if they are trying to create 'distance' between Cabell and the police regarding any influence that he (Cabell) may've had, particularly Oswald's transfer at the city jail.  Why they would even interview him is beyond me.  He comes across as having little influence with police matters, and there's spurious mention of the alleged death threats he received which seem irrelevant, other than to further paint a picture of innocence and lack of involvement.  In other words, providing an alibi.  Below are excerpts:

HUBERT - In other words, the city manager really has the detailed administration of city affairs?  CABELL - He is entirely responsible for the administrative functions of the city government. Mr. HUBERT - Does the council make any other appointments than the appointment of the city manager? Mr. CABELL - Yes; the direct appointees of the council are the city attorney, the city secretary, the supervisor of public utilities, and the city auditor.  HUBERT - I understand then that the chief of police is appointed by the city manager completely?  CABELL - That is correct; and is responsible only to the city manager.

Mr. HUBERT - When did you first know of the apprehension of Lee Harvey Oswald?  Mr. CABELL - On the field there, Chief Curry told us of the killing of Officer Tippit, and I believe told us at the same time that they had apprehended the suspect. Mr. HUBERT - What was your next contact with Curry, if you recall? Mr. CABELL - I don't recall any further contact with Curry. This was not a face to face or personal contact. It was telephonic concerning the issuance of this parade permit, which is covered in the report by the bureau man. Mr. HUBERT - You had no contact, to your knowledge, with him? Mr. CABELL - I don't recall any further contact with Chief Curry. Mr. HUBERT - Did you have a contact with any other member of the police department? Mr. CABELL - No.

Mr. HUBERT - Did you have any knowledge of the situation in the county jail with reference to the news media? Mr. CABELL - That was the city jail.  I knew fairly well what was going on by watching my own TV from time to time and the covering that they had on the activities around the police department of the city hall.  HUBERT - Did you know prior to the shooting of Oswald, or have you learned since whether there was any awareness in the police department of possible danger to Oswald?  CABELL - No, no. After it had all occurred, then I recall having been told by someone that there had been an attempt, or that an attempt would be made, but that is not clear, and purely a matter of hearsay.

Mr. HUBERT - I believe in your conversation with Chief Curry on Sunday, you discussed a threat that had been made to you, or indirectly? Mr. CABELL - He called me that this call had come through the switchboard of the city hall, and it was his understanding that it was long distance, but he did not know the source, and since it was a direct dial and they could not trace it, there was not enough time, wherein the caller said that an attempt would be made on my life. It was his impression, the switchboard operator's impression that it was some long distance.

Mr. HUBERT - But on that first call then, was there any discussion between you and Chief Curry about the transfer of Oswald? Mr. CABELL - No. Mr. HUBERT - Was there any discussion about the security precautions that were being observed or the problems that they were? Mr. CABELL - I do not recall any discussion on that at all. Mr. HUBERT - Chief Curry did not tell you that any threats had been made to Oswald? Mr. CABELL - No.

Mr. HUBERT - Mr. Cabell, there have been some reports as to the authenticity or veracity of, for which I do not vouch at all, to the effect that some pressure was put upon Chief of Police Curry by you or others to cooperate with the press in all ways possible. Mr. CABELL - There was one that has been rumored. One of our local weekly publications made that as a statement. That is completely false. At no time did I have any contact with Chief Curry to the extent that I gave him any orders, instructions, or make any comment upon the situation other than the contact which I have mentioned with reference to this proposed torchlight parade.

Mr. HUBERT - Do you know of any pressure put upon him by anyone in authority over him? Mr. CABELL - I do not know of any, and my assumption would be, and I say assumption, would be that none had been made, because I know how Mr. Crull operates to the extent that he would not interfere in the duties of his chief of police. Now I am sure that they had conversations with reference to security and that sort of thing, but I would question very definitely that any orders as such on that subject would have been issued by Mr. Crull. HUBERT - In any case, neither you nor anyone else, to your knowledge, did anything of that sort, to wit, bring pressure upon him in anyway whatsoever?  CABELL - That is entirely correct. 

[Ron Bulman]

Wasn't Police Chief Curry called to the phone for a conversation with Mayor Cabell immediately before the transfer of Oswald began?  Thus he was not there in the basement supervising the security of the most important prisoner in History?  How convenient.

[Gene Kelly]

Ron

That is a good observation.  When you read the record closely, Cabell dances around this topic in his Warren testimony.  Hubert presses him on it, but seems to be laying a groundwork and cover story (for Earle).  The red herrings are a parade permit (that gives him an excuse to talk to Curry) and death threats received by Cabell.  However, it gets "muddy" because after Cabell refers a Catholic torchlight parade (replete with the mention of nuns) for Sunday night which was cancelled, intermixing (or conflating) it with a call that he eventually admits to with Curry that occurred "a matter of minutes" before Oswald's murder:

Mr. HUBERT - I believe in your conversation with Chief Curry on Sunday, you discussed a threat that had been made to you, or indirectly?   CABELL - He called me that this call had come through the switchboard of the city hall, and it was his understanding that it was long distance, but he did not know the source, and since it was a direct dial and they could not trace it, there was not enough time, wherein the caller said that an attempt would be made on my life.  

Mr. HUBERT - Attached to page 3 it seems to indicate that the call with Curry must have occurred a bit before you received the news of Oswald's shooting? Mr. CABELL - The first call from Curry, or only the starting of any conversations with Chief Curry were relative to this torchlight parade on that night. I had called him and told him that I would recommend the cancellation of that Parade. He had granted it, but then I had recommended the cancellation, and I would assume full responsibility for having given that instruction. 

 HUBERT - At that time Oswald had not been shot?  CABELL - No.  HUBERT - But on that first call then, was there any discussion between you and Chief Curry about the transfer of Oswald?  CABELL - No.  HUBERT - Was there any discussion about the security precautions that were being observed or the problems that they were?
 CABELL - I do not recall any discussion on that at all.  HUBERT - Chief Curry did not tell you that any threats had been made to Oswald?  CABELL - No.

HUBERT - Can you comment upon this Lancaster Smith proposal of a parade?  CABELL - Lane Smith is a very well-known, very active lay worker in the Catholic church, and he had called me earlier, and I think the suggestion for this came from some nuns, and when he first talked to me I didn't realize frankly the implications or the hazard of a procession such as that, and I told him--he asked about a permit, and I said that that is a matter that is handled by the chief of police, that he would have to be the one to issue a permit for any type of parade, because that is what that amounted to.

 HUBERT - When did Lancaster Smith call you?  CABELL - I think it must have been around 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning, originally. HUBERT - Then you called Chief Curry about what time?  CABELL - Must have been very shortly after that. I would say 9 o'clock or possibly a short time after. I believe that it must have been just a little before 10, because I think that he was talking to me in his office at the time word was brought to him that Oswald was shot, or possibly had hung up the phone, or he would have mentioned that to me at the time.

HUBERT - Because the evidence we now have shows that Oswald was shot about 11:20, so perhaps your time would have been 11 rather than 10?  CABELL - Yes; I was thinking in terms of 10 o'clock being the hour of shooting, but we can move this conversation with Curry to a matter of minutes preceding the shooting of Oswald.

There was this retrospect in the Dallas Observer in November 1998:

Not long after Oswald's assassination, Curry was hospitalized because of stress, and in 1966, he retired from the force under doctor's orders. He would go to his death in 1980 insisting he was a "happy" man--but one always "haunted" by the deaths of John Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald. 

Gene