Does Anthony Summers Now Reject Conspiracy in the JFK Case?

[Michael Griffith]

Does anyone have any additional information about the rumor that Anthony Summers no longer posits a conspiracy in JFK's death and that he's writing a book that will support the lone-gunman theory? 

Given his 2016 book on Pearl Harbor, it would not totally shock me to learn that the rumor is true. HIs 2016 Pearl Harbor book, though excellent in nearly all key areas, presents downright pitiful, baffling rejections of the considerable evidence that FDR had advance knowledge that Pearl Harbor would be attacked, as I discuss in my Amazon review of the book: 

Great for the Most Part, But Disappointing in One Key Area (amazon.com)

[Bob Ness]

7 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

...the considerable evidence that FDR had advance knowledge that Pearl Harbor would be attacked, as I discuss in my Amazon review...

Bad news.

He didn't. At least not in a way it would have been avoided.

[Michael Griffith]

5 hours ago, Bob Ness said:

Bad news.

He didn't. At least not in a way it would have been avoided.

FDR most certainly did have advance knowledge that Pearl Harbor would be attacked. His own Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, said he did. So did Secretary of State Cordell Hull. So did Congressman Martin Dies. So did the Red Cross's War Services director, whom FDR secretly ordered to send extra medical supplies to Pearl Harbor shortly before the attack. FDR knew from the intercepted bomb-plot messages alone that the Japanese were acquiring information about the position of ships in Pearl Harbor, information that they were not seeking about ships in any other port, which is why FDR fought tooth and nail to keep the bomb-plot messages sealed. I wrote a book on this subject last year titled The Real Infamy of Pearl Harbor: Separating Fact from Fiction about the "Unprovoked and Dastardly Attack."

FDR had been trying to provoke Japan to attack for weeks because he wanted an excuse to get the U.S. into WW II. 

[Guest]

I know this is off-topic, but so was the previous I think.

I never fully understood why the US would still  "need an excuse" to enter WWII after all what had happened before (see below) ?

Ok, they did declare war on Japan, but not on Germany (Germany did, a few days later) ?

Was the US waiting to see what would happen between Russia and Germany ?

I'm not writing this to be criticizing in any way, it's just I had assumed for a long time it had a lot to do with Russia's position (and of course Japan, but...)

PS : I simply copied the chronology below (should be common knowledge anyway)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

•    September 18, 1931 Japan invades Manchuria.
•    October 2, 1935–May 1936 Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia.
•    October 25–November 1, 1936 poopoo Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25. On November 1, the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced.
•    November 25, 1936 poopoo Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact. The pact is directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
•    July 7, 1937 Japan invades China.
•    November 26, 1937 Italy joins Germany and Japan in the Anti-Comintern Pact.
•    March 11–13, 1938 Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.
•    September 29, 1938 Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland, including key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to poopoo Germany.
•    March 14–15, 1939 Under German pressure, the Slovaks declare their independence and form a Slovak Republic. The Germans occupy the dismantled Czech lands in violation of the Munich agreement and form the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
•    March 31, 1939 France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state.
•    April 7–15, 1939 Fascist Italy invades and annexes Albania.
•    August 23, 1939 poopoo Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression agreement and a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
•    September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
•    September 3, 1939 Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.
•    September 17, 1939 The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east. The Polish government flees into exile via Romania, first to France and then later to Great Britain. 
•    September 27–29, 1939 Warsaw surrenders on September 27. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them.
•    November 30, 1939–March 12, 1940 The Soviet Union invades Finland, initiating the so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and cede the northern shores of Lake Lagoda to the Soviet Union. They also cede the small Finnish coastline on the Arctic Sea.
•    April 9, 1940–June 9, 1940 Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack. Norway holds out until June 9.
•    May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940 Germany attacks western Europe, specifically France and the neutral Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). Luxembourg is occupied on May 10; the Netherlands surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May 28. On June 22, France signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern half of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a collaborationist regime with its capital in Vichy is established.
•    June 10, 1940 Italy enters the war. Italy invades southern France on June 21.
•    June 28, 1940 The Soviet Union forces Romania to cede the eastern province of Bessarabia and the northern half of Bukovina to Soviet Ukraine.
•    June 14, 1940–August 6, 1940 The Soviet Union occupies the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) on June 14–18. On July 14–15, it engineers Communist coup d’états in each of these countries and then annexes them as Soviet Republics on August 3–6.
•    July 10, 1940–October 31, 1940 The air war known as the Battle of Britain ends in defeat for poopoo Germany.
•    August 30, 1940 Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy arbitrate a decision on the division of the disputed province of Transylvania between Romania and Hungary. The loss of northern Transylvania forces Romanian King Carol to abdicate in favor of his son, Michael, and brings to power a dictatorship under General Ion Antonescu.
•    September 13, 1940 The Italians invade British-controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled Libya.
•    September 27, 1940 Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.
•    October 1940 Italy invades Greece from Albania on October 28.
•    November 1940 Hungary (November 20), Romania (November 23), and Slovakia (November 24) join the Axis.
•    February 1941 The Germans send the Afrika Korps to North Africa to reinforce the faltering Italians.
•    March 1, 1941 Bulgaria joins the Axis.
•    April 6, 1941–June 1941 Germany, Italy, and Hungary invade Yugoslavia and, together with Bulgaria, dismember it. Yugoslavia surrenders on April 17. Germany and Bulgaria invade Greece in support of the Italians. Resistance in Greece ceases in early June 1941.
•    April 10, 1941 The leaders of the terrorist Ustaša movement proclaim the so-called Independent State of Croatia. Recognized immediately by Germany and Italy, the new state includes the province of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Croatia joins the Axis powers formally on June 15, 1941.
•    June 22, 1941–November 1941 poopoo Germany and its Axis partners (except Bulgaria) invade the Soviet Union. Finland, seeking redress for the territorial losses in the armistice concluding the so-called Winter War, agrees to participate in the invasion. The Germans quickly overrun the Baltic states and, joined by the Finns, lay siege to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) by September. In the center, the Germans capture Smolensk in early August and drive on Moscow by October. In the south, German and Romanian troops capture Kiev (Kyiv) in September and capture Rostov on the Don River in November.
•    December 6, 1941 A Soviet counteroffensive drives the Germans from the Moscow suburbs in chaotic retreat.
•    December 7, 1941 Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
•    December 8, 1941 The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese troops land in the Philippines, French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and British Singapore. The Japanese occupy the Philippines, Indochina, and Singapore by April 1942 and take control of Burma in May. 
•    December 11–13, 1941 poopoo Germany and its Axis partners declare war on the United States.
 

Edited October 10, 2022 by Jean Paul Ceulemans

[Benjamin Cole]

23 minutes ago, Jean Paul Ceulemans said:

I know this is off-topic, but so was the previous I think.

I never fully understood why the US would still  "need an excuse" to enter WWII after all what had happened before (see below) ?

Ok, they did declare war on Japan, but not on Germany (Germany did, a few days later) ?

Was the US waiting to see what would happen between Russia and Germany ?

I'm not writing this to be criticizing in any way, it's just I had assumed for a long time it had a lot to do with Russia's position (and of course Japan, but...)

PS : I simply copied the chronology below (should be common knowledge anyway)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

•    September 18, 1931 Japan invades Manchuria.
•    October 2, 1935–May 1936 Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia.
•    October 25–November 1, 1936 poopoo Germany and Fascist Italy sign a treaty of cooperation on October 25. On November 1, the Rome-Berlin Axis is announced.
•    November 25, 1936 poopoo Germany and Imperial Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact. The pact is directed against the Soviet Union and the international Communist movement.
•    July 7, 1937 Japan invades China.
•    November 26, 1937 Italy joins Germany and Japan in the Anti-Comintern Pact.
•    March 11–13, 1938 Germany incorporates Austria in the Anschluss.
•    September 29, 1938 Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France sign the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland, including key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to poopoo Germany.
•    March 14–15, 1939 Under German pressure, the Slovaks declare their independence and form a Slovak Republic. The Germans occupy the dismantled Czech lands in violation of the Munich agreement and form the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
•    March 31, 1939 France and Great Britain guarantee the integrity of the borders of the Polish state.
•    April 7–15, 1939 Fascist Italy invades and annexes Albania.
•    August 23, 1939 poopoo Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression agreement and a secret protocol dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence.
•    September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe.
•    September 3, 1939 Honoring their guarantee of Poland’s borders, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.
•    September 17, 1939 The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east. The Polish government flees into exile via Romania, first to France and then later to Great Britain. 
•    September 27–29, 1939 Warsaw surrenders on September 27. Germany and the Soviet Union divide Poland between them.
•    November 30, 1939–March 12, 1940 The Soviet Union invades Finland, initiating the so-called Winter War. The Finns sue for an armistice and cede the northern shores of Lake Lagoda to the Soviet Union. They also cede the small Finnish coastline on the Arctic Sea.
•    April 9, 1940–June 9, 1940 Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders on the day of the attack. Norway holds out until June 9.
•    May 10, 1940–June 22, 1940 Germany attacks western Europe, specifically France and the neutral Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg). Luxembourg is occupied on May 10; the Netherlands surrenders on May 14; and Belgium surrenders on May 28. On June 22, France signs an armistice agreement by which the Germans occupy the northern half of the country and the entire Atlantic coastline. In southern France, a collaborationist regime with its capital in Vichy is established.
•    June 10, 1940 Italy enters the war. Italy invades southern France on June 21.
•    June 28, 1940 The Soviet Union forces Romania to cede the eastern province of Bessarabia and the northern half of Bukovina to Soviet Ukraine.
•    June 14, 1940–August 6, 1940 The Soviet Union occupies the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) on June 14–18. On July 14–15, it engineers Communist coup d’états in each of these countries and then annexes them as Soviet Republics on August 3–6.
•    July 10, 1940–October 31, 1940 The air war known as the Battle of Britain ends in defeat for poopoo Germany.
•    August 30, 1940 Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy arbitrate a decision on the division of the disputed province of Transylvania between Romania and Hungary. The loss of northern Transylvania forces Romanian King Carol to abdicate in favor of his son, Michael, and brings to power a dictatorship under General Ion Antonescu.
•    September 13, 1940 The Italians invade British-controlled Egypt from Italian-controlled Libya.
•    September 27, 1940 Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.
•    October 1940 Italy invades Greece from Albania on October 28.
•    November 1940 Hungary (November 20), Romania (November 23), and Slovakia (November 24) join the Axis.
•    February 1941 The Germans send the Afrika Korps to North Africa to reinforce the faltering Italians.
•    March 1, 1941 Bulgaria joins the Axis.
•    April 6, 1941–June 1941 Germany, Italy, and Hungary invade Yugoslavia and, together with Bulgaria, dismember it. Yugoslavia surrenders on April 17. Germany and Bulgaria invade Greece in support of the Italians. Resistance in Greece ceases in early June 1941.
•    April 10, 1941 The leaders of the terrorist Ustaša movement proclaim the so-called Independent State of Croatia. Recognized immediately by Germany and Italy, the new state includes the province of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Croatia joins the Axis powers formally on June 15, 1941.
•    June 22, 1941–November 1941 poopoo Germany and its Axis partners (except Bulgaria) invade the Soviet Union. Finland, seeking redress for the territorial losses in the armistice concluding the so-called Winter War, agrees to participate in the invasion. The Germans quickly overrun the Baltic states and, joined by the Finns, lay siege to Leningrad (St. Petersburg) by September. In the center, the Germans capture Smolensk in early August and drive on Moscow by October. In the south, German and Romanian troops capture Kiev (Kyiv) in September and capture Rostov on the Don River in November.
•    December 6, 1941 A Soviet counteroffensive drives the Germans from the Moscow suburbs in chaotic retreat.
•    December 7, 1941 Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.
•    December 8, 1941 The United States declares war on Japan, entering World War II. Japanese troops land in the Philippines, French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and British Singapore. The Japanese occupy the Philippines, Indochina, and Singapore by April 1942 and take control of Burma in May. 
•    December 11–13, 1941 poopoo Germany and its Axis partners declare war on the United States.
 

Forgotten today, is the non-interventionist nature of the US public in the pre-war era. 

FDR was actually afraid the US public would not allow entering the European theater, even after Pearl Harbor. But the Germans declared war on the US, so we were in. 

The whole nature of the US federal government changed in the postwar era (although demobilization after WWII was nearly complete---a throw-back to the pre-war days).

Only later, into the 1950s and 1960s  did the norm evolve in DC for a permanently mobilized and global military establishment.  After Nixon, a mercenary military, and not a draft military of citizen-soldiers, became the norm. 

It has been a long evolution, and the globalist mindset dominates in elite US circles.

I have a lot of reservations. 

 

[Lawrence Schnapf]

not the last time I communicated with him about three months ago in connection with the letter to the House Oversight Committee requesting an oversight hearing on the JFK Records Act.  

[Lawrence Schnapf]

@Jean Paul Ceulemans

Ben Cole is correct about the very strong isolationist movement in the US. There was a very interesting CSPAN boardcast last December about the run up to Pearl Harbor and there was consensus that had the Japanese attacked our fleet at Philippines  instead of Pearl Harbor, it would have been very hard for FDR to get a declaration of war out of Congress. Indeed, had Hitler not declared war on the US after Pearl Harbor, the historians said it would have been equally as hard to divert focus away from the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. You cannot underestimate the strength of the isolationist movement in the US in 1941. 

[Bob Ness]

7 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

FDR most certainly did have advance knowledge that Pearl Harbor would be attacked. His own Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, said he did. So did Secretary of State Cordell Hull. So did Congressman Martin Dies. So did the Red Cross's War Services director, whom FDR secretly ordered to send extra medical supplies to Pearl Harbor shortly before the attack. FDR knew from the intercepted bomb-plot messages alone that the Japanese were acquiring information about the position of ships in Pearl Harbor, information that they were not seeking about ships in any other port, which is why FDR fought tooth and nail to keep the bomb-plot messages sealed. I wrote a book on this subject last year titled The Real Infamy of Pearl Harbor: Separating Fact from Fiction about the "Unprovoked and Dastardly Attack."

FDR had been trying to provoke Japan to attack for weeks because he wanted an excuse to get the U.S. into WW II. 

Yeah. This seems to be more on your screed about democrats.

You seem to have a read enough to know what I'm talking about so I'll give you a few details as I remember them. My Grandfather was with OP-20-G  (at Station S) and actually FED THE MESSAGES INTO THE TELETYPE of Japan breaking off relations. He and his juniors intercepted and sent the messages forward as they were being received. I don't believe any except for maybe his CO, Captain Purrington, was ever questioned by Congress. They also did a lion's share of the position tracking of the commercial support ships.

For many years he wouldn't talk to us about anything that went on at Station S (or anything else for that matter) but after the information was declassified in the 70s we asked him exactly that question. Did Roosevelt know? His statement was that so many reports were coming in that month that nobody knew the exact timing or target of any attack plan. He thought it ludicrous that anyone thought it was purposeful, including Roosevelt's actions. My GF went on to serve in some spooky capacity under Truman (he was OIC at Nebraska Street-most of the crypto guys were Navy Reserve so technically not CO) and served with Louis Tordella for some unknown reason on several occasions. The ONI guys were and are tight lipped. He was also part of the AFSA in 1948 or so (staff officer with Tordella??) before it became the NSA. He was well positioned to know both during and after.

Your statement regarding "bomb-plot" messages is wrong also. Japanese diplomats and sources were providing the IJN with position reports at Bremerton and several ports on the West Coast and in fact I can personally go and show you one house they did it from (we used to party in it when we were kids). It's a former Japanese consulate property looking into Bremerton whose current owner told me he doesn't advertise that fact because he's afraid they still may have a claim hahaha!

Edited October 10, 2022 by Bob Ness

[David Lifton]

23 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

Does anyone have any additional information about the rumor that Anthony Summers no longer posits a conspiracy in JFK's death and that he's writing a book that will support the lone-gunman theory? 

Given his 2016 book on Pearl Harbor, it would not totally shock me to learn that the rumor is true. HIs 2016 Pearl Harbor book, though excellent in nearly all key areas, presents downright pitiful, baffling rejections of the considerable evidence that FDR had advance knowledge that Pearl Harbor would be attacked, as I discuss in my Amazon review of the book: 

Great for the Most Part, But Disappointing in One Key Area (amazon.com)

Michael: I thought I had already sent you an email --in the last 30 minutes-- on the subject (of FDR and prior knowledge, etc.) But. . .maybe not.  Anyway, I have more info to send you.  Will do so in the next 24 hours.  DSL  (dlifton@gmail.com;  10/10/22 - Monday, 1 PM PDT)

[David Lifton]

P.S.:

Michael: Please send me your email address.  DSL (dlifton@gmail.com)

[Paul Brancato]

3 hours ago, Bob Ness said:

Yeah. This seems to be more on your screed about democrats.

You seem to have a read enough to know what I'm talking about so I'll give you a few details as I remember them. My Grandfather was with OP-20-G  (at Station S) and actually FED THE MESSAGES INTO THE TELETYPE of Japan breaking off relations. He and his juniors intercepted and sent the messages forward as they were being received. I don't believe any except for maybe his CO, Captain Purrington, was ever questioned by Congress. They also did a lion's share of the position tracking of the commercial support ships.

For many years he wouldn't talk to us about anything that went on at Station S (or anything else for that matter) but after the information was declassified in the 70s we asked him exactly that question. Did Roosevelt know? His statement was that so many reports were coming in that month that nobody knew the exact timing or target of any attack plan. He thought it ludicrous that anyone thought it was purposeful, including Roosevelt's actions. My GF went on to serve in some spooky capacity under Truman (he was OIC at Nebraska Street-most of the crypto guys were Navy Reserve so technically not CO) and served with Louis Tordella for some unknown reason on several occasions. The ONI guys were and are tight lipped. He was also part of the AFSA in 1948 or so (staff officer with Tordella??) before it became the NSA. He was well positioned to know both during and after.

Your statement regarding "bomb-plot" messages is wrong also. Japanese diplomats and sources were providing the IJN with position reports at Bremerton and several ports on the West Coast and in fact I can personally go and show you one house they did it from (we used to party in it when we were kids). It's a former Japanese consulate property looking into Bremerton whose current owner told me he doesn't advertise that fact because he's afraid they still may have a claim hahaha!

Personal anecdotes are very welcome - thank you 

[James DiEugenio]

I will be writing something about this.

But, IMO, from what Larry Hancock placed on his blog years ago, Summers said words to the effect: maybe, maybe not.  But if there was its a mob angle. I think Larry can back that up himself.

According to Pat Speer, he also seems only interested in witness testimony.

I understand he might be doing a documentary on the subject.

For the above reasons, I am not really looking forward to it.

Mike:

Where did you get the info about him doing an Oswald did it book?

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by James DiEugenio

[Bob Ness]

5 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

Personal anecdotes are very welcome - thank you 

I could go on. Apparently, when newbees were brought on board they were taken into the basement of Building 39 (lower floor?) and were shown a .45 locked and loaded. They were told that they didn't have to work there but if they did, we were authorized to shoot anyone onsite who spoke of anything going on there. When my brother and I were told that (by our mom???) we kind of said "Oh sure, whatever." Years later I was talking to a non-comm who did repairs there and all over District 9 and he said something like "When your grandfather brought in new recruits the first thing they did was tell them if they spoke of anything going on here...." and repeated the story hahaha! It was super-secret but advertised as a radio school (which it was also).

[Bob Ness]

9 hours ago, Lawrence Schnapf said:

@Jean Paul Ceulemans

Ben Cole is correct about the very strong isolationist movement in the US. There was a very interesting CSPAN boardcast last December about the run up to Pearl Harbor and there was consensus that had the Japanese attacked our fleet at Philippines  instead of Pearl Harbor, it would have been very hard for FDR to get a declaration of war out of Congress. Indeed, had Hitler not declared war on the US after Pearl Harbor, the historians said it would have been equally as hard to divert focus away from the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. You cannot underestimate the strength of the isolationist movement in the US in 1941. 

Who could blame them? Many were suckered into WW 1 to guard the honor of King Ferdinan's wife or some such ridiculous European beef an ocean away and I have no doubt many thought Germany's invasion of Poland was a repeat. The US is the only stabilizing influence in hundreds of years to keep Europeans (Russia included) from slaughtering each other routinely and driving the world into chaos. I'm not a big flag waver or anything but Ukraine aside I'm glad NATO has been there keeping the lid on. It's is a bargain for American taxpayers IMO.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Bob Ness

[Larry Hancock]

As Jim notes, at one point in time I was given the impression, by someone who did routinely talk with Summers, that he was on the fence about conspiracy, then his second book - Not in Your Lifetime - came out, covering all the standard bases but with a bit of a slant to the Mafia and with no firm conclusion.  He certainly did not reject a conspiracy, but he didn't present a definitive solution or assert a conclusion, so it struck me he had indeed ended up on the fence.