Who Am I?

[Dawn Meredith]

"Possible that he became a changed man"??? The evidence for this is OVERWHELMING. If he was still another "corrupt pol" then why kill him???

Yes there was fraud in the election, but you mention zero about the level of fraud that Richard Nixon engaged in his entire carreer, not just the 1960 election.

Is this not relevent? I don't mean to start a new thread on old Tricky Dick, but please, to speak of stolen elections in 1960 and have it be just the Kennedy's is unfair, as well as untrue.

And for the record, prior to RFK as Attorney General, there was no federal investigation/and or arrest of Mafia . Hoover denied they even existed- (while going to horseraces WITH them). RFK went after organized crime big time.

But I do not beleive Org Crime killed JFK, that is cover story no. 3. (LHO being no 1, Castro/and/ Russia being no 2).

If "the mob did it" (to paraphrase Blakey, and many authors) who-( and why)- killed those boys in 75? The CIA hired the mob to kill Castro not vice versa.

I think we agree on this, right?

Dawn

[Mike Perez]

I agree with you John, BUT you still have not answered my question re.  your anti-JFK comment. (Thus,  I am being persistant).  Do you ever read anything on Wim's forum? Tim Carroll had an excellent response to this particular post, but I am not sure how to post from one forum to another.....so all I can suggest is that readers read it there.

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I intend to produce a online seminar on the JFK myth and the assassination. However, this passage from a posting on the assassination and organized crime should give you an idea of where I am coming from:

One of the main arguments made for Mafia involvement in the assassination concerns the claim that Sam Giancana and his crime syndicate in Chicago helped JFK win Illinois. Therefore, JFK was killed because he did not deliver the things he promised Giancana. Does the evidence support this claim?

It is true that organized crime has been involved in trying to influence presidential elections since the early 1900s. They were particularly involved in trying to shape

the result in Chicago. However, it is difficult to know just how successful they were in this. What was important is that politicians believed they had considerable influence. In fact, there is evidence that mobsters in Chicago told both candidates they were working for them. In this way they could go to the winning candidate and argue that they had helped them “steal the election”. For example, the FBI have tapes of mobsters from Chicago saying they were working for both JFK and Nixon in 1960.

The evidence suggests that it was Richard Daley who won Chicago for JFK. He probably used mobsters to help him with this. However, JFK and his representatives dealt with Daley, not mobsters. It has been suggested that it was Joe Kennedy who went to organized crime for help in the election. I severely doubt this. Joe was an experienced political operator. He knew that the FBI were monitoring organized crime figures. They might well have been monitoring his actions as well. He would have been crazy to have got involved in this kind of activity.

It is of course true that JFK did rely on buying votes to win the election. This is what happens in American politics. This is why I do not believe the US is a fully functioning democracy.

JFK also bought the nomination. The most important example of this concerns West Virginia. JFK was determined to put Hubert Humphrey out of the race. Polls suggested that Humphrey could win West Virginia. JFK decided to spend around $2m in bribes and other payoffs during the primary.

Journalists working for Wall Street Journal obtained a great deal of evidence what was going on. They also discovered where this money was coming from. This was a group described by the journalists as the Irish Mafia. They were a group of businessmen linked to JFK who wanted federal contracts or political jobs in return. However, the editor of the Wall Street Journal refused to publish the story. Not because he was in the pay of JFK but because he was part of the media conspiracy to hide political corruption in the United States. As the editor would have pointed out, all leading politicians in America were surrounded by businessmen involved in buying political favours. Humphrey was no different and the journalists had to admit that they had also discovered that he was buying votes in West Virginia.

The problem was not that mobsters were buying political favours. The problem was that the pillars of the community were doing it. It was an integral part of the political system. The finger was only pointed at the Mafia when it suited political leaders to do so.

If we go on to the actual presidential election itself, it is not true that the vote in Illinois won JFK the election. Nor was it the only state charged with vote fraud. The following states were investigated after the 1960 election: Illinois, New Jersey, Texas, Missouri, New Mexico, Nevada, South Carolina and Pennsylvania. Evidence of fraud in these states was sent to the Attorney General (Robert Kennedy). The votes in Texas, Michigan, New Jersey and Missouri gave particular concern as they all resulted in narrow victories for Kennedy. Understandably, RFK refused to take action against this fraud.

The narrowness of the electoral college victory is misleading. The Illinois vote gave JFK a 27 electoral vote lead over Nixon. However, there were also a 26 unpledged Democratic electors in Mississippi, Georgia and Alabama. They were still in negotiations with JFK about his civil rights policy. He had already given them promises when he was attempting to be the Democratic candidate at the beginning of the campaign. No doubt he would have been willing to have given it in writing if he needed to. JFK had already shown he was willing to do deals with racists. We must not believe the myth that JFK (or RFK for that matter) was a politician who believed in racial equality.

As I have already pointed out , JFK did not upset organized crime by persecuting them once he gained office. This is of course another myth. This took place in the 1970s, not the 1960s. People like Giancana were indeed upset with JFK in 1963. However, he was upset as a businessman, not as a gangster. JFK had not got him back his business interests in Cuba. It was not only the gangsters who was upset about this. William Pawley and Earl Smith are just two of those businessmen who had lost a lot of money because of the actions of Castro.

One of the major problems that arises from the investigation of the assassination is the belief that JFK was different from other American politicians. He was indeed no more honest or corrupt than all the others who sought to become president. However, because he was assassinated, the media has constructed a mythical figure. This is especially loved by Democratic voters and explains the reasons why some people become interested in the events surrounding the assassination.

It is of course possible that JFK became a changed man after the Cuban Missile Crisis. This in itself could explain why he needed to be assassinated. However, before 1962, he was your regular corrupt politician.

Another aspect of this myth concerns JFK’s relationship with the CIA. This is an important topic and will therefore start a new thread where these issues can be discussed in detail.

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John,

This is exactly what I have said for many years. Everybody says Richard Nixon was a very corupt President and I agree, but the difference between Nixon and just about anyone else that has obtained the office of the Presidency is that Richard Nixon got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Nixon wasn't the first and he definately has and will not be the last to use a tape recorder in the oval office.

He also wasn't the first or the last one to use dirty tricks to obtain the Presidency, or to gain wealth.

Edited January 6, 2005 by Mike Perez

[John Simkin]

I have found out a few more things about McLendon. He studied Far Eastern languages at Yale University. Could have been recruited by the CIA during this period. His interest in radio as propaganda would also have interested David Atlee Phillips.

During the Second World War he accepted a commission in the United States Navy and worked as an interpreter, translator and interrogator.

McLendon became a significant political figure in Dallas. He was the first to use local radio to push extreme right-wing views. This included his attacks on federal aid to education, racial desegregation of public schools and equal voting rights for all races.

In their book, Deadly Secrets, Warren Hinckle and William Turner claim that Gerry P. Hemming obtained money from McLendon to help fund Interpen.

Peter Dale Scott claims that McLendon made a secret trip to Mexico City just before the assassination.

According to Seth Kantor when Ruby was arrested he "shouted out for Gordon McLendon". The KLIF disc-jockey, Weird Beard, later told Kantor that Ruby "greatly admired McLendon".

Does this mean that they shared the same political views? A member of the Democratic Party, McLendon attempted to unseat Ralph Yarborough in 1964. He later left the party saying he could no longer support the policies of Lyndon B. Johnson.

McLendon sold KLIF for $10.5m in 1971. Over the next eight years he sold the rest of his radio stations for approximately $100m. Later it was estimated that McLendon was worth around $200m.

In 1975 McLendon and David Atlee Phillips formed the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO).

You can find out more here:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmclendon.htm

[James Richards]

I thought forum members might enjoy these period shots of KLIF radio. The third image is McLendon in his later years.

James

Edited January 7, 2005 by James Richards

[Dawn Meredith]

Great research guys, and thanx, James for the pics. (I always love your pics and posts).

What a group!!!! Strange bedfellows? No, it all falls into place. So fitting that McLendon and Phillips should have formed AFIO, especially in 1975, during the Chruch Committee: they must have enjoyed some good laughs at this- (timing) - irony, combined with their continued success, IF of course, there was a conspiracy to kill JFK , and they had any role in same.

Dawn