Why Col. L. Fletcher Prouty's Critics Are Wrong

[W. Niederhut]

       Since our new forum member Michael Griffith has ignored my advice about studying the Education Forum archival discussions about Col. L. Fletcher Prouty and his long-time USAF colleague, General Ed Lansdale, I am taking the unusual step of presenting some of the exemplary EF archival material about Prouty to Griffith, and others, on the subject.

       Firstly, I have been reviewing the EF archives, and I have discovered that the best source of accurate information about Fletcher Prouty in the archives is Greg Burnham, a long-time member of the forum, who knew Fletcher Prouty, personally, and has extensive knowledge about Prouty's life and work.

       For starters, here is Mr. Burnham's March 31, 2015 biographical post about the man CIA propagandists have been referring to for decades as a "crackpot."

       It's worth reading, along with Prouty's lengthy letter to his former boss, General Victor Krulak, on the subject of Ed Lansdale.  (Up Next)

 

On March 31, 2015 Greg Burnham wrote:

 

This is not the biography of a nut:

BIOGRAPHY

Col. L. Fletcher Prouty (USAF, Retired)

Born: Springfield, Mass., January 24, 1917. Attended public schools. President, High School Student Government. Member, undefeated Golf Team. Vocalist with Big Bands, sang in most large dance halls, hotels and colleges in Northeast. Graduate: Mass. State College 1941, A.B. degree and 2nd Lt. Commission, U.S. Cavalry.

June 1941

Began military career with 4th Armored Division, Pine Camp, NY. At Communications Officer School, Ft. Knox, KY, on December 7, 1941[Pearl Harbor]. Transferred to Air Force 1942. Earned Pilot's wings November, 1942. Arrived British West Africa [Ghana], February 1943 as pilot with Air Transport Command.

Assigned to V.I.P. flying, summer 1943. Personal pilot for Gen. Omar Bradley, Gen. J. C. H. Lee and Gen. C. R. Smith (Founder and President - American Airlines), among others. Landed U.S. Geological Survey Team in Saudi Arabia, Oct 1943, to confirm oil discoveries for Cairo Conference.

 

Assigned special duties at Cairo and Teheran Conferences, November-December 1943. Flew Chiang Kai Shek's Chinese delegation (T.V. Soong's delegates) to Teheran.

 

Chief Pilot (1,200 pilots), Cairo for Air Transport Command. Led special air mission into Soviet Union, and others into Turkey, 1944. Evacuated "Guns of Navaronne" British commandos from Turkey to Palestine. Assisted in capture of leader of German Gold smuggling ring (The actor, Bruce Cabot) in Turkey and Cairo. Led large flight of transport aircraft to Turkish-Syrian border to evacuate 750 American POW's and OSS-selected Ex-National Socialist Intelligence experts from the Balkans, September 1944. The first "overt" Cold War mission.

 

1945

Transferred to SW Pacific, flew in New Guinea, Leyte and was on Okinawa at end of war.

 

Landed near Tokyo at surrender with first three planes carrying Gen. MacArthur's bodyguard troops. Flew out with American POWs. Photographed Hiroshima, that date.

 

 

1946-49

Assigned by Army to Yale University to begin first USAF ROTC program. Taught "Aeronautics" and "Evolution of Warfare". Transferred to U.S. Air Force ROTC headquarters to write college text books. Wrote the college textbook on "Aeronautics" and another on "Rockets and Missiles".

 

 

1950-52

Transferred to Colorado Springs to establish Air Defense Command. There, Director, Personnel Planning for Command (77,000 men) and first to put personnel records on Computer. Attended Nuclear Weapons school, Sandia, N.M. Selected for Air Force Command and Staff College, Montgomery, Ala.

 

1952-54

Assigned to Korean War duties in Japan. Military Manager, Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) during Occupation. Commander, Military Air Transport Service, Heavy Transport Squadron responsible for military and diplomatic flights from Tokyo to Saudi Arabia and back, in addition to daily flights to Korea, Honolulu and Pacific Islands. Founder, Tokyo Toastmasters Club.

 

Attended, JCS operated Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, 1955

 

1955-1964

Assigned to Headquarters, U.S. Air Force and directed to create an Air Force world-wide system for "Military Support of the Clandestine Operations of the CIA", as required by a new National Security Council Directive, 5412 of March, 1954. Wrote this policy in conjunction with Air Force General Counsel and CIA's General Counsel. Set up a TOP SECRET world wide support force and communications system. Was sent around the world by the Director, Central Intelligence, Allen W. Dulles, to meet the CIA Station Chiefs, 1956. Directed Air Force participation in countless CIA operations during this period.

As a result of a CIA Commendation for this work, awarded the Legion of Merit by the Air Force.

Photo: Colonel Prouty receiving the Legion of Merit

 

Promoted to Colonel and assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense to carry out this same type of work for all military services. Assigned to the Office of Special Operations.

 

With the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency by Secretary McNamara and the abolishment of the OSO, was transferred to the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to create a similar, world-wide office and was the Chief of Special Operations, with the Joint Staff all during 1962-1963.

 

1963

 

Received orders to travel as the Military Escort officer for a group of VIPs who were being flown to the South Pole.

 

Nov 10 - Nov 28, 1963, to activate a Nuclear Power plant for heat, light and sea water desalination at the U.S. Navy Base at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.

 

Retired as Colonel, U.S. Air Force, 1964 and was awarded one of the first three Joint Chiefs of Staff Commendation Medals by General Maxwell Taylor, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

1964-1965

VP International Operations, General Aircraft Corporation... a company created by MIT and Harvard specialists that designed and built aircraft that were used by the CIA and Army Special Forces.

 

1965-1968

VP-Manager, Pentagon Branch, First National Bank, Arlington, VA, later VP-Marketing, 1965-1968. VP-Marketing, Madison National Bank, Washington, DC, 1968-1971.

Graduate, Graduate School of Banking, University of Wisconsin, 1966 - 1968.

 

Charter Member, American Bankers Association committee for Automation, Planning and Technology to develop plans to convert all U.S. banks to automation, including the Federal Reserve System.

 

President, Financial Marketing Council of Greater Washington, D.C. Member, Advertising Club of Washington, D.C.

 

1971 AMTRAK, as Manager, created nationwide Government and Military Marketing organization. Senior Director, Public Affairs, corporate speechwriter for Presidents and members of the Board, 1972-1982. Retired.

 

Author, Public Speaker, radio and TV, 1950 to present. Book "The Secret Team", Prentice-Hall, 1973, and paperback by Ballantine, 1974.

http://assassinationofjfk.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/stphoto.jpg

 

Worked with all major USA TV networks, and with BBC-TV, CBC-TV, Japanese, Canadian, Australian Broadcast Commission and many others.

 

For McGraw-Hill Scientific Encyclopedia wrote "Railroad Engineering" section, and for its "Scientific Yearbook-1982" yearbook, wrote "Foreign Railroad Technology".

 

For Traffic Quarterly and Congressional Record, wrote "Transportation at the Crossroads", July 1981.

 

Numerous magazine articles from New Republic to Air Force, Gallery, Genesis, and Freedom magazines.

 

Consultant: Rail Transportation for Northrop Services Inc., Northrup Corp. and for Ohio Rail Transportation Authority. Assisted Chairman, Joint Economics Committee of the Congress to set up International Hearings and to write "Rail Passenger Services Act of 1981".

 

At request of Oliver Stone, worked as Creative Advisor (1990-1991) on production of his film "JFK" and was the original for "Man X" character played by Donald Sutherland.

 

 

 

Book, "JFK, the CIA, Vietnam and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy" published by Birch Lane Press, 1992.

 

Memberships:

 

Director, National Railroad Foundation and Museum

National Press Club, and Foundation

Rotary Club of Washington, formerly a Director

Member, Society of Historians for American Foreign Relations

Family:

Wife: Elizabeth

Son: David

Daughter: Jane

Daughter: Lauren

 

Additional data:

a) By direction of the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, a Founder, of the International Air Traffic Controllers Assn.

 

b ) Founder, Tokyo Toastmasters Club

 

c) A Charter member, American Bankers Assn, Committee of Automation Planning and Technology.

 

d) A graduate of the American Bankers Assn, Graduate School of Banking, University of Wisconsin.

 

e) Guest Lecturer, American University.

 

f) Staff, Cairo Conference, 1943

 

g) Staff, Teheran Conference, 1943

Edited April 12, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[W. Niederhut]

Here is a copy of Fletcher Prouty's remarkable 1985 letter to his former boss, General Victor Krulak.

Recall that Prouty wrote this remarkable letter seven years before Oliver Stone's landmark film, JFK, was released.

(Posted on the EF by Greg Burnham on March 31, 2015.)

This is a must read for Michael Griffith, and others, on Prouty's history with Ed Lansdale and his thoughts about JFK's assassination.

 

May 26 1985

Victor H. Krulak

3665 Carleton Street

San Diego, CA

92106

Dear General,

Your good letter of 15 March 85 arrived while I was on a trip. This trip entailed a surge of work that has continued until now and, as I was working on this letter, I got another call and had to leave for a quick trip to Portland, OR. That led to more work. These interruptions certainly don't give an indication of my deep interest in your letter. As you can imagine, the information you provided is most important.

I shall look up "First to Fight' and "Organization for National Security" and read them as soon as I can. The brief review of your activities since we both left SACSA was most welcome; and your notes concerning the pictures I had sent to you are remarkable. I feel as though we have come across a barren bit of ground and that together we have found it to be more fertile than either of us, singly, had thought it would be. To have your confirmation of my belief that our mutual friend (Lansdale) was there at that time means quite a lot. I join with you in the question, What in the world was he doing there?

Somewhere I have the name of the photographer, and I'll get it. He was a regular commercial photographer who had run around and shot a lot of pictures that day. These pictures, this most unusual series, were - he thought - going to be important. Later, when few if any newspapers seemed interested in them, he wondered what had happened to the "tramps" whom those "policemen" had delivered to the Dallas County Sheriff's office.

This led to the discovery that the "tramps" had not even been booked in the Sheriff's office where they had been taken so conspicuously, and that there were no records of or by the police. Attempts have been made through the years to identify the "tramps" and the "police". Many have said one of the tramps was Howard Hunt. It looks like him.

To my knowledge no one has ever given any thought to the extra man, our friend. He has been accepted as a simple, uncomplicated pedestrian.

Not too long after the appearance of this set of pictures, they were referred to me on the chance I might recognize a CIA associate of some kind. I studied them carefully, concealing the fact that I was startled to see Ed Lansdale in the pictures. I had spotted him immediately.

This was years ago, in the Sixties, and I was much closer to EGL then. As a matter of fact I used to see him rather frequently during the Sixties. I was VP of a bank that was across the street from a CIA-leased building in Arlington, and he would pop up now and then from that building.

This is an unusual person. I used to fly into the Philippines during l952-1954 rather frequently. I would always stay at Clark where I had several friends. From time to time I'd hear stories about this "Air Force" officer who was working with Capt. Magsaysay. We flew to Saigon and Bangkok also on trips back and forth out of Tokyo. In 1953 I became Commander of that MATS outfit and my regular business included Clark-Saigon-Bangkok, among others... out of Tokyo. On several trips between Clark and Saigon I had groups of officials (USAFilipino6-CHINATS) who were with EGL. He had become a kingmaker by getting Ramon Magsaysay "elected" President of the Philippines.

After the fall of Dienbienphu, he was called back to the USA to discuss a similar "Robin Hood" operation in SVN. Allen Dulles dispatched him to Saigon as head of the Saigon Military Mission (a CIA cover) with orders to create a leader out of Ngo Dinh Diem. They became fast friends, and much of the early activity in SVN may be directly laid at his feet. He had full sway over the CIA there, and the CIA had operational control of the military as they were until the Marines landed in 1964. During this period, 1952-1954, I met EGL a few times there and got quite familiar with his Filipino and Vietnamese activities. For example: I flew a big Italian radar unit into Saigon for him in 1954.

I began my CIA-related work in Hq USAF in 1955 and was told to create an office for "The USAF support of the clandestine operations of the CIA". I wrote the procedures and got CofS:USAF (Gen. White) to approve it and then took it to Allen Dulles for his OK. Dulles sent me on a round-the-world trip to most of his overseas stations. That was my PhD.

Then EGL arrived in the Directorate of Plans on the Air Staff...a fish out of water. My office, "Team B" was there. We met again and we spent quite a bit of time together; but he could not get settled in with the Air Staff. Dulles and the "Big E" decided to help him; so in about 1959 he went to Erskine's office, the office of Special Operations: OSD. Shortly after he went down there I was ordered to that office where I reported in May 1960.

During this extended period of long association I learned that EGL was either liked or violently disliked. He was a great behind-the-scene, solo operator. He traveled quite a bit. My CIA friends used to tell me about how many CIA men, and especially French Intelligence men, would gladly have shot him.

Then in early 1960 be got rather close to Nixon and they got approval for the operation that became the "Bay of Pigs". He remained actively interested in Laos and SVN. He was somehow involved in Algeria. He wanted to be the Ambassador to Saigon and talked with me about this dream frequently. Achieving this depended on the election of Richard Nixon. The JFK victory jolted his plans, and he took off on a long trip to SVN right after the election - Nov 1960.

As he was planning this trip he had me go in town "to buy the grandest present I could find for Diem", I went to Callamer's and ordered the biggest desk set you ever saw. When it was delivered EGL liked it and told me to rush back in town to get a big brass plaque to put on it. He dictated the words "Ngo Dinh Diem: The Father of His Country". I was out over $700 and it was a long time before he got the paperwork arranged to pay me back. Diem died with that thing still on his desk.

EGL was disturbed when Erskine retired from OSD and McNamara abolished OSO/OSD. EGL had hoped to take over that job. That left him with a small, very nominal office by mid '61. At this time Earle Wheeler and McNamara called me in to tell me they were going to put my office in the JCS where I would cover all services and be placed within a new structure to be called: SACSA. There I had three bosses in quick succession: Craig (USA), Heintges (USA/CIA), Krulak (USMC).

During mid '63 was quite disturbed because of the worsening situation in Saigon and the growing disenchantment with Diem. Although he had always been a "Diem" supporter that does not mean he would have always been one to the end. I noted, in the behind-the-scenes action, it was a very close associate of his (Conien) who had been selected to be the contact man to the plotters against Diem, specifically to Big Minh. I do not know what EGL's role may have been then... if any. Of course you had been out there at that pivotal time, and you may have a much better idea of things than I. That was a crucial time for EGL because he lost Diem as leverage.

Then we all worked on the McNamara-Taylor Trip Report to JFK and that brought us up to the day of the loss of Diem and his brother. As I recall, the USA had provided air-travel for them to go to Europe, an Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting; but at the lest minute, unaccountably, both Diems backed away from the plane and returned to the Palace to find it empty. They ran through the tunnel to Cholon and were captured there.

Since the views expressed in the McNamara-Taylor Report were those of JFK and his closest advisors, coming from them via your own participation, I am sure - had JFK lived - that further USA activity in SVN would have been reduced considerably. I fully expected to see us out of SVN as soon as JFK had been re-elected. The "home by Christmas" element of the JFK plan was simply the start, and a cue to where he was going. I believe he had confided this to Mike Mansfield.

With the McNamara-Taylor Report work done I began to prepare for the trip to New Zealand and Antarctica. As you knows by that time I had been in the Pentagon, close to key positions, for 9 years, consecutively. I had many good friends and many reliable and perceptive sources. It was my belief that things in the Pentagon and in the White House were growing tense about the time I left for the Pacific.

After my visit to Antarctica we returned to New Zealand. A Congressman, Pete Abele, R-Ohio, and I got a Navy car and were driven to the N.Z. Alps, Mt Cook. It is a beautiful resort in a place called the Hermitage.

As I came down to breakfast the morning after we had arrived, I took a table and sipped coffee waiting for Pete to come. Outside, through huge picture windows, I could see snow-capped Mt Cook, and I could see a small, ski-wheel equipped Cessna leaving an air-strip to deposit skiers, 5 at a time, on a shoulder of the mountain above us.

The PA system was announcing the air-lift schedule for skiers in groups of five. Then the voice stopped. It came back with: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the BBC have announced that President Kennedy has been shot, dead, in Dallas." Total silence followed.

At that moment, Pete reached the table. His face was ashen. "did you hear what I just heard?" There was not another word of news. All around us the hundreds of New Zealand natives put down their coffee cups. Ladies wiped tears from their eyes. Outside in the beautiful springtime sunlight there was a tall flag-pole with the Union Jack flying in the breeze. Instinctively the entire group moved out around the flagpole. They recognized us as Americans and I told some of them that Pete was a Congressman. They gathered around him. Then a man from the hotel came out, untied the flag cord and lowered the British emblem to half-mast. I understand that was the first time that had ever been done, for an American.

We cut short out stay, and left that morning. There still was no news and the car had no radio. We arrived in Christchurch that PM and saw our first newspaper. It carried a Reuters story that the President had been hit by "rapid fire from automatic weapons". It also carried lengthy items about Lee Harvey Oswald.

Pete and I talked about the event, I recall saying that I had been trained in "Protection" (I had gone to Mexico City with the Eisenhower party in 1956). I felt something must have gone wrong in the Secret Service and their customary Army "Protection" services. There is no way, under protection tactics, that a lone gunman could have had access to an open and unobserved Sixth Floor window directly over the cavalcade. No way! Furthermore, the "lone gunman" did not agree with the "automatic weapons" of the on the spot Reuters account. Also, how could a paper in distant Christchurch have had so much news on Oswald so quickly?

I am fully aware of instantaneous transmission; what I mean is who could have researched and have had that all written for immediate transmission around the world?

As you will recall, the Dallas police did not even charge Oswald with the crime until after midnight...that is, on Nov 23rd. They had picked him up on the suspicion of having shot the police officer named Tippet, not JFK.

When I got back to Washington four or five days later, I listened to and read all I could about this unusual event. I was convinced it could not have happened as the story was being told.

Someone, in power or with access to the inside of power near the top, had been able to create a security vacuum in Dallas. The usual Army organization that augments the Secret Service, the 113th Group, had been told they would not be needed in Dallas. The Secret Service had been told they were needed in Ft Worth but only those riding in the cavalcade would go to Dallas and those in the cavalcade did absolutely nothing. There were no Secret Service, in place, in the vicinity of Dealey Plaza; yet the book says whenever the cavalcade is moving less than 44 mph there must be ground coverage.

Then VP Johnson was placed in a car two cars behind JFK. Since the origin of the Secret Service in 1860 this has been one of their ironclad rules...that the President and VP do not show up together. Former VP Nixon, despite his uncertain stories about his whereabouts to the contrary, was still in Dallas that afternoon where he had been with a meeting of Pepsi Cola officials.

These were all clever details. These two key men, LBJ and RMN, were trained indelibly by the sound and proximity of those shots. This tactic paid off in subsequent years.

It seems that the FBI were not in the scene either. Hoover met with LBJ shortly after Dallas and among other things, J. Edgar Hoover told LBJ:

a) Only three shots were fired: the first hit JFK, the second hit Connally, the third hit JFK. He added, "The President would have been hit three times except for the fact that Governor Connally turned after the first shot and was hit by the second."

b ) They were fired by one man in 3 seconds.

c) They were fired from the Fifth Floor.

As we know, these are all wrong. For the Director to be wrong on that date, Nov 29th (I have a copy of his letter) is strong evidence that he did not have people at the scene, and that his story was fabricated, even to LBJ. (He and LBJ had lived across the street from each other for 19 years.)

The three shots are doubtful. There were most likely four, or more: i.e. 2 to JFK, 1 to Connally and one miss. This miss hit a curb about 1 1/2 blocks away and a fragment of the curb or bullet hit a man named Tague. Tague's picture with blood running down his face is undeniable evidence. That is four shots.

As for Connally interfering with the second shot, this is wrong because the gunman Hoover had in mind (Oswald) was behind JFK and Connally was in front of JFK. No way a shot from behind JFK could have hit Connally, blocking for JFK. Either that or Hover has a gunman in front of JFK.

Hoover is wrong on the 3 seconds interval and that a man can fire that rifle three times in three seconds, and aim it too. The interval was just over 6 seconds.

He is all mixed up about the Fifth Floor. The entire scenario as entered in the Warren Commission report says that Oswald was on the Sixth Floor.

The only point of all the above, herein, is to show that there was a void, as there ought not to have been, at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Almost no police: auto-borne Secret Service only: no "Protection" Army: no FBI nearby.

This took some kind of control. Only someone in a high position could have had the calls made that would have created this void without stirring up action.

Then on the scene there were many bogus Secret Service. These were men with some sort of Secret Service identification but on whom there is actually no record. And we have the strange police that you saw in those pictures with EGL.

There are in the CIA's assets colonies of stateless experts with all kinds of identities ready for any hit. It is easy, with the right authority, or the appearance of the right authority to have a team go anywhere, to hit anyone provided enough money is put up and an escape is arranged and guaranteed. EGL had used such a deal many times in many operations and knew how to trigger it. He was there, no doubt, to assure the escape that those "Dallas Police" were arranging right at that time when they were inadvertently spotted by that busy commercial photographer.

A major part of the scheme would involve the continuing cover-up. Again this can be relatively uncomplicated as long as the person at the top remains high enough up and can remain anonymous. So far this fits the role of EGL.

Today, he and many of his long-time associates form the inner core of the Reagan insurgency program around the world. As we see, they are taking on the old Khrushchev role of supporting the wars of national liberation and coming out from under the traditional cloak.

I thank you again for your letter, for your observations concerning those photographs and for your collaboration on the identity of the figure in one of those pictures, I am certain that we are on the right track; but where does it lead?

So much for now. I trust all is well with you and that I shall hear from you at your convenience. We are off soon on a visit to New England and then on to the Gaspe and Prince Edward Island...the place of my wife's mother's birth. All this as a welcome break after a busy springtime.

Sincerely,

L. Fletcher Prouty

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[James DiEugenio]

As i wrote in my article "Fletcher Prouty vs the ARRB", this unwarranted criticism of Prouty began due to his cooperation with Oliver Stone on his film, JFK in 1991.

Because Stone used Jim Garrison as his protagonist, Gerrison's book, and because of his choice to accent Vietnam, the MSM had their hatchets out for Prouty.

But worse, people in the critical community, who should have known better, took part in this.

Fletcher Prouty had many important contributions he  made to understanding the CIA and the secret government. Len Osanic's site is a good repository for this.

His insights on Vietnam, which he wrote in the eighties, are simply remarkable.  And if you have not read this articles from that period, you do not understand just how insightful  he was.

Edited April 6, 2023 by James DiEugenio

[W. Niederhut]

         Another archival Education Forum gem about Fletcher Prouty's integrity, credibility, and critically important insights about the CIA, Vietnam, and JFK's assassination is this conversation between Len Osanic and Greg Burnham-- posted on the forum in July of 2015.

         This should be required viewing, IMO, for Michael Griffith, and others, on the subject of Fletcher Prouty, the CIA, Vietnam, and JFK.

         

 

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[James DiEugenio]

One reason I think the MSM rose up was the long scene with Prouty and Garrison walking from the LIncoln Memorial to the Washington monument.

What Prouty/Sutherland says there, plus that brilliant montage over his words, that few moments alerted millions of people for the first time to the crimes of the CIA.

To put it mildly, the Establishment did not like that.

Its OK to have maybe 30,000 people who know this stuff.  But not millions.

Plus, what a performance by Sutherland.  And he did it with such ease.  No strain at all.  Jeremy Irons was a better Von Bulow than Von Bulow, and Sutherland was a better Prouty than Prouty. In that scene, Sutherland showed how acting can go beyond being an interpretive art and can be a creative art.

 

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

One reason I think the MSM rose up was the long scene with Prouty and Garrison walking from the LIncoln Memorial to the Washington monument.

What Prouty/Sutherland says there, plus that brilliant montage over his words, that few moments alerted millions of people for the first time to the crimes of the CIA.

To put it mildly, the Establishment did not like that.

Its OK to have maybe 30,000 people who know this stuff.  But not millions.

Plus, what a performance by Sutherland.  And he did it with such ease.  No strain at all.  Jeremy Irons was a better Von Bulow than Von Bulow, and Sutherland was a better Prouty than Prouty. In that scene, Sutherland showed how acting can go beyond being an interpretive art and can be a creative art.

 

Watching Donald Sutherland in Oliver Stone's film JFK was part of what inspired my belated interest in studying the JFK assassination literature a few years ago.

I was intrigued by the character and monologues of Mr. X, and read somewhere that Sutherland's character was based loosely on an actual person, Col. L. Fletcher Prouty.

So, I bought Prouty's book on JFK, the CIA, and Vietnam, and I was astonished by his firsthand accounts of U.S. military and Deep State history, the CIA's Saigon Station, and JFK's NSAM263.

What astonished me even more, after reading Prouty's books, (including The Secret Team) were the bizarre, derogatory articles about him on the internet-- by John McAdams and others-- claiming that Prouty was a "crackpot" pilot who was trying to sell books about kooky conspiracy theories, etc.

At the time, I didn't know who John McAdams was.

And the McAdams-esque disinformation about Prouty being a "crackpot" still seems to be circulating on the internet.

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[George Govus]

I gotta go look at that article again, James.

W., thanks. Great to see Greg Burnham's Prouty timeline. Greg's website, AssassinationOfJFK.net, was the among the very first I stumbled across. I see he's attractively redesigned it! I wonder if my log-in still works.

[Michael Griffith]

Here's an article about Prouty's bogus, disgraceful defense of Scientology cult founder Ron Hubbard. The article's author, a former Scientology member, makes no attempt to respond to Prouty's JFKA arguments but focuses on Prouty's fraudulent claims about Hubbard, such as Prouty's erroneous claim that Hubbard worked in military intelligence in the Navy. The author wrote the article after he discovered that Prouty was a fraud who had no clue what he was talking about regarding Hubbard.

Laying to rest the obfuscations of L. Fletcher Prouty, Scientology’s conspiracist-for-hire | The Underground Bunker (tonyortega.org)

Just one example from the article of Prouty's utter nonsense: Prouty made the erroneous claim that the number "16" in Hubbard's Navy records proved he worked in intelligence. Actually, this number identified the person as having spent time as a naval reservist. Prouty's silly claim was especially odd because the code sheet in Hubbard's records identified the number "16" as a designation for naval reserve service. The author of the article confirmed this in other Navy records. Prouty had no clue what he was talking about but was just making up stuff.

I will not call everyone who defends Prouty "crackpots" (though a few of his defenders come across as just that), but I will say, again, that anyone who defends Prouty, after all we now know about him, is doing a great disservice to the research community and to the case for conspiracy. Prouty's bogus, nutty claims have done great damage to the conspiracy position, and I again commend Oliver Stone for repudiating Prouty's obscene claims about Lansdale.

I have presented ample evidence that Prouty was a fraud and a kook who associated with extremists and who made numerous false claims, some of which were truly nutty. Your refusal to acknowledge these facts suggests that your devotion to Prouty has become a form of religious worship for you.

The claim that the ARRB ambushed or mistreated Prouty is ridiculous. The ARRB interviewers were respectful and cordial. Indeed, I think they were too cordial when they did not press Prouty on why he did not preserve the notes he claimed he had taken during his alleged "stand down" phone call with an officer of the 316th/112th MI Group. These notes would have had great historical value, if they had in fact existed. How can anyone be so gullible as to believe that Prouty would not have carefully safeguarded those notes if the phone call had actually taken place, especially given the fact that he had earlier claimed in writing that he had the notes and pretended to quote from them?

Appealing to Prouty's military record is lame. General Curtis LeMay received numerous medals and had "a distinguished military career." David Atlee Phillips received numerous CIA awards and had "a distinguished intelligence career"--just look at the articles about him on several government websites. General Hap Arnold, who ordered and oversaw the criminal and cruel firebombing of Japanese cities, had "a distinguished military career" (Arnold was the one who put LeMay in charge of the firebombing). The fact that Prouty received some awards in the military and held certain positions of medium responsibility does not erase the many bogus claims he made, nor does it change the fact that he associated with sleazy extremists, some of whom disputed the Holocaust.

I am loathe to ever recommend censorship. But, when it comes to Fletcher Prouty, given the cold, hard facts about his bogus claims and disreputable associations, I would not allow defenses of him to appear in this subforum, if I were running the forum. I would move all defenses of him to a different subforum so that they would not taint the case for conspiracy in the JFK assassination. 

I think some of McAdams' and Litwin's attacks on Prouty are unfair or invalid, but most of them are indisputable. Prouty's bogus and nutty claims are, after all, documented in his own writings and interviews. They are there are for all to see. This is not "CIA disinformation" but an observation of demonstrable fact.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Charles Blackmon]

11 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

One reason I think the MSM rose up was the long scene with Prouty and Garrison walking from the LIncoln Memorial to the Washington monument.

What Prouty/Sutherland says there, plus that brilliant montage over his words, that few moments alerted millions of people for the first time to the crimes of the CIA.

To put it mildly, the Establishment did not like that.

Its OK to have maybe 30,000 people who know this stuff.  But not millions.

Plus, what a performance by Sutherland.  And he did it with such ease.  No strain at all.  Jeremy Irons was a better Von Bulow than Von Bulow, and Sutherland was a better Prouty than Prouty. In that scene, Sutherland showed how acting can go beyond being an interpretive art and can be a creative art.

 

Donald Sutherland, award winner, one of the great film actors of our time. "Ordinary People", "Eye of the Needle" , "M*A*S*H" and so many more. Still working too!

[W. Niederhut]

2 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

Here's an article about Prouty's bogus, disgraceful defense of Scientology cult founder Ron Hubbard. The article's author, a former Scientology member, makes no attempt to respond to Prouty's JFKA arguments but focuses on Prouty's fraudulent claims about Hubbard, such as Prouty's erroneous claim that Hubbard worked in military intelligence in the Navy. The author wrote the article after he discovered that Prouty was a fraud who had no clue what he was talking about regarding Hubbard.

 

Michael,

      Please stop spamming the Education Forum with these John McAdams type Prouty-defaming propaganda tropes-- "bogus," "disgraceful," "nonsense," "fraudulent," "erroneous," etc.

      How many more bogus, defamatory buzzwords about Prouty can you cram into a single sentence? 

      You deserve the John McAdams Kill-the-Messenger Propaganda Award for 2023.

      Meanwhile, you completely ignored the detailed evidence (above) about Prouty's distinguished military career, and his critically important, accurate revelations about CIA history, in order to focus on this deflective Scientology nothing burger.

    As for you Tony Ortega Scientology article-- it's very weak sauce.

    From the Ortega article, it appears that, late in life, Prouty made a few comments about L Ron Hubbard's WWII military records, opining that Hubbard may have been involved at some point with Naval Intelligence.  

    Stop the presses!  

    This is, precisely, the kind of "kill-the-messenger" crackpottery than John McAdams and the CIA propaganda people have promoted since the 1990s, in an attempt to discredit Prouty's whistle-blowing about Allen Dulles, Ed Lansdale, Saigon station, and JFK's assassination.

     Do let us know if you have anything to say about Prouty's detailed commentaries about Ed Lansdale, the CIA, Vietnam, and the JFK assassination.

     Do you still believe that Prouty didn't work with Ed Lansdale?  (Hint: read Prouty's (above) letter to Krulak.)

Edited April 7, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Michael Griffith]

BTW, my last name is Griffith, not Griffin. You can't even get that simple fact straight.

You are a dream come true for lone-gunman theorists. They love it when people who posit a conspiracy in the JFK case go off the deep end with nutty claims and bizarre theories, as you do. 

You are immune to fact and logic when it comes to Prouty. You still have not provided a substantive answer to a single point I've made about Prouty's false assertions, his phony credentials, and his association with undisputed crackpots and extremists. 

Tony Ortega proved that Prouty did a lot more than just make "a few comments" about Hubbard's military records. That's a royal dodge. Ortega proved, among several other things that you ignore, that Prouty's self-proclaimed expertise in understanding military records was nonexistent, that Prouty had no clue what he was talking about. Ortega also proved that Prouty's claim that Hubbard worked in deep-cover naval intelligence was baseless and absurd. But you won't admit anything when it comes to Prouty.

And, by the way, what in the devil was Prouty doing defending such a nutcase and fraud as Hubbard in the first place? Do you know anything about what a kook and crook Hubbard was? Doesn't it raise a giant red flag in your mind that Prouty would defend a nutjob like Hubbard and would take money from the Scientology cult to do so? I guess not.

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[W. Niederhut]

15 minutes ago, Michael Griffith said:

BTW, my last name is Griffith, not Griffin. You can't even get simple fact straight.

You are a dream come true for lone-gunman theorists. They love it when people who posit a conspiracy in the JFK case go off the deep end with nutty claims and bizarre theories, as you do. 

 

Sure thing, Mr. Hyperbolic Buzzwords.

Let us know if you ever finally get around to studying the EF material about Prouty that I posted (above) on this thread.

Until then, I bid you adieu.

[Joe Bauer]

On 4/6/2023 at 12:03 PM, W. Niederhut said:

       Since our new forum member Michael Griffin has ignored my advice about studying the Education Forum archival discussions about Col. L. Fletcher Prouty and his long-time USAF colleague, General Ed Lansdale, I am taking the unusual step of presenting some of the exemplary EF archival material about Prouty to Griffin, and others, on the subject.

       Firstly, I have been reviewing the EF archives, and I have discovered that the best source of accurate information about Fletcher Prouty in the archives is Greg Burnham, a long-time member of the forum, who knew Fletcher Prouty, personally, and has extensive knowledge about Prouty's life and work.

       For starters, here is Mr. Burnham's March 31, 2015 biographical post about the man CIA propagandists have been referring to for decades as a "crackpot."

       It's worth reading, along with Prouty's lengthy letter to his former boss, General Victor Krulak, on the subject of Ed Lansdale.  (Up Next)

 

On March 31, 2015 Greg Burnham wrote:

 

This is not the biography of a nut:

BIOGRAPHY

Col. L. Fletcher Prouty (USAF, Retired)

Born: Springfield, Mass., January 24, 1917. Attended public schools. President, High School Student Government. Member, undefeated Golf Team. Vocalist with Big Bands, sang in most large dance halls, hotels and colleges in Northeast. Graduate: Mass. State College 1941, A.B. degree and 2nd Lt. Commission, U.S. Cavalry.

June 1941

Began military career with 4th Armored Division, Pine Camp, NY. At Communications Officer School, Ft. Knox, KY, on December 7, 1941[Pearl Harbor]. Transferred to Air Force 1942. Earned Pilot's wings November, 1942. Arrived British West Africa [Ghana], February 1943 as pilot with Air Transport Command.

Assigned to V.I.P. flying, summer 1943. Personal pilot for Gen. Omar Bradley, Gen. J. C. H. Lee and Gen. C. R. Smith (Founder and President - American Airlines), among others. Landed U.S. Geological Survey Team in Saudi Arabia, Oct 1943, to confirm oil discoveries for Cairo Conference.

 

Assigned special duties at Cairo and Teheran Conferences, November-December 1943. Flew Chiang Kai Shek's Chinese delegation (T.V. Soong's delegates) to Teheran.

 

Chief Pilot (1,200 pilots), Cairo for Air Transport Command. Led special air mission into Soviet Union, and others into Turkey, 1944. Evacuated "Guns of Navaronne" British commandos from Turkey to Palestine. Assisted in capture of leader of German Gold smuggling ring (The actor, Bruce Cabot) in Turkey and Cairo. Led large flight of transport aircraft to Turkish-Syrian border to evacuate 750 American POW's and OSS-selected Ex-National Socialist Intelligence experts from the Balkans, September 1944. The first "overt" Cold War mission.

 

1945

Transferred to SW Pacific, flew in New Guinea, Leyte and was on Okinawa at end of war.

 

Landed near Tokyo at surrender with first three planes carrying Gen. MacArthur's bodyguard troops. Flew out with American POWs. Photographed Hiroshima, that date.

 

 

1946-49

Assigned by Army to Yale University to begin first USAF ROTC program. Taught "Aeronautics" and "Evolution of Warfare". Transferred to U.S. Air Force ROTC headquarters to write college text books. Wrote the college textbook on "Aeronautics" and another on "Rockets and Missiles".

 

 

1950-52

Transferred to Colorado Springs to establish Air Defense Command. There, Director, Personnel Planning for Command (77,000 men) and first to put personnel records on Computer. Attended Nuclear Weapons school, Sandia, N.M. Selected for Air Force Command and Staff College, Montgomery, Ala.

 

1952-54

Assigned to Korean War duties in Japan. Military Manager, Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) during Occupation. Commander, Military Air Transport Service, Heavy Transport Squadron responsible for military and diplomatic flights from Tokyo to Saudi Arabia and back, in addition to daily flights to Korea, Honolulu and Pacific Islands. Founder, Tokyo Toastmasters Club.

 

Attended, JCS operated Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, 1955

 

1955-1964

Assigned to Headquarters, U.S. Air Force and directed to create an Air Force world-wide system for "Military Support of the Clandestine Operations of the CIA", as required by a new National Security Council Directive, 5412 of March, 1954. Wrote this policy in conjunction with Air Force General Counsel and CIA's General Counsel. Set up a TOP SECRET world wide support force and communications system. Was sent around the world by the Director, Central Intelligence, Allen W. Dulles, to meet the CIA Station Chiefs, 1956. Directed Air Force participation in countless CIA operations during this period.

As a result of a CIA Commendation for this work, awarded the Legion of Merit by the Air Force.

Photo: Colonel Prouty receiving the Legion of Merit

 

Promoted to Colonel and assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense to carry out this same type of work for all military services. Assigned to the Office of Special Operations.

 

With the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency by Secretary McNamara and the abolishment of the OSO, was transferred to the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to create a similar, world-wide office and was the Chief of Special Operations, with the Joint Staff all during 1962-1963.

 

1963

 

Received orders to travel as the Military Escort officer for a group of VIPs who were being flown to the South Pole.

 

Nov 10 - Nov 28, 1963, to activate a Nuclear Power plant for heat, light and sea water desalination at the U.S. Navy Base at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.

 

Retired as Colonel, U.S. Air Force, 1964 and was awarded one of the first three Joint Chiefs of Staff Commendation Medals by General Maxwell Taylor, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

1964-1965

VP International Operations, General Aircraft Corporation... a company created by MIT and Harvard specialists that designed and built aircraft that were used by the CIA and Army Special Forces.

 

1965-1968

VP-Manager, Pentagon Branch, First National Bank, Arlington, VA, later VP-Marketing, 1965-1968. VP-Marketing, Madison National Bank, Washington, DC, 1968-1971.

Graduate, Graduate School of Banking, University of Wisconsin, 1966 - 1968.

 

Charter Member, American Bankers Association committee for Automation, Planning and Technology to develop plans to convert all U.S. banks to automation, including the Federal Reserve System.

 

President, Financial Marketing Council of Greater Washington, D.C. Member, Advertising Club of Washington, D.C.

 

1971 AMTRAK, as Manager, created nationwide Government and Military Marketing organization. Senior Director, Public Affairs, corporate speechwriter for Presidents and members of the Board, 1972-1982. Retired.

 

Author, Public Speaker, radio and TV, 1950 to present. Book "The Secret Team", Prentice-Hall, 1973, and paperback by Ballantine, 1974.

http://assassinationofjfk.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/stphoto.jpg

 

Worked with all major USA TV networks, and with BBC-TV, CBC-TV, Japanese, Canadian, Australian Broadcast Commission and many others.

 

For McGraw-Hill Scientific Encyclopedia wrote "Railroad Engineering" section, and for its "Scientific Yearbook-1982" yearbook, wrote "Foreign Railroad Technology".

 

For Traffic Quarterly and Congressional Record, wrote "Transportation at the Crossroads", July 1981.

 

Numerous magazine articles from New Republic to Air Force, Gallery, Genesis, and Freedom magazines.

 

Consultant: Rail Transportation for Northrop Services Inc., Northrup Corp. and for Ohio Rail Transportation Authority. Assisted Chairman, Joint Economics Committee of the Congress to set up International Hearings and to write "Rail Passenger Services Act of 1981".

 

At request of Oliver Stone, worked as Creative Advisor (1990-1991) on production of his film "JFK" and was the original for "Man X" character played by Donald Sutherland.

 

 

 

Book, "JFK, the CIA, Vietnam and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy" published by Birch Lane Press, 1992.

 

Memberships:

 

Director, National Railroad Foundation and Museum

National Press Club, and Foundation

Rotary Club of Washington, formerly a Director

Member, Society of Historians for American Foreign Relations

Family:

Wife: Elizabeth

Son: David

Daughter: Jane

Daughter: Lauren

 

Additional data:

a) By direction of the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, a Founder, of the International Air Traffic Controllers Assn.

 

b ) Founder, Tokyo Toastmasters Club

 

c) A Charter member, American Bankers Assn, Committee of Automation Planning and Technology.

 

d) A graduate of the American Bankers Assn, Graduate School of Banking, University of Wisconsin.

 

e) Guest Lecturer, American University.

 

f) Staff, Cairo Conference, 1943

 

g) Staff, Teheran Conference, 1943

Prouty a "crackpot?"

Ha!

What an incredible life of high position responsibility and duty achievement.

Decades of such.

True crackpots can barely function in society.

Dulles and Lansdale were close for decades as well.

Wonder what Lansdale felt about JFK firing Dulles and Cabell?

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Joe Bauer]

On 4/6/2023 at 7:49 PM, James DiEugenio said:

Its OK to have maybe 30,000 people who know this stuff.  But not millions.

Exactly.

The mechanizations of serious dark power disinformation kick in when this public awareness numbers dynamic is reached.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[W. Niederhut]

This thread belongs on the main JFKA board, because it's mainly about Prouty's critical role in exposing the truth about JFK's assassination, the CIA, and Vietnam.

If someone like Michael Griffith t-r-o-l-l-s a JFKA thread by deflecting to extraneous subjects (Scientology, etc.) should the JFKA thread be banished to a board that no one visits?

Let's recall that, other than Griffith's t-r-o-l-l posts, everything on this thread came from original JFKA board posts!