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

[W. Niederhut]

On 4/6/2023 at 1:03 PM, W. Niederhut said:

       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

I'm re-posting Greg Burnham's biographical outline of Col. L. Fletcher Prouty's career.

As Jeff Carter has pointed out today, Fletcher Prouty was teaching at Yale from 1946-49.

Operation Bloodstone was established in 1948, according to Robert Montenegro's files.

Unless the Bloodstone op was based wholly or partly in New Haven, it seems doubtful that Prouty was involved-- even as a USAF pilot assisting the CIA.

Edited July 18, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Michael Griffith]

As chance would have it, yesterday I stumbled upon the video of an interview that Fletcher Prouty gave in 1994 (LINK). Some of Prouty's comments about Vietnam and about Chiang Kai-shek's war with the Japanese were utterly erroneous, but I won't spend time discussing them. But I do want to discuss Prouty's astounding claim that he flew Chiang Kai-shek and his delegation to Tehran for the Tehran Conference and that Chiang attended the conference (along with FDR, Churchill, and Stalin) after he attended the Cairo Conference (starts at about 44:45). 

I have been studying Chiang Kai-shek, the Sino-Japanese War, World War II (especially the Asian and Pacific theaters), FDR's handling of the war, and the post-war struggle for China for many years. When I came across Prouty's astounding claim that Chiang attended the Tehran Conference, I replayed the segment three times to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding him. I wasn't: He claimed that he flew Chiang and his delegation to the Tehran Conference and that Chiang attended the conference. 

Some of the problems with this claim:

-- Chiang's diary states that after he left the Cairo Conference, he returned to China. The Cairo Conference was held from 11/22/43 to 11/26/43. The Tehran Conference was held from 11/28/43 to 12/1/43. 

-- On his way home from Cairo, Chiang and his wife stopped at the U.S. Army's training center in Ramgarh, India, to inspect Chinese troops who were being trained there under General Stilwell's supervision. This visit occurred on 11/30/43 and was publicized. While there, Chiang addressed the Chinese troops. A copy of his address is in the Joseph Stilwell papers in the Online Archive of California (Collection A-22 1943, Box 50, Folder 9).

-- Gen. Stilwell, who attended the Cairo Conference, said that Chiang returned to China after the conference.

-- Not one of Chiang's biographers, friendly or critical, knew anything about Chiang attending the Tehran Conference.

-- The biographies of Chiang written by his first and second wives say nothing about Chiang attending the Tehran Conference. 

If Chiang had been able to be at the conference, even in an unofficial capacity to hold off-the-record talks with the attendees, this would have been a significant honor and would have made Chiang look more important. The fact that no friendly biography of him mentions his alleged presence at the Tehran Conference is telling.

-- Naturally, the Tehran Conference was swarming with journalists from all over the world. None of them spotted Chiang or his delegation at or near the conference.

-- Not a single Soviet or British official or unofficial record of the Tehran Conference mentions Chiang's attendance or presence.

-- Not a single U.S. State Department record of the Tehran Conference mentions Chiang as even being present, much less as being an attendee.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Jeff Carter]

3 hours ago, Michael Griffith said:

As chance would have it, yesterday I stumbled upon the video of an interview that Fletcher Prouty gave in 1994 (LINK). Some of Prouty's comments about Vietnam and about Chiang Kai-shek's war with the Japanese were utterly erroneous, but I won't spend time discussing them. But I do want to discuss Prouty's astounding claim that he flew Chiang Kai-shek and his delegation to Tehran for the Tehran Conference and that Chiang attended the conference (along with FDR, Churchill, and Stalin) after he attended the Cairo Conference (starts at about 44:45). 

I have been studying Chiang Kai-shek, the Sino-Japanese War, World War II (especially the Asian and Pacific theaters), FDR's handling of the war, and the post-war struggle for China for many years. When I came across Prouty's astounding claim that Chiang attended the Tehran Conference, I replayed the segment three times to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding him. I wasn't: He claimed that he flew Chiang and his delegation to the Tehran Conference and that Chiang attended the conference. 

Some of the problems with this claim:

-- Chiang's diary states that after he left the Cairo Conference, he returned to China. The Cairo Conference was held from 11/22/43 to 11/26/43. The Tehran Conference was held from 11/28/43 to 12/1/43. 

-- On his way home from Cairo, Chiang and his wife stopped at the U.S. Army's training center in Ramgarh, India, to inspect Chinese troops who were being trained there under General Stilwell's supervision. This visit occurred on 11/30/43 and was publicized. While there, Chiang addressed the Chinese troops. A copy of his address is in the Joseph Stilwell papers in the Online Archive of California (Collection A-22 1943, Box 50, Folder 9).

-- Gen. Stilwell, who attended the Cairo Conference, said that Chiang returned to China after the conference.

-- Not one of Chiang's biographers, friendly or critical, knew anything about Chiang attending the Tehran Conference.

-- The biographies of Chiang written by his first and second wives say nothing about Chiang attending the Tehran Conference. 

If Chiang had been able to be at the conference, even in an unofficial capacity to hold off-the-record talks with the attendees, this would have been a significant honor and would have made Chiang look more important. The fact that no friendly biography of him mentions his alleged presence at the Tehran Conference is telling.

-- Naturally, the Tehran Conference was swarming with journalists from all over the world. None of them spotted Chiang or his delegation at or near the conference.

-- Not a single Soviet or British official or unofficial record of the Tehran Conference mentions Chiang's attendance or presence.

-- Not a single U.S. State Department record of the Tehran Conference mentions Chiang as even being present, much less as being an attendee.

While your intention is to label Prouty as “bogus”, “nutty”, and “bizarre”, this new claim is, again, based on a straw man argument.

As one of Prouty’s oft-told tales, appearing a dozen or more times in his collected writings, the reference is clearly to a Chinese delegation rather than Chiang Kai-Shek himself. You have misunderstood Prouty’s own words and paraded your misunderstanding here and in another thread.

[Michael Griffith]

43 minutes ago, Jeff Carter said:

While your intention is to label Prouty as “bogus”, “nutty”, and “bizarre”, this new claim is, again, based on a straw man argument.

As one of Prouty’s oft-told tales, appearing a dozen or more times in his collected writings, the reference is clearly to a Chinese delegation rather than Chiang Kai-Shek himself. You have misunderstood Prouty’s own words and paraded your misunderstanding here and in another thread.

Huh??? You must be joking. Go watch the video. Prouty clearly says that he flew Chiang and his delegation to Tehran and that Chiang and his delegation attended the conference. He says several times that Chiang attended the conference. Go watch the video.

And, just FYI, there was no Chinese delegation at the Tehran Conference. They returned home with Chiang. This explains why nobody saw a Chinese delegation at the conference. None was there.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Jeff Carter]

1 hour ago, Michael Griffith said:

Huh??? You must be joking. Go watch the video. Prouty clearly says that he flew Chiang and his delegation to Tehran and that Chiang and his delegation attended the conference. He says several times that Chiang attended the conference. Go watch the video.

And, just FYI, there was no Chinese delegation at the Tehran Conference. They returned home with Chiang. This explains why nobody saw a Chinese delegation at the conference. None was there.

I see the source of your error - he does say words to effect Chiang was at Tehran, but in context he is saying Chiang was represented at Tehran. Speaking specifically about the flight Prouty says: “I flew the Chinese up to Tehran from Cairo. These were TV Soong’s delegates who had been at the Conference.”

Point being: this story appears a dozen or more times in Prouty's work and he is consistent in the description of a Chinese delegation (not Chiang physically). 

If you wish to insist there was no such delegation in Tehran then that is your opinion and there is nothing else to add.

[W. Niederhut]

1 hour ago, Jeff Carter said:

I see the source of your error - he does say words to effect Chiang was at Tehran, but in context he is saying Chiang was represented at Tehran. Speaking specifically about the flight Prouty says: “I flew the Chinese up to Tehran from Cairo. These were TV Soong’s delegates who had been at the Conference.”

Point being: this story appears a dozen or more times in Prouty's work and he is consistent in the description of a Chinese delegation (not Chiang physically). 

If you wish to insist there was no such delegation in Tehran then that is your opinion and there is nothing else to add.

Jeff,

     I just looked this one up in my 2011 Sky Horse paperback edition of JFK-- the CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy.   (The relevant discission about the secret Chinese delegation at the Tehran Conference is found on pages 13-16 and 173-74.)

     Prouty mentioned that the secret Chinese delegation meeting with Stalin in Tehran was one of the "best kept secrets" of WWII, and has not been mentioned by historians.

    He points out that he, personally, flew the Chinese delegation from Cairo to Tehran, and that Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang were flown to Tehran (from Cairo) with the Roosevelt delegation or another military transport.

     Prouty claims that the purpose of the secret Chinese meeting with Stalin was to obtain Stalin's support in dissuading Mao Tse-Tung's Chinese Communist Army from attacking the Chinese Nationalists until the Japanese had been driven from the Chinese mainland.

     

Edited September 27, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Joe Bauer]

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

       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

Prouty's life-time of highest level achievement is so remarkable in it's broadness it's mind blowing. 

Surely only the top 5% of Americans ever achieve what Prouty achieved in his combined stellar military and later civilian life.

If Prouty fits the definition of "nutcase" the rest of us must be hapless cretins.

[Michael Griffith]

The amount of denial on the part of Prouty defenders in this thread is simply astonishing, the latest remarkable example being the refusal to acknowledge that Prouty told another bogus tale when he claimed, in very plain English, that Chiang and his delegation attended the Tehran Conference. We know for an absolute fact that neither Chiang nor his delegation was at the Tehran Conference. Let's read what Prouty said:

          [44:50 to 45:28] A lot of people haven't studied the Tehran Conference enough. It was Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and [his emphasis] Chiang Kai-shek. You can't find a single book that will say that Chiang Kai-shek was at that [stops]. . . . I have one book that says that Chiang Kai-shek was at the Tehran Conference [yeah, written by Iam Nuts and titled Bogus Claims for Crackpots to Repeat].

          I was at the Tehran Conference. I was the pilot that flew the Chinese there. So I know damn well they were there. I flew them there. 

At 45:43, Prouty says that Chiang Kai-shek was "controlled by T. V. Soong," which is total, complete hogwash. Soong resigned from Chiang's government in 1933 because he didn't think Chiang was being tough enough against the Japanese! He didn't return to Chiang's government for nine years. Some "control," hey?

At 45:50, Prouty says that T. V. Soong was "the wealthiest man in the world"! LOL! Really?! Uh, no, he was not. Not even close. 

Let's continue with Prouty's fiction about Chiang and his delegation attending the Tehran Conference:

          [47:00 to 47:33] I had been at the Cairo Conference, and then I flew the Chinese up to Tehran from Cairo. These were T. V. Soong's delegates that had been there at the conference. . . . 

          There was no secret that the Chinese were going up there, except to the newspapers. They never mentioned it, and books don't mention it.

Uh, that's because it never happened. Soong and the rest of the delegation accompanied Chiang back to China after the Cairo Conference. 

But even if one wants to ignore Prouty's plain assertion that the Tehran Conference included Chiang Kai-shek, there is still the fact that Soong and the rest of the delegation returned with Chiang to China after the Cairo Conference. They attended Chiang's review of the Chinese troops who were training at the Ramgarh training facility.

At 47:55, Prouty says that Elliott Roosevelt, FDR's son, saw the Chinese "going up there" (to Tehran) because he and Prouty saw each other at an Iraqi airport en route to Tehran, and that Elliott knew the Chinese were in Tehran.

Uh, sorry, but, by all accounts, the first time T. V. Soong met Stalin was in June 1945. Again, Soong returned with Chiang to China after the Cairo Conference. 

If there had been a secret meeting between Stalin and Chiang and/or Soong, there would have been no reason to keep it secret after the war. There is not one shred of evidence in Soviet, British, American, and Chinese sources that such a meeting occurred. This is not surprising, since Chiang and Soong and the rest of the delegation returned to China after the Cairo Conference. 

So here we have caught Prouty red-handed fabricating tales once again. How in the world can you people keep defending this guy? He was a crackpot and a fraud. He made up bogus stories to make himself look important. He also exaggerated and embellished. And this is not to mention his prolonged, sleazy associations with anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers, and the Church of Scientology.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[W. Niederhut]

FYI, folks.  Prouty wrote highly specific details about his flight from the Cairo Conference to Tehran with Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese delegation-- even specifying the plane that he flew and his encounter with Elliot Roosevelt at the airport in Iraq where the planes re-fueled en route to Tehran.

Also, Prouty mentioned a detail that our U.S. government-employed Prouty-defamer, Michael Griffith, neglected to mention.

To wit, Madame Chiang Kai-shek was T.V. Soong's sister!

Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese delegation's meeting with Stalin was, apparently, kept secret because Stalin was in the awkward position of being in an alliance with both Mao Tse-Tung's Chinese Communist Party, (at war with Chiang's Nationalist Army) and the U.S. and British allies fighting the Japanese, with Chiang Kai-shek.

Obviously, an important part of FDR's agenda in Tehran was to elicit Soviet help in defeating Japan-- just as he had elicited Chiang Kai-shek's help in establishing B-29 bases in China, for the U.S. war against Japan.  In the process, FDR must have also hoped that Stalin would ask Mao Tse-Tung to forestall attacking Chiang's Nationalist Army until the Japanese had been defeated.

Prouty-defamer, Michael Griffith, apparently, didn't consider the logistical possibility that Chiang Kai-shek and his delegation could have met secretly with Stalin before the well-publicized Tehran meeting of FDR, Stalin, and Churchill at the Soviet embassy.

Edited September 28, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Paul Brancato]

On 7/18/2023 at 3:18 PM, W. Niederhut said:

I'm re-posting Greg Burnham's biographical outline of Col. L. Fletcher Prouty's career.

As Jeff Carter has pointed out today, Fletcher Prouty was teaching at Yale from 1946-49.

Operation Bloodstone was established in 1948, according to Robert Montenegro's files.

Unless the Bloodstone op was based wholly or partly in New Haven, it seems doubtful that Prouty was involved-- even as a USAF pilot assisting the CIA.

In Prouty’s own words, he certainly knew about Operation Bloodstone. I don’t know 

for a fact that he spent 3-4 years at Yale and did nothing else, no special assignments or travel. How can we know that? 

[W. Niederhut]

30 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

In Prouty’s own words, he certainly knew about Operation Bloodstone. I don’t know 

for a fact that he spent 3-4 years at Yale and did nothing else, no special assignments or travel. How can we know that? 

Paul,

     Was CIA Operation Bloodstone based in the U.S., and New Haven-- or in Europe?

     I don't know much about it.  But I do know that Prouty did not work for the CIA, except as a USAF liaison.

    As for the Tehran Conference issue raised by Griffith, I simply don't believe that Prouty was making up his highly detailed account of flying Chiang Kai-shek's delegation from Cairo to Tehran for a secret meeting with Stalin.

[Joe Bauer]

 

Prouty was an incredibly important and commendable truth revealing protagonist in the JFKA and beyond story of the century imo.

A man of superior intelligence required lifelong highest responsibility achievement so numerous and varied and almost always in service to his country it's ludicrously illogical and even childishly irresponsible to try to broad brush paint him as simply a "nutcase."

A normal human flawed hero in my book.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Michael Griffith]

14 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

FYI, folks.  Prouty wrote highly specific details about his flight from the Cairo Conference to Tehran with Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese delegation-- even specifying the plane that he flew and his encounter with Elliot Roosevelt at the airport in Iraq where the planes re-fueled en route to Tehran.

Also, Prouty mentioned a detail that our U.S. government-employed Prouty-defamer, Michael Griffith, neglected to mention.

To wit, Madame Chiang Kai-shek was T.V. Soong's sister!

Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese delegation's meeting with Stalin was, apparently, kept secret because Stalin was in the awkward position of being in an alliance with both Mao Tse-Tung's Chinese Communist Party, (at war with Chiang's Nationalist Army) and the U.S. and British allies fighting the Japanese, with Chiang Kai-shek.

Obviously, an important part of FDR's agenda in Tehran was to elicit Soviet help in defeating Japan-- just as he had elicited Chiang Kai-shek's help in establishing B-29 bases in China, for the U.S. war against Japan.  In the process, FDR must have also hoped that Stalin would ask Mao Tse-Tung to forestall attacking Chiang's Nationalist Army until the Japanese had been defeated.

Prouty-defamer, Michael Griffith, apparently, didn't consider the logistical possibility that Chiang Kai-shek and his delegation could have met secretly with Stalin before the well-publicized Tehran meeting of FDR, Stalin, and Churchill at the Soviet embassy.

This is just unbelievable. Prouty was obviously telling a bogus tale to make himself look important and knowledgeable, but you guys just don't want to admit it.

There is not one shred--not one tiny speck--of evidence from any memos, diaries, meeting minutes, memoirs, newspaper accounts, reports, etc., that Chiang and his delegation were even in Tehran at the time, much less that they met secretly with Stalin. No such alleged meeting is mentioned in a single Soviet, British, American, or Chinese source. On the other hand, there is ample evidence that Chiang and his delegation flew back to China right after the conclusion of the Cairo Conference.

We know for a fact that Chiang and his delegation were in Ramgarh in northeastern India on 11/30/43, where they stopped on the way back to China to inspect and visit Chinese troops who were being trained there by the U.S. Army. The visit was publicized, naturally enough, and we have the speech that Chiang gave to the Chinese troops. 

Yes, Chiang's first wife was Soong's sister. So what? That doesn't validate Prouty's bogus claim that Soong controlled Chiang. You won't find that nonsense in any book about Chiang or Soong. Again, Soong quit Chiang's government because he couldn't get Chiang to be as tough with the Japanese as Soong thought he should be, and Soong didn't return to Chiang's government for nine years. 

I could also talk about the utterly erroneous claims that Prouty made in the interview regarding Chiang Kai-shek's actions during World War II, but I suspect they would be met with the same surreal, unserious denials and excuses that we have already seen in this thread.

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Michael Griffith

[Jeff Carter]

24 hours ago, Mr Griffiths didn't know anything of this story. Now he's declaring himself the ultimate authority.

I suspect, along with Jim Di, that NSAM 263 is the true stick in the craw.

[Michael Griffith]

1 hour ago, Jeff Carter said:

24 hours ago, Mr Griffiths didn't know anything of this story. Now he's declaring himself the ultimate authority.

I suspect, along with Jim Di, that NSAM 263 is the true stick in the craw.

I've been researching Chiang, the Sino-Japanese War, WW II (especially the Asian and Pacific theaters), and FDR's handling of the war for many, many years. Thus, when I watched Prouty's interview and came across his bogus claims about Chiang and about Chiang and Tehran, I knew right away they were nonsense.

I would like to know the one book that Prouty claimed said Chiang was at the Tehran Conference. Prouty said that all the books except one said that Chiang was not at the conference. He said he had one book that said Chiang was there.  I'd like to see it. I don't think such a book exists. I think he was fabricating again.

NSAM 263??? Ah, you're talking about the fringe interpretation that NSAM 263 was drastically revised after JFK's death. Anyone who reads NSAM 273 and NSAM 263 will readily see that the revision was minor. You realize that the vast majority of historians who have looked at this issue reject your interpretation, right? And when I say "vast majority," I mean something like 99%. 

There is no reasoning with you people. Even when confronted with clear, undeniable evidence of Prouty's fraudulent claims and of his prolonged sleazy associations and actions, you guys offer nothing but lame excuses that you would never dream of making if Prouty had been a WC apologist.