United States Army cover-story E. Howard Hunt?!

[Paul Cummings]

On 7/2/2023 at 3:25 PM, Joe Bauer said:

No takers regards my E. Howard Hunt "Big Event" confessional question eh?

Typical.

No one wants to commit to it's integrity...let alone it's existence.

Been out for the holiday weekend. I do believe most of what Hunt is saying but him saying he was a benchwarmer doesn't cut it for me. Hunt in the video appears lucid and "with it" in what a video segment can do. I will take it a step further with E Howard Hunt and documents. While working for Nixon he reportedly tried to change documents. If he was willing to do that for Nixon why wouldn't he do that in the CIA? 

[Matt Allison]

1 hour ago, Douglas Caddy said:

Howard Hunt in his autobiography, American Spy, makes no mention of Hanson as being his attorney at any time during Watergate.

Thanks for commenting on this Douglas, I was hoping you would. I was posting in the hope that you could provide further enlightenment on the subject of that document as it is obviously your area of expertise.

 

To did deeper into why Hunt might have been a spectator in Dealey Plaza, as I mentioned, yes, he could have been tipped off by one of his exile friends.

Or...

Some deep speculation here, he could have been tipped off by his operational acquaintance David Phillips.

While the famous photo of what appears to be Hunt was taken by a newsman, in such a scenario, it would also be likely that Phillips would have arranged for someone else to photograph Hunt in the Plaza that day, in case the assassination trail led back to the CIA, and it became necessary to throw someone to the wolves.

[Douglas Caddy]

14 minutes ago, Matt Allison said:

Thanks for commenting on this Douglas, I was hoping you would. I was posting in the hope that you could provide further enlightenment on the subject of that document as it is obviously your area of expertise.

 

To did deeper into why Hunt might have been a spectator in Dealey Plaza, as I mentioned, yes, he could have been tipped off by one of his exile friends.

Or...

Some deep speculation here, he could have been tipped off by his operational acquaintance David Phillips.

While the famous photo of what appears to be Hunt was taken by a newsman, in such a scenario, it would also be likely that Phillips would have arranged for someone else to photograph Hunt in the Plaza that day, in case the assassination trail led back to the CIA, and it became necessary to throw someone to the wolves.

I think Hunt played a more important role in the JFK assassination than the two scenarios that you present. Certainly, his role was more than being a mere benchwarmer. However, I do not have any personal knowledge of his actions on November 21-22, 1963. There have always been rumors that he was also in New Orleans and interacted with Oswald while there. 

Howard Hunt's overall role in history is unique in that he was a figure in both the assassination of President Kennedy and in Watergate where the CIA's intention was to drive President Nixon from the presidency.

[David Andrews]

Joe, just on Cord Meyer: Meyer was discussed here on the Forum extensively in the couple years before Hunt's deathbed statement.  Once I was hipped to him, I began to see him discussed on other websites, high and low. It's not impossible Meyer filtered out to the wider internet from here.

When Hunt released his statement, I felt that he - or he and someone - had combed the internet for those currently regarded as hot conspirators (LBJ, too, at the time), and they were bundled into Hunt's statement.

Edited July 4, 2023 by David Andrews

[Douglas Caddy]

18 minutes ago, David Andrews said:

Joe, just on Cord Meyer: Meyer was discussed here on the Forum extensively in the couple years before Hunt's deathbed statement.  Once I was hipped to him, I began to see him discussed on other websites, high and low. It's not impossible Meyer filtered out to the wider internet from here.

When Hunt released his statement, I felt that he - or he and someone - had combed the internet for those currently regarded as hot conspirators (LBJ, too, at the time), and they were bundled into Hunt's statement.

 In mid-May 1972 Hunt invited me to have lunch with him and Liddy at a private dining club for members of the Intelligence Community that was located in the Georgetown section of Washington. Liddy dominated the occasion with endless talk about his expectation to receive a high position in the Department of the Treasury in the second Nixon Administration. On the surface this made sense to me as he was Counsel to the Finance Committee for the Reelection of the President, was a former FBI agent and at one time had worked in the Treasury Department.  His non-stop discourse was interrupted by a man entering the dining room who was seated at a nearby table. Hunt then suddenly exclaimed, “There’s that son-of-a-bitch Cord Meyer.” Meyer was a senior CIA official whose ex-wife was a mistress to President John Kennedy and who was murdered not long after JFK’s assassination because she knew too much. Soon thereafter, Liddy excused himself to use the restroom and while he was away Hunt asked me if I had reached a decision about joining the CIA. I responded that I was still thinking about it. Then out of nowhere Hunt exclaimed, “Ellsberg is not a traitor. He is just misinformed and misled.” I only knew Daniel Ellsberg from the newspapers as a controversial figure in the Pentagon Papers disclosure. At that point Liddy returned and again picked up where he had left off talking about his expectation of a high Administration position when Nixon was reelected.

Edited July 4, 2023 by Douglas Caddy

[David Andrews]

True, but Meyer was the conspirator du jour at the time, as was LBJ.  Somehow, they ended up with a causal link in Hunt's statement.

[Joe Bauer]

1 hour ago, Douglas Caddy said:

In mid-May 1972 Hunt invited me to have lunch with him and Liddy at a private dining club for members of the Intelligence Community that was located in the Georgetown section of Washington. Liddy dominated the occasion with endless talk about his expectation to receive a high position in the Department of the Treasury in the second Nixon Administration. On the surface this made sense to me as he was Counsel to the Finance Committee for the Reelection of the President, was a former FBI agent and at one time had worked in the Treasury Department.  His non-stop discourse was interrupted by a man entering the dining room who was seated at a nearby table. Hunt then suddenly exclaimed, “There’s that son-of-a-bitch Cord Meyer.” Meyer was a senior CIA official whose ex-wife was a mistress to President John Kennedy and who was murdered not long after JFK’s assassination because she knew too much. Soon thereafter, Liddy excused himself to use the restroom and while he was away Hunt asked me if I had reached a decision about joining the CIA. I responded that I was still thinking about it.

Thank you Doug Caddy for sharing this story again.

Many members here, especially new ones, should know that you were right there in the middle of the Watergate break-in aftermath event. Called in to provide legal help for Hunt in the first days following his arrest. 

Your character is even depicted in the very famous Hollywood A-list film "All The Presidents Men" starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman!

That is an amazing and important historical connection you have.

E. Howard Hunt's own children could not recall his presence in their home on 11,22,1963. 

David Phillips reportedly confessed to his estranged and dying brother that he was in Dallas that day as well.

William King Harvey? Who knows?

That fellow walking across Elm Street toward the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza minutes after JFK was shot really does look like Hunt. His Georgetown set spy trench coat gives him away. His hat looks just like Hunts.

Odd that Hunt came up with his own personal code name for the JFKA like "The Big Event."

Has anyone "ever" come across anyone else using that same term for the assassination?

Hunt had an imaginative spy novel mind. Guess he made up the "Big Event" name on his own?

The Gerry Patrick Hemming look-alike does greatly resemble Hemming imo.

Same block head. Same haircut.

Very tall man. Hemming was 6 ft. 8 inches.

The fact that Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and James Angleton were both breaking into Mary Meyers art studio looking for her dairy within hours after her murder is a huge, huge red flag of intrigue imo.

To have two men of their highest positions doing that shouts out the probable truth that there is much, much more to the Mary Meyer story than we have ever been told.

More than her getting JFK to drop acid with her and seeing the spiritually enlightened pathway of peace seeking and promoting.

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Matt Allison]

IMO, as someone else inferred above, the idea that Howard Hunt would be given a key role in an assassination plot  is not a plausible theory because of his history of poor tradecraft and propensity to enjoy saying things he should not say.

To prove the point, if he was photographed in Dealey Plaza, it's difficult to imagine a poorer example of tradecraft.

 

Douglas- can you tell us anything about this Arthur Briggs Hanson person? I would think you would have encountered him at some point, correct?

[Ron Bulman]

2 hours ago, Matt Allison said:

To prove the point, if he was photographed in Dealey Plaza, it's difficult to imagine a poorer example of tradecraft.

True, the same might be said of Edward Lansdale, though I believe Prouty overall.  Maybe there were multiple known suspects in Dealy Plaza, observing or participating.  I think Umbrella Man was participating.

[Joe Bauer]

How about the following impossibly illogical incongruity:

Jack Ruby.

Shamelessly sobbing off and on in front of others "immediately" upon hearing someone shot our beloved president, including to his sister Eva on the phone. 

He races to Parkland hospital while JFK is being treated there and stops well known newspaper writer Seth Kantor ( whom he knows ) to express his sorrow and ask Kantor's advice regards him shutting down his strip joint out of respect for the national tragedy loss. Kantor expressed agreement with Ruby's suggestion and testified to the Warren Commission that Ruby looked extremely distressed.

Carrying on like that for hours including more sobbing after he returns to his strip joint Ruby actually shuts it down and angrily shouts at his calling in strip girls when they dared to ask why.

Ruby is so emotionally effected and driven by the assassination he then thrust himself into the DPD building press crowd crush all Friday night to see if he can get close to Lee Harvey Oswald, including pretending to be a reporter complete with a Jacques Clouseau type glasses, note pad and pencil holding get up and acting and shouting performance.

He continues his concerned obsession by driving around Dallas in the early morning hours after to take pictures of some JFK hate billboard to find out if a Jew had been so traitorous.

Ruby later goes to his local synagogue to seek solace for his sorrow pain.

Ruby then aggressively immerses himself "again" into the Saturday night DPD building and press conference crowd and upon it's conclusion even talks Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade into answering questions on the phone from a local radio personality Ruby knows.

A man so wracked after a 3 day binge of sobbing tears of sorrow his obsession reaches insanity level where he crazily commits the ultimate final act of Jackie Kennedy pain protecting for her and her children by risking his life sneaking into the DPD basement press crowd and blasting Oswald's guts out right in front of and surrounded by 70 hair trigger anxious armed policemen.

Now THAT is some deep love.

Yet, the man holes up in a newspaper ad department the entire time of the downtown Dallas JFK/Jackie motorcade on Friday noon? 

This man about town isn't inclined to walk just two blocks to see his beloved President and world class beauty wife icons in the flesh?

Sorry but that hiding away action on Ruby's part regards totally avoiding a Dallas event of the decade showcasing his beloved objects of extreme affection is so illogically contradicting of his well known man about town character it shouts major, reasonable suspicion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Joe Bauer

[Douglas Caddy]

19 hours ago, Matt Allison said:

IMO, as someone else inferred above, the idea that Howard Hunt would be given a key role in an assassination plot  is not a plausible theory because of his history of poor tradecraft and propensity to enjoy saying things he should not say.

To prove the point, if he was photographed in Dealey Plaza, it's difficult to imagine a poorer example of tradecraft.

 

Douglas- can you tell us anything about this Arthur Briggs Hanson person? I would think you would have encountered him at some point, correct?

I had never heard of Hanson until his name appeared in the forum. 

Here is the Washington Post article about his death in 1989; There is no mention of his possible connection to Howard Hunt.

 

WASHINGTON LAWYER ARTHUR HANSON DIES - The Washington Post

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Douglas Caddy

[Matt Allison]

5 hours ago, Douglas Caddy said:

I had never heard of Hanson until his name appeared in the forum.

Hi Douglas- wow, that is bizarre. What's your take on what that document asserts then? Did you sense any animus towards you from the Agency while you were Hunt's lawyer? How much contact did you have with Hunt for the rest of 1972? I am very much looking forward to your book.

[Douglas Caddy]

12 hours ago, Matt Allison said:

Hi Douglas- wow, that is bizarre. What's your take on what that document asserts then? Did you sense any animus towards you from the Agency while you were Hunt's lawyer? How much contact did you have with Hunt for the rest of 1972? I am very much looking forward to your book.

Matt:: 

I shall answer your questions in several postings here in this topic because a number of complex issues are involved.  To start, there are two documents posted at the beginning of this topic. The second deals with Attorney Hanson Both documents are dated 1962, ten years prior to Watergate. In 1962 I began working in Gov. Nelson Rockefeller's NYC office for Lt.-Gov. Malcolm Wilson and in that year also enrolled in the evening division of New York University School of Law. I did not meet Hunt until 1970.

Also, I wish to add information to a prior reply I made here. Some of the Cuban Americans arrested in 1972 in the Democratic National Committee's office in the Watergate office building were involved in the Kennedy assassination in 1963. Their involvement was coordinated by Howard Hunt, who knew them from the Bay of Pigs debacle in 1961. He was the CIA's contact later with them in both in the JFK murder and in Watergate. Frank Sturgis's 1971 multi-page handwritten confession to Cardinal Cooke covered his role in the assassination, and he also mentioned in his confession the involvement of Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy in JFK's murder. I shall locate my posting years ago in the forum on Sturgis's confession and post it here.

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Douglas Caddy

[Matt Allison]

2 hours ago, Douglas Caddy said:

To start, there are two documents posted at the beginning of this topic. The second deals with Attorney Hanson Both documents are dated 1962, ten years prior to Watergate.

Hi Douglas- sorry, my question was probably confusing; I was referring to the August 1972 memo to Richard Helms stating that Hanson had been retained by CIA as counsel for Hunt, but that Hunt himself was unaware of Hanson's connection to the CIA. Here it is again:

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2023/104-10105-10259.pdf

[Douglas Caddy]

37 minutes ago, Matt Allison said:

Hi Douglas- sorry, my question was probably confusing; I was referring to the August 1972 memo to Richard Helms stating that Hanson had been retained by CIA as counsel for Hunt, but that Hunt himself was unaware of Hanson's connection to the CIA. Here it is again:

https://www.archives.gov/files/research/jfk/releases/2023/104-10105-10259.pdf

William Bittman began his attorney representation of Hunt in early July 1972 and continued to represent Hunt for a period after he pled guilty in January 1973.

It is possible that Hanson established contact with Bittman in August 1972 to offer legal advice on the defense of Hunt. 

Hunt's autobiography, American Spy, has over 20 references in its index to Bittman but none to Hanson.

William Bittman - Wikipedia

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Douglas Caddy