The Assassination, the CIA, Nixon and Ford

[David Andrews]

10 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Dave:

Nice to hear from you.

I think what you are saying is essentially what Morley's thesis was in Scorpion's Dance.

 

I have the Morley, but haven't opened it yet.

Nixon strikes me as a guilty trickster without an institution behind him (as fit his self-designed loner image), while Helms possessed the institution.  Who wins this Batman-vs.-Superman fight?

[James DiEugenio]

Dave, just remember what McCord said, if Helms went, every tree in the forest will fall.

Edited December 1, 2023 by James DiEugenio

[Richard Booth]

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

Dave, just remember what McCord said, if Helms went, every tree in the forest will fall.

McCord was protecting Helms, and Helms was protecting many. Both individuals, and the institution itself. 

We all know Helms was in a position to know about many of the things that happened 63' to '68 -- and what was McCord called? "Helms' zap-man" ?

What was McCord doing with Phillips concerning the FPCC in a foreign country, and was that related to Oswald?  Surely.

[James DiEugenio]

McCord denied he had anything to do with that.

But then why did he say he was in Dallas on 11/22/63?

[Benjamin Cole]

8 hours ago, David Andrews said:

I have the Morley, but haven't opened it yet.

Nixon strikes me as a guilty trickster without an institution behind him (as fit his self-designed loner image), while Helms possessed the institution.  Who wins this Batman-vs.-Superman fight?

SA--You are framing the question properly, IMHO. 

Nixon had lost institutional backing, even the Pentagon was illegally spying on Nixon (see the Moorer-Radford Affair.)

The legacy media turned on Nixon. 

None of this makes Nixon admirable or a nice guy. I regard him as a war criminal. 

But the "Nixon is bad" theme allowed the true explanation of Watergate to be lost amid a lot of self-righteous preening in media and the D-Party. (The same sort of self-righteous preening we saw in R-Party circles during the Clinton impeachment). 

Party politics is effectively exploited by the Deep State. To the present day. 

[Gil Jesus]

On 11/30/2023 at 9:10 PM, W. Niederhut said:

Michael,

      Ford actively facilitated the Warren Commission's cover up of JFK's murder.

     

I agree with that. Not the least of his transgressions was moving the back wound up to the base of the neck.

Ford was also the FBI's eyes and ears on the Commission.

IMO, Ford was deep state all the way.

Funny how ex-CIA chief G.H.W. Bush just happened to be Vice-President when Reagan was shot.

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Gil Jesus

[James DiEugenio]

If Ford had not pardoned Nixon, that would have been a very interesting trial.

And Ford would have probably won the election.

[Gil Jesus]

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

If Ford had not pardoned Nixon, that would have been a very interesting trial.

And Ford would have probably won the election.

Maybe that's why he pardoned him, to avoid the publicity the trial would have caused.

There may have been a lot of skeletons the CIA didn't want known.

Put the case to rest, just like shooting Oswald.

[Douglas Caddy]

On 12/1/2023 at 12:55 AM, James DiEugenio said:

Dave:

Nice to hear from you.

I think what you are saying is essentially what Morley's thesis was in Scorpion's Dance.

In retrospect it is incredible how well disguised the war was between the two.  I blame a lot of this on Woodward, Bernstein and Bradlee.

Their stories had an inordinate  influence over Sam Ervin.  Which completely overshadowed the work being done by Howard Baker and Fred Thompson on the CIA angle.  And Thompson's book  At That Point in TIme was all but ignored. Another source that Hougan used was the Lucien Nedzi Report in the House.  And that was pretty much deep sixed also. Woodward and Bernstein and Bradlee created a huge whirlpool that simply sucked everything into it, including Robert Redford and Alan Pakula. And it was that film that pretty much placed an imprimatur on The Three Amigos version of the scandal.

And to me that was the worst part. Helms must have been laughing his butt off.  After all he was getting reports about how Caddy's boss at the Mullen Company, Robert Bennett--a secret CIA asset-- was getting Woodward off the CIA angle and on to Nixon.

Robert Bennett was never my boss at the Mullen Company. I was never an employee of the Mullen Company. I worked for General Foods Corporation that transferred me to Washington in 1969 where I was to have an office inside the Mullen Company to represent General Foods, which was a client of the Mullen Company. My departure from General Foods/Mullen Company to join a law firm came on the same day that Bennett became president of the Mullen Company. That was the only time that I had any contact with him.

Edited December 2, 2023 by Douglas Caddy

[James DiEugenio]

Doug:

I thought you were offered the company?

[Paul Cummings]

Look at who got promoted after JFKA. They had to make Helms wait a little longer.

[Douglas Caddy]

4 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Doug:

I thought you were offered the company?

Robert Mullen called Howard Hunt and me into his office in 1971 after he decided to retire and offered us ownership of the Mullen Company. Both Hant and I told him that we needed time to consider the offer before making a decision. Under the arrangement we would pay Mullen for the purchase of the company from the profits over the years. Then suddenly a few days later Mullen again called us into his office and told us he was selling the company to Robert Bennett, the son of Senator Bernett of Utah. The transfer took place a few days later. On that same day I accepted an offer to go to work as an associate attorney with the law firm of Gall, Lane, Powell and Kilcullen. The firm specialized in labor law. I only met Bennett once and that was on the day he took control of the company and I departed to the law firm. 

In one of his autobiographies, Hunt wrote that Bennett was named an unindicted co-conspirator in Watergate for the key background role he played in the scandal. He was a CIA asset. Years later he was elected Senator from Utah. I have often wondered what the other 99 senators thought of him in their midst, a CIA asset who was an informer, hypocrite and opportunist. 

 

[Joe Bauer]

Just an aside and for what it's worth...remember Frank Sturgis being interviewed by the intrepid "Capone's Vaults" journalist/scandal TV show host Geraldo Rivera ( or it may have Bill O'Reilly later ) where he stated that Butterfield was CIA as well as Alexander Haig. Sturgis was asked if Nixon's life was ever in danger ( inferred from our own agencies ) and with no pause he said firmly..."yes!"

[Benjamin Cole]

11 minutes ago, Joe Bauer said:

Just an aside and for what it's worth...remember Frank Sturgis being interviewed by the intrepid "Capone's Vaults" journalist/scandal TV show host Geraldo Rivera ( or it may have Bill O'Reilly later ) where he stated that Butterfield was CIA as well as Alexander Haig. Sturgis was asked if Nixon's life was ever in danger ( inferred from our own agencies ) and with no pause he said firmly..."yes!"

Butterfield was in fact former CIA (if the word "former" ever applies) 

And it was Butterfield who revealed the existence of the taping system to the Watergate committee. 

James Hougan's work has only gotten stronger over the years as new info has come out. 

It sure looks like the CIA-Pentagon torpedoed Nixon. 

 

 

[James DiEugenio]

Doug is that the firm from where you ended up in court for Hunt, or were you in private practice then?