The exoneration of Lyndon Johnson?

[Jonathan Cohen]

17 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

But admittedly I am stumped by the early call to snatch the body in order to modify the head damage.

Why do you consistently present things as fact that are absolutely not fact? It's your THEORY that the purpose of "snatching" the body was to "modify the head damage." There is absolutely ZERO evidence to support this.

Edited December 10, 2023 by Jonathan Cohen

[Pat Speer]

7 hours ago, Roger Odisio said:

In thinking about your Valenti story, Pat, I realize how important it is.

Once Kennedy was declared dead and Johnson was the new president, they hustled him out of the hospital and on to the plane.

Johnson knew he couldn't leave the body in the hands of Earl Rose to do an autopsy.

Rose had come out into the hallway when they were taking the body to the plane to say, wait, I have jurisdiction. I must do an autopsy.

One can imagine the phrase that ended the discussion and got Rose out of the way.

We have an order from President Johnson.

Johnson was already running the coverup.  This was a major first move.

 

Now, those defending Johnson, like Valenti, claim he needed to fly back with the widow and the body to project the continuity of government and strength. But I think the unstated part is that he wanted to project his innocence in the matter. "Like, look, if I was behind this, or had anything to do with this, would I have the balls to walk off Air Force One with my arms around the widow?" It's clear Bobby was on to this, moreover. He raced onto Air Force One, right past LBJ, and pulled Jackie off the back of the plane with the casket. LBJ was enraged by this. 

As discussed in Chapter 21, The Rorschach Test, LBJ and RFK were in a private war, of sorts, that had started in the 1960 campaign, when Bobby tried to get LBJ to leave the ticket. The full extent of this story, I believe, has yet to be told. Hopefully, Robert Caro will get into this in his final volume on LBJ. But I suspect even he will avoid it, as it's just too ugly.

To be clear, it seems likely RFK was behind or at least supportive of the Life Magazine series on Bobby Baker that hit the stands the week the assassination. This series was on Texas corruption and was accompanied by a Senate investigation into payoffs received by LBJ. Well, golly. Intriguingly, Both the magazine series and the investigation got pushed to the back burner after the assassination. 

Another flare-up occurred after the assassination when articles popped up claiming RFK told LBJ he needed to be sworn in in Dallas. This wasn't true, and Bobby saw this, correctly, as LBJ's trying to justify his own power lust--he wanted to get sworn in asap before anyone could take it away from him. Similar articles popped up claiming Kenny O'Donnell or the Secret Service told LBJ he needed to fly back on JFK's plane, which were equally untrue. These were all designed to get LBJ off the hook for his naked power grab.

This came to a head with Manchester's book, which the Kennedys prevented from release in its initial form due to its insinuation of Johnson's involvement in the assassination. LBJ, nonetheless, believed the whole thing was a conspiracy against him with Bobby at the wheel. He even told Fortas he believed ALL the conspiracy books and articles were somehow sponsored by Bobby. But, even if true, Bobby was not the only one pushing conspiracies. The day after Bobby broke ranks and came out against the Vietnam war, a Jack Anderson/Drew Pearson article was published claiming Bobby was behind the CIA's attempts on Castro, which back-fired and led to JFK's death. The article revealed who was behind this claim, moreover, as it nonsensically claimed LBJ was sitting on this information to protect Bobby. (And yes, the records reveal that Pearson did indeed meet with LBJ to discuss this matter.) 

There are tons of other ugly coincidences yet to be fully explored, IMO, such as the fact Ramsey Clark told LBJ Garrison thought LBJ was involved in the assassination, and was looking to build his case around David Ferrie, and that within the week POOF Ferrie was found dead. Now ain't that the coincidence? 

In any event, when working on his memoirs, LBJ performed some interviews in which he intimated that if Bobby had had his way, LBJ would have been arrested for JFK's. murder, and said further that he'd have met this fate if not for Earl Warren.

The ramblings of a paranoid? Or a guilty conscience? 

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Pat Speer

[Sandy Larsen]

5 hours ago, Jonathan Cohen said:

23 hours ago, Sandy Larsen said:

But admittedly I am stumped by the early call to snatch the body in order to modify the head damage.

5 hours ago, Jonathan Cohen said:

Why do you consistently present things as fact that are absolutely not fact? It's your THEORY that the purpose of "snatching" the body was to "modify the head damage." There is absolutely ZERO evidence to support this.

 

First, there's a ton of evidence that the body was snatched.

JFK's body definitely was not in the ornate bronze casket when he was in Maryland. This is a fact, not a hypothesis.

Second, the photo below is proof that Kennedy's head was altered somewhere between Parkland Hospital and the hospital in Bethesda. Humes' pre-autopsy note of "surgery to the head" is further proof of the alteration.

 

 

The head could not have been altered had the body not been snatched. The natural conclusion is that the body was snatched in order to alter the head wound.

You just like to complain.

 

[Roger Odisio]

5 hours ago, Paul Brancato said:

Good series of posts - thank you Roger. I think your explanation for the swearing in on AF 1 makes sense. What’s not entirely clear is whether LBJ was taking orders from the get go when he ordered the body of JFK be taken from Parkalnd and onto the plane. I believe he also ordered the Limo to be flown out. All of this is suggestive of his prior knowledge, but not proof of it or of his prior involvement.
I am going to assume that the assassination was ordered from a high level. If it was LBJ then one can view all his subsequent actions through that lens. But if the coup was managed through the MIlitary/CIA there was no reason for them to doubt that LBJ would comply. Perhaps Madeleine Brown had it right when she said that she thought LBJ was brought in the night before. He surely wasn’t going to stop it, and if she is telling the truth he was thrilled. 
MacBird - was that the name of the Broadway show? It remains most logical, most like human nature. 
Question for Jim D - where is the line between LBJ and Hoover? 

I suppose it could be argued that Johnson's order for the body to be taken was in response to someone else's order and not his decision.  But Valenti seems to contradict that when he refers to Johnson's "first command decision, on his own".  And adds: "This was an intuitive decision and a good one."  Valenti was with Johnson when Johnson's order went out, and probably would have been privy to someone else telling Johnson to grab the body.  If that had happened, Valenti was either lying or for some reason mischaracterized the situation.

 

Nor does the Johnson-was-taking-orders claim square with his actions that weekend that we know about, some of which I detailed earlier. Not to mention what we know of Johnson himself.

 

Proof is evidence that establishes the validity of an assertion. When taken together in context and their connections analyzed, is the evidence of Johnson's actions enough to be proof of his involvement in the JFKA? That requires judgement.  What about when considered within the logic of the murder plan itself?

 

In thinking analytically about Johnson's role I start from three premises

 

1. Kennedy was murdered for policy reasons.  He was thwarting important things his killers wanted to do.

 

2. A plan for murdering a popular president like Kennedy must include a plan for getting away with it.  It must include a plan for covering up the planners' involvement and blaming someone else.

 

3. As the new president Johnson would be in charge of the aftermath--both the investigation into what happened and who did it, and the policies the killers wanted to implement.

 

It follows that the killers needed some assurance that Johnson would ratify the murder. He would protect them and implement some of the policies they wanted. Or the plan could not go forward.  This was serious business. They were risking their lives.

 

The others knew Johnson. He had been in Washington, mostly in leadership positions, for more than 20 years.  Yet he was something of an enigmatic figure even to those who worked closely with him. Recall the instances in which Moyers and Goodwin, separately, consulted psychiatrists about Johnson's depression and paranoia.  I think the assurances they required from Johnson needed to be explicit.

 

It's hard to believe that the coverup plans would have been made in the detail necessary without the involvement of the person who would be carrying them out.  I repeat, the plan had to be constructed before the murder.

 

 

 

[Jonathan Cohen]

32 minutes ago, Sandy Larsen said:

Second, the photo below is proof that Kennedy's head was altered somewhere between Parkland Hospital and the hospital in Bethesda. Humes' pre-autopsy note of "surgery to the head" is further proof of the alteration.

Sibert to the HSCA in 1978: "When the body was first observed on the autopsy table, it was thought by the doctors that surgery had possibly been performed in the head area and such was reflected in my notes made at the time. However, this was determined not to be correct following detailed inspection and when the piece of bone found in the limousine was brought to the autopsy room during the latter stages of the autopsy."

Secondly, that photo is in no way "proof" of surgical alteration. Once again, you consistently present things as fact that are absolutely not fact. It's nothing more than your theory, and one not supported by the actual evidence or the majority of serious researchers.

[Sandy Larsen]

17 minutes ago, Jonathan Cohen said:

Sibert to the HSCA in 1978: "When the body was first observed on the autopsy table, it was thought by the doctors that surgery had possibly been performed in the head area and such was reflected in my notes made at the time. However, this was determined not to be correct following detailed inspection and when the piece of bone found in the limousine was brought to the autopsy room during the latter stages of the autopsy."

Secondly, that photo is in no way "proof" of surgical alteration. Once again, you consistently present things as fact that are absolutely not fact. It's nothing more than your theory, and one not supported by the actual evidence or the majority of serious researchers.

 

One of the Bethesda technicians (I don't recall which) confirmed that Humes was referring to the multiple scalp lacerations when he noted the head surgery. And that only makes sense given that gunshot wounds don't result is straight, or roughly straight, wound lacerations. Even less so multiple ones.

Jonathan could use some lessons in logical reasoning.

 

[Cliff Varnell]

6 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

Now, those defending Johnson, like Valenti, claim he needed to fly back with the widow and the body to project the continuity of government and strength. But I think the unstated part is that he wanted to project his innocence in the matter. "Like, look, if I was behind this, or had anything to do with this, would I have the balls to walk off Air Force One with my arms around the widow?"

Another possible example of this:

Ten minutes after LBJ first arrived at the White House, Averell Harriman told him the US gov’t top Kremlinologists were unanimous in the view the Soviets were not involved.

But there was no communication between the top Soviet hands that day.  Harriman’s lie is highly suspicious.

On 11/22/63 where did Jackie and the kids spend the night?  

Harriman’s Georgetown pad.

[Benjamin Cole]

7 hours ago, Pat Speer said:

Now, those defending Johnson, like Valenti, claim he needed to fly back with the widow and the body to project the continuity of government and strength. But I think the unstated part is that he wanted to project his innocence in the matter. "Like, look, if I was behind this, or had anything to do with this, would I have the balls to walk off Air Force One with my arms around the widow?" It's clear Bobby was on to this, moreover. He raced onto Air Force One, right past LBJ, and pulled Jackie off the back of the plane with the casket. LBJ was enraged by this. 

As discussed in Chapter 21, The Rorschach Test, LBJ and RFK were in a private war, of sorts, that had started in the 1960 campaign, when Bobby tried to get LBJ to leave the ticket. The full extent of this story, I believe, has yet to be told. Hopefully, Robert Caro will get into this in his final volume on LBJ. But I suspect even he will avoid it, as it's just too ugly.

To be clear, it seems likely RFK was behind or at least supportive of the Life Magazine series on Bobby Baker that hit the stands the week the assassination. This series was on Texas corruption and was accompanied by a Senate investigation into payoffs received by LBJ. Well, golly. Intriguingly, Both the magazine series and the investigation got pushed to the back burner after the assassination. 

Another flare-up occurred after the assassination when articles popped up claiming RFK told LBJ he needed to be sworn in in Dallas. This wasn't true, and Bobby saw this, correctly, as LBJ's trying to justify his own power lust--he wanted to get sworn in asap before anyone could take it away from him. Similar articles popped up claiming Kenny O'Donnell or the Secret Service told LBJ he needed to fly back on JFK's plane, which were equally untrue. These were all designed to get LBJ off the hook for his naked power grab.

This came to a head with Manchester's book, which the Kennedys prevented from release in its initial form due to its insinuation of Johnson's involvement in the assassination. LBJ, nonetheless, believed the whole thing was a conspiracy against him with Bobby at the wheel. He even told Fortas he believed ALL the conspiracy books and articles were somehow sponsored by Bobby. But, even if true, Bobby was not the only one pushing conspiracies. The day after Bobby broke ranks and came out against the Vietnam war, a Jack Anderson/Drew Pearson article was published claiming Bobby was behind the CIA's attempts on Castro, which back-fired and led to JFK's death. The article revealed who was behind this claim, moreover, as it nonsensically claimed LBJ was sitting on this information to protect Bobby. (And yes, the records reveal that Pearson did indeed meet with LBJ to discuss this matter.) 

There are tons of other ugly coincidences yet to be fully explored, IMO, such as the fact Ramsey Clark told LBJ Garrison thought LBJ was involved in the assassination, and was looking to build his case around David Ferrie, and that within the week POOF Ferrie was found dead. Now ain't that the coincidence? 

In any event, when working on his memoirs, LBJ performed some interviews in which he intimated that if Bobby had had his way, LBJ would have been arrested for JFK's. murder, and said further that he'd have met this fate if not for Earl Warren.

The ramblings of a paranoid? Or a guilty conscience? 

 

Maybe LBJ was involved in the JFKA. 

How do you posit LBJ organized the JFKA? With what parties did he conspire? How was the operation kept secret? 

Do you feel you have an argument, beyond reasonable doubt, that LBJ was wittingly involved in the JFKA? 

Many in the forum have justifiably examined the evidence that LHO was alone the JFKA. The evidence against LHO is examined under a microscope, and details turned over in excruciating processes. 

Indeed, I have done so on the "steel-jacketed bullet" recovered from the Walker home on April 10 1963, which I believe was in fact steel-jacketed. 

So, if we apply that same excruciating detailed and strict standards to evidence of LBJ's guilt...what do we come up with? 

. 

[W. Niederhut]

22 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Maybe LBJ was involved in the JFKA. 

How do you posit LBJ organized the JFKA? With what parties did he conspire? How was the operation kept secret? 

Do you feel you have an argument, beyond reasonable doubt, that LBJ was wittingly involved in the JFKA? 

Many in the forum have justifiably examined the evidence that LHO was alone the JFKA. The evidence against LHO is examined under a microscope, and details turned over in excruciating processes. 

Indeed, I have done so on the "steel-jacketed bullet" recovered from the Walker home on April 10 1963, which I believe was in fact steel-jacketed. 

So, if we apply that same excruciating detailed and strict standards to evidence of LBJ's guilt...what do we come up with? 

. 

Ben,

      Let's dispense with the naivete on this thread.  Cui bono?

     There is a vast array of circumstantial evidence implicating LBJ in the plot to put himself in the White House, and to cover up the crime of JFK's murder-- with critical assistance from his next door neighbor, J. Edgar Hoover, officials and police in Texas, and his Cold War allies in the military-industrial complex, including Allen Dulles.   The Cold War hawks who conspired to kill JFK well knew that LBJ opposed JFK's peace initiatives and efforts to de-escalate the Cold War.

     Recall also that LBJ was on the verge of being prosecuted for serious crimes-- and most likely removed from JFK's 1964 Presidential ticket-- when JFK was murdered. 

     LBJ had everything to gain from JFK's murder, and a great to lose if JFK lived.

     Phillip Nelson has written about the subject in considerable detail.

     Have you read LBJ: Mastermind of the JFK Assassination?

LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination: Nelson, Phillip F.: 9781620876107: Amazon.com: Books

[Ron Bulman]

The Bobby Baker scandal might well have led to Billie Sol Estes, Henry Miller and more.  LBJ was under congressional investigation the day JFK was assassinated over a bribe for his new stereo (more than that).  Another Time or Life article on some of this already sent to the presses on 11/22/63 was canceled.  He was going to be dropped like a hot potato as JFK told his trusted secretary Evelyn Lincoln.

But LBJ, like the mafia, did not have the power to control Wall Street, the CIA, Military or FBI prior to his ascendancy.  I do imagine he was appreciative of the opportunity, and beholden to those who gave him such.

 

[Benjamin Cole]

Note to all: Accusations, and suspicions, and perspectives on LBJ's character and personality, do not rise to the level of "guilty beyond reasonable doubt." 

1.One could argue LBJ had the motives, and necessary character. 

2. Did LBJ have the means? 

3. Did LBJ have the opportunity? 

----

2. Obviously, LBJ did not shoot JFK. So he had to organize others to do so. What record is there of this? Did anyone from the Secret Service ever say, "You know, we heard LBJ was muckig around in our arrangements or Dallas?" 

3. Did LBJ have the opportunity to organize the JFKA in Dallas? Remember there were likely related JFKA attempts or plans in Miami and Chicago. LBJ was behind those plots as well? 

I would hope we hold higher than to witch-hunt standards in pursuing JFK's true assassins. 

No one has ever suggested the slightest connection between LHO and LBJ, or Jack Ruby and LBJ for that matter. 

In contrast, the CIA and Mob seemed to have their fingers everywhere around the JFKA. 

 

 

 

 

[Benjamin Cole]

Here is an "LBJ Did It" view, from a fella named Richard Pruet. Has too many actors and moving parts for my comfort. But, a fun read. 

---30---

Related

Did Lyndon Johnson conspire to assassinate JFK?

I believe that Lyndon B. Johnson did indeed conspire to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Johnson’s long-time mistress Madeleine Brown stated that she thought LBJ began hatching the plot as early as 1961.

Johnson was one of many individuals who appeared to have foreknowledge of the coming assassination. Brown related the story of how she was surprised to meet LBJ at a party at the home of Texas oil tycoon Clint Murchison on the eve of the assassination. She claimed he had just emerged from a large closed-door meeting when he noticed her and paused to speak with her. Instead of whispering sweet nothings, he told her: “Darling, after tomorrow those SOB Kennedy’s are never gonna embarrass me again. That’s not a threat, that’s a promise!” She claims he repeated a nearly identical statement to her in a phone call the next morning. A month after the assassination she confronted him about the murder. He told her the real people behind it were her fat cat Texas oil friends and “those spooks” in Washington.

At the time of the assassination, the ruthless, corrupt and ambitious Johnson was in desperate straits, just one step away from political humiliation and criminal charges. Life Magazine, fed dirt on Johnson by Robert Kennedy’s Justice Department, was about to publish an exposé of Johnson’s incriminating ties to the Bobby Baker corruption scandal in its December 1 edition. JFK appeared poised to use the scandal to ditch Johnson from the Democratic Party ticket in 1964 in favor of Terry Sanford of North Carolina. JFK seemed likely to coast to a second term as president, Robert “Bobby” Kennedy was in a strong position to succeed him. Youngest brother Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy might follow Bobby. The White House might be in Kennedy hands for another 21 years.

Anti-Soviet military hawks seeking war in Vietnam, Texas oil tycoons fearful of losing the oil depletion allowance, Central Intelligence Agency officials fired by Kennedy over the Bay of Pigs debacle, Mafiosi angered by Kennedy’s war on crime, Secret Service agents scandalized by Kennedy’s private behavior, jealous husbands cuckolded by Kennedy, etc. — Johnson knew Kennedy’s many enemies in and outside the government and presented himself as their guy.

I believe LBJ set the plot in motion, then left its execution largely in the hands of CIA agent Cord Meyer, probably on the recommendation of fired CIA Director Allen Dulles, who knew Meyer’s wife was one of JFK’s favorite mistresses. LBJ probably used his personal attorney Ed Clark and assistant Cliff Carter as his conduits to those, like retiring USAF Col. Edward Lansdale, who were most involved in planning the operation. The mainly CIA plotters called on embittered Bay of Pigs veterans—including Frank Sturgis, E. Howard Hunt, and George H.W. “Poppy” Bush—and Mafia allies to carry out the “Big Event.” The Mafia pulled in various elements, including, possibly, French Corsican assassins recruited out of Marseilles with the help of CIA’s William Harvey in Rome. LBJ’s personal hitman Malcolm “Mac” Wallace was one of the shooters in the Texas School Book Depository Building. Billie Sol Estes’ 1983 affidavit swore Wallace carried out several political murders for LBJ, including the assassination of JFK. Years after the crime, Wallace’s fingerprints were identifed as matching a previously unidentified set on file at the National Archives. The set had been lifted from boxes at the TSBD sniper’s nest within an hour of the shooting.

The conspirators created a kill zone clearly demarcated by bright yellow hash marks painted on the Elm Street curb. They used timed triangulated fire but failed to kill the president. Upon seeing the frantic signalling by “Umbrella Man” and others that Kennedy still lived, Secret Service Agent William Greer momentarily stopped the limo between the hash marks, where JFK was struck in the head by at least one frangible round, possibly fired from the above ground sewer opening at that location.

Secret Service agents then set about destroying the crime scene, washing out the limo and illegally seizing and transporting the president’s body to Washington. LBJ insisted JFK’s widow, Jackie Kennedy, join him in his swearing-in ceremony aboard Air Force One. This allowed the removal of JFK’s body to Air Force Two on a farther tarmac while the bronze ceremonial casket was loaded aboard Air Force One. When the district judge called by LBJ to swear him in as president could not locate an Oath of Office, LBJ reportedly adduced one from his own coat pocket. Immediately after the ceremony, he shared a smile and wink with trusted Democratic Congressman Albert Thomas.

A mortuary specialist worked on Kennedy’s cadaver during the flight to Washington in an attempt to hide evidence of a second gunman. LTG Curtis LeMay and other brass oversaw the rigged autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital designed to do the same. Hoover then led the FBI in framing hapless U.S. double agent Lee Oswald for the crime, declaring the crime “solved” within hours. Mobster Jack Ruby murdered Oswald in a room full of police detectives to prevent Oswald from telling what he knew.

Johnson created his handpicked Warren Commission in order to forestall an independent Congressional investigation. His first pick for the Commission was Kennedy hater Allen Dulles. The Warren Commission relied wholly on the FBI investigation for its own conclusions. The CIA strategy designed to defend the Warren Report, and laid out in Document 1035-960, still seeks to discredit skeptics of the Commission’s reports as “conspiracy theorists.” Thanks to the penetration of our media by the CIA, via Operation Mockingbird, and CIA's penetration and discrediting of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s investigation, this strategy succeeded to such a degree that the Kennedy Assassination is now regarded as the Third Rail of American journalism.

The press never told us anything. Influential columnist Drew Pearson withheld a scathing column about LBJ’s corruption. Life Magazine immediately dropped its exposé. No one reported that Ruby had been running guns to Cuba from where he'd helped spring Mob boss Santos Trafficante from prison — not newsworthy enough, apparently. Ruby also hinted repeatedly that Johnson was behind the crime, but the media didn’t mention it. The media can dote on every piece of trivia about the Kardashians, but no network ever publicized the fact that a dozen witnesses testified that Ruby knew Oswald (once introducing him as "my friend, Lee, from the CIA"). None even told us that Ruby had once worked on the staff of then-Congressman Richard Nixon at the behest of then-Senator Lyndon Johnson — a hiring that was documented in the Congressional Record! The corporate-controlled media doesn’t want the American people to connect the rest of the dots leading to their corporate owners and sponsors.

I believe LBJ had a leading role in initiating and covering up the plot, but the conspiracy chiefly centered on elements of the CIA, the least accountable arm of that Military-Industrial Complex of which President Eisenhower had warned Americans in his Farewell Address in 1961. The MIC became what we today term the "Deep State" when it seized power on November 22, 1963, for the conspirators not only got away with murder, they got away with the government, too. Most of the conspirators have since died, but the influence of the Deep State continues to be perpetuated institutionally through their agencies, corporations, families, and appointments. They continue cynically to bank on the apathy and laziness of the American public, the services of professional and well-meaning "debunkers" and misinformation agents, and the cupidity and craven cowardice of their corporate-controlled media to allow the lie of Oswald's guilt to dominate the historical narrative. The brazenness of the assassination and the gradual exposure of their crimes serve to demonstrate to the American people and our elected leaders that they can deal as they wish with anyone with utter impunity.

The Warren Commission was never designed to find the truth. Its mission was to reassure the American people that no conspiracy was afoot, despite the evidence of our eyes. It was to cherrypick the evidence and ignore, manipulate, discard, alter, replace, plant, or otherwise suppress any evidence that didn't fit the desired narrative -- i.e., a Procrustean Bed, where the truth is stretched or cut away as much as editorial license requires in order to make the pieces of the fairy tale fit, out of "patriotic duty." After all, what are a few white lies if they help to prevent World War III — or so LBJ told some of the commissioners. Four of them later disavowed the Commission’s conclusions.

I can well understand why the Lone Nut theorists cling to the findings of the Warren Commission that a malcontent killed JFK acting alone. Having spent most of my life in the Federal government myself, I certainly don't relish the idea that the government would lie to us about the murder of our president. After all, what does that say about "our" government? What would it say about us?

Most members of the “Shadow Government” — i.e., the intel agencies and related defense contractors — undoubtedly are essentially honest and very patriotic Americans dedicated to the defense of our Constitution and way of life. The compartmentalization of secrets can permit a situation to arise, however, where a small coterie of highly placed individuals can leverage, unchecked, vast resources in the pursuit of an unconstitutional or even treasonous agenda. In the age before the Internet, a Vice President who succeeded to the presidency through such plotting, could—and, I believe, did—orchestrate a far-reaching and effective coverup of the crime with the knowing support of just the FBI Director, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, leading elements of the CIA and Secret Service, and a few others.

Many repeat the patronizing argument that those who question the Report have a psychological inability to accept the notion that a great hero like JFK could be slain by a "maladjusted loser" like Oswald. That's ridiculous. I accepted the notion of Oswald's lone guilt for many years, as did most Americans. Later, when the pieces no longer fit, I first suspected the Mob. Only when I began to research the case more deeply in recent years did I finally realize LBJ's central role in the conspiracy. Kennedy was murdered by elements of his own government. It was, essentially, a palace coup. I’m ashamed that my naïveté blinded me from realizing it sooner. I am revulsed by my memory of greeting LBJ in person in 1964.

Oswald could not have been fairly convicted. He had no motive, means or opportunity. Oswald was a gung-ho Marine who enlisted at the earliest possible age, served in sensitive positions, volunteered to become a double agent for the USG, and then pretended to defect to the USSR. When he failed to get recruited by the KGB, he returned to the States. Despite having "defected" to the USSR, Oswald walked into a job with a graphic arts firm that did Top Secret work for the USG, and the FBI hired him at $200/month to pretend to be a Communist sympathizer in order to help it identify pro-Castro Cubans.

We know from the confessions of his mistress Judyth Vary Baker that Oswald also worked with her and others on a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. In one of his last conversations with her, he said he was trying to foil a plot against JFK's life. In fact, he admired Kennedy and may have been the FBI informant, named "Lee," who Secret Service Agent Abraham Boldin said had tipped off the government to the plot against Kennedy's life in Chicago two weeks before Dallas.

No reliable evidence connected Oswald to the purported murder weapon, a Mannlicher-Carcano, including the doctored backyard photos and the highly dubious shipment to a post office box addressed to one "A. Hidell." A paraffin test indicated Oswald hadn't fired a rifle the day of the assassination. Reliable eyewitness testimony would show he wasn't even on the Sixth Floor of the Texas School Book Depository at the time of the shooting. Only after FBI agents had an hour alone with Oswald’s body at the funeral home did his palm print magically appear on the previously dusted rifle, just as a wallet with identification for A. Hidell had magically appeared at the J.D. Tippit crime scene an hour after the area had already been combed by spectators and police. Oswald was carrying a different wallet when arrested. The caliber of the rifle didn’t match that used in the shooting at the home of Gen. Edwin Walker, where an eyewitness had seen two men fleeing, neither matching Oswald. They'd fled in separate cars. Oswald didn’t even drive.

Oswald was never given due process or a day in court. The single prison phone call to which he was entitled--he tried to call a retired Army intelligence officer--was deliberately prevented by the government from being connected. Dallas PD claimed it kept no record of his interrogation. Neither did the other agencies who questioned him, supposedly. The police lineup for the witness identification of Oswald was a travesty, with everyone else dressed in suits, and he alone disheveled in a tee-shirt with a black eye. An eyewitness who couldn’t recognize him as the perpetrator only changed his mind after nearly surviving a murder attempt. CIA and the Mob, which worked so closely on so many different endeavors at this time as to be nearly interchangeable, both worked with Oswald, framed him for JFK's murder, and ordered Ruby to silence him before he could speak in his own defense. Oswald was never supposed to be given a chance, and he wasn't.

For those of us who weren’t at Dealey Plaza, Oswald's murder by Jack Ruby was surely our first strong indication of conspiracy. Of course, what looked like a gangland hit to silence a potentially problematic witness was quickly explained away as the misguided but well-meaning act of yet another Lone Nut. Never mind the dozen different witnesses who said Oswald knew Ruby. They must have "been mistaken." Silvia Odio claimed she'd met Oswald with two anti-Castro Cubans some weeks before, but she must have "been mistaken," too, even though she never sought publicity, her sister confirmed the visit, and she'd written to her father of the meeting shortly afterward.

Perhaps the very first "conspiracy theorist" was Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Jackie Kennedy was another, as was French Intelligence, and the Kremlin, and several members of the Warren Commission, and the U.S. Congress, and up to 85 percent of the American public, and Lyndon Johnson, recorded at least twice as saying he suspected a conspiracy. Yeah, LBJ was a "tinfoil hat" type who admitted the probable existence of a conspiracy. And, as one of the conspirators, he was in a position to know.

Supplementing CIA’s disinformation program was a ruthless domestic campaign of intimidation and murder that succeeded in silencing many material witnesses. Former Special Forces Colonel Dan Marvin has related how CIA men once solicited his assassination of William Bruce Pitzer, who Marvin only learned much later was one of many witnesses in the assassination who had died under highly suspicious circumstances. The London Sunday Times hired an actuarial to calculate the odds against so many material witnesses dying of unnatural causes in the three years following the Assassination. The actuarial calculated the odds against it at 100,000 trillion to one.

The sad truth is that the government appears to have been stolen from us, and with it, the media. We now have fake news from a fake media serving the interests of those behind our fake government. Part of the proof is the fact that with the first opportunity in 54 years, investigating the reported ties to Cuba of the alleged assassin of the POTUS isn't even part of Washington's agenda. Oswald was supposed to be a Castro agent or sympathizer, remember? Murder and treason have no statute of limitations, Castro is dead, the USSR collapsed nearly 30 years ago, diplomatic relations with Cuba are fully normalized, and yet following up on the murder of the POTUS by an alleged Castro agent or sympathizer isn't even on the bilateral agenda?! A potential Cuban agent murders our POTUS, and the USG doesn't even want to follow on any investigative leads?! Anyone who's ever worked for the USG should find that telling, very telling indeed.

Unless President Trump acts now to prevent it, the last remaining Kennedy assassination records still under seal at the National Archives will finally be released next week. CIA is asking President Trump to block the release, using the threadbare excuse of “national security,” as if the sources and methods we used against the USSR half a century ago still outweigh the public’s interest in knowing the truth about whether Dallas was, in fact, a coup. No doubt the most incriminating records have long since been destroyed, but enough might remain to help even the more gullible among us finally come to see the true dimensions of the crime. Even long-time Warren Commission apologist Gerald Posner agrees that the records should be released.

Whatever one thinks of the man or his policies, Donald Trump is the first overtly anti-Deep State president the United States has had since Kennedy. Let’s encourage him to release the records. Let the chips fall where they may. Let’s make the pursuit of truth and justice once again part of the American Way. This may be our last, best chance to root out the treasonous influence of the Deep State, restore constitutional government, and bring the last surviving perpetrators of the assassination to justice. Please join me in demanding that justice be done though the heavens fall.

[Pat Speer]

3 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

The Bobby Baker scandal might well have led to Billie Sol Estes, Henry Miller and more.  LBJ was under congressional investigation the day JFK was assassinated over a bribe for his new stereo (more than that).  Another Time or Life article on some of this already sent to the presses on 11/22/63 was canceled.  He was going to be dropped like a hot potato as JFK told his trusted secretary Evelyn Lincoln.

But LBJ, like the mafia, did not have the power to control Wall Street, the CIA, Military or FBI prior to his ascendancy.  I do imagine he was appreciative of the opportunity, and beholden to those who gave him such.

 

If I had to guess I'd say someone or some thing had talk with LBJ early in his vice-presidency (or even before) and told him that whenever he was ready to take over from the lily-livered party boy, he should let them know. I think he held them off for awhile but when the Bobby Baker scandal surfaced, he thought "No way am I gonna let them send me back to Texas in disgrace! No way!" And he said the word. Ironically, his closest adviser was Abe Fortas. Well, is it a coincidence that he put Fortas on the supreme court, and wanted him to replace Warren, and that Nixon forced Fortas off the court entirely as soon as he took office? I suspect not. I suspect instead that Fortas was the middle man between Johnson and those behind the assassination, and Nixon knew it, and wanted his own hatchet man on the court. 

Two little-discussed points of intrigue inform these suspicions.

1. Connally was Lyndon's campaign manager in 1960, and he reportedly told LBJ's biggest supporters that LBJ took the VP slot because he believed Kennedy wouldn't live past the first term.

2. While much has been made of Jack Ruby's begging Warren to get him to Washington, which can be found in the official transcript of his testimony, few have made note of what Ruby said off the record, that was not recorded. According to Arlen Specter, who presumably failed to understand the possible significance of what he was admitting, Ruby begged him as a fellow Jew to talk to Abe Fortas, and ask Fortas (another fellow Jew) to intervene on his behalf. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Pat Speer

[Benjamin Cole]

1 hour ago, Pat Speer said:

If I had to guess I'd say someone or some thing had talk with LBJ early in his vice-presidency (or even before) and told him that whenever he was ready to take over from the lily-livered party boy, he should let them know. I think he held them off for awhile but when the Bobby Baker scandal surfaced, he thought "No way am I gonna let them send me back to Texas in disgrace! No way!" And he said the word. Ironically, his closest adviser was Abe Fortas. Well, is it a coincidence that he put Fortas on the supreme court, and wanted him to replace Warren, and that Nixon forced Fortas off the court entirely as soon as he took office? I suspect not. I suspect instead that Fortas was the middle man between Johnson and those behind the assassination, and Nixon knew it, and wanted his own hatchet man on the court. 

Two little-discussed points of intrigue inform these suspicions.

1. Connally was Lyndon's campaign manager in 1960, and he reportedly told LBJ's biggest supporters that LBJ took the VP slot because he believed Kennedy wouldn't live past the first term.

2. While much has been made of Jack Ruby's begging Warren to get him to Washington, which can be found in the official transcript of his testimony, few have made note of what Ruby said off the record, that was not recorded. According to Arlen Specter, who presumably failed to understand the possible significance of what he was admitting, Ruby begged him as a fellow Jew to talk to Abe Fortas, and ask Fortas (another fellow Jew) to intervene on his behalf. 

Yes...but suspicions we have of the CIA, the Mob, LBJ, ...some kookball theories about Nazis (even some wherein Israelis work with Nazis, a novel concept). 

If someone wanted LBJ to replace JFK, why would they clue LBJ in at all? 

[Pat Speer]

4 hours ago, Benjamin Cole said:

Yes...but suspicions we have of the CIA, the Mob, LBJ, ...some kookball theories about Nazis (even some wherein Israelis work with Nazis, a novel concept). 

If someone wanted LBJ to replace JFK, why would they clue LBJ in at all? 

Because there was no upside in killing JFK if Johnson was gonna continue his policies, but more importantly you don't get quid if you don't give quo. Johnson had to know who he was indebted to. While the HSCA was flawed in many ways, one thing Blakey got right, IMO, was his his comparing the number of mafia investigations under LBJ vs. JFK. They fell off the table. As the war in Vietnam became a hot one for the U.S. after the 64 election, moreover, it appears JFK's refusal to send ground troops to Vietnam similarly fell off the table. 

When it came out in the 70's that the mafia had been working with the CIA, well, that sent many of those pooh-poohing the assassination as the work of lil' old Oswald into wondering if this nexus of killers had teamed up to enact regime change. Tellingly, this investigation only got rolling after LBJ's death. Well, here we are, 50 years later, and the most viable theories still have at their core a group of rogue CIA agents and anti-Castro Cubans with ties to the mafia.

P.S. One of the doors I walked through when I first began researching this mess was Robert Maheu. And this led me to an incredible realization. That sucker was kind of a genius. He was approached by the CIA to see if he could get the mob to kill Castro. He was supposed to do this as a cutout, so the CIA had plausible deniability. He was, after all, a front man for Howard Hughes and had done similar work for other billionaires in the past. But he turned around instead and told the mob exactly who he was working for, which gave both he and them a get-out-of-jail free card, that both he and Giancana and Rosselli took advantage of. In any event, the Church Committee testimony is all over the place, and it seemed likely to me that Maheu was playing both sides--he had the CIA thinking he was working for them while working with the mob, and he had the mob thinking he was working for them while working with the CIA. When in fact he may have been working for Hughes or some other billionaire, and getting the mob and CIA to do his bidding. 

Edited December 11, 2023 by Pat Speer