The Men Who Murdered President Kennedy...REDUX-REDUX!

[Kirk Gallaway]

5 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:

JFK...and whose picture was just behind his right shoulder...Ed Lansdale.

What Joe? Are you serious,?  Is it because he's a white military guy?

Well there goes Morrow's theory that Lansdale killed JFK because he ok'd Diem's death!   n heh heh

Though I don't subscribe to that theory, I have to say , it's about as good a motive for Lansdale killing JFK as I've heard yet. Up to  now, it's been that he's a real evil guy who got wind somehow that JFK was pulling out of Vietnam.

I looked closer, that guy looks older. I'd be very surprised if that was him.

[Ron Bulman]

On 3/6/2024 at 1:34 AM, Robert Montenegro said:

 

William Joseph Bryan was a Project ARTICHOKE torturer for the Department of Defense and was one of the original Project MKUltra officers for the CIA.

 

Remember, some of the names on this list represent persons who paved the way for the events of Dallas...

I noticed today the name of Lashbrook on the list in relation to MKULTRA.  Bryan is on it, West, Gottlieb, George Hunter White.  How might Ultra have paved the way to the JFKA?

[Robert Morrow]

On 3/9/2024 at 9:13 AM, Cliff Varnell said:

“Everyone he could”?

Sorensen, Haig and Warren were “everyone he could”?

Not much of a lobbying effort.  Looks like ol’ Lyndon took his marching orders from the “Wise Men” elites.

As always.

https://www.politico.com/story/2010/03/johnson-meets-with-the-wise-men-march-25-1968-034945

Johnson meets with ‘The Wise Men,’ March 25, 1968

On this day in 1968, as pessimism over U.S. prospects in Vietnam deepened, President Lyndon B. Johnson met with 14 informal advisers. In 1945, some of them had forged a bipartisan foreign policy based on containing the Soviet Union. They went on to craft key institutions like NATO, the World Bank and the Marshall Plan. They were known, collectively, as “The Wise Men.”

They met with LBJ after being briefed by officials at the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA. They had been informed of a request from Gen. William Westmoreland, the top U.S. commander in Vietnam, for additional troops in the wake of perceived U.S. setbacks in the Tet Offensive.

Present at the White House meeting were Dean Acheson, George Ball, McGeorge Bundy, Clark Clifford, Arthur Dean, Douglas Dillon, Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, Averell Harriman, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., Robert Murphy, Cyrus Vance and Gens. Omar Bradley, Matthew Ridgway and Maxwell Taylor. 

In the words of Acheson, who summed up the recommendations from 11 of the men, “we can no longer do the job we set out to do in the time we have left, and we must begin to take steps to disengage.” Murphy, Taylor and Fortas dissented. 

That was a change from Johnson’s first series of such meetings, on Nov. 1-2, 1967. Then, the Wise Men had unanimously opposed leaving Vietnam. “Public discontent with the war is now wide and deep,” Bundy had said, but he told Johnson to “stay the course.” 

<quote off>

After the March 1968 meeting Lyndon dropped out of the Prez race and began peace negotiations with North Vietnam.

Who headed those negotiations?

W. Averell Harriman.

 

On the evening of Saturday 11/23/1963 (correctly earlier typo which said 11/22/1963) Lyndon Johnson tried hard to convince Ted Sorensen, a close aide to JFK, that the JFK assassination was a foreign conspiracy and he (LBJ) was worried about his own safety and security

 QUOTE

           On that Saturday evening, in Johnson’s vice presidential office in the Old Executive Office Building across the street from the White House, with his aide Bill Moyers sitting in, LBJ and I talked, as he had requested during his phone call the night before. We had scheduled the meeting earlier, but I bumped into LBJ that afternoon in the West Wing basement and he was running late.

          Almost immediately, LBJ asked, “What would you think of the possibility that a foreign government was involved in this?” “Do you have any evidence?” I asked. He handed me a government memorandum, not identifying any specific source, saying in effect that a foreign government had hoped to assassinate President Kennedy. “Meaningless,” I said. He persisted. Concerned that there was an international conspiracy, he raised the issue of his own safety and security.

 UNQUOTE

 [Ted Sorensen, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History, p.380]

Alexander Haig was in the White House on Saturday morning 11-23-63. Here is what he recollects (correctly earlier typo where I said

"11-22-1963"): Lyndon Johnson believe that Fidel Casto killed JFK and LBJ believed that for the rest of his life

Al Haig was at the White House on Saturday morning 11-23-1963 as he made preparations for JFK's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

 QUOTE

 Soon President Johnson arrived with a small retinue, and he, McNamara, Vance, and a few others met in McNamara’s office. Busy with my own concerns, I paid little attention to this. Later on, however, I learned that Johnson expressed deep concern over the circumstances of President Kennedy’s death and the effect it might have on the future of the Democratic party.

          The fact of the matter is that Lyndon Johnson believed then, and believed until the day he died, that Fidel Castro was behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and that the murder of the President resulted from Robert Kennedy’s “obsessive desire to eliminate the Cuban leader.” As Johnson put it to Califano, among others, “Kennedy tried to get Castro, but Castro got Kennedy first.” If the Kennedy administration’s plots against Castro’s life became public knowledge, the logical conclusion of any investigation would be that President Kennedy’s assassination had been carried out by persons who had an interest in preserving Fidel Castro’s life. The implication hat the KGB was involved was inescapable; it exercised proprietary control over the Cuban intelligence service and must have regarded Castro as a unique Soviet asset to be protected by the most extreme measures. (Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected assassin, had defected to the Soviet Union in 1959 and lived there until 1962, having married the niece of an official of the KGB before returning to the United States.) Should the background to the crime be exposed, it could be devastating to Democratic prospects for retaining control of the White House in the 1964 presidential election. Johnson believed that any finding that an assassin activated by a Communist government had killed the President of the United States would set off a reaction among the American people, in their fervent patriotism and what he described as their “natural conservatism” that would sweep the Democrats from office and probably deny them power for many years to come. I did not fully understand this argument, but of course I am not a politician.

 UNQUOTE

 [Alexander Haig, Inner Circles, pp. 114-115]

 

Edited March 10 by Robert Morrow

[Robert Montenegro]

On 3/8/2024 at 5:48 PM, Jim Hargrove said:

Thanks, Robert!

Just wanted to add my name to the list of people thanking you for this database of probable Kennedy assassination conspirators.

In my thirty years of research on this subject, I’ve come up with only a much shorter list of names that I’m convinced were involved in the killing, but every one of them appears on your list in a prominent way!  Thanks so much!
 

 

No problem.

It has been a long ten years of my life, examining the murder of President Kennedy.

I would like to stress once again that this list of persons represents a highly compartmentalized network.

As for it's size, well, it is relatively small as far as covert military operations are concerned.

The "Manhattan Project" had over one-hundred thousand personnel involved—out of that number, only about one-hundred personnel ever knew what the final product was...

Edited March 10 by Robert Montenegro

[Robert Montenegro]

2 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

I noticed today the name of Lashbrook on the list in relation to MKULTRA.  Bryan is on it, West, Gottlieb, George Hunter White.  How might Ultra have paved the way to the JFKA?

 

It was a two-fold effect:

 

1. The assassins were conditioned to have no fear, feelings of remorse, or response to gore and viscera—trigger-men who would not hesitate when the moment of truth (murdering the President) made itself opportune.

 

2. The most comprised elements of the plot (coordinators, planners, shooters, etc.) could be conditioned to forget—that is to say, under interrogation, they literally could not reveal strategic information about the plot. This is why people like Richard M. Nixon and George H.W. Bush could not remember what they were doing that day—they opted not to remember.

 

 

[Cliff Varnell]

3 hours ago, Robert Morrow said:

On the night of 11/22/1963 Lyndon Johnson tried hard to convince Ted Sorensen, a close aide to JFK, that the JFK assassination was a foreign conspiracy and he (LBJ) was worried about his own safety and security

 QUOTE

           On that Saturday evening, in Johnson’s vice presidential office in the Old Executive Office Building across the street from the White House, with his aide Bill Moyers sitting in, LBJ and I talked, as he had requested during his phone call the night before. We had scheduled the meeting earlier, but I bumped into LBJ that afternoon in the West Wing basement and he was running late.

Wait a minute — what’s this about LBJ trying hard to convince Sorensen of foreign involvement on Saturday night?  That’s not 11/22/63, that’s 11/23/63.  The people above LBJ in the scheme of things had already laid down the law on 11/22/63.

3 hours ago, Robert Morrow said:

          Almost immediately, LBJ asked, “What would you think of the possibility that a foreign government was involved in this?” “Do you have any evidence?” I asked. He handed me a government memorandum, not identifying any specific source, saying in effect that a foreign government had hoped to assassinate President Kennedy. “Meaningless,” I said. He persisted. Concerned that there was an international conspiracy, he raised the issue of his own safety and security.

 UNQUOTE

Meaningless.

3 hours ago, Robert Morrow said:

 [Ted Sorensen, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History, p.380]

Alexander Haig on 11-22-1963 below: Lyndon Johnson believe that Fidel Casto killed JFK and LBJ believed that for the rest of his life

 QUOTE

 Soon President Johnson arrived with a small retinue, and he, McNamara, Vance, and a few others met in McNamara’s office.

Soon when?  LBJ’s first meeting when he got to the White House was with Harriman and Fulbright.

Jack Valenti – in “A Very Human President” (1973, p3)

<quote on>

Shortly before 7:00 P.M., I escorted Senator J. William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Ambassador Averell Harriman into the office. I fidgeted outside, in the middle of what would have appeared to be an objective onlooker to be a mélange of confusion. No one of the Johnson aides, Marie Fehmer, his secretary; the late Cliff Carter, his chief political agent; Bill Moyers, nor any of the rest, was quite certain of what lay ahead. We were all busy on the phone and trying to assemble what measure of office discipline we could construct.

<quote off>

Soon after that Cliff Carter called Texas to pass on the order to charge Oswald as a lone gunman.

3 hours ago, Robert Morrow said:

 

Busy with my own concerns, I paid little attention to this. Later on, however, I learned that Johnson expressed deep concern over the circumstances of President Kennedy’s death and the effect it might have on the future of the Democratic party.

So later on Haig discovered LBJ’s “deep concern” — so what?  The elites made the decision on 11/22/63 to go with the Lone Nut scenario.  In ‘67 the same people told Johnson to carry on with the Vietnam War and in March ‘68 they told him to try to get out.

3 hours ago, Robert Morrow said:

          The fact of the matter is that Lyndon Johnson believed then, and believed until the day he died, that Fidel Castro was behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and that the murder of the President resulted from Robert Kennedy’s “obsessive desire to eliminate the Cuban leader.” As Johnson put it to Califano, among others, “Kennedy tried to get Castro, but Castro got Kennedy first.” If the Kennedy administration’s plots against Castro’s life became public knowledge, the logical conclusion of any investigation would be that President Kennedy’s assassination had been carried out by persons who had an interest in preserving Fidel Castro’s life. The implication hat the KGB was involved was inescapable; it exercised proprietary control over the Cuban intelligence service and must have regarded Castro as a unique Soviet asset to be protected by the most extreme measures. (Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected assassin, had defected to the Soviet Union in 1959 and lived there until 1962, having married the niece of an official of the KGB before returning to the United States.) Should the background to the crime be exposed, it could be devastating to Democratic prospects for retaining control of the White House in the 1964 presidential election. Johnson believed that any finding that an assassin activated by a Communist government had killed the President of the United States would set off a reaction among the American people, in their fervent patriotism and what he described as their “natural conservatism” that would sweep the Democrats from office and probably deny them power for many years to come. I did not fully understand this argument, but of course I am not a politician.

 UNQUOTE

 [Alexander Haig, Inner Circles, pp. 114-115]

 

Johnson was good at BSing people, but push come to shove he did as he was told.

Edited March 10 by Cliff Varnell

[Robert Morrow]

On 3/10/2024 at 3:44 AM, Cliff Varnell said:

Wait a minute — what’s this about LBJ trying hard to convince Sorensen of foreign involvement on Saturday night?  That’s not 11/22/63, that’s 11/23/63.  The people above LBJ in the scheme of things had already laid down the law on 11/22/63.

Meaningless.

Soon when?  LBJ’s first meeting when he got to the White House was with Harriman and Fulbright.

Jack Valenti – in “A Very Human President” (1973, p3)

<quote on>

Shortly before 7:00 P.M., I escorted Senator J. William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Ambassador Averell Harriman into the office. I fidgeted outside, in the middle of what would have appeared to be an objective onlooker to be a mélange of confusion. No one of the Johnson aides, Marie Fehmer, his secretary; the late Cliff Carter, his chief political agent; Bill Moyers, nor any of the rest, was quite certain of what lay ahead. We were all busy on the phone and trying to assemble what measure of office discipline we could construct.

<quote off>

Soon after that Cliff Carter called Texas to pass on the order to charge Oswald as a lone gunman.

So later on Haig discovered LBJ’s “deep concern” — so what?  The elites made the decision on 11/22/63 to go with the Lone Nut scenario.  In ‘67 the same people told Johnson to carry on with the Vietnam War and in March ‘68 they told him to try to get out.

Johnson was good at BSing people, but push come to shove he did as he was told.

Cliff Varnell - I had a multiple brain fart episode as I typed in the Sorensen and Haig anecdotes. Both men were referring about seeing LBJ on Saturday, November 23, 1963 and not 11-22-63 as I had previously written. Sorensen actually spoke with LBJ, but Al Haig did not but later may have heard the contents of what LBJ was saying.

Here is that Sorensen says in the previous paragragh:

QUOTE

      On that Saturday evening, in Johnson's vice presidential office in the Old Executive Office Building across the street from the White House, with his aide Bill Moyers sitting it, LBJ and I talked, as he had requested during his phone call the night before. We had scheduled the meeting earlier, but I bumped into LBJ that afternoon in the West Wing basement, and he said he was running late.

UNQUOTE

[Ted Sorensen, Counselor, p. 380]

As for Al Haig, he was in the White House helping to make preparations for JFK's funeral at Arlington National Cemetery.

Al Haig:

QUOTE

I became aware of a subdued atmosphere of bustle and expectation. Soon President Johnson arrived with a small retinue, and he, McNamara, Vance, and a few others met in McNamara's office. Busy with my own concerns, I paid little attention to this. Later on, I learned that Johnson had expressed deep concern over the circumstances of President Kennedy's death and the effect it might have on the future of the Democratic party.

UNQUOTE

[Al Haig, Inner Circles, p. 114]

I take this to mean that Al Haig did not personally hear the content of LBJ's conversations with Vance and McNamara, but that later he heard that LBJ was blaming the JFK assassination on a foreign power and he was wondering what impact this might have on the Democratic party's political chances. I think LBJ, as usual, was using the line the Kennedys tried to git Castro, but Castro git Kennedy first. And the JFK assassination was all the Kennedys fault and the Democratic party would suffer if the circumstances of the JFK assassination got out.

 

Edited March 26 by Robert Morrow

[Robert Morrow]

Cliff Varnell: here is Lyndon Johnson AT PARKLAND HOSPITAL, as he sucked on his inhaler, REPEATEDLY SAYING "The International Communists did it" and LBJ is doing this in ultra right wing Dallas while so many, many people are immediately assuming that a Right Wing Dallas Nut has just killed JFK.

This is called DEFLECTION (from his own participation in the murder of JFK). Alfred Steinberg, was an accomplished and seasoned political reporter who knew Lyndon Johnson well.

A few hours later on Air Force One, Jackie Kennedy would tell her press secretary "Lyndon Johnson did it" as she was a firsthand witness to LBJ's totally fake histrionics.

Lyndon Johnson to Malcolm Kilduff, after Kiduff asked if he could make a statement that the president was dead:

"No, wait. We don't know if it's a communist conspiracy or not. I'd better get out of here and back to the plane. Are they prepared to get me out of here?" [Sam Johnson's Boy, Steinberg, p. 606, published in 1968]

QUOTE

          When they reached the hospital, Johnson jumped out of the car and held his left bicep with his right hand while he rushed indoors with five Secret Service agents, leaving Lady Bird with Yarborough.  Rumors spread that he had been shot, that he had suffered a heart attack. Once inside the hospital, Johnson and the agents were ushered to the rear of the Minor Medicine area, where between deep sniffs from his nasal inhalator, he said repeatedly, “The International Communists did it!” …Nor had Salinger’s chief assistant Andrew Hatcher, gone to Texas, because Kennedy had been considerate of the anti-Negro bias in that Southern state. This was the reason Malcolm Kilduff, another assistant press secretary, was present at the hospital and became the first person to call Johnson “Mr. President.” Kilduff had come to Booth 13 to ask his permission to make a statement that Kennedy was dead, but Johnson barked at him, “No, wait. We don’t know whether it is a Communist conspiracy or not. I’d better get out of here and back to the plane. Are they prepared to get me out of here?”

UNQUOTE

          [Alfred Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy: A Close-Up of the President from Texas, pp. 605-606, published in 1968]

 

Edited March 10 by Robert Morrow

[Joe Bauer]

On 3/7/2024 at 9:57 AM, Joe Bauer said:

Wealthy and violent White Council leader Joseph Milteer knew in advance.

His JFKA prediction was more presciently accurate with specific details than a truly skilled psychic.

Is Joseph Milteer a key to the JFK assassination?

On the morning of November 9th, 1963, two weeks before JFK was assassinated, right-wing extremist Joseph Milteer was in a Miami hotel room talking with Willie Somerset, an undercover police informant who happened to be wearing a wire. This conversation was turned over to the FBI immediately, although it would not surface publicly until four years later. Here is what Milteer had to say:

[Killing Kennedy] “was in the working” and would be accomplished “from an office building with a high-powered rifle”….that could be “disassembled” to get it into the building and they will “pick someone up within hours if anything like that happened just to throw the public off.” Milteer also mentioned “the Cubans” were involved.

Milteer also mentioned "the Cubans" were involved. ???

Which ones?  Castro agent ones? Or ex-patriot Castro hating and JFK BOP blaming  ones?

[Cliff Varnell]

1 hour ago, Robert Morrow said:

Cliff Varnell: here is Lyndon Johnson AT PARKLAND HOSPITAL, as he sucked on his inhaler, REPEATEDLY SAYING "The International Communists did it" and LBJ is doing this in ultra right wing Dallas while so many, many people are immediately assuming that a Right Wing Dallas Nut has just killed JFK.

This is called DEFLECTION (from his own participation in the murder of JFK). Alfred Steinberg, was an accomplished and seasoned political reporter who knew Lyndon Johnson well.

A few hours later on Air Force One, Jackie Kennedy would tell her press secretary "Lyndon Johnson did it" as she was a firsthand witness to LBJ's totally fake histrionics.

Lyndon Johnson to Malcolm Kilduff, after Kiduff asked if he could make a statement that the president was dead:

"No, wait. We don't know if it's a communist conspiracy or not. I'd better get out of here and back to the plane. Are they prepared to get me out of here?" [Sam Johnson's Boy, Steinberg, p. 606, published in 1968]

Robert, I’ve cited this quote many times myself.  Johnson cooled his heels at Parkland waiting to hear if the patsy had been whacked.  Plan A was to blame the deed on Castro with Soviet complicity.  But when the patsy was captured alive that narrative became problematic.  So LBJ boarded AF1 and waited to hear how to move forward.  Bundy called from the Situation Room saying the lone assassin was in custody, and the minute LBJ got to the White House Harriman shows up with a tall tale about the unanimous view of the top Kremlinologists that the Soviets were not involved.  Cliff Carter then called Texas to insist Oswald was a Lone Nut.

LBJ followed orders then, just like he did years later with Vietnam.

Edited March 10 by Cliff Varnell

[Sandy Larsen]

 

[Robert Morrow]

On 3/8/2024 at 3:45 PM, Roger Odisio said:

I don't think that's right, Robert.  Johnson raised the idea of a war with the SU to bully Warren into heading the WC to frame Oswald.

One of the small reasons he so readily agreed to the the Vietnam war, besides disagreeing with JFK's plan to pull out, was to give the war mongers something to get them off his back about a war with the SU.  Which he wanted no part of. He was evil but not that kind of crazy.

After Bobby, Sorenson was the closest aide to JFK in the administration. Johnson had a problem with all of the close aides selling them the Oswald story.  But I doubt if he used the treat of a war with the SU to get them to go along. It would not have worked with them and he knew it.

 

On 3/8/2024 at 4:45 PM, Cliff Varnell said:

Robert, your challenge is to find LBJ claims of a commie conspiracy after the 7pm EST meeting with Harriman — other than what he told Warren to get the Chief Justice on board with the new commission.

Lyndon Johnson, behind the scenes, told many people over the years that Fidel Castro murdered JFK before the Kennedys could murder him. This is line LBJ used again and again for years. It is called DEFLECTION from his orchestration of JFK's death. Gus Russo has a good chapter on this in his book Live By the Sword. LBJ would also blame JFK on Diem's death, which he put at the feet of JFK. Publisher George Weidenfeld printed LBJ's totally boring autobiography Vantage Point.

Lyndon Johnson blaming Fidel Castro for the JFK assassination to his good friend publisher George Weidenfeld - March 1971

March, 1971

QUOTE

          “Of Kennedy’s assassination he said: ‘I think I know who killed JFK. I can’t prove it yet, but one day I will. Goddammit, I know it … It was Castro. You see, the Kennedy brothers liked playing cops and robbers, and when Bobby was Attorney-General he was responsible for the CIA and they sent people into Cuba to git Castro, but they failed and Castro git Jack Kennedy.’ He continued to expand on his theory. ‘I could never understand why Bobby tried to put some CIA people on the Warren Commission. I had Dick Helms here not long ago and I asked him point blank, but he refused to be drawn. Oswald was a communist agent, he was in Cuba, he was in the Soviet Union. One day I will prove it.’

UNQUOTE

[George Weidenfeld, Remembering My Good Friends, p. 350]

 

 

 

Edited March 11 by Robert Morrow

[Cliff Varnell]

1 hour ago, Robert Morrow said:

 

Lyndon Johnson, behind the scenes, told many people over the years that Fidel Castro murdered JFK before the Kennedys could murder him.

Since the Lone Nut Scenario fell apart for a majority of people by ‘66 it’s no surprise LBJ needed someone else to blame privately.

In the few days after the JFKA the only people he confided with this claim were Sorensen and Warren.

[Robert Morrow]

2 hours ago, Cliff Varnell said:

Since the Lone Nut Scenario fell apart for a majority of people by ‘66 it’s no surprise LBJ needed someone else to blame privately.

In the few days after the JFKA the only people he confided with this claim were Sorensen and Warren.

Within minutes of JFK being dead, LBJ was immediately weirdly pushing in hard right wing Dallas that a communist had just killed JFK. And he was doing this on Air Force One when Gen. Godfrey McHugh slapped Johnson in his face to compose him. Gods knows how many more people LBJ tried this line on behind the scenes in the first week after the JFK assassination. He was even telling others it had something to do with the Diem assassination (which it did!!)

Lyndon Johnson to Malcolm Kilduff, after Kiduff asked if he could make a statement that the president was dead:

"No, wait. We don't know if it's a communist conspiracy or not. I'd better get out of here and back to the plane. Are they prepared to get me out of here?" [Sam Johnson's Boy, Steinberg, p. 606, published in 1968]

QUOTE

          When they reached the hospital, Johnson jumped out of the car and held his left bicep with his right hand while he rushed indoors with five Secret Service agents, leaving Lady Bird with Yarborough.  Rumors spread that he had been shot, that he had suffered a heart attack. Once inside the hospital, Johnson and the agents were ushered to the rear of the Minor Medicine area, where between deep sniffs from his nasal inhalator, he said repeatedly, “The International Communists did it!” …Nor had Salinger’s chief assistant Andrew Hatcher, gone to Texas, because Kennedy had been considerate of the anti-Negro bias in that Southern state. This was the reason Malcolm Kilduff, another assistant press secretary, was present at the hospital and became the first person to call Johnson “Mr. President.” Kilduff had come to Booth 13 to ask his permission to make a statement that Kennedy was dead, but Johnson barked at him, “No, wait. We don’t know whether it is a Communist conspiracy or not. I’d better get out of here and back to the plane. Are they prepared to get me out of here?”

UNQUOTE

          [Alfred Steinberg, Sam Johnson’s Boy: A Close-Up of the President from Texas, pp. 605-606, published in 1968]

Author Larry Hancock on who LBJ blamed for

the JFK assassination:

 

            “The day after John Kennedy’s funeral, Johnson pointed at a picture of Diem and told Hubert Humphrey that, “We had a hand in killing him; now it’s happening here.” Johnson later told Pierre Salinger a story about “divine retribution” and implied that perhaps also applied to Kennedy’s death. A few days after Kennedy’s funeral, Kennedy aide Ralph Dungan was working late in his office in the West Wing when he heard a noise at the door. Dungan looked up and there was President Johnson, in nothing but a t-shirt and boxer shorts. He told Dungan he wanted to talk to him and motioned him to the Oval Office, where Johnson forced him to sit on the sofa and in a low voice said, “I want to tell you why Kennedy died.” A stunned Dungan sat while Johnson pointed his finger and said, “Divine retribution … he murdered Diem and then he got it himself.” (Mahoney 302-303, from Mahoney interview with Dungan). Shesol also relates that Johnson told Jack Valenti his inner political instinct was that Castro was behind the killing. Johnson expanded on that thought to Joseph Califano – President Kennedy tried to get Castro, but Castro got Kennedy first. Apparently, Johnson made a similar remark to Richard Helms of the CIA. When asked by the Congressional Committee if he had ever heard the theory that Castro might have been behind the assassination of President Kennedy, Helms replied that “the very first time I heard such a theory (that Castro might have shot the president on Casto’s behalf) was in a very peculiar way from President Johnson.” Later Johnson would relate to Acting Attorney General Ramsey Clark that (he) Castro called Oswald and a group in … and said go set it up and get the job done (killing Kennedy). Jeff Sheshol, Mutual Contempt: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy and the Feud that Defined a Decade, (New York, NY: Norton and Company, 1997), 131-134. Johnson’s best known biographer, Robert Caro, remarked that “Johnson could believe whatever he wanted to believe … could believe it with all his heart … he could convince himself of anything, even something that wasn’t true”

 [Larry Hancock, Someone Would Have Talked, p. 462]

[Robert Morrow]

The odds are pretty high that LBJ told more people than Ted Sorensen, the people at Parkland, the poor people Air Force One and Justice Earl Warren that Lee Harvey Oswald was part of a communist plot to kill JFK.

Max Holland:

QUOTE

On June 16, 1971, Johnson received Leo Janos, the Houston bureau chief for Time magazine, at the Johnson Library. The meeting occurred at a propitious moment. Three days earlier The New York Times had published the first installment in what would become known as the Pentagon Papers, a secret study of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. There was much to talk about, and Johnson was in an expansive mood. Over coffee after lunch the conversation turned briefly to President Kennedy. Confident that his former speechwriter would respect the ground rules (the conversation was off the record), Johnson not only reiterated what he had told Howard K. Smith in 1968 and Walter Cronkite in 1969 but went into more detail than he ever had before, making his pregnant "Murder Inc." remark—which Janos did not publish until after Johnson's death.

UNQUOTE

[“The Assassination Tapes,” Max Holland, The Atlantic, June, 2004]

 Web link:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/06/the-assassination-tapes/302964/