JFK Jr and his Father's Murder

[James DiEugenio]

I was just going through the back issues of garrison.

In last year's issue, July 2023, Don Jeffries wrote something that startled me.

He wrote that JFK Jr read and collected books on the assassination of his father.  And he openly talked about the conspiracy to kill him.

His high school girlfriend said he was on a quest to find out the truth about that case.  And this may have led to a schism between him and his sister.

Has anyone ever read anything like this before? It blindsided me.

Don does not post here anymore does he?

 

 

Edited Saturday at 01:32 AM by James DiEugenio

[Ron Bulman]

Not often anymore but I think he did a few months ago.

[James DiEugenio]

Can you contact him Ron?

Like I said, I never saw this anywhere before.

Has anyone else?

 

Edited Friday at 03:42 AM by James DiEugenio

[Ron Bulman]

I think he's still a member here, you should be able to contact him if so.  Finding his site is tricky anymore.

Oops.  I thought for some reason he was affiliated with the History Matters website.  Looks like I was mistaken.

Edited Friday at 04:49 PM by Ron Bulman

[David Andrews]

I seem to remember that after JFK, Jr. died, someone who wrote for George magazine was quoted on his interest and reading in the JFKA.  Can't tell you where it appeared.

Edited Friday at 04:16 AM by David Andrews

[Joe Bauer]

Makes sense to me.

Carolyn seemed more content to just move non.

[Robert Morrow]

Meg Azzoni is the high school girlfriend in question. Damn straight JFK, Jr. had a sharp interest in the assassination of his father.

And there is this nugget from Meg Azzoni:

Jackie Kennedy on her Dislike & Mistrust of Lyndon Johnson: “I did not like or trust Lyndon Johnson. Never mention his name again!” – spoken while the HSCA was in full bloom

One of JFK, Jr.'s best friends (actually a girlfriend) at the Phillips Academy was Meg Azzoni. In spring, 1977, she and John went to visit Jackie while Caroline was still at Harvard. Meg says: "Jackie told John and I at the 'break-the-fast' breakfast, 'I did not like or trust Lyndon Johnson.' No one said another word the whole meal in memorial contemplative silence."

[Meg Azzoni, "John F. Kennedy, Jr. to Meg Azzoni Eleven Letters: Memories of Kennedys & Reflections on His Quest, p. 52]

Barr McClellan (who I have spoken with many times and again on 2-24-2020) ghostwrote her book for/with Meg Azzoni and the actual quote by Jackie was:

"Jackie told John and I at the 'break-the-fast' breakfast, 'I did not like or trust Lyndon Johnson. Never mention his name again!’”

JFK researcher Dan Storper (8-9-2021 email) to Robert Morrow regarding Jackie Kennedy:

Dan Storper:

QUOTE

Thanks, Robert. Jackie also told a friend of mine and his family that she thought LBJ was responsible.

UNQUOTE

 

Jackie Kennedy’s mother Janet Auchincloss by summer of 1964 was quite sure Lyndon Johnson was involved in the JFK assassination but she did not know exactly how or why

QUOTE

          One night in the summer of ’64, Yusha went to visit Jackie and found her drinking vodka and crying over a scrapbook of photos. She told him she believed “a group of rightwingers” had something to do with Jack’s death. Yusha knew Janet felt LBJ had something to do with the murder. She didn’t know how or why, but she was sure of it.

UNQUOTE

[Randy Taraborrelli, Jackie: Public Private Secret, p. 179]

Edited Friday at 05:36 AM by Robert Morrow

[Robert Morrow]

1 hour ago, Joe Bauer said:

Makes sense to me.

Carolyn seemed more content to just move non.

The Kennedys have a big fat yellow stripe running down their backs when it comes to the JFK assassination. See Ted Kennedy. See Caroline Kennedy. See her son Jack Schlossberg. See the attitude of the staff at the JFK Library, quite hostile to discussing any conspiracy in the JFK assassination.

RFK, Jr. in recent years has spoken out about the conspiracy in the death of his uncle JFK. But even he was quiet for decades.

Ted Kennedy letter to Ed Hoffman (11/19/75)

QUOTE 

            My family has been aware of various theories concerning the death of President Kennedy, just as it has been aware of many speculative accounts which have arisen from the death of Robert Kennedy. I am sure that it is understood that the continual speculation is painful for members of my family. We have always accepted the findings of the Warren Commission report and have no reason to question the quality and the effort of those who investigated the fatal shooting of Robert Kennedy.

UNQUOTE

[Brian Kelly]

3 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

I was just going through the back issues of garrison.

In last year's issue, July 2023, Don Jeffries wrote something that startled me.

He wrote that JFK Jr read and collected books on the assassination of his father.  And he openly talked about the conspiracy to kill him.

His high school girlfriend said he was on a quest to find out the truth about that case.  And this may have led to a schism between him and his sister.

Has anyone ever read anything like this before? It blindsided me.

Don does not post her anymore does he?

 

 

I have often wondered if John Jr. ever wanted to do some investigating/digging of his own, or whether he planned to use his name and influence to lobby for release of the files at some point. If I remember correctly he was cordial with Oliver Stone and met with him when he had his magazine, when Stone was being attacked by the media. Didn't he publish an article in "George" about the assassination or about conspiracies?

The author of "America's Reluctant Prince" Steven Gillon wrote the book about his friend JFK Jr.  Gillon is a historian and he met John at Brown 18 years before his death in 1999. This is an interesting piece from the article that I linked below:

Once, however, Gillon remembers John addressing the topic sometime in the early '90s.

 

"He made a cryptic comment that 'Bobby knew everything,' " Gillon says, referring to Robert Kennedy, the president's brother and his attorney general. "It made me think JFK's brother knew things the public and maybe the Warren Commission did not."

 

"As a historian I should have followed up, but it was a sensitive topic," Gillon says. "If he wanted to offer more information he could, but I knew it hurt him and he didn't want to talk about it."

https://people.com/politics/how-jfk-jr-coped-kennedy-assassination-rfk-knew/

 

[Robert Morrow]

Sidenote: Steve Gillon is an ardent and vocal lone nutter.

STEVE GILLON – LONE NUTTER

STEVE GILLON for History.com http://www.history.com/news/why-the-public-stopped-believing-the-government-about-jfks-murder

10-30-17 “Why the Public Stopped Believing the Government about JFK’s Murder”

Steve Gillon totally hops on the side of the lone nutters.

QUOTE

There have been no shocking revelations in these documents; nothing to challenge the conclusions of the Warren Commission that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Moreover, there have been no convincing alternative explanation of what took place in Dallas on November 22, 1963. At the same time, authors such as Gerald Posner (Case Closed) and Vincent Bugliosi (Reclaiming History) effectively refuted all the major conspiracy theories. Technology has also conspired against conspiracy. Digital recreations of the Zapruder film prove conclusively that all three shots fired at the Kennedy motorcade came from the sixth floor of the Book Depository Building. There were no second shooters or magic bullets; just Oswald and a high-powered rifle.

Yet the declassified documents have highlighted one major flaw with the Warren Commission: its failure to present a convincing explanation for why Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. Much of the final commission report represented an indictment of Oswald. It failed to ascribe a single motive, but it made a strong case that Oswald was little more than a disaffected sociopath in desperate need of attention. It spent a great deal of effort showing how the events in his childhood—growing up without a father, making few friends, and dealing with an overbearing mother—molded him into an angry, embittered misfit.

Many of the new documents and information, while fragmentary and often contradictory, present a different portrait of an Oswald who was driven as much by ideology as he was by personal demons. None of the information reveals a conspiracy, or proves the involvement of any outside group, but it does reinforce a possible political motive to the assassination, highlighting that Oswald was driven by a desire to prove his fidelity to the Cuban revolution, gain Castro’s respect, and possibly travel to Cuba as a conquering hero. In his fantasy world, Oswald probably assumed that he would be welcomed in Cuba as the man who killed the American devil, not appreciating that neither Castro nor the Soviets would wish to incur the wrath of the United States by harboring JFK’s assassin.

UNQUOTE

Steve Gillon on Twitter praising Gerald Posner, April 27, 2018

QUOTE:

Gerald Posner is the best of the Kennedy assassination experts. His book, Case Closed, which is now more than two decades old, remains the standard work on the assassination.

UNQUOTE

 Steve Gillon praising Gerald Posner’s book Case Closed again on Nov. 21, 2022

https://twitter.com/smgillon/status/1594717897460531200

 QUOTE

 Today is a good day to read the best book ever written about the Kennedy Assassination

 UNQUOTE

 Steve Gillon again blaming the JFK assassination on Oswald:

 QUOTE

           Before they reached the shade, Lee Harvey Oswald, a disgruntled former US Marine who’d defected to the Soviet Union in 1959, only to return to the States two years later with a Russian bride, fired three shots at the motorcade from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository building

 UNQUOTE

 [Steven Gillon, The  Life of John F. Kennedy, Jr.: America’s Reluctant Prince, p. 46]

 Steve Gillon Tweet 2-24-2021 –

 https://twitter.com/smgillon/status/1364608904479571968

 At least they are acknowledging that Oswald was the lone assassin. That is a big step forward. No magic bullets. No shooters on the grassy knoll.

 STEVE GILLION BIOGRAPHY: http://history.ou.edu/steven-m-gillon

Steven M. Gillon

Professor

Email:  smgillon@ou.edu

Steven M. Gillon is Resident Historian for The History Channel and professor of history at the University of Oklahoma. He has written numerous books and articles about modern American politics and culture. His most recent book, The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation (Oxford, 2008) examines the polarization of American politics in the 1990s. In addition to his scholarly work, Professor Gillon hosts shows and serves as an on-air consultant for The History Channel. From 1998-2006, he anchored The History Channel Sunday morning current events program, HistoryCENTER. He is currently working on a book/documentary series that will look at critical presidential decisions. He received his Ph.D. from Brown University

 Steve Gillon is the Scholar-in-Residence at The History Channel and Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma.

Gillon received his B.A. in History from Widener University where he graduated summa cum laude with honors in History. He was named the recipient of the Faculty Prize for maintaining the highest undergraduate GPA. He went on to earn his A.M. and Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Gillon spent nine years teaching history at Yale University where he won the prestigious DeVane Medal for outstanding undergraduate teaching. In 1994, he accepted a position as University Lecturer in Modern History at Oxford University. Three years later, he returned to the United States at the invitation of the president of the University of Oklahoma to become the founding dean of a new Honors College.

Dr. Gillon is one of the nation's leading experts on modern American history and politics. He has written or edited nearly a dozen books including the New York Times e-book bestseller, The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation (Oxford 2008). Among his many other books are: Boomer Nation: The Largest and Richest Generation and How it Changed America (Free Press 2004); 10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America (Three Rivers 2006); Pearl Harbor: FDR Leads the Nation into War (Basic 2011); That’s Not What We Meant to Do: Reform and Its Unintended Consequences in Twentieth-Century America (W.W. Norton, 2000); The Democrats' Dilemma: Walter F. Mondale and the Liberal Legacy,(Columbia University, 1992); and Politics and Vision: The ADA and American Liberalism, 1947-1985, (Oxford 1987).

His articles have appeared in both academic journals and popular newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and Boston Globe. He is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post. He has made appearances on NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News as a commentator and expert on issues related to modern American history.

Over the past decade, Gillon has hosted a number of shows on The History Channel, including the network's flagship public affairs program, HistoryCenter. He has also hosted Our Generation, History vs. Hollywood, and Movies in Time. His last three books have been turned into prime time documentaries on the network: The Kennedy Assassination 24 Hours After, Pearl Harbor: 24 Hours After, and Lee Harvey Oswald: 48 Hours to Live.

In addition to his scholarly and television work, Gillon has served as a historical consultant for a number of prominent organizations. He was the chief historian for the Woodstock Museum in Bethel, New York. He spent two years as a consultant to News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch. In 2013, AARP chose him as one of ten “Thought Leaders” in the United States on issues related to the aging of the baby boom generation. 

Steve Gillon HuffPost: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/steven-m-gillon

Education:

Widener University – B.A. in History, recipient of the Faculty Prize for maintaining the highest undergraduate GPA. Graduated summa cum laude.

Brown University – A.M. and Ph.D. in American civilization and elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Steve Gillon - has 3 degrees, including 2 graduate degrees from Brown where Gillon was Phi Beta Kappa Undergrad summa cum laude with honors from Widener

 

[Don Jeffries]

There is much more evidence that demonstrates the level of interest JFK, Jr. had in his father's death, which you can find in my book Hidden History and in my upcoming work American Memory Hole: How the Court Historians Promote Disinformation, which will be officially released August 27, but is available for presale. American Memory Hole by Donald Jeffries  He was basically reading the same books on the subject that we were. 

I published a new piece on the 25th year anniversary on the assassination of JFK, Jr. yesterday on Substack. I provided a few teasers to the new information I discovered on this subject. I was finally able to track down the elusive Coast Guard Petty Officer Todd Burgun, for example, who gave an interview about the now memory holed 9:39 pm phone call from JFK, Jr., reporting all was well, for WCVB-TV. Our exchange was eye-opening. You can read the article for free here: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr.  

[Jonathan Cohen]

Are we really giving these JFK Jr. plane crash conspiracy theories oxygen here? Seriously?

[George Govus]

Gee whiz, I'd re-read what Jim Marrs wrote about it, except, he's gone, and with him, his website. Is it possible Jr. was going to enter politics? That's what I remember Marrs alleged. What a loony.

[Ron Bulman]

2 hours ago, Don Jeffries said:

There is much more evidence that demonstrates the level of interest JFK, Jr. had in his father's death, which you can find in my book Hidden History and in my upcoming work American Memory Hole: How the Court Historians Promote Disinformation, which will be officially released August 27, but is available for presale. American Memory Hole by Donald Jeffries  He was basically reading the same books on the subject that we were. 

I published a new piece on the 25th year anniversary on the assassination of JFK, Jr. yesterday on Substack. I provided a few teasers to the new information I discovered on this subject. I was finally able to track down the elusive Coast Guard Petty Officer Todd Burgun, for example, who gave an interview about the now memory holed 9:39 pm phone call from JFK, Jr., reporting all was well, for WCVB-TV. Our exchange was eye-opening. You can read the article for free here: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr.  

Thank you, Don.  The Substack article is great.  I've been going to read Hidden History for quite some time now but never got around to it.  I think I'll start with it for now.

[Greg Doudna]

1 hour ago, Jonathan Cohen said:

Are we really giving these JFK Jr. plane crash conspiracy theories oxygen here? Seriously?

As a private pilot myself, single-engine VFR, I have had an interest in plane crash investigations for decades. Every plane crash is mandated to have an investigation, and although I have not studied the JFK Jr. case closely, it was investigated and found to be from pilot error going into a "death spiral" dive (as I recall). Two relevant questions.

First question: does that finding of an authoritative investigation mean that is what happened? Answer: no it doesn't; it just means there was no evidence found that anything else was the cause. This has been studied: investigators check if there was anything wrong with the plane mechanically or its electronics malfunctioned; if there was unusual weather or other explanation, etc.; and if nothing is found of that nature, then the default explanation is "pilot error", reasoning logically it had to be that since no other explanation was found. However, when that is the finding and the pilot survived, living pilots have often fought back on the "pilot error" finding and prevailed. But when the pilot is dead, there is nobody to contest the finding and it stands, case closed. It is an easy, logical, and very common way to close cases. But it isn't proof that is what happened.

Second question is: does the "pilot error" explanation in the JFK Jr. crash make sense? And I have to say as a pilot when I read the explanations in the past my answer has been "not really, no". Supposedly JFK Jr. pulled the nose up while banking, sending the craft into a spin or "death spiral" which is difficult to recover from. That is the explanation as I recall, reconstructed (because no other cause of the crash could be identified). But I went through flight training and it doesn't matter that JFK Jr. was not terribly experienced, pilots learn not to pull the nose up, to trust their instruments (not their sense of up and down inner-ear sense), and also learn how to immediately recover from a stall by stabilizing the plane and putting the nose down, with recovery from the stall usually with 300 feet drop in altitude, which is nothing when high in the air. 

Still, odd things can happen. My father told of his WW2 training experience and witnessing a crack pilot training with a dive bomber and full crew went into a practice dive, then horrifyingly never pulled out at the last minute like normal and crashed killing six of my father's fellow crew members (my father was not in the plane). No one knew why, nothing mechanically wrong. Speculation of something medical, a blackout, but nobody knew why. In the JFK Jr. case as I read it I speculated: a fight (verbal) in the cabin with the two women? Maybe. JFK Jr. joking around too much telling some story and not paying enough attention? (That one seems doubtful; pilots know better than that.)

The lack of instrument rating (IFR), the flying at night with no visible horizon; and relative inexperience with low flight hours are cited as factors in the JFK Jr. crash but neither of those three factors bear significant weight to me as explanation either because VFR pilots are trained in flight training at the outset to use, and do use, instruments when there is loss of visibility (even if not rated to fly intentionally into instrument-only daytime conditions). 

Now Don Jeffries from his essay says he has a source saying there was no haze contributing to JFK Jr's loss of control, and a couple of other things.

And the claim is that JFK Jr. was (a) extremely popular and a realistic chance to go high in America including talk of the presidency; and (b) had a strong personal interest in the JFK assassination including conspiracy theories, analogous to questions asked concerning whether someone put Sirhan up to killing RFK, who could reasonably be expected to have sought to find the identities of his brother's killers and go after them with fury if he did know who they were, if and when he became president.

I don't think it is out of line to view the JFK Jr. crash with neutral critical consideration of evidence, without need for generic name-calling dismissal and putdown (as opposed to simply skipping it from personal reading if not of interest; or criticism of substance on specifics). 

Remember stories of Saddam Hussein's political opponents in Iraq who kept dying in helicopter accidents... there were conspiracy theories about that too. Some people are more suspicious than others looking at the same set of facts.