Jump to content
The Education Forum

Recommended Posts

Posted

I thought it would be worthwhile to have a thread on Bernard Fensterwald. It is difficult to know what to make of Fensterwald. Anyway, here are the basic facts of his life.

Fensterwald, the son of a wealthy clothing merchant, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on 2nd August, 1921. Fensterwald served in the US Navy during the Second World War.

Fensterwald graduated from Harvard Law School in 1949. He entered the Georgetown University School of Advanced International Studies, a private institution, and received an M.A. in 1950. From 1951 to 1956 Fensterwald worked for the State Department as an Assistant Legal Advisor. This included defending State Department employees accused by Joseph McCarthy of being members of the American Communist Party.

In 1957 Fensterwald was hired by Thomas C. Hennings as an investigator for the Senate Committee on Constitutional Rights. Later that year Fensterwald visited the Soviet Union. According to Alan Weberman on his return the FBI stated, "Fensterwald has gone out of his way to be helpful."

Fensterwald also worked as a foreign policy advisor to Estes Kefauver. On March 12, 1961, Fensterwald became an investigator for the Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee that was headed by Kefauver. However the two men fell out and later that year Kefauver sacked Fensterwald.

Edward V. Long selected Bernard Fensterwald as his Chief Counsel when he had been accused of being corruptly involved with Jimmy Hoffa. The two men lived in the same apartment building in Washington. Long was also connected to Robert Maheu and Sam Giancanna.

In 1967 Long was called before the Senate Ethics Committee and questioned about his connections to Hoffa. As a result of this investigation Long was was forced to resign in December 1968. Long's book, The Intruders, was dedicated to Fensterwald.

Fensterwald became involved with Jim Garrison and his investigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination. In January 1969, Fensterwald joined forces with Richard E. Sprague to form the Committee To Investigate Assassinations, which was mainly concerned with finding the people responsible for killing Kennedy. As a result of the investigation Fensterwald and Michael Ewing co-authored Assassination of JFK: Coincidence or Conspiracy (1974).

In 1974 Richard Case Nagell employed Fensterwald as his lawyer. In September, 1963, Nagell had walked into a bank in El Paso, Texas, and fired two shots into the ceiling and then waited to be arrested. Nagell claimed he did this to isolate himself from the JFK assassination plot. This was successful and Nagell was charged with armed robbery and ended up spending the next five years in prison.

On his release Nagell told Jim Garrison about his knowledge of the assassination of JFK. He claimed that David Ferrie, Guy Banister, and Clay Shaw were involved in this plot with Oswald.

Fensterwald employed Lou Russell as a private detective to help him with some of his legal cases. One of Russell's first tasks was to investigate the journalist Jack Anderson. Russell also purchased $3,000 in electronic eavesdropping equipment from John Leon of Allied Investigators. Russell's friend, Charles F. Knight, was told that this equipment had been purchased for James W. McCord. At the time, Russell also did part-time work for McCord. This equipment was used to tape the telephone conversations between politicians based at the Democratic Party National Committee and a small group of prostitutes run by Phillip Mackin Bailley that worked their trade in the Columbia Plaza. Russell was almost certainly involved in the Watergate break-in.

When McCord were arrested while in the Democratic Party headquarters in Watergate he employed Fensterwald as his lawyer.

On 21st December, 1972, McCord wrote a letter to Jack Caulfield: " Sorry to have to write you this letter but felt you had to know. if Helms goes, and if the WG (Watergate) operation is laid at the CIA's feet, where it does not belong, every tree in the forest will fall. It will be a scorched desert. The whole matter is at the precipice right now. Just pass the message that if they want it to blow, they are on exactly the right course. I'm sorry that you will get hurt in the fallout.”

Caulfield was unable to persuade Richard Nixon to leave the CIA alone. In February, 1973, Richard Helms was sacked by Nixon. The following month McCord carried out his threat. On 19th March, 1973, McCord wrote a letter to Judge John J. Sirica claiming that the defendants had pleaded guilty under pressure (from John Dean and John N. Mitchell) and that perjury had been committed. McCord also gave details about Operation Gemstone.

In April 1973, Lou Russell suffered a heart attack. However, despite being unable to work, McCord continued to pay him as an employee of Security International. Russell did not have a bank account and Fensterwald paid his cheques into his Committee to Investigate Assassinations.

Another of Fensterwald's famous client was James Earl Ray, the man who had been found guilty of killing Martin Luther King. In June 1974 Fensterwald filed a motion to grant Ray a new trial on the basis of alleged collusion between his former attorney and the author William Bradford Huie. In 1976 Ray dismissed Fensterwald as his lawyer. Fensterwald also represented Andrew St. George, a journalist who was considered to be a CIA asset.

On 24th September, 1978, John Paisley, the former CIA official, took a trip on his motorized sailboat on Chesapeake Bay. Two days later his boat was found moored in Solomons, Maryland. Paisley's body was found in Maryland's Patuxent River. The body was fixed to diving weights. He had been shot in the head. Police investigators described it as "an execution-type murder". However, officially Paisley's death was recorded as a suicide. In June 1979 Fensterwald represented Paisley's family but was unable to solve the case.

According to Robert D. Morrow, Fensterwald in February, 1991 arranged "to interview an Air Force colonel... who I had identified as the possible bagman (responsible for paying the conspirators) for the JFK assassination". Morrow told Gus Russo that "Bud is going to get himself killed" if he went ahead with this interview.

On April 2, 1991, Bernard Fensterwald, 69, died of a heart attack at his home in Alexandria, Virginia. Morrow is convinced he was murdered but his wife insists he died of natural causes.

Posted

Fensterwald and Robert Cutler were financial backers of the JFK Assassination Information Center in Dallas' West End in the 90s. The Center was operated by J. Gary Shaw and the late Larry Howard and Larry Harris.

Two days before he died, I saw Bud, Larry Howard, Gary Shaw and Mary Ferrell dining at a West End eatery, The Brewery. During the meal Bud became ill and flew home immediately, and died soon thereafter. The deaths of Fensterwald, Harris and Howard convinced Shaw that he should "retire" from JFK research. Mary Ferrell found Bud's death "suspicious".

Jack B)

Posted
Pat, John, et al.:

During a series of meetings with Bud [during May 1975], I was introduced to his #1 investigator (The last of "The Untouchables") at a luncheon held at his favorite Chinese restaurant in D.C. -- and wherein he asked for my assistance in the investigation of a scam being orchestrated as a CIA covert Op soliciting funds from wealthy VIPS.

This lead me to the legal defense team of the "Bell Morgage Case".  That same week I reviewed Bud's drafts on a JFK thesis, and when asked as to style recommendations -- I suggested that the better format would be in a series of QUESTIONS which to date remained unanswered.  He agreed wholeheartedly, and thereafter produced his tome in that format.

Bud left us in Dallas while filming "JFK" to travel to OK City in order to interview Loran Hall -- who was then in the County Jail under drug charges (with his son & Son's girlfriend).  Via Larry Howard [West End Marketplace Museum] we had used a jailor to pass the word to Hall that if he would give a deposition [under polygraph -- backed-up by Stress Analysis machine] as to who in the FBI forced his perjured WC testimony RE: the Silvia Odio matter.  Days later we learned of his death from the FLU ??!!.

Posted

AJ Weberman has argued that Bernard Fensterwald could have been working for the CIA.

http://www.ajweberman.com/nodules/nodule25.htm

Pat Speer has suggested that Weberman’s hostility towards Fensterwald could be connected to his criticisms of the book, Coup D'Etat in America. However, looking closely at Fensterwald’s career I tend to agree with Weberman that he was indeed a CIA asset.

As a young man he clearly held liberal views, possibly as a result of the influence of his mother, Blanche Fensterwald.

In 1951 Fensterwald began work for the State Department as an Assistant Legal Advisor. This included defending State Department employees accused by Joseph McCarthy of being members of the American Communist Party. I think that there is a very good chance that this would have meant helping two key CIA officials accused of being subversives, Frank Wisner and Cord Meyer. Both men were senior figures in the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), the CIA unit that was responsible for covert operations. Hoover had described the OPC as "Wisner's gang of weirdos" and the FBI began supplying information about them to McCarthy. It has to be remembered that at the time the OPC was mainly staffed by men who had been active “liberals” in the 1930s. Hoover and McCarthy therefore considered them to be dangerous subversives in the 1950s.

People like Fensterwald did a good job and the charges against Wisner and Meyer were dropped. I suspect it was at this time that Fensterwald was recruited as a CIA asset. Tom Braden, who was head of the CIA’s International Organizations Division (IOD), later admitted that in the early 1950s a large number of “liberals” became CIA assets. It is also possible that he also became an informer for the FBI.

In 1957 Fensterwald and his mother visited the Soviet Union. According to Weberman on his return the FBI stated, "Fensterwald has gone out of his way to be helpful."

Fensterwald also worked for two senior politicians, Edward V. Long and Estes Kefauver. On March 12, 1961, Fensterwald became an investigator for the Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee that was headed by Kefauver. However the two men fell out and later that year Kefauver sacked Fensterwald. This might have been something to do with Fensterwald’s relationship with Long, who had been accused of being corruptly involved with Jimmy Hoffa, Robert Maheu and Sam Giancana. Long was eventually forced to resign. Long's book, The Intruders, was dedicated to Fensterwald.

Fensterwald became involved with Jim Garrison and his investigation of the JFK assassination. However, was Fensterwald on a “fishing mission”. We know that two other CIA assets, Dick Billings and Bernardo de Torres, also became involved in the Garrison investigation during this period. Billings attempted to direct Garrison towards the “Mafia did it” theory. Did Fensterwald do the same thing?

In January 1969, Fensterwald formed the Committee To Investigate Assassinations. It his work with this organization that has given Fensterwald his reputation as a JFK assassination researcher. Fensterwald employed Lou Russell, a former FBI agent, to help him with this investigation. This was a strange choice as Russell was an extreme right-winger who had worked for the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA). It was while working on the Alger Hiss case he met Richard Nixon. Russell, an alcoholic, had been fired from the FBI for his drinking. He was also dismissed from the HCUA in 1954 for his drinking. However, he was reinstated by Francis Walter, another extreme right-winger who was associated with the Ku Klux Klan. Russell was also connected to other far right groups.

Fensterwald and Russell enjoyed a long friendship. According to Jim Hougan Fensterwald paid him for work he did not do. Hougan also discovered that Russell received large payments via William Birely. Hougan believes this could have been CIA money.

It is generally believed that Russell was involved in the Watergate operation. Hougan suspects he along with James McCord and Alfred Baldwin, were trying to sabotage the operation.

When James McCord was first arrested he employed Gerald Alch as his lawyer. McCord sacked Alch and replaced him with Fensterwald. McCord’s attitude changed towards the case at this point. He writes to Jack Caulfield (head of Operation Sandwedge) that is going to reveal all unless Nixon stops trying to blame the CIA for Watergate. He also warns against Richard Helms being fired as head of the CIA. Nixon refuses to bring an end to this strategy and dismisses Helms. Soon afterwards McCord writes to John J. Sirica disclosing details of the Watergate operation. The evidence suggests that the CIA sent Fensterwald to McCord in an attempt to direct attention away from its involvement in Nixon’s dirty tricks campaign. As I have speculated on another thread, I believe Nixon’s strategy was to implicate the CIA in his dirty tricks campaign in order that they would, if necessary, organize a cover-up. This of course mirrors what happened during the JFK assassination.

Fensterwald seems to have played a similar role in the cases of Richard Case Nagell (1974) and John Paisley (1978). Both cases had the potential to link the CIA with the JFK assassination. However, in both cases, Fensterwald was unable to find this evidence. Had he been brought in by the CIA to make sure it did not happen? Did he play the same role in the case of James Earl Ray (1974-76)? Once again, he fails to deliver the goods.

Fensterwald’s supporters will refer to the book he co-authored with Michael Ewing: Assassination of JFK: Coincidence or Conspiracy (1974). The book is a collection of biographies of people that Fensterwald believed was involved in the JFK assassination. It is a useful reference book. However, it is noticeable that certain suspects do not appear in the book. The section on the CIA is very short and does not include entries for David Attlee Phillips, David Morales, Rip Robertson, Tracy Barnes, John Paisley, Ted Shackley, etc. Nor are there entries for people such as William Seymour, Bernardo de Torres, Gerry P. Hemming, Roy Hargraves, Lawrence Howard, Steve Wilson, Howard K. Davis, Edwin Collins, James Arthur Lewis and Dennis Harber. In fact, the anti-Castro angle is virtually completely missing from the book.

The largest section of the book concerns the “Mafia Connection”. This of course fits in with the CIA “Plan B” being pushed by people like Dick Billings and Jack Anderson at this time. That is no doubt what Fensterwald was up to when he got involved in the Jim Garrison investigation. However, Garrison refused to buy the “Mafia theory” and was therefore smeared by Billings and Anderson as being in the pay of organized crime. A smear that was eventually to cause him to lose his job as District Attorney of New Orleans.

There is also a section on Watergate. However, Fensterwald does not mention Lou Russell or Alfred Baldwin. Even McCord only gets three brief mentions.

I believe that Fensterwald was part of a long-term “limited hangout” strategy. Whenever, it looked like some investigation would lead to the CIA being exposed as being involved in the assassination of JFK, Fensterwald was sent in to block or redirect the investigation. He could only get away with this if he was portrayed as a genuine seeker of truth concerning the JFK assassination. The establishment of the formed the Committee To Investigate Assassinations was part of his “legend”.

Posted

While I could speculate on Fensterwald's connections, I'll leave his defense to someone who actually knew him. I would like to gently correct John, before he decides that I'm CIA, that it was HUAC, not HCUA. I think it also should be pointed out that there was at least some truth to the Garrison/mob connection story, in that Garrison made several trips to Vegas on the house and was believed to have met with Rosselli. What's worse is Garrison denied knowledge of Marcello's position in the mob until the day he died. I also think it was inaccurate to say that Garrison's ties to the mob cost him politically. I seem to remember it was an unsubstantiated allegation that he'd molested a young boy that brought about his downfall.

I honestly believe the wide-spread theory that BillingsBlakeyFensterwald were all CIA assets is a bit paranoid. I think the idea that CIA would try and use the mob as a "patsy" is ridiculous. Anyone who looks closely at the mob, will see CIA. Anyone who looks closely at the CIA, will see the mob. They were business partners.

Posted
AJ Weberman has argued that Bernard Fensterwald could have been working for the CIA.

http://www.ajweberman.com/nodules/nodule25.htm

Pat Speer has suggested that Weberman’s hostility towards Fensterwald could be connected to his criticisms of the book, Coup D'Etat in America. However, looking closely at Fensterwald’s career I tend to agree with Weberman that he was indeed a CIA asset.

As a young man he clearly held liberal views, possibly as a result of the influence of his mother, Blanche Fensterwald.

In 1951 Fensterwald began work for the State Department as an Assistant Legal Advisor. This included defending State Department employees accused by Joseph McCarthy of being members of the American Communist Party. I think that there is a very good chance that this would have meant helping two key CIA officials accused of being subversives, Frank Wisner and Cord Meyer. Both men were senior figures in the Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), the CIA unit that was responsible for covert operations. Hoover had described the OPC as "Wisner's gang of weirdos" and the FBI began supplying information about them to McCarthy. It has to be remembered that at the time the OPC was mainly staffed by men who had been active “liberals” in the 1930s. Hoover and McCarthy therefore considered them to be dangerous subversives in the 1950s.

People like Fensterwald did a good job and the charges against Wisner and Meyer were dropped. I suspect it was at this time that Fensterwald was recruited as a CIA asset. Tom Braden, who was head of the CIA’s International Organizations Division (IOD), later admitted that in the early 1950s a large number of “liberals” became CIA assets. It is also possible that he also became an informer for the FBI. 

In 1957 Fensterwald and his mother visited the Soviet Union. According to Weberman on his return the FBI stated, "Fensterwald has gone out of his way to be helpful."

Fensterwald also worked for two senior politicians, Edward V. Long  and Estes Kefauver. On March 12, 1961, Fensterwald became an investigator for the Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee that was headed by Kefauver. However the two men fell out and later that year Kefauver sacked Fensterwald. This might have been something to do with Fensterwald’s relationship with Long, who had been accused of being corruptly involved with Jimmy Hoffa, Robert Maheu and Sam Giancana. Long was eventually forced to resign. Long's book, The Intruders, was dedicated to Fensterwald.

Fensterwald became involved with Jim Garrison and his investigation of the JFK assassination. However, was Fensterwald on a “fishing mission”. We know that two other CIA assets, Dick Billings and Bernardo de Torres, also became involved in the Garrison investigation during this period. Billings attempted to direct Garrison towards the “Mafia did it” theory. Did Fensterwald do the same thing?

In January 1969, Fensterwald formed the Committee To Investigate Assassinations. It his work with this organization that has given Fensterwald his reputation as a JFK assassination researcher. Fensterwald employed Lou Russell, a former FBI agent, to help him with this investigation. This was a strange choice as Russell was an extreme right-winger who had worked for the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA). It was while working on the Alger Hiss case he met Richard Nixon. Russell, an alcoholic, had been fired from the FBI for his drinking. He was also dismissed from the HCUA in 1954 for his drinking. However, he was reinstated by Francis Walter, another extreme right-winger who was associated with the Ku Klux Klan. Russell was also connected to other far right groups.

Fensterwald and Russell enjoyed a long friendship. According to Jim Hougan Fensterwald paid him for work he did not do. Hougan also discovered that Russell received large payments via William Birely. Hougan believes this could have been CIA money.

It is generally believed that Russell was involved in the Watergate operation. Hougan suspects he along with James McCord and Alfred Baldwin, were trying to sabotage the operation.

When James McCord was first arrested he employed Gerald Alch as his lawyer. McCord sacked Alch and replaced him with Fensterwald. McCord’s attitude changed towards the case at this point. He writes to Jack Caulfield (head of Operation Sandwedge) that is going to reveal all unless Nixon stops trying to blame the CIA for Watergate. He also warns against Richard Helms being fired as head of the CIA. Nixon refuses to bring an end to this strategy and dismisses Helms. Soon afterwards McCord writes to John J. Sirica disclosing details of the Watergate operation. The evidence suggests that the CIA sent Fensterwald to McCord in an attempt to direct attention away from its involvement in Nixon’s dirty tricks campaign. As I have speculated on another thread, I believe Nixon’s strategy was to implicate the CIA in his dirty tricks campaign in order that they would, if necessary, organize a cover-up. This of course mirrors what happened during the JFK assassination.

Fensterwald seems to have played a similar role in the cases of Richard Case Nagell (1974) and John Paisley (1978). Both cases had the potential to link the CIA with the JFK assassination. However, in both cases, Fensterwald was unable to find this evidence. Had he been brought in by the CIA to make sure it did not happen? Did he play the same role in the case of James Earl Ray (1974-76)? Once again, he fails to deliver the goods.

Fensterwald’s supporters will refer to the book he co-authored with Michael Ewing: Assassination of JFK: Coincidence or Conspiracy (1974). The book is a collection of biographies of people that Fensterwald believed was involved in the JFK assassination. It is a useful reference book. However, it is noticeable that certain suspects do not appear in the book. The section on the CIA is very short and does not include entries for David Attlee Phillips, David Morales, Rip Robertson, Tracy Barnes, John Paisley, Ted Shackley, etc. Nor are there entries for people such as William Seymour, Bernardo de Torres, Gerry P. Hemming, Roy Hargraves, Lawrence Howard, Steve Wilson, Howard K. Davis, Edwin Collins, James Arthur Lewis and  Dennis Harber. In fact, the anti-Castro angle is virtually completely missing from the book.

The largest section of the book concerns the “Mafia Connection”. This of course fits in with the CIA “Plan B” being pushed by people like Dick Billings and Jack Anderson at this time. That is no doubt what Fensterwald was up to when he got involved in the Jim Garrison investigation. However, Garrison refused to buy the “Mafia theory” and was therefore smeared by Billings and Anderson as being in the pay of organized crime. A smear that was eventually to cause him to lose his job as District Attorney of New Orleans.

There is also a section on Watergate. However, Fensterwald does not mention Lou Russell or Alfred Baldwin. Even McCord only gets three brief mentions.

I believe that Fensterwald was part of a long-term “limited hangout” strategy. Whenever, it looked like some investigation would lead to the CIA being exposed as being involved in the assassination of JFK, Fensterwald was sent in to block or redirect the investigation. He could only get away with this if he was portrayed as a genuine seeker of truth concerning the JFK assassination. The establishment of the formed the Committee To Investigate Assassinations was part of his “legend”.

Posted

The Fenster was a low-life piece of xxxx and I am happy that weasel is dead. He and Richard Sprague did everything in their power to supress the presence of Hunt, Sturgis and Christ disguised as tramps at the scene of the Kennedy Assassination. In fact, when Steven Soter first showed the pix of Sturgis and the tramp he said, "I thought it was him but Fensterwald told me there was a height discrepancy." Richard Sprague and Fensterwald would show up at the office of any public official before Canfield and I visited them and say, "Weberman is a pot smoking hippie from the East Village, don't believe a word he says. We are respectable, Bud is a lawyer and I am a computer programer." Sprague eventually was appointed to the Committee on Electronic Funds Transfer by Ford.

Fensterwald was a CIA agent who pretended to be an assassination researcher in order to make sure the Agency was not harmed by the activities of a number of rogue agents. Having the reputation of someone who went up against the agency was invaluable to the CIA when a flap occurred, like the Paisley incident. The only good thing I can say about the Fenster was that his motive in all of this was to strengthen the position of pro-Israel forces within the Agency AS HE WAS A GOOD JEW. I am all for this but refuse to do it at the expense of the American people, who I also owe my loyalty to - having dual citizenship.

Posted
I also think it was inaccurate to say that Garrison's ties to the mob cost him politically.  I seem to remember it was an unsubstantiated allegation that he'd molested a young boy that brought about his downfall.

Garrison was arrested on 30th June, 1971 by the FBI. He was accused of participating in organized crime. It was not until August, 1973, that he was put on trial. (Garrison was due to stand for re-election in November, 1973). The case was based on the testimony of Pershing Gervais, Garrison’s former chief investigator. Gervais had been sacked by Garrison after he was reported for taking bribes. He was finally arrested for corruption and was then persuaded to be wired up in order to trap Garrison into accepting a bribe. The problem was that Gervais had been taped by Rosemary James, a television reporter in Canada, saying that he was part of a plot to “silence Jim Garrison” by the US government. He told James that he had participated in a “total, complete political frame-up”. During the trial Dr. Louis Gerstman testified that the tape used as evidence against Garrison had been doctored. Garrison was found not guilty but as he says in his book, On the Trail of the Assassins, “unfortunately, there was not sufficient time to get a re-election campaign off the ground, and my opponent won by 2,000 votes.” It is true that rumours were also circulated that Garrison was a gay paedophile. No evidence was ever provided for this claim but no doubt the rumours had there desired effect.

I honestly believe the wide-spread theory that BillingsBlakeyFensterwald were all CIA assets is a bit paranoid.  I think the idea that CIA would try and use the mob as a "patsy" is ridiculous. Anyone who looks closely at the mob, will see CIA.  Anyone who looks closely at the CIA, will see the mob.  They were business partners.

Of course conspiracy theorists are always accused of being paranoid. I suppose Pat has been called paranoid in the past. I think it is important to stick to the evidence. It seems to me that during the Garrison investigation it became impossible for the authorities to stick to the lone-gunman theory. It was therefore necessary to come up with a theory that would get the support of the public while protecting government agencies such as the CIA and the FBI. The Mafia was the obvious target. It was important not to give the impression that the Warren Commission framed Oswald. Therefore, Oswald still had to be one of the gunman. It was now necessary to link Oswald with organized crime. The process started with leaks to Jack Anderson and the activities of Dick Billings, Bernard Fensterwald and Bernardo de Torres. Finally, one of the leading experts on organized crime, G. Robert Blakey, was brought in to make it official.

Posted
It is true that rumours were also circulated that Garrison was a gay paedophile. No evidence was ever provided for this claim but no doubt the rumours had there desired effect.

Where was Karl Rove when these rumors started? (Somewhere up to doing good, I'm sure.)

Ron

Posted
The Fenster was a low-life piece of xxxx and I am happy that weasel is dead. He and Richard Sprague did everything in their power to supress the presence of Hunt, Sturgis and Christ disguised as tramps at the scene of the Kennedy Assassination. In fact, when Steven Soter first showed the pix of Sturgis and the tramp he said, "I thought it was him but Fensterwald told me there was a height discrepancy." Richard Sprague and Fensterwald would show up at the office of any public official before Canfield and I visited them and say, "Weberman is a pot smoking hippie from the East Village, don't believe a word he says. We are respectable, Bud is a lawyer and I am a computer programer." Sprague eventually was appointed to the Committee on Electronic Funds Transfer by Ford.

Fensterwald was a CIA agent who pretended to be an assassination researcher in order to make sure the Agency was not harmed by the activities of a number of rogue agents. Having the reputation of someone who went up against the agency was invaluable to the CIA when a flap occurred, like the Paisley incident. The only good thing I can say about the Fenster was that his motive in all of this was to strengthen the position of pro-Israel forces within the Agency AS HE WAS A GOOD JEW. I am all for this but refuse to do it at the expense of the American people, who I also owe my loyalty to - having dual citizenship.

I stand by my assertion that Weberman's opinion of Fensterwald is connected to Fensterwald's disagreement with Weberman regarding the tramps. In that case, the LaFontaine's must be CIA, too. Heck, I could even be CIA.

  • 4 years later...
Guest John Gillespie
Posted
I thought it would be worthwhile to have a thread on Bernard Fensterwald. It is difficult to know what to make of Fensterwald. Anyway, here are the basic facts of his life.

Fensterwald, the son of a wealthy clothing merchant, was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on 2nd August, 1921. Fensterwald served in the US Navy during the Second World War.

Fensterwald graduated from Harvard Law School in 1949. He entered the Georgetown University School of Advanced International Studies, a private institution, and received an M.A. in 1950. From 1951 to 1956 Fensterwald worked for the State Department as an Assistant Legal Advisor. This included defending State Department employees accused by Joseph McCarthy of being members of the American Communist Party.

In 1957 Fensterwald was hired by Thomas C. Hennings as an investigator for the Senate Committee on Constitutional Rights. Later that year Fensterwald visited the Soviet Union. According to Alan Weberman on his return the FBI stated, "Fensterwald has gone out of his way to be helpful."

Fensterwald also worked as a foreign policy advisor to Estes Kefauver. On March 12, 1961, Fensterwald became an investigator for the Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee that was headed by Kefauver. However the two men fell out and later that year Kefauver sacked Fensterwald.

Edward V. Long selected Bernard Fensterwald as his Chief Counsel when he had been accused of being corruptly involved with Jimmy Hoffa. The two men lived in the same apartment building in Washington. Long was also connected to Robert Maheu and Sam Giancanna.

In 1967 Long was called before the Senate Ethics Committee and questioned about his connections to Hoffa. As a result of this investigation Long was was forced to resign in December 1968. Long's book, The Intruders, was dedicated to Fensterwald.

Fensterwald became involved with Jim Garrison and his investigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination. In January 1969, Fensterwald joined forces with Richard E. Sprague to form the Committee To Investigate Assassinations, which was mainly concerned with finding the people responsible for killing Kennedy. As a result of the investigation Fensterwald and Michael Ewing co-authored Assassination of JFK: Coincidence or Conspiracy (1974).

In 1974 Richard Case Nagell employed Fensterwald as his lawyer. In September, 1963, Nagell had walked into a bank in El Paso, Texas, and fired two shots into the ceiling and then waited to be arrested. Nagell claimed he did this to isolate himself from the JFK assassination plot. This was successful and Nagell was charged with armed robbery and ended up spending the next five years in prison.

On his release Nagell told Jim Garrison about his knowledge of the assassination of JFK. He claimed that David Ferrie, Guy Banister, and Clay Shaw were involved in this plot with Oswald.

Fensterwald employed Lou Russell as a private detective to help him with some of his legal cases. One of Russell's first tasks was to investigate the journalist Jack Anderson. Russell also purchased $3,000 in electronic eavesdropping equipment from John Leon of Allied Investigators. Russell's friend, Charles F. Knight, was told that this equipment had been purchased for James W. McCord. At the time, Russell also did part-time work for McCord. This equipment was used to tape the telephone conversations between politicians based at the Democratic Party National Committee and a small group of prostitutes run by Phillip Mackin Bailley that worked their trade in the Columbia Plaza. Russell was almost certainly involved in the Watergate break-in.

When McCord were arrested while in the Democratic Party headquarters in Watergate he employed Fensterwald as his lawyer.

On 21st December, 1972, McCord wrote a letter to Jack Caulfield: " Sorry to have to write you this letter but felt you had to know. if Helms goes, and if the WG (Watergate) operation is laid at the CIA's feet, where it does not belong, every tree in the forest will fall. It will be a scorched desert. The whole matter is at the precipice right now. Just pass the message that if they want it to blow, they are on exactly the right course. I'm sorry that you will get hurt in the fallout.”

Caulfield was unable to persuade Richard Nixon to leave the CIA alone. In February, 1973, Richard Helms was sacked by Nixon. The following month McCord carried out his threat. On 19th March, 1973, McCord wrote a letter to Judge John J. Sirica claiming that the defendants had pleaded guilty under pressure (from John Dean and John N. Mitchell) and that perjury had been committed. McCord also gave details about Operation Gemstone.

In April 1973, Lou Russell suffered a heart attack. However, despite being unable to work, McCord continued to pay him as an employee of Security International. Russell did not have a bank account and Fensterwald paid his cheques into his Committee to Investigate Assassinations.

Another of Fensterwald's famous client was James Earl Ray, the man who had been found guilty of killing Martin Luther King. In June 1974 Fensterwald filed a motion to grant Ray a new trial on the basis of alleged collusion between his former attorney and the author William Bradford Huie. In 1976 Ray dismissed Fensterwald as his lawyer. Fensterwald also represented Andrew St. George, a journalist who was considered to be a CIA asset.

On 24th September, 1978, John Paisley, the former CIA official, took a trip on his motorized sailboat on Chesapeake Bay. Two days later his boat was found moored in Solomons, Maryland. Paisley's body was found in Maryland's Patuxent River. The body was fixed to diving weights. He had been shot in the head. Police investigators described it as "an execution-type murder". However, officially Paisley's death was recorded as a suicide. In June 1979 Fensterwald represented Paisley's family but was unable to solve the case.

According to Robert D. Morrow, Fensterwald in February, 1991 arranged "to interview an Air Force colonel... who I had identified as the possible bagman (responsible for paying the conspirators) for the JFK assassination". Morrow told Gus Russo that "Bud is going to get himself killed" if he went ahead with this interview.

On April 2, 1991, Bernard Fensterwald, 69, died of a heart attack at his home in Alexandria, Virginia. Morrow is convinced he was murdered but his wife insists he died of natural causes.

________________________________________

The quoted portion is an excerpt from AJ Weberman's "Coup d'etat...", specifically Nodule 23...Is there anyone Fensterwald didn't represent? My barber dropped his name just a couple of weeks ago. To somehow conclude (not suggesting who in particular does) that it all is coincidental or benign or innocently fortuitous requires an act of deliberate naivete, at best. His whole career was redolent of the Intelligence milieu.

"Mitch Werbell was an associate of Robert Vesco, and in 1974 Mitch Werbell was called before the Senate Permanent Investigating Subcommittee which was looking into the financial dealings of Robert Vesco. Mitch Werbell took the Fifth Amendment. Mitch Werbell and associates were represented by the law firm of Fensterwald and Ohlhausen. William George Ohlhausen [born 12.2.39; OS SF 197 427] "was an applicant for CIA GS-5 Staff employment (Intelligence Analyst/DDP/RID) in January 1962. His case was canceled in May 1962 for the reason he accepted another position." [Memo Sarah K. Hall SRS/OS 4.8.71] In 1976 Mitch Werbell associate Dominick Bartone was asked: "Now, among other things, didn't Mr. Senore tell you that Morton Franklin had told him Gerry Cunningham was to receive 1,000 guns, probably destined for Robert Vesco?" Dominick Bartone responded: "He mentioned they were probably destined for Vesco..." [76-6066-Cr-Wh-USDC SD FLA. Miami p161].

JG

Posted

I am not going to argue the point with already opinionated people. All I know is that Frank's nephew told me that he lied for Frank when the Rockefellar Commission asked him if Frank was home all day on Nov. 22. And Hunt confessed to his kid. You show me another theory that has been substantiated to that degree! Anyway we had the Fenster's phone disconnected and all his calls routed to his new number - the CIA Switchboard. Like this reminds one time Richard Helms asks me, "Why didn't you just call me and ask me about these things?" Oh Yeah, CIA may I help you I'd like to speak to the DCIA. Who may I ask is calling? AJ Weberman Oh AJ what's up? I will put you right through. Right?

Posted (edited)
I am not going to argue the point with already opinionated people. All I know is that Frank's nephew told me that he lied for Frank when the Rockefellar Commission asked him if Frank was home all day on Nov. 22. And Hunt confessed to his kid. You show me another theory that has been substantiated to that degree! Anyway we had the Fenster's phone disconnected and all his calls routed to his new number - the CIA Switchboard. Like this reminds one time Richard Helms asks me, "Why didn't you just call me and ask me about these things?" Oh Yeah, CIA may I help you I'd like to speak to the DCIA. Who may I ask is calling? AJ Weberman Oh AJ what's up? I will put you right through. Right?

Although I am probably a minority opinion, I am convinced that the remaining deep secrets of the Kennedy assassination, could have been readily explained by certain lawyers who have long since passed into eternity, or whatever you wish to call it....

I also believe there are two levels of researchers, those who suspect that any person and/or relationship they are not knowledgeable about becomes a "conspiratorial relationship," and a more durable sort that could give an intelligence operative a run for their money on who has the bigger knowledgebase.....

JFK research owes a significant debt to Bud Fensterwald, Jr because he was responsible for a very significant trove of documents being declassified, and you will discover, should you look hard enough, that he was investigating a serious lead at the time of his death, I concur with Jack White that to think his death was an accident borders on the ludicrous, but fits in rather well in the worldview of the Blakey's and Bugliosi's of the world......

Edited by Robert Howard
Posted

In 1969 Bud Fensterwald formed the Committee to Investigate Assassinations (CIA)

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...sPageId=1025512

More AJ

http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:z6wYQx...=clnk&gl=us

BERNARD FENSTERWALD

During 1975 "Bud" Fensterwald was this researchers major antagonist. He did all that he could to discredit my work. Bernard Fensterwald was born August 2, 1921, in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of a wealthy clothing merchant. In 1941 his mother, Blanche Fensterwald, was a delegate to the Southern Conference on Human Welfare, sponsored by the Southern Regional Council. According to Julius Mader, the CIA had used the Southern Regional Council in some unspecified manner during the 1960's. [FBI MURKIN 44-3886-4358; FBI WFO 62-112697-1] The NY Office of the FBI prepared a report on Blanche Fensterwald on August 24, 1956. She was mentioned in four other FBI files. In 1942 Bernard Fensterwald graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard. He served in the Navy in World War II, and received a degree from Harvard Law School in 1949. That year, Bernard Fensterwald was the Subject of an FBI applicant type investigation. Bernard Fensterwald entered the Georgetown University School of Advanced International Studies, a private institution, and received an M.A. in 1950.

FENSTERWALD AND SENATOR JOSEPH McCARTHY

In February 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy (Rep.-WI) claimed that the State Department was harboring more than 200 members of the Communist Party. Senator Joseph McCarthy demanded that the State Department fire them. These charges were largely unfounded. In the from 1951 to 1956 Bernard Fensterwald worked for the State Department as an Assistant Legal Advisor. Bernard Fensterwald defended several State Department employees accused by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Communist affiliation. Some may have been CIA agents who used State Department cover. Senator Joseph McCarthy: "Case No. 11: This individual was an OSS analyst from July 1943 to August 1945, and was employed in the State Department Map Intelligence Division after August 1945. He is a regular reader of the Daily Worker. He has a job with the CIA as of today." [FBI 121-23278-13X]

BERNARD FENSTERWALD IN CONGRESS

SENATOR THOMAS C. HENNINGS

In 1957 Bernard Fensterwald left the State Department and was hired by Senator Thomas C. Hennings (Dem.-MO) as an investigator for the Senate Committee on Constitutional Rights. In 1957, with his mother, Fensterwald visited the Soviet Union. In 1957 the FBI stated, "Fensterwald has gone out of his way to be helpful." On May 14, 1957, Fensterwald contacted Louis B. Nichols of the FBI. Senator Henning had been asked to introduce legislation to block the deportation of Pierre LaFitte. (LaFitte was mentioned in Ovid Demaris' Green Felt Junge, a book about Las Vegas gambling interests). "I told Fensterwald that this, of course, was a matter for the Immigration Service and on a purely personal and confidential basis the Senator should be exceedingly cautious before he got out on a limb; that if he inquired into LaFittes background he would find an extensive record; and that under no circumstances would the Bureau support LaFitte. I told him officially, of course, we could not take a position but that, personally, we would hate to see some friend embarrassed and he should be very cautious. Fensterwald stated that was enough for him. (Paragraph deleted)" [FBI 66-18621-269] In 1959 Fensterwald was the Subject of an applicant-type inquiry conducted by the FBI.

SENATOR ESTES KEFAUVER

In 1955 Bernard Fensterwald was a foreign policy advisor to Senator Kefauver(Dem.-TN). In 1956 Senator Kefauver accepted the Vice-Presidential nomination on the Adlai Stevenson ticket, but both were defeated by the re-election of Dwight Eisenhower. On March 12, 1961, Bernard Fensterwald replaced Paul Rand Dixon as an investigator for the Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee headed by Senator Estes Kefauver. Paul R. Dixon became head of the Federal Trade Commission. In 1961 Senator Estes Kefauver was investigating the drug industry. Hank Messick reported Senator Estes Kefauver fired Bernard Fensterwald.

In May 1963 Kefauver was hosptialized in Bethesda Naval Hospital with a case of Asian influenza. On August 8, 1963 Kefauver was hospitalized at Bethesda with what was described as a mild heart attack. He first believed he was suffering from actute integestion. Tests at the hospital disclosed the heart attack. He was ordered to get several weeks of bedrest, however his condition worsened and on August 10, 1963 - while awaiting open-heart surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Kefauver died of a ruptured aorta which caused a massive hemorrhage. His body was taken home to Madisonville for burial and no autopsy was performed. The cause of death was listed as a dissecting aneurysm, or balloning of the aorta. Was this a drug-induced myocardial infarction?

The possible motive here theoretically may have involved the CIA winning the confidence of the mob along with eliminating a likely Vice Presidental candidate had Lyndon Johnson not decided to forgo name a Vice President and instead waited for the 1964 elections. President Johnson did not want to erode democracy.

THE COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ASSASSINATIONS

In January 1969, two months after having left Senator Edward V. Long's "Get Robert F. Kennedy Subcommittee," Bernard Fensterwald founded the Committee To Investigate Assassinations, which was allegedly dedicated to finding the real assassins of John F. Kennedy. ANGLETON'S Deputy, James Hunt, asked the FBI for more information on the Committee To Investigate Assassinations. [FBI 62-19060-6681] The CIA: "Our records show that Richard Sprague, a management consultant and photographic researcher, appeared in a New York Times article of May 24, 1968, in which he claimed that within an hour of the assassination of President Kennedy three men may have been pulled off freight cars in a railroad yard near Dealey Plaza. We have no further identifiable record of him."

ANALYSIS

The Committee to Investigate Assassinations was formed by Fensterwald and Sprague, not to reveal the truth about the Kennedy assassination, but to suppress it. A lot of researchers like Jim Lesar, Kevin Walsch and others were fooled by Fensterwald and worked with him and were influenced by him.

BERNARD FENSTERWALD AND JAMES EARL RAY

In the Spring of 1970 James Earl Ray hired Bernard Fensterwald as his attorney; he fired him in 1976. In June 1974 Bernard Fensterwald filed a motion to grant James Earl Ray a new trial on the basis of alleged collusion between William Bradford Huie and the former attorneys of James Earl Ray.

Bernard Fensterwald was involved with a lot of bogus activity surrounding the King assassination. In September 1974, Robert Livingston, a Memphis lawyer and Special Deputy Sheriff, held a press conference at which he announced: "There were three gunmen, one from the underworld who is now serving a sentence in a Canadian prison and proposes to testify to give a complete expose of the King murder case and to give names and telephone numbers of the four...wealthy, socially prominent Americans...one black...who hired him...for $100,000 to kill King."

Robert Livingston contacted Memphis attorney Russell X. Thompson and asked him to represent these hired killers, who agreed to testify if they were granted complete immunity. Russell X. Thompson was known as a liberal, and represented the NAACP. Russell X. Thompson received a phone call from one of the alleged gunman who wanted $3000 to come to Memphis.

Bernard Fensterwald and Robert Livingston allegedly met one of the gunman in Detroit, then took him to Tennesse to see James Earl Ray. James Earl Ray refused to speak with him and the "hired gun men" story proved false. Priscilla Johnson's former husband, George McMillan, believed he knew the identity of one of the hired gun men. George McMillan did a book on the Martin Luther King killing, Portrait of an Assassin. "I have always believed that James Earl Ray did it alone" said George McMillan. In 1994 James Earl Ray became suspicious of Bernard Fensterwald: "When he first started representing me he appeared very diligent; however, after he obtained the evidentiary hearing in the Memphis Federal Court he appeared to become very defensive in prosecuting the matter. He wouldn't permit his associate, Jim Lesar, to ask certain witnesses questions. Lesar's intentions were okay but he did not have the experience to brief a H.C. case. After the evidentiary hearing in Memphis, Fensterwald asked me to let Lesar file the briefs to the 6th circuit and argue them at the hearing. At that time Lesar was young and not a cr. attorney. The next time I saw Fensterwald was 15 years later (1990), I think, in Brushy Mountain prison. He showed me a picture along with some information about a dude named Smith...Fensterwald asked if Smith was Raoul. Now Smith was an Anglo and I assumed he spoke with a Texas accent, i.e. he had very little in common with Raoul. About three months ago I filed an FOIA request with the FBI/JD asking for Fensterwald's private files." [ltr.from Ray to AJW 8.31.94, 5.4.94; MURKIN FBI 44-38861-5955, 5950, 5957, 5948, 5947]

JAMES McCORD AND FENSTERWALD

On May 24, 1972, JAMES W. McCORD retained Bernard Fensterwald as his counsel in Watergate. After he was arrested at Watergate, McCORD was going to blame the break-in on the CIA, but McCORD changed his mind. McCORD stated: "I have released Gerald Alch as my defense attorney in the Watergate case [and hired Bernard Fensterwald who put up $40,000 bail for McCORD]. In a meeting recently in which our defense plans for Watergate trial were discussed, Alch persisted in a proposal that I claim the Watergate operation was a CIA operation. That is flatly untrue, and when I rejected it, he then went on to make a second proposal. The second proposal then was that I claim that the four Cubans and I cooked up the bugging operation on our own. This was also untrue." [Ervin Hearings p3444] Gerald Alch denied McCORD'S charges. He said that McCORD'S statement that he told McCORD that his CIA records could be altered to support the claim Watergate was a CIA operation was also false.

Gerald Alch, a former associate of F. Lee Bailey who is now a judge in Massachusetts, testified to the Senate Select Committee on Illegal Campaign Activities: "Bernard Fensterwald said to McCORD, 'The reporters have been asking me whether or not you or I had ever had any past relationship? I told him that we had...Well, after all, you have in the past submitted me checks which were donations to the Committee To Investigate Assassinations.' McCORD smiled and said 'That's right.'"

McCORD ASSOCIATES

The Committee To Investigate Assassinations was funded by McCORD ASSOCIATES, which for all practical purposes, was a CIA proprietary. The CIA reported that U.S. Attorney Earl Silbert "is aware that Ralph True was going to go to work for McCORD. [He] would like to know of any other individuals who possibly had been talked to by McCORD when looking toward employment."

The CIA listed 12 former CIA employees who had applied to McCORD ASSOCIATES for work:

(1) William Francis Shea. Entered On Duty 1951, Office of Strategic Research, DDI Intelligence Officer (deleted). The Office of Personnel referred Mr. Shea to McCORD Associates in 1971, and Dr. Edward M. Gunn indicated that Mr. Shea is affiliated with the Institute for Protection and Safety Studies, Inc.

(2) Therese Mae Shea. Entered on duty at the CIA in 1948. Wife of William Francis Shea. Hired by McCORD as secretary.

(3) James Corbin Fitchett. Entered On Duty 1951. Was supposed to be hired June 30, 1972, to work with the Committee to Re-elect President NIXON.

(4) Ross Ward Lambert as former OSS employee, served with the Agency from January 11, 1965, to August 9, 1971, and was a GS-13, Contract Employee assigned to the Special Operations Division/DDP, at the time of his resignation. Mr. Lambert served (deleted). Took job elsewhere.

(5) Louis Edgar Sherrad. Served with the Agency from July 2, 1952, until January 31, 1969, when he resigned. Security Officer assigned to the Security Research Staff. Background centers on industrial and physical security.

(6) Ralph Orlando True. Entered On Duty 1950. Still Agency employed. Ralph Orlando True was also supposed to retire on June 30, 1972, and join McCORD ASSOCIATES.

(7) Dr. Edward Mansfield Gunn. Entered On Duty 1955. Served with the Agency until May 31, 1971, and was a GS-17, Deputy Director of Medical Services, at the time of his retirement. Dr. Gunn was interviewed by an Office of Security representative on June 19, 1972, and discussed in some detail his involvement with the Institute for Protection and Safety Studies, Inc. which is affiliated with McCORD Associates and occupies space in the same offices. Hired.

(8) Dr. Jacob Victor Golder. Former GS-15, Chief of Psychological Services Staff/Office of Medical Services.

(9) Harry Thayer Mahoney. Entered On Duty 1951. In 1972 he was a GS-14 Operations Officer assigned to Western Hemisphere Division/DDP. He had been acquainted with HOWARD HUNT and McCORD through the years. In 1976 Harry T. Mahoney worked for the Burns International Investigation Bureau. Mahoney had written CIA Agent David McLean a letter mentioning FRANK STURGIS. [Harry Mahoney 1110 Shady Lane, Wheaton, Il. 60187 AFIO 1994;Counterspy Spring 1976]

(10) James Louis Baker. Entered On Duty 1951. Contract was allowed to expire on June 24, 1972. GS-12. Operations Officer assigned to (deleted). Not interviewed by McCORD because he took a job with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs effective as of June 26, 1972.

(11) George Theodore Stanton. Served with the Agency from August 4, 1947, to January 8, 1972, and was a GS-14, Operations Officer, assigned to the Counter-Intelligence Staff/DDP. Dr. Gunn indicated that Mr. Stanton has been serving as a consultant to the Institute for Protection and Safety Studies, Inc.

(12) Walter Edward Brayden. Entered On Duty 1947. Hired. Intelligence Officer, DD/P. In April 1972, he served as guard for Mrs. Martha Mitchell on a trip to Chicago. The CIA reported that McCORD "gave him his expense account money in ten new one hundred dollar bills. McCORD wanted Braydon to carry a gun, and when Braydon showed reluctance McCORD told him it was OK since he was working to the Attorney General of the U.S. O'Malley also said that Brayden performed security sweeps of the office of the Committee to Re-elect the President." [CIA Memo For: DD/Pers/SP Subject: Meeting with Frank O'Malley]

Posted
In 1969 Bud Fensterwald formed the Committee to Investigate Assassinations (CIA)

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/...sPageId=1025512

More AJ

http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:z6wYQx...=clnk&gl=us

BERNARD FENSTERWALD

During 1975 "Bud" Fensterwald was this researchers major antagonist. He did all that he could to discredit my work. Bernard Fensterwald was born August 2, 1921, in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of a wealthy clothing merchant. In 1941 his mother, Blanche Fensterwald, was a delegate to the Southern Conference on Human Welfare, sponsored by the Southern Regional Council. According to Julius Mader, the CIA had used the Southern Regional Council in some unspecified manner during the 1960's. [FBI MURKIN 44-3886-4358; FBI WFO 62-112697-1] The NY Office of the FBI prepared a report on Blanche Fensterwald on August 24, 1956. She was mentioned in four other FBI files. In 1942 Bernard Fensterwald graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard. He served in the Navy in World War II, and received a degree from Harvard Law School in 1949. That year, Bernard Fensterwald was the Subject of an FBI applicant type investigation. Bernard Fensterwald entered the Georgetown University School of Advanced International Studies, a private institution, and received an M.A. in 1950.

FENSTERWALD AND SENATOR JOSEPH McCARTHY

In February 1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy (Rep.-WI) claimed that the State Department was harboring more than 200 members of the Communist Party. Senator Joseph McCarthy demanded that the State Department fire them. These charges were largely unfounded. In the from 1951 to 1956 Bernard Fensterwald worked for the State Department as an Assistant Legal Advisor. Bernard Fensterwald defended several State Department employees accused by Senator Joseph McCarthy of Communist affiliation. Some may have been CIA agents who used State Department cover. Senator Joseph McCarthy: "Case No. 11: This individual was an OSS analyst from July 1943 to August 1945, and was employed in the State Department Map Intelligence Division after August 1945. He is a regular reader of the Daily Worker. He has a job with the CIA as of today." [FBI 121-23278-13X]

BERNARD FENSTERWALD IN CONGRESS

SENATOR THOMAS C. HENNINGS

In 1957 Bernard Fensterwald left the State Department and was hired by Senator Thomas C. Hennings (Dem.-MO) as an investigator for the Senate Committee on Constitutional Rights. In 1957, with his mother, Fensterwald visited the Soviet Union. In 1957 the FBI stated, "Fensterwald has gone out of his way to be helpful." On May 14, 1957, Fensterwald contacted Louis B. Nichols of the FBI. Senator Henning had been asked to introduce legislation to block the deportation of Pierre LaFitte. (LaFitte was mentioned in Ovid Demaris' Green Felt Junge, a book about Las Vegas gambling interests). "I told Fensterwald that this, of course, was a matter for the Immigration Service and on a purely personal and confidential basis the Senator should be exceedingly cautious before he got out on a limb; that if he inquired into LaFittes background he would find an extensive record; and that under no circumstances would the Bureau support LaFitte. I told him officially, of course, we could not take a position but that, personally, we would hate to see some friend embarrassed and he should be very cautious. Fensterwald stated that was enough for him. (Paragraph deleted)" [FBI 66-18621-269] In 1959 Fensterwald was the Subject of an applicant-type inquiry conducted by the FBI.

SENATOR ESTES KEFAUVER

In 1955 Bernard Fensterwald was a foreign policy advisor to Senator Kefauver(Dem.-TN). In 1956 Senator Kefauver accepted the Vice-Presidential nomination on the Adlai Stevenson ticket, but both were defeated by the re-election of Dwight Eisenhower. On March 12, 1961, Bernard Fensterwald replaced Paul Rand Dixon as an investigator for the Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee headed by Senator Estes Kefauver. Paul R. Dixon became head of the Federal Trade Commission. In 1961 Senator Estes Kefauver was investigating the drug industry. Hank Messick reported Senator Estes Kefauver fired Bernard Fensterwald.

In May 1963 Kefauver was hosptialized in Bethesda Naval Hospital with a case of Asian influenza. On August 8, 1963 Kefauver was hospitalized at Bethesda with what was described as a mild heart attack. He first believed he was suffering from actute integestion. Tests at the hospital disclosed the heart attack. He was ordered to get several weeks of bedrest, however his condition worsened and on August 10, 1963 - while awaiting open-heart surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Kefauver died of a ruptured aorta which caused a massive hemorrhage. His body was taken home to Madisonville for burial and no autopsy was performed. The cause of death was listed as a dissecting aneurysm, or balloning of the aorta. Was this a drug-induced myocardial infarction?

The possible motive here theoretically may have involved the CIA winning the confidence of the mob along with eliminating a likely Vice Presidental candidate had Lyndon Johnson not decided to forgo name a Vice President and instead waited for the 1964 elections. President Johnson did not want to erode democracy.

THE COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE ASSASSINATIONS

In January 1969, two months after having left Senator Edward V. Long's "Get Robert F. Kennedy Subcommittee," Bernard Fensterwald founded the Committee To Investigate Assassinations, which was allegedly dedicated to finding the real assassins of John F. Kennedy. ANGLETON'S Deputy, James Hunt, asked the FBI for more information on the Committee To Investigate Assassinations. [FBI 62-19060-6681] The CIA: "Our records show that Richard Sprague, a management consultant and photographic researcher, appeared in a New York Times article of May 24, 1968, in which he claimed that within an hour of the assassination of President Kennedy three men may have been pulled off freight cars in a railroad yard near Dealey Plaza. We have no further identifiable record of him."

ANALYSIS

The Committee to Investigate Assassinations was formed by Fensterwald and Sprague, not to reveal the truth about the Kennedy assassination, but to suppress it. A lot of researchers like Jim Lesar, Kevin Walsch and others were fooled by Fensterwald and worked with him and were influenced by him.

BERNARD FENSTERWALD AND JAMES EARL RAY

In the Spring of 1970 James Earl Ray hired Bernard Fensterwald as his attorney; he fired him in 1976. In June 1974 Bernard Fensterwald filed a motion to grant James Earl Ray a new trial on the basis of alleged collusion between William Bradford Huie and the former attorneys of James Earl Ray.

Bernard Fensterwald was involved with a lot of bogus activity surrounding the King assassination. In September 1974, Robert Livingston, a Memphis lawyer and Special Deputy Sheriff, held a press conference at which he announced: "There were three gunmen, one from the underworld who is now serving a sentence in a Canadian prison and proposes to testify to give a complete expose of the King murder case and to give names and telephone numbers of the four...wealthy, socially prominent Americans...one black...who hired him...for $100,000 to kill King."

Robert Livingston contacted Memphis attorney Russell X. Thompson and asked him to represent these hired killers, who agreed to testify if they were granted complete immunity. Russell X. Thompson was known as a liberal, and represented the NAACP. Russell X. Thompson received a phone call from one of the alleged gunman who wanted $3000 to come to Memphis.

Bernard Fensterwald and Robert Livingston allegedly met one of the gunman in Detroit, then took him to Tennesse to see James Earl Ray. James Earl Ray refused to speak with him and the "hired gun men" story proved false. Priscilla Johnson's former husband, George McMillan, believed he knew the identity of one of the hired gun men. George McMillan did a book on the Martin Luther King killing, Portrait of an Assassin. "I have always believed that James Earl Ray did it alone" said George McMillan. In 1994 James Earl Ray became suspicious of Bernard Fensterwald: "When he first started representing me he appeared very diligent; however, after he obtained the evidentiary hearing in the Memphis Federal Court he appeared to become very defensive in prosecuting the matter. He wouldn't permit his associate, Jim Lesar, to ask certain witnesses questions. Lesar's intentions were okay but he did not have the experience to brief a H.C. case. After the evidentiary hearing in Memphis, Fensterwald asked me to let Lesar file the briefs to the 6th circuit and argue them at the hearing. At that time Lesar was young and not a cr. attorney. The next time I saw Fensterwald was 15 years later (1990), I think, in Brushy Mountain prison. He showed me a picture along with some information about a dude named Smith...Fensterwald asked if Smith was Raoul. Now Smith was an Anglo and I assumed he spoke with a Texas accent, i.e. he had very little in common with Raoul. About three months ago I filed an FOIA request with the FBI/JD asking for Fensterwald's private files." [ltr.from Ray to AJW 8.31.94, 5.4.94; MURKIN FBI 44-38861-5955, 5950, 5957, 5948, 5947]

JAMES McCORD AND FENSTERWALD

On May 24, 1972, JAMES W. McCORD retained Bernard Fensterwald as his counsel in Watergate. After he was arrested at Watergate, McCORD was going to blame the break-in on the CIA, but McCORD changed his mind. McCORD stated: "I have released Gerald Alch as my defense attorney in the Watergate case [and hired Bernard Fensterwald who put up $40,000 bail for McCORD]. In a meeting recently in which our defense plans for Watergate trial were discussed, Alch persisted in a proposal that I claim the Watergate operation was a CIA operation. That is flatly untrue, and when I rejected it, he then went on to make a second proposal. The second proposal then was that I claim that the four Cubans and I cooked up the bugging operation on our own. This was also untrue." [Ervin Hearings p3444] Gerald Alch denied McCORD'S charges. He said that McCORD'S statement that he told McCORD that his CIA records could be altered to support the claim Watergate was a CIA operation was also false.

Gerald Alch, a former associate of F. Lee Bailey who is now a judge in Massachusetts, testified to the Senate Select Committee on Illegal Campaign Activities: "Bernard Fensterwald said to McCORD, 'The reporters have been asking me whether or not you or I had ever had any past relationship? I told him that we had...Well, after all, you have in the past submitted me checks which were donations to the Committee To Investigate Assassinations.' McCORD smiled and said 'That's right.'"

McCORD ASSOCIATES

The Committee To Investigate Assassinations was funded by McCORD ASSOCIATES, which for all practical purposes, was a CIA proprietary. The CIA reported that U.S. Attorney Earl Silbert "is aware that Ralph True was going to go to work for McCORD. [He] would like to know of any other individuals who possibly had been talked to by McCORD when looking toward employment."

The CIA listed 12 former CIA employees who had applied to McCORD ASSOCIATES for work:

(1) William Francis Shea. Entered On Duty 1951, Office of Strategic Research, DDI Intelligence Officer (deleted). The Office of Personnel referred Mr. Shea to McCORD Associates in 1971, and Dr. Edward M. Gunn indicated that Mr. Shea is affiliated with the Institute for Protection and Safety Studies, Inc.

(2) Therese Mae Shea. Entered on duty at the CIA in 1948. Wife of William Francis Shea. Hired by McCORD as secretary.

(3) James Corbin Fitchett. Entered On Duty 1951. Was supposed to be hired June 30, 1972, to work with the Committee to Re-elect President NIXON.

(4) Ross Ward Lambert as former OSS employee, served with the Agency from January 11, 1965, to August 9, 1971, and was a GS-13, Contract Employee assigned to the Special Operations Division/DDP, at the time of his resignation. Mr. Lambert served (deleted). Took job elsewhere.

(5) Louis Edgar Sherrad. Served with the Agency from July 2, 1952, until January 31, 1969, when he resigned. Security Officer assigned to the Security Research Staff. Background centers on industrial and physical security.

(6) Ralph Orlando True. Entered On Duty 1950. Still Agency employed. Ralph Orlando True was also supposed to retire on June 30, 1972, and join McCORD ASSOCIATES.

(7) Dr. Edward Mansfield Gunn. Entered On Duty 1955. Served with the Agency until May 31, 1971, and was a GS-17, Deputy Director of Medical Services, at the time of his retirement. Dr. Gunn was interviewed by an Office of Security representative on June 19, 1972, and discussed in some detail his involvement with the Institute for Protection and Safety Studies, Inc. which is affiliated with McCORD Associates and occupies space in the same offices. Hired.

(8) Dr. Jacob Victor Golder. Former GS-15, Chief of Psychological Services Staff/Office of Medical Services.

(9) Harry Thayer Mahoney. Entered On Duty 1951. In 1972 he was a GS-14 Operations Officer assigned to Western Hemisphere Division/DDP. He had been acquainted with HOWARD HUNT and McCORD through the years. In 1976 Harry T. Mahoney worked for the Burns International Investigation Bureau. Mahoney had written CIA Agent David McLean a letter mentioning FRANK STURGIS. [Harry Mahoney 1110 Shady Lane, Wheaton, Il. 60187 AFIO 1994;Counterspy Spring 1976]

(10) James Louis Baker. Entered On Duty 1951. Contract was allowed to expire on June 24, 1972. GS-12. Operations Officer assigned to (deleted). Not interviewed by McCORD because he took a job with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs effective as of June 26, 1972.

(11) George Theodore Stanton. Served with the Agency from August 4, 1947, to January 8, 1972, and was a GS-14, Operations Officer, assigned to the Counter-Intelligence Staff/DDP. Dr. Gunn indicated that Mr. Stanton has been serving as a consultant to the Institute for Protection and Safety Studies, Inc.

(12) Walter Edward Brayden. Entered On Duty 1947. Hired. Intelligence Officer, DD/P. In April 1972, he served as guard for Mrs. Martha Mitchell on a trip to Chicago. The CIA reported that McCORD "gave him his expense account money in ten new one hundred dollar bills. McCORD wanted Braydon to carry a gun, and when Braydon showed reluctance McCORD told him it was OK since he was working to the Attorney General of the U.S. O'Malley also said that Brayden performed security sweeps of the office of the Committee to Re-elect the President." [CIA Memo For: DD/Pers/SP Subject: Meeting with Frank O'Malley]

Well, my last post looks a little shaky after you posted that Bill, thank God, I never claimed to know everything about everything...lol

But on a more serious note, I have become a lot more interested in activities which center on Edward Long's Subcommittee

ie Guy Johnson, Gordon Homme Jr., and the allegations of Jack Martin regarding the Homme Report......

Interest may be further piqued by what Douglas Valentine wrote in his article, a portion of which is included below....

.......Furthermore, on 23 January, 1967, Lapham [CIA Assistant General Counsel Anthony Lapham]met with Dr Sidney Gottlieb and several other CIA and Treasury officials in sensitive discussions concerning an investigation by Senator Edward Long (D-MS). As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Invasion of Privacy, Long was probing allegations of illegal wiretapping by various branches of the US government, and his staff had stumbled on the existence of the MKULTRA safehouses. A 30 January, 1967, memorandum, written by Gottlieb, records the CIA's on-going efforts to conceal its involvement with the MKULTRA safehouses from Senator Long. When asked if the CIA was using the Narcotics Bureau as a "front" for domestic operations, Gottlieb said no. He told the Treasury Department officials that the "pads" were only used for routine narcotics operations.

http://www.nthposition.com/sexdrugsampthe.php

The one organization which is not mentioned in all of this which is the Office Of Naval Intelligence, which was the background of some of the persons in Long's Subcommittee, the problem with the Homme Report, if indeed such a document even exists, is that unless I am mistaken, Sen. Edward Long chaired several different Subcommittee's, although the "Get Robert Kennedy" Subcommittee would seem the obvious choice.....

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...