Irving Davidson

[John Simkin]

The investigative journalist Dan E. Moldea was kind enough to send me a photograph of Irving Davidson in about 2002.

http://www.moldea.com/IrvingDavidson.html

Dan tells me that "I interviewed and wrote about Irv for my books The Hoffa Wars and Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football. I last saw him at Jack Anderson's funeral in December 2005, and he didn't look well at all." Has anybody got copies of these books. I would be interested in what he says about Davidson.

[Myra Bronstein]

The investigative journalist Dan E. Moldea was kind enough to send me a photograph of Irving Davidson in about 2002.

http://www.moldea.com/IrvingDavidson.html

Thank you John!

Thank you Dan!

[Myra Bronstein]

This is the document that suggests Irving Davidson might have been involved in the assassination of JFK. We now know that Wheaton's evidence came from Carl E. Jenkins and Chi Chi Quintero.

It is also relevant that Tim Gratz has planted himself on the end of this thread.

...

If I recall correctly Peter Dale Scott spends a lot of time on Davidson in his Deep Politics JFK book.

He comes across as (yet another) prime suspect.

[John Simkin]

If I recall correctly Peter Dale Scott spends a lot of time on Davidson in his Deep Politics JFK book.

He comes across as (yet another) prime suspect.

Peter Dale Scott is one of the few researchers who as identified Davidson as a person of interest concerning the JFK assassination. However, we disagree about the value of Gene Wheaton and Daniel P. Sheehan as sources of information.

[John Geraghty]

I came across a document about Gerry Hemming that may prove interesting to John Simkin, given his interest in Irving Davidson.

The RIF number is 104-10216-10064

The document states, in part, "Gerald Patrick Hemming, when drunk, told AMTABBY-27 that Irving Davidson was his financial backer".

The document is dated August 23rd 1967.

I am having trouble attaching the file, so I will direct you to the file on the Mary Ferrell site. If you have a membership, you can look at the document.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=17306

John

[James Richards]

I came across a document about Gerry Hemming that may prove interesting to John Simkin, given his interest in Irving Davidson.

The RIF number is 104-10216-10064

The document states, in part, "Gerald Patrick Hemming, when drunk, told AMTABBY-27 that Irving Davidson was his financial backer".

The document is dated August 23rd 1967.

I am having trouble attaching the file, so I will direct you to the file on the Mary Ferrell site. If you have a membership, you can look at the document.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=17306

John

John,

I believe at the time, Gerry Hemming was working with Aton Constanzo Palau and they were allegedly fronting a 60 man commando team that Davidson was supporting.

If Gerry is still visiting the forum then maybe he could confirm or not.

James

[John Simkin]

I came across a document about Gerry Hemming that may prove interesting to John Simkin, given his interest in Irving Davidson.

The RIF number is 104-10216-10064

The document states, in part, "Gerald Patrick Hemming, when drunk, told AMTABBY-27 that Irving Davidson was his financial backer".

The document is dated August 23rd 1967.

I am having trouble attaching the file, so I will direct you to the file on the Mary Ferrell site. If you have a membership, you can look at the document.

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/....do?docId=17306

John

John,

I believe at the time, Gerry Hemming was working with Aton Constanzo Palau and they were allegedly fronting a 60 man commando team that Davidson was supporting.

If Gerry is still visiting the forum then maybe he could confirm or not.

James

This is all very interesting. Davidson has never been linked to the assassination of JFK until the statement made by Gene Wheaton to the Assassination Records Review Board in 1995. Research carried out by Larry Hancock has shown that much of the information supplied by Wheaton about Carl E. Jenkins and Chi Chi Quintero was correct. Now we have evidence that Wheaton's claims about Davidson being the supplier of cash to the assassins, was also associated with Gerry Hemming and other anti-Cuban exiles. It is of course Hemming who is the main provider of disinformation about the assassination ("paid by the word" according to my information). Of course we now have another member who provides Hemming's disinformation for him. I am sure it will not be long before he joins this thread.

[Mark Stapleton]

Never heard of Irving Davidson before reading this thread but having read it I would make the following observations;

1. Since 1958, representative of Israeli Military Industries controlled by the Government of Israel (FBI file--post #27).

2. Running arms between Nicaragua and Israel (post #27).

3. Fed stories to Jack Anderson and had direct access to JEH (post #23).

4. Travelled between Switzerland, France , Italy, Israel, 1958, presumably for banking purposes (post #28).

Irving Davidson is Mossad. Wheaton's super grade, high level CIA officer friend (Davidson's associate) is also Mossad (if they're not one and the same person). It's understandable that Wheaton feared public disclosure would result in him being destroyed by the media. FWIW.

Edited August 24, 2007 by Mark Stapleton

[John Simkin]

Larry Hancock, Someone Would Have Talked (2006):

Another name mentioned in Wheaton's communication with the ARRB was that of Irving Davidson. Wheaton implies no direct role for Davidson in the conspiracy, however he seems to suggest that Davidson may have unwittingly served as a sort of cut out, bagman, or facilitator. Davidson was a very long time "arranger" in Washington, a registered lobbyist for clients including the Samozas of Nicaragua, the Trujillos of the Dominican Republic, and the Murchisons of Dallas.

In Chapter 16 we examined Davidson's role as the broker of a Murchison deal involving a Haitian meat packing plant in which Bobby Baker had been involved. Baker and VP Johnson had traveled to the Dominican Republic in 1963 and Baker had gone back shortly afterwards, possibly leveraging Johnson's name in regard a casino deal involving his Las Vegas business partners. During the Dominican crisis, tapes record President Johnson and Abe Fortas discussing an intermediary involved in discussions with potential leaders. The name used in the conversation is "Davidson."

Murchison had introduced Davidson to FBI Director Hoover (Anthony Summers relates an interview with Davidson, who lived only a block away from Hoover, in which he describes frequent visits to Hoover and Tolson).'

Davidson represented Carlos Marcello in Washington and was running information between Murchison and Marcello in 1963: it was a government sting of a Murchison/Marcello project that resulted in Marcello's arrest. Reportedly Davidson had also been in contact with Marcello after his forced deportation by Robert Kennedy, helping him to covertly return to the United States. In Interference, Dan Moldea writes that Murchison had gotten Teamster investments for California land development and that there were many connections between Murchison and Marcello, including their joint use of Davidson. Moldea also describes Robert Kennedy's major 1963 Justice Department initiative against sports gambling and its potential impact on both Marcello and Murchison, both heavily involved with professional sports gambling.'

Davidson also had a history as an intermediary in arms transactions, as a collaborator with Cuban exile activities, and as an informant (apparently a protected informant) to both the FBI and CIA. One 1959 FBI memorandum concerns a report by Davidson about a purchase of military weapons. Howard Davis was seeking Davidson's assistance in obtaining quantity of 50 caliber machine guns to be used by Cuban counter revolutionaries. A 1959 CIA report describes Davidson being involved with Cuban exiles interested in forming a government in exile, shows Davidson making introductions for them in Washington.' Other memos show Davidson under FBI electronic (ELSUR) surveillance. And in November - December 1963, Davidson was the subject of NSA monitoring, apparently at the request of the FBI. The NSA made reports to the FBI on November 17, 19, and 27, 1963.

Also, as previously noted, Davidson was Jack Anderson's office mate and may have helped focus Anderson's attention on the bombshell lead from John Roselli that JFK had been killed by a team originally formed and trained to kill Castro. Anderson's "scoop" helped undercut Jim Garrison's early focus on CIA officers and anti-Castro exiles as the main actors in the conspiracy.

[Pat Speer]

The investigative journalist Dan E. Moldea was kind enough to send me a photograph of Irving Davidson in about 2002.

http://www.moldea.com/IrvingDavidson.html

Dan tells me that "I interviewed and wrote about Irv for my books The Hoffa Wars and Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football. I last saw him at Jack Anderson's funeral in December 2005, and he didn't look well at all." Has anybody got copies of these books. I would be interested in what he says about Davidson.

MSNBC reported yesterday that a new book will detail that Anderson was on Davidson's Payroll!

The ramifications of this are HUGE, IMO, and might explain why Anderson's columns on the Kennedy assassination mostly pointed to Cuban involvement.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39157420/

Edited September 14, 2010 by Pat Speer

[John Kelly]

Jack Anderson with one of the Watergate burglars Frank Sturgis.

JK

[Daniel Meyer]

FWIW

I went to a lecture by Jack Anderson on the Tulane University campus in New Orleans about 1978 or 1979. I don't recall a lot of details other than that it was generally interesting and entertaining commentary on current events and U.S. history of recent decades. I remember Anderson getting a bit worked up over then president Jimmy Carter, calling him "a boy scout. He's a bright boy scout. An honest boy scout. But he's still a boy scout. We shouldn't have a boy scout as President."

At the question & answer section after his presentation, I asked for his perspective on a major event he hadn't mentioned, the John Kennedy assassination. (There were a couple of audible moans from the audience when I asked.) Anderson said he didn't know what happened with the assassination, but thought that LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover were quick to do a cover up to prevent anything awkward coming out such as if there were ties to Cuba which could lead to war.

Anderson was the first I personally recall articulating that there was a cover up conspiracy after the assassination whether or not there was any conspiracy in Dealey Plaza.

Edited September 15, 2010 by Daniel Meyer

[Guest Tom Scully]

The investigative journalist Dan E. Moldea was kind enough to send me a photograph of Irving Davidson in about 2002.

http://www.moldea.com/IrvingDavidson.html

Dan tells me that "I interviewed and wrote about Irv for my books The Hoffa Wars and Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football. I last saw him at Jack Anderson's funeral in December 2005, and he didn't look well at all." Has anybody got copies of these books. I would be interested in what he says about Davidson.

MSNBC reported yesterday that a new book will detail that Anderson was on Davidson's Payroll!

The ramifications of this are HUGE, IMO, and might explain why Anderson's columns on the Kennedy assassination mostly pointed to Cuban involvement.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39157420/

http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks%3A1&tbo=1&q=the+worst+journalistic+offender+was+jack+anderson.&btnG=Search+Books

Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson, and the Rise of ... - Page 79

Mark Feldstein - 2010 - 480 pages - Preview

The worst journalistic offender was Jack Anderson. Senate investigators uncovered six checks totaling the contemporary equivalent of $15000 that Davidson issued to Anderson and his secretary from the bank account of the Somoza regime in...

The book tells us that Davidson felt he got his money's worth from paying Anderson and that he proudly showed off a folder he collected of positive mentions of his clients that appeared in the columns of Anderson and Pearson.

Among the interesting points in a quick skim of this book using the name of Jack Anderson's secretary Opal Ginn and alternately using Davison's and Tyler Abell's last names as single search terms, are:

Anderson asked Pearson if he could set up a separate office because he wanted to continue to work for Pearson's Washington-Merry-Go-Round and at the same time accept a lucrative offer to work for Parade magazine. Drew Pearson agreed to this arrangement and Davidson provided the office space to Anderson. Anderson hired Opal Ginn as well as others from Pearson's office. Money to fund the expenses of this office was not a problem because of income from Parade and cash from Davidson.

Anderson dismissed the conflict of interest of protecting Davidson and his clients from negative Pearson-Anderson column coverage in exchange for cash and gifts. Four years before Pearson's sudden death in Sept., 1969, he finally promised his long-time associate Anderson the right to succeed him as chief of the Pearson syndicated newspaper and radio

business upon his retirement. Anderson felt that Pearson had treated him for more than 20 years as no better than one of the servants at Pearson's estate and had only included Anderson's name in the daily newspaper column byline after more than 15 years of their association.

The author claims that Pearson never paid Anderson more than $255.00 per week!

Upon Pearson's death, his stepson Tyler Abell attempted to take control of the Pearson syndicated column, since Anderson had no written guarantee. Bell-McClure syndicated the column and they interceded on Anderson's behalf because Tyler Abell was an attorney with no experience or Washington information network, and more than thirty newspapers had dropped Pearson's column immediately after his death, including the LA Times.

By 1991, Anderson's column popularity was in decline, it was dropped by the Washington Post, he made up for lost revenue by reducing his staff to just four people and making up for cash flow shortfalls with personal loans and credit card cash advances.

Anderson was a quiet, sober, practicing Mormon from a Utah family. Opal Ginn was his eyes and ears to after hours activities in Washington.

Over their 30 years association, his close confidant Opal Ginn, formerly known for gathering info from Washington insiders for Anderson as a side benefit of her socializing and dating habits in the Capital, developed a severe alcohol abuse pattern, even drinking during the day in the office and Anderson overlooked it because she knew all of his secrets, but finally dismissed her in 1993 in a cost cutting decision, with just three weeks' notice.

Crushed and eventually unable to afford to continue living in Washington, she moved back to rural Georgia to live with her sister. Throughout their long work relationship, Opal was in one-sided love with Anderson and tried to remain loyal to him and silent about him to the outside world. She delayed working until the last years of her life on a "tell all" memoirs manuscript, but near the end, she shredded it. Anderson asked about the status of her book project when he called her sister to offer condolences upon receiving the news of her death. He was relieved to hear that she had destroyed her manuscript and her family waited hopefully but in vain for Anderson to make an appearance at her funeral.

Edited November 2, 2010 by Tom Scully

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

-- Davidson

--Jack Anderson

--Drew Pearson

--Hait, Duvalier

--Alliance For Progress under LBJ

-- Davidson's role in 1960 Democratic AND Republican Conventions (VPs)

SENATE PROBE BROUGHT NEW CLIENT TO LOBBYIST

BY LAURENCE STERN, THE WASHINGTON POST, JANUARY 4, 1964.

{note: what I find most interesting in this Larry Stern article is its statements re Davidson's efforts on behalf of BOTH VPs in the 1960 election and also its pressing the "sticking up for SOBs because they are our SOB's" line of argument as applied to Latin America. This reminds me of the 1964 (Spring I think) NYT article by Tad Sculz in which he points out a VERY STRONG DIFFERENCE IN LBJ'S ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS --HEADED BY THE ALWAYS NOTEWORTHY THOMAS MANN-- AS COMPARED TO THE ALLIANCE UNDER JFK. NJH.}

---

A Washington promoter who was spotlighted in the recent Senate investigation of foreign lobbying boasted yesterday that he picked up a new client as a result of it all.

The lobbyist, I. Irving Davidson, said yesterday he was hired as a public relations man for Haitian President Francois Duvalier, "because of the way I stuck up for my clients" during the Senate foreign lobbying investigation.

Davidson was hired by Duvalier in Port-au-Prince on Dec. 12. He was registered yesterday by the Justice Department as a public relations adviser and commercial agent for Duvalier.

Davidson, whose principal client has been the Somoza .... (did not print)...

... In the transcript, released by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman J. William Fulbright (D-Ark), were designed to expose to public view the often covert operations of foreign lobbyists in the United States. Fulbright has proposed legislation to tighten disclosure and reporting requirements in the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

Davidson said that when he was interviewed by Duvalier in the Presidential Palace in early December, a copy of the Fulbright Committee transcript was on the President's desk.

"They liked my testimony about how we 9the United States) have been shaking hands with our enemies and kicking our friends in the teeth," he told a reporter.

Officials in the State Departement's Bureau of Inter-American Affairs said Davidson had been in repeated contact with them since early December on Haitian matters.

"He wanted to know what could be done to improve Poppa Duvalier's image in the United States," recalled former Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Edwin M. Martin.

During this period the State Department was advised b the Justice Department that Davidson was not registered as a Haitian Agent.

State Department officers contracted by Davidson reported that the lobbyist stressed his contacts with newspapermen in Washington. His office adjoins that of Jack Anderson, associate of columnist Drew Pearson, in a common suite of officers at 1612 K st. nw.

One of the Fulbright Committee's disclosures was that Davidson signed the hotel bills of Pearson and Anderson at a Los Angeles hotel during the 1960 Democratic National Convention. Anderson advised the committee that Pearson reimbursed Davidson for the 322.64 bill.

But neither Pearson nor Anderson provided the Foreign Relations Committee with a sworn statement to this effect, according to committee sources.

Under the foreign agent statute it is illegal to act as an agent without filing with the Attorney general. A Justice Department spokesman said yesterday it was a "close question" whether Davidson's contacts with the State Department's Haitian desk meant that he was working as an agent for Haiti prior to his registration.

Davidson did file a registrations statement with Justice on Dec. 19. It was returned as unacceptable by Assistant Attorney General J. Walter Yeagley in a Dec. 30 letter. The reasons: Davidson had failed to translate his authorization statement from Duvalier from French into English and he didn't give enough detail on what his services would be to Haiti.

"I told President Duvalier that I would be his dollar-a-year man until I decided on a price tag for my services," Davidson said in an interview. "He was very happy at that."

Duvalier's authorization to Davidson as his public relations man was dated Dec. 12. Under the foreign agent act, according to a Justice Department spokesman, an agent can file with the department up to 10 days after signing the contract so long as he does not act as an agent during that period.