Victor Lasky and Operation Mockingbird

[John Simkin]

One of the most important figures in Operation Mockingbird was Victor Lasky. He joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and wrote for Stars & Stripes during the war.

After the war Lasky joined The New York World-Telegram and assisted Frederick Woltman in writing a series of articles on communist infiltration of American institutions. Lasky also reported on the Alger Hiss case. He co-wrote Seeds of Treason: The Strange Case of Alger Hiss (1950) with Ralph DeToledano.

Lasky was a public relations executive for Radio Liberty (1956-1960), one of the CIA's largest propaganda operations. He was also co-founder and first vice president of The Council Against Communist Aggression and the writer of the 1952 MGM documentary, The Hoaxters.

Lasky wrote a syndicated column for the North American Newspaper Alliance (1962-1980) and lectured for Accuracy in Media. Lasky also wrote several books including JFK, the Man and the Myth (1963), Robert F. Kennedy: The Myth & the Man (1971), It Didn't Start With Watergate (1977) and Jimmy Carter the Man and the Myth (1979).

It was revealed during the Watergate scandal that Lasky was paid $20,000 by Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). Lasky was also a close associate of CIA director, William Casey.

Victor Lasky died of cancer on 22nd February, 1990, at Georgetown University Hospital.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKlaskyV.htm

[Brendan Slattery]

Great guy. His wife was Reed Irvine's secretary at AIM.

[Owen Parsons]

It doesn't surprise me at all that Lasky would be CIA. For a corrective to the mythological edifice that people like Lasky have built up around Hiss, I'd recommend The Alger Hiss Story.

[John Simkin]

Victor Lasky is fairly good on the corruption of LBJ in It Didn't Start With Watergate:

Also misused on White House orders was the IRS. Full field investigations of Reynolds's friends and business associates were launched by chief counsel Sheldon Cohen, formerly a young law associate of Fortas. Don Reynolds himself, warned that his life might be in danger, later fled the country.

Meanwhile LBJ sought to divorce himself completely from Baker. He let the word get out that he was abandoning him. And, as was reported by Evans and Novak, "This irritation with his former protégé was heightened by the President's deep concern over whether Attorney General Kennedy would use the Baker case against him in some way."

LBJ had good reason to be concerned. He well knew that Bobby was no friend of his and, in fact, resented that he had succeeded to the office won at the polls by his beloved brother. To the Kennedyites LBJ was a "usurper." Moreover Johnson did not know how much Bobby knew about him and what he intended to do with that information. As an Attorney General not beholden to him, Kennedy might proceed on certain investigations that could prove damaging to the new President.

Also giving LBJ nightmares was the fear that Baker, who knew so much, might spill the beans. And Baker was indeed indicating that he might do just that unless he were bailed out of his difficulties. The word went out to Democratic leaders that LBJ wanted a lid placed on the Senate probe of Baker's affairs then under way.

Of course there was still Senator Williams who, despite all sorts of threats and obstacles being hurled in his path, refused to lay off. But the threats had their effect on potential witnesses who had promised to tell all they knew about Baker. One important businessman, who previously had said he would provide evidence, told the senator, "I don't know what you're talking about, Senator. I never talked to you before in my life. I'm sorry, but I'm sure you understand."

The senator himself began to feel the heat of an angered LBJ. What he did not know was that the very night LBJ assumed the presidency, he had spoken to Abe Fortas about Williams. On that occasion the new President vowed to punish Williams. There was talk about turning the IRS loose on the Delaware maverick, perhaps getting enough on him to send the "bastard" to jail on an income tax rap. And if that wasn't feasible, the Democrats would flood the state with money to try to defeat the "sonofabitch" when he came up for reelection the next year. All of which was done.

Also in the works was a campaign of character assassination. Williams was called a "crackpot" by Democratic members of the Rules Committee. Others said he just hated Democratic presidents, recalling his earlier relentless attacks on the Truman administration. Drew Pearson wanted to know why Williams had not been outraged by Eisenhower's acceptance of expensive gifts while serving in office. The Washington Post helped the LBJ cause by publishing a false, unchecked story alleging that the senator had been using hidden microphones in his office to record interviews.

[William Kelly]

One of the most important figures in Operation Mockingbird was Victor Lasky. He joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and wrote for Stars & Stripes during the war.

After the war Lasky joined The New York World-Telegram and assisted Frederick Woltman in writing a series of articles on communist infiltration of American institutions. Lasky also reported on the Alger Hiss case. He co-wrote Seeds of Treason: The Strange Case of Alger Hiss (1950) with Ralph DeToledano.

Lasky was a public relations executive for Radio Liberty (1956-1960), one of the CIA's largest propaganda operations. He was also co-founder and first vice president of The Council Against Communist Aggression and the writer of the 1952 MGM documentary, The Hoaxters.

Lasky wrote a syndicated column for the North American Newspaper Alliance (1962-1980) and lectured for Accuracy in Media......

NOW THERE'S AN OXYMORON - A SYNDICATED COLUMN FOR NANA AND LECTURE FOR AIM.

BK