Heart Attacks and the JFK Assassination

[John Simkin]

Several key figures with important information on the JFK assassination have died from heart attacks. I believe that many of these, including David Morales, were murdered.

I suspect Morales and others were killed by the “carotid sleeper’ method. The murderer stands behind the victim and closes off the carotid artery and therefore starves the brain of oxygen. If the victim is not in good physical condition, they will die of a heart attack within a few seconds. This method leaves little physical evidence that the person has been murdered.

However, sometimes, the person will be able to struggle for around 20 seconds before they die. If the police suspect that the victim had enemies they might organize a detailed autopsy. In that case, the police will discover the victim has died of strangulation rather than of a heart attack. This is what happened in the Bob Woolmer case.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9486

[Pat Speer]

Several key figures with important information on the JFK assassination have died from heart attacks. I believe that many of these, including David Morales, were murdered.

I suspect Morales and others were killed by the “carotid sleeper’ method. The murderer stands behind the victim and closes off the carotid artery and therefore starves the brain of oxygen. If the victim is not in good physical condition, they will die of a heart attack within a few seconds. This method leaves little physical evidence that the person has been murdered.

However, sometimes, the person will be able to struggle for around 20 seconds before they die. If the police suspect that the victim had enemies they might organize a detailed autopsy. In that case, the police will discover the victim has died of strangulation rather than of a heart attack. This is what happened in the Bob Woolmer case.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9486

John, as I remember the CIA had a program in the fifties and sixties that studied the toxicological effects of every form of poison. I think this was a spin-off of MKULTRA. Anyhow, they were looking for poisons that could simulate heart-attacks. I believe they were successful. The KGB had similar poisons.

Somewhere I remember reading about a Soviet turncoat being murdered in London in the early seventies. It looked like a heart attack. The coroner, once tipped off that it was a possible murder, did a re-inspection, and found a small needle-mark on the man's arm (as I remember). Somebody had bumped into him on the street, and stung him with a tiny needle. Within a few minutes he was dead. Without a trace. After reading this, I remembered that Adlai Stevenson dropped dead on the streets of Paris after denouncing the Vietnam War on a radio show. Made me kinda wonder....

At another point I looked into a series of Senatorial deaths and heart attacks. As a result of this quick series of deaths, Prescott Bush became a U.S. Senator and LBJ became majority leader. Something like 9 sitting Senators (of 96) died in a 3 year stretch--more than in all the time since. Of course, shortly afterwards LBJ had a heart attack of his own. Made me kinda wonder...

Edited March 24, 2007 by Pat Speer

[Kathleen Collins]

Several key figures with important information on the JFK assassination have died from heart attacks. I believe that many of these, including David Morales, were murdered.

I suspect Morales and others were killed by the “carotid sleeper’ method. The murderer stands behind the victim and closes off the carotid artery and therefore starves the brain of oxygen. If the victim is not in good physical condition, they will die of a heart attack within a few seconds. This method leaves little physical evidence that the person has been murdered.

However, sometimes, the person will be able to struggle for around 20 seconds before they die. If the police suspect that the victim had enemies they might organize a detailed autopsy. In that case, the police will discover the victim has died of strangulation rather than of a heart attack. This is what happened in the Bob Woolmer case.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9486

John, you sent chills down my side. In my opinion, this was the way Karyn Kupcinet was murdered. The coroner said she was strangled on the left side of the neck by a very powerful man who only used his left hand from behind. According to Wikipedia.org. Only the left common carotid artery has a substantial presence in the thoracic region.

Karyn Kupcinet was an actress killed in her West Hollywood apartment at the age of 22. There are numerous suspects, plus her death was linked to the Kennedy Assassination by researcher and journalist Penn Jones, Jr in Forgive My Grief, Book 2.

Writer and Professor Paul Fecteau is writing a book about Karyn. She was the daughter of Irv Kupcinet of Kup's Show fame and columnist with the Chicago Sun-Times. She was killed on Thanksgiving 1963. Ironically, her parents gave dinner to out-of-town actors from the Chicago theaters every Thanksgiving. Karyn was always there. This year, she stayed in LA alone.

Kathy

Edited March 24, 2007 by Kathleen Collins

[John Simkin]

Several key figures with important information on the JFK assassination have died from heart attacks. I believe that many of these, including David Morales, were murdered.

I suspect Morales and others were killed by the “carotid sleeper’ method. The murderer stands behind the victim and closes off the carotid artery and therefore starves the brain of oxygen. If the victim is not in good physical condition, they will die of a heart attack within a few seconds. This method leaves little physical evidence that the person has been murdered.

However, sometimes, the person will be able to struggle for around 20 seconds before they die. If the police suspect that the victim had enemies they might organize a detailed autopsy. In that case, the police will discover the victim has died of strangulation rather than of a heart attack. This is what happened in the Bob Woolmer case.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9486

John, you sent chills down my side. In my opinion, this was the way Karyn Kupcinet was murdered. The coroner said she was strangled on the left side of the neck by a very powerful man who only used his left hand from behind. According to Wikipedia.org. Only the left common carotid artery has a substantial presence in the thoracic region.

Karyn Kupcinet was an actress killed in her West Hollywood apartment at the age of 22. There are numerous suspects, plus her death was linked to the Kennedy Assassination by researcher and journalist Penn Jones, Jr in Forgive My Grief, Book 2.

Writer and Professor Paul Fecteau is writing a book about Karyn. She was the daughter of Irv Kupcinet of Kup's Show fame and columnist with the Chicago Sun-Times. She was killed on Thanksgiving 1963. Ironically, her parents gave dinner to out-of-town actors from the Chicago theaters every Thanksgiving. Karyn was always there. This year, she stayed in LA alone.

Kathy

I have written about the death of Karyn Kupcinet here:

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

Her father, Irving Kupcinet, knew Jack Ruby in Chicago in the 1940s. According to W. Penn Jones Irv kept in contact with Ruby and discovered that he was involved in a plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Jones argues that Irv passed this information on to his daughter Karyn. In his book, Forgive My Grief, Jones reports that "a few days before the assassination, Karyn Kupcinet, 23, was trying to place a long distance telephone call from the Los Angeles area. According to reports, the long distance operator heard Miss Kupcinet scream into the telephone that President Kennedy was going to be killed."

Karyn Kupcinet's body was discovered on 30th November, 1963. Police estimated that she had been dead for two days. The New York Times reported that she had been strangled. Her actor boyfriend, Andrew Prine was the main suspect but he was never charged with the murder and the crime remains unsolved.

Some researchers claimed that there was a link between the death of Kupcinet and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was argued that the conspirators were trying to frighten off Kupcinet from telling what he knew. Kupcinet rejected this idea. He wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times (9th November, 1992): "The NBC Today Show on Friday carried a list of people who died violently in 1963 shortly after the death of President John F. Kennedy and may have had some link to the assassination. The first name on the list was Karyn Kupcinet, my daughter. That is an atrocious outrage. She did die violently in a Hollywood murder case still unsolved. That same list was published in a book years ago with no justification or verification. The book left the impression that some on the list may have been killed to silence them because of knowledge of the assassination. Nothing could be further from the truth in my daughter's case."

[Lee Forman]

On a recent program aired on A&E Richard Kuklinski humorously related an anecdote concerning a target that was hard to reach, since he was in a disco and surrounded by people. He dressed himself up in canary yellow, and acted as a 'swish' because, he related, no one paid attention to homosexuals in the discos. He danced his way close to his perp and hit him with a needle. The interviewer asked what type of poison he used [if I remember correctly], he said 'in this case...a heart attack' with no further comments made. Kuklinski, as the show went on, was a master in poisons, working with and experimenting himself in addition to learning from other masters of the art.

The program gave me a bit of a start - the narrator went on to mention that one of Kuklinski's favorite MOs was to stuff his victim in an oil drum. This is how one of his victims was found. He was also known for cutting up the bodies - thanks to the work he did with Roy DeMeo - made me wonder about whether he had in any way been involved at removing Johnny Rosselli, since he hinted that he had been given the job of taking care of DeMeo -- 'he had outlived his usefulness.'

- lee

[Myra Bronstein]

Several key figures with important information on the JFK assassination have died from heart attacks. I believe that many of these, including David Morales, were murdered.

I suspect Morales and others were killed by the “carotid sleeper’ method. The murderer stands behind the victim and closes off the carotid artery and therefore starves the brain of oxygen. If the victim is not in good physical condition, they will die of a heart attack within a few seconds. This method leaves little physical evidence that the person has been murdered.

However, sometimes, the person will be able to struggle for around 20 seconds before they die. If the police suspect that the victim had enemies they might organize a detailed autopsy. In that case, the police will discover the victim has died of strangulation rather than of a heart attack. This is what happened in the Bob Woolmer case.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9486

Interesting stuff John:

Are you guys talking about soccer, cricket, or badminton? I thought that the World Cup was soccer ("football"), but maybe there's a World Cup for everything? You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but to us Americans "football" means only one thing. The real thing! And a "cricket" is something that chirps.

I always said that American lacked culture. Cricket is a great game and is nearly as good as soccer...

Thanks for the link.

Edited March 24, 2007 by Myra Bronstein

[Jack White]

QUOTE:

Are you guys talking about soccer, cricket, or badminton? I thought that the World Cup was soccer ("football"), but maybe there's a World Cup for everything? You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but to us Americans "football" means only one thing. The real thing! And a "cricket" is something that chirps.

.......

I always said that American lacked culture. Cricket is a great game and is nearly as good as soccer...

Thanks for the link.

UNQUOTE:

Don't forget the ever popular LAWN BOWLING. When I was in London in the late 80s, only two

channels were available on the hotel tv. One channel was devoted entirely to "Lawn Bowling

Championships" for more than eight hours.

Yawn.

Jack

[Myra Bronstein]

QUOTE:

Are you guys talking about soccer, cricket, or badminton? I thought that the World Cup was soccer ("football"), but maybe there's a World Cup for everything? You'll have to excuse my ignorance, but to us Americans "football" means only one thing. The real thing! And a "cricket" is something that chirps.

.......

I always said that American lacked culture. Cricket is a great game and is nearly as good as soccer...

Thanks for the link.

UNQUOTE:

Don't forget the ever popular LAWN BOWLING. When I was in London in the late 80s, only two

channels were available on the hotel tv. One channel was devoted entirely to "Lawn Bowling

Championships" for more than eight hours.

Yawn.

Jack

So at the risk of demonstrating lack of culture and refinement on the part of all Americans I have to ask...

were there actually spectators at the "Lawn Bowling Championships"?

[Mark Stapleton]

Several key figures with important information on the JFK assassination have died from heart attacks. I believe that many of these, including David Morales, were murdered.

I suspect Morales and others were killed by the “carotid sleeper’ method. The murderer stands behind the victim and closes off the carotid artery and therefore starves the brain of oxygen. If the victim is not in good physical condition, they will die of a heart attack within a few seconds. This method leaves little physical evidence that the person has been murdered.

However, sometimes, the person will be able to struggle for around 20 seconds before they die. If the police suspect that the victim had enemies they might organize a detailed autopsy. In that case, the police will discover the victim has died of strangulation rather than of a heart attack. This is what happened in the Bob Woolmer case.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9486

John, as I remember the CIA had a program in the fifties and sixties that studied the toxicological effects of every form of poison. I think this was a spin-off of MKULTRA. Anyhow, they were looking for poisons that could simulate heart-attacks. I believe they were successful. The KGB had similar poisons.

Somewhere I remember reading about a Soviet turncoat being murdered in London in the early seventies. It looked like a heart attack. The coroner, once tipped off that it was a possible murder, did a re-inspection, and found a small needle-mark on the man's arm (as I remember). Somebody had bumped into him on the street, and stung him with a tiny needle. Within a few minutes he was dead. Without a trace. After reading this, I remembered that Adlai Stevenson dropped dead on the streets of Paris after denouncing the Vietnam War on a radio show. Made me kinda wonder....

At another point I looked into a series of Senatorial deaths and heart attacks. As a result of this quick series of deaths, Prescott Bush became a U.S. Senator and LBJ became majority leader. Something like 9 sitting Senators (of 96) died in a 3 year stretch--more than in all the time since. Of course, shortly afterwards LBJ had a heart attack of his own. Made me kinda wonder...

I didn't know that LBJ became majority leader as a result of a death. That's incredible, considering all the other lucky breaks which peppered LBJ's career.

LBJ must have had direct access to Murder Inc.

[Sid Walker]

At another point I looked into a series of Senatorial deaths and heart attacks. As a result of this quick series of deaths, Prescott Bush became a U.S. Senator and LBJ became majority leader. Something like 9 sitting Senators (of 96) died in a 3 year stretch--more than in all the time since. Of course, shortly afterwards LBJ had a heart attack of his own. Made me kinda wonder...

I didn't know that LBJ became majority leader as a result of a death. That's incredible, considering all the other lucky breaks which peppered LBJ's career.

LBJ must have had direct access to Murder Inc.

Could Pat please spell this out a little please?

Which deaths helped elevate Johnson to Senate majority leader?

Edited March 25, 2007 by Sid Walker

[Kathleen Collins]

Several key figures with important information on the JFK assassination have died from heart attacks. I believe that many of these, including David Morales, were murdered.

I suspect Morales and others were killed by the “carotid sleeper’ method. The murderer stands behind the victim and closes off the carotid artery and therefore starves the brain of oxygen. If the victim is not in good physical condition, they will die of a heart attack within a few seconds. This method leaves little physical evidence that the person has been murdered.

However, sometimes, the person will be able to struggle for around 20 seconds before they die. If the police suspect that the victim had enemies they might organize a detailed autopsy. In that case, the police will discover the victim has died of strangulation rather than of a heart attack. This is what happened in the Bob Woolmer case.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9486

John, you sent chills down my side. In my opinion, this was the way Karyn Kupcinet was murdered. The coroner said she was strangled on the left side of the neck by a very powerful man who only used his left hand from behind. According to Wikipedia.org. Only the left common carotid artery has a substantial presence in the thoracic region.

Karyn Kupcinet was an actress killed in her West Hollywood apartment at the age of 22. There are numerous suspects, plus her death was linked to the Kennedy Assassination by researcher and journalist Penn Jones, Jr in Forgive My Grief, Book 2.

Writer and Professor Paul Fecteau is writing a book about Karyn. She was the daughter of Irv Kupcinet of Kup's Show fame and columnist with the Chicago Sun-Times. She was killed on Thanksgiving 1963. Ironically, her parents gave dinner to out-of-town actors from the Chicago theaters every Thanksgiving. Karyn was always there. This year, she stayed in LA alone.

Kathy

I have written about the death of Karyn Kupcinet here:

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

Her father, Irving Kupcinet, knew Jack Ruby in Chicago in the 1940s. According to W. Penn Jones Irv kept in contact with Ruby and discovered that he was involved in a plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Jones argues that Irv passed this information on to his daughter Karyn. In his book, Forgive My Grief, Jones reports that "a few days before the assassination, Karyn Kupcinet, 23, was trying to place a long distance telephone call from the Los Angeles area. According to reports, the long distance operator heard Miss Kupcinet scream into the telephone that President Kennedy was going to be killed."

Karyn Kupcinet's body was discovered on 30th November, 1963. Police estimated that she had been dead for two days. The New York Times reported that she had been strangled. Her actor boyfriend, Andrew Prine was the main suspect but he was never charged with the murder and the crime remains unsolved.

Some researchers claimed that there was a link between the death of Kupcinet and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was argued that the conspirators were trying to frighten off Kupcinet from telling what he knew. Kupcinet rejected this idea. He wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times (9th November, 1992): "The NBC Today Show on Friday carried a list of people who died violently in 1963 shortly after the death of President John F. Kennedy and may have had some link to the assassination. The first name on the list was Karyn Kupcinet, my daughter. That is an atrocious outrage. She did die violently in a Hollywood murder case still unsolved. That same list was published in a book years ago with no justification or verification. The book left the impression that some on the list may have been killed to silence them because of knowledge of the assassination. Nothing could be further from the truth in my daughter's case."

OK. There are a few misconceptions. The Oxnard Call came in 20 minutes before President Kennedy was shot. Karyn was in West Hollywood. Prine had spoken to her. So that must have been another unfortunate woman. But it's a true story. The article appeared the next day in many papers.

Irv did not know Ruby well. He knew him in the late '40's. Both men were the same age and as kids, went out everyday fighting in the Chicago streets. Irv was smart and though bad tempered, he was more genteel. Ruby's nickname was Sparky because he got mad easily. If they knew one another as kids, I don't know. Irv immediately called a Mr. Dorfman, a mobster after Ruby killed Oswald. Dorfman didn't even know Oswald had been shot. That was Nov. 24, 1963. Karyn was murdered 4 days later.

Kathy

[Kathleen Collins]

Several key figures with important information on the JFK assassination have died from heart attacks. I believe that many of these, including David Morales, were murdered.

I suspect Morales and others were killed by the “carotid sleeper’ method. The murderer stands behind the victim and closes off the carotid artery and therefore starves the brain of oxygen. If the victim is not in good physical condition, they will die of a heart attack within a few seconds. This method leaves little physical evidence that the person has been murdered.

However, sometimes, the person will be able to struggle for around 20 seconds before they die. If the police suspect that the victim had enemies they might organize a detailed autopsy. In that case, the police will discover the victim has died of strangulation rather than of a heart attack. This is what happened in the Bob Woolmer case.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9486

Now that I know of the left carotid artery sleeper method -- and that you have to stand in back of the victim to do it, I am more convinced than ever that Karyn Kupcinet was murdered by Intel -- CIA or the Mob. It justs hits the nail on the head. There were no marks on her except for decomp. But inside her throat, yes. Left side. And so many suspects. Her killer certainly got away with -- shall I say it? -- murder. Kupcinet adored his little girl and that was a way to get to him. There definitely was a Chicago angle to the Assassination.

Kathy

[Pat Speer]

At another point I looked into a series of Senatorial deaths and heart attacks. As a result of this quick series of deaths, Prescott Bush became a U.S. Senator and LBJ became majority leader. Something like 9 sitting Senators (of 96) died in a 3 year stretch--more than in all the time since. Of course, shortly afterwards LBJ had a heart attack of his own. Made me kinda wonder...

I didn't know that LBJ became majority leader as a result of a death. That's incredible, considering all the other lucky breaks which peppered LBJ's career.

LBJ must have had direct access to Murder Inc.

Could Pat please spell this out a little please?

Which deaths helped elevate Johnson to Senate majority leader?

It wasn't a direct lead-in. But in 1952, LBJ was just another Senator, and by 55 he was Majority Leader. Between 51 and 55 there were 9 deaths, as I remember, of active Senators. Most of them were old. There was one suicide, as I remember. Another one. Brion McMahon I think was his name, was fairly young. He was replaced by Prescott Bush, who'd lost an election just two years earlier due in part to his support of eugenics. At one point, I wrote all this stuff down. I may have created a thread on it even.

As far as LBJ gaining power from this... when someone dies mid-term he can be replaced on a temporary basis by the Governor of his state. The Governor inevitably picks someone from his own party, which may or may not be the party of the deceased. The Senate was in a virtual deadlock in this period. As a result, the replacement of one senator with one from another party could change the balance of power. This change-over occurred three or four times in this period. There was no stability until LBJ emerged as the big dog in 55. Ironically, he had a heart attack very soon after. It all seems a bit suspicious to me. If I hadn't got sucked into studying the medical evidence, I was thinking of writing a screenplay about a secret history of the U.S., where Senators were murdered to change the balance of power, and where the see-saw only came to a stop when an iron man took control, only to have him get saddled with the vice-presidency. You know what happens next.

[Sid Walker]

At another point I looked into a series of Senatorial deaths and heart attacks. As a result of this quick series of deaths, Prescott Bush became a U.S. Senator and LBJ became majority leader. Something like 9 sitting Senators (of 96) died in a 3 year stretch--more than in all the time since. Of course, shortly afterwards LBJ had a heart attack of his own. Made me kinda wonder...

I didn't know that LBJ became majority leader as a result of a death. That's incredible, considering all the other lucky breaks which peppered LBJ's career.

LBJ must have had direct access to Murder Inc.

Could Pat please spell this out a little please?

Which deaths helped elevate Johnson to Senate majority leader?

It wasn't a direct lead-in. But in 1952, LBJ was just another Senator, and by 55 he was Majority Leader. Between 51 and 55 there were 9 deaths, as I remember, of active Senators. Most of them were old. There was one suicide, as I remember. Another one. Brion McMahon I think was his name, was fairly young. He was replaced by Prescott Bush, who'd lost an election just two years earlier due in part to his support of eugenics. At one point, I wrote all this stuff down. I may have created a thread on it even.

As far as LBJ gaining power from this... when someone dies mid-term he can be replaced on a temporary basis by the Governor of his state. The Governor inevitably picks someone from his own party, which may or may not be the party of the deceased. The Senate was in a virtual deadlock in this period. As a result, the replacement of one senator with one from another party could change the balance of power. This change-over occurred three or four times in this period. There was no stability until LBJ emerged as the big dog in 55. Ironically, he had a heart attack very soon after. It all seems a bit suspicious to me. If I hadn't got sucked into studying the medical evidence, I was thinking of writing a screenplay about a secret history of the U.S., where Senators were murdered to change the balance of power, and where the see-saw only came to a stop when an iron man took control, only to have him get saddled with the vice-presidency. You know what happens next.

I think you are drawing a long bow on this Pat.

Here's an extract from today's Wikipedia entry on LBJ:

In January 1953, he was chosen by his fellow Democrats to be the minority leader. Thus, he became the youngest man ever named to the post. One of his first actions was to eliminate the seniority system in appointment to a committee, while retaining it in terms of chairmanships. The senate majority leader, Robert A. Taft of Ohio, died July 31, 1953. The Republicans elected William F. Knowland of California as new senate majority leader. In 1954, Johnson was re-elected to the Senate, and since the Democrats won the majority in the Senate, Johnson became majority leader.

Is this inaccurate?

If not, why leave out the significant fact that Johnson was elected as minority leader in January 53 - and naturally became majority leader when the Senate became Democrat dominated in January 55?

[Pat Speer]

At another point I looked into a series of Senatorial deaths and heart attacks. As a result of this quick series of deaths, Prescott Bush became a U.S. Senator and LBJ became majority leader. Something like 9 sitting Senators (of 96) died in a 3 year stretch--more than in all the time since. Of course, shortly afterwards LBJ had a heart attack of his own. Made me kinda wonder...

I didn't know that LBJ became majority leader as a result of a death. That's incredible, considering all the other lucky breaks which peppered LBJ's career.

LBJ must have had direct access to Murder Inc.

Could Pat please spell this out a little please?

Which deaths helped elevate Johnson to Senate majority leader?

It wasn't a direct lead-in. But in 1952, LBJ was just another Senator, and by 55 he was Majority Leader. Between 51 and 55 there were 9 deaths, as I remember, of active Senators. Most of them were old. There was one suicide, as I remember. Another one. Brion McMahon I think was his name, was fairly young. He was replaced by Prescott Bush, who'd lost an election just two years earlier due in part to his support of eugenics. At one point, I wrote all this stuff down. I may have created a thread on it even.

As far as LBJ gaining power from this... when someone dies mid-term he can be replaced on a temporary basis by the Governor of his state. The Governor inevitably picks someone from his own party, which may or may not be the party of the deceased. The Senate was in a virtual deadlock in this period. As a result, the replacement of one senator with one from another party could change the balance of power. This change-over occurred three or four times in this period. There was no stability until LBJ emerged as the big dog in 55. Ironically, he had a heart attack very soon after. It all seems a bit suspicious to me. If I hadn't got sucked into studying the medical evidence, I was thinking of writing a screenplay about a secret history of the U.S., where Senators were murdered to change the balance of power, and where the see-saw only came to a stop when an iron man took control, only to have him get saddled with the vice-presidency. You know what happens next.

I think you are drawing a long bow on this Pat.

Here's an extract from today's Wikipedia entry on LBJ:

In January 1953, he was chosen by his fellow Democrats to be the minority leader. Thus, he became the youngest man ever named to the post. One of his first actions was to eliminate the seniority system in appointment to a committee, while retaining it in terms of chairmanships. The senate majority leader, Robert A. Taft of Ohio, died July 31, 1953. The Republicans elected William F. Knowland of California as new senate majority leader. In 1954, Johnson was re-elected to the Senate, and since the Democrats won the majority in the Senate, Johnson became majority leader.

Is this inaccurate?

If not, why leave out the significant fact that Johnson was elected as minority leader in January 53 - and naturally became majority leader when the Senate became Democrat dominated in January 55?

I didn't mean to imply Johnson killed his way to the top, if that's what you thought. It is just a statistical anomaly that so many died in such a short term, and that he came out on top. Johnson was slated for success early on, by FDR, Sam Rayburn, and Richard Russell, among others. But he was not a national figure until people started dropping.

I find it intriguing to think that all these deaths, and Johnson's heart-attack, are related, but have no evidence for this and don't expect to find any.