Like many of us I'm vaguely aware of some sort of conspiracy among our "betters." But I'm also acutely aware that I will never get to the bottom of it before I die. And I'm pretty sure whoever is behind it is throwing out all sorts of chaff and red herrings to make figuring it out an impossible task. Until we have invented a time machine that can see what was going on at any time or place, we'll never know for sure. In the meantime there are plenty of other windmills to tilt at.
We have already gotten to the bottom of it, though. The nonsense of the single bullet theory destroys the idea that Oswald shot from behind and alone, as does the windshield with a bullet hole from the front, and the testimony of the ER doctors who described the back of JFK's head being blown off and entry wounds above his right eye and in his throat. The information acquits Oswald.
Wow, JB. Excellent post. That's what keeps us hanging around. I was in elementary school in Dallas in '63. The Mobile building with Pegasus on top was still the tallest building in town. My cousin was downtown with his scout troop. I remember seeing his pictures of JFK's motorcade. I remember the sadness of all the adults. We went to my Grandma's for Thanksgiving and JFK was in our prayers. All of it was above my head then but I still had a sense that my parents didn't trust LBJ. I remember Dad watching Huntley and Brinkley cursing LBJ.
In the mid '70's my father had retired and moved us to Mt. Pleasant TX. An FBI agent came from Dallas to give a talk in our civics class (Is that even a thing now?) about the JFK assassination. Why? Go figure. He threw shade on all the conspiracy theories and without insisting led us to the single shooter theory. I wish I had made note of his name or why it was necessary for him to come to this back woods school. Stranger and stranger JB.
Anyway, thanks for a great entertaining read. As always.
I am pretty sure the agency felt it necessary, under Hoover, to run a kind of PR and educational campaign to reach students to reach their parents, and even to kill curiosity in the next generation. If I'd had time and space, my friend, I would have written about LBJ's and J. Edgar Hoover's involvement. Too long of a story for now, but they are at the heart of the matter.
As far as the CIA protecting American democracy, I speculate that a trump is a useful tool for them. He can be lead to believe anything; witness some of the nonsense he spews.
I don't think that's the agency's purpose, nor ever truly was. It is to make the world safe and pliable for American business interests, including defense manufacturers. They were never supposed to operate domestically, but they went outside their portfolio in almost the first few years of operation after the war.
I think a conviction will be delivered before Election Day by Smith's prosecution in Washington and he will get some time in confinement. Traditional prison? Hard to say. But I think he will go to a minimum security place and his power will be stripped.
Dallas homicide detective Jim Leavelle, the guy handcuffed to Oswald in that Pulitzer prize-winning photo SHOT MY FRIEND. (I knew that might grab your attention, but you’ll have to wait a bit.) In my 16 years as Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Film Commissioner, I got to work with Oliver Stone on four pictures, including Born On the Fourth of July with Tom Cruise and the Kevin Costner conspiracy film JFK (the only 2 movie posters hanging in our den— which doesn’t have a good enough TV or furniture to qualify as “media room” that might warrant others. In that capacity I had to make the presentation to the Dallas County Commissioners Court for permission to film in the former Schoolbook Depository and Dealy Plaza outside among other places.
Never ran into much community opposition over conspiracy theories; the biggest expressed were reservations were about the film bringing back terrible memories for people who were there that day, including the more than 2,000 shocked prominent citizens who had been waiting for the President to address a steak dinner at the Dallas Trade Mart as the limo sped right on past on Stemmons Fwy. toward Parkland Hospital. (The Church had granted dispensation for the Catholic first family to consume meat on that Friday.) A printed copy of the undelivered speech showed that Kennedy’s remarks included addressing head on the damaging attitudes reflected in the vitriolic black-bordered “City of Hate” full page advertisement that had been paid for in the Dallas Morning News that morning by some of the very civic leaders waiting there in the room.
But I digress. Some other close friends, Allen and Cynthia Mondell had produced the documentary film seen by all visitors to the 6th Floor Museum examining the lives of the President and Oswald along with some of the conspiracy theories. But Stone’s JFK created such an increase in visitorship and media inquiries, that the museum persuaded my friend the late Bob Porter, a former entertainment and film reporter for the Dallas Times Herald to become communications director and preserve more of the history on video. For that, Bob was interviewing detective Leavelle, who produced a revolver similar to Ruby’s from (I believe) a fireplace mantle and attempted to demonstrate how one could prevent it from firing by grabbing the barrel. Apparently not a foolproof endeavor. The loaded weapon discharged and shot Bob in the arm. He survived well enough to be able to relate the story to me and a cousin filmmaker I had with me matter-of-factly without much emotion.
BTW, for years there was a separate for profit JFK Conspiracy Museum around the corner in the West End attracting Dealy Plaza visitors to purchase memorabilia – until that closed and became a Quiznos. A million other stories, but I feel this already overstays my welcome, and your excellent conspiracy chronicle is way more than enough to handle. Great job, James.
I've always avoided the 6th Floor museum. I see anything that even suggests Oswald as a shooter being without added value to the truth. He wasn't even given a paraffin test, and witnesses saw him in the cafeteria when the shots were heard. But as I've said a thousand times, Arlen Specter's single bullet nonsense, which requires belief to accept Oswald acted alone, is reason enough to acquit him in the history books.
Obviously, an institution like that, essentially established to help the city “heal” was unlikely to be anything but circumspect in its treatment. Haven’t been there in 10 or 20 years to see how the place might have changed, but you’re right that anything ostensibly, even earnestly, attempting to present “both sides” of an issue, when there actually is none, at best clouds the issue, intentionally or not.
Fortunately, I already had a lot more than Oliver Stone to inoculate me against the Warren Commission and its ilk long before I got to Dallas. In the late 60’s and early 70’s as the producer of what I presume WBUR’s first attempt at a nightly newscast (the rest still essentially classical and jazz), I got plenty of personal familiarity with people like Carl Oglesby (Yankees vs. Cowboys) and his Cambridge-based Assassination Information Bureau, who I got reacquainted with down here for the JFK filming, Dick Gregory, Howard Zinn, the Chicago 7, Black Panthers, and the full new left spectrum. (I was the only white guy on a black-centered counter cultural program called – or course, The Drum, mostly because I had the 3rd class board operator’s license – and also, uh…a car). You could run into Gregory, who I believe lived on the Cape, at Kinkos. He was that much of a regular guy offstage. I remember being in some conspiracy gathering, where everybody in the auditorium got paranoid about government agents likely being present, with Dick finally the voice or reason getting the room to just simmer down. My skepticism got down to wondering things like who might have offed Frank Church?
I assume you have also started monitoring the new Rob Reiner/Soledad O’Brien 10-part Apple Music podcast “Who Killed JFK,” pulling all the pieces together and promising a definitive answer by episode 10. Sorry to invade so much more of you space, but wanted to clear a little up.
I’ve listened to Reiner/O’Brien first three episodes and they offer nothing new so far. I saw Dick Gregory once in Detroit and was so impressed with how he wove serious stuff with real humor.
It's awful. I'd like to know more about Santa Monica. When I worked for Whitmire, she had tons of death threats. Only Lee Brown had more as mayor of Houston. I actually had death threats when I was at the ABC station in Baton Rouge and a stalker during my first time at KHOU.
They come with the territory. I had enough to scare piss out of me when Brain came out. I'll tell ya sometime about the one in Santa Monica at a book signing.
I can't rememvber the 3 names Dick Gregory used, but who the hell really knows. I think one thing was obvious in the photos, they were armed...if I remember correctly.
You brought the day back to me. One thing I have to say, we didn't have faith in the government in Berkeley in the 60's. Rumblings of conspiracy came early. And I think I had mentioned to you before that in the 70s, Dick Gregory was touring college campus' with pictures of the three so-called, "tramps," arrested in Dallas that day. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth184798/m1/1/. The miracle is if we get the truth about any damn thing.
Also, Harrelson later denied having been there that day. Eventually, I think researchers found the names of the tramps and they were all allegedly unknown bystanders.
Yeah, Berkeley led the way but things didn't really take off in terms of unrest and protests until the war ramped up. America was living in its "Leave It To Beaver" all is white with the world Post War Eisenhower bubble until the mid-sixties. And I remember Dick Gregory very well and was a great fan. You may not be aware but he was the first person to take the un-edited Zapruder film public, and did so on Geraldo Rivera's old TV show.
Yet another excellent post...that's why I subscibe...all this will pale when compared to a second coming of #P01135809...he is easily manipulated and will be a tool of whoever needs something nefarious to be done...we are so f**ked...
Like many of us I'm vaguely aware of some sort of conspiracy among our "betters." But I'm also acutely aware that I will never get to the bottom of it before I die. And I'm pretty sure whoever is behind it is throwing out all sorts of chaff and red herrings to make figuring it out an impossible task. Until we have invented a time machine that can see what was going on at any time or place, we'll never know for sure. In the meantime there are plenty of other windmills to tilt at.
We have already gotten to the bottom of it, though. The nonsense of the single bullet theory destroys the idea that Oswald shot from behind and alone, as does the windshield with a bullet hole from the front, and the testimony of the ER doctors who described the back of JFK's head being blown off and entry wounds above his right eye and in his throat. The information acquits Oswald.
Wow, JB. Excellent post. That's what keeps us hanging around. I was in elementary school in Dallas in '63. The Mobile building with Pegasus on top was still the tallest building in town. My cousin was downtown with his scout troop. I remember seeing his pictures of JFK's motorcade. I remember the sadness of all the adults. We went to my Grandma's for Thanksgiving and JFK was in our prayers. All of it was above my head then but I still had a sense that my parents didn't trust LBJ. I remember Dad watching Huntley and Brinkley cursing LBJ.
In the mid '70's my father had retired and moved us to Mt. Pleasant TX. An FBI agent came from Dallas to give a talk in our civics class (Is that even a thing now?) about the JFK assassination. Why? Go figure. He threw shade on all the conspiracy theories and without insisting led us to the single shooter theory. I wish I had made note of his name or why it was necessary for him to come to this back woods school. Stranger and stranger JB.
Anyway, thanks for a great entertaining read. As always.
I am pretty sure the agency felt it necessary, under Hoover, to run a kind of PR and educational campaign to reach students to reach their parents, and even to kill curiosity in the next generation. If I'd had time and space, my friend, I would have written about LBJ's and J. Edgar Hoover's involvement. Too long of a story for now, but they are at the heart of the matter.
As far as the CIA protecting American democracy, I speculate that a trump is a useful tool for them. He can be lead to believe anything; witness some of the nonsense he spews.
I don't think that's the agency's purpose, nor ever truly was. It is to make the world safe and pliable for American business interests, including defense manufacturers. They were never supposed to operate domestically, but they went outside their portfolio in almost the first few years of operation after the war.
Purpose is frequently bent to other means in execution. It seems difficult for us to live up to the ideals we set for ourselves.
Spot on...#P01135809 has proven over & over again to be easily manipulated by massaging his ego...
I hope he goes to prison where he will get a vigorous prostate massage.
He'll make a lovely prison wife but I have serious doubts he will serve any hard time...
I think a conviction will be delivered before Election Day by Smith's prosecution in Washington and he will get some time in confinement. Traditional prison? Hard to say. But I think he will go to a minimum security place and his power will be stripped.
I sincerely hope you're right...
Agreed. Probably the worst he'll get is house arrest, if that.
Dallas homicide detective Jim Leavelle, the guy handcuffed to Oswald in that Pulitzer prize-winning photo SHOT MY FRIEND. (I knew that might grab your attention, but you’ll have to wait a bit.) In my 16 years as Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Film Commissioner, I got to work with Oliver Stone on four pictures, including Born On the Fourth of July with Tom Cruise and the Kevin Costner conspiracy film JFK (the only 2 movie posters hanging in our den— which doesn’t have a good enough TV or furniture to qualify as “media room” that might warrant others. In that capacity I had to make the presentation to the Dallas County Commissioners Court for permission to film in the former Schoolbook Depository and Dealy Plaza outside among other places.
Never ran into much community opposition over conspiracy theories; the biggest expressed were reservations were about the film bringing back terrible memories for people who were there that day, including the more than 2,000 shocked prominent citizens who had been waiting for the President to address a steak dinner at the Dallas Trade Mart as the limo sped right on past on Stemmons Fwy. toward Parkland Hospital. (The Church had granted dispensation for the Catholic first family to consume meat on that Friday.) A printed copy of the undelivered speech showed that Kennedy’s remarks included addressing head on the damaging attitudes reflected in the vitriolic black-bordered “City of Hate” full page advertisement that had been paid for in the Dallas Morning News that morning by some of the very civic leaders waiting there in the room.
But I digress. Some other close friends, Allen and Cynthia Mondell had produced the documentary film seen by all visitors to the 6th Floor Museum examining the lives of the President and Oswald along with some of the conspiracy theories. But Stone’s JFK created such an increase in visitorship and media inquiries, that the museum persuaded my friend the late Bob Porter, a former entertainment and film reporter for the Dallas Times Herald to become communications director and preserve more of the history on video. For that, Bob was interviewing detective Leavelle, who produced a revolver similar to Ruby’s from (I believe) a fireplace mantle and attempted to demonstrate how one could prevent it from firing by grabbing the barrel. Apparently not a foolproof endeavor. The loaded weapon discharged and shot Bob in the arm. He survived well enough to be able to relate the story to me and a cousin filmmaker I had with me matter-of-factly without much emotion.
BTW, for years there was a separate for profit JFK Conspiracy Museum around the corner in the West End attracting Dealy Plaza visitors to purchase memorabilia – until that closed and became a Quiznos. A million other stories, but I feel this already overstays my welcome, and your excellent conspiracy chronicle is way more than enough to handle. Great job, James.
I've always avoided the 6th Floor museum. I see anything that even suggests Oswald as a shooter being without added value to the truth. He wasn't even given a paraffin test, and witnesses saw him in the cafeteria when the shots were heard. But as I've said a thousand times, Arlen Specter's single bullet nonsense, which requires belief to accept Oswald acted alone, is reason enough to acquit him in the history books.
Obviously, an institution like that, essentially established to help the city “heal” was unlikely to be anything but circumspect in its treatment. Haven’t been there in 10 or 20 years to see how the place might have changed, but you’re right that anything ostensibly, even earnestly, attempting to present “both sides” of an issue, when there actually is none, at best clouds the issue, intentionally or not.
Fortunately, I already had a lot more than Oliver Stone to inoculate me against the Warren Commission and its ilk long before I got to Dallas. In the late 60’s and early 70’s as the producer of what I presume WBUR’s first attempt at a nightly newscast (the rest still essentially classical and jazz), I got plenty of personal familiarity with people like Carl Oglesby (Yankees vs. Cowboys) and his Cambridge-based Assassination Information Bureau, who I got reacquainted with down here for the JFK filming, Dick Gregory, Howard Zinn, the Chicago 7, Black Panthers, and the full new left spectrum. (I was the only white guy on a black-centered counter cultural program called – or course, The Drum, mostly because I had the 3rd class board operator’s license – and also, uh…a car). You could run into Gregory, who I believe lived on the Cape, at Kinkos. He was that much of a regular guy offstage. I remember being in some conspiracy gathering, where everybody in the auditorium got paranoid about government agents likely being present, with Dick finally the voice or reason getting the room to just simmer down. My skepticism got down to wondering things like who might have offed Frank Church?
I assume you have also started monitoring the new Rob Reiner/Soledad O’Brien 10-part Apple Music podcast “Who Killed JFK,” pulling all the pieces together and promising a definitive answer by episode 10. Sorry to invade so much more of you space, but wanted to clear a little up.
I’ve listened to Reiner/O’Brien first three episodes and they offer nothing new so far. I saw Dick Gregory once in Detroit and was so impressed with how he wove serious stuff with real humor.
It's awful. I'd like to know more about Santa Monica. When I worked for Whitmire, she had tons of death threats. Only Lee Brown had more as mayor of Houston. I actually had death threats when I was at the ABC station in Baton Rouge and a stalker during my first time at KHOU.
Seriously. I'm sure he had mounting death threats.
Gregory probably couldn't sit in a restaurant without someone coming up to him and telling them they were gonna kill him.
They come with the territory. I had enough to scare piss out of me when Brain came out. I'll tell ya sometime about the one in Santa Monica at a book signing.
I can't rememvber the 3 names Dick Gregory used, but who the hell really knows. I think one thing was obvious in the photos, they were armed...if I remember correctly.
I don't recall guns being completely visible but it looked like they were trying to hide something
Yeah, remember when liberals didn't trust government. Those were the days...
I didn't realize Gregory was the first person to do that.
Dick Gregory was a fearless, sumbitch, and ahead of his time.
You brought the day back to me. One thing I have to say, we didn't have faith in the government in Berkeley in the 60's. Rumblings of conspiracy came early. And I think I had mentioned to you before that in the 70s, Dick Gregory was touring college campus' with pictures of the three so-called, "tramps," arrested in Dallas that day. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth184798/m1/1/. The miracle is if we get the truth about any damn thing.
Also, Harrelson later denied having been there that day. Eventually, I think researchers found the names of the tramps and they were all allegedly unknown bystanders.
Yeah, Berkeley led the way but things didn't really take off in terms of unrest and protests until the war ramped up. America was living in its "Leave It To Beaver" all is white with the world Post War Eisenhower bubble until the mid-sixties. And I remember Dick Gregory very well and was a great fan. You may not be aware but he was the first person to take the un-edited Zapruder film public, and did so on Geraldo Rivera's old TV show.
Yet another excellent post...that's why I subscibe...all this will pale when compared to a second coming of #P01135809...he is easily manipulated and will be a tool of whoever needs something nefarious to be done...we are so f**ked...
A second coming of him will result in the first going of me to somewhere else.
If we had the financial means and were younger we would already be gone to Ireland or New Zealand...Texas and the country have already gone to crap...
This is my sentiment, though I'd choose a sunburnt country called Australia, which I now believe requires a million in liquid assets just to emigrate.