LHO, LBJ, AND THE JFK ASSASSINATION
John Delane Williams
Overview
Lee Harvey Oswald’s life is traced from his early years
to his ultimate death at the young age of 24. Oswald was more complex than is
often presented. Information that comes to us from traditional sources often
show little awareness by assassination authors of several persons playing an
important role early on and continuing to be important to the end of Oswald’s
life. Some of these important persons were Jack Ruby, David Ferrie and Lillian
Murret. Those that came along later included Arthur Young, Richard Case Nagell,
Ernst Titovets and Judyth Vary Baker. The short part of his life that would
normally be called his adulthood, is still not widely known, except perhaps as
misinformation. This particularly applies to events around the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy.
Oswald’s Childhood
Oswald’s mother was Marguerite Clavier Pic Oswald, a
divorcee with two other children, Jon Pic and Robert Oswald. His father was
Robert E. Lee Oswald, who died three months before Lee was born. [1] Oswald’s
father had previously been married to Margarette Keating Oswald. Marguerite
Clavier’s sister, Lilian, was married to Dutz Murret, who was closely tied to
Carlos Marcello, a Mafia godfather in New Orleans—Dallas was in Marcello’s
realm.
The family of three boys and their mother was unstable. When
Oswald was two years old, his two older brothers were placed in an orphanage. Lee’s
mother attempted to place Lee in the orphanage also, but they wouldn’t take children
under 3. Lee was placed with Lillian Clavier Murret, Marguerite’s sister. Less than a year later (December 26, 1942) Lee
was tearfully taken from his aunt and placed in the orphanage. [2] At that
time, Marguerite began working at Pittsburg Paint & Glass, where she met
another employee, Edwin Ekdahl; they had an off and on relationship. She took
Lee out of the orphanage in January 1944, and the other two boys in June 1944,
when they moved to Dallas to be with Ekdahl. Marguerite and Edwin were married
May 7, 1945. The two older boys were enrolled in Chamberlain Hunt Military
Academy in August 1945. [3] During the time they were in Dallas, Dutz Murret
asked a fellow Mafia member, Jack Ruby, to keep tabs on little Lee Oswald; Ruby
became an acquaintance to the Oswald-Ekdahl family [4]. A year later the
Ekdahl’s separated, and would eventually divorce. Marguerite moved to
Covington, LA where Lee would repeat first grade and the two brothers returned
to military school. Eventually, John would complete High School and join the
service and was married to a 17-year old girl. Robert eventually dropped out of
high school and joined the military as well. [5]
In August 1952, Lee and his mother moved to New York City;
John Pic and his young bride lived there at the time. Oswald was often truant
from school. Oswald took a trip by hitchhiking to Niagara Falls in February or
March of 1953. At the border, he asked a border agent to be allowed to go
across the border and return in a few hours. The agent, Arthur Young, explained
that Oswald must return by dusk. On his return, Oswald told Young that he
wished to become a spy. Young gave him some names of people to contact in New
York. Sometime later, Young contacted Oswald in New York, and they went to
lunch. Shortly thereafter, Young was reassigned to Florida. [6] Young would
many years later play a role in having Oswald getting an expedited passport to
Mexico. After Oswald returned from New York to New Orleans, where he attended
school more often than he did in New York; he also joined the Civil Air Patrol,
where he met Captain David Ferrie. Their relationship was somewhat contentious.
[7] Oswald and his mother then moved back to the Dallas area. He joined the
Marines shortly after his seventeenth birthday. [8]
The Marines
Oswald’s time in the Marines was actually a high point in
his life. Though a poor marksman, he did much better in radar. His second radar
course was in Aircraft Control and Warning Operation. In this course he
finished 7th out of 30 trainees. He was assigned to the Marine Air
Control Squadron (MACS 1) in Atsugi, Japan. This installation was under the
influence of the CIA; among their many duties was keeping a close watch on the
U-2 flights. It was in Atsugi that Oswald met a beautiful Eurasian woman at the
Queen Bee Bar. She pumped him for information; he reported this to officers at
his base. They encouraged him to continue seeing her, feeding her inaccurate
information. They apparently supplied him with sufficient funds to date her;
these dates would run $60-$100, far out of the range of his $85 monthly salary.
She would also become his first love. Oswald also met Richard Case Nagell at
the Queen Bee. Nagell also worked out of MACS1, probably with the CIA.
Apparently it was Nagell who was influential in getting Oswald to go to the
Soviet Union. Oswald would return to the United States and seek a hardship
discharge to help his mother. When returning to Texas, Oswald began the process
of going to the Soviet Union. [9]
The Russian Experience
The best source of Oswald’s experiences in Russia is
likely the writing of his best friend in the Soviet Union, Ernst Titovets.
Titovets met Oswald in 1960, and they became the best of friends. Titovets
was
going to medical school at the time. They spent a
considerable amount of time going to opera, plays,
and yes, visiting college aged girls. They were often
accompanied by other acquaintances.
John Armstrong proposed the two Oswald hypothesis (Harvey
and Lee), where Harvey
was from a Russian speaking area in the Soviet Union, and
Lee was from Louisiana. Armstrong stated
that Oswald never spoke Russian from 1959-1962 while in
the Soviet Union, except perhaps to Marina.
Titovets had written that Oswald was given Russian
speakers to help learn Russian. While Oswald had
began learning Russian in the US, he had nowhere near the
competence of a native Russian speaker. In
Russia, were the two of them alone, they would speak
English because Titovets wanted to improve his
English speech.
When a person who only spoke Russian was with them, then everyone would
speak Russian. This would seem to show Armstrong’s
hypothesis about Oswald not speaking Russian in
the Soviet Union was false.
During this time in the Soviet Union, Oswald met a girl a
year older than him with whom he began a
deliberately slow relationship. Oswald had met his second
love. Oswald had also began thinking about
returning to the United States. It appears that Ella
German was the key to him remaining in Russia. He
asked her to marry
him. Because of the problems she saw with marrying an American, she turned him
down. A few days later, he made the decision not to seek
Soviet citizenship, thereby the die was cast for
returning to the United States.
Just over two months later (March 17, 1961), Oswald met
Marina Prussakova at a dance. She was
gathering a crowd of males around her (many of whom she
had had relations with). Oswald gathered
her attention. Oswald’s reasons were to make Ella German
jealous. Perhaps Marina’s interest was to get
a ticket to the
USA. A month later, they were married.
Presumably, Marina was his third love.
They would remain in the Soviet Union until June 1962.
During this time, a daughter, June was born. [10]
Oswald’s Return to the USA
Oswald, Marina and June arrived by ship to Hoboken New
Jersey on June 13, 1962. They flew to Dallas
Love Field and were met by his brother Robert and
Robert’s family. The newly arrived Oswald Family
stayed at his
brother’s house for a month. The moved to an apartment when Oswald found work
as a
sheet metal worker.
The Texas Employment Commission found him two other jobs. The more
interesting job to Oswald was Jaggers-Stiles-Stovall, who
included in their work constructing maps of
Cuba; The Cuban Missile Crisis began October 16, 1962.
[11]
In September 1962, Oswald met George deMohrenschildt. The
deMohrenschildts introduced Lee and
Marina to the Dallas Russian Emigree community. The two
families spent considerable time together.
The marital difficulties in the Oswald marriage became
obvious to the deMohrenscildts. They tried a
separation
intervention with the Oswalds. The Oswalds would reunite. deMohrenschildt would
later
write a biography
of Oswald, I’m a Patsy! I’m a Patsy! The deMohrenschildts would leave
for Haiti on
April 14, 1963. Oswald would soon leave for New Orleans.
Marina and June stayed with Ruth Paine.
Return to New
Orleans
Oswald took a bus to New Orleans on April 24. He stayed
at the YMCA. On April 26. Oswald went to the
Post Office.
There, he got in line behind a young brunette woman. She dropped her newspaper,
and
Oswald picked it up for her. She thanked him in Russian.
In Russian, he told her. “Your welcome. It’s
dangerous to speak Russian in New Orleans.” She told him,
sitting on a nearby park bench, that her name was Judyth Vary, and soon to be
Judyth Vary Baker.
She also told him things about herself, being 19, and in
New Orleans to work with the well-known cancer
doctor, Dr. Mary
Sherman. Oswald jumped to the conclusion that she too was there to work on the
“project”, in which Oswald would also have a role.
Actually, Judyth was recruited to have a research
experience in Dr. Sherman’s work. Judyth had been a
stellar young scientist, working on fast acting
cancers since her high school days. [12] As it turned out,
Judyth had arrived at the end of her trimester
at the University
of Florida. She was not expected until early June, when semesters typically
were
over. Oswald tried to help Judyth (his presumably fellow
workmate) during the interim period. Because
Oswald had misconstrued Judyth as being the cancer
researcher to help with the secrect project, he
introduced Judyth to several other persons involved with
the project. First was David Ferrie who had
colonies of mice that were used in experimentation. Dr.
Mary Sherman was also involved with the
project, as well as a faculty member at Tulane
University. [13] She would take specimens from the mice,
who had been injected with cancer cells and would be
involved with inoculating the harvested tumors
into a new group of mice. The objective of the research
was to produce a fast-acting cancer to inject into
Fidel Castro. Oswald
would be a courier, taking the specimens to the various persons working in the
project. His most important role was to take the final
biological product and give it to a Cuban scientist
in Mexico. [14]
Other persons involved with Oswald that Judyth would meet
were Dr. Alton Oschner, director of the
Oschner Clinic, and also director of the research
project, presumably under the funding of the CIA. One of the earliest people Judyth met through Oswald was Jack Ruby,
at a get-together at David Ferrie’s home on May 6, 1963. Ruby would travel from
Dallas to New Orleans at which time he would see both Oswald and Judyth Baker.
Most often Ruby was recruiting new strippers for his Carousel nightclub. [15] Judyth
also met Guy Banister. [16]
Because Judyth knew too much about the project, she was
allowed to choose whether to work on the
project or do a
research internship with Dr. Sherman. The cutting-edge research within the
project was
too enticing to
pass up. To keep the secrecy regarding the project, both Oswald and Judyth
would have
cover jobs at
Reily’s Coffee Company. Oswald would occasionally work in packing coffee into
shipping
boxes, but he was
mainly doing other tasks for an unidentified government employer, most likely,
the
CIA; a car would come by the garage next to Reily’s
Coffee at a given time, and Oswald would receive an envelope with money. Judyth
was to punch the time clock for Oswald into work in the morning and out in the
afternoon on days Oswald wasn’t around. [17]
Some Other Bits
of Information in New Orleans
Oswald had a
valid Texas driver’s license. [18]
Ferrie’s missing
library card: Judyth had this card, but forgot about it. [19]
Oswald gave a lecture on Communism at Spring Hill College
in Mobile Alabama. He was driven there by Dutz Murret, his uncle. His cousin
was a student there. [20]
There was an
anti-Castro Training Camp for Cubans with interest in invading Cuba. While
Oswald was
involved with a film there, he also informed the FBI, who
raided the camp. [21]
Lee obtained his passport on June 25, 1963. The agent was
Arthur Young, brought in for one day to
facilitate Oswald and others applying for passports that
day. Arthur Young was the person Oswald met at the Canadian Border in 1953.
[22]
Judyth and Robert
and Lee
On occasion, Judyth’s fiancé, Robert Baker would occasionally
visit during the time Judyth was in New
Orleans. He was working in the Gulf with an oil crew.
They were married May 2, 1963, when Robert
Baker could get a weekend away from the oil fields in the
Gulf. Their visits were on the occasional
weekend. On June 29, 1963, Oswald proposed marriage to
Judyth. A curious event given that they were
both married to other
persons; Oswald’s wife was pregnant, and by then also living in New Orleans
with Lee. [23]
Richard Case
Nagell
Oswald supposedly took a trip to get more materials for
the project. He flew to Mexico City toward the
end of July, and met with Nagell. Oswald reportedly went
to the Cuban Embassy. He and Nagell went to
target practice, shooting at cactuses. Nagell reported,
“He couldn’t hit the side of a barn.” [24]
Another meeting took place between Oswald and Nagell and
two other persons in “Houston” ( Nagell
claimed the location was someplace else). The discussion
was about the assassination of President
Kennedy. [25]
Jackson
Early on, the episode in Jackson, Louisiana seemed to
make little sense. The group of Oswald, Ferrie and
Clay Shaw were sitting and waiting by a pay phone (Oswald
attempted to register to vote while waiting).
The men were waiting to hear from a caller to inform them
that the “volunteer(s)” from the state prison
were finally transported to the hospital. It was time to
put the cancer cells into their arms—the cells were ready to be tried for
effectiveness.
When Judyth found out that there were multiple volunteers
who were in good health, she wrote a note
To Dr. Ochsner: Injecting disease causing-materials
into an unwitting subject who does not have the
disease is unethical. J.A.
That note changed everything for Judyth. She was no
longer going to medical school. She was fired from
the project, except she had to go to Jackson State
Hospital and see if the injection was successful. In the
meantime, she was
preparing to leave to go back to the University of Florida with Robert Baker.
Lee had
given her $400 to be ready to join Lee in Mexico. [26]
Three Weeks in
September
For much of the time in September, Oswald was waiting for
the outcome of the injections to the
prisoner “volunteers”. Oswald did meet with David Atlee
Phillips together with Antonio Veciana,
in Dallas, somewhere around September 10. They ignored
Oswald, who went back to Dallas without
even having lunch.
[27]
Nagel in New
Orleans and El Paso
Probably between September 15-17, 1963, Nagell came to
New Orleans. Presumably, this trip was to
ascertain what Nagell would do about the order to kill
Oswald, ordered by the KGB. The killing would
not occur on U.S.
soil. The CIA had “loaned” Nagell to the Soviets. The Soviets wanted Oswald
dead
before the assassination so Russia would not be blamed for
the assassination. Nagell likely learned of
Oswald’s involvement in the “get Castro” project. [28]
Possibly, Nagell mulled it over a few days and
came up with a plan. Nagell went to El Paso, writing 3
letters, one to Desmond Morris, who had been
head of the CIA
Far East Division, a second letter to another CIA official, and a letter to
Oswald. In Oswald’s letter were included $500 and a plane ticket to Mexico
City. Oswald did not receive the letter; it likely was intercepted by the
government. Completing his plan on September 20, he held up a bank in El Paso.
In fact, he walked into a bank, took two shots into the ceiling, and walked out,
waiting to be arrested. He wanted to be in jail when an attempt was made on
President Kennedy’s life. [29]
Mexico Late September and Early October
On September 23, the go ahead for the delivery of the
bio-weapon was disclosed to Oswald. [30]
The trip to Mexico took place. The trip to Mexico did not succeed in the
delivery of the bio-weapon. Hurricane issues in Cuba precluded medical
personnel from a rendezvous in Mexico City. [31]
October 1963
Alex Rorke, the pilot who was scheduled to fly Judyth
Baker to Mexico to be joined with Oswald, was
shot down over Cuba. [32] Judyth and Lee kept in contact
by telephone; they still planned to meet in Mexico, but the future was starting
to blur.
NSAM-263
President Kennedy chose to begin withdrawal from Vietnam,
beginning at the end of 1963, with the
likelihood that
all troops could be brought home by the end of 1965, though these statements
were
referenced to the
Taylor McNamara Report. NAM-263 was classified as Top Secret. [33]
Assassination Attempts Prior to Dallas
There were at least two planned assassination attempts
prior to Dallas. One was set in Chicago, November 2, 1963, with Arthur Vallee
as the patsy; and Tampa, Florida on November 18, 1963 with Gilberto Lopez
and/or Miguel Casus Saez as possible patsys. The Chicago attempt was averted
thru the efforts of Abraham Bolden. Two other possible attempts may have been
scheduled. Inferring from Richard Case Nagell’s actions in El Paso on September
20, 1963, he seemed to anticipate an attempt might occur shortly thereafter
perhaps on the Conservation Tour of the Western States, between September 23-27.[34]
If an assassination attempt was planned for Miami, prior to going to Tampa, it
was averted by President Kennedy taking a helicopter instead of arriving in
Miami by a planned motorcade.
Early November to November 21
The time preceding the assassination was rife with
important events. It began with the assassinations of
Ngo Diem and Ngo Nhu in Vietnam, changing radically the
American involvement in Vietnam. The
prescience of
Joseph Adams Milteer, a southern right-winger who was also a founder of the
States
Rights Party, spoke of the likely assassination of
President Kennedy. Milteer told a informant to the FBI that the shots would be
taken from a multi-story building; Milteer was in Dallas November 22, 1963 at
the site of the assassination. [35]
Oswald talked to an FBI agent in Dallas about the
impending assassination. From the information given
the agent, a
telegram was sent to the FBI office in Washington, who then sent the message to
particular FBI offices,
including New Orleans. The message was received in New Orleans November 17,
1963 (Sunday morning) by William Walter and his wife
Jossey. Walter had his wife type a copy of the
telegram. [36]
Three Near Simultaneous
Sightings of Oswald at 10 AM November 20
First, Oswald was at work. Second, a person described as
being Oswald two blocks from
Oswald’s boarding house was eating at a restaurant,
cursing at the waitress and causing a commotion.
Present at this occurrence was J.D. Tippett. At 10:30, Ralph
Leon Yates was driving on R.L. Thornton
Freeway, and picked up a hitchhiker, who had a package
4’-4.5’ long, described to Yates as curtain rods.
The hitchhiker asked if President Kennedy might be assassinated
by a person in a tall building with a
high powered rifle. The hitchhiker was let off at Houston
and Elm Street, near the TSBD. When Oswald
appeared on television after the assassination, Yates
identified Oswald as his hitchhiker. [37]
The Rose Cherami
Episode
Rose Cherami was thrown from a car (or left at a bar)
near Eunice, Louisiana. She told Lt. Fruge of
The Louisiana State Police who picked her up, that she
had been on her way to Dallas, where President
Kennedy would be
assassinated. For her incredible story, she was taken to Jackson State
Hospital. Shortly after the assassination, records regarding Cherami were
seized by government officials. [38]
November 22, 1963
In the early morning, Lyndon Johnson arrived at a party
honoring J. Edgar Hoover at the Clint Murchison
residence. After
leaving the party, Johnson stopped to talk briefly with Madeleine Brown, a
former
longtime paramour. Johnson said, “After tomorrow, those
goddamed Kennedy’s will never embarrass me
again-that’s no threat, that’s a promise.” [39]
As the motorcade passed by the Texas Schoolbook
Depository, Johnson was ducking before any shots
had rung out.
Secret Service Agent Rufus Youngblood quickly covered Johnson’s body with his
own. [40]
Johnson may also have had concerns about a hearing going
on in the U.S. Senate. A committee was
investigating Bobby Baker, Johnson’s primary aide when
Johnson was a senator. Some reasoned that
these hearings might move Johnson out the
Vice-Presidency, allowing the choice of another
Vice-President.[41]
Oswald’s Whereabouts Prior to the Assassination
At 11:45 AM, Oswald was at his work assignment on the
Sixth Floor. When fellow employee Charles
Gibbons was asked
by police, he responded that Oswald was in the Domino Room at 11:50 AM on the
first floor reading a newspaper. Bill Shelly saw Oswald
shortly before noon. Another employee, Eddie
Piper talked to Oswald at 12 Noon on the first floor.
Oswald apparently went to the second floor and
purchased a soda, returned to the first floor and began
eating his lunch; another employee, Harold Newman was eating his lunch at the
same time. Carolyn Arnold, a secretary at the Texas School Book Depository,
observed Oswald in the Domino Room at 12:15. Carolyn Arnold stayed in the
Domino Room till 12:25; Oswald was there for this time period. [42] As the shots
rang out during the assassination, Oswald was getting change in the office of a
secretary, Jeraldean Reid. [43]
Oswald’s Whereabouts Directly After the Assassination
Shortly after the 12:30 assassination (90 seconds later),
motorcycle Officer Marion Baker and Building
Superintendent Roy Truly encountered Oswald on the second
Floor. There is some evidence that places
Oswald in the doorway at the entrance of the TSBD at the
time of the assassination. [44] Shortly after
the encounter with
Officer Baker and Superintendent Truly, Oswald left the building. Oswald would
board a bus, which became caught in traffic, then took a
cab to his boarding house. Upon leaving the
boarding house, we
know that Oswald went to the Texas Theater, where he was apprehended by the
Dallas police. Oswald
would later be charged with the murder of J.D. Tippit. One curious point is
that there were three wallets involved for Oswald on that
day. He left a wallet for Marina in their room
at Ruth Paine’s
home. A second wallet with contents that appeared to belong to Oswald (Though
it
may have been a
deliberate drop) was found at the scene of the killing of J.D. Tippit. [45]
A third wallet was in Oswald’s possession at the time of
his arrest. It would seem strange that 1)
Oswald would have
three wallets; 2) he would be carrying two wallets that day.
From Parkland to Bethesda
The apparently moribund President was attended to at
Parkland Hospital. Upon President Kennedy
being declared dead, a heated disagreement occurred
between the Secret Service and the doctors at
Parkland. Though
legally, an autopsy was required to be performed in Texas, the Secret Service
was
adamant that they
were taking President Kennedy back to Washington. [46]
In Washington, the autopsy was performed by military
pathologists, inexperienced in doing autopsies
with shooting
deaths. The autopsy was hopelessly flawed, with military brass shouting out
instructions.
Douglas Horne [47] has written a five-volume tome
addressing the failures regarding the medical and
other evidence in relation to the JFK assassination, and
the alteration of that evidence, including the
Zapruder film.
November 23-25 in Dallas
In November 2001, Gary Severson and I were interviewing
Madeleine Brown. In the interview, she
volunteered a
statement that was mindboggling.
MB:
See, through the years, I’ve met with Marina. Tell me what you want to know.
You, Marina, couldn’t speak English in those years. And she told that the
police came out and picked up the rifle the next day after the shooting.
I [MB] said, “Are you sure?” She said, “Yeah.”
[48]
It was shocking to hear that in 2001. Time has rendered Marina’s
revelation to be credible.
On the evening after the assassination, another telling
utterance occurred at Henry Wade’s press
conference. Wade said that Oswald was a member of the
“Free Cuba Committee”. Jack Ruby blurted
out, “Henry, that’s the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.” [49] The possible complicities of the police were
not to be considered, nor was the likely relationship of Ruby to Oswald.
Why did Ruby kill
Oswald?
In Ruby’s interview with Earl Warren:
MR. Ruby: I tell
you gentlemen, my whole life is in jeopardy. My sisters as to their lives.
MR. Warren:
Yes?
MR. Ruby:
Naturally, I’m a forgone conclusion. My sister, Eva, Eileen and Mary. I love my
sisters.
My brothers, Sam,
Earl, Hyman and myself, naturally, my in-laws, Harold Kaminsky, Marge Ruby, the wife of Earl, and Phyllis, the wife
of Sam Ruby, they are in jeopardy of the loss of their lives. Yes, they have,
just because they are blood related to myself- does that sound serious enough
to you, Chief Justice Warren? [50]
In other words, Jack Ruby was made an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Washington: November 23 to January 23, 1964
Much was on the plate as Johnston started his presidency.
One of the important things done
was the issuance
of NSAM 273. NSAM 273 was authored in Honolulu on November 21 as a
replacement for NSAM 263, which was unknown by the
public. Johnson’s role was to release the
new memorandum. [51]
Johnson made a spirited and memorable address to Congress
on November 27, 1963. This
masterful presentation had as its major author Ted
Sorensen, JFK’s speechwriter. Johnson
contacted Whitney Young, asking about new proposals on
civil rights. Johnson began the
process of
initiating what would become the Warren Commission. Johnson also needed to
address the Bobby
Baker scandal. Johnson wished to have this issue removed from further
consideration. [52]
1964: The Best of Times and the Beginning of the Worst of
Times
The surprise of the early Johnson administration was his
embracing JFK’s civil rights program.
While it might be seen as a tribute to JFK; more likely
Johnson was subsuming the civil
rights program as step 1 in the building of his “Great
Society”. The civil rights agenda
would cost the loss of the “solid South” from the
Democratic column. The South had been in
Democratic column after the civil war until the Johnson
administration. They have switched to
the Republican column,
even to the present. Johnson won a landslide victory in 1964, with the
South already
removed from the Democrats.
One giant mistake in 1964 was the Bay of Tonkin
Resolution, the “American Waterloo”. Basically,
the US took over
the War in Vietnam, which became an unwinnable war. The Bay of Tonkin
resolution appears to have been a result of a
misinterpretation of an attack on an American
ship in the Gulf. The supposed attack was likely an
attack from friendly fire.
Johnson’s Full Term
The main themes of Johnson’s full term include an
unceasing attempt to provide a better society
in the US,
particularly for those at the lower levels, including the disadvantaged, and
lower
income persons. An
emphasis on youth can be seen. Project Head Start, for example, was
supposed to be for disadvantaged and children from lower
income homes. One issue that
plagued the program was that higher income parents sought
getting their children into these
enriched programs.
Many of them were successful in that endeavor. In a sense this project could be
described as a program that worked fairly well, but
sometimes for the advantaged rather than the
disadvantaged. Medicare and Medicaid were introduced.
Several programs were introduced to
improve the
physical environment. A high-speed train was established between New York and
Washington, D.C. New Programs were established even to
the end of Johnson’s term. [53]
A second theme was the war in Vietnam. The Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution, in effect, put the US in
Vietnam for the duration—and the duration seemingly had
no endpoint. Major disappointments kept
occurring, including the My Lai Affair and the Tet
Offensive. Even outside Vietnam, embarrassments
popped up, such as
the Pueblo Affair, concurring with the Tet Offensive. The capture of an
American ship by North Vietnam (the Pueblo) just added to
Johnson’s problems. In the previous year, riots were occurring several times a
month. The Detroit riot was simply the worst example of these. The following
year, the riots in Chicago was but another example of the control lost by
Johnson. The Chicago riot, coinciding with the Democratic Convention, followed
the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. [54]
But the most egregious event of 1967 occurred during the
six-day war. The USS Liberty was given orders to head to the Mediterranean
between Israel and Egypt. They arrived at this area on the fourth day of the
six-day war. While in these waters the USS Liberty was attacked by Israeli war
planes and Israeli ships firing torpedoes at the American naval ship.
Apparently, this attack was on the orders of President Johnson, who reportedly,
wished to blame the attack on Egypt, and allow the US to enter the war. If
Russia came to Egypt’s defense, the US would have an excuse to attack Soviet
Russia, again reportedly, with nuclear warheads. Eventually, the torpedoes caused
significant damage, with 34 fatalities on board. Attempts by the military to
either retaliate or provide help to the badly damaged ship were called off,
again reportedly, by the President.
The ship made it to Crete, where they were told to
continue on to Malta, where they arrived on July 14, 1967. There, the crew
members were warned, “You are never, repeat never, to discuss this with
anyone, not even your wives. If you do you will be court-martialed and end your
lives in prison, or worse.” [55].
This warning didn’t work over time. A recent (in 2020)
google search of “The USS Liberty” returned over 200 sites on the subject.
Several books have been published as well.
Many things can be said about the presidency of Lyndon
Johnson, but one irrefutable statement can be made: Lyndon Baines Johnson was
no John Kennedy.
The Continuing Cover-up
A law (Public Law 89-318) was passed November 2, 1965 in
Johnson’s administration that would require all materials in a presidential
assassination be turned over to the Federal Government. I am aware of only one
time this law was used, and that involved Christopher Fulton, who had purchased
the wrist watch worn by President Kennedy that fateful day in Dallas. He
purchased the watch from Robert White who in turn received the watch from the
will of Evelyn Lincoln. The watch was sold at auction to John F. Kennedy, Jr. [56]
White intended to start a museum in honor of President
Kennedy. The sale of the watch was an effort to get seed money to get the
museum going. At the time, Fulton was an American citizen living in Canada,
where he was a builder, building malls and other fairly large endeavors. Fulton
was taken into custody on August 9, 1998 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police;
he was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List and was considered armed and dangerous.
He was taken from his home; just recently married, he and his young wife would
never see one another again. Fulton would enter a labyrinth that was filled
with mysterious aspects. He was unaware of why he was seemingly in so much trouble,
nor, whether his wife had any idea of his whereabouts. [57]
Eventually, he would learn that the specific law he was
accused of breaking was Public Law 89-318, a law enacted during Johnson’s
regime, apparently to protect persons actually involved in the conspiracy to
assassinate President Kennedy. Fulton finally faced the judge on March 31, 1999.
Prior to the trial, FBI Special Agent Joe Callahan had given Fulton a folded
piece of paper to hand to the judge prior to passing judgment, without reading
it himself. Fulton followed these directions. The judge read the note. The
judge asked Fulton “Was this note true?” Fulton responded “Yes”. What the note
said was, ”Working under executive order of Ronald Reagan, President of the
United States”. Fulton was looking at a
25-year sentence; the judge sentenced Fulton to 103 months, including time served.
[58]
During his incarceration, many jolts were waiting for
Fulton: his grandparents died, his wife was said to have left him (Only after
his release did Fulton find out she was killed in a suspicious car accident)
and John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his wife died in an airplane crash on July 16, 1999.
[59]
To what avail? Why have a law, now used only once in 55
years, apparently to protect Lyndon Johnson and his cronies not only in their
lifetimes, but in perpetuity?
Notes:
1. Armstrong, J. (2003). Harvey and Lee: How the CIA
Framed Oswald. Arlington TX, Quasar, pp.
13-17.
2. Baker, J.V. (2010). How I Came to Know, Love and
Lose Lee Harvey Oswald. Walterville, OR: Trine Day, pp. 150-151.
3. Baker, pp. 233-236.
4. Armstrong, pp. 18-21.
5. ibid., pp. 38-41.
6. Baker, pp. 352-353, p. 366.
7. ibid., pp. 142-145.
8. Grodin, R.J. (1995). The Search for Lee Harvey
Oswald. New York: Penguin Books, pp. 18-21.
9. Williams, J.D. (2020) Richard Case Nagell and Lee
Harvey Oswald. Dealey Plaza Echo (in press).
10. Titovets, E. (2010). Oswald Russian Episode.
Minsk, Belarus: Litera.
11. Sorensen, T. (2008). Counselor: A Life on the Edge
of History. New York: Harper-Collins Publishers. pp. 285-309.
12. Baker, pp. 113-116.
13. ibid., p. 280.
14. ibid., p. 291.
15. ibid., pp. 233-236.
16. ibid., pp. 272-275
17. ibid., pp. 303-321.
18. ibid., p. 149.
19. ibid., p. 330.
20. ibid., pp. 415-416.
21. ibid., pp. 433-435.
22. ibid., p. 366.
23. ibid., pp. 360-364.
24. Russell, D. (2003). The Man Who Knew Too Much.
New York: Caroll & Graf, pp. 237-241.
25. ibid., p. 275.
26. Baker, pp. 470-473.
27. Russell, p. 312.
28. Williams, J.D. (2019). Lee Harvey Oswald, Lyndon
Johnson and the JFK Assassination. Walterville OR: Trine Day, pp. 128-129.
29. Russell, pp. 291-292.
30. Baker, p. 492.
31. ibid., p. 501.
32. ibid., p. 503.
33. Douglass, J.W. (2008). JFK and the Unspeakable:
Why He Died and Why it Matters. Maryknoll NY: Orbis, pp. 187-190.
34. Gary Severson has long held that the Conservation Tour
of JFK, September 23-27, 1963, was the likely reference point for Nagell when
he deliberately shot up the bank. Sixteen at the time, Severson described how
easily he entered the facility at a JFK speech, getting a front row seat.
35. Marrs, J. (1989). Crossfire: The Plot That Killed
Kennedy. New York: Caroll & Graf. pp. 265-267.
36. Williams, J.D.
(2004). Was the FBI Searching for Oswald on the Day Before the Assassination? Dealey
Plaza Echo. 9, 2, 46-52. A copy of the telegram is in this article.
37. Brown, W. The Chronology. Hillsdale, NJ:
Author. p. 3205.
38. Elliot, T.C. (2013). A Rose by Many Other Names:
Rose Cherami and the JFK Assassination. Walterville OR: Trine Day pp.
161-166.
39. Brown, M.D. (1997). Texas in the Morning: The Love
Story of Madeleine Brown and President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Baltimore:
Conservatory Press. pp. 161-166.
40. McBride, J. (2013). Into the Nightmare: My Search
for the Killers of President John F. Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit. Berkeley
CA: Hightower Press. pp. 385-393.
41. Williams, J.D. & Conway, D. (2001). The Don
Reynolds Testimony and LBJ. Assassination Chronicles, 7,1, 19-28.
42. Ernst, B.W. (2013). The Girl on the Stairs.
Gretna LA: Pelican, p. 268.
43. Personal communication with Robert Groden, November
22, 2018. This information was in his book, The Absolute Truth. This
information was confirmed telephonically November 13, 2020.
44. Rivera, L. (2018). The JFK Horsemen. Crestview
FL: Moon Rock Books. pp. 163-196. Rivera claims that Oswald was incorrectly
identified as William Lovelady; Dane, S. (2015). Prayer Man. Coppell,
TX: Martian Publishing. Dane sees a man further back in the doorway as Oswald.
45. Baker, J.V. & Schwartz, E. (2017). Kennedy
& Oswald: The Big Picture. Walterville OR: Trine
Day, p.50.
46. Crenshaw, C.A., Shaw, J.G., Aguilar, G. & Wecht,
C. (2001). Trauma Room One. New York:
Paraview Press, pp. 89-90.
47. Horne, D. (2009). Inside the Assassination Review
Board, Vol. I-V. Lexington KY: Amazon.
48. Williams, J.D. & Severson, G. (2001). Interview
with Madeleine Brown, November 19-20, Dallas. Available at
johndelanewilliams.blogspot.com.
49. Wood, I.D. 22 November, 1963. In Fetzer, J.H. (ed.)
(2000). Murder in Dealey Plaza: What
We Know Now We Didn’t Know Back Then About the Death
of JFK. Chicago: Catfeet Press, p.116.
50.Testimony of Mr. Jack Ruby. (June 7, 1964).
Taken by Earl Warren & Gerald R. Ford at the Dallas County Jail. accessed
at macadams.psc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/ruby_j1.htm,8/13/2017.
51. Williams
(2019). pp. 208-209.
52. Williams &
Conway.
53. Williams (2019). pp. 251-269.
54. Dallek, R.
(1998). Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973. New York:
Oxford University Press, pp. 569-579.
55. Nelson, R.J. (2014). LBJ: From Mastermind to
“Colossus”. New York: Skyhorse, p. 390. See
Allen, R.J.
(2012). Beyond Treason. Available through Amazon; Williams, J.D. (2015).
LBJ:
Mastermind of the JFK Assassination and Colossus. Dealey
Plaza Echo, 18, 2, 18-24.
56. Fulton, C. & Fulton, M. (2018). The
Inheritance: Poisoned Fruit of the JFK Assassination. One reason
promulgated as to the importance of the JFK watch is that the watch could be
tested for the presence of mercury in the blood particles. If mercury were
found, this would suggest that the bullet used was likely government issued.
Walterville OR: Trine Day, pp. 148-149.
57. ibid., pp. 9-10, pp. 187-197.
58. ibid., pp. 285-287.
59. ibid., pp. 303-305.
Presented at the Dealey Plaza Echo UK Seminar, London,
November 21,2020 (Zoom).
