LBJ AND THE ASSASSINATION CONSPIRACIES

                         John Delane Williams

    Two separate conspiracies are envisioned regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy: the plot to assassinate him, and the plot to cover it up. It is conjectured that LBJ was "in the loop" regarding the first conspiracy, and a major player (if not "the" major player) in the second. The outline of the second conspiracy has been described or alluded to several times. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] Investigating the first plot in relationship to Lyndon Johnson is the emphasis here.

                 Reasons for Johnson's Involvement

    It has been conjectured [7, 8, 9 among others] that Johnson would be dropped from the ticket as a Vice-Presidential candidate by Kennedy. In fact, the headline of The Dallas Morning News on November 22, 1963, was "NIXON PREDICTS JFK MAY DROP JOHNSON". [10, p. 295]  Johnson had several things to hide: 1) his relationship to Billy Sol Estes and entanglements with the Agriculture Department, together with the murder of Henry Marshall, an Agricultural Department official who was investigating Estes.   Marshall was asphyxiated and shot five times with a single shot bolt action rifle, yet the death was ruled a suicide. Estes later testified with immunity, in 1984, that Marshall was murdered by Malcolm "Mac" Wallace, former student body president at the University of Texas (1944-45) and apparently a "hit" man who was connected to LBJ; [11]  2) his relationship to Bobby Baker and influence peddling in Congress; [12]  3) the TFX plane scandal that yielded to General Dynamics  (of Ft. Worth) a huge contract that was later determined to have been awarded on falsified data and also to have resultant large cost-overruns; Johnson apparently pocketed satchels of money from this arrangement; [13] and, 4) his extramarital relationship with Madeleine Brown, which was ongoing and had produced his only (and unacknowledged) son. [14]  On the morning of November 22, 1963, Donald Reynolds, a Washington insurance broker, was providing evidence of Johnson having received unreported gifts.  Apparently Reynolds and Bobby Kennedy had been secretly meeting for weeks to accumulate evidence of payola on both Johnson and Bobby Baker. These hearings were being conducted when, at 2:30 PM, persons in the hearing room were informed of the assassination. It was the opinion of the minority counsel, Burkett Van Kirk, that Reynold's testimony would have been sufficient to remove Johnson from the Vice Presidency. [15] Johnson was said to have retreated to Texas in early October with nothing much to do in Washington. [16]

          The Relationship with Madeleine Duncan Brown

     Madeleine Brown was in the process of getting a divorce when she met Johnson at a party celebrating his "landslide" victory, by 87 votes, for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the seat in the US Senate in 1948. Brown was invited by Jesse Kellam, a wealthy Texas oilman. Lyndon invited her to a party three weeks hence. After that party, a 21 year relationship began between Brown and LBJ. From her writings, there appears to be a genuine love of LBJ by Brown. [17] A cynical view might report their relationship as a long term sequence of one night stands- and at least for Madeleine, with the same person. Madeleine became pregnant and bore Johnson a son, christened Steven Brown, on December 27, 1950. Johnson never acknowledged the boy; Steven found out the name of his father in 1987, only three years prior to his own death. While Lyndon did provide for this second family, the provision was insufficient when Madeleine was involved in a near fatal automobile accident in 1967. While she was recuperating in the hospital, her boss at the advertisement agency died, liquidating the company and ending her insurance coverage. [18]

              LBJ's Secret Reign of Terror

    Lyndon would sometimes forget and confide in Madeleine. He expected her to keep these utterances to herself. In 1951, LBJ told of having to fix a murder trial for Mac Wallace, who dispatched with a 33 year old golf pro named Doug Kinsler, who replaced Wallace as the lover of Josefa, Lyndon's sister. [19] Over time, Madeleine was to come into other incriminating material about LBJ, partly because of her friendship with Billie Sol Estes. In a letter from Estes' lawyer, Douglas Caddy, to Stephen S. Trott, Assistant US Attorney General, it was revealed that eight murders had been ordered by Johnson and carried out by Wallace: Kinsler, Josefa, Henry Marshall, Ike Rodgers, George Krutilek (Estes' accountant), Harold Orr (who played a key role in Estes' financial frauds), Coleman Wade, and JFK. Johnson was accused of ordering 17 murders. [20] Cliff Carter was also present at meetings where these murders were ordered. Tape recordings were made of Estes, Carter and LBJ discussing illegal cotton allotment schemes; the recordings were made with Carter's knowledge. The recordings were made to protect Estes and Carter from LBJ ordering their deaths. [21]

         The Party at the Murchison's, November 21, 1963

    On the night of November 21, a party was held at Clint Murchison's house in honor of J. Edgar Hoover, who had secretly flown in for the occasion. Also in attendance, in addition to Madeleine Brown, were Clyde Tolson, Richard Nixon, and John McCloy

(soon to be named to the Warren Commission), George Brown (whose construction company benefited greatly from a relationship with LBJ), R.L. Thornton (President of Mercantile Bank), H.L. Hunt, and several other oilmen. Whenever Madeleine was to meet LBJ, it was done by pre-arrangement. No arrangements had been made for the two of them to meet on November 21; Lyndon was not expected at the Murchison party. As the party was breaking up, LBJ made an unexpected appearance. The group made a hasty retreat to a meeting behind closed doors. [22] Upon emerging from this meeting, LBJ  walked up to Madeleine and whispered into her ear, "After tommorrow those goddamn Kennedy's will never embarrass me again--that's no threat--that's a promise ." [23, p. 166] And LBJ was out the door. [24] Inferring from LBJ's behavior, it is much more likely that he entered Murchison's party and informed them of the events of the following day, rather than vice-versa. Judging also from his intensity, it would seem that the information was relatively fresh (to LBJ), perhaps less than an hour old.

    The next morning, Lyndon called Madeleine and snarled at her, "That son-of-a-bitch crazy Yarborough and that goddam fucking Irish mafia bastard, Kennedy, will never embarrass me again!" [25, p. 167] Madeleine then tried to engage LBJ in a somewhat more personal conversation. LBJ then bellowed, "I've got about a minute to get to the parking lot to hear the bastard!" [26, p. 167] LBJ was clearly a driven man.

                   In the Motorcade

     The official story of LBJ in the motorcade is deceptively simple; Upon hearing the shots, Secret Service Agent Rufus Youngblood immediately jumped from the front seat of the closed sedan to the back seat, covering and protecting Johnson. [27, p. 52] Youngblood received a medal for his reported actions. [28] However, Senator Yarborough, also an occupant of the vehicle carrying LBJ, has said that both Johnson and Youngblood were listening to walkie-talkies with the volume set too low for the Senator to hear the communications. SS Agent Dave Powers, in the  following car, corroborates Yarborough's story. [29] There is apparently no photographic proof of Youngblood's bravery. On the other hand, Walt Brown has pointed out no movement has taken place by Z258, using the Altgens 6 photo as reference. [30] The Altgens 6 photo is on the dust-jacket of Treachery in Dallas. [31] Connally and Johnson were said to be the ones that insisted that the trip and motorcade route go ahead as they planned. (32) 

                Mac Wallace and the Assassination

     Mac Wallace may well have played a role in the events of Dealy Plaza on November 22, 1963. According to one version, Loy Factor, a native-American from Oklahoma, was on the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository with "Ruth Ann", Mac Wallace and Lee Harvey Oswald. Factor claims to have been recruited as a backup shooter for the assassination by Wallace at the funeral for Sam Rayburn. Factor claims he and "Ruth Ann", who had been operating a walkie-talkie (talking to LBJ?), ran down the stairs and out the back door shortly after the shooting began. [33] More recently revealed evidence squarely ties Wallace to the so-called "sniper's nest" on the sixth floor of the School Book Depository; recall that a set of unidentified latent fingerprints were found at the scene of the snipers nest on the trigger guard of the Carcano rifle. [34] Savage [35] tried to show that the fingerprint was likely Oswald's.  John Norris, a retired Secret Service agent, determined they did not belong to Oswald. [36] Those fingerprints have recently been identified as belonging to Malcolm Wallace. [37, 38]

     Another role attributed to Wallace (and he clearly could not have been in two places at the same time) is that he reportedly was a shooter from the grassy knoll. This information was contained in the letter referred to earlier [39] by Douglas Caddy. According to Billie Sol Estes, Cliff Carter told Estes that Wallace hit JFK from the front during the assassination.

                Malcom Wallace and Ralph N. Geb

     Attending high school and playing on the same football team at Woodrow Wilson High School with Mac Wallace was Ralph N. Geb, who was also described as Wallace's best friend. [40] Geb has also been identified as the person photographed (CE 237) in Mexico City and originally identified as Oswald. [41] Hugh McDonald [42] claimed that he was brought in contact with the person photographed in Mexico City. McDonald referred to this person as "Saul". Supposedly, Saul was shooting from the Dal-Tex Building, directly accross the street from the TSBD. McDonald would seem to rule out Geb; Saul was supposedly born in 1928 in Europe and whose name was Georgi Visko [43].  In 1963, Geb was in USAF intelligence; Geb has since died. [44] We are given, at this point, two stories on the person whose photograph appears in CE 237. The stronger case seems to be with Geb; he was identified as being in CE 237 by a high school classmate; photographs of Geb are given in Sample and Collom. [45] To my knowledge, McDonald had no other photographs of Visko that have been published to establish his claim that Visko appears in CE 237.

                The Death of Mac Wallace

     Madeleine Brown related the story of the death of Mac Wallace as a Texas murder. He was reportedly run off the road. (January 7, 1971) The car was sent to Houston and mashed without any investigation. Madeleine Brown heard of Wallace's death in a phone call from Billie Sol Estes. Apparently Wallace also killed Brown's maid, according to Estes. [46] Walt Brown adds a twist about Wallace's death. Wallace's ex-wife moved back (in 1978) to a rented duplex in Georgetown, Texas that was previously her home with Wallace in 1952. She reportedly had a frequent visitor who strongly resembled Wallace. She died in 1980. [47]

                  Tentative Conclusions

     What then, was the involvement of Johnson in Kennedy's assassination? It would appear a master planer (or planners) involved Johnson on a need-to-know basis [see 48] just prior to Johnson's unscheduled visit to the Murchison's on November 21, 1963. It would appear also that Mac Wallace, who was traceable to Johnson, was involved in some way with the assassination. Wallace's involvement might have been either as a shooter, back-up shooter, or as the walkie-talkie communicator with Johnson and Youngblood.

With the identification of Wallace's fingerprints in the "sniper's nest", it seems difficult not to conclude that Wallace was one of the shooters. The most plausible explanation of the presence of his fingerprints in the sniper's nest, is that he was there, either shooting, or with a person who was shooting. Wallace would be a likely source of LBJ's preknowledge of the assassination, though it is not necessary that he be that source. It seems extraordinarily unlikely that Wallace was involved in the assassination without LBJ's knowledge. Thus, at the very least, LBJ was a passive co-conspirator before the assassination; his preknowlege insures that.

It would appear that Johnson was "put in the loop"  sufficiently to keep him informed, and coincidentally, to raise him to the level of co-conspirator, which presumably would insure his loyalty to his "real" role, the cover-up of the crime of the century. It is also possible that Johnson could have been a party to the original decision to go ahead with the assassination, but as would seem to be his role in other murders by Mac Wallace, Johnson may have distanced himself from the actual act. Judging from remarks he made to Madeleine Brown, he accepted his role of co-conspirator without any missgivings. Indeed, he may have understood that the assassination wasn't about killing Kennedy as much as it was about raising him to the role of president. Clearly, he had the most to benefit from the Kennedy assassination. For a person who might not only be dropped from the ticket, but might also be faced with a possible prison term, any other way to rise to the presidency would have seemed out of the question.

     It is also possible that LBJ never perceived his apparent pre-knowledge of the assassination as raising him to anything other than having a political liability. In his recorded conversations with J. Edgar Hoover [11/23/63; 11/25/63; 11/29/63, 49] the two do not belie responsibility for a conspiratorial role in the actual assassination. If LBJ's information base was minimal, he may have envisioned three possibilities for the motorcade 1) JFK alone would be hit; 2) no one would be hit; or 3) multiple targets would be attacked, in which case his own life might have been in danger. The shooting of Connally may have been unexpected. However, it has been reported that JFK and LBJ were arguing violently on the night before the assassination. They were said to be arguing about Johnson's insistence to change Yarborough into Kennedy's limousine, replacing Connally. Kennedy refused to give in to LBJ's tirade. [50] If LBJ knew of the plan to shoot into the limousine (he had indicated that Kennedy and Yarborough would not embarass him again), he would likely wish to place Yarborough, his enemy, in the line of fire, and get his friend John Connally out of the line of fire. Shooters (a team of three) in Dealy Plaza reportedly were to shoot Connally, but Connally had already been shot before they were given a go-ahead. [51] Under this confusion, and LBJ's way of seeing the world in his own construction, Johnson could well have excluded himself from the conspiracy in his own mind. That he chose to orchestrate the cover-up phase of the conspiracy may be for reasons as complex as the man himself. It would be remiss to omit that Sample and Collom make a stronger statement regarding LBJ-they conclude LBJ was the master planner. [52] Even if LBJ ordered the assassination (as was claimed in Caddy's letter), it still seems likely that someone else did the actual planning.

Notes

1.  Brown, W. (1996). The Warren Ommission: A Micro-Study in the       Methods and Failures of the Warren Commission. Wilmington, DE:      Delmax.

2.  North, M. (1991). Act of Treason: The Role of J. Edgar Hoover      in the Assassination of President Kennedy. New York: Carroll &      Graff.

3.  Jones, P. (1976). Forgive My Grief-III. Midlothian, TX: Author.

4.  Shaw, G. & Harris, L.H. (1992). Cover-Up. Austin, TX: Thomas.

5.  Smith, M. (1992). JFK: The Second Plot. Edinburgh, UK:             Mainstream Publishing Co.

6.  Zirbel, C.I. (1991). The Texas Connection: The Asssassination      of John F. Kennedy. Scottsdale, AZ: The Texas Connection           Company.

7.  Brown, M.D. (1997). Texas in the Morning: The Love Story of        Madeleine Duncan Brown and President Lyndon Baines Johnson.        Baltimore: The Conservatory Press.

8.  Brown, W. (1995). Treachery in Dallas. New York: Carroll &         Graff.

9.  Jones, P. (1976).

10. Marrs, J. (1989). Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy. New      York: Carroll & Graff.

11. Brown, M.D. (1997).

12. Zirbel, C.I. (1991).

13. Ibid.

14. Brown, M.D. (1997).

15. Hersh, S.M. (1997). The Dark Side of Camelot. New York:            Little, Brown.

16. Zirbel (1991).

17. Brown, M.D. (1997).

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Caddy, D. (1984) Letter to Stephen S. Trott. Reproduced in         Brown, M.D. & Kritzberg, C. (1996). Dallas Did It. Tulsa, OK:      Under Cover Press.

21. Ibid.

22. Brown, M.D. (1997).

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid.

27. The Warren Commission Report. (1964). New York: Barnes & Noble.

28. Palmara, V. (1993). The Third Alternative: Survivers Guilt: The      Secret Service and the JFK Murder. Pittsburgh: Self.

29. Palamara, V. (1997). The "Breakdown" of the Infrastructure of      the Secret Service on November 22, 1963. The Fourth Decade. 4,      #6, 17-21.

30. Brown, W. (1996).

31. Brown, W. (1995). Treachery in Dallas. New York: Carroll &         Graff.

32. Zirbel (1991).

33. Sample, G. & Collom, M. (1995). The Men on the Sixth Floor.:       The Story of Loy Factor, an Insider/Participant in the JFK         Killing. Garden Grove, CA: Sample Graphics.

34. Sloan, B. (1993). JFK: Breaking the Silence. Dallas, TX:           Taylor.  

35. Savage, G. (1993). JFK: First Day Evidence. Monroe, LA: The        Shoppe Press.

36. Sloan, B. (1993).

37. Brown, W. (1998a). TSBD Evidence Places LBJ "Hit Man" in            "Sniper's Nest". JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, 3, No. 3, Extra.

38. The Fingerprint Affidavit of A. Nathan Darby, 9 March, 1998,        reprinted in JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, 3, No. 3, 29-31.

39. Caddy, D. (1984).

40. Sample, G. & Collom, M. (1995).

41. Sample, G. & Collom, M. (1995).

42. McDonald, H. (1975). Appointment in Dallas: The Final Solution      to the Assassination of JFK. New York: Hugh McDonald.

43. McDonald, H. & Moore, R. (1978). LBJ and the JFK Conspiracy.       Westport, CN: Condor.

44. Brown, M.D. (1997).

45. Sample, G. & Collom, M. (1995).

46. Brown, M.D. (1997).

47. Brown, W.D. (1998b). The Sordid Story of Mac Wallace. JFK/Deep      Politics Quarterly, 3, No. 4, 22-27.

48. Shaw, G. & Harris, L.H. (1992).

49. Beschloss, M.R. (1997). Taking Charge: The Johnson White House

    Tapes. New York: Simon & Schuster.

50. Zirbel, C.I. (1991).

51. Milan, M. (1989). Squad. New York: Berkley Books.

52. Sample, G. & Collom, M. (1995).    

 From JFK Deep Politic Quarterly. (1999). 4, 2, 25-28.  

LBJ: A Closer Look. A Review

                      LBJ: A CLOSER LOOK: A REVIEW

                          John Delane Williams

   LBJ: A Closer Look is both a video and a book of research materials produced by Lyle Sardie [1,2]. While there is overlap on some material each presents information relating to LBJ's involvement with the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Conjectures of LBJ's involvement have recently intensified, notably due to the determination that a previously unidentified fingerprint on a box on the sixth floor which was determined to be that of Mac Wallace [3,4], a reputed hitman whose major employer was Lyndon Johnson [5].

                     The Research Materials

                         Billy Sol Estes

     LBJ: A Closer Look, the book is a spiral bound limited edition that surprisingly has no writing by its compiler, Lyle Sardie. Five separate sections are in the research materials, which in total are mainly a collection of newspaper articles. The first section contains material on Billy Sol Estes. Included are four perfunctory letters from Johnson to Estes, presumably to show a relationship between the two. The newspaper articles chronicle Estes schemes, including his selling non-existent anhydrous ammonia tanks, and his illegally securing cotton allotments. Estes relationship to LBJ aide Clifton Carter is described. An article from the March 23, 1984 Dallas Morning News is included in its entirety [6], which implicates LBJ, Clifton Carter, Malcolm Wallace and Estes in plotting the murder of Henry Marshall, an Agricultural Department employee who was investigating Estes. A letter from Douglas Caddy [7], an attorney for Estes, to Stephen Trott, An Assitant Attorney General is included. The letter mentions 17 murders by Wallace, including JFK.     

                        Mac Wallace

     The second section contains materials on Malcolm (Mac) Wallace. The first group of articles concerns the murder of Doug Kinsler, a local golf pro who was rumored to have relationships

with Wallace's wife and also with Josefa Johnson, LBJ's sister. (Wallace was also rumored to have been involved with Josefa.) Wallace was convicted of murder with malice, but received the rather astonishing sentence of 5 years probation. Several other documents are included; one such document is a 12 page interview of Bob Long, the prosecuting attorney in the Kinser case [8]. Long contended that a lawyer for Wallace, who sat in on the first three days of the ten day trial, was a cousin of one of the jurors: "They let this guy on the jury know that he was a friend of Wallace's. That's all there was to it. Of course, he hung the jury" [9, p. 3 of 12].

                       Henry Marshall

     Several documents relate to the death of Agricultural Department Investigator, Henry Marshall. Marshall was investigating the schemes of Billy Sol Estes at the time of Marshall's death. The autopsy report stated that Wallace suffered five gunshot wounds

to the abdomen and chest, with three of the wounds being rapidly incapacitating. He also had bruises on the left side of his head and had carbon monoxide in his lungs, also an incapacitating situation [10]. Despite the implausibility of any finding but homicide, Marshall's death was officially termed a suicide, and a year later a grand jury did not overturn the earlier decision [11]. A letter by Homer Garrison, Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, went through the evidence and showed how unlikely it was that a person with a near fatal dose of carbon monoxide would then dispose of the materials used in the poisoning, sustain a serious brain injury that caused his eye to protrude, and then shoot himself five times with a bolt action .22 rifle, using only his left hand, with at least three of the shots to be quickly incapacitating [12]. Only in 1984, with the testimony of Billy Sol Estes that Marshall was killed on the orders of then Vice President Lyndon Johnson, by  Malcolm Wallace, to hide LBJ-Estes connections, was the cause of death changed to homicide [13]. A 14 page article [14] detailed the death of Marshall and the political furor surrounding his death. Also described is the way in which Wallace got away with the murder of Doug Kinser-threats were made against the families of jurors.

                     Lyndon Baines Johnson

     The section on Lyndon Johnson contains cordial correspondence between LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover. Newspaper articles include material on the infamous box #13, which through apparent irregularities helped steal the 1948 Democrat nomination for Senator for LBJ from Coke Stevenson [15, 16].  The memorandum that some claim [17, 18 for example] changed the impetus of the Vietnam war from an early withdrawal to an extended war effort, National Security Action Memorandum #273 is included [19]. Other newspaper articles include potential areas of scandal for LBJ; Bobby Baker and the TFX [20]; the Estes case [21]; and the Walter Jenkins revelations [22, 23]. Compared to the other four sections, the LBJ section is thinnest in material and substance related to the JFK assassination.

                  Miscellaneous Materials   

     The most important document in the last section is 23 pages regarding an application to submit new evidence to the Assassinations Record Review Board by Barr McClellan, a Texas attorney who gave counsel to Edward Clark, who in turn was LBJ's personal attorney. McClellan played a role in getting "Big Oil" to pay off Clark in the form of an oil well. According to McClellan's letter, Clark planned the assassination for LBJ. Clark in turn enlisted Mac Wallace to do the assassination. The application  contained six exhibits 1) the fingerprint match between  Mac Wallace and the unidentified fingerprint on  Box "A" on the sixth floor of The Texas Schoolbook Depository; 2) The 1984 Grand Jury decision to change Henry Marshall's cause of death to homicide, said to indict LBJ, Mac Wallace and Cliff Carter (all then deceased); 3) Affidavit of Clark's complicity in the assassination; 4) Clark's application for his well for his payoff; 5) the Caddy letter detailing the murders by Mac Wallace; 6) a memo reviewing Wallace's security clearances [24]. Even for someone who has pinpointed LBJ as a being a principal in the assassination [25], the material in the application by McClellan is breathtaking. The research documents taken in toto seem to help make a compelling case for complicity in JFK's assassination by Johnson.

                       The Video

     Whereas the written documents require the reader to cognitively relate them, as Sardie adds no material on his own, the video deliberately builds a case against Johnson. First, a review is made of Johnson's rise to power with prominent mention of ballot box #13. Then Loy Factor tells his story through Glenn Sample and Mark Collom [26]. Factor is interviewed on film in a hospital shortly before his death in 1993. Factor claimed that Mac Wallace hired him for his markmanship for an unspecified job that turned out to be the shooting of JFK. Wallace was said to be shooting from the position on the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository which has been called by the Warren Commission and others as Oswald's "assassin’s lair".

    Madeleine Brown [see 27, 28], who claims to have been LBJ's mistress and the mother of his son, whom LBJ supported until LBJ died in 1973, was an associate producer of the film and she related some of her story in the video. She stated that an attorney who did work for Johnson, John Cofer, also represented Wallace in the Kinser trial and Estes when he was tried for the cotton allotment fraud. Estes reputedly wanted to take the stand and tell the whole story, but was prevented by Cofer. Madeleine Brown saw LBJ, Estes, Wallace and Cliff Carter in conference at the Driskoll Hotel just months before the assassination.

     Doug Caddy related that Estes told him that Bobby Kennedy offered him immunity if he would testify against LBJ, which offer Estes refused. Estes pointed out that Eddie Rinehart, Foreman of the jury that ruled George Marshall died from suicide, was appointed as a postmaster on the recommendation of Johnson one year after the Grand Jury deliberations. Audiotapes were made of Johnson's involvement in the various nefarious activities that usually involved Estes, LBJ, Wallace and Cliff Carter. While in prison, these tapes were in the possession of Lyle Brown, who listened to them. Estes, Carter and Lyle Brown met on September 20, 1971. Carter feared for his life; he was found dead the next day. It was reported that Carter died of natural causes.  The inference made on the video was that this was another of those strange deaths related to the assassination. 

    A press conference held in Dallas on May 27, 1998 is also featured. Walt Brown [see 29, 30] featured the fingerprint evidence identified as being from Mac Wallace. Some researchers are not convinced that the fingerprint is from Wallace, despite a 14 point match. A surprising non-acceptor of the fingerprint evidence is Glen Sample. The finding of Wallace's fingerprint at the precise point that Sample said Wallace was at which would hence strongly enhance Sample's version of events. Sample [31] claims not be convinced by the evidence so far.

     While individual reactions vary, I find the book to be somewhat more useful than the video, which some might see as showing a degree of anti-Johnson bias. If the conjectures regarding the Wallace-LBJ connection with the assassination of Kennedy hold under further scrutiny, does this end the search for JFK's killers?

My sense is that it would give light on one of the arms of the octopus, but there would be much more to learn. It also leads to the clamor for Billy Sol's story and audiotapes as well as wishing to view McClellan's manuscript and his other evidence.

Notes

1.  Sardie, L. (1998a). LBJ: A Closer Look-Research Materials.         www.freeyellow.com/members5/booksonvideo/index.html.

2.  Sardie, L. (1998b). LBJ: A Closer Look-Video. Trans World News      Network. www.freeyellow.com/members5/booksonvideo/index.html.

3.  Brown, W. (1998a). TSBD Evidence Places LBJ "Hit Man" in           "Sniper's Nest". JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, 3, No. 3, Extra.

4.  The Fingerprint Affidavit of A. Nathan Darby, 9 March, 1998,        reprinted in JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, 3, No. 3, 29-31.

5.  Caddy, D. (1984). Letter to Stephen S. Trott. Reproduced in        Sardie (1998a). 

6.  Hanners, D. (1984). Billie Sol Links LBJ to Murder. Dallas         Morning News, March 23, p. 1+. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

7.  Caddy (1984).

8.  Joe B. Frantz Interview with Bob Long. (1972, April 19).            Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

9.  Ibid.

10. Jachimczyk, J.A. (1962). Autopsy Report of Henry Harvey            Marshall. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

11. Grand Jury Disagreed Marshall was Murdered. (1962). The Dallas      Norning News. May 30, 1962. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

12. Garrison, H. (1962). Letter to Judge Barron. Reproduced in         Sardie (1998a).

13. Graves, D. (1985). Investigator's Death in Case Ruled Homicide.      Houston Chronicle. August 14, 1985. Reproduced in Sardie           (1998a).

14. Adler, B. (1986). The Killing of Henry Marshall. The Texas         Observer, Nov. 7. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

15. Wantland, C. (1962). The Story of George Parr's Ballot Box No.      13. The Texas Argus, 35, 2, 1-4. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

16. Below is the Complete Story of Box 13, Jim Wells County, Texas.      (1962). Abilene Reporter-News, October 29, 1962. Reproduced in      Sardie (1998a).

17. Prouty, L.F. (1992). JFK: The CIA Vietnam, and the Plot to         Assassinate John F. Kennedy. New York: Birch Lane Press.

18. Scott, P.D. (1993). Deep Politics and the Death of JFK:            Berkley: The University of California Press.

19. National Security Action Memorandum No. 273. (1963). November      26. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

20. Lewis, T. (1963). LBJ Problems: Bobby Baker and the TFX. The       Dallas Morning News, December 21. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

21. Blair, W.M. (1964). House Unit Clears Johnson and Others in        Estes Case. New York Times, October 12. Reproduced in Sardie       (1998a).

22. Johnson Says He'll Get the Facts on Jenkins. (1964). The           Spartainburg Herald. October 20. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

23. The Strange Case of Walter Jenkins. (1964). Exclusive. October      21. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

24. McClellan, B. (1998). Petition Submitting New Evidence and         Suggesting Further Investigation. Petition to the Assassination      Records Review Board, May 28. Reproduced in Sardie (1998a).

25. Williams, J.D. (1999). LBJ and the Assassination Conspiracies.

    JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly, 3, No. 3, 29-31.

26.  Sample, G. & Collom, M. (1995). The Men on the Sixth Floor.:       The Story of Loy Factor, an Insider/Participant in the JFK         Killing. Garden Grove, CA: Sample Graphics.

27. Brown, M.D. (1997). Texas in the Morning: The Love Story of        Madeleine Duncan Brown and President Lyndon Baines Johnson.        Baltimore: The Conservatory Press.

28. Brown, M.D. & Kritzberg, C. (1996). Dallas Did It. Tulsa, OK:      Under Cover Press.

29. Brown, W. (1995). Treachery in Dallas. New York: Carroll &         Graff.

30. Brown, W. (1996). The Warren Ommission: A Micro-Study in the       Methods and Failures of the Warren Commission. Wilmington, DE:      Delmax.

31. Sample, G. (1999). Men on the Sixth Foor Website.

    www.home.earthlink.net/~sixthfloor/  

From The Fourth Decade: A Journal of Research on the John F. Kennedy Assassination. (1999). 6, 4, 3-6.

Estes Named Cliff Carter as the Master Strategist in JFK Assassination

             Estes Named Cliff Carter as the Master

                 Strategist in JFK Assassination

                    John Delane Williams

Billie Sol Estes [1] has finally put "some" of his ideas into print in his book, Billie Sol Estes: A Texas Legend.  One might expect that in a book with only 173 pages, no references and no index, that  getting into the details of the assassination would be almost immediate. By page 140, I thought Billie Sol may just have scammed us again. On page 121 (and in Chapter Twenty Two), Estes states, "The details about the JFK assassination are included in Chapter 9." At that point, I thought I might have missed the gist of the book, and reread Chapter 9. There was nothing on the JFK assassination. Finally, on page 141, the book began to live up to expectations.

    Billie Sol Estes Met with Carter and Wallace in Late 1963

First, Estes says that his knowledge of the JFK assassination comes primarily through conversations in late 1963 and August 1971 with Cliff Carter. Mac Wallace was present at the 1963 meeting. At the time of the assassination, Estes was trying to unravel his own legal difficulties. On March 28, 1963, Estes had been found guilty of transporting fraudulent documents across state lines (he was financing titles to storage tanks that for the most part did not exist). In late 1963, he was free on bail awaiting the outcome of his appeal.  Cliff Carter called him to a meeting at the Driskoll Hotel in Austin. Estes presumed the meeting to be about Lyndon having good news about his legal difficulties. Instead, they informed Estes that they were clamping a lid on any discussion of a host of murders that had taken place of which Estes had knowledge. Estes agreed to this but asked that Lyndon help him with his legal difficulties. Carter told him that it might be necessary for him to serve part of the prison term and wait for a pardon. At the time, Estes informed Carter that Estes had been recording his telephone conversations for his and his family's protection since 1961. He began serving his first sentence on January 15, 1965.

                 The 1971 Meeting with Carter   

Estes says that he was told by Cliff Carter, "Lyndon should not have authorized Mac to kill the President." (p. 143)  Cliff's understanding was that Johnson was taken as the Vice Presidential candidate to ensure victory and get more cash for the campaign. (Morris Jaffe was said to have brought enough cash to Los Angeles to help Johnson secure the Vice Presidential nomination [2]). While there is some disagreement as to whether President Kennedy was considering dropping Johnson from the 1964 ticket (see, for example, [3]) there is little question that Attorney General Robert Kennedy seemed determined to have Johnson removed from the ticket.           

Cliff Carter told Estes that when Johnson decided to take on the Kennedys, J. Edgar Hoover was brought on board immediately. There was concern in Texas that their power base in Washington was being eroded. At risk was the oil depletion allowance (then 27.5%) and the large defense contracts, including the TFX contract for General Dynamics in Fort Worth. (Estes relates an interesting story told to him by Vito Genovese while they both were in Leavenworth Prison, on getting Kennedy to accept General Dynamics for the TFX. The Director of Security for General Dynamics had his two sons place a wiretap on the phone of Judith Exner, a girlfriend of both JFK and Sam Giancana. When placing the wiretap, the two sons discovered that two bugs were already in place!  The FBI and the Mafia were there first. Two weeks after the General Dynamics bug was placed, JFK approved General Dynamics for the TFX. [4])

Estes understood that the final approval for the assassination was given at a poker game at Brownies Restaurant on Grand Avenue in Dallas. Among those present were Cliff Carter, H.L. Hunt, W.O. Bankston, and D.H. Byrd. (There may have been others.) Those  present committed to a $1 million dollar slush fund for the act. Carter was to arrange everything and keep the others' names out of it. Carter was to report to them the date and that was all. W.O. Bankston did have another role, that of making sure his friend Sheriff Bill Decker would cooperate and bring key police department personnel into it for coverup and planting false leads. D. H. Byrd was the owner of the Texas Schoolbook Depository building.

According to Cliff Carter (as told by Estes), the plan was simple.

They wanted to make sure President Kennedy died, and they wanted to surround the assassination with the illusion of false leads. They wanted a single assassin blamed for the murder. Dallas was chosen because they could control the police and the press. Carter called Mac Wallace to build the assassination team. A backup team was needed, along with a large number of persons in Dallas as a diversion. Carter also contacted Carlos Marcello in New Orleans and Santos Trafficante in Florida. Marcellos arranged for some of his people to be in Dallas (as part of the diversion) and Trafficante contributed some of his contacts in the French drug connection (as one of the hit teams?) Vito Genovese was contacted in prison. Next, they had to be sure that JFK made the trip to Texas; this was  a job for Johnson. Carter had a man close to the Kennedy's (and on the Kennedy staff) who also helped insure that the Dallas trip took place. Estes is not exactly sure who this person was, but the person worked closely with Carter on LBJ's re-election staff. The same person was in a power position in 1968 when Bobby Kennedy was killed in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Lyndon's people were in charge of arrangements for the motorcade, through John Connally and Jake Puterbaugh, who knew both Carter and Mac Wallace. Credentialling of media personnel was done by Jack Valenti. The plan was for the "lone nut assassin" to be killed after the assassination, during his arrest.

The coverup was to be put in place by Johnson and Hoover. Johnson did not want to know the details of the planned . Cliff Carter was to make sure the job got done. Johnson did not want the Mafia to do the actual job, as he feared they would blackmail him as long as he lived. The Mafia (referred to as "The Italians" by Estes) were to serve as decoys and false leads. Mac Wallace was to recruit the hit team and the lone assassin patsy. Cliff Carter and Mac Wallace had both known George DeMohrenschildt from the 1940's at The University of Texas. They knew that DeMohrenschildt was controlling Lee Harvey Oswald. Wallace asked DeMohrenschildt to be introduced to Oswald and his wife, Marina. DeMohrenschildt was not part of the assassination plot, except as someone who was being used.

It is Estes' understanding that Oswald actually did shoot from the sixth floor at The Texas Schoolbook Depository (TSBD), but that his gun and three spent shells were plants at the scene. Sheriff's deputies were stationed at the rear of the TSBD, writing down

the license numbers of every car entering and leaving the nearby parking lot. Wallace's station wagon was among those automobiles logged. This log was apparently never made available and is now missing. Oswald was supposed to be killed during his arrest. Ruby became involved, as part of a backup plan; Ruby murdered Oswald two days later.

                  James Melvin Ligget

James Melvin Ligget was a noted mortician. He did the work on Jayne Mansfield, who had been decapitated in an automobile accident; an open casket was used at her funeral; Ligget did amazing work. He also had two jobs to do regarding the coverup. He had to acquire a body that matched Kennedy. This was done before the assassination; the body was stored in a morgue at Restland Cemetery. At the time of the assassination, Ligget was in charge of a funeral (a member of Ligget's wife's family). At 1 PM, in the middle of the ceremony, another cemetery employee whispered something into Ligget's ear. A few minutes later, Ligget and the other employee were in a Restland hearse with the prearranged body on the way to Love Field; the body and Ligget boarded a private airplane. On the way to Washington, messages were relayed from Restland to Ligget. Ligget created an alternative JFK with the appropriate wounds. Apparently this second body was to be used in the making of photographs, and then mixing the photographs of JFK with the previously stored body. Estes surmised that Cliff Carter was quite proud of this part of the coverup.

Also at the 1971 meeting with Cliff Carter, they discussed the then recent death of Mac Wallace. If it was not an accident, they thought it entirely possible that Wallace's death was faked; the federal marshalls would fake a person's death and put them in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Cliff Carter had worked with the federal marshalls and had substituted corpses for persons going into the witness protection plan. Wallace may have also been murdered. Carter died shortly after this meeting with Estes; Estes decided to keep his mouth shut for years after Carter's death.

               No Paper Trail to LBJ

Estes says that his business relationship to Johnson was confidential. Disclosing the relationship and/or details could have caused a scandal for Johnson. "Johnson was paranoid about having any scandal affect his political life." [5] Johnson apparently refused several offers for money. He wanted to look like a poor farmer. Johnson had all of his business with Estes conducted in Ed Clark's name. Ed Clark was an Austin lawyer who was the center person in the book by a one time associate of Clark's, Barr McClellan: Blood,  Money, and Power: How LBJ Killed JFK. [6]   Most of Estes contact with Johnson was by telephone and originated with Johnson.

                      Several "Deaths"

Mac Wallace, Cliff Carter, and James Melvin Ligget all died in close proximety, in terms of time, in 1971. Estes thinks one or more of these deaths may have been faked, in a manner similiar to the described method used by the United States Marshalls for the Federal Witness Protection Program. (An interesting account was given by Walt Brown; Wallace's ex-wife Mary Andre DuBose Barton moved into a rental duplex in Georgetown, TX after selling her house on December 6, 1978. She lived in the duplex until her death on June 6, 1980. She reportedly had a frequent visitor at the duplex who strongly resembled Wallace. [7]) 

    Bobby Kennedy Trying to Get Johnson off of the Ticket in '64

Estes is convinced that Bobby Kennedy was doing everything in his power to get Lyndon off the ticket in '64; to this end, Bobby Kennedy was involved with investigations of Johnson, with congressional hearings underway. One such hearing was going on at the very minute of the assassination. Because President Kennedy wasn't interceding with his brother to stop the investigations, Estes assumed that the President was in agreement with his brother. Here, I think Estes underestimated President Kennedy. Kennedy was more familiar with the ways of congress and the degree in which the party in power would protect their former majority leader of the Senate, and who had become Vice-President. In the hearings of November 22, 1963, and those that followed the next year, persons who testified in a negative way about Johnson were treated rather rudely (harassed?) by the majority party members on the committee. [8] President Kennedy would have been more understanding of this than his brother Bobby. Perhaps President Kennedy's position was that in the unlikely event that Johnson were to resign or be indicted, Johnson would be removed from the ticket by that action. Otherwise, Johnson would remain on the ticket.

                   Books Addressed by Estes

Estes makes remarks that could be construed to address at least three books and a video, but no book is mentioned by name. Estes confirms that Haley's [9] comments about his meeting on a plane with LBJ on April 28, 1962 at the Midland Airport were true. Johnson's people put a concerted effort to discredit the story; Hoover was also asked to debunk the report. Estes was called to the plane and told by LBJ not to testify at Estes' trials. If he were convicted, Johnson would see that "things were made right." Estes did not testify; no pardon was forthcoming at the end of Johnson's presidency.

Estes' daughter Pam wrote a biography of her father. [10] In Estes view, "I knew she could never write the real truth, because it   would cause my death." [11] The confession of James Files [12], according to Cliff Carter, was bogus. Though Estes only refers to the Loy Factor story, the book of Sample & Collom [13] was the major source of that story. Estes says he knows some of the Loy Factor story is true; he saw a man who was similiar in appearance to Factor talking to Wallace at the funeral of Sam Rayburn. Wallace was definitely there at Dealey Plaza in his Rambler, and Wallace had a girlfriend of Mexican decent who was with him at the assassination site and tied into the story told by Factor. Estes does not understand why Factor was allowed to live if he was involved in the assassination.

Not mentioned is the Darby [14] fingerprint match of Wallace to the fingerprint found on the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository (TSBD) Building. This 34 point match conclusively placed Wallace on the sixth floor of the TSBD. Estes makes an intriguing statement that persons interested in multiple Oswald theories would surely want more detail (particularly those who have found John Armstrong's [15] work compelling): "I [Estes] was present at a meeting with Mac Wallace and Jack Ruby in the Carousel Club. I believe I saw Oswald or one of Carter's fake Oswalds there with Ruby on another visit to the club." [16]   Carter's "fake Oswalds"? Now, that's a phrase that could prove to be very interesting.  Finally, there are many points of consistency between Estes and McClellan [17], though they're coming from different viewpoints, Estes as an insider intimate with LBJ, and McClellan as a former law partner of Ed Clark. Comparing and contrasting McClellan's book with Estes' book would be an interesting venture in itself.

              What Estes Doesn't Tell Us

Estes declines to discuss the deaths of George Krutilek, Harold Orr, Coleman Wade, or Howard Pratt, because he has not received immunity in any of these cases. All of these men had a business relationship to Estes, and their deaths likely had something to do with their relationship to Estes. He has stated, regarding his telephone tapes, "I am not going to discuss the entire contents of those tapes...These conversations included sensitive discussions about certain aspects of my business with people more dangerous than Lyndon." p.112. Estes also stated, "I have avoided telling the truth for so many years because of my ego and my fear of death. I am still afraid of dying and therefore, there are some things left out of this book. I will go to my grave with things left unsaid. I hope this book will leave you with at least a feeling for the truth." p. 172.

An interesting point is that the Caddy letter, [18] often cited by assassination researchers wherein the murders of several people, including John Kennedy, are at the behest of Lyndon Johnson, is  said to have been illegally released in the United States Attorney's office. In Estes words: "These letters have often been used as proof of LBJ's involvement in the Kennedy assassination by many conspiracy buffs. If you will remember, I have always been wary of people learning too much. I deliberately changed some names to protect myself if the discussions broke down and the letters were leaked." p. 163. It is not clear whether Estes is fully disclosing the correct information now.

There are many things to criticize about this book. An editor/proof reader could have removed some of the obvious flaws. But this book is Billie Sol Estes story with the parts he chooses to tell at this time. There are some misrepresentations. For example, the book jacket calls Estes, "The Man Who Knows Who Shot JFK". Yet, from what Estes tell us, he doesn't know who shot JFK, but only that the shooters were hired by Mac Wallace. It's true that Wallace may have shot at JFK, but Estes does not know who fired the fatal shot. Further, Estes' story is from his vantage point. There are other participants who had their own vantage points. Still, this is an important writing. Some of the details may turn out to be incorrect, but it is important that Billie Sol produced this effort. The book ends on a note of Estes ever being the huckster. He invites the reader to invest in Texas vineyards. "Let's put them [The French] out of business. I know some good land near Pecos and it is available at a low price. In five years we could control the wine industry." p. 173.

Notes:

[1] Estes, B.S. (2005).Billie Sol Estes: A Texas Legend. Granbury,      TX: BS Productions.

[2] Haley, J.E. (1964). A Texan Looks at Lyndon.: A Study in           Illegitimate Power. Canyon, TX: Palo Duro Press.

[3] Williams, J.D. & Conway, D. (2001). The Don Reynolds Testimony      and LBJ. (2001). Kennedy Assassination Chronicles. 7(1) 19-27.

[4] Estes, p. 61.

[5] Estes, p. 58.

[6] McClellan, B. (2003). Blood, Money and Power: How L.B.J.           Killed J.F.K. New York: Hanover House.

[7] Brown, W. (1998). The Sordid Story of Mac Wallace. JFK/DPQ 3(4)      22-27.

[8] Williams & Conway.

[9] Haley.

[10] Estes, P. (1983). Billie Sol: King of the Texas Wheeler            Dealers. Abilene, TX: Noble Crafts Books.

[11] Estes, B.S., p. 116.

[12] The Murder of JFK: Confession of an Assassin. (1990). MPI Home       Video.

[13] Sample, G. & Collom, M. (1995). The Men on the Sixth Floor.:       The Story of Loy Factor, an Insider/Participant in the JFK         Killing. Garden Grove, CA: Sample Graphics.

[14] Brown, W. (2001).Malcolm Wallace Fingerprint: "It's Him!"          JFK/DPQ, 7(1) 4-6.

[15] Armstrong, J. (2003). Harvey & Lee: How the CIA Framed Oswald.       Arlington, TX: Quasar Ltd.

[16] Estes, p. 151.

[17] McClellan.

[18] Caddy, D. (1984). Letter to Stephen Trott. Reproduced              in Sardie, L. (1998). LBJ: A Closer Look-Research Materials.

     www.freeyellow.com/members5/booksonvideo/index.html.

From JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly. (2005). 10, 4, 13-19.