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.  

Why is Morris Jaffe Interesting?

                  Why is Morris Jaffe Interesting?

                       John Delane Williams

   Morris Jaffe is a name that JFK assassination researchers haven't encountered on a daily basis. Madeleine Brown, in her interview with this writer (1), indicated, that in all of the previous times she'd been interviewed, no one had ever asked about Jaffe before. Given the coincidences of Jaffe's known activities, I find that curious.

   Morris Douglas Jaffe, to begin with, backed Johnson for the Democratic nomination for President in 1960. Jaffe was in Los Angeles "... to lay his money on the line. An old time San Antonio newspaperman came home admitting that Jaffe not only seemed to be the "money" man but the brains and trouble-shooter and smart beyond imagination, the most effective man behind Lyndon B. Johnson." (2). Jaffe was the person who bought all of the holdings of Billie Sol Estes when Estes declared bankruptcy, although Jaffe did not get Estes' holdings immediately. J.C. Williamson moved at once after Estes' bankruptcy to regain Estes' property, which was blocked by the bankruptcy judge, Ewing Thomason, who incidentally, was a good friend of Lyndon Johnson. (3) In June, 1963, Jaffe paid Williamson only the outstanding amount on Williamson's loan, $418,000, to acquire Williamson's holdings, who by that time had been converted to the political conservative cause. (4). Jaffe was said to have offered $7 million for Estes's vast holdings. Actually, Jaffe, who preferred not to risk a single red cent, agreed to pay perhaps as little as $100,000. (5). "The conclusion is inescapable that the Johnson-controlled political machine in Texas designedly set the stage for Jaffe's takeover, as the cleanup was without financial risk and potentially very good." (6).

    Apparently Jaffe was in and Estes was out. Not only did Johnson not help Estes retain his holdings, it appeared (at least to Estes) that he was getting poor legal representation from John Cofer; Cofer had defended Johnson in the infamous box 13 case, where a delay in reporting results from one precinct was withheld until they knew how many dead people and other nonvoters had to vote for LBJ for him to win the Democratic party's nomination for the Senate in 1948. (7) Cofer also got Mac Wallace (who was said to be LBJ's henchman) off with a five year probation after being convicted of first degree murder. Estes was aware that Cofer was botching his defense, but Estes was not allowed to fire Cofer. It was feared that an independent counsel might implicate Johnson. (8)  Estes had a special relationship with Lyndon Johnson, then Vice-President, who had previously served in the US House (1937-1949) and US Senate (1949-1961). An integral part of that relationship was supplying LBJ with bagloads of money. On one occasion, Estes was slow in getting a promised $500,000 to LBJ. LBJ called Estes before dawn regarding the "donation". Estes replied,"Do you know what time it is?", to which Johnson bellowed, "Hell, I didn't call you to find out what time it is! I called to find where the cash is. I want you to get out to the fucking airport and get the goddamn cash on its way now!" (9)  Estes was heard to say, "Lyndon would do anything for you he could, if  you paid him enough." (10). In a letter from Douglas Caddy, the lawyer for Estes in 1984, to Steven S. Trott, U.S. Department of Justice, a hint at the enormity of Estes' money transfers to Johnson is given: "Mr. Estes is willing to disclose illegal payoff schemes, in which he collected and passed on to Cliff Carter and LBJ millions of dollars". (11)

    Concurrently, Jaffe was also a close confidante of LBJ, and presumably a similar arrangement would have been in place to supply LBJ with money; Jaffe seemed to be a hand picked replacement for Estes. With Jaffe assuming Estes' holdings, it seems likely that Johnson would continue to accept gratuities, at an increased level, from Jaffe. Indeed, Jaffe's reasons for being handpicked may relate to his already having learned that being generous to Lyndon could portend greater payoffs for Jaffe. While the Estes arrangements are relatively well known and a part of the public record, Jaffe was much more a behind the scenes player, and his activities are far less known. Jaffe died April 24, 2001 in San Antonio. (12)

               Jaffe's Earlier Adult Years

    Jaffe was born in San Antonio of Jewish-Hispanic heritage and became an aircraft engineering officer during World War II. Jaffe and a friend, David P. Martin, began a construction company (Jaffe and Martin Builders). They built barracks at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. It was determined that Jaffe had wined and dined the civil engineer named McLain, who was hired by the government to insure the job was done to specifications. An inquiry was begun to investigate shoddy workmanship, but the investigation ended when McLain was transferred.

    A friend of Jaffe's, Lieutenant Colonel Roger Zeller, was allowed to jump over several hundred full colonels to the rank of Brigadier General, and get a plum transfer to the Pentagon. With influence in the Pentagon and with Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, "...Jaffe really hit his stride." (13) Continuing on at Lackland, Jaffe built a skating rink, which he could not own, because it was on government ground, costing $260,000, but he was given a ten year period to "recoup" his costs. Jaffe used his influence to require that each airman in basic training skate at least one hour a week. The director of basic training, Colonel James A. Smyrl, was brought under fire because he refused to go along. It took some time for Smyrl to save his military career; other Lackland officials would eventually suffer either resignation or reassignment. And Jaffe? He would sell his interest to a Sam Katz in January, 1959 and walk away unscathed, at a good profit.

    Jaffe also found South Texas uranium deposits, which, fortunately for him, were appraised as being quite rich in uranium by the Atomic Energy Commission. Jaffe picked up options on a large amount of acreage, inducing the government to finance a giant processing plant. He then sold his leases and options at top dollar, shortly before the industry went bust. It is as if he were in training to take over Billie Sol's holdings. (14)

           The Death of Two Sisters in Mexico

    In 1976, Madeleine Brown received a telephone call from Sam Park, a multimillionaire bachelor from Harris County at his South Texas ranch. He called regarding the collapse of the Salinas family  bank in South Texas. The bank had taken down several celebrities with them, including John Connally, Sammy Davis Jr. and Lt. Governor Ben Barnes. Connally and Barnes filed for bankruptcy. Sam told Madeleine, "It sure looks like ol' Lyndon's carpetbagger, Morris Jaffe, has done in Steve's pretty little girlfriend, Beth Horstmann, and her sister, Alex Short." (15). Sam continued, "It was Jaffe, who introduced Alex Short to Salinas, wasn't it? The girls burned to death in a plane crash with $500,000 that the paper says is missing from the bank." (16)

    Steve (who used the last name of Brown) was Madeleine's son with Lyndon who had dated Beth when they were both in high school. Alex had worked for Jaffe for ten years. The girls died in the crash in Northern Mexico near H.L. Hunt's retreat. Back in 1976, accounts were insured for much less than today, perhaps as little as $10,000. Thus, the girls stood to lose most of their account if they did not withdraw the money before the bank went into receivership. The girls were likely advised to withdraw the money immediately. One might conjecture that the money was not on board the plane when it went down. One might also conjecture that Sam Park surmised that Jaffe was responsible for events that followed, including responsibility for the sister's deaths.

 

                    Other Jaffe Misadventures

    Jaffe was said to be involved with his son, Morris Douglas Jaffe, Jr. in offering a $1 million bribe to fix a jury. (17) Jaffe Sr. also was said to have written two checks to Linda Medlar, a former lover of Henry Cisneros, one-time Secretary of Housing in Bill Clinton's Cabinet. The government pursued Cisneros on tax evasion. (18) This pursuit was probably a ploy to force Cisneros' resignation. On the other side of the coin, Jaffe was a co-owner of Fed-Mart, an early discount chain. Sam Walton sought Jaffe's advice about starting his own discount chain, Wal-Mart. (19)

            Jaffe's Father in-Law, Sam Bloom

    Morris Jaffe's father-in-law was Sam Bloom (20). Bloom owned his own advertising agency bearing Bloom's name. (21) Bloom was a member of the Dallas Citizens Council and was instrumental in getting the business community to accept integration. His basis of argument was that integration was "good business". To continue segregation was to court disaster. Bloom produced a movie and strategized on getting integration accepted.  The Zodiac Cafe in the Nieman-Marcus store was smoothly integrated. On an assigned day, 2 Black Men and 2 Black women, with no fanfare, sat down and had lunch. The change process was smoothly handled. Not a single account was lost by Niemann-Marcus. Bloom was a pragmatist who expended his energies getting things done, rather than talking about them. He knew his fellow business owners were oriented to doing things that made them popular rather than unpopular. His task was to take the unpopular idea and turn it into a popular project. Bloom was a leader in a town that had no shakers (22). Bloom was placed in charge of the reception in Dallas for President Kennedy's visit. The idea was to muzzle the right wing and minimize protests. Until the moment JFK was shot, the plan seemed to be succeeding to the point that Nell Connally said to JFK, "Well you certainly can't say the people of Dallas are against you today". (23) Bloom was waiting at The Trade Mart along with other dignitaries when Kennedy was assassinated.

   Bloom was enlisted to handle public relations for Judge Joe Brown for the Jack Ruby trial. Ruby's lawyer, Melvin Belli, was trying to get a change of venue, based on the difficulty of getting a fair trial in Dallas. Belli was not successful in his attempt.

Belli became exasperated by Bloom, who he saw as interfering in his attempt at change of venue; he was unclear about Bloom's role, though he sensed the role as fitting someone else's agenda. (24)  Belli was aware that citizens councils were a Southern institution that existed in the former confederate states. Their agendas addressed states rights, and were conservative White organizations

that reinforced the status quo. (25). A member of the citizens council in Quitman, Georgia was Joseph Milteer, who told of the upcoming JFK assassination  on November 9, 1963 to Willie Somersett, an FBI informant.  A picture of a man said to be Milteer was taken in front of the School Book Depository at the time of the assassination. See Groden (26) for a text of Milteer's conversation with Somersett, and the picture of Milteer at the assassination. Yet another person associated with the assassination and the Citizens Council was General Edwin A. Walker, scheduled to give an address to The Citizens Council of Louisiana on the day of the assassination. (27)

    An interpretation of Bloom's role with the Ruby trial was to prove to the world that Dallas was innocent in the assassination of John Kennedy. This might be seen as motivated by Dallasites to remove any negativeness towards Dallas, particularly as it might relate to any loss of revenue to business persons in the city. If that role conflicted with Belli's sense that Ruby couldn't get a fair trial in Dallas, so be it.

    Additionally, Elizabeth Forsling Harris, an employee at Bloom's advertising business, worked with Jack Puterbaugh in planning JFK's visit to Dallas. Puterbaugh made the decision to go through Dealey Plaza. Harris was the Dallas contact with the Washington planners  for the fated visit. (28). Bill Moyers, then a presidential assistant, directed Harris to publish the motorcade route. (29)

        Mort Freedman, Sam Bloom's brother in Law

    Mort Freedman was a brother-in-law to Sam Bloom (30) and the owner operator of Morty Freedman Inc. at 2135 Lamar in Dallas. More importantly, he shared the telephone number with the Dallas Uranium and Oil Company on the third floor of the Dal-Tex Building (RI2-8063), with a perfect view of Dealey Plaza, unobstructed by trees. This number was also shared by Marilyn Belt Manufacturing, also in the Dal-Tex Building. (31) Freedman was apparently well connected with the powers that be in Dallas. He was friends with all members of the Dallas Crime Commission. Livingstone was told, "Concentrate on the Crime Commission... if you want to get some leads on who killed John Kennedy." (32) Freedman died in 1978 in Miami. (33)

  The Dal-Tex Building as a Possible Assassination Shooting Site

    The Dal-Tex building has been identified by several authors  as a possible site for one of the Kennedy-Connally shooters (34) Groden (35) identifies shot #1 at Zapruder-153, or Z-153) as a miss from the Dal-Tex Building, #4 as either from the Sixth Floor of the School Book Depository or the Dal-Tex Building, at Z-224, and another probable shot from the Dal-Tex Building. Wood (36) reports that the shot that missed and hit the concrete near James Tague likely came from the Dal-Tex Building (perhaps the second floor). Curiously, the work reported in Posner (37) indirectly supports the possibility of one or more shots emanating from the Dal-Tex Building. Cones of possible places a shot may have come from are drawn on page 477 in Posner's book. In that drawing, the Dal-Tex Building is conspicuously missing. Were the Dal-Tex Building included and the cones extended, much of the western end of the Dal-Tex building would be included in the cones.

    Roberts (38) said that George Bocognini and Sauveur Pironti, members of the Corsican Mafia, were  shooting, one from the fire escape on the  Dal-Tex Building, and the other from the roof of the Dallas County Records building; each was accompanied by a control agent with a radio.  In another scenario, Braden was identified as the control agent with Bocognini, shooting from the Dal-Tex Building. Bocognini may have fired the shot that hit Kennedy in the shoulder. (39) Jim Braden is the only person known to be at both the assassination of John F. Kennedy and near the Ambassador Hotel, June 6, 1968 at the time of the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Braden claimed that at the time of the JFK assassination, he was trying to find a phone on the third floor of the Dal-Tex Building.  Braden said he was in Dallas on oil business, seeing H.L. Hunt. (40) Braden was later identified as a mob connected person then on probation in California, whose actual name was Eugene Hale Brading. Braden became his legal name on September 10, 1963. (41) Much of the early legwork on Braden's underworld connections was done by Noyes (42). The only business in the Dal-Tex Building related to oil was the Dallas Uranium and Oil Company.  This business was owned by Morris D. Jaffe. (43)

                    George DeMorenschildt's Lawyer

To complicate matters, there is a second Morris Jaffe that has an association with persons connected to the JFK assassination.   McMillan (44) reports that George DeMorenschildt's lawyer during the 1960's was Morris I. Jaffe. Livingstone (45) mistakenly refers to this Jaffe as Morris D. Jaffe. Jaffe (the lawyer) said, in an FBI deposition about DeMorenschildt,  George felt, " ...the world owed him a living and he will not use his tremendous abilities and intelligence to any constructive end." (46) Madeleine Brown (47) thought that the two Jaffe's were related; she would see Morris I. Jaffe on occasion when Jaffe visited George DeMorenschildt's office, which was a floor away from Madeleine's in the Republic Building.  He was known to be present when Mafia kingpins Joe Civello and Carlos Marcello got together when Marcello came to Dallas. (48) According to Livingstone (49), this Morris Jaffe often visited Morty Freedman in the Dal-Tex Building.  Livingstone reports that the circle of Sheriff Bill Decker, Morris Jaffe and Judge Lew Sterrett were either involved with the JFK assassination, or involved with persons who were involved with the assassination. (50) The question is, which Morris Jaffe? Or both? Morris I. Jaffe was born November 28, 1912, and died in Dallas in January, 1980. (51)

          The Ownership of the Dal-Tex Building

   

    Weston (52) began investigating the ownership of the building at 411 Elm Street in Dallas, the site of the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD). Weston simultaneously traced the school book depository as a business. In 1952, the TSBD, then located at 1917 N. Houston, moved management and clerical personnel from 2210 Pacific Avenue to 501 Elm, the Dal-Tex Building. It is unclear when The TSBD moved to 411 Elm Street. Some book companies recall a time frame for the move around 1957 or 1958. However, Roy Truly, the warehouse manager, recalled having moved to 411 Elm only a few months before the assassination. (53) The criss-cross directory shows that the TSBD's only presence on Elm Street in 1962 was at the Dal-Tex Building. Clearly, at the time of the assassination the TSBD was at 411 Elm in 1963. (54)  The TSBD building was owned by D. Harold Byrd, who bought the building in 1936. Byrd was never able to use the building for the manufacture of air conditioners, as was his intention; a legal dispute over the patent with the Chrysler Corporation kept Byrd from going into production. Weston (55) also reports that the Dal-Tex Building was owned by the John Deere Plow Company. The company vacated the building in 1951, leaving space for the TSBD to move in 1952.

    On the other hand, a survey a tenants of the Dal-Tex Building who were still around thirty years later reveals that most of them thought Morris Jaffe was the owner. But which Morris Jaffe? Goodman (56) thought this referred to Morris D. Jaffe of San Antonio. It is understandable that a name confusion might be a problem here.

           The Dallas Uranium and Oil Company

    There were only two persons in Texas who had high visibility in the uranium business, H.L. Hunt and Morris Douglas Jaffe. (57)

Morris D. Jaffe is the likely "owner" of this business. It seems that this may have been a dummy corporation. Perhaps the business was to serve as a shield for the true activities of the firm. Goodman (58) searched records for articles of incorporation for the Dallas Uranium & Oil Company, but none were found. As indicated earlier, Morty Freedman's telephone number corresponded to that of the Dallas Uranium and Oil Company. Freedman was reportedly seen on several occasions in the building. (59)

     A Simple Scenario Involving Jaffe in the JFK Assassination

    Given the information here one might hypothesize that Jaffe was a central planner in the assassination of President Kennedy. He may have been involved with other Texas oilmen, including H.L. Hunt, who financed the assassination. Jaffe would, in that hypothesis, likely be the person who told LBJ that the hit was on for the following day, November 22, 1963. Jaffe even used his own business as a site for one of the shooters. He then would have outlined for LBJ how to do the coverup.

          The Simple Scenario was One Layer of the Onion

      What is wrong with the simple scenario? Morris D. Jaffe was an extraordinarily bright person. As such, he would never plan a crime wherein circumstances could so easily tie him into the crime. That the Dal-Tex Building was a likely site for a shooter, or other conspiratorial activity. Recall that Jim Braden was detained by the police on the after Braden had been in the Dal-Tex Building. (60) These circumstances stand as strong indicators that Jaffe had no part in the Dealey Plaza operation on November 22, 1963. Had he been a planner, he would not have chosen a site wherein a shooter could be shooting from his office space, and thus implicate him in the assassination.

       An analogy has been made between an onion and the Kennedy assassination. It has been conjectured that the perpetrators of the assassination would protect themselves from detection by implicating others. There would be as many layers between the perpetrators and being protected as there are layers of an onion skin. If one layer is pulled off, another layer is displayed. At the outermost layer was Lee Harvey Oswald. As layers of the conspiracy would unfold, the next layer would show new possible conspirators. If persons close to the outside protected themselves, they would also be protecting those closer to the middle. In the hours that followed the assassination, one could conjecture that Jaffe would see how the planners had skillfully placed him in one of the outer layers of the onion skin, far from the real perpetrators. (61) One can imagine Jaffe recognizing his own liability. Just one layer underneath Jaffe was LBJ( or perhaps vice versa). If Jaffe were implicated, so would be LBJ. To complicate matters even further, both LBJ and Jaffe might well have heard that 11/22/63 was the day, and by knowing that, they were technically part of the conspiracy. The planners got the message to LBJ of the importance of doing the coverup, which it came to LBJ to direct. Apparently other evidence implicating LBJ also existed. In 1998, the one fingerprint on the sixth floor of The Texas School Book Depository which had long gone unidentified was finally shown to belong to Mac Wallace, a known LBJ henchman. (62) It would be interesting to know if LBJ was privy to that information back in 1963-64. If Jaffe and LBJ were early up on the onion skin, the importance was paramount of declaring Lee Harvey Oswald the lone assassin without any confederates of any sort. 

            So What Does it All Mean?

    Has any direct evidence been presented herein that specifically proves that Morris D. Jaffe was involved in the conspiracy to assassinate JFK? The answer is, of course, no. If the question is asked the other way, how likely is it that, at some level, Morris Jaffe was involved in activities that would either be conspiratorial, either indirectly, by having knowledge of it, or directly, by either participating in the conspiracy or the cover-up? I would judge that it is quite likely. Having said that, will written records be found that will satisfy researchers regarding the assassination? The interview of Fletcher Prouty for the Assassinations Records Review Board (ARRB) on September 24, 1996 is instructive. In addressing the ways American Intelligence interfaces with the creations of a meaningful record, "See the true facts of the way things run are so different from the facts on the record. That's because the cover stories are created. As fast as they are needed, the cover stories are created. [It] has nothing to do with the death of Kennedy. Absolutely nothing. That's what the people did-that was a coup d'etat. It wasn't a murder. And because it was done there were no trials; you can't have a trial; there's nothing ever going to be done about it. I don't see why people don't understand that. Of course you're on an assigned role; I'm not saying that about you. [Here, Prouty was talking about the interviewers from the ARRB.] But that's why two and two never make four in this business." (63)

    Putting this in the context of potential players in the assassination and the coverup, the specifics of the actual assassination might be easier to ascertain than the motives and actions of participants. Jaffe's possible involvement would seem to be inextricably related to LBJ. But Jaffe had several Texas connections that LBJ did not; LBJ had to depend on Jaffe and others in Texas to do a variety of tasks. One might conjecture that some of these tasks may have been technically illegal, but most likely, never to be pursued by an independent legal process.

Nevertheless, there is a spider web of circumstantial information that leaves Morris D. Jaffe as an interesting person in the intrigue surrounding the JFK assassination. Jaffe surfaces as a player in LBJ's world with bringing a bundle of money to Los Angeles to assure LBJ being number two on the 1960 Democratic presidential ticket. When Billie Sol Estes ceased to be useful to LBJ, Billie Sol ran into legal problems that turned all of his holding over to bankruptcy court, and then to Jaffe. Jaffe appears to be the owner of a business in the Dal-Tex Building that seems to be at exactly the right trajectory for several of the shots at the Presidential limousine. Several shots are posited from very near his Oil & Uranium office. The secretary who worked for his father-in-law worked with Sam Puterpaugh in planning JFK's parade route that made the 90 degree turn on Dealey Plaza, conveniently slowing down for the turn; the turn was arguably even more helpful for a shooter from the Dal-Tex Building than the Texas School Book Depository. Sam Bloom worked to exonerate Dallas, and coincidentally, undercut Melvin Belli's bid for a change of venue in the trial of Jack Ruby. So why haven't we heard more about Morris Jaffe? He seems awfully interesting to me.

References

1. Brown, M.D. (2001). Interview. (11/18/01).

  MB:  See, through the years, I've met Marina. And I've talked to   Marina over and over again. And I say ' Marina. Tell me you       want[people] to know. You 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 said 'Are you sure?'     She said, 'Yeah.'    

  Believe it or not, I did not click on the importance of this      statement until I was transcribing the tape. If the police        picked up Oswald's gun at the Paine household the next day, the   entire case against Lee Harvey Oswald is a fabrication. His gun   couldn't be at Dealey Plaza, and all the supposed evidence of     Oswald shooting from the sixth floor is bogus. It also means      that a great deal of collusion would be involved in finding the   rifle in the garage and then claiming that it is the weapon that   killed JFK.

2. Haley, J.E. (1964). A Texan Looks at Lyndon.: A Study in           Illegitimate Power. Canyon, TX: Palo Duro Press, p. 156.

3. Ibid, p. 148.

4. Brown, M.D. (1997). Texas in the Morning. The Love Story of        Madeleine Brown and Lyndon Baines Johnson. Baltimore, MD: The

   Conservatory Press, pp. 149-150.

5. Haley, p. 148.

6. Ibid, p. 150.

7. Ibid; Sardie, L. (1998). LBJ: A Closer Look-Research Materials.     www.booksonviseo.com; Zirbel, C.I. (1991). The Texas              Connection: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy. Scottsdale,     AR: The Texas Connection Company, Section 4, Ballot Box 13, 1-     4.

8. Estes, P. (1983). Billie Sol: King of Texas Wheeler-Dealers.

   Abilene, TX: Noble Craft Books p. 66.

9. Brown, 1997, p. 102.

10. Estes, 1983, p. 67.

11. Caddy, D. (1984). Letter of 8/9/1984 to Steven S. Trott. p. 2.

    In Sardie, L. (1998). LBJ: A Closer Look-Research Materials.      Ch 5, 15-17. www.booksonviseo.com.

12. Social Security Records.

13. Haley, p.151. 

14. Ibid pp. 151-152.

15. Brown, 1997, p. 222.

16. Ibid, pp. 222-223.

17. Hendricks, B. (1994) SA oilman alleges knowledge of bribe-         Testimony links Manges to Hogg jury fix. San Antonio Express       News. November 24, 1994.

18. Hendricks (1994). Alamo City's Mystery Tycoon- Cisneros Flap       turns Spotlight on publicity shy Morris Jaffe Sr. San Antonio      Express News. November 13, 1994; Hendricks, B. (1994). Jaffe       sees no tax violations in Cisneros money to Medlar. San          Antonio Express News. December 25, 1994; Hendricks, B.           (1994). Law may not require airing Medlar 'loans'. San Antonio      Express News. October 18, 1994; Hendricks, B, (1997). FBI         documents cite Cisneros-Jaffe link. Financier denies helping      funnel $85,000 to Medlar. San Antonio Express News. November      24, 1997.

19. Silva, T. L. (2001). Costco picks store site. San Antonio          Business Journal. May 23, 2001.

20. Brown, M.D. Personal communication. (12/17/01).

21. Leslie, W. (1964). Dallas Public and Private. New York:            Grossman, p. 72.

22. Ibid p. 73.

23. Ibid, p. 208.

24. Belli, M., with M.C. Carroll (1964). Dallas Justice: The Real

    Story of Jack Ruby and his Trial. New York: David, cited in        Leslie, pp. 216-219. 

25. Goodman, B. (1993). Triangle of Fire. San Jose, CA: Liquerian      Publishing Company pp. 175-181. Goodman mentions meeting a        retired member of the British Ministry of Defense on p. 220.

     Although unnamed, this retired officer is none other than Ian      Griggs! Goodman claims to be the mysterious "Alan Smith" the      schoolboy truant who watched the motorcade from the north         pergola and telephoned the newspaper that day. "Smith" is         listed in Craig Cicione's Schematic and Master List of            Witnesses in Dealey Plaza. Highland Park, MI: Author. (1996).      Cicione states that Smiths position was at the NW corner of       Elm/Houston, in front of TSBD. "Smith" said the shots came        from right over my head. 

26. Groden, R.J. (1993). The Killing of the President. New York:       Penguin, pp. 153-154.

27. Russell, D. (1992). The Man Who Knew Too Much. New York:           Carroll & Graf, p. 316.

28. Jones, P. The Continuing Inquiry. Midlothian, TX: Midlothian       Mirror. Cited in Livingstone, H.E. (1993). Killing the Truth:      Deceit and Deception in the JFK Case. New York: Carroll &         Graf, p. 552.

29. 11 HSCA 520. Appendix 11, p. 520, Appendix to the House            Subcommittee on Assassinations.

30. Cole's Criss Cross Directory. (1963). Cited in Goodman, p.         243.

31.  Goodman, p. 176, p. 243.

32. Livingstone, H.E. (1993). Killing the Truth: Deceit and            Deception in the JFK Case. New York: Carroll & Graf, p. 477.

33.  Social Security Records.

34.  For example, Benson, M.(1993).Who’s Who in the JFK               Assassination: An A- to Z Encyclopedia. New York: Citadel        Press; Benson, M. (2002). Encyclopedia of The JFK                Assassination. New York: Checkmark Books; Goodman, 1993;         Livingstone, H.E. & Groden, R.J. (1998). High Treason: The        Assassination of JFK and the Case for Conspiracy. 35th           Anniv. Ed. New York: Carroll & Graf.

35. Groden, pp. 20-46.

36. Wood, I.D. (2000). 22 November, 1963: A Chronology. In Fetzer,      J.H. (Ed.) (2000). Murder in Dealey Plaza: What We Know now        that We didn't Know then about the Death of JFK. (pp. 17-         118).Chicago:  Catfeet Press.    

37. Posner, G. (1993).Case Closed. New York: Random House, p. 477.

38. Roberts, C. (1994). Kill Zone- A Sniper looks at Dealey Plaza.      Tulsa, OK: Consolidated Press p. 52 & p. 55.

39. Ross, R.G. (2001). The Elite Serial Killers of Lincoln, JFK,       RFK, & MLK. Spicewood, TX: RIE. Ross's account is at least         confusing. On p. 105, Ross reports that Braden may have been       the shooter that hit Kennedy in the shoulder; Braden was          said   to be with a man with a walkie-talkie. On p. 117,          Bocognini is the shooter accompanied by Braden. On pp. 265-       266, both Braden and Bocognini are identified as shooters.        If both were shooters, was there another person with a            walkie-talkie?

40. Benson, 1993: Blakely, G.R. & Billings, R.N. (1981). The Plot      to Kill the President. New York: New York Times Books; Marrs,      J. (1989). Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy. New York:      Carroll & Graf; Russell, 1992.

41. North, M. (1991). Act of Treason: The Role of J. Edgar Hoover      in the Assassination of President Kennedy. New York: Carroll      & Graf; p. 308.

42. Noyes, P. (1973). Legacy of Doubt. New York: Pinnacle Books.       Noyes was the person who first broke into the public media        the sordid life of Jim Braden, ne Eugene Hale Brading. (pp.       24-30). He discovered that Braden/Brading was present in the      cities where the assassinations took place at the time of the      assassinations of both JFK and RFK. (p. 30)

43. Goodman, p. 87.

44. McMillan, P.J. (1977). Marina and Lee. New York: Harper & Row,      p. 222.

45. Livingstone, H.E. (1995). Killing Kennedy: And the Hoax of the      Century. New York: Carroll & Graf, 515-516.

46. McMillan, p. 222.

47. Brown, M.D. Personal Communication. (4/19/02).

48. Livingstone, 1993, p. 516.

49. Ibid, p. 516.

50. Ibid, p. 477.

51. Social Security Records.

52. Weston, W. (1994). 411 Elm Street. The Fourth Decade. 1,4, 24-

    29.

53. Pinkston, N. (1963, November 23) FBI Report. File #DL 100-         10461.

54. Westin.

55. Ibid.

56. Goodman, p. 217.

57. Ibid, p. 217.

58. Ibid, p. 216.

59. Ibid p. 216.

60. Noyes, P. (1973). Legacy of Doubt. New York: Pinnacle, pp. 19-      23.

61. The metaphor of the layers of an onion relating to the coverup      of the JFK assassination is a powerful one; I'm not sure who     to credit for the first use in regard to the JFK coverup.         I posted a query on the jfkresearch.com group. One response       was from William E. Kelly, who'd remembered using it in his       unpublished manuscript circa 1990, and he had gotten the idea     from John Judge, but Kelly thought Judge got the idea from        someone else. Judge used it in a talk about the assassination     sometime prior to 1977. The metaphor of an onion skin was used     in a book on the Martin Luther King assassination: Land, M. &     Gregory, D. (1977). Code name Zorro-The murder of MLK. New        York: Pocket-Kangaroo. This information was made available in     postings to jfkresearch.com by William E. Kelly, 4/1/03 &         4/2/03.

62. A. Nathan Darby signed an affidavit in Court in Travis County      Texas on March 9, 1998 which identified the previously             unidentified fingerprint on the sixth floor of the Texas          Schoolbook Depository as belonging to Malcolm (Mac)               Wallace. This affidavit was reprinted in The JFK Deep             Politics Quarterly, 3,4,29-31, July 1998. Darby later did an       exhaustive analysis of the fingerprint and make a 34 point        print match. In  Darby's words, "It's him." The latter match       is reported in Brown, W. (2001). Malcolm Wallace                  fingerprint:"It's him!" The      JFK Deep Politics                Quarterly, 7,1,4-6. The 34 point match is shown on the back       page of that issue.

63. Interview of L. Fletcher Prouty by Jim Wray of the                 Assassinations Records Review Board on September 24, 1996.         Reproduced in L. Hancock (2001). Mysteries of the 112th Corp       Group. Dallas: JFK Lancer. Section 8, p. 53.

From The Dealey Plaza Echo (2003). 7,2,30-39.