by Peter Janney
When I first considered this project in 2003, my initial endeavor was to collaborate with Christopher Keane, a Hollywood screenwriter. During this collaboration, along with Garby Leon’s guidance, and additional support from Linda Lichter, Esq., the film script Lost Light was conceived. But I soon realized that much of the story still remained unresolved and unknown. Further exploration and research were needed.
In 1992, I had the good fortune to meet and befriend the late author Leo Damore. Our friendship progressed rapidly before his untimely “suicide” in October 1995. Leo shared many of his insights into not only what he believed had occurred between Mary Meyer and Jack Kennedy, but how and why her murder had been orchestrated, as he had also done with his dear friend and attorney James (“Jimmy”) H. Smith.
In 2004, I was able to locate Damore’s chief research assistant, Mark O’Blazney, in suburban Washington, D.C. To his credit, Mark had guarded most of the Damore “treasure trove” in hopes that someday, someone might come along and pick up where Leo had left off. Author John H. Davis had, in fact, attempted such a feat in 1996, but he, too, had faltered.
It was the Damore family who finally made it possible for me to undertake in depth this project, allowing me to access additional material in their possession. I am particularly indebted to Leo’s former wife, June Davison, who graciously shared with me a number of the insights Leo had previously shared with her. As well, Leo’s children—Chuck, Leslie, and Nicholas—all put their faith in me.
Were it not, however, for Leo’s attorney, Jimmy Smith, it’s doubtful I would ever been able to unravel the crucial pieces of Leo’s most important discoveries. Having saved a set of historically important notes from a telephone conversation with Leo in 1993, Jimmy will always be one of the unsung heroes in the quest for the truth regarding the murder of Mary Pinchot Meyer.
During my five years of intensive writing, a number of new people—many of whom were women—found their way into my life and offered their insights and guidance. Barbra Dillenger, who I had known many years before, went way beyond the call of duty to keep me focused. Katie McCabe, coauthor with Dovey Roundtree, Esq., of Roundtree’s biography, Justice Older Than the Law, never allowed me to lose sight of some of the most important revelations in this book. Her steadfast support throughout this experience was an inspiration to be remembered.
During the Cold War, it might have been “a man’s world,” but the power of women and their emerging sisterhood was demanding to be heard and taken seriously. Sanity in an insane world needs guardians. As many of my women friends pointed out, an acolyte for world peace had been engendered in Mary Pinchot Meyer. Antonia Kabakov never allowed me to lose sight of this, and very patiently lent me her support and love, amidst a number of my challenges. Renowned author and astrologer Tracy Marks wouldn’t allow me to forsake certain principles. Amid “bumps in the road,” my dear friend Janet Clark always showed up at critical moments. Former childhood Georgetown Day School chum Ariel Dougherty, who had been an art student of Mary Meyer’s in the 1950s, reminded me of small but important details. And during some of my most difficult moments, Joanna Duda took me by the hand and walked with me to the edge—only then to suggest that I just jump into the abyss. I did.
I am indebted to author James W. Douglass for his valuable and indispensable work JFK and the Unspeakable. Mr. Douglass’s journey into the real vortex of the presidency and assassination of President John F. Kennedy is unparalleled. His willingness to take the time to explain certain minutiae has been invaluable. In addition, author Douglas P. Horne’s five-volume set, Inside the Assassination Records Review Board (2009), is unprecedented—not only does it further clarify the conspiracy that took place in Dallas on November 22, 1963, but also the conniving subterfuge that took place in its aftermath. As a researcher, author, and friend, Doug Horne is a true patriot and a great American.
There is a special collection of people who provided me with additional, invaluable assistance. My Princeton classmate Robert R. Cullinane freely gave me his time and some of his invaluable search resources via the Princeton University Library. I wish especially to thank Dick Russell for his stellar work The Man Who Knew Too Much. Dick’s seventeen-year odyssey writing his book, as well as the personal insights he shared, have been a guiding light. Toni Shimon, daughter of the late Joseph W. Shimon, took a huge risk in opening up to me about what had transpired between her and her father. Her disclosures in the Epilogue are historically important. Author Anthony Summers gave me a number of critical insights, as did others, including: Victor Marchetti, Hank Albarelli, Donald Deneselya, Tom Kimmel, J. Michael Kelly, Deborah Davis, Carol Felsenthal, Dino Brugioni, John Williams, Shelah Horvitz, Donald H. Wolfe, Bob Schwartz, Joan Mellon, Garby Leon, Joel Kabakov, Tiffany Graham, Shannon Mow, Sandy Forman, Esq., Adina Gewirtz, William Pepper, and journalist Charles Bartlett. Timothy Leary’s biographer, Robert Greenfield, shared many observations from his years of research, as did Tim Leary’s wife, Barbara, and his former colleagues Ralph Metzner and Peggy Mellon Hitchcock. In addition, my gratitude to the family of the late William (“Bill”) Attwood cannot go unmentioned. Attwood’s wife, Simone, and his daughter, Susan, graciously allowed me to examine and reference Bill’s extensive diaries.
Maintaining the discipline of writing often required a small army of ancillary health professionals to regularly step into my life (as did a certain, undisclosed quantity of Peet’s coffee). Bill Mueller of Cambridge Health Associates has intuitively known for more than twenty-five years where the acupuncture needles belong on my sometimes exhausted body. My chiropractor, Dr. Ian Boehm, always made himself available to me, sometimes on a moment’s notice. Physical therapist Connie Sardelis kept my back and shoulders from becoming frozen. When nothing else seemed to work, homeopath Begabati Lennihan found me a remedy that forged a will of steel. I will always remain eternally grateful to my dear friend and ally George Dillinger, M.D.
Last, I wish to prostrate myself before several editors, Kelly Horan and Margot White among them. Tony Lyons, the head of Skyhorse Publishing in New York, courageously stepped forward to give Mary’s Mosaic a home, and the entire Skyhorse team followed in an outstanding collaboration.
To all of you, and all my “ethereal friends,” I bow in gratitude and give you my deepest, heartfelt thanks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PETER JANNEY GREW up in Washington, D.C. during the Cold War era of the 1950s and 1960s. His father Wistar Janney was a senior career CIA official. The Janney family was intimately involved with many of Washington’s social and political elite that included the family of Mary and Cord Meyer as well as other high-ranking CIA officials and dignitaries such as Richard Helms, Jim Angleton, Tracy Barnes, Desmond FitzGerald, Bill Colby, and John Bross.
A graduate of Princeton, Peter completed a doctoral degree in psychology at Boston University in 1981 and has been a licensed psychologist for over 30 years. In 2002, he earned an MBA degree at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Mary’s Mosaic is his first book. He currently resides by the sea in Beverly, Massachusetts.
INDEX
Acheson, David (U.S. Attorney): 104, 108–109, 137, 188
and Ray Crump’s guilt, 137, 139
relationship with Cord Meyer, 108–109
view of Detective Bernie Crooke, 188
Acheson, Dean (father of David Acheson), 104, 180, 194
and Cord Meyer, 180, 194,
reaction to William Sloane Coffin’s stand on Vietnam, 194
Ahlander, Leslie Judd (Washington Post art critic): 31, 432
review of Mary Meyer’s show at Jefferson Place Gallery, 3
Albarelli, H. P., Jr., (author), 458, 469
author of A Terrible Mistake, 324, 458, 469
and death of Frank Olson, 458, 469
interviews with author, 482, 483, 484
and “William L. Mitchell,” 329
Alonso, Alicia: as referenced ballerina by Robert Schwartz, 164
Alpert, Richard (Ha
rvard professor)–see Ram Dass. 216, 241
Alphand, Madame Herve: presence at Mary Meyer’s funeral, 64
Alsop, Joseph (columnist), 226, 263–264, 443, 452, 472
alleged LSD trip at home of, 226
and Georgetown home of, 226
place of rendezvous for affair of Mary Meyer and JFK, 226
and JFK’s life expectancy, 264
and William Attwood, 263, 443, 452, 472
and June 10, 1963 cocktail party, 263
Ames, Aldrich: client of Plato Cacheris, 350
Anderson, Aldrin (“Andy”), 430
and Lee Harvey Oswald debriefing, 430
Anderson, Jack (Washington Post journalist), 386
and Joseph Shimon, 386
Operation Mongoose, 386
Santo Trafficante, 386
Angleton, Cicely (wife of James Angleton), 3, 38, 70, 73, 77, 78, 136, 162, 207
and interview by Nina Burleigh, 71
letter to New York Times, 77, 78
premonition of, 3, 38
relationship with Mary Meyer, 3, 70, 78, 80, 136, 162, 207
Angleton, James Jesus [“Jim”] (CIA), 2, 3, 32, 65, 69, 70–71, 74–81, 84–85, 110, 114, 224, 312, 323, 325–326, 345, 348–350, 356–358, 361, 364–372, 386, 389, 401, 404, 435, 466, 485, 488
alleged wiretaps of Mary Meyer, 312
at Mary Meyer’s funeral, 345
and Bernie Yoh and AIM, 325–326, 357
CIA Counterintelligence Chief, 69, 70–71, 75, 78, 110, 114, 224, 326, 348, 430
and Clare Booth Luce, 370
and Clare Petty and The Petty Report, 369
colleague of Wistar Janney, 65
collusion with Bradlee on diary, 74, 78–81, 85, 114
comments of John Williams, 358
comments of Joseph Shimon, 386, 389
comments of Toni Shimon, 386, 389
conspiracy in JFK assassination, 404
and David Atlee Phillips, 370
and David Martin’s Wilderness of Mirrors, 326, 466
death of, 349
decision to terminate Mary Meyer, 356
and disposition of Mary Meyer’s diary and papers, 2, 77
end of life reflections, 372
and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, 404
friendship with Cord Meyer, 32, 65, 78, 80
godfather to Meyer children, 370
and having authority over assassinations, 488
hobbies of, 65
interview by David Heymann, 224
interview by Ron Rosenbaum, 364–365, 368
and Joan Bross, 435
and Joseph Trento, 349, 361
and KGB, 2, 361, 368, 370
and Kim Philby, 368–369
and Lee Harvey Oswald, 2, 345, 361, 367, 370, 488
and March 31, 1993 telephone notes of Damore call with James H. Smith, Esq., 401
marriage to Cicely Angleton, 371
master fly fisherman, 371
moles within CIA, 368
National Enquirer, 371
nicknames for, 371
on Mary Meyer’s LSD use with JFK, 80, 224
Operation Chaos, 2
and phone call of Anne Truitt, 76, 77
and reactions of John M. Newman, 345, 367, 485, 488
reaction to Newsweek, 326,
regard for Ben Bradlee, 73, 75–76, 78–79, 367
relationship with and loyalty to Allen Dulles, 237, 286, 370, 372
relationship with Jim Truitt, 74, 371
relationship with Richard Helms, 65, 237, 372, 373
relationship with Robert Crowley, 267, 323, 348–349
relationship with William Corson, 267, 348, 350
and Robert Morrow’s belief of Mary Meyer’s murder, 313–315, 358
and search for Mary Meyer’s diary, 74–87,
and Soviet complicity in the death of Mary Meyer, 69
Special Investigations Group within Counterintelligence (CI/SIG), 369, 442
surveillance of Mary Meyer, 38
and squirreling of Angleton’s CIA papers, 70, 78, 84–85, 114, 371
and termination by William Colby, 326
termination of Mary Meyer, 370
and Tracy Barnes, 181, 286, 379
and Warren Commission, 2, 84
and wife Cicely Angleton’s premonition, 3
and William Harvey, 386, 389
and Winston Scott, 84
Applewhite, Edgar (CIA), 192
(See also: Operation Mockingbird)
Arvad, Inga (“Inga Binga”), 210, 213, 227
and Adolph Hitler, 210
affair with JFK, 210, 213, 227
FBI file on Walter Winchell article, 210
Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB), 290–296, 298–299, 430, 467, 476, 477
and Douglas P. Horne, 294–296
“Hawkeye” classified photographic facility, 291, 291
and Inside the Assassinations Records Review Board, 293–294, 430, 467, 476
interview with Audrey Bell, 296
interview with Dr. Malcolm Perry, 295, 298, 478
interview with Homer McMahon, 291
and Jeremy Gunn, 292, 296
and JFK autopsy witnesses, 294
and JFK throat wound, 295–296, 298–299
and Zapruder Film, 291
Assassinations, CIA 275, 277, 474, 503
Ngo Dinh Diem (Vietnam), 277
Attwood, Simone, 275, 474, 503
on knowledge of affair of JFK and Mary Meyer, 275
interview by author, 275, 474, 503
Attwood, Ambassador William (“Bill”), 149–153, 275–276, 429, 452, 452, 472, 474
Ambassador to Guinea, 149
and Carlos Lechuga, 275
and Choate School Winter Festivities, 149, 151–153, 452
death of, 429
diary entries of, 151–153, 452, 503
and Geoffrey Monroe Bruère, 149–150
and Jean Daniel, 276
and Joe Alsop’s cocktail party, 152
and Lisa Howard, 275–276
Princeton University, 19, 503
rapprochement with Fidel Castro, 149
and regard for Pinchot family, 443
relationship with Mary Meyer, 149, 151–153, 156
and The Reds and the Blacks, 452, 472
and The Twilight Struggle, 275
and White House aide Gordon Chase, 275, 474
Autopsy of Mary Pinchot Meyer, 54–56, 111, 438
clothes removed at, 54
D.C. Morgue, 54
Detective Bernie Crooke, 54
Dr. Linwood Rayford (coroner), 54
and professionalism of assailant, 55
gloves, 56, 438
Randolph M. Worrell (technician), 54
time of, 54
Banta, Ronald (D.C. Homicide detective), 48
on search for Ray Crump’s jacket and cap, 48
Barnes, Tracy (CIA)
and Cord Meyer, 181, 286
and daughter Jane Barnes, 380
inner circle of Jim Angleton, 379
loyalty to Allen Dulles, 181
and Mario Kohly, 314
relationship with Robert Morrow, 314, 315
Barrows, Herbert (CIA): 463
and Evelyn Patterson Truitt’s letter to Anthony Summers regarding, 463
and stealing Jim Truitt’s papers, 463
Bartlett, Charles (journalist), 64, 229–230, 168, 173, 304
Chattanooga Times, 229
and Cord Meyer, 64, 168, 173
and disposition toward Mary Meyer, 230
and funeral for Mary Meyer, 64
and JFK’s feelings toward Mary Meyer, 230
and President’s boat parties, 230
and reaction to Nina Burleigh, 230
relationship with JFK, 230, 304
Bartlett, Martha (wife of Charles Bartlett), 229–230
dinner party that introduced JFK to Jackie, 229
funeral for Mary Meyer, 64
&
nbsp; Bay of Pigs (Cuba), 232, 234–237, 244–247
Allen Dulles, 236–237
as fiasco, 236–237
and CIA manipulation of, 235–237
and Daniel Schorr, 236
and historian Trumbull Higgins, 232
Khrushchev’s feelings about, 244–247
Mario Kohly 314
Richard Bissell, 234, 236–237
Bazelon, David (Judge–U.S. Court of Appeals), 52
and public defender George Peter Lamb, 52
Beardsley, Mimi: affair with JFK, 213
Bell, Audrey (nurse at Parkland Memorial Hospital), 296
and Dr. Malcolm Perry, 296
Bennett, Esq., Robert S. (Clerk for Judge Howard Corcoran in 1965), 119, 138, 449, 451
and Alfred Hantman’s gum-chewing, 119
author interview with, 449
In the Ring, 138, 451
and Ray Crump’s guilt, 138
Bernstein, Carl (Washington Post reporter), 342
and reference to his Rolling Stone article “The CIA and The Media,” 456
Bethesda Naval Hospital, 294–296
autopsy of JFK, 294
and JFK’s x-rays, 295
and JFK’s casket arriving, 294
postmortem surgery occurring at, 295
and telephone calls to Dr. Malcolm Perry, 296
Bethune, Mary McLeod (mentor to Dovey Roundtree), 92, (see: Dovey Roundtree)
Bignotti, Frank (D.C. Police Officer), 122–124, 135, 321
(see also: Roderick Sylvis)
Billings, Lem (Choate roommate of JFK), 150, 209, 212
and JFK reference to Inga Arvad, 212
letters from JFK, 150
and warning to Jackie Kennedy, 209
Blue v. U.S., 99
Bolshakov, Georgi (KGB) 243, 304–305
meeting with William Walton, 304
relationship with Bobby Kennedy, 304–305
and secret correspondence between JFK and Khrushchev, 243
Bolton, Bennett (journalist), 283, 476
interview by author, 283, 476
Bouvier, III, John V. (“Black Jack”) 150, 209
father of Jackie Kennedy, 209
philandering of, 150
Bradlee, Antoinette (“Tony”), 1, 63, 68, 70, 73–76, 78–79, 80–82, 163, 187, 224, 229, 231, 253, 256, 309, 366–367, 440, 449
alleged interview by David Heymann, 224
as “ideal” woman of JFK, 229,
