Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision for World Peace

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,