by J. W Lateer
The HSCA investigation has been blessed with a book written by the chief investigator named Gaeton Fonzi. It is called The Last Investigation: A Former Federal Investigator Reveals the Man Behind the Conspiracy to Kill JFK and was first published in 1993.
It should be said that Fonzi did not, in fact, reveal any such man. The takeaway from the book by Fonzi is that Claire Booth Luce, a hyper-notorious right wing “dragon lady” of the period, along with a Cuban named Antonio Veciana, succeeded in wasting the time of the investigators so the Committee got almost nowhere in their investigative efforts.
The record of the HSCA was better when it looked at forensic evidence and forensic experts. Through the efforts of the cover-up community since the days of the HSCA, the results and conclusions of forensics and forensic experts have been obscured. Suffice it to say that the conclusions published by the HSCA did not necessarily agree with the actual results of the forensic analysis.
The HSCA held that there was a conspiracy to kill JFK. However, it used the most evasive and imaginative way possible to make this finding and then immediately close the book on the assassination before the cover-up artists could work their destruction. HSCA was able to say in their report that there was a conspiracy, but get off the hook (due to lack of time) from having to track down the conspirators.
This happened because of an audio dictabelt recording made by a motorcycle radio located near the limo when the shots were fired. Since the cover-up people would immediately deny and dispute any and all evidence, no matter what is was, the HSCA found this evidence on the last day of the investigation. They then promptly closed the case before the cover-up people had a chance to find dishonest experts who would dispute the dictabelt evidence. Such dishonest experts were quickly found, but not before the HSCA case had been closed.
The acoustic experts (the best in the country) analyzed the sounds on the dictabelt and graphed or mapped the sound waves into four “peaks” which were identical to those obtained by test firing guns in Dealey Plaza. Then they looked again at the Zapruder film and marked down the timing of the visual evidence of the shots hitting the victims. The timing was identical between the audio and visual evidence.
Although the cover-up experts came forth with claims that these results were mistaken, the die had been cast. The dictabelt recording proved four shots had occurred, which could not have all been made by Lee Harvey Oswald in the time available to him.
To show how ridiculous all of the above arguments really are, we only have to look at the evidence published by the Warren Commission. In that evidence is a receipt signed by the FBI for a bullet removed from the body of JFK, received from Dr. Humes who performed the autopsy. According to the lone gunman theory, both of the two known bullets hitting JFK passed through the body of the President. There would be no bullets in his body. This proof, like so much of the other evidence, was hiding in plain sight.
To summarize and reconcile the three investigations, everyone agreed to disagree.
Notes:
John J. McCloy
The New Germany and the Old Nazis (1961) by T.H. Tetens where Tetens is tough on McCloy.
The Chairman: John J. McCloy & the Making of the American Establishment (1992) by Kai Bird. This is the definitive biography of McCloy.
The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family (1994) by Ron Chernow which gives a brief summary of the relationship between McCloy and the Warburg family.
Allen Dulles
The “Jewish Threat”: Anti-Semitic Politics of the U.S. Army, by Joseph W. Bendersky p. 96 and p.99 which relates the blatantly anti-Semitic quotes attributed to Dulles by credible people.
Hale Boggs
Washington Through a Purple Veil: Memoirs of a Southern Woman (1994) by Lindy Boggs. Since Hale Boggs never wrote any memoirs, nor is there a biography on him, this autobiography by his wife serves very well as a source for information about Boggs. Mrs. Boggs is candid and sometimes shocking in her candor.
John Sherman Cooper
John Sherman Cooper: The Global Kentuckian (2004) by Robert Schulman. We are fortunate that there is a good biography on Cooper since few ever suspected his connection to ex-Nazis like Chancellor Ludwig Erhard and his relationship to East Germany.
Richard Russell
There is a good biography available on Russell called Richard B. Russell, Jr., Senator From Georgia (Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies) (2002), by Gilbert C. Fite. This is a balanced and credible book and shows that Russell, like all Southern Segrationists of his day, were not always cut from the same mold when it came to following the law.
Jim Garrison
On The Trail of the Assassins (1991) by Jim Garrison.
A Farewell to Justice: Jim Garrison, JFK’s Assassination, And the Case That Should Have Changed History (2007) by Joan Mellen.
Clay Shaw
A Farewell to Justice by Joan Mellen, p. 389 describing Shaw and Permindex.
Battle of the Bulge: Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive, 1944-1945 By Danny Parker, p. 153 where the possible roles of both Thrasher and Shaw were suggested in the Battle of the Bulge.
Unfortunately, this extremely valuable information posted on the internet by Thomas H. Purvis has not been picked up by assassination authors. It does seem, however, to be very credible and according to resources available to the author, Purvis was a person who existed, perhaps is alive at the date of this writing and did serve in the military as he reports in the following citation. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/4085-thomas-h-purvis/
Purvis bio: Former Captain, United States Army, Combat Veteran of Vietnam. Tours of duty with: a. 82nd Airborne Division, b. 173rd Airborne Brigade, c. 3rd Special Forces Group, d. 5th Special Forces Group, e. 6th Special Forces Group, f. Commanding Officer, Special Forces Schools Underwater Operations Committee, g. Commanding Officer, Special Forces Schools Advanced Airborne Committee, h. HALO Instructor, Halo Committee, Special Forces Schools.
Awards and qualifications: a. Meritorouse Service Medal, b. Bronze Star Medal (2nd), c. Armed Forces Expeditionary Force Medal, d. Master Parachutist rating, e. Military Free Fall Parachutist rating, f. Military Diver’s badge & rating, g. Special Forces Officer qualification, h. Nuclear Weapons Employment Officer qualification, i. Special Forces Instructor Rating. Other: a. Special Forces Narrator, Strike Command Demonstration BRASS STRIKE V and BRASS STRIKE VI., b. Co-participant in film for President’s Council on Physical Fitness with Apollo XIII, Astronaut James Lovell, c. USPA Class “C” Sport Parachutists & Jumpmaster ratings, d. Professional Association of Diving Instructors, Instructor Rating, e. Original applicant for Son Tay Prison Raid Team (deleted due to orders to return to VN), f. Original participant in group which set HALO/FF altitude record at Ft. Bragg, NC by exiting at 29,700 feet height.
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/9885-clay-shaws-military-careerim-trying-to-find-outi/ – The Internet posting discusses the connections to the CIA and that JFK was aggressive about returning property looted by the Germans and others from deceased Jews in World War II.
In LBJ and the Conspiracy to Kill Kennedy: A Coalescence of Interests by Joseph P. Farrell one can find a discussion of Clay Shaw and his connection to ex-Nazi scientists, some of whom came to work for the U.S. after World War II.
The House Select Committee on Assassinations
Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination, by Richard Belzer published in 2013, is a top source for information about the plethora of witnesses who were apparently murdered prior to their possible testimony before the HSCA.
The Last Investigation: A Former Federal Investigator Reveals the Man Behind the Conspiracy to Kill JFK by Gaeton Fonzi, first published in 1993. This book gives inside, personal history about the frustrations encountered by the HSCA in trying to reopen the JFK case. Fonzi was a lead investigator in that effort and also a good writer as proven by the quality of this book.
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br /> Chapter 21
U.S. Anti-Communism in the 1950s and 1960s
The most important question to be answered about the Kennedy assassination is this: which individuals were at the top of the organizational chart of the assassination plot? In other words, how high up the chain of command was the leader of the plot in either the U.S. Government or in any other local or international group which might have authorized the assassination?
First, we have to examine the history of anti-Communism inside the U.S., both in the Government and elsewhere. Second, we have to look at the details of the structure of the all-powerful U.S. Congress to show what would be the motive, means and opportunity for persons in the Congress to carry out the assassination.
Most people think of Communism as it was known in the 20th century as having begun with Karl Marx. We have all probably heard the story of Marx. Marx was unemployed and with time on his hands, wrote the very famous book Das Kapital, or “the capital.” To begin with, Das Kapital is basically unreadable. Try to read it sometime. It really doesn’t make much sense and when I tried to read it years ago, I quickly put it back on the shelf.
But the spirit of Communism was around long before the birth of Karl Marx. To find the roots of Communism, you probably have to go back to the middle ages. It was at that time that certain religious orders began to live a communal sort of lifestyle. In fact, a few convents or monasteries in the Mediterranean area have been around almost since the time of Christ.
The ancestors of the modern corporation, for example, were both municipalities and also monastical orders.
In the U.S., there were various sects, not all celibate, who established communal societies in the United States. The most famous was New Harmony, Indiana, which was an experiment in a small scale form of communism. Likewise, Tank Town, which formed the beginning of Green Bay, Wisconsin, was a communal group of Moravians from Europe whose settlement in Green Bay was sponsored by a wealthy Norwegian idealist named Nils Otto Tank.
In fact, it is amazing how many states of the U.S. actually began with the establishment of communal types of towns and communities. In Iowa, it was the Amish and the Amana Colonies.
As mentioned, in Wisconsin it was Tank Town and also the Mormons who settled in Burlington, Wisconsin in the 1840’s. And there was the Swiss Colony in New Glarus, Wisconsin, also a religious group which came there at a very early date in Wisconsin history. And there were the Mormons, who first lived in Missouri, then in Illinois, then moved out to the Salt Lake area in Utah. And finally the Amish, who were and still are spread over an amazingly large number of states in the U.S.
This is not to say that the Mormons or the Amish were Communists. However, all of the above groups were motivated to establish communities based on commitment to an ideal, usually religious, upon which their community was organized. This is to be distinguished from the later towns and cities which were based on the individual homesteader or early real estate developers who were motivated by financial interest.
It is important to look at American attitudes toward these early collectivist experiments in order to understand the attitude of people in general toward Communism when it took its modern form under Karl Marx. Based on the experience with these early groups, Communism was considered by most to be a “noble experiment.” People thought it would be great if it worked, but everyone knew that none of these experimental communities lasted very long.
A more militant form of Communism had come into existence, however in certain countries. In the French Revolution for example, the Jacobins who incited the French Revolution were collectivists. However, the French Revolution form of Communism was not peaceable. It featured the use of the guillotine and the slaughter of thousands of the aristocracy. If the Communist experiment was attempted anywher except in the wilderness, violence soon followed.
The Mormons were always able to flee from angry mobs in their early history. That was because there were always empty spaces to which they could flee. But the later Communists such as in France and other places had to resort to violence and revolution to defend their programs.
So after the French Revolution, there was the Paris Commune of 1870. In Winnipeg, Canada at the same time as the Paris Commune, the radical Louis Reil led a rebellion and declared a Communist state in Manitoba, just a few hundred miles from Minneapolis, Minnesota. It took an invasion of Canadian troops to quell that situation.
And eventually this militant form of Communism led to the Russian Revolution of 1917 in which Communism was implemented on a violent and massive scale. Communism took control of the largest country on earth geographically. This government became the Soviet Union.
But the key thing is this: most people at this stage, even granting the actual reality of the Soviet Union, continued to view Communism as an idealistic experiment. People assumed that Soviet Communism would sooner or later fall apart like all the previous attempts to establish communal societies. So the attitude toward Soviet Communism on the part of many people was benign. Aside from the military threat of the Soviet Union, many felt that whether a country had a Communist government or not, was simply the business of the people of that country. Communism was viewed as just another foreign, totalitarian type of government. It was anti-democratic, but so was monarchism, fascism, oligarchies, theocracy, apartheid, and feudalism. Across the world, anti-democratic governments abounded.
Another serious problem with the treatment and reaction to Soviet Communism was that the USSR was a closed society and it was very difficult to get information about what was actually going on. News traveled slowly in those days, especially in a county as vast as the Soviet Union.
The earliest negative experience in the U.S. with actual modern Communism was with the cousin of the Communist, the anarchist. It was an anarchist who assassinated President William McKinley. There were bombings carried out by anarchists in the U.S. and in Europe. So at the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, there was no real official policy or concern about the Communist activity happening in Russia.
This situation persisted even between the World Wars. In Spain in 1937, a popularly elected government called the Republic sank into the Spanish Civil War in which the Republic was supported only by the Communist Soviet Union. There were many Americans who went to Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War. The fact was, however, all of these American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War fought on the same side as the Soviet Communists. These American volunteers were famously known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
Although the Republicans in Spain were a democratically elected government, the western democracies refused to lend any support. The elected leaders in Spain were opposed by fascists under General Francisco Franco. Franco was aided by the German fascist dictator Adolph Hitler and the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
General Franco, the victor in this war, claimed that he had fought a crusade for the Catholic Church. By 1937, the Communists were opposed chiefly by the religious clergy, mainly (though not exclusively) in the Roman Catholic Church. As we will discuss in other chapters, the Eastern Orthodox religions also played a major role in opposing Communism.
In the U.S., England, Germany and other countries of Northwest Europe, there was never much fear of Communism taking over the government. That was because all of these countries were legitimate democracies. It would have been impossible for Soviet-style communists to ever win a majority of the votes in the U.S., England, France or Germany. In the U.S. in the 1930’s, Communists were on the ballot, but they never won more than 100,000 votes out of the tens of millions cast.
The next major influence on the opinions of Americans toward Communism was the alliance between the U.S., Britain and the Communist government of Joseph Stalin. Because of geography, Stalin’s Soviet Union was destined to be the ally of the U.S. and Britain. And Stalin made an excellent ally. In all the various conferences such as Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam, whatever Stalin promised, Stalin delivered. This stood in sharp contrast to the often perfid
ious behavior of Churchill.
And most importantly, the Soviet Union bore the brunt of the battle against Hitler. The Soviets lost ten percent of their population in World War II. Despite these huge losses, Stalin kept his pledge to enter the war against Japan on the side of the U.S.
So against this background of cooperation with Stalin and a benign view of Communism held by most Americans, enters Senator Joseph McCarthy.
The U.S. Congress had a history of investigating Communism. There was a committee of the House of Representatives called the Dies Committee. It operated from 1938 to 1944. The fact was that the Dies Committee and several earlier versions of the Dies Committee were intended to investigate not only Communism, but also fascism and anarchism and even as some suggested, the KKK.
When Senator Joseph McCarthy began his crusade against Communism, the prior enemies of democracy such as fascism and anarchism had been defeated and almost totally eradicated. So McCarthy had a wide-open field and was able to focus his efforts exclusively on Communism.
For the reader of this book, the most important thing to know is this: Anti-Communism in the U.S. was almost entirely the work of special interests. If you look at the major figures involved in the anti-Communist crusade of the late 1940’s and later, you will find representatives of groups which suffered particular damage due to Communism in foreign countries.
When the Communists took over in China under Mao Tse-tung, there were people in the U.S. who backed Chiang Kai-shek. Unknown to most people, Chiang Kai-shek was a Methodist. Can you imagine how history would have been different if China were run by a Methodist regime? There were many Americans who had personal knowledge of China due to their work as missionaries there. The actual John Birch for whom the John Birch Society was named, was a Protestant missionary (and also part of the U.S. Military there) prior to the takeover of the Communists.
