It was a pleasure talking to Scott Maudsley about Lee Harvey Oswald's antisocial personality disorder. We also talk a lot about his motive for killing Kennedy and we discuss books like Inside The Criminal Mind by Stanton Samenow, Marina and Lee by Priscilla Johnson McMillan, Oswald's Game by by Jean Davison, Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi, Case Closed by Gerald Posner, and Mrs. Paine's Garage by Thomas Mallon. Scott is one of my JFK buddies who regularly get together in Dallas. You can visit Scott's YouTube channel here . Previous Episodes of On the Trail of Delusion : Episode 1 My first guest was Robert Reynolds who is an expert on the JFK assassination files . Episode 2 Robert A. Wagner discusses his new book, JFK Assassinated. Episode 3 Gerald Posner discusses the JFK assassination and conspiracy theories. Episode 4 Dr. Martin Kelly, Jr., discusses conspiracy theories and the medical evidence in the JFK assassination. Episode 5 Steve Roe discusses the life of General Edwin Walker and Oswald's attempt to kill him. Episode 6 Gus Russo discusses his participation in the PBS Frontline documentary on Lee Harvey Oswald. Episode 7 Dave Perry tells some great stories about debunking JFK conspiracy nonsense. Episode 8 Nick Nalli explains some of the science behind the assassination. Episode 9 Alecia Long discusses Jim Garrison and his non-existent case against Clay Shaw. Episode 10 Don Carpenter discusses the life of Clay Shaw. Episode 11 Bill Brown discusses the murder of Officer J. D. Tippit. Episode 12 Eric Dezenhall discusses the relationship between the mob and JFK. Episode 13 Nick Nalli discusses the acoustics evidence and the Zapruder Film.

Robert Reynolds is the undisputed expert on the JFK Assassination documents. If you haven't watched my interview with Robert, then what are you waiting for? This month, Robert has published several important articles on the remaining documents that contain redactions. First, Robert has published the results of a Freedom of Information request about JFK records from NARA. All of the documents are there for you to download. So, get reading. Second, Robert has written an article on the redactions in the JFK records collection. Recent news stories have claimed 3600 plus ARC records with redactions. The more unreliable sources still write about “secret documents”. The figure of 3600 is off by about 1000, and none of these documents are “secret.” They are redacted. There’s a big difference by any rational measurement. Third, Robert has written about the CIA redactions as of February 2025. Reynolds goes into detail on why documents were redacted. Fourth, Robert has put on the web a complete list of CIA redacted documents. The list includes record number, number of pages, doc date, number of redactions, and redaction category. The record numbers all have links to the document pdfs posted at NARA, so you can actually look up the docs and see for yourself what’s going on. Robert's website is a treasure trove of information about the JFK document collection. Please bookmark it and check the website often.

Jefferson Morley's most recent Substack showed some amazing clairvoyance : These 2,400 records have not yet been released and yet Morley claims they will "shed new light on top-secret CIA-FBI counterintelligence operations involving Lee Harvey Oswald ..." Here is what we DO know about these files : In 2020, the FBI opened the Central Records Complex and began a multi-year effort to first ship and then electronically inventory and store closed case files from FBI field offices across the country," the FBI told Fox News. "The resulting, more comprehensive records inventory, coupled with the technologic advances in automating the FBI's record keeping processes, allows us to more quickly search and locate records. These documents must be similar to the personnel file of George Joannides which is supposed to contain details of a secret operation involving Lee Harvey Oswald. Morley is a modern-day Ponce de Leon, searching not for the fountain of youth, but for evidence of a secret Oswald operation. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley Was Israel Behind the JFK Assassination? Morley discusses Israel with Tucker Carlson. Morley's Bad History Lesson Morley believes that the United States can never be great unless it solves the JFK assassination. Morley's List of 13 Documents Will Tell Us Little An analysis of the 13 documents Morley wants to see. The Schlesinger Memo, Again! Morley claims I am a CIA apologist and then misquotes me. For The Sake of Our Sanity - Release the Joannides File It would be worthwhile for the CIA to release the Joannides file just to stop the incessant posts from Jefferson Morley. Did Oswald Stay at a Luxury Hotel in Helsinki? Actually, Oswald stayed at two budget-priced hotels in Helsinki. Morley Keeps Asking the Same Questions He keeps asking the same questions, and we keep posting the same answers. The JFK Assassination and Truth Conspiracy authors are playing fast and loose with the facts. Was Herminio Diaz a Grassy Knoll Assassin? There is no evidence that Diaz was involved in the JFK assassination. Morley Misleads on Arthur Schlesinger's Memo on the CIA There are clues as to what is in a redacted section of Schlesinger's memo. Jefferson Morley's Podcast on New Orleans Lays an Egg Chad Nagle and Dan Storper's article on New Orleans gets everything wrong. Chad Nagle and Dan Storper Lay an Egg Believing Michael Kurtz is problematic. Is Jefferson Morley Seeing Double? Morley wrote that there are two redacted memos on CIA reorganization, but there is only one. He wrote about Goodwin's copy as if it was a different memo, rather than a copy of the Schlesinger memo. Jefferson Morley is wrong about "Who Shot John?" The phrase 'who shot John' does not refer to the JFK assassination. Jefferson Morley is Wrong on William Harvey, Again! Only one word is redacted in Harvey's deposition. Jefferson Morley is Wrong about Operation Northwoods, Again! There are no redactions in the Operation Northwoods document. Did Dorothy Kilgallen Have any Special Knowledge about the JFK Assassination? Kilgallen had nothing to tell. Morley's Interview of Marina Oswald Porter Fizzles! An underwhelming interview of Marina Oswald. Jefferson Morley: Able to Leap Intellectual Chasms in a Single Bound Morley often repeats stories and changes their meanings. There was NO Assassination Plot in Chicago Chad Nagle claims there was an assassination plot against JFK in Chicago in November 1963. One problem: There is no evidence of such a plot. Fred Litwin, CIA Apologist? A response to Morley's Substack post alleging that I am a CIA apologist. A Reply to Jefferson Morley on Bill Harvey   A rebuttal to Morley's response to my post Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963? Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963?   There is no credible evidence Harvey was in Dallas in November of 1963. Does it Matter Where Allen Dulles was on November 22, 1963?   Morley repeats the claim that Dulles was at a CIA training center during the weekend of the JFK assassination. He wasn't. Jefferson Morley's Claims about Reuben Efron   Morley's claims about Efron are all wrong. A Reply to Jefferson Morley regarding Operation Northwoods   Morley responded to my article "The Truth about Operation Northwoods." Here is my reply. W. Tracy Parnell on Jefferson Morley   W. Tracy Parnell is one of the best JFK assassination researchers out there. Here is his look at Jefferson Morley with several important articles. The Truth about Operation Northwoods   Operation Northwoods can only be understood as part of the Kennedys' war against Cuba and Operation Mongoose. Jefferson Morley Responds to my Post on MK-Ultra and Jack Ruby   And a response from me. Did Dr. Louis Jolyon West Ask to Examine Jack Ruby in November 1963?   There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial. Did the CIA use a MK-Ultra Psychiatrist to Interfere with Jack Ruby's Case?   There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case. "JFK: Destiny Betrayed" Misleads Viewers on Oswald's "Hands Off Cuba!" Handbills, Part Four   Jefferson Morley used a fake Oswald handbill in his press conference for the Mary Ferrell Foundation. Redactions, Redactions, Redactions...   An examination of redactions in the JFK collection of documents.

Jefferson Morley recently appeared on the Tucker Carlson show . And they had an interesting chat about Israel: Here is a transcript from this clip: Tucker Carlson : Since you've been working on this for so long, and you did come out of, you know, the most prominent of the mainstream media, the Washington Post . Have you been slandered as a nutcase conspiracy theorist? I always wondered, like, what do they do with you exactly? Because you're not coming from the fringes, you're coming from right from the middle of the establishment. Jefferson Morley : I mean, you know ... Tucker Carlson : You've been attacked? Jefferson Morley : Yeah. I mean, the problem that they have is that I don't have a conspiracy theory, so the label of conspiracy theorist just doesn't apply. And the other thing is, you know, nobody can deny the stuff that I'm talking about. Let me mention another JFK document that's very important, and I think will interest you. One of the things that's withheld and is in the JFK collection right now is the testimony of James Angleton in 1975 to the Church Committee about the Israeli nuclear program. This is 113-page document, and it's heavily redacted to this day, and the redactions clearly pertain to Israel. Now, is this an assassination related document? Absolutely. The Assassination Records Review Board said this is a assassination-related document. It meets the statutory definition, okay. If the President and this effort are serious, that testimony will be declassified because Angleton controlled the Oswald file on the one hand, and he was a contact with the Israelis on the other. So it belongs in the public record. That's another test of -- is this a serious effort? Tucker Carlson : So let me ask you why in the world would the Dimona project, the Israeli nuclear program, which has never officially been admitted by anybody but Israel [sic]. What would that conceivably have to do with the assassination of JFK? Jefferson Morley : Well, it relates to what Angleton was doing in 1963 okay There were profound conflicts between Israel and the Kennedy White House over the nuclear program. Kennedy was pressing for on-site inspections, which the Israelis resisted because on-site inspectors would have realized that they had a bomb-making program. So this was a real bone of contention between the Israeli government and the Kennedy administration in the summer of 1963, at a time when Angleton controlled the Oswald file. So just the juxtaposition of those facts means that everything about it should be on the public record. Tucker Carlson : And Angleton, who is the counter Intel chief at CIA, Jefferson Morley : Yeah. Tucker Carlson : James Jesus Angleton, he ,,, that's quite amazing. Did he support, do you know his view of the Israeli nuclear program? Jefferson Morley : I mean, it's very hard to tell sometimes from his testimony, given all the redactions, but yeah, that's, you know ... was he secretly supporting Israel against JFK? That's one of the questions that that needs to be answered by full disclosure. Tucker Carlson : So why would he be asked about that in a Congressional hearing? That's quite amazing. Jefferson Morley : Well, because in in 1975, the CIA had been revealed to be running assassination programs, to be running a Mind-Control Program, to be spying on the anti-war movement, spying on Americans. So, you know, he was hauled before and Congress, who was completely in the dark, had been duped or wanted to be duped. You know, suddenly their eyes woke up, and they had to explain to their constituents, hey, what have these guys been doing in our name. And so Angleton was called in, and this was all executive-session testimony. So he was grilled about lots of things, about domestic spying, about the Israeli nuclear program, about the JFK assassination. Interestingly enough, he was not questioned about Oswald, because even the Church Committee did not know the extent of the pre-assassination surveillance of Oswald. That's only something we've learned since the 1990s. Tucker Carlson : It is interesting, I mean, I have no idea what the truth is, of course, but it is interesting that one of the only major policy changes that Lyndon Johnson made in the year after the president's murder was, you know, on the Israeli nuclear program which he accepted, Jefferson Morley : yeah, yeah. Basically he dropped, he dropped the demand for on site inspections. He dropped the demand that the that AIPAC be classified as a domestic lobby. And, you know, there was really no accountability after that. And the story only emerged, you know, ten years later, when the, when the when the Church Committee started pressing Angleton for some explanations. Tucker Carlson : So I had, I had no idea, until you just told me that that was actually a feature of those hearings. And so, of course, I mean, the public has, the American public has an absolute right to know what's in that exchange, fifty years later. Jefferson Morley : Yeah, and I know, and this is a tough call for the President, because he's going to get very strong pushback from his national security apparatus, supported by the CIA, supported by Israeli interests, to say, "No, you can't talk about that. That's not permitted. You know, you can't, don't do that." Tucker Carlson : It's just, it's frustrating as an American citizen. I don't, I don't have any kind of real agenda here, other than it's, you know, my country. I'm a shareholder in America as are you. And I think we have an absolute moral right and a legal right to know, to know this fifty years later. Morley thinks that Angleton's Church Committee testimony is an assassination-related document: This is 113-page document, and it's heavily redacted to this day, and the redactions clearly pertain to Israel. Now, is this an assassination related document? Absolutely. The Assassination Records Review Board said this is a assassination-related document. It meets the statutory definition, okay. While Angleton's testimony might meet the statutory definition, the ARRB reviewed this document in 1998 and decided that large parts of it were not relevant to the JFK assassination . Note Ronald Haron's last sentence: "I have reviewed this testimony, I agree that is has no relevance to the JFK assassination, and I concur in the CIA"s determination not to release it under the JFK Act." Nonetheless, NARA released the entire transcript in 2018, and again in 2023 . I must say that quite a bit is unredacted. Morley is also wrong about Angleton not being questioned about Oswald : In fact, Angleton believed there were still leads to be investigated : Now, of course, Angleton's interest is different from Morley's. Angleton was head of counter-intelligence and so he is most interested in Oswald's possible relationship to the Soviets. It's interesting that Morley never mentions Angleton's testimony to the House Select Committee on Assassinations, which is open in full. Morley does tell Carlson that the redactions in the Angleton testimony relate to Israel, and he is correct on that. And yet on February 14, 2025, Morley asked this question in regards to Angleton's testimony: QUESTION:   Did Angleton use foreign agents to surveil Oswald? This document will not answer that question. Enough of the preamble, and on to the main course. The Carlson-Morley dialogue is absolutely astounding. Morley tells Carlson: Kennedy was pressing for on-site inspections, which the Israelis resisted because on-site inspectors would have realized that they had a bomb-making program. So this was a real bone of contention between the Israeli government and the Kennedy administration in the summer of 1963, at a time when Angleton controlled the Oswald file. So just the juxtaposition of those facts means that everything about it should be on the public record. The unstated implication is that Israel might have had JFK murdered because he stood in their way of acquiring nuclear weapons. I think Morley realizes that he cannot actually say that, and so he just wonders about the "juxtaposition" of the bone of contention between Israel and the Kennedy administration and Angleton's supposed control of the Oswald file, as if there is any relationship between the two facts. Perhaps Morley and Carlson aren't aware of the history of the United States - Israel relationship. But, Eisenhower established an arms embargo against Israel in the 1950s which meant that Israel had to turn to France for military supplies. JFK overturned that policy by selling Israel Hawk anti-aircraft missiles in 1962. Yes, JFK was against nuclear proliferation, and he wanted inspection of the Dimona nuclear reactor. On the other land, Israel wanted security guarantees that the Americans were not going to provide. And it was that lack of security that ultimately led Israel to obtain nuclear weapons. In fact, Dimona was inspected just after the JFK assassination on January 18, 1964 : And, as summarized by the GWU National Security Archive website, inspections continued under Johnson: The confrontation by letter between President Kennedy and two Israeli prime ministers resulted in a series of six annual U.S. inspections of the Dimona complex (1964-69), until President Richard Nixon ended them. (The first inspection in January 1964 may have been delayed because of Kennedy’s assassination.) While Lyndon Johnson was less eager to take the Israelis to task, he was concerned about nuclear proliferation and supported the inspections. Nevertheless, the Israelis made their nuclear weapons breakthrough during the 1960s regardless of the inspections, which evidently had little prohibitive or deterrent impact. Morley thinks that an unredacted version of Angleton's testimony will reveal his secret support of Israel, contrary to what the U. S. government wanted. Most of Angleton's relevant testimony is about a Tad Szulc article which was about to appear in Penthouse Magazine . Here is the crux of Szulc's accusation, from his testimony : Angleton disputed key points: Angleton told the Church Committee that his engagement with the Israelis in the 1950s was about communism . The issue of Israel's acquisition of the nuclear bomb has long interested Jefferson Morley. He has written about it here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , here , and here. It wasn't the United States who helped Israel go nuclear, it was France: Crucial to Israel’s success was collaboration with France. Through Peres’s diplomatic efforts, in October 1957 France agreed to sell Israel a reactor and an underground reprocessing plant, which was built near the town of Dimona in the Negev desert. Many Israeli scientists and engineers were trained at French nuclear facilities. In another secret agreement, signed in 1959, Norway agreed to supply via Britain 20 metric tons of heavy water for the reactor. Even Angleton pointed that out : The American government knew in December 1960 that the French were behind the Dimona plant . As mentioned, one of the new documents is a Joint Atomic Energy Intelligence Committee report from December 1960. Its statements that the French-Israeli nuclear project in the Negev Desert would include a “plutonium separation plant” and that the Dimona reactor was unequivocally for weapons purposes were rare claims. Here is a good document on the French-Israeli relationship: At the end of the day, I don't really care if Angleton helped Israel go nuclear. If he did, then good for him. Facing genocidal nations and genocidal terrorist organizations, Israel made a rational choice to go nuclear. Morley doesn't much like Israel. I get it. But why the need to tie this all into the JFK assassination? Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley Morley's Bad History Lesson Morley believes that the United States can never be great unless it solves the JFK assassination. Morley's List of 13 Documents Will Tell Us Little An analysis of the 13 documents Morley wants to see. The Schlesinger Memo, Again! Morley claims I am a CIA apologist and then misquotes me. For The Sake of Our Sanity - Release the Joannides File It would be worthwhile for the CIA to release the Joannides file just to stop the incessant posts from Jefferson Morley. Did Oswald Stay at a Luxury Hotel in Helsinki? Actually, Oswald stayed at two budget-priced hotels in Helsinki. Morley Keeps Asking the Same Questions He keeps asking the same questions, and we keep posting the same answers. The JFK Assassination and Truth Conspiracy authors are playing fast and loose with the facts. Was Herminio Diaz a Grassy Knoll Assassin? There is no evidence that Diaz was involved in the JFK assassination. Morley Misleads on Arthur Schlesinger's Memo on the CIA There are clues as to what is in a redacted section of Schlesinger's memo. Jefferson Morley's Podcast on New Orleans Lays an Egg Chad Nagle and Dan Storper's article on New Orleans gets everything wrong. Chad Nagle and Dan Storper Lay an Egg Believing Michael Kurtz is problematic. Is Jefferson Morley Seeing Double? Morley wrote that there are two redacted memos on CIA reorganization, but there is only one. He wrote about Goodwin's copy as if it was a different memo, rather than a copy of the Schlesinger memo. Jefferson Morley is wrong about "Who Shot John?" The phrase 'who shot John' does not refer to the JFK assassination. Jefferson Morley is Wrong on William Harvey, Again! Only one word is redacted in Harvey's deposition. Jefferson Morley is Wrong about Operation Northwoods, Again! There are no redactions in the Operation Northwoods document. Did Dorothy Kilgallen Have any Special Knowledge about the JFK Assassination? Kilgallen had nothing to tell. Morley's Interview of Marina Oswald Porter Fizzles! An underwhelming interview of Marina Oswald. Jefferson Morley: Able to Leap Intellectual Chasms in a Single Bound Morley often repeats stories and changes their meanings. There was NO Assassination Plot in Chicago Chad Nagle claims there was an assassination plot against JFK in Chicago in November 1963. One problem: There is no evidence of such a plot. Fred Litwin, CIA Apologist? A response to Morley's Substack post alleging that I am a CIA apologist. A Reply to Jefferson Morley on Bill Harvey   A rebuttal to Morley's response to my post Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963? Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963?   There is no credible evidence Harvey was in Dallas in November of 1963. Does it Matter Where Allen Dulles was on November 22, 1963?   Morley repeats the claim that Dulles was at a CIA training center during the weekend of the JFK assassination. He wasn't. Jefferson Morley's Claims about Reuben Efron   Morley's claims about Efron are all wrong. A Reply to Jefferson Morley regarding Operation Northwoods   Morley responded to my article "The Truth about Operation Northwoods." Here is my reply. W. Tracy Parnell on Jefferson Morley   W. Tracy Parnell is one of the best JFK assassination researchers out there. Here is his look at Jefferson Morley with several important articles. The Truth about Operation Northwoods   Operation Northwoods can only be understood as part of the Kennedys' war against Cuba and Operation Mongoose. Jefferson Morley Responds to my Post on MK-Ultra and Jack Ruby   And a response from me. Did Dr. Louis Jolyon West Ask to Examine Jack Ruby in November 1963?   There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial. Did the CIA use a MK-Ultra Psychiatrist to Interfere with Jack Ruby's Case?   There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case. "JFK: Destiny Betrayed" Misleads Viewers on Oswald's "Hands Off Cuba!" Handbills, Part Four   Jefferson Morley used a fake Oswald handbill in his press conference for the Mary Ferrell Foundation. Redactions, Redactions, Redactions...   An examination of redactions in the JFK collection of documents.

James Robenalt interviewed Jefferson Morley on the JFK assassination documents this week in Vanity Fair . There was this question right at the end of the interview: Robenalt: So let me conclude with what I thought was a quote attributed to you—that the JFK assassination is the Rosetta Stone to postwar American history. What does that mean? Morley : No, it wasn’t me. A colleague said that to me. And I thought it was a striking formulation. Because if you understand that event, you understand so much more about the world, the power-political world from which it came. And we’ve always had this confusion, this blind spot at the heart of our own history, our own sense of history was like, “What was that?” And because the government has no credible explanation and the whole thing is surrounded by mad conspiracy theories and disinformation and stupid apologetics, it’s a sore point. But that’s why it still matters in the political culture, because somehow that event still resonates in our politics today. And there is the corollary  view that America can only return to greatness when it uncovers the truth about the JFK assassination. This is just plain ridiculous. The JFK assassination is not the Rosetta Stone to postwar American history. All of this stems from the belief that the "why" of the assassination precedes proof of how it was accomplished. Here is an excerpt from a review of the film JFK in the New Yor ker : [Oliver] Stone has also been saying that he's less interested in the "who" and the "how" of the conspiracy than in the "why" -- that the answer to why Kennedy was killed will lead us to the truth about everything else. The most charitable interpretation of that statement is that Stone isn't a rigorous logician: how, exactly, would someone determine why a President was murdered without first knowing who did it and how it was done. I discussed this concept in my book, Oliver Stone's Film-Flam: The Demagogue of Dealey Plaza : (pages 577 - 579) The crux of JFK: Destiny Betrayed  is a jejune political theory that JFK was going to withdraw from Vietnam and usher in an era of peace and detente. The CIA and the military-industrial establishment had to stop this, and the only way was to have JFK killed. Emerging from this erroneous reading of history is a nihilist prescription, that unless we unravel the JFK conspiracy, the United States can never fully realize the promise of democracy. Here is author David Talbot: (54:11 in Episode 4 of Oliver Stone's documentary series JFK: Destiny Betrayed ) I think there's a direct thread between the events of 1963, and the kind of horror show that America is having to endure right now. And I think once you kill a president in broad daylight on the streets of an American city, and everyone knows that powerful forces did it, and it can never be solved, that crime, that sends a signal, not only to the American people, but to the American media, to American future leaders. And if American really wants a democratic society, then we should get to the bottom of this traumatic crime that continues to reverberate throughout American history. What kind of message is this? Telling people that their actions are useless unless the supposed JFK conspiracy and cover-up are revealed? Is this not a nihilist recipe for inaction? A minute later (55:30) the narrator asks this question: Can a democracy survive if it does not know its deepest secrets about the darkest days of its past? None of this is new. Stone is just recycling the discredited theories of Fletcher Prouty, the model for Mr. X in his film JFK. Here is what Prouty wrote in his article “The Shadow of Dallas” in the January 1974 issue of  Genesis  magazine: Until our government moves positively against this continuing cover-up of the three assassinations, and the many related crimes, we shall not have a free and unfettered country. The “offer they cannot refuse” hangs over the head of every man in office and over his every decision. Watergate has helped us considerably. It has shown us what the will of the people can do. But until the people of this country rise up and demand that the stains of Dallas be removed, we shall continue in an uncertain manner and with an unknown shadow over us all. This message of hopelessness is courtesy of a man who believes that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is rational, calm, and thoughtful. This naive theory rests on the belief that JFK wanted to completely withdraw from Vietnam, an assertion that is not backed up by the evidence. The current issue of the Skeptical Inquirer has a review of an interesting new book, The Story Paradox , by Jonathan Gottschall: As Jonathan Gottschall observes in The Story Paradox , even if conspiracies about the Moon landing or Kennedy assassination refer to long ago, the dark forces that supposedly orchestrated them are still committing every possible misdeed today. All conspiracy narratives urge their followers to do something about it as if it were a matter of the highest moral duty. Morley is setting himself for an enormous disappointment. The release of the remaining unredacted documents in the JFK collection, and any new documents from outside the collection will most probably tell us little about the assassination and so will not lead to a finding of conspiracy. And then what? A belief that the United States can never return to greatness? Previous Relevant Blog Post The Magic Thinking of Kennedy-ism Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley Morley's List of 13 Documents Will Tell Us Little An analysis of the 13 documents Morley wants to see. The Schlesinger Memo, Again! Morley claims I am a CIA apologist and then misquotes me. For The Sake of Our Sanity - Release the Joannides File It would be worthwhile for the CIA to release the Joannides file just to stop the incessant posts from Jefferson Morley. Did Oswald Stay at a Luxury Hotel in Helsinki? Actually, Oswald stayed at two budget-priced hotels in Helsinki. Morley Keeps Asking the Same Questions He keeps asking the same questions, and we keep posting the same answers. The JFK Assassination and Truth Conspiracy authors are playing fast and loose with the facts. Was Herminio Diaz a Grassy Knoll Assassin? There is no evidence that Diaz was involved in the JFK assassination. Morley Misleads on Arthur Schlesinger's Memo on the CIA There are clues as to what is in a redacted section of Schlesinger's memo. Jefferson Morley's Podcast on New Orleans Lays an Egg Chad Nagle and Dan Storper's article on New Orleans gets everything wrong. Chad Nagle and Dan Storper Lay an Egg Believing Michael Kurtz is problematic. Is Jefferson Morley Seeing Double? Morley wrote that there are two redacted memos on CIA reorganization, but there is only one. He wrote about Goodwin's copy as if it was a different memo, rather than a copy of the Schlesinger memo. Jefferson Morley is wrong about "Who Shot John?" The phrase 'who shot John' does not refer to the JFK assassination. Jefferson Morley is Wrong on William Harvey, Again! Only one word is redacted in Harvey's deposition. Jefferson Morley is Wrong about Operation Northwoods, Again! There are no redactions in the Operation Northwoods document. Did Dorothy Kilgallen Have any Special Knowledge about the JFK Assassination? Kilgallen had nothing to tell. Morley's Interview of Marina Oswald Porter Fizzles! An underwhelming interview of Marina Oswald. Jefferson Morley: Able to Leap Intellectual Chasms in a Single Bound Morley often repeats stories and changes their meanings. There was NO Assassination Plot in Chicago Chad Nagle claims there was an assassination plot against JFK in Chicago in November 1963. One problem: There is no evidence of such a plot. Fred Litwin, CIA Apologist? A response to Morley's Substack post alleging that I am a CIA apologist. A Reply to Jefferson Morley on Bill Harvey   A rebuttal to Morley's response to my post Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963? Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963?   There is no credible evidence Harvey was in Dallas in November of 1963. Does it Matter Where Allen Dulles was on November 22, 1963?   Morley repeats the claim that Dulles was at a CIA training center during the weekend of the JFK assassination. He wasn't. Jefferson Morley's Claims about Reuben Efron   Morley's claims about Efron are all wrong. A Reply to Jefferson Morley regarding Operation Northwoods   Morley responded to my article "The Truth about Operation Northwoods." Here is my reply. W. Tracy Parnell on Jefferson Morley   W. Tracy Parnell is one of the best JFK assassination researchers out there. Here is his look at Jefferson Morley with several important articles. The Truth about Operation Northwoods   Operation Northwoods can only be understood as part of the Kennedys' war against Cuba and Operation Mongoose. Jefferson Morley Responds to my Post on MK-Ultra and Jack Ruby   And a response from me. Did Dr. Louis Jolyon West Ask to Examine Jack Ruby in November 1963?   There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial. Did the CIA use a MK-Ultra Psychiatrist to Interfere with Jack Ruby's Case?   There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case. "JFK: Destiny Betrayed" Misleads Viewers on Oswald's "Hands Off Cuba!" Handbills, Part Four   Jefferson Morley used a fake Oswald handbill in his press conference for the Mary Ferrell Foundation. Redactions, Redactions, Redactions...   An examination of redactions in the JFK collection of documents.

General Charles Willoughby Rob Reiner's podcast series, Who Killed JFK? alleges that General Charles Willoughby was the tactician of the JFK assassination. Dick Russell, who supplied the research for the series, has now gone further and claims that Willoughby was the mastermind. Is there any evidence to support either of these allegations? Here is an excerpt of a transcript from Episode Ten : (right from the start) Rob Reiner : It's nineteen seventy-five. We're in New York City at the offices of the Village Voice newspaper. Shaggy-haired reporters hack away their typewriters and chat around the coffee machine. You can almost smell the smoke hanging in the air. One reporter, Dick Russell, is going through his mail and he comes across an anonymous letter. Dick Russell : The letter was from someone who identified himself as the Brooklyn Waiter, and he wrote that he was familiar with a recent article I had published on the JFK assassination. He also wrote that I was now part of the "great game" of researching the JFK assassination, and he wanted to bring the name of someone to my attention. The name was Adolph Tscheppe Weidenbach. I'd never heard that name before, but I kept reading. The Brooklyn Waiter claimed that Tscheppe Weidenbach was the mastermind behind the JFK assassination. I didn't know what to make of it. I mean, who the hell is Adolph Tscheppe Weidenbach. There was no Internet back then, so I didn't have a way to find out who this Tscheppe Weidenbach was. Then years later, I was working on a book about the assassination and stumbled upon an article about a General Charles Willoughby. Charles Willoughby rose through the ranks of the US military to become the chief of intelligence for General Douglas MacArthur during World War II and then the Korean War. It got my attention because Richard Case Nagell had also worked for the top-secret Field Operations Intelligence under Willoughby's command. Soledad O'Brien : You might remember Field Operations Intelligence as the top-secret army intelligence unit closely connected to the CIA. Nagell described its role as "designed to conceal the true nature of CIA objectives." Dick Russell : I continued to research Willoughby and found out that not only was he an extreme, far-right anti-communist with connections to Nagell, but he also had connections to CIA chief Allen Dulles, the Hunt Oil family of Dallas, and the Cuban exile community. And then, when I thought I'd read just about everything I could about General Charles Willoughby, I stumbled upon his birth name. Charles Willoughby was born Adolph Tscheppe Wiedenbach. Was it possible that the letter that the Brooklyn waiter sent me fifteen years earlier was a major clue into who killed JFK. Field Operations Intelligence was part of Army intelligence: I don't know if Nagell was really in FOI. I see very little evidence of this in the primary documents, except that Nagell said he was. It's possible that he was. But the statement by Russell that "Nagell had also worked for the top secret Field Operations Intelligence under Willoughby's command," is pure nonsense. Willoughby was in charge of Far East Command (FECOM) G-2 but he resigned from the Army in 1951. Nagell was then a sergeant at Fort Benning, Georgia. So, they did not overlap. Russell mentions his research to learn more about Willoughby. Here is an excerpt from his book, On the Trail of the JFK Assassins , which tells more about where he got his information from: (page 193) One afternoon Susan was studying an article by the late Mae Brussell—a researcher I had always considered a bit “fringy”—about the so-called “Nazi connection.” Susan kept insisting I reread it and, secretly smug that she was off on a tangent, I put her off as long as I could. “Read carefully the section on General Willoughby,” she instructed. Reluctantly, I did. Charles Willoughby, the onetime chief of intelligence for General Douglas MacArthur (1941-51), turned out to have been born in Heidelberg, Germany, as Adolf Tscheppe-Weidenbach. “Hmmmmm,” I said, “that sounds familiar.” Scavenging through my files, I retrieved an anonymous letter, received in response to my first published piece on the assassination back in 1975. The letter-writer, who called himself “the Brooklyn waiter,” pointed to an acquaintance named “Tscheppe-Weidenbach” as the possible “mastermind” of the JFK conspiracy. The name had seemed like gobbledygook to me at the time. “Honey,” I said 17 years later, holding aloft the letter, “I think we’re onto something.” We? her eyes said. OK, we. Thus, when I was supposed to be entering the homestretch, we embarked together on a whole new course of research. It led to a host of connections—Tscheppe-Weidenbach, Willoughby and Allen Dulles, ex-Nazis, the Hunt oil family, Cuban exiles. Nagell, my central character, was becoming but one crucial part of a much broader tapestry. Sifting through interviews old and new, having no idea how all the disparate pieces might fit together, gradually we saw a pattern emerge. Here is a link to Mae Brussell's article : cover page of Mae Brussell's article. Here is what Ms. Brussell has to say about Charles Willoughby: I don't know how much of the above is true, but none of it is relevant to the JFK assassination. Willoughby was an extreme right-winger who corresponded with Allen Dulles and was close to H. L. Hunt. Brussell offers this up: YAF stood for the Young Americans for Freedom, an organization started by William F. Buckley. Brussell's article is just six degrees of separation along with some innuendo and some very poor connections. But the article was enough to convince Russell that Willoughby was a person of interest. I went back to Russell's book, The Man Who Knew Too Much , to see if there was anything of interest related to Willoughby. Russell tries to link Nagell to Willoughby: (page 128) Willoughby also set up the original 441st Counter Intelligence Corps Group, to which Nagell was reassigned in 1957. But of course Willoughby was not in Asia when Nagell was in Japan and Korea. Willoughby also corresponded with Allen Dulles and H. L. Hunt: Russell also tries to embroil Willoughby in the Walker shooting. He tells the story of Bradford Angers who had worked for H. L, Hunt. After the assassination, Hunt called Angers and said he was sending over a fellow he should hire. That person was an extreme right-winger who ended up in some sort of accident and needed help. This person told Angers he had been picked up by the Secret Service and asked about the Kennedy assassination. Before the assassination, the brother of this man had worked for General Walker and had made friends with Lee Harvey Oswald: Russell believes that the man that was hired by Angers was Larrie Schmidt, one of the people behind the Bernard Weissman ad that ran in the Dallas Morning News on the morning of November 22, 1963. I don't believe any of this story, and the linkage to Charles Willoughby is ridiculous. Russell than spends several pages on the relationship between Willoughby and Nelson Bunker Hunt -- he helped arrange for Hunt to get some oil leases in Mozambique. Russell believes there is some sort of deeper meaning to the Willoughby-Hunt correspondence. But that's way above my pay grade. Willoughby also wrote J. Edgar Hoover in 1951 which, of course, is ominous. And, most ominous of all, Willoughby and Allen Dulles corresponded in the mid-1950s. Finally, on page 707 of his massive tome, Russell cuts to the chase: The case for Willoughby's involvement in the Kennedy conspiracy can be no more than circumstantial. But Willoughby was a master of intrigue who established Nagell's Field Operations Intelligence unit in the Far East and played a major part in forming the basis for the Asian People's Anti-Communist League. Willoughby was in regular correspondence with Allen Dulles -- before JFK fired Dulles -- and with ex (?)- Nazis who ran the CIA's European-based spy network. Willoughby's domestic associations extended from the Cuban exile community to the H. L, Hunt family. He and other of MacArthur's former top generals undoubtedly retained a strong bond with right-wing elements of the Pentagon. MacArthur's "little fascist," as the general once described him, was assuredly in a position to made the right connections from his Washington domain. Once gain, a specious connection between Willoughby and Nagell. I don't even see a circumstantial link to the "Kennedy conspiracy." Now back to Episode Ten of the Rob Reiner podcast series to learn more about Willoughby and the JFK assassination: (3:06) Soledad O'Brien : So where does this guy, Adolph Tscheppe Weidenbach fit in and if he's involved in the whole thing, why is this the first time we're hearing his name. Rob Reiner : He was a rogue and in this episode we'll find out how he and other hardline rogue elements came together to assassinate the president. The podcast mentions the four assassins that killed JFK, and then: (11:30) Dick Russell : The fourth shooter we know about was a man named Jack Canon. Canon worked under Charles Willoughby. Soledad O'Brien : Willoughby was the guy you talked about earlier, the guy you received the letter about. Dick Russell : Exactly. Willoughby was the head of intelligence for Douglas MacArthur, and after World War Two, Canon worked with Willoughby. Canon ran a black ops group known as the z or Z Unit. When I wrote my book on Richard Case Nagel, The Man who Knew too Much , he told me that Canon was a part of the CIA unit that reported to Willoughby, and he indicated that Canon was directly involved in the assassination of JFK. Now that Nagell is dead, Russell can claim he said all sorts of things. What exactly does it mean when he says that Nagell "indicated that Canon was directly involved in the assassination of JFK." Indicated? We hardly know anything about Jack Canon, and he's now implicated in the JFK assassination. Here is what Russell wrote about Canon in his book, The Man Who Knew Too Much : (page 127 of the first edition) Russell claims that Nagell told a Garrison investigator that Canon was a "rub-out man for CIA." There is no claim in The Man Who Knew Too Much that Nagell had told Russell that Canon was involved. The only mention of Jack Canon in the Garrison files is this memo from Bill Turner found in Garrison's Nagell file: There is no mention that Canon was the "rub-out man for CIA." Nor can I find that quote anywhere. The podcast then goes into who ordered and planned the assassination: (17:34) Soledad O'Brien : Okay, so you're saying that we have Dulles as aware of the event, and Angleton and Atlee Phillips making sure there was a patsy to take the blame, but who actually orchestrated this? Dick Russell : Evidence leads us to the ZR Rifle Chief Bill Harvey as the strategist and General Charles Willoughby as the tactician. Willoughby and Harvey then tapped the mafia and the Cuban exiles to help provide the shooters. So, General Charles Willoughby was the tactician. There is only thing missing. Evidence. Russell has since upgraded Willoughby from tactician to being the mastermind of the JFK Assassination. Here is an excerpt from his presentation to JFK Lancer this year in Dallas : (19:20) Dick Russell : So, FOI was formed in there after the Korean War by General Charles Willoughby, who was a very right-wing, extremely right-wing, connected to Nazis in Germany, and sort of a behind the scenes figure who corresponded with Allen Dulles. I'll tell you a quick story about him, because I want to get to who this shooter was, that I believe was involved, who worked for Willoughby. But I think Willoughby was one of the masterminds of this, of the assassination, and years ago, after I wrote my first article for The Village Voice , I get an anonymous letter in the mail, sent to the Voice , and it's got, you know, block letters on it, just to somebody who, you know, didn't even want their handwriting seen. And they say, "Our Canadian computers," which there barely were computers in those days, "traced the masterminding of the assassination of President Kennedy to a man named Adolf Tscheppe Wiedenbach." Maybe he didn't even say Adolf. And, you know, he was connected to General MacArthur. And I just thought it was, you know, what is it? Tscheppe Weidenbach. It's a crazy name, so I didn't pay any attention to it. He said, at the end of that, which I regretted, he said, if you want to find out more about this, put a classified ad in The Village Voice saying, "Brooklyn waiter, I'm waiting." Well, I never did it. I wish I did. Oh, what a missed opportunity! A few minutes later Russell tells us the source of his allegation that Willoughby was involved in the assassination: (24:30) Dick Russell : And finally, on this, this particular subject, Willoughby and Canon. So, you've probably seen this new book that came out by Hank Albarelli. He died, unfortunately, tragically, apparently, of a regular illness. But who knows? He had been in touch with this guy named Pierre Lafitte, who part of the family of Lafitte, who had kept a date book. That was, finally, this story was published in a book called Coup in Dallas in 2021. If you haven't seen it, it's a very dense book, but it's quite amazing, and I've seen the diary, the date book of Lafitte. It exists. It's handwritten. It looks like it was done in 1963 which it's labeled as, and it's very cryptic. But all through it, you know, Oswald is named -- clearly they're leading up to November 22, 1963. And there's more than once in that date book that Lafitte, who was a very well known, worked for the Bureau of Narcotics, worked for the CIA. He worked for Reily Coffee Company at one point in New Orleans, where Oswald eventually got a job. Another really interesting figure, And, I'd also got to know Albarelli, and he had been giving stuff to me that he'd be running across. But in the date book, a number of the entries clearly point to Willoughby as a lead architect of the plot against JFK, in collusion with CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton. There's one date book entry that says, "soldiers kill squad" alongside Willoughby's name, and that's as early as April 12th of 1963. And then as November 22nd approaches, the date book delineates in four separate entries that Jack Canon was on hand in Dallas. November 21, it says, "Willoughby team - Canon (Z org) D", meaning Dallas. Then a few days after the assassination, it says November 26th, "Canon -- home.", He left. Of course, the Lafitte diaries are "cryptic" which means that only experts like Dick Russell and Hank Albarelli are capable of deciphering its meaning. So, just who is Jean Pierre Lafitte? Photograph of Lafitte from Time Magazine The December 19, 1969, issue of Time Magazine has an excellent article about Lafitte : The modern Lafitte's background is as mysterious as his career. Not even the FBI is sure whether Lafitte is his real name, and its "wanted" flyers merely suggest that he is somewhere between 66 and 74 years old and may have been born in Canada, France or the U.S. Lafitte loyally claims U.S. birth. He says that he was born to the madam of a bawdy house in Louisiana's Cajun country. His mother, he relates, took him to France, abandoned him and left him to be raised by friends. He denies a French police report that he was arrested in 1921 and claims that the authorities picked up a relative whose name he just happened to be using at the time. A matter of record that he does not deny is his enlistment in the French Foreign Legion—and his desertion a few months later. Lafitte returned to the U.S. in the 1930s. He first came to the attention of the authorities in the early 1940s, when he failed to register for the draft and was sent to Ellis Island to await deportation to France. While there, he saw a chance to ingratiate himself with the law by becoming an informer. He won the confidence of some racketeers who were being held on the island and offered to carry a message to their fellow gangsters in New York. Instead, he carried it to the Government. From then on, Lafitte, who changed identities as easily as he changed his stylish clothes, led a double life. Although police records show that he was arrested 23 times in 48 years for fraud, confidence schemes and burglary, they also show that he was a valuable undercover man for the Federal Government. He helped trap some of the late Vito Genovese's mafiosi for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He also posed as a buyer for the FBI, luring thieves into selling him stolen paintings and jewelry and then testifying against them in court. Lafitte turned up in New Orleans in 1967 where he became the manager-chef of the Plimsoll Club (under the name of Jean Martin) at the International Trade Mart. Unfortunately for Lafitte, he was wanted by the FBI and his photograph was distributed to restaurants. Here is an article about his arrest from the Times-Picayune : Journalist James Phelan also wrote about Lafitte in several articles for various magazines. Here is an article from the July 29, 1956, edition of the Independent Press Telegram (Long Beach): But conspiracy theorists believe they have hit gold with a relationship between Lafitte and George White, a former official in the Bureau of Narcotics. White and Lafitte worked together on several sting operations. In 1977, it came out that White assisted the CIA in the early 1950s in MK-Ultra. White's diaries say that Lafitte helped rent an apartment in New York City used by the CIA in drug experiments. John Crewdson, a reporter with the New York Times , got in touch with Lafitte who said that "although he had worked closely with White on a number of important narcotics cases, he had never knowingly spoken with or worked for anyone from the CIA and had never known about the Greenwich Village apartment or the drug tests that were conducted there." But any connection with MK-Ultra is enough to send conspiracy theorists into overdrive. Did the CIA use a MK-Ultra Psychiatrist to Interfere with Jack Ruby's Case? Did Dr. Louis Jolyon West Ask to Examine Jack Ruby in November 1963? Jefferson Morley Responds to my Post on MK-Ultra and Jack Ruby Lafitte may have been many things, but was he involved in the JFK assassination? He sounds like the kind of guy who would have informed on the conspirators, no? I then turned to the book, Coup in Dallas . I've written a few blog posts about the book - most notably the fact that its chapter on Permindex/CMC lacks footnotes , and its erroneous claim that the former Prime Minister of Hungary Ferenc Nagy, who was the nominal President of Permindex, lived in Dallas . Dick Russell wrote the foreword to Coup in Dallas : (page 7 in the Kindle edition) Readers should not expect that Coup in Dallas means “case closed.” By design of Lafitte, himself very much part of the plot, his entries are thin on detail and sometimes confined to initials. Doubtless, analysis of their content will occupy researchers in search of the truth for the next fifty years. But the clues are numerous, and sometimes explicit—for example, this chilling notation two weeks before the assassination: “On the wings of murder. The pigeon way for unsuspecting Lee. Clip, clip his wings.” Well, Russell did tell us that the entries are "cryptic." And Russell believes the Lafitte datebook is authentic: (page 9 in the Kindle edition) Pending verification by forensic document specialists and handwriting experts, I have carefully reviewed the 1963 datebook allegedly written by Jean Pierre Lafitte. Based on the entries I have seen, cryptic as many of them are (no doubt intentionally), this is a crucial piece of new evidence indicating a high-level conspiracy that resulted in the assassination that November 22 of President John F. Kennedy. Many of the names mentioned are familiar to me as someone who has researched and published numerous articles and three books on the assassination over the past forty-plus years. A number of these names, however, were not known publicly in 1963 and for more than a decade thereafter. Thus, assuming the datebook entries were indeed set down at that time by Lafitte, this adds substantial credibility to the likelihood that the document contains never-before-revealed information about a conspiracy involving accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald as well as his own killer, Jack Ruby. So, the cryptic entries in the diary are "no doubt intentional." So, what does the diary say about Willoughby? Russell provides a summary: (page 11 in the Kindle edition) WILLOUGHBY: Until my first book came out in 1992, assembling circumstantial evidence linking retired General Charles Willoughby as a possible “mastermind” of the assassination, no one had raised such a possibility before. The datebook cites the far-right General Willoughby numerous times, specifying: “Nov 22 – Willoughby backup – team [with a strikethrough of the word team] squad – tech building – phone booth/bridge.” Prior to that, an April 12 entry states: “Willoughby soldier kill squads.” Albarelli also thinks that General Edwin Walker was involved: (page 36 in the Kindle edition) Most prominent among those propagandists identified in Chapter 6 were Generals Charles Willoughby and Edwin Walker, both of whom have long been recognized, even by those less steeped in this research, as prime suspects in the assassination. Further proof is now presented that the two highly controversial retired generals were among those directly responsible for the murder of John Kennedy. Further proof? Well, all he has are a few Lafitte diary entries. Here are the entries that mention Willoughby. By the way, the screen shots of the datebook in the book are incredibly fuzzy and are extremely hard to read. In the first iteration of this post, I included screen shots, but Leslie Sharp, one of the authors of Coup n Dallas , objected due to copyright issues. April 12, 1963 : Congress meet - Willoughby - "soldiers kill squad" June 5, 1963 : Willoughby and d. Valle NO re Madrid Church group meet check with Hunt & Vickers June 7, 1963: Else [sic] and W's wife = shipment $ -- John 'Wilson-H' -- Ruby Deciphered : Ilse was the wife of Otto Skorzeny. John Wilson refers to John Wilson-Hudson, a British journalist who informed the CIA that Jack Ruby had visited Cuba. June 12, 1963 : *Paris murder *Willoughby -- Walker* June 18, 1963 : Willoughby meet 8:00 PM September 17, 1963 : SPRAY-GUN 2 Willoughby - Shaw Deciphered : What exactly is a spray gun? In Coup in Dallas , Albarelli writes that a spray gun dispenses some sort of gas, potentially lethal. Shaw is Clay Shaw. October 2, 1963 : Askins - Willoughby OK October 9, 1963 : OSARN--OSARN--OSARN-- OSARN- get Willoughby-Litt- plus Souetre, others (Hungarians) Lancelot pro.- kill squads Dallas, New York –Tampa-(loaded .E) -T says called Oswald to purpose- weapons- Walker. Davis in N.O. with swamp groups Florida (Decker, Bender, Vickers, K of M)--- Deciphered : K of M refers to the Knights of Malta, Decker refers to General George H. Decker, and Walker is General Edwin Walker. Vickers is Harry Vickers, a friend of General MacArthur. OSARN refers to the Secret Organization of National Revolutionary Action, a clandestine political and military organization in France in the 1930s. October 15, 1963: Meet with Willoughby at (Ella R) others at 49 East 53rd St. NYC Deciphered : Ella R refers to Ellen Rometsch, who was alleged to be an East German spy who had an affair with JFK. November 15, 1963 : /Nov 22/ Willoughby backup team [the word team has a strike through] squad- tech building-- phone booth/bridge O says turn them. Silverthorne- Ft. Worth -Airport Mexico November 21, 1963 : Willoughby team - Canon (Z org) D. Deciphered : Jack Canon served under Willoughby in Japan and Z organization is supposedly some sort of secret intelligence unit. D is supposedly Dallas. December 4: 1963: Canon - Home Shells - Souetre (November 26) W Teams returned FK [FR?] (November 28) Deciphered : The assassination teams return home. These scribbles have yet to be authenticated. The publisher of Coup in Dallas , Tony Lyons, wrote this note in the front of the book: (page 8 in the Kindle edition) We do not have a definitive position on the authorship of the Jean Pierre Lafitte 1963 datebook and make no representation or warranty as to the veracity of its entries. However, we feel that Hank was a serious and dedicated researcher with absolute faith in the legitimacy of the datebooks, and his analysis ought to be part of the public record. Shouldn't he have had the datebook authenticated before publishing Coup in Dallas ? A review on Amazon by Matthew Koch had some additional information on the authentication of the datebook : Before his death, Albarelli had arranged for a London-based professional in handwriting/document analysis as well an international ink expert, to study the date book and render a professional opinion. Leslie Sharp reports that there is no disclosure of results or findings and “no know prospect of any, by contractual agreement with the owners of the datebook “. “The London professional would only state that he remains under a Nondisclosure Agreement and could not comment.” Which is not very reassuring, as is “Of deep concern were those parties in a position to confirm the provenance but refused to cooperate; every feasible effort to secure a definitive statement has gone unfulfilled”. So, what changed Sharp’s mind? “He [Albarelli] would not be a victim of fraud”, “In my relatively informed opinion, Hank would never have subjected himself to ridicule were the datebook to be determined to be the equivalent of the ‘Hitler Diaries”’ This is not sound logic in my book and this statement also backs that up “Of deep concern were those parties in a position to confirm the provenance but refused to cooperate; every feasible effort to secure a definitive statement has gone unfulfilled.” The date book appears to be a concern of the publisher as well, because there is a Publisher’s Statement about it by Tony Lyons of Skyhorse at the beginning of the book. The problematic date book is assumed to be real and we also learn that many of the initials in the date book are guessed or assumed to be individuals who are mentioned in other JFK works like JA is James Angleton, HH is Howard Hunt and not HL Hunt, who Sharp worked for. Another issue with the datebook is that George Joannides features prominently in two entries: August 16, 1963 Antoine's Room - Martello, E. Joanides [sic] and Labadie. Quigly [sic] Interview st. demonstration Call Holdout Deciphered : Martello is the New Orleans police officer who wrote up the incident between Oswald and Bringuier. Labadie is a Tampa FBI agent. Quigly is actually FBI agent John Quigley who interviewed Oswald after his New Orleans arrest. Albarelli was not able to determine the meaning of Holdout. August 21, 1963 Talk Joannides Cuba – he refer to K org. in Mex – similar setup now. Discuss with King – Geo +Charles about Havana Mx trips. (Holdout) [followed with a check mark] Deciphered : This was the date of the Oswald appearance on the Bill Stuckey radio show. K org. is the CIA. Joannides was using a cover name in 1963. What are the chances that Lafitte knew about his work for the CIA and his real name? And the Lafitte datebook is so cryptic that other conspiracy authors can utilize its entries. The book Admitted Assassin by Ricky White uses the datebook to support his claim that his father Roscoe was a grassy knoll assassin! There are two entries use the name White: January 24, 1963 : 848 - Harvey - Soon White - Smith (Canada) December 9, 1963 : White + all/guns Rudel This photograph of the datebook entry is in the book Admitted Assassin . Is this anything more than a scribble? Here is an excerpt from the book, Admitted Assassin : (pages 198 -199) Are these "White" references in Lafitte's datebook about Roscoe White? If - as Admitted Assassin contends - Roscoe White's admission of guilt in the assassination of JFK is true, then it stands to reason that his name would appear along with other players found in a datebook that reveals the participants and actions of those involved in his ruthless and brutal operation. Dick Russell would argue that White refers to George White. My guess is that the entry refers to Betty White -- a favorite entertainer of Lafitte's. Just kidding. Another bothersome element of the Lafitte datebook is that additional entries keep popping up. The second White reference is not in the Coup in Dallas Book. Additional Lafitte entries have been posted on the Education Forum website. So, just how many entries are there in this datebook? How many entries have not been published at all? We have no idea. I asked Anthony Amore, head of security for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston for his view of the Lafitte datebook. Amore had planned, at one point, to write a book about Lafitte: Though Hank Albarelli included portions of the date book in his final book before dying, I've no way of knowing whether the date book is authentic or, even if it is, whether Lafitte simply wrote the notations in long [hand] after the assassination. He was a peculiar man taken to fabulism. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Lafitte datebook will never be authenticated. Even if it was, it's still meaningless since it is so cryptic, to say the least. We haven't heard the last of the Lafitte datebook. Dick Russell is writing a new book based upon the Rob Reiner podcast series. Expect the Lafitte datebook to figure prominently. So, let's return to the topic of this post -- Charles Willoughby. There is absolutely no evidence that ties him to the JFK assassination. And it is incredibly irresponsible to claim that Jack Canon, who worked for Willoughby, was one of the grassy knoll assassins. As I concluded in another post : " It's amazing that conspiracy theorists do not accept the evidence against Lee Harvey Oswald, but they are so quick to point the finger at other people." Previous Relevant Blog Posts Fred Litwin and Michel Gagné Analyze Rob Reiner's Podcast, Part Two We take apart the second five episodes of Reiner's podcast on the JFK assassination. Fred Litwin and Michel Gagné Analyze Rob Reiner's Podcast, Part One We take apart the first five episodes of Reiner's podcast on the JFK assassination. Rob Reiner's Podcast Series, Part Two Was there a fake defector program at Nags Head, North Carolina? Rob Reiner's Podcast Series, Part One Flimsy evidence is cited that originated in Hustler Magazine . Rob Reiner on the Two Oswalds Reiner believes the two-Oswald theory. Jefferson Morley: Able to Leap Intellectual Chasms in a Single Bound This blog post also covers the concluding episode of Reiner's podcast.

Matt Crumpton and I had a debate yesterday on the JFK assassination . It was a lot of fun, but Matt threw out all sorts of factoids and there was just not enough time to debunk all of them. The six degrees of separation nonsense on Ruth Paine was infuriating. Who cares if Michael Paine worked for Bell Helicopter? Who cares if her sister did translation work for the CIA? Is it really suspicious that Ruth is a Quaker? Tracy Parnell has debunked some of the so-called issues regarding Ruth Paine . A Question for Max Good from Burt Griffin . The CIA's Dinner in Dallas You have to love some of the comments on the debate: Previous Relevant Blog Post Fred Litwin on the Solving JFK Podcast I was a guest on Matt Crumpton's podcast to discuss New Orleans and the assassination of JFK.

One of the most discouraging parts of the JFK assassination debate is that some conspiracy theorists are just plain nasty. I've written about this here and here . The latest to join the ranks of the nasty is Vince Palamara. I recently posted the Secret Service survey report for JFK's cancelled trip to Chicago in November, 1963. It was long thought to be destroyed by the Secret Service but I found it in the National Archives during my trip last August. For some reason Secret Service expert Vince Palamara never found this file at NARA. But he found it interesting enough to take my .jpgs and add them to his website. And here is how he introduces this document: I hate to give credit for this to a certain person, but I must (for honesty’s sake): ole Fred Nitwit found these documents within other HSCA docs. And there you have it -- the childish insult. I guess people think they are being clever by slightly changing my name. But we all know what this really is. So, Vince, please remove the insult. And show us that you actually have some class. I'm not going to hold my breath. Update Vince has changed his webpage. Here is a screenshot of the old page: And here is a screenshot of the new page : I could be a dead ringer for Donald Trump? This the way Vince "fixes" his insult! Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Vince Palamara Vince Palamara's Epic Failure, Part One Palamara's new book on a supposed plot in Chicago leads to Lloyd John Wilson. Vince Palamara's Epic Failure, Part Two A look at Homer Echeverria. Vince Palamara's Epic Failure, Part Three A look at the origin of the supposed plot. Vince Palamara's Epic Failure, Part Four An examination of Palamara's first eight pieces of corroborating evidence for the plot. Vince Palamara's Epic Failure, Part Five An examination of Palamara's second eight pieces of corroborating evidence for the plot. A Reply to Vince Palamara Vince's responses to my posts just confirm that he has no case. Vince Palamara on Rose Cherami Palamara just repeats factoids about Cherami that appear in other conspiracy books. Vince Palamara on Richard Case Nagell Palamara just repeats factoids about Nagell that appear in other conspiracy books. Eugene Dinkin and Vince Palamara Palamara likes the Dinkin story so much he used it in three books.

Conspiracy theorists were ecstatic yesterday when Florida representative Anna Paulina Luna announced that she believed there were two shooters in the JFK assassination. Here is a transcript of the above video: Rep. Luna: I think we'll be very supportive. And we've also been told that the CIA, CIA director is very supportive. To put in perspective, I think that this issue transcends not just one administration, but multiple administrations, and it hasn't been until now that we've been able to get people actually in positions of power that will push for transparency. Now, if I find that different entities in the various intelligence agencies are stonewalling us, I'm going to make that known to the American people. But as of right now, we are cautiously optimistic. Reporter: What's your priority list? Epstein, 9/11? Luna: Our first investigation will be announced, but it's going to be covering on a thorough investigation into the John F Kennedy assassination. And I can tell you, based on what I've been seeing so far, the initial hearing that was actually held here in Congress was actually faulty in the single bullet theory. I believe that there were two shooters, and we should be finding more information as we are able to gain access into the SCIF, hopefully before the files are actually released to the public. Reporter: Thank you for doing this. Have you identified the Democrats who will sit on the task force? And could you talk a little bit more about the role of Democrats in this? Luna: Yeah, so again, this is a bipartisan commission. Remember, JFK was a Democrat, RFK was a Democrat. And I'm sure that I think the entire conference had a question on what actually happened with Dr Martin Luther King. But also UAPs, you guys know that that was the biggest bipartisan, bicameral hearing that we've ever had, I think in congressional history. I do not know who their members are, yet they've noticed it, but they're taking this very seriously. This is not a conspiracy theory investigating committee. We're actually looking to present truth to the American people. And it's in my opinion, that no one person elected to office is more important or more qualified to look at the information that they've been hiding from us, and so we look to push for that transparency. Reporter: What sort of witnesses will you expect to have at your hearing? Some of these, the first ones in March, will that be department heads, former employees of various agencies? Unidentified Person: Would you like to jump in? Luna: Yeah, I was gonna say, based on what we're actually looking to do with the JFK investigation, I'm looking at to actually bring in some of the attending physicians at the initial assassination, then also people that had been on the various commissions looking into -- like the Warren Commission looking into the initial assassination. There's been conflicting evidence, and I think that even the FBI at the time reported some anomalies in the initial autopsy at Bethesda, Maryland. All of those, though, seem to have been rinsed, rinsed and repeated in the media to push a certain narrative that we don't agree with. And so I think that in order to put to bed some of the theories that have been out there on John F Kennedy, we have to know the full truth, and the full truth starts with transparency, and that's why these files is so important for the American people to read for themselves. I am all for the release of documents, but Representative Luna doesn't seem to know much about the case. She doesn't seem to be aware that all the members of the Warren Commission are no longer with us, and I doubt she really understands the single-bullet theory. She also mentions that the media have been pushing "a narrative that we don't agree with." Does that mean that she is firm conspiracy theorist? What narrative is she going to push? And do all roads lead to Hunter Biden? Some of the members of this task force are definitely conspiracy theorists: All of the Republican members of the task force have a history of publicly supporting baseless conspiracy theories. Boebert has promoted QAnon conspiracies, spread false claims about Trump’s 2020 election loss and embraced Christian nationalist politics. Gill — a freshman House member and son-in-law of arch conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza — pushed false claims about the 2020 election, boosted the lie that Haitian migrants were eating Ohio suburbanites' pets and echoed far-right, white supremacist memes. Burchett has promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 elections, mass shootings and billionaire George Soros. He’s also accused his Republican colleagues of being blackmailed with illegally recorded sex tapes and said last month he believes aliens from other galaxies live beneath the Earth’s oceans. And Crane, a former Navy Seal, spread 2020 election lies and made false claims about the assassination attempts on Trump’s life last year, including that one of them was an “inside job.” Mace accused Biden and his family of being involved in a “prostitution ring” in 2023 and speculated drones being spotted on the East Coast late last year could be from “outer space” or “from outside the universe.” (Both the Biden and Trump administrations have insisted the drones were lawful commercial, law enforcement and civilian hobbyist drones, or other aircraft or even stars that were mistaken for drones.) Burlison also boosted false claims alleging the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, misleadingly claimed that “conspiracy theorists” were right about the false claim the FBI provoked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and said on a UFO-centric podcast last month that his born-again Christian faith informed his openness “to the idea of aliens from another planet or extra dimensions.” On that podcast, Burlison said he urged Comer and House Speaker Mike Johnson to form a committee to probe claims about UFOs and aliens. As for Luna, check this out: I am surprised that Marjorie Taylor Greene is not on this committee. Does that mean that they are not going to investigate Jewish space lasers?

The Trump administration has taken away the security clearance of Mark Zaid, a lawyer who works on national security cases. Mark Zaid is a friend of mine and he has provided me a lot of help on the JFK assassination. For instance, he sent me some important court documents on Richard Case Nagell. Mark was also kind enough to provide a blurb for my book, Oliver Stone's Film-Flam: The Demagogue of Dealey Plaza: Nearly 60 years after JFK's assassination, questions still abound over whether suspected killer Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, or even at all. But conspiracy theories are not facts. Fred Litwin's book Oliver Stone's Film-Flam firmly undermines some of the loudest theorists of the day in point-by-point factual rebuttals in an effort to accurately preserve the integrity of this historic tragedy. While some readers' minds may not be completely persuaded as to exactly what did or did not happen in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963, every reader of this book should conclude that simply being a loud conspiracy critic does not turn fiction into fact. Here is the news article that mentioned Mark: Next in line are anti-Trumpers Andrew Weissman, the lead prosecutor in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russiagate investigation of Trump, who frequently maligns the former president in his role as an MNBC contributor; lawyer Mark Zaid, who represented Eric Ciaramella, the CIA analyst identified as the whistleblower in Trump’s impeachment in 2019 over a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky; and Norm Eisen, special counsel to the Democrat-led House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment. Mark contributed an oral history to the Sixth Floor Museum: Mark co-wrote an important article on eyewitness testimony and memory in the JFK assassination. Mark has been very outspoken about political retribution: Zaid himself is not exactly the President’s favorite person: He served as a lawyer for the intelligence official who exposed the Ukraine scandal, which led to Trump’s first impeachment. At a 2019 Louisiana campaign rally, Trump held up a photo of Zaid and accused him of ripping “the guts out of our country.” The following day, Zaid received a graphic death threat, for which the sender was sentenced to a year in federal prison—he also threw a table at the FBI agents who came to investigate him, Zaid told Washingtonian during his last interview with us in 2021. I wish Mark all the best and I hope that this decision is rescinded as soon as possible. Update The Washington Examiner has a good article about Mark Zaid: Trump has some legitimate concerns over politicization within the deep state. However, if he wants to take on deep state malfeasance, the very worst thing he could do is remove the security clearance of lawyers such as Zaid. That path helps only those who are interested in cover-ups and setting their own agendas outside of effective oversight. After all, the government imposes strict conditions on how whistleblowers are supposed to disclose their concerns. If a whistleblower breaks these conditions, they will likely quickly find themselves facing a visit from the FBI. Even if prosecution and prison time don’t follow, suspension of a security clearance and dismissal are likely. For individuals who have spent their careers in the shadows and who have yet to put their children through college, this concern means that staying quiet about a deep state problem is often personally preferable to speaking out about it. Individuals such as Zaid are thus crucial in supporting democratic transparency by shielding those who want the truth to set Americans free. Put another way, Trump is further flooding the swamp rather than draining it with this decision. The president should reconsider.

Jefferson Morley has just published a guide for people to grade President Trump's release of JFK assassination documents. Unfortunately, many of the documents on Morley's list will tell us little about the JFK assassination. About half of them are not currently in the JFK collection, and some of them just represent a fishing expedition. Robert Reynolds, the top expert on the JFK Collection , was kind enough to help with this article, Let's go through Morley's list of document(s). The George Joannides Personnel File We've been through this a number of times. The George Joannides' personnel file was already examined by the ARRB in 1998. For The Sake of Our Sanity - Release the Joannides File Morley believes that this file will answer his question: "Did CIA launch an authorized operation targeting Lee Harvey Oswald in January 1963?" The ARRB was well aware that Joannides ran the DRE in Florida for a brief period, and they were also aware of his work as a liaison between the CIA and the HSCA. T hey released what they thought was relevant , and deemed the rest of his file as not assassination-related. Arthur Schlesinger's Memo Arthur Schlesinger's 1961 memo is largely unredacted and you can even read his conclusion in full. Morley believes that this file will answer his question: "What drove the mistrust between JFK and CIA that lasted throughout Kennedy’s presidency?" As I have already written , we have a very good idea of what is in the redacted section in the memo. Morley Misleads on Arthur Schlesinger's Memo on the CIA James Angleton's Testimony Now, let's get to Angleton's testimony before the Church Committee. The ARRB reviewed this document in 1998 and decided that large parts of it were not relevant to the JFK assassination . Morley keeps changing the goalposts for this document. In the past, he has asked whether the redactions would answer whether Angleton was going against JFK's wishes and helping the Israelis go nuclear. Now, he is asking a completely different question: Did Angleton use foreign agents to surveil Oswald? The last release of this document has relatively few redactions , and they do not pertain to Oswald. By the way, Angleton was questioned by the HSCA and that testimony is available in full. CIA Ops Project Jefferson Morley feels that this heavily-redacted document will answer this question: "How did the CIA surveil Oswald six weeks before JFK was killed?" While this document is about surveillance operations in Mexico City, the newest material in the document dates from June 1963, and most of the document is from 1960. Thus it will not tell us anything specifically about Lee Harvey Oswald. Here is the newest content in the documen t: It's interesting that this is an instruction to erase tapes, which suggests that the erasure of the CIA station's Oswald tapes was not anomalous. The CIA did not surveil Oswald -- he walked right into their surveillance operations in Mexico City. AMWORLD Files Morley wants to see the Operational and travel records for CIA officers Emilio Rodriquez, Anthony Sforza, and David Phillips. He feels this will answer his question: "what did these three undercover operatives know about Oswald during the summer and fall of 1963?" Morley is not specific about which files he wants and which files still have redactions. A lot of AMWORLD material has already been released. I am not sure which documents remain to be disclosed. Paramilitary Name and Phone List Morley claims this is a "redacted roster of top-secret, green-listed CIA paramilitary agents operating in the New Orleans area in the summer of 1963." The redacted page is contained in the security file of Acelo Pedroso, a Cuban refugee w ho Garrison clamed was arrested by the FBI at an arms-cache raid on Lake Pontchartrain. According to Robert Reynolds, however, "Pedroso's 201 file shows that the request for operational approval of Pedroso was made in March 1961 and included a "green list name check." This is when the 'roster' Morley cites originally dates from, not 1963. Moreover, as Pedroso's 201 file shows, in 1961 he was in Miami, not New Orleans. A 'green list name check' was a common part of the procedure for granting the 'operational approval' required for CIA paramilitary forces, agents, and assets, there are dozens of examples in the ARC. There is nothing particularly 'top secret' about it." You can see his file here. Robert Reynolds points out that due to an error in the ARC documentation, the real document is actually RIF #104-10122-10122. That document is fully open but is not online. Morley can get the document from NARA. Miami Station’s JFK investigation Jefferson Morley wants the supposed SIREPS (Situation Reports) related to queries put out by Donald Heath in 1964. He wants to know what the CIA internal investigation "found out about JFK’s assassination?" You can read the Heath memo here . Heath asked the field questions about possible Cuban and Cuban exile involvement in the JFK assassination. He wrote nothing about any of the reports he received back, and a lot of the reports might not have been in writing: William K. Harvey Travel Records William Harvey is a favorite target for conspiracy theorists and I have written about him a number of times: Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963? A Reply to Jefferson Morley on Bill Harvey Jefferson Morley is Wrong on William Harvey, Again! Here is an excerpt from my book, A Heritage of Nonsense : (pages 297 - 298 in the Kindle edition) Bill Harvey was an exceptional CIA officer with an exceptional drinking problem. He was key to the building of the CIA’s Berlin Tunnel, the unmasking of KGB spy Kim Philby, and was honored with the CIA’s Distinguished Service Medal. But you won’t hear any of that from the conspiracy nuts who think he killed JFK. Harvey’s five-a-day martini problem had escalated after the Kennedys kicked him off of the Cuba Project assassination operation, and the CIA exiled him to Rome. It was the martinis that had likely loosened his lips when he told AG Robert Kennedy that he, Kennedy, was an amateur at covert operations (he was). The exchanges grew so ugly that it almost came to fisticuffs.  Over the years, I have interviewed over two dozen people who were close to Harvey, both as family and fellow CIA officers (e.g., CIA’s Anita Potocki, Mark Wyatt, Sam Halpern, David Murphy, Dick Helms, Ted Shackley, Dino Brugioni, etc., as well as spending two days in Indianapolis with his widow, CG Harvey, and other family members. CG kindly sent me a box of Bill’s papers.) I also interviewed friends and family of Harvey’s “son,” Johnny Rosselli, the patriotic mobster.  Here’s the skinny: Harvey despised RFK for his ego-maniacal and sloppy running of the sensitive Cuba ops. His colleagues at the Agency were in unanimous agreement on that (details in my books). But he was not a killer of anyone, let alone the President. He was in fact another patriot, one who believed that the Kennedys had bit off far more than they could chew (they had), and he worried that RFK’s ineptitude at espionage could start the nukes flying.  The sad irony is that Robert Kennedy ultimately came to agree with Harvey. About a month before his own assassination, he told Peace Corps executive/journalist Bill Moyers, “I have myself wondered at times if we did not pay a very great price for being more energetic than wise about a lot of things, especially Cuba.” The great price was his brother Jack’s life. He knew that his Cuba Project had not only infuriated the hard-drinking CIA man, but also propelled a violent pro-Cuba terrorist also named Harvey—Lee Harvey Oswald—into a murderous rampage that gained him the recognition he had long craved. Morley is on a fishing expedition. There is no evidence that Harvey was involved in the JFK assassination, and we know where he was when JFK was murdered. CIA File of Herminio Diaz Garcia Some conspiracy theorists believe that Garcia was a grassy knoll assassin. I have discussed this in a few blog posts: Jefferson Morley asks why "what the CIA knew about Herminio Diaz is still off limits." Was Herminio Diaz a Grassy Knoll Assassin? There is absolutely no evidence to tie Diaz to the assassination, except for some Cuban propaganda from Fabian Escalante who ran Cuban intelligence. The file that Morley wants is not in the JFK collection, and I see no reason for it to be released. The Original Nix Film The original Orville Nix film has been missing for years. While I would certainly like to see the original film found and compensation paid to the Nix family, I don't think it will tell us more than existing analysis from copies of the film about the JFK assassination. Carlos Marcello Tapes The ARRB released the Marcello BRILAB tapes in 1998 . Morley wants sealed surveillance tapes of Marcello when he was in prison in 1985. However, when Marcello "admitted" he killed JFK, he was most probably suffering from dementia. The files/tapes are outside of the JFK collection. Infiltration of the Miami Media Morley asks "who were the CIA’s two media spies in south Florida at the time of JFK’s assassination," in this document . Well, they weren't really spies. All three AMCARBONs are identified (one ‘speculatively’) on the MFF site, and they were all Miami Herald journalists. AMCARBON-1 was Al Burt, AMCARBON-2 was probably Dom Bonafede, and AMCARBON-3 was Don Bohning, Bohning is the author of the The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations Against Cuba, 1959-1965 , which I strongly recommend. Here is what he wrote about being a CIA contact: I have never filed a Freedom of Information Act on myself, but subsequently have seen the declassified documents that identify me as Amcarbon3, whatever that means. As for being a CIA informant, I guess that if having lunch occasionally and exchanging news about the Cuban exile community that also qualifies me as an informant for the State Department, the Commerce Department, any other U.S. government agency that dealt with Cuba as well as various Latin American foreign ministers and other officials. As far as I am concerned, none of my contacts with the CIA violated any journalist ethics, as did Kennedy aide Richard Goodwin’s close friend Tad Szulc of the New York Times certainly did by promoting a clandestine program – codenamed AMTRUNK - through the CIA and aimed at subverting Cuban military officers. I am not sure how finally knowing that AMCARBON-2 was Dom Bonafede will help us understand the JFK assassination. Jackie Kennedy Interviews Jackie Kennedy wrote Lyndon Johnson five letters, and she was also interviewed (as well as Robert Kennedy) by William Manchester for his book, The Death of a President . Morley believes that both of them were skeptics of the Warren Commission, and so he wants to know what she told Manchester and LBJ. Even if Jackie Kennedy did not believe the Warren Report, so what? She didn't possess any special knowledge, and she had lots of opportunity to tell the public what she supposedly knew. She never said a word. Same holds for Robert Kennedy. I should add that Robert Kennedy never said a word to the Warren Commission about the plots to kill Fidel Castro. That's the entire list of 13 documents and files that Jefferson Morley is most eager to see. Only a few of them are currently in the JFK collection - like the Schlesinger memo and the Angleton testimony. The Schlesinger memo was written in 1961 and we already know quite a bit of what is in the redacted section. When it is eventually released, we will learn a little more about the relationship back then between the CIA and the State Department. The Angleton testimony might tell us a bit more about Israel. Unless Donald Trump starts a new mini-ARRB I doubt we will see the other items. Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley The Schlesinger Memo, Again! Morley claims I am a CIA apologist and then misquotes me. For The Sake of Our Sanity - Release the Joannides File It would be worthwhile for the CIA to release the Joannides file just to stop the incessant posts from Jefferson Morley. Did Oswald Stay at a Luxury Hotel in Helsinki? Actually, Oswald stayed at two budget-priced hotels in Helsinki. Morley Keeps Asking the Same Questions He keeps asking the same questions, and we keep posting the same answers. The JFK Assassination and Truth Conspiracy authors are playing fast and loose with the facts. Was Herminio Diaz a Grassy Knoll Assassin? There is no evidence that Diaz was involved in the JFK assassination. Morley Misleads on Arthur Schlesinger's Memo on the CIA There are clues as to what is in a redacted section of Schlesinger's memo. Jefferson Morley's Podcast on New Orleans Lays an Egg Chad Nagle and Dan Storper's article on New Orleans gets everything wrong. Chad Nagle and Dan Storper Lay an Egg Believing Michael Kurtz is problematic. Is Jefferson Morley Seeing Double? Morley wrote that there are two redacted memos on CIA reorganization, but there is only one. He wrote about Goodwin's copy as if it was a different memo, rather than a copy of the Schlesinger memo. Jefferson Morley is wrong about "Who Shot John?" The phrase 'who shot John' does not refer to the JFK assassination. Jefferson Morley is Wrong on William Harvey, Again! Only one word is redacted in Harvey's deposition. Jefferson Morley is Wrong about Operation Northwoods, Again! There are no redactions in the Operation Northwoods document. Did Dorothy Kilgallen Have any Special Knowledge about the JFK Assassination? Kilgallen had nothing to tell. Morley's Interview of Marina Oswald Porter Fizzles! An underwhelming interview of Marina Oswald. Jefferson Morley: Able to Leap Intellectual Chasms in a Single Bound Morley often repeats stories and changes their meanings. There was NO Assassination Plot in Chicago Chad Nagle claims there was an assassination plot against JFK in Chicago in November 1963. One problem: There is no evidence of such a plot. Fred Litwin, CIA Apologist? A response to Morley's Substack post alleging that I am a CIA apologist. A Reply to Jefferson Morley on Bill Harvey   A rebuttal to Morley's response to my post Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963? Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963?   There is no credible evidence Harvey was in Dallas in November of 1963. Does it Matter Where Allen Dulles was on November 22, 1963?   Morley repeats the claim that Dulles was at a CIA training center during the weekend of the JFK assassination. He wasn't. Jefferson Morley's Claims about Reuben Efron   Morley's claims about Efron are all wrong. A Reply to Jefferson Morley regarding Operation Northwoods   Morley responded to my article "The Truth about Operation Northwoods." Here is my reply. W. Tracy Parnell on Jefferson Morley   W. Tracy Parnell is one of the best JFK assassination researchers out there. Here is his look at Jefferson Morley with several important articles. The Truth about Operation Northwoods   Operation Northwoods can only be understood as part of the Kennedys' war against Cuba and Operation Mongoose. Jefferson Morley Responds to my Post on MK-Ultra and Jack Ruby   And a response from me. Did Dr. Louis Jolyon West Ask to Examine Jack Ruby in November 1963?   There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial. Did the CIA use a MK-Ultra Psychiatrist to Interfere with Jack Ruby's Case?   There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case. "JFK: Destiny Betrayed" Misleads Viewers on Oswald's "Hands Off Cuba!" Handbills, Part Four   Jefferson Morley used a fake Oswald handbill in his press conference for the Mary Ferrell Foundation. Redactions, Redactions, Redactions...   An examination of redactions in the JFK collection of documents.

It was a real pleasure interviewing author Eric Dezenhall about his new book, Wiseguys and The White House . We talked about the relationship between the mob and various Presidents with particular emphasis on John Kennedy. Here is Eric's bio : Eric Dezenhall is a journalist and author of twelve books, including three non-fiction texts on crisis communications. Other areas of expertise include organized crime and the intelligence community. He is the Chairman and co-founder of Dezenhall Resources, One of the country's first crisis communications firms. He lectures in academic and business circles and appears in international media including NPR, CNN, FOX, CNBC, MSNBC and the History Channel. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. Eric’s work is widely cited in business, media, and academic circles. His book, Best of Enemies with Gus Russo, is being made into a feature film. He is also the author of seven novels, including The Devil Himself, based on the true story of the U.S. Navy’s collaboration with organized crime in WWII. His latest non-fiction book, Wiseguys and the White House, documents when mobsters and presidents traded favors -- and double crossed each other. Eric graduated from Dartmouth College and lives near Washington, D.C., with his family. You can purchase a copy of Eric's new book, Wiseguys and the White House , here. Previous Episodes of On the Trail of Delusion : Episode 1 My first guest was Robert Reynolds who is an expert on the JFK assassination files . Episode 2 Robert A. Wagner discusses his new book, JFK Assassinated. Episode 3 Gerald Posner discusses the JFK assassination and conspiracy theories. Episode 4 Dr. Martin Kelly, Jr., discusses conspiracy theories and the medical evidence in the JFK assassination. Episode 5 Steve Roe discusses the life of General Edwin Walker and Oswald's attempt to kill him. Episode 6 Gus Russo discusses his participation in the PBS Frontline documentary on Lee Harvey Oswald. Episode 7 Dave Perry tells some great stories about debunking JFK conspiracy nonsense. Episode 8 Nick Nalli explains some of the science behind the assassination. Episode 9 Alecia Long discusses Jim Garrison and his non-existent case against Clay Shaw. Episode 10 Don Carpenter discusses the life of Clay Shaw. Episode 11 Bill Brown discusses the murder of Officer J. D. Tippit.