A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination (94 page)

Like her daughter-in-law:
Esquire
, May 1964.

“It’s pretty heavy”:
New York Times
, September 25, 1964.

“We ended up with 26 witnesses”:
Ibid.

The headline in the
New York Times
:
New York Times
, September 28, 1964.

Time
magazine was also:
Time
, October 2, 1964.

“The central mystery of who”:
New York Times
, September 28, 1964.

On the day of the release:
Ibid.

At his request, his surviving brother:
Kennedy, Edward M.,
True Compass: A Memoir
, pp. 211–212.

The polls showed that after:
Public Perspective
, October–November 1998.

Congressman Boggs:
National Observer
, October 5, 1964.

He gave an interview:
Atlanta Constitution
, September 27, 1964.

Hoover attached a note:
Hoover’s handwritten note on memo from DeLoach to Mohr, “Subject: THE PRESIDENT’S COMMISSION,” September 25, 1964, FBI.

Gale said it was:
Memo from Gale to Tolson, “Subject: SHORTCOMINGS IN HANDLING LEE HARVEY OSWALD MATERIAL BY FBI PERSONNEL,” September 30, 1964, FBI.

“I think we are making”:
Memo from Belmont to Tolson, October 1, 1964, FBI.

“We were wrong”:
Hoover’s handwritten note on memo from Belmont to Tolson, October 1, 1964, FBI.

In a separate note:
Hoover’s handwritten note on memo from DeLoach to Mohr, “SUBJECT: CRITICISM OF THE FBI,” October 6, 1964, FBI.

Hoover complained that the report:
Letter from Hoover to Walter Jenkins, Special Assistant to the President, September 30, 1964, FBI.

Hoover’s office instructed:
Memo from Rosen to Belmont, “SUBJECT: PRESIDENT’S COMMISSION,” October 2, 1964, FBI.

After reading a flattering:
Washington Post
, September 29, 1964.

On October 2, Hoover’s office:
Memo from Rosen to Belmont, “SUBJECT: PRESIDENT’S COMMISSION,” October 2, 1964, FBI.

The files “contain considerable”:
Letter from Hoover to Rankin, October 23, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

He told Hoover that the:
Letter from Rankin to Hoover, November 18, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

On December 7, after all:
Memo from Eide to Rankin, December 7, 1964, staff files, Warren Commission, NARA.

CHAPTER 55

“All Headquarters components”:
“SILVIA TIRADO BOZAN DE DURAN,” undated, Russ Holmes Work File, CIA, RIF: 104–10404–10123. See also “Mexico City Chronology,” undated, CIA, RIF: 104–10086–10001, NARA.

The report, dated October 5:
“MEXICAN COMMUNISTS WHO HAD CONTACT WITH OSWALD,” October 5, 1964, CIA, RIF: 104–10404–10332. Also see “SILVIA TIRADO BOZAN DE DURAN,” undated, Russ Holmes Work File, CIA, RIF: 104–10404–10123; “Mexico City Chronology,” updated, CIA, RIF: 104–10086–10001. June Cobb was identified as the informant by the House Select Committee on Assassinations in its “Report on Lee Harvey Oswald’s Trip to Mexico City” by staff members Dan Hardway and Edwin Lopez, undated, HSCA, RIF: 180–10110–10484 (hereafter Lopez Report, as it was known by House staff members).

There had been about thirty:
Memo by Legal Attaché FBI, “Lee Harvey Oswald,” December 11, 1964, RIF: 104–10404–10330.

It was not clear from Scott’s files:
also “Mexico City Chronology,” updated, CIA, RIF: 104–10086–10001, NARA. The note by the author of the chronology in reference to this material: “WHY WAS THIS NOT SENT TO HQ??”

The thirty-year-old Epstein:
Epstein,
Inquest
, p. 3.

Asked by Epstein how much:
Ibid., p. 20.

Epstein would recall:
“Wesley Liebeler: The File Keeper, June 30, 1965,” essay available on Epstein’s Web site:
http://edwardjayepstein.com/liebeler.htm
.

Before publication, Epstein:
New York Times
, April 24, 1966.

In his introduction:
Epstein,
Inquest
, pp. ix–xiv.

Inquest
would be remembered:
New York Times
, July 6, 1966.

Albert Jenner, who already:
Letter from Jenner to Belin, July 13, 1966, Belin’s Warren Commission files, Ford Library.

“Frankly,” he wrote:
Letter from Redlich to Andrew Hacker, Cornell University, June 2, 1966, as attached to letter from Redlich to Belin, July 15, 1966, Belin’s Warren Commission files, Ford Library.

He described:
In an email exchange with the author in 2013, Epstein said that despite Liebeler’s reported complaints about
Inquest
, the two men remained in contact and that he “saw Liebeler many times after publication of my book.” Asked about criticism of his book by other members of the commission’s staff, Epstein said that he would “fully discuss the background of my investigation” in his “assassination diary,” which he said was scheduled for publication in September 2013.

Richard Goodwin, a former Kennedy:
New York Times
, July 24, 1966.

He appeared startled in late June:
New York Times
, July 1, 1966.

The
New York Times
said that:
New York Times
, August 16, 1966.

After the commission, David Slawson:
Slawson interviews.

Slawson was also disappointed:
See
Denver Post
obituary of Dolan, September 5, 2008.

Charles Thomas and his wife:
Cynthia Thomas interviews.

“Charles was an extraordinary man”:
Poniatowska interview.

He recorded Garro’s account:
Copies of Thomas’s memos were obtained from his widow, Cynthia. Copies are also found in the archives of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, NARA.

Garro tried to remember:
Lopez Report, p. 225.

Ferris sent a memo:
Memo from Ferris to Freeman, “INTERVIEW WITH MRS. ELENA GARRO DE PAZ,” December 27, 1965, as found in CIA report entitled “SILVIA TIRADO BOZAN DE DURAN,” undated, Russ Holmes Work File, CIA, RIF: 104–10404–10123.

One of his deputies:
Cable to CIA Mexico City to CIA, “CABLE RE; LEGAL ATTACHE MEXI INTERVIEW ELENA GARRO DE PAZ,” December 29, 1965, CIA, RIF: 104–10404–10320, NARA.

CHAPTER 56

Johnson was outraged:
Washington Post
, October 3, 1966.

“Lou Harris is just owned”:
Holland,
The Kennedy Assassination Tapes
, pp. 312–13.

After being permitted to read:
New York Times
, December 17, 1966.

Manchester’s book was not:
“A Clash of Camelots,”
Vanity Fair
, October 2009.

“I can’t be in the position”:
Pearson Diaries, October 1966, Pearson papers, LBJ Library.

In January 1967:
Pearson Diaries, January 1967, Pearson papers, LBJ Library.

Morgan said he agonized:
Testimony of Edward P. Morgan, March 19, 1976, Church Committee, RIF: 157–10011–10040.

Warren, he said, “was decidedly”:
Pearson Diaries, January 1967, Pearson papers, LBJ Library.

The meeting took place:
Testimony of James J. Rowley, February 13, 1976, Church Committee, RIF: 157–10014–10011.

“Lyndon listened carefully”:
Pearson Diaries, January 1967, Pearson papers, LBJ Library.

On Monday, February 20:
Holland,
The Kennedy Assassination Tapes
, pp. 389–98.

On March 1, 1967:
New York Times
, March 2, 1967.

WASHINGTON—President Johnson:
Washington Merry-Go-Round, March 3, 1967, available in the Drew Pearson archives maintained by American University. The actual column can be found at:
http://dspace.wrlc.org/doc/bitstream/2041/53102/b20f02–0303zdisplay.pdf#search=”
.

Pearson was unhappy:
Pearson Diaries, March 1967, Pearson papers, LBJ Library.

On March 6:
“Central Intelligence Agency’s Intentions to Send Hoodlums to Cuba to Assassinate Castro,” March 6, 1967, FBI, as cited in “SUMMARY OF FACTS: INVESTIGATION OF CIA INVOLVEMENT IN PLOTS TO ASSASSINATE FOREIGN LEADERS,” undated, found in the staff files of Richard Cheney, White House chief of staff in the Ford administration, Ford Library. The document is available online at the Ford Library Web site:
http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0005/7324009.pdf
.

In April, President Johnson:
Pearson Diaries, April 1967, Pearson papers, LBJ Library.

“We had been operating”:
New York Times
, June 17, 1973.

He regretted he had been:
Testimony of J. Lee Rankin, September 21, 1978, HSCA. Also see Executive Session Deposition of J. Lee Rankin, August 17, 1978, HSCA.

John Whitten, the veteran CIA:
Whitten House Testimony, May 16, 1978. Also see Whitten Senate Testimony, May 7, 1976.

“It never occurred to me”:
Helms House Testimony, September 22, 1978.

By January 1967:
Aynesworth interviews.

“I keep running into your name”:
Aynesworth,
JFK: Breaking
, p. 232.

The CIA figured:
Phelan,
Scandals, Scamps, and Scoundrels
, pp. 150–51.

“You’re lucky you’re in town”:
Aynesworth,
JFK: Breaking
, p. 234.

Garrison’s other prosecution:
Ibid., p. 235.

Hounded by the district attorney’s offices:
New York Times
, February 23, 1967.

“I hope
Newsweek
”:
Aynesworth,
JFK: Breaking
, p. 244.

On March 1, 1969:
New York Times
, March 2, 1967.

CHAPTER 57

This time, it would be much harder:
Cable from Scott to Chief, Western Hemisphere Division, CIA, “The LIRING/3 Operation,” June 13, 1978, CIA, RIF: 104–10437–10102.

The Garrison investigation of the Kennedy:
Letter from Thomas W. Lund, CIA, to Scott, “LETTER: AS YOU ARE AWARE, THE GARRISON INVESTIGATION OF THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION HAS PROMPTED A RASH OF SPECTACULAR ALLEGATIONS AND CHARGES,” June 14, 1967, CIA, RIF: 104–10247–10418, NARA.

The fact that Silvia DURAN:
Cable from Scott to Chief, Western Hemisphere Division, CIA, “The LIRING/3 Operation,” June 13, 1978, CIA, RIF: 104–10437–10102.

In May 1967, an American diplomat:
Letter from Benjamin Ruyle, U.S. Consulate, Tampico, to Wesley Boles, Department of State, May 11, 1967, CIA, RIF: 104–10433–10011.