I thought you did a great job handling the attempts at gotcha questions and diversions, Jim - and skillfully did not get drawn off point, steering the discussion back to the real issues. I thought it was a good move on your part to present a few snippets of the strongest evidence in the case disproving the official story, particularly showing how the HSCA got the medical evidence wrong by hiding the testimony of Bethesda witnesses. That highlights the need for the House to correct for their own institutions's prior failures.
All I can say about the attitude of today's Democrats is that they seem to have collapsed into an agenda entirely based on not being Trump, and don't seem to have an actual vision to sell their voters besides that. As a result, anything Trump is associated with becomes something they will condemn, no matter what it is.
The other thing I've noticed is that in the last 10-15 years, the Democrats have shifted over to becoming the defenders of the established order. I believe Citizens United had a lot to do with that. Under Obama, it seemed like the strategy became to stay competetive by raising large sums of money, joining with big finance and the military industrial complex and advocating for incremental progressive gains within the parameters of what the establishment would tolerate, while pledging to defend that establishment in turn.
When Trump was able to position himself as a populist opposed to the established order, the Democrats completely threw their lot in with that established order and seem to have become almost completely captured by it in the past 8 years. From within that narrative, Kennedy disappears into a two-dimensiolnal memory of a president who looked good and sounded great, but his transformative leadership in opposing US imperialism and defending liberal rights and values is not only forgotten, it's not even recognized or understood.
It's a sad state of affairs. I really wish more members on the Left would remember their roots and realize that Kennedy really was an inspirational leader who provides an excellent model for the kind of leadership, civic values, and even policy approaches that could guide us at this very time.
I'm very appreciative for you and your work in this regard - educating the public about Kennedy's true legacy, what he really meant, what his assassination really meant, and the consequences of his elimination and the ensuing coverup on US society, leadership, and policy - as well as the consequences for the rest if the world.
I'm so glad you got to speak on these issues before Congress! Thank you so much for your devoted service.
Well said!!! I thought this take on Citizens United's effect on the Dem Party and how they've since thrown their lot in with the established order, was really astute. We need more leaders like AOC and Bernie (who's an Independent Democratic Socialist, but caucuses w/the Dems) :
"When Trump was able to position himself as a populist opposed to the established order, the Democrats completely threw their lot in with that established order and seem to have become almost completely captured by it in the past 8 years. From within that narrative,
--->Kennedy disappears into a two-dimensional memory of a president who looked good and sounded great, but his transformative leadership in opposing US imperialism and defending liberal rights and values is not only forgotten, it's not even recognized or understood.<-----THIS! So true and so sad!
President Kennedy was an unpaid leader of the USA, dedicated to seeking a more perfect Union for all citizens to include Caroline and John Jr. He brought us the Peace Corps, NASA and all the spin-off technologies including computers. He implemented racial integration of public schools through busing and college admissions. A genuine leader for the ages, one we still yearn for. Perhaps, before it is too late . . .
Extremely well written and very insightful, I probably have over 50 to 75 books on the assignation of JFK and he was eliminated because he wouldn’t follow the military industrial playbook to go in to Vietnam and more importantly was seeking detente with Khrushchev and eventual disarmament, absolute heresy to the rabid right/conservatives of that era…..go back in time to see his speech at American University the summer prior to his death that received widespread publication in the Soviet Union that was taken as an absolute threat to CIA/Pentagon warriors ……there were three setups to take him out from rifle groups atop office buildings in Miami, Chicago and Dallas all with fall guys (patsy’s in place and Dallas was there final chance as the others were called off after covers were blown……so much has been hidden from the public that hopefully will see the light of day from Rep. Luna subcommittee………
I wrote a comment to this article about one hour before this one. I had not yet seen Congressperson Jasmine Crockett's statement to your panel. Her arrogance was stunning! Clearly she is frustrated by the her lack of agency in determining this subcommittee's agenda on account of being a minority member.
About that being in the minority: When the Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union speech quotes Ronald Reagan with admiration, "Houston, we have a problem!" My grandfather was a ward heeler for the Democratic Party in the 1930's. He would not recognize today's Democrats as fellow travelers. Nor do I.
I commend this committee for inviting the panel and state my fervent hope that its Democratic members get with the program and uncover the decades of deception surrounding the murders of JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X.
Crockett is a rising Dem star, whom I normally just LOVE! However, as you pointed out her comments at the hearing were deeply disappointing. I was beyond disappointed with her - I was angry with her "conspiracy theories" remarks (something along that line). As a lifelong true BLUE FDR/JFK/Obama Dem I was disappointed in all the Dems there! (Except for you 3 on the panel of course!) Their political grandstanding, was off the charts. There's a place and time for that, but not at at a JFKA hearing! I was thankful you three kept steering the questioning back on course! What are the Dems so afraid of?! I don't get it! As you pointed out they should be touting the incredible legacy of JFK, whom I believe to be, our greatest President!
You all were terrific coming from different angles. I am happy to hear that there will be a second hearing. I trust people like Posner will be excluded because representative Luna said on JFK facts that the magic bullet explanation has been scientifically disproved. I wish that would be in all of the newspapers and on all the news outlets.
I was astonished by the disrespect from the Dem reps who spoke. You all handled it like such professionals with so much grace. Reading that they didn’t even stay for the whole thing? My blood is boiling again. Also Jim, you gotta pack your meds in your carry on!
It seemed to me to have a lot of facts to back it up! That rumor has reoccurred at least once recently in the talks and discussions on the hearings and the declassified documents.
Being a life long Democrat I was embarrassed by the reactions of the Minority party at the hearing.You are correct in saying political points were trying to be scored.Not the time or place.I don’t know what has happened to my party.
Let's write our Congressmen. If we can get two or three veteran Democrats on the committee it would help bring attention and reform. The left has the most to lose from cynicism and mistrust of government. Liberals need government action for Civil Rights, economic development, and healthcare. So, we need the liberals involved in exposing lies to rebuild trust.
Jim, your testimony was important and historically significant. All researchers stand a little taller today, because of your courage. Thank you too, for this wonderful, personal "inside-baseball" article. We are all aware of the many ways all previous investigations were compromised and undermined. With all due respect and appreciation of Representative Luna for braving these hearings, are you concerned she will be the subject of derision, in an attempt to discredit her work? Some are insinuating she lacks sufficient gravitas to carry the day. Others are attempting to revive old attacks against her credibility based upon her "racy" modeling career. I am very eager to hear your comments. We have seen far more experienced and seasoned investigators taken-down by these unscrupulous, under-handed character attacks in order to sabotage any genuine investigation. Thank you again Jim, for your decades-long outstanding contributions to this Case. You Congressional Testimony inspired us all.
Thanks, and that is a good question. But she seems to me to be pretty gutsy and willing to take the heat. Also, she is learning about the case as she goes along. FIngers crossed.
And it was well deserved! IMO you were the star of the show, with your depth of knowledge, spirited delivery and trademark humor. It's always a huge delight to listen to you speak!
It was wonderful, no - incredible - to see you and Stone and Morley at such a hearing, sharing eye-opening information about the case, and getting the coverage you did during and after. Congratulations. Big time. This behind-the-scenes Substack report is a huge bonus. Thank you very much.
My two cents on the Democrats position: They see this as part of Trump's take down of the government, specifically the Intelligence agencies and Justice Department/FBI. So, if Trump and the GOP are for it, they are against it. That's what I think is going on. I think they could be right about that, that any reform of these agencies by this Administration will be a disaster, as with most things they do, but that is not an argument against disclosure and truth and reconciliation, somthing I wish you or Jeff Morley would have mentioned since I think you both (along with me) signed the petition several years back calling for Truth and Reconciliation.
Possibly, the demcrats are also concerned with tarnishing LBJ's record, who many on the left see as a Patron Saint because of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act - LBJ gets all the credit for that.
LBJ was certainly a mixed bag! So much bad with his Vietnam disaster, thanks to his reversal of JFK's NSAM 263, and so much good when he embraced JFK's most profound plans for the Voting Rights & Civil Rights Acts! I think Dems should just acknowledge both and point out how he reversed NSAM 263. The country needs to mourn the loss of what it could've been had JFK's FULL agenda been followed!
LBJ was a complete power mad sociopath who at best covered up the murder of the President. Civil Rights shouldn’t make looking into that off limits. It’s also long overdue to examine if Civil Rights has accomplished any of the objectives those who championed it at the time envisioned.
The really odd thing is that in the book, The Bill of the Century, it was revealed that it was really RFK, Humphrey and Kuchel who got the Voting Rights Act passed, LBJ did little.
Well if LBJ didn’t pass it, why did Robert Caro spend all that time in Johnson City? I think Caro needs the Civil Rights wins or his entire “Master of the Senate” narrative arc doesn’t work hence the LBJ myth.
Caro has about as much insight into Kennedy as Nixon had into Gorbachev. If you did not know, Nixon told Reagan that Gorby was just another apparatchik. Caro is up a tree on this issue which is why I am not looking forward to his next volume on Vietnam.
Caro is 89, and he already published a self-congratulatory memoir type essay that tells how he was the Ivy Leaguer who all the blue collar reporters came to love. I have doubts that if that book comes out that Robert is the one who finished it.
This is not to say his books aren’t enjoyable or insightful. But Caro certainly treats Dallas like a happy accident for career criminal LBJ, which is curious at best.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." I was seven when JFK gave his inaugural address. I do not think those words stripped me of permission to argue for concrete material benefits such as health care, housing, education, and the right to work with dignity for all.
JFK's murder started the decline of our nation over the last 62 years of my life. The institution of the Powell memo written in 1971 indentured most of us to survival of the fittest, not the protection of our most vulnerable. Our most vulnerable being people, pristine places and resources that should be in the public domain.
Evil deeds should see the light of day. I want to live to see the day that the names of those guilty of this atrocity get removed from public buildings.
Let's write our Democratic Congressmen and plead with them to take this seriously. Thanks for this insightful summary of your experience. I was so happy seeing the three of you in a Congressional hearing. I thought the three of you did great, and I hope more hearings will come. I think we are lucky Congresswoman Luna is taking this seriously and she has been bipartisan and sincere in this most critical endeavor. Well done.
This is great Jim, I'm very glad you and Oliver were able to do that, it can only help. I have some reservations about Luna and the entire process thus far, but unless I've missed something, the Democratic Party has been completely wrong on this issue for many years now. This is clearly a bipartisan issue and the public is strongly on the side of declassification, the Democrats are simply further alienating themselves as the party of covert operations, NGO's, censorship, and war.
If we were to look in history at a political group who was against the public learning the truth about a pivotal event, it is usually highly suggestive of larger political dynamics to the point of; those who have nothing to hide, generally don't mind telling the public about the thing. Obviously, the Democratic party as a whole was not the ultimate culprit of the JFK murder, but do they represent the remnants of those forces more than Trump? I think that is a very complex and interesting question, but important.
On a side note, has anything been released or discovered about Joannides yet? I have noticed the largely uninformed public brandishing the Underhill and Israel/nuke stories as though they have been revealed for the first time, but I haven't seen anything genuinely new yet.
I think those two pages from the Schlesinger memo were new and important which is why I talked about them. I have not seen the hidden pages by the CIA on Joannides.
Have you read the published info yet on the Ruby (Rubenstein) and LBJ Zionist connections? Supposedly his extended family has important Israeli connections very powerful in Texas (Dallas)? I can’t recall now who wrote extensively on this topic but everything affiliated with it (KFK’s
Opening to Nasser re help with the Aswan dam - even other related openings to Che Guevara and Castro etc explain why Democrats were and still might be wholly disapproving of KFK and Bobby as well?)
It's astonishing that the Democrats, who should be the proud ideological descendants of JFK and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, have instead allowed the Republicans & Trump, TRUMP - OF ALL PEOPLE - to pick up the banner of honesty, transparency and Democracy!
When you look back at the Dem party since 1963 and examine it closely in light of today's situation, it really emphasizes just how critical Dallas was. Straight away they gave us Vietnam, the USS Liberty cover up (if it was JFK in that situation, the entire Israel-US relationship might be different today), then a Trilateral guy for 4 years, then the CIA Mena cocaine coverup guy who finalized NAFTA, then a Chicago (Rockefeller) asset who had the best opportunity (2007-8) to right the ship and instead proved the ship left the dock. I won't even bother to comment on Biden as I view his presidency as the most blatant puppet show the world might possibly has ever seen.
Further, the problem really started in 1944 when the corrupt DNC forced Truman on FDR. To me, Truman was to FDR what LBJ was to JFK. Observers at the time knew Truman was a product of the Kansas City crime syndicate and was steered away from FDR's anti-British end of the war plans. This becomes all the more intriguing when you consider what Stalin supposedly said about FDR's death to Eliot Roosevelt. It went something like, "The Churchill gang poisoned him". I am not 100% sure that is true, but the circumstances at the time make a very strong case that it is. Regardless, FDR/JFK's removals came at absolutely critical moments in history that completely changed the potential political landscapes.
Yes, I recall hearing about Stalin's suspicions about FDR's death in a Fletcher Prouty interview. I've often wondered about that, with FDR's death representing such a seismic shift in policy, and with Truman replacing Wallace on the ticket the year before, as you mentioned.
It really does seem to me that the coup planned against FDR in the '30s was simply delayed. First in 1945, then with the installation of the National Security State under Truman and the firming up of thus apparatus under Dulles and Eisenhower - the war machine built by FDR was converted into a machine to advance perpetual imperialism. By the time Kennedy came in and tried to steer the ship of state back toward peace and democracy, it was too late. The military/intelligence influence and power was too great. When Kennedy was assassinated, the coup originally planned against FDR was finally achieved. The oligarchic interests have been running the country ever since, with veto power over the president and the political parties exercised from behind the curtain.
Kennedy might have been able to prevent this if he had survived the assassination attempts. He was trying. It would gave been tough though - a certain level of corruption had already set in in Washington and US institutions by 1963, or the coup attempt would gave been flushed out as the 1930s attempt against FDR was.
Stalin suspected something because he knew that things would now change with Churchill in charge. And there was a coup attempt against FDR. But that is about as far as we can go with FDR's death as far as I know. But man, did Truman change FDR's policies.
There was a piece on NPR just last night about FDR's birthday celebration and how the Trump regime is now trying to SMEAR FDR and reverse his legacy! (Soc Security etc). Makes me absolutely sick! My mother is rolling over in her grave - she was born in '28, lived thru the Great Depression and WWII. She adored FDR, as did her entire family, and had 7 brothers who fought the fascists in WWII, one KIA in the Aleutians, 2 who survived Pearl Harbor on separate ships, one in the jungles of Burma, one who survived the Battle of the Bulge and had horrible PTSD ever after etc...She lived to see the fascist coup attempt Jan 6 by Trump and his MAGA goons (she died in 2023) and was absolutely horrified! If she weren't already dead, this 2nd Trump administration would have killed her by now! Just looked it up here's the NPR story: : https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5359114/80-years-after-president-franklin-roosevelts-death-trump-cuts-threaten-his-legacy
Who knew what "disclosure was going to look like. Political posturing. The level of topic awareness by some committee mebers was a disappointment. It is the pathway we have for now. Press on.
Jasmine Crockashit! Come on man! This is our history. People have devoted their lives with tremendous sacrifice to study this case. Mysterious deaths by the hundreds during the cover up in the 60s and 70s. She’s on her cellphone during most of the hearing. She obviously spent no time or effort whatsoever to participate or contribute to committee’s mission. Why are you there. Do the people who care about this issue a favor and shut up.
I thought you did a great job handling the attempts at gotcha questions and diversions, Jim - and skillfully did not get drawn off point, steering the discussion back to the real issues. I thought it was a good move on your part to present a few snippets of the strongest evidence in the case disproving the official story, particularly showing how the HSCA got the medical evidence wrong by hiding the testimony of Bethesda witnesses. That highlights the need for the House to correct for their own institutions's prior failures.
All I can say about the attitude of today's Democrats is that they seem to have collapsed into an agenda entirely based on not being Trump, and don't seem to have an actual vision to sell their voters besides that. As a result, anything Trump is associated with becomes something they will condemn, no matter what it is.
The other thing I've noticed is that in the last 10-15 years, the Democrats have shifted over to becoming the defenders of the established order. I believe Citizens United had a lot to do with that. Under Obama, it seemed like the strategy became to stay competetive by raising large sums of money, joining with big finance and the military industrial complex and advocating for incremental progressive gains within the parameters of what the establishment would tolerate, while pledging to defend that establishment in turn.
When Trump was able to position himself as a populist opposed to the established order, the Democrats completely threw their lot in with that established order and seem to have become almost completely captured by it in the past 8 years. From within that narrative, Kennedy disappears into a two-dimensiolnal memory of a president who looked good and sounded great, but his transformative leadership in opposing US imperialism and defending liberal rights and values is not only forgotten, it's not even recognized or understood.
It's a sad state of affairs. I really wish more members on the Left would remember their roots and realize that Kennedy really was an inspirational leader who provides an excellent model for the kind of leadership, civic values, and even policy approaches that could guide us at this very time.
I'm very appreciative for you and your work in this regard - educating the public about Kennedy's true legacy, what he really meant, what his assassination really meant, and the consequences of his elimination and the ensuing coverup on US society, leadership, and policy - as well as the consequences for the rest if the world.
I'm so glad you got to speak on these issues before Congress! Thank you so much for your devoted service.
I like your analysis. And I think its accurate. Lost sheep.
And thanks for appreciating my writing about the real JFK.
I also deeply appreciate your writing about "the real JFK"!
Thank you Jim! And you're very welcome.
Well said!!! I thought this take on Citizens United's effect on the Dem Party and how they've since thrown their lot in with the established order, was really astute. We need more leaders like AOC and Bernie (who's an Independent Democratic Socialist, but caucuses w/the Dems) :
"When Trump was able to position himself as a populist opposed to the established order, the Democrats completely threw their lot in with that established order and seem to have become almost completely captured by it in the past 8 years. From within that narrative,
--->Kennedy disappears into a two-dimensional memory of a president who looked good and sounded great, but his transformative leadership in opposing US imperialism and defending liberal rights and values is not only forgotten, it's not even recognized or understood.<-----THIS! So true and so sad!
President Kennedy was an unpaid leader of the USA, dedicated to seeking a more perfect Union for all citizens to include Caroline and John Jr. He brought us the Peace Corps, NASA and all the spin-off technologies including computers. He implemented racial integration of public schools through busing and college admissions. A genuine leader for the ages, one we still yearn for. Perhaps, before it is too late . . .
Extremely well written and very insightful, I probably have over 50 to 75 books on the assignation of JFK and he was eliminated because he wouldn’t follow the military industrial playbook to go in to Vietnam and more importantly was seeking detente with Khrushchev and eventual disarmament, absolute heresy to the rabid right/conservatives of that era…..go back in time to see his speech at American University the summer prior to his death that received widespread publication in the Soviet Union that was taken as an absolute threat to CIA/Pentagon warriors ……there were three setups to take him out from rifle groups atop office buildings in Miami, Chicago and Dallas all with fall guys (patsy’s in place and Dallas was there final chance as the others were called off after covers were blown……so much has been hidden from the public that hopefully will see the light of day from Rep. Luna subcommittee………
Thanks Brad, appreciate it.
I wrote a comment to this article about one hour before this one. I had not yet seen Congressperson Jasmine Crockett's statement to your panel. Her arrogance was stunning! Clearly she is frustrated by the her lack of agency in determining this subcommittee's agenda on account of being a minority member.
About that being in the minority: When the Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union speech quotes Ronald Reagan with admiration, "Houston, we have a problem!" My grandfather was a ward heeler for the Democratic Party in the 1930's. He would not recognize today's Democrats as fellow travelers. Nor do I.
I commend this committee for inviting the panel and state my fervent hope that its Democratic members get with the program and uncover the decades of deception surrounding the murders of JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcolm X.
I was struck by her reply also. Really disappointing.
Crockett is a rising Dem star, whom I normally just LOVE! However, as you pointed out her comments at the hearing were deeply disappointing. I was beyond disappointed with her - I was angry with her "conspiracy theories" remarks (something along that line). As a lifelong true BLUE FDR/JFK/Obama Dem I was disappointed in all the Dems there! (Except for you 3 on the panel of course!) Their political grandstanding, was off the charts. There's a place and time for that, but not at at a JFKA hearing! I was thankful you three kept steering the questioning back on course! What are the Dems so afraid of?! I don't get it! As you pointed out they should be touting the incredible legacy of JFK, whom I believe to be, our greatest President!
You all were terrific coming from different angles. I am happy to hear that there will be a second hearing. I trust people like Posner will be excluded because representative Luna said on JFK facts that the magic bullet explanation has been scientifically disproved. I wish that would be in all of the newspapers and on all the news outlets.
I was astonished by the disrespect from the Dem reps who spoke. You all handled it like such professionals with so much grace. Reading that they didn’t even stay for the whole thing? My blood is boiling again. Also Jim, you gotta pack your meds in your carry on!
LOL, thanks for the advice.
(Oliver)Stone wrote a book contending that LBJ killed JFK... My God!
That was rich was it not?
Well done, all the same, Jim. You, Oliver and Jeff navigated what could've become a circus incredibly well
That was the comedic break.
It seemed to me to have a lot of facts to back it up! That rumor has reoccurred at least once recently in the talks and discussions on the hearings and the declassified documents.
Being a life long Democrat I was embarrassed by the reactions of the Minority party at the hearing.You are correct in saying political points were trying to be scored.Not the time or place.I don’t know what has happened to my party.
Let's write our Congressmen. If we can get two or three veteran Democrats on the committee it would help bring attention and reform. The left has the most to lose from cynicism and mistrust of government. Liberals need government action for Civil Rights, economic development, and healthcare. So, we need the liberals involved in exposing lies to rebuild trust.
Jim, your testimony was important and historically significant. All researchers stand a little taller today, because of your courage. Thank you too, for this wonderful, personal "inside-baseball" article. We are all aware of the many ways all previous investigations were compromised and undermined. With all due respect and appreciation of Representative Luna for braving these hearings, are you concerned she will be the subject of derision, in an attempt to discredit her work? Some are insinuating she lacks sufficient gravitas to carry the day. Others are attempting to revive old attacks against her credibility based upon her "racy" modeling career. I am very eager to hear your comments. We have seen far more experienced and seasoned investigators taken-down by these unscrupulous, under-handed character attacks in order to sabotage any genuine investigation. Thank you again Jim, for your decades-long outstanding contributions to this Case. You Congressional Testimony inspired us all.
Thanks, and that is a good question. But she seems to me to be pretty gutsy and willing to take the heat. Also, she is learning about the case as she goes along. FIngers crossed.
Jim, I love you. Thank you for your many years of hard work, amazing depth and unbelievable persistence.
This must have been a highlight.
Thanks so much. And yes, it was an interesting experience. And it got a lot of attention in the press and on the web.
And it was well deserved! IMO you were the star of the show, with your depth of knowledge, spirited delivery and trademark humor. It's always a huge delight to listen to you speak!
Thanks so much Linda.
It was wonderful, no - incredible - to see you and Stone and Morley at such a hearing, sharing eye-opening information about the case, and getting the coverage you did during and after. Congratulations. Big time. This behind-the-scenes Substack report is a huge bonus. Thank you very much.
Welcome Bruce. Keep up the good work.
My two cents on the Democrats position: They see this as part of Trump's take down of the government, specifically the Intelligence agencies and Justice Department/FBI. So, if Trump and the GOP are for it, they are against it. That's what I think is going on. I think they could be right about that, that any reform of these agencies by this Administration will be a disaster, as with most things they do, but that is not an argument against disclosure and truth and reconciliation, somthing I wish you or Jeff Morley would have mentioned since I think you both (along with me) signed the petition several years back calling for Truth and Reconciliation.
Possibly, the demcrats are also concerned with tarnishing LBJ's record, who many on the left see as a Patron Saint because of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act - LBJ gets all the credit for that.
LBJ was certainly a mixed bag! So much bad with his Vietnam disaster, thanks to his reversal of JFK's NSAM 263, and so much good when he embraced JFK's most profound plans for the Voting Rights & Civil Rights Acts! I think Dems should just acknowledge both and point out how he reversed NSAM 263. The country needs to mourn the loss of what it could've been had JFK's FULL agenda been followed!
LBJ was a complete power mad sociopath who at best covered up the murder of the President. Civil Rights shouldn’t make looking into that off limits. It’s also long overdue to examine if Civil Rights has accomplished any of the objectives those who championed it at the time envisioned.
The really odd thing is that in the book, The Bill of the Century, it was revealed that it was really RFK, Humphrey and Kuchel who got the Voting Rights Act passed, LBJ did little.
Well if LBJ didn’t pass it, why did Robert Caro spend all that time in Johnson City? I think Caro needs the Civil Rights wins or his entire “Master of the Senate” narrative arc doesn’t work hence the LBJ myth.
BTW, Caro once said that Halberstam had it right on Vietnam. LOL.
Caro has about as much insight into Kennedy as Nixon had into Gorbachev. If you did not know, Nixon told Reagan that Gorby was just another apparatchik. Caro is up a tree on this issue which is why I am not looking forward to his next volume on Vietnam.
Caro is 89, and he already published a self-congratulatory memoir type essay that tells how he was the Ivy Leaguer who all the blue collar reporters came to love. I have doubts that if that book comes out that Robert is the one who finished it.
This is not to say his books aren’t enjoyable or insightful. But Caro certainly treats Dallas like a happy accident for career criminal LBJ, which is curious at best.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." I was seven when JFK gave his inaugural address. I do not think those words stripped me of permission to argue for concrete material benefits such as health care, housing, education, and the right to work with dignity for all.
JFK's murder started the decline of our nation over the last 62 years of my life. The institution of the Powell memo written in 1971 indentured most of us to survival of the fittest, not the protection of our most vulnerable. Our most vulnerable being people, pristine places and resources that should be in the public domain.
Evil deeds should see the light of day. I want to live to see the day that the names of those guilty of this atrocity get removed from public buildings.
Nice one.
Agree with your sentiments! Had to look up the 1971 Powell Memo. Thanks for that enlightenment!
Let's write our Democratic Congressmen and plead with them to take this seriously. Thanks for this insightful summary of your experience. I was so happy seeing the three of you in a Congressional hearing. I thought the three of you did great, and I hope more hearings will come. I think we are lucky Congresswoman Luna is taking this seriously and she has been bipartisan and sincere in this most critical endeavor. Well done.
Thanks so much Diane. So do I.
This is great Jim, I'm very glad you and Oliver were able to do that, it can only help. I have some reservations about Luna and the entire process thus far, but unless I've missed something, the Democratic Party has been completely wrong on this issue for many years now. This is clearly a bipartisan issue and the public is strongly on the side of declassification, the Democrats are simply further alienating themselves as the party of covert operations, NGO's, censorship, and war.
If we were to look in history at a political group who was against the public learning the truth about a pivotal event, it is usually highly suggestive of larger political dynamics to the point of; those who have nothing to hide, generally don't mind telling the public about the thing. Obviously, the Democratic party as a whole was not the ultimate culprit of the JFK murder, but do they represent the remnants of those forces more than Trump? I think that is a very complex and interesting question, but important.
On a side note, has anything been released or discovered about Joannides yet? I have noticed the largely uninformed public brandishing the Underhill and Israel/nuke stories as though they have been revealed for the first time, but I haven't seen anything genuinely new yet.
Great work Jim!
Thanks Stephen.
I think those two pages from the Schlesinger memo were new and important which is why I talked about them. I have not seen the hidden pages by the CIA on Joannides.
Have you read the published info yet on the Ruby (Rubenstein) and LBJ Zionist connections? Supposedly his extended family has important Israeli connections very powerful in Texas (Dallas)? I can’t recall now who wrote extensively on this topic but everything affiliated with it (KFK’s
Opening to Nasser re help with the Aswan dam - even other related openings to Che Guevara and Castro etc explain why Democrats were and still might be wholly disapproving of KFK and Bobby as well?)
A good question as to why the Dems decided to turn their back on JFK at this hearing.
This is going to be my jumping off point for my next substack column. What happened to the Democratic Party and Biden's role in all that.
It's astonishing that the Democrats, who should be the proud ideological descendants of JFK and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, have instead allowed the Republicans & Trump, TRUMP - OF ALL PEOPLE - to pick up the banner of honesty, transparency and Democracy!
The irony was huge.
When you look back at the Dem party since 1963 and examine it closely in light of today's situation, it really emphasizes just how critical Dallas was. Straight away they gave us Vietnam, the USS Liberty cover up (if it was JFK in that situation, the entire Israel-US relationship might be different today), then a Trilateral guy for 4 years, then the CIA Mena cocaine coverup guy who finalized NAFTA, then a Chicago (Rockefeller) asset who had the best opportunity (2007-8) to right the ship and instead proved the ship left the dock. I won't even bother to comment on Biden as I view his presidency as the most blatant puppet show the world might possibly has ever seen.
Further, the problem really started in 1944 when the corrupt DNC forced Truman on FDR. To me, Truman was to FDR what LBJ was to JFK. Observers at the time knew Truman was a product of the Kansas City crime syndicate and was steered away from FDR's anti-British end of the war plans. This becomes all the more intriguing when you consider what Stalin supposedly said about FDR's death to Eliot Roosevelt. It went something like, "The Churchill gang poisoned him". I am not 100% sure that is true, but the circumstances at the time make a very strong case that it is. Regardless, FDR/JFK's removals came at absolutely critical moments in history that completely changed the potential political landscapes.
Yes, I recall hearing about Stalin's suspicions about FDR's death in a Fletcher Prouty interview. I've often wondered about that, with FDR's death representing such a seismic shift in policy, and with Truman replacing Wallace on the ticket the year before, as you mentioned.
It really does seem to me that the coup planned against FDR in the '30s was simply delayed. First in 1945, then with the installation of the National Security State under Truman and the firming up of thus apparatus under Dulles and Eisenhower - the war machine built by FDR was converted into a machine to advance perpetual imperialism. By the time Kennedy came in and tried to steer the ship of state back toward peace and democracy, it was too late. The military/intelligence influence and power was too great. When Kennedy was assassinated, the coup originally planned against FDR was finally achieved. The oligarchic interests have been running the country ever since, with veto power over the president and the political parties exercised from behind the curtain.
Kennedy might have been able to prevent this if he had survived the assassination attempts. He was trying. It would gave been tough though - a certain level of corruption had already set in in Washington and US institutions by 1963, or the coup attempt would gave been flushed out as the 1930s attempt against FDR was.
Stalin suspected something because he knew that things would now change with Churchill in charge. And there was a coup attempt against FDR. But that is about as far as we can go with FDR's death as far as I know. But man, did Truman change FDR's policies.
There was a piece on NPR just last night about FDR's birthday celebration and how the Trump regime is now trying to SMEAR FDR and reverse his legacy! (Soc Security etc). Makes me absolutely sick! My mother is rolling over in her grave - she was born in '28, lived thru the Great Depression and WWII. She adored FDR, as did her entire family, and had 7 brothers who fought the fascists in WWII, one KIA in the Aleutians, 2 who survived Pearl Harbor on separate ships, one in the jungles of Burma, one who survived the Battle of the Bulge and had horrible PTSD ever after etc...She lived to see the fascist coup attempt Jan 6 by Trump and his MAGA goons (she died in 2023) and was absolutely horrified! If she weren't already dead, this 2nd Trump administration would have killed her by now! Just looked it up here's the NPR story: : https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5359114/80-years-after-president-franklin-roosevelts-death-trump-cuts-threaten-his-legacy
Thanks for that Linda. BTW what Truman did to FDR's foreign policy is comparable to what LBJ did to Kennedy's. It was a milestone.
Who knew what "disclosure was going to look like. Political posturing. The level of topic awareness by some committee mebers was a disappointment. It is the pathway we have for now. Press on.
I agree.
Democrats have embraced the Deep State for a number of years. Especially the FBI & the CIA with the various anti Trump efforts.
Funny for some of us who remember when the Dems hated the CIA & FBI.
For the good old days with Frank Church. and Gary Hart.
Jasmine Crockashit! Come on man! This is our history. People have devoted their lives with tremendous sacrifice to study this case. Mysterious deaths by the hundreds during the cover up in the 60s and 70s. She’s on her cellphone during most of the hearing. She obviously spent no time or effort whatsoever to participate or contribute to committee’s mission. Why are you there. Do the people who care about this issue a favor and shut up.
I can't tell you what a shocking disappointment she was to me, as normally one of her biggest fans! Somebody needs to get through to her!