JFK: What we know now that we didn't know then

[Adele Edisen]

William Bundy


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


William Putnam "Bill" Bundy (September 24, 1917 October 6, 2000) was a member of the CIA and foreign affairs advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He had a key role in planning the Vietnam War. After leaving government service he became a historian.


Early years

Raised in Boston, Massachusetts he came from a family long involved in politics. His father, Harvey Hollister Bundy, was a diplomat who helped implement the Marshall Plan. Bill was raised in a highly accomplished, highly intellectual family. After attending the Groton School and Yale University (where he was one of the first presidents of the Yale Political Union) and a member of Skull and Bones, he entered Harvard Law School but left to join the Army Signal Corps during World War II. During this time he worked at Bletchley Park in Britain as part of the top secret ULTRA operation to break Nazi codes.

After finishing law school in 1947, Bundy joined the Washington-based law firm of Covington and Burling. While there, he contributed to Alger Hiss's defense fund in the Hiss-Chambers Case. In 1953, Senator Joseph McCarthy cited his $400 contribution. Bundy explained that Donald Hiss, Alger's brother, worked with him at Covington & Burling. Allen Dulles and Vice President Richard M. Nixon defended him, and the matter dropped.[1]

[edit] Positions held

During the 1950s he worked as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency, where he was chief of staff for the Office of National Estimates. In 1960, Bundy took a leave of absence from the CIA to serve as staff director for Eisenhower's Commission on National Goals.[2] During the Kennedy years he was deputy to Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs Paul Nitze and worked for the Secretary of the Navy. During much of the LBJ era he was Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific affairs. After resigning from the executive branch in 1969 he taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1972 he moved to Princeton University where he remained for the rest of his life. He edited the influential journal of the Council on Foreign Relations (of which he was a member) Foreign Affairs from 1972 to 1984, after declining the offer of the Council's chairman, David Rockefeller, to be the Council's president.

His brother, McGeorge Bundy (19191996), was also an integral part of the both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Bill was married to Mary Acheson, the daughter of Truman's Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Bill and Mary had three children, Michael, Christopher, and Carol.

Bill Bundy was somewhat to the left of his brother politically, and was a spirited opponent of Joseph McCarthy. He was also considered one of the administration's more dovish members on Vietnam.

Bundy's most noted work is A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency (1998).

Bundy was Honorary American Secretary General of the Bilderberg Meetings from 1975 to 1980.[3][4]

Bundy's papers are held by the Seeley G. Mudd Library at Princeton University.

References

1.^ Martin, Douglas (2000-10-07). "William P. Bundy, 83, Dies; Advised 3 Presidents on American Policy in Vietnam". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
2.^ William P. Bundy. A tangled web: the making of foreign policy in the Nixon presidency. pp. xiv.
3.^ The International Who's Who, 198485. International Publications Service. ISBN 0905118979.
4.^ "Former Steering Committee Members". BilderbergMeetings.org. Retrieved August 25, 2011.

"William Bundy". The Times. October 10, 2000. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
Martin, Douglas (October 7, 2000). "William P. Bundy, 83, Dies; Advised 3 Presidents on American Policy in Vietnam". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
"William Bundy". Telegraph. October 9, 2000. Retrieved 2009-10-21

Further reading
Bird, Kai. The Color of Truth: McGeorge and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998. ISBN 0684809702.

External links
William P. Bundy Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
William P. Bundy in 1981 discussing his experiences with the Vietnam war, including Lyndon Johnson's strategies in Vietnam. WGBH Open Vault. Accessed July 22, 2010.


Adele Edisen

[A.J. Blocker]

Also on his resume:

Former boyfriend of one miss Jacqueline Lee Bouvier!

[James H. Fetzer]

Well, when you are wrong, you are wrong. And both Adele and Coogan are wrong. LBJ was the guy who pressured JFK to come to Texas. He even told Henry Gonzales that he didn't want to make the trip, but that Lyndon was insisting. Connally was the one who, apparently faking a phone call to the White House, claimed that Kenny O'Donnell had approved the change of venue to the Trade Mart, even though the Secret Service felt it was less secure than The Women's Forum. I think those who want to get this straight ought to do more research, especially LBJ: MASTERMIND OF JFK'S ASSASSINATION.

To All,

From my reading of two books, and from a posting I believe I made on this forum, if not on another forum some years ago, Lyndon Johnson and his staff tried to keep Kennedy from visiting Dallas during this swing through Texas. I recommend these readings, if you have not already done so.

THE 31st OF MARCH by Horace Busby, speechwriter and confidant of LBJ's. The title refers to the date, March 31, 1968, when Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not be seeking the presidency in November, 1968. Perhaps even more significant is Busby's description of a speech he wrote for LBJ in 1967 that was to be delivered at the end of Johnson's 1967 State of the Union speech to make the same declaration, but which he did not deliver even though it was in his pocket when he spoke.

JOHNNY, WE HARDLY KNEW YE by Kenneth O'Donnell and David Powers. Both authors were very close to John Kennedy.

Both books cite Lyndon Johnson urging Kennedy and his staff and planners to skip the Dallas visit, because the city did not carry the Kennedy-Johnson ticket in the 1960 election, and because Lyndon and Ladybird Johnson were ill-treated when campaigning in Dallas in 1960. They were hit by agitators' signs and spit upon in the lobby of the Adolphus Hotel as they walked through it.

Adele Edisen

There are other sources as well such as Vince Palamara and William Manchester. John Connally was also deeply opposed and funnily enough worried about the security of the Trademart.

[Charles Drago]

Endorsing Nelson's LBJ "mastermind" book is the moral and intellectual equivalent of endorsing the JFK-related works of Posner and Bugliosi.

Shame on you, Jim Fetzer.

Shame.

[Phil Dragoo]

Of note,
[B]A Texan Looks at Nelson: LBJ Mastermind of JFK's Assassination[/B]

By Joseph E. Green


http://www.ctka.net/reviews/Green_LBJ.html

I had read Craig I. Zirbel, The Texas Connection, and noted a footnote re Doris the fawning Doris attributing it to Lasky, It Didn't Start With Watergate, and asked the agent who said, "Yes, I helped him with the come-back books."

Watergate, in my dawning view, was Helms sabotaging Nixon: Another Attack of the CIA Against Another Temporary Resident.

That Hunt would be credible when he deflects blame for The Big Dance to Landslide is circular, in that Hunt has always deflected blame--he was at a Chinese grocery, officer, no, really.

42 novels.

So reviewer Green says 700 pages could be 20.

It could be a sentence: LBJ in the Plaza with manipulation.

But there's so much manipulated by others for years prior and subsequent.

He would appoint Helms and sometime between his slouching off to his ranch to await his heart attack and Nixon slouching off to San Clemente, Johnson would die.

But the Big Dance goes on. And on.

Why are we in Afghanistan.

Where the poppies grow

Between the IEDs row on row

And Posner defended Karzai

Accused of being a CIA schmo.

Medicare, sure. The national security state. That's the macro.

[Vasilios Vazakas]

"Do you believe that LBJ was the man who ultimately decided, authorized and ordered the execution of President Kennedy?"

[Albert Doyle]

Well, when you are wrong, you are wrong. And both Adele and Coogan are wrong. LBJ was the guy who pressured JFK to come to Texas. He even told Henry Gonzales that he didn't want to make the trip, but that Lyndon was insisting. Connally was the one who, apparently faking a phone call to the White House, claimed that Kenny O'Donnell had approved the change of venue to the Trade Mart, even though the Secret Service felt it was less secure than The Women's Forum. I think those who want to get this straight ought to do more research, especially LBJ: MASTERMIND OF JFK'S ASSASSINATION.

What I don't understand is why Mr Fetzer seems impervious to realizing that everything written above doesn't preclude in the slightest, whatsoever, other people influencing Johnson to do these things. This 'evidence' wouldn't pass even the first level of court scrutiny. There's not a single thing there that precludes the real masterminds from approaching LBJ and getting him to do those things on their behalf. As a matter of fact, I personally believe that is the exact description of the above and shows the opposite of what Mr Fetzer is contending. I just refuse to believe old "bullshit" Lyndon was capable of all that on his own.

When exactly did Lyndon visit the CIA headquarters and talk them in to all this difficult arranging that appears, from the record, to have started long before this Dallas trip business?

[Adele Edisen]

THE PROGRESSIVE PRESIDENTS: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, by John Mortron Blum,
Woodward Professor of History at Yale University, 1980, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

The author lists and critically analyses the administrations of these four presidents of whom he says, "The conditions and accidents of their times
called the four men forth, though others like them would have done as well. In spite of their limitations, their positive achievements promoted
the general welfare, one stated purpose of the Constitution. In spite of the common ambiguities with which they lived, they provided a vibrant
direction that in the large raised the quality of national life." (page 209, paperback edition, 1982)

The author describes the historic, economic, and social influences on each, and how earlier administrations and policies affected later ones. His description of the
influences affecting Lyndon Johnson during his administration provide much reference material.

John Kennedy, although a progressive democrat, is not included because he died before he might have succeeded. Both Kennedy and Johnson worked to
bring progressive democratic goals to fruition, to benefit the nation's people. Both were indeed, as were the others, simply, human beings.

Adele Edisen

[LR Trotter]

My first reaction to visiting Dealy Plaza was how small of an area such a big place in history occupied. When the bullets struck JFK, the car carrying LBJ was just a few feet behind, and well within the kill zone. That factor makes it difficult for me to believe LBJ was the mastermind, without seeking other factors as well. When LBJ saw JFK murdered in such a brutal manner, I have to wonder how safe he felt taking over the office of POTUS. If in fact LBJ was involved in a cover up of the true facts of the assassination, as some believe, I would wonder if witnessing the event may have prompted his actions. I am not trying to disagree with Professor Fetzer, who I respect as a long time researcher, but I have trouble believing LBJ had that much power.

[Adele Edisen]

Well, when you are wrong, you are wrong. And both Adele and Coogan are wrong. LBJ was the guy who pressured JFK to come to Texas. He even told Henry Gonzales that he didn't want to make the trip, but that Lyndon was insisting. Connally was the one who, apparently faking a phone call to the White House, claimed that Kenny O'Donnell had approved the change of venue to the Trade Mart, even though the Secret Service felt it was less secure than The Women's Forum. I think those who want to get this straight ought to do more research, especially LBJ: MASTERMIND OF JFK'S ASSASSINATION.

To All,

From my reading of two books, and from a posting I believe I made on this forum, if not on another forum some years ago, Lyndon Johnson and his staff tried to keep Kennedy from visiting Dallas during this swing through Texas. I recommend these readings, if you have not already done so.

THE 31st OF MARCH by Horace Busby, speechwriter and confidant of LBJ's. The title refers to the date, March 31, 1968, when Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not be seeking the presidency in November, 1968. Perhaps even more significant is Busby's description of a speech he wrote for LBJ in 1967 that was to be delivered at the end of Johnson's 1967 State of the Union speech to make the same declaration, but which he did not deliver even though it was in his pocket when he spoke.

JOHNNY, WE HARDLY KNEW YE by Kenneth O'Donnell and David Powers. Both authors were very close to John Kennedy.

Both books cite Lyndon Johnson urging Kennedy and his staff and planners to skip the Dallas visit, because the city did not carry the Kennedy-Johnson ticket in the 1960 election, and because Lyndon and Ladybird Johnson were ill-treated when campaigning in Dallas in 1960. They were hit by agitators' signs and spit upon in the lobby of the Adolphus Hotel as they walked through it.

Adele Edisen

There are other sources as well such as Vince Palamara and William Manchester. John Connally was also deeply opposed and funnily enough worried about the security of the Trademart.

Jim,

I have a great deal of respect for you, but if I am wrong, then the two books, THE THIRTY-FIRST OF MARCH and JOHNNY, WE HARDLY KNEW YE, are also wrong on the issue of Lyndon Johnson's persistent pleading to Kennedy and his staff to not visit Dallas on the trip to Texas. I don't mind being wrong, because from that I may learn something I had not known before, and I am not afraid to be wrong, except when being wrong could physically hurt another human being.

I first met Madeleine Duncan Brown in November 1991 at the first ASK Conference in Dallas. Dr. Jerry Rose had published my article, "From April to November and Back Again" in his journal. "The Third Decade", Novembe 1991 issue. He and I met for the first time at this meeting and since he knew that I knew no one else there, he escorted me about to introduce ne to researchers and 'celebrities', one of whom was Madeleine. I knew nothing of her and her story, which I learned some years later on the Rich DellaRosa Forum when I became a member.

I do not have anger towards her. Rather, I have a great deal of empathy and sympathy for her. As any psychologist and psychiatrist knows, the loss of a child has the most devastating effect on people, especially women who have borne and raised them. This loss can affect a person's own sense of self, the ego. Depending on the healthy strength of that ego, the grief and loss can be handled, even if the grief never leaves. Madeleine lost her son and her lover and protector who had provided for her and him as well. She, in a sense, had been abandoned.

When young children are emotionally and/or physically abused, their growing, fragile ego can be badly hurt. They often conceive of a fantasy world that is safe and free of harm. To them it becomes real and true. Its purpose is to protect the sense of self from further harm and pain. Similarly, an adult with severe losses of a child, especially a woman, a mother whose ego is vulnerable, may devise a delusional system which protects the rest of her ego from the pain and hurt. To argue or try to disprove such beliefs creates much resistance. As Freud himself once pointed out, that to argue with a delusion only makes it stronger.

This is how I have come to understand Madeleine Brown and her story. I don't know whether this could be acceptable to you and others, but it is based on my readings of Freud, Adler, Jung, James, and many others, and being around a lot of psychiatrists, and knowing women friends who had lost a child, or even lost two children at the same time. The loss and its memory never disappears.

Adele Edisen