Lifton on DiEugenio on JFK offering the Vice Presidential nomination to LBJ . . .

[James H. Fetzer]

This is a pretty strange post, even for Jim DiEugenio. I make the indisputable point that, in the study of historical events, we are attempting to determine the how and why--as well as the who and the what, of course--they actually occurred in their particularity as unique incidents in history. So I am agreeing with Charles that Lyndon was the pivotal player without whom it would not have occurred as it actually did occur!I just don't understand what there is to get excited about.

There are infinitely many ways an historical event MIGHT HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT had various conditions been different in the past. You might not have gone to see "True Grit" yesterday had a call come from a close friend just as you were about to depart for the theater. Reasoning about coulda/woulda/shouldas if x were the case can be valuable in contemplating alternatives and the importance of events. But our aim remains to discover what actually did happen, not what might have.

Oh really Jim?

And what if there had been no Mexico City? What would have been used to intimidate Warren into taking a job he did not want?

And what if RFK had not sat it out?

What if Rankin had not been the chief consul and Olney had? What role did LBJ play in dumping Olney? (McKnight, pgs. 41-42)

And if the WC was all a Johnson set up, then why did he have to be ramrodded into setting it up by Rostow and Alsop--against his will kicking and screaming. Which is proven by the transcripts in Don Gibson's magnificent article in The Assassinations. (p. 3 ff)

The WC cover up was executed by three men--McCloy, Dulles, and Ford. The other three--Boggs, Russell, Cooper--did not agree with them. Period. What is in the declassified record that shows those three men interacting with LBJ about the cover up they are enacting? I can find nothing. And recall, it was Alsop and Rostow who forced LBJ to set this thing up anyway. In other words, the actual cover up artists appear to work separate from LBJ in a official body Johnson never wanted created. The White House came under siege right after Oswald was killed by Rostow, Alsop and a third unnamed person. THey were determined to get LBJ on board with their contingency plan. If LBJ had been in on it from the start, why did he have to be brow-beaten into appointing the Warren Commission?

One last point: If Olney had been appointed, it really may have been different. Why? Because in studying the structure of the Commission--which clearly you have not done--Rankin took his orders from the Troika named above. (See part 8 of my Bugliosi series.) Much to the chagrin of the junior counsel, who--in a little known fact--did not buy Brennan, Marina Oswald, and Markham. Olney was an independent guy who did not like Hoover. So he would have taken his orders from no one. And without those three witnesses....?

Maybe, maybe not.