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

[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.

Adele sorry I was away I'll try and reference the sources for you. I am busy but the preceeding thread has some interesting stuff and I am sure PD will br able to cook you up some good sources. Further that, my apologies. I see now you are a genuine student of the case. Since I don't have my copy of Nelsons slur on the senses anymore. I'd be fascinated to see whom Nelson is actually sourcing for this garbage. I'd also appreiciate a reply to my comments about his John Hankey collaboration. I'd like to know why he felt the need to gratuitously take my comments out of context as an indication of '3' things I got wrong. Not to mention his comments about my taking Nixon at face value then deleting whole paragraphs that I wrote on the subject at hand.

Seamus, Hi,

I didn't mean to make work for you. I thought you might have had the references handy. I have Manchesteer's book somewhere and could look it up there, if that's where his reference would be. It was so long ago that I read his book, so I don't recall what he wrote about LBJ. It is good to know there are more references because Johnson is a very unlikely candidate to be a conspirator or head of a conspiracy to assassinate John Kennedy.

He was able to put Kennedy's ideas, and his own (and the Democratic Party's platform), into effect. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, for example. Johnson had fought hard for civil rights in the 1957 and 1960 Acts on Civil Rights in the US Senate. And the Voting Rights Act of 1965, insuring voting rights for all by removing poll taxes and reading tests for voters in the South, and other restrictions elsewhere. Our current Justice Deparment has just initiated enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 because of some new state laws blocking voting by minorities, elderly people, and others, especially those who might vote for the Democratic Party candidates in local, state, and federal elections.

I will look for the John Hankey material you mentioned, and read it. You said Nelson wrote it? I've been away from the internet and this forum, for awhile, so I have some catching up to do. Maybe you could point me in the right direction?

Adele Edisen