John Armstrong's Harvey and Lee

[David Josephs]

David Lamar McDonald (September 12, 1906 December 16, 1997) was an Admiral of the United States Navy, who served as the 17th Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), 1 August 1963 1 August 1967

However I DO NOT EXCLUDE HIS TWO IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS AS CNO from cutting "orders" even if officially "retired" like Lansdale.
Those two are.
George W. Anderson Jr. and
Arleigh A. Burke

Can't leave out the ONI, though.
rotten spooks will be spooks.

Agreed Jim

Thanks for coming along on this ride of mine Jim... (let's also not forget the invisible Dr Bateman...listed as attending yet never to be heard from or seen again)
DJ

I know this is still the H&L thread... yet we should not get so carried away with the CIA (imo a possible scapegoat) when the ONI and DIA were just as influential in their Cold War efforts and possibly even more culpable for the conspiracy.
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Some quick background:

For those following along... the MARINES are part the Dept of the NAVY so Oswald would have been under the direction of the ONI.

Directors of ONIRear Adm. Laurence H. Frost (June 1956 September 1960)
Rear Adm. Vernon L. Lowrance (September 1960 June 1963)
Rear Adm. Rufus L. Taylor (June 1963 May 1966)


Laurence Hugh Frost (July 22, 1902 May 23, 1977) was a U.S. admiral who served as Director of Naval Intelligence and Director of the National Security Agency
Adm Vernon L. "Rebel" Lowrance
Several years later Lowrance was appointed as Commander Cruiser Division Three and Commander Training Command, U.S. Pacific Fleet. He next served as the Director of Naval Intelligence from September of 1960 to June of 1963 which included the Cuban Missile Crisis. On September 1, 1964 he became the Commander, Submarine Forces, U.S. Atlantic Fleet and continued in that command until 1966. After leaving this command he reported to Washington, D.C. where he served as Deputy Director of the Defense intelligence Agency

Rufus Lackland Taylor (1910-1978) was a Vice Admiral in the United States Navy and Deputy Director of the CIA.



Anderson's rift with McNamara/JFK over the Missle Blockade http://jfk14thday.com/tape-mcnamara-anderson/

And even Taylor was not real keen on JFK....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_D._Taylor
Taylor received fierce criticism in Maj. (now MG) H.R. McMaster's book Dereliction of Duty. Specifically, Gen. Taylor was accused of intentionally misrepresenting the views of the Joint Chiefs to Secretary of Defense McNamara, and cutting the Joint Chiefs out of the decision-making process.[SUP][5][/SUP]

Whereas the Chiefs felt that it was their duty to offer unbiased assessments and recommendations on military matters, Gen. Taylor was of the firm belief that the chairman should not only support the president's decisions but also be a true believer in them. This discrepancy manifested itself during the early planning phases of the war, while it was still being decided what the nature of American involvement should be. McNamara and the civilians of the office of the secretary of defense were firmly behind the idea of graduated pressurethat is, to escalate pressure slowly against North Vietnam in order to demonstrate U.S. resolve. The Joint Chiefs, however, strenuously disagreed with this and believed that if the US got involved further in Vietnam, it should be with the clear intention of winning and through the use of overwhelming force. McMaster contends that using a variety of political maneuvering, including liberal use of outright deception, Gen. Taylor succeeded in keeping the Joint Chiefs' opinions away from the President and helped set the stage for McNamara to begin to dominate systematically the U.S. decision making process on Vietnam.
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Taylor was of crucial importance during the first weeks and months of the Vietnam War. Whereas initially President Kennedy had told Taylor that "the independence of South Vietnam rests with the people and government of that country," Taylor was soon to recommend that 8,000 American combat troops be sent to the region at once. After making his report to the Cabinet and the Chiefs of Staff, Taylor was to reflect on the decision to send troops to South Vietnam: "I don't recall anyone who was strongly against, except one man, and that was the President. The President just didn't want to be convinced that this was the right thing to do.... It was really the President's personal conviction that U.S. ground troops shouldn't go in." [SUP][4]



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