Anthony Summers

[Dawn Meredith]

Below is an email from Anthony Summers to many people that John Simkin has posted at the Ed Forum. For those -like myself since the 80's- who have had grave doubts about this man, digest this:

Message from Tony Summers:

*Dropped from the updated Not in Your Lifetime is the alleged episode in Clinton, Louisiana, in which Oswald was apparently sighted in Clinton with Guy Banister and David Ferrie. I long ago went to Clinton myself for the BBC - and interviewed several of the relevant witnesses. They seemed fairly credible at the time.

As the entire thing has been demolished in a book by a researcher I respect, Pat Lambert, I have removed the passage from the text and consigned it to a much briefer note. (See p. 553, n.11)

* All references to the work of Cyril Wecht have been dropped. I spoke at a conference he held, and was amazed to hear him ranting from the stage on the subject. Having taken advice from others I do respect on the forensic area of the case, I felt only what seemed firmer should remain.


* The Tippit chapter is altered - in particular with reference to the pistol bullet evidence. See p. 106 of the new edition - re. "ballistics testimony dispels much of the doubt about Oswald's guilt in the Tippit murder." (I raise my hat to Dale Myers' book on the Tippit case. (p. 499 new edition, Note 2)

* Virtually all the stuff in the old Chapter 20 (Double Image in Dallas) has gone. This was, in the old edition, about supposed sightings of an Oswald that may not have been the real Oswald. Now, I do not even now entirely reject the notion that Oswald was impersonated on occasion before the assassination. (What went on in Mexico City remains unresolved.) Too many of the sighting, however, did not belong in the text. You will now find them summarized in the Notes. (Note 9, at p. 578 of the new edition.)

* The celebrated use of the name Oswald in New Orleans, buying jeeps as early as 1961, was writ large in the earlier editions.It now seems less reliable. I thought it must be mentioned, however, because there's a supporting contemporary document that fitsm in the case in an interesting way. The Deslatte episode now appears only in the Notes (p. 580, n 10)

* The emphasis on Ferrie has changed, retaining Ferrie's early association with Oswald in the Civil Air Patrol but reducing the suggestion of his involvement at the time of the assassination. This because of the excellent, focused research on Ferrie by David Blackburst - who has worked just that seam over recent years, demolishing much of the shaky stuff propagated since the Garrison circus.

* Rose Cheramie. Though I made it a point, years ago, to interview Francis Fruge, the policeman who handled the matter - and found him believable - I was persuaded by forum traffic about Cheramie in the end, and with so much else to include in Not in Your Lifetime, that the episode just is not solid enough.

* Finally, at least in this letter, the dark suggestion that Braden/Brading was guiltily involved in Dallas on the day has gone. I had previously relied to a degree on the reporting of a fellow reporter named Pete Noyes. On closer examination, I felt that - though Braden/Brading (not a nice person) was in Dallas that day - the dark implications that have been drawn were shaky. You won't find him in the index now.

As the author, one is sometimes in a quandary when dropping items. Even in the book's previous edition, I dropped the matter of Oswald's reported outgoing call, while under arrest, to a man named "Hurt" in Raleigh, North Carolina. (One of the two people of that name in the area was a military intelligence veteran.) The HSCA tried years later to follow up, without success - as did I - and Robert Blakey has called the matter "deeply disturbing." As this was said to have been an outgoing call, it remains interesting. On reflection, I am probably right to have dropped mention of this in the text. On the other hand, I should probably have sustained a reference in the notes.


Some of these issues are Solomon-type decisions, and I'm sure I sometimes get them wrong.

Tony Summers

Jim Garrison referred to him- (including in a letter to me)- as "One of the CIA's more accommodating prostitutes" .

Dawn

[Tracy Riddle]

Blackburst is one of McAdams' associates, I believe. Great company you're keeping, Summers. The next edition will probably have a forward by Bugliosi.
I'm still glad to have the first two editions of Conspiracy on my shelf, because they were good books.

[Dawn Meredith]

Blackburst is one of McAdams' associates, I believe. Great company you're keeping, Summers. The next edition will probably have a forward by Bugliosi.
I'm still glad to have the first two editions of Conspiracy on my shelf, because they were good books.

I enjoyed Conspiracy as well. But one good book to gain entrance into the research community is a very old trick.
In a letter to me in the mid eighties he wrote that "some rouge elements of the CIA MAY have been involved in a conspiracy."
He also said he'd long since ceased active research on the assassination.
Obviously. Now he just quotes known disinfo artists like Dale Myers and Patrica Lambert.
BUSTED Tony.
Dawn

[James Norwood]

Dawn,

In addition to your good points about the limitations of Anthony Summers' revised edition of his book, I would add the following:

It is incumbent on any scholar-researcher to keep abreast of new developments in the field, even if he or she is no longer involved in research. In the case of Anthony Summers, it is clear that he has not taken the time to inform himself of the findings of ARRB and the contributions of countless scholars since the publication of his 1980 book Conspiracy.

Summers is tweaking his outdated book, when it requires a complete re-write, based on the new evidence and discoveries.

There is still value to Summers' Conspiracy, and used copies are available on Amazon starting at $0.54. In the context of all that we know about the JFK assassination today, that is the right price for Summers's book.


James

[Tracy Riddle]

British journalist Anthony Summers, whose BBC documentary became the 1980 book "Conspiracy," says many conspiracy buffs "are fine scholars and students, and some are mad as hatters who think it was done by men from Mars using catapults."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/f...ory_1.html

Really, Tony? Funny, I must have missed that particular theory.

[Vasilios Vazakas]

Dawn,

In addition to your good points about the limitations of Anthony Summers' revised edition of his book, I would add the following:

It is incumbent on any scholar-researcher to keep abreast of new developments in the field, even if he or she is no longer involved in research. In the case of Anthony Summers, it is clear that he has not taken the time to inform himself of the findings of ARRB and the contributions of countless scholars since the publication of his 1980 book Conspiracy.

Summers is tweaking his outdated book, when it requires a complete re-write, based on the new evidence and discoveries.

There is still value to Summers' Conspiracy, and used copies are available on Amazon starting at $0.54. In the context of all that we know about the JFK assassination today, that is the right price for Summers's book.


James

This is the difference between Summers and an informed researcher like Jim DiEugenio who completely rewrote his 'Destiny Betrayed' based on the latest discoveries and the ARRB. Summers tried to make a quick buck for the 50th, and he repeated the old news about Herminio Diaz being one of the assassins, something that Fabian Escalante had already revealed some years ago. And yet he has the nerve to talk about conspiracy buffs and to tell us that the case cannot be solved.

[Anthony DeFiore]

Summers can play a shell game all he wants. The science doesn't lie ~ there was a conspiracy of many bullets fired on November 22, 1963!

[Magda Hassan]

Blackburst is one of McAdams' associates, I believe. Great company you're keeping, Summers. The next edition will probably have a forward by Bugliosi.
I'm still glad to have the first two editions of Conspiracy on my shelf, because they were good books.

I enjoyed Conspiracy as well. But one good book to gain entrance into the research community is a very old trick.
In a letter to me in the mid eighties he wrote that "some rouge elements of the CIA MAY have been involved in a conspiracy."
He also said he'd long since ceased active research on the assassination.
Obviously. Now he just quotes known disinfo artists like Dale Myers and Patrica Lambert.
BUSTED Tony.
Dawn

Yes it was a good book. But I will save my money and not bother getting this one. It sounds like he is just sitting on his former reputation and hollowing out the story and replacing it with what a few suspect forum members have told him and not done any of his own research to update anything. Very disappointing. There has been so much more information come to light since 1980's. You're right Tracy. It is just missing Bugliosi's forward ::hush::

Dawn,

In addition to your good points about the limitations of Anthony Summers' revised edition of his book, I would add the following:

It is incumbent on any scholar-researcher to keep abreast of new developments in the field, even if he or she is no longer involved in research. In the case of Anthony Summers, it is clear that he has not taken the time to inform himself of the findings of ARRB and the contributions of countless scholars since the publication of his 1980 book Conspiracy.

Summers is tweaking his outdated book, when it requires a complete re-write, based on the new evidence and discoveries.

There is still value to Summers' Conspiracy, and used copies are available on Amazon starting at $0.54. In the context of all that we know about the JFK assassination today, that is the right price for Summers's book.


James

This is the difference between Summers and an informed researcher like Jim DiEugenio who completely rewrote his 'Destiny Betrayed' based on the latest discoveries and the ARRB. Summers tried to make a quick buck for the 50th, and he repeated the old news about Herminio Diaz being one of the assassins, something that Fabian Escalante had already revealed some years ago. And yet he has the nerve to talk about conspiracy buffs and to tell us that the case cannot be solved.

Yes, lazy. No new genuine research from someone who should know better. The most positive thing one could conclude is he is cashing in on the timing but hasn't got around to doing any new research himself just relying on input from some pretty dubious sources.

Summers can play a shell game all he wants. The science doesn't lie ~ there was a conspiracy of many bullets fired on November 22, 1963!

Quite. Plenty of evidence. Looks like there are some big guns wheeling out to deflect attention from it.

[Marc Ellis]

I'm reading Summers' book now on my iPad. I'm in chapter 6, on Tippit.
Thus far, Summers seems to think Oswald was not the TSBD 6th floor shooter. At least, that's how I read it.

Even though he thinks Oswald shot Tippit, he seems to argue that would tend to make the
presence of a conspiracy more likely - rather than less. At least, that's what I'm getting.

He mentions:

1. the cop car that honked twice at Oswald's rooming house.
2. The questions about how Oswald got to Tippitt's location and where was he headed?
3. What was Tippitt doing before the shooting?
4. The unreliability of WC witnesses.
5. The mysterious man in a car that belonged to Tippet's friend.

I don't know who shot Tippet. Even if it was Oswald, that does not by itself disprove a conspiracy.
And it may tend to make the presence of a conspiracy more likely.

Here's a quote:
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"It may be," said Andy Purdy, former senior staff counsel on the Assassinations Committee, "that Officer Tippit, by himself or with others, was involved in a conspiracy to silence Oswald. And when the attempt to kill Oswald by Tippit failed, then Jack Ruby** was a fallback."

Excerpt From: Summers, Anthony. "Not in Your Lifetime." Open Road Integrated Media, 2013-09-06. iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.


Check out this book on the iBookstore: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZSt...=704986933
---

[Magda Hassan]

Thanks Mark. I haven't finished McBride's book on Tippet yet. In fact just started. I'm expect that would give a lot more information on the Tippet events. It would be good to compare them.