Allen Dulles quote

[John Kelin]

Hi all,

Does anyone know a source for the following, oft-cited remark -- attributed to Allen Dulles, and in the context of publishing Warren Commission data?

"But nobody reads. Don't believe people read in this country. There will be a few professors that will read the record...The public will read very little."

I would like to track this down to some source document, preferably one I can hold in my hands. I've read and heard it countless times, and you probably have, too -- but where does it come from?

John Kelin

[Charles Drago]

John,

On behalf of the co-founders of the Deep Politics Forum, welcome to our enterprise.

We're proud to have you on board, and please know that your contributions will be valued.

The date of the Dulles quote is July 9, 1964. The setting was a WC commissioners meeting. If memory serves, the particulars may be found in Lane's Plausible Denial, which I'll access tomorrow in my library (where out-of-town guests are currently sleeping on the sofa bed).

Thanks again, John, for joining us.

Best,

Charlie

[John Kelin]

John,

On behalf of the co-founders of the Deep Politics Forum, welcome to our enterprise.

We're proud to have you on board, and please know that your contributions will be valued.

The date of the Dulles quote is July 9, 1964. The setting was a WC commissioners meeting. If memory serves, the particulars may be found in Lane's Plausible Denial, which I'll access tomorrow in my library (where out-of-town guests are currently sleeping on the sofa bed).

Thanks again, John, for joining us.

Best,

Charlie

Thank you, Charlie, for your kind words.

Lane uses the quote on page 53 of the hardcover edition of Plausible Denial, but he provides no citation for it, and that is what I am after -- finding out where this statement so often attributed to Dulles originated.

After asking this same question elsewhere, I was given first the July 9, 1964 date, and then a September 6, 1964 date -- the latter from a supposed "internal memo," the former from who knows where.

July 9 suggests a possible executive session. The only source for those sessions I know of is Lifton's "Document Addendum to the Warren Report," most of which is also on a JFK Lancer CD-ROM. But, there is no July 9 session on either of those.

The trouble, as I see it, is that this statement has been used often -- is there anyone reading this who HASN'T heard it? -- but where does it come from? I fear it is bordering on urban myth. It doesn't appear to be in the 26 volumes, it doesn't appear to be in the HSCA stuff, and so on. It has to have come from somewhere. But where?

By the way, I have enormous respect for Mark Lane. But I regret to see that on that same page 53 of Plausible Denial, he mis-quotes the notorious Earl Warren "not in your lifetime" remark, which in the New York Times of Feb. 5, 1964 (p. 19) is: "Yes, there will come a time. But it might not be in your lifetime."

Not that the NYT is infallible!

John

[John Kelin]

Following up to my original question about Dulles and the "Nobody reads" quote...several possible sources have been cited, including a Sept. 6 1964 "internal memo" of the WC. This was supplied, somewhere along the line -- not recently -- by Martin Shackelford, who (whom?) I know slightly. Does anyone have an email address for Martin? For me, the next logical step is contacting him and ask him if he has a copy of this internal memo.

Martin, if you post or browse here, please contact me at johnkelin@comcast.net (probably bad form to put my email address here, but what the heck).

Grazie,

John Kelin

[Myra Bronstein]

Following up to my original question about Dulles and the "Nobody reads" quote...several possible sources have been cited, including a Sept. 6 1964 "internal memo" of the WC. This was supplied, somewhere along the line -- not recently -- by Martin Shackelford, who (whom?) I know slightly. Does anyone have an email address for Martin? For me, the next logical step is contacting him and ask him if he has a copy of this internal memo.

Martin, if you post or browse here, please contact me at johnkelin@comcast.net (probably bad form to put my email address here, but what the heck).

Grazie,

John Kelin

You may get email from everyone except Martin now.
Well, if you do you can always edit this post.

We'll try to get hold of Martin to see if he can join the forum and address your question John.