FINAL JUDGMENT
The Missing Link in the
JFK Assassination Conspiracy
By MICHAEL COLLINS PIPER
Appendix Three
"Communist Blood Red"
Guy Banister & Kent
and Phoebe Courtney
The Leaders of the Right Wing's Pro-Israel Clique:
The New Orleans "Israeli Connection"
There's no doubt about it. Former FBI agent and CIA
contract operative Guy Banister was a strident anti-communist and a tried-and-true "right winger." Everybody
knows that. What most people don't know is that Banister's
best-known "right wing" associates—Kent and Phoebe
Courtney—were staunch supporters of Israel and widely
suspected of being assets of the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) of B'nai B'rith. The truth about the Courtneys puts a
new light on the Banister connection to the JFK
assassination conspiracy. There's much more to the New
Orleans aspect of the conspiracy that needs to be told.
JFK assassination researchers (particularly those of what might be
deemed "the liberal stripe") have devoted much time and energy to
"detecting" the "right-wing extremist" connections of various parties (both
guilty and innocent) who have been connected to the JFK assassination
conspiracy in one form or another. Those researchers who do agree that
former FBI agent and CIA contract operative Guy Banister of New Orleans
did have some peculiar role in setting up Lee Harvey Oswald as the "patsy"
in the assassination are fond of citing Banister's "right wing" connections.
Most often noted is Banister's connection to a flamboyant couple—
vigorous anti-communists—Kent and Phoebe Courtney, founders of an
organization known as the Conservative Society of America. Mrs. Courtney
is even said to have ordered her steaks "Communist Blood Red," for which
we thank her for the title of this appendix.
The Courtneys reportedly claimed after the assassination that Oswald had
tried to get employment on their newspaper, The Independent American during
his sojourn in New Orleans the summer before the assassination.816
Presumably, it would seem, for the "pro-Castro" Oswald to spy on his anti-communist rivals. However, what is most often pointed out by the liberal
researchers seeking to find a "right wing conspiracy" behind JFK's
assassination is that after Banister's death, at least a portion of his personal
files came into Kent Courtney's possession. 817
This, in fact, may be significant—although certainly the "liberal"
researchers clearly wouldn't understand why, inasmuch as their evident bias
and lack of understanding of the dynamics of the political mazes of the
American "right" precludes any such understanding. That having been said,
why, then, is Courtney's receipt of Banister's files significant in light of the
thesis outlined in the pages of Final Judgment?
The fact is that for several years prior to the assassination of President
Kennedy (and up until this day) many veterans of the American "right"
generally believed that Kent and Phoebe Courtney were active "infiltrators"
of the right wing—paid agents—of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of
B'nai B'rith, the American intelligence arm of Israel's Mossad.
Although the Courtneys were—like Banister—outspoken anti-communists, they had engendered much distrust and dissension among their
fellow "conservatives" by actively opposing and attacking figures on the
"right" who had been accused of "anti-Semitism" by the ADL.
Perhaps the most notable and most readily documentable instance of
this came in 1960 when a wide-ranging group of American conservatives
were gearing up to form a third party to compete in the 1960 presidential
election. Prior to that meeting, Mrs. Courtney sent out letters to some 30
different persons and organizations advising them that they were not
welcome at the so-called "New Party" meeting.
All of those in question targeted by Mrs. Courtney were persons and
organizations that had been scored for "anti-Semitism" by the ADL. Mrs.
Courtney's action, needless to say, created much controversy among
conservative circles, and in the February 1960 issue of Right, a
clearinghouse for news and views in the "right wing" movement, Verne P.
Kaub, the president of the American Council on Christian Laymen, released
an "Open Letter to Phoebe Courtney" responding to her allegation that
"haters"—or so Mrs. Courtney alleged—had "infiltrated patriotic
organizations for the purpose of creating dissension."818
Kaub responded to Mrs. Courtney, saying: "Exactly the reverse is true.
These people are not haters. The infiltrators are representatives of
Communist and Zionist organizations and influences. It is these forces of
deception and dissension . . . which raise the false cry of anti-Semitism,
thus resorting to the worst possible form of bigotry.
"Frankly," Kaub told Mrs. Courtney, "I thought you were much too smart
to believe that you could fool patriotic Americans into accepting falsehood as
truth by completely 'reversing the picture' and attempting to make it appear
that the ADL smear bund, for example, is a lily-white organization of
patriots, when, as you well know, ADL is . . . branding all true Christian
patriots as Nazi and Anti-Semite."
For its own part, Right editorially commented further: "That the
Courtneys are kosher-controlled is plain. Courtney has admitted that he will
take 'all the money I can get my hands on' from 'Jewish left-wing sources.'
Furthermore, the New York publishers, Simon & Schuster, are alleged to
contribute to the Courtneys, and Phoebe does not deny this charge. This
outfit is as Red as they come, and merely a front for the Anti-Defamation
League. When the ADL pays the piper, it calls the tune." 819
In fact, there were widespread rumors within the "right wing" that not
only were the Courtneys financed by the Stern family of New Orleans, but
also that Mrs. Courtney was related to the Sterns. Paquita DeShishmareff, a
veteran "right wing" leader, was among those who believed this to be true, but there were many others.820
In any case, the rumors reflect the general
"right wing" perception of where the Courtneys were coming from.
OSWALD's ADL-FBI CONNECTION(S)
In Chapter 15, of course, we examined Guy Banister's own close
association with A. I. (Bee) Botnick, the self-described "super communist
hunter" who headed the Stern family-financed New Orleans office of the
ADL. We also considered the very real possibility that Lee Harvey Oswald's
activities in New Orleans were, in fact, part of an ADL "fact finding"
operation contracted out by the ADL to Banister's private detective agency.
In this context, then, it is thus appropriate to recall other interesting details
that have been lost in the debate over who was manipulating Lee Harvey
Oswald prior to the assassination of President Kennedy.
In 1962, Ned Touchstone, editor of the Bossier Press in Bossier City,
Louisiana, investigated the bombing of a black Masonic lodge in Louisiana.
While the rest of the media portrayed the crime as the act of the KKK,
Touchstone believed that since most of the KKK leaders in the area were
Masons that it was unlikely they would destroy a Masonic lodge. Although
the FBI tried to intimidate him into dropping his investigation, Touchstone
learned of "the crooked hair pilot,"821 (later identified as Banister associate
David Ferrie) who landed a plane in the area prior to the bombing.
Thus, a year prior to the JFK assassination Touchstone concluded Ferrie
had been working as an agent of the FBI's COINTELPRO in association
with Banister's ADL contact, Botnick, who was indeed working closely with
the FBI in connection with the bombing.
However, by March 15, 1964, Touchstone had independently pinpointed
Ferries connection to the JFK assassination 822 all the more pertinent
because of Ferries ties to both Oswald and Banister.
Although such would-be conspiracy debunkers as the CIA-connected
Gerald Posner (author of Case Closed) have sought to deny that Oswald had
any connections with CIA contract operative David Ferrie there is
photographic evidence refuting Posner and the debunkers. There has now
been discovered a 1955 photograph of a young Oswald in the company of
Ferrie, then Oswald's commander in the Civil Air Patrol.823
Yet Touchstone's discoveries have remain suppressed precisely (or, at
least in part) because they pointed directly toward the ADL's ties to these
key figures in the JFK assassination conspiracy who were, in turn, also
linked to the intrigue of both the FBI and the CIA in the same time frame.
And although there's been discussion of the possibility that Oswald was
an FBI informant of some sort and of what relationship he had with Dallas
FBI agent James Hosty, it has finally been reported by Ray and Mary
LaFontaine, authors of Oswald Talked, that Hosty was "an investigator of
right-wing groups" 824 and "right-wing subversives." 825
Thus, there can be no doubt that Hosty, in fact, was working closely
with the Anti-Defamation League, one of the FBI's most valued "sources" of information on "right wing groups" and "right-wing subversives." The
ADL most assuredly would have been one of Hosty's primary contacts.
So not only do we have Guy Banister and David Ferrie, both closely
connected to the ADL, working with Oswald in New Orleans prior to the
assassination, but we also find an ADL-connected FBI agent in Dallas
(Hosty) engaged in some sort of intrigue with Oswald, the actual details of
which will probably never be known.
So in this sense, then, we can rightly say that in more ways than one
Lee Harvey Oswald did indeed have an "ADL connection" and thus, an
"Israeli connection."
The big question, then, is just what did the ADL know about Lee
Harvey Oswald and when did they know it? How much information gathered
by Oswald did the ADL get from Guy Banister? How much information
gathered by Oswald did they get from Hosty? Was Banister indeed using
Oswald as part of an ADL "fact-finding" operation?
Or—dare we say it—was Oswald really only on the ADL's payroll all
along? Was, in fact, the ADL financing Oswald's activities on behalf of
Banister and/or Hosty? Does this explain why no records exist which
"prove" that Oswald was on the FBI's payroll? Again—just some questions.
JACK RUBY AND THE
ADL-FBI CONNECTION
It should be noted, additionally, that while many JFK assassination
researchers look in the direction of "right wing hate groups" as a possible
source of the JFK conspiracy, these same researchers fail to remember that
these same groups were heavily infiltrated by the FBI's COINTELPRO
operation. For example, William Sullivan, the FBI official who headed
COINTELPRO once estimated that for every 25 Ku Klux Klan members
there were 3 COINTELPRO operatives among them. Thus, taking
Sullivan's figures at face value, let's consider the case of Jack Ruby, the
Dallas nightclub keeper who killed Lee Harvey Oswald.
JFK researchers say Ruby knew about half of the 1200 members of the
Dallas Police Department and often entertained groups of more than 30 at a
time at his club. The researchers claim 50% of the Dallas cops were either
members of the KKK or the Minutemen or other extreme right wing
groups. Based on the figures put forth by both Sullivan and the researchers,
it is not an extraordinary assertion, then, that many of Ruby's "extreme
right" contacts in the Dallas Police Department were, in fact,
COINTELPRO operatives. And if they were COINTELPRO operatives,
then, they certainly had close connections to the ADL.
But to return to the subject of Guy Banister's infamous "right wing
extremist associates"—Kent and Phoebe Courtney—we can conclude, based
on Banister's close association with "Bee" Botnick of the New Orleans
office of the ADL, that it is not out of the realm of possibility that
Banister's good friends, Kent and Phoebe Courtney, were likewise receiving
covert support—maybe financing—from the ADL.
In fact, by their actions, the Courtneys were suppressing "anti-Semitic"
tendencies within the American "right" which is precisely what the ADL had
sought to do since its inception. Thus, for all intents and purposes, the
Courtneys were functioning as ADL assets. And it is highly unlikely that
they would have associated so closely with Guy Banister if they would have
perceived him to be among the "haters" that they so loudly opposed.
The Courtneys were fervent boosters of Guy Banister's former boss at
the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover—and they certainly noted Hoover's claim in his
1958 anti-communist magnum opus, Masters of Deceit, that "some of the
most effective opposition to communism in the United States has come
from Jewish organizations such as . . . the Anti-Defamation League, and a
host of other Jewish groups."826 Therefore, the ADL would have been very
much in the good graces of Kent and Phoebe Courtney, by any respects. (In
Chapter 7 we discussed Hoover's own ADL connections in some detail.)
THE COURTNEYS AND ISRAEL
However, there is something else that must be noted—and it is
significant indeed: Kent and Phoebe Courtney, in fact, were devoted
supporters of Israel. Their perception of the Middle East state was
remarkably similar to that of the CIA's James Angleton and others of that
mode who proclaimed Israel as some sort of bulwark against Soviet
aggression—a theory that lost much of its luster after the fall of the Soviet
Union as a Cold War target for American anti-communists.
In any case, Kent Courtney outlined this theory in an editorial in yet
another of his publications, The Patriot Tribune, which he published out of
Pineville, Louisiana. In a May 28, 1970 editorial entitled "Israel Can Stop
Russian Expansion" Courtney laid to rest any doubts about his support for
the Zionist cause. He wrote, in part:
"Israel—the historic, ideological homeland of the Jews—is also the
shrine of all Christians. Today, Israel is surrounded by enemies who were
administered a stunning defeat in June 1967. Israel stands at the traditional
crossroads of history and if Israel is allowed to fall, everything relative to
Christian history in Israel will be destroyed by the revengeful Arabs, and the
atheistic, nihilistic communists will be satanically delighted, in the
destruction of all the symbols and shrines of Christianity . . .
"Israel today stands surrounded by enemies with her back to the sea and
the Arabs have promised each other and the world that they will push all the
Jews into the Sea in a war of annihilation. And the Communist Russians,
who themselves continuously persecute the Jews inside the Soviet Union
are now supplying the anti-aircraft guns, fighter planes, bombers, tanks,
artillery, the pilots, and the technicians which the otherwise untrained,
undisciplined Arabs cannot effectively use."827
The goal of the Soviet Union, Courtney said, was world conquest
without engaging their own troops in direct confrontation with the United
States. According to Courtney, then-President Richard Nixon could:
"Preserve Western Civilization by supplying the weapons of defense,
indeed, the weapons of salvation to the indomitable, courageous, and highly
skilled defense forces of Israel . . .
"If Mr. Nixon is interested in establishing peace in our time he will
provide arms, ammunition, and moral strength to every anti-communist
country which is willing to fight against Russian Communist imperialist
aggression. And the place for President Nixon to start is Israel."828
These then were the words of Kent Courtney, the "right wing
extremist" that some JFK assassination researchers point to as evidence of
Guy Banister's "right wing extremist" connections. However, quite clearly,
we can also contend, based upon Courtney's ideological affinity for Israel,
that the evidence is just as logical that Courtney (and his friend Banister)
were sympathetic to the Zionist cause.
This is not to suggest that Banister was cognizant of a Mossad
connection ultimately behind the JFK assassination conspiracy. Far from it.
(Although he could have been.)
What it does suggest, however, is that Banister was very clearly
moving in circles that were sympathetic to the interests of Israel. And in
light of the standard picture that JFK researchers have presented about
Banister (and the Courtneys) the material that we've just analyzed does
indeed present a far different picture than we've ever seen before in any
studies of the JFK assassination conspiracy.
The Courtney theory regarding Israel (mirroring that of James Angleton at
the CIA) was adopted by many of those on the "right wing" in America and
it was—as we saw in our appendix on George Bush and his pro-Israel allies
on the CIA's "B-Team"—the guiding theory behind much of the United
States arms buildup during the Reagan era of the 1980s.
It is really neither here nor there as to whether or not the Courtneys
were actually paid ADL informants or assets, for there is no question (as we
have seen) that they shared the ADL's world view.
It is likewise of no relevance whether Mrs. Courtney (as alleged) was
related in some way to the Stern family of New Orleans. The fact is that
they were moving in the same circles—more so than many people realize.
In fact, in the end, there is really some question as to whether Edgar and
Edith Stern of New Orleans were really so "liberal" after all.
As we saw in Chapter 15 and in Chapter 17, it was the Stern's media
voice in New Orleans, the WDSU radio and television empire, that played a
critical part in promoting the theory during the summer of 1963 (and then,
later, after the assassination) that Lee Harvey Oswald was a "pro-Castro
agitator." What's more, it now turns out, the Sterns were members—and
major financial supporters—of the New Orleans-based Information Council
of the Americas, run by noted anti-communist, Dr. Alton Ochsner, Sr. who
himself had long-standing and intimate ties to the intelligence
community.829 Ochsner himself served on the board of directors of the
Foreign Policy Association of New Orleans with the Stern's close friend,
Clay Shaw,830 who also served on the board of the Mossad's Permindex
operation which was so central to the JFK assassination conspiracy.
So, although it is unlikely that Edith Stern would have—like Phoebe
Courtney—ordered her steaks "Communist Blood Red," it does seem that
Edith and Phoebe had a few interests in common, one of them being strong
support for the Zionist cause. And this most definitely sheds new light on
the Courtney connection, although it is not something that fits in with the
standard perception of Kent and Phoebe Courtney.
GARRISON AND THE 'RIGHT WING'
And what is particularly interesting to note is something that "liberal"
researchers into the JFK assassination have a difficult time explaining when
they try to suggest that "right wing extremists" were behind the JFK
assassination: in fact, it was none other than The Councilor, a frankly anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist journal published by the aforementioned Ned
Touchstone, that actually pioneered much of the early work pinpointing the
links between David Ferrie and Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the JFK
assassination,831 providing much support for Jim Garrison's inquiry that led
to the indictment of the Stern family friend, Mossad-connected Clay Shaw.
Although many accounts of the Garrison investigation suggest that
Garrison viewed the JFK conspiracy as some sort of "right wing"
conspiracy, Garrison rejected that thesis when he told Paris Flammonde: "It
isn't really right-wing . . . it's almost a centrist sort of thing. It is a power
which has developed within the government."832 Garrison pointed out that
"One of the things that really helped me see that was when I began to notice
that we were getting help from individuals who were Minutemen and
members of the John Birch Society. When I saw that, I realized that the
right-wing (aspects of the conspiracy) was right wing more in appearance
than in reality. So, we just kept on digging and we end up with nothing but
a compartment of the Central Intelligence Agency."833
Garrison added that the CIA had actually penetrated numerous groups
and used them for its own nefarious purposes in the assassination
conspiracy, 834 although Garrison, it might be noted, could just
as easily have commented that Israel's Mossad—through the ADL—had
done likewise. Had Garrison then been cognizant of many of the then-hidden
factors documented in Final Judgment, he may well indeed have uncovered
the Mossad connections that we have uncovered here and which (evidently)
Garrison later did discover on his own.
ATTACKING FINAL JUDGMENT
What is interesting (but not surprising, as we shall see) is that the very
individuals—Ellen Ray and Bill Schaap—whose Sheridan Square Press
published Garrison's memoir, On the Trail of the Assassins, are among
those who have been attempting to discredit Final Judgment despite the fact
that Final Judgment concurs with Garrison's basic conclusions.
The fall 1994 issue of Covert Action Quarterly (a journal edited by
Ray and Schaap) featured a lengthy full-force attack on The Spotlight, the national weekly newspaper by which I was employed for some twenty one
years. What was particularly interesting about the article was that CAQ's
opening thrust speared The Spotlight for publicizing the release of Final
Judgment with much fanfare in January of 1994—resulting, it might be
added, in the sale of nearly 8,000 copies within two weeks time.
Although CAQ features much useful material and portrays itself as an
"independent" voice critical of the CIA and its misdeeds (and is, in fact, cited
in the pages of Final Judgment), CAQ is careful never to mention (other
than in passing) the CIA's incestuous relationship with the Mossad, even
when the Mossad has been engaged intimately alongside the CIA in many of
the matters that CAQ presumes to be dissecting for its readers.
Despite the fact that CAQ mentioned that the nation's best known JFK
assassination investigator, Mark Lane—certainly no "right wing extremist"
by anyone's definition—has represented The Spotlight, CAQ never once
mentioned Lane's stunning dismemberment of CIA operative E. Howard
Hunt in Hunt's libel case against The Spotlight (analyzed in Chapter 9 and
in Chapter 16 of Final Judgment.)
In fact, the results of Lane's work in that case have never once been
mentioned in CAQ at all. This is unusual, to say the least, in light of
CAQ's professed role as a CIA watchdog.
What then explains CAQ's bias against The Spotlight—and against
Final Judgment in particular? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact
that the Institute for Media Analysis (a "media watchdog" organization also
sponsored by Ellen Ray and Bill Schaap) has received substantial funding
from an influential foundation known as the Stern Family Fund—funded by
that same Stern family about whom we have heard so much in this
book.835
It has been suggested that Ray and Schaap, the publishers of CAQ, felt
obligated to publish the attack on The Spotlight because many of their
Jewish readers were upset by an earlier CAQ report on the ADL spy scandal
in San Francisco in 1993. 836 By taking aim at The Spotlight, CAQ was
able to assure readers it was not adopting a stance toward the ADL similar to
that of The Spotlight which pioneered coverage of the ADL's spy
operations. In fact, CAQ could not very well have ignored the ADL spy
scandal affair, inasmuch as even "mainstream" media outlets (including
Editor & Publisher magazine) actually carried reports on the scandal.
What's more, because many self-styled "progressive" groups and
individuals had discovered that because they were targets of the ADL's spy
operations, CAQ—by virtue of its claim to be a voice for those same
progressives—was obligated to comment on the affair.
However, as noted previously, CAQ is otherwise reticent about daring
to criticize the Mossad. Thus, CAQ's effort to discredit The Spotlight and
its publicizing of Final Judgment is no real surprise, especially in light of
the financial backing that CAQ's publishers have received from the Stern
family so central to the New Orleans intrigue documented in this book.
Not only it seems did the Sterns have their fingers in the "right wing" pie
in New Orleans, through their association with INCA, but they've also got their hands in the "left wing" pie through their funding of the CAQ associated Institute for Media Analysis. That we find the Sterns so
intimately connected in so many ways to the circumstances surrounding the
assassination of John F. Kennedy is interesting indeed.
(A FINAL NOTE REGARDING CAQ: Since this was originally
written, CAQ has come under new direction and has been more forthright in
its criticisms of Israel and the intrigues of the Mossad. So we must give
credit where credit is due.)
ANOTHER 'ISRAEL' CONNECTION?
Although the details of Lee Harvey Oswald's sojourn in New Orleans,
moving in the Banister-Courtney-Shaw-Stern sphere of influence, has been
heavily documented, there are a few mysteries that remain. For example,
when Oswald applied for a room in New Orleans he told what CIA connected writer Priscilla McMillan describes somewhat gratuitously in her
book on Oswald as "another of his funny, pointless lies." 837
According to McMillan, Oswald said that he "worked for the Leon Israel
Company of 300 Magazine Street."838 According to McMillan, "the
company existed, but it was not the company that had hired him."839 What
we do know is that the Leon Israel Company was engaged in the import of
coffee. What we don't know is why Lee Harvey Oswald claimed that he
worked there. Another thing we also do not know is why JFK assassination
researchers have not devoted more time and energy to exploring the history
and background of this company. Although researchers have gone to great
lengths to study virtually every other picayune detail about the events
surrounding Oswald's stay in New Orleans, there is very little, if anything,
said about this Leon Israel Company.
Evidence suggests that the principal figure behind the Leon Israel
Company, Samuel Israel Jr., was indeed connected to Clay Shaw and the
International Trade Mart during the period surrounding the JFK
assassination—and perhaps for even much longer.
According to Who's Who in America (1964-65 edition), Israel was more
than just a coffee importer. Not only did Israel serve as vice president of the
Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans and on the Council of
the Lower Mississippi River Port Interests (which would certainly put him
in trade executive Clay Shaw's immediate sphere of association), but Israel
also—intriguingly—won the French Medal of Merit for his service in the
U.S. Army transportation corps in Europe.840
This would have been at the time that Shaw himself was stationed in
France, winning decorations from the French for his own service there. A
good argument can thus be made that Shaw and Israel did indeed know each
other and that their relationship may have gone as far back as World War II.
Is it possible Oswald was promised a job at the Leon Israel Company—
arranged by Clay Shaw himself—or, that, contrary to McMillan,
Oswald, in fact, was employed (in some fashion) by the Leon Israel
Company? If so, precisely how was he employed? Did this company play some still undetected role in manipulating Oswald's activities in New
Orleans? These are just a few interesting questions that need to be answered.
THE BARRY SEAL CONNECTION
There is yet one last matter relating to the New Orleans connection that bears
mentioning. In the spring of 2000, independent film producer Dan Hopsicker
released a remarkable video, In Search of the American Drug Lords: Barry
and the Boys—From Dallas to Mena,841 focusing on Hopsicker's three year long investigation of CIA pilot and drug smuggler Barry Seal, best
known for his role in the CIA's arms-drugs-and-money laundering
operations out of the tiny Mena, Arkansas airport during the 1980s as part
of the infamous Iran-contra operations that (largely unknown to the
American public) very much involved Israel and the Mossad. 842
In his film, Hopsicker demonstrates not only that Lee Harvey Oswald did
have long-standing connections to David Ferrie (efforts to refute that fact
notwithstanding) but also that it was Ferrie who recruited Seal into the
CIA's intrigue, Ferrie having had high-level intelligence connections going
back as far as his service as a pilot during World War II.
What's more, Hopsicker has uncovered new information which suggests
that Seal may have been a get-away pilot for one or more of the JFK
assassins. Thus perhaps Ferrie himself was not a get-away pilot per se (as
long surmised) but instead he was actually coordinating Seal's role in that
regard, a role which would explain Ferries famous mad dash across
Louisiana into Texas immediately after the assassination.
And although Hopsicker does not delve into the Mossad connection, the
fact is the CIA and the Mossad have worked closely in the global drug trade,
using its resources to finance their joint international operations. It is thus
conceivable that this would provide us yet another as-yet-undetermined
Mossad connection as far as the activities of David Ferrie are concerned.
THE BIG PICTURE OF 'THE BIG EASY'
These are the types of details—taken together—that paint a picture fully in
line with the thesis of Final Judgment and which demonstrate that the New
Orleans connection is critical to understanding the forces behind the intrigue
surrounding Lee Harvey Oswald prior to the murder of President Kennedy.
Contrary to what some researchers might contend, the evidence does not
point to a "right wing" conspiracy at all, but instead one with multiple ties to
both the CIA and Israel's Mossad.
Appendix Four
Agents of Influence
A Troublesome Topic:
The Jewish Presence on the Warren Commission
"The Best and the Brightest"—and Jerry Ford, Too.
Facts are facts: of the 22 Warren Commission staff
attorneys, nine were Jewish. Another was married to a Jewish
woman. Several others had ties to the Israeli lobby. What's
more, one of the commission's most active members—Gerald
R. Ford—was the protégé of a figure long linked to both the Mossad
and the Lansky Crime Syndicate. Another commission member, John
McCloy, was intimately associated with some of the most powerful
families in the Jewish elite. If the Warren Commission had been sincere
in investigating the JFK conspiracy—and discovered an Israeli
connection—the immense "Jewish presence" within the
commission could have provided the means whereby the
Israeli connection would undoubtedly have been covered up.
Although the Warren Commission has been damned to the ends of the
earth for nearly forty years, few actually know who really pulled the strings
behind the scenes as this now-infamous deliberating body carried out its
purported investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy—or the
real origins of how the commission actually came about.
On November 22, 1964 The Washington Post published a glowing
endorsement of The Warren Commission Report by Eugene Rostow, then
dean of the Yale Law School. But what neither the Post nor Rostow
mentioned in this fraud upon the readers was that it was Rostow himself
who was the first person to suggest to President Johnson that such a
commission as the Warren Commission be established!
Rostow and the Post were able to get away with this deception because
the truth is that Rostow's pivotal role in the creation of the commission
was not publicly detailed in any consequence until thirty years after the JFK
assassination. For those thirty years, the "idea" for the commission had been
attributed to others. However, in 1993, transcriptions of recorded telephone
conversations in the Johnson White House were released for the first time.
According to JFK researcher Donald Gibson, the transcripts reveal that
"the idea of a presidential commission to report on the assassination of
President Kennedy was first suggested by Eugene Rostow in a telephone call
to LBJ aide Bill Moyers during the afternoon of November 24th,"843 within
minutes of Lee Harvey Oswald's murder by Jack Ruby.
While many JFK researchers point to Rostow's ties to "the foreign
policy establishment" what they don't mention is the particular foreign
policy that has been of special interest to Rostow throughout his career.
In fact, Rostow's primary foreign policy concern has been the interests of
Israel, so much so that Rostow has even been a board member of the Jewish
Institute for National Security Affairs, which has been described as being "run
by individuals closely identified with Israeli interests and may be regarded as a
virtual lobbying organization for the state of Israel . . . ." 844
Thus, the truth is that, from its inception, the Warren Commission's origins
were linked to pressure from an influential figure within the Israeli lobby's
power elite—a very interesting little detail indeed.
And because we now know there were "top secret" U.S. intelligence
documents circulated after the assassination indicating the Arab press was
alleging "the Zionists" were behind the president's murder, 845 —citing, as an
indication, for example, the fact Jack Ruby was Jewish—we can rightly
speculate that these were among the kind of "ugly rumors" in the foreign
press the Warren Commission was established to suppress.
What few JFK assassination researchers have ever bothered to
investigate—or at least discuss publicly—however, are the antecedents of the
22 lawyers who were actually in charge of the day-to-day investigation and in
preparing the final report and who—from behind the scenes—filtered the data
to the big names who signed their names to the report.
The facts demonstrate that there was a substantial "Jewish presence" at this
staff level that could have impacted substantially on the handling of any evidence
of Mossad involvement or Mossad connections of persons who came under
scrutiny in the course of the investigation, assuming the claim by the Anti Defamation League (ADL) of B'nai B'rith—that American Jews are
"sensitive" to the concerns of the state of Israel—is true.
For the record, this author does not buy the theory that all Jewish
Americans are necessarily partisans of Israel or obligated to be. In fact—to
reiterate what has already been said here—some of the most forthright critics of
Israel and its misdeeds have been Americans of Jewish descent.
However, inasmuch as the ADL, which has relentlessly attacked Final
Judgment, purports to speak for the concerns of the Jewish community and
says that the thesis of this book is "offensive" to the Jewish community,
we will therefore accept the ADL's contention that Jewish Americans are
sensitive to Israel's concerns. Therefore, it is not a leap of logic to contend
that in the event evidence linking Israel's Mossad to the JFK assassination
had come forth that Jewish Americans on the commission staff would be
constitutionally inclined to cover up any evidence that did emerge.
All of that having been said, let us examine—for want of a
better way of describing it—the unusually pervasive
"Jewish presence" on the Warren Commission staff at the
investigative level.
For this we begin with the November 28, 1988 edition of the National Law
Journal featured a cover story by David A. Kaplan entitled "The JFK Probe 25 Years Later." The story included capsule biographies of the lawyers of
the Warren Commission, describing the 22 lawyers of the commission staff as
"the best and the brightest of their generation." 846
Who were they? What were their political connections? How did they
come on board the commission staff? Kaplan answers some of these
questions—but not all of them. What follows is a summary of Kaplan's
details, and additional information readily available in the public domain.
We can only wonder what other details remain to be told.
THE JEWISH LAWYERS
First of all, a brief look at the basic statistics: of the fourteen assistant
counsel, five were Jewish. Another was married to a Jewish woman. Of the
seven "other staff members" (lawyers and law clerks) named in Kaplan's
article, four were Jewish. This means that of the 22 lawyers in question,
nearly half of them (including the staffer whose wife was Jewish) could be
described as constituting a "Jewish presence" on the commission. However,
as we shall see, the political connections of other staff lawyers suggests that
the "Jewish presence" was even more substantial. Here then are the Jewish
staff lawyers who served on the Warren Commission:
Norman Redlich. A deputy to the commission's chief counsel, J.
Lee Rankin, Redlich was the actual author of the final disreputable
document known as the Warren Commission Report. He was involved at a
high-level in Jewish community affairs prior to service on the Warren
Commission, having been recruited as a member of the American Jewish
Congress committee on law and social action in 1962; later he served as a
member of the board of overseers of the Jewish Theological Seminary.
From 1966 to 1974 he was in the office of New York City's corporation
counsel. In 1974 Redlich succeeded his sponsor, Corporation Counsel J. Lee
Rankin (earlier the chief counsel to the Warren Commission, more about
whom below).
Melvin Aron Eisenberg. Both before and after the Warren
Commission inquiry, Eisenberg was an associate in the New York law firm
of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler which has an intimate history
of associations with Jewish concerns and can generally be described as a
"Jewish" law firm. This firm once represented shadowy conservative
operative John Rees, who is known for his ties to Israeli intelligence. On
the Warren Commission, Eisenberg served as the assistant to Norman
Redlich and was also responsible for analysis of scientific evidence on
ballistics. Modern-day JFK assassination buffs who spend endless hours reexamining such topics as "where the shots came from" can thank Eisenberg
for his contributions to their debate, although Eisenberg has been eclipsed in
infamy by his Warren Commission colleague, Arlen Specter.
Arlen Specter. Specter was a Democratic assistant district attorney
during the five years prior to his rise to national fame as the inventive
creator (along with Redlich) of the discredited and outlandish "single bullet
theory" which contends that one bullet—purportedly fired by Lee Harvey Oswald—managed to do some particularly remarkable ballistic gyrations
while passing through both John F. Kennedy and Governor John Connally
of Texas and then emerged pristine. Today Specter is not only a steadfast
enthusiast of the Warren Commission Report but is also one of the Israeli lobby chief legislative tacticians in Congress. Specter frequently travels at
U.S. taxpayer expense on "official business" to Israel where his American born sister has taken up residence.
(An interesting note: Prior to recognizing the full import of Specter's
outrageous behavior on the Warren Commission, this author—as a college
student—made a small contribution to Specter's successful 1980 Senate
campaign in Pennsylvania and later—much to my surprise—was invited
[without having first asked] to submit my resume for possible employment
on Specter's staff in Washington—an offer I rejected, and wisely so.)
David W. Belin. Until his recent demise, Belin remained perhaps
the most vocal former staff member defending the Warren Commission.
Described as a "respected Midwestern Republican lawyer who would add
geographical diversity to the staff,"847 A partner in a prestigious Des
Moines firm before he came to the commission, Belin popped up in 1975 as
staff director of the so-called "Rockefeller Commission" instituted by Belin's
former Warren Commission associate, President Gerald Ford. Ostensibly
charged with investigating CIA misdeeds, Belin proved himself a valuable
defender of CIA interests. In the 1975 inquiry one of Belin's major concerns,
according to JFK researcher James DiEugenio, was trying to refute the idea
that the CIA's E. Howard Hunt was connected to the events in Dallas.848 By
so doing, Belin was effectively suppressing Hunt's involvement in Dallas
with Frank Sturgis, a known CIA and Mossad asset who claimed to have
actually played a part in the assassination.
Samuel A. Stern. As a former law clerk for Chief Justice Earl
Warren from 1955-1956, Stern was thus well-placed to influence the chief of
the commission on an intimate level. An attorney with the high-powered
Washington law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and later with the firm of
Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin, Stern had "extensive international practice,
particularly in financing ventures in emerging countries."849 As a
consequence Stern has almost necessarily had connections with the
intelligence community as part of his global ventures. (The Mossad, just for
the record, is also active in "emerging countries.")
Murray J. Laulicht. A lower-level staff member, this young
attorney came to the Warren Commission only hours after graduating first
in his class from Columbia University law school. He was recommended by a
childhood friend, attorney Nathan Lewin, who was then a special assistant in
the U.S. solicitor general's office. The two had "gone to camp
together."850 In later years, Laulicht sponsor, Lewin, emerged as a
Washington attorney known for his close association with the Israeli lobby.
Richard M. Mosk. Another staffer, Mosk was the son of California
State Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk, one of the most prominent
members of the powerful Los Angeles Jewish community. Later a member
of two "Jewish" law firms, Mosk served from 1981 to 1984 as a member of
the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in the Hague adjudicating claims
against Israel's fiercest fundamentalist Islamic critic after the fall of the Shah
of Iran whom we saw in Chapter 18 was a close ally of both the Mossad and
the CIA which jointly created the Shah's dreaded SAVAK.
Stuart R. Pollak. Another former law clerk for Chief Justice
Warren, Pollak later served in the Justice Department and as an attorney in
private practice in San Francisco which is reported by famed Jewish
corruption fighter Sherman Skolnick to be a key American "station" for
Israel's Mossad. In 1993 the Mossad's intelligence and propaganda unit—the
ADL—was revealed to be running its number one undercover informant,
Roy Edward Bullock out of San Francisco. (It was this author who first
exposed Bullock—in 1986—as an ADL asset, much to the ADL's dismay.)
Lloyd L. Weinreb. Having clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice
John M. Harlan from 1963-1964, prior to joining the Warren Commission
staff, Weinreb assisted Norman Redlich in the editing and final preparation
of the commission's report. After a brief stint in the criminal division of the
Justice Department, Weinreb went on to serve as a Harvard law professor.
THE OTHERS
The other Warren Commission lawyers who were not Jewish did still,
in many cases nonetheless, have very distinct connections to political
interests and individuals who were, in turn, attune to the interests of the
powerful Israeli lobby. Let us examine the others.
J. Lee Rankin. The chief counsel to the Warren Commission,
Rankin knew Warren from the time that Rankin served as U.S. solicitor
general under President Eisenhower. A former attorney in Lincoln, Nebraska
Rankin later established himself as a Manhattan attorney and then served as
New York City's corporation counsel from 1965 to 1972—a key position
in the American city where Jewish power and influence is supreme. (It was
Rankin who brought his junior Warren Commission colleague—the
aforementioned Redlich to the corporation counsel's office, easing Redlich's
succession to the post when Rankin retired.)
Howard P. Willens. A Justice Department "whiz kid" described as
being—along with Norman Redlich—"a staffer essentially without
portfolio,"851 Willens "assisted" the Chief Justice in staffing the
commission and served as the "key administrative aide in the
investigation." 852 Although not Jewish himself, his wife was Jewish and Willens, therefore, can be counted as one of those on the commission
sensitive to Jewish concerns.
Joseph A. Ball. Said by the National Law Journal to be "one of the
leading American trial lawyers of his generation,"853 Ball was an old friend
of the chief justice, having known Warren from "California political
circles." Ball, in short, was a political crony of the chief justice and
certainly not one to rock the boat. Ball was purported to be the
commission's "expert" on Lee Harvey Oswald and by virtue of that status
can rightly be called one of the great myth makers of all time.
Albert E. Jenner, Jr. A major player in the Chicago legal
community, personally recruited to the commission by Earl Warren, Jenner
was a senior member of a commission group that prepared the
commission's fraudulent profile of Lee Harvey Oswald as "one lone nut"
who had no CIA or other intelligence connections. Jenner had an interesting
connection of his own. At the time Jenner was named to the commission he
served as the personal attorney to Chicago construction and real estate
tycoon Henry Crown.854 A Jewish billionaire, Crown was a major
contributor to Jewish causes, including the Weizmann Institute in Israel, 855
a major force in Israel's nuclear weapons programs (that JFK so strenuously
opposed). Although highly "reputable" in his later years, Crown established
much of his clout in Chicago through his ties to organized crime. 856 Crown
plowed much of his wealth into defense contracting and was a major
stockholder in the General Dynamics Corporation (which Jenner also
represented) which was under investigation by the Kennedy Justice
Department prior to the JFK assassination.857 And as we noted in Chapter
15, the Bronfman family—sponsors of Louis Bloomfield of the Mossad's
Permindex operation—were also major shareholders in General Dynamics.
Jenner later served as the chief minority counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary
Committee during the Watergate scandal and was assuredly tuned in fully to
the CIA intrigue related to the affair (which we will review in Appendix
Seven). In any case, it's clear that Jenner, too, can be deemed—through his
association with Crown—as part of the "Jewish presence" on the Warren
Commission.
Wesley J. Liebeler. A former New York attorney, Liebeler worked
closely with Albert Jenner in covering up Lee Harvey Oswald's intelligence
community antecedents, although in future years he emerged as an expert in
the less fascinating field of antitrust law (suggesting that analysis of
intelligence intrigue was never his field of expertise to begin with).
Leon D. Hubert, Jr. A former New Orleans District Attorney who
could have uncovered details about Lee Harvey Oswald's sojourn in New
Orleans, Hubert was instead assigned to investigate the activities of Jack
Ruby in Dallas. Although recommended for the commission by one of its
members, Rep. Hale Boggs, Hubert—like Boggs—was doubtful about many commission conclusions. Interestingly, Boggs, who died in a plane
crash in 1972, was once described as an "errand boy"858 for Mossad connected Clay Shaw's close friend, Edith Stern, head of the WDSU media
empire in New Orleans that helped create Lee Harvey Oswald's public image
as a "pro-Castro agitator." Thus, Boggs and Hubert were positioned to
restrict inquiries into the Shaw-Banister-Ferrie apparatus in New Orleans that
was intertwined with the Lake Pontchartrain Cuban-exile training operations
of CIA contract agent and Mossad asset Frank Sturgis.
Burt W. Griffin. A junior member of Leon Hubert's commission
team investigating Jack Ruby's background, Griffin was a former assistant
U.S. attorney and practicing lawyer in Cleveland. Later a Cleveland trial
judge, Griffin—like Hubert—ultimately expressed some doubts about the
commission's findings but was never vocal about his reservations.
William T. Coleman, Jr. At the time of his appointment to the
commission, Coleman was one of the most prominent Black attorneys in
the nation, associated with the "political" law firm of Dilworth, Paxon,
Kalish, Levy & Coleman, headed by Philadelphia's former Democratic
Mayor Richardson Dilworth. Coleman's edge up the political/legal ladder
came, however, when he clerked in 1948-49 for Supreme Court Justice
Felix Frankfurter, one of the most ardent leaders of the Jewish community
in America. Coleman's clerkship came at the very time that the state of
Israel was being established. On the Warren Commission Coleman was the
senior member of a team examining "possible foreign conspiracies" 859
behind the assassination of President Kennedy. He found no such
conspiracies.
W. David Slawson. A Princeton graduate with a master's degree in
theoretical physics, Slawson essentially functioned as an assistant to
William Coleman—eleven years his senior—in "researching conspiracy
theories."860 This was, needless to say, a highly unlikely post, to say the
least, for a young man with a background in physics and who was charged
with the responsibility of investigating foreign conspiracies which may
have been behind the assassination. Slawson gave up his study of
international intrigue after he left the Warren Commission and specialized in
the far less theoretical and highly unscientific fields of contracts and antitrust
as a law professor at the University of Southern California
Francis W. H. Adams. The former New York City police
commissioner from 1954 to 1955, Adams should presumably have been a
top-notch investigator for the commission. It appears, however, that Adams
was mere window dressing. Although Adams was supposed to be teamed
with Arlen Specter to track President Kennedy's activities in Dallas as well
as investigate the motorcade, Adams was, according to the National Law
Journal, "rarely present,"861 so much so that Chief Justice Warren mistook
him for a coroner testifying before the commission. Recommended to the commission staff by New York Mayor Robert Wagner, long known for his
close relationship with the New York Jewish community, one might
suggest with good reason that Adams would be particularly attuned to
Jewish political concerns in light of his previous high profile appointment
as New York police commissioner.
Alfredda Scobey. Perhaps the least known of all of the commission
staff was its only female staffer. The law clerk to a Georgia judge—the
nephew of Sen. Richard Russell (D-Ga.), a member of the Warren
Commission—Ms. Scobey, then 51 and considerably older than virtually all of
her colleagues, was appointed to the staff at Russell's recommendation. She
served as his "observer" since the senator did not attend many
commission meetings. In light of the fact that Russell was later known to
be one of the Warren Commission "dissenters," Ms. Scobey must have been
quite alert in her observations. Among all of the commission staffers—and
perhaps precisely because of her alertness—Ms. Scobey never rose to any
type of prominence, returning to work as a law clerk until her retirement.
Charles N. Shaffer, Jr. Also practically forgotten as a member of
the Warren Commission staff, Shaffer was an aide to the U.S. attorney
general both before and after the Warren Commission. Shaffer's claim to
fame is that his most famous client was Watergate figure John Dean who
helped bring down the Nixon administration. Ultimately, as we shall see in
Appendix Seven, there was much more to the Watergate scandal than meets
the eye and it does indeed tie back to the Kennedy assassination—but not in
the way that so many JFK researchers seem to believe. So perhaps Shaffer's
reappearance in Watergate is really not a coincidence after all.
John Hart Ely. Another of the little-known junior staffers—only 24 at
the time—this Yale graduate was rewarded for his service on the Warren
Commission with a clerkship under Chief Justice Warren after the
commission closed up shop. Ely rose to become dean of the prestigious
Stanford Law School.
Clearly, then, there was a definitive "Jewish presence" on the staff of
the Warren Commission in virtually every key aspect of its inquiries. And
even where a Warren staffer was not necessarily Jewish, many of those
staffers had other connections which would make them "sensitive" to Jewish
concerns. This is not a pleasant topic and one which certainly invites
allegations of "anti-Semitism," but it is a topic that deserves examination
for the record, particularly in light of what is suggested in Final Judgment.
GERALD FORD'S MOSSAD
LANSKY CONNECTION
However, the "Jewish presence" on the Warren Commission has
another interesting facet—and one that has never been explored elsewhere to
the knowledge of this author.
Although JFK assassination researchers have exercised themselves
relentlessly over the fact that Warren Commission member (and later U.S.
President) Gerald Ford, then a Republican congressman from Michigan, was
J. Edgar Hoover's eager and willing informant, supplying confidential
commission findings to the FBI throughout the commission's tenure, an
equally strong argument can be made that Ford was also at least a potential
conduit for both the Lansky syndicate and the Mossad.
This startling allegation, on its face, might appear a bit extraordinary to
some, but let's look at the facts. At the time that Ford was appointed to the
commission, one of his closest political allies and major financial backers
was a Detroit-based figure named Max Fisher. Just after Ford assumed the
presidency in 1974—in the wake of the Watergate scandal—Fisher was
described as one of "the mystery men behind Gerald Ford" who would "tell
the president what to do and when to do it."862 And in light of his status in
Ford's rising political fortunes, we do know that in 1963—when Ford was
appointed to the Warren Commission, Fisher likewise was then in a
position to tell Ford "what to do and when to do it."
So who is Max Fisher? Here's how Gerald Ford described Fisher in his
own memoirs. Fisher, he said, was "a prominent Detroit businessman who
was chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Max was a lifelong
Republican and a close friend. He had served as an unofficial ambassador
between the United states and Israel for years, and his contacts at the highest
levels of both governments had often helped us bridge over
misunderstandings.” 863
Edward Tivnan's portrayal of Fisher in The Lobby: Jewish Political
Power and American Foreign Policy is even more detailed and points toward
Fisher's high-level role in the Jewish lobby in America. Tivnan describes
Fisher as, among other things: "a former head of the Council of Jewish
Federations and Welfare Funds, chairman of the United Jewish Appeal,
member of the Executive Committee of the American Jewish Committee, a
major donor to the Republican Party." 864
In regard to Fisher's status both here in the United States and in Israel,
Jean Baer writes admiringly in her book, The Self Chosen, that Fisher "has
served as an unofficial financial advisor to the Israeli government and has
been called 'probably the most prominent Republican in the country.'" 865
Although there are many GOP socialites who would dispute Baer's
fawning (and somewhat inaccurate) suggestion that Fisher was "the most
prominent Republican in the country," Israeli correspondent Wolf Blitzer
was probably more in perspective when he declared in 1985 that Fisher had
"long been the most influential Jew in the Republican Party" 866—certainly a
unique status, by anyone's judgment—and among those who, according to
Blitzer, "sensitized the Republican national leadership to the concerns of the
American Jewish community." 867
J.J.Goldberg, writing in Jewish Power: Inside the American Jewish
Establishment, describes Ford's chief financial angel as one of "the two
most senior leaders of the organized Jewish community . . . and one of the wealthiest men in America ... who always insisted that he did not speak
for himself but for the American Jewish community and its elected
leadership."868 So clearly, as we can see, Fisher was indeed someone to be
reckoned with, to say the least.
More interestingly, in the context of JFK's struggles with Israel that
we have examined in Final Judgment, Goldberg quotes Fisher as saying that
although Jewish voters were more politically inclined toward the Democratic
Party, "Kennedy wouldn't ship any arms"869 to Israel (although Fisher
added, quite incorrectly, that Lyndon Johnson didn't either)—thus suggesting
that this powerful figure in the American Jewish community was less than
pleased with JFK's attitude toward Fisher's favorite foreign nation.
FISHER, ROSENBAUM AND THE MOB
But Fisher's less public political and financial antecedents—prior to his
rise to prominence—are far more interesting, particularly in light of his
access to the Warren Commission through Gerald Ford.
At the time of the JFK assassination, Fisher was actually a business
partner of longtime Mossad figure Tibor Rosenbaum, the driving force
behind the shadowy Permindex corporation (discussed in depth in Chapter
15) which played a central role in the assassination conspiracy.
In 1957, in partnership with Tibor Rosenbaum's Swiss-Israel Trade
Bank, Fisher bought a controlling interest in Israel's Paz
conglomerate—long owned by the Rothschild family of Europe—which
maintained a monopoly over Israeli oil and petrochemical interests.870
(As we noted in Chapter 7—quite significantly enough—one of
Rosenbaum's partners in the Swiss-Israel Trade Bank was Shaul Eisenberg, a
longtime Mossad figure and one of the prime movers behind Israel's nuclear
bomb program. But, as we shall see in Appendix Nine there is much more to be
discussed of Eisenberg later.)
However, Fisher's Israeli connections went back much further and were far
deeper. Fisher's mentor—in terms of his role in promoting Israel's interests—
was no less than General Julius Klein, the former American army officer who
played a major role in helping set up Israeli Mossad and who later served as
president of the Swiss-Israel Trade Bank. Klein himself described Fisher
as "my protégé whom I have always kept . . . well informed on all
intelligence matters." 871
In the late 1940's and early 1950's Fisher traveled to Israel with Klein and
was involved in training the Israeli armed forces and intelligence services as
part of the activities of the Sonneborn Institute with which none other than
Major Louis Bloomfield was associated. Later, of course, Bloomfield would
serve as president and chairman of the board of Tibor Rosenbaum's Permindex
operation. 872
In Chapter 8 we discussed the Sonneborn Institute which was
established to provide arms and money and other tactical assistance to the
Jewish underground in Palestine, prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948. As we noted, the Institute not only had wide-ranging intelligence
connections—but also intimate ties to the Lansky Syndicate.
Therefore it will come as no surprise to the reader to learn that one of
Fisher's contacts in both petroleum and weapons smuggling to the Jewish
Haganah through Sonneborn was rising Lansky Syndicate figure Morris
Dalitz, then of Detroit's Purple Gang, and one of the leading Midwest dealers in military surplus.873 Dalitz himself would later emerge as a prime
investor in the Permindex operation and would become one of the highest ranking figures in the crime syndicate.
(In Chapter 10 we first met Dalitz and examined the strange connection
between Dalitz and House Assassinations Committee director Robert
Blakey. In Chapter 14 we explored further the manner in which Blakey,
while proclaiming that "the Mafia Killed JFK," pointed the finger at Italian/American mob figures and away from the direction of the Jewish elements
in the Lansky syndicate.)
That Fisher and Dalitz should be working together at this time is
interesting, inasmuch as during the early 1930's—nearly 20 years
previously—Fisher had been a "runner" for Dalitz Purple Gang in Detroit,
carrying cash receipts to Bronfman family bootleggers in Canada in advance
payment for forthcoming shipments of illicit goods.874 Thus, the FisherDalitz relationship had come full circle. The two successful businessmen
who rose to affluence in the seamy world of the Lansky Crime Syndicate
were now engaged in covert (and undoubtedly profitable) activities to
advance the cause of Israel.
Fisher's activities in the public arena on behalf of Israel brought him to
public respectability. Until then he was simply known as a successful but
still relatively small-time oilman. However, in 1957 when he was brought
into Israel's Paz conglomerate as a partner with Tibor Rosenbaum and Shaul
Eisenberg, Fisher's fortunes and political influence grew immensely.
By 1964—at which time Congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan was
serving on the Warren Commission—Max Fisher was the undisputed
financial angel for Ford and the Republican Party of Michigan.
Fisher's fortunes continued to advance, however, as did his influence
within the Republican Party nationwide and in international Jewish affairs.
In 1975 the well-connected Mr. Fisher took over the chairmanship of United
Brands, formerly United Fruit.875
(The role of United Fruit in the 1954
coup in Guatemala—working in conjunction with the CIA—is discussed,
among other places, by David Wise and Thomas B. Ross in their book, The
Invisible Government—an early expose of the CIA—which refers to that
misadventure in Central America as "the CIA's banana revolt.")876
So it is to this day that Tibor Rosenbaum and Gerald Ford's mutual
friend, Max Fisher, is one of the most powerful men in America—perhaps
the world. But Ford and Rosenbaum themselves shared another interesting
mutual friend. And, as we shall see, this mutual friend—like Max Fisher—
played a pivotal role in advancing Gerald Ford's political career at a critical
juncture in time.
In their friendly biography of Meyer Lansky, authors Dennis Eisenberg, Uri
Dan and Eli Landau feature an entire chapter devoted to Lansky's Mossad
associate, Tibor Rosenbaum, and examine Rosenbaum's colorful and
intriguing international connections. Of Rosenbaum, they point out:
"Another of his good friends in high places was Prince Bernhard,
consort of the Queen of the Netherlands, who invited him to the royal palace
in Holland to lecture leading Dutch bankers on good business practices. Here
too a scandal ensued, when the Prince sold a castle, the Warmelo, for
$400,000 to a Liechtenstein firm, Evluma, Inc., owned by Rosenbaum's
[BCI]. Just why this castle was sold to the Swiss banker for what is described
as a ridiculously low price has never been made clear." 877
(Needless to say, the origins of this strange deal between Bernhard and
Rosenbaum is grist for a conspiracy theorist's mill. Was it a pay-off from
Bernhard to Rosenbaum for some other favor—such as Rosenbaum having
orchestrated an assassination, using his Mossad connections, for Bernhard
and his associates?
(Or was it instead, maybe, some blackmail payment by Bernhard to
Rosenbaum who, with his Mossad sources, might have come across some
compromising information about the controversial prince who was known
to be a wheeler and dealer of the worst order?)
At any rate—at the same time that Bernhard was engaged in intrigue
with Tibor Rosenbaum he was also bringing Gerald Ford into the highest
circles of the international elite.
THE BILDERBERG CONNECTION
Bernhard, the founder of a private international annual gathering, known as
the Bilderberg meetings, invited the Michigan congressman (just recently
appointed to the Warren Commission) to attend the 1964 Bilderberg meeting
held in Williamsburg, Virginia on March 20-22 of that year. The meetings
had been held regularly at locations around the world since 1954, named after
the Bilderberg Hotel in Holland where the first such meeting was held.
On April 11, 1964 Senator Jacob Javits (R-N.Y.) rose on the Senate floor
to announce that he had been in attendance at the 1964 meeting in
Williamsburg, Virginia. Joining him at the meeting, according to a list of
participants that Javits published in the Congressional Record, was only one
other member of Congress—Gerald Ford. Also at the meeting was John J.
McCloy, described as "lawyer and diplomat."878 McCloy, along with Ford,
was also at this time a member of the Warren Commission.
This international meeting—which concluded precisely four months
after the death of President Kennedy—could not have failed to have addressed
the impact of JFK's assassination on world affairs. What's more, there can
be no doubt that the ramifications of a possible conspiracy in the
assassination—particularly one emanating from a foreign source (whether it
be Castro's Cuba, the Soviet KGB—or the Mossad)—was also the subject
of discussion. It is highly unlikely, as a consequence, that the two Warren Commission members present, did not discuss the ongoing inquiry in the
"off-the-record" meeting taking place over the three-day affair.
Although the subject of Bilderberg and their impact on world affairs is
beyond the scope of this book—and has been analyzed in far better scope
elsewhere (particularly in The Spotlight newspaper and now in American
Free Press), there is no question Bernhard had ushered Ford into higher ranks
than he had ever been in before.
Among those who attend the elite Bilderberg meetings—generally no
more than roughly 100-120 people—are some of the wealthiest and most
powerful people in the world. The Bilderberg meetings—although "fronted"
by Bernhard—are financed jointly by the Rockefeller and Rothschild families
whose representatives are very much in attendance, along with a handful of
political figures from the United States and Western Europe, joined by select
names from major foundations, academia and labor.
Also on hand are big names from the media—although they are sworn
to secrecy and never report about the private discussions held during the
conference. For example: former CIA operative William F. Buckley, Jr.,
was invited to the Bilderberg meeting in Cesme, Turkey in 1975 879 but
Buckley's "conservative" National Review magazine has always assured its
readers that there is nothing "conspiratorial" about the Bilderberg group.
(The connections of Buckley's family to Israeli oil interests, examined
in Chapter 9, are interesting, especially since, as we've seen, the Rothschild
family initially dominated Israel's petroleum industry, later selling
substantial interests in their Paz conglomerate to Tibor Rosenbaum and
Gerald Ford's Michigan benefactor, Max Fisher.)
In any event, Gerald Ford himself was cognizant of the big honor that
had been bestowed upon him by Prince Bernhard when he was invited to
attend this select gathering. "You don't really belong to the organization;
one gets an invitation from the Prince," bragged Ford in 1965.880
(and who
in 1966 was once again invited by Tibor Rosenbaum's good friend, Prince
Bernhard, to attend this important international conclave). 881
However, Ford's first participation in the Bilderberg meeting in 1964
was not, in fact, the first time he was invited. In 1961 Ford was also invited to
attend a Bilderberg gathering in Quebec, but due to a heavy workload and family
problems—his children were "quite ill with scarlet fever" 882—young
Congressman Ford was unable to attend that elite confab.
Thus, it is no stretch of the imagination—nor is it any "conspiracy
theory"—to suggest that precisely because of his service on the Warren
Commission (coupled with his entree into the Bilderberg elite at precisely
the same time), Gerald Ford's ascension to higher office was assured. Other
JFK assassination researchers have suggested as much themselves, but they
have never explored Ford's connections as we have done here.
In this aspect—as in other aspects relative to the JFK assassination
conspiracy and cover-up—Final Judgment pulls no punches in looking at
the big picture: the other side of the jigsaw puzzle.
However, the far-reaching connections of the international banking
establishment and the Zionist elite into the affairs of the Warren Commission can be found in the resume of yet another commission
member.
JOHN McCLOY
We would be remiss in not discussing the other interesting (and little
known) ties of Ford's fellow participant at the 1964 Bilderberg meeting (and
fellow Warren Commission member) John McCloy. Although mostly
considered by JFK assassination researchers to be a part of the so-called
"WASP Establishment," McCloy himself had far-reaching ties into the
highest ranks of the Jewish elite who played a major part in the pro-Israel
lobby in America and as patrons of Israel. Not only did McCloy serve as a
director of the Empire Trust,883 a joint financial venture of such powerful
international Jewish families as the Lehmans, Loebs and the Bronfmans,884
but "his career had long been intertwined with the Warburgs," 885 to the
extent that he jointly owned property with them 886 but also served as a
legal counsel for members of the family.887 His relationship was so close
to the Warburgs that his own mother, a hairdresser, did the hair for Frieda
Warburg, one of the family's grande dames.888 The Warburgs, in fact,
emerged as major figures alongside the aforementioned Gerald Ford mentor,
Max Fisher and his business partner, Shaul Eisenberg, in the financial
affairs of Israel. And in 1964 their close associate John McCloy was
conveniently serving on the Warren Commission, carefully placed to cover
up any Israeli connection to the JFK affair that might emerge.
SOME CONCLUSIONS
We can rest assured, considering Ford's fealty to Max Fisher, that if
Fisher and his mob and Mossad cronies wanted "inside" information relating
to the Warren Commission inquiry that Ford was willing and able to
provide what they needed. Similar conclusions can rightly be reached about
John McCloy in light of his close ties to the Warburg family and other
interests intimately associated with the fortunes of the state of Israel.
Was there "Jewish influence" or a "Jewish presence" on the Warren
Commission? Yes, most definitely. What does this mean in terms of the
commission's conclusions? Very simply: if the theory put forth in Final
Judgment is correct—that Israel's Mossad played a role in the assassination
of President John F. Kennedy—then the cover-up mechanism was in place
from the very beginning. There was no way that the Warren Commission
would have—or could have—ever determined the truth.
Next
Appendix Five
JFK's Greenbacks—
The Truth About The Federal Reserve Connection.
A Grain of Truth and Much Misinformation.
Notes
Appendix Three "Communist Blood Red"
817 Dick Russell. The Man Who Knew Too Much. (New York: Carroll & Graf,
1992), p. 397.
818 Right, February 1960.
819 Ibid.
820 Interview with Tony Blizzard. March, 1997.
821 The Councilor, August 16, 1975.
822 Ibid., April 15, 1978.
823 Ray and Mary LaFontaine. Oswald Talked. (Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican
Press, 1996), p. 54.
824 Ibid. p. 143.
582 Reference Notes [485]
825 Ibid., p. 175.
826 J. Edgar Hoover. Masters of Deceit. (New York: Henry Holt & Company,
1958), pp. 238-239.
827 Patriot Tribune, Pineville, Louisiana, May 28, 1970.
828 Ibid.
829 Edward T. Haslam. Mary, Ferrie & the Monkey Virus. (Albuquerque, New
Mexico: Wordsworth Communications, 1995), p. 184. (Quoting Arthur
Carpenter, "Social Origins of Anticommunism: The Information Council of the
Americas," Louisiana History, Spring 1989, p. 129).
830 Ibid., p. 183.
831 James DiEugenio. Destiny Betrayed. (New York: Sheridan Square Press,
1992, p. 206. See also Touchstone's Councilor for 1964, as well as June 1,
1967, Sept. 12-Oct. 3, 1973, Sept. 12, 1968, Jan. 1, 1974, etc.
832 Paris Flammonde. The Kennedy Conspiracy. (New York: Meredith Press,
1969), p. 280.
833 Ibid.
834
Ibid.
835 American Journalism Review, April 1993
836 Covert Action Quarterly, Summer 1993.
837 Priscilla Johnson McMillan. Marina and Lee. (New York: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1977), p. 385.
838 Ibid.
839
Ibid.
840 Who's Who in America (1964-1965 edition)
841 Hopsicker also had a then-unpublished manuscript Barry and the Boys,
dealing with the career of Barry Seal which Hopsicker made available to
Michael Collins Piper in early 2000. The book has since been published. See
www.madcowprod.com for further details.
842 The Israeli connection to Iran-contra is described in detail in Samuel
Segev's The Iranian Triangle: The Untold Story of Israel's Role in the Iran Contra Affair. (New York: The Free Press, 1988)
Appendix Four
Agents of Influence
843 Donald Gibson. "The Creation of the Warren Commission." Probe, May June 1996.
844 Edward Herman. The Terrorism Industry. (New York: Random House,
1989), p. 89.
845 Various documents released publicly by the Assassinations Records Review
Board in 1997 and available on the Internet at
nsa.govidocs/efoidreleasedijfichtml.
846 David Kaplan, "The JFK Probe-25 Years Later." The National Law
Journal, November 28, 1988.
847 Ibid.
848 James DiEugenio. Destiny Betrayed. (New York: Sheridan Square Press,
1992), p. 349.
849 Kaplan. Ibid.
850 Ibid.
851
Ibid.
852 Ibid.
853
Ibid.
854 Peter Dale Scott. Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. (Berkeley, California:
University of California Press, 1993), p. 341.
855 Moment, December 1996.
856 Ovid Demaris. Captive City. (New York: Lyle Stuart, 1969), pp. 214222.
857 Scott, Ibid., p. 20.
858
The Councilor. June 1, 1967.
859 The National Law Journal, Ibid.
860 Ibid.
861
Ibid.
862 The National Police Gazette, December 1974.
863 Gerald R. Ford. A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford.
(New York: Harper & Row, 1979), p. 248.
864 Edward Tivnan: The Lobby: Jewish Political Power and American Foreign
Policy. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987), p. 79.
865
Jean Baer. The Self Chosen. (New York: Arbor House, 1982), p. 313.
866 Wolf Blitzer. Between Washington and Jerusalem. (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1985), p. 132.
867 Ibid., p. 157.
868 J. J. Goldberg. Jewish Power: Inside the American Jewish Establishment.
(Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.,
1996), pp. 169-170.
869 Ibid.
870 Ibid., pp. 465-466.
871 Executive Intelligence Review. Dope, Inc. (Washington, DC: Executive
Intelligence Review, 1992), p. 502.
872 Ibid., p. 505.
873 Ibid., p. 507.
874 Ibid., p. 503.
875 Ibid., p. 509.
876 David Wise and Thomas B. Ross. The Invisible Government. (New York:
Random House, 1964), pp. 168-171.
877 Dennis Eisenberg, Uri Dan and Eli Landau. Meyer Lansky: Mogul of the
Mob. (New York: Paddington Press Ltd., 1979), p. 272.
878 Congressional Record, April 11, 1964.
879Liberty Lobby. Spotlight on the Bilderbergers. (Washington, DC: Liberty
Lobby, 1997), p. 33.
880 The Danbury News-Times, June 21, 1974.
584 Reference Notes [487]
881 Congressional Record, September 15, 1971.
882 A letter dated February 21, 1961 from Gerald Ford (signed "Jerry") to
Gabriel Hauge, a longtime figure in the Bilderberg meetings on file among
Hauge's private papers at Stanford University.
883 Malachi Martin. The Keys of This Blood. (New York: Simon & Schuster,
1990), p. 335.
884 Stephen Birmingham. Our Crowd. (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), p.
378.
885 Ron Chernow. The Warburgs. (New York: Vintage Books, 1994), pp. 575-
576.
886 Ibid., p. 619.
887 Ibid., p. 576.
888 Ibid.,
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