Ex-Presidents, Johnson Widow Call for JFK Film Probe

AP via TBO ^ | February 2,2004 | Lynn Elber

[John W]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two former presidents and the widow of Lyndon B. Johnson are calling on the History Channel to investigate a documentary it aired alleging President Johnson was involved in the Kennedy assassination. Lady Bird Johnson said the film "falsely and irresponsibly" accuses her husband of conspiring to kill President Kennedy.

No accusation made against Johnson "has hurt as painfully," the 91-year-old former first lady said in a Jan. 29 letter. Her husband died in 1973.

Copies of her letter were sent to the chief executives of three companies that own A&E Networks, which includes the History Channel. The letters went to Bob Wright of NBC, Victor Ganzi of Hearst Corp. and Michael Eisner of The Walt Disney Co.

Former Presidents Ford and Carter also sent letters citing the documentary, "The Guilty Men," which aired last November as part of a series of History Channel specials on the Nov. 22, 1963 assassination.

Ford, noting he was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission that determined Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy, called the History Channel documentary "reprehensible."

Alleging that Johnson, as Kennedy's vice president, was part of a conspiracy to murder him is "the greatest, most damaging accusation ever made against a former vice president and president in American History," Ford, 90, wrote in his Jan. 23 letter.

The letters were released Monday to The Associated Press by Tom Johnson, chairman of the LBJ Foundation and a representative of the Johnson family.

Calls to NBC and Disney were not immediately returned.

"We don't comment on correspondence with our chief executive officer," said Hearst spokesman Paul Luthringer.

Tom Johnson said he and three other former Johnson aides planned to meet Wednesday with executives of the History Channel and A&E Television Networks to press for an investigation and for its findings to be made public.

Nickolas Davatzes, president of A&E Television Networks, was expected to take part, History Channel spokeswoman Lynn Gardner said Tuesday.

Other Johnson aides scheduled to participate are Jack Valenti, now head of the Motion Picture Association of America; journalist Bill Moyers; and attorney Larry Temple.

"I'm puzzled, bewildered, that a distinguished enterprise like the History Channel would put on the air such garbage, such ugliness," Valenti said in November. "It makes one sick."

When the Kennedy series aired, the History Channel said in a statement that the point of view in "The Guilty Men" was "meticulously researched."

"By presenting different viewpoints we enable our viewers to decide to agree or disagree with them and to arrive at their own conclusions," the channel said.

[sinkspur]

LOL!! Barr McClellan has the stellar Billy Sol Estes, he of thrice-convicted swindling fame, as a character witness that convinced this grand jury of Johnson's guilt.

A grand jury, remember, can indict a ham sandwich. It can't convict anybody of anything.

[Lunatic Fringe]

I thought Arlen Spector was also involved with the Warren Commission report?

Specter was one of the biggest advocates of the Magic Bullet.

[Eastbound]

Oswald: "I'm a patsy."

Ruby: "I've been used."

Find out why these remarks were made and the 'conspiracy' will unravel.

I use the word, 'conspiracy' loosely, as it was no conspiracy, IMO. It was an operation. The only people who didn't know about it was the general public and JFK.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Gee, I hope this leads to just how Rasputin's evil twin LBJ and Ladybird got so rich on about 36K a year (I believe that was a Senator's salary in his day) and just maybe Ladybird will be forced to give it all back or go to jail.

[hoosierpearl]

I know about Billy Sol Estes character. If a person wants to do something illegal, who do you do it with, the local Boy Scout troop?
Do you have any thoughts on the Texas Ranger who testified, Peoples was his last name. Is he a scumbag too?
You are correct about Billy Sol Estes but he wasn't the only witness. Nor the only evidence.
Your comment about grand juries is correct, but Johnson's lawyers [law firm] should have responded to the charge but didn't. That was one of the points McClellan talked about in the book.

[plain talk]

I thought Arlen Spector was also involved with the Warren Commission report?

Yes, he was. I had to pull out my copy of the Warren Report I bought secondhand somewhere. Its a rare copy in that the cover is upside down for some reason. The people on the commission are separated on Page iii are separated into 3 groups:

At top are 7 principle members: Chief Justice Earl Warren, Senator Richard B Russell, Senator John Sherman Cooper, Rep Hale Boggs, Rep Gerald Ford, Allen Dulles and John McCoy.

Then there is J. Lee Rankin, General Counsel with 14 assistant counsel including Arlen Specter.

Then at bottom are 12 staffers. So maybe Ford means he is the last of the 7 main members charged with conducting the investigation.

[Keith]

correction...Specter is THE author of the Magic Bull$hit theory.

Here he is as a young Warren Commission staffer explaining his theory...

[archy]

Ford, noting he was the last surviving member of the Warren Commission that determined Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy, called the History Channel documentary "reprehensible."

Ford, noted loudly that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy, hoping that he would thereby not end up missing like fellow Warren Commission member and House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, who had called for the reopening of the investigation into JFK's murder.

On the day of October 16, 1972 when Boggs was to catch a plane ride with a fellow congressman from Alaska in his privately piloted light plane, a mixup left Boggs unable to reach the airfield in time for the takeoff. Helpfully, a young intern from the office of Arkansas Democratic Senator J. William Fulbright drove Boggs to make his appointment just in time, one of the last witnesses to see Boggs alive.

Like Gerald Ford, that helpful intern later became the president of the United States. But Bill Clinton probably *has no recollection* of the events of that day.

[archy]

LBJ didn't do it. It was the military-industrial complex, aided by future SUV owners.

So who made the previous attempts on JFK in Miami and Chicago, timed to coincide with the removal of President Diem in Vietnam?

[FreedomCalls]

The picture you posted is a complete and utter fabrication of the relative positions of Kennedy and Connally. Connally was in a jump seat much lower than Kennedy, turned around to the right waving at the crowd, and the bullet holes were not positioned as you have them depicted. Do not get your evidence from Oliver Stone movies!

Go here and read up:

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/sbt.htm

[archy]

LBJ was probably the most ruthless SOB ever to inhabit the White House. No way will we ever know for sure, but it was certainly within his character to have done it.

Had LBJ remained a senator, he'd probably be thought of as one of the most respected and effective leaders in that office, if a ruthless one; as VP and president, he was horribly outclassed and stepped into a role for which his previous experience had not prepared him. It left him with the legacy of being a defeated president unable to face the humiliation of a probable second term candidacy defeat, and as the national leader ultimately responsible for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers pursuing a failed Vietnam policy.

It was much more within his character to have been brought in on the operation after it was a fait acomplii, to use his new power to ensure that the *official version* of the events prevailed. It seems unlikely that professionals planning the JFK removal would have trusted LBJ in advance, other than with tentative triual balloons about conduct if something very unlucky should happen to president Kennedy.

-ar5chy-/-

[FreedomCalls]

Oswald got off three shots in five and a half seconds

As if that is difficult! LOL! You've never shot a rifle have you?

[185JHP]

Too bad Posner didn't get a bigger advance for his book. Then he could have afforded to buy a rack-grade Carcano and proven how easy it was to make the shots...

[sinkspur]

That was one of the points McClellan talked about in the book.

Of course. McClellan has a book to sell.

[tpaine]

sinkspur wrote:

LOL!! Barr McClellan has the stellar Billy Sol Estes, he of thrice-convicted swindling fame, as a character witness that convinced this grand jury of Johnson's guilt.


______________________________________


LOL!! Here we have the stellar 'sinky', he of FR fame as an expert judge of character, trying to convince us that Johnson was an honest man.

I'd rather believe a swindling Billy Sol Estes.

[sinkspur]

LOL!! Here we have the stellar 'sinky', he of FR fame as an expert judge of character,

That I am, paine.

Now, drag yourself out of the gutter.

[FreedomCalls]

This photo of Kennedy taken during his autopsy shows a back wound much higher up on his back (and consistent with a straight-line entrance/exit) than your drawing depicts. Why would you lie about such a thing and show a lower wound in your drawing?

[breakem]

before I post an opinion on this thread would someone tell me the official FR position? Don't want to be wrong.

Pass the kool aide.

[Doctor Stochastic]

What have you done, Billy Sol, Billy Sol?
What have you done, charming, Billy?
You have stolen every cent
From the US Government
And spent it all of fertilizer
Which is silly.

(Don't remember the source.)

[tpaine]

Good lord, anyone that questions you is in the gutter?

Get over yourself.