The protests were set for the week of April 20. Kerry spent some of his time at the Georgetown townhouse of his longtime friend George Butler, working the phones, trying to round up veterans. But the real problem was money. Kerry, who was not financially independent despite rumors to the contrary, was supposed to raise money to pay for buses that would transport the veterans.
He called his friend Walinsky, who had run unsuccessfully for New York attorney general and had excellent financial connections. Walinsky arranged a meeting of potential donors at the Seagram Building in New York City. Among those present were Seagram chief executive Edgar M. Bronfman Sr. and about 20 other New York businessmen who opposed the war. Kerry delivered a low-key speech about the importance of having veterans attend the protest. Then the businessmen were each asked to stand and declare how much they would contribute.
"We raised probably $50,000," Walinsky recalled. "It took an hour."
Incidentally, what's especially interesting about this is that Bronfman was named in a Senate organized crime investigation (see Frank Costello and Edwin Baldwin's testimony to the Kefauver Committee) as a member of a bootlegging syndicate connected to the Mafia syndicate of Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano, and to Joseph Kennedy's bootlegging partner Abner "Longy" Zwillman. The Bronfman family has donated to Kerry's campaigns ever since:
The Official Kerry-Edwards Blog
Business Leaders for Kerry-Edwards
Edgar Bronfman, Former Chairman, Seagram Company
Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Warner Music Group
bttt
This fits in with the FBI's concern about a plot to assassinate leaders of the US and the Democrats involvement in the VVAW. This is what James McCord stated was the reason for the Watergate breakin.
..."the VVAW had received $50,000 from Senators McGovern and Hatfield, who according to the source, obtained the money from an unknown New York source".
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Now isn't that interesting? US Senators giving money, no matter where it was from, to support a group like that.
Great post, thanks for that.
Interesting about the Bronfmans. Now I'm remembering that clinton was dating recently the ex-wife of one of the Bronfman heirs.
Nice little club they all have.
So, we have CPUSA, the Democrat Party, a Communist Party of a country in Europe all giving money to a violent terrorist group, VVAW!
And the North Vietnamese Communist Government is giving the VVAW directions and indoctrinating their members.
And the VVAW is collaborating with Radical communist groups all over America.