Posted on 10/23/2006 2:07:13 PM PDT by Fedora
Kennedy’s Comrade: Hunting a KGB Mole in the Democratic Party
By Fedora
With thanks to those who helped
In 1999, espionage author Christopher Andrew revealed that Soviet archives smuggled by defector Vasili Mitrokhin described an unnamed KGB agent recruited from California Democratic Party circles in the 1970s:
Though [Gus] Hall tended to overstate the influence of undeclared members of the CPUSA within the Democratic Party, there was at least one to whom the [KGB’s] Centre attached real importance during the 1970s: a Democratic activist in California recruited as a KGB agent during a visit to Russia. The agent, who is not identified by name in the reports noted by Mitrokhin, had a wide circle of influential contacts in the Democratic Party: among them Governor Jerry Brown of California, Senator Alan Cranston, Senator Eugene McCarthy, Senator Edward Kennedy, Senator Abraham Ribicoff, Senator J. William Fulbright and Congressman John Conyers, Jr. During the 1976 Presidential campaign the agent was able to provide inside information from within the Carter camp and a profile of Carter himself, which were particularly highly valued by the Centre since it had so few high-level American sources. On one occasion he spent three hours discussing the progress of the campaign at a meeting with Carter, Brown and Cranston in Carter's room at the Pacific Hotel. His report was forwarded to the Politburo. During the final stages of the campaign the agent had what the KGB claimed were 'direct and prolonged conversations' with Carter, Governor Brown and Senators Cranston, Kennedy, Ribicoff and Jacob Javits. Andropov attached such importance to the report on these conversations that he forwarded it under his signature to the Politburo immediately after Carter's election. . .Mitrokhin had access only to reports in FCD files based on intelligence provided by the agent, not to the agent's file itself--probably because he had been recruited by the Second (rather than the First) Chief Directorate during a visit to the Soviet Union. Within the United States he seems to have been run from the San Francisco residency.1
Following publication of Andrew’s book, I began trying to identify this individual. I worked from the clues provided in Andrew’s summary as quoted above. Unfortunately, Andrew did not include the original Russian text of the document in his book, nor have I yet been able to find it among the original documents he has reproduced in his other published work, so I should emphasize that here I am working from Andrew’s English summary of a Russian original document, not from the original document itself. Due to this, I have unanswered questions about how to interpret the significance of certain phrases mentioned above, such as the characterization of the agent as a “Democratic activist”. Hopefully the original document will be made available in the future and will shed light on these details. But in any case, here is what I have been able to find by following up on the clues Andrew has provided so far.
In the process of trying to collect details on the “Pacific Hotel” meeting with Jimmy Carter, Jerry Brown, and Alan Cranston, I learned that Los Angeles Times reporter Tyler Marshall had questioned Cranston about the meeting without success:
Asked about the account Thursday, Cranston said he was unaware whom the Soviet mole might be."I have no idea who this guy is," Cranston said. The former senator said that he recalled a Carter campaign event at the Pacific Hotel but remembered no meeting between the three Democrats as described by Mitrokhin.
"It's not logical such a meeting would have occurred," Cranston said. "I don't believe it happened. Sounds like this agent [was] trying to build up his own reputation."2
Jamie Dettmer also questioned Cranston, as well as Jerry Brown and Jimmy Carter, with similar results. As Dettmer reported on an intelligence community discussion forum:
I talked to Cranston and Brown and Carter about the 1970s spy--all recalled the meeting but not who was in the room. We also tried the hotel but their records did not go back that far. We also tried the Carter library but they could not help either.3
A participant in the same thread as Dettmer’s post suggested that the suspect profile fit Tom Hayden.4 This sounded like a guess worth pursuing—Hayden certainly fit the description of a “Democratic activist in California”, and he had frequently associated with Communist front groups and toured Communist countries. But I wanted confirmation, so I began checking into Hayden and Carter’s known movements to determine whether there was any convergence with the other details given in the KGB archives. A research assistant helped me dig up any pertinent information on Carter’s visits to California during the 1976 Presidential campaign.
We soon determined that on Sunday, August 22 and Monday, August 23, 1976, Carter met with Cranston and the campaign steering committee of the Democratic National Committee at the Pacifica Hotel, also known as the Radisson Los Angeles Airport Hotel of the Pacifica Host Hotels chain. In the process we discovered there was another individual present during Carter’s visit who seemed to fit the suspect’s profile better than Tom Hayden:
The Los Angeles Times gave a detailed summary of Carter’s visit and itinerary on August 23, 1976:
Jimmy Carter arrived in Los Angeles Sunday evening to begin a three-day West Coast trip. . .From the airport, Carter motored to the Pacifica Hotel, where he was greeted by Sens. Alan Cranston and John V. Tunney and Mayor Bradley at a reception held under the auspices of the Democratic National Committee. . .
Inside, Carter gave a brief speech. . .
After the reception at the hotel, the former Americana Hotel in Culver City, Carter, Carter drove to the home of Lew Wasserman, Music Corp. of America chairman. . .
Brown was among the guests at the Wasserman dinner. Others included Sens. Cranston and Tunney, Rep. James C. Corman of Van Nuys, labor lawyer Sidney Korshak, producer Norman Lear, Occidental Oil head Armand Hammer, David Begelman, president of Columbia Pictures, Barry Diller, chairman of the board of Paramount Pictures, and Robert Prescott, board chairman of Flying Tiger Airlines.
Political figures attending from out of state included Democratic National Chairman Robert S. Strauss and Rep. Andrew Young of Georgia.
After the Wasserman dinner, Carter went to the Beverly Wilshire, where he was the guest of honor at a reception given by actor Warren Beatty. . .
From Los Angeles, Carter flies today to San Francisco and then tonight to Seattle. . .
Carter’s Los Angeles schedule. . .allows for no direct contact by the Georgian with substantial segments of this area’s electorate. . .
Instead, the Carter schedule calls for attending functions associated with a second meeting of the campaign steering committee of the Democratic National Committee at the Pacifica Hotel. The steering committee plans a number of meetings around the country.
In addition to speaking at Town Hall this noon, Carter plans to make an appearance this afternoon before the Watts Labor Community Action Council in the heart of the black community, and he will be interviewed for an hour at The Times.
His California itinerary will continue to be rather limited when he goes to San Francisco, where his only schedule event is a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at the Fairmont Hotel. . .5
Among the names mentioned in this Los Angeles Times article, several stand out for known Soviet intelligence associations, and one in particular emerges as a most likely suspect for the Carter campaign’s KGB mole.
Armand Hammer’s work for Soviet intelligence is well known.6 However there is no indication in the Los Angeles Times article or other sources of Hammer going back to the Pacifica with Carter after the Wasserman dinner. Nor was Hammer especially close to the other individuals described as being within the KGB agent’s circle of contacts. While we did not rule Hammer out absolutely due to a lack of exhaustive information, he did not seem to be the best match for the suspect profile.
Andrew Young is known to have been under the influence of Communist Party operative Jack “Hunter Pitts” O’Dell.7 However researchers considering Young as a suspect have pointed out that in the same passage where Christopher Andrew discusses the Carter campaign’s KGB mole, he mentions that the KGB met obstacles when attempting to recruit Young.8 This alone does not necessarily exclude Young from consideration, but when other details are considered, a better suspect emerges.
That individual is a known KGB asset mentioned in the Los Angeles Times article: California Senator John Tunney.
Tunney’s relationship with the KGB was first revealed in 1992 after Soviet archives came into Western possession, and has recently received renewed publicity from reviews of Paul Kengor’s 2006 book The Crusader9 The documents publicized in 1992 and 2006 focused on Tunney’s mediation between Soviet officials and Ted Kennedy from 1978 to 1983. But Tunney also seems to be the best fit for the profile of the unnamed agent the KGB had placed in Jimmy Carter’s circles during the 1976 Presidential campaign.
Like the unnamed agent, Tunney had been in the Soviet Union. His business trips there after 1978 are easily documented from the public record. I found it more difficult to determine exactly when he first visited the USSR, but it was apparently before October 1974. At that time his soon-to-be-ex-wife Mieke wrote an article for Ladies’ Home Journal describing her relationship with Senator Edward Kennedy’s husband Joan, whom she had known since 1958 when their future husbands were attending law school together.10 Mieke mentioned “days in Moscow” with Joan during the past 16 years:
Both Joan and I take great pride in looking well. . .Our faces have a few more wrinkles despite the creams that we faithfully apply, but if one were to ask us to give back any of those 16 years, the stimulating yet hectic life, the action-packed days in Boston or Washington or Moscow, the answer would be never.11
When were Mieke Tunney and Joan Kennedy in Moscow between 1958 and 1974? In the wake of detente, a number of groups of Senators and Congressmen travelled to the Soviet Union between 1972 and 1974.12 Senator Kennedy made his first trip to the USSR from April 18 through 25, 1974, visiting Moscow before going on to sightseeing in Tbilisi and Leningrad. News coverage and Kennedy biographies mention that the Senator travelled with Joan and their children Kara and Ted, Jr. While in Moscow the Senator met briefly with what news accounts describe as “American residents in Moscow”. In Tbilisi Kennedy spoke at the Dartmouth Conference, an annual Soviet-American business conference, which was attended by other Americans including Chase Manhattan Bank president David Rockefeller and Senators Hugh Scott and William Roth. The Senator also met with the Soviet USA Institute, headed by Dartmouth Conference attendee Georgi Arbatov.13 I did not find any direct references to the Tunneys being present on these occasions. But I did find references to the Tunneys vacationing with the Kennedys several times during 1972-1974, when both Senators were having marital difficulties and Tunney’s son Teddy was helping Ted Kennedy, Jr. work through chemotherapy for bone cancer.14 In July 1974, the Kennedy and Tunney families were reported vacationing together in Ireland.15 So it seems plausible that Mieke Tunney’s reference to “days in Moscow” may be alluding to the Kennedys’ 1974 visit to Moscow. Hopefully further research will uncover additional information.
It proved easier to find confirmation that Tunney fit some of the other items in the unnamed agent’s profile remarkably well. His circle of contacts coincided significantly with those attributed to the agent: “Governor Jerry Brown of California, Senator Alan Cranston, Senator Eugene McCarthy, Senator Edward Kennedy, Senator Abraham Ribicoff, Senator J. William Fulbright and Congressman John Conyers, Jr.”
Tunney’s political contacts stemmed partly from his close relationship with Senator Kennedy. Tunney had been Kennedy’s college roommate in law school and was an usher at Kennedy’s wedding to Joan. Joan Kennedy and Mieke Tunney became best friends over the course of the 1960s. Meanwhile their husbands travelled together and were frequently seen together in extramarital couplings with other women.16 In addition to such social contact, Kennedy and Tunney worked together politically. For instance, while Tunney was still a Congressman in 1966, he and Kennedy and their wives travelled to the Middle East on a fact-finding trip to develop an Arab-Israeli peace plan.17 Also in 1966, Joan Kennedy and her sister Candy travelled to California to stump for the re-election of Tunney and Governor Pat Brown.18 Tunney helped Jess Unruh organize Robert Kennedy’s Presidential campaign in California in 1968,19 and early that same year Tunney and Edward Kennedy both made fact-finding trips to Vietnam.20 After Tunney was elected Senator in 1970, he and Kennedy served on the Senate Judiciary Committee together.21 They joined forces against the Nixon administration and California Governor Ed Reinecke during the Watergate investigation.22 In late 1974 and early 1975 they joined Senators Alan Cranston and Dick Clark in leading a drive to sever US aid to anti-Communist forces in Angola.23
Tunney’s close relationship with Kennedy placed him in Kennedy’s circle of contacts, intersecting with at least three of the other politicians from the unnamed KGB agent’s list of contacts: Senators Abraham Ribicoff and Jacob Javits and Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
Ribicoff, a friend of the Kennedy family since 1949, had been John Kennedy’s campaign adviser and first cabinet appointee.24 As a Senator he and his close colleague Jacob Javits had worked with Robert Kennedy on the Subcommittee on Executive Reorganization of the Senate Committee on Government Operations.25 Following Robert Kennedy’s assassination, Ribicoff had supported antiwar candidate George McGovern’s Presidential aspirations in 1968 and 1972.26 Edward Kennedy joined him in supporting McGovern in the 1972 campaign, and both Kennedy and Ribicoff were considered as running mates for McGovern.27 At the time of Kennedy’s April 1974 trip to the USSR he was cosponsoring a major piece of legislation being promoted by Ribicoff in conjunction with Senator Javits and Senator Henry Jackson, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.28 In support of this legislation and related legislation, Tunney’s aide Mel Levine worked in coordination with Jackson’s aide Richard Perle, Javits’ aide Albert Lakeland, and Ribicoff’s aide Morris Amitay.29
John Conyers, Jr. served on the House Judiciary Committee while Tunney was on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Tunney and his committee listened to a statement Conyers gave opposing the Supreme Court nomination of Lewis Powell.30 Tunney also supported the efforts of Conyers and his Democratic colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee to impeach Richard Nixon, an effort in which Senator Kennedy played a large behind-the-scenes role.31
As a Democratic Senator from California, Tunney also worked closely with two of the unnamed KGB agent’s other contacts: Senator Cranston and Governor Brown. Cranston, who was Tunney’s senior as California Senator, was quoted in a 1971 article describing the growth of his relationship with Tunney, and in 1974-1975 he supported Tunney’s efforts to cut off US aid to Angola.32 At the 1976 Democratic National Convention, where Jerry Brown was one of Carter’s leading rivals, Tunney and Cranston attended a private unity meeting between Brown’s camp and the Carter camp.33 Carter’s California campaign was aided by Brown, Cranston, Tunney, and Democratic State Chairman Charles Manatt, who had guided Tunney’s 1970 Senate campaign and later became Tunney’s law partner when the former Senator joined the firm of Manatt, Phelps, Rothenberg & Tunney (now Manatt, Phelps & Phillips).34
In addition to being present during Carter’s Los Angeles visit on August 22, 1976, Tunney also had good opportunity for the later contact with Carter and his supporters attributed to the unnamed KGB agent: “During the final stages of the campaign the agent had what the KGB claimed were 'direct and prolonged conversations' with Carter, Governor Brown and Senators Cranston, Kennedy, Ribicoff and Jacob Javits.”
Carter visited California three times during the later stages of his campaign. Following his first debate with President Ford, he spent the weekend of September 24-26, 1976 in Southern California, making an appearance at the San Diego Zoo and at an Orange County barbecue and in the process appearing publicly with Governor Brown and Senators Cranston and Tunney.35 Carter was in San Francisco for his second debate with Ford from October 4 through October 7.36 Carter made a final campaign swing through California over the weekend of October 29 through November 1, during which he joined a San Francisco telecast featuring Tunney and other Democratic candidates on Halloween, spent that evening and the next morning in Sacramento at the El Mirador Hotel with Governor Brown, and attended a Los Angeles lunch rally with Brown, Tunney, and Cranston on November 1.37
Tunney could have spoken with his best friend Kennedy at any time during this period. Kennedy had especially close access to Carter when Carter stopped in Boston on September 31 and met with Kennedy and other Democratic state leaders.38 Carter was also present at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York on October 21 for the annual dinner of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, which was attended by prominent members of both parties.39 I am still trying to determine whether Tunney had any documented contact with Ribicoff or Javits during the final stages of the Carter campaign.
If Tunney was the unnamed KGB agent, what are the implications for history? If Tunney had already been recruited by the KGB before his 1976 Senate campaign, it could shed significant light on his activity during the Nixon-Ford administration. The precise date of the unnamed agent’s recruitment is unclear from Andrew’s summary, but his account makes it sound as if the agent had already been recruited during a visit to Russia sometime prior to the 1976 Presidential campaign. As mentioned above, Senator Kennedy had visited Russia in April 1974, and Mieke Tunney recorded reminiscences of “days in Moscow” with Joan Kennedy in an October 1974 article. During this period, as Kennedy sized up his odds in the next Presidential election and Tunney prepared to run for re-election to the Senate, both men were actively involved in promoting the Watergate prosecution.40 In late 1974, Tunney initiated the Congressional antiwar bloc’s effort to cut off US aid to Angola. Soviet archives record the KGB’s enthusiastic reviews of New York Times coverage of Congress’ attack on President Ford’s Angola policy.41
While Tunney’s relationship to the KGB before the 1976 election remains only a hypothesis supported by circumstantial evidence, there is more direct evidence available after the 1976 election, when Tunney joined the law firm of his friend Charles Manatt, who would serve as the Democratic National Committee Chairman from 1981 to 1985. Soviet archives indicate that another firm Tunney was linked to, Agritech, had a relationship to a French-American company called Finatech, which was run by David Karr—a KGB agent associated with Armand Hammer—and served as an intermediary between the KGB and Ted Kennedy between 1978 and 1980. KBG reports also mention Tunney carrying messages between Kennedy and Moscow in 1983. As summarized by Herbert Romerstein:
One of the documents, a KGB report to bosses in the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee, revealed that "In 1978, American Sen. Edward Kennedy requested the assistance of the KGB to establish a relationship" between the Soviet apparatus and a firm owned by former Sen. John Tunney (D.-Calif.). KGB recommended that they be permitted to do this because Tunney's firm was already connected with a KGB agent in France named David Karr. This document was found by the knowledgeable Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats and published in Moscow's Izvestia in June 1992.Another KGB report to their bosses revealed that on March 5, 1980, John Tunney met with the KGB in Moscow on behalf of Sen. Kennedy. Tunney expressed Kennedy's opinion that "nonsense about 'the Soviet military threat' and Soviet ambitions for military expansion in the Persian Gulf. . .was being fueled by [President Jimmy] Carter, [National Security Advisor Zbigniew] Brzezinski, the Pentagon and the military industrial complex.". . .
In May 1983, the KGB again reported to their bosses on a discussion in Moscow with former Sen. John Tunney. Kennedy had instructed Tunney, according to the KGB, to carry a message to Yuri Andropov, the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, expressing Kennedy's concern about the anti-Soviet activities of President Ronald Reagan. The KGB reported "in Kennedy's opinion the opposition to Reagan remains weak. Speeches of the President's opponents are not well-coordinated and not effective enough, and Reagan has the chance to use successful counterpropaganda." Kennedy offered to "undertake some additional steps to counter the militaristic, policy of Reagan and his campaign of psychological pressure on the American population." Kennedy asked for a meeting with Andropov for the purpose of "arming himself with the Soviet leader's explanations of arms control policy so he can use them later for more convincing speeches in the U.S." He also offered to help get Soviet views on the major U.S. networks and suggested inviting "Elton Rule, ABC chairman of the board, or observers Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters to Moscow."
Tunney also told the KGB that Kennedy was planning to run for President in the 1988 elections. "At that time, he will be 56 years old, and personal problems that have weakened his position will have been resolved [Kennedy quietly settled a divorce suit and soon plans to remarry]." Of course the Russians understood his problem with Chappaquiddick. While Kennedy did not intend to run in 1984, he did not exclude the possibility that the Democratic Party would draft him because "not a single one of the current Democratic hopefuls has a real chance of beating Reagan."
This document was first discovered in the Soviet archives by London Times reporter Tim Sebastian and a report on it was published in that newspaper in February 1992.42
So from 1978 to 1983, there is direct evidence from Soviet archives that Tunney was acting as a middleman between Senator Kennedy and the Soviet Union. Circumstantial evidence indicates that Tunney may have begun playing this role as early as 1974-1976.
Tunney’s role as courier to the Soviets was not limited to delivering messages from Kennedy. A review of Paul Kengor’s Crusader adds:
At one point after President Reagan left office, Tunney acknowledged that he had played the role of intermediary, not only for Kennedy but for other U.S. senators, Kengor said. Moreover, Tunney told the London Times that he had made 15 separate trips to Moscow."There's a lot more to be found here," Kengor told Cybercast News Service. "This was a shocking revelation."43
There is indeed a lot more to be found—or from the perspective of some, perhaps, a lot more to be covered up.
1Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, New York: Basic Books, 1999, 290-291, 627n84, citing "[Mitrokhin archives] vol. 6, app. 1, part 4; t-3,76”.
2Tyler Marshall, “California and the West; KGB Records Reveal California Espionage; Intelligence: Unidentified man described as a Democratic Party activist informed Soviets about meeting with then-Sen. Cranston and presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, papers show.”, Los Angeles Times, September 24, 1999, 3.
3Jamie Dettmer, “Re: Who Was That Spy?”, Intelligence Forum, June 26, 2000, http://archives.his.com/intelforum/2000-June/msg00328.html
4John Young, “Re: Who Was That Spy?”, Intelligence Forum, June 25, 2000, http://archives.his.com/intelforum/2000-June/msg00327.html
5Kenneth Reich, “Carter in L.A., Approves Ford’s Action in Korea”, Los Angeles Times, August 23, 1976, B1. For other accounts of Carter’s trip, see Jules Witcover, Marathon: The Pursuit of the Presidency, 1972-1976, New York Viking press, 1977, 521, 525-526; Patrick Anderson, Electing Jimmy Carter: The Campaign of 1976, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994, 89-99.
6Joseph Finder, Red Carpet, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1983; Steve Weinberg, Armand Hammer: The Untold Story, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989; Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov, The Secret World of American Communism, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995, 26-30; Harvey Klehr, John Haynes, and Kyrill M. Anderson, The Soviet World of American Communism, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998; Edward Jay Epstein, Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer, New York: Random House, 1996.
7Kenneth R. Timmerman, Shakedown: Exposing the Real Jesse Jackson, Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2002, 108, 110.
8Andrew and Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield, 290; Gary Kern, “Who Was That Spy?”, Intelligence Forum, June 25, 2000, http://archives.his.com/intelforum/2000-June/msg00326.html
9Tim Sebastian, “Dialogue with the Kremlin”, The Sunday Times, February 2, 1992; Yevgenia Albats, “Senator Edward Kennedy Requested KGB Assistance With a Profitable Contract for his Businessman-Friend”, Izvestia, June 24, 1992, 5; Paul Kengor, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
10Mieke Tunney, “My Friend, Joan Kennedy”, Ladies’ Home Journal, October 1974; Lester David Joan: The Reluctant Kennedy: A Biographical Profile, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1974, 121-122.
11Tunney.
12Murray Seeger, “Humphrey Warns Russ of Diploma Tax Danger: Emphasizes That Democratic Congress Will Decide Its Own East-West Policies”, Los Angeles Times, December 2, 1972, 14; Murray Seeger, “Brezhnev Talks Trade With 7 U. S. Senators: Soviet Emphasis on Legislation”, Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1973, 4.
13”Kennedy, in Moscow, Backs Visit by Nixon: Impeachment Moves Should Not Keep the President Home, Democratic Senator Says”, Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1974, A4; Murray Seeger, “Kennedy-Brezhnev Talk Indicates Russ Are Looking Beyond Nixon”, Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1974, 7; “Crowds of Smiling Georgians Give Kennedy Warm Greeting”, Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1974, 2; ;”Peasants Love Them: Kennedys Make Hit in Soviet Georgia”, Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1974, A4; Murray Seeger, “A Red Carpet for Sen. Kennedy: Kremlin Opens Its Gates to Kennedy”, Los Angeles Times, April 28, 1974, F1; ”People”, TIME, May 6, 1974; Bill Adler, The Kennedy Children: Triumphs & Tragedies, New York: Franklin Watts, 1980, 266.
14David, 225, 240; Adler, 266; Richard E. Burke, The Senator: My Ten Years With Senator Ted Kennedy, with William and Marilyn Hoffer, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992, 52, 67-71.
15”Kara Kennedy/Foot Injury”, ABC Evening News, July 10, 1974; ”Kara Kennedy/Foot Injury”, CBS Evening News, July 10, 1974; Adler, 266; “GAA Club to benefit from draw”, Western People, August 4, 2004, http://www.westernpeople.ie/community/story.asp?j=20861
16David, 50, 121-122, 137-138, 225-228, 240; Tunney; Joe McGinniss, The Last Brother, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993, 560; Burke, 67-71.
17Jerusalem Post, December 2, 1966, 8; Allan Kellum, “The Presidential Candidates: How They View the Middle East”, The Link, Volume 13, Issue 1, January-February 1980; George Weller, “Dateline: Palestine”, The Link, Volume 21, Issue 2, June-July 1988.
18David, 86-87.
19Francis M. Carney, interview, July 20, 1998, online at Oral History: University of California, Riverside http://www.ucrhistory.ucr.edu/ ; Ronald Loveridge, interview, August 5, 1998, online at Oral History: University of California, http://www.ucrhistory.ucr.edu/pdf/loveridge.pdf ; Lawrence F. O’Brien, interview with Michael L. Gillette, July 21, 1987, online at Lyndon Baines Johnson Library Oral History Collection, http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/oralhistory.hom/obrienl/OBRIEN23.PDF
20United States Congress, 91st Congress, 1st Session. House Report No. 91-25: Measuring Hamlet Security in Vietnam: Report of a Special Study Mission by Honorable John V. Tunney (California) of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Pursuant to the Provisions of H. Res. 179, 90th Congress, A Resolution Authorizing the Committee on Foreign Affairs to Conduct Thorough Studies and Investigation of All Matters Coming Within the Jurisdiction of Such Committee. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1969; Harvey Meyerson, Vinh Long, with Introduction by Congressman John Tunney, illustrated with maps by Adam Nakamura, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970; Don Luce and John Sommer, Viet Nam: The Unheard Voices, Foreword by Senator Edward Kennedy, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1969; "Edward M. Kennedy", Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd Edition, 17 Volumes., Gale Research, 1998, reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale, 2006, http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
21”Committee on the Judiciary”, http://a255.g.akamaitech.net/7/255/2422/06sep20050947/www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate/judiciary/sh92-69-267/members.pdf , ”Committee on the Judiciary”, http://a255.g.akamaitech.net/7/255/2422/26sep20051515/www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/senate/judiciary/sh94-63774/members.pdf ; U.S. National Archives and Records Administration: Legislative Branch: The Center for Legislative Archives, Guide to the Records of the U.S. Senate at the National Archives (Record Group 46): Chapter 13. Records of the Committee on the Judiciary and Related Committees, 1816-1968: Records of Subcommittees: Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, online at http://www.archives.gov/legislative/guide/senate/chapter-13-judiciary-1947-1968.html
22”Abuse of Governmental Power Segments”, Nixon White House Tapes, Conversation Numbers 22-84, 22-93, 23-8, 711-14, 712-6, 23-30, and 331-16, April 5-18, 1972, online at http://nixon.archives.gov/find/tapes/watergate/aogp/april_1972.pdf ; ”Gray Nom.”, ABC Evening News, March 1, 1973; ”Gray/Watergate Case”, CBS Evening News, March 9, 1973; “The Fight Over the Future of the FBI”, TIME, March 26, 1973; ”Watergate Case”, ABC Evening News, May 15, 1973; ”Watergate/Elliott Richardson”, ABC Evening News, May 22, 1973; ”Senate Probe/Cox Removal/Nixon Impeachment”, CBS Evening News, October 22, 1973;”Reinecke Arraigned”, ABC Evening News, April 10, 1974; Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-Third Congress, Second Session, Pursuant to H. Res. 803, A Resolution Authorizing and Directing the Committee on the Judiciary to Investigate Whether Sufficient Grounds Exist for the House of Representatives to Exercise Its Constitutional Power to Impeach Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America, Presidential Statements on the Watergate Break-In and Its Investigation, May-June 1974Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1974, Appendix I, online at http://watergate.info/judiciary/APPI.PDF
23Joshua Murvachik, “Kennedy’s Foreign Policy: What the Record Shows”, Commentary, Volume 68, Number 6, December 1979.
24”The Campaign and the Candidates”, NBC News, October 29, 1960; "Abraham (Alexander) Ribicoff", Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2006, reproduced in Biography Resource Center, Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale, 2006, http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC ; "Abraham Alexander Ribicoff”, The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives, Volume 5: 1997-1999, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002, reproduced in Biography Resource Center, Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale, 2006, http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC ; “Biographies and Profiles: Abraham Ribicoff”, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum, http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Biographies+and+Profiles/Profiles/Abraham+Ribicoff.htm
25Rufus King, The Drug Hang Up: America’s Fifty-Year Folly, Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1972, Chapter 27, online at http://www.druglibrary.org/special/king/dhu/dhu27.htm
26”Convention Activities/Daley”, NBC Evening News, August 29, 1968.
27”Campaign `72/Vice President Offers--Ribicoff, Kennedy”, ABC Evening News, July 13, 1972.
28Arlene Lazarowitz, “Senator Jacob K. Javits and Soviet Jewish Emigration”, Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Volume 21, Number 4, Summer 2003, 19-31; Murray Seeger, “Kennedy-Brezhnev Talk Indicates Russ Are Looking Beyond Nixon”, Los Angeles Times, April 23, 1974, 7.
29Stephen D. Isaacs, Jews and American Politics, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1974, 255.
30John Conyers to United States Senate, November 9, 1971, from United States Senate, Nominations of William H. Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell, Jr.: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary. United States Senate. November 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10, 1971., online at http://www.20thcenturyrolemodels.org/powell/LP%20Judging%20History.pdf
31Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-Third Congress, Second Session, Pursuant to H. Res. 803, A Resolution Authorizing and Directing the Committee on the Judiciary to Investigate Whether Sufficient Grounds Exist for the House of Representatives to Exercise Its Constitutional Power to Impeach Richard M. Nixon, President of the United States of America, Presidential Statements on the Watergate Break-In and Its Investigation, May-June 1974Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1974, Appendix I, online at http://watergate.info/judiciary/APPI.PDF
32Charles Powers, “Warming Up for the Big Time: Can John Tunney Make It As a Heavyweight?”, West, December 12, 1971; Carl Gershman and Bayard Rustin, “Africa, Soviet Imperialism & The Retreat of American Power”, Commentary, Volume 64, Number 4, October 1977; Murvachik; K.C. Johnson, “Clark Amendment”, http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/johnson/clark.htm
33”Carter Goes to See Brown--Asks His Help in Fall: Californians Join Candidate in Unity Session”, Los Angeles Times, July 15, 1976, 2.
34Jack Jones, “Thousands Hear Carter at Last-Day Rally in L.A.”, Los Angeles Times, November 1, 1976, A1. On Manatt and Tunney, see e.g. David Watson, “Davis Names Pines, Five Others to Los Angeles Superior Court: Governor Also Appoints 10 to Other Courts, Leaving Only a Handful of Vacancies”, Metropolitan News-Enterprise, November 13, 2003, http://www.metnews.com/articles/appt111303.htm; Mary Ellen Leary, “The Democratic New Guard”, The Nation, Volume 212, Issue 10, March 8, 1971, 302-305; Federal Election Commission to Terry D. Garcia, “Federal Election Commission Advisory Opinion Number 1982-63”, February 10, 1983, online at http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/ao/no/820063.html ; “Decision 1984/California Primary”, NBC Evening News, March 19, 1984; Irvin Molotsky and Warren Weaver, Jr., “BRIEFING; Grassley and the Democrats”, The New York Times, August 23, 1985.
35”Carter To Bring Campaign To County Sept. 26”, Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1976, OC1; “Brown Campaigns for Ohioans, Plans to Assist Carter”, Los Angeles Times, September 24, 1976, B29; Bud Lembke, “Big-Name Politicians Flock to County”, Los Angeles Times, September 27, 1976, OC1, 2 pages; Don Smith, “Carter Brings Campaign to County Parade, Barbecue: Small Crowds Greet Carter”, Los Angeles Times, September 27, 1976, OC1, 2 pages; Patrick Anderson, Electing Jimmy Carter, 116-117.
36Kenneth Reich, “Carter Discusses Foreign Affairs With Schlesinger”, Los Angeles Times, October 4, 1976, B6; Kenneth Reich, “Carter in S.F., Vows to Debate Aggressively”, Los Angeles Times, October 5, 1976, B6; Kenneth Reich, “Carter Aides Assail Ford For His Remark On Poland”, Los Angeles Times, October 7, 1976, B27; Kenneth Reich, “State Democrats Buoyed By Carter California Tour”, Los Angeles Times, October 9, 1976, A1, 2 pages.
37“Carter to Tour State on Nov. 1”, Los Angeles Times, October 16, 1976, A23; Ellen Hume, “Buoyant Tunney Stumps With Children: Says Private Poll Gives Him 49%-41% Lead Over Hayakawa”, Los Angeles Times; November 1, 1976, B3, 2 pages “Carter Late, But Peep Show Livens Up Crowd’s Wait”, Los Angeles Times, November 1, 1976, A1; Jack Jones, “Thousands Hear Carter at Last-Day Rally in L.A.”, Los Angeles Times, November 1, 1976, A1; Bill Boyarsky, “Ford, Carter Wind Up Race, Wait for Voting: Democrat's Hopes Buoyed by Rally in Downtown L.A.”, Los Angeles Times, November 2, 1976, B1, 3 pages; “12 Injured as Roof Collapses at Carter Rally”, Los Angeles Times, November 2, 1976, B3; Bill Boyarsky, “L.A. Rally Buoys Carter's Hopes: Crowd Enthusiastic Here on Campaign's Last Day”, Los Angeles Times, November 2, 1976, A3; “Weary Tunney Ends Campaign In Riverside”, Los Angeles Times, November 2, 1976, B3.
38 Witcover, Marathon, 589-590; William Lasser, “Carter attacks Ford on leadership issue”, The Tech, Volume 96, Number 34, October 1, 1976, 1.
39Bill Boyarsky, “Tradition Attracts Ford, Carter to Al Smith Fete”, Los Angeles Times, October 22, 1976, A5, 2 pages.
40See Note 22.
41Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World, New York: Basic Books, 2005, 452-453.
42Herbert Romerstein, “Ted Kennedy was a ‘collaborationist’, Human Events, December 8, 2003, online at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200312/ai_n9318614 On Karr, see John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, Venona: Decoding Soviet Espionage in America, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999, 244-247.
43Kevin Mooney, “KGB Letter Outlines Sen. Kennedy's Overtures to Soviets, Prof Says”, CNSNews.com, http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200610/NAT20061020b.html , October 20, 2006.
This document was first discovered in the Soviet archives by London Times reporter Tim Sebastian and a report on it was published in that newspaper in February 1992. Sen. Kennedy played a major role during the 1970s in Grafting the restrictions that made it so difficult for the FBI and CIA to do the job of protecting the American people. One of the most pernicious restrictions was the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) passed in 1978. ... When Congress discussed legislation to require a court warrant to wiretap enemy agents and terrorists, Kennedy and the ACLU began a campaign to raise the barriers as high as possible. Kennedy introduced the concept in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Bill that required evidence that someone was providing classified information to a foreign intelligence service. Someone who "only" had a clandestine relationship with a foreign intelligence officer and carried out covert influence operations for a foreign power could not be wiretapped. When we see the KGB reports we can understand why Kennedy would want this provision in the law. Kennedy was not a KGB agent. He also was not "a useful idiot" who was used by the KGB without understanding what he was doing. Kennedy was a collaborationist. He aided the KGB for his own political purposes.
138-139: Kennedy invited to give keynote address at September 1978 World Health Organization meeting in Soviet Socialist Republic of Kazakhstan, decides to meet with Refuseniks on trip, asks advice from Tunney due to his business contacts in USSR and association with Karr in building hotel for 1980 Olympics, Karr is linked to Politburo functionary named “Andrei” with aide Natasha whom Tunney had spent time on Karr’s yacht, Tunney tells Kennedy Natasha might be point of contact with Brezhnev regarding Refuseniks
I recall Harmon's name coming up as linked to some of Tunney's associates--think she was his aide or something at one point a while back, but I need to double-check that.
Fascinating, a great effort. In the context of Carter's similar approach to the Soviets to discredit Reagan, we see that the Dems operated as a shadow government with a shadow State Department running back channels to the Soviets with whom they shared a common fear and loathing of Reagan. Just like the actual State Deparment, the shadow State Department had traitors. Does anyone know if Carter's approach was through Tunney? Did Kennedy know Tunney was working for the Commies?
I can't wait until you start your investigation on Bill and Hillary Clinton. I hope it is before the 2008 elections.
Great article. I have often thought that Bill Clinton might have been recruited as well while at Oxford. He did spend time in Moscow while supposedly a student there. None of this is really a surprise as the party is full of card carrying Communists. The lousy thing is that the public hasn't a clue.
I don't really understand what would have led Teddy Kennedy to become a Communist patsy, other than the fact that he seems to be both evil and stupid. Unlike many of those other people, the Kennedy family does not seem to have had a Communist background. Mobsters, yes, but not Communists that I have heard of. I would have suspected Jimmy Carter before Teddy Kennedy.
I'm still trying to figure that out as well. I think it's probably rooted in Robert Kennedy's shift towards the antiwar movement in the mid-60s. This occurred on several fronts. Vietnam was the most public expression of it, but there was also his relationship to Cesar Chavez, and his involvement with the left wing of the anti-Castro movement, which predated the Bay of Pigs. The Kennedys supported a left-wing faction of the anti-Castro exile community against a more conservative faction which was closer to Nixon and to Allen Dulles' faction of the CIA. I think the Kennedys' rivalry with Nixon and LBJ had a lot to do with it. Robert was planning to run against LBJ in '68, and Ted was a candidate to run against Nixon in '72 and remained involved in the campaign even after he dropped out following Chappaquidick, so I think it was partly a case of the Kennedys opportunistically aligning with Nixon's enemies, domestic and foreign. This became easier to do after Nixon initiated detente and Ted could legally travel to Russia; I think Ted was taking advantage of that opportunity.
My guess was always that this mole was Ron Dellums. His communist sympathies weren't exactly secret, but that didn't keep him off the Armed Services and Intelligence committees. Hasn't hurt him politically, either.
Time ran an article about the feds investigating Jane Harmon for ties to AIPAC. I didn't know much about AIPAC, and came up with this article during a quick search:
Bigger Than AIPAC
Robert Dreyfuss
August 09, 2005
Robert Dreyfuss is a freelance writer based in Alexandria, Va., who specializes in politics and national security issues. He is a contributing editor at The Nation, a contributing writer at Mother Jones, a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, and a frequent contributor to Rolling Stone. His book, Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam, will be published by Henry Holt/Metropolitan Books in the fall.
Important new details of the U.S.-Israeli espionage case involving Larry Franklin, the alleged Pentagon spy, two officials of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, and an intelligence official at the Embassy of Israel emerged last week. Two AIPAC officials—who have left the organization—were indicted along with Franklin on charges of "communicat[ing] national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it." In plain English, if not legal-speak, that means spying.
But as the full text of the indictment makes clear, the conspiracy involved not just Franklin and the AIPAC officials, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, but at least several other Pentagon officials who played intermediary roles, at least two other Israeli officials, and one official at a "Washington, D.C. think tank." It's an old-fashioned spy story involving the passing of secret documents, hush-hush meetings and outright espionage, along with good-old-boy networking.
But the network tied to the "Franklin case"—which ought to be called the "AIPAC case," since it was AIPAC that was really under investigation by the FBI—provides an important window into a shadowy world. It is clear that by probing the details of the case, the FBI has got hold of a dangerous loose end of much larger story. By pulling on that string hard enough, the FBI and the Justice Department might just unravel that larger story, which is beginning to look more and more like it involves the same nexus of Pentagon civilians, White House functionaries, and American Enterprise Institute officials who thumped the drums for war in Iraq in 2001-2003 and who are now trying to whip up an anti-Iranian frenzy as well.
Needless to say, all of this got short shrift from the mainstream media when it was revealed last week.
The basic facts of the case have been known for a while. Lawrence Anthony Franklin, a Department of Defense official, was caught red-handed giving highly classified papers to two officials, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, of AIPAC—in part, concerning U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and the war on terrorism. But from the carefully worded indictment, it is clear that a lot more may have been going on. All in all, along with revealing tantalizing new information, the indictment raises more questions than it answers. To wit:
First, the indictment says that from "about April 1999 and continuing until on or about August 27, 2004" Franklin, Rosen and Weissman "did unlawfully, knowingly and willfully conspire" in criminal activity against the United States. So far, no one has explained what triggered an investigation that began more than six years ago. But it reveals how long the three indicted conspirators and "others, known and unknown to the Grand Jury," engaged in such criminal activity. In any case, what appeared at first to be a brief dalliance between Franklin and the two AIPAC officials now—according to the latest indictment, at least—spans more than five years and involves at least several other individuals, at least some of whom are known to the investigation. What triggered the investigation in 1999, and how much information has FBI surveillance, wiretaps and other investigative efforts collected?
Second, the indictment makes it absolutely clear that the investigation was aimed at AIPAC, not at Franklin. The document charges that Rosen and Weissman met repeatedly with officials from a foreign government (Israel, though not named in the indictment) beginning in 1999, to provide them with classified information. In other words, the FBI was looking into the Israel lobby, not Franklin and the Defense Department, at the start, and Franklin was simply caught up in the net when he made contact with the AIPACers. Rosen and Weissman were observed making illicit contact with several other U.S. officials between 1999 and 2004, although those officials are left unnamed (and unindicted). Might there be more to come? Who are these officials, cited merely as United States Government Official 1, USGO 2, etc.?
Third, Franklin was introduced to Rosen-Weissman when the two AIPACers "called a Department of Defense employee (DOD employee A) at the Pentagon and asked for the name of someone in OSD ISA [Office of the Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs] with an expertise on Iran" and got Franklin's name. Who was "DOD employee A"? Was it Douglas Feith, the undersecretary for policy? Harold Rhode, the ghost-like neocon official who helped Feith assemble the secretive Office of Special Plans, where Franklin worked? The indictment doesn't say. But this reporter observed Franklin, Rhode and Michael Rubin, a former AEI official who served in the Pentagon during this period and then returned to AEI, sitting together side by side, often in the front row, at American Enterprise Institute meetings during 2002-2003. Later in the indictment, we learn that Franklin, Rosen and Weissman hobnobbed with "DOD employee B," too.
Fourth, Rosen and Weissman told Franklin that they would try to get him a job at the White House, on the National Security Council staff. Who did they talk to at the White House, if they followed through? What happened?
Fifth, the charging document refers to "Foreign Official 1," also known as FO-1, obviously referring to an Israeli embassy official or an Israeli intelligence officer. It also refers later to FO-2, FO-3, etc., meaning that other Israeli officials were involved as well. How many Israeli officials are implicated in this, and who are they?
Sixth, was AEI itself involved? The indictment says that "on or about March 13, 2003, Rosen disclosed to a senior fellow at a Washington, D.C., think tank the information relating to the classified draft internal policy document" about Iran. The indictment says that the think tank official agreed "to follow up and see what he could do." Which think tank, and who was involved?
The indictment is rich with other detail, including specific instances in which the indicted parties lied to the FBI about their activities. It describes how Franklin eventually set up a regular liaison with an Israeli official ("FO-3") and met him in Virginia "and elsewhere" to communicate U.S. secrets.
It is an important story, arguably one that has greater implications for national security than the scandal involving the churlish outing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. So far, at least, the media frenzy attending to the Plame affair is matched by nearly total silence about the Franklin-AIPAC affair? Can it be true that reporters are more courageous about pursuing a story that involves the White House than they are about plunging into a scandal that involves Israel, our No. 1 Middle East ally?
So as well as being a drunk and an arrogant fool, Kennedy is a damned traitor. Why do the idiots in Massachusetts keep this guy in office.
Bookmarked !!
*ping*
Bone-chilling stuff.
"Tunney also told the KGB that Kennedy was planning to run for President in the 1988 elections."
Kennedy ran in 1980 and finished second to Carter, of all people. What made this arrogant fool think he was going to be elected President. Truly, the Kennedy family is like the Bonapartes of France. They think they are born to rule by virtue of their name.
IIRC, during the '76 campaign Carter used W. Averell Harriman as a back channel to the Soviets. I'd have to dig through my notes to find my references on that, but I believe it's discussed briefly in Rudy Abramson's Harriman biography.
"I don't really understand what would have led Teddy Kennedy to become a Communist patsy"
He's a dumb, arrogant b_st_rd. Just like his dad, Joe, who was a Nazi patsy.
Thanks for sharing your theory--hadn't heard that line of thought before. I will check into that.
enemies among us ping
Maybe it's NOT a guy. Perhaps it's Jodie Evans, Millionaire Marxist.
Fascinating! Bookmarking.
Thanks for all the time and effort you've put into this.
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