Posted on 02/02/2004 6:20:27 PM PST by 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.
To refute everything in it.
Everyone involved was a friend of Lyndon, even the owner of the Depository, who got out of Dodge for that day and went to Africa. He didn't want to be around if the coup failed. lol
I can duplicate the shots! On the ABC special they had a 75-year (or so) old man duplicate the shots and he didn't even try hard. It's easy.
King a communist conspirator? No way.
Admissions tend to be believable. No one has an incentive to say "I lied" if they didn't lie.
Bumped into a website which has some interesting tidbits. Plug in Jack Ruby in the search function on the main page and check it out. Connect more dots from Chuck and Sam Giancana's book, "Double Cross."
You're full of it! 45 degrees down from the back is the stomach!
Huh? Stop repeating stuff from Oliver Stone movies. The picture from the autopsy is in number 37. It looks like it was about an inch to an inch and a half below the collar line. Have you looked at the photo in number 37? It even has a ruler there.
Would you believe me if I did or would you just make up some other excuse? I'm convinced that nothing I do or say will convince you otherwise from you present beliefs. I've posted three photos. Where's your evidence*?
*You ain't got none.
What was Specter's role? I thought he was on the Commission when he first put forth the "magic bullet" theory? Or was he just counsel?
However, I'm also aware of four simple facts.
First, it is possible that Oswald acted alone. I don't think it's likely, particularly when he gets knocked off by a guy that runs a topless bar and has known mob connections. I have several other problems with this scenario, but the Ruby hit on Oswald is the biggest indicator to me that something bigger was going on.
Second, LBJ, even in his biography, was more interested in getting the Kennedy assassination investigation finished than in an actual investigation (in his book, he phrases it more like putting the American people's mind at ease or something. It's been years since I read it).
Third, so many people have traipsed over the evidence that it's impossible to clearly determine what is fact, wishful thinking, planted evidence, lost evidence, etc. Trying to discover the truth now is like trying to use a bloodhound to track someone who walked through Grand Central Station in 1963.
Fourth, a series of events took place that made the Kennedy assassination the most tantalizing mystery in US history. It happened in front of millions of people; there were videos and photos of it; the murderer wasn't seen by anyone at the time of the assassination; he got murdered a couple of days later by a guy who later died of cancer. It's a cottage industry that probably brings in more money than Roswell, the Loch Ness monster and Harry Potter combined. There will always be another theory, as long as there's a buck to be made.
And a sucker willing to part with his money.
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