Post by Rob Caprio on Jul 18, 2022 20:02:03 GMT -5
All portions ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
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The Church Committee (CC) was created in 1975 after the revelations of the previous Rockefeller Commission which had exposed some of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) past indiscretions. The purpose of the CC was to look deeper into these issues and include the entire United States ‘ intelligence community and see how they performed in major events.
One such event was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) on November 22, 1963. The two primary agencies that the CC looked onto were the FBI and CIA as those two were most involved in the “investigation” of the assassination for the Warren Commission (WC) in late 1963 and 1964.
This post examines the CC’s comments about the relationship between the FBI and the WC. It should be kept in mind that in late 1963 and 1964 the FBI really meant J. Edgar Hoover (JEH) who was the director of the Bureau. He was the FBI.
JEH was a man who did not like to be second guessed or told he was incorrect. Also, keep in mind what his boss at the time of the assassination -- Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) – said about him during the “investigation” into the assassination.
Quote on
“He’s rather a psycho,” he told John Bartlow Martin, “…I think it’s a very dangerous organization [FBI]…and I think he’s…become senile and rather…frightening.” (Interview with John Bartlow Martin, 4/13/64 as cited in Robert Kennedy And His Times, by Arthur Schlesinger, p. 260; Also covered in Secrecy and Power, by Richard Powers, p. 397)
Quote off
We see at the height of the WC’s supposed investigation into the assassination of our slain president, the acting United States Attorney General thought that the director of the FBI was “rather a psycho, senile and rather frightening” and that the primary “investigating” agency – the FBI – a “very dangerous organization.”
Nothing sums up the sham the President of the United States -- Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) – and the WC foisted on the American people and the citizens of the world better than this comment by RFK.
The CC tells us that JEH initially opposed the formation of the WC as he thought everyone should just accept his report which was completed in days, for the most part, after the assassination. He had to eventually accept the decision after LBJ signed the Executive Order forming the WC. Of course the real reason for this by LBJ wasn’t a noble one, but was intended to head off investigations (State of Texas and the U.S Congress) which might have been harder to fully control.
He didn’t accept it in a good way though.
Quote on
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history-matters.com/archive/church/reports/book5/pages/ChurchVol5_0027a.gif
…he repeatedly told others in the Bureau that the Warren Commission was “looking for gaps in the FBI’s investigation” and was “seeking to criticize the FBI.” The memoranda of other senior Bureau officials also reveal a deep concern that the FBI might be charged with some dereliction in connection with the President’s death. Thus, although the Commission had to rely on the FBI to conduct the primary investigation of the President’s death, their relationship at times was almost adversarial. Such a relationship was not conducive to the cooperation necessary for a thorough and exhaustive investigation. (Chuch Committee Report, Vol. V., pp. 46-47)
www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1161#relPageId=52
Quote off
Wow. First of all, I doubt that the WC was looking for gaps in the FBI’s investigation. Why? Because the WC wasn’t looking for gaps (or anything else) and the FBI wasn’t investigating the assassination. They simply went with whatever JEH said.
Secondly, this point is supported by the fear of the Bureau’s senior officials that the FBI might be charged with dereliction in connection with JFK’s death. Why was this IF they were running a thorough and honest investigation? Moreover, were they afraid that things like the William Walter incident (a telex received on November 17 warning of a possible assassination attempt on JFK that went missing) might reveal that the FBI could have prevented the assassination but the decision was made not to try? These are the only valid reasons for them to be charged with dereliction.
I will cover the adversarial nature of the relationship between the FBI and the WC in another post, but suffice it to say, nothing could have caused the FBI to avoid conducting a thorough and exhaustive investigation because they never intended to do one. JEH had a report done in days (maybe even ahead of time) and nothing was going to change what it said. The tension between the two was when the WC didn’t just take JEH’s word for things. JEH did not like being told he was wrong.
I will look at this adversarial relationship between the two in the next post.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/FrankChurch.jpg
3.bp.blogspot.com/_I4lZU0BrRsg/TPXTI3y8v1I/AAAAAAAAAE4/Hot_KJ7VKdY/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/warren.jpg
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Hoover-JEdgar-LOC.jpg
The Church Committee (CC) was created in 1975 after the revelations of the previous Rockefeller Commission which had exposed some of the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) past indiscretions. The purpose of the CC was to look deeper into these issues and include the entire United States ‘ intelligence community and see how they performed in major events.
One such event was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) on November 22, 1963. The two primary agencies that the CC looked onto were the FBI and CIA as those two were most involved in the “investigation” of the assassination for the Warren Commission (WC) in late 1963 and 1964.
This post examines the CC’s comments about the relationship between the FBI and the WC. It should be kept in mind that in late 1963 and 1964 the FBI really meant J. Edgar Hoover (JEH) who was the director of the Bureau. He was the FBI.
JEH was a man who did not like to be second guessed or told he was incorrect. Also, keep in mind what his boss at the time of the assassination -- Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) – said about him during the “investigation” into the assassination.
Quote on
“He’s rather a psycho,” he told John Bartlow Martin, “…I think it’s a very dangerous organization [FBI]…and I think he’s…become senile and rather…frightening.” (Interview with John Bartlow Martin, 4/13/64 as cited in Robert Kennedy And His Times, by Arthur Schlesinger, p. 260; Also covered in Secrecy and Power, by Richard Powers, p. 397)
Quote off
We see at the height of the WC’s supposed investigation into the assassination of our slain president, the acting United States Attorney General thought that the director of the FBI was “rather a psycho, senile and rather frightening” and that the primary “investigating” agency – the FBI – a “very dangerous organization.”
Nothing sums up the sham the President of the United States -- Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) – and the WC foisted on the American people and the citizens of the world better than this comment by RFK.
The CC tells us that JEH initially opposed the formation of the WC as he thought everyone should just accept his report which was completed in days, for the most part, after the assassination. He had to eventually accept the decision after LBJ signed the Executive Order forming the WC. Of course the real reason for this by LBJ wasn’t a noble one, but was intended to head off investigations (State of Texas and the U.S Congress) which might have been harder to fully control.
He didn’t accept it in a good way though.
Quote on
history-matters.com/archive/church/reports/book5/pages/ChurchVol5_0026b.gif
history-matters.com/archive/church/reports/book5/pages/ChurchVol5_0027a.gif
…he repeatedly told others in the Bureau that the Warren Commission was “looking for gaps in the FBI’s investigation” and was “seeking to criticize the FBI.” The memoranda of other senior Bureau officials also reveal a deep concern that the FBI might be charged with some dereliction in connection with the President’s death. Thus, although the Commission had to rely on the FBI to conduct the primary investigation of the President’s death, their relationship at times was almost adversarial. Such a relationship was not conducive to the cooperation necessary for a thorough and exhaustive investigation. (Chuch Committee Report, Vol. V., pp. 46-47)
www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1161#relPageId=52
Quote off
Wow. First of all, I doubt that the WC was looking for gaps in the FBI’s investigation. Why? Because the WC wasn’t looking for gaps (or anything else) and the FBI wasn’t investigating the assassination. They simply went with whatever JEH said.
Secondly, this point is supported by the fear of the Bureau’s senior officials that the FBI might be charged with dereliction in connection with JFK’s death. Why was this IF they were running a thorough and honest investigation? Moreover, were they afraid that things like the William Walter incident (a telex received on November 17 warning of a possible assassination attempt on JFK that went missing) might reveal that the FBI could have prevented the assassination but the decision was made not to try? These are the only valid reasons for them to be charged with dereliction.
I will cover the adversarial nature of the relationship between the FBI and the WC in another post, but suffice it to say, nothing could have caused the FBI to avoid conducting a thorough and exhaustive investigation because they never intended to do one. JEH had a report done in days (maybe even ahead of time) and nothing was going to change what it said. The tension between the two was when the WC didn’t just take JEH’s word for things. JEH did not like being told he was wrong.
I will look at this adversarial relationship between the two in the next post.