From the September-October, 1997 issue (Vol. 4 No. 6)

Letter from the Chairman

What is going on in Memphis? On one hand, we have an apparently honest judge, Joe Brown, who wants to proceed with a thorough investigation of the rifle that allegedly killed Dr. King. He has even suggested appointing a special prosecutor. The DA, no Jim Garrison, objects to the idea. Then, the judge whom the DA apparently favors, John Colton, does appoint a special prosecutor. Yet, he was not the judge presiding over the rifle hearing. These latest occurrences just happened as we were going to press. Is Colton for real? Why has he attempted to take over the case? We bring you up to date on these and other Memphis matters in our cover story and outline even more of the problems Brown is having. If you wish to support Brown in his struggles, visit our Internet site and we will let you know who to get in contact with.

In other current news, the Review Board garnered an exceptional amount of publicity over its press release revealing some of Gerald Ford’s last minute medical maneuverings to get a majority of the Warren Commission to go along with the single bullet theory. As we explore the story, we show that the “majority” was manufactured for public consumption. John McCloy didn’t really buy it. But this ultimate establishment figure always knew which side his bread was buttered on. The title of Sylvia Meagher’s wonderful book, Accessories After the Fact, has never seemed so apt. Travis Kelley polishes off Ford with another panel from his “Ministry of Truth” series. We also alert you to the news that the Board got its extension.

On the research front, John Armstrong begins his long awaited two-part series on Lee Harvey Oswald. John has presented his new Oswald findings at conferences before, but this is the first time it has been in print. We welcome the opportunity to present his utterly fascinating research. As I wrote before (Vol. 4 No.3, p.3), the riddle of Lee Harvey Oswald has gained an unanticipated complexity. Armstrong lays in another panel and raises the mystery to another level in what is certainly a key element to the case.

Professor Donald Gibson completes his two-parter on the assassination of Huey Long and unearths more about the substratum of New Orleans. In part one he showed some of the similarities in the policies of Kennedy and Long. This new installment shows that at least some of the network opposed to Long was still around in the sixties opposing Kennedy, i.e. Alton Ochsner and the Butler family. Gibson shows further that these local forces were tied into the Wall Street power elite. Lisa Pease provides more on the New Orleans scene from Gordon Novel’s amazing 1969 Playboy deposition. Garrison didn’t know how close he was.

This year began a recycling of a subtle but clear campaign to smear the legacy of John Kennedy and, to a lesser extent, his brother Robert. It began with Liz Smith in Vanity Fair in January, will continue with Sy Hersh’s book in the fall, and will spread over into 1998 with a book by John Davis. This all concerns the ongoing saga of the triumvirate of Judith Exner-Mary Meyer-Marilyn Monroe and their alleged associations with the Kennedys. It struck me as odd that all this should be recycled in what would have been the Board’s final year. So I decided to take a look at some of these stories that had been so readily accepted by ABC, Barbara Walters, the New York Times, etc. Was it a coincidence that the same people who never had any questions about Kennedy’s assassination also never dug deeply into this posthumous mugging? The investigation was interesting, twisting, and, at last, unexpected. It led back to the man who helped cover up the CIA’s role with Oswald, and Kennedy’s dubious pal at the Washington Post. If you’re surprised, so was I. But when you get done reading, you won’t be.

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