Legacy of Secrecy (162 page)

Board,” report by OMB Watch, 2000, available at ombwatch.org.
2.
William Manchester,
The Death of

a President
,
November 20-November 25, 1963
(New York: Harper & Row, 1967), p. 196.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Richard Helms with William Hood,
A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency
(New York: Random House, 2003), pp. 226-244; we fault Helms for providing incomplete information to his co-author.

5.
CIA, Inspector General’s Report on Plots to Assassinate Castro, 1967, p. 94.
6.
CIA 104-10306-10017; PFIAB 11-22-63 notes at National Archives and at maryferrell.org.
7.
Richard Helms with William Hood,

798

LEGACY OF SECRECY

A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency
(New York: Random House, 2003), p. 228.

8.
Thomas Powers,
The Man Who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms & the CIA
(New York: Knopf, 1979), many passages; see also Richard Helms testimony to the HSCA and Church Committee, as discussed in Chapter

64.
9.
Inspector General’s Report on Plots to Assassinate Castro, 1967; CIA “Response to Item Comments on Draft Report,” 6-13-76, in the National Archives, from the files of Anna-Marie Kuhns-Walko; CIA 104-10434-10267 and CIA 104-10434-10283, both declassified 11/18/98; Bradley Ayers,
The War that Never Was

(Canoga Park, CA: Major Books, 1979), pp. 58, 59; William Scott Malone, “The Secret Life of Jack Ruby,”

New Times
1-23-78; Many QJWIN files at the National Archives, including his November 1963 payroll

records in 1994.04.06.10:47:29:710005 and his 1964 termination notice in 1993.08.13.08:39:48:560024.
10.
E.

Howard Hunt deposition, 11-3-78, document #180-10131-10342, declassified 2-9-96; 9-25-63 CIA memo

about 9-12-63 CIA call regarding Cain and the DRE.
11.
John Newman,
Oswald and the CIA
(New York: Carroll & Graf, 1995) many passages; Jefferson Morley, “What Jane Roman Said,” accessed 12-02 at http://

mcadams.posc.mu.edu/morley1.htm; Win Scott article in the
Washington Post
, 3-17-96.
12.
Interview with confidential Kennedy aide source 3-17-92.
13.
CIA 104-10295-10152, cable from JMWAVE to CIA Director

McCone 12-3-63, declassified 5-19-99.
14.
Bradley Ayers,
The War that Never Was
(Canoga Park, CA: Major Books, 1979), pp. 58, 59.
15.
CIA 104-10172-10096, Ted Shackley to Desmond FitzGerald memo.
16.
CIA 104-10308-10283; 104-10308-10274; CIA 104-10308-10283; 104-10308-10274.
17.
Phillips’ entire novel proposal has not but published, but portions have appeared in other sources, such as Anthony and Robbyn

Summers, “The Ghosts of November,”
Vanity Fair
, December 1994, p. 139.
18.
CIA 104-10004-10199.
19.

Douglas Valentine,
The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America’s War on Drugs
(London, New York: Verso, 2004), p. 300.
20.
G. Robert Blakey and Richard N. Billings,
The Plot to Kill the President
(New York: Times Books, 1981), p. 61.
21.
CIA 104-10408-10029; CIA 104-10308-10080.
22.
Some might point to the resentment Helms felt at the CIA only having a supporting role in the JFK-Almeida coup plan, or

his worry that JFK might call off the plan at the last minute, as reasons for Helms to assassinate JFK. But

having JFK killed in Dallas wasn’t necessary to ensure the coup plan went forward. All Helms would

have had to do was to wait a couple of days until Harry Williams was slipping into Castro’s Cuba (with

the aid of the CIA or Naval Intelligence) and have Harry killed. Killing one man on a covert mission

is much simpler and less complicated than killing the President of the United States in broad daylight.

Harry wasn’t going to try to contact the US from inside Cuba (it was too risky); he would simply meet

with Almeida and await the coup. Once Harry was dead, Helms could have simply gone ahead with his

unauthorized Castro assassination operation.
23.
Thomas Powers,
The Man Who Kept the Secrets: Richard
Helms & the CIA
(New York: Knopf, 1979), p. 115.
24.
Ibid, p. 315
25.
Gus Russo,
Live by the Sword: The
Secret War against Castro and the Death of JFK
(Baltimore: Bancroft Press, 1998), p. 303.
26.
David Corn,
Blond Ghost
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994), p. 98; CIA 104-10110-10243.
27.
Douglas Valentine,
The
Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America’s War on Drugs
(London, New York: Verso, 2004), pp. 371, 366.
28.
Ted Shackley,
Spymaster: My Life in the CIA
(Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2006), p. 72.
29.

David Corn,
Blond Ghost
(New York: Simon & Schuster), 1994, p. 105.
30.
Ibid, pp. 107, 108.
31.
CIA 104-10306-10017, 4-10-64 interview with McCone, declassified 9-19-98.
32.
Ibid.
33.
Ibid; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.,
Robert Kennedy and His Times
(New York: Ballantine, 1979), pp. 655, 656.

CHAPTER TWELVE

1.
CIA 104-10306-10017; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.,
Robert Kennedy and His Times
(New York: Ballantine, 1979), p. 665.
2.
Ibid, p. 664.
3.
McCone claimed later in testimony that he never mentioned Castro in his afternoon meeting with Bobby, but we now know that McCone—and other CIA officials—were briefed

prior to their testimony, and only testified to match the documents they knew the Committee had been

provided. See Thomas Powers,
The Man Who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms & the CIA
(New York: Knopf, 1979), p. 342.
4.
CIA 104-10306-10017, 4-10-64 interview with McCone, declassified 9-19-98.
5.
CIA 104-10163-10258, CIA 104-10308-10113.
6.
NARA #179-40005-10028; David Talbot,
Brothers: The Hidden History
of the Kennedy Years
(New York: Free Press, 2007), pp. 8, 21, 414.
7.
Thomas Borstelmann,
The Cold War and
the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003).
8.
CIA 104-10306-10017; G. Robert Blakey and Richard N. Billings,
The Plot to Kill the President
(New York: Times Books, 1981), p. 20.
9.
Haynes Johnson, “One Day’s Events Shattered America’s Hopes and

Certainties,”
Washington Post
11-20-83.
10.
Interview with Harry Williams. 2-24-92.
11.
Ibid, and 4-92; CIA Document 12-6-63, from Director, released during the 1993 CIA Historical Review Program, courtesy Dr.

John Newman.
12.
CIA #104-10308-10098, declassified 9-18-98; Don Bohning,
The Castro Obsession: US

Cover Operations Against Cuba, 1959–1965
, (Washington: Potomac Books, 2005) p. 227.
13.
CIA 104-10408-10029; CIA 104-10308-10080.
14.
Many have been declassifed, though some Barker files are still withheld, including under his CIA code-name AMCLATTER-1: 180-10144-10221; CIA 104-10217-10287; 104-10237-10005; CIA 104-10163-10258.
15.
Interviews with Harry Williams 2-24-92, 4-92, 2-21-95.
16.
CIA 104-10241-

Notes

799

10023, Henry Hecksher to Desmond FitzGerald 9-27-63.
17.
William Manchester,
The Death of a President
,
November 20-November 25, 1963
(New York: Harper & Row, 1967), chronology on inside covers; Anthony and Robbyn Summers, “The Ghosts of November,”
Vanity Fair
, Dec. 1994.
18.
Haynes Johnson, “One Day’s Events Shattered America’s Hopes and Certainties,”
Washington Post
11-20-83.
19.
Haynes Johnson phone calls 6-16-92, 5-07. In Haynes Johnson, “Rendezvous with Ruin at The Bay of Pigs,”
Washington

Post
4-17-81, when very briefly mentioning RFK’s phone call, Haynes’s wording indicated RFK made the

“one of your guys” comment to Harry, but in his far more detailed account in the same newspaper on

11-20-83 and in his comments to us, he has made it clear that RFK made the comment to him.
20.
Haynes Johnson,
Sleepwalking Through History
(New York: W. W. Norton, 2003), p. 271.
21.
David Talbot,
Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years
(New York: Free Press, 2007), p. 6.
22.
Ibid; Peter Dale Scott,
Crime and Cover-Up: The CIA, the Mafia, and the Dallas-Watergate Connection
(Santa Barbara, CA: Open

Archive Press, 1993), pp. 8, 9, 53.
23.
Haynes Johnson, “One Day’s Events Shattered America’s Hopes and Certainties,”
Washington Post
11-20-83.
24.
Interviews with Harry Williams, 2-24-92, 4-92, 7-1-92; minute-by-minute transcript, NBC News, 11-22-63.
25.
Joan Mellen,
A Farewell to Justice
(Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2005), p. 67.
26.
New Orleans Times-Picayune
,11-22-73.
27.
Statement of Alberto Flower in the Office of the District Attorney, 1-23-67; Harold Weisburg memos on file at the Assassination Archives and

Research Center.
28.
Joan Mellen,
A Farewell to Justice
(Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, 2005), p. 67.
29.
Memo re: Paulino Sierra, 8-63.
30.
CIA 104-10235-10252.
31.
Joseph J. Trento,
Prelude to Terror: The Rogue CIA, and
the Legacy of America’s Private Intelligence Network
(New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005), pp. 79, 80.
32.
Files from Dade County Manager’s office, discovered by Dade County Archivist Gordon Winslow.
33.
Ann

Louise Bardach,
Cuba Confidential
(New York: Random House, 2002), p. 142.
34.
Anthony and Robbyn Summers, “The Ghosts of November,”
Vanity Fair
, Dec. 1994.
35.
HSCA Secret Service interviews declassified by the Assassinations Records Review Board, cited by Vince Palamara in
Deep Politics
magazine

4-97.
36.
Michael L. Kurtz,
The JFK Assassination Debate
s (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2006), p. 214.
37.
CIA 104-10429-10231.
38.
CIA memo, JMWAVE to Director, JFK 80T01357A, 11-22-63.
39.
CIA memo to FBI Director 1-18-77, declassified 9-23-88.
40.
Anthony and Robbyn Summers, “The Ghosts of

November,”
Vanity Fair
, Dec. 1994.
41.
Phone interviews with Naval Intelligence surveillance source, 10-27-91 and 12-9-91.
42.
4-2-64 FBI memo by T. N. Goble, cited in
Echoes of a Conspiracy
7-22-88.
43.
Phone interviews with Naval Intelligence surveillance source, 10-27-91 and 12-9-91.
44.
Phillips’ entire novel proposal has not but published, but portions have appeared in other sources, such as Anthony and Robbyn Summers, “The Ghosts of November,”
Vanity Fair
, 12-1994, p. 139.
45.
Bernard Fensterwald memo of 8-21 conversation with investigative journalist, on file at the Assassinations Archives and Records

Center in Washington, DC.
46.
Anthony Summers,
Conspiracy
(New York: Paragon House, 1989), p. 61.

47.
CIA 104-10308-10113.
48.
Deane J. Allen, DIA Historian, “Overview of the Origins of DIA,” 11-95.
49.
We spoke briefly to McNamara about it by phone, 5-07, and he declined to review any of the documents

that have been declassified about Almeida or the coup plan.
50.
JCS 202-10002-10180; James P. Hosty, Jr.,
Assignment: Oswald
(New York: Arcade Publishing, 1996), p. 219;
U.S. News & World Report,
3-15-93.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

1.
John H. Davis,
Mafia Kingfish
(New York: Signet, 1989), pp. 198, 199; phone interview with John Diuguid 9-30-04.
2.
Anthony and Robbyn Summers, “The Ghosts of November,”
Vanity Fair
, 12-94.
3.
Frank Ragano and Selwyn Raab,
Mob Lawyer
(New York: Scribners, 1994), p. 146.
4.
Phone interviews with Jim Allison 4-15-98 and 4-16-98.
5.
FBI Airtel to Director, 10-1-74.
6.
Larry Hancock,
Someone Would Have
Talked
(Southlake, Tex.: JFK Lancer, 2003), p. 92; Hosty has denied making the remark.
7.
Ibid, p. 68 and others.
8.
White Book of the John Birch Society for 1963
, many passages.
9.
Michael R. Beschloss,
Taking
Charge
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), p. 22; call between LBJ and Hoover, 11-23-63, 10:01AM.

10.
Church Committee Report, vol. V, p. 74.
11.
For example, CIA 104-10227-10257, FBI memo to Director, 6-11-63.
12.
FBI memo, DeLoach to Mohr, 6-4-64.
13.
The Murder of JFK: A Revisionist History
, MPI DVD, 2006.
14.
Larry Hancock,
Someone Would Have Talked
(Southlake, TX: JFK Lancer, 2006), p. 71.
15.
Anthony and Robbyn Summers, “The Ghosts of November,”
Vanity Fair
, Dec. 1994.
16.
No compelling reason has yet surfaced for Hoover (or LBJ or the CIA or the Secret Service or the Joint Chiefs) to have gone to the

trouble of killing JFK in public, and risk causing World War III by blaming his death on Oswald, just to

get JFK out of office a year early.
17.
The Murder of JFK: A Revisionist History
, MPI DVD, 2006.
18.
http://

www.presidency.ucsb.edu/.
19.
We only note for the sake of completeness that there is an unconfirmed

report from a Dallas witness who claims that she saw E. Howard Hunt and a Nixon aide with Nixon at