JFK on Allen Dulles & John McCloy

[Dave Reitzes]

This is slightly expanded from something I posted elsewhere today. In
response to a not-especially-unusual allegation that the Warren Commission
had been "set up to fail," I replied:

A lot of people on both the CT and LN side think the Warren Commission was
"set up to fail," as you allege. But are you aware that two of the
commissioners most reviled by those on the conspiracy side -- Allen Dulles
and John J. McCloy -- were appointed by LBJ at the request of none other
than Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy? (Gus Russo, LIVE BY THE SWORD,
pp. 362-63)

I'm aware of at least one historian who has trouble believing LBJ about
Dulles being requested by RFK, but LBJ was later quoted as saying
privately, "I could never understand why Bobby tried to put some CIA
people on the Warren Commission. I had Dick Helms here not long ago and I
asked him point blank, but he refused to be drawn [in]." (Russo, pp.
362-63)

Did you know that -- contrary to the speculation one reads about in
conspiracy books -- JFK had a very high regard for Allen Dulles? Nearly a
year after the Bay of Pigs disaster, JFK wrote to Dulles, "I am sure you
know you carry with you the admiration and affection of all of us who have
served with you. I am glad to be counted among the seven Presidents in
whose administrations you have worked, and I am also glad that we shall
continue to have your help and counsel....Your integrity, energy, and
understanding will be a lasting example to all." (Russo, pp. 31-36)

For more on JFK & Dulles:

http://www.jfk-online.com/jfkdullescia.html

We now know that RFK and Dulles, whether they spoke explicitly about it or
not, had some secrets to protect about the Kennedy administration and the
CIA, particularly with regard to Cuba policy. Dulles is commonly
criticized for withholding information about such things from the Warren
Commission, but RFK knew far more than Dulles did, since Dulles wasn't
around for what the Kennedy brothers and the CIA did in 1962-63.

It seems ironic that so many have pointed the finger of guilt at Dulles
for involvement in a JFK assassination conspiracy, considering that the
main reason for such suspicion in the first place was simply that Dulles
served on the Warren Commission -- and it was Robert F. Kennedy's idea.

Re: John McCloy:

Did you know that John McCloy worked with JFK on US/USSR disarmament and
negotiations to end the Cuban Missile Crisis? JFK praised McCloy for
bringing "cheerful wisdom and steady effectiveness to the tasks of war and
peace." JFK had been scheduled to present McCloy with the US's highest
civilian honor, the Freedom Medal, on December 6, 1963. (Russo, pp.
362-63)

And, again, it was Robert Kennedy who requested McCloy's presence on the
Warren Commission.

If John F. Kennedy were aware of what has been said these past decades
about Dulles, McCloy, and so many others in Washington he had once worked
alongside, whom allegedly either plotted to kill him or let the alleged
killers walk free, would he be gratified...or appalled?

Dave

[Anthony Marsh]

On 11/20/2013 10:57 AM, Dave Reitzes wrote:
> This is slightly expanded from something I posted elsewhere today. In
> response to a not-especially-unusual allegation that the Warren Commission
> had been "set up to fail," I replied:
>
> A lot of people on both the CT and LN side think the Warren Commission was
> "set up to fail," as you allege. But are you aware that two of the

Not exactly true. They had been ordered to not find a conspiracy.

> commissioners most reviled by those on the conspiracy side -- Allen Dulles
> and John J. McCloy -- were appointed by LBJ at the request of none other
> than Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy? (Gus Russo, LIVE BY THE SWORD,
> pp. 362-63)
>
> I'm aware of at least one historian who has trouble believing LBJ about
> Dulles being requested by RFK, but LBJ was later quoted as saying
> privately, "I could never understand why Bobby tried to put some CIA
> people on the Warren Commission. I had Dick Helms here not long ago and I
> asked him point blank, but he refused to be drawn [in]." (Russo, pp.
> 362-63)
>
> Did you know that -- contrary to the speculation one reads about in
> conspiracy books -- JFK had a very high regard for Allen Dulles? Nearly a
> year after the Bay of Pigs disaster, JFK wrote to Dulles, "I am sure you
> know you carry with you the admiration and affection of all of us who have
> served with you. I am glad to be counted among the seven Presidents in
> whose administrations you have worked, and I am also glad that we shall
> continue to have your help and counsel....Your integrity, energy, and
> understanding will be a lasting example to all." (Russo, pp. 31-36)
>

You do munderstand, I hope, that Gus Russo is a professional CIA
disinformation agent? I assume you don't know that Kennedy fired Dulles.

> For more on JFK & Dulles:
>
> http://www.jfk-online.com/jfkdullescia.html
>
> We now know that RFK and Dulles, whether they spoke explicitly about it or
> not, had some secrets to protect about the Kennedy administration and the
> CIA, particularly with regard to Cuba policy. Dulles is commonly
> criticized for withholding information about such things from the Warren
> Commission, but RFK knew far more than Dulles did, since Dulles wasn't
> around for what the Kennedy brothers and the CIA did in 1962-63.
>

You are talking about the Castro assassination plots. Stop being coy.
President Eisenhower authorized the assassination plots and we have
Dulles's signature on the orders. The plots continued when Kennedy came
into office because Helms assumed he had continuing authorization. The
Kennedy brothers never ordered any assassinations.

> It seems ironic that so many have pointed the finger of guilt at Dulles
> for involvement in a JFK assassination conspiracy, considering that the

Very few people have named Dulles as the mastermind. He was just another
cog in the cover-up machinery, keeping the Castro plots secret from the WC.

> main reason for such suspicion in the first place was simply that Dulles
> served on the Warren Commission -- and it was Robert F. Kennedy's idea.
>
> Re: John McCloy:
>
> Did you know that John McCloy worked with JFK on US/USSR disarmament and
> negotiations to end the Cuban Missile Crisis? JFK praised McCloy for

Irrelevant. The Director of Central Intelligence can work with the
President for years and get praise and medals and then one night get
into an argument over dinner and shoot the President in the head.

> bringing "cheerful wisdom and steady effectiveness to the tasks of war and
> peace." JFK had been scheduled to present McCloy with the US's highest
> civilian honor, the Freedom Medal, on December 6, 1963. (Russo, pp.
> 362-63)
>

Meaningless.

> And, again, it was Robert Kennedy who requested McCloy's presence on the
> Warren Commission.
>

Yeah, so what?

> If John F. Kennedy were aware of what has been said these past decades
> about Dulles, McCloy, and so many others in Washington he had once worked
> alongside, whom allegedly either plotted to kill him or let the alleged
> killers walk free, would he be gratified...or appalled?
>

I think he would be appalled by the way the WC defenders lie what the
researchers had said and the way the WC defenders have covered up his
murder.

> Dave
>

[Hank Cross]

As a somewhat of a corollary, the idea that the "military industrial
complex" wanted JFK dead is belied by the 2 speeches that he gave in FW on
11/22 and the remarks he was to give at the Trade Mart. In those remarks,
JFK was boasting about his administration's increased defense spending
which he said was needed to maintain a struggle with the communists that
he envisioned going on for many more decades. His themes were 'peace
through strength' and a possibly 'endless war' with international
communism, to borrow phrases associated with later Presidents.

[Anthony Marsh]

Well, there is a slight difference between 2 Billion dollars and 44
Billion dollars.

[Dave Reitzes]

On Wednesday, November 20, 2013 10:01:07 PM UTC-5, Anthony Marsh wrote:
> On 11/20/2013 10:57 AM, Dave Reitzes wrote:
> > A lot of people on both the CT and LN side think the Warren Commission was
> > "set up to fail," as you allege. But are you aware that two of the

> > commissioners most reviled by those on the conspiracy side -- Allen Dulles
> > and John J. McCloy -- were appointed by LBJ at the request of none other
> > than Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy? (Gus Russo, LIVE BY THE SWORD,
> > pp. 362-63)
> >
> > I'm aware of at least one historian who has trouble believing LBJ about
> > Dulles being requested by RFK, but LBJ was later quoted as saying
> > privately, "I could never understand why Bobby tried to put some CIA
> > people on the Warren Commission. I had Dick Helms here not long ago and I
> > asked him point blank, but he refused to be drawn [in]." (Russo, pp.
> > 362-63)
> >
> > Did you know that -- contrary to the speculation one reads about in
> > conspiracy books -- JFK had a very high regard for Allen Dulles? Nearly a
> > year after the Bay of Pigs disaster, JFK wrote to Dulles, "I am sure you
> > know you carry with you the admiration and affection of all of us who have
> > served with you. I am glad to be counted among the seven Presidents in
> > whose administrations you have worked, and I am also glad that we shall
> > continue to have your help and counsel....Your integrity, energy, and
> > understanding will be a lasting example to all." (Russo, pp. 31-36)
>
>
> You do munderstand, I hope, that Gus Russo is a professional CIA
> disinformation agent?

Stop making things up, Tony.

>I assume you don't know that Kennedy fired Dulles.

From Russo:


<QUOTE ON>--------------------------

Robert Kennedy, too, was clearly impressed with Dulles. Regarding his performance at the time of the Bay of Pigs, Robert Kennedy later recalled, "Allen Dulles handled himself awfully well, with a great deal of dignity, and never attempted to shift the blame. The President was very fond of him, as I was." He elaborated to historian Arthur Schlesinger, "He [JFK] liked him [Dulles] -- thought he was a real gentleman, handled himself well. There were obviously so many mistakes made at the time of the Bay of Pigs that it wasn't appropriate that he should stay on. And he always took the blame. He was a real gentleman. JFK thought very highly of him."

Dulles kept a variety of Kennedy secrets from the public. For example, when John Kennedy won the election in November 1960, the CIA under Dulles conducted a background investigation of Kennedy in anticipation of his first intelligence briefing as President-elect on November 18. Such investigations were designed to predict how the subject would respond when informed of the full range of CIA operations, and to show Dulles the most effective method of appeal. Prepared by CIA psychologists, the study included hot evidence from the FBI: the indiscretion of a youthful Jack Kennedy, at the height of World War II, with alleged Nazi spy Inga Arvad Fejos. In 1942, while serving in the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington, Jack Kennedy had established this potentially dangerous liaison. The FBI, which had wiretapped Arvad, initially compiled the file. Historian Thomas Reeves wrote:

"When Jack's relationship with the woman became known to Navy officials, the assistant director of the Office of Naval Intelligence wanted to cashier the young ensign from the Navy. A witness remembered the officer being "really frantic." Reminded of Joe Kennedy's prestige, however, the official eventually calmed down and consented merely to give Jack a speedy transfer to an ONI outpost in Charleston, South Carolina."

(FBI sources state that it was Hoover's direct pressure that brought about the transfer. The potential value of this kind of political dynamite was most assuredly never lost on the FBI Director. It was just the kind of file that kept Hoover's power inviolate for so long.)

Dulles' decision, or favor, to keep this matter secret was quite possibly rewarded later, when Kennedy, as president-elect, retained Dulles as CIA Director. It may also have played a part in Kennedy's initial refusal to accept Dulles' resignation after the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

The CIA after the Bay of Pigs

"In the course of the past few months I have had occasion to again observe the extraordinary accomplishments of our intelligence community, and I have been singularly impressed with the overall professional excellence, selfless devotion to duty, resourcefulness and initiative manifested in the work of this group."

-- President Kennedy, in a letter of commendation to new CIA Director John McCone, January 9, 1963

After thinking it over, it was clear to John Kennedy that the blame for the Bay of Pigs was largely his and not the CIA's. And although Kennedy needed public scapegoats in his administration, he drew the line at a public indictment of the original Eisenhower-era planners of the invasion. Kennedy's Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, later testified, "President Kennedy was very angry when some people around him tried to share responsibility with President Eisenhower because President Kennedy knew that he and his senior advisers had a chance to look at that and made their own judgment on that, and he did not like the idea of having to share the buck."

Although Kennedy's threat to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and cast it to the winds" has long been used to support theories that the CIA had reason to hate JFK, just the opposite is true. Kennedy's "threat" was a knee-jerk reaction to the failed invasion. Years later, E. Howard Hunt, the CIA's liaison to the Cuban exiles, surmised, "For him [Kennedy] to have said that was probably a way of disguising from himself the fact that he himself was responsible for the fiasco, and I'm sure that's something that haunted him for the rest of his days."

All of John Kennedy's other statements regarding the CIA were nothing short of glowing. On November 28, 1961 Kennedy went to Langley, Virginia to dedicate the CIA's new headquarters, which came to fruition under the out-going Director, Allen Dulles. Addressing the large throng, Kennedy said:

"I want, first of all, to express my appreciation to you all for the opportunity of this ceremony to tell you how grateful we are in the government and in the country for the services that the personnel of this Agency render to the country. It is not always easy. Your successes are unheralded -- your failures are trumpeted. I sometimes have that same feeling myself. But I am sure you realize how important is your work, how essential it is -- and, in the long sweep of history, how significant your efforts will be judged."

In addition to the dedication, Kennedy had planned a surprise for his loyal friend. Dulles' biographer, Peter Grose, described the event:

"Allen greeted the presidential helicopter at the landing pad hidden among the trees of the campus. Interrupting the carefully scripted ceremony that followed, with more than six hundred CIA professionals in attendance, Kennedy turned to the dais behind him. "Would you step forward, Allen." On his lapel he pinned the National Security Medal. Short of knighthood or lordship, it was the highest honor of the United States government."

Turning to address Dulles, Kennedy said, "I want to express my appreciation to you now, and I am confident that in the future you will continue to merit the appreciation of our country, as you have in the past." The next day; JFK dashed off a letter expressing his great admiration and affection for Dulles. In closing, Kennedy wrote, "You leave behind you, as witness to your great service, an outstanding staff of men and women trained to the nation's service in the field of intelligence." In what appears to be a genuinely heartfelt letter to his old friend Dulles, the President added, "I am sure you know you carry with you the admiration and affection of all of us who have served with you. I am glad to be counted among the seven Presidents in whose administrations you have worked, and I am also glad that we shall continue to have your help and counsel. . . . Your integrity, energy, and understanding will be a lasting example to all." Two years later, in the wake of JFK's assassination, Dulles' kinship with John Kennedy would play a role in Dulles' decision to withhold critical information from his fellow Warren Commission members.

[...]

The Kennedys and the CIA

After the Bay of Pigs, as both he and his brother Robert began to understand the intended role of the CIA, John Kennedy would oversee one of the greatest budget increases for the intelligence community in US history. "You have to always bear in mind how the Agency was originally set up," instructs one high-ranking Agency official. The CIA, he reminds us, was instituted as the intelligence arm of the Executive branch -- the President and official Washington have never been confused about that fact. First conceived by President Harry S. Truman, the CIA was established and organized by the National Security Act of 1947 (Truman submitted it to Congress, which passed it on July 26, 1947).

The CIA's charter is unambiguous in stating that the Agency would function only in response to directives of the President and of the President's own intelligence apparatus, the National Security Council. Nowhere in the charter is there any inference that the CIA would be allowed to initiate policy. JFK, a close student of history, was undoubtedly aware of the Eisenhower-CIA partnership that had toppled regimes in both Iran and Guatemala. The Directors of the CIA, appointed by the President, take their loyalty to the President seriously, and often have performed tasks against their own better judgment at their bosses' behest.

In return for this loyalty, Kennedy often went out of his way to shield the CIA from unwelcome scrutiny. At a news conference in November 1963 (six weeks before his death), Kennedy responded to a question regarding the CIA. A newsperson had asked Kennedy if the CIA was conducting unauthorized activity in South Vietnam. Kennedy rose to its defense, saying:

"I think that while the CIA may have made mistakes, as we all do, on different occasions, and has had many successes which may go unheralded, in my opinion in this case it is unfair to charge them as they have been charged. I think they have done a good job."

Robert Kennedy also knew where the buck stopped. In 1967, when the CIA was criticized for giving illegal financial support to the National Student Association, Bobby refused to let the CIA take the rap. He went on record as saying that the CIA policies were approved at the highest levels of presidential administrations. "If the policy was wrong," Bobby said, "it was not the product of the CIA but of each administration." When Kennedy family friend Jack Newfield tried to goad Bobby into criticizing the Agency, Bobby again rose to its defense, saying, "What you are not aware of is the role the CIA plays within the government. During the 1950's . . . many liberals found sanctuary in the CIA. So some of the best people in Washington, and around the country, began to collect there. One result of that was the CIA developed a very healthy view of Communism, especially compared to State and some other departments. So it is not so black and white as you think."

The Kennedy brothers, Bobby more than Jack, soon became smitten with the clandestine world the CIA inhabited. Author and intelligence expert John Ranelagh most accurately summarized the relationship. According to one CIA man with whom Ranelagh spoke, "Robert Kennedy, in his shirtsleeves, delved into the inner workings of the agency. In the end, he did not shake it up as his brother had wanted, but fell in love with the CIA and the concept of clandestine operation." Ranelagh added:

"Jack Kennedy realized, as he told Clark Clifford -- an influential and trusted Kennedy advisor and Democratic power broker -- "I have to have the best possible intelligence," and soon reversed his decision to punish the CIA. Both brothers saw that alone of the agendas of government the CIA was willing to take action and had tried to do in Cuba what the President wanted. The Bay of Pigs failure meant that the agency would not resist tighter control. Rejection of the agency was not necessary: the windmill was now the Kennedys' to turn and direct. They were determined to make it work under their close direction."

<QUOTE OFF>------------------------


Excerpted from Gus Russo, Live by the Sword
(Baltimore: Bancroft, 1998), pp. 31- 36.

Dave

[Anthony Marsh]

So when you lose the argument you go for character assassination. FYI, JFK
was at that time of WWI an NI officer and his assignment was to bed the
Nazi spy.

> Dave
>