Official and Confidential_ The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover - Anthony Summers [263]
Chapter 29
The assassination of President Kennedy is a vast subject served by myriad books. This author’s expertise derives from his work on the book Conspiracy, NY, Paragon, 1989, and TV documentaries. For this chapter, Robert Morgenthau, Burke Marshall, William Manchester, Edwin Guthman, Mark Felt, and Joseph Schott, discussed the way H. and RFK heard the news. Bill Koras and Joe Kelly recalled H.’s visit to the races the day after. Other new interviews included those with former FBI Asst. Director Courtney Evans, Rep. Hale Boggs’ son Thomas, Ruth Paine, James Hosty – the agent who handled Oswald before the assassination – and Oswald’s widow Marina. Col. Philip Corso discussed early information about an Oswald ‘double’, and the late Aaron Kohn described Guy Banister. Former agents Paul Scranton and George Davis were asked about FBI contacts with Aleman, and Ed Becker, and former agents Julian Blodgett and George Bland discussed the FBI and the Marcello threat. Col. Corso also recalled H. saying the case remained a ‘mess.’ Joe Dolan told of RFK saying the FBI now no longer worked for ‘us.’ H.’s ‘shock’ is in the Nov. 22 note in F6135–6, WHCF, Box 188, LBJL. Johnson’s concern about his own safety is in H. to Tolson, Nov. 29, OC92. Schlei’s memory is in his Oral History, JFKL. Johnson’s note of H. telling him ‘Evidence not strong,’ is in LBJ notes, Nov. 23, Appointment file (Diary Backup), Box 1, LBJL. H.’s ‘big mouth’ comment about Earl Warren is a notation on a UPI report, Apr. 24, 1964, in FBI file 62–109060. A study of Hosty’s name in Oswald’s address book is in HSCA, Report, p. 232, and The Oswald Papers, an unpub. ms. by Paul Hoch. Parts of Banister’s FBI file were kindly supplied by Dale Myers, and John Davis shared an interview of Aaron Kohn. Johnson’s theories on the case are drawn from DeLoach to T., Apr. 4, 1967, FBI file 44-24696, a Walter Cronkite int. of LBJ, Oct. 3, 1969, LBJL, Atlantic Monthly, Jul. 1973, and Wall Street Journal, Jan. 30, 1992. The Malnik-Weiss conversation is in FBI log MM877-C, kindly supplied by Hank Messick. Of course, I have referred throughout to the Reports and accompanying volumes of the Warren Commission and the House Cttee. on Assassinations.
Chapter 30
William Manchester described his 1964 meeting with H., and George Ball, and Nicholas Katzenbach described their impressions of H. H.’s relations with Lyndon Johnson were described by Mrs Johnson, Hugh Sidey, George Reedy, Madeleine Brown, Richard Goodwin, and Cartha DeLoach. Allan Witwer was discussed by Wm. Lambert, Robert Pelaquin, Wallace Turner, David Nevin, Joseph Dolan, and Richard Billings, and himself granted an interview. Robert Sherrill spoke of White House pressure on Life. Former Asst. Director Charles Bates and George Ball recalled H.’s intervention when British Prime Minister Wilson visited. Former Deputy AG Laurence Silberman described his examination of the Official and Confidential files, and former agents Harold Leinbaugh and Kenneth Whittaker, and former AG Ramsey Clark, Bill Brown, and Dr Joseph Rankin discussed the Walter Jenkins affair. Laurence Silberman and former Asst. AG Robert Mardian discussed the Goldwater incident, as did John Daley, Edwin Guthman, and Jeffrey Shulman. LBJ FBI files include 58–7086, 943830, 47–50152, and 47–44945. FBI reports on Peter Lisagor were released to the author in 1989 and 1991. Congressional investigation of FBI abuses at the Atlantic City Convention are in IC6. The FBI report alleging that a Goldwater aide used prostitutes is Jones to DeLoach, Oct. 23, 1964, Mardian Papers, HIW.
Chapter 31
The late Ralph Abernathy was interviewed in 1989. Wm. Dufty and Gore Vidal spoke of rumours that H. had black blood, and Robert Parker recalled H.’s early comments on King. The FBI attitude to civil rights was discussed by John Williams, former agents Roy Moore, Neil Welch, former Asst. Directors Cartha DeLoach and Charles