The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [238]
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/9/67. Dallas Morning News subhead:
SPRING MARCH ON WASHINGTON “SOCIALISTIC,”
BUSINESS LEADERS CHARGE
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/17/67. Chicago Tribune headline and subhead:
NIXON IN ’68?
EX-VEEP TO ANNOUNCE CANDIDACY?
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/17/67. Miami Herald headline and subhead:
CLERGYMEN ON WASHINGTON MARCH:
“A CALL TO ANARCHY AND RIOTS”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/18/67. Chicago Sun-Times subhead:
RFK PRAISES WASHINGTON MARCH
MUM ON WHITE HOUSE PLANS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/18/67. Denver Post-Dispatch headline and subhead:
WILL HE OR WON’T HE?
PUNDITS ASSESS LBJ’S REELECTION PLANS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/20/67. Boston Globe subhead:
KING CALLS FOR WAR PROTESTERS TO EMBRACE POOR PEOPLE’S MARCH
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/21/67. Sacramento Bee subhead:
EXPECT NIXON TO RUN, GOP INSIDERS SAY
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/22/67. Los Angeles Times subhead:
RFK, HUMPHREY PLAYING COY?AWAITING LBJ’S DECISION?
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/23/67. Kansas City Star subhead:
ROTARY PRESIDENT CALLS
KING MARCH “COMMUNIST INSPIRED”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/28/67. Las Vegas Sun headline and subhead:
FRONTIER HOTEL FALLS TO HUGHES
BILLIONAIRE’S VEGAS ROLL CONTINUES!
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/4/68. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. (OPERATION BLACK RABBIT Addendum.) Marked: “Recorded at the Director’s Request”/“Classified Confidential 1-A: Director’s Eyes Only.” Speaking: Director, BLUE RABBIT.
DIR: Good morning.
BR: Good morning, Sir.
DIR: RED RABBIT is misbehaving. He’s being a very bad bunny.
BR: I’ve been reading the newspapers, Sir. I think he’s stepped over the line.
DIR: He has, but not to the extent where he’ll discredit himself finitely. He is immune to that form of censure. He is riding a wave of unjustified discontent that is bigger than any of us.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: Lyndon Johnson is furious. He despises himself for the way he’s coddled RED RABBIT. He knows that this wave of silly discord is partially of his manufacture.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: I’ve planted a Negro within the SCLC. My former chauffeur, no less.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: He’s a sensible Negro. He despises Communists more than the white power structure.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: He tells me the SCLC is in a state of great disarray. They are attempting to recruit an army of the wretched to compete with Hannibal’s hordes.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: They will storm our nation’s capital. They will urinate and fornicate with abandon.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: This display of pique will be a catastrophic disaster. It will encourage the unruly and criminally prone and give them an unprecedented license. The ramifications will be severe and nihilistically defined.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: I am at my wits’ end, Dwight. I do not know what more I can do.
BR: There’s a counter-consensus brewing, Sir. I know you’ve been reading the bug transcripts.
DIR: I would define that consensus as too localized, too little, and too late.
BR: Some men are offering a bounty.
DIR: I would not be overly perturbed to see it happen.
BR: The concept is very much out there.
DIR: I would not like to be stuck with the task of investigating such an incident. I would be inclined to work for brevity and do what was best to put it behind us.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: Unreasonable actions and unjustified rage serve to spark reasoned and measured responses.
BR: Yes, Sir.
DIR: I take comfort in that.
BR: I’m glad to hear it, Sir.
DIR: Is there anything I can do for you, Dwight?
BR: Yes, Sir. Could you speak to your contact and pouch me RED RABBIT’s itinerary for the next several months?
DIR: Yes.
BR: Thank you, Sir.
DIR: Good day, Dwight.
BR: Good day, Sir.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/8/68. Pouch communiqué. To: Fred Otash. From: Dwight Holly. Marked: “Confidential”/“Eyes Only”/“Read & Burn Immediately.”
F.O.,
On go. Send update on PROSPECT. RED RABBIT’s travel plans to follow.
READ & BURN.
D.C.H.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 1/18/68. Pouch communiqué. To: Dwight Holly. From: Fred Otash. Marked: “Confidential”/“Eyes Only”/ “Read & Burn Immeidately.”
D.H.,
Per PROSPECT’s activities from