Today’s 21st segment in the Justice Integrity Project's “JFK Assassination Readers Guide” reports on major events since the summer of 2013.
The listings begin with this fall's events about the 51st anniversary of the murder on Nov. 22, 1963 in Dallas. This fall marked also the 50th anniversary of the controversial 1964 Warren Commission finding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy and did so with three rifle shots fired from his position behind the presidential motorcade.
Major events this year have included two conferences in Dallas last weekend. One organized by JFK Lancer Productions and Publications featured best-selling author Jim Marrs and San Francisco attorney Bill Simpich, among others.
Simpich previewed his views in an OpEdNews column, How the Warren Commission Covered Up JFK's Murder, and sought also among attendees new ideas on how to win better government cooperation for the JFK research community.
A separate conference organized in part by the publishing house TrineDay and its author Judyth Baker included Marrs along with such other best-selling authors as Roger Stone and Dr. Jerome Corsi, as well as former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), and noted forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril H. Wecht.
Also, the Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) held a moment of silence at the site of JFK's killing in what may be COPA's final event following the sudden death last spring of its leader, John Judge. COPA does maintain an archival website.
Earlier in the fall, this editor assisted a conference Sept. 26-28 sponsored by the Assassination Archives and Research Center (AARC) in Bethesda, MD. We obtained C-SPAN coverage for the event's major revelations, summarized in The JFK Murder 'Cover-up' Still Matters -- As Does C-SPAN's Coverage.
The JFK Historical Group organized a separate conference on the same Sept. 26-28 dates, The Warren Report 50 Years Later: A Critical Examination, held in Alexandria, VA.
An appendix below lists significant recent news, opinion and video treatments of relevant JFK and Warren report issues. The listings of events and other materials are intended to include diverse viewpoints of Warren Commission critics and defenders.
In general, the major media continued to advocate the accuracy of findings by the seven-member Warren Commission led by Chief Justice Earl Warren.
University of Virginia professor and author Larry J. Sabato, for example, argued in Politico that no recent revelations have been significant.
Author and longtime Warren Commission defender Max Holland wrote a cover story for Newsweek, The Truth Behind JFK's Assassination, in which he conceded that the commission's treatment of the shooting was too skimpy. But Holland failed to find major flaws disturbing the commission's fundamental conclusions.
By contrast, the vast majority of speakers at the AARC, TrineDay, JFK Lancer and JFK Historical events reported scandalous cover-ups of evidence by investigators, including the chief justice, fellow commissioner Allen Dulles, and various other CIA, Secret Service and FBI personnel, among others.
Many of the researchers claimed that plots included mob and Cuban exile plotters coordinated by the CIA and, according to some, by Vice President Lyndon Johnson and certain of his allies in the Texas-Wall Street oil, defense and financial sectors.
Also, many critics of the Warren and FBI reports have described Oswald as a likely CIA and FBI asset who may not have fired a shot, or who at most was part of a team of shooters.
Defenders of the Warren Commission include some authors and other researchers with detailed knowledge of the events. Thus, for example, researcher and JFK podcast host David Von Pein Nov. 27 broadcast JFK Assassination Debate: John McAdams vs. Roger Stone.
McAdams is a Marquette University professor who curates a website defending the Warren Commission. Stone has been a consultant to eight GOP presidential campaigns and a staffer in the White Houses of Presidents Nixon and Reagan. Stone asserts in his latest book, Nixon's Secrets, that Johnson's clout as a Texas-based political leader was involved in murder-planning and a cover-up via the Warren Commission Johnson appointed upon assuming the presidency.
Stone, shown in a photo at right, alleges also that President Richard Nixon recognized a plot because of his deep and occasionally corrupt experience in government with the CIA, mob figures and the Cuban exile community, and that CIA resistance to Nixon was a factor in own presidency's demise during Watergate after Nixon tried to pressure the CIA.
McAdams continually rebutted Stone. Both men repeatedly cited evidence to support their contentions. Stone, for example, cites in his book a Justice Department memo showing that Nixon as a congressman hired Jack Rubenstein, aka, Ruby, some 15 years before Ruby killed Oswald in the Dallas police station in 1963.
To clarify such disagreements for the research community and rest of the public, the Justice Integrity Project is publishing this Readers Guide covering events, books, videos, and commentary.
Among upcoming projects, our project is working with those of varied viewpoints who share common ground in establishing an effective, ongoing presence in Washington, DC for effective assassination-related public education. Many efforts in the past have been hindered by rivalries, suspicions, and financial and operational problems afflicting different groups. As a DC-based non-partisan, non-profit organization, the project is in a position to undertake both research and advocacy for credible positions.
This guide is a work in progress. New submissions and clarifications/corrections are welcome.

Justice Integrity Project Readers Guide To JFK Assassination
By Andrew Kreig, JIP Editor, CAPA Board member and Associate Editor and Board member of The Indicter
What follows are excerpts from our Project's so-far 38-previous segments of a "Readers Guide" to the assassination begun in 2013 to underscore both the 50th anniversary of the death and its continuing relevance, particularly slanted media, government, and academic treatment of the death that serves as a Rosetta Stone to similar slanted coverage sensitive matters extending through the decades to today's news.
The Justice Integrity Project cooperates with Citizens Against Political Assassinations (CAPA) and The Indicter, each of which investigates suspected political assassinations around the world. The Project's most recent previous column on these topics for the Readers Guide was JFK Birthday Prompts Inspiration, Art, Advocacy, Snark on June 2, 2017, with this beginning. "The 100th birthday anniversary of President John F. Kennedy on May 29 prompted many memorials about the late president's enduring popularity, the continuing controversies over his murder, and at least one prominent display of mockery of the late president by a big newspaper."
In the Readers Guide below, a red asterisk (*) denotes major articles in the series. Other articles may be regarded as more routine or duplicative treatments sometimes covering specific events.
At right is a photo by this editor in Dallas showing Dealey Plaza. The Texas Book Depository Building where accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald worked is behind the row of trees. The car in the center lane is near the location of President Kennedy's limo at the time of his fatal shooting. The "X" mark is repeatedly painted on the street by author and photographic expert Robert Groden as reminder of the horrific crime that Dallas authorities seek to expunge by removing the X.
- Project Launches JFK Assassination Readers' Guide, Oct. 16, 2013.
- Project Provides JFK Readers Guide To New Books, Videos, Oct. 26, 2013. This is a list of new books and films in 2013.
- Disputes Erupt Over NY Times, New Yorker, Washington Post Reviews of JFK Murder, Nov. 7, 2013. *
- Self-Censorship In JFK TV Treatments Duplicates Corporate Print Media's Apathy, Cowardice, Nov. 7, 2013.
- 'Puppetry' Hardback Launched Nov. 19 at DC Author Forum on ‘White House Mysteries & Media,' Nov. 19, 2013.
- Major Media Stick With Oswald 'Lone Gunman' JFK Theory, Nov. 27, 2013.
- JFK Murder Scene Trapped Its Victim In Kill Zone, Nov. 30, 2013.
- Project Lists JFK Assassination Reports, Archives, Videos, Events, Nov. 2, 2013. *
- JFK Murder, The CIA, and 8 Things Every American Should Know, Dec. 9, 2013. *
- JFK Murder Prompts Expert Reader Reactions, Dec. 19, 2013. Reactions to our Dec. 9 column.
- Have Spy Agencies Co-Opted Presidents and the Press? Dec. 23, 2013. *
- Don't Be Fooled By 'Conspiracy Theory' Smears, May 26, 2014. *
- Experts To Reveal Secrets of JFK Murder, Cover-up at Sept. 26-28 DC Forum , Sept. 5, 2014.
- Washington Post Still Selling Warren Report 50 Years Later, Sept. 22, 2014. *
- JFK Experts To Explode Myths, Sign Books In DC Sept. 26-28, Sept. 24, 2014.
- Former Cuban Militant Leader Claims CIA Meeting With Oswald Before JFK Killing, Sept. 27, 2014. *
- JFK Readers Guide: Assassination Books, Reports, Oct. 15, 2014. *
Former House JFK Murder Prober Alleges CIA ‘Lied,’ Seeks Hidden Records, Oct. 18, 2014. *
- The JFK Murder 'Cover-up' Still Matters -- As Does C-SPAN's Coverage, Nov. 11, 2014. *
- JFK, Nov. 22 and the Continuing Cover-Up, Nov. 24, 2014. *
- JFK Assassination Readers Guide To 2013-14 Events, Nov. 28, 2014. *
- CIA, Empowered by JFK Murder Cover-up, Blocks Senate Torture Report, Dec. 1, 2014. *
- Nearly Too Late, Public Learns of Bill Moyers’ Conflicts Over PBS, LBJ, Jan. 2, 2014.
- Why Bill O'Reilly's Lie About JFK's Murder Might Matter To You, March 17, 2015.
- Free Videos Show Shocking Claims About CIA, JFK Murder Probes, June 29, 2015.
- Pioneering Black Secret Service JFK Guard Abraham Bolden Warns Of Current Lessons, July 22, 2015.
- Understanding Hollywood-Style Presidential Propaganda From JFK To Trump, Aug. 18, 2015.
- Beware Of Wrong Conclusions From New CIA Disclosure On Oswald, Sept. 28, 2015.
- The JFK Murder Cover-Up: Your Rosetta Stone To Today’s News, Nov. 29, 2015.
- Austin Kiplinger, David Skorton: Two Civic Giants Going And Coming, Dec. 15, 2015.
- Trump Alleges Rafael Cruz Tie To JFK Murder Suspect Oswald, May 3, 2016.
- Revelations Confirm Proof Of JFK, RFK Murder Cover-ups, Nov. 25, 2016.
- Top Experts To Assess JFK Murder Records, Revelations March 16, March 8, 2017.
- Speaker Program For March 16 Forum On Secret JFK Records, March 8, 2017.
- JFK Experts Advocate Compliance With Records Deadline, March 8, 2017.
- At CAPA Forum, JFK Experts See Need, Momentum For Assassination Records Release, March 23, 2017.
- Time Magazine, History Channel Ramp Up Oswald-JFK Fake News, April 26, 2017.
- JFK Birthday Prompts Inspiration, Art, Advocacy, Snark, June 2, 2017.
- Deep State Killed JFK For His Cuba Policy, Peace Advocacy, Experts Say, June 13, 2017.
- Newly Released JFK Murder Files Prompt Disputes, 'Jigsaw' Solutions, Aug. 4, 2017.
- CAPA Challenges Warren Report Defenders Sabato, Shenon, Sept. 22, 2017.
- Trump Plans Release Of Suppressed JFK Records, Oct. 21, 2017.
- Trump Backs Off Promise To Release All Suppressed JFK Documents Today; Permits Partial Release, Oct. 26, 2017.
- More JFK Murder Records Released On Nov. 9, Nov. 10, 2017.
- TV Star John Barbour Premieres New JFK Documentary In DC With Free Screenings, Lectures, Nov. 13, 2017.
- Two Major Annual JFK Research Conferences Launch Friday In Dallas, Nov. 15, 2017.
- DC, Dallas Nov. 22 Events Mark JFK Murder, Official Cover-up, Nov. 22, 2017
- Assessing Newly Released JFK Records, Alec Baldwin's Slam of NBC Cover-up, Dec. 19, 2017.
Selected JFK Assassination Memorials, Protests, Other Events
2016
April
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Opera to host five-event JFK symposium, Punch Shaw, Oct. 14, 2015. Discussions precede ‘JFK’ opera premiere. Before audiences see its new work, Fort Worth Opera wants to provide a little context. “We want the opera company to be seen as going forward as a community resource for conversation and dialogue and not just a place where you come to hear pretty music — or, sometimes, disturbing music,” said Darren Woods, general director of Fort Worth Opera, explaining the motivation behind the company’s five-part symposium, “JFK: 5 Decades of Progress.” The series will present panels of experts discussing events and issues of the 1960s in anticipation of JFK, the opera commissioned by Fort Worth Opera and New York’s American Lyric Theater, which will have its world premiere at Bass Hall on April 23, 2016. The recently completed work, which features music by David T. Little and a libretto by Royce Vavrek, focuses on the last night of President Kennedy’s life, which was spent in Fort Worth. The first of the five events, “Space Race: Advances in U.S. Science and Transportation Technology,” will be presented on the University of Texas at Arlington campus Thursday. The series, which will offer events in Fort Worth, Arlington and Dallas, concludes with a session devoted to the arts March 24. Most will feature three panelists and a moderator.
November
JFK Lancer Productions and Publications, 2016 November In Dallas Conference, Adolphus Hotel, Dallas, TX. Nov. 20-22, 2016. Celebrating Our 20th Conference: 1996-2016. Details.
- Friday, Nov. 18: Presentations
- Saturday, Nov 19: Presentations
- Sunday, Nov. 20: Free Walking Tours, Remembrance Ceremony
2015
October
The first Annual Oswald Conference will be in New Orleans at the Crown Plaza Hotel (airport) Oct. 16-18. This conference was created by popular demand of the people of New Orleans and is sponsored by The JFK Historical Group, which last year presented evidence in Washington, DC, of corruption in the Warren Commission. Judyth Vary Baker, who knew Lee Harvey Oswald, who the Commission claimed killed President Kennedy, says "Lee Oswald is New Orleans' native son. Thanks to the books Me & Lee and Dr. Mary's Monkey, support has grown to the point that it could no longer be ignored." The conference begins each day at 9 AM and continues until 11 PM. A birthday party for Lee (he would have been 76) will be held on Oct. 18. "It's a political statement," Baker says. "By holding this birthday party, we are showing how Lee would have been treated if he had not been made into a Patsy." Details.
November
JFK Lancer Productions and Publications, Dallas, TX. JFK Lancer will hold a conference on the assassination and Warren Commission report from Nov. 20-21 in Dallas, TX. Jim DeEugenio will be Program Chairman. Other leaders are Larry Hancock and JFK Lancer President Debra Conway. Details. JFK Lancer (named for the JFK's Secret Service code name "Lancer") is a historical research company specializing in the administration and assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It was founded in 1995 by Thomas A. Jones and Debra J. Conway. Its description: "JFK Lancer works with the largest and most active group of President John F. Kennedy historical researchers. Our past conferences have hosted many of the eyewitnesses of the assassination and the most respected of authors and researchers from around the world. We subscribe to the values of patriotism, excellence, integrity and dedication to the revealing of truth surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Our goal is to make research materials concerning Kennedy's assassination easily available to everyone. Our prime concern is the accuracy of history and the true story of the turbulent 1960s."
The third Annual JFK Assassination Conference will be in Dallas at the Crown Plaza Hotel, three blocks from Dealey Plaza, Nov. 20-22, 2015. "New witnesses and highly respected researchers will be presenting the truth about the Kenned assassination," says founder Judyth Vary Baker, who knew Lee Harvey Oswald and has been fighting for his exoneration. "At this conference, we do not debate whether Oswald killed Kennedy. Every speaker knows that Lee was a patsy, just as he said. Instead, we look at who had the means, the motives and the opportunity not only to kill Kennedy, but to direct the media for over 50 years to cover it up. The people have always resisted the lie that Oswald shot Kennedy. At this conference, they'll get the truth." Details.
Reopen Kennedy Case is a 2015 conference Nov. 21-22 at the Mercure in Melbourne. Australia. A major organizer is Greg Parker, author of Lee Harvey Oswald's Cold War: Why the Kennedy Assassination Should Be Reinvestigated. He describes the mission of the conference and a related web forum of the same name as follows: "To have the Kennedy assassination reopened by developing new leads and evidence, re-examination of old leads and evidence, the development and encouragement of new ideas and the innovative use of social media. Along the way, we will take this mission seriously -- not ourselves." For details, visit website or email rokcevents (at) reopenkennedycase.org.
2014
JFK Assassination Conference, Sheraton Arlington Hotel, Arlington, TX, Nov. 22-24, 2014. Organized by Judyth Vary Baker, TrineDay Publishing, and Conscious Community Events. Speakers included: Roger Stone, Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, Dr. Jerome Corsi, George Butler, John B. Wells, Philip Nelson, former Gov. Jesse Ventura, Judyth Vary Baker, Edward T. Haslam, Jim Marrs, Tosh Plumlee, John Barbour, Robert Groden, Wynne Johnson, Gary Severson, Casey Quinlan, Saint John Hunt, Dr. James Fetzer, Gary Fannin, Gary King, Larry Rivera, Antonio Veciana, Richard Charnin, Dennis David, Vince Palamara, Scott Kaiser, George Butler, Kris Millegan, Douglas Horne, and former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney. Organizers stated: "A wide array of researchers and witnesses spoke at a historic free conference about the Kennedy assassination and the Warren Report. "Never before has a conference of this size and importance been free to the public,” said Judyth Baker, author of the book Me & Lee, and one of the conference’s producers. “But this one is! That’s because hundreds of Facebook supporters are backing it. These supporters have been inspired by all the new evidence and witnesses who have come forth since the Warren Commission’s 1964 report. They know the report is obsolete, and that people need to know that Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy, just as he said he was.”
November in Dallas Conference: 50 Years Since the Warren Report, Adolphus Hotel, Dallas, TX, Nov. 21-22, 2014. Organized by JFK Lancer Productions and Events. Speakers included: Jim Marrs, Gayle Nix Jackson, Bill Simpich, Brian Edwards, Casey Quinlan, Sherry Fiester, Pat Speer, Stu Wexler, Debra Conway, Alan Dale, Larry Hancock, Jim DiEugenio.
The Kennedy Assassination Revisited: Heating Up the JFK Cold Case File. Georgetown Public Library lecture by JFK researcher Paul Kuntzler, Washington, DC, Nov. 22, 2014. Kuntzler is the former president of the Miller Reporting Co., which reported the deliberations of the Assassination Records Review Board (AARB), created to administer in the 1990s the records release process mandated by Congress in the 1992 JFK Act.
Moment of Silence, Dealey Plaza, Dallas, TX, Nov. 22, 2014. Organized by the Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA).
JFK Vigil: Peaceable Assembly & Petition for Release of Assassination Records, Kennedy Center North Plaza, Washington, DC, Nov. 22, 2014. Organized by Karl Golovin, retired U.S. Customs Service special agent. Other national holiday vigils at the same location in 2014: May 29 (shown in photo), July 4 and Dec. 7, with details here at: www.JFKvigil.com. The purpose is peaceably assemble to petition for: 1) An end to war and reining in CIA, as JFK sought to achieve; 2) Immediate release of all records still withheld regarding JFK’s assassination; and 3) an end to the intimidation of official secrecy and the violence it perpetuates, bringing real transparency in governments everywhere. Please register your interest by signing up (even if unable to participate on 12/7) in what are a series of
important, ongoing activities continuing through 2017, the year in which all still-withheld assassination records are, by law, purportedly to be released.
The Warren Report and the JFK Assassination: A Half Century of Significant Disclosures, Hyatt Regency Bethesda, Bethesda, MD, Sept. 26-28, 2014. Organized by Assassinations Archives and Record Center (AARC). Forty-four prominent authors, medical doctors, academics, lawyers and other research experts convened to reveal recent findings undercutting the Warren Commission’s 1964 report ascribing President Kennedy’s murder to a sole assassin. Among those making unprecedented or rare speaking appearances were: Alpha 66 founder Antonio Veciana, leader of the CIA-backed Cuban exile group that tried to kill Cuban leader Fidel Castro; and Prof. Ernst Titovets, who was Oswald’s best friend in the Soviet Union. Other speakers included: Prof. Robert Blakey, Ed Lopez and Dan Hardway of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA), which concluded in 1979 that JFK fell victim to a conspiracy by unspecified parties. Among others were: Dr. Gary Aguilar, Russ Baker, Brenda Brody, Rex Bradford, Jim DiEugenio, Robert Groden, Eric Hamburg, Dr. Peter Kornbluh, Andrew Kreig, Dr. Joan Mellen, Jefferson Morley, Prof. John Newman, Jerry Policoff, Dr. Randolph Robertson, Peter Dale Scott, Dr. Wayne Smith, Pat Speer, Anthony Summers, David Talbot, Dr. Donald Thomas, and Dr. Cyril H. Wecht,
The Warren Report 50 Years Later: A Critical Examination. Crowne Plaza East Hotel, Alexandria, VA, Sept. 26-28, 2014. Organized by the JFK Historical Group. In photo from left to right: JFK Historical Group Members David Denton, Walter Boyes, Ed Tatro and banquet keynoter Dr. Cyril Wecht. Other speakers included: Doug Horne, Philip Nelson, Russ Baker, Gary Powers Jr., Peter Janney, Judyth Vary Baker, James Wagenvoord and Rick Russo.
McClendon Group at the National Press Club, Dr. Joan Mellen, Washington, DC, Sept. 25, 2014. Temple University professor Joan Mellen previewed her latest book, Faustian Bargains, about Lyndon Johnson and his operative Mac Wallace, an alleged triggerman in the JFK assassination. Malcolm Everett Wallace, a former president of the University of Texas student body and a convicted murderer, is alleged to have murdered witnesses to Johnson's participation in the scams of the corrupt farmer Billie Sol Estes. Wallace then was at the Texas School Book Depository on the sixth floor. There is one unidentified fingerprint among the Warren Commission exhibits, and every one of these books contends that it belonged to Wallace.
Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA),
, National Press Club, Washington, DC, May 31, 2014. 2:11 hours. Former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) helped open a memorial service recapping the work of COPA leader John Judge.
Ohio Bar Association, The Warren Commission: 50 Years Later, Spring 2014. On June 6, two former staff members of the Warren Commission will lead a six-hour Continuing Legal Education (CLE) conference titled “The Warren Commission: 50 Years Later,” an inquiry into the legal and ethical issues associated with President John F. Kennedy’s assassination investigation. How might Lee Harvey Oswald have been tried? Was there evidence of conspiracy? Featured speakers will explore these and other questions at the conference, which will be held in Columbus and simulcast live to Akron, Dayton and Perrysburg.
Kicking off the day-long conference, Retired Cleveland Judge C. Ellen Connally provides the historical context for the Warren Commission’s investigation into the assassination. Retired Common Pleas Judge Burt W. Griffen and former U.S. Justice Department attorney Howard P. Willens, both former staff members of the Warren Commission, discuss the difficulty of balancing a quest for truth with practical and ethical considerations. Judge Brendan Sheehan of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court moderates the panel discussion that follows.
2013
Remembering the assassination of President John F. Kennedy with two men who were there – Secret Service Agent Clint Hill and journalist Bob Schieffer, Newseum. Washington, DC, Nov. 20, 2013.
JFK Lancer Productions and Publications, Adolphus Hotel, Dallas, TX, Nov. 21-24, 2013. "Lancer" was John F. Kennedy's Secret Service Code name. Use of this formerly secret name represents JFK Lancer's efforts to make John F. Kennedy's assassination information available to everyone. JFK Lancer is a historical research company specializing in the administration and assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It was founded in 1995 by Thomas A. Jones and Debra J. Conway. JFK Lancer subscribes to the values of patriotism, excellence, integrity and dedication to the revealing of truth surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The goal of JFK Lancer is to make research materials concerning President John F. Kennedy's assassination easily available. Its prime concern is the accuracy of history and the true story of the turbulent 1960s. It believes these basic facts in the assassination of President Kennedy and the wounding of Governor John Connally:
- There was more than one shooter
- There has not been a true or complete investigation of this crime by our government
- Intelligence agencies did not give those investigatory bodies the information they should have the assassination case is still open and research should be ongoing.
Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA), Dallas, TX, Nov. 22-24, 2013. COPA's 20th annual conference in Dallas marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy and the 45th anniversaries of the murders of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King. The theme is: “50 Years is Enough! Free the Files – Find the Truth.” Featured are the leading researchers, authors, ballistics, forensic and medical experts who have worked on these cases over the last five decades and the best documentary films. We plan to hold our Moment of Silence on the Grassy Knoll at 12:30 pm on November 22. Among the confirmed speakers: Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, JD, MD (COPA's founding president), Walt Brown, Peter Dale Scott, former Gov. Jesse Ventura, Dr. Gary Aguilar, Robert Groden, David Talbot, Dick Russell, Russ Baker, Dr. Joan Mellen, Dr. Ernst Titovets (Oswald’s best friend in the Soviet Union), Jefferson Morley, former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Baba Zak Kondo, Bill Kelly, Bill Simpich, Andrew Kiel, Chris Pike, Kenn Thomas, Stan Webber, Wayne Smith, Ben Rogers, Edward Curtin, Michael Calder, Bill Holiday, Mel Barney and many others. Organizers included John Judge and Robert Morrow.
Oswald Innocence Campaign, Santa Barbara, CA, Nov. 22, 2013. Campaign Chairman: Dr. James Fetzer. Members' Statement: We, the members of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, maintain that at the time of President Kennedy's assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald was standing in the doorway of the Texas School Book Depository, where he was photographed by James "Ike" Altgens, which is clearly evident upon close examination of the photograph. This discovery categorically exonerates Oswald from having shot the President. We call upon the media to renounce the official story that impugns him -- including the "Magic Bullet" theory, which is a conspiratorial fabrication -- and we demand that the American government cease obstructing justice by promoting a gross falsehood, based on lies, which has allowed the true killers to remain free, unindicted, and unpunished."
JFK Vigil: Peaceable Assembly & Petition for Release of Assassination Records, Kennedy Center North Plaza, Washington, DC, Nov. 22, 2013, organized by Karl Golovin.
University of Virginia Center for Politics, Dallas, TX, Nov. 20 & 22, 2013. The Center for Politics hosted two free events in Dallas, TX organized by Professor Larry J. Sabato, author of The Kennedy Half Century. Details: 1) Nov. 20, 2013 panel discussion, Hyatt Regency Dallas. The personal stories from five eyewitnesses who were in Dallas 50 years ago. Sabato moderated panel of Jim Bowles, Sid Davis, Buell Wesley Frazier, Mary Mooreman Krahmer and Dr. Robert McClelland, five eye-witnesses in Dallas 50 years ago. 2. Nov. 22, 2013 film viewing at the Magnolia Hotel of “The 50th: Honoring the Memory of President John F. Kennedy.”
Southern Methodist University via C-SPAN, Reporters Remember: 11/22/63, Dallas, TX, Nov. 20, 2013. Moderated by Darwin Payne of SMU, formerly of the Dallas Times-Herald. The participants were all journalists who were present in Dallas on the day of President Kennedy’s assassination. Each reminisced about his experiences on that day. This panel discussed decisions they had to make on covering the news of the president’s shooting. They responded to audience members' questions.
The JFK Murder, Surveillance & Other Intrigues: Why They Matter, National Press Club, Washington, DC, Nov. 19, 2013. Organized by Justice Integrity Project. Speakers included Project Director Andrew Kreig, announcing publication of Presidential Puppetry: Obama, Romney and Their MastersRomney and Their Masters and moderating a more general discussion of two panels that included:
- James Lesar, co-founder and president, Assassination Archives and Research Center
- Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D., author of Who Really Killed Kennedy? (2013) and The Obama Nation (2008), co-author of Unfit for Command (2008) and World Net Daily senior reporter
- Dan Moldea, author of The Hoffa Wars (1978) and Confessions of a Guerrilla Writer (2013)
- Jerry Policoff, Executive Director, Assassination Archives and Research Center
- Matt Apuzzo, AP staff writer, 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winner, and co-author of Enemies Within: Inside the NYPD's Secret Spying Unit and bin Laden's Final Plot Against America (2013)
Special Program: A Conversation With Oliver Stone, Newseum, Washington, DC, Nov. 1, 2013. Organized by the Newseum. Guests: Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick. Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone talks about his career and his provocative 1991 movie JFK. This program will be streamed live online.
PBS Screening of "JFK" and Panel Discussion, National Press Club, Washington, DC, Oct. 30, 2013. A panel discussed John F. Kennedy’s life and presidency by showing clips from an upcoming film JFK, premiering in November 2013 on PBS in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the president’s death. The panel will also examine how the press treated Kennedy and how the media’s treatment of presidents has changed throughout the years. Participants will include: Susan Bellows, the film's producer and director; Evan Thomas, journalist and best-selling author of Robert Kennedy: His Life; and Sally Bedell Smith, journalist and best-selling author of Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House.
National Press Club, Where were you when Kennedy was shot? NPC retrospective on assassination anniversary Nov. 4, Washington, DC. Oct. 26, 2013. Moderated by Gil Klein. Four journalists who went on to prominent careers share their experiences in Dallas on Nov. 22 1963 when Lee Harvey Oswald’s shots changed their lives – and the life of the nation – at a retrospective panel 6:30 p.m. Nov. 4 at the National Press Club. CBS News Senior Correspondent Bob Schieffer was a cub reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram when he answered a phone call from Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother, asking for a ride to Dallas to see her son. PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer covered the arrival of Air Force One for the Dallas Times Herald before being plunged into the day’s events that took him to Parkland Hospital and the Dallas police headquarters. Retired Hearst columnist Marianne Means was the only female reporter in the motorcade when the shots rang out. Sid Davis, a radio correspondent for Westinghouse, recalls counting those shots as they were fired, and ended the day as the radio pool reporter witnessing Lyndon Johnson being sworn in aboard Air Force One on the way back to Washington. Davis went on to be a vice president and Washington bureau chief for NBC News. The event is sponsored by the Club’s History and Heritage Committee and will be moderated by its chairman, Gil Klein, a Club past president and a journalism professor at American University’s Washington Semester Program.
The Kennedy Half Century, organized by the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Oct. 14, 2013.
JFK Assassination: Warren Commission Findings, at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, Oct. 11, 2013. Part 1, Northern District of Texas U.S. Attorney Sarah Saldaña (moderator) Harold Willens, Burt Griffin, W. David Slawson, Richard M. Mosk, and Stuart R. Pollak. (1 hour, 46 min.); Part 2, William J. Bridge, Jay Vogelson, Christopher Jenks, Lackland Bloom Jr., Tom E. Stone, Dennis Simon (1 hour, 22 min.). Southern Methodist University via C-SPAN, ‘History will prove us right,’ Former Warren Commission staffers to discuss controversial report at SMU, Oct. 11, Sept. 25, 2013. An unprecedented gathering of assistant counsel and staff members who served on the Warren Commission – appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to report on President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963 – will gather at SMU Oct. 11 to discuss their work and findings. Nearly 50 years later, the Warren Commission Report continues to spark debate, controversy and conspiracy theories. The event will be divided into two panel discussions. During the first panel (12:45–2:30 p.m.), Willens will join former commission colleagues Burt W. Griffin, a retired Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas judge who was a Cleveland attorney in 1963; W. David Slawson, Webb Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Southern California, a Denver lawyer 50 years ago; Richard M. Mosk, a justice with the California Court of Appeals, a recent graduate of Harvard Law School in 1963; and Stuart R. Pollak, also a justice with the California Court of Appeals, who worked in the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice at the time of the assassination. During the event’s second panel (3–4:30 p.m.), SMU faculty members and others will join the five Warren Commission staffers in discussing continuing questions about the commission’s work. SMU Dedman Law alumna Sarah R. Saldaña ‘84, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, will moderate the first panel. Assisting her, and moderating the second panel, will be SMU Dedman Law professor William Bridge. The event is part of a yearlong collaboration between SMU and the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza to commemorate the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. “The Work of the Warren Commission, Half a Century On: Its Methods, Successes & Questions” will be 12:30–4:30 p.m. in the Martha Proctor Mack Ballroom, Umphrey Lee Center, 3300 Dyer St., on the SMU campus. he event is free and open to the public with advance registration “This is the first time this elite group will publicly discuss their work,” says SMU Dedman Law professor William J. Bridge, who is helping plan the event sponsored by SMU’s Dedman School of Law and John G. Tower Center for Political Studies, along with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.
Recent JFK Assassination Commentary
JFK Assassination and Warren Commission Investigation
OpEdNews, How the Warren Commission Covered Up JFK's Murder, Bill Simpich (shown in photo), Nov. 19, 2014. This year marks 50 years after the creation of the Warren Report -- an evaluation of the murder of President John Kennedy that devolved into a cover-up. Not everyone was a conscious participant, but some of the Commission and staff members knew they were burying evidence that would exonerate the accused assassin Lee Oswald. Since Oswald consistently declared that he was innocent, it's just not right to proclaim his guilt based on evidence that actually indicates that he was framed. The best way to address such a disaster is with a compelling presentation showing not only reasonable doubt of Oswald's guilt, but that there was never enough evidence for any case against Oswald to go to a jury.
What we need is a citizens' body with subpoena power that can address this outrage and other contested events.
A quick rebuttal of the Warren Report can be done even though we don't have a couple of crucial tools that would make the task much easier. One is to cross-examine the Warren Commission witnesses with first-hand information, which has been described as the greatest engine for uncovering the truth. The other is to work with government-funded defense experts to challenge the Warren Commission experts, who were widely lauded as the leading lights in the land. The approach will be to use the Commission's own evidence to rebut its own findings.
In reviewing the evidence, consider that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover told Attorney General Bobby Kennedy that Oswald was the shooter by 4 pm that day. After that point, the die was cast. What happened in those first hours? We'll analyze here the actions on the ground by certain members of the Secret Service and the Dallas police. The role of members of the intelligence agencies and others will be for another day. Here are the top ten arguments of the Warren Commission, as spelled out by their attorney David Belin in the conclusion of his book You Are The Jury.
David Von Pein's JFK Channel, JFK Assassination Debate: John McAdams vs. Roger Stone, Nov. 27, 2014 (recorded Nov. 21). Roger Stone, a veteran of eight national GOP presidential campaigns and the author of the best-seller The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ, debates on radio Marquette University Assistant Professor John McAdams, a defender of the Warren Commission. JFK Assassination researcher David Von Pein moderates the differing views between Stone and McAdams, who curates a website defending the commission's view that Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy and acted alone.
Politico, The Never-Ending Replay of November 22, 1963, Will we ever stop reliving the Kennedy assassination? Larry J. Sabato, Nov. 21, 2014. A year ago this week, no one could escape the wall-to-wall coverage of the Kennedy assassination’s 50th anniversary. One effect of the previous November’s concentrated focus on JFK is that people have come forward with new information. None of it, at least that I’ve seen, dramatically re-writes the story of the assassination, but useful details have been added. Larry J. Sabato, at left, is Director of the Center for Politics and University Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. His most recent book is The Kennedy Half-Century.
Boston Globe, Answers sought on CIA role in ‘78 JFK probe; Investigators say files could prove interference, Bryan Bender, Oct. 15, 2014. It was nearly four decades ago that Eddie Lopez was hired by a congressional committee to reinvestigate the 1963 murder of President John F. Kennedy, a role that had him digging through top secret documents at the CIA. In the end, the House Select Committee on Assassinations reported in 1978 that it believed the assassination was probably the result of a conspiracy, although it couldn’t prove that, and its conclusions are disputed by many researchers. But now Lopez is seeking answers to a lingering question: Could still-classified records reveal, as he and some of his fellow investigators have long alleged, that the CIA interfered with the congressional investigation and placed the committee staff under surveillance?
Newsweek, The Truth Behind JFK's Assassination, Max Holland (shown in photo), editor of "Washington Decoded." Nov. 20, 2014. On November 29, 1963, President Lyndon Johnson directed the Warren Commission to “evaluate all the facts” in the brutal November 22 murder of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, on a downtown Dallas street in broad daylight. Reduced to its bare essentials, the investigation sought answers to three fundamental questions: Who, why and how? “Why” was entirely contingent on “who,” and that depended on “how.” Thus, the linchpin of the Warren Report—and every subsequent investigation—has always been precisely how Kennedy was assassinated in Dealey Plaza. That is the finding from which all the important answers flow; mishandle that question and the credibility of the entire report is undermined. The Warren Commission’s bungling of “how” is a primary reason why there have been so many residual doubts and conspiracy theories over the past 50 years. In the 1964 Warren Report, just seven pages (of 888) reconstruct the shooting sequence. Three spent cartridges were found in the sniper’s nest on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository, corroborating the testimony of most ear- and eyewitnesses that three shots were fired. But after 10 months of investigation, the report did not present a compelling explanation of the sequence; instead it offered up three slightly different scenarios. In each, one of the bullets fired by Lee Harvey Oswald fatally hit Kennedy in the head; another struck and passed through the president before hitting Texas Governor John Connally; and the third shot fired by Oswald…well, the commission could not say where that bullet went or even when it was fired. Depending on which of the three scenarios one favored, the total time span of the assassination ranged from as little as 4.8 seconds “to in excess of 7 seconds.”
JFKcountercoup, COPA's Last Stand: Dealey Plaza, Bill Kelly, Nov. 15, 2014. The place is sacred, a pivotal crossroads where an X marks the spot in the middle of Elm Street where a man’s head was blown apart by a sniper’s bullet in an ambush at precisely 12:30 pm on Friday, November 22, 1963. This is the place, the exact spot where John F. Kennedy met his fate, his rendezvous with death, where tourists visit and pilgrims flock, sometimes in droves, other times late at night when nobody else is around, but especially shortly after noon every November 22nd, when there is always a witness who returns, someone who was there and is drawn back to the spot like a magnet. To revisit the theater, to remember the moment when JFK’s life went dark.
After last year’s debacle, when the City of Dallas took over the Grassy Knoll, locked out the public and kept John Judge and Coalition on Political Assassinations (COPA) members from holding a moment of silence, this November 22nd is the 50th anniversary of when Penn Jones held the first moment of silence at the scene of the crime in 1964. Now it’s our turn, since John Judge, as he tried to do every year, obtained a city permit for COPA to be at Dealey Plaza, and was hell bent to be there and hold a solemn and respectful memorial service that would be open to all and done with dignity, honor, respect and the truth be told, as Judge always said that this was a time to “speak truth to power.” A true coalition, by definition, is established by a number of focus groups with different interests but a common goal, and we may all have different opinions as to who killed JFK and how they did it, but we all agree that the government files on the assassination should be open.
When the AARC and CTKA withdrew from COPA they left John Judge its director, and rather than fold, as they expected, Judge pretty much kept COPA together by himself, organizing the regional conferences in Dallas, Memphis and Los Angeles almost every year, and spearheading the establishment of the Hidden History Museum, all with the assistance of a few, select patrons – Dr. Wecht, Gene Case, Bob Danello, Frank Caplett and others who generously donated money to COPA – a not-for-profit but not tax-exempt organization. As usual, there are two separate and competing conferences in Dallas this November – one by Debra Conway and Lancer and the other by a Facebook group led by Judyth Vary Baker. COPA has the permit for the Dealey Plaza event at 12:30 and it will be led by longtime Regional Dallas COPA members Robert Groden, Frank Caplett and Tom Blackwell, and be filmed by Randy Benson. Other COPA members may also attend from out of town.
Newsmax, Mafia Hit Man Confesses to Killing President Kennedy, Jim Meyers, Nov. 20, 2014. Mafia hit man James Files, shown in a prison photo, says in interviews first aired nationally on Newsmax TV Thursday night that he worked along with major mob figures and fired the shot that killed Kennedy from the grassy knoll at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Friday, Nov. 22 marks the 51st anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's tragic assassination and Newsmax TV marked the occasion by airing the provocative premiere of the blockbuster documentary "I Killed JFK", featuring never-before-seen footage of Kennedy's confessed killer.
The documentary, produced by Hollywood’s Barry Katz, presents convincing forensic evidence supporting Files' contention that he, and not Lee Harvey Oswald, fired the fatal shot at America's 35th president. "I squeezed off my round. I hit him and blew his head backward," Files said of the single shot he fired that fateful day. "I Killed JFK" Executive Producer Barry Katz said: "Until now, no one has ever confessed to the murder of JFK, and most people still believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the killer. After the world sees this special, I am confident that the greatest mystery of our generation will finally be solved."
Files, who changed his name from Jimmy Sutton, was born in Alabama in 1942, and after a stint in the Army became associated with both the Chicago mob and the CIA. He worked under mobster Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti, an underling of mob boss Sam Giancana. Giancana and other mobsters had been angered by the president’s brother, Robert, who as U.S. attorney general was targeting organized crime in a major prosecution effort. Retired FBI Special Agent Zack Shelton appears in the documentary and reveals that he provided inside information to private investigator and Kennedy assassination investigator Joe West about Files possible connection to the Kennedy killing. Files is currently incarcerated at the Danville Correctional Center in Danville, Ill. He was convicted of the attempted murder of two police officers during a roadside shootout in 1991 and sentenced to 50 years in prison. The documentary chronicles how Files, along with Nicoletti and mobster Johnny Roselli, came to be in Dallas on the day Kennedy was assassinated. "I was aiming at his right eye. When I pulled the trigger it was almost like looking from six feet away through the scope. "I never saw Mr. Nicoletti shoot Kennedy but I know he was the man in the building who was supposed to be doing the shooting. Shelton is one of two former FBI agents who believe Files' story is credible. He said: "I have tried to verify Files' story. A lot of that story I have been able to verify," including that a shot was fired from the grassy knoll "exactly where Files said he was standing." Editor's Note: The Files account that he shot from behind the picket fence at Dealey Plaza is disputed by some significant researchers who otherwise believe both the Mafia and CIA were involved in the assassination. At least one shooter was located behind the fence, according to many researchers. The question remains whether it was Files.
JFK Facts.org, Who was responsible for the wrongful death of JFK? Jeff Morley, Nov. 19, 2014. Lee Oswald remains the single most plausible candidate for assassin but the forensic case against him, never strong in criminal defense terms, has only grown weaker over the years, while the possibility that he was manipulated or framed has grown. The case against President Lyndon Johnson, while popular on the Internet, is contrived and conjectural, relying heavily on a witness who has changed her story often. The case against Fidel Castro, still touted by CIA sources, is weaker yet. Like the agency’s interference in the 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee torture investigation, the CIA interference in the 1978 House Committee on Assassinations has made the case for CIA complicity stronger. That said, there is no proof that any specific CIA officers were involved in manipulating or framing Oswald or otherwise enabling JFK’s murder.
JFK Countercoup, The Air Force One Radio Tapes Update -- The Story Thus Far, Bill Kelly, Oct. 1, 2014.This was a presentation on the Air Force One radio transmission tapes from Nov. 22, 1963 at the Assassination Archives and Research Center (AARC) conference in Washington D.C. When President Kennedy was originally invited to Dallas, LBJ had arranged for him to receive an honorary degree from Texas Christian University (TCU). However, after it was announced, the TCU trustees rescind the invitation, much to the embarrassment of LBJ and the city of Dallas, whose civic leaders invited the President to address their previously scheduled meeting that was to honor those who founded the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest, whose director was Arthur Collins of Collins Radio. If you read Kennedy’s "Undelivered Speech," his copy now stained with his blood, his remarks are clearly aimed towards the people who run these defense industries, and he mentions Collins’ graduate research center in the opening paragraph of his remarks. One of the first things Kennedy did as President was to order the recording of all radio communications made from Air Force One when it was in the air as well as the ability to record his telephone calls and Oval Office conversations, recordings he said he would later use when it came time to write his memoirs.
Jerome Corsi, Who Really Killed John F. Kennedy? New Research into the JFK Assassination reports on the most important new research investigating the JFK assassination. After publishing in 2013 his bestselling book Who Really Killed Kennedy: 50 Years Later - Stunning New Revelations About the JFK Assassination, Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D. believes investigations into the JFK Assassination are close to establishing irrefutable evidence documenting the JFK assassination a government-organized coup d’état, not the act of a lone-gun assassin. By summarizing the most current cutting-edge research on the JFK assassination, Who Really Killed John F. Kennedy? – New Research Into the JFK Assassination sets the stage for 2017, twenty-five years after the passage of the JFK Records Act, when the National Archives is scheduled to release the final, yet classified government documents on the JFK assassination. This will hopefully include over 1,000 documents the CIA still withholds from the public on national security grounds. Dr. Corsi fully expects the final true history of the JFK assassination will expose to the American public the history of CIA lies and disinformation that have distorted U.S. history since World War II, in favor of a series of international conflicts and wars favored by the military -industrial complex that JFK lost his life trying to prevent.
OpEdNews, CIA and the National Archives Thwart The JFK Act and Obstruct Democratic Accountability, Jim Lesar, Sept. 16, 2014. All records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy ("JFK") are already supposed to be public. That's what Congress intended when it unanimously passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 ("JFK Act"). It hasn't happened. The National Archives and the CIA are still withholding thousands of pages of JFK Act records in their entirety, even though it has been more than a half century since the Warren Commission issued its Report on the murder of the President. NARA's actions violate the law and its intent, and severely erode the principle of democratic accountability, on which America's government is based. This violation directly raises the issue of who writes the law, who rules in the United States: the elected representatives of the people in Congress or the intelligence agencies? Over 1,100 CIA files dealing with the John F. Kennedy assassination remain classified in apparent defiance of the JFK Records Act, which requires them to be speedily reviewed and made public.
AlterNet, Dear Mr. President, It's Time to Obey the Law: Release the JFK Secret Service Records and End Other Needless Secrecy, Thom Hartmann and Lamar Waldron (shown in photo), Sept. 25, 2014. It's time for the Secret Service, CIA, and FBI to obey the law by releasing their 50-year old files, and to pardon the first Secret Service whistleblower. Last week's problems with the Secret Service and White House security also warrant your attention. Secrecy is especially ironic since this week marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Warren Report, the book-length finding issued by the Warren Commission, appointed by President Lyndon Johnson and chaired by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. The Secret Service was one of several government agencies--along with the CIA, the FBI, and the Office of Naval Intelligence--that were found by later government committees to have withheld crucial information from the Warren Commission. Congress passed the 1992 JFK Records Act unanimously, to release all of the files related to the JFK assassination, including records about the covert US operations against Cuba in the early 1960s that surfaced in so many of the official JFK investigations. While more than 4 million pages were released, even today the National Archives refuses to say how many pages of files remain secret. Is it 50,000 pages, a figure put forth by some experts? 90,000 pages, a figure extrapolated from CIA fillings in a Freedom of Information lawsuit? Or the figure reported by NBC News in 1998 of "millions" of pages, which was confirmed by a report from OMB Watch, which quoted someone who worked with the National Archives as saying "well over a million CIA records"--not pages, but "records"--remained unreleased.
Watergate
Stone Zone,
at the Texas Book Festival. In his new book, The Nixon Defense, Dean largely omits his own role in Watergate, saying those who want to understand what he did should read his book, Blind Ambition. Yet when confronted under oath about discrepancies between his sworn testimony and that book, Dean said he didn't write Blind Ambition, blaming it on ghost writer Taylor Branch–(who Dean said was smoking pot!)–and later on his editor Alice Mayhew, both of whom denied those allegations. In fact Dean said he never even read Blind Ambition before it was published. Mr. Dean has airbrushed himself out of the story all right. Gone is Dean’s role in paying hush money to the burglars. Gone is the fact that it was Dean who dangled executive clemency for Watergate burglar James McCord to buy his silence. Gone is the fact that it was Dean who destroyed the operational notebook recovered from E. Howard Hunt’s safe; and it was Dean who added the Watergate break-in to the Gemstone plan.Daily Caller, Nixon Operative Confronts Watergate Rat John Dean: You Ordered The Break-In! Patrick Howley, Oct. 25, 2014. Former Richard Nixon operative Roger Stone confronted Watergate figure John Dean at the Texas Book Festival in Austin Saturday, prompting a fiery back-and-forth and mutual threats to see each other in court. Dean, who was involved in the Watergate cover-up as White House counsel before providing the testimony that put the nail in Nixon’s coffin, appeared at a forum to promote his book “The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It.” Stone, author of the more favorable-to-Nixon book Nixon’s Secrets, accused Dean of ordering the Watergate break-in and pulling Nixon into the cover-up, a charge that Dean denied. Dean unsuccessfully fought behind-the-scenes to prevent Texas A&M associate professor Luke Nichter from appearing on the panel. Nichter, who earned legal threats from Dean after publishing audio recordings purporting to reveal new details about Dean’s involvement in Watergate. Nichter co-authored the 2014 book “The Nixon Tapes” with historian Douglas Brinkley.
Stone Zone, At Least Twelve Questions John Dean Doesn't Want To Answer, Roger Stone, Oct. 25, 2014. In your new book, The Nixon Defense, you largely omit your own role in Watergate saying those who want to understand what you did should read your book Blind Ambition. Yet when confronted under oath about discrepancies between your sworn testimony and that book you said you didn't write Blind Ambition, blaming it on ghost writer Taylor Branch and later on your editor Alice Mayhew both of whom denied it. In fact you said you never even read Blind Ambition before it was published.
