Who was Lyndon Baines Johnson and was he involved in the JFK assassination?

One of the most significant figures in being implicated in the assassination is Vice-President Lyndon B Johnson (LBJ). Johnson, it seems, did everything he could to quash any serious investigation and worked closely with long term FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover leaked to the press that Oswald was the sole culprit way before the Warren Commission even began serious investigation and not many people were going to contradict Hoover? Johnson, a Texan, was close to some of the Secret Service agents who chose the route of the motorcade and who were responsible for some of the oversights that day. One agent, confided to his daughter “the V.P. has asked me to give him more security than the President”, leading her to believe that “something is going to happen and Johnson knows about it.” Kennedy’s limousine wasn’t given the normal Secret Service personnel to stand on the running board, as per normal.

Lyndon Johnson’s biographer, Robert Caro, has revealed that his rise to power was strewn with fraud and even murder, and tried to get Kennedy removed from the democratic race in 1959 by stealing his medical records. He apparently used the FBI and Hoover to get the V.P. ticket with Kennedy by gaining access to secret files on Kennedy. Hoover was well-known for his blackmail tactics, and remained in power of the FBI for 48 years. Johnson was his neighbour and friend for 19 years. When John Kennedy became President, Hoover spoke to brother Bobby about evidence he had on John’s extra marital indiscretions. For many investigating into Kennedy’s murder, the buck stops with Johnson. He had the motive and the inclination and temperament. When asked why he would choose the V.P. ticket and not the Majority leader in the Senate, he apparently said, “One out of four presidents has died in office. I’m a gambling man, darling and this is the only chance I got.” One book on this subject is by Roger Stone, former aide to Presidents Nixon and Reagan who wrote The Man who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ.

Apparently, John Kennedy was going to replace Johnson in the election in 1964 and had openly criticized Johnson for incompetence. Johnson also had a long and dubious history as a Texan senator between 1949 and 1960. Strangely, Richard Nixon, the day before Kennedy’s assassination, was in Dallas representing Pepsi-Cola and had predicted that JFK may replace Johnson. Even Jack Ruby, who killed Oswald implied Johnston was involved as did Johnson’s mistress of 20 years, Madeleine Brown, who wrote a book, Texas in the Morning, quoting Johnson as saying “Tomorrow those goddamn Kennedys will never embarrass me again; that’s no threat, that’s a promise.”. Another book on the subject is by Barr McClellan, Blood, Money and Power: How LBJ killed JFK (2003).

But if it was Johnson and Hoover who planned the deed, who would carry it out and what were their motives? Attorney Jim Garrison, in a 1968 Playboy interview said the following: “President Kennedy was killed for one reason: because he was working for reconciliation with the Soviet Union and Castro’s Cuba…. President Kennedy died because he wanted peace.” He further said, “In a very real and terrifying sense, our government is the CIA and the Pentagon, with Congress reduced to a debating society…. I’m afraid, based on my experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of National Security.”

Since Garrison said this and since 9/11, the other pivotal moment in modern U.S. history, the terms National Security and now the War on Terror has led to the huge growth of the National Security State, which in a sense, exposed itself completely after 9/11 and then the revelations of Edward Snowden in 2013 but which can be traced back to 1933, when General Smedley Butler, a hero of the 1^st World War was contacted by certain elite businessmen to conspire to a coup d’etat against President Roosevelt. It didn’t happen and yet the full implications of this were never exposed to the American people. Those who planned it got away and yet, as Garrison said many years later, fascism will come to the USA in the name of National Security. That has been put in place completely after 9/11, America’s new Pearl Harbour.

Smedley wrote a famous pamphlet, War is a Racket in 1935, in which he said, “War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious…. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many.” It was Roosevelt’s successor, Harry Truman, who unleased the demons of nuclear weapons upon Japan, a mere 4 months after Roosevelt’s death, even though Japan had already been bombed to submission by General Curtis LeMay. It was Johnson who expanded the war in Vietnam after Kennedy’s death. It was V.P. Cheney, who while George W twiddled his thumbs and read stories to children in Florida, planned U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Iran. It was Truman who in 1947 signed the National Security Act, and followed by Eisenhower creating the National Security Agency in 1952. The Truman Doctrine gave the USA the “right” to interfere into the domestic agendas of any country if it thought that country was deviating toward sympathy with “communism” in the world. It was Eisenhower who warned against the growing “military-industrial complex” in his farewell speech in 1961. This warning came too late as the machinations of the National Security State had been established and continued to grow, immune to the normal constraints of democratic accountability. Out of this culture developed the permanent war agenda, seeing the geopolitical machinations of the world in a Manichean struggle of the forces of good (USA/Capitalism) against the evil forces of the USSR (Communism), really used as a justification for ever expanding investment in national security/military agendas. Eisenhower recognized how the intelligence agencies of the CIA and other bodies had run amok by the time he left office and he had failed, leaving a “legacy of ashes” to his successor.

Since the CIA’s formation, evolving out of the office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1947, it has developed a culture of total immunity and secrecy, existing outside the constraints of accountability and political control. It acts as an autonomous organization. In order to do so though it has had to use external forces to fund its work and carry out its tasks, including assassination and this is where working with crime and mafia organizations comes in, as needed bodies for their activities, leading George Kennan to say it was “the greatest mistake he ever made”. Nearly all heads of the CIA have been lawyers or bankers on Wall St, including Allen Dulles, lending validity to the claim that the CIA has served Wall St as much as it has national security. This contributed to its agenda to undermine John F Kennedy in his goal to create détente with Russia. It also led the CIA to facilitate coups in Iran in 1953, assassinations of leaders, including Patrice Lumumba of the Republic of Congo/Zaire/DRC, overthrows of regimes, including Jacobo Arbenz of Guatemala in 1954, and on and on. Since then, it has just been more of the same. CIA documents lay out all the strategies needed for clandestine killings, assassinations and how to cover it all up, so that no one in power is held to account. Business as usual and no one in the USA has any idea of what is really going on, carefully manipulated by “operation mockingbird” to maintain a contrived version of reality to the American public and ensure that no journalist deviates from the accepted view of events, mediated via the CIA.

It is useful to know how important Fidel Castro was in resisting the financial agenda and the role of the CIA. Castro’ ascension to power challenged the price of sugar and tobacco, deeply irritating American interests and Allen Dulles of the CIA was certain he could deal with Castro, with the help of the anti-Castro Cuban exiles navigating the swamps of Florida. However, they were thwarted in this endeavor and continue to be so, a glorious anomaly in the annals of the American empire, but yet not understood completely, given the resources at the time dedicated to the overthrow of Castro and his revolution in Cuba. Kennedy’s unwillingness to commit to the overthrow of Castro, with the support of the American navy to back him up was seen as a deep betrayal of the CIA/military plans to take back Cuba from Castro. Kennedy was equally pissed off by being put into a situation where he was being used to overthrow Castro by the CIA. But the result was that the large Cuban expat community turned on Kennedy as did many within the CIA. This community was larger and more organized than many thought, a “government in exile” as it formed itself into a real alternative to Castro’s regime in Cuba. Amongst these people were many who were willing to kill Kennedy for their cause.

How Kennedy resisted the urges for war and how it got him killed.

Back to Kennedy and the pressures for war. In spite of his attempts to control the mechanisms of power influence, the U.S. military, under General Lyman Lemnitzer came up with “Operation Northwoods,” which laid plans for various “false flag” operations in order to justify U.S. intervention into Cuba. This included fabricated operations in blowing up boats and planes and blaming it onto Cuba, seen as terrorist acts, justifying a strong American response, even though actually created by the CIA. This is all documented. Nothing is made up. The U.S. military tried to establish false flag operations to justify American military intervention in a foreign country. Sounds familiar? Kennedy’s response was to try and get rid of him and send Lemnitzer to Europe as Supreme Commander of NATO where he initiated “Operation Gladio” which laid the plans for a 40-year campaign to fabricate terrorist campaigns in Europe and blaming it on “left wing groups” when it was CIA funded extremists all the time, killing thousands in its goal to undermine democracy and maintain U.S. interests. Many died in fabricated “terrorist” operations in Europe and it seemed beyond belief that the U.S. was behind these horrendous events. By accepting these realities, then anything becomes possible and Italy was one of the main victims of this U.S. inspired agenda, which included the assassination of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro, as well as attempted assassinations of President de Gaulle of France and many other “terrorist” activities, blamed on the left and communists, but in fact agitated by right wing extremists and funded by the USA.

Kennedy was also put under huge pressure to bomb Cuba and destroy Russian missiles there and risk total nuclear war. The military also tried to persuade Kennedy to increase its nuclear capacity in order to create a first strike capability against the Soviet Union, the aim being to destroy the Soviet Union outright. These plans began in earnest in 1961, the aim being to be ready to initiate a first strike capacity by 1963. Nikita Khrushchev in Russia was under similar pressures by his military and only by having secret negotiations between the two was this threat averted. Just three days before Kennedy was killed, he told a friend that he intended to visit the Kremlin once another arms control agreement was signed, which could have ended the cold war. Then he was killed. Johnson never took up this mantle and Khrushchev was overthrown in 1964. In 1963, before Kennedy’s death, the CIA laid out plans to assassinate Castro and thwart any further détente with Kennedy and the USA. The CIA worked with the Chicago mob in planning the killing, trying to poison Castro, without Kennedy knowing anything. Richard Helms, who was a protégé of Allan Dulles was responsible for this plan, and who tried to blame Robert Kennedy for wanting Castro dead but admitted to the Church Committee that this was just his assumption that Robert Kennedy would want this. Helms has been accused of also being part of the assassination plot against John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was seeking a reconciliation with Castro and see an end to the confrontation. He even used Che Guevara as a go between in negotiations and discussions with Castro. Immediately after Kennedy’s assassination, it was announced that he had been killed by a “pro-Castro Marxist.” Even amongst mainstream journalists at the time, there were plenty of possible suspects in the CIA and also the Mayor of Dallas was the brother of a CIA director. Even former President Truman, who created the CIA, wrote one month after Kennedy’s death that the CIA’s mission had changed and needed to be questioned.

Kennedy’s death was used as evidence to justify a first strike attack on the Soviet Union, which as mentioned earlier had been discussed for two years by high placed Generals in the military. Oswald, being portrayed as a “Marxist” was used a “false flag” rationale which could lead to justification to nuke Russia. Castro was accused of being behind it, therefore justifying retaliation against Cuba and the Soviet Union. Oswald’s history is bizarre but evidence suggests that he could have been a CIA plant in Russia when he went there, but was not psychologically reliable enough to be an active agent but maybe good enough to be a patsy. However, Lyndon Johnson, immediately after Kennedy’s death, worked to ensure the “sole shooter” story was accepted, saying that a communist conspiracy agenda would threaten the world with nuclear war and he continued this during the Warren Commission. For him, the sole shooter story suited better to cover up any deeper conspiracy which in fact could potentially implicate him. There are well-known facts that were actively suppressed, including Oswald being an FBI informant, which the Warren Commission deliberately suppressed. Evidence does suggest the FBI knew all about the planned assassination, including disconnecting Oswald from a federal alarm system the day before, so Oswald wouldn’t be under surveillance which led to his killing by Ruby. So maybe the FBI double- crossed the CIA with their plans and maybe FBI chief, J Edgar Hoover, who was close to V.P. Johnson, was deeply in on the plot. Also Oswald, from October 1963 was working at the Texas Book Depository, which was owned by a business friend to V.P. Johnson, who got large government contracts thanks to Johnson. Johnson’s personal hitman, Mac Wallace had been convicted in Austin, Texas of first degree murder, but got away with a five year suspended sentence, but was then hired by the same friend’s company, and his finger prints would be found in the sniper’s nest on the sixth floor of the book depository, where supposedly Oswald shot Kennedy. Now, that is a coincidence!

So instead of invading Cuba or nuking Russia, Johnson let the military go to Vietnam, leading to the full-scale invasion of the country, for the next 10 years or more. Kennedy had been planning to evacuate all troops after the election in 1964, and Vietnam had already suffered from false flag bombings by the CIA to create instability and justify American intervention. This led to a CIA inspired coup, where President Diem was arrested and shot not long before Kennedy was shot. Kennedy knew the CIA was behind the killing of Diem and he also knew he was vulnerable. Even newspapers at the time questioned the CIA’s role in Vietnam and its utter lack of accountability. Some thought that Kennedy’s desire to remove troops from Vietnam could have been the last straw for the military high ups who had been pleading for war in Cuba and the Soviet Union and now Vietnam. Within 3 days of Kennedy’s death, Johnson gave a directive to plan total war in Vietnam. A memo of this decision was dated November 21^st by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, when Kennedy was still alive and it was falsely claimed Kennedy had reviewed it, when he hadn’t, but which leads credence to foreknowledge of the assassination given that the policy was subsequently carried out. The subsequent famous event that led to the justification for the invasion came in August 1964, with the Gulf of Tonkin event, when supposedly torpedoes were fired by the North Vietnamese at the USS Madox and USS Turner Joy. This led to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution on August 7, 1964, allowing Johnson to send up to 500,000 troops to Vietnam and the rest is history. It was revealed in 2001 that the whole story was made up. It didn’t happen and the data was simply falsified.

So all of Kennedy’s attempts to make peace – with Cuba, Soviet Union and to avoid war in Vietnam came to nothing. His powerful peace speech in June 1963 was translated and published in full in Pravda by Khrushchev. A test ban treaty was signed. There was hope. In the early 60’s, only 4 countries had nuclear weapons – U.S. USSR, UK and France. Kennedy tried to stop Israel getting nuclear weapons, threatening Ben-Gurion unless he opened up the Dimona complex in the Negev desert for inspection. Ben-Gurion resigned soon after and then nothing happened. After Kennedy died, the pressure was off and within a few years, enough uranium had been smuggled to Israel by American Zionists to make a bomb. Johnson increased support for Israel hugely and Nixon and Kissinger were in full support of Israel.

By 1968, Johnson was beginning to try to end the Vietnam war and a deal was being made with all parties. Then Nixon stepped in and undermined the deal, promising South Vietnamese President, Nguyen Van Thieu eight years of support. Johnson got wind of this and secretly wiretapped discussions with Nixon’s and Van Thieu’s representatives. Nixon got to know about the tapes by J. Edgar Hoover, and became concerned when the Pentagon Papers began to be released, documenting the lies the US government told about the war. Nixon was afraid that his own contribution to this would be exposed and this led to the Watergate scandal when he forced his henchmen to break into the Brookings Foundation and the Democratic party headquarters. So Nixon’s downfall was directly connected to the Vietnam war and its machinations.