1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sad Truth, April 5 2004
This might seem like another "conspiracy" book, but this
author has a unique perspective in that he worked in the
Dallas law firm that represented LBJ for many years, so
he is able to unveil the sad truth about that President
unlike other writers.
He entered the firm about the time LBJ's political career
was ending, but as the senior partner came to trust him,
and as he worked directly with the second-senior partner,
he came to learn many, many secrets about how LBJ operated
and how he achieved his political position.
This writer does, indeed, know where the bodies are buried,
and he names the names of judges, prosecutors and business
leaders who took bribes to cover up LBJ problems and crimes,
as well as who illegally advanced his career. From the
well-known stolen Senate election of 1948, where he tells
exactly who crept in at night to add names to a precinct's
polling book so the votes counted wouldn't exceed the possible
number of voters, on through the murder of a man who might
have exposed some unsavory facts about LBJ's sister, to the
most famous murder in modern times, that of President Kennedy.
LBJ's character is shown perfectly for what he was; the
lowest of sleazy politicians, who stopped at literally nothing
to advance his own fortunres and career.
Even in the matter of the murder of a man who ran around with
LBJ's sister, and who threatened to expose her personal habits,
LBJ wasn't worried about his sister at all, but how the bad
publicity might reflect on him and his ambitions.
As to the Kennedy murder, many theories abound, but this author
supplies significant details of interest. Basically, he says
that Oswald was, in fact, set up as a patsy, as Oswald claimed
immediately after he was apprehended by the Dallas PD, and he
relates the activities of the man recruited by LBJ's lawyer
to eliminate JFK, and the other 2 men who were at the scene
of the JFK murder and who participated.
This book would have benefited from a little better editing.
For example, the author names the man who was recruited to
shoot JFK, and gives many details of his history and movements,
and he then, early on, suggests he knows the name of the other
shooter of a fatal bullet, but that he can't quite name him
right now, and he is waiting on a little further proof. But that it will be forthcoming. Then, unhappily, later in the
book, the author plainly says the identity of the other shooter,
the man on the grassy knoll, will never be known. So, which is
it?
But he still has so many details, anyone interested in that
chapter in our history will want to read what he has to say.
And the writer tries a little too hard to distance himself from
any possible wrongdoing with his frequent claims of attorney-client privilege. He even reports that his partners learned
details of serious crimes in advance, but that they, and later
he, were prevented from revealing any of those facts by virtue
of that legal privilege. Baloney. Attorney ethics do not
allow a lawyer who learns facts of a crime in advance to keep
quiet and cover up the crime. Such action makes the lawyer part
of a criminal conspiracy or, at least, an accessory before the
fact.
Now some attorneys do, in fact, cover up crimes, but that is
now ethically permitted, and the attorney-client privilege does
not apply to protect either the attorney or the client.
It is hard to believe an attorney would make such assertion, but
the writer seems to be trying to distance himself from any
possible charge of wrongdoing.
But this is still interesting reading, and it is definitely a
"must" for anyone curious about what happened to JFK and why.
Such interested people will have to read this first-hand
account of the facts of the conspiracy.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Politics as Usual, Mar 31 2004
It's easy to say "politics as usual" after reading this book
on the life nad politics of LBJ, but, believe it or not, this
one will give you a glimpse of politics you wish you had never
seen.
LBJ has to have been the most sleazy man to ever hold the office
of President of the US, and his records almost is beyond belief.
But this author gives most of the names and dates, with all
the connections, that show LJB was involved in a lifetime of crime, including bribery, extortion, influence-peddling of the
worst kind, womanizing of the lowest kind, and then, worst of
all, complicity in the murder of JFK.
The writer has good credentials for his knowledge, since he worked for the Dallas law firm that represented LBJ's personal
interests, and the senior partner for that firm served as LJB's
personal bagman, as well as being the one who usually delivered the payments as well as the ultimatiums. He went into that firm
as a young guy after the JFK murder, but he was there for years,
and he recounts how he learned the truth over a period of years,
as the 2 senior men decided they could trust him to be quiet and
keep the secrets.
The author is rather self-serving in his denial of any duty to
report crimes at the time, as he learned about them, and he
rather akwardly tries to use the legal profession's canons of
ethics as an excuse. He repeatedly asserts that the "lawyer-client privilege" kept him from repeating any of this information, but he even relates examples where crimes were planned in advance, with the help of these lawyers, and he still
tries to say that privilege protected everyone. That is simply
not true, and we have to wonder in surprise at his assertions,
when the law is very clear that such privilege would not allow
lawyers to conspire to commit crimes with immpunity.
But it is an interesting story and one which should be read by
every voter in the country.
As to the main claim that LBJ participated in the murder of JFK,
the writer even gives the name of the shooter who fired one of
the fatal bullets (now dead of course), and he repeats the oft-heard claim that Oswald was a patsy.
The book could have been better edited, because in one section,
he claims he knows who the other shooter was but says he has to
await the development of further proof before actually naming
him publicly. But in a later section, he says the exact identify of the other shooter will never be known.
But he gives details of where the 2 shooters of fatal bullets
were stationed and the order of firing, etc., and he further
explains their ability to escape by pointing out that LBJ's
help allowed them to have false Secret Service credentials. He
also explains that the plan was for Oswald to be caught on the
spot and shot and killed in a shoot-out with police, but that Oswald slipped away too quickly, to be apprehended a little later in a theater.
He explains that Oswald fired 2 bullets at JFK, but that both
missed their target, while the 2 real shooters both connected.
Also pointed out by him is that 3 men (the 2 shooters and a look-out) were supplied with the false Secret Service credentials, but that only Oswald was not included in that part
of the plan.
You don't have to be a "conspiracy" buff to find his details
interesting, so it is very worthwhile reading. And even if
the reader can't quite believe Vice-Pres. Johnson conspired to
kill a sitting President, the full details of LBJ's life of
thuggery and law-breaking are very believeable, with, as stated,
considerable detail. From stealing the Senate election of 1948
(and he names the man who illegally filled in the voters' registration lists of a particular Texas precinct so the total
votes allegedly cast wouldn't exceed the number of registered
voters) to the murder of a man who would have embarrassed LBJ
with public revelations of the sister of LBJ, this list of
crimes and wrong-doing goes beyond even what even the most cynical of us would have believed.
As said, every voter should read this list of crimes and political excesses.
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