Blood, Money, and Power

Suspicion of a conspiracy involving big oil in the city and perhaps other right-wing elements in Texas that outs even extended to our new president Lyndon Johnson a Texas political leader for 30 years a Blue Ribbon Commission was appointed to investigate the events in Dallas with Chief Justice Earl Warren named as chair Within nine months the members reported there had been only one assassin. There was no conspiracy and And improvements were needed in protecting the president although conspiracy theories were downplayed by the Warren Commission as rumors and speculation the suspicions and controversies did not end in the aftermath of the assassination politics changed dramatically in November 1963 Kennedy's progressive programs were mired in congressional infighting Barry Goldwater a dedicated conservative was preparing to run as a traditionalist Promising a showdown over the progressive politics followed since the Great Depression With the assassination that equation was gone Johnson was the moderate to conservative against the staunch conservative With Kennedy dead Goldwater's anticipated liberal versus conservative showdown for the voters to decide Simply did not happen In addition in the shock and the spirit of unity that prevailed after the assassination Goldwater did not have a chance He lost decisively in the presidential election that November 1964 only six weeks after the Warren report memorialized the lone assassin theory creating a lasting icon in our lost president and awarded Johnson the lingering sympathy vote Under Johnson's new leadership important social and civil rights programs were passed emboldened by his November 1964 mandate the new Johnson now elected in his own right was driven by the policy of containment to undertake the very controversial Vietnam War The strange split in American politics resulted Johnson was hailed by progressive Democrats for his social programs, but rejected by the same group for his war leadership In a similar policy split conservative Republicans supported the war but opposed Johnson's great society programs At first Johnson admired his great compromise having guns and butter However, he gradually changed Despising any opposition be they activists liberals conservatives or even longtime supporters As this division hardened with continuing civil rights protests and ever-widening anti-war marches Johnson's sudden elevation to the presidency was subjected to increasing questions Some never accepted the loss of Kennedy and some would never accepted leadership from Johnson as a southerner and a Texan by the spring of 1968 because of all the opposition Johnson was literally a prisoner in the White House and all these elements surrounded and haunted him. He could not work miracles He could not have guns for Vietnam and butter for his great society Acknowledging his overwhelming problems. He abruptly withdrew from any re-election efforts for 1968 on that evening of March 31 1968 while some Americans were stunned many rejoiced There were few political neutrals during 1968 In the years that followed Kennedy emerged as a valiant but tragic figure and Johnson a vilified But also tragic character the former vice president could never be what his president had been The emotional shock to the nation had never truly gone away There simply had been no closure because there was no national consensus that justice had been done In a very subtle way for a nation united under one leader the notion that the king is dead Long live the king was never accepted The president is dead long live the president never caught on It lacked both the personalities and the majesty to gain acceptance The concept that JFK is dead long live LBJ was simply not acceptable As a nation we continued to grieve immensely Perhaps most tragically Robert Kennedy was driven into a remorseful seclusion from which there was no escape Jackie Kennedy showed immense strength, but had doubts that remain unanswered in this overwhelming grief and doubt Most Americans were never able to accept the man identified by the Warren Commission as the only shooter After all there were two lone nuts the evidence and the conclusions just did not fit together In addition we could not balance Johnson with what we had lost and the grief we had suffered We went through the shock and anger and mourning, but there was neither acceptance nor closure Emotionally the initial welcome for Johnson was gradually depleted over the five years that followed That shock and the ensuing split in our personal assessment of Johnson lingers to this day We find ourselves divided between Kennedy and Johnson between a lone nut killer and a conspiracy between our inability to have both guns and butter and With a lingering opposition to the Vietnam War or full support for that war for containing communism This conflict combines to leave us as a nation still searching for an answer to what happened There is no rational explanation for the assassination and there is no emotional closure for the brutal death What is needed is to bring these feelings to rest to undertake an emotional purging to create a catharsis of the will and most importantly to find the solutions to what divides us rationally and emotionally The many controversies over the Warren report only make the problem of acceptance more difficult using modern techniques for crime scene investigations Numerous researchers have argued every possible theory Many center on the bullets first there is the magic bullet theory that one bullet hit both the president and Texas governor John Connolly and Somehow inflicted massive damage with no damage whatsoever to the spent missile The other controversy centers on the fatal bullet the one with such horrendous consequences The one that killed the president instantly Was that bullet fired from behind? From the grassy knoll in front or from somewhere else From those bullets the controversy has literally exploded into so many contradictory ideas that when taken together They prove everything or nothing Yet as we know only too well, and as we cannot forget the horrible and unthinkable did happen The ridiculous reach of the controversy has divided the nation into two basic camps One remains convinced there was a conspiracy Involving at the bare minimum more than one shooter They tend to deride anyone disagreeing with them as an apologist for the Warren report The other camp a shrinking enclave believes that any person asserting there was more than one assassin is mentally off-balance For many of them reference to the grassy knoll refers to anyone believing in any conspiracy theories Such references this group believes are cockeyed. They oppose any idea of a conspiracy in government anywhere At the heart of the debate is an issue that has been with us from the beginning of the American Republic Patrick Henry argued passionately against a federal system Contending that men would always be selfish serving personal gain at the expense of the general good That debate was so intense that the Constitution was approved by the several states with only the slimmest majorities As we shall see power initiated the tragedy in Dallas on November 22nd 1963 Too often men in power do what they want not what the law requires Turning to a solution to this problem Abuse has occurred often enough to warrant a further expansion of our democratic traditions Interestingly what happened in Dealey Plaza? Remains an event of instant recall those remembering that terrible day and the mournful week that followed remain haunted by the basic events The same remembrance and recall intrigues our younger generations as they learn what happened and then seek to reach their own conclusions George Matthews is a retired Dallas police officer who routinely leads high school students through the sixth floor museum Despite his careful review of what happened and what he knows of the Warren report his groups of young visitors Remain convinced that there was a conspiracy Shrugging he says we just never found the evidence Even though he says he is convinced. There was only one shooter Questions linger in his mind Just show me he insists or leave it alone This book will allow us to take an important step toward a necessary resolution One that will engage both the mind and the heart to accept