Recorded January 20, 2008
MP3: Side 1 | Side 2
REALAUDIO
Penetrating the public, official, and deliberately misleading masques worn by many of the players in the New Orleans phase of the assassination of President Kennedy, this third of four interviews with author and radio producer Paris Flammonde demonstrates how the “Lee Harvey Oswald the Communist” masque was successfully displayed and how the fears stemming from that façade led many liberals to opt for the “Oswald the lone nut” scenario because they feared a Third World War might result from the public perception that a “commie” had killed the President. Much of the first side of the program consists of a re-broadcast of an interview that Oswald gave on WDSU in New Orleans in August of 1963. In this interview, Oswald expresses sympathy for Castro’s Cuba and discusses his sojourn in the Soviet Union. To all outward appearances, Oswald looks like a communist sympathizer. Oswald was the sole member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee’s New Orleans chapter, which shared an address with Guy Bannister’s detective agency, a front for various right-wing activities, including the [then] ongoing paramilitary efforts to oust Castro. In addition to the WDSU interview, the first side features discussion—excerpted from the “Guns of November, Part I” from 11/1/1983—of the intelligence connections of Ed Butler, whose Information Council of the Americas arranged the Oswald interview. Butler’s INCA was little more than an intelligence front, with close ties to Bannister’s detective agency. The former producer of the “Long John Nebel Show,” Paris relates an incident in the fall of 1963, in which Oswald contacted the show and asked to appear as a guest. In addition, the program reviews the fact that Kennedy and Castro were working to normalize diplomatic relations. The second side of the program is largely devoted to discussion of the media’s unfair assault on New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison’s investigation.
Program Highlights Include: Discussion of NBC “journalist” Walter Sheridan’s attacks on Garrison; discussion of Tonight Show host Johnny Carson’s smearing of Garrison; Oswald’s confrontation with CIA-linked anti-Castro Cuban Carlos Bringuier; Bringuier’s participation in the WDSU interview; review of a key point in the WDSU interview in which Oswald notes that, while in the Soviet Union, he “was at all times” under the “protection” of the U.S. government.
1. Penetrating the public, official, and deliberately misleading masques worn by many of the players in the New Orleans phase of the assassination of President Kennedy, this third of four interviews with author and radio producer Paris Flammonde demonstrates how the “Lee Harvey Oswald the Communist” masque was successfully displayed and how the fears stemming from that façade led many liberals to opt for the “Oswald the lone nut” scenario because they feared a Third World War.
2. Much of the first side of the program consists of a re-broadcast of an interview that Oswald gave on WDSU in New Orleans in August of 1963. In this interview, Oswald expresses sympathy for Castro’s Cuba and discusses his sojourn in the Soviet Union. To all outward appearances, Oswald looks like a communist sympathizer. Oswald was the sole member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee’s New Orleans chapter, which shared an address with Guy Bannister’s detective agency, a front for various right-wing activities, including the ongoing paramilitary efforts to oust Castro. (For more about Guy Bannister and his detective agency, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 619, 620.)
3. In addition to the WDSU interview, the first side features discussion—excerpted from the “Guns of November, Part I” from 11/1/1983—of the intelligence connections of Ed Butler, whose Information Council of the Americas arranged the Oswald interview. Butler’s INCA was little more than an intelligence front, with close ties to Bannister’s detective agency.
4. The WDSU interview developed in the wake of Oswald’s overtures to Carlos Bringuier, an anti-Castro Cuban with close ties to the CIA. After offering to train some of Bringuier’s associates, Oswald was discovered passing out pro-Castro literature. The confrontation with the anti-Castro, CIA-connected Bringuier led directly to the WDSU interview.
5. In the interview, Oswald notes that, while in the Soviet Union, he “was at all times” under the “protection” of the U.S. government. After realizing his gaffe, he corrects himself.
6. Carlos Bringuier tries to get Oswald to repeat statements hostile to Kennedy—remember that this interview was re-broadcast all over the country the night of the assassination, giving the impression that a communist had killed the President. Paris also points out that, at the time of his death, Kennedy was employing journalist Lisa Howard as a backdoor diplomatic representative to Fidel Castro. Kennedy and Castro were working out a quid pro quo, in which Kennedy would accept responsibility for the Battista dictatorship on the part of the United States, and Castro, in turn, would distance himself from the Soviet Union and the international communists in his own circle. (For more about this, see AFA#12, available from Spitfire.)
7. The former producer of the “Long John Nebel Show,” Paris relates an incident in the fall of 1963, in which Oswald contacted the show and asked to appear as a guest. This suggests that this was another attempt by Oswald to establish his credentials as a leftist, not realizing that he was going to be set up for the assassination of JFK.
8. Much of the second side of the program consists of an analysis of the media’s ceaseless attacks on Jim Garrison. Chief among Garrison’s media detractors was NBC’s Walter Sheridan, who used that network as a bully pulpit to smear Garrison. Another NBC luminary—the late Johnny Carson of “Tonight Show” fame—attacked Garrison in a most unfair manner. While appearing as a guest on the Nebel Show, Carson opined that [Garrison’s] case would never come to trial, and that if it did, he’d have Garrison on as a guest. When Garrison’s case did come to trial, Carson reneged on his offer.
9. Paris’ four-volume set can be obtained from
Scanscryption
Post Office Box 48
Sciota, PA 18354–0048
Visit the website at: www.assassinationofamerica.com. Paris can be reached at: flammonde@assassinationofamerica.com.
10. Two video productions are being generated by a couple of documentary filmmakers. One is a DVD of a three-lecture series called “The First Refuge of a Scoundrel: The Relationship Between Fascism and Religion.” In addition, there will soon be a documentary about Mr. Emory, titled “The Anti-Fascist.” For more about this project, visit TheAntiFascist.com.
Discussion
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