Another Deadline Looms for Remaining JFK Files

An article by Professor Dave Denton taking a look back at the Washington D.C. conference, "The Big Event" and the JFK Files released in the last year. Please take the time and read and share your thoughts!

Nexus Redux

Joan Mellen did not debunk the idea of LBJ’s complicity in the murder of JFK.

I would like to invite everyone to take a look at the new article that I have written regarding this topic. The title of the article is Nexus Redux; it is a followup to an article I wrote last year called Nexus, and it, among other things, challenges the assertions made by Joan Mellen's book, Faustian Bargains. I believe in the 53 years that have passed since the murder of JFK that enough revelations have come to light that make it clear that this assassination was neither committed by a single assassin nor a single entity. Rather it was result of forces that coalesced around a common objective of eliminating a President who threatened to change the power structure they were a part of. I'm sure not everyone will agree with my conclusions but I hope those interested will read it with an open mind. I certainly welcome your comments and the debate!

David Denton

Olney Central College

Gordon Ferrie: Background Validation

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Nexus: The JFK Assassination's Place in History and a New Witness

David Denton, Author

Ever since that fateful day in Dallas, November 22, 1963, the assassination of John F. Kennedy remains both an open wound on the American conscience and an unresolved question in America’s past.  Teaching history to college students is both my profession and my passion. To those of us who have thoroughly examined the JFK case, getting our history correct is a higher form of justice. Fifty-three years later, this assassination remains a unique event in American history because of the variance between our main institutions’ established  portrayal of the events in Dallas and the opinion of the public, a majority of whom do not accept that portrayal, instead seeing the probability of conspiracy. According to public opinion polls over the years, anywhere from 60 to 90 percent reject the Warren Commission findings that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone or at all. Many of these Americans see these findings as a flawed, if not a fraudulent history, even though since the assassination they have been constantly, and almost exclusively, bombarded with lone-assassin explanations by much of the nation’s media. 

Gordon Ferrie

Before dealing with the reasons why there is a gap between the institutional perception of this event and the public viewpoint, it is important for one to understand how “conspiracy” has come to be viewed in our culture. Without question, the JFK assassination has come to be considered the “mother” of all conspiracies. The problem with that is that the JFK assassination is now lumped into a generalized assumption, which institutions generally project, that most conspiracies are either fantasy or paranoid delusions. Furthermore, this assumption insinuates that conspiracy theories are always promoted by fringe types who have managed to dupe large  segments of our population who want to believe that greater, secretive powers are dictating events in our society. Conspiracy, by definition, is an act of criminal treachery by a combination of individuals or forces. We only need to look back in our recent history to political scandals such as Watergate or Iran-Contra to see the potential risk of assuming all conspiracies are baseless fantasies. It may be dangerous for those like Alex Jones or Glenn Beck to promote every wild conspiracy under the sun to enhance their own popularity, but it is equally dangerous to automatically dismiss every potential conspiracy theory as an unfounded hoax. To accept the notion of conspiracy in the death of JFK ultimately means embracing the likelihood of a coup d’état, a possibility which many who hold positions at the highest levels of our nation’s institutions simply do not want to accept. Some in the media in particular believe it is ridiculous to even suggest that a violent overthrow like those which have occurred elsewhere in the world throughout history could occur in America because, after all, we are not a “banana republic.” This kind of thinking is a dangerous hubris and a condescending example of American exceptionalism. The reality, in the end, is that a coup d’état occurred on 11/22/63, demonstrating that it could, in fact, happen in America. 

After the end of World War II, America would morph into a “national security” state, the result being the validation of secrecy and “plausible deniability” at the highest levels of our government. This mindset would allow people of power to conduct a Machiavellian pursuit of power, without accountability, under a cloak of darkness. It is not hard to understand the public’s perception of its leaders eroded from one of trusting that they would follow America’s highest principles to a cynical expectation of malfeasance and deceit. 

In addition, during this era, Americans would also see the subversion of the greatest watchdog of their liberties, the free press. Beginning in the late 1950s, the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird would successfully recruit leading American journalists to promote its point of view. This program would create the term “conspiracy buffs,” a derisive label given to anyone who dared question the Warren Report. This media infiltration goes a long way in explaining the press’s dismissive attitude concerning alternative explanations, an attitude which has persisted more than fifty years.

I, like many who have taken an interest in this case, was initially drawn in by a fascination with the facts of conspiracy which are apparent to anyone who takes more than a cursory look at the assassination, and by a hunger to understand the “who” and “why” behind the case. With the threads of evidence leading in many directions, some have engaged in theories about who the perpetrators were (The CIA? The mob? The military industrial complex? Texas oil and LBJ?) with varying degrees of legitimacy, leaving themselves open to the inevitable label of “conspiracy theorists.” But with, arguably, no legitimate investigation in fifty-three years, what are we left to do but to speculate about what happened in Dallas? In the end, justice will not likely prevail in this case, at least in a legal sense. The bad guys, whoever they were, have succeeded in subverting our democracy, although I am sure that many of them believed they were being “patriotic.” The best resolution we can pursue is a different form of justice, by coming to terms with the truth of our history. 

Read the full article here.

Oswald's Summer in New Orleans Conference

http://oswaldconference.com

Big Event Coming!

For Immediate Release

Contact: Kris Millegan TrineDay Publishers (trineday@icloud.com)

David Denton, professor, Olney Central College (dentond@iecc.edu)

Leading Experts on the JFK Assassination will gather in New Orleans for conference entitled “Oswald's Summer of Secrets: New Orleans and the JFK Assassination” Oct. 16-18
Produced by TrineDay, Conscious Community Events, and the JFK Historical Group
On October 16-18 2015 nationally known researchers and scholars will gather in New Orleans at the Crowne Plaza Hotel-Airport, 2829 Williams Blvd., Kenner, Louisiana for Oswald's Summer of Secrets: New Orleans and the JFK Assassination.
The conference will break new ground in unlocking the mysteries of Lee Harvey Oswald’s activities in New Orleans in the summer of 1963 and explore other topics such as David Ferrie, Dr. Mary Sherman, and the Garrison trial, according to organizer Kris Millegan.
Seating is limited so early registration is encouraged. Contact Kris Millegan (trineday@icloud.com) or David Denton (dentond@iecc.edu) for more information and or go to http://oswaldconference.com
Presenters include:
Ed Haslam, author, Dr. Mary’s Monkey;
Judyth Baker, former girlfriend of Oswald and author, Me and Lee and David Ferrie;
Ed Tatro, author and consultant to Oliver Stone’s film, JFK;
Robert Groden, author five best-selling books about the assassination, and the first person to bring the Zapruder film to national TV in 1975;
Jim Marrs, author of four New York Times Best Selling books including Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy; chief consultant to Oliver Stone on JFK for both the film’s screenplay and production;
Joan Mellon, biographer Jim Garrison, A Farewell to Justice;
Patrick Nolan, is a forensic historian and the author of CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys: How and Why US Agents Conspired to Assassinate JFK and RFK;
Casey Quinlan, author, Beyond the Fence Line: The Eyewitness Testimony of Ed Hoffman and the Murder of President Kennedy;
Roger Stone, New York Times bestselling author, The Man Who Killed Kennedy—the Case Against LBJ;
Daniel Hopsicker, author Barry and “the boys,” The CIA, the Mob and America's Secret History, which chronicles the exploit of famed Louisiana native Barry Seal, his ties to the drug trade and the Kennedy assassination;
St. John Hunt, son of infamous CIA agent E. Howard Hunt, who stated that he was a benchwarmer during the JFK assassination; author, Bond of Secrecy.
For more information go to: http://oswaldconference.com

Production Complete!

We have completed production of the DVD from our conference, Warren Commission 50 Years Later: A Critical Examination. Ed Sproul, who handled the AV and the videotaping process at the conference, did an outstanding job producing this DVD! Before the conference we consulted people from around the country about how to go about this and we put a much larger investment in terms of the types of equipment we used. As a result, I think that the DVD will be much better than our effort from our 2013 conference and many other recent JFK conferences. We are anticipating a ship date of February 16th for the first orders. If you have not yet ordered a copy we encourage you to do so, and also hope that you will get the word out to others who might be interested. We now have Paypal available on the website if you wish to order it in advance or you can mail us a check to David Denton JFK Historical Group, 1305 Hall St. Olney Il, 62450. To those who have already paid for the DVD we will send it out as soon as it's ready.

David Denton

Olney Central College

Highlights From our 2014 Conference

Left to Right: JFK Historical Group Members David Denton, Walter Boyes,
Ed Tatro, & Keynote Speaker Dr. Cyril Wecht

With our 2014 conference in the books, we would like to thank everyone who attended, spoke, or contributed in any way. It was an outstanding experience for all involved, and we look forward to what the future holds for the JFK Historical Group. Below we've shared both feedback and photos from our attendees and speakers. If you have anything to share, we encourage you to send that our way. Thanks again for making it a great conference!!!!


“I want to thank you for a taking the time to create the “JFK Historical Group”. Your organization assembled a weekend full of distinguished individuals, who illustrated the mistakes and omissions of the Warren Report; the government’s official version on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The expertise of these personalities helped to illuminate and effect change in the establishment of truth, which has been concealed within the confines of the Warren Report for the past 50 years.”

 

-Casey J. Quinlan

 “Beyond The Fence Line”

 The Eyewitness Account of Ed Hoffman

 and the Murder of President John F. Kennedy

"I just wanted to compliment you and your group for a wonderful and informative weekend.  Even though I have been going to JFK conferences since 1994, several people you and Ed arranged for us I had never heard before, including Judyth Baker, Francis Gary Powers, Jr., Richard Bartholomew, and David Scheim.  This made your conference seem "fresh" for me... I especially enjoyed Ed Haslam on Sunday morning.  Ed is a solid researcher in an interesting and important area that has not been 'overdone.'"

-Terry Moore

"Thank YOU for all of your hard work and good effort to put the conference together and make it a success. Without your leadership even the highest quality presentations would not have made any difference in the end as they wouldn't have had the opportunity to be heard. I applaud your dedication."

-Greg Burnham

"Katanna and I cannot thank you enough for all of your hard work organizing and managing the conference. It was an honor to speak at this historic event. You all did an awesome job. The site was beautiful and Alexandria was such a great place to walk back in time with our fore fathers...wow Whoop! (Texas A&M)

Thanks again for such a wonderful conference."

-Sara Peterson

"I just want to thank you for setting up and coordinating the Conference last weekend. I learned so much, and it was so encouraging to see and hear such highly accomplished, knowledgable and entirely sane (conspiracy theorist--what think tank thunk that up) people continuing to investigate this far from cold case."

-Charlotte Gavin

Presenter Ed Tatro

Keynote Speaker Dr. Cyril Wecht

Presenter Doug Horne & attendees.

2014 Banquet

Announcing Additional Speakers and a New Film Presentation

The JFK Historical Group would like to announce the addition of additional speakers to its upcoming conference in Alexandria, Virginia on September 26-28. Joining our speaker lineup is Ed Haslam, the author of Dr. Mary's Monkey: How the unsolved murder of a doctor, a secret laboratory in New Orleans and caner-causing monkey viruses are linked to Lee Harvey Oswald, the JFK assassination and emerging global epidemics.

    

Gayle Nix Jackson, the author of Orville Nix: The Missing JFK Film,will also be presenting at our conference.

 

Also the important new film by Shane O'Sullivan, The Zapruder Film Mystery will be shown.

The Warren Report: 50 Years Later

What we know now, that we didn’t know then.

Presented By: The JFK Historical Group

September 26^th-28^th

Crowne Plaza East Hotel, Alexandria, VA.

Many of the leading experts on the JFK Assassination and critics of the Warren Commission Findings will be meeting in Washington D.C. on this weekend, to give presentations on the various aspects of this topic.

Ed Tatro, Doug Horne, Phil Nelson, Russ Baker, Gary Powers Jr., Peter Janney, James Wagenvoord (former Life magazine editor and current whistle blower), Don Adams, (former FBI agent and current whistle blower), Rick Russo, ( a key Nigel Turner consultant), and Gerald McKnight are among those that have agreed to give presentations and we are expecting others to be added as we go along.

Dr. Cyril Wecht, will be the keynote speaker at the proposed banquet.

Expert Spotlight: Edgar F. Tatro

Today we are very proud to present another member of our outstanding 2013 panel.  Edgar F. Tatro, one of today's preeminent experts on the Kennedy Assassination, has pursued the truth as relentlessly as anyone over the past 50 years. Tatro holds a B.A. Degree in English from Boston University, a Master’s Degree in Urban Education from Boston State College and Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Educational Administration from Boston State College.

He taught high school English for 38 years, specializing in science-fiction, mystery and horror, satire and comedy, creative writing, media and propaganda, and the origin, history and poetry of rock music. He also taught college and adult education courses for 30 years, specializing in the JFK assassination, subliminal messages in advertizing, the influence of rock music on drug abuse, backward messages in music, and plagiarism in music.

Mr. Tatro is the author of more than 30 mystery and horror short stories, literary essays and poems published in many magazines across the country. He also is the author of many research articles pertaining to the JFK assassination conspiracy, published in Jerry Rose’s  The Third Decade, Penn Jones’ , and Ireland’s The JFK Assassination Forum.

His work has been acknowledged or footnoted in many JFK assassination books, including Reasonable Doubt by Henry Hurt, Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover by Anthony Summers, Destiny Betrayed by Jim DiEugenio, (Probe Magazine) by Jim DiEugenio and Lisa Pease, The Kennedys: Dynasty and Disaster by John H. Davis, Killing Kennedy by Harrison Livingstone, JFK; The Book of the Film by Oliver Stone and Zachary Sklar, Doug Weldon’s essay in Murder in Dealey Plaza and JFK and the Unspeakable by Jim Douglass. Mr. Tatro is the original editor of Texas in the Morning, the memoirs of LBJ’s mistress, Madeleine Duncan Brown, and editor of the Bugliosi chapter in Biting the Elephant by Dr. Rodger Remington. He contributed research to Senator Sam Ervin’s Watergate investigative committee, the House Select Committee on Assassinations and the National Academy of Sciences (JFK acoustical analysis project). He attended Clay Shaw’s trial for one week in New Orleans, in February 1969, and was given ac- cess to the court exhibits by Judge Edward Haggerty. Mr. Tatro served as a minor consultant to Oliver Stone’s film, “JFK.” He testified before the Assassination Records Review Board in March 1995, in Boston, Mass. He was responsible, via the ARRB, for the release of the unidentified print found on a box in the alleged sniper’s nest in the Texas School Book De- pository, and, via the LBJ Library, for the release of the rough drafts of the rough draft of NSAM #273, which he shared with L. Fletcher Prouty, who shared them with Oliver Stone for "JFK."

Mr. Tatro was a consultant to Nigel Turner’s “The Truth Shall Set You Free,” and “The Smoking Guns,” parts six and seven of The Men Who Killed Kennedy series. He was a primary recruiter and participant in Turner’s “The Guilty Men,” part nine of the same series. 

Be sure to check our full, downloadable conference brochure for a complete list of speakers, schedules, and accommodations. 

Expert Spotlight: Douglas P. Horne

We are extremely happy to present Douglas P. Horne as one of our speakers at this year's conference. Horne served on the staff of the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) for the final three years of its four-year lifespan, from August 1995 to September 1998. Initially hired as a Senior Analyst on the ARRB’s Military Records Team, he was promoted halfway through his three-year tour to the position of “Chief Analyst for Military Records” (Team Leader of the Military Records Team, and a member of the Senior Staff).  Mr. Horne was instrumental in helping to locate and to declassify key Kennedy administration records on Cuba and Vietnam policy from 1961 to 1964. However, his most important work on the ARRB staff was the assistance he provided to the General Counsel in conducting all 10 sworn depositions of key personnel who conducted, or witnessed, President Kennedy’s military autopsy at Bethesda Naval Hospital on November 22, 1963. Those 10 deposition transcripts, as well as numerous summary reports of additional, unsworn medical witness  interviews, reside today in the National Archives as part of the JFK Records Collection.

In 2009, Douglas Horne published his magnum opus, the five-volume encyclopedic work Inside the Assassination Records Review Board: The U.S. Government’s Final Attempt to Reconcile the Conflicting Medical Evidence in the Assassination of JFK — a frank and extremely detailed discussion of the overwhelming evidence of the U.S. government’s cover-up, in 1963 and 1964, of the medical evidence surrounding JFK’s assassination — incorporating for the first time, a comprehensive overview of the post-ARRB state of the JFK medical evidence (including evidence gathered by the Warren Commission, HSCA, ARRB, and members of the independent JFK research community).

Mr. Horne graduated Cum Laude from The Ohio State University in 1974 with a B.A. in History. After serving as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy for almost 10 years, and as a Navy civil servant for 10 additional years, he joined the ARRB staff. Following his service to the Review Board, Mr. Horne briefly joined the staff of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for more than two years; and since 2002, has been an employee of the U.S. State Department. He currently has logged more than 37 years of U.S. government service.

Articles and blog posts from Mr. Horne:

"JFK's War Against the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated"

"The AF1 Tapes and Subsequent Events at Andrews AFB on Novemeber 22, 1963"

The Alteration of the Zapruder Film