LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination aims to expose Vice President Johnson's active role in the assassination of President Kennedy and how he began planning his takeover of the U.S. presidency even before being named the vice presidential nominee in 1960. Lyndon B. Johnson's flawed personality and character traits were formed when he was a child and grew unchecked for the rest of his life as he suffered severe bouts of manic depression and bipolar disorder, which were never treated until after he left the White House. He successfully hid this disorder from the public as he bartered, stole, and finessed his way through the corridors of power on Capitol Hill--though it is now known that some of his aides knew of his mental illness but felt helpless to take any action which would inevitably cause him to take retribution against them.
The book starts by looking back into Johnson's past, from the time he was a boy in Texas. It then follows the development of his character traits throughout his school days, through college and as a young congressional apprentice in Washington.
The essential themes of the book include: -Johnson's mental issues (paranoia, bi-polar disorder and sociopathic personality) and criminal associations drove him higher and higher up the ladder; - Desperate to achieve his lifelong obsession of becoming president of the United States, he began planning in 1958-59 to force himself onto the ticket as vice president in 1960, because of his fear of losing as a presidential candidate. -During his time as Vice President, Johnson hated being in that office and continued his criminal actions and associations with Billie Sol Estes and Bobby Baker (and through Baker, with many other Mafia-connected lobbyists like Fred Black, Irving Davidson, Mickey Weiner, oilmen like Clint Murchison and H.L. Hunt and gangsters like Johnny Roselli, Cliff Jones, Ed Levinson and Ben Seigelbaum, who were directly tied to Mob-boss Carlos Marcello and Sam Giancana, who were at war with the Kennedys). All during his vice presidency, Johnson continued fighting Kennedy on every foreign and domestic initiative he tried to advance -- from Berlin to Cuba to Vietnam -- and did everything in his power to impede passage of the Civil Rights Act, keeping it bottled up in congress during the entire period. -As JFK continued making peace overtures to the cold war enemies (his "Peace Speech," the nuclear test ban, his reversal of policy towards Vietnam, his negotiated settlement on the Cuban missile crisis) a number of men holding very high offices in the military and intelligence agencies became very upset and decided, with Johnson's backing and provocations, to effect an "Executive Action" to remove JFK.
There are many loose strings which connect all of this together and reveal the existence of a widely based conspiracy, with connections to the Mafia, the military and CIA networks.
Phillip F. Nelson, after years of researching Johnson and the JFK assassination, concludes that the reason Johnson undermined Kennedy's domestic and foreign policy initiatives was for the purpose of cunningly saving them for his own legacy. His involvement with JFK's assassination is conclusively drawn with both text and photographic evidence showing Johnson's knowledge of when and where the assassination would take place. Nelson's careful and meticulous research has led him to uncover secrets from one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in our country's history.
. . . a well written book, easy to read, and exhaustive in its summations of the scores of other writers on this profoundly disturbing time in history. I strongly recommend this book. --Noel Twyman, author of Bloody Treason (This review refers to the first edition of the book)
I am very impressed with this fine book. . . Mr. Nelson is to be commended on some fine writing, research, and arguments. . . Buy this asap! --Vince Palamara, author of Survivor's Guilt: The Secret Service and the Failure to Protect the President (This review refers to the first edition of the book)
"Nelson reviews a massive amount of secondary sources to support his own hypothesis that the mastermind behind the assassination was then-VP Lyndon Johnson."Publishers Weekly Review
Nelson's boundless enthusiasm, not to mention his (mostly) consistent theory of how it all was arranged and then covered up, should sell the book . . . .the book is a fascinating read, full of some very clever creative thinking -- Booklist Review
“A masterpiece . . . beautifully written.” (Jim Fetzer, "The Real Deal" )
About the Author
I remember reading the Life magazine articles on the weekend of JFK's assassination, about Lyndon Johnson's connections with Bobby Baker, and the latter's extensive involvement with a number of shady characters.And I began wondering about just who this guy was.The more I read, the more I came to distrust this fellow who liked to portray himself as a glad-handing, back-slapping, "regular guy."And I came to find out he was anything but those caricatures. His amoral character traits had been formed when he was a child, leading him to develop criminal associations throughout his career, which continued growing until finally culminating in several murders of people who got in his way, the last of whom was John F. Kennedy.
As a result of the failure of the "Fourth Estate" to perform their constitutional function, Lyndon Johnson is now ranked generally #9-12 in the pantheon of "greatest presidents" by academics and historians. There are a number of contemporary books by his biographers and "historians" (a misnomer, as it applies to those who have consciously avoided the truth about Johnson) who laud him for his efforts in the area of Civil Rights, while ignoring the facts about his true persona and motivations as revealed in my book.
An interview with the author by John Valeri of the Hartford Examiner, November 17, 2010:
1). You were a college student when Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency. Can you tell us how your initial reservations about his character resulted in the research and publication of LBJ: THE MASTERMIND OF JFK'S ASSASSINATION nearly fifty years later? Was there one particular moment that solidified your suspicions or was it an overall consideration of facts?
I have very vivid memories of 1962-63, mostly about my own experiences as a recent high school graduate in Indiana just beginning to shake off my adolescent ways and become a little more cognizant of things larger than myself. One of those was my newly found political awareness, which led me to read the weekly magazines that happened to be reporting on such things as the breaking Billie Sol Estes scandal; it was his hazy connections to Vice President Lyndon Johnson which caught my eye initially, though back then I didn't have any reason to suspect that the depth of his criminal activities was quite as great as we've learned since then. Then, in 1963, the Bobby Baker scandals started being reported in the late summer, leading into autumn. Life magazine published a major front cover expose, ironically under the date of November 22, 1963, which contained many allusions to his association with Johnson. No one knew then, as we do now, that Bobby Kennedy was behind the release of much of the dirt on Lyndon Johnson in order to force him off the 1964 ticket.
All during that horrible but memorable weekend, I remember reading Life magazine between breaks while watching the live television coverage. Naturally, in the process of reading about the latest scandal involving this person who had just assumed the highest office in the nation, I began wondering whether he was a man to be trusted. But I still had not given a passing thought as to the possibility of his involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. At that time, a possible coup was simply an "unthinkable thought," too abhorrent to even try to contemplate (which, I submit, is the same phenomenon that causes many people to continue denying, to this day, the truth of what happened).
That didn't really start until a year or two later. By then, questions had started to mount about not only the mysteries related to the assassination (.e.g. the incredible "magic bullet"), but about the character and veracity of the new president. The rationale for heavy military build-up in Vietnam and the growing casualties began to make less and less sense; his growing "credibility gap" on this folly caused my suspicions about his character to grow. I don't know that there was ever one specific moment at which the idea first sprang forth in my mind; it was more of a decades-long epiphany which developed incrementally the more I studied the matter; it has obviously become the only possible explanation that makes any sense to me, given the complexities of the real story.
2). How do you see LBJ's culpability as fitting in with other conspiracy theories that have been put forth? Who do you believe were his accomplices? And how has the truth remained shrouded in mystery for nearly five decades?
My theories closely parallel those of several notable authors who were referenced extensively in the book. The "main plot-line" includes reference to body, photo and film alterations advanced by David Lifton, Douglas Horne and Noel Twyman. Along with the suborning of witness testimony, or the ignoring of credible witnesses whose stories were not congruent with the "official line," and the fabricated, lost or destroyed evidence, there is a mountain of irrefutable facts which render the official verdict to be the "official lie."
His accomplices included men at the highest levels of the CIA, men such as James Jesus Angleton, William K. (Bill) Harvey, David Atlee Phillips, David Sanchez Morales. There were participants from the Mafia (Carlos Marcello, Johnny Rosseli), the Texas oilmen (H.L. Hunt, Clint Murchison) and, I believe, even J. Edgar Hoover, who was at the very least clearly involved in the post-assassination cover-up.
The reason I devoted so much of the book (nearly half of it) to setting the context--the domestic political situation, the cold-war international antagonisms, the rabid anti-Communist agenda shared by both left and right-wing zealots, were all part of the mix--was because it is necessary to understand how this background related to the assassination. To comprehend why the truth has been "shrouded in mystery for nearly five decades," one must first understand all of that, which is explained in the first 300 pages of the book. But the last two chapters return to that point as well, because they detail just how Lyndon Johnson was able, as president, to obtain the ultimate "benefit of the doubt" by becoming president. He used the automatic deference accorded all presidents to remake his image from a conniving, narcissistic megalomaniac--someone not above the use of criminal conduct to achieve his goals, as he had done throughout his political career--to that of a consensus-seeking "good ol' boy" and magnanimous liberal politician.
The coupe de grace was his successful management of the Warren Commission in reaching a "verdict" that even he later acknowledged was not correct. But it took the matter off the table for at least a dozen years, which was helped by his edict that all evidence be locked away for 75 years. It wasn't until 1975 that the public even saw a purloined copy of the Zapruder film, two years after Johnson died. He calculated that proof of his complicity would automatically die with him and the matter would never really be solved after that, which is why he apparently willed his own early death, as explained in the book.
Lyndon Johnson was a genius at leading, and misleading, people. One simple example of this from the book came from a man who worked for Johnson's radio station KTBC, when he said that "he learned more about the art of deception from Lyndon than he had ever learned from anyone, including his own father, a magician known as "the Great Blackstone." He said, "I worked quite some time for Lyndon Johnson as broadcast personnel, and I think I learned more about the art of deception from him than I did from my father . . . he was a man who understood the art of misdirection--of making the eye watch 'A' when the dirty work was going on at 'B.'"
His ability to ingratiate himself with the right people--in this case, a number of credulous journalists or future historians like Doris Kearns, Merle Miller, Ronnie Dugger, and sycophants like Jack Valenti and Bill Moyers--enabled him to remake his image and therefore his historical record. He isn't remembered, for example, for stalling and impeding civil rights legislation for over twenty five years (even supporting such things as the "poll tax" used in Southern states to inhibit minority voting) and continuing to block Kennedy's agenda on this; instead, he is given credit for its eventual passage in the aftermath of the assassination (though the New York Times gave the lion's share of the credit for its passage to Republican Everett Dirksen, the minority leader). I believe his real accomplishment was purposely stalling it all during Kennedy's presidency; he did it for the purpose of saving it for his own legacy and to use it to win the support of a lot of people for his 1964 election.
3) What do you hope that your book contributes to the historical record? What lessons can be learned for future generations?
More than anything else, I think that a cleansing of the national consciousness, one that finally acknowledges real history, and not the fiction that was presented in 1964, is essential. It has always amazed me that over 75% of the population, according to polls, do not believe the Warren Report; in fact, "we" still don't know what to believe about this watershed event.
It is time that the truth of the assassination and the truth of Lyndon Johnson's lifetime of crimes leading to his involvement in the "Crime of the Century" is revealed. There are still many secrets buried by our own federal government--and they acknowledge it, and they vow to keep them secret, as noted in the book--and until such time as they are revealed and the matter dealt with honestly, we as a nation cannot fully recover from the trauma which has caused us unquantifiable harm.
The real Lyndon Johnson continues to be revered by the very historians who should know better. History is supposed to be about true and actual events and people, not contrived and deceitful stories meant to sugar-coat the facts; it seems to me that most "historians" have been asleep at the switch for nearly fifty years.. Edward Albee, despite his brilliance in the "Theater of the Absurd," couldn't have made this up.
4) There is a true literary lexicon devoted to this case. What books would you recommend as essential reading for serious students of the assassination?
Other than my own, of course, I recommend the following books: I. General Subject: JFK and the Unspeakable -James Douglass Bloody Treason - Noel Tywman Murder in Dealey Plaza - James Fetzer, Ed. Someone Would Have Talked - Larry Hancock Crossfire - Jim Marrs II. Truths about Lyndon Johnson: The Years of Lyndon B. Johnson - Three part biographies by Robert Caro Power Beyond Reason: The Mental Collapse of Lyndon Johnson - D. Jablow Hershman A Texan Looks at Lyndon - J. Evetts Haley III. Post Assassination Cover-up Inside the ARRB - Doug Horne Best Evidence - David Lifton Breach of Trust--How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation Gerald McKnight
5). How do you think the course of history would have been altered had JFK lived to serve out his presidency?
Without question, the United States' involvement in Vietnam would have been wound down in 1964 and over by 1965; JFK had already decided that, as detailed in my book and many others. The CIA, which had grown out of control under Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, would have been dismantled and the intelligence function would have been assigned to the newly formed and more tightly managed DIA. Probably one of the things JFK did to seal his fate was his promise to "Tear the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds." It wasn't hard for Johnson to find willing accomplices in the CIA through his "back channel" to them and to renegade high level military officers to carry out the assassination.
Without Vietnam, there would have not been the thunderous backlash which resulted from it. The nation would have been spared the eventual double catharsis which resulted from JFK's assassination and the ensuing war purposely designed and run by Johnson, who thought of himself as an omnipotent deity and above the hand-wringing and second-guessing of those who questioned the merits of his war. It is unlikely that the 1960's counter-revolution would have occurred in mid-decade and the violent aspects of it - the Weathermen, the Chicago Seven and all the others - would have not had their "fifteen minutes of fame." Doesn't it follow that everything else that occurred due to the 1960's cultural revolution either would not have happened, or would have at least turned out differently?
The misallocation of precious resources to Vietnam was a tremendous waste of national treasure. It did make many people very wealthy, not the least of whom was Lyndon B. Johnson (though his rapid accumulation of wealth, despite having started out with virtually no net worth, is given virtually no scrutiny by most of his biographers and apologists). Another man who profited from the war was the Chicago financier and mob-connected Henry Crown, who was a major stockholder in General Dynamics, the nearly bankrupt Texas-based company at the heart of the TFX scandal. Johnson went to great lengths to help save this company from bankruptcy in 1961-62 and it is yet another example of his corruption. Crown's wealth grew even more because of the additional number of fighter jets required for Johnson's war (unfortunately for his heir, his son Lester, the family lost $1 Billion during the 2008-09 economic crash; their net worth now stands at only $4 Billion (Forbes magazine: The Forbes 400, October 19, 2009 p. 124).
The United States would have probably grown and prospered even more than was the case with Kennedy's successors, starting with Johnson. Imagine if none of those 60 thousand soldiers, sailors and airmen had been killed there and their lives had instead been devoted to the positive and productive things they wanted to accomplish, rather than the quite meaningless war which Johnson committed them to. Yes, life would have turned out much different for them, of that we can be certain; the rest of us would have, at the very least, been spared the insanity of those times. I cannot begin to list all of the repercussions that these traumas have inflicted on us as a nation.
This review is from: LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination (Hardcover)
Before you conclude from the title there is no way LBJ could have masterminded the JFK assassination, read the facts in this book. This account brings all the last pieces together of what connected the CIA, FBI, Mob and Oswald and what could have pushed all these elements and players over the line into the horrible, an assault on the entire nation. They did not just happen to all act alone at the same time. I've read a good many of the books investigating the facts of the case and the cover up.
What remains a concern for me is how to get the government to release all the remaining FBI and CIA documents that were to be released 20 years ago, as this author points out. As one who can remember the assassination, I believe that the nation and the effects this catastrophic event had on it needs the healing of the truth of what happened.
This new edition of the author's work eliminates the redundancies and streamline the narrative of the first edition. The total number of pages has been reduced by 10%, even with a considerable amount of new material added to support the many assertions of Lyndon Johnson's complicity in a number of criminal acts leading to the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
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This review is from: LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination (Hardcover)
I am truly impressed with Phillip Nelson's outstanding book "LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination", now in an EXPANDED and UPDATED format on the very same publishing house as major best-selling authors Mark Lane and Jesse Ventura! While there are quite a few "honorable mentions", I feel strongly, based on reading hundreds of books and decades of research, that Nelson's book, along with Mark Lane's "Last Word", Doug Horne's "Inside The ARRB" 5-volume works, Jim Douglass "JFK & The Unspeakable", and Barry Ernest's "The Girl On The Stairs", is among THE very best books written on the JFK murder to date. Nelson finishes the work started by such authors as Craig Zirbel and Barr McClellan, yet greatly expands and improves on what came before. Nelson, Lane, Horne, Douglass, and Ernest: their works are absolutely essential to all students and scholars on the case.
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This review is from: LBJ: The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination (Hardcover)
WOW. LBJ was like the worst of the Roman emperors; what was that guys name? Caligula? Well, LBJ makes Caligula look like Ross Perot, or Adolph Hitler look like Ron Paul, I mean LBJ WAS DEFINATELY OUR WORST PRESIDENT EVER, and it's all here. What a gutless sob; he was already ducking down in the car before they even turned onto Houston st. I am tellin ya this guy had no morals, no class, and no limits as far as his self serving behavior. He was washing his hands, talking insanely like Macbeth,in the bathroom of Air Force One... If you want to know more about LBJ's disgusting behavior, illegitimate kids, etc read Texas in The Morning by Madeleine Duncan Brown.
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