Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails [Hardcover]

William Turner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001

In Rearview Mirror, investigative journalist William Turner revisits the significant stories and inquiries of his illustrious career, which encompasses many of the major political events of the last half of the twentieth century. In these explosive memoirs, Turner ferrets out the truth and shoots down the myths and lies promulgated not only about known events such as Hoover's FBI, the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy, the Bay of Pigs and Watergate, but about unknown events such as the Farewell America plot and the stealth war against Cuba.

William Turner began his career as an FBI special agent in 1951, and for ten years was schooled in the art of criminal and counterespionage investigations, pulling off illegal burglaries and garnering accolades from Hoover along the way. Eventually, however, he became disenchanted with Hoover's despotism, his misplaced focus on the Communist menace and his reluctance to tackle organized crime. When Turner decided to leave the FBI, he exchanged his revolver for a typewriter and wrote the classic expose Hoover's FBI, which made the Director seethe.

He became interested in the investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy immediately after the shooting, when he went to Dallas on assignment. His inquiries led him to write critically of the Warren Commission Report and to work with New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison to reopen the case.

He subsequently became senior editor of the radical magazine Ramparts, which published eye-opening articles he wrote about the FBI, the CIA and the police establishment, including investigations of COINTELPRO and Operation CHAOS, which revealed abuses perpetrated by agencies of the government behind a veneer of legality and propriety.

In Rearview Mirror, Turner chronicles these and other pivotal events surrounding the Bay of Pigs invasion, the secret war against Cuba and the assassination of Robert Kennedy with great compassion, extensive detail and an eye to the truth:

 How Hoover's FBI created myths with lies and safeguarded its image via unscrupulous tactics of intimidation and character assassination
 Pervasive wiretapping and bugging abuses by the FBI
 Operation CHAOS, the CIA-orchestrated burglaries of Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers union and the Ramparts editorial offices after the magazine exposed Agency infiltration of American institutions
 Suppressed information about the group that surrounded Sirhan Sirhan, hypnotically making him a "Manchurian Candidate," as well as forensic analysis of gunfire and trajectories that force other conclusions than the court's that Sirhan Sirhan was the lone gunman
 The theory proposed by the suppressed book, Farewell America, that JFK was killed by an amalgam of powerful public and private interests who feared the makings of a Kennedy dynasty
 The findings of investigations by Jim Garrison, which substantiate a conspiracy theory linking JFK's assassination to the CIA's involvement in the Bay of Pigs invasion.
 Pervasive CIA and FBI manipulation of the media to discredit critics and sway public opinion.
 "Breakout": the story of Joel Kaplan's frame-up by the CIA with complicity by the Mexican police and the amazing story of his escape.
 The stealth war against Cuba and plans for a second invasion.
 The identity of Watergate's "Deep Throat"

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Former FBI "black bag man," William Turner lays the Kennedy assassinations at the foot of agencies of the U.S. government. Despite the conspiracy theories, this is a compelling first-person narrative on the practices of Hoover's FBI. --David Marshall Nissman, J.D.

From Publishers Weekly

William Turner (Hoover's FBI), a journalist and former FBI agent who has devoted his attention to U.S. domestic intelligence affairs for 50 years, revisits his biggest stories in Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails, with a foreword by Oliver Stone. After 10 years in "the dark alleys of the intelligence agency underworld," says Turner, "I decided to decamp... on my own terms, petitioning for a congressional probe of Hoover's administration." Afterwards he became a senior editor at Ramparts magazine. His accounts of "The Untimely Death of RFK," "The Stealth War Against Cuba," "The FBI Propaganda Machine" and more obscure events are as riveting now as decades ago. Lush, sometimes sensational conspiracy theories abound in this compelling collection. B&w photos not seen by PW.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Penmarin Books; 1St Edition edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883955211
• ISBN-13: 978-1883955212
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #748,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Read, August 18, 2001

By 

"mmnorth" (Dallas, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails (Hardcover)

I have no idea of William Turner's age, but would guess it to be at least 75. His new memoir, REARVIEW MIRROR, is a fascinating read on a life which spans his early years as an FBI wiretapper and black bagman (he makes clear the activities were illegal), his coverage of the JFK and RFK assassinations, the Garrison investigation and Shaw trial, his Ramparts investigations and his ultimate tour de force (with Hinckle) on the CIA and the Cubans, DEADLY SECRETS.

Had Turner completed his clear-eyed analysis of only one of these historical headliners he would have a secure place in contemporary history. That he was around for all of them (even providing, as a bonus, an excellent snapshot of contemporary Miami madness in his coverage of the Elian Gonzalez insanity) and renders them with reason AND that rarest of all sensibilities, a sense of humor, establishes him as one of our most colorful and intelligent observors of contemporary American clandestine culture.

Does Turner ALWAYS get it right? No. But he observes and writes with eyes wide open (he gives Garrison his due, and at the same time notes his many shortcomings). I wish his volume were footnoted, and a bibliography would be nice. But this is a memoir, seemingly precipitated and structured at least in part by Turner's own staggering FBI file, recently acquired. Proof once again that a good first person narrative (with supporting role by the FBI) is sometimes more startling and provocative than any novel or Hollywood Opus. When such a narrative also enlightens us on our own long-lost history, it is priceless.

Turner wears it well.

---"We won't object/ If he calls collect..."

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Operative as Journalist, June 4, 2001

By 

Monique Tushingham (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails (Hardcover)

I woke up to-day with the clock radio - telling me that William Turner had the exclusive proof, that John Kennedy was killed by the CIA, because he might stop the war in Vietnam. As well as; the fact that, Bobby was killed because, if elected he would investigate the killing of his brother John.

For years I tried to work out why I was so deeply affected by John Kennedy's assasination. Was it really as superficial as, the fact that he was a young and good looking man and that he had a beautiful wife? But now, I know. He was a good person, who was going to do a 'good thing' and stop an escalation of stupidity, that for all 'intents and purposes' culminated in the present President - dumbed down and introspective.

So it's nearly official. Thanks William Turner - for the closure on a subject, that could not be convincing via an Oliver Stone film (i.e. You cannot cite a Hollywood movie as proof in a post-graduate thesis). Good work and at low price; a bargain basement read for an important subject.