Did Jackie Suspect LBJ of Killing JFK?

[astorian]

@Koxinga

I’m not sure how exactly LBJ undermined the Warren commission – you mean thwarting the investigation at the time, or casting doubt on its conclusions afterward?

If it’s the former, I can understand a reluctance to get to the bottom of the matter if LBJ feared that Castro or the Soviets were definitely behind JFK’s murder. If such findings became public, it could have led to World War III.

By “underming” the Warren Commission, I mean that LBJ regularly told friends and associates that the Commission was wrong, and that he believed Fidel Castro was behind the assassination.

Do I believe that? No, But ask yourself this: If the Warren Commisssion’s finding was, as is often alleged, a coverup, and if LBJ was supposedly in on the coverup, why on Earth would he tell people there WAS a conspiracy behind JFK’s murder? if he WAS in on the coverup, wouldn’t he tell EVERYBODY that the Warren Commission was 100% correct?

[Marley23]

@ralph124c

Sounds like this could make nice “National Inquirer” material!

This was already explained in post three, but the interviews are being published in a book. Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy book comes out Wednesday.

[Crazyhorse]

The AP already has a copy. (and the story isn’t exclusive to ABC news as indicated upthread). There is a review today on CBS News.

The main points they cover:

JFK never wanted LBJ as a running mate but believed he would lose Texas without him. JFK worked on efforts to ensure that LBJ couldn’t win the nomination after JFK’s term ended and often mused about what trouble people would face if LBJ were ever President. There was no mention if she suspected he was involved in the assassination. She allegedly liked him as a person but thought he would be a horrible President.

She said MLK Jr. was “terrible,” “tricky” and “a phony.” in response to hearing FBI tapes of him and a woman in his hotel room. He reportedly mocked JFK’s funeral and the Cardinal who led the mass.

She said JFK planned to dump J Edgar Hoover as FBI Chief. (* if anything can stir up a conspiracy theory, that should do the trick).

On Vietnam:

Jacqueline Kennedy also indicated that her husband was highly skeptical about victory in Vietnam, a central battleground of the Cold War and the conflict that brought down Johnson’s presidency.

She said JFK, a Democrat, had named Henry Cabot Lodge, a Republican he had defeated for a Massachusetts Senate seat in 1952, as U.S. ambassador to Vietnam because JFK was so doubtful of military success there.

“I think he probably did it … rather thinking it might be such a brilliant thing to do because Vietnam was rather hopeless anyway, and put a Republican there,” Jacqueline Kennedy said.

JFK increased the U.S. presence in Vietnam throughout his brief administration, adding military advisers to help train the South Vietnamese military. Johnson, as president, would later commit ground troops to the conflict despite initial promises not to. Historians still debate whether Kennedy would have done the same.

[Marley23]

@Crazyhorse

JFK never wanted LBJ as a running mate but believed he would lose Texas without him.

I thought that was well known.

[Crazyhorse]

@Marley23

I thought that was well known.

I think a lot of these revelations are, or have since become pretty well known and already talked about by other insiders. It is interesting to hear it right from the source. And apparently the book comes with CD’s of the interviews so you can literally hear it.