“Those Kennedy’s will never embarrass me again. That’s not a threat, that’s a promise.” LBJ says this to Madeleine Brown on the night of November 21, 1963.
The History Channel aired The Guilty Men, Part 9 of The Men Who Killed Kennedy, in November of 2003. This showing of The Guilty Men, which implicates LBJ in the murder of John Kennedy, caused an uproar and activated several threats of legal action by powerful people against The History Channel.
The History Channel appeased these people (Lady Bird Johnson, Bill Moyers, Jimmy Carter, Jack Valenti and Gerald Ford) by not only pulling The Guilty Men from any future airing, but also by censoring permanently the showing of any of the other 8 parts of The Men Who Killed Kennedy. That’s right, they caved in completely. After that time I lost much of the respect that I once had held for The History Channel.
True, The History Channel created a panel of 3 historians (Robert Dallek, Stanley Kutler, and Thomas Sugrue) to assess the credibility of the Nigel Turner produced special, The Guilty Men. I must confess, I never saw this April 7, 2004 review panel assessment, but I do know that they condemned it as flawed and untrustworthy. Here’s their statement.
“The History Channel recognizes that ‘The Guilty Men’ failed to offer viewers context and perspective, and fell short of the high standards that the network sets for itself. The History Channel apologizes to its viewers and to Mrs. Johnson and her family for airing the show.”
So that’s the end of the line. We never saw The Men Who Killed Kennedy on this A & E owned cable station again. That’s not a problem for me, since I’d already recorded it many times in the late 1990s. Moreover, I can watch the last 3 parts anytime I want to on YouTube. Their retraction is vague and does not address any of the specific allegations clearly presented in The Guilty Men.
I did see this shocking special when it was originally aired in November of 2003. Over Thanksgiving dinner I discussed it’s content with my sisters and parents. They absolutely agreed with what was said, LBJ did play a major role in the assassination of John Kennedy. Over the past few days I’ve watched these 5 segments again, taken notes, and pondered the veracity of what’s been said.
This is an opinion, but I’ve found more of this to be true than not to be true. I didn’t just run out to archive locations to verify what’s been said, but I have checked out the credentials of all the talking heads in this special, and all are credible witnesses to me. This is a leap of faith on my part, I understand that, but I’ve been studying this case for many years, and my judgment is not clouded by faulty constructions of this crime.
I’ve watched The Guilty Men four times this weekend, taken notes twice and done internet searches on many of the people who testify in the special. Let me just say, Barr McClellan, father of Scott McClellan, is very solid and trustworthy in what he says. He knows these things because he was in this VIP inter-circle of attorneys who worked for LBJ; Barr knew Edward Clark, Don Thomas and Cliff Carter through and through.
The only piece I’ve read on the internet that acts as a refutation to The Guilty Men is written by Dave B. Perry. This repudiation doesn’t even have a title to it. I will link it for you below, if you would like to read it, but be sure to watch the video a few times for yourself, so you can better judge what Mr. Perry writes. Perry puts down many of advocates (of LBJ’s guilt) in the special, such as Walt Brown.
To me, everything that Walt Brown says is perfectly reasonable. Once JFK was eliminated, the CIA was restored to power, Hoover was made the permanent Director of the FBI, and the War in Vietnam could be waged unchecked. I did agree with one argument of Perry’s however, I’m not just 100 percent for certain that the ‘mythical meeting’ at Clint Murchison Sr.’s house ever took place (the evening of November 21, 1963). This claim comes mainly from LBJ’s (alleged) mistress, Madeleine Brown.
Most of the other claims made (in my opinion) in The Guilty Men were very solid. One example is that Doctor Crenshaw testifies that he talked to LBJ personally (on the telephone) when at Parkland Hospital, while trying to save the life of a mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald. LBJ asked him to get a confession from Oswald on his deathbed, that he was, in fact, the sole assassin of John Kennedy. Doctor Crenshaw’s claim is supported by switchboard operator, Phyllis Bartlett. Crensaw’s book Trauma Room One documents this disturbing phone call.
The primary rogue in these accounts is Malcolm Wallace. Mac Wallace acted as a hit man for LBJ and his associate, Edward Clark. You’ll want to verify the record of his many crimes for yourself. The main ones highlighted in The Guilty Men are: the murder of Douglas Kinser, the murder of Henry Marshall, and then the clincher, the verification of a left pinky fingerprint on a box, taken from the actual sniper’s nest of the Texas School Book Depository Building.
One immediately assumes this to be a tall tale, but that is wrong! It is a fact that Malcolm Wallace’s fingerprint has been positively identified. Fingerprint expert, Nathan Darby, has found a 34 point match of the fingerprint lifted off a TSBD sniper book box with a print in Wallace’s criminal file. Oddly enough, the FBI denied that it was a match 18 months after they received it. Note also, the fingerprint evidence lay dormant in the National Archives for 35 years after the assassination (1998).
Yes, Nathan Darby was quite certain that it was a match. So watch The Guilty Men for yourself and see what you come up with. Everything said in there could be wrong, but where is anyone reputable refuting its claims? After Johnson left the presidency, he was a depressed man, and had to see a psychiatrist frequently. According to Barr McClelland, these sealed records obtained by LBJ’s personal psychiatrist may contain an actual confession as to his role in JFK’s tragic death.
Maybe some day we’ll get access to these ‘dark documents?’ And as far as The History Channel goes, I’ve lost all respect for you when you buckled under to the political pressure of very powerful people. On the contrary, The Guilty Men is full of truth.
Criticism of The Guilty Men by David B. Perry
http://davesjfk.com/guilty.html
Segment 5 of The Guilty Men-The Guilty Men is Part 9 of The Men Who Killed Kennedy, produced and directed by Nigel Turner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1hlGr4rQFE
See More: John Canal and Judyth Piazza with A Fresh Perspective on the JFK Investigation
