Extremists in Dallas created volatile atmosphere before JFK’s 1963 visit

[struggle4progress]

U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson was struck on the head by a sign wielded by a woman protesting outside Memorial Auditorium in Dallas in October 1963, one month before President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

By SCOTT K. PARKS
Staff Writer
[e-mail]
Published: 12 October 2013 11:49 PM
Updated: 13 October 2013 09:26 AM

... The John Birch Society designated Dallas a regional headquarters and opened a bookstore here. The society preached that Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower — among many others — were willing dupes of the Communist Party ...

As Kennedy, a Roman Catholic, was pursing the Democratic presidential nomination in 1960, Hunt secretly financed the printing of 200,000 copies of an anti-Catholic sermon by the Rev. W.A. Criswell, the influential pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. Criswell argued that if a Catholic became president, the pope would dictate American policy ...

... Walker began a campaign for governor of Texas, filing as a candidate in the Democratic primary. Dallas was his campaign headquarters. With the backing of H.L. Hunt, he ran as a states’ rights segregationist dedicated to exposing communists in every walk of life ...

In the early 1960s, the opinion pages of The Dallas Morning News reflected the anti-Kennedy views of the newspaper’s publisher, E.M. “Ted” Dealey. Day after day, editorials and opinion columns criticized the president. He was soft on communism. He was deceitful. He was expanding the reach of the federal government at the expense of individual liberty ...

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/jfk50/reflect/20131012-extremists-in-dallas-created-volatile-atmosphere-before-jfks-1963-visit.ece?nclick_check=1

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Watch out,

someone will want to send you to Creative Speculation.

[struggle4progress]

5. A lot of people have been noticing similarities between the rightwing Crazy Camp of the 1960s

and the rightwing Crazy Camp today

[Blue_In_AK]

6. And you are, of course, correct.

There's always been that nasty strain in the American psyche ... remember the Salem witch trials? They can't burn people at the stake anymore for being "sinful," but they sure can make the rest of us miserable.

[Enthusiast]

26. They would like to

return to those days of burning people at the stake.

[melody]

17. They're the same group

My father was very active in the Dixiecrat-to-Reagan Repulican/John Bircher movement of the 60s and 70s. They created the Reagan Revolt. It has always been about fascist wacko politics.

[Bolo Boffin]

20. Why? There's nothing in this article that approaches a conspiracy theory about JFK's death.

Dallas was an extremely volatile place before he visited. If Oswald had killed Walker, the city may well have exploded.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. I kid, I kid...

[Gravitycollapse]

2. Wasn't JFK assassinated by an avowed communist?

Not quite sure I understand the intent of this article or your OP.

[struggle4progress]

4. The Dallas Morning News recently published this interesting look back at the 1960s rightwing

extremism in Dallas, including the role of rightwing millionaires, rightwing Christian fundamentalists, and the then-very-rightwing Dallas Morning News in creating a climate of hate in Dallas

We learn from history -- or we repeat it. Decades later, similar coalitions with similar slogans helped elect Bush II, and they're still around today:

... The real analogue to today’s unhinged right wing in America is yesterday’s unhinged right wing in America ... Now, as then, there is said to be a conspiracy in the highest places to end American Constitutional rule and replace it with a Marxist dictatorship, evidenced by a plan in which your family doctor will be replaced by a federal bureaucrat — mostly for unnamable purposes, but somehow involving the gleeful killing off of the aged ... “on the radio, H.L. Hunt (the Dallas millionaire) filled the airwaves with dozens of attacks on Medicare, claiming that it would create government death panels: The plan provides a near little package of sweeping dictatorial power over medicine and the healing arts—a package which would literally make the President of the United States a medical czar with potential life or death power over every man woman and child in the country” ...
The John Birchers’ Tea Party
October 11, 2013
Posted by Adam Gopnik

[Gravitycollapse]

9. If you are attempting to imply the radical right is responsible...

For the JFK assassination, I seriously question whether you know anything at all about who actually killed JFK.

[struggle4progress]

10. I provided excerpts from and links to articles from the Dallas Morning News and the New Yorker

You may read the excerpts to decide whether the articles might interest you, and -- should the articles interest you -- you may read the articles

If, after reading the excerpts, you find yourself uninterested by the articles, you arealso free to decide not to read the articles

Of course, if you insist on reading between the lines of text you have not actually read, that reduces the chances for coherent conversation

[Cha]

15. Just saw this on FB today.. it may not apply here but I'm going to post it anyway..

This is an important part of history, struggle.. and I of course had no idea. What I do know is daddy Koch was a founding member of John Birch Society.

John Birch Society Celebrates Koch Family For Their Role In Founding The Hate Group

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/06/10/242334/john-birch-society-celebrates-koch/

And, here we are today with the sons and the extremist teakochs slinging their hate in the name of faux grassroots at our President Obama.

thanks for the OP, struggle

[JustAnotherGen]

27. +1

[Gravitycollapse]

22. Reading between the lines? The intent of the article and your OP is obvious.

Although both fail just as obviously to establish any sort of connection between the radical right and JFKs assassination.

That isn't to say that we shouldn't be worried about the rhetoric from the radical right, now. It is to say, however, that we don't need false historical narratives to prove that point.

JFK was killed by a psychotic communist, not the John Birch Society.

[oswaldactedalone]

28. ^^^ I agree with this post.

nm

[struggle4progress]

31. I'm sure those interested, in what the articles actually say, will read them

I'm sure those interested, only in attempting to provoke reactions on the internet, will attempt to provoke reactions without reading the articles

And I'm sure the rightwing wackos of the John Birch Society will appreciate your thoughtful efforts to defend them against imaginary charges that no one has made

[villager]

19. If you are attempting to exonerate the radical right in JFK's assassination...

... I seriously question whether you know anything at all about what happened in the 60's.

[Gravitycollapse]

21. Lee Harvey Oswald was as far as away from the radical right as anyone can get.

No, the radical right had nothing to do with the JFK assassination.

I don't need to make up false histories to provide enough ammunition against the GOP and the radical right. There is more than enough truth in their disgustingness.

[KurtNYC]

30. Oswald was likely part of a team trying to assassinate Castro

Hence the trip to Mexico City:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Harvey_Oswald#Mexico

That fell apart and 2 months later, Oswald describes himself as "only a patsy" after the murder of JFK.

How does your theory accommodate Oswald shooting near Walker (a Bircher) and then flipping around to shoot Kennedy (a leftie)?

[villager]

32. +1

n/t

[BluegrassStateBlues]

3. Extremism has caused a lot of damage to this country.

[avaistheone1]

7. Yes. It truly has.

[avaistheone1]

8. Here is another link to your OP

This link does not require registration.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/jfk50/reflect/20131012-extremists-in-dallas-created-volatile-atmosphere-before-jfks-1963-visit.ece


k&r

[Cha]

12. You have a link for us, avaistheone? TIA

[avaistheone1]

13. Sorry Cha, I forgot to add the link to my post.

I edited that postt and it's there now!

[Cha]

16. No worries, aito

[Cha]

18. Thanks!

"Conservatives in other cities voiced concerns about JFK. But in Dallas they screamed them with a venom that frightened many.

“You could feel it in the air,” recalled historian Darwin Payne, who was a Dallas newspaper reporter in the early 1960s. “When I hear some people express hatred for [President Barack] Obama, it feels the same. But I never have felt we are on the verge of anything like the events I witnessed back then.”

I was around then.. but, had no clue.. living in Phoenix Arizona in my innocent little bubble until all hell broke loose. Not that rw extremists killed JFK.. just that he was assassinated.. and it's coming up on 50 years ago.

[cantbeserious]

11. Kick And Recommend

eom

[avaistheone1]

14. I worry that extremists may plan to go to Dallas on the 50th anniversary of JFK assassination

this Nov 22nd 2013, and that they will try to stir things up with those people who will be there to memorialize President Kennedy and the great tragedy of his assassination.

[Enthusiast]

24. The right wing extremists were doing in 1963 what they continue doing today.

Same anti-American game.

[B Calm]

25. Republicans haven't changed all that much since 1963,

other than calling them the John Birch Society back then, to the Tea Party today.

[no_hypocrisy]

29. From "Nashville" (1975, Robert Altman)

First scene: van of an extremist candidate running for President.

Hal Philip Walker: Who do you think is running Congress? Farmers? Engineers? Teachers? Businessmen? No, my friends. Congress is run by lawyers. A lawyer is trained for two things and two things only. To clarify - that's one. And to confuse - that's the other. He does whichever is to his client's advantage. Did you ever ask a lawyer the time of day? He told you how to make a watch, didn't he? Ever ask a lawyer how to get to Mr. Jones' house in the country? You got lost, didn't you? Congress is composed of five hundred and thirty-five individuals. Two hundred and eighty-eight are lawyers. And you wonder what's wrong in Congress. No wonder we often know how to make a watch, but we don't know the time of day.

[Archae]

33. The far-right had nothing to do with JFK's killing.

As it was, maybe a few of the Birchers would have wanted to kill Kennedy and LBJ.

In Bircher literature Kenney, and later LBJ were "communists," and "traitors," mostly because of Medicare and the Civil Rights bills.
(The Birchers lie nowadays about just how racist they really were, Rachel Maddow proved that.)

In 1964, the Birchers got their asses handed to them on a platter.

Nowadays, many of the big names among Birchers are Tea Partiers, favorites or supporters.

The Koch brothers' Dad was a founder of the Birchers.

Pat Buchanan is a Bircher and Teabagger sympathizer.

After the Teabagger government shutdown fiasco, now the Teabaggers are being seen as the big-money coprporate stooges and Fax "news" and Rush the Blowhard-overpromoted losers they really are.

[struggle4progress]

34. I posted a factual article, from the Dallas Morning News, about the ugly rightwing environment

in 1963 Dallas. The article notes that some people at the time attributed some of that ugliness to the Dallas Morning News itself: back then, it had a far-right editorial line

The ugliness was real and pervasive

A month before the Kennedy assassination, UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson gave a talk in Dallas, and he was repeated spat upon, as well as being smacked in the face by a sign on a post, by a woman who later claimed it was an "accident" -- the photos, however, show her smirking as she hit him and there's TV footage that shows her attempting to flee immediately afterwards

Here's a nice example of the climate there on 22 November 1963: it's a newspaper ad that appeared on the day of Kennedy's visit

And this was circulated in the streets the day before the visit:

It wasn't a handful of rightwing wackos: it was a whole city full of rightwing wackos

In 'Dallas 1963,' A City Of Rage, Seized By 'Civic Hysteria'
by NPR Staff
October 09, 2013 4:32 PM
... People were lured to Dallas, they were marching to Dallas. There was just this rising sense of anger and distrust toward Kennedy, toward perceived socialism, religion. People feared him as a Catholic ... For some reason out in the heartland in the middle of Texas, really powerful people coalesced around this notion that Kennedy was a traitor and in fact was guilty of treason. And these weren't just folks who were idly thinking these thoughts; they were acting on them and forming organizations and movements to essentially overthrow Kennedy ... These were the city fathers from every perspective, the leading preachers in town, the leading businessmen, the leading elected officials — the people who held the microphones, in a sense, on broadcast and in print media ...LBJ and Ladybird Johnson were attacked by a mob of Dallas' leading citizens during a campaign stop in downtown Dallas. In the lobbies of the two finest hotels in Dallas, it was a melee: people swinging signs at them, they were spitting at them, people were pulling hat pins out of their hats and trying to stab people ... Dallas had just simply become, in an almost initially unlikely way, the headquarters of the anti-Kennedy, 'Let's overthrow Kennedy' movement. He was perceived to be a traitor. He was a socialist, he was on bended knee to so many different entities — communism, socialism and even the pope ...

These are historical facts, whether or not you approve, and whether or not you think that mentioning them, or even remembering them, is somehow equivalent to pushing a conspiracy theory. For a long time, they were very good down in Dixieland at looking away



Should we continue to look away? Our problem today is that the Texas rightwing wacko coalitions still exist, still organize around the same issues, and still disrupting the American political body. The rightwing coalitions that brought Dallas to the point of rabid frothiness in 1963 took Bush II to the White House in 2000 and gave Ted Cruz the platform by which he recently took the US to the brink of default. That's not conspiracy theory:that's modern America; and it has a history that we forget at our own peril

I don't know who or what motivated Oswald; and I don't expect that after fifty years we'll ever have any more coherent account of the Kennedy assassination than the Warren Commission provided, despite all its warts. But Dallas in 1963 oozed and bubbled vile hatred. I can't prove that Oswald was motivated by that, so I haven't made that claim. It could be just a coincidence that the town, where LBJ and Lady Bird were attacked and spat upon during the 1960 campaign, and where Adlai Stevenson was attacked and spat upon in October 1963, was the same town where JFK was shot down. What matters to me, fifty years later, is to notice that the same enraged and dishonest rightwing movements that encouraged such activities then has continued to organize and continues to disrupt our democracy today

[freshwest]

35. Living in Texas at that time, the Birchers didn't hide anything. They hated all of the Kennedys

wanted them dead. The ones I spoke with were teenagers, and they didn't have the maturity to keep their ideas hidden. When Kennedy was killed, they were clearly pleased but due to the anger of others they kept their mouths shut. It's certain their hearts weren't changed.

I remember the reports as some students who went off campus for lunch, knew he'd been shot and the school filled with rumors for hours. Just before school was over, the principal announced to us through the classroom speakers, which were almost never used, that Kennedy was indeed dead.

We felt we owned it, since we had all these extremists spewing hate locally. The JBS was really no different from the KKK and the Nazis, who also spoke openly. I don't think that those who weren't living at that time can grasp the atmosphere as changes were being made.

For myself, the killing of Medgar Evers, then the girls in the church, then JFK, then MLK, then RFK was a deep wound. So many leaders taken out, those who didn't live then doesn't know how soul crushing it was, since they weren't seeing the good that these men were doing for all of us and the joy that they inspired.

It was effective to polarize, as intended. Not that the Nazis and KKK weren't always calling for a 'race war' to overturn the federal government and let them install their government. The rhetoric hasn't changed.

Kennedy, like Johnson, was what they called a 'traitor to his race.' And Kennedy was a traitor to his social class. In a piece by RFK,Jr, about the anniversaries of JFK's death, he wroten definitely blamed rightwingers for it, but some who did not live in those days when our liberal leaders were being killed, refuse to believe they did it.

Instead, they go for the sensational versions that they know they can never prove, to not feel the fear political reality of the day would lead to judge it. It's more comfortable to think that way.

Some times some things are exactly what they look like.