History's (Channel) treatment of LBJ attacked (JFK assasination)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/161166p-141312c.html

Ex-Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter have joined forces with Lady Bird Johnson in denouncing a claim that her husband, President Lyndon Johnson, was involved in the murder of President John F. Kennedy. In November, the History Channel carried Nigel Turner's "The Guilty Men," which explored whether LBJ had a role in JFK's assassination.
Mrs. Johnson, Carter and Ford have now all fired off angry letters to the heads of the three companies that own the History Channel - namely, Disney's Michael Eisner, NBC's Bob Wright and Hearst's Victor Ganzi.

Ford, who is also seeking an investigation into why the program was shown, called the documentary "reprehensible."

" the greatest, most damaging accusation ever made against a former vice president and President in American history," Ford, 90, wrote on Jan. 23.

Anyone know if this is based on *'s press toady Scotty McClellan's dad's book alleging this? Guess it's ok to accuse a former Democratic president.

Blood, Money & Power: How L. B. J. Killed J. F. K. by Barr McClellan

McClellan's overwrought conspiracy theory claims that Lyndon Johnson-motivated by power lust, fear of being dropped from the Kennedy ticket, and the need to cover up various scandals-masterminded Kennedy's assassination with the help of his evil "superlawyer" Ed Clark. But his evidence is meager and murky, even by the standards of Kennedy conspiracy scholarship. The main exhibit is a smudged partial fingerprint from Oswald's sniper's nest that may or may not belong to a Johnson associate, depending on which fingerprint expert you ask. Otherwise McClellan relies on what he heard during his years at Clark's law firm-e.g., a partner told him that Clark arranged the assassination-and the description of scenes in which a "a fixed stare," vague, unspoken understandings, and "code words" proved that Johnson and Clark were conspiring. Sample accusations include: "I knew Clark was admitting to the payoff for the assassination even though he never said he received a payoff for assassinating Kennedy...." The book offers many detailed accounts of conspiratorial meetings that turn out to be not fact but "faction" or "journalistic novelization"-that is, conjecture designed to distract readers from the lack of evidence. McClellan styles the assassination as the defeat of Camelot by Texas's sleazy nexus of dirty politicians, slick lawyers and oil money; the unmasking of Johnson, the personification of such back-room power politics, therefore promises a public "emotional purging" leading to the renewal of democracy. His confusingly structured, evasively argued, often nonsensical theories attest to the crime's continuing potency as a symbol of America's mythic heart of darkness.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0963784625/ref=qid=1075919704/sr=36-pd_sr_ec_ir_b/ref=sr_36_pd_sr_ec_ir_b_b/104-1267316-4747150?v=glance&s=books&st=*

[madrchsod]

1. that whole thing

is the biggest pile of shit ever put on tv. there is nothing else that can be said about that program.

[mmm]

5. good point

[catmandu57]

2. I gave up on the history channel

the lean to the right just became too strong, I wouldn't doubt that the program was based on the work in question.

[mmm]

3. LBJ was definitely not a nice guy.

And although he may not have had a hand in the assassination of JFK,
it would seem that he delighted in it.

I would hope that by now no one believes the lone gunman theory.
Sadly, the fix is in and the true nature of the crime and the
players within will never be revealed lightly. Perhaps after the
civil war the truth will come out.

[ROC]

10. The lone gun theory may not be very satisfying

but it has not been disproved in 40 years despite heavy attack.

[lightbulb]

13. Has not been disproved... by what standards?

The alleged lone gunman is innocent until proven guilty, is he not? As I recall, he was unable to officially enter a plea in a court of law. How unfortunate. Ah well, case closed.

:hurts:

[DrWeird]

4. History Channel get off the air.

They're worse than MTV.

[megatherium]

7. full frontal

paranoia?

[TexasMexican]

6. I think LBJ did it.

he obviously had the most to gain from it.

[kskiska]

8. Barr McClellan is the father of Bush's Press Secretary Scott

It's unseemly that a smear job of a former president would come from someone with ties to the current White House. I'll bet the press corps hasn't touched on this subject when questioning Scott McClellan at his briefings.

[antipov1]

9. How bizarre

While LBJ may have had the most to gain from JFK's death, other than Jackie Kennedy, (really, who wants to be married to a philandering whore-monger), it is more surprising that the History Channel aired anything even mildly controversial.

[teryang]

12. I agree

I don't have any problem with what they broadcast. It's called the first amendment.

I remember a statement by Sen. Yarborough who was in the limo with Johnson saying that Johnson's statement about what he was doing at the time of the shooting was completely false. He seemed to be getting status reports on a walkie talkie rather than having his body covered by a secret service agent at the time of the shooting. His girlfriend also says that he had prior knowledge. Newmans book about Vietnam documents how Johnson opposed Kennedy's Vietnam policy before the assassination. He had defense department and defense contractor backing.

It was well known in Texas that Johnson was not above murder to get what he wanted. People who think that murder and the willingness to kill are not a characteristic of power driven politicians are naive. How many people died in Vietnam?

None dare call it treason.

[dflprincess]

11. Remember,

Ford was on the Warren Commission. Isn't he the one that went to Dallas to interview Jack Ruby?