A "senior CIA official" (Anson p.
115). Did Ewing follow the Davis example and lunch with Richard
Helms?
Not since Gerald Posner has a book on the JFK case been as touted
as Hersh's. It started in Esquire with a teaser article in its
September 1996 issue. In July and September of this year, Liz
Smith kept up the barrage of pro-Hersh blurbs in her column. The
September 23rd notice stated that Hersh's book would focus on the
Kennedys and Monroe and how RFK had Monroe killed.
As everyone knows by now, the whole Monroe angle blew up in
Hersh's face. When Hersh had to reluctantly admit on ABC that he
had been had, he did it on the same spot where Rivers, Summers,
and Sylvia Chase had played martyrs for the tabloid cause, namely
20/20. On September 25th, Peter Jennings narrated the opening
segment of that program. With what we know in November, Jennings
approach reveals much by what was left out. Hersh appeared only
briefly on the segment. He was on screen less than 10% of the
time. The main focus was on the forensic debunking of the
documents (which we now know was underplayed by ABC.) Jennings
cornered Lex Cusack, the man who "found" the papers in the files
of his late father who was an attorney. From published accounts,
the documents were supposedly signed by five people: JFK, RFK,
Monroe, Janet DesRosiers (Joe Kennedy's assistant) and Aaron
Frosch (Monroe's lawyer). They outline a settlement agreement
between JFK and Monroe signed at the Carlyle Hotel in New York on
March 3, 1960. The documents set up a $600,000 trust to be paid
by contributions from the individual Kennedy family members to
Monroe's mother, Gladys Baker. In return for this, Monroe agrees
to keep quiet about her relationship with JFK and any underworld
personalities she observed in Kennedy's presence. The latter