the CIA was almost
autonomous. He told me he believed the CIA had arranged to
have Diem and Trujillo bumped off. He was pretty well
shocked about that. He thought it was a stupid thing to do,
and he wanted to get control of what the CIA was doing."
(The Assassinations: Dallas and Beyond pp. 379-380)
Such statements not only absolve Kennedy, they actually provide a
motive for the CIA to get rid of him, which is probably why the
media ignored them.
The fact that Kennedy had clean hands was a bitter pill to
swallow. The establishment organized a furious counterattack.
Frank Church was accused of being a partisan. The Democrats were
charged with "protecting" the Kennedys. There was an exchange of
letters in the press between David Eisenhower and one of Bobby
Kennedy's sons over the issue. Finally, a solution appeared. Her
name was Judith Campbell Exner.
All of this essential background is usually left out of any
discussion of the following. It can't be. As we shall see, in
many ways it is crucial to an understanding of some events that -
without this precis - seem to take place in a vacuum: motiveless,
random, out of place; yet in Exner's case, recurring at regular
intervals. As we shall see the promulgators of the following, are
very aware of the results of the Church Committee.
Exner To The Rescue
The committee had found that Hoover had a meeting with President
Kennedy on March 22, 1962. Through his investigation of Sam
Giancana, the Director had discovered that an acquaintance of his
- Campbell - had called Kennedy at the White House on numerous
occasions. Once Kennedy was told of this, the calls to the White
House stopped. Campbell's name was included in the first draft of
the report. But in deference to her privacy and the fact