Subject: Richard Russell and the "threat"
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 1999 00:03:00 GMT
From: 6489mcadamsj@vms.csd.mu.edu (John McAdams)
Newsgroups: alt.assassination.jfk

In today's LOS ANGELES TIMES, an interesting article by Max Holland.
Holland talks about the value -- and difficulty interpreting -- White
House tapes.  He then discusses a Warren Commission example:

<Quote on>

Consider, for example, the rendering of a Sept. 18, 1964 conversation
in "Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964,"
historian Michael R. Beschloss' initial volume on the Johnson
recordings.

 The first minutes of this telephone conversation between Johnson and
his mentor, Sen. Richard B. Russell, concern the latter's
participation on the Warren Commission, which was created to
investigate the Kennedy assassination. That very day, after 10 arduous
months, the panel had put the finishing touches on what would become
known as the Warren Report. Johnson asks Russell if the commission's
findings were unanimous. Russell replies, according to the printed
transcript, "Yes, sir. I tried my best to get in a dissent, but they'd
come 'round and trade me out of it by giving me a littleold threat."
The implication is that the senior senator from Georgia, one of
Washington's most powerful men, signed the Warren Report under duress;
that he was in fundamental disagreement with one or more of the
commission's key findings, but bowed to an unspecified threat.

<Quote off>

Holland then discusses the fact that Russell, a strong conservative,
didn't like working with liberal Chief Justice Warren.  But Johnson
had told him "I don't give a damn if you have to serve with a
Republican; if you have to serve with a communist; if you have to
serve with a Negro; if you have to serve with a thug."  So Russell
served.

But it turns out that the "threat" think is a factoid:

<Quote on>

        Listening to the tape, it becomes clear that the transcription
isincorrect. What Russell actually says is: "I tried my best to get in
adissent, but they'd come 'round and trade me out of it by giving me a
little old thread of it."

           Suddenly, the conversation makes sense. Russell came to the
commission's last meeting on Sept. 18 determined to register his
opinion on two pivotal issues: whether a foreign conspiracy existed,
and the sequence of the bullets that struck Kennedy and Texas Gov.
John B. Connally in Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Far from threatening the
Georgian, Warren had labored that day to oblige him.

          The chief justice believed it was inordinately important for
thecommission to deliver a unanimous decision to the American people.
Ifcomplete agreement proved elusive, Russell, of all the members,
could not be the lone dissenter. Russell was to conservative opinion
what Warren was to liberal: a standard bearer and powerful influence.
So along with the other panel members, Warren kept massaging the final
language until it incorporated Russell's views. Finally, the senator
could only assent.

<Quote off>

.John


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