Didn’t do it: More on the role of George H.W. Bush in the events of 1963

Russ Baker takes exception to our post of November 25, “Didn’t Do It: George H.W. Bush.” His comment is published in full beneath the post, but since his response has merit, I want to give it prominent treatment here as well.

Russ rightly objects to my linking his reporting about Bush and the JFK story with John Hankey’s video on the same subject. He says:

“To try and distract people from a TON of documented, footnoted evidence on HW Bush’s covert work in Dallas with CIA circa 11/22 by falsely suggesting that I–or anyone–is stupid enough to believe that Bush would be an actual triggerman, well, that’s just beyond the pale.”

My apologies. Russ’s views are clearly different from Hankey’s and I should have made that clear. Contrary to what Russ says, Hankey does posit that Bush was in Dealey Plaza and was supervising the gunman—a view Russ rightly repudiates as “stupid.” I will revise the first post accordingly.

As Russ notes, his book “Family of Secrets” devotes a lot of attention to “Bush’s covert work with the CIA in Dallas circa 1963.” I think his presentation of his reporting insinuates that George H.W. Bush might have had something to do with JFK’s assassination, which I don’t think is supported by the facts.

My own view, which will be developed on this site, is that there are much more plausible suspects in the ranks of the CIA for complicity in JFK’s wrongful death. Rather than focus on the first President Bush, we should focus on the culpability of counterintelligence chief James Angleton and deputy director Richard Helms.

That said, George H.W. Bush’s career from his days working with the CIA as a Texas oil man to his rise to the CIA directorship in 1976 to the presidency is emblematic of the agency’s hidden influence on American life and tells us much about the continuing cover-up of the agency’s role in the events that led to JFK’s assassination.  While I disagree with Russ on some issues, his original research on the Bush family is a significant contribution to the story. I should not have implied otherwise.