LETTER TO MR. WILLIAM D. PAWLEY FROM VERNON A. WALTERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R002000070042-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 14, 2002
• Sequence Number: 42
• Publication Date: December 31, 1975
• Content Type: LETTER

Approved For Release 2002/08/21 : CIA-RDP80R017 002000070042-1
?
31 December 1975
Dear Mr. Pawley:
Herewith the article I promised you by David Eisenhower.
I hope to be in Florida around the 9th of January. for a week
and will be in touch with you then,
Again.. many many thanks for that absolutely magnificent
box of fruit which I am still enjoying every day.
With every good wish to Mrs. Pawley, Anita and
yourself for the new year.
Vernon A. Walters
Lieutenant General, USA
Mr. William 73. Fawley
Approved For Release 2002/08/21 : CIA-RDP80R01731 R002000070042-1
 Approved For,ase 2002/08/21 : CIA-RDP80RO1731 000070042-1
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
4 December 1975
e Whi1E"H~tse Ki llers
BY DAVID EISENHOWER
Ordinarily, when you come up against
the Kennedy legend and lose, you shrug it
off. It rarely. occurs to anyone that in such
a contest he might win. But when allega-
tions of murder are thrown all over the po-
litical lot except at the very people who are
most likely to have been implicated with
it, it may be worth at least a try at over
coming the invincibility of. that.Kennedy
ethos.
In real terms, this problem comes up as
a result of the recent report of Sen. Frank
r"--We TntP?igpnne Committee. To put
off Castro." CIA aide Richard Bissell re- sponsibility (the Kennedy cases), even calls that President Kennedy ordered the clearer evidence of responsibility is needed
CIA to "get off its ass" against Castro. . to establish. an "inference." Where there
Further, within "three weeks of JFK's in- extremely vague evidence of responsibiisi-
auguration, his national security adviser, ity (the Eisenhower and Nixon cases), no
McGeorge Bundy. was briefed on the de- more than vague hints are needed.
As I said at the outset, people are used
within the elopment of CIA. "assassination capability" to less than equity when dealing with the
within Mr. Er7fndy "supposedlydid" Kennedy legend. And, in recent years, poli-
not order it stopped nor, supposedly, did ticians have gotten used to throwing
he tell President Kennedy. Robert Kennedy-
was informed at least twice about Mafia around ' i.ferences" pretty casually. But-
rch committee's action is a deadly
Ch
th
e
u
connections wit ing either to kill Castro,' combination of the two. Even when pro-',
without disavowing either and, supposedly; tectirg'the: Kennedys," it is not'a laughing
without telling his broil er, the President, matter to throw out inferences of murder ?
the matter as, starkly as possible, and also:: about them; Robert Kenneay_ is,-: in.;UUL, 'into a public forum where the distinctions
as truthfully as possible, where there is the" frequently portrayed:.by the; Church com between "inferences" and - facts get
United States might have known about and '
sanctioned assassination, attempts, -the Even when protecting
Church' committee uses the'-strongest Ian- out inrerences u[ -ietue ucc similarly. And respect for the law ano for
guage?with -the most sinister implications. ''Into a public forum, where American ideals is supposed to be the rea-kably obvious that. the. for
It John F. Kennedy-anel the at the. distinctions between aaln-.. so son why the Church committee is washing,
much dirty laundry in public. We have
feelings of the Kennedy fans, you should
treat accusations of murder similarly in
similar cases.
,
the evidence is weakest and" most atten- - That's what the law, is supposed to be
laughing matter to throw,. - +_e +;, a ;imi,a,?,,. sit?atecl neonle
'Strai htforward Acti +I ' ? it looks.
g r mL ri It + +l, F
der, President Eisenhower is accused of in- a Y CIA activities, a -proposition which Tom There are a couple of problem's with thin
volvement in plans to assassinate, Patrice Braden, a Washington columnist With: close' "posh,: e. Ore-is that we may. be letting stuff
Congo nba,? 'a shortly leader in the Kennedy associations and a.former Office out that Ls worse than~wnat really happens-
Congo before and nd s'rortly after its inde- ll
of. Strategic Services man himself, thinks In' 'other words, in the cases of a three
pendence from Belgium. The ent of the -is "impossible. to imagine." Presidents, there is apparently less going
involvement is. that at a meeting of the Na- All of this activity, the Church 'cbmmit on than meets an eye scanning the Church
tional Secur ty Council, President Eisen tee concludes, shows - only-,that -President report.. A report from an, American Senate
f committee accusing vvlsh' Americans of plotting
r "sis said to have expressed the
o
for "'straightforward activity" against Lu-: Kennedy was interested in some kind,
for 1
recollection comes from one abroad strategy" to bring: about Cuban de- murder is one t:~,ing if it. is solidly based. It
mocracy becomes quite another ,thing, something =
mumbaM This
uncorroborated witness:, At- least " three"- more like the most irresponsible kind . of
other witnesses of the. same- meeting did Moving right along, despite.a. mountaur partisanship
n if it is a device' aimed at one
not recall an y such order.. of evidence. of Kennedy' displeasure.: with party" by another, using only the most
A day later, Director of the CIA Allen the Ngo Dinh -Diem regime and undoubted . , I
US. involvement in the coup against him flimsy evidence:
temps"is reported to have authorized an at- And what good will the deport do? We
tempt on Lumumba, resulting in the trans and his brother Nhu, the Church commit- know it-has demoralized the CIA- What we
mission of various guns and-poisons to the, tee finds the Kennedys. absolved because cannot know s
Congo of his Congolese, captors-his spontaneous acts." they will respect our candor. I cannot help
death unrelated to a CIA plot, according to General Trujillo of the Dominican Repub they
but think that this is akin to thinking a rap-
the Senate committee itself. On the basis of lit, though plotted with the knowledge of ist will be admired for confessing
the one "straightforward activity" remark, . American ""personnel" _read "the? Presi-.._ .. Beyond a. few vague pieties about not
the committee.draws the "inference" that dent, John F. Kennedy") is construed by assassinating people, hedged with more
President Eisenhower authorized an assas- Church's group as defiance of 'Kennedy's `.ague words about not barring covert more sination. - written statement that assassination is tivities, the Church report offers t ae-
ante abo ut how the CIA should be conduct-
On the other hand, the Kennedy broth-wrong (though not so wrong as to prevent
U.S. recognition of Trujillo's assassins
ers are held by the committee to have in- itself, which, after all, is supposed to
should they succeed.)
been unaware of the repeated murder ef- be the main product of the Church commit-
forts were pe on,the following evi- When the 'report.' comes to Richard tee.-Perhaps that will come with the com-
deuce: There were repeated presidential- Nixon, Sen.: Church's committee finds mittee's final report in a few months. In +
level-discussions of the Kennedys` displeas- "inferences"-.,.that- President Nixon gave the meantime, is any broader purpose than
politicians bbeing roader
served? It's
N' ity pu 1,
ure with Castro: As in the Eisenhower-Lu- carte blanche to the CIA to kill` whoever the meantime,
mumbacase-, Sen. -Church?found references -necessary to keep Allende from power in hard to see what that might be.
to suggestions for "straightforward act- Chile,: and'therefore Mr. Nixon should be assassination. Just the sound of the
ivity" against Castro. responsible-for "the death of General Rene word makes one's slap crawl. The commit-
Schneider. General Schneider had been a tee?report calls it "a coldblooded, targeted
However, in what seems to some ears to -target for: CIA kidna ping,' but died In a'-
be stronger language, those discussions b p intentional killing of a. political leader."'
also included references to "disposing of non-CIA" connected kidnapping: Don't we need far more tangible, convinc-1
Castro." CIA director John McCone re- The Church committee is thus giving us ing proof before we even begin to make
calls that discussions with the Kennedys more than a double standard. It is saving such grave charges against Presidents
were even -drawn in terms- of "knocking that. where there. is clear evidence of re- Kennedy or N}xon or my grandfather
Approved For elease 2002108/21 CIA RnoQOR017 4"orin -
.-a- v ~ cv n~Tr'co 0
President in question' is absolved. Where 'the Kennedys
it is not' a"
Church, so let it all out;. no matter how bad
blurred.