JFK - A Very Special Window

I am one of the many people who have never given up on the search for who killed John Kennedy. It is one of my favorite "parlor games." In a way I hope it is never solved as it would deprive me of a lifelong hobby. I was 9 years old when Kennedy was killed in Dallas. It was a major event in my young life.

Recently- about 4 years ago- a window purported to be the one Lee Harvey Oswald fired from, was offered for sale on E-Bay. The price went as high as $3 million dollars! But, even more intriguing is the fact that the buildings owner, oilman D. Harold Byrd, had the window removed shortly after the assassination and framed in his office. This begs the question;

Who is D. Harold Byrd? And what is his connection to the Book Depository?

In May 1963 when the planning for the President's Dallas trip began, Mr. Byrd purchased the Sexton Building and renamed it the Texas School Book Depository. Sounds like the school system owned it. But in fact it was a private company owned by Mr. Byrd, who was, as I have already stated, an oilman who was no fan of the president. With the Kennedy administration hammering away at the Oil Depletion Allowance; which is still in effect today; Mr. Byrd stood to lose millions of dollars if the allowance were terminated.

The Sexton Building sat on one of the routes necessary for the President to reach his destination at the Trade Mart. The other route was around the corner, and changed at the last minute. The Convention Center had already been booked for November 22nd by Pepsi-Cola for their annual meeting, during which they would be discussing the shortage of sugar due to Castro's continued hold on Cuba, which they blamed on Kennedy's policies concerning the island, and the increase in the price of sugar which was cutting deeply into their bottom line.

Mr. Byrd was also the founder of the Civil Air Patrol- the group that links Oswald and David Ferrie to JFK's murder. Mr. Byrd was a former employer and partner with George DeMorschildt, the man who, along with his wife; and later with Ruth Paine; befriended Oswald in Dallas in the days leading up to the assassination.  And, both were connected to George H.W. Bush, President of Zappata Offshore Oil. Zappata is the entity that "donated" the million dollars demanded by the Watergate Burglars to ensure their silence in the wake of the Watergate Burglary, which toppled the Presidency of Richard Nixon.

6 weeks prior to the assassination of JFK, and only a few weeks after Mr. Byrd had the building opened for operation, Lee Harvey Oswald was steered to the job there by Mrs. Ruth Paine, who was an acquaintance of Mr. Byrd's. Coincidence? Probably not. The chances of ever really knowing the truth are probably slim to none. But the story of Mr. Byrd, and his purchase of the window from the building he owned at the time of the murder of JFK, smacks of a man who wanted a trophy of sorts from one of the most shocking deeds of the 20th century. At any rate, it's food for thought.

Here's an article from the Wall Street Journal in 2009 about this window; and another one; which was also removed from the Book Depository. It seems that there is some speculation about which window is the real window. The article makes interesting reading, as it underscores just how much of an impact JFK's assassination had at the time, and the fascination which it still holds today, 50 years after that day in Dallas.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123517243943836945.html  

"The Hoax" with Richard Gere (2006)

This is a great movie about Clifford Irving’s alleged attempt to forge an autobiography of Howard Hughes. I say alleged because I have never been convinced that Mr. Irving wasn't the foil of larger forces. Think about it; a mediocre author, rejected by his publisher; suddenly comes up with the idea, and opportunity, to do an autobiography of the world’s richest and most reclusive man, and manages to secure a whopping $100,000 advance from the publisher. Now he has to produce the book.

In his mind he is in actual contact with the legendary millionaire via handwritten letters detailing his life’s story. But is he? The handwriting experts all say the letters are genuine, but are they? In this cinematic version, based on actual documents and interviews, the author has hatched this plan with a friend, who doubts that the scheme will work. Banking on the greed of the publisher to land the most coveted book of the last 50 years, they study Hughes’ handwriting, honing their skills to perfection, and then creating the letters.

When he is accused of forging the letters, he manages to raise the advance to $1 million dollars, which only serves to ratchet up the pressure to produce the book. 

The money is exchanged based on the publisher’s eagerness to get the book out, only to be outwitted by either the author, or the forces he claims are arrayed against him. The goal, of course, was to add fuel to the fire when the real powers that be decided to bring Nixon down via Watergate. What better ammunition to have than a documented payment from Hughes via a disgraced publisher to a suspect author? If this seems confusing you really need to brush up on the connections between the Bay of Pigs, Dealey Plaza, and finally the Watergate affair, which was concocted to bring down the President by exposing his links to some of the most atrocious events of the 1960’s.

Excellent acting by Richard Gere; along with a tightly woven account of the events; are the things which drive this film, making it well worth watching.

"Something In the Air" - Thunderclap Newman (1969)

"Something In the Air” is one of those songs which linger in my memory from 1969. The band was formed with help from Pete Townshend of The Who, along with Speedy Keen, a musician friend of Mr. Townshend’s, who produced their first album. There is a great jazz piano break near the end of this song, which acts as a bridge. The song itself is fairly radical for the times, and was even used in the end scene of “The Magic Christian” with Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. It’s the scene at the end, the one which illustrates just how far people will go to have money.

The 1960’s was a time when values, particularly in England, were changing world wide. The difference was that in England the British had had such a rough time of it that the older generation was afraid for the younger generation, concerned only with security. The fact that this quest for security came at a time when England was still on rations; which they were into the early 1960’s; never occurred to them as a contradiction. The young saw it as ludicrous; I mean if you can’t have enough food and gasoline, then what security are you speaking of; the security of want?

Here in America, where we had been virtually untouched by war, the young merely wanted to avoid being drafted and sent to war. They wanted artistic freedom and musical change. And that’s where all of the music entered into the equation. The people in power had the money, but the young people had the music, which could be converted into money by the artists, making them somewhat equal with those in power.

Ever since Elvis visited Nixon in the White House, there has been a steady stream of performers; from Bono to Michael Jackson; and no President gets elected without the support of un-elected celebrities to support them and bring in the youth vote. Even if you don’t like it, you have to acknowledge it.