Gen. Landsdale, the CIA & the Kennedy Killing

Herein you will read a copy of a letter Col. L. Fletcher Prouty sent to Jim Garrison at a time when Garrison was having difficulty finding a publisher for his manuscript, ON THE TRAIL OF THE ASSASSINS. Judge Garrison gave a copy of this letter to his publisher who gave a copy to Oliver Stone. When Stone read this letter he said, "I can make a movie of this." That was the beginning of "JFK", a feature film that received 8 Academy Award nominations.

     It is amazing how things work, I am at home recuperating from a major back operation (to regain my ability to walk); so I was tossing around in bed last night... and I began to think of Garrison. I thought, "I have got to write Jim a letter detailing how I believe the whole job was done."
     By another coincidence I had received a fine set of twenty photos from the Sprague Collection in Springfield, Mass. As the odds would have it, he is now living just around the corner here in Alexandria. Why not? Lansdale lived here, Fensterwald lives here. Ford used to live here. Quite a community.
     I was studying those photos. One of them is the "Tramps" picture that appears in your book. It is glossy and clear. Lansdale is so clearly identifiable. Why, Lansdale in Dallas? The others don't matter, they are nothing but actors and not gunmen but they are interesting. Others who knew Lansdale as well as I did, have said the same thing, "That's him. What's he doing there?" As I was reading the paper the Federal Express man came with a book from Jim, that unusual "Lansdale" book. A terrible biography. There could be a great biography about Lansdale. He's no angel; but he is worth a good biography. Currey, a paid hack, did the job. His employers ought to have let him do it right.
     I had known Ed since 1952 in the Philippines. I used to fly there regularly with my MATS Heavy Transport Squadron. As a matter of fact, in those days we used to fly wounded men, who were recuperating, from hospitals in Japan to Saigon for R&R on the beaches of Cap St. Jacques. That was 1952-1953. Saigon was the Paris of the Orient. And Lansdale was "King Maker" of the Philippines. We always went by way of Manila. I met his team.
     He had arrived in Manila in Sept. 1945, after the war was over. He had been sent back there in 1950 by the CIA(OPC) to create a new leader of the Philippines and to get rid of Querino. Sort of like the Marcos deal, or the Noriega operation. Lansdale did it better. I have overthrown a government, but I didn't splash it all around like Reagan and Bush have done.
     Now, who sent him there? Who sent him there in 1950 (Truman era) to do a job that was not done until 1953 (Ike era)? From 1950 to Feb. 1953, the Director of Central Intelligence was Eisenhower's old Chief of Staff, General Walter Bedell Smith. Smith had been Ambassador to Moscow from 1946 to 1949. The lesser guys in the CIA at the time were Allen Dulles, who was Deputy Director Central Intelligence from August 1951 to February 1953. Frank Wisner became the Deputy Director, Plans (Clandestine Activities) when Dulles became DDCI. Lansdale had to have received his orders from among these four men: Truman, Smith, Dulles, and Wisner. Of course the Secretary of State could have had some input... i.e. Acheson. Who wanted Querino out, that badly? Who wanted HUKS there?
     In January 1953, Eisenhower arrived. John Foster Dulles was at State and Gen. Smith his Deputy. Allen Dulles was the DCI and General Cabel his deputy. None of them changed Lansdale's prior orders to "get" Querino. Lansdale operated with abandon in the Philippines. The Ambassador and the CIA Station Chief, George Aurell, did not know what he was doing. They believed he was some sort of kook Air Force Officer there... a role Lansdale played to the hilt. Magsaysay became President, December 30, 1953.
     With all of this on the record, and a lot more, this guy Currey comes out of the blue with this purported "Biography." I knew Ed well enough and long enough to know that he was a classic chameleon. He would tell the truth sparingly and he would fabricate a lot. Still, I can not believe that he told Currey the things Currey writes. Why would Lansdale want Currey to perpetuate such out and out bullshit about him? Can't be. This is a terribly fabricated book. It's not even true about me. I believe that this book was ordered and delineated by the CIA.



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