JFK & JBS
But now that the subject of the John Birch Society has come up, people may find the following information interesting. It describes the full-page ad that was placed in the Dallas Morning News on the morning of President Kennedy's visit to Dallas and JFK's reaction to it and what people thought about the John Birch Society, the ones responsible for placing the ad.
"...The entire page 14 of the Dallas Morning News, November 22nd, 1963, was devoted to an advertisement, ominously bordered in black like an announcement of mourning. Under the sardonic heading, "WELCOME MR KENNEDY TO DALLAS," an organization styling itself as "The American Fact-Finding Committee" -- a local coordinator of the John Birch Society and Nelson Bunker Hunt, the son of H. L. Hunt, it later developed, were the committee's most prominent members -- asked the President twelve rhetorical questions. He was accused of responsiblity for the imprisonment, starvation, and persecution of 'thousands of Cubans.' The ad declared that he was selling food to the Communist party, and asked, among other things, 'Why have you ordered or permitted your brother Bobby, the Attorney General, to go soft on Communists, fellow-travelers, and ultra-leftists in America, while permitting him to persecute loyal Americans who criticize you, your administration, and your leadership?'
"It was another 'Wanted for Treason' broadside. But there were two differences. This denunciation was reaching a vast audience through the pages of a respected newspaper. And it was appearing within hours of the President's arrival.
"'Mr Kennedy', the ad concluded, 'we DEMAND answers to these questions, and we want them NOW.'
"...In 1963 the Dallas Morning News was published by a man named Ted Dealey [as in Dealey Plaza]. When criticized for it later, Dealey said that before agreeing to print the JBS ad, he'd read it meticulously and approved it, arguing that it 'represented what the Dallas Morning News have been saying editorially'.
"Actually, in agreeing to go to Texas, JFK knew he was heading into extremely hostile territory. Joe Pool - the Democratic Congressman from Dallas - was heavily backed by big money . He told "Big D" constituents that the Kennedy administration had "turned my stomach". The mayor of Dallas - Earle Cabell - was a friend and associate of Robert Welch, the founder of the John Birch Society. The mayor and his wealthy cronies hated JFK. Some of them affixed bumper-stickers to their cars saying "K.O. the Kennedys". Their wives played a game called "Which Kennedy do you hate the most?".... Prosperous, well educated young marrieds gathered over jumbo highballs in the trendy suburbs to swap jokes about assassination and lewd gossip about the First Family.
"When JFK woke up that morning in Fort Worth, Texas the Dallas Morning News was delivered with his coffee. At first he was too busy to read it and it wasn't until after the breakfast banquet, when he was back in his hotel room, that one of his aides - Kenny O'Donnell - opened the paper to the appropriate page and showed it to him. His face turned grim and he shook his head, commenting that it was unimaginable that a paper could do such a thing.
"He handed it to Jackie saying, 'We're heading into nut country today'. O'Donnell took the paper to a window and reread it. The President prowled the floor. Abrubtly he paused in front of his wife. 'You know, last night would have been a hell of a night to assassinate a President', he murmured. He said it casually, and she took it lightly; it was his way of shaking off the ad... 'I mean it,' he said now, building the daydream. 'There was the rain, and the night, and we were all getting jostled. Suppose a man had a pistol in a briefcase.' He gestured vividly, pointing his rigid index finger at the wall and jerking his thumb twice to show the action of the hammer. 'Then he could have dropped the gun and the briefcase--' in pantomime he dropped them and whirled in a tense crouch-- 'and melted away in the crowd.' Lyndon Johnson came in immediately after this 007 caper... Jacqueline Kennedy examined the still uncertain sky. She hoped it would darken. It would be ridiculous to spend all that time getting ready and then ruin everything in a forty-five-minute ride in an open car. 'Oh, I want the bubbletop,' she said wistfully.
"...The President and Mrs Kennedy mounted the ramp onto Air Force One at 11:23. Evelyn Lincoln photographed them with a new Polaroid and followed... O'Brien, from his limousine, watched the President's embarkation. 'Flying to Dallas?' asked the driver. Larry nodded. With Forth Worth chauvinism the man commented, 'That's the hell hole of the world.'
"During the 13 minute flight from Fort Worth to Dallas, JFK was in the tail-end compartment talking about the Texas press to the men who where gathered there. "'It's bad', he said, holding one newspaper aloft to Kellerman, Hill, and McHugh. 'What's worse, it's inaccurate.' Godfrey came in and said, 'If you think that's bad, Mr President, wait till you see the Dallas News.' 'I have seen it,' Kennedy said heavily. He paced forward along the corridor outside his bedroom and paused in the doorway. On a narow bench outside, O'Donnell was sitting with Connally... Kennedy didn't enter the discussion. He had left that to his lieutenants. Besides, his mind was still on the morning papers. 'What kind of journalism do you call the Dallas Morning News?' he fumed at Ken. 'You know who's responsible for that ad? Dealey. Remember him? After that exhibition he put on in the White House I did a little checking on him. He runs around calling himself a war correspondent, and everybody in Dallas believes him.' The President added a highly derogatory statement about the publisher.
"He saw Thomas approaching and motioned him into the bedroom, saying ... 'What can I do for you this morning, Congressman?' and Thomas answered, 'Mr President, it's the other way round. If I can't win after what you did for me in Houston, I don't deserve to get elected.' There was a tap on the door. Dave Powers handed Kennedy his Trade Mart speech. Thomas added gravely, 'But if I were you, I'd be careful what I said in Dallas. It's a tough town.' Kennedy let it pass. Nothing he had seen this morning had encouraged him to soften a word. The Washington correspondent of the Dallas Times Herald, who had seen the advance copy of the speech, had warned his office that it was 'a withering blast at his right-wing critics.' The President intended it to be just that. 'Why don't you give Kenny a hand?' Kennedy said, glancing at the door. 'That's why I'm here,' said the Congressman, and went out.
