FTR-246 Update on America's Political Assassinations (One 30-minute segment)

America's political assassinations of the 1960's and 1970's (a major focal point of Mr. Emory's work over the years) have exerted a major effect on American society, and they overlap much of this country's history over the last several decades.

1. The program begins with a story about the indictment of two suspects in the 16th St. Baptist Church bombing, one of the most notorious crimes of the 1960's civil rights struggle. (The New York Times, 5/18/2000, p. A1.)

2. That bombing (on September 15, 1963) has evidentiary tributaries running in the direction of the assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Reviewing information from RFA-8, the program sets forth excerpts of an interview with Joseph Adams Milteer (a member of the National States Rights Party, an explicitly racist and fascist American political party.) (From The Assassinations: Dallas and Beyond, edited by Peter Dale Scott, Paul L. Hoch, and Russell Stetler, Vintage Press, copyright 1976.)

3. The interview highlighted in this segment was conducted by an undercover Miami police informant on November 10, 1963--twelve days before President Kennedy's assassination. (For more on this connection, see G-4, as well as FTR #'s 191, 196 and, of course, RFA-8.) In addition to describing plans to kill Dr. King and President Kennedy by ambushing them from upper-story windows with high-powered rifles, Milteer linked the impending crimes with the bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church bombing. (Idem.)

4. The first attorney for James Earl Ray (the patsy in the assassination of Martin Luther King) was Arthur Hanes, Sr. In addition to being the mayor of Birmingham (Alabama) when the 16th St. Baptist Church bombing occurred, Hanes represented Robert Chambliss, the Ku Klux Klan member convicted of the crime. Hanes resigned his position as a special agent for the FBI, because he considered the Bureau's position on civil rights to be too liberal. He also worked as a contract agent for the CIA in connection with the Bay of Pigs invasion, itself inextricably linked to the JFK assassination.

5. Next, the program notes the death of Loyd Jowers, the former Memphis cafe owner who claimed he hired someone other than James Earl Ray to kill Dr. King. (Jowers' claims are discussed at length in FTR-46.) (San Jose Mercury News, 5/23/2000, p. 5B.)

6. Seriously ill for some time, Jowers had been successfully sued for wrongful death by the King family in connection with Dr. King's killing. (Idem.) (For more on this suit, see also: FTR #'s 133, 191.)

7. Shortly after Jowers' death, the Justice Department upheld the verdict that Ray was the lone-nut assassin of Dr. King, despite massive evidence to the contrary. (The New York Times, 6/10/2000, p. A8.)

8. Interestingly (and perhaps significantly) just two days before the Justice Department announced its conclusion, Ernest H. Avants was indicted by a federal grand jury in the murder of a civil rights worker in 1966. (The San Francisco Examiner, 6/8/200, p. A19.)

9. The killing was connected to a possible conspiracy against the life of Dr. King. (Idem.) Attorneys for Sirhan Sirhan recently moved to overturn his conviction in connection with the assassination of Robert Kennedy. (San Francisco Chronicle, 5/26/2000, p. A6; Los Angeles Times, 5/26/200, p. A15.)

10. Sirhan's counsel presented a number of points that were set forth in RFA#9. Among those points: there was more than one shooter; evidence of extra bullets and guns was destroyed by the LAPD; witnesses were intimidated or ignored by LAPD; physical evidence was either altered and/or substituted; indications that Sirhan had been placed under mind control were ignored. (Idem.)

11. The program concludes with discussion of the possible assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr. (This subject is discussed at greater length in FTR#175.) JFK, Jr. was the focus of a kidnap threat, in which the fact that he had no bodyguards was highlighted. (The New York Times, 6/20/2000, p. A 15.)

12. The evidence of the cause of Kennedy's crash remains ambiguous. (The New York Times, 6/24/2000, p. A16.) As discussed in FTR#175, Kennedy had been discussed as a potential figure on the Democratic ticket for the year 2000. (See also: G1, G2, G3, G4; RFA #'s 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 37; Miscellaneous Archive Shows M3, M20, M22, M25, M29, M37, M38, M56, M59, M60, as well as FTR #'s 8, 19, 26, 27, 46, 47, 50, 54, 62, 63, 71, 72, 76, 94, 95, 104, 108, 110, 111, 114, 115, 116, 120, 142, 158, 168, 188, 190, 191, 223, 236, 244.) (Recorded on 8/27/2000.)