Anyone looking through the old tales of hookers and mobsters in Seymour Hersh's new JFK book, Dark Side of Camelot will come to some interesting new information. Hersh reports that members of the security operation for General Dynamics broke into the apartment of Judith Exner Campbell in August 1962. According to Hersh, they used whatever they found there to black mail JFK into making a controversial award of the TFX (Tactical Experimental Fighter) plane development to General Dynamics. (The TFX later evolved into the F-111) Hersh claims all this became known because the FBI spied on the General Dynamics spies.
Such private covert ops as a tool of corporate control grew from practices like those of former Senator George Smathers, interviewed by the ABC television program based on Hersh's book. In the 1950s, Smather's law firm hired guards from a subsidiary of the security services apparatus of his friend George Wackenhut. The guards worked at the nuclear-bomb site in Nevada and Cape Canaveral, despite federal prohibition against such an arrangement between government and private police. The private group Wackenhut still supplies security to the US-owned Area 51. Steamshovel examines this issue in the book NASA, Nazis and JFK (click Steamshovel book cover above), and also makes available The Torbitt Document Supplement, with a longer article on Smathers.
Additionally, Steamshovel presents here JFK's public statements as president on the TFX. It includes references to various dimensions of the controversy surrounding the contract with General Dynamics, the topic of Kennedy's last speech on November 22, including early financial commitment to it from Australia, home of Pine Gap, the down-under Area 51.
THE PRESIDENT: I see nothing wrong with the Congress looking at these matters. My judgment is that the decision reached by Secretary McNamara was the right one, sound one, and any fair and objective hearing will bring that out. Mr. McNamara chose the plane he chose because he felt it most efficient, because he thought it would do the job and because he thought it would save the Government hundreds of millions of dollars. Everything I have read about the TFX and seen about it confirms my impression that Mr. McNamara was right. We have a very good, effective Secretary of Defense with a great deal of courage, who is willing to make hard decisions, and who doesn't mind when they are made that a good many people don't like it. This contract involves a large amount of money and naturally some people would prefer it to go another place than the place which the Secretary chose. I think the Secre tary did the right thing and I think this investigation will bring that out, and I have no objection to anyone looking at the contract as long as they feel that a useful function is served.
Q. Do you think the hearing that has been held has been fair and objective?
THE PRESIDENT: I would think that-I'm confident that we all know a lot more about the TFX than we did before, and that's a good thing. And my judgment is that the more this hearing goes on, the more convinced people are finally that Secretary McNamara is a very effective Secretary of Defense and that we're lucky to have him. ...
Q. Mr. President, the TFX fighter plane controversy has drawn more attention to Senator Case's criticism of those politicians who in recent campaigns have urged the public to elect candidates on the grounds that they can bring more big defense contracts into those particular States, the implication being that they could use political influence to do this. Now, do you feel that this sort of a proposition to the public builds confidence that these big defense contracts are being let fairly?
THE PRESIDENT: I think the contracts are being let fairly. But of course, there's great competition, and it's no wonder because thousands of people, jobs are involved. The fact of the matter is defense contracts have been concentrated in two or three States really, in space contracts, because those States have had the historical experience and also because they have a concentrated engineering and educational infrastructure which puts them in a successful position. For example, a good percentage of the contracts traditionally in space have gone to the State of California, and in defense, because the great defense plants-for all the reasons, really, since the end of World War 11. So Senators and Congressmen who are concerned about unemployment among their citizens, who are concerned about the flow of tax dollars, will continue to press. But the fact of the matter is that we have a Secretary of Defense who's making very honest judgments in these matters, and I know from personal experience that some Senators and Congressmen who recently visited Secretary McNamara, asking to present plans from being turned down, who happen to be members of my own party, and indeed, even more closely related, have been rejected by the Secretary of Defense.
Q. If I may follow that up, Senator Case has proposed that a watchdog committee be created to look into these--
THE PRESIDENT: To watch the Congressmen and Senators? Well, that will be fine, if they feel they should be watched! ...
Q. Mr. President, in regard to the TFX contract, would you describe your per sonal role, specifically? Did you make any suggestions as to who should get the con- tract?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I did not. No. This was completely the Defense Department.
Q. Do you share the view of some officials in the Pentagon that members of the McClellan committee, particularly those up for reelection next year, may have been politically motivated in attacking the award to General Dynamics?
THE PRESIDENT: As I said, when a contract goes to one State, then the company may involve or the Senators may involve or the Congressmen want it to go to another. I would not get into that question, because I do not think that is the important point. I assume that the McClellan committee, on which I once served, will render a fair judgment. Number 2, I am confident of the TFX contract because I am confident of Secretary McNamara. Therefore, as I've said, this hearing can go on as long as they feel it serves a useful result, and whatever the motivations may be-and I wouldn't attempt to explore them-I have confidence in the committee and the members involved.
Q. Is it valid, sir, for the Government to give a defense contract to a firm in order to keep that firm as part of the production arsenal of this country? And, two, did that happen in the case of the TFX award to General Dynamics?
THE PRESIDENT: No, to the last part. In the first case, if it is a hypothetical case, I would say it would depend on the circumstances, how great the need is. Is it for particular kinds of tools which we might need in the case of an emergency? I can think of cases where it would be valid. It has nothing to do with the TFX.
Q. Sir, the fact that Admiral Anderson was not retained as Chief of Navy Operations has been written about in such a way as to imply that he did not measure up to your expectations as a head of the Navy, that he might have bucked reorgani- zation plans, that he opposed Defense Secretary McNamara on the TFX, and other things which you probably are familiar with Is it true that he was not retained as a sort of warning to others in the Navy to get in line with the Secretary and yourself?
THE PRESIDENT: No, that isn't the reason As a matter of fact, Admiral Anderson is going to continue to serve the United States Government. I am very gratified that he has. I talked with him today and he has agreed to accept-to continue to serve the United States Government in a position of high responsibility. So quite obviously, the reasons-if I did not have the highest confidence in him I would not want him to continue.
Q. Could you tell us what post, Sir, he will serve in?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I--he continues as, of course, head of the Navy through August and therefore at an appropriate time this summer we will make an announcement. But he has agreed to continue to serve and I am delighted because I think he will be a great addition to the Government in this new position which requires a good deal of skill, which requires a good deal of dedication, and to which I would appoint someone for whom I had only a high regard.
Q. Mr. President, do you see anything in the relationship of the Secretary of the Navy Korth to the TFX contract which would suggest a conflict of interest?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I don't. I have the highest regard for Mr. Korth, Mr. Gilpatric, Mr. McNamara, and it seems to me the matter has been looked into for many months and I think they have emerged in a very good position.
Q. Mr. President, Navy Secretary Korth had some correspondence which indicated he worked very hard for the Con- tinental National Bank of Fort Worth while he was in Government, as well as for the Navy, and that during this same period of time that he negotiated, or took part in the decision on a contract involving that bank's-one of that bank's best customers, the General Dynamics firm. I wonder if this fulfills the requirements of your Code of Ethics in Government, and if, in a general way, you think that it is within the law and proper?
THE PRESIDENT: In the case of the contract-the TFX contract-as you know, that matter was referred to the Department of Justice to see whether there was a conflict of interest and the judgment was that there was not. That is number one. Number two, the amount of the loan to the company. That bank was one of a number of banks which participated in a line of credit and it was relatively a small amount of money, as bank loans go. So in answer to your question, I have no evidence that Mr. Korth acted in any way improperly in the TFX matter. It has nothing to do with any opinion I may have about whether Mr. Korth might have written more letters and been busier than he should have been in one way or another. The fact of the matter is, I have no evidence that Mr. Korth benefited improperly during his term of office in the Navy. And I have no evidence, and you have not, as I understand it-the press has not produced any, nor the McClellan committee-which would indicate that in any way he acted improperly in the TFX. I always have believed that innuendoes should be justified before they are made, either by me, in the Congress, or even in the press.
Mr. Vice President, Jim Wright, Governor, Senator Yarborough, Mr. Buck, ladies and gentlemen:
There are no faint hearts in Fort Worth, and I appreciate your being here this morning. Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself. It takes longer, but, of course, she looks better than we do when she does it. But we appreciate your welcome.
This city has been a great western city, the defense of the West, cattle, oil, and all the rest. It has believed in strength in this city, and strength in this State, and strength in this country.
What we are trying to do in this country and what we are trying to do around the world, I believe, is quite simple: and that is to build a military structure which will defend the vital interests of the United States. And in that great cause, Fort Worth, as it did in World War II, as it did in de- veloping the best bomber system in the world, the B-58, and as it will now do in developing the best fighter system in the world, the TFX, Fort Worth will play its proper part. And that is why we have placed so much emphasis in the last 3 years in building a defense system second to none, until now the United States is stronger than it has ever been in its history. And secondly, we believe that the new environment, space, the new sea, is also an area where the United States should be second to none.
And this State of Texas and the United States is now engaged in the most concentrated effort in history to provide leadership in this area as it must here on earth. And this is our second great effort. And in December-next month-the United States will fire the largest booster in the history of the world, putting us ahead of the Soviet Union in that area for the first time in our history.
And thirdly, for the United States to fulfill its obligations around the world requires that the United States move forward economically, that the people of this country participate in rising prosperity. And it is a fact in 1962, and the first 6 months of 1963, the economy of the United States grew not only faster than nearly every Western country, which had not been true in the fifties, but also grew faster than the Soviet Union itself. That is the kind of strength the United States needs, economically, in space, militarily.
And in the final analysis, that strength depends upon the willingness of the citizens of the United States to assume the burdens of leadership.
I know one place where they are, here in this rain, in Fort Worth, in Texas, in the United States. We are going forward. Thank you.
NOTE: The President spoke at 8:45 a.m. (c.s.t.) to a group assembled in a parking lot across the street from the Texas Hotel where the Chamber of Commerce breakfast was about to begin. In his opening words he referred to Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Representative Jim Wright, Governor John B. Connally, and Senator Ralph W. Yarborough, all of Texas, and to Raymond Buck, president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Buck, Mr. Vice President, Governor Connally, Senator Yarborough, Jim Wright, members of the congressional delegation, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Attorney General, ladies and gentlemen:
Two years ago, I introduced myself in Paris by saying that I was the man who had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Paris. I am getting somewhat that same sensation as I travel around Texas. Nobody wonders what Lyndon and I wear.
I am glad to be here in Jim Wright's city. About 35 years ago, a Congressman from California who had just been elected received a letter from an irate constituent which said: "During the campaign you promised to have the Sierra Madre Mountains reforested. You have been in office one month and you haven't done so." Well, no one in Fort Worth has been that unreasonable, but in some ways he has had the Sierra Madre Mountains reforested, and here in Fort Worth he has contributed to its growth.
He speaks for Fort Worth and he speaks for the country, and I don't know any city that is better represented in the Congress of the United States than Fort Worth. And if there are any Democrats here this morning, I am sure you wouldn't hold that against him.
Three years ago last September I came here, with the Vice President, and spoke at Burke Burnett Park, and I called, in that speech, for a national security policy and a national security system which was second to none-a position which said not first, but, if, when and how, but first. That city responded to that call as it has through its history. And we have been putting that pledge into practice ever since.
And I want to say a word about that pledge here in Fort Worth, which understands national defense and its importance to the security of the United States. During the days of the Indian War, this city was a fort. During the days of World War I, even before the United States got into the war, Royal Canadian Air Force pilots were training here. During the days of World War II, the great Liberator bombers, in which my brother flew with his co-pilot from this city, were produced here.
The first nonstop flight around the world took off and returned here, in a plane built in factories here. The first truly intercontinental bomber, the B-36, was produced here. The B-58, which is the finest weapons system in the world today, which has demon- strated most recently in flying from Tokyo to London, with an average speed of nearly 1,000 miles per hour, is a Fort Worth product.
The Iroquois helicopter from Fort Worth is a mainstay in our fight against the guerrillas in South Viet-Nam. The transportation of crews between our missile sites is done in planes produced here in Fort Worth. So wherever the confrontation may occur, and in the last 3 years it has occurred on at least three occasions, in Laos, Berlin, and Cuba, and it will again-wherever it occurs, the products of Fort Worth and the men of Fort Worth provide us with a sense of security.
And in the not too distant future a new Fort Worth product-and I am glad that there was a table separating Mr. Hicks and myself-a new Fort Worth product, the TFX Tactical Fighter Experimental-nobody knows what those words mean, but that is what they mean, Tactical Fighter Experimental-will serve the forces of freedom and will be the number one airplane in the world today.
There has been a good deal of discussion of the long and hard fought competition to win the TFX contract, but very little discussion about what this plane will do. It will be the first operational aircraft ever produced that can literally spread its wings through the air. It will thus give us a single plane capable of carrying out missions of speed as well as distance, able to fly very far in one form or very fast in another. It can take off from rugged, short airstrips, enormously increasing the Air Force's ability to participate in limited wars. The same basic plane will serve the Navy's carriers, saving the taxpayers at least $1 billion in costs if they built separate planes for the Navy and the Air Force.
The Government of Australia, by purchasing $125 million of TFX planes before they are even off the drawing boards, has already testified to the merit of this plane, and at the same time it is confident in the ability of Fort Worth to meet its schedule. In all these ways, the success of our national defense depends upon this city in the western United States, 10,000 miles from Viet-Nam, 5,000 or 6,ooo miles from Berlin, thousands of miles from trouble spots in Latin America and Africa or the Middle East. And yet Fort Worth and what it does and what it produces participates in all these great historic events. Texas, as a whole, and Fort Worth bear particular responsibility for this national defense effort, for military procure- ment in this State totals nearly $1 1/4 billion, fifth highest among all the States of the Union. There are more military personnel on active duty in this State than any in the Nation, save one-and it is not Massachusetts-any in the Nation save one, with a combined military-civilian defense payroll of well over a billion dollars. I don't recite these for any partisan purpose. They are the result of American determination to be second to none, and as a result of the effort which this country has made in the last 3 years we are second to none.
In the past 3 years we have increased the defense budget of the United States by over 20 percent; increased the program of acqui- sition for Polaris submarines from 24 to 41; increased our Minuteman missile purchase program by more than 75 percent; doubled the number of strategic bombers and missiles on alert; doubled the number of nuclear weapons available in the strategic alert forces; increased the tactical nuclear forces deployed in Western Europe by over 60 percent; added five combat ready divisions to the Army of the United States, and five tactical fighter wings to the Air Force of the United States; increased our strategic airlift capability by 75 percent; and increased our special counter-insurgency forces which are engaged now in South Viet-Nam by 600 percent. I hope those who want a stronger America and place it on some signs will also place those figures next to it.
This is not an easy effort. This requires sacrifice by the people of the United States. But this is a very dangerous and uncertain world. As I said earlier, on three occasions in the last 3 years the United States has had a direct confrontation. No one can say when it will come again. No one expects that our life will be easy, certainly not in this decade, and perhaps not in this century. But we should realize what a burden and responsibility the people of the United States have borne for so many years. Here, a country which lived in isolation, divided and protected by the Atlantic and the Pacific, uninterested in the struggles of the world around it, here in the short space of 18 years after the Second World War, we put ourselves, by our own will and by necessity, into defense of alliances with countries all around the globe. Without the United States, South Viet-Nam would collapse overnight. Without the United States, the SEATO alliance would collapse overnight. Without the United States the CENTO alliance would collapse overnight. Without the United States there would be no NATO. And gradually Europe would drift into neutralism and indifference. Without the efforts of the United States in the Alliance for Progress, the Communist advance onto the mainland of South America would long ago have taken place.
So this country, which desires only to be free, which desires to be secure, which desired to live at peace for 18 years under three different administrations, has borne more than its share of the burden, has stood watch for more than its number of years. I don't think we are fatigued or tired. We would like to live as we once lived. But history will not permit it. The Communist balance of power is still strong. The balance of power is still on the side of freedom. We are still the keystone in the arch of freedom, and we will continue to do as we have done in our past, our duty, and the people of Texas will be in the lead.
So I am glad to come to this State which has played such a significant role in so many efforts in this century, and to say that here in Fort Worth you people will be playing a major role in the maintenance of the security of the United States for the next 10 years. I am confident, as I look to the future, that our chances for security, our chances for peace, are better than they have been in the past. And the reason is because we are stronger. And with that strength is a determination to not only maintain the peace, but also the vital interests of the United States. To that great cause, Texas and the United States are committed. Thank you.
NOTE: The President spoke at 9 a.m. (c.s.t.) in
the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth. In his opening
words he referred to Raymond Buck, president of
the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, and to Governor John B.
Connally, Senator Ralph W. Yarborough, Repre.
sentative Jim Wright, Byron Tunnell, Speaker of
the State House of Representatives, and Waggoner
Carr, State Attorney General, all of Texas. He later
referred to Marion Hicks, a vice president of Fort
Worth General Dynamics and vice president of the
Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
After the breakfast at the Texas Hotel in
Fort Worth the President flew to Love Field
in Dallas. There he acknowledged greetings for a brief period and then entered an
open car. The motorcade traveled along a
zo-mile route through downtown Dallas on
its way to the Trade Mart, where the President planned to speak at a luncheon. At
approximately 12:30 P-m- (c.s.t.) he was
struck by two bullets fired by an assassin.
The President was pronounced dead at
1 p.m. at the Parkland Hospital in Dallas.