1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,560 Hello, I'm Steve Gillen, historian for the History Channel. 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:08,320 The tragic death of President John F. Kennedy 40 years ago is one of the greatest mysteries 3 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:10,060 in American history. 4 00:00:10,060 --> 00:00:14,960 In other programs, we have presented numerous theories about the people and events... 5 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:16,800 the assassination. 6 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:22,440 Many of those scenarios, including a mafia cover-up, CIA involvement, and a possible 7 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:28,039 Cuban connection, have been presented in our series, The Men Who Killed Kennedy. 8 00:00:28,039 --> 00:00:34,159 This episode, The Guilty Men, examines yet another theory that President Lyndon Johnson 9 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:35,479 was involved. 10 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:42,719 I know as attorney for Lyndon Johnson that he murdered John Kennedy. 11 00:00:42,719 --> 00:00:48,899 He murdered John Kennedy to become president and to avoid prison, and there is no doubt 12 00:00:48,899 --> 00:00:49,899 in my mind. 13 00:00:49,899 --> 00:00:54,840 You can't kill the president of the United States unless the next president, the head 14 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:59,120 of the FBI and the head of the Secret Service are in on the cover-up. 15 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:05,760 I'd like the entire world to know how I personally feel is the fact Lyndon Johnson... 16 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:08,760 the assassination and was a part of it. 17 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:22,040 Deep in the heart of Texas lie buried some of the darkest and most well-kept secrets 18 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:29,240 that tell us who killed John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, and why. 19 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:40,040 Those forces of darkness revolved around one of that state's most famous political sons, 20 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:41,680 Lyndon Baines Johnson. 21 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:48,680 Born in 1908, he grew up in a comfortable middle-class home in Johnson City. 22 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,360 At an early age, Lyndon showed a keen interest in politics. 23 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:57,960 From the beginning, he was driven by a determination to win, whatever the cost. 24 00:01:57,960 --> 00:01:59,500 In a word, he was ruthless. 25 00:01:59,500 --> 00:02:04,400 There wasn't anything he wouldn't do to get what he wanted, regardless of what it was. 26 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:09,159 And probably the best example would be in 1948 when he was running for the Senate, and 27 00:02:09,159 --> 00:02:14,680 he was running against a man named Coke Stevenson, and the election was very, very... 28 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:17,960 small number of votes, which forced a recount. 29 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:23,560 And once they did the recount, they found out a 201-vote error in a little place called 30 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:24,560 Alice, Texas. 31 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:29,800 And eventually, they found out that the 201 votes had been added, one for Stevenson, 32 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:31,480 200 for LBJ. 33 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:36,400 As a result, he won by 87 votes, and he was nicknamed Landslide Lyndon. 34 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:42,280 But the real name, the name used in the back wards that didn't appear in the newspapers, 35 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:43,280 was Lyon Lyndon. 36 00:02:44,159 --> 00:02:47,759 And that stuck with him the rest of his life. 37 00:02:47,759 --> 00:02:53,759 That rigged ballad became the template for a political career based on bribery and... 38 00:02:53,759 --> 00:02:58,759 The full extent of Johnson's criminal activity only began to unravel 11 years af... 39 00:02:58,759 --> 00:02:59,759 death. 40 00:02:59,759 --> 00:03:06,280 In 1984, at this courthouse in Franklin, Texas, a former Johnson Business Associate... 41 00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:09,759 Solestes, appeared before a grand jury. 42 00:03:09,759 --> 00:03:16,239 During the Billy Solestes, there were eight murders perpetrated on the part of Lyndon... 43 00:03:16,239 --> 00:03:20,439 The first name was a man named Douglas Kinza. 44 00:03:20,439 --> 00:03:26,399 That was followed by a number of men involved in Estes businesses who were corrupt, and 45 00:03:26,399 --> 00:03:29,120 they were all killed with carbon monoxide. 46 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,919 Josepha Johnson's name is listed on this Justice Department document. 47 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:34,599 That's Lyndon Johnson's sister. 48 00:03:34,599 --> 00:03:39,120 So Estes is accusing the Vice President of the United States of murdering his own... 49 00:03:39,159 --> 00:03:43,840 And the eighth name listed is the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. 50 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,920 And then there is a promise of knowing more. 51 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,400 And if Billy Solestes is telling the truth, and there is every reason to believe he is, 52 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:57,719 it gives you an idea of the depth of the corruption and the ruthlessness of Lyndon... 53 00:03:57,719 --> 00:04:04,319 According to Estes' written testimony, that murderous cycle began in 1951 in Austin,... 54 00:04:04,319 --> 00:04:08,340 at this downtown golf course known as Butler's Pitch and Putt. 55 00:04:08,340 --> 00:04:12,539 The killer was a Johnson henchman called Malcolm Wallace. 56 00:04:12,539 --> 00:04:16,100 Malcolm Wallace was born and raised in Texas. 57 00:04:16,100 --> 00:04:22,780 He was Texas bred, Texas educated, a very intelligent man. 58 00:04:22,780 --> 00:04:29,780 And when he graduated from the University of Texas, he was evidently recruited by Lyndon 59 00:04:29,780 --> 00:04:35,660 Johnson and he was given a job at the Federal Department of Agriculture. 60 00:04:35,660 --> 00:04:40,540 John Douglas Kinzer, the golf pro at Butler's Pitch and Putt, was having an affair with 61 00:04:40,540 --> 00:04:44,420 Wallace's wife and with Lyndon Johnson's sister. 62 00:04:44,420 --> 00:04:47,900 Lyndon Johnson's sister, Josepha, was an alcoholic. 63 00:04:47,900 --> 00:04:49,140 She was a drug user. 64 00:04:49,140 --> 00:04:50,940 She was sexually promiscuous. 65 00:04:50,940 --> 00:04:52,500 She had loose lips. 66 00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:59,660 And who knows what she might tell Kinzer or others about Lyndon Johnson's political... 67 00:04:59,660 --> 00:05:06,740 Malcolm Wallace walked into the Pitch and Putt golf course in Austin, Texas and was 68 00:05:06,740 --> 00:05:09,180 shot to death in cold blood. 69 00:05:09,180 --> 00:05:12,660 John Douglas Kinzer. 70 00:05:12,660 --> 00:05:15,220 Kinzer died here for his indiscretions. 71 00:05:15,220 --> 00:05:20,020 Wallace was soon arrested and went on trial in Austin three months later. 72 00:05:20,020 --> 00:05:22,700 First degree murder, open and shut case. 73 00:05:22,700 --> 00:05:26,700 He gets a lawyer known as a Lyndon Johnson lawyer. 74 00:05:26,740 --> 00:05:32,899 So Lyndon Johnson is going to do his best to get his friend out of hot water. 75 00:05:32,899 --> 00:05:39,939 During that trial, Lyndon Johnson took a room at a local hotel and the ten days that 76 00:05:39,939 --> 00:05:46,019 that trial was going constantly sent runners from the hotel to the courthouse to bring 77 00:05:46,019 --> 00:05:48,980 him word of what was going on during the trial. 78 00:05:48,980 --> 00:05:51,819 So he followed the pulse of the trial very, very carefully. 79 00:05:51,939 --> 00:05:57,219 Malcolm Wallace is found guilty of first degree murder, but through influence of... 80 00:05:57,219 --> 00:06:02,699 Johnson, Malcolm Wallace receives a five year suspended sentence. 81 00:06:02,699 --> 00:06:08,420 Lyndon Johnson was able to get his man out of first degree murder. 82 00:06:08,420 --> 00:06:12,420 Much of the control Johnson exercised was acquired through an early alliance with a 83 00:06:12,420 --> 00:06:13,980 fellow Texan. 84 00:06:13,980 --> 00:06:19,639 Edward Clark gained unrivaled power in the late 1930s with a series of high positions 85 00:06:19,639 --> 00:06:21,500 in the state government. 86 00:06:22,180 --> 00:06:26,180 He became Johnson's lawyer and a formidable ally throughout his career. 87 00:06:28,180 --> 00:06:35,180 The power Edward Clark exercised covered almost every avenue of government power in... 88 00:06:35,180 --> 00:06:36,660 of Texas. 89 00:06:36,660 --> 00:06:43,779 He would make sure that important appointments were covered by his men. 90 00:06:43,779 --> 00:06:47,459 The judge's control was through their vote. 91 00:06:47,459 --> 00:06:50,860 He had their decision in the palm of his hand. 92 00:06:51,220 --> 00:06:56,340 This was of course important because Austin was the capital of the state. 93 00:06:56,340 --> 00:07:01,780 Anything that happened legally went through Austin and that meant it went through Clark. 94 00:07:01,780 --> 00:07:05,540 He was known as the secret boss of Texas. 95 00:07:05,540 --> 00:07:12,699 He could and did arrange for people to be killed. 96 00:07:12,699 --> 00:07:16,420 He arranged for money to be laundered. 97 00:07:16,420 --> 00:07:19,540 He had that control. 98 00:07:20,220 --> 00:07:24,220 This building in downtown Austin became the headquarters of Edward Clark's all-powerful 99 00:07:24,220 --> 00:07:25,700 law firm. 100 00:07:25,700 --> 00:07:32,060 Barr McClellan was recruited as a young lawyer in 1966, three years after the... 101 00:07:32,060 --> 00:07:35,260 unaware of the dark secrets hidden within. 102 00:07:35,260 --> 00:07:41,180 Soon after joining, in an after-hours conversation with John Coates, one of the... 103 00:07:41,180 --> 00:07:46,420 Barr was made privy to an astonishing piece of information. 104 00:07:46,500 --> 00:07:55,379 Coates and I started talking and in the course of it, John told me, if the truth b... 105 00:07:55,379 --> 00:08:00,700 Clark arranged the assassination of Kennedy. 106 00:08:00,700 --> 00:08:07,220 It was a kind of statement that you can't easily forget, even though I personally chose 107 00:08:07,220 --> 00:08:10,020 not to believe it at the time. 108 00:08:10,020 --> 00:08:12,620 It stick with me. 109 00:08:12,620 --> 00:08:15,620 Attorneys know they're acting behind a privilege. 110 00:08:15,620 --> 00:08:17,699 They can say things to each other. 111 00:08:17,699 --> 00:08:26,980 And this talk would go on at after-hours drinks, Christmas parties, just traveling 112 00:08:26,980 --> 00:08:27,980 on the road. 113 00:08:27,980 --> 00:08:33,179 And it was like Johnson had to get Kennedy out of the way. 114 00:08:33,179 --> 00:08:38,580 I worked closely with Don Thomas, and Thomas was the business attorney to the president 115 00:08:38,580 --> 00:08:41,940 and was the second man in the law firm. 116 00:08:41,940 --> 00:08:47,900 Thomas and I did a number of cases together, and we traveled the state because he did 117 00:08:47,900 --> 00:08:49,900 not fly. 118 00:08:49,900 --> 00:08:56,620 We'd been to Dallas one day shortly after I became partner, and it was driving back. 119 00:08:56,620 --> 00:09:05,900 And just out of the blue, it seems now, looking back, Thomas said, I am the only... 120 00:09:05,900 --> 00:09:08,500 who knows what happened in Box 13. 121 00:09:08,500 --> 00:09:10,340 And we know what that meant. 122 00:09:10,340 --> 00:09:14,899 That was the stolen 1948 election. 123 00:09:14,899 --> 00:09:17,100 I didn't say anything. 124 00:09:17,100 --> 00:09:20,420 Sometimes it's best just to listen. 125 00:09:20,420 --> 00:09:28,120 And then he looked away and added, but Clark took care of things in Dallas. 126 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:33,860 At that point, what I'd been hearing in the law firm, what John Coats first told me, 127 00:09:34,060 --> 00:09:42,300 I knew it was true, because this came from a man that was Johnson's business attorney, 128 00:09:42,300 --> 00:09:47,419 one of Johnson's most trusted confidants, a man who worked very closely with Johnson 129 00:09:47,419 --> 00:09:55,180 during his maturing years, his growing up years, so to speak, and his president. 130 00:09:55,259 --> 00:10:04,259 When I heard that, there was no question that Clark had been behind the assassination, 131 00:10:04,259 --> 00:10:09,099 and he'd done it for Johnson. 132 00:10:09,099 --> 00:10:17,059 I know beyond a reasonable doubt that Johnson murdered Kennedy. 133 00:10:17,059 --> 00:10:19,779 He acted through Clark. 134 00:10:19,779 --> 00:10:28,779 He saw that it was done, and he did it out of a corruption of power that is unequaled 135 00:10:28,779 --> 00:10:29,779 in our history. 136 00:10:31,779 --> 00:10:37,179 You've been watching The Men Who Killed Kennedy, The Guilty Men, a program which... 137 00:10:37,179 --> 00:10:43,220 just one of the many theories about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. 138 00:10:43,220 --> 00:10:49,100 After becoming a senator in 1948, Johnson developed an unrivaled power base in... 139 00:10:49,420 --> 00:10:54,820 using his forceful personality, political skills, and corruption. 140 00:10:54,820 --> 00:10:59,180 He established himself as one of the most influential men in the nation, but as vice 141 00:10:59,180 --> 00:11:03,220 president to Kennedy, he lost much of that authority. 142 00:11:03,220 --> 00:11:06,820 By 1961, his past was catching up with him. 143 00:11:06,820 --> 00:11:12,820 In Texas, Henry Marshall, a local agricultural official, had begun... 144 00:11:12,820 --> 00:11:16,620 illegal sources of funding. 145 00:11:17,139 --> 00:11:21,539 Working out of these offices in Bryan, Texas, Marshall had become aware of Billy Celestes' 146 00:11:21,539 --> 00:11:25,620 misappropriation of federal cotton allotment funds. 147 00:11:25,620 --> 00:11:29,899 Attempts to buy off Marshall had failed, and his investigations were beginning to threaten 148 00:11:29,899 --> 00:11:33,299 the vice president himself. 149 00:11:33,299 --> 00:11:35,019 Billy Celestes became worried. 150 00:11:35,019 --> 00:11:38,419 Lyndon Johnson became worried, and some of them got together and decided, what are we 151 00:11:38,419 --> 00:11:40,620 going to do with Henry Marshall? 152 00:11:40,620 --> 00:11:46,980 So on one particular day, according to Billy Celestes, Cliff Carter, an aide to Lyndon 153 00:11:46,980 --> 00:11:51,500 Johnson, Lyndon Johnson, the vice president of the United States, and Malcolm Wallace 154 00:11:51,500 --> 00:11:52,940 got together. 155 00:11:52,940 --> 00:11:55,539 And finally, Lyndon made the statement. 156 00:11:55,539 --> 00:11:56,940 Get rid of him. 157 00:11:56,940 --> 00:12:01,580 On June the 3rd, 1961, Henry Marshall failed to return home. 158 00:12:01,580 --> 00:12:05,860 An extensive search was made of the family farm near Franklin, Texas. 159 00:12:05,860 --> 00:12:11,580 His only son, Don, was 11 years old at the time, and remembers that day well. 160 00:12:11,580 --> 00:12:17,379 My uncle found him on the second attempt when he went out to the place. 161 00:12:17,379 --> 00:12:25,500 He was in a very remote location, probably about three quarters of a mile off the road. 162 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:30,620 My mother had this stone placed here in order to mark the spot. 163 00:12:30,620 --> 00:12:34,300 The truck had blood around the sides of it. 164 00:12:34,299 --> 00:12:40,819 The side on the passenger side had a dent in the fender behind the passenger door, 165 00:12:40,819 --> 00:12:45,139 and that's apparently where my father's head was knocked into the side of the truck, 166 00:12:45,139 --> 00:12:49,419 and he had his eye damaged at that point. 167 00:12:49,419 --> 00:12:53,779 There were a number of Yopon bushes that had been broken, and the gun was laying beside 168 00:12:53,779 --> 00:13:01,620 the body, and pretty much nothing else could be seen except signs of a struggle. 169 00:13:01,659 --> 00:13:08,139 Medical officials immediately ruled it a suicide, despite overwhelming evidence to ... 170 00:13:08,139 --> 00:13:13,259 He had been shot five times with a bolt-action rifle. 171 00:13:13,259 --> 00:13:21,700 He had enough carbon monoxide in his lungs to cause him to pass out at the time he died. 172 00:13:21,700 --> 00:13:27,279 There was no effort made to collect any evidence or preserve the crime scene. 173 00:13:27,279 --> 00:13:33,600 They had pretty much determined in their minds that this was going to be a suicide. 174 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:42,120 When Billy Solestis testified before the grand jury in Franklin, he implicated Clif... 175 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:48,639 and Malcolm Wallace as the people that were most involved in my father's murder, Wallace 176 00:13:48,639 --> 00:13:55,120 being the trigger man and Cliff Carter being the one who arranged for the murder. 177 00:13:55,159 --> 00:14:04,440 I'm firmly convinced that Malcolm Wallace was the killer of my father. 178 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:10,759 Who that would have aided, probably political power behind everything, Johnson would have 179 00:14:10,759 --> 00:14:14,019 been aided more than anyone else. 180 00:14:14,019 --> 00:14:22,080 The grand jury concluded Henry Marshall in 1961 was murdered, which means in simple... 181 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:28,800 that the grand jury believed Billy Solestis when he told them that Lyndon Johnson had 182 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:34,680 ordered Malcolm Wallace to kill Henry Marshall. 183 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,960 But Johnson's dark dealings were not confined to Texas. 184 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:43,120 In late summer 1963, one of his long-term partners in crime was about to be exposed 185 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,240 for corruption by a Senate investigation. 186 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:49,759 Bobby Baker was the secretary to the Senate majority. 187 00:14:49,879 --> 00:14:55,159 Basically, he was the secretary for the Senate and he was one of Lyndon Johnson's... 188 00:14:55,159 --> 00:15:02,360 associates and everything that Lyndon Johnson wanted to perpetrate, he had Bobby's help. 189 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:07,159 Essentially, if somebody wanted to get a military contract and they wanted influenc... 190 00:15:07,159 --> 00:15:12,639 Johnson to help them, they had to pay off Bobby Baker who would then pay off Lyndon 191 00:15:12,639 --> 00:15:13,639 Johnson. 192 00:15:13,639 --> 00:15:15,399 It's the world of bribes. 193 00:15:15,559 --> 00:15:20,840 Bobby Baker was involved in a call girl service, he was involved in real estate... 194 00:15:20,840 --> 00:15:26,879 was involved in dealings with organized crime, he was in dealings with oilmen,... 195 00:15:26,879 --> 00:15:30,559 Clint Merkison, an oil millionaire from Texas. 196 00:15:30,559 --> 00:15:34,559 So as a result of all this, Bobby Baker was in big trouble. 197 00:15:34,559 --> 00:15:38,799 And with a little bit of inspiration on the part of the Kennedys that they could get 198 00:15:38,799 --> 00:15:42,559 Bobby Baker to talk, Lyndon was all done. 199 00:15:42,559 --> 00:15:48,959 Lyndon Baines Johnson, if Robert Kennedy had his way, would not only not be on the 200 00:15:48,959 --> 00:15:55,159 1964 ticket as the vice presidential candidate, but he would go to jail for the... 201 00:15:55,159 --> 00:15:58,039 that he was involved with. 202 00:15:58,039 --> 00:16:02,399 Although Johnson faced political extinction at the hands of the Kennedys, he had powerful 203 00:16:02,399 --> 00:16:07,319 allies with their own agendas that threatened the president, as researcher Gregory Burnham 204 00:16:07,319 --> 00:16:08,759 explains. 205 00:16:09,759 --> 00:16:14,039 People would think that he had no enemies, he was so popular, he smiled, he appeared 206 00:16:14,039 --> 00:16:15,039 happy. 207 00:16:15,039 --> 00:16:17,039 Everyone loved him worldwide. 208 00:16:17,039 --> 00:16:22,319 But what people don't seem to understand is behind the scenes he was making changes 209 00:16:22,319 --> 00:16:30,840 and he was making them decisively and he was taking some very, very daring steps. 210 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,960 He was committed to pull out of Vietnam. 211 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:39,040 By October he had signed a document, NSA M263 to that event. 212 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:46,120 A thousand troops home by Christmas and all personnel out of Vietnam by 1965. 213 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:52,000 But that wasn't very good for the military industrial complex. 214 00:16:52,000 --> 00:17:00,200 His abolishing the Central Intelligence Agency, pulling their teeth, holding them ... 215 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:05,200 back to why they were originally created by Truman. 216 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:11,960 Their original mandate by law is only to coordinate intelligence, not to create the 217 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:12,960 Bay of Pigs. 218 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:19,960 NSA M55 told the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the CIA no longer can do that 219 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:26,680 and any military operation has to come directly from them to the president, period. 220 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:32,480 That kind of a document really causes problems. 221 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:37,120 But Texas was home to Kennedy's most dangerous opponents. 222 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:43,019 Oil millionaires and billionaires in Texas were petrified of one major factor that John 223 00:17:43,019 --> 00:17:46,080 F. Kennedy was considering, cutting the oil depletion allowance. 224 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,920 And there was no way they were going to allow that. 225 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:54,600 Essentially they would save billions of dollars if it stays as it is. 226 00:17:54,759 --> 00:17:58,359 It was called a 27.5% oil depletion allowance. 227 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,219 John Kennedy thought it was too liberal. 228 00:18:01,219 --> 00:18:05,799 One of the key men in this case is Clint Murkerson. 229 00:18:05,799 --> 00:18:10,319 Clint Murkerson is an oil millionaire, owned 500 companies, but he was primarily an oil 230 00:18:10,319 --> 00:18:11,639 millionaire. 231 00:18:11,639 --> 00:18:16,359 He also controlled Texas, controlled Johnson. 232 00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:21,599 His major means of operating and controlling people and influencing people was a little 233 00:18:21,599 --> 00:18:26,359 hotel called the Hotel Del Charo in La Jolla, California. 234 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:29,199 It cost $100 a day in the 50s. 235 00:18:29,199 --> 00:18:33,839 And at that hotel he would invite all these powerful influential people. 236 00:18:33,839 --> 00:18:35,899 Richard Nixon would come there. 237 00:18:35,899 --> 00:18:40,799 Key lieutenants of Carlos Marcello, the head of the mafia in New Orleans, used to vacation 238 00:18:40,799 --> 00:18:41,799 there. 239 00:18:41,799 --> 00:18:44,559 J. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI, used to vacation there. 240 00:18:44,559 --> 00:18:45,559 Free. 241 00:18:45,559 --> 00:18:48,279 Every summer for 10 summers, free. 242 00:18:48,279 --> 00:18:54,119 The Johnson man with close ties to Murkerson was a wealthy Texan called D.H. Bird. 243 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:56,680 D.H. Bird was an underboss for Murkerson. 244 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:58,960 He was a Del Charo regular. 245 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:01,839 He owned the Texas Schoolbook Depository. 246 00:19:01,839 --> 00:19:07,720 He also founded the Civil Air Patrol, which was a kind of military organization. 247 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:12,480 And Lee Harvey Oswald was a member of the Civil Air Patrol. 248 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:17,480 Another associate of Murkerson at the time is Bobby Baker. 249 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:22,120 Bobby Baker's in trouble with the scandals and he was in all kinds of business deals 250 00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:25,480 with Murkerson and many of them were illegal. 251 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:30,140 So Murkerson was concerned that Baker and that corruption would lead to his door. 252 00:19:30,140 --> 00:19:34,380 And maybe not only would Baker go to jail and Lyndon go to jail, but maybe Murkerson 253 00:19:34,380 --> 00:19:38,200 would go to jail. 254 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:44,519 As the forces hostile to Kennedy grew in strength and number, they began to think t... 255 00:19:44,519 --> 00:19:45,519 Assassination. 256 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:49,599 Finally, a new imperative forced their hand. 257 00:19:49,599 --> 00:19:51,879 Lyndon Johnson was in big trouble. 258 00:19:51,879 --> 00:19:58,480 The Bobby Baker scandal and the Billy Solissey scandal could destroy Lyndon... 259 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:03,200 Lyndon Johnson would go to jail and he was their man. 260 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,039 He represented all these right wing forces. 261 00:20:06,039 --> 00:20:08,900 There was an urgency to kill President Kennedy. 262 00:20:08,900 --> 00:20:12,319 They had to save Lyndon Johnson. 263 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:17,039 The governor of Texas, first of all, is Lyndon Johnson's best friend in history. 264 00:20:17,039 --> 00:20:19,000 They went back decades together. 265 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:25,480 In the 1948 vote scandal, John Connolly was every much a part of that cover up that took 266 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:26,480 place. 267 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:28,399 He was his campaign manager. 268 00:20:28,399 --> 00:20:34,480 It is without question John Connolly who entices John F. Kennedy to Texas. 269 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,919 Once they get him there, then they're in control of everything. 270 00:20:37,919 --> 00:20:42,079 Modicade routes, the evidence, the Dallas police, everything. 271 00:20:42,079 --> 00:20:43,559 It's their land. 272 00:20:43,559 --> 00:20:45,439 It's their territory. 273 00:20:45,439 --> 00:20:52,119 Lyndon Johnson and his Texas cronies suckered President Kennedy to Texas. 274 00:20:52,119 --> 00:20:58,720 The late Madeleine Brown gained a unique insight into Johnson's role in Kennedy's... 275 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:05,259 She first met LBJ in 1948 at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas when he was... 276 00:21:05,259 --> 00:21:10,000 his election to the Senate following the infamous Box 13 scandal. 277 00:21:10,039 --> 00:21:11,039 I went. 278 00:21:11,039 --> 00:21:14,680 I was very young and it was wonderful. 279 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:18,759 Our relationship developed immediately. 280 00:21:18,759 --> 00:21:21,920 Lyndon gave another campaign party in Austin. 281 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:25,200 It was three weeks after I met him at the Adolphus. 282 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,240 Then it was scheduled at the Driscoll Hotel. 283 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:31,279 Oh, it was so great to see him. 284 00:21:31,279 --> 00:21:35,720 For three weeks I had thought about him and how wonderful it was. 285 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,279 We were dancing that night and he says, I'll see you upstairs. 286 00:21:40,279 --> 00:21:42,559 And he put a key in my hand. 287 00:21:42,559 --> 00:21:46,559 I still have that key. 288 00:21:46,559 --> 00:21:49,120 It was exciting. 289 00:21:49,120 --> 00:21:54,319 I felt naughty, but I felt good. 290 00:21:54,319 --> 00:21:56,200 I fell deeply in love with him. 291 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:58,039 Yes, I did. 292 00:21:58,039 --> 00:22:05,039 I was just the other woman in his life and my emotions are still the same for him as 293 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:07,480 they were when I met him as a very young girl. 294 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:11,240 But I'll always love him. 295 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:15,119 He was the father of my son, Stephen. 296 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,759 That intimate relationship with Johnson continued for many years. 297 00:22:18,759 --> 00:22:24,099 Through him she became familiar with the closed world of power politics in Texas. 298 00:22:24,099 --> 00:22:29,119 On the eve of Kennedy's assassination she attended a party at this house in North... 299 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:33,079 the family home of oil billionaire Clint Merkerson, Sr. 300 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,240 There was an extraordinary guest list that night. 301 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:42,000 We had H.O. Hunt, Merkerson, Lyndon Johnson made an appearance. 302 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,599 We had Hoover, we had Richard Nixon. 303 00:22:46,599 --> 00:22:49,720 They were the most influential people there. 304 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:55,960 But I was under the impression that since Jagger Hoover was there, that it was to honor 305 00:22:55,960 --> 00:23:00,199 Hoover rather than anything else. 306 00:23:00,319 --> 00:23:04,039 When Lyndon came in, no one was expecting him. 307 00:23:04,039 --> 00:23:10,120 So when Lyndon arrived at Clint Merkerson's, they all went into a conference room and 308 00:23:10,120 --> 00:23:13,559 you could just feel the atmosphere. 309 00:23:13,559 --> 00:23:17,600 When Lyndon came out, I was of course happy to see him. 310 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,400 I did not know that he was going to be there. 311 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:27,279 And he whispered in my ear at that time, those blank-de-blank Kennedys will never... 312 00:23:27,279 --> 00:23:28,680 me again. 313 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:29,680 That's no threat. 314 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:31,400 That's a promise. 315 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:32,600 So he departed. 316 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:38,440 The party rapidly broke up after Lyndon departed. 317 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:43,560 A seamstress and companion, Mae Newman, provides confirmation that this party took... 318 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:47,279 the Merkerson family home on the eve of the assassination. 319 00:23:47,279 --> 00:23:51,840 She lived and worked in another Merkerson house in Dallas for Virginia, Clint Sr.'s 320 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:53,279 second wife. 321 00:23:53,279 --> 00:23:57,000 She speaks here for the first time. 322 00:23:57,039 --> 00:24:06,440 I started working for Virginia Merkerson in 1962 until her death in 1997, approximately 323 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,400 36 years. 324 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:13,279 I remember well the night before the assassination. 325 00:24:13,279 --> 00:24:20,720 I worked with a man called Jewel Pfeiffer, black man, which was Virginia Merkerson's 326 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,680 chauffeur. 327 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:27,360 He got a call from her stepson, John, at the big house. 328 00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:32,640 They were having a big party for a very special guest that was coming from Washing... 329 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:39,480 go to the party by the name of Bulldog, which I found out later was J. Edgar Hoover. 330 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:47,680 And he said he was very excited about doing this, going on this trip out to the airport 331 00:24:47,759 --> 00:24:53,519 to take this special guest to a very special party, big party. 332 00:24:53,519 --> 00:24:58,560 And I asked him when he came back if he got a good tip, and he said no when he was very, 333 00:24:58,560 --> 00:24:59,560 very upset. 334 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:08,200 He had to go back that night to take J. Edgar Hoover to the airport to go back to... 335 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,240 And he still didn't get a tip. 336 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,840 Further verification of Hoover's presence in Dallas on the eve of the assassination 337 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:20,959 came from a friend of May's who worked at the Merkerson family home. 338 00:25:20,959 --> 00:25:26,879 Bula May Holman, she was the cook at John and Loopy's house, and she wanted me to go 339 00:25:26,879 --> 00:25:33,240 help her that night, which I didn't, but I knew she was, she told me she was cooking 340 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:38,639 quail and I wanted the recipe, so she gave it to me. 341 00:25:38,639 --> 00:25:44,359 She said it was a very important guest by the name of J. Edgar Hoover, was coming and 342 00:25:44,439 --> 00:25:47,799 I should go out and help her so I could get to meet him. 343 00:25:47,799 --> 00:25:52,719 If it was a film star, I probably would have gone, but I didn't know who he was. 344 00:25:52,719 --> 00:25:56,039 No, not at that time. 345 00:25:56,039 --> 00:26:00,799 Early the next morning, only a few hours before the assassination, Madeline receive... 346 00:26:00,799 --> 00:26:05,240 call from Johnson, who was back in Fort Worth with Kennedy. 347 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:09,240 Lyndon called me from the Texas hotel, and he was still irate. 348 00:26:09,319 --> 00:26:16,120 I said, Lyndon, about last night, and he went to cursing, he used foul language all the 349 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:23,120 time and he said, those Kennedys, he repeated, they will never embarrass me again. 350 00:26:23,120 --> 00:26:25,720 That's no threat, that's a promise. 351 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:31,599 And I'd like the entire world to know how I personally feel is the fact Lyndon Johnson 352 00:26:31,599 --> 00:26:35,359 knew about the assassination and was a part of it. 353 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,920 Dallas was to become forever linked with the murder of the President, but the rich and 354 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:49,400 powerful men who had met in secret the night before had everything to gain from his death. 355 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:55,200 LBJ was fearful of a long prison sentence, J. Edgar Hoover of losing his job, and the 356 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,200 oilmen of losing millions of dollars. 357 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:04,799 When the shots rang out on Elm Street the next day, those problems were solved. 358 00:27:04,799 --> 00:27:10,440 The shock of Kennedy's assassination and its brutality reverberated around the world, 359 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,599 but not everyone was grieving. 360 00:27:13,599 --> 00:27:19,440 The mood in the Murchison family home was very joyous and happy, for a whole week... 361 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:23,480 like champagne and caviar flew, every day of the week. 362 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:34,480 But I was the only one in that household at the time that felt any grief for his... 363 00:27:35,799 --> 00:27:41,039 After the President's murder, Hoover had absolute control of the cover-up. 364 00:27:41,039 --> 00:27:45,960 All the physical evidence relating to the crime was swiftly removed to Washington. 365 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:51,000 From the beginning, Oswald was promoted as the lone-nut assassin, but in LBJ's home 366 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,879 state tongues were wagging. 367 00:27:53,879 --> 00:27:59,799 I met Lyndon on New Year's Eve at the Driscoll Hotel in Austin, and the people i... 368 00:27:59,960 --> 00:28:04,639 I mean, everyone was talking about Lyndon Johnson was the cause of the assassination, 369 00:28:04,639 --> 00:28:07,159 and it made my heart very heavy. 370 00:28:07,159 --> 00:28:12,319 I just couldn't believe that he could be a part of something so bad. 371 00:28:12,319 --> 00:28:13,919 So I confronted Lyndon. 372 00:28:13,919 --> 00:28:19,279 I said, Lyndon, you've got to tell me, were you part of the assassination? 373 00:28:19,279 --> 00:28:27,039 And of course he had a high temper fit, hit the wall, and he was very irate and angry. 374 00:28:27,079 --> 00:28:31,079 And he said, no, I was not, but the oil peo... 375 00:28:31,079 --> 00:28:36,799 Or he called him the fat cats of Texas that I knew, and the intelligence was the cause 376 00:28:36,799 --> 00:28:38,920 of the assassination. 377 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:46,359 I am sure Lyndon did not make the plans per se, but he had the key people that he could 378 00:28:46,359 --> 00:28:49,599 call to actually do it. 379 00:28:49,599 --> 00:28:54,920 If the head of the FBI and the head of the Secret Service and key lieutenants of those 380 00:28:54,960 --> 00:29:00,080 two figures are involved in covering up, plus the President of the United States and 381 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:05,560 all his cronies, you don't need a massive conspiracy to get away with this. 382 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:10,620 After the assassination, Cliff Carter, Johnson's aide, made repeated calls from t... 383 00:29:10,620 --> 00:29:14,880 to the District Attorney in Dallas, Henry Wade. 384 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:19,120 He was instructed to look no further than Oswald for the guilty man. 385 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,039 There was no conspiracy. 386 00:29:22,039 --> 00:29:27,720 A similar call was made to the Attorney General of Texas, Wagoner Carr. 387 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:32,680 Then we have Lyndon Johnson himself calling the chief of homicide, Will Fritz, who's 388 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:37,119 really doing the dirt work as far as interrogating Oswald and trying to get to ... 389 00:29:37,119 --> 00:29:38,119 this case. 390 00:29:38,119 --> 00:29:42,960 He calls him and tells him, you have your man, you have your man, let it go at that. 391 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:48,599 Lyndon Johnson is trying to control what is going on with the investigation of the... 392 00:29:48,599 --> 00:29:55,039 of President Kennedy from Washington, D.C., with crucial figures in the case. 393 00:29:55,039 --> 00:30:00,639 The late Dr. Charles Crenshaw experienced the new President's controlling hand. 394 00:30:00,639 --> 00:30:05,000 He was in the operating theatre at Parkland Hospital with his colleagues, working to save 395 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:08,399 Oswald's life after Jack Ruby had shot him. 396 00:30:08,399 --> 00:30:12,919 He was urgently called to the phone in an adjoining office. 397 00:30:12,919 --> 00:30:18,279 I picked up the phone and it was there I heard this voice like thunder. 398 00:30:18,279 --> 00:30:23,759 It stated, this is the President, Lyndon B. Johnson. 399 00:30:23,759 --> 00:30:28,160 And he asked, how is the accused assassin doing? 400 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,440 I was so startled. 401 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,519 The thing that I could say was he's holding his own. 402 00:30:34,519 --> 00:30:37,680 He's lost a large amount of blood. 403 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:43,899 He said, would you take a message to the chief operating surgeon? 404 00:30:43,899 --> 00:30:46,759 It was more of an order than a question. 405 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:48,559 So I said, yes, sir. 406 00:30:48,559 --> 00:30:51,400 He said, there is a man in the room. 407 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:57,480 I would like for him to take a death bed confession. 408 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:01,640 And all of a sudden the phone went off. 409 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:04,960 I returned to the operating room. 410 00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,119 I tapped Dr. Shires on the shoulder. 411 00:31:08,119 --> 00:31:10,680 He looked at me like, what are you talking about? 412 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:15,279 Everyone was working feverishly in the abdomen trying to correct the wounds there. 413 00:31:15,359 --> 00:31:17,319 I said, guess who I've been talking to? 414 00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:22,000 I said, the President of the United States called and 415 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:26,240 wants that man over there to take a death bed confession. 416 00:31:27,279 --> 00:31:31,399 And Shires looked at me like I was crazy. 417 00:31:31,399 --> 00:31:37,720 And we both realized that there was no way Lee Harvey Oswald, had he survived, 418 00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:44,799 would have been able to give any testimony until two or three days after the procedure. 419 00:31:44,799 --> 00:31:50,079 But still in all, the President had called and I didn't relay the message. 420 00:31:50,079 --> 00:31:55,519 When Dr. Crenshaw published his story in 1992, he suffered an avalanche of criticism. 421 00:31:55,519 --> 00:31:58,799 It was argued that Johnson made no such call. 422 00:31:58,799 --> 00:32:02,680 Crenshaw's critics were proved wrong by a former chief switchboard operator at 423 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:05,919 Parkland Hospital, Phyllis Bartlett. 424 00:32:05,919 --> 00:32:10,960 The call came in and said, hold the line for the President. 425 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:17,160 And for a second, I couldn't, I was still thinking Kennedy and 426 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:22,120 I didn't, I was kind of taken back for a minute and then I. 427 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:29,440 In a few seconds, it was just a matter of a second that he came on in a loud voice. 428 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:35,360 He said, this is Lyndon Johnson, connect me to the accused assassin's doctor. 429 00:32:36,319 --> 00:32:41,879 It sounded the same as it had been on newscasts when I would hear him speak. 430 00:32:43,159 --> 00:32:49,039 I knew I had put a call to the operating room, so I contacted Dr. Crenshaw and 431 00:32:49,039 --> 00:32:53,799 I told him I said I, that I knew he did get the call. 432 00:32:53,799 --> 00:32:58,799 And that I was sorry that the people had in the newspaper and 433 00:32:58,799 --> 00:33:02,079 on the TVs had tried to discredit him. 434 00:33:02,079 --> 00:33:06,559 And that was when I spoke out. 435 00:33:06,559 --> 00:33:08,720 From the moment he became President, 436 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:13,359 Johnson had authority over every aspect of the coverup of Kennedy's murder. 437 00:33:13,359 --> 00:33:15,159 He was unassailable. 438 00:33:15,159 --> 00:33:20,240 Johnson has the power to contain the investigation, both nationally and 439 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:22,679 locally on the ground in Texas. 440 00:33:22,679 --> 00:33:27,720 More so than if it had happened, let's say, in Oregon or Wisconsin, Texas. 441 00:33:28,039 --> 00:33:33,600 Texas, he's got the power to give the CIA what it wants as President, 442 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:37,279 as opposed to Kennedy, who they feared. 443 00:33:37,279 --> 00:33:42,279 He's got the power to take the National Security Action Memorandum that Kennedy 444 00:33:42,279 --> 00:33:47,360 had signed in November 1963, tear it up, reverse it, and create a war. 445 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,920 Where three million soldiers wound up going to Vietnam instead of 16,000 446 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:54,000 being brought home by JFK. 447 00:33:54,039 --> 00:33:57,200 He can make J Edgar Hoover director of the FBI for life. 448 00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:59,480 He's the man in the middle. 449 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:06,680 The only person that can answer all the questions of who's at risk, 450 00:34:06,680 --> 00:34:10,039 who's gonna gain the most, who wins in this deal. 451 00:34:10,039 --> 00:34:13,920 There's only one answer to that question, and that's Lyndon Johnson. 452 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:16,400 And his ticket out was Elm Street. 453 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,400 One of the most compelling pieces of evidence linking Johnson with 454 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,760 the assassination is through his henchman, Malcolm Wallace, 455 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:27,840 the convicted killer of Douglas Kinzer. 456 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:33,039 In the hours following the assassination on the sixth floor of the Texas 457 00:34:33,039 --> 00:34:36,559 Schoolbook Depository Building by the southeast corner window, 458 00:34:36,559 --> 00:34:40,000 the Dallas police discovered an unidentified fingerprint. 459 00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:43,800 The fingerprint, the fingerprint, 460 00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,880 is the ultimate part of the Mac Wallace story. 461 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:52,039 The FBI fingerprinted every Texas Schoolbook Depository employee, 462 00:34:52,039 --> 00:34:55,240 including women employees that work downstairs, never handle the boxes. 463 00:34:55,240 --> 00:34:59,559 They fingerprinted every Dallas officer that was in the sniper's nest 464 00:34:59,559 --> 00:35:02,840 so that they could remove those fingerprints from consideration. 465 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:05,680 At the end of the day, you have one fingerprint remaining. 466 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:10,840 It sits in the National Archives for 35 years, until 1998. 467 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,840 An investigator takes it to a high-level investigation. 468 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,079 The investigator takes it to a highly qualified, 469 00:35:19,079 --> 00:35:22,800 certified latent print examiner, a CLPE, 470 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:27,880 along with a redacted fingerprint card from Mac Wallace 471 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,800 from the 1951 murder of John Douglas Kinzer. 472 00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:34,200 And he said, here's a print, here's a print card. 473 00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:35,640 Do you see anything? 474 00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:40,200 Nathan Darby is one of the most experienced fingerprint experts 475 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:44,160 in the United States, with 35 years' service in the US military 476 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:46,879 and the City of Austin Police Department. 477 00:35:46,879 --> 00:35:48,799 I didn't know where it came from. 478 00:35:48,799 --> 00:35:51,639 And, oh, a week or 10 days later, 479 00:35:51,639 --> 00:35:55,759 I called the party that had brought it over and said, 480 00:35:55,759 --> 00:35:58,359 well, it's a match. 481 00:35:58,359 --> 00:36:03,359 The finger that made the ink print also made the latent. 482 00:36:03,519 --> 00:36:06,839 And we called that a match identified. 483 00:36:06,839 --> 00:36:09,199 And there was no question about it. 484 00:36:09,199 --> 00:36:10,960 They matched. 485 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:14,720 Three years later, Nathan Darby re-addressed the same evidence 486 00:36:14,720 --> 00:36:17,199 and reconfirmed his original findings. 487 00:36:17,199 --> 00:36:20,639 When he was done, he had a 34-point match. 488 00:36:20,639 --> 00:36:24,119 And when you mention that in criminal circles 489 00:36:24,119 --> 00:36:26,639 to an investigator, how confident would you 490 00:36:26,639 --> 00:36:28,559 feel with a 34-point match? 491 00:36:28,559 --> 00:36:30,480 Oh, that's a slam dunk. 492 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,079 It can't miss. 493 00:36:32,079 --> 00:36:33,280 It doesn't get any better than that. 494 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:36,480 You give me a 34-point match on any case in the United States, 495 00:36:36,480 --> 00:36:37,920 I'll take it to court and win. 496 00:36:37,920 --> 00:36:42,920 The inked and the latent prints are made by the same finger. 497 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:48,039 And the other evidence that I've been presented with 498 00:36:48,039 --> 00:36:52,039 was Malcolm Wallace's left little finger 499 00:36:52,039 --> 00:36:54,280 without a reasonable doubt. 500 00:36:55,559 --> 00:37:00,559 Now, the fingerprint in question came from a cardboard box 501 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:03,800 in the Sniper's Nest in the Texas School Book Depository. 502 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,960 Fingerprints do not last long on cardboard. 503 00:37:07,079 --> 00:37:10,440 It's fair to say that Malcolm Wallace was wandering around 504 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:11,559 there for no purpose. 505 00:37:11,559 --> 00:37:14,639 He was in that Sniper's Nest on November 22nd. 506 00:37:16,519 --> 00:37:18,480 That evidence, that fingerprint evidence, 507 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:22,119 along with Malcolm Wallace's sordid resume 508 00:37:22,119 --> 00:37:26,519 was sent to every imaginable agency or individual 509 00:37:26,519 --> 00:37:30,960 that could have an interest in what happened to John Kennedy. 510 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:32,320 The only people that took notice of it 511 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,960 were the Dallas police because it's still an open homicide 512 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:36,599 on their blotter. 513 00:37:37,319 --> 00:37:39,719 They took serious notice of it. 514 00:37:39,719 --> 00:37:41,880 And then they were told forward it up the line 515 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:45,119 because Dallas no longer has any evidence. 516 00:37:45,119 --> 00:37:46,599 It's all in federal hands, 517 00:37:46,599 --> 00:37:48,360 even though it's an unsolved homicide. 518 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:50,319 They forwarded it up the line. 519 00:37:50,319 --> 00:37:54,799 And it took 18 months, 18 months for the FBI 520 00:37:54,799 --> 00:37:57,319 to say verbally, no, it's not a match. 521 00:37:58,519 --> 00:38:00,960 And the single most important fingerprint found 522 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:04,079 in the last 35 years was buried. 523 00:38:05,079 --> 00:38:07,000 I don't know why they couldn't say 524 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:09,279 or say that the thing didn't match. 525 00:38:09,279 --> 00:38:10,119 It did match. 526 00:38:10,119 --> 00:38:11,679 There's no question about it. 527 00:38:14,319 --> 00:38:17,079 My experience, I've just had too much experience. 528 00:38:17,079 --> 00:38:18,559 I know what I'm talking about. 529 00:38:18,559 --> 00:38:19,880 I'm positive. 530 00:38:20,759 --> 00:38:22,480 No question about it. 531 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,400 My dying declaration, if I was to drop dead right now, 532 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:27,239 they'd match. 533 00:38:28,319 --> 00:38:30,400 It's still the big lie. 534 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:32,279 It's unknown. 535 00:38:32,279 --> 00:38:33,119 It's unidentified. 536 00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:36,319 No, it's identified. 537 00:38:36,319 --> 00:38:38,079 It's Malcolm Wallace. 538 00:38:38,079 --> 00:38:41,519 And he's linked to Estes, Carter 539 00:38:41,519 --> 00:38:44,119 and Lyndon B. Johnson directly. 540 00:38:46,039 --> 00:38:47,840 According to the official record, 541 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:50,440 Malcolm Wallace died in a single car accident 542 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,960 on this lonely stretch of Texas highway 543 00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:56,279 on the night of January 7th, 1971. 544 00:38:56,279 --> 00:38:58,279 There were no witnesses. 545 00:38:58,279 --> 00:39:00,199 His body was taken to a local hospital 546 00:39:00,199 --> 00:39:02,239 where he was pronounced dead. 547 00:39:02,279 --> 00:39:05,159 He was buried here close to other family members. 548 00:39:06,279 --> 00:39:08,319 Eight months later, another key member 549 00:39:08,319 --> 00:39:11,679 of LBJ's inner circle presidential aide, Cliff Carter, 550 00:39:11,679 --> 00:39:13,439 died unexpectedly. 551 00:39:13,439 --> 00:39:17,879 But shortly before his death, he met with Billy Solestes. 552 00:39:17,879 --> 00:39:20,000 They discuss all these murders 553 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,319 that Cliff Carter is knowledgeable about. 554 00:39:22,319 --> 00:39:24,079 Now Billy knows about some of them, 555 00:39:24,079 --> 00:39:25,599 but Cliff knows about more. 556 00:39:25,599 --> 00:39:27,919 And he fills them in on all the details. 557 00:39:27,919 --> 00:39:29,679 Malcolm Wallace being a central figure 558 00:39:29,679 --> 00:39:30,879 in most of these murders. 559 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:35,480 And there were over 17 murders that Carter tells Estes about. 560 00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,960 And he actually tells Estes that he fears for his own life. 561 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:41,840 And within two days time, he's dead. 562 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:44,039 Johnson's attorney, Edward Clark 563 00:39:44,039 --> 00:39:46,039 was one person who prospered. 564 00:39:46,039 --> 00:39:48,760 But when LBJ was brought low by the Vietnam War 565 00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:51,160 and decided not to run for a second term, 566 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:54,840 Clark felt short changed for his role in the assassination, 567 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:57,400 according to his legal partner, Barr McClellan. 568 00:39:58,360 --> 00:40:02,119 He expected $8 million spread over eight years 569 00:40:02,119 --> 00:40:05,079 over the two terms Johnson was to serve. 570 00:40:06,599 --> 00:40:09,440 When those terms were cut short by Johnson's sudden 571 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:14,440 and unexpected resignation, Clark was 4 million short. 572 00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:16,639 He was not a man to be denied. 573 00:40:16,639 --> 00:40:19,240 When he had done a service, he was going to be paid. 574 00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:25,720 Planning ahead, he went to Big Oil and Big D, 575 00:40:25,879 --> 00:40:28,959 went to Clint Merkison to say, 576 00:40:28,959 --> 00:40:31,879 look, I've done you all a great service. 577 00:40:31,879 --> 00:40:32,759 I deserve more. 578 00:40:32,759 --> 00:40:34,239 I'm going to get it. 579 00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:38,199 Merkison agreed with him and suggested he file for a well 580 00:40:38,199 --> 00:40:41,079 in the middle of the great East Texas oil field. 581 00:40:41,079 --> 00:40:43,839 He called me in as his personal attorney 582 00:40:43,839 --> 00:40:46,839 to make the first bid for getting that money. 583 00:40:46,839 --> 00:40:51,559 And he was not successful in getting 4 million, 584 00:40:51,559 --> 00:40:53,879 but he got his 2 million. 585 00:40:53,879 --> 00:40:55,519 So when all was said and done. 586 00:40:56,719 --> 00:40:59,919 Clark realized $6 million 587 00:40:59,919 --> 00:41:01,959 for the assassination of John Kennedy. 588 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,199 Barr McClellan believes documentary proof 589 00:41:05,199 --> 00:41:09,719 of these dark deeds lies in the Johnson-Clark legal records. 590 00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:12,399 For many years, they were kept in a high security area 591 00:41:12,399 --> 00:41:16,359 above the Clark offices known as the penthouse. 592 00:41:16,359 --> 00:41:20,239 Any of us attorneys could get into the general area, 593 00:41:21,159 --> 00:41:25,439 but the secret area, the Johnson area was locked off. 594 00:41:26,119 --> 00:41:27,519 Accessible to no one. 595 00:41:28,399 --> 00:41:32,119 I have a strong belief that there are 596 00:41:32,119 --> 00:41:35,959 substantial records somewhere 597 00:41:35,959 --> 00:41:39,199 that show this conspiracy 598 00:41:39,199 --> 00:41:42,480 and it's both evolution, 599 00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:46,559 it's execution and it's coverup. 600 00:41:48,119 --> 00:41:49,959 But I don't know where they'd be. 601 00:41:49,959 --> 00:41:50,959 We need to see them. 602 00:41:51,839 --> 00:41:55,119 Johnson was ultimately consumed by the high office 603 00:41:55,159 --> 00:41:58,199 he had so unscrupulously striven for. 604 00:41:58,199 --> 00:42:01,319 A broken man he retreated to his Texas ranch 605 00:42:01,319 --> 00:42:04,400 where his lawyers were to secretly summon a psychiatrist 606 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:07,079 to deal with his deepening depression. 607 00:42:07,079 --> 00:42:09,880 An immediate concern at the law firm 608 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:12,319 was that he would say too much. 609 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:17,239 The million dollars was available to the psychiatrist 610 00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:20,199 to keep anything from coming out. 611 00:42:20,199 --> 00:42:23,839 The one reason for all these protections 612 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:28,720 was the greatest demon that was dogging Johnson at the time 613 00:42:28,720 --> 00:42:31,960 and that was the assassination of John Kennedy 614 00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:34,000 and the role he played in it. 615 00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:36,280 We had to keep it covered up 616 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:40,120 and for sure we had to keep the psychiatrist muzzled 617 00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:41,800 and we did. 618 00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:45,680 But if any one set of records needs to be produced, 619 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,200 the psychiatric records should be disclosed 620 00:42:48,200 --> 00:42:51,039 to the American public because they will. 621 00:42:51,039 --> 00:42:52,599 I am confident. 622 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:58,960 Disclose his role in the assassination. 623 00:42:59,599 --> 00:43:03,279 Only four years after leaving office, Johnson died. 624 00:43:03,279 --> 00:43:06,320 But there are those living who are still afraid to come forward 625 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,079 to tell what they know about the guilty men. 626 00:43:09,079 --> 00:43:11,199 People are afraid of him dead. 627 00:43:11,199 --> 00:43:17,000 He's been dead since 1973 and his shadows still cast fear 628 00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,599 in this country, especially in Texas. 629 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:23,079 Undaunted, across the nation, 630 00:43:23,079 --> 00:43:27,199 the questioning voice of the American people will not be silenced. 631 00:43:27,199 --> 00:43:30,719 An overwhelming majority refuse to accept their government's version 632 00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:35,440 of what happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963. 633 00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:38,719 There's no statute of limitations on murder. 634 00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:42,639 If they're still continuing to cover it up in 20 more years, 635 00:43:42,639 --> 00:43:44,519 that's obstruction of justice. 636 00:43:44,519 --> 00:43:46,639 It's a conspiracy. 637 00:43:46,679 --> 00:43:51,279 The men who killed Kennedy don't end with the people who pulled triggers. 638 00:43:51,279 --> 00:43:54,759 It should be important to all of us that we get to the bottom of this. 639 00:43:54,759 --> 00:43:58,319 Just as John Kennedy's car took an incredible turn 640 00:43:58,319 --> 00:44:00,199 when it went onto Elm Street, 641 00:44:00,199 --> 00:44:04,000 300 feet later, our form of government, our way of life, 642 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,000 our way of respecting our government, 643 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:08,839 our way of being respected by our government, 644 00:44:08,839 --> 00:44:12,039 took that same kind of bizarre wide turn 645 00:44:12,039 --> 00:44:15,400 and we haven't gotten back on the straight and narrow yet. 646 00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:20,079 The Kennedy assassination was the end of faith in government. 647 00:44:20,079 --> 00:44:23,480 And so it's up to the little man to fight the odds. 648 00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:26,160 Davy Crockett, Sisyphus pushing his rock. 649 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:28,400 Someone has to keep fighting the odds. 650 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:31,880 And even though you know the chances are that you're never going to get a resolution 651 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:34,559 to what you're fighting for, you have to fight for it anyway. 652 00:44:34,559 --> 00:44:38,880 Just the principle of justice, just the principles of American democracy. 653 00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:40,800 Don't give up. Keep fighting. 654 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:45,480 This episode has presented one viewpoint. 655 00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:49,240 We have also presented many other theories in numerous programs. 656 00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:52,240 For the History Channel, I'm Steve Gillan.