- Jim suggests people read the books:Betting On The Africans by Philip E. Muehlenbeck.
- JFK: Ordeal in Africa by Richard D. Mahoney, The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
- King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild, Who Killed Hammerskjold? by Susan Williams.
- CAPA conference in Dallas approaching fast!
- September 27th is the 60th anniversary of the release of the Warren Commission.
- NBC & CBS ran special programming the day the Warren Commission released
- CBS coached the witnesses before being recorded.
- 26 volumes of hearing transcripts & depositions released two months later.
- When JFK was assassinated, 75% of the public believed the government, this decreased steadily.
- Many people don’t know how much Kennedy supported & cared about the independence of Africa.
- JFK was the first President to campaign on the behalf of Africa, making his famous speech in 1957.
- JFK chairman of the subcommittee for the African Foreign Relations committee.
- In just 50 years of Belgium control, 50% of the African population was eliminated.
- England, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, France & Portugal all had controlling interests by 1900’s.
- Berlin Conference held by Prince Bismark in 1884 significant in organized takeover.
- Congo was the 2nd largest country in Africa, & the 11th largest country in the world.
- International Congo Society formed by Leopold II, in his quest to obtain natural resources of Congo.
- Congo controlled by Leopold II from 1885-1908 & then annexed by Belgium as a formal colony.
- Leopold II encouraged US to back up annexation of Congo.
- Ho Chi Minh appealed to Harry Truman to stop France from returning to Vietnam.
- Roosevelt wanted to end the Imperialism.
- US backed CIA installed DIEM government & Operation Vulture.
- Richard Nixon idolized John Foster Dulles.
- In 1954 JFK first heard about Operation Vulture & was vehemently opposed.
- SEATO – South East Treaty Organization created by Dulles to utilize in takeover of Vietnam.
- Diplomats started to go around Dulles & Eisenhower, seeking out JFK to help with Africa.
- When JFK was touring in 1959, he brought up the issues in Africa often, over 400 times.
- Eisenhower felt the Africans were unsophisticated & lacked intelligence to run their countries.
- After Kennedy was elected, he tried to buy independence for the Congo.
- Dag Hammarskjold sent in UN troops to help protect Lumumba but to no avail.
- After Lumumba was assassinated, Hammarskjold was assassinated & then JFK.
- When Belgium pulled out of Congo, their intention was a swift withdrawal to incite extreme chaos.
- Unknown to Lumumba, the Belgium government had transferred Congo gold reserve to Brussels.
- Oliver Stone originally wanted Brando for the part of Mr. X in his JFK movie, not Donald Sutherland.
- Both Garrison & Zach Sklar told Oliver Stone to get in contact with Fletcher Prouty.
- Donald Sutherland the original producer of Executive Action, securing funding for the film.
- Sutherland came all the way from Canada to do the narration for Oliver Stone’s JFK film.
- Late November of 1964, the 1st combat troops sent to Vietnam
- Kennedy told the British that he would not be backing the Imperial Policy anymore.
- The CIA sent two assassins to murder Lumumba.
- They kept the murder of Lumumba secret from JFK. Why?
- Famous photo of JFK taken on February 13, 1961 as JFK informed about Lumumba’s murder.
- When JFK was assassinated, his Congo policy was buried with him.
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