Here is an excerpt from a transcript: (46:18)
Jefferson Morley: The important thing about AMWORLD is it was the home of assassination operations, and it was known to one of the other figures who have emerged in this week's disclosure. I'm referring to a man named Garrett Underhill. This is one of the stories that's attracted a lot of attention on social media.
Garrett Underhill was a arms dealer who worked with and was familiar with the personnel who worked on the AMWORLD project. He probably didn't know the cryptonym AMWORLD, but he was friends and colleagues with the men who did run that program. What Garrett Underhill did was keep track of arms sales. He was an arms dealer, and that was his world -- big shipments of weapons for
CIA assisted forces and all over the world.
Garrett Underhill said, was very disturbed by the President's assassination. He told associates, this is reflected in one of the documents that was released last week, and said that the CIA was, a small group of CIA officials were responsible for Kennedy's assassination. So when Garrett Underhill later committed suicide, and so we don't have further basis for knowing why he did that, people speculate about his suicide, and it is curious that this is an all too familiar tale for those of us who study the JFK assassination. Somebody learns something disturbing about the assassination, talks about coming forward with it, is bothered by it, and then commits suicide. And that's what happened with Gary Underhill. And we have similar stories from Dorothy Kilgallen, a journalist who committed suicide in 1965,
who was interested in the JFK story and pursuing it. Charles Thomas, a State Department official in Mexico who learned information about Oswald's visit there and attempted to pursue it, lost his career and committed suicide. And George de Mohrenschildt, the man who was close to Oswald and close to the CIA, and was ready to testify about what he knew about the assassination in 1978, when he committed suicide. So, I don't want to talk about that, you know, that's a whole different subject. You know, what the cause of those suicides was.
I want to talk about what Underhill said and his fears that a small clique of CIA officials were behind Kennedy's assassination. Well, he had access to CIA people who were engaged in assassination activities. There's no doubt about that, and I think that gives his claim credibility, especially when you know, we don't know, did Garrett Underhill know about the CIA surveillance of Angleton? I mean, the Angleton surveillance of Oswald, we don't know, but it was only a small clique of CIA officials who knew about the surveillance of Oswald, basically the people around around Angleton in the CIA's counter intelligence staff. So that's what lends credence -- Gary Garrett Underhill's story is credible in the context of assassination operations, the surveillance of Oswald and all the deceptive CIA statements around that.
Also known as Second Naval Guerilla. Designed to support and unite several Cuban exile groups under the leadership of Manuel Artime (AMBIDDY-1). The overall mission of AMWORLD was to foment a popular uprising in Cuba that would cause Castro's downfall.
Not all assassination attempts occurred under AMWORLD.
Jefferson Morley starts with the case of Gary Underhill. I have written blog posts about Underhill here, and here.
Right off the bat, Morley gets the Underhill story wrong:
Garrett Underhill was a arms dealer who worked with and was familiar with the personnel who worked on the AMWORLD project. He probably didn't know the cryptonym AMWORLD, but he was friends and colleagues with the men who did run that program. What Garrett Underhill did was keep track of arms sales. He was an arms dealer, and that was his world -- big shipments of weapons for CIA assisted forces and all over the world.
Underhill was not an arms dealer. He was friends with Samuel Cummings who was an arms broker. John Donovan, an acquaintance who wrote Jim Garrison, claimed that Underhill had a "letter of marque" from the Israelis which authorized him to sell Israeli machine guns. Here is an excerpt from his letter to Garrison:
Allegedly a gunrunner to Latin America took the model machine gun away from Underhill because of his erratic behavior, but the investigator is convinced that Underhill 'got around and was knowledgeable.'
I see no evidence that this make sense, let alone is true. Most of Underhill's career was in journalism.
Underhill was a domestic contact of the CIA from November 1949 until the mid 1950s.
Underhill was suffering from a variety of problems since his separation from his wife. Here is a letter that a colleague wrote to John Donovan, the acquaintance that would write to Garrison:
Here is a 1964 letter from the police department about Underhill's suicide:
Gary Underhill was not in the CIA and and he had no special knowledge of the assassination. Here is an excerpt from a note written by Ed Cohen, a stringer for Ramparts Magazine:
Asher Byrnes, a friend who found Underhill's body, said that Underhill's reasoning "was based on deductive logic from the press accounts, and as far as he knows he had no closer connection to the crime than the newspapers like everyone else."
Morley then goes on a riff about suicides:
Somebody learns something disturbing about the assassination, talks about coming forward with it, is bothered by it, and then commits suicide. And that's what happened with Gary Underhill. And we have similar stories from Dorothy Kilgallen, a journalist who committed suicide in 1965, who was interested in the JFK story and pursuing it. Charles Thomas, a State Department official in Mexico who learned information about Oswald's visit there and attempted to pursue it, lost his career and committed suicide. And George de Mohrenschildt, the man who was close to Oswald and close to the CIA, and was ready to testify about what he knew about the assassination in 1978, when he committed suicide. So, I don't want to talk about that, you know, that's a whole different subject. You know, what the cause of those suicides was.
Is there anything that ties these deaths together?
Dorothy Kilgallen had no special knowledge about the assassination, and she had lots of time to tell her supposed story - she died in November of 1965. And was it even suicide?
Here is excerpt from an article by Eric Paddon:
Someone might be able to prove someday that there was more to Dorothy Kilgallen's death than met the eye that night. But if someone succeeds in doing that, he will still not be able to show that it could have had any remote connection with the JFK assassination. If one encompasses everything she knew at the time of her death, it is clear that she did not have a clue as to what the truth really was. Her entire investigation had consisted of shoddy detective work on her part, coupled with false and misleading information from a dishonest gentleman named Mark Lane. Had she been able to tell the world everything she knew on the night of her death, they would have been given another sneak preview of some of the stories Mark Lane would trumpet in his book Rush To Judgment, as well as a possible preview of some of Jim Garrison's outlandish assertions that culminated in his witchhunt against Clay Shaw. In both instances, Kilgallen had been nothing more than a courier, not an investigator.
In the early morning hours of November 8, 1965, just four hours after doing the live broadcast of "What's My Line?" and not long after she had left her next-day's column under the door of her apartment, Dorothy Kilgallen died under circumstances that remain puzzling to this day. The official explanation of complications from barbituates and alcohol remains dubious to some people because they felt that Kilgallen was largely over her addictions by 1965, especially since she had recently begun a happy affair with a gentleman Israel describes as "The Out-Of-Towner". The tape of the "What's My Line?" broadcast however, clearly shows her slurring her speech at various points (not "crisply perfect" as Israel falsely claims). None of this affected her game-playing abilities, which were always superior to any other member of the panel, but it is clear that she was not in the best of health that particular night. In 1978, HSCA counsel Robert Blakey asked for a review of Kilgallen's autopsy (a copy of which is in the JFK Assassination files in the National Archives), but he and his staff evidently found nothing worth pursuing since no mention of Kilgallen ever made it into the final report.
This is not the first time that Morley's website has discussed Kilgallen, and don't anticipate it will be the last.
Charles Thomas was a foreign service officer stationed at the American Embassy in Mexico City in the early 1960s. He met Elena Garro who told him that she had met Oswald at a party in September of 1963.
As you can see, Thomas told his story in letters to the State Department in 1969.
The Washington Evening Star of June 7, 1971 had an article about the firing of career diplomats in the State Department and Charles Thomas was featured:
Charles Thomas told his story in 1969, and he committed suicide in 1971. His death was tragic, but it was not related to the assassination.
Lastly, Morley brings up George de Mohrenschildt whom he claims was "ready to testify about what he knew about the assassination in 1978, when he committed suicide."
Once again, de Mohrenschildt had lots of time to tell his story and he even wrote a manuscript which is widely available. Unfortunately, de Mohrenschildt was suffering from mental illness and he had attempted suicide four times before he succeeded. Here is a report from a friend of the family:
Who was after de Mohrenschildt?
Towards the end of his testimony, Oltmans is asked if he thought de Mohrenschildt committed suicide:
Once again, Jefferson Morley over-reaching in his conclusions. The Underhill document released last week was a CIA document discussing an article in Ramparts Magazine. This document has been around for many years, and the redacted material was not about Underhill but about one of his friends.
All of the suicides mentioned in this article, and Kilgallen's death from an overdose, were tragic but they are not connected with each other, and they are not mysterious.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley
Morley believes a document proves the CIA did not believe that a lone gunman killed JFK.
Morley misreads Angleton's testimony before the HSCA.
An FBI memo that quoted James Angleton is used by Morley to reach an unwarranted conclusion.
Several months ago, I posted an article, in association with several researchers, that showed what was contained in the redacted section of Schlesinger's memo.
Morley somehow knows what is in the supposed 2,400 recently-discovered FBI files.
Morley discusses Israel with Tucker Carlson.
Morley believes that the United States can never be great unless it solves the JFK assassination.
An analysis of the 13 documents Morley wants to see.
Morley claims I am a CIA apologist and then misquotes me.
It would be worthwhile for the CIA to release the Joannides file just to stop the incessant posts from Jefferson Morley.
Actually, Oswald stayed at two budget-priced hotels in Helsinki.
He keeps asking the same questions, and we keep posting the same answers.
Conspiracy authors are playing fast and loose with the facts.
There is no evidence that Diaz was involved in the JFK assassination.
There are clues as to what is in a redacted section of Schlesinger's memo.
Chad Nagle and Dan Storper's article on New Orleans gets everything wrong.
Believing Michael Kurtz is problematic.
Morley wrote that there are two redacted memos on CIA reorganization, but there is only one. He wrote about Goodwin's copy as if it was a different memo, rather than a copy of the Schlesinger memo.
The phrase 'who shot John' does not refer to the JFK assassination.
Only one word is redacted in Harvey's deposition.
There are no redactions in the Operation Northwoods document.
Kilgallen had nothing to tell.
An underwhelming interview of Marina Oswald.
Morley often repeats stories and changes their meanings.
Chad Nagle claims there was an assassination plot against JFK in Chicago in November 1963. One problem: There is no evidence of such a plot.
A response to Morley's Substack post alleging that I am a CIA apologist.
A rebuttal to Morley's response to my post Was Bill Harvey in Dallas in November of 1963?
There is no credible evidence Harvey was in Dallas in November of 1963.
Morley repeats the claim that Dulles was at a CIA training center during the weekend of the JFK assassination. He wasn't.
Morley's claims about Efron are all wrong.
Morley responded to my article "The Truth about Operation Northwoods." Here is my reply.
W. Tracy Parnell is one of the best JFK assassination researchers out there. Here is his look at Jefferson Morley with several important articles.
Operation Northwoods can only be understood as part of the Kennedys' war against Cuba and Operation Mongoose.
And a response from me.
There is no evidence that Dr. West petitioned the court to examine Jack Ruby before his trial.
There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Louis Jolyon West interfered with Jack Ruby's case.
Jefferson Morley used a fake Oswald handbill in his press conference for the Mary Ferrell Foundation.
An examination of redactions in the JFK collection of documents.
Morley doesn't understand Alecia Long's arguments about homophobia and Jim Garrison.
Jefferson Morley asks why "what the CIA knew about Herminio Diaz is still off limits."
Morley misses that a lot of redactions are actually available.
Jefferson Morley's press conference presents evidence that belief in a conspiracy has dropped.