At first Kennedy raged about “splintering the CIA into a thousand pieces and scattering it to the winds.” When he finished venting, he asked a liberal adviser, historian Arthur Schlesinger, to give him a policy paper on how to accomplish the same goal bureaucratically. Schlesinger, who had served as an intelligence officer in World War II, responded with a memo blandly titled “CIA Reorganization.”
But did Kennedy rage about "splintering the CIA into a thousand pieces and scattering it to the winds."
At best, we could say that the New York Times claimed in 1966 that Kennedy had said this to a (high-ranking), (unnamed), subordinate.
Morley makes it appear that Kennedy said this and then had Schlesinger write his June 1961 memo. This is just not accurate.
And then Morley misquotes me:
The Schlesinger memo is an origin story, the origins of the CIA’s role in the tragedy of November 22, 1963 as found in the last of the JFK files. CIA apologist Fred Litwin says this “famous memo” has already been made public. Yet, in the National Archives JFK collection, the memo is redacted as of the last public release in December 2022. If the Schlesinger memo has been declassified somewhere, Trump is obliged to release it immediately.
I never said that the memo "has already been made public." And why the need to add "CIA apologist" as a descriptor.
What I did say is that if you read Arthur Schlesinger's book, A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House, you'll get a pretty good idea of what is in the redacted section.
In addition, if you read my article, you will see additional details from that memo in a George Lardner article from the Washington Post.
Morley also says that:
The Schlesinger memo is one of many origin stories of the tragedy of November 22, 1963, found in the new JFK files.
What does that even mean?\
And the conclusion of Schlesinger's memo is not redacted. It relates more to the usurpation of the authority of the State Department rather than the authority of the President:
Once again, I look forward to the release of this document, if only to stop Morley from posting about the redaction or or to make it harder for him to mischaracterize the memo.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on Jefferson Morley
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.