JFK Assassination: Senator John Tower On How Hunt’s ‘Big Event’ Went Horribly Wrong

By Juliet Bonnay
22 November 2021

JFK researcher Jefferson Morley tells us that France’s president, Charles de Gaulle, made this prediction after Kennedy was assassinated:

“In Washington, they won’t investigate. They don’t want to know. They don’t want to find out. They won’t let themselves find out.” [1]

Why?

If Senator John Tower had not been in such a fear-driven and panicked state directly after the assassination because of what he knew, he would never have let the cat out of the bag about the true story of E. Howard Hunt’s ‘Big Event’ and how it went horribly wrong – just like his ‘Bay of Pigs’ fiasco. And it is why they will not fully release the JFK assassination files for a very long time – if ever.

It is therefore fortunate for us that Senator Tower panicked and told his story to Detective Sergeant Gary Wean of the Ventura Police Department in Los Angeles, who wrote about it in his book There’s A Fish in the Courthouse – a police detective’s shocking exposé of police and judicial corruption…and more.

If Gary Wean was alive today, he would say that it is about time Americans had the death of a much loved president off their backs. At the end of one of his articles in Contact he wrote:

“The only thing in this world that can bring the country back to sanity is bringing out the truth – the whole truth and nothing but the truth for the entire people of the country to see and to know that there is nothing, nothing at all left hanging over their heads. Rumors just won’t do the job!!!” [2]

And it is rumors, half-truths, misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda that has caused the question of who assassinated President Kennedy to stand alone for years unanswered like a ghostly moonlit silhouette in the dead of night. Yet sometimes, in the most unlikely of places, clues can be found which are stranger than fiction. This is just one of those clues backed up by documented evidence that the CIA will never allow to be released.  

When Gary Wean wrote his book in 1987 and gave it a strange title, There’s A Fish in the Courthouse, it was an unlikely place indeed that would offer several large pieces of the puzzle of what remains the unsolved murder of last century, for it just so happened that Dallas County Sheriff, Bill Decker, was a good friend of actor/war hero, Audie Murphy, and Murphy was a good friend of Gary Wean. Decker frequently went to Los Angeles, and when he did, would meet with Murphy, Wean, and Wean’s police partner, Frank Hronek, for lunch at the L.A. Police Academy restaurant. It was here these four men met again just after Kennedy was assassinated.

Over lunch, the details of the assassination became the centerpiece of their conversation. All skilled in firearms, they agreed “it was virtually impossible for Oswald to make those shots with that rifle.” It was then that Bill Decker leaned forward into the discussion and in a low tone said:

“I have another much stronger reason for knowing Oswald never shot JFK. There’s a man in Dallas I’ve known a long time, he knows the entire truth about Oswald’s involvement. He’s scared to death to go to the Dallas PD or FBI. There’s been a double cross somewhere and everybody is scared shitless of everyone else. You would never believe all the accusations and crazy suspicions heaped on law enforcement in Texas by imbeciles in D.C. and the chaos it has created. This man feels that it is duty to tell someone what he knows in case something happens to him…” [3]

And so the four men met in Ruidoso, New Mexico so that Senator John Tower could tell his story. He began:

First and most important I must qualify Lee Harvey Oswald, he was none of the criminal things he’s accused of. He was an agent of the U.S. government acting under the specific orders of E. Howard Hunt. The true facts of the assassination as far as I know them are so fantastically shocking if I tried to force them out in the open I’d surely end up in the same graveyard as Oswald, or committed to an insane asylum, buried so deep no one would ever hear of me again. Hunt is a patriot, a Super Patriot, he understood and feared the danger of Castro’s Cuba as a communist fortress only a few miles from our shore better than anyone. He had worked and labored on the invasion of Cuba by the exiles like a man possessed. When the Bay of Pigs became a terrible, embarrassing fiasco, he like others in CIA blamed President Kennedy. But deep in his soul and in fairness he realized the blame was not Kennedy’s although he’d officially taken the brunt upon his own shoulders. The failure was a combination of errors, outrageous misjudgments, and bad luck.

But Cuba’s danger to the U.S. grew in intensity as its ties with Moscow became obvious. Dreaming up fantastic schemes Hunt had devised extraordinary methods of assassinating Castro, poison pills in coffee, poison in his food at his favorite café, exploding cigars, all dismal failures, then Hunt’s festering frustration conceived what has become the most bizarre political assassination intrigue of all time. His scheme was to inflame the American people against Castro and stir patriotism to a boiling point not felt since the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Enraged Americans would demand that our military invade Cuba and wipe out the two-bit dictator for his barbarous attempt to assassinate President Kennedy.”

John read our incredulous looks. “Oh yes…! There was to be an attempt on the life of President Kennedy so realistic that its failure would be looked upon as nothing less than a miracle. The footprints would lead directly to Castro’s doorstep, a trail the rankest amateur couldn’t lose. Very unfortunate for Oswald he fit the bill perfect for Hunt’s operation. He’d worked for Military Intelligence for several years with considerable success. It started when he was a Marine at Japan’s Atsugi Air Base a few miles south of Tokyo. An Intelligence Officer recognizing Oswald’s possibilities had asked him to assist in making a connection he was trying to establish. The young Marine was not only surprised but very pleased with the assignment, which was a beautiful Japanese hostess at the Queen Bee Club a popular bar in Tokyo. Because of a natural proclivity for Intelligence liaison his role escalated increasingly to more important assignments. The Russian defection incident was part of Military Intelligence grooming of Oswald for a deep cover of communist affiliation. That was before Hunt had chosen him for his Assassination Mission. He was inducted into the dark, mysterious, clandestine secrets of the CIA, ending in an ignoble death.

The Cuban exiles in New Orleans and Miami were seething. In early 1963 Oswald was dropped right into a boiling cauldron in New Orleans. His instructions were to establish himself as a disgruntled ex-Marine and Commie adherent, a zealous left-winger. Joining the Pro-Castro, Fair Play for Cuba organization he got himself arrested to accentuate his activities and profile and to top this off Hunt and General Edwin Walker, a recognized leader of the ultra-conservative right wing, faked a shooting attempt on Walkers life. It was blamed on Oswald to add a dangerous, sinister touch to his character which would be needed later.”

John smiled at Frank who’s head was wagging, he said, “I know exactly what you are thinking Frank and it gets worse. At first Hunt did not tell Oswald what his exact mission was, except it was one of the highest National Security priority. He was instructed to give his wife absolutely no hint whatsoever of his secret government connections. Hunt did not trust her, in fact, he was paranoid about Marina being a Russian spy. It was only two months before the Fake Assassination when Hunt gave Oswald the rifle, explaining his part in the scheme. Oswald was to fire three shots from his rifle in the air, then abandon it and the empty cartridges at the scene. He was to quickly leave the building for a rendezvous with agents who would transport him to a secret destination where he’d remain in hiding until after Cuba was invaded by the United States. A fake trail to Mexico City ending at the Cuban Embassy would lead investigators to think he had fled to Cuba. The belief that Castro planned the assassination of President Kennedy and the assassin was being harbored under his protection in Cuba would stir the Americans to a feverish pitch of anger, like, ‘Remember the Maine,’ the battleship blown up in Havana Harbor in 1898. It started the Spanish American War. Oswald was shocked and not a little frightened, however Hunt convinced him that he could be saving the United States from destruction by nuclear rockets being planted in Cuba by Russia. He confided to Oswald that JFK had not been made aware of their plan, that was for the sake of authenticity of his reactions. But it was approved and sanctioned by high ranking members of the cabinet. Hunt assured him, after U.S. forces overran Cuba and exposed the Russian nuclear missiles, President Kennedy would forgive them for their precipitant actions. He would perceive them as American heroes. Oswald could come in out of the cold and live as an ordinary citizen with his family, which desire he’d indicated a number of times. On first blush Oswald was extremely leery of the feasibility of Hunt’s plan. But commencing to see and feel the power and confidence of people behind the mission he joined eagerly. His orders were to leave a trail that could be easily followed, yet not so overly obvious as to bring down suspicion. And specifically the most critical part was the moment of firing the rifle. It must be instantly clear to the crowd and security people in the street as to the location and source of the shots. Success of the operation depended entirely upon police quickly finding the rifle and the clues. The hysteria and excited press and TV announcers picking up the scent would trumpet a bloodhound hue and cry following the trail right to Fidel Castro’s doorstep.”

Audie mused, “Sounds exactly like a Hollywood script.”

“Yes, but by standards it was a basic plan. Of course all covert operations have inherent danger and are subject to break downs, but my God, this was no break down or neglect of performance, or even bad luck. What has happened is incomprehensible. It cannot be that the Mafia or Cuban exiles have done it, there is no motive, they had already been given inside tips that an operation was underway that would return them to Cuba. It would’ve been totally stupid for them to interfere. Anyway, even Oswald wasn’t told the route to take for his rendezvous until the last minute, so how could they possibly know where he was? Only a few of Hunt’s most trusted men knew all his plans down to the last detail. It is impossible to believe any of them is a traitor. Still it is clear, who ever killed the President had to know all the minute details to pull it off the way they did. Something very frightening, horribly sinister had interposed Hunt’s mission. He and his men are petrified, they conceive this as not just murder, they’ve been drawn into treason. The mysterious assassins then intercepted Oswald before he reached his rendezvous. Certainly they were about to kill him when the police officer happened upon the scene, they did not dare be caught with Oswald so they shot the officer. During the shooting Oswald ran and hid in a theatre, he was captured minutes later. It had to happen that way, I know, Oswald would never have shot an officer under any circumstances, I’m positive.”

From his pocket John removed a manila envelope, business size, about 4×10, it was thick, he pushed it over to me, the flap was glued. Strangely it was further secured by red sealing wax about the size of a quarter with a thumbprint impression, a procedure police used to protect vital evidence from being tainted before it reached the court. I saw it was perfectly plain, no writing, I passed it over to Frank.

John said, “Inside are irrefutable documents, evidence verifying what I have just told you.”

…

Back at Burbank Airport Frank handed the envelope to Audie and asked him to put it in his safe with other things he was keeping for us.

Driving to our office Frank and I agreed that the murder of JFK was an evil whirlpool so dangerous it could destroy Dallas. We had no business sticking our noses in, we remembered Big Bill McKesson threatening what he would do to us if we even thought of going near Malibu the night that JFK was at the party. We weren’t sure he was kidding with his threat to kill us. Now if McKesson heard about this, if he didn’t murder us, there was a damn good chance someone else would. The frightening part was that no one knew who that someone else was… it was impossible to defend against.

It was only a few days, Frank and I got a hurry up call to come by Audie’s office, this time there was no grin. He’d received many urgent calls from Bill Decker. Audie explained, “Hunt and his agents have regrouped from their horrified panic, they’ve sprung back into action. Hunt’s machinations and connection with Oswald had to be covered-up at all costs. Bill says Military Intelligence, FBI, and the CIA were terrified. If their secret schemes were to be exposed they’d be rooted out in an eruption of calamitous national anger. In their nightmares all they can see is a firing squad. In fact they’ve solemnly declared that National Security is at stake. That’s their justification for a cover-up at any cost. John told Decker he had made a horrible mistake by talking to us and giving us that envelope in a moment of panic, he wants it back immediately. I don’t know if I made a terrible blunder or not, I said the first thing coming into my mind. I told Bill we’d destroyed it on the flight back to Burbank, over the desert we had torn it into little pieces and let them fly out the pilot’s window. Bill repeated this to John, he told Bill if we were lying and still had it we would all be destroyed. Decker says for our own good we had better believe this.” Frank and I figured Audie made the best move he could when he said the envelope was destroyed.

Then we watched the plot unfolding as the powerful, politically contrived Warren Commission covered-up the heinous assassination of JFK under orders of the new President, Lyndon B. Johnson. We could easily guess our fate if we interfered. [4]

In the wake of a ‘murder most foul’ many people died…

JFK researcher, John Judge, revealed that his mother’s job at the Pentagon was to project overall national drafts’ call figures five years in advance. From the figures she was given before the assassination she knew that they were withdrawing from Vietnam. Then on the Monday after the assassination (25 November) she was given new figures and told that “the war in Vietnam would last for 10 years and that 57,000 Americans would die, and to figure that in.” [5]

Why would 57,000 Americans die in Vietnam?

RA Kris Millegan, who wrote a Publisher’s Foreword for Sean Stone’s book, New World Order: A Strategy of Imperialism, revealed that his father had worked in psychological warfare for the CIA and, in 1969, had a profound talk with him about his intelligence career. Millegan wrote:

The first thing he told me was that the Vietnam War was about drugs and that there were secret societies involved. He then said that communism was a sham, and instead, these secret societies were behind it; that it was “all a big game.” He also told me that “they” were playing out a “lose-scenario in Vietnam.”

In May 1971 Audie Murphy was killed in a plane crash.

In April 1991, John Tower was killed in a plane crash on his way to give a talk about his newly published book, Consequences: A Personal and Political Memoir.

The following day, Senator John Heinz (who had accompanied Senator Tower on George H.W. Bush’s flight to Paris to arrange the counter-October Surprise in 1980) was killed when a helicopter hit the plane in which he was a passenger.

In November of 1991 Robert Maxwell died in suspicious circumstances, supposedly after falling from his yacht near the Canary Islands. It was Senator Tower (on Maxwell’s payroll since 1984) who had given him access to the Reagan White House where he gained a leg in the door to America to sell (on behalf of Israel) stolen copies of the surveillance software, PROMIS, to American companies, police departments, government departments, and even to the Los Alamos Sandia Laboratories, housing the most sensitive secrets of the United States. Little did they know that the software had a secret trap door that enabled Mossad to track everyone who purchased it. [6]

On 24 December 1992, Casper Weinberger was pardoned by President George H.W. Bush after he had been indicted by attorney Lawrence Walsh on five felony charges related to the Iran-Contra affair, including accusations that he’d lied to Congress and obstructed Congress.

Gary Wean survived an attempt on his life. He was fond of saying, “Think real deep” and, “Everything is connected.”

References

[1] Jefferson Morley, Morley v. the CIA, Part 1 (Video at 24:30)

[2] Gary Wean, p. 347, Notices & Reports To The People, pdf

[3] Gareth (Gary) L. Wean, p. 580, There’s A Fish In The Courthouse

[4] Ibid., pp. 581-585

[5] JFK and its Depiction of History (5:07)

[6] Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon, Robert Maxwell, Israel’s Superspy: The Life and Murder of a Media Mogul, (2002), Carroll and Graf Publishers, New York

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