Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

Linda and I have been enjoying House of Cards on Amazon Prime. It's actually a Netflix series, but they offer it on Amazon. It's rather like the West Wing, except that it's much, much darker. I'd like to tell you about it because I think it has parallels with JFK, but if you think you're going to watch it, then don't read any further because I don't want to spoil it for you. But, if you know you're never going to be on Amazon Prime or Netflix, then it doesn't matter, and you can continue. 

It all centers around Congressman Francis Underwood, who is from South Carolina and speaks with a very distinguished Southern accent. He is also the House Whip. He is the ultimate unscrupulous politician, and not just unscrupulous, but evil. The show starts with him being passed over to be appointed Secretary of State, and from that moment on, he considers the President and all who work for him his enemy. Through a very roundabout and complex scheme, he gets the Vice President to resign, and then he gets the President to appoint him Vice President. Then, as Vice President, he starts manipulating the President's psychology, disrupting his marriage, and then he gets him involved in off-the-books trade concessions to China in exchange for illicit contributions, which become public. And then, the President has to resign, and Frank becomes President. The second season ended with him standing alone in the Oval Office, savoring his victory. 

But we, the viewers, know that his evil is much worse than anybody realizes.  We know that he killed two people. I don't mean that he had two people killed but that he, himself, killed two people. One was a very attractive and sexy female reporter who was on to him and out to expose his crimes. She had even had sex with him repeatedly just to ply him for information. He told her the things he wanted her to know, partly to get sex from her but also because he thought it was to his advantage. But, she figured out more, and once she realized how demonic he was, she really turned against him but without telling him. But, he knew he could no longer trust her, so he pushed her in front of a speeding subway train, and that was the end of her. 

Then, the other person he killed was another Congressman, a young guy from Pennsylvania, who had a serious addiction to alcohol, to drugs, and also to sex where he frequented prostitutes. Frank used him in a very Machiavellian scheme, and when he was no longer useful, Frank got him staggering drunk, took him home and with the guy in a stupor, set him up in his car in his garage with the motor running, and then he left. When the guy's dead body was found, it was presumed to be a suicide, and Frank got away with it.

At this point in the story, there are still a couple of reporters who have an inkling about what transpired, so there is still the hope that Frank Underwood is going to eventually be brought to justice and get the punishment he deserves, but that remains to be seen.

But, I really think this is a case of art imitating life. Is Frank Underwood really any worse than Lyndon Baines Johnson? I doubt it. Look at the parallels. Like Underwood, Johnson forced himself into the Vice Presidential spot. In 1960, Johnson was not even on the long list- never mind the short list- of VP contenders. Kennedy had not the slightest inclination to add him to the ticket. But, Johnson forced the issue at the Democratic convention in Riverside, California. He threatened to expose JFK's many health problems and drug dependencies. He threatened to expose JFK's many sexual dalliances and excesses. And he threatened to undermine JFK's campaign and his administration if he were elected. It was blackmail: pure and simple. It was much more blatant than anything Frank Underwood said to his President; he twisted and manipulated the guy, but he never threatened him. 

According to Phillip Nelson, author of LBJ: Mastermind, LBJ wanted to be President since he was a boy, and he was driven to get on the 1960 ticket because of his age. He was convinced that he was going to die in his 60s because Johnson men usually did. (He was also a heavy smoker and drinker.)  LBJ was already 52 in 1960, and he had no time to wait to be elected President. And at the time, he had no national base; no national following. He was well known in Texas, but that was about it. He could never do it. The only chance for him was to be appointed Vice President and then hop up from there. 

So, JFK signed his own death warrant when he put LBJ on the ticket because that put Johnson "a heartbeat away" and then it was only a matter of stopping that heartbeat. And obviously, killing the President was worse than driving him out of office the way Frank Underwood did. 

But, as killings go, LBJ had more of them under his belt than Frank Underwood. Here are a list of the murders that have been attributed to LBJ. It is a letter from the lawyer of Billy Sol Estes to the Assistant Attorney General of the United States. 

August 9, 1984

Mr. Stephen S. Trott
Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Washington, D. C. 20530

RE: Mr. Billie Sol Estes

Dear Mr. Trott:

My client, Mr. Estes, has authorized me to make this reply to your letter of May 29, 1984. Mr. Estes was a member of a four-member group, headed by Lyndon Johnson, which committed criminal acts in Texas in the 1960's. The other two, besides Mr. Estes and LBJ, were Cliff Carter and Mac Wallace. Mr. Estes is willing to disclose his knowledge concerning the following criminal offenses:

I. Murders
1. The killing of Henry Marshall
2. The killing of George Krutilek
3. The killing of Ike Rogers and his secretary
4. The killing of Harold Orr
5. The killing of Coleman Wade
6. The killing of Josefa Johnson
7. The killing of John Kinser
8. The killing of President J. F. Kennedy.

Mr. Estes is willing to testify that LBJ ordered these killings, and that he transmitted his orders through Cliff Carter to Mac Wallace, who executed the murders. In the cases of murders nos. 1-7, Mr. Estes' knowledge of the precise details concerning the way the murders were executed stems from conversations he had shortly after each event with Cliff Carter and Mac Wallace.
In addition, a short time after Mr. Estes was released from prison in 1971, he met with Cliff Carter and they reminisced about what had occurred in the past, including the murders. During their conversation, Carter orally compiled a list of 17 murders which had been committed, some of which Mr. Estes was unfamiliar.  
A living witness was present at that meeting and should be willing to testify about it. He is Kyle Brown, recently of Houston and now living in Brady, Texas.
Mr. Estes, states that Mac Wallace, whom he describes as a "stone killer" with a communist background, recruited Jack Ruby, who in turn recruited Lee Harvey Oswald. Mr. Estes says that Cliff Carter told him that Mac Wallace fired a shot from the grassy knoll in Dallas, which hit JFK from the front during the assassination.

Mr. Estes declares that Cliff Carter told him the day Kennedy was killed, Fidel Castro also was supposed to be assassinated and that Robert Kennedy, awaiting word of Castro's death, instead received news of his brother's killing.
Mr. Estes says that the Mafia did not participate in the Kennedy assassination but that itparticipation was discussed prior to the event, but rejected by LBJ, who believed if the Mafia were involved, he would never be out from under its blackmail.

Mr. Estes asserts that Mr. Ronnie Clark, of Wichita, Kansas, has attempted on several occasions to engage him in conversation. Mr. Clark, who is a frequent visitor to Las Vegas, has indicated in these conversations a detailed knowledge corresponding to Mr. Estes' knowledge of the JFK assassination. Mr. Clark claims to have met with Mr. Jack Ruby a few days prior to the assassination, at which time Kennedy's planned murder was discussed.

Mr. Estes declares that discussions were had with Jimmy Hoffa concerning having his aide, Larry Cabell, kill Robert Kennedy while the latter drove around in his convertible.

Mr. Estes has records of his phone calls during the relevant years to key persons mentioned in the foregoing account.

II. The Illegal Cotton Allotments

Mr. Estes desires to discuss the infamous illegal cotten allotment schemes in great detail. He has recordings made at the time of LBJ, Cliff Carter and himself discussing the scheme. These recordings were made with Cliff Carter's knowledge as a means of Carter and Estes protecting them selves should LBJ order their deaths.

Mr. Estes believes these tape recordings and the rumors of other recordings allegedly in his possession are the reason he has not been murdered.
III. Illegal Payoffs

Mr. Estes is willing to disclose illegal payoff schemes, in which he collected and passed on to Cliff Carter and LBJ millions of dollars. Mr. Estes collected payoff money on more than one occasion from George and Herman Brown of Brown and Root, which was delivered to LBJ.

In your letter of May 29, 1984, you request "(1) the information, including the extent of corroborative evidence, that Mr. Estes sources of his information, and (3) the extent of his involvement, if any, in each of those events or any subsequent cover-ups."

In connection with Item # 1, I wish to declare, as Mr. Estes' attorney, that Mr. Estes is prepared without reservation to provide all the information he has. Most of the information contained in this letter I obtained from him yesterday for the first time. While Mr. Estes has been pre-occupied by this knowledge almost every day for the last 22 years, it was not until we began talking yesterday that he could face up to disclosing it to another person. My impression from our conversation yesterday is that Mr. Estes, in the proper setting, will be able to recall and orally recount a criminal matters. It is also my impression that his interrogation in such a setting will elicit additional corroborative evidence as his memory is stimulated.

In connection with your Item #2, Mr. Estes has attempted in this letter to provide his sources of information.

In connection with your Item #3, Mr. Estes states that he never participated in any of the murders. It may be alleged that he participated in subsequent cover-ups. His response to this is that had he conducted himself any differently, he, too, would have been a murder victim.

Mr. Estes wishes to confirm that he will abide by the conditions set forth in your letter and that he plans to act with total honesty and candor in any dealings with the Department of Justice or any federal investigative agency.

In return for his cooperation, Mr. Estes wishes in exchange his being given immunity, his parole restrictions being lifted and favorable consideration being given to recommending his long-standing tax leins being removed and his obtaining a pardon.

Sincerely yours,
Douglas Caddy

A Texas grand jury eventually held Johnson responsible for Henry Marshall's murder, and the only reason they didn't charge him is because he was dead. We don't prosecute people criminally in this country after they're dead. And be aware that Josefa Johnson was Johnson's own sister. 

So, the bottom line is that Frank Underwood is like a Boy Scout compared to Lyndon Baines Johnson. And here's a heads-up: Phil Nelson's sequel to Mastermind is coming out soon, entitled LBJ: From Mastermind to "The Colossus".  Here is the write-up about it on Amazon. It comes out in November, but you can pre-order it now, as I have.

http://www.amazon.com/LBJ-From-Mastermind-%C2%93The-Colossus%C2%94/dp/1628736925/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410896081&sr=8-1&keywords=LBJ%3A+From+Mastermind+to+%22The+Colossus%22