JFK Assassination Author, John Beviliqua, Thanks Colleagues For Research Efforts

John Bevilaqua, authorJFK - The Final Solution (Red Scares, White Power and Blue Death)

Let's hear it for the proverbial 'Bull in the China Shop', yours truly, without whose persistence, this entire JFK Conundrum could have gone on for yet another 50 years. And let us thank John Simkin for opening up this thread again at Spartacus because he realized how important the role of Guy Banister actually was in the entire JFK proceedings, not only in New Orleans, but through the Southern US and Latin America. And let us also thank Susan Klopfer, who works with a group of Civil Rights Cold Case volunteers as well. Without her, it might not have become so abundantly clear that among other things, William 'Guy' Banister was first and foremost the private detective of choice for every single pro-Segregation, anti-Semitic, anti-Civil Rights proponent throughout the Southern States touching the Gulf of Mexico. 

She also pointed out that Banister was on the payroll of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission for Senator James O. Eastland, along with Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker during both the Ole Miss Riots and the Little Rock, Arkansas school desegregation crisis. Recall also that it was Walker who often visited Byron De La Beckwith in prison following the murder of Medgar Evers, Jr. and that it was none other than Jack Ruby who fingered Walker in his Warren Commission testimony. 

And how long was it the Banister's role in the Anti-Communist League of the Caribbean was totally ignored, almost deliberately, 40+ years, perhaps? And how many of you knew that Banister played a role with E. H. Hunt in the 1954 Guatamala coup of Arbenz run with 'Rip' Robertston and Allen Dulles, along with his United Fruit Company client which was less than a mile from his offices on Lafayette Street on St. Charles? Not many, I would venture to say. 

And when the information about 'Operation Red Cross', also run by Senators Eastland and Goldwater, and NOT the CIA was painstakingly extracted from Nathaniel Weyl, how many of you said: "Wow, everyone always said that one of the main keys to the understanding of the sponsors of the JFK hit was 'Operation Red Cross', now that we know it was done by SISS, under the auspices of Senator James Eastland from Mississippi who was on Draper's payroll, for the benefit of Senator Barry Goldwater from YAF and organized by Robert Morris from SISS and The China Lobby, who was the real force behind McCarthyism, this puts the entire JFK Assassination in a much clearer, brighter light!" No one besides me. 

Why does it take a Civil Rights Activist to bring us all back to our senses to realize that the JFK murder and the other 3 acts of violence done between the Summer of 1963 and the Summer of 1964 were all done by the SAME forces, paid for by the SAME person, Wickliffe Draper, for the SAME reasons using the power behind Senator James O. Eastland, the Senator from The Pioneer Fund? 

Even Jackie Kennedy said something to the effect: "What a shame that he had to die at the hands of a little nobody like Oswald instead of at least for a more nobler cause like 'The Civil Rights Movement'."

Looks like Jackie was right after all, and it looks like those like Bill Baggs, Editor of The Miami News whom I had the privilege to work for at the age of 16, and Ralph McGill, Editor of the Atlanta Constitution were also right when they said the JFK murder was first and foremost perpetrated by those in the Civil Rights movement for their own sinister purposes.

Sure, it also served the purposes of the Viet Nam lobby, the MIC, the anti-Semites, the anti-Papists, the anti-Catholics, but who actually represented ALL of these interests and was in a position to reach deep down into his pockets and deep down into his hierarchy of KKK stormtroopers and the Gestapo of the Southern Civil Rights opponents? 

Only Wickliffe Preston Draper, using Senator James O. Eastland from the MSC, the KKK and the Draper Genetics Committee and Robert J. Morris whose history included Rapp-Coudert, McCarranism, The China Lobby, the Liberty Lobby, McCarthyism, MacArthurism and then SISS with Eastland as well. Trust me, without my contributions, Robert Morris, Charles Willoughby, Wickliffe Draper, Edwin Walker and even James Eastland and Guy Banister would have gone totally scot free. And both Army Intel and ONI would have gotten off clean as a whistle, too.

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Civil Rights Author Releases Autopsy of Mississippi Lawyer; Death of Cleve McDowell 'Still a Mystery'

For Immediate Release

Susan Klopfer

Civil Rights Author, Speaker

http://susanklopfer.com

Mississippi Civil Rights Author Releases Autopsy of Delta Lawyer Murdered in 1997; Report Found in Sunflower County Courthouse Basement 'Leaves Open Questions About What Really Happened to Cleve McDowell'

(Gallup, NM) – A controversial autopsy of a civil rights lawyer murdered in 1997 has been placed on the Internet “for the public to see” by the author of three Mississippi civil rights history books and eBooks.

“I still think about Cleve McDowell, how brave he was and how he remains a forgotten civil rights hero. And I believe his murder should be reinvestigated,” Klopfer said today, after placing the 29-page report on a civil rights blog, MississippiSovereigntyCommission.com. 

Klopfer, a graduate of Hanover College, is the author of Who Killed Emmett Till, The Emmett Till Story, and Where Rebels Roost, Mississippi Civil Rights Revisited. She is a former acquisitions and development editor for Prentice Hall, and has won journalism awards in Branson, Missouri for her investigative work.

The story of Cleve McDowell, a small-town civil rights leader who investigated the murder of Emmett Till and so many others killed in the civil rights movement has been “pretty much” forgotten, Klopfer said.

“Go to Mississippi’s state civil rights library that houses civil rights reports and books, and ask for something on McDowell. Most likely, you will get a blank stare. The state has forgotten this man – the first African American to be admitted to the University of Mississippi’s law school – and a cohort of James Meredith and Medger Evers.”

McDowell a 'Bad' Lawyer, Delta Matron Claims

Klopfer said she learned of McDowell only because she asked a simple question about a gate protecting an unfinished home on the outskirts of Drew, Miss., where McDowell was born and later murdered.


“I was riding in a car with one of the matrons of this small Delta town. I saw the rusted gate and several large stakes driven into the ground. It looked like a construction project that was halted a number of years ago – and it turned out this was a home McDowell was building for himself at the time he was killed.”


Klopfer said she asked the driver of the car, a woman she was interviewing at the time on what happened – who abandoned the construction, and why.


“She would not look me in the eyes, but said a ‘bad’ lawyer was murdered, and was building this house at the time. That caught my attention and I started asking people about the ‘bad’ lawyer, and soon I began to piece together his story.


“As it worked out, he was an important person who set several state records for African Americans. His short stay at the University of Mississippi was controversial – he was kicked out for carrying a gun in self-defense. He had been chased by students with guns back to his car, and even when driving home. Nothing happened to the white students, but McDowell was booted out. His law professor helped him get into a Texas law school where he finished, and returned to Mississippi to practice law.


When Klopfer approached the current dean of the law school, asking for the letter of recommendation that was written for McDowell back in 1963, she said he refused to hand it over.


"Several years later, I received a copy of the letter from an archivist at the school. She personally pulled it from law school files so that it would be saved from destruction.”

McDowell's attorney friend 'commits suicide' in Alabama

Klopfer became further intrigued with the story, when learning that another black lawyer, McDowell’s protégé and investigative partner, was killed in Alabama (“committed suicide”) several years before McDowell was murdered.


“McDowell went to Alabama and investigated his friend’s 'suicide.' He knew this man since they were children, and even influenced his decision to become a lawyer.


“When McDowell returned to his Delta home from Montgomery, he told a best friend this was not a suicide, but a murder – there were signs of torture. He also told this friend, he (McDowell) would be next.”


McDowell immediately quit practicing law in his office, and started a small church in Drew where he spent his last years. "His secretary told me that he stayed at the church most of the time, telling her how to proceed. She told me that on the day before he was killed, he wrote a lengthy resume that included all of his accomplishments."


Klopfer personally believes that McDowell and his friend were very likely investigating the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


“Too many signs point in this direction. McDowell was a friend of King. He worked for the SCLC right out of law school, and on several occasions, Dr. King visited his office in the tiny town of Drew. After learning as much as I could about McDowell, I know that he was a dedicated and persevering man, who investigated many murders in the Delta, and would not have left King’s assassination alone. 

Finds Clue in Lubbock, Texas Newspaper

"In an obituary appearing in a Lubbock, Texas newspaper  –  where I once worked as a journalist  –  it was reported that he was known for investigating civil rights crimes, with several other lawyers. Ironically, this information never made it into Mississippi newspapers, as far as I could tell.”


McDowell also had working papers in boxes and in his safe, stashed in his office from various investigations over the years, including the murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicago visitor to the Delta who was murdered in 1955.


“Those papers all disappeared following McDowell’s murder. All of his guns were removed from his office and home, too. Months later on, his entire office ‘caught’ on fire.”


A young man was arrested for McDowell’s murder, and remains in prison.

Autopsy Leaves Questions

“In court records that I found in the basement of the Sunflower County Courthouse, I learned that this young man tried to commit suicide while in jail, and that after confessing, he later claimed he did not kill McDowell, that he admitted guilt because he was threatened he would be charged with a capital crime if he did not plead guilty.”


The autopsy leaves some real questions for Kloofer, “after learning how McDowell’s murder was described in court.


“Some pieces don’t fit the puzzle, and I believe that this murder is far more complex than what meets the eye. I never met McDowell, of course, because I did my research in 2004 and 2005. But every time I tried to interview family members and some friends or relatives about him, and about his murder, I ran into a brick wall.


"The person who did the autopsy was frequently questioned by his peers regarding his standards. And then, a host of crime scene questions have not been resolved--in fact, they need to be asked!"


Klopfer said her book, Who Killed Emmett Till, gives "relevant details that have never been resolved" about the murder.


Cleve McDowell’s story may be further complicated, "because he was gay (as were several major iconic civil rights figures, at the time) and he kept this secret quite well. This has made it more difficult to find his true friends, and often when I do, they usually won’t talk because they seem to be either afraid or embarrassed.”


The New Mexico author adds that “so little” is still reported and understood about the entire modern civil rights movement in Mississippi.


“This is a small piece of the big civil rights story, but I would really like to know more truth – for now, I really believe that the case of Cleve McDowell is not closed.”

**Related Links

Cleve McDowell Autopsy Report

Mississippi Sovereignty Commission Blog

Emmett Till Blog – McDowell Story
Chapter 21, Where Rebels Roost, Cleve McDowell

Real Civil Rights History Beats Out "The Help" and Hollywood's Take on Mississippi

Publisher's Note: Just received this announcement from Hunter Bear, a seasoned Civil Rights Veteran... Hunter Bear, formerly known as John Salter, was THERE when the modern civil rights movement took place in Mississippi. He is a sociologist and the perfect person to write about events that occurred. You will not have a better opportunity to see history through his eyes. Hunter is a well-known Native American activist, thus giving his book a unique perspective. Here are some links to learn more. John, by the way, was spokesman for the lunch counter sit-ins at the Jackson Woolworth store. Local papers ran pictures of him dripping with ketchup, mustard and blood, with "funny" captions that were terrifying. The movement in Mississippi brought death to many, and he was very fortunate to have survived. So, please take a look and please share this with others. It is a work of living history. Hollywood needs to read and learn.Susan Klopfer,publisher of Civil Rights and Social Justice News\\

Credit: AP Photos

A photo from May 28, 1963, shows a sit-in demonstration at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Jackson, Miss., where whites poured sugar, ketchup and mustard over the heads of the demonstrators. Seated at the counter are John Salter (left), Joan Trumpauer (center) and Anne Moody.
# # # # #

Friends:

The new enlarged and updated edition of my book, JACKSON MISSISSIPPI: AN AMERICAN CHRONICLE OF STRUGGLE AND SCHISM, is now available for purchase.

The publisher is Bison Books/University of Nebraska Press. The publisher's link, a bit further down, discusses the book, provides several reviews, and carries ordering information.

The initial Introduction in the two earlier editions has been replaced by one written by me. This is, in many ways, a large, additional chapter [about 9500 words] which up-dates Mississippi, discusses our family's always interesting experiences since the first edition of JM appeared in 1979, and contains supplemental autobiographical material. And, of course, it also contains something of my reflections as a life-long social justice organizer.

The dedication:

For Eldri and the Family -- truly a Golden Horde

And in memory of Doris and Ben Allison and Medgar Wiley Evers

Thus this will likely be my basic autobiographical memoir. As a corollary to that, however, I must say that my health is fine.

The University of Nebraska Press is one of the largest university presses in the country.

Here is their announcement of Jackson, Mississippi: (Click on the photo and it'll get bigger.)

http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Jackson-Mississippi,674910.aspx

(You may also wish to check out the front page of our very large Lair of Hunterbear website. We have rearranged that and it now carries, among other new dimensions, about three dozen of our representative links. Makes for quick and easy reference. www.hunterbear.org Also, if you know of other people who may be interested in our Jackson Mississippi message, I would be much obliged if you could pass this along. Many thanks.)

In the Mountains of Eastern Idaho

Nialetch/Onen/Solidarity

Hunter Bear (Hunter Gray / John R. Salter, Jr.)

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
and Ohkwari'

Our Lair of Hunterbear website is now almost 12 years old. It
contains a great deal of primary, first-hand material on Native
Americans, Civil Rights Movement, union labor, and organizing
techniques -- and much more. Check it out and its vast number
of component pieces. The front page itself -- the initial cover
page -- has about 36 representative links.

www.hunterbear.org

See - Some Basic Pieces in our Jackson Movement
"Scrapbook" Three consecutive web pages -- primary
documents, photos of beating and demonstrations,
oral history components, much more. Begin with

http://hunterbear.org/a_piece_of__the_scrapbook.htm

And see this on the new, expanded and updated edition of my book,
Jackson Mississippi -- the classic and fully detailed account of
the historic and bloody Jackson Movement of almost 50 years ago:

http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm