Lyndon Johnson
Aides Angry at History Channel JFK Documentary
Tuesday,
November 18, 2003
On
November 18, 2003, The Associated Press reported that The History
Channel’s film that aired Monday alleges that then-Vice President Johnson and
members of his staff were responsible for President Kennedy's 1963 killing,
said LBJ Foundation Chairman Tom Johnson, no relation to the former president.
"I do not know of a greater injustice to the reputation of a former president
-- especially to be on The History Channel," Tom Johnson, who worked in the
Johnson White House, said in an interview Tuesday. He and Jack Valenti,
another former Johnson staff member and current president of the Motion
Picture Association of America, issued a joint statement on behalf of the
Johnson family and others. "Sadly, President Johnson and the staff members who
are wrongly smeared by the conspiracy theorists are no longer alive to defend
themselves," the statement said. "In televising this production, The History
Channel has distorted history beyond recognition." It was the second recent TV
project about a former president to draw criticism. CBS yanked its November
miniseries "The Reagans" after supporters of former President Reagan
said it distorted his legacy while he suffers Alzheimer's disease. The latest
program aired as part of an umbrella series titled "The Men Who Killed
Kennedy," a package of documentaries about various conspiracy theories
regarding Kennedy's death, said channel spokeswoman Lynn Gardner.
Photo: Producer Nigel
Turner
The
films in "The Men Who Killed Kennedy" series are from producer Nigel Turner
and have aired before on cable TV, channel spokeswoman Gardner said. Monday's
film, titled "The Guilty Men," was based in part on the book "Blood, Money &
Power: How L.B.J. Killed J.F.K." by Barr McClellan, she said. "The History
Channel does not say that any of these theories are correct nor does not in
any way say that the theory in this program is correct," the channel said in a
statement. "We are, however, presenting a point of view that has been
meticulously researched. "By presenting different viewpoints we enable our
viewers to decide to agree or disagree with them and to arrive at their own
conclusions," the channel said. Kennedy was shot in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
The Warren Commission concluded Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin, but
claims of more extensive plots continue to fascinate the public. "I'm puzzled,
bewildered, that a distinguished enterprise like the History Channel would put
on the air such garbage, such ugliness," Valenti said in an interview.
"It makes one sick." Another former LBJ aide, journalist Bill Moyers, hadn't
seen the program but called its premise "absurd." Liz Carpenter, who was press
secretary to Lady Bird Johnson, called the program "outrageous." Attorneys
were being consulted but it was unknown if any legal action could be taken,
Tom Johnson said.
Photo, left:
Judge
Burt Griffin, who in 1964 was the Warren Commission counsel
investigating Jack Ruby. Photo is circa 1999.
The documentary was "exceptionally upsetting" to Johnson's widow, who recently suffered a stroke, and daughters Luci and Lynda, Tom Johnson said. President Johnson died in 1973. The family did not try to block the program's broadcast as in the case of organized Republican efforts against CBS' "The Reagans," Tom Johnson said. The Reagan drama was shifted to cable channel Showtime and is showing Nov. 30. "We left the decision on editorial content and accuracy up to the History Channel," Tom Johnson said.
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