Lies My TV Told Me

A week or so ago, while I was watching WTTW in Chicago, the station ran a “teaser” — a preview of an upcoming show. Commentator John Callaway had interviewed Tim Weiner about Weiner’s new book, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. But when I heard them talking about President John Kennedy, my heart sank. The anniversary of Kennedy’s murder was approaching. I realized that it was time once again for main-stream media to smear the Kennedys.

Weiner offered the ridiculous claim that we will probably never really know what happened to J.F.K. and denied that declassified files shed any new light on the assassination, thereby proving he hadn’t done any homework. Then he accused John and Robert Kennedy of using the C.I.A. to threaten or kill foreign leaders.

Callaway didn’t do any homework, either. He did not, for example, ask Weiner about C.I.A. officer Everette Howard Hunt, Jr.’s confession in the case. He did not ask about any of the Agency figures identified by Hunt, like Cord Meyer, Frank Sturgis, William Harvey, and David Atlee Phillips. Callaway did not ask about Phillips’s admission, nearly thirty years ago, that the so-called “Mexico City” trip made by the alleged assassin was a fabrication. Other officers or assets have confessed knowledge of or participation in the assassination, but Callaway didn’t ask about any of them.

The Central Intelligence Agency killed President John Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy. After extensive investigations, the Agency exonerated itself in each case and reporters have duly reiterated the C.I.A.’s findings for decades. So, if you missed Callaway’s interview, don’t worry. There will be more such exercises in news fiction next year, around Thanksgiving.


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