CHAPTER 8

WHAT TO DONAHUE IS A "VETERAN JOURNALIST"

Donahue refers to Jim Bishop as a "veteran journalist,"1 and based on his opinion that Bishop is an eminently dependable source, a real "veteran journalist," gives his own special interpretation that we have seen to Bishop's attribution of the word "accident" to Clint Hill. On this Donahue builds a major myth of his, on the special meaning he gives "accident" for all the world as though it is intended to refer to what he made up out of nothing but his ego and his twisted imagination and to which it could not possibly refer.

We have seen the large number of people defamed and maligned by Donahue on the basis of the special meaning he gives this one word for which his sole source is Jim Bishop.

Thus Bishop became an important source for Donahue and that he is provided an opportunity for evaluating Donahue's judgement, particularly of those he uses as sources or supposed sources.

Those of us familiar with the literature, especially the schmaltzy kind that is hardly journalism and would never be written by real journalists or used as dependable sources by responsible writers, have learned that what Bishop says is more likely to be what he thinks will help sell books rather than provide facts. He took real liberties with established fact.

Back in late 1966 what was then the largest of the independent radio and TV media company, Metromedia , did a JFK assassination TV special. Bishop was writing his JFK book. He was asked to be the moderator. There were a half-dozen of us on the show which was titled, "The Minority Report." It happened that I was sitting on Bishop's left. To show off that he had the twenty-six volumes with him, Bishop positioned them where the camera could not easily view them, but permitted him to reach for a book and flash it before the camera.

That was only for show because Bishop really did not know the established facts recorded in those volumes, especially those basic to the crime.

There came a point at which he virtually called me a liar. I had said that the chief pathologist at the autopsy had done what is strictly forbidden. He had burned his original autopsy report — and of all the inappropriate places had done that in the fireplace of his recreation room.

On camera, Bishop denied this, and said something like, nothing like that had ever happened. Perish the thought.

When I insisted that it did, he insisted that it had not. With that testimony fresh in mind I told Bishop, "You have the volumes behind you. Get Volume II and turn to I think page 373, to the very top, and you will see that what I have said is what the man who did that burning actually testified that he did."

Bishop did not do it. He talked about something else. So I got up, went to his books on display, got Volume II and turned to page 373 and then read Humes' own words as he told the Commission that he had burned the autopsy report he had written out. (Later, I was able to prove that Humes did that as soon as he knew Oswald had been killed and there would be no trial at which he or his autopsy report would be questioned.)

Bishop was quite upset. He blabbed from ignorance and had put me in the position of defending myself coast to coast, which I did. In the course of his unhappiness over this Bishop spilled his cup of coffee, and he whined, "Look at what you made me do to my new jacket." It was a fancy jacket and oh! Was it loud! The rest of us thought it made him look like a Park Avenue doorman.

In any event, this is a picture of the real Jim Bishop from my personal experience with him. He would go for what he thought would entertain or sell. He was not all well informed about the assassination despite his preparations to write a book on the JFK assassination.

He had a special formula, "A Day in the Life of," and it would be the day that they were killed for JFK and others.

The Day Kennedy Was Shot book was Bishop's kind of commercialization and while it was terribly crappy stuff, it made him money and it made him popular among those in the government who wanted to viewed in a favorable light by the Bishops who reach the reading masses.

Bishop was liked in the FBI from the top down.

I got the proof in CA 78-0322, my FOIA lawsuit for the JFK assassination records of the Dallas FBI field office.

The FBI had already learned that rather than being the respectable and responsible kind of "veteran journalist" Donahue pretends Bishop was (and on this from the FBI records Bishop was far from alone), he was easily bribed with petty favors. He is also one of those who can hardly be considered a real "journalist," one who submitted what they wrote to the FBI for censorship that the FBI pretended was not for but for checking for accuracy.

Bishop knew the ropes. He phoned Cartha "Deke" DeLoach who in those days handled those kinds of operations for Hoover, for whom he was "assistant to the director" whose division was known as "Crime Records." DeLoach phoned Gordon Shanklin, then Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge, and asked Shanklin to fix Bishop and his wife up with the suite in which the Kennedys spent their last night together at the Fort Worth hotel. Under the date of November 15, 1967, Shanklin wrote his memo on it for his Dallas file, which was to cover his ass if anything went wrong.

He headed it merely, in capital letters, "JIM BISHOP AUTHOR." He designated a special file for it, a file not normally used for field office regular business and used for what it was desired: to have hidden. That is the FBI's 80 classification file. The title is "Laboratory Research Matters." The field offices do not have their own laboratories and what they get from the lab at headquarters is filed in the main file on that subject. So this 80 file is available for whatever the FBI wants to shield from searches. It has political matters in it from examples I've seen and sometimes what it has on locals, including the police.

So this Bishop bribery, which is what it was, was designated for the Dallas file 80-879.

In a text, there is a reference to a list of people to whom Bishop wanted to talk. The handwritten note says that list is in 80-879-12, the 12 being the serial number within file 879 of file classification 80.

Here is the memo Shanklin wrote:

On 11/14/67, Assistant to the Director, Mr C. D. DE LOACH, telephonically advised that he had received a call from JIM BISHOP, who is an author and has written several books, one being "The Day Lincoln Died." He called him from Miami, Florida. He stated that he was coming to Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, arriving on Nov. 17th. DE LOACH stated that BISHOP had always been friendly with the Bureau and is at the present time working on a book, "The Day Kennedy Was Shot." He stated that BISHOP is a very pushy sort of individual and was inquiring as to whether he could come by a talk to me and possibly have me take him around and introduce him to various people in Dallas and Fort Worth. DE LOACH stated that he told JIM BISHOP that we could not and would not introduce him around, but that I would be glad to talk to him. He said that anything that BISHOP asked about, if I already knew it and it was not controversial, to go ahead and be helpful, but certainly not to go out of the way or appear to be sponsoring him by taking him about.

Mr. DE LOACH stated that BISHOP wanted to have a reservation made for Friday night in the Texas Hotel and also wanted to see the suite that the late President KENNEDY and Mrs. KENNEDY occupied the night before he was shot in Dallas. He said that if this could be arranged without the FBI becoming involved or appearing to sponsor BISHOP, then to try to do so.

I informed Mr. DE LOACH that the management of the Hotel Texas had recently changed; that I had contact, however, with HOWARD W. JENNINGS, who is employed by PERRY-BASS, INC., which is the company that controls the SID RICHARDSON estate and that this estate also controls the hotel. I felt that I could make necessary arrangements through Mr. JENNINGS. I contacted JENNINGS and JENNINGS stated that what he would like to do would be just to call the manager and tell him to make the suite available on Friday night for Mr. and Mrs. BISHOP on a complimentary basis and show nothing but the fact it was complimentary. There would be no mention made of the FBI. The manager would not know where the request was coming from. I called Mr. DE LOACH back and he stated he could see nothing wrong with this. It is noted that JENNINGS stated he felt that by doing this, it would certainly put a good taste in BISHOP's mouth and possibly he would give Ft. Worth and Dallas a little better write up. DE LOACH stated that very definitely BISHOP would contact me sometime Friday.2

Shanklin knew which strings to pull and he pulled them. (But Shanklin never did learn how to spell DeLoach 's name correctly.) The FBI arranged a freebee with no record of it existing. The Bishops paid nothing for staying and eating at that hotel, thanks to the FBI. To which Bishop showed his appreciation in what he wrote.

As he usually did.

Donahue did not refer to Bishop as an independent journalist. We see that he certainly was not at all that independent.

Eight days later, Shanklin wrote another memo on this for the same file. He reported that it went off as arranged and that Bishop was pleased and expressed his appreciation:

On Monday, 11/20/67, Mr. JIM BISHOP and his wife KELLY appeared at the office and discussed the day President KENNEDY died. He was most appreciative of the accommodations he had had at the Hotel Texas, Ft. Worth, stating that the suite that the late President KENNEDY had used the night before his death had been made available to him gratis by the management.

He then furnished me with a list, which is attached of various people that he stated he was going to try to see in Dallas. He stated he did want to talk to SA VINCENT E. DRAIN and me about what we did no [sic] the day of the assassination, with particular reference to the securing of the evidence from the Dallas Police Department by SA DRAIN, the time, how it was taken to Washington, and when it arrived in Washington.

On Nov. 22, 1967, Mr. BISHOP and his wife came back to the office and stated they had been having quite a bit of success with everyone they had contacted with the exception of the Dallas Police Department, who had told them they would not give them anything. Mr. BISHOP was furnished information concerning the evidence he requested, which was in pages 159, 160 and 161 of the report SA ROBERT P. GEMBERLING dated 11/30/63 at Dallas, Texas, captioned "LEE HARVEY OSWALD, aka; ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY, NOV, 22, 1963," The only other information which I furnished was: He wanted to know how I learned that President KENNEDY was shot, and I told him I had an employee monitoring the police radio. He wanted to know then what I did with the information, and I told him I immediately furnished it to Mr. HOOVER. I also told him that upon receipt of information concerning KENNEDY's death being definitely determined, I furnished this information to Mr. HOOVER.

It is noted he stated that this book would be submitted to Assistant Director DE LOACH prior to publication.

On the morning of 11/24/67, BISHOP called and stated that he and his wife were returning to Florida. He said he was most appreciative of the assistance which he had received from the Dallas Office.3

Bishop did submit his book to the FBI for what amounted to prepublication censorship. The memo by Alex Rosen, then head of what was called the General Investigative Division, found nothing to which the FBI objected, but made a few suggestions for corrections. This is a headquarters record and what reflects the importance given favorable mention in books by the FBI as reflected by the fact, aside from the unique initialing by Hoover and DeLoach, the initials of not fewer than thirteen others on the last page. Those readily identifiable are the mark of Clyde Tolson , who ranked next to Hoover and was his best friend, and William C. Sullivan, who then headed what was known as the Domestic Intelligence division.

Mr. Bishop's second installment of his book, "The Day Kennedy Was Shot" has been reviewed. It deals with the period of time and events prior to President Kennedy's arrival at Love field in Dallas and up until the time he was pronounced dead at the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Mr. Bishop writes in a descriptive narrative style describing events and actions of principals who became involved in the assassination. He still maintains a great admiration for President and Mrs. Kennedy throughout this installment.

This installment has numerous references to the Director, FBI, and FBI personnel. In addition, Mr. Bishop describes the former Attorney General (AG) Robert F. Kennedy and the Director's relationship with him. Mr. Bishop writes about this in the following manner:

Mr. Bishop describes the AG as the most energetic of the Kennedys, the most belligerent and, in the same set of scales, the least tactful. He was the President's brother, campaign manager, buffer, and hatchet man.

Bishop said President Kennedy thought Robert F. Kennedy would be a good AG, but he found little support for the appointment even among his followers. Bishop described the AG as having little experience in courts, and even less in the field of political compromise, but the President was pleased with his work.

Bishop said the AG, when counsel to the "McClellan Committee" fought organized crime and applied himself to exposure of union racketeers, notably James Riddle Hoffa. Exposure turned out to be easy with assistance of renegade witnesses and television, but conviction in court was seldom achieved and devising of new statutes by the committee was lax and ineffectual.

Bishop said the AG found that the FBI belonged to his Department. This opened a new avenue of investigative procedure, a broad one encompassing the use of thousands of trained agents. "The free use of this weapon, Kennedy found, was blocked by the massive presence of John Edgar Hoover who had been prosecuting interstate felons since 1924, the year before Bobby was born."

Bishop said that "Hoover had enjoyed the confidence and respect of Presidents from the administration of Calvin Coolidge onward. Now, in advanced years, the old tiger and the young wildcat were in the same hunting preserve." Bishop said one of the least appreciated of the AG's virtues was his habit of stepping across polished shoes of other public servants. In some cases, fear of the President kept the victims from protesting. "In others, notably Hoover and the FBI, the schism became a gaping wound, unhealing and suppurating." Bishop said the AG wanted to take charge of the FBI. "Hoover did not relish being summoned by an inexperienced boy," and in this respect, the President could not help his brother. "Hoover was a national hero; his FBI was never tainted by scandal, and permitted no encroachment by other departments." Bishop said the President could not risk the wrath of the people by "retiring Hoover," and "the Wildcat was stuck with the Tiger."

Bishop said "Bobby in making one of his moves designed to keep a needle in the "hide of Hoover," had a group called "The Organized Crime Committee," and their work was to expose "American Mafia or Cosa Nostra" which was high on the agenda of the FBI, but "Robert Kennedy was hoping to jail malefactors where Hoover and his FBI had failed."

The above quoted references to the Director and the FBI are not further amplified or commented upon in this installment of Jim Bishop's book.

Bishop incorrectly describes La Cosa Nostra (LCN) hoodlum [Joseph] Valachi as an FBI prisoner who in return for furnishing information on LCN, was promised protection by the Bureau. No such promise was ever made to Valachi by Bureau Agents. The responsibility for Valachi 's security and custody was always that of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Bishop mentions SAC J. Gordon Shanklin and several other agents who participated in the assassination investigation but not an a derogatory vein. He describes the "bedlam" existing in the Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, after the President was shot and vividly describes Mrs. Kennedy and her actions relating to President Kennedy.

Bishop's book will come to about 200,000 words and will conclude at 3:00 a.m., 11/23/63, when the body of the President is met at the White House Gate by a United States Marine Honor Guard.

ACTION:

It is recommended that Mr. Bishop be contacted and informed that his comments concerning Valachi are incorrect in regard to the FBI in that no promise was made to Valachi by Bureau Agents and responsibility for Valachi 's security and custody was always that of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

He should also be advised in connection with his remarks that the FBI had failed in jailing individual members of the American Mafia that all information concerning the existence and activities of the "Mafia or La Cosa Nostra" were developed and furnished to the Department of Justice by the FBI.4

Part of Jim Bishop's payback was all the kind things he said about the FBI and its director in particular. The FBI also liked his digs at Bobby Kennedy. The file copy of this memo bears Hoover's unique marginal markings of what he liked and wanted to draw to the attention of the others who saw it. (He also drew attention to what he did not like that way, only then he usually added some biting comment.)

When the FBI was looking for the Bishop kind of favorable attention over its work on the King assassination, the same crew got the same idea: their man was Jim Bishop.

Tom Bishop was an assistant director who is one of those who handled leaks the FBI always denied making, the more it made them, the more it denied them. M. A. Jones was one of the specialists under him. He wrote this memo to Tom Bishop on March 20, 1969, which was only days after Ray entered the guilty plea he immediately wrote the judge that he was coerced.

March 20, 1959

Mr. Bishop:

RE:	JAMES EARL RAY

ASSASSINATION OF MARTIN LUTHER KING

BUREAU COOPERATION IN A BOOK

By informal memorandum dated March 11, 1969, Mr. DeLoach suggested that consideration be given to our cooperating with a friendly author, or with "The Reader's Digest," in preparation of a book regarding the Martin Luther King murder case. With regard to this suggestion, The Director noted, "O.K."

With regard to this matter, "The Readers Digest" has advised that it would greatly appreciate the opportunity to do a book on the Ray-King Case with Bureau cooperation. If we approve, "The Reader's Digest" plans to contact Jim Bishop in an effort to place him under contract to write the book for them.

Jim Bishop is, of course, a very thorough and capable writer with whom we have had many contacts over the years. With the Director's approval, we worked with Bishop in connection with his latest "The Day Kennedy Was Shot," which contains a number of favorable references to the FBI. The Director has written Bishop on several occasions concerning commendatory columns — including one in 1967 highly praising the Director as "the greatest law enforcement officer in all history."

Even though Bishop has been described in Bufiles as "somewhat pompous and a little over bearing at times," he nonetheless has both the name and the ability to produce a book on the King case which would give proper credit to the outstanding work done by the FBI. Accordingly, it is recommended that approval be given to our cooperating with "The Reader's Digest" and Jim Bishop on this book.5

From this selection of FBI records, and there are more of them, it is apparent that traditional "journalism" is not what Jim Bishop practiced but it does appear that in his kind of writing, in which he was bought so cheaply, he could be called a "veteran" at it.

It does give us a means of evaluating Donahue's judgement and evaluation when he refers to this debasement of every precept of principled, traditional American journalism as "journalism," which it certainly is not.

Yet Donahue bases his vicious assault on a number of people who are not in a position to defend themselves and their records using this kind of prostitution of journalism.