Posted on 06/07/2005 9:25:57 PM PDT by nickcarraway
It was a political scandal of unprecedented proportions: the deliberate, systematic, and illegal misuse of the FBI and the CIA by the White House in a presidential campaign. The massive black-bag operations, bordering on the unconstitutional and therefore calling for impeachment, were personally approved by the president. They included planting a CIA spy in his opponent's campaign committee, wiretaps on his opponent's top political aides, illegal FBI checks, and the bugging of his opponent's campaign airplane.
The president? Lyndon B. Johnson. The target? Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, the 1964 Republican presidential candidate.
Here are three examples of a presidential abuse of power for political purposes that constitute an even graver offense than Watergate.
In the fall of 1964, the White House turned to the CIA to get advance inside information about the Goldwater campaign, although the senator could hardly be described as a "domestic enemy" (the only valid excuse for agency action). E. Howard Hunt, later convicted for his part in the Watergate break-in, told a congressional committee a decade later that he was ordered to spy on Goldwater's headquarters. He said that President Johnson "had ordered this activity" and that White House aide Chester L. Cooper "would be the recipient of the information."
CIA Director William Colby admitted that Cooper prepared campaign material for Johnson and obtained advance texts of Goldwater speeches through a "woman secretary," clearly suggesting that the agency planted someone inside the Goldwater campaign organization.
The Democrats constantly used the covertly obtained information to undercut Goldwater initiatives. In early September, for example, the Goldwater campaign announced the formation of a Task Force on Peace and Freedom that the AP described as one of the most "unusual tactics in the history of American politics." Three hours before the Goldwater task force was unveiled, the White House announced that President Johnson had created a 16-member panel of leading authorities to consult with him on international problems. The White House announcement trumped the Goldwater plan. Democratic campaign speechwriter John Roche revealed that he and his colleagues got advance texts of Goldwater's major speeches. "When I innocently inquired how we got them," Roche said, "the reply was 'don't ask.'"
Goldwater's regional political directors were convinced that the telephones of the Republican national headquarters in Washington were bugged. At one private meeting aides discussed the possibility of a campaign stop by Goldwater in the Chicago area. Midwest director Sam Hay called the Republican chairman of Cook County, who agreed it was a good idea but promised to keep the trip confidential. Within the hour, a reporter called to say that he had heard Goldwater would be coming to town and wanted the details.
Senator Goldwater recalled that two correspondents once questioned him about a proposal not yet made public: that if elected, he would send Eisenhower to Vietnam to examine the situation and report back to him. Goldwater insisted he discussed the Eisenhower mission with only two members of his personal staff, but the two reporters swear they heard about it at the Johnson White House.
Most disturbing of all was the FBI's bugging of the Goldwater campaign plane where the senator and his inner circle often made their most confidential decisions. The bureau's illegal surveillance was confirmed by Robert Mardian, when he was an assistant attorney general in Nixon's first term.
During a two-hour conversation with J. Edgar Hoover in early 1971, Mardian asked about the procedures of electronic surveillance. To Mardian's amazement, Hoover revealed that in 1964 the FBI, on orders from the Oval Office, had bugged the Goldwater plane. Asked to explain the blatantly illegal action, Hoover said, "You do what the president of the United States orders you to do." William C. Sullivan, the bureau's number two man, confirmed to Mardian the spying operation against the Goldwater campaign.
Why did President Johnson order the Anti-Goldwater Campaign and illegally use both the CIA and the FBI as his personal political instruments? All the polls agreed he would win and by a handsome margin. But Johnson wanted the mother of all political landslides, eclipsing FDR's record presidential victory in 1936 and at the same time burying six feet deep Barry Goldwater and American conservatism. Johnson nearly succeeded in the first objective, receiving 61.5 percent of the popular vote, but miserably failed in the second.
Of all the men who have run for and lost the presidency in modern times, only Barry Goldwater and the central themes of his campaign were vindicated so quickly. Reviled and rejected in 1964 as no other presidential candidate in the 20th century, Goldwater was easily reelected to the U.S. Senate in 1968 while the president who had won by one of the largest margins in presidential politics dared not seek reelection. Just twelve years later, the Great Society was exposed as a trillion-dollar bust and Ronald Reagan, an unabashed conservative, became our 40th president.
— Lee Edwards is distinguished fellow in conservative thought at the Heritage Foundation and the author of many books, including the just published To Preserve and Protect: The Life of Edwin Meese III.
I'd say Johnson was the worst president in US history.
Makes one wonder how far back Hillary! was in play... ;-P
This was worse than Watergate. But just like the Klintoon scandals, this was perfectly OK with the civil-liberties-loving liberals.
It's a tie between him and Mr. Lincoln, that's for sure
When Johnson's wife was down here in Mobile for something back in 1964, someone spit on her while she was on the train. She went back home and told her husband, and that's why they closed Brookley Air Force Base.
You messes with Johnson, YOU DIED!
Hey sounds Clintonion. Execpt you mess with Clinton you died or got raped. But I guess you mostly died.
All conservatives need to know this and spread the word. The MSM wh*res have kept this quiet for far too long. Think about it, Walter Cronkite knew this, Tom Brokaw knew this, Ted Turner knew this, Peter Jennings knew this, Katie Couric knew this. This list could go on for a mile. But, they didn't want US to know it. They manipulate the news and the uniformed sheeple blindly follow. Thank God for Rush Limbaugh and the conservative movement. Maybe someday we can defeat these traitors for ever.
The more and more we dig deeper into past events, the more and more we see just how duplicative and hypocritical the RATS truly are. This goes back to a past Tag-line I used..... "If it wasn't for double standards, The Democrats wouldn't have any"
Hey Howlin .. what was that quote from Katherine Graham ???
I read/heard some where that LBJ use to brag about wiretapping people
JBJ = LBJ
>>
I'd say Johnson was the worst president in US history.
<<
What. Were you "out of town" when Carter was ravaging the country?
"What. Were you "out of town" when Carter was ravaging the country?"
I was not yet born. I think alot of the economic disaster of the 70's can be attributed to Johnson's programs. Carter sure sucked but he didn't have the overwhelming effect on policy that Johnson did.
Carter was honest though.
Also, Carter didn't get us into a war that we lost, Carter didn't screw up the budget
Everything that went wrong in the 70's was the direct result of the moronic policies undertaken by the administration of Lyndon Baines Johnson, worst President since Abe Lincoln.
Let's review what else went wrong in LBJ's term
Riots broke out in over 100 cities
The Interstate Firearms Trafficking Act (a major abrogation of our 2nd amendment rights) was passed in 1968. It banned mail order gun sales
Johnson used everything from the BRAC to Supreme Court appointments to award friends and punish enemies. Not to mention, Abe Fordice.
Johnson also appointed that moron Attorney General (I can't remember his name now, but I had heard he was going on Saddams defense team)
Johnson created the "Great Society" which is responsible for all problems that plague our inner cities today
Johnson also has a trial a million miles long in Texas, in the league of Pa Ferguson.
I'll never be one of his "fellow Ahmuricans." I hope he rots somewhere.
"Johnson created the "Great Society" which is responsible for all problems that plague our inner cities today"
Whenever I hear liberal media imply that moral issues are separate from economic issues, that's the first thing that comes to my mind. It's a perfect example of how foolish economic policies can lead to moral breakdown. What's the latest figure on the percentage african american children born out of wedlock?
You have quite the bee up your butt, don't you.
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