The Kennedy's did something illegal?

[Garcia Bronco]

Say it ain't so.

Mark Feldstein | JFK's dirty trick on Nixon


Fifty years ago this week, Richard Nixon stood uncomfortably on the Capitol's inaugural platform and watched his rival John F. Kennedy being sworn in as president. “We won” the election, Nixon fumed, “but they stole it from us.”

Indeed, the dirty tricks that helped defeat Nixon were more devious than merely the ballot-stuffing of political lore. In one of the least-known chapters of 20th Century political history, Kennedy operatives secretly paid off an informant and set in motion a Watergate-like burglary that sabotaged Nixon's campaign on the eve of the election.

It began in the fall of 1960, when the Kennedy campaign spread word that Vice President Nixon had secretly pocketed money from billionaire Howard Hughes, whose far-flung business empire was heavily dependent on government contracts and connections. Reporters for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Time magazine corroborated the allegations, but their editors feared publishing such explosive information in the last days of the tightly fought campaign.

con't

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110116/OPINION04/301160056/Mark-Feldstein-JFK-s-dirty-trick-on-Nixon

[Rohirrim]

The confidential documents revealed how Hughes had funneled to the Nixon family $205,000 (worth about $1.6 million today) using various intermediaries, including one of Nixon's brothers, to disguise the transaction. Later evidence would show that the vice president had personally phoned Hughes to ask for the money, which was used to help Nixon pay for an elegant, 9,000-square-foot Tudor house in Washington with eight bedrooms, six bathrooms, a library, a butler's pantry and a solarium.

Let me see if I have this straight: Nixon was taking bribes and payoffs, but the Kennedys are criminals for bringing Nixon's crimes to light? Okie dokie. :thumbs:

[cutthemdown]

Yeah it sound like he did take the money lol.

[cutthemdown]

I kept waiting for the story to say the money trail was a farce lol.

[Garcia Bronco]

Read page 2:

"How did JFK's campaign obtain this incriminating evidence? By paying the contemporary equivalent of $100,000 to a Los Angeles accountant named Phillip Reiner, one of the Hughes middlemen used to conceal Nixon's role in the deal. Reiner was a Democrat who recently had had a falling-out with his partners. With his attorney, Reiner had contacted Robert Kennedy, JFK's campaign manager. Soon after, a break-in occurred at the accountant's old office"

[Rohirrim]

Sounds to me like the Nixonites are bitching because the Kennedy's beat them at their own game. Ha!

[Smiling Assassin27]

Say it ain't so.

Mark Feldstein | JFK's dirty trick on Nixon


Fifty years ago this week, Richard Nixon stood uncomfortably on the Capitol's inaugural platform and watched his rival John F. Kennedy being sworn in as president. “We won” the election, Nixon fumed, “but they stole it from us.”

Indeed, the dirty tricks that helped defeat Nixon were more devious than merely the ballot-stuffing of political lore. In one of the least-known chapters of 20th Century political history, Kennedy operatives secretly paid off an informant and set in motion a Watergate-like burglary that sabotaged Nixon's campaign on the eve of the election.

It began in the fall of 1960, when the Kennedy campaign spread word that Vice President Nixon had secretly pocketed money from billionaire Howard Hughes, whose far-flung business empire was heavily dependent on government contracts and connections. Reporters for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Time magazine corroborated the allegations, but their editors feared publishing such explosive information in the last days of the tightly fought campaign.

con't

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110116/OPINION04/301160056/Mark-Feldstein-JFK-s-dirty-trick-on-Nixon

You don't have to be a genius to see that JFK's ramblings about character, honor, and valor were nothing but bluster. Dude's as overrated as they come, yet many still willingly participate in the 40 year JFK tongue bath.

[Boomhauer]

Thought this thread would be about the late Sen Kennedy's DUI resulting in death back in 1969 or Rep Kennedy's 2006 DWAI car accident in DC.

[Garcia Bronco]

I think it's an interesting look. Here we believe that Nixon was the rotten of rotten; and they'd be right it many arenas. Typically these people are Kennedy fanboys not realizing that the Kennedy's were dirt balls too. The evidence keeps piling up.

[Rohirrim]

Nixon was a criminal who beat his indictment by resigning the presidency and who needed a presidential pardon to keep his ass out of prison. So, he's got that going for him.

I've got Nixon out ahead by five lengths. :charge:

[SoCalBronco]

The Kennedy's were just as dirty as anyone...more so even, but they did a great job of glitzing and glamoring their way around everything...as much as I utterly hate them, I respect the talent involved in that. Serious talent in that regard. Bobby had Nixon's mother audited among other things, not that you'd expect that to ever hit the news though. Nothing much can be done about it now, unfortunately.

[Rohirrim]

The Kennedy's were just as dirty as anyone...more so even, but they did a great job of glitzing and glamoring their way around everything...as much as I utterly hate them, I respect the talent involved in that. Serious talent in that regard. Bobby had Nixon's mother audited among other things, not that you'd expect that to ever hit the news though. Nothing much can be done about it now, unfortunately.

Come on, man! ;D

Never believe anything Oliver Stone tells you.

In 1956, Howard Hughes, through his Hughes Tool Company, loaned Frank Nixon, Richards brother, $250,000 to keep Franks failing restaurants afloat (it didn't help). The sham loan was secured by a piece of property in the name of Hannah Nixon, Tricky Dick's mom. Perhaps the reason for the loan was an attempt to curry political favor, Richard Nixon having just been elected vice president.

In 1961, an anonymous tip was provided to the White House/Justice Dept. by a newspaper publisher who hated Nixon. The Justice Dept., under Robert Kennedy, investigated the loan, and concluded that there was nothing to prosecute.

[DenverBrit]

The Kennedy's were just as dirty as anyone...more so even, but they did a great job of glitzing and glamoring their way around everything...as much as I utterly hate them, I respect the talent involved in that. Serious talent in that regard. Bobby had Nixon's mother audited among other things, not that you'd expect that to ever hit the news though. Nothing much can be done about it now, unfortunately.

Joe Kennedy was the scum of the earth. Seymour Hersh wrote a scathing portrait of the man ( coward, Anti-Semitic, war profiteer etc) in his controversial book, "Dark Side of Camelot".

As ambassador, Joe Kennedy was reviled in England for his defeatism and regarded as a
coward when, during Luftwaffe bombings in 1940, he left London to spend his nights at a
country estate. While ambassador he engaged in profiteering; commandeering valued
transatlantic cargo space for the continued importation of British Scotch and gin to his
importing company. He was anti-Semitic and willingly ignorant of European history. He
sought, without State Department approval, a personal meeting with Hitler with the intent
of keeping the U.S. out of the war. Over the objection of the State Department and FDR,
he met with a high-level Nazi official seeking to reach an agreement to pay the Nazis up
to $1 billion for peace. Ambassador Kennedy once briefed a group of American
journalists about a plot of dissident German generals to overthrow Hitler; even giving
them the names of the dissidents jeopardizing their plotting and lives.

The highlights: http://bztv.typepad.com/Winter/DarkSideSummary.pdf

[mhgaffney]

OK we know the Kennedys were not saints.

But if you compare the presidencies of Kennedy and Nixon it's abundantly clear that the JFK was one of our best presidents -- and Nixon one of our worst.

JFK manned up to his mistakes and had the capacity to learn while in office - and to change course. That's why they killed him. get it?

The best thing you can say about Nixon was a line from a poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.."Nixon Nixon what kind of a Quaker are you, Nixon!??"

Nixon = total loser.

[Garcia Bronco]

the kennedy's are losers too.