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JFK The Enduring Secret — Documentary
JFK The Enduring Secret

An in depth tutorial and discussion around the assassination of John F. Kennedy, (JFK) the country’s 35th president who was brutally murdered in Dallas Texas on November 22, 1963. The series comprehensively explores the major facts, themes, and events leading up to the assassination in Dealey Plaza and the equally gripping stories surrounding the subsequent investigation. We review key elements of the Warren Commission Report , and the role of the CIA and FBI. We explore the possible involvement of the Mafia in the murder and the review of that topic by the government’s House Select Committee on Assassinations in the 1970’s. We explore the Jim Garrison investigation and the work of other key figures such as Mark Lane and others. Learn more about Lee Harvey Oswald the suspected killer and Jack Ruby the distraught Dallas night club owner with underworld ties and the man that killed Oswald as a national TV audience was watching. Stay with us as we take you through the facts and theories in bite sized discussions that are designed to educate, and inform as well as entertain the audience. This real life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and change the world forever.

Copyright: © 2024 JFK The Enduring Secret

Latest Episodes:

Episode 182 Gordon Novel Aug 12, 2023

Show notes

Episode 182 tells the story of Gordon Novel. After winning Jim Garrison's confidence and becoming his security officer during the district attorney's investigation of the JFK assassination, it would soon become known that Novel was working for the CIA and had infiltrated Garrison's team. Garrison would eventually come to understand this double cross and seek to extradite Novel, who eventually fled to Ohio to avoid extradition by Garrison. Garrison knew that Novel had participated in the Houma raid and he wanted answers as he believed that Novel knew much more about that actual assassination than he was admitting. With the truth revealed that Novel was working for the CIA when he infiltrated Garrsion's team, Garrison himself became even more resolute in his thinking that the CIA was either involved or was covering up something very sinister as it related to the assassination. Novel as a character is one of the most fascinating individuals in this passion play that we call the Kennedy assassination. In later years, he was involved in Watergate, the post Waco investigation and the related review of the FBI's performance there, and of all things, his private investigative work helped John DeLorean discover the presence of a sting operation that was contrived to entrap him. A sting operation that proved to be a conspiracy between Britain's Conservative Party and both British and American intelligence services. Novel was a believer in extraterrestrial beings and technology, and asserted that the government, based on its capture of an alien spacecraft, had reversed engineered the ability to generate limitless energy that could be made available on a widespread basis to all of mankind, and thereby significantly reduce global warming and create an economic system that would free the world of the geopolitical dynamics related to energy. He also consulted with celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Jean Claude Van Damme regarding security issues. Come join us for the wild and wacky story of Gordon Novel.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Episode 181 Placeholder Episode To Be Replaced Aug 12, 2023

Show notes

Episode 181 is a placeholder for an upcoming Episode. Listen to this short two minute podcast and you will know the answer why...
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Episode 180 Houma Heist (Or Transfer?) Aug 06, 2023

Show notes

Episode 180 covers the The Houma bunker raid, of the Schlumberger Wells Company munitions and arms cache, which took place in the late summer of 1961. Later it was found that participants in the raid included some individuals who were also implicated in the assassination plot related to President Kennedy.
The participants in the raid included David Ferrie, Sergio Aracha Smith, Rancier Blaise Ehlinger, Carlos Quiroga, Layton Martins, Luis Rabel Nunez, Gordon Novel, Novel’s wife Marlene Mancuso and Andrew Blackmon, an ex-Marine.
The munitions stored at the compound were thought to have been placed there by the CIA under a contract with Schlumberger and were thought to have originally been designated for use in a diversionary portion of the Bay of Pigs, or to be used in the OAS revolt of the French Generals against Charles DeGaul. It turns out that they were not used in either event, and the CIA made a decision to remove them from the bunker after Schlumberger expressed their unhappiness over the Bay of Pigs outcome. As a result the CIA directed a group of covert operatives which included David Ferrie to remove the arms cache over a period of several months, in several different trips to Houma. They munitions were distribute to several locations including David Ferrie's apartment, the New Orleans offices of Guy Bannister at 544 Camp Street, and to the Lake Pontchartrain anti-Castro Cuban training camp owned by William McClaney, which was raided by the FBI in July, 1963.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Episode 179 Charles I. Spiesel The Zany Accountant Part 2 Aug 02, 2023

Show notes

Episode 179 is the second and last in a two part series covering Charles I. Spiesel, the zany accountant from New York who testified at the Clay Shaw Trial. This is a classic story of a witness that began with all the potential to sink Clay Shaw. Professional and articulate on the stand, his testimony for the prosecution was clear and convincing. But it only lasted for a few minutes, as he was destroyed upon cross examination by Irvin Dymond the defense attorney for Clay Shaw. This story is so bizarre that we won't even try to reveal it in this narrative. You will have to listen to both episode 178 and 179. Some say that if there was only one prosecution witness who destroyed the case, it would be Charles Spiesel. This is yet another moment where fact is stranger than fiction in the case of the JFK assassination. Come join us for one of the most interesting story tells related to the Garrison investigation and the Clay Shaw trial.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Episode 178 Charles I. Spiesel The Zany Accountant Part 1 Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

Episode 178 is the first in a two part series covering Charles I. Spiesel, the zany accountant from New York who testified at the Clay Shaw Trial. This is a classic story of a witness that began with all the potential to sink Clay Shaw. Professional and articulate on the stand, his testimony for the prosecution was clear and convincing. But it only lasted for a few minutes, as he was destroyed upon cross examination by Irvin Dymond the defense attorney for Clay Shaw. This story is so bizarre that we won't even try to reveal it in this narrative. You will have to listen to the episode. Some say that if there was only one prosecution witness who destroyed the case, it would be Charles Spiesel. Yet another moment where fact is stranger than fiction in the case of the JFK assassination. Come join us for one of the most interesting story tells related to the Garrison investigation and the Clay Shaw trial.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Episode 177 Dean Andrews Part 3 Bonus Episode Recreation of Orleans Grand Jury Testimony Jul 21, 2023

Show notes

Episode 177 is the third in a mini series covering Dean A. Andrews, Jr. the flamboyant jive talking New Orleans attorney that is so aptly portrayed by John Candy in the movie JFK. Today's Episode recreates his entire June 28th, 1967 testimony in front of the Orleans Grand Jury. Testimony that flatly contradicted what he told the Warren Commission. By this time, Andrews had already been charged with perjury and gave additional testimony that would result in additional perjury charges this day.
The story of Dean Andrews begins with him, sick in a hospital bed, having received a phone call the day after President Kennedy was assassinated. The mysterious caller who identified himself as Clay Bertrand asked Andrews if he would go to Dallas and represent Lee Harvey Oswald in the murder case related to the assassination. Oswald was murdered the next day making his representation moot. Bertrand never surfaced again. Coincidentally, Andrews had interacted with Oswald in the summer of 1963 after Oswald had come to him for legal help associated with his marine corp discharge status, his own citizenship status and that of his wife Marina. Andrews would relay this strange call to the FBI and the Secret Service on the Monday following the assassination and the inquiry was swift but Bertrand could not be identified or located. The matter was investigated but was dropped by the authorities until Jim Garrison and his team ran across the reference to Dean Andrews in the Warren Report as Garrison's investigation of the Kennedy assassination was resurrected during late 1966. While Dean Andrews was a friend of Garrison's and an assistant D.A. as well in nearby Jefferson parish, Garrison soon became convinced that Clay Bertrand was really Clay Shaw, a prominent local new Orleans businessman. Despite extensive prodding, Dean Andrews refused to identify Clay Shaw as the Clay Bertrand who called Andrews the day after the assassination. Andrews was called to testify in 1967 before the Orleans Grand Jury and his refusal to identify Clay Shaw along with his material inconsistency of testimony under oath...when compared to his Warren Commission testimony taken under oath, ultimately rewarded him with 11 counts of perjury. Some people say that he was the lynch pin of the case against Clay Shaw but ironically he ended up as a called witness for the defense. Was he telling the truth when Garrison claims that stated he would be a dead man if he made the connection under oath...or did he make the name up from the very beginning in a quest to chase fame and fortune. Come listen to another gripping set of episodes in this new mini-series covering one of the most fascinating and important characters in the story of the JFK assassination, Jim Garrison's investigation and the Clay Shaw Trial.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Episode 176 Dean Andrews Part 2 A Bonus Episode Recreating His Warren Commission Testimony Jul 15, 2023

Show notes

Episode 176 is the second in a mini series covering Dean A. Andrews, Jr. the flamboyant jive talking New Orleans attorney that is so aptly portrayed by John Candy in the movie JFK. Today's Episode recreates his entire Warren Commission testimony. Andrews, sick in a hospital bed, received a phone call the day after President Kennedy was assassinated. The mysterious caller who identified himself as Clay Bertrand asked Andrews if he would go to Dallas and represent Lee Harvey Oswald in the murder case related to the assassination. Oswald was murdered the next day making his representation moot. Bertrand never surfaced again. Coincidentally, Andrews had interacted with Oswald in the summer of 1963 after Oswald had come to him for legal help associated with his marine corp discharge status, his own citizenship status and that of his wife Marina. Andrews would relay this strange call to the FBI and the Secret Service on the Monday following the assassination and the inquiry was swift but Bertrand could not be identified or located. The matter was investigated but was dropped by the authorities until Jim Garrison and his team ran across the reference to Dean Andrews in the Warren Report as Garrison's investigation of the Kennedy assassination was resurrected during late 1966. While Dean Andrews was a friend of Garrison's and an assistant D.A. as well in nearby Jefferson parish, Garrison soon became convinced that Clay Bertrand was really Clay Shaw, a prominent local new Orleans businessman. Despite extensive prodding, Dean Andrews refused to identify Clay Shaw as the Clay Bertrand who called Andrews the day after the assassination. Andrews was called to testify in 1967 before the Orleans Grand Jury and his refusal to identify Clay Shaw along with his material inconsistency of testimony under oath...when compared to his Warren Commission testimony taken under oath, ultimately rewarded him with 11 counts of perjury. Some people say that he was the lynch pin of the case against Clay Shaw but ironically he ended up as a called witness for the defense. Was he telling the truth when Garrison claims that stated he would be a dead man if he made the connection under oath...or did he make the name up from the very beginning in a quest to chase fame and fortune. Come listen to another gripping set of episodes in this new mini-series covering one of the most fascinating and important characters in the story of the JFK assassination, Jim Garrison's investigation and the Clay Shaw Trial.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Episode 175 Dean Andrews Part 1 Jul 10, 2023

Show notes

Episode 175 is the first in a mini series covering Dean A. Andrews, Jr. the flamboyant jive talking New Orleans attorney that is so aptly portrayed by John Candy in the movie JFK. Andrews, sick in a hospital bed, received a phone call the day after President Kennedy was assassinated. The mysterious caller who identified himself as Clay Bertrand asked Andrews if he would go to Dallas and represent Lee Harvey Oswald in the murder case related to the assassination. Oswald was murdered the next day making his representation moot. Bertrand never surfaced again. Coincidentally, Andrews had interacted with Oswald in the summer of 1963 after Oswald had come to him for legal help associated with his marine corp discharge status, his own citizenship status and that of his wife Marina. Andrews would relay this strange call to the FBI and the Secret Service on the Monday following the assassination and the inquiry was swift but Bertrand could not be identified or located. The matter was investigated but was dropped by the authorities until Jim Garrison and his team ran across the reference to Dean Andrews in the Warren Report as Garrison's investigation of the Kennedy assassination was resurrected during late 1966. While Dean Andrews was a friend of Garrison's and an assistant D.A. as well in nearby Jefferson parish, Garrison soon became convinced that Clay Bertrand was really Clay Shaw, a prominent local new Orleans businessman. Despite extensive prodding, Dean Andrews refused to identify Clay Shaw as the Clay Bertrand who called Andrews the day after the assassination. Andrews was called to testify in 1967 before the Orleans Grand Jury and his refusal to identify Clay Shaw along with his material inconsistency of testimony under oath...when compared to his Warren Commission testimony taken under oath, ultimately rewarded him with 11 counts of perjury. Some people say that he was the lynch pin of the case against Clay Shaw but ironically he ended up as a called witness for the defense. Was he telling the truth when Garrison claims that stated he would be a dead man if he made the connection under oath...or did he make the name up from the very beginning in a quest to chase fame and fortune. Come listen to another gripping set of episodes in this new mini-series covering one of the most fascinating and important characters in the story of the JFK assassination, Jim Garrison's investigation and the Clay Shaw Trial.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Episode 174 The Alleged Attempted Bribery of Al Beauboeuf Jun 26, 2023

Show notes

Episode 174 is the story of the alleged attempted bribe of Al Beauboeuf by the Garrison investigators. Beauboeuf was a close friend of David Ferrie who lived at Ferrie's apartment for a time and also accompanied Ferrie on the night of the assassination on the famous trip to the Wonderland Skating Rink in Houston. Garrison was convinced that Ferrie was not telling them the truth, and that he was part of the assassination plot. Garrison's team also believed that Beauboeuf's relationship with Ferrie was highly likely to have made him privy to critical facts about the conspiracy plot. So their interest in getting Beauboeuf to reveal the truth was quite high in the days following Ferrie's death. They would offer Beauboeuf $3,000 and the prospect of a job with an airline in exchange for his testimony only to have the offer secretly taped by Beauboeuf's defense attorney. The tape was circulated to various law enforcement authorities and Beauboeuf's attorney attempted to sell the tape to the media outlets, but had no success in do so. Of course, the tactics deployed by Garrison's team beg the core question of whether they committed a crime that was not prosecuted when they offered Beauboeuf money and the prospects of a job in exchange for his testimony should it "fill in the holes". It also begged the question of whether Beaubouf and his attorneys injected their own dirty tricks into this process in order to entangle Garrison and his team. Of course, if the allegations against Garrison's team were true and it was a bribe, then in a bigger sense, the logical question to follow was whether or not these investigative tactics or approach were used on more than one witness. Used in attempts to obtain the desired testimony that was necessary to convict Clay Shaw. Testimony that may have been falsely teased out if the allegations were true, and testimony that would have shown a pattern of misconduct by Garrison's investigator's when combined with what was alleged to have occurred with other highly publicized witnesses such as Perry Russo. The New Orleans Police Department examined the tape and performed an investigation, and concluded that a bribe had not been offered under the then existing code of conduct.

Times were different than…it wasn’t a crime to offer financial or other assistance to witnesses….the legal issue is where the line gets drawn….drawn in the times in which it occurred…and whether they crossed over that line…as investigators…will be up to you once you listen to more details. We remind the audience that whether we believe it was right or wrong ( based on today's rules and today's environment) to offer financial assistance to a witness is a completely different question… is to ask a completely different question and one that was somewhat irrelevant to a juror in 1967 given the laws in operation at that time. So we have to be careful about avoiding the tendency to use the wrong historical yardstick when evaluating what Garrison and his team were doing at the time to get at the truth and bring justice...even though such tactics have long been outlawed in today's environment.

Aside from the legal aspect of the story, the real question is whether Garrison's team did it to get at the real truth…or whether they did it to simply get at the needed answer. The answer that was necessary to bury Clay Shaw at trial. As a member of the audience and a juror on the case, you get to decide all of that for yourself.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very begi

Episode 173 Perry Russo's 2nd Polygraph Test Conducted by Ed O'Donnell Jun 16, 2023

Show notes

Episode 173 is the story of the 2nd polygraph test taken by Perry Russo. Jim Garrison and his team, concerned that the results of the first polygraph test administered to Perry Russo would be made public on national television as part of Walter Sheridan's NBC White Paper documentary, scrambled to have a second polygraph administered that would reinforce the veracity and confirm the truth of Perry Russo's statements to be made at trial. More specifically, that Russo was present at the assassination plot party which took place at David Ferrie's apartment which was an event that Clay Shaw was present for and participated in...and that a man named Leon Oswald was present and that is one and the same as Lee Harvey Oswald. Oh, and that Clem Bertrand is one and the same as Clay Shaw. Unfortunately, the test was cut short and it led to a private conversation between Russo and Ed O'Donnell the polygraph operator and a sergeant on the New Orleans police force. O'Donnell would tell Garrison and members of his staff what Russo had privately relayed to O'Donnell after the polygraph machine was turned off....that Russo could not definitively say that Clay Shaw had been at the party that night and participated in the assassination meeting. Later, O'Donnell would make the decision to reveal this information publicly going against Garrison as Garrison ignored what O'Donnell had revealed to him about the conversation with Russo. Several weeks into the Clay Shaw trial, O'Donnell would make the decision to testify on behalf of the defense, an unusual matriculation of events in the case. Some critics say that O'Donnell was a foe of Garrison's and that impacted what happened here. Others say it was just one more example of Garrison's disregard for the truth in his quest to bring the case to trial.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

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