UFPPC (www.ufppc.org) Digging Deeper LXXXIV: June 8, 2009, 7:00 p.m.

Russ Baker, Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put
It in the White House, and What Their Influence Means for America (New
York, Berlin, and London: Bloomsbury Press, 2009 [publication date: Dec.
18, 2008]).
[Thesis: George H.W. Bush has led
what amounted to a double life (492; he
is a lifelong CIA asset involved in
orchestrating many of the scandals of
post-WWII American history, particulary
with respect to the Bay of Pigs (161) , the
JFK assassination (1963), and Watergate
(1972), not a Nixon operation at all, but
a deep, deep covert operation against
Nixon (236).]
Ch. 1: How Did Bush Happen? This
book chronicles the evolution of both
the Bush clan and the powerful interests
it represented over the last century (5;
1-6).
Ch. 2: Poppys Secret. In 1985 Joseph
McBride noticed a Nov. 29, 1963, memo
to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover identifying
George Bush of the CIA (7-9). In 1988
George H.W. Bush denied it was he; the
CIA identified a different George Bush
(who also denied) (9-12). In 1996,
another CIA memo came to light, linking
George H.W. Bush to the CIAs Thomas J.
Devine, Zapata co-owner (12-15). Bushs
connections to intelligence derive from
the intelligence communitys own origins
in the Anglo-American financial
establishment, especially Brown Brothers
Harriman (Prescott Bush had become
close friends of Roland Bunny Harriman
in 1916 at Yale and in Skull and Bones;
Prescott joined W.A. Harriman in 1926,
which merged with Brown Brothers in
1930) (15-17). George H.W. Bush worked
in an aerial intelligence program as a
WWII pilot, where learned the importance
of secrecy (18). The various accounts of
Bushs actions when shot down in a
torpedo bomber on Sept. 2, 1944, are
inconsistent; Bushs version was
challenged by tail gunner Chester

Mierzejewski in the New York Post in

August 1988 (18-21).
Ch. 3: Viva Zapata. Yale, where
George H.W. Poppy Bush went in 1945,
joining Skull & Bones, was a prime
recruiting ground for the CIA (22-23). He
worked for Dresser Industries, an oil
industry services firm bought in 1926 by
W.A. Harriman (23-25). Poppy went to
Odessa, TX, and California, working for
Dresser (25-28). The Dulles brothers
exercised effective control over U.S.
policy, a matter of indifference to
Eisenhower; Bush clan also had great
influence (28-31). Speculation about
Allen Dulless motives in recruiting Poppy
(31-32). That G.H.W. Bush asserted his
independence from the family by
becoming a Texas oil man is a
deliberately propagated myth that
ignores the Bush familys long-standing
ties to the very top of the oil industry
(32; 32-34). Zapata Offshore was used
by the CIA, particularly in connection with
Cuba (34-37). Poppys real interest was
politics (37-38). Bob Gow, who worked
for Zapata (38-43). Whether Zapata
was partially designed for laundering
money for covert or clandestine
operations may never be known (42).
Ch. 4: Where Was Poppy? Kennedy
was fighting the CIA (44-47). Sen.
Prescott Bush (R-CT) announced he
would not run for reelection in the spring
of 1962, as Poppy Bush became more
involved in politics (48-49). A tip to the
FBI minutes after JFKs assassination
giving a false lead on the assassination
may have been designed to give the
impression that G.H.W. Bush had not
been in Dallas on the evening before the

assassination of JFK, as he in fact was

(49-66).
Ch. 5: Oswalds Friend. George de
Mohrenschildt, from a Russian migr
family involved in Baku oil, was a family
friend of Bush (Poppy Bush roomed at
Phillips Academy with the stepson of
Georges brother Dimitri) who pursued
various oil interests in the Dallas area
while maintaining CIA connections (6784). Jack Crichton, a military intelligence
figure involved in oil company
intelligence (81).
Ch. 6: The Hit. The record on G.H.W.
Bush is characterized by a sustained
fuzziness; what appears at first glance to
be unexceptionable details turn out, on
closer examination, to be potentially
important facts that slip away into
confusion and deniability. Little is ever
what it seems (87; 85-87). Kennedy had
made many enemies (87-89). Texas was
particularly hostile (89-90). The
Kennedys attacked the oil depletion
allowance and had many enemies,
including Clint Murchison, Robert Kerr,
Lyndon Johnson, Everette DeGolyer, and
George McGhee (91-95). Doubts about
the official JFK assassination theory (9597). Lee Harvey Oswalds early life (97100). George de Mohrenschildts
extraordinary interest in helping Oswald
(100-03). Speculation that de
Mohrenschildts later meetings with
officials about a coup in Haiti were a
cover for discussions of an assassination
plot (103-09). The Texas School Book
Depository, actually the name of a
private corporation whose officers were
anti-Kennedy (109-13). Other
coincidences (113-17). Summary so far
(117-18).
Ch. 7: After Camelot. Jack Crichton
again, connected in petromilitary circles
at the highest levels (120; 119-22).
Crichton arranged for Ilya Mamontov to
interpret for Marina Oswald, apparently
in an effort to link Cuba to the

assassination (121-22). Virtually

everybody on the [Warren] Commission
was a friend of Nixons or LBJsor both
(123). Albert Jenner, assistant counsel to
the commission, was an anti-Kennedy
corporate lawyer with no experience in
criminal investigations (123-27). De
Mohrenschildt had connections to the
family of Jackie Kennedy (128-29). Poppy
Bush elected to Congress in 1966 from a
new Houston district (129-30). Possible
Bush CIA activities while in Congress:
overseeing the Phoenix Program in
Vietnam; connection to Felix Rodriguez
(130-31). LBJ connections to the Bush
family (131-33).
Ch. 8: Wings for W. George W. Bush,
early years (134-37). National Guard
service (137-41; 143-45; 147-57).
Relationship with Inge Honneus (141-43).
Enabled girl friend Robin Lowman to get
an abortion (145-47). Harvard Business
School (157-58).
Ch. 9: The Nixonian Bushes. NixonBush family connections: mutual favor
trading (159-74).
Ch. 10: Downing Nixon, Part I: The
Setup. Nixon suspected that Watergate
was a CIA operation in which he was the
target (175-79). Nixons efforts to find
out what the CIA was doing during the
last days of the Kennedy administration
were stonewalled by the agency (17982). Nixon was in Dallas on the morning
of Nov. 22, 1963; in fact, [t]hree future
presidents of the United States were all
present in a single American city on the
day when their predecessor was
assassinated there (184; 182-84). Pepsi
CEO and the national bottlers convention
that coincided with the JFK assassination
(184-89). Bush cultivated the image of a
Nixon loyalist (189-91). A prelude to
Watergate, the Townhouse Operation to
fund 1970 congressional candidates,
seems to have been designed as a set-up
to get Nixon (191-97). The Watergate
burglary was designed to be discovered

(197-201). The Ellsberg break-in was

designed to generate a police report
(201-02). Three recent books have
concluded that Watergate was designed
to set up Nixon: Jim Hougans Secret
Agenda (1984), Len Colodny and Robert
Gettlins Silent Coup (1991), and James
Rosens The Strong Man (2008) (203-04).
Washington Post journalist Bob
Woodward denies it, but he had a
background in top-secret Navy
intelligence and it is plausible that he
was working for the CIA (204-08). The
Post (including Carl Bernstein) also
reported on CIA penetration of the media
(208-09). George H.W. Bush was national
chair of the Republican Party at the time,
where he hired Harry Dent and Tom Lias,
who had been supervising the Townhouse
Operation (210-11). Sen. Lowell
Weickers participation on the Watergate
Committee (211-13). Perhaps Bushs
inside informant at the White House was
his old friend Richard A. Moore, another
Skull-and-Bonesman with a background
in intelligence (213-15). White House
counsel John Dean frustrated Nixons
desire to come clean and actually helped
inculpate Nixon by transmitting a request
for hush money (215-19).

devastating for Nixon (228-29). Dean

and Weicker became friends (229-32).
An apparent Bush set-up of Weicker was
really meant to goad him on (232-33).
Alexander Butterfield seems to be have
been CIA, and revelation of the taping
was engineered by Woodward and Dean
(234-35). Bushs attack on Carmine
Bellino on Jul. 24, 1973, was selfprotective (235-36). Speculation on Leon
Jaworskis role (236-39). Contradictory
evidence is interpreted as pre-planned
cover (240-42). In 1967 Richard
Harwood of the Washington Post
established the extensive CIA
connections of Texan figures associated
with Bush (242-43). Nixons Justice Dept.
was investigating many in the Bush
crowd for possible antitrust violations
(interlocking directorates) (243-44). Jeb
Magruder, who falsely testified against
John Mitchell, had as a college adviser
Skull-and-Bonesman and CIA veteran
William Sloan Coffin (244-45). Through
the media, the Watergate story was spun
thus Deep Throat never really existed
but most believe otherwiseand a false
image of a monstrous Nixon has been
created (245-49). Bush became
ambassador to China (250-52).

Ch. 11: Downing Nixon, Part II: The

Execution. A visit from Ed DeBolt,
Republican national committeeman from
California, spurred Weickers anti-Nixon
activity (220-21). Bush exhorted Nixon
to speak about the scandal (221-22).
Gleason provoked Weicker to reopen the
matter of the Townhouse Operation (22223). John Deans background (223-25).
Surmises that Egil Krogh, who pushed to
get Dean into the White House, worked
for the CIA (225-26). Post-Watergate
reporting has established that Dean
initiated many aspects of Watergate,
including the DNC break-in itself and
Haldemans discussion of obstruction of
justice (226-28). [George H.W. Bush and
John Dean] appear to have been skillfully
engineering a series of crucial events
whose only outcome could be

Ch. 12: In from the Cold. The

Rockefeller Commission concluded that
the CIA had no involvement in the JFK
investigation (253-54). The Church
Committee and the Pike Committee (25456). In November 1975, an
administration reshuffle served to reempower elements of the securityintelligence elite that had been shunted
aside by Nixon; Bush became CIA
director (256-72). De Mohrenschildts
last years and (alleged) suicide (272-79).
Ch. 13: Poppys Proxy and the
Saudis. Jim Bath and the Bush
connection to the Saudis, setting up a
secret intelligence partnership that
would come to rival that between the
United States and Israel (281; 280-98).

Ch. 14: Poppys Web. First

International in Dallas (299-301). BCCI
(301-04). Carter as a threat to the CIAs
influence (304-09). The 1980
presidential campaign and the Iranian
hostages (309-12). Partnership with Jim
Bath working with Saudi money
continued operations while Bush was vice
president (313-18).
Ch. 15: The Handoff. Speculation
about George W. Bushs work in Alaska in
1974 (319-23). Life after Harvard
Business School (323-28). Arbusto, Jim
Bath, and Saudi money (328-32). Lucky
Chance Mining board (332-35).
Ch. 16: The Quacking Duck. The
mysterious Harken Energy affair,
involving Harvard and a long-established
oil exploration firm (336-57).
Ch. 17: Playing Hardball. George W.
Bushs career as Texas Ranger owner,
paid $200,000 a year to come to games
(358-69).
Ch. 18: Meet the Help. Karl Rove met
George H.W. Bush when he was national
Republican Party chair, and went on to
guide George W. Bush political career
(370-89).
Ch. 19: The Conversion. Doug Wead
as religion coach for the Bushs,
education them to enable them to get
the vote of the religious right (390-406).
Ch. 20: The Skeleton in Ws Closet.
The handling of George W. Bushs
National Guard service in the 1994 Texas
gubernatorial campaign and later
management of the issue (407-22).
Ch. 21: Shock and . . . Oil? Review of
Bushs presidency, with Cheney in charge
(423-40).
Ch. 22: Deflection for Reelection.
Attempts to report on George W. Bushs
avoidance of military service and John

Kerrys Swift-boating demonstrate the

triumph of the forces of disinformation
(464; 441-65).
Ch. 23: Domestic Disturbance.
Authoritarian attempts to further secrecy
and control information (466-74). The
Bushes seek to profit and then cover
their tracks (474-76). Hurricane Katrina
revealed mismanagement of FEMA (47790).
Ch. 24: Conclusion. Poppy . . . led
what amounted to a double life (492).
Baker had to overcome media-induced
fear of being labeled a conspiracy
theorist to write the book (492-93).
Deception resides at the very center of
our national psyche (493). But there is
hope for reinvigorated constitutional
government through new technologies of
communication and the pursuit of the
truth (493-94).
Authors Note. Urges reader to see
www.familyofsecrets.org for advances in
this work in progress (495). [The site is
primarily promotional, however.]
Acknowledgments. Agent, editor,
publishers staff, assistants, archivists
and librarians, Strand Bookstore,
Notes. 60 pages.
Index. 19 pp.
About the Author. Russ Baker is an
investigative journalist who has
published widely and who has been
contributing editor to the Columbia
Journalism Review. He is the founder of
WhoWhatWhy/the Real News Project.
[Additional information. Baker holds
a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA and
an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia.
Family of Secrets (#818 on Amazon on
Jun. 6, 2009) is his first book. ]

[Critique. Bakers writing style is

breathless, clunky, clichd, portentous,
journalistic. Substantively, his narrative
is often fragmentary and incoherent.
Most arguments amount to insinuations
or supposed probabilities, and there is no
smoking gun anywhere in the book.
Bakers chapters are undigested
collections of anecdotes, background
information, and musings, accompanied
by feeble attempts to put them in
perspective with bland generalizations.
While many of the books details are
intriguing, and the general thesis of
George Herbert Walker Bushs deep
connections to the world of secret
intelligence is persuasive, Bakers
particular claims are unproven.
Characterizations are crude and make
the actions alleged appear, in general,
extremely implausible. At the level of
plotting, the book the level of
implausibility is often extremely high.
Ultimately the book fails to prove
anything definite. Critics of Family of

Secrets have not been kind. Though

Roger Morris blurbed it as faultlessly
measured in its judgments, the
Washington Posts Book World review by
Jamie Malanowski rejected the books
thesis outrightby trying to explain
everything, to create a unified field
theory of American tragedy that has the
Bushes as the key actors and
beneficiaries, Baker exceeds his grasp
and Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times
was vituperative in his Mar. 22, 2009,
review, calling the book disgusting,
preposterous, a tissue of innuendo,
illogical inference, circumstance, and
guilt by tenuous association, and a
classic of the paranoid style in
American politics. By Bakers reckoning,
there seem to have been about as many
people involved in the plot as there were
on Omaha Beach. With that many
people involved in the conspiracy, its a
miracle it remained a secret long enough
for Baker to uncover it.]