Post by managermike99 on Jul 29, 2014 16:10:53 GMT -5
"American Chronicles X"
Opening & Closing Theme; SYMPHONY OF PSALMS, IGOR STRAVINSKY (1948)
Airing time; Wednesdays @ 7:00pm
Status; ordered season 1 – 22 episodes
Category; Documentary/Drama (Historical Reinactments)
Production company; TBA Productions 2006
~creators~
unreleased
~Series synopsis~
History should know no bounds, nor should it be dead and buried. Join us each week as we give the viewer a first hand look at history and do a little speculation of facts as well. Open your mind to the possibility of change.
Coming Soon;
1.06 - Marilyn Monroe
1.07 - The Iranian Hostage Crisis
1.08 - Edgar Allan Poe
1.09 - When the Levee Breaks
1.10 -
1.11 - 9/11 (part 1)
1.12 - 9/11 (part 2)
[1.01]: "Billy the Kid"
~Story told via reinactment~
-Billy the Kid arrives in Lincoln County in 1877 which is in the middle of a "civil War" between local cattlemen. Billy chooses the wrong side to work for, John Tunstall.
Tunstall is killed in 1878 by a Sheriff's posse sending Willaim Bonney into a violent rage, thus creating Billy the Kid.
Billy ambushes and kills his first victims the Sherriff and his deputy on the streets of Lincoln. He then goes on the run avoiding the law for two years.
Pat Garrett was elected Sherriff of Lincoln in 1880 on the promise of restoring order. By 1881 he had his crown jewel, Billy the Kid.
He is captured, summarily tried and convicted and sentenced to hang. However he escapes as being returned to his cell one night overpowering and killing two armed guards. He rides away and into history. This occured when Garrett was away on business.
Garrett tracked Billy by word of mouth to the ruins of Fort Sumner and the town surrounding it. The townsfolk however sympathize with Billy and refuse to give him up. However, Billy has a bad stroke of luck and stumbles right into the Sheriff's hands. He fell into a trap set by Garrett who lay in wait at the home of a man who Billy thought to be his friend. Garrett never gave Billy a chance. He fired twice at Billy from close range, the second shot not being needed as the first went into his brain, killing him.
Or at least that is the legend;
But sometimes things are passed down from generations, and they become condensed, cleansed, and peripheral information and theories are lost. As they say history is written by the victors.
We go back to 1881. A different reinactment of that meeting at Fort Sumner. Billy walks into the trap. A gun is put to his head. It's the Sheriff (his old drinking buddy) Pat Garrett. He tells Billy that he is done being made a fool of. Billy gulps down air waiting his death. Pat tells Billy to go away, far away, change his name, and live a boring life until he meets his maker by peaceful means. Billy doesn't know what to say, and Pat doesn't want him to say anything. Pat and his two deputies allow Billy to ride off into the sunset.
They carry the body of an unfortunate drunk and petty thief who they had previously shot in the face and killed. They bury this faceless body alongside two of Billy's friends, and mark the grave with Billy's name.
"Too many people dead already. Find your peace young man."
[1.02]: "The Assassination of President Lincoln" part 1
The following is our reenactment of the death of President Abraham Lincoln, and more importantly the events leading up to and following the fatal attack. Today there exist many different theories as to the motives and the people responsible for the actions. We will present to you the facts as well as we can postulate them in living colour. However, when, as producers and historians, we begin to try and connect the dots with conjecture, our best guess of certain events, we will switch your feed into black and white; or rather shades of grey if you prefer. This will be your cue to think constructively and not take our word for truth. Now ladies and gentlemen, sit back, and prepare to be transported to an event that greatly shaped our nation.
American Chronicles presents;
The Assassination of President Lincoln (part 1 of 2)
April 14th, 1865
[in Black & White]
-Vice-President Andrew Johnson paces his study, contemplating
-A man (not John Wilkes Booth) sits in near darkness, squat legged, rocking, staring at a gun lying in his lap, almost at tears for his own lack of courage
-A man sits in his home in England, boxes still unpacked, furniture still arriving, confederate flag on his wall. His desk calendar has all the days up until April 14th crossed off, and the 14th (today) circled in Red, a little drawing of a top hat in the square.
-A powerful member of the Rothschild family sits at his London office, watching the clocks on the wall which indicate the time of various financial centers of the world, its almost 10:00pm on April 14th, in New York City.
[switch to colour]
At about 10:15 P.M. Booth opens the door to the State Box at the Ford theatre, shoots Lincoln in the back of the head at near point-blank range, and then struggles with Rathbone. Booth stabs Rathbone in the arm and jumps 12 feet to the stage below. When he hits the floor he snaps the fibula bone in his left leg just above the ankle. Mrs. Lincoln screams.
Now back to the beginning;
1843;A gypsy living in the woods near Cockeysville reads a young John Wilkes Booths palm. She says, "Ah, you've a bad hand; the lines all cris-cras! It's full enough of sorrow. Full of trouble. Trouble in plenty, everywhere I look. You'll break hearts, they'll be nothing to you. You'll die young, and leave many to mourn you, many to love you too…. You've got in your hand a thundering crowd of enemies - not one friend - you'll make a bad end, and have plenty to love you afterwards. You'll have a fast life - short, but a grand one. Now, young sir, I've never seen a worse hand, and I wish I hadn't seen it, but every word I've told is true by the signs. You'd best turn a missionary or a priest and try to escape it."
1850's: St. Timothy's Hall, an Episcopal military academy in Catonsville, Maryland. Booth is a teenager and is a participant at a Know-Nothing rally. The Know-Nothing Party was formed by American nativists who wanted to preserve the country for native-born white citizens. They spew racial hatred.
1859 Booth is on hand to witness the execution of John Brown, the abolitionist who had tried to start a slave uprising at Harpers Ferry. Wearing a militia uniform, Booth stands near the scaffold with other armed men to guard against any attempt to rescue John Brown before the hanging.
November 9, 1863. The Lincolns watch John Wilkes Booth in "The Marble Heart" at Ford's Theatre accompanied by several people including Mary B. Clay, a daughter of Cassius Clay. Mary Clay reminisced about the evening as follows: Wilkes Booth plays the part of villain. The box was right on the stage, with a railing around it. Mr. Lincoln sat next to the rail. Twice Booth in uttering disagreeable threats in the play came very near and put his finger close to Mr. Lincoln's face; when he came a third time Clay says to Lincoln, 'Mr. Lincoln, he looks as if he meant that for you.' 'Well,' he replies, 'he does look pretty sharp at me, doesn't he?'
Late in the summer of 1864 Booth meets with co-conspirators that included Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen, John Surratt, Lewis Powell (also called Lewis Paine or Payne), George Atzerodt, and David Herold. The plan is to kidnap Lincoln and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital, and hold him in return for Confederate prisoners of war.
November, 1864 Booth writes a letter to his brother in-law; "This country was formed for the white not for the black man. And looking upon African slavery from the same stand-point, as held by those noble framers of our Constitution, I for one, have ever considered it, one of the greatest blessings (both for themselves and us) that God ever bestowed upon a favored nation."
January, 1865. Booth is secretly engaged to marry Lucy Hale, the daughter of John Hale, a former Senator who has now been named minister to Spain by Lincoln. The Hales move into the National Hotel where Booth is staying.
March 4th, 1865 –Lincoln’s second inauguration,. V-P Andrew Johnson is sick, and nervous so he has a few drinks to calm his nerves. The public can tell that he is drunk while being sworn in. His subsequent speech in the Senate chamber was a strange humiliation of himself and everyone else present. "I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day; yes, I'm a-goin for to tell you all, that I'm a plebian! I glory in it; I am a plebian! The people—yes, the people of the United States have made me what I am; and I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day—yes, to-day, in this place—that the people are everything." Lincoln is obviously embarrassed and Johnson’s role will be diminished hereafter.
Booth returns from having attended Lincoln’s second inauguration as the invited guest of Lucy Hale. Booth speaks with an actor friend of his saying, , "What an excellent chance I had to kill the President, if I had wished."
On March 15th Booth meets with the entire group at Gautier's Restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue about 3 blocks from Ford's Theatre to discuss Lincoln's abduction. Shortly thereafter, Booth learns that Lincoln will be attending a play (Still Waters Run Deep) at the Campbell Hospital just outside Washington on March 17, 1865. It seems like an ideal time to seize Lincoln in his carriage.
March 17th At the last minute, Booth learns that the President is not going to attend the performance. Rather than attend the play, Lincoln has decided instead to speak to the 140th Indiana Regiment and present a captured flag to the Governor of Indiana. After this failure, some of the conspirators begin to "melt" away, disillusioned.
[switch to black & white]
Late March, 1865: Meeting of the powerful Rothschild financial family in Europe. Dislike of Lincoln is the topic. The grievances include that Lincoln turned down their loan offers to finance the Unions side of the civil war; the high interest rates would have made the Rothschild family a lot of money. They also protest Lincoln’s protectionist policies, and one man exclaims "British free trade, industrial monopoly and human slavery travel together." Talk goes to post civil war and concern that Lincoln’s mild reconstruction policy against the South will create an immediate resumption of agricultural production, something the family had bet against with future contracts. They all agree that Lincoln is a threat to their future wealth. They suggest turning to their contacts in America to see if anything can be done.
[switch to colour]
April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox.
April 10th Confederate explosives expert Thomas F. Harney is capture on his way to Washington to bomb the White House.
April 11th Lincoln speaks from the White House to a crowd gathered outside. Booth was present as Lincoln suggested in his speech that voting rights be granted to certain blacks. Infuriated, Booth's plans now turn in the direction of assassination.
April 14th the day of the assassination Lincoln makes a comment to his bodyguard William Cook while they are waiting for John Parker (who is 3 hours late) to arrive and relive Cook of his duties for the evening. "Crook, do you know I believe there are men who want to take my life? And I have no doubt they will do it.....I know no one could do it and escape alive. But if it is to be done, it is impossible to prevent it."
To Be Continued
[1.03]: "The Assassination of President Lincoln" part 2
April 14th, 1865 - the day Lincoln was shot
As usual the President arose at seven. It began as a lovely spring day. The dogwood trees were in bloom, and there was a scent of fresh flowers in the air.
before 8:00 A.M. on April 14th, 1865, Atzerodt rented room 126 at the Kirkwood House directly above where Johnson was staying.
He was the man assigned to assassinate V.P. Johnson.
9:00 A.M.
Booth met with his fiancee, Lucy Hale (daughter of John P. Hale, former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire). He then went to Booker and Stewart's barbershop on E Street near Grover's Theatre where barber Charles Wood trimmed his hair.
Lincoln read the morning newspapers. His first visitor of the day was Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax. Lincoln told the speaker his own ideas as to what the future policy should be toward the Southern states. Colfax expressed a concern that Lincoln would proceed with reconstruction without legislative branch consultation. At the War Department General Grant told Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that the Grants were going to decline the Lincolns' theatre invitation.
Mr. Lincoln greeted more visitors. One of them was former New Hampshire Senator John P. Hale who had recently been appointed minister to Spain (Hale's daughter, Lucy, was John Wilkes Booth's fiancee). Mr. Lincoln then called for a messenger and requested that he go to Ford's Theatre and reserve the State Box for the evening's performance. He did not yet know General Grant intended to decline the invitation and leave Washington on a late afternoon train. The management of Ford's was elated when they heard the news of their special guests for Good Friday's Our American Cousin performance.
11:00 A.M.
The President began the scheduled meeting of his Cabinet. Stanton, as usual, arrived late. Grant was present at the meeting, and Lincoln was expecting important deliberations regarding reconstruction to occur. He admitted he was open to suggestions on this very complex matter. Lots of various ideas were proposed to begin the process of reconciliation between North and South. Also discussed was what to do with the leaders of the Confederacy. Lincoln spoke from the heart when he said "enough lives have been sacrificed."
Meanwhile at 11:00 A.M.
Booth left the National Hotel and went to Ford's Theatre to pick up his mail. He was dressed in dark clothes and wore a tall silk hat. He wore kid gloves of a bland color, had a light overcoat slung over his arm, and carried a cane. At Ford's he learned from Henry Clay Ford that President Abraham Lincoln would be attending the evening performance of Our American Cousin. Booth then spent some time walking around the theatre.
12 noon
Booth showed up at a stable at 224 C Street operated by James W. Pumphrey, 32, and rented a fast roan mare. He said he'd pick the horse up at 4:00 P.M. that afternoon. He then returned to his room at the National Hotel.
1:00 P.M.
Except for minor differences of opinion, the Cabinet seemed agreed that helping the South economically would also be beneficial to the North. At this point, the President asked General Grant to describe the details of General Lee's surrender. Vice-President Andrew Johnson arrived at the White House. With the Cabinet meeting still in progress, Johnson decided to take a walk and wait until Lincoln could see him.
Booth held one final meeting with his co-conspirators. He said he would kill Lincoln at the theatre (he had since learned that Grant had left town). Atzerodt was to kill Vice-President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood House where Johnson resided. Powell was assigned to kill Secretary of State William Seward. Herold would accompany Powell. All attacks were to take place simultaneously at approximately 10:15 P.M. that night. Booth hoped the resulting chaos and weakness in the government would lead to a comeback for the South.
2:00 P.M.
The Cabinet meeting ended. Grant got up from his chair and walked over to Mr. Lincoln. The general explained he and his wife would not be going to Ford's Theatre; rather they were taking the evening train out of Washington to visit their children. At about 2:20 Lincoln left the office for lunch with Mary Todd. Although no record of the lunch time conversation exists, it's quite likely Abraham told Mary that the Grants would not be accompanying them to see Our American Cousin. Lincoln, back at work, studied some papers dealing with a an army deserter. He signed a pardon, and made the remark, "Well, I think the boy can do us more good above ground than underground."
3:00 P.M.
Booth went to the Kirkwood House to discuss plans with fellow conspirator George Atzerodt. Booth wanted Atzerodt to assassinate Vice-President Andrew Johnson who lived at the Kirkwood House. Atzerodt was out. Booth left a note for the Vice-President (or his personal secretary) with Robert Jones, the desk clerk.
Was Johnson in cahoots with Booth? Did Booth try and warn him so the assassination attempt would fail? Ever since his spectacle at the inauguration his role had been diminished by Lincoln.
5:00 P.M.
Congressman Edward H. Rollins of New Hampshire stopped by to get a pass for a constituent to go and see his wounded son in an army hospital. The President and his wife came out on the White House porch. A one-armed soldier, hoping to catch sight of Mr. Lincoln, yelled, "I would almost give my other hand if I could shake that of Abraham Lincoln." The President walked toward the soldier and grabbed his hand. Lincoln said, "You shall do that and it shall cost you nothing."
Meanwhile at 5:00 P.M.
Booth walked his horse down Fourteenth Street. Near Willard's Hotel he met a fellow actor named John Mathews. Mathews was playing the role of Richard Coyle in Our American Cousin. He gave Mathews a letter and asked him to deliver it to the National Intelligencer the next day. Booth got on his horse and rode off. He passed by Ulysses S. Grant's carriage. On a side street he met up with George Atzerodt. He told a reluctant Atzerodt to kill Andrew Johnson as close to 10:15 as possible.
8:30pm
They arrived at Ford's at about 8:30 P.M. The play had already begun. John M. Buckingham, Ford's main doorkeeper and ticket collector, greeted the honored guests. John Parker led the Presidential party as it entered the theatre and walked towards the State Box. The play stopped, and the orchestra played "Hail to the Chief." People in the audience stood and politely clapped. Once the President was seated, Our American Cousin resumed.
During the play's intermission, John Parker, the President's bodyguard, left the theatre and went next door to Taltavul's Star Saloon for a drink. He was not at his post when Act III of the play began.
Armed with a single shot derringer and a hunting knife, Booth arrived at Ford's at about 9:30 P.M. Joseph Burroughs, a boy who worked at the theatre, held his horse in the rear alley. Booth went next door to a saloon for a drink. He entered the front of Ford's Theatre around 10:07 P.M. Slowly he made his way toward the State Box where the Lincolns were sitting with Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone. Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker of the Metropolitan Police Force, had left his post.
10:00pm
Our American Cousin was now in its third act. Mary sat very close to her husband, her hand in his. She whispered to him, "What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?" The President replied, "She won't think anything about it." It was about 10:15 P.M. On stage actor Harry Hawk was saying, "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal - you sockdologizing old mantrap!" John Wilkes Booth came up behind Mr. Lincoln and shot him in the back of the head near point blank range. Booth struggled briefly with Rathbone, stabbed him with a knife, leaped 11 feet to the stage, broke the fibula bone in his left leg, and escaped from the theatre.
Lincoln's head inclined toward his chest, and Mrs. Lincoln screamed.
Atzerodt made no attempt to kill Johnson, he lost his will and drank in the hotel's bar instead.
Powell stabbed Seward but failed to kill him. Herold escaped from the capital using the same bridge as Booth. The two met in Maryland and stopped briefly around midnight at Mary Surratt's leased tavern in Surrattsville where Mrs. Surratt had earlier left the message to have supplies ready and had dropped off a wrapped package that contained Booth's field glasses.
4:00 A.M. Booth and Herold arrived at Dr. Mudd's home where Mudd set and splinted Booth's broken leg.
Back in Washington Lincoln never regained consciousness and passed away at 7:22 A.M. on the morning of April 15 at the Petersen House (across the street from the theatre).
April 15th - Booth and Herold departed from Dr. Mudd's during the afternoon and traveled south.
April 26th - Federal authorities caught up with them at Garrett's farm near Port Royal, Virginia, early in the morning. Hiding in a barn, Harold gave up. Booth refused, so the barn was set on fire. Booth still didn't come out and was shot to death by Sergeant Boston Corbett. Corbett had not been under orders to do this. Booth's body was searched, and a diary was among the things found. Booth's remains were returned to Washington where positive identification was made and an autopsy performed.
Within days Booth's co-conspirators were arrested by the government. They were tried by a military tribunal, and all were found guilty. Mrs. Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt, and Herold were all hanged on July 7, 1865. Dr. Mudd, O'Laughlen, and Arnold were given life terms in prison. Edman "Ned" Spangler, a Ford's stagehand who was convicted of helping Booth escape from the theatre, received a sentence of 6 years in prison.
John Surratt escaped to Canada and then to Europe. He was captured abroad and was tried in 1867 in a civil court. The trial ended with a deadlocked jury, and Surratt went free. O'Laughlen died in prison (Ft. Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas near Key West) in 1867. Dr. Mudd, Arnold, and Spangler were all pardoned by President Andrew Johnson early in 1869.
Post-script:
Many odd things occured after Lincoln's death. Were they a case of bad karma or does the conspiracy go deeper?
William A. Petersen, the German tailor in whose house the President died, accidently took too much laudanum (a mixture of alcohol and opium derivatives) on June 19, 1871.
In May, 1875, an insanity trial for Mary Todd Lincoln was held in Chicago. The jury found Mrs. Lincoln "insane and a fit person to be in a state hospital for the insane." Mary spent the next several months in an asylum in Batavia, Illinois.
Robert Lincoln, the President's son, was in the White House when his father was shot. On July 2, 1881, Robert was with President James A. Garfield at Washington's Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station when the President was shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau. In his own words, Robert reached the stricken Garfield within 15 seconds of the shooting.
On December 23, 1883, Rathbone went berserk. He tried to kill the children, then shot and stabbed his wife to death, and finally stabbed himself. When the police arrived, Rathbone mumbled, "Who could have done this to my darling wife?" and went on about people "hiding behind the pictures on the wall." He spent the rest of his life in an asylum for the criminally insane in Hildesheim, Germany.
Edwin Booth, John Wilkes Booth's brother, died on June 7, 1893. Two days later, at the very moment Edwin's casket was being carried from the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City, all 3 floors of Ford's Theatre collapsed killing 22 people and injuring 68 others. At the time Ford's was being used as a storehouse for War Department records.
Not so suspicious;
Andrew Johnson became President, a big step-up from his role as lame duck Vice-President. Of course an attempt on his life was never made as the man assigned apparently lost his will and got drunk instead. Mary Todd Lincoln wrote "...that, that miserable inebriate Johnson, had cognizance of my husband's death - Why, was that card of Booth's, found in his box, some acquaintance certainly existed - I have been deeply impressed, with the harrowing thought, that he, had an understanding with the conspirators & they knew their man... As sure, as you & I live, Johnson, had some hand, in all this...".
Some members of Congress also thought Johnson was involved and a special Assassination Committee was established to investigate any evidence linking Johnson to Lincoln's death. Nothing suspicious was ever found by the committee.
And the Rothschilds grew richer and stronger.
[1.04]: "Michael Milken: Poster Child For 80's Greed?"
No one exemplifies the image of corporate greed and excess like "junk bond" innovator Michael Milken.
In the 80's as we fought Communism on every front and saw to its collapse, we also pursued Capitalism with a vigor not seen since the days of the wild frontier.
Communism has always equated Capitalism and the pursuit of wealth as greed and moral depravity. Communists are taught to take the safe road, the safe jobs, not the entrepeneurial style of the US.
Ironic then that the man who personified the capitalist traits would be brought down by his own government not because of actions that were illegal but because of the desire for the entrenched rich and powerful to remain in that stead.
In the 80's and the decades leading up, as publically traded companies grew in size they began to buy other companies. Often these purchases were to diversify the company in other industries then their core business. This made sense from a risk management perspective for the company, its employees, and its management. However, it didn't make sense for the real owners of the company, the stockholders.
If an investor wishes to have diversification then he simply switches some of his investment to a different company, country, or investment. He is far more liquid then the companies he purchases stock in. The result of many of the companies becoming conglomerates was underachieving business units, and therefore underperforming stocks which hurt shareholders. What does a drug company know about making tires?
The conglomerates simply allowed management to increase their salaries in proportion to the assets that they managed.
This led to a series of corporate takeovers, where Wall Street raiders saw that they could buy the stock of underachieving conglomerates for cheap, and then sell off the business units for a profit.
This actiivty was branded unAmerican and a detriment to society. There were cries of creating unemployment and of hurting stocks in the long term. These cries in retrospect were wrong, as when businesses improve they hire more employees and stock values go up. The only people hurt were manangement and the old school financeers, at the expense of the new school takeover artists.
Michael Miliken financed many of the takeover artists by issuing new corporate bonds (deemed "junk bonds" even though the vast majority paid higher interest and were quite stable). These financeers were new, self-made men who made it as outsiders.
Miliken himself came from this kind of background, a modest upbringing, hard working college student. He joined a 3rd tier investment firm in 1970 (Drexel) that he would make rich and famous.
The rest of the industry however that represented established Wall street were themselves of old money with an interest in the status quo, including the management of the conglomerates who gave them so much business.
By 1983 Miliken's junk bond department had driven Drexel into revenues exceeding $1 Billion for the year, with profits of $150 million. They were lead underwriters for over half of the public high-yield bond issues, and now employeed over 5,000 people.
As they started to finance the corporate takeovers of the conglomerates they grew to $4 Billion in revenue by 1986.
This business renaissance financed whole industries like gambling, telecommunications, and health care. It also helped minorites and others looking to break through the old boys network, such as when Reginald Lewis became the first black CEO of a Fortune 500 firm after Miliken financed his $985 million takeover of Beatrice foods.
Around 1985 the government started to go after these takeover arbiteurs, and their first weapon was SEC rule 14e-3 against Insider trading. They showed that prior to corporate takeovers the price of the targets would rise. They claimed this as proof of insider trading and of people losing faith in the market. The truth was that it was the government's own regulations on takeovers that caused these price run-ups because they took away the concept of a free market. Any time you restrict trade you drive up prices, and that is what occured here. Furthermore, how can anyone say that investors lose confidence when all that occured was the value of their investments went UP?
Using insider trading and then stock manipulation the government went after one new breed wall street guy after another. They would arrest them, squueze them, and then turn them informant.
Not since the days of false Communism acquistions by Joe McCarthy has America seen such blatant government disregard for the rule of law.
As with stock parking, and insider trading, the government went after stock manipulators by radically expanding the scope of the criminal laws. They made what were once and still remain common wall street business practices illegal. The relentless propaganda being spewed by the government, who had always been supported by the status quo on Wall Street, effected the views of the public. To Joe Public any firm that did that much business that fast must be criminal.
Take the case of GAF's UNSUCCESSFUL takeover attempt of Union Carbide. The government attempted to prosecute GAF for stock mainuplation on the basis of deliberatley manipulating the stock price by 1/8 of 1%.
The first trial ended in a mistrial due to GOVERNMENT MISCONDUCT; the second in a hung jury; and the third in a conviction which the second circuit then reversed on appeal. The government finally decided not to retry it a 4th time.
The entire government case rested on a "turned" witness's recollection of an oral agreement. The testimony was full of holes, and the prosecution case so weak that they failed to turn over expert reports to the defense which is what caused the misconduct in the first trial.
Interestingly enough, the main government figure behind the prosections was the associate attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rudy Giuliani.
The losers in the wall street restructuring revolution needed someone to snuff out their competitors and restore them to their prior positions of power; that man was Giuliani.
Top officials at Dillon, Read, Lazard Freres and other established investment banks in New York were among Rudy's biggest campaign contributors when he would later run for mayor of New York City.
It is ironic that when he served for Ronald Reagan Giuliani criticized white-collar prosecutions by his Democratic predecessors, saying it wasted resources better spent chasing drug dealers and murderes.
The government's hypocricy continued when they allowed one of their "turned" witnesses, the infamous Ivan Boesky to sell off his takeover stocks before public announcement of his guilty plea. This allowed him to sell his stocks before they nose dived since the public would know that he could no longer take over these stocks. In other words the government committed an illegal act in return for testimony; insider trading.
Giuliani found that unlike the hardcore criminals he was used to prosecuting these white-collar guys were easy to turn, as they feared prison. They were then turned government witness, and for leniancy pointed the finger at other traders for insider trading, etc (crimes that in all likelihood when committed were not even crimes but general business practice). These crimes rested entirely on one person having told or been told insider information by another trader. One of the two parties in that conversation now had a governemnt deal in return for naming the second party.
Giuliani then started up the media circus. He would inform the press and have stock traders arrested at their place of business, paraded out in handcuffs instead of allowing them to turn themselves in. He would tip off the press, and use SWAT teams to storm offices, machine guns out and ready, bullet proof vests on. Wall Street was in panic mode.
On Dec 17, 1987 50 federal marshals carrying guns and wearing bulletprrof vests burst unnaounced into the offices of Princeton/Newport Partners to seize records and files. Then they waited until 10:00pm that night to arrive at the apartment of a junior trader a 24 year old Lisa Jones to question and arrest her after waking her from her sleep. When she refused to answer their questions and asked for an attorney they served her a grand jury subpoena instead.
Unable to get Lisa Jones to turn over any useful information Giuliani went after the firm using the RICO act, which was designed to go after organized crime like the mafia. Under the RICO act the government was able to freeze all the assets of the firm, which in the case of a financial firm was the money. Fearing this would happen clients withdrew all their money just before the freeze happened. Unable to conduct business with no money and no clients it was only a matter of time before Newport went out of business. They were bankrupt before they were formally charged and could defend themselves in a court of law.
Giuliani's use of RICO was another radical departure from precedent. Congress made it clear that RICO was designed to prevent the infiltration of legitimate businesses by organized crime. RICO allows the goverment to seize without any substantial proof of guilt, and when it seizes the enterprise it also seizes the funds that are available to defend itself by hiring council.
Soon after this case Congress made ammendments to the RICO act so that this type of abuse would not happen again.
When the chain of witnesses finally led to Drexler, the governemnt decided to allow the SEC to sue Drexler under civil court first before bringing charges in its ongoing criminal case. Usually a case is seen in criminal court first. The judge refused to allow the defendents to mount a sufficient defense by putting off any questions that might lead into the criminal case, as he did not want to prejudice the government's criminal case. But it was the governemnt that had made the decision on how to proceed.
When Drexler refused to play ball with the government by later rolling over on the criminal charges and handing Miliken over on a silver platter Giuliani sent an ultimtum to accept the deal or be charged under RICO (meaning corporte death). They decided to roll over.
Drexel became a quasi-government enterprise under regulatory control, had to fire Miliken and his brother, and without the profits that Miliken's department used to produce soon went bankrupt, sending thousands of people to the unemployemnt line.
For all the talk of Miliken's financial revolution hurting America and the financial markets, it is ironic that the governments actions against him were a major cause of the 1990 recession and the Black Monday collapse of Wall Street stocks. Any time you remove the kind of fluid capital that junk bonds provided to the market, you create a vacuum of demand. It caused the price of capital to increase substantially, and without the high risk/high return bonds many firms who experienced temporaty trouble or who were on the cutting edge of technology could not survive because traditional lending was not available for them.
Between 1989 and 1990 new capital raised in the public high-yield debt market fell by 95%.
The government had finally found its way to the man they wanted right from the start, Michael Miliken. They gave him an ultimatum; plead guilty to the current indictment or they would add more charges and go after him with the superceeding indictment. They also went after his brother who had worked at the firm and while he made millions as a trader was a minor cog in the wheel compared to his brother Michael. They used the brother as leverage.
Four out of the six felonies were related to Miliken's arrangements with Ivan Boesky now himself a convicted felon. The evidence was mostly heresay, and supposed oral agreements. The facts based on actions were murky at best.
Counts 5 and 6 were nothing more then record keeping problems such as "unlawfully failing to disclose" which at the time had never been prosecuted with criminal charges but was rather a regualtory issue under the SEC.
Miliken was unable to work, and had much of his resources taken away by the earlier civil cases. Under this pressure the government druged on as slow as it could. Finally, in part to get his brother off the hook, Miliken agreed to plead guilty. But the justice department's horrendous behaviour didn't end there.
In an effort to increase the sentence given the government sought and found a way to put into evidence the litany of other charges it would have brought against Miliken if he hadn't plead guilty. These of course were never tried, and were therefore not cross examined or prosecuted. That didn't stop the sentincing judge from allowing them as evidence though in the hearings under a "Fatico" hearing which is supposedly a hearing on the character of the criminal.
The 10 year sentence handed down by the judge surprised not only the defense but also the prosecution and the press.
Tragically, the second circuit would take such a dim view of Rudy Giuliani's convictions that it began to systematically over turn them in appeal in the early 90's. It was too late to effect Guiliani who would already be elected Mayor and it would be too late for Miliken who had plead guilty, therefore there was no conviction to over turn. With the spectre of being the poster child for 1980's greed over his head no congressman and no pressure of the press was brought to bear for the pariah.
There is a basic rule of law that to be a crime it must be against the law at the time of the act. The laws applied in insider trading, etc were common business practices of beating the bushes for news. The laws enacted failed to clearly define the laws in practice, basically saying they were not clear enough to define in law. As such they should not have been prosecutable. However, here and in their over zealous prosecutable fervor the justice system failed Michael Miliken and other financial entrepeneurs whose only real crime was making themselves and others rich at the expense of the established firms.
Studies done by the governments own accounting body the GAO showed in the later Savings & Loan crisis that "junk bonds" were anything other then junk. Their higher returns historically more then made up for their risk. They were a much needed financial instrument.
No revolution occurs without the spilling of innocent blood. Not even a financial revolution.
1.05 - "JFK & The Wandering Bishops"
Historians of the murky death of John F Kennedy began to take notice of the obscure mention of "wandering bishops" in many facets of the investigation. Who are these holy men and what connection do they have with the assassination? Here is what we know.
Emperor Constantine established Christianity as the state religion of his realm and proceeded to enforce an artificial unity on the Christian communities. Prior to this time, there was a strong pluralistic orientation of such communities and of their leaders. Acknowledging a common devotion to Christ and his teachings, they differed widely in doctrine and practice. With Constantine conditions changed; "orthodoxy" was declared as binding upon all. Those who did not conform were forced to leave the community and often their places of residence. They became wanderers. Gnostic, Arian, Nestorian, Monophysite, and other non-conforming Christian leaders became wandering bishops. A new trend was created. Those who conformed to emperor and bishop were allowed to remain in office and enjoy the support of the state, while those who dissented were invited to depart and became wanderers. Yet, such wanderers were not without followers, for kindred, dissenting clergy and congregants rallied around wherever they went, often impelling the orthodox authorities to acts of persecution.
Joseph René Vilatte (1854-1929), brought the stream of the originally Syrian succession of the South Indian church to the United States. Not bound by traditional rules and restrictions regarding the consecrations of other bishops, these free-lance prelates proceeded to lay their anointed hands on a goodly number of men on both sides of the Atlantic, and thus initiated a new era in the history of wandering bishops.
These travelling bishops frequently functioned outside of the formal ecclesiastical body founded by the theosophical bishops. One such churchman was Lowell Paul Wadle, principle representative in the United States of the successions brought to this continent by the French wanderer Vilatte. Bishop Wadle was a theosophist and a popular lecturer in circles of alternative spirituality, particularly in California. A charming and kindly man, his influence upon occult Catholicism was perhaps second only to Leadbeater's. Holding forth in his exquisitely appointed church of St Francis in Laguna Beach, California, he was a man whom churchmen and laity of many denominations sought out for counsel and company.
there is a strange underworld milieu surrounding the activity of Oswald in that New Orleans period. This is the mysterious world of the wandering bishops. At one time, there were as many as four “bishops” functioning from Guy Banister’s Camp Street office, and these included virtually all of his investigators, from David Ferrie and Jack Martin to Thomas Beckham and the lawyer Thomas Jude Baumler. Beckham was a bishop with the Universal Life Church, along with his friend Fred Lee Crisman (the man who was involved with the seminal UFO event of the 20th century, the Maury Island affair) and with Raymond Broshears, yet another minister of the Universal Life Church and later with one of the Orthodox sects with lines to Stanley, and who became a well-known gay activist in San Francisco later on.
These names later came up in Jim Garrison's investigation into the Kennedy assassination. Stanley himself, after a falling out with the other Bishops tipped off Garrison. Barry Seal a dope smuggler and CIA operative was a fellow cadet in the civil air patrol along with the forementioned David Ferrie (a wandering bishop) and Harvey Lee Oswald. Seal and Ferrie were involved together in weapon smugglign related to the anti-Castro Cubans in Miami.
It doesn't take a lot of imagination to connect the dots. Kennedy was a potential enemy of the "cultish" wandering bishops and a strong allie of the orthodox Catholic Church. The CIA had recruited other wandering bishops for covert work in the past. The CIA and Kennedy were at odds in many matters including the treatment of Cuba. The line therefore goes from the CIA to the Wandering Bishops to Oswald to the President.
While the assassination of President Kennedy served to advance the agenda of the hawks and anti-Communists in Washington and the Pentagon, there was still a Democratic President -- Johnson -- and a strong Democratic presence in the government. Kennedy was considered "soft on Communism", but Johnson escalated the war in Vietnam to show his determination to take the fight to the enemy. The mounting opposition to the war at home, however, gave rise to the growth of anti-war movements and a variety of revolutionary organizations. The FBI and CIA saw these groups as puppets of the Soviets -- and, in some cases, they were probably right (as revealed by the Mitrokhin Archive, among other sources) -- and measures were taken to infiltrate and destroy everything from the Black Panthers and the SDS to the Ku Klux Klan.
At the same time, anti-Castro operations were running at an all-time high. With the failure of the Bay of Pigs operation in 1961, Cubans in the United States had vowed to carry on the struggle with or without US government approval or support.
Many of the wandering bishops came from Eastern European countries now under communist rule, and Soviet control. It was the sole mission of these bishops to free their countries from communist rule. It was to this end that they became involved with the CIA, the common fight against communism.
The means are there (guns, connections to Oswald the patsy), the motive is there (a more effective weapon against communists, a less "pro" Catholic in the white house), and the opportunity was there (wandering bishops operating out of the South and having been seen around various Kennedy events).
One of the little known items that came out of the Hurricane Katrina disaster that with it into the dirty depths of water went many of the original documents and evidence related to the Garrison investigation of Kennedy's assassination.
Opening & Closing Theme; SYMPHONY OF PSALMS, IGOR STRAVINSKY (1948)
Airing time; Wednesdays @ 7:00pm
Status; ordered season 1 – 22 episodes
Category; Documentary/Drama (Historical Reinactments)
Production company; TBA Productions 2006
~creators~
unreleased
~Series synopsis~
History should know no bounds, nor should it be dead and buried. Join us each week as we give the viewer a first hand look at history and do a little speculation of facts as well. Open your mind to the possibility of change.
Coming Soon;
1.06 - Marilyn Monroe
1.07 - The Iranian Hostage Crisis
1.08 - Edgar Allan Poe
1.09 - When the Levee Breaks
1.10 -
1.11 - 9/11 (part 1)
1.12 - 9/11 (part 2)
[1.01]: "Billy the Kid"
~Story told via reinactment~
-Billy the Kid arrives in Lincoln County in 1877 which is in the middle of a "civil War" between local cattlemen. Billy chooses the wrong side to work for, John Tunstall.
Tunstall is killed in 1878 by a Sheriff's posse sending Willaim Bonney into a violent rage, thus creating Billy the Kid.
Billy ambushes and kills his first victims the Sherriff and his deputy on the streets of Lincoln. He then goes on the run avoiding the law for two years.
Pat Garrett was elected Sherriff of Lincoln in 1880 on the promise of restoring order. By 1881 he had his crown jewel, Billy the Kid.
He is captured, summarily tried and convicted and sentenced to hang. However he escapes as being returned to his cell one night overpowering and killing two armed guards. He rides away and into history. This occured when Garrett was away on business.
Garrett tracked Billy by word of mouth to the ruins of Fort Sumner and the town surrounding it. The townsfolk however sympathize with Billy and refuse to give him up. However, Billy has a bad stroke of luck and stumbles right into the Sheriff's hands. He fell into a trap set by Garrett who lay in wait at the home of a man who Billy thought to be his friend. Garrett never gave Billy a chance. He fired twice at Billy from close range, the second shot not being needed as the first went into his brain, killing him.
Or at least that is the legend;
But sometimes things are passed down from generations, and they become condensed, cleansed, and peripheral information and theories are lost. As they say history is written by the victors.
We go back to 1881. A different reinactment of that meeting at Fort Sumner. Billy walks into the trap. A gun is put to his head. It's the Sheriff (his old drinking buddy) Pat Garrett. He tells Billy that he is done being made a fool of. Billy gulps down air waiting his death. Pat tells Billy to go away, far away, change his name, and live a boring life until he meets his maker by peaceful means. Billy doesn't know what to say, and Pat doesn't want him to say anything. Pat and his two deputies allow Billy to ride off into the sunset.
They carry the body of an unfortunate drunk and petty thief who they had previously shot in the face and killed. They bury this faceless body alongside two of Billy's friends, and mark the grave with Billy's name.
"Too many people dead already. Find your peace young man."
[1.02]: "The Assassination of President Lincoln" part 1
The following is our reenactment of the death of President Abraham Lincoln, and more importantly the events leading up to and following the fatal attack. Today there exist many different theories as to the motives and the people responsible for the actions. We will present to you the facts as well as we can postulate them in living colour. However, when, as producers and historians, we begin to try and connect the dots with conjecture, our best guess of certain events, we will switch your feed into black and white; or rather shades of grey if you prefer. This will be your cue to think constructively and not take our word for truth. Now ladies and gentlemen, sit back, and prepare to be transported to an event that greatly shaped our nation.
American Chronicles presents;
The Assassination of President Lincoln (part 1 of 2)
April 14th, 1865
[in Black & White]
-Vice-President Andrew Johnson paces his study, contemplating
-A man (not John Wilkes Booth) sits in near darkness, squat legged, rocking, staring at a gun lying in his lap, almost at tears for his own lack of courage
-A man sits in his home in England, boxes still unpacked, furniture still arriving, confederate flag on his wall. His desk calendar has all the days up until April 14th crossed off, and the 14th (today) circled in Red, a little drawing of a top hat in the square.
-A powerful member of the Rothschild family sits at his London office, watching the clocks on the wall which indicate the time of various financial centers of the world, its almost 10:00pm on April 14th, in New York City.
[switch to colour]
At about 10:15 P.M. Booth opens the door to the State Box at the Ford theatre, shoots Lincoln in the back of the head at near point-blank range, and then struggles with Rathbone. Booth stabs Rathbone in the arm and jumps 12 feet to the stage below. When he hits the floor he snaps the fibula bone in his left leg just above the ankle. Mrs. Lincoln screams.
Now back to the beginning;
1843;A gypsy living in the woods near Cockeysville reads a young John Wilkes Booths palm. She says, "Ah, you've a bad hand; the lines all cris-cras! It's full enough of sorrow. Full of trouble. Trouble in plenty, everywhere I look. You'll break hearts, they'll be nothing to you. You'll die young, and leave many to mourn you, many to love you too…. You've got in your hand a thundering crowd of enemies - not one friend - you'll make a bad end, and have plenty to love you afterwards. You'll have a fast life - short, but a grand one. Now, young sir, I've never seen a worse hand, and I wish I hadn't seen it, but every word I've told is true by the signs. You'd best turn a missionary or a priest and try to escape it."
1850's: St. Timothy's Hall, an Episcopal military academy in Catonsville, Maryland. Booth is a teenager and is a participant at a Know-Nothing rally. The Know-Nothing Party was formed by American nativists who wanted to preserve the country for native-born white citizens. They spew racial hatred.
1859 Booth is on hand to witness the execution of John Brown, the abolitionist who had tried to start a slave uprising at Harpers Ferry. Wearing a militia uniform, Booth stands near the scaffold with other armed men to guard against any attempt to rescue John Brown before the hanging.
November 9, 1863. The Lincolns watch John Wilkes Booth in "The Marble Heart" at Ford's Theatre accompanied by several people including Mary B. Clay, a daughter of Cassius Clay. Mary Clay reminisced about the evening as follows: Wilkes Booth plays the part of villain. The box was right on the stage, with a railing around it. Mr. Lincoln sat next to the rail. Twice Booth in uttering disagreeable threats in the play came very near and put his finger close to Mr. Lincoln's face; when he came a third time Clay says to Lincoln, 'Mr. Lincoln, he looks as if he meant that for you.' 'Well,' he replies, 'he does look pretty sharp at me, doesn't he?'
Late in the summer of 1864 Booth meets with co-conspirators that included Samuel Arnold, Michael O'Laughlen, John Surratt, Lewis Powell (also called Lewis Paine or Payne), George Atzerodt, and David Herold. The plan is to kidnap Lincoln and take him to Richmond, the Confederate capital, and hold him in return for Confederate prisoners of war.
November, 1864 Booth writes a letter to his brother in-law; "This country was formed for the white not for the black man. And looking upon African slavery from the same stand-point, as held by those noble framers of our Constitution, I for one, have ever considered it, one of the greatest blessings (both for themselves and us) that God ever bestowed upon a favored nation."
January, 1865. Booth is secretly engaged to marry Lucy Hale, the daughter of John Hale, a former Senator who has now been named minister to Spain by Lincoln. The Hales move into the National Hotel where Booth is staying.
March 4th, 1865 –Lincoln’s second inauguration,. V-P Andrew Johnson is sick, and nervous so he has a few drinks to calm his nerves. The public can tell that he is drunk while being sworn in. His subsequent speech in the Senate chamber was a strange humiliation of himself and everyone else present. "I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day; yes, I'm a-goin for to tell you all, that I'm a plebian! I glory in it; I am a plebian! The people—yes, the people of the United States have made me what I am; and I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day—yes, to-day, in this place—that the people are everything." Lincoln is obviously embarrassed and Johnson’s role will be diminished hereafter.
Booth returns from having attended Lincoln’s second inauguration as the invited guest of Lucy Hale. Booth speaks with an actor friend of his saying, , "What an excellent chance I had to kill the President, if I had wished."
On March 15th Booth meets with the entire group at Gautier's Restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue about 3 blocks from Ford's Theatre to discuss Lincoln's abduction. Shortly thereafter, Booth learns that Lincoln will be attending a play (Still Waters Run Deep) at the Campbell Hospital just outside Washington on March 17, 1865. It seems like an ideal time to seize Lincoln in his carriage.
March 17th At the last minute, Booth learns that the President is not going to attend the performance. Rather than attend the play, Lincoln has decided instead to speak to the 140th Indiana Regiment and present a captured flag to the Governor of Indiana. After this failure, some of the conspirators begin to "melt" away, disillusioned.
[switch to black & white]
Late March, 1865: Meeting of the powerful Rothschild financial family in Europe. Dislike of Lincoln is the topic. The grievances include that Lincoln turned down their loan offers to finance the Unions side of the civil war; the high interest rates would have made the Rothschild family a lot of money. They also protest Lincoln’s protectionist policies, and one man exclaims "British free trade, industrial monopoly and human slavery travel together." Talk goes to post civil war and concern that Lincoln’s mild reconstruction policy against the South will create an immediate resumption of agricultural production, something the family had bet against with future contracts. They all agree that Lincoln is a threat to their future wealth. They suggest turning to their contacts in America to see if anything can be done.
[switch to colour]
April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox.
April 10th Confederate explosives expert Thomas F. Harney is capture on his way to Washington to bomb the White House.
April 11th Lincoln speaks from the White House to a crowd gathered outside. Booth was present as Lincoln suggested in his speech that voting rights be granted to certain blacks. Infuriated, Booth's plans now turn in the direction of assassination.
April 14th the day of the assassination Lincoln makes a comment to his bodyguard William Cook while they are waiting for John Parker (who is 3 hours late) to arrive and relive Cook of his duties for the evening. "Crook, do you know I believe there are men who want to take my life? And I have no doubt they will do it.....I know no one could do it and escape alive. But if it is to be done, it is impossible to prevent it."
To Be Continued
[1.03]: "The Assassination of President Lincoln" part 2
April 14th, 1865 - the day Lincoln was shot
As usual the President arose at seven. It began as a lovely spring day. The dogwood trees were in bloom, and there was a scent of fresh flowers in the air.
before 8:00 A.M. on April 14th, 1865, Atzerodt rented room 126 at the Kirkwood House directly above where Johnson was staying.
He was the man assigned to assassinate V.P. Johnson.
9:00 A.M.
Booth met with his fiancee, Lucy Hale (daughter of John P. Hale, former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire). He then went to Booker and Stewart's barbershop on E Street near Grover's Theatre where barber Charles Wood trimmed his hair.
Lincoln read the morning newspapers. His first visitor of the day was Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax. Lincoln told the speaker his own ideas as to what the future policy should be toward the Southern states. Colfax expressed a concern that Lincoln would proceed with reconstruction without legislative branch consultation. At the War Department General Grant told Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that the Grants were going to decline the Lincolns' theatre invitation.
Mr. Lincoln greeted more visitors. One of them was former New Hampshire Senator John P. Hale who had recently been appointed minister to Spain (Hale's daughter, Lucy, was John Wilkes Booth's fiancee). Mr. Lincoln then called for a messenger and requested that he go to Ford's Theatre and reserve the State Box for the evening's performance. He did not yet know General Grant intended to decline the invitation and leave Washington on a late afternoon train. The management of Ford's was elated when they heard the news of their special guests for Good Friday's Our American Cousin performance.
11:00 A.M.
The President began the scheduled meeting of his Cabinet. Stanton, as usual, arrived late. Grant was present at the meeting, and Lincoln was expecting important deliberations regarding reconstruction to occur. He admitted he was open to suggestions on this very complex matter. Lots of various ideas were proposed to begin the process of reconciliation between North and South. Also discussed was what to do with the leaders of the Confederacy. Lincoln spoke from the heart when he said "enough lives have been sacrificed."
Meanwhile at 11:00 A.M.
Booth left the National Hotel and went to Ford's Theatre to pick up his mail. He was dressed in dark clothes and wore a tall silk hat. He wore kid gloves of a bland color, had a light overcoat slung over his arm, and carried a cane. At Ford's he learned from Henry Clay Ford that President Abraham Lincoln would be attending the evening performance of Our American Cousin. Booth then spent some time walking around the theatre.
12 noon
Booth showed up at a stable at 224 C Street operated by James W. Pumphrey, 32, and rented a fast roan mare. He said he'd pick the horse up at 4:00 P.M. that afternoon. He then returned to his room at the National Hotel.
1:00 P.M.
Except for minor differences of opinion, the Cabinet seemed agreed that helping the South economically would also be beneficial to the North. At this point, the President asked General Grant to describe the details of General Lee's surrender. Vice-President Andrew Johnson arrived at the White House. With the Cabinet meeting still in progress, Johnson decided to take a walk and wait until Lincoln could see him.
Booth held one final meeting with his co-conspirators. He said he would kill Lincoln at the theatre (he had since learned that Grant had left town). Atzerodt was to kill Vice-President Andrew Johnson at the Kirkwood House where Johnson resided. Powell was assigned to kill Secretary of State William Seward. Herold would accompany Powell. All attacks were to take place simultaneously at approximately 10:15 P.M. that night. Booth hoped the resulting chaos and weakness in the government would lead to a comeback for the South.
2:00 P.M.
The Cabinet meeting ended. Grant got up from his chair and walked over to Mr. Lincoln. The general explained he and his wife would not be going to Ford's Theatre; rather they were taking the evening train out of Washington to visit their children. At about 2:20 Lincoln left the office for lunch with Mary Todd. Although no record of the lunch time conversation exists, it's quite likely Abraham told Mary that the Grants would not be accompanying them to see Our American Cousin. Lincoln, back at work, studied some papers dealing with a an army deserter. He signed a pardon, and made the remark, "Well, I think the boy can do us more good above ground than underground."
3:00 P.M.
Booth went to the Kirkwood House to discuss plans with fellow conspirator George Atzerodt. Booth wanted Atzerodt to assassinate Vice-President Andrew Johnson who lived at the Kirkwood House. Atzerodt was out. Booth left a note for the Vice-President (or his personal secretary) with Robert Jones, the desk clerk.
Was Johnson in cahoots with Booth? Did Booth try and warn him so the assassination attempt would fail? Ever since his spectacle at the inauguration his role had been diminished by Lincoln.
5:00 P.M.
Congressman Edward H. Rollins of New Hampshire stopped by to get a pass for a constituent to go and see his wounded son in an army hospital. The President and his wife came out on the White House porch. A one-armed soldier, hoping to catch sight of Mr. Lincoln, yelled, "I would almost give my other hand if I could shake that of Abraham Lincoln." The President walked toward the soldier and grabbed his hand. Lincoln said, "You shall do that and it shall cost you nothing."
Meanwhile at 5:00 P.M.
Booth walked his horse down Fourteenth Street. Near Willard's Hotel he met a fellow actor named John Mathews. Mathews was playing the role of Richard Coyle in Our American Cousin. He gave Mathews a letter and asked him to deliver it to the National Intelligencer the next day. Booth got on his horse and rode off. He passed by Ulysses S. Grant's carriage. On a side street he met up with George Atzerodt. He told a reluctant Atzerodt to kill Andrew Johnson as close to 10:15 as possible.
8:30pm
They arrived at Ford's at about 8:30 P.M. The play had already begun. John M. Buckingham, Ford's main doorkeeper and ticket collector, greeted the honored guests. John Parker led the Presidential party as it entered the theatre and walked towards the State Box. The play stopped, and the orchestra played "Hail to the Chief." People in the audience stood and politely clapped. Once the President was seated, Our American Cousin resumed.
During the play's intermission, John Parker, the President's bodyguard, left the theatre and went next door to Taltavul's Star Saloon for a drink. He was not at his post when Act III of the play began.
Armed with a single shot derringer and a hunting knife, Booth arrived at Ford's at about 9:30 P.M. Joseph Burroughs, a boy who worked at the theatre, held his horse in the rear alley. Booth went next door to a saloon for a drink. He entered the front of Ford's Theatre around 10:07 P.M. Slowly he made his way toward the State Box where the Lincolns were sitting with Clara Harris and Henry Rathbone. Lincoln's bodyguard, John Parker of the Metropolitan Police Force, had left his post.
10:00pm
Our American Cousin was now in its third act. Mary sat very close to her husband, her hand in his. She whispered to him, "What will Miss Harris think of my hanging on to you so?" The President replied, "She won't think anything about it." It was about 10:15 P.M. On stage actor Harry Hawk was saying, "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal - you sockdologizing old mantrap!" John Wilkes Booth came up behind Mr. Lincoln and shot him in the back of the head near point blank range. Booth struggled briefly with Rathbone, stabbed him with a knife, leaped 11 feet to the stage, broke the fibula bone in his left leg, and escaped from the theatre.
Lincoln's head inclined toward his chest, and Mrs. Lincoln screamed.
Atzerodt made no attempt to kill Johnson, he lost his will and drank in the hotel's bar instead.
Powell stabbed Seward but failed to kill him. Herold escaped from the capital using the same bridge as Booth. The two met in Maryland and stopped briefly around midnight at Mary Surratt's leased tavern in Surrattsville where Mrs. Surratt had earlier left the message to have supplies ready and had dropped off a wrapped package that contained Booth's field glasses.
4:00 A.M. Booth and Herold arrived at Dr. Mudd's home where Mudd set and splinted Booth's broken leg.
Back in Washington Lincoln never regained consciousness and passed away at 7:22 A.M. on the morning of April 15 at the Petersen House (across the street from the theatre).
April 15th - Booth and Herold departed from Dr. Mudd's during the afternoon and traveled south.
April 26th - Federal authorities caught up with them at Garrett's farm near Port Royal, Virginia, early in the morning. Hiding in a barn, Harold gave up. Booth refused, so the barn was set on fire. Booth still didn't come out and was shot to death by Sergeant Boston Corbett. Corbett had not been under orders to do this. Booth's body was searched, and a diary was among the things found. Booth's remains were returned to Washington where positive identification was made and an autopsy performed.
Within days Booth's co-conspirators were arrested by the government. They were tried by a military tribunal, and all were found guilty. Mrs. Surratt, Powell, Atzerodt, and Herold were all hanged on July 7, 1865. Dr. Mudd, O'Laughlen, and Arnold were given life terms in prison. Edman "Ned" Spangler, a Ford's stagehand who was convicted of helping Booth escape from the theatre, received a sentence of 6 years in prison.
John Surratt escaped to Canada and then to Europe. He was captured abroad and was tried in 1867 in a civil court. The trial ended with a deadlocked jury, and Surratt went free. O'Laughlen died in prison (Ft. Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas near Key West) in 1867. Dr. Mudd, Arnold, and Spangler were all pardoned by President Andrew Johnson early in 1869.
Post-script:
Many odd things occured after Lincoln's death. Were they a case of bad karma or does the conspiracy go deeper?
William A. Petersen, the German tailor in whose house the President died, accidently took too much laudanum (a mixture of alcohol and opium derivatives) on June 19, 1871.
In May, 1875, an insanity trial for Mary Todd Lincoln was held in Chicago. The jury found Mrs. Lincoln "insane and a fit person to be in a state hospital for the insane." Mary spent the next several months in an asylum in Batavia, Illinois.
Robert Lincoln, the President's son, was in the White House when his father was shot. On July 2, 1881, Robert was with President James A. Garfield at Washington's Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station when the President was shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau. In his own words, Robert reached the stricken Garfield within 15 seconds of the shooting.
On December 23, 1883, Rathbone went berserk. He tried to kill the children, then shot and stabbed his wife to death, and finally stabbed himself. When the police arrived, Rathbone mumbled, "Who could have done this to my darling wife?" and went on about people "hiding behind the pictures on the wall." He spent the rest of his life in an asylum for the criminally insane in Hildesheim, Germany.
Edwin Booth, John Wilkes Booth's brother, died on June 7, 1893. Two days later, at the very moment Edwin's casket was being carried from the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City, all 3 floors of Ford's Theatre collapsed killing 22 people and injuring 68 others. At the time Ford's was being used as a storehouse for War Department records.
Not so suspicious;
Andrew Johnson became President, a big step-up from his role as lame duck Vice-President. Of course an attempt on his life was never made as the man assigned apparently lost his will and got drunk instead. Mary Todd Lincoln wrote "...that, that miserable inebriate Johnson, had cognizance of my husband's death - Why, was that card of Booth's, found in his box, some acquaintance certainly existed - I have been deeply impressed, with the harrowing thought, that he, had an understanding with the conspirators & they knew their man... As sure, as you & I live, Johnson, had some hand, in all this...".
Some members of Congress also thought Johnson was involved and a special Assassination Committee was established to investigate any evidence linking Johnson to Lincoln's death. Nothing suspicious was ever found by the committee.
And the Rothschilds grew richer and stronger.
[1.04]: "Michael Milken: Poster Child For 80's Greed?"
No one exemplifies the image of corporate greed and excess like "junk bond" innovator Michael Milken.
In the 80's as we fought Communism on every front and saw to its collapse, we also pursued Capitalism with a vigor not seen since the days of the wild frontier.
Communism has always equated Capitalism and the pursuit of wealth as greed and moral depravity. Communists are taught to take the safe road, the safe jobs, not the entrepeneurial style of the US.
Ironic then that the man who personified the capitalist traits would be brought down by his own government not because of actions that were illegal but because of the desire for the entrenched rich and powerful to remain in that stead.
In the 80's and the decades leading up, as publically traded companies grew in size they began to buy other companies. Often these purchases were to diversify the company in other industries then their core business. This made sense from a risk management perspective for the company, its employees, and its management. However, it didn't make sense for the real owners of the company, the stockholders.
If an investor wishes to have diversification then he simply switches some of his investment to a different company, country, or investment. He is far more liquid then the companies he purchases stock in. The result of many of the companies becoming conglomerates was underachieving business units, and therefore underperforming stocks which hurt shareholders. What does a drug company know about making tires?
The conglomerates simply allowed management to increase their salaries in proportion to the assets that they managed.
This led to a series of corporate takeovers, where Wall Street raiders saw that they could buy the stock of underachieving conglomerates for cheap, and then sell off the business units for a profit.
This actiivty was branded unAmerican and a detriment to society. There were cries of creating unemployment and of hurting stocks in the long term. These cries in retrospect were wrong, as when businesses improve they hire more employees and stock values go up. The only people hurt were manangement and the old school financeers, at the expense of the new school takeover artists.
Michael Miliken financed many of the takeover artists by issuing new corporate bonds (deemed "junk bonds" even though the vast majority paid higher interest and were quite stable). These financeers were new, self-made men who made it as outsiders.
Miliken himself came from this kind of background, a modest upbringing, hard working college student. He joined a 3rd tier investment firm in 1970 (Drexel) that he would make rich and famous.
The rest of the industry however that represented established Wall street were themselves of old money with an interest in the status quo, including the management of the conglomerates who gave them so much business.
By 1983 Miliken's junk bond department had driven Drexel into revenues exceeding $1 Billion for the year, with profits of $150 million. They were lead underwriters for over half of the public high-yield bond issues, and now employeed over 5,000 people.
As they started to finance the corporate takeovers of the conglomerates they grew to $4 Billion in revenue by 1986.
This business renaissance financed whole industries like gambling, telecommunications, and health care. It also helped minorites and others looking to break through the old boys network, such as when Reginald Lewis became the first black CEO of a Fortune 500 firm after Miliken financed his $985 million takeover of Beatrice foods.
Around 1985 the government started to go after these takeover arbiteurs, and their first weapon was SEC rule 14e-3 against Insider trading. They showed that prior to corporate takeovers the price of the targets would rise. They claimed this as proof of insider trading and of people losing faith in the market. The truth was that it was the government's own regulations on takeovers that caused these price run-ups because they took away the concept of a free market. Any time you restrict trade you drive up prices, and that is what occured here. Furthermore, how can anyone say that investors lose confidence when all that occured was the value of their investments went UP?
Using insider trading and then stock manipulation the government went after one new breed wall street guy after another. They would arrest them, squueze them, and then turn them informant.
Not since the days of false Communism acquistions by Joe McCarthy has America seen such blatant government disregard for the rule of law.
As with stock parking, and insider trading, the government went after stock manipulators by radically expanding the scope of the criminal laws. They made what were once and still remain common wall street business practices illegal. The relentless propaganda being spewed by the government, who had always been supported by the status quo on Wall Street, effected the views of the public. To Joe Public any firm that did that much business that fast must be criminal.
Take the case of GAF's UNSUCCESSFUL takeover attempt of Union Carbide. The government attempted to prosecute GAF for stock mainuplation on the basis of deliberatley manipulating the stock price by 1/8 of 1%.
The first trial ended in a mistrial due to GOVERNMENT MISCONDUCT; the second in a hung jury; and the third in a conviction which the second circuit then reversed on appeal. The government finally decided not to retry it a 4th time.
The entire government case rested on a "turned" witness's recollection of an oral agreement. The testimony was full of holes, and the prosecution case so weak that they failed to turn over expert reports to the defense which is what caused the misconduct in the first trial.
Interestingly enough, the main government figure behind the prosections was the associate attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rudy Giuliani.
The losers in the wall street restructuring revolution needed someone to snuff out their competitors and restore them to their prior positions of power; that man was Giuliani.
Top officials at Dillon, Read, Lazard Freres and other established investment banks in New York were among Rudy's biggest campaign contributors when he would later run for mayor of New York City.
It is ironic that when he served for Ronald Reagan Giuliani criticized white-collar prosecutions by his Democratic predecessors, saying it wasted resources better spent chasing drug dealers and murderes.
The government's hypocricy continued when they allowed one of their "turned" witnesses, the infamous Ivan Boesky to sell off his takeover stocks before public announcement of his guilty plea. This allowed him to sell his stocks before they nose dived since the public would know that he could no longer take over these stocks. In other words the government committed an illegal act in return for testimony; insider trading.
Giuliani found that unlike the hardcore criminals he was used to prosecuting these white-collar guys were easy to turn, as they feared prison. They were then turned government witness, and for leniancy pointed the finger at other traders for insider trading, etc (crimes that in all likelihood when committed were not even crimes but general business practice). These crimes rested entirely on one person having told or been told insider information by another trader. One of the two parties in that conversation now had a governemnt deal in return for naming the second party.
Giuliani then started up the media circus. He would inform the press and have stock traders arrested at their place of business, paraded out in handcuffs instead of allowing them to turn themselves in. He would tip off the press, and use SWAT teams to storm offices, machine guns out and ready, bullet proof vests on. Wall Street was in panic mode.
On Dec 17, 1987 50 federal marshals carrying guns and wearing bulletprrof vests burst unnaounced into the offices of Princeton/Newport Partners to seize records and files. Then they waited until 10:00pm that night to arrive at the apartment of a junior trader a 24 year old Lisa Jones to question and arrest her after waking her from her sleep. When she refused to answer their questions and asked for an attorney they served her a grand jury subpoena instead.
Unable to get Lisa Jones to turn over any useful information Giuliani went after the firm using the RICO act, which was designed to go after organized crime like the mafia. Under the RICO act the government was able to freeze all the assets of the firm, which in the case of a financial firm was the money. Fearing this would happen clients withdrew all their money just before the freeze happened. Unable to conduct business with no money and no clients it was only a matter of time before Newport went out of business. They were bankrupt before they were formally charged and could defend themselves in a court of law.
Giuliani's use of RICO was another radical departure from precedent. Congress made it clear that RICO was designed to prevent the infiltration of legitimate businesses by organized crime. RICO allows the goverment to seize without any substantial proof of guilt, and when it seizes the enterprise it also seizes the funds that are available to defend itself by hiring council.
Soon after this case Congress made ammendments to the RICO act so that this type of abuse would not happen again.
When the chain of witnesses finally led to Drexler, the governemnt decided to allow the SEC to sue Drexler under civil court first before bringing charges in its ongoing criminal case. Usually a case is seen in criminal court first. The judge refused to allow the defendents to mount a sufficient defense by putting off any questions that might lead into the criminal case, as he did not want to prejudice the government's criminal case. But it was the governemnt that had made the decision on how to proceed.
When Drexler refused to play ball with the government by later rolling over on the criminal charges and handing Miliken over on a silver platter Giuliani sent an ultimtum to accept the deal or be charged under RICO (meaning corporte death). They decided to roll over.
Drexel became a quasi-government enterprise under regulatory control, had to fire Miliken and his brother, and without the profits that Miliken's department used to produce soon went bankrupt, sending thousands of people to the unemployemnt line.
For all the talk of Miliken's financial revolution hurting America and the financial markets, it is ironic that the governments actions against him were a major cause of the 1990 recession and the Black Monday collapse of Wall Street stocks. Any time you remove the kind of fluid capital that junk bonds provided to the market, you create a vacuum of demand. It caused the price of capital to increase substantially, and without the high risk/high return bonds many firms who experienced temporaty trouble or who were on the cutting edge of technology could not survive because traditional lending was not available for them.
Between 1989 and 1990 new capital raised in the public high-yield debt market fell by 95%.
The government had finally found its way to the man they wanted right from the start, Michael Miliken. They gave him an ultimatum; plead guilty to the current indictment or they would add more charges and go after him with the superceeding indictment. They also went after his brother who had worked at the firm and while he made millions as a trader was a minor cog in the wheel compared to his brother Michael. They used the brother as leverage.
Four out of the six felonies were related to Miliken's arrangements with Ivan Boesky now himself a convicted felon. The evidence was mostly heresay, and supposed oral agreements. The facts based on actions were murky at best.
Counts 5 and 6 were nothing more then record keeping problems such as "unlawfully failing to disclose" which at the time had never been prosecuted with criminal charges but was rather a regualtory issue under the SEC.
Miliken was unable to work, and had much of his resources taken away by the earlier civil cases. Under this pressure the government druged on as slow as it could. Finally, in part to get his brother off the hook, Miliken agreed to plead guilty. But the justice department's horrendous behaviour didn't end there.
In an effort to increase the sentence given the government sought and found a way to put into evidence the litany of other charges it would have brought against Miliken if he hadn't plead guilty. These of course were never tried, and were therefore not cross examined or prosecuted. That didn't stop the sentincing judge from allowing them as evidence though in the hearings under a "Fatico" hearing which is supposedly a hearing on the character of the criminal.
The 10 year sentence handed down by the judge surprised not only the defense but also the prosecution and the press.
Tragically, the second circuit would take such a dim view of Rudy Giuliani's convictions that it began to systematically over turn them in appeal in the early 90's. It was too late to effect Guiliani who would already be elected Mayor and it would be too late for Miliken who had plead guilty, therefore there was no conviction to over turn. With the spectre of being the poster child for 1980's greed over his head no congressman and no pressure of the press was brought to bear for the pariah.
There is a basic rule of law that to be a crime it must be against the law at the time of the act. The laws applied in insider trading, etc were common business practices of beating the bushes for news. The laws enacted failed to clearly define the laws in practice, basically saying they were not clear enough to define in law. As such they should not have been prosecutable. However, here and in their over zealous prosecutable fervor the justice system failed Michael Miliken and other financial entrepeneurs whose only real crime was making themselves and others rich at the expense of the established firms.
Studies done by the governments own accounting body the GAO showed in the later Savings & Loan crisis that "junk bonds" were anything other then junk. Their higher returns historically more then made up for their risk. They were a much needed financial instrument.
No revolution occurs without the spilling of innocent blood. Not even a financial revolution.
1.05 - "JFK & The Wandering Bishops"
Historians of the murky death of John F Kennedy began to take notice of the obscure mention of "wandering bishops" in many facets of the investigation. Who are these holy men and what connection do they have with the assassination? Here is what we know.
Emperor Constantine established Christianity as the state religion of his realm and proceeded to enforce an artificial unity on the Christian communities. Prior to this time, there was a strong pluralistic orientation of such communities and of their leaders. Acknowledging a common devotion to Christ and his teachings, they differed widely in doctrine and practice. With Constantine conditions changed; "orthodoxy" was declared as binding upon all. Those who did not conform were forced to leave the community and often their places of residence. They became wanderers. Gnostic, Arian, Nestorian, Monophysite, and other non-conforming Christian leaders became wandering bishops. A new trend was created. Those who conformed to emperor and bishop were allowed to remain in office and enjoy the support of the state, while those who dissented were invited to depart and became wanderers. Yet, such wanderers were not without followers, for kindred, dissenting clergy and congregants rallied around wherever they went, often impelling the orthodox authorities to acts of persecution.
Joseph René Vilatte (1854-1929), brought the stream of the originally Syrian succession of the South Indian church to the United States. Not bound by traditional rules and restrictions regarding the consecrations of other bishops, these free-lance prelates proceeded to lay their anointed hands on a goodly number of men on both sides of the Atlantic, and thus initiated a new era in the history of wandering bishops.
These travelling bishops frequently functioned outside of the formal ecclesiastical body founded by the theosophical bishops. One such churchman was Lowell Paul Wadle, principle representative in the United States of the successions brought to this continent by the French wanderer Vilatte. Bishop Wadle was a theosophist and a popular lecturer in circles of alternative spirituality, particularly in California. A charming and kindly man, his influence upon occult Catholicism was perhaps second only to Leadbeater's. Holding forth in his exquisitely appointed church of St Francis in Laguna Beach, California, he was a man whom churchmen and laity of many denominations sought out for counsel and company.
there is a strange underworld milieu surrounding the activity of Oswald in that New Orleans period. This is the mysterious world of the wandering bishops. At one time, there were as many as four “bishops” functioning from Guy Banister’s Camp Street office, and these included virtually all of his investigators, from David Ferrie and Jack Martin to Thomas Beckham and the lawyer Thomas Jude Baumler. Beckham was a bishop with the Universal Life Church, along with his friend Fred Lee Crisman (the man who was involved with the seminal UFO event of the 20th century, the Maury Island affair) and with Raymond Broshears, yet another minister of the Universal Life Church and later with one of the Orthodox sects with lines to Stanley, and who became a well-known gay activist in San Francisco later on.
These names later came up in Jim Garrison's investigation into the Kennedy assassination. Stanley himself, after a falling out with the other Bishops tipped off Garrison. Barry Seal a dope smuggler and CIA operative was a fellow cadet in the civil air patrol along with the forementioned David Ferrie (a wandering bishop) and Harvey Lee Oswald. Seal and Ferrie were involved together in weapon smugglign related to the anti-Castro Cubans in Miami.
It doesn't take a lot of imagination to connect the dots. Kennedy was a potential enemy of the "cultish" wandering bishops and a strong allie of the orthodox Catholic Church. The CIA had recruited other wandering bishops for covert work in the past. The CIA and Kennedy were at odds in many matters including the treatment of Cuba. The line therefore goes from the CIA to the Wandering Bishops to Oswald to the President.
While the assassination of President Kennedy served to advance the agenda of the hawks and anti-Communists in Washington and the Pentagon, there was still a Democratic President -- Johnson -- and a strong Democratic presence in the government. Kennedy was considered "soft on Communism", but Johnson escalated the war in Vietnam to show his determination to take the fight to the enemy. The mounting opposition to the war at home, however, gave rise to the growth of anti-war movements and a variety of revolutionary organizations. The FBI and CIA saw these groups as puppets of the Soviets -- and, in some cases, they were probably right (as revealed by the Mitrokhin Archive, among other sources) -- and measures were taken to infiltrate and destroy everything from the Black Panthers and the SDS to the Ku Klux Klan.
At the same time, anti-Castro operations were running at an all-time high. With the failure of the Bay of Pigs operation in 1961, Cubans in the United States had vowed to carry on the struggle with or without US government approval or support.
Many of the wandering bishops came from Eastern European countries now under communist rule, and Soviet control. It was the sole mission of these bishops to free their countries from communist rule. It was to this end that they became involved with the CIA, the common fight against communism.
The means are there (guns, connections to Oswald the patsy), the motive is there (a more effective weapon against communists, a less "pro" Catholic in the white house), and the opportunity was there (wandering bishops operating out of the South and having been seen around various Kennedy events).
One of the little known items that came out of the Hurricane Katrina disaster that with it into the dirty depths of water went many of the original documents and evidence related to the Garrison investigation of Kennedy's assassination.