The Reporter Who Knew Too Much by Mark Shaw

Author:Mark Shaw [Shaw, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Published: 2016-10-18T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

For those fearing any follow-up investigations on the assassinations, the worst possible scenario would have been the convening of a grand jury.

None happened in 1963/64. The explanation provided at the time was a simple one: J. Edgar Hoover proclaimed that unless evidence of a conspiracy was uncovered, no convening of a grand jury could happen.

The House Select Committee on Assassinations report54 released in the late 1970s provides a new perspective. From the information gathered, it is clear that if Kilgallen exposed even the whisper of a conspiracy in November 1965 or thereafter, the course of history could have been significantly altered.

As the Committee began its investigation, noted syndicated columnist Liz Smith, one of Kilgallen’s rivals in the 1960s, wrote a column entitled, “The Kilgallen Mystery.” Released nationally on December 15, 1976, and featuring a large photo of Kilgallen, Smith’s column revealed that both author Lee Israel, and Kilgallen’s son, Kerry, had been attempting to “wrest from the FBI and CIA the pertinent papers concerning Kilgallen’s involvement with the assassination of JFK.”

Calling it the “Strange Case of Dorothy Kilgallen,” Smith said that while Israel sought the papers for a book she was writing, Kerry wanted them because “he is mad, frustrated, and wants to find out what his mother knew and how she really died.” Smith added that Kerry, who must have suspected the official cause of death was suspect, was “proud of what he has learned of his mother, and wants the story of her prescience and courage in the matter of JFK’s death made public.”

Without providing a source, Smith swore, “The FBI has voluminous material” about Kilgallen. Regarding the CIA, Smith added, “What was this international agency doing investigating a gossip columnist? The CIA had 20 odd pages on Dorothy Kilgallen in its files. It contacted 51 CIA offices in her ‘case!!!’” In closing, Smith stated, “With both the FBI and CIA in the shadows of suspicion and clouds of disgrace, one would think it would behoove them to act quickly and openly and make the Kilgallen dossiers available to her outraged son. But the cover-up continues.” No evidence has revealed that either Lee Israel or Kerry Kollmar was successful in the attempts to retrieve government files about Kilgallen.

The CIA focus on Kilgallen causes suspicion it may have had something to do with her death. Recall that she had crossed paths with the agency as early as 1951 when she alleged Radio Free Europe was not “free.” Kilgallen suspected subversive groups influenced it and the column triggered the agency’s interest in her. A subsequent dossier documented Kilgallen’s less than cooperative attitude when agents in search of a source for her column entry contacted the protective journalist. Criticisms of Kilgallen prevail throughout the report including, “[She] procrastinated until we lost all patience with her.” Regarding the agent who hounded her for information, the report stated, “He [did] everything in his power to get Miss Kilgallen to change her mind [about revealing her source] [but] he despaired of any interest.”

Despite the CIA’s harsh words, Kilgallen’s confrontation with it happened 14 years before her death.

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