MovieChat Forums > J. Edgar (2011) Discussion > Meaning of JFK assassination calls

Meaning of JFK assassination calls


The call from an agent that JFK was shot, who responded when asked by Hoover if
anyone knew about it, was, "No, only you." This is absurd. The news of
Kennedy's being shot was flashed around the world instantly,
faster than any agent could have connected a call.

Since this depiction was not even possible and his call to Robert Kennedy made no sense, why was it even included? My conclusion is that it was to subliminally build on another film that affected the public's perception of this historic event, Oliver Stone's "JFK." J.Edgar the film was implying that what the public did not know wasn't the fact of the shooting; it was that the assassination was a conspiracy by those in high places. Hoover's call to John's brother was not to inform his of the shooting, but to announce that his power had no limits, including ending the life of the elected President of the United States.

Any thoughts on this speculation?

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[deleted]

The news of JFK's assassination was NOT flashed around the world. That he had been shot went out over the radio. (NO TV coverage obviously, that's why the Zapruder film was so crucial in any investigation.) The protocol as to who should be notified, when hadn't been set up, the lineage to the Presidency had not been delineated either.

ANYWAY, Hoover was called because he was the head of the nation's police force. This fact came out later. And he was the one to let Bobby know. Hoover hated the Kennedys. He loved making that call, or so I've read.

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What I found difficult to believe was that, after being told that the president had been shot, Hoover didn't bother to ask any questions. Questions like, "Is he dead?", or "Who shot him?"

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What I found difficult to believe was that, after being told that the president had been shot, Hoover didn't bother to ask any questions. Questions like, "Is he dead?", or "Who shot him?"


Agent: "Chief, Kennedy's been shot. In the motorcade in Dallas. No suspect and we don't know how serious."
Hoover: "Is he dead?"
Agent: "We don't know. He's being rushed to Parkland Hospital."
Hoover: "Who shot him?"
Agent: "We don't know yet. We're searching."
Hoover: "Okay but....is he dead?"
Agent: "Chief I umm, we don't know his condition."
Hoover: "Who shot him?"
Agent: "Chief I told you, we don't have a suspect yet."
Hoover: "Suspect in what?"
Agent: "The Kennedy shooting."
Hoover: "Kennedy's been shot?"
Agent: "Yeah a few minutes ago. In Dallas. In a motorcade. En route from..."
Hoover: "Is he dead?"
Agent: "Is who dead?"
Hoover: "Kennedy. That's who you say got shot, right?"
Agent: "Umm yeah he's..Chief they're calling me. I gotta go. Can I call you back?"
Hoover: "Call me back?"
Agent: [click]
Hoover: "Punk!"


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:))

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I guess there's something wrong with me 'cause to me it seemed perfectly normal for Hoover to let JFK's brother know of the shooting, in spite of the fact that it was public knowledge almost immediately. In the same spot that's what I would have done.

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The line "does anyone else know?" should not be taken so literally, of course Eastwood is not trying to convey that no one knew about Kennedy being shot before Hoover, there were dozens upon dozens of witnesses. The question refers to those of importance in Washington, chiefly the Kennedy administration.

A Kubrick, Scorsese, Coppola, fan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cruV3c6KyY

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As revealed in one of the last scenes between Hoover and Tolson before Hoover's death, Tolson confronted Hoover for exaggerating and embellishing events, as well as inserting himself in them.

This could very well have been an unreliable tale by Hoover.

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his call to Robert Kennedy made no sense


Robert Kennedy himself says he learned of his brother's fate in a call from Hoover. Kennedy said Hoover was "gleeful" when telling him his brother had been shot.

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A few messages (pages of messages) back someone alluded to news not spreading as fast in '63 as it does now. I think it's great there are people who are thinking and analyzing like that and trying to understand this in the context of a different time - a time when it occurred. This person stated that "most people didn't have a TV or radio on during the day..." or something to that effect. The fact is, a lot of people did. I remember when it happened. I was sitting in the living room with my mom (very few moms worked outside the home in '63) and my brother watching a daytime re-run of "Love That Bob" and they broke in with the news. My father was working and always had his radio on all day at work and he heard it on the radio just minutes after it happened. He often tells the story of how he ran up into the office and picked up the phone to call home and there was no dial-tone. This was because all the phone circuits were already overloaded so yes, the news spread very fast, even in '63.

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Iirc, AG Robert Kennedy was not in his office when he received the call from Director Hoover. RFK was at home.

Hoover enjoyed close ties and special favours from Big Oil moghul Clinto Murchison. Murchison also owned the Hotel Del Charro and interest in the Del Mar racetrack which J Edgar and Clyde Tolson are portrayed as visiting in the movie. Hoover was into the ponies. Perhaps some of Edgar and Clyde's lovemaking was secretly recorded or photographed during a visit?

Whatever the case the best archive of info pertaining to the coup of 1963 is available on the Spartacus.edu site under the JFK assassination debate forum. Up until the past 2 years the forum was closed to all but scholars.

Start here:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showforum=126

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=17243

Excerpt:

Ed Crowley, a fellow Texan and friend of Murchison and Richardson, who ran the Town House hotel in Los Angeles and was on the board of the Del Mar Turf Club, described Hoover’s special accommodations to author Ovid Demaris in 1972. “We built four bungalows there in the back of the hotel. Mr. Richardson had one, the Murchisons had one, Mr. Hoover had one, and we moved from the Casa Mañana to our little hotel.


“The Texans would come out in the summer and we’d gather around the pool for breakfast and talk over old times and the races and then we’d go to Del Mar. Mr. Hoover and Clyde Tolson would go a couple of times a week and sit up there in their own little booth. And this went on summer after summer after summer.”


Van Buren, Murchison’s secretary, remembers things a bit differently in a 1986 biography, at least as to the number of bungalows: “To the existing hotel facilities, Clint added eight two-bedroom cottages scattered beyond the pool area, each a miniature home with its own intimate garden of luscious and colorful begonias and geraniums.


“One morning during the first summer of their stay at Hotel del Charro, Clint asked J. Edgar if he was enjoying the cottage. ‘It’s fine…but when I was in Florida I could pick fruit for my breakfast right from the trees at my door.’ Clint made no comment and nothing further was said, but the next morning when Hoover stepped into the private patio of his cottage he discovered two orange trees, two peach trees, two plum trees, and a grape arbor. Clint’s wonderful sense of humor was given full reign in expressing his regard for a friend.”


Hoover hosted guests of his own at the resort, according to an account of George Allen, a Washington insider, as told to Ovid Demaris. “I was at La Jolla with Hoover one day when Howard Hughes came to the Del Charro and tried to hire him…. I talked to him right after his meeting with Hughes, and he told me everything they talked about. Hughes wanted him [Hoover] to represent him in Washington. To be his contact man, lobbyist, so to speak…He said, ‘You name the price and I’ll pay you anything you like, give you a lifetime contract — any amount of money.’


“Hoover said, ‘I appreciate your offer, but I’m not interested in any job.’ But the thing that tickled Hoover was that when Hughes first came in, he looked all around and said, ‘Is this place bugged?’ And Hoover said, ‘Oh, no, there’s no bugs.’”





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Oh get off it, everyone knows Allen Dulles killed Kennedy

"Few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop."

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