The Missing Code Books

The Missing Code Books 

I first learned of the code books being missing from from Strategic Air Command (SAC) bombers at the time of the assassination from John Judge, my University of Dayton  (UD), Ohio college mate. He gave Conscientious Objector consultations to military men stationed at Wright-Patterson AFB who objected to the war in Vietnam. 

Wright-Pat has millions of dollars in engineering contracts with UD and the two largest institutions in Dayton are joined at the hip.

While at this social event, Judge said he met some B-52 bomber pilots, who told them about their experiences on 11/22/63 when John asked. 

They - there was more than one, but he talked mostly with one pilot, who said that he was in the air at the time, his leg of the routine 24-7 shift that kept bombers in the air at all times, ala Dr. Strangelove.

When they learned about the assassination - from commercial radio news, the pilot said he went to the plane's safe, much like Slim Pickens does in Dr. Strangelove, to get the code books to decode any messages or orders they would get. 

But the code book was missing! 

And they didn't get any special orders and returned to base on their regular schedule, where he learned other pilots had discovered the same thing. The code books were missing from the safes of all SAC bombers in the air at the time of the assassination. 

Well I didn't think much of it until a few years later when I read Pierre Salinger's book about his time in the White House as President Kennedy's Press Secretary. In it, he recalled being with the rest of the key cabinet members on an Executive plane flying to Japan for a conference on Vietnam when they learned about the assassination - from commercial radio news. 

When the senior officer on board, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, learned of the news of the assassination, he had Salinger, code name WAYSIDE, make a radio call to the White House - designated CROWN, informing them they were flying to Dallas. Salinger returned and reported that they were to return to Andrews AFB in Washington rather than go to Dallas. Rusk then asked who at the White House gave them those instructions, Salinger returned to the radio and talked with STRANGER in the Situation Room in the White House basement. 

Rusk wanted to know who STRANGER was, and had the safe opened, but the code book was missing! 

Now this is the second time I have heard about missing code books on USAF planes at the time of the assassination, and began to take interest and look into it more closely, as did Philadelphia lawyer Vince Salandria, who discovered that Salinger, in his book, quotes directly from the Air Force One radio transcripts, things that aren't on the existing tape, as released by the LBJ Library in Texas. 

The radio in CROWN the Situation Room was answered by US Navy officer Oliver Hallett, who gave Salinger all the information he had on the President. 

When Oliver Hallett learned from commercial radio news-wire service tickers, like Salinger and Rusk, of the name and background of the accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, he must have been quite surprised to actually know Oswald from their time in Moscow. When Oswald was in the embassy turning over his passport and announcing his defection, Hallett was the Naval attache and in the room, as was his wife, the secretary. Now that to me seems pretty coincidental that the Navy attache in the Situation Room at the White House at the time of the assassination had personal knowledge of the accused assassin.   

And Salandria noticed Salanger, like two other journalists who had read the transcript in the White House (T. White, wm. Manchester), used quotes from the AF1 radio tape transcript that aren't on the existing tape. 

So Salandria wrote to Salinger, asking him about the quotes, and Salinger replied that he obtained a transcript from the JFK Library in Boston and returned it to them after he finished the book. Salandria contacted the JFK Library and they replied that they no longer had the transcript. It too was missing. 

In his account Salinger recalled Dean Rusk as saying, "We have to know who STRANGER is. We don't know what is happening in Dallas. Who the government is now." 

When news of Oswald's arrest came across the news wire, and his background described, Rusk said, "If this is true, this is going to have repercussions around the world for years to come." 

And indeed we are still having repercussions. 

After I transcribed the existing AF1 Radio cassette tapes released by the LBJ Library in the mid-70s, I was surprised to learn years later that a newer, longer reel to reel tape, actually two of them, were found among the effects of General Clifton, the President' military aide. One copy of the tape was auctioned off while the other was released on line by the National Archives (NARA), that I copied and made a transcript of, taking particular note of new conversations that aren't on the LBJ Library cassettes. 

One of the conversations concerns Col. Dorman trying to get an important message to his boss Air Force Chief of Staff General LeMay, who was flying aboard an AF Executive jet from Canada to Washington. 

Another conversation is from WAYSIDE - Salinger, to CROWN - the Situation Room, requesting that they break secure radio communications and identify the name of STRANGER, because the code book aboard the Cabinet plane was missing. 

After a few minutes, CROWN - Oliver Hallett, reports that STRANGER is Major Harold Patterson, a person Salinger knew personally from working with him at the White House, and reported that to Rusk. 

When I first heard the name Major Harold Patterson, I immediately did an internet search, as I had previously done with LeMay's aide Col. Dorman, and found Patterson living in Virginia. I got a phone number for him, and called him on the phone, and he answered and acknowledged he was the Harold Patterson who was STRANGER and assigned to the Situation Room at the time of the assassination,. 

I told him I was listening to him on the Clifton AF1 tape, and heard his conversation with Pierre Salinger, that he distinctly recalled. Patterson confirmed that the code book on the Cabinet plane was missing and they had to break security protocol to identify themselves. 

We talked for about a half hour, and he was very congenial and recalled what it was like to work in the Situation Room at such a time. 

I passed on Patterson's information and phone number to Jefferson Morley, who called a few days after I did, but Patterson clamed up, somebody had gotten to him and told him not to talk. 

In any case, I believe that the missing code books aboard SAC bombers and the Executive fleet was not an accident, but intentional.

It is now clear that the nuclear war chain of command was disrupted at the time of the assassination. 

When JFK was killed and LBJ became president, LBJ was separated from the Bag Man with the "football," and its nuclear codes. And he didn't seem to care. 

Aboard AF1 LBJ wondered aloud if "the missiles were flying." 

In addition, for a short time the powers of the government were not passed by the normal Continuity of Government succession - President, VP, Speaker of the House, but the nuclear command chain - President-Sec. of Defense- MacNamara, -  Asst. Sec. of Defrnse Roswell Gilpatrick. 

I will continue with this line of inquiry and explain why there was an intentional short circuit in the military command at the time of the assassination. 

Billkelly3@gmail.com