Mary's Mosaic by Peter Janney

[findit]

If you enjoy reading books on JFK then this one should be added to your collection. "Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to murder John F. Kennedy, Mary Pinchot Meyer, and their vision for World Peace."

The author, Peter Janney, grew up knowing the Pinchot-Meyer family and had personal insight about the CIA, and knew many of Washington D.C.'s elite social families which makes for interesting reading. The author's father was Wistar Janney, who worked for the CIA and it wasn't until the author was researching details about the death of Mary Pinchot Meyer that he eventually discovered a role that his own father had to play in the murder.

I knew very little of Mary Pinchot Meyer, only that she was a paramour of JFK. After reading this book I discovered she was way more than that. It is recognized by many in her inner circle that she may have had a profound influence on JFK and his policies and it was also said that if he had lived, JFK discussed divorcing Jackie and would eventually get married to Mary. Mary was murdered less then a year after JFK.

This book does a splendid job describing Mary's biography, her friendship's and her marriage to Cord Meyer, another CIA insider. The book discusses their eventual divorce, her romance with JFK and a detailed diary that most likely got her killed.

The book goes into detail regarding Mary's murder and Ben Bradlee (who was married to Mary's sister at the time, and worked at the Washington Post) and James Jesus Angleton's role into the murder and stealing the diary. (He was a notorious CIA figure) The book also deals with the framed patsy, Ray Crump Jr., and his trial and eventual aquittal with the help of the brilliant defense attorney, Dovee Roundtree.

I was also surprised to see a section written regarding Robert Crowley, another CIA insider. There is a thread in the forum regarding the book, "Conversations with the Crow." The book deals with conversations between a reporter, Gregory Douglas, (aka Peter Stahl and/or Walter Storch) and Robert Crow. The author, Peter Janney, wrote the forward to his book.

I think the book does an excellent job showing the destruction the people who worked for the CIA wrought on innocent civilians as well as their own families. There is a great one-on-one conversation with the daughter of CIA man, Joe Shimon. Toni Shimon details many of the mysterious conversations she had growing up with her father and his eventual revelations to her about killing people for the CIA.

This book comes from a different angle regarding JFK and the CIA. It was hard to put this book down and if you don't know who Mary Pinchot Meyer was, well, you will be seeing JFK and his presidency in a whole new light. This book is well-researched with a lot of notes, bibliography, and an appendix of documents. I highly recommend it. It is quite the page turner to say the least.

 

[loreta]

I just read this book last year and was surprised how good it is. It is well written, and also it is written like a John Lecarre novel. Intrigue, mystery, and specially a mirror of these convulsive years during the Vietnam War. Also gives another perspective of JFK, an intimate one. Excellent.

This book was recommended by Richard Dolan in a program about the assassination of JFK.

 

[Michael B-C]

Excellent overview findit of an excellent book which I read a few years back now and also highly recommend. Its one of the missing links in the case and shows in detail how James Jesus Angleton desperately worked to engineer the cover up of her murder (by an agency hit man) and to get back her diaries at all cost - which it seems he did in the end by himself acting as burglar (they were clearly that important and that sensitive).

It also reveals a complex moral web with of course the issue of JFK's infidelity at its very heart - but it does appear as if they were a true love match and that they were inextricably bound to each other. The issue of a very messy and public divorce would very likely have sent a major cloud over his second term - it was that serious. But it never happened for either of them. The killing of both says a lot, for yes, it does seem she was hugely influential on his shift in tone and policy in the latter years of his presidency. And yes she was not going to stop from day one of his killing to go public with her belief and knowledge of the conspiracy that led to his death. Mary Pinchot Meyer comes across as a very deep and remarkable person who flowered in later life into someone of considerable significance before she was cut down in her prime (with a young Afro American framed for her killing - the trial of whom and the story of the remarkable black American female lawyer who managed to get him off, a fantastic yarn in itself).

I also found the picture it draws of the change in Cord Meyer from a kind hearted idealist to cold hearted and callous cynic fascinating - behind every cynic lies a failed romantic/idealist - painting a very revealing story of how post war a deeply malignant infection spread its way through the intelligence services.

All in all, a tip-top read.

 

[loreta]

Fantastic reviews @findit and @Michael B-C !

 

[Michael B-C]

A detailed talk below given by Peter Janney post the book's publication.

 

[loreta]

A detailed talk below given by Peter Janney post the book's publication.

Thank you Michael! What a good trouvaille!

 

[Jtucker]

Thank you Michael! What a good trouvaille!

I've been reading this book for the past few weeks and even though the content is really detailed and fascinating, the way the author writes and brings out his own personal stories as well as Mary's life is spectacular. I feel like I'm there and can see the transition from the "Federalist" ideals in guys like Cord Meyer to the nasty CIA that emerges out of "necessity" (in their minds at least).

Mary Pinchot is so fascinating as an archetype of that time in the "Ivy" league world of American obsession with world domination (unwittingly) and how she's a casualty of the Security State gone wrong (or full Nazi) as much as JFK is - in a way even more - because she didn't strive for power. She really does seem like a person who strove to reduce pain and suffering on global level - even if it was behind the scenes and only an influence (albeit a strong one on one man).

The LSD angle is also really fascinating. An "accidental" chemical creation for the treatment of alcoholism that splits into a world of expanded awareness in the right hands - and a terrifying psychotic activator in the wrong hands. What I think is most important aspect of this book is that it shows the halls of power/The PTB in a real human sense. It's not that many people behind the CIA and the Security State at that time. But get just one master psycho like Dulles in place and the army of evil forms. Not because of any committment on the original CIA agent level - but because they are disillusioned and feel they have no choice.

Reading about JFK/RFK/MLK over the years, I sometimes and look back and wonder why such violent and risky assassinations had to take place when it's so easy today to "neutralize" opponents without that. But I think the issue is that the Kennedy/Kruschev back channel was supported by a lot of people behind the scenes. That could have lead to all the plans for the new Reich/Atlantis - whatever you want to call it - to go completely wrong. The whole 4D STS time loop and "back in time" killings make much more sense when you read this book. It's not that Mary/JFK or anyone else were these perfect moral characters - it's that they saw where it could go globally. In their minds Full Spectrum Domination was a legitimate outcome - and that potential triggered a moral response in them. But I don't think they fully understood how developed their adversaries already were.

It really makes you think that a timeline shift of momentous proportions happened in the 60's in the USA. Amazing book!