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The Republican Senator from Pennsylvania visited Cuba in early June. The two day trip was highlighted by a six hour meeting with President Fidel Castro. Their discussions included public health and drug interdiction, the status of four jailed Cuban dissidents, and the Warren Commission's investigation into the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Specter served on the Commission staff.
"It's important that people like me in the U.S. Senate know what is going on in Cuba," Specter said. Visits to Cuba by Republican Senators have been rare, because of the GOP's staunch support of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.
I believe I have become one of just a handful of U.S. journalists to view a brand new video called A Revisionist History: The Murder of JFK.
The video was produced by Matt White, under the auspices of MPI Home Video, the same firm which marketed the Z-Film enhancements last year, as Image of an Assassination.
More than any other widely circulated film, Revisionist History presents a comprehensive Cold War context for the events in Dallas, with special focus on Cuba and Vietnam. It actually dwells only briefly on Nov. 22, instead spending much of its two-hours-plus on the machinations of southern right wingers, intelligence operatives, politicians and the military. Excellent interviews were conducted with Arthur Schlesinger, Gaeton Fonzi and Sam Halpern. The documentary wisely focuses on the questionable activities of notorious CIA agent William Harvey, and details the strange story of would-be Castro assassin Roland Cubela aka AMLASH.
White's no-holds-barred documentary also features rare footage of Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry's "warning" against Nov. 22 "incidents" broadcast in Big D prior to the president's visit. Rumors of violence ran so rampant in Dallas before Nov. 22, that Channel 4 newscaster Bob Huffaker, reporting early during the Dallas motorcade, actually noted how responsive the crowd was to Kennedy in contrast to "the rumors --- growing stronger --- that someone will attempt to take his life {here}." Huffaker's telling commentary does not appear in Revisionist History, but was featured in JFK: The Dallas Tapes, a half-hour documentary written and produced by Richard Ray, and broadcast the night of Nov. 21, 1998 in Dallas over FOX 4.
After writing a lengthy article for the Syracuse New Times reviewing Image of an Assassination last November, I remained in touch with the MPI publicity department, which kindly made Matt White's Revisionist History available to me in May 1999.
White recently indicated the film may air in the United States this November, although nothing has been finalized at this stage.
According to MPI public relations director Nancy Olinger Boden, the video has been placed with broadcast outlets in Europe and Canada. MPI would like to have the doc aired before putting it on the market in video stores.
That is the story at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, which houses thousands of photographs, Kennedy's presidential papers and Ernest Hemingway's letters and manuscripts.
Officials say the leaks are not threatening the collections. But some are bad enough that during a hard rain buckets have to be placed in strategic spots, preferably out of public sight.
``Most of them are fairly minor,'' said Brad Gerratt, the library's director. ``But when you see water coming into the building, you want to take some action.'' So does the National Archives and Records Administration, which includes the Kennedy and nine other presidential libraries. The agency predicts it will cost $6 million to $7 million to fix the leaks.
``We need to take remedial action by the year 2002, in any case,'' said the archives' spokesman, Gerald George. The archives may request the first part of the money from Congress for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, 2000.
Gerratt is not worried about what may happen in the meantime because engineers who studied the leaks last summer found no imminent threat of drastic deterioration. Some leaks temporarily were patched during that evaluation.
``I'm comfortable with their recommendation that we have a couple of years left,'' Gerratt said.
The collection includes several hundred thousand photographs that were part of the official White House collection, gifts Kennedy received as president and gifts that were sent to his widow, Jacqueline, after Kennedy was assassinated Nov. 22, 1963.
Harold Russell Allen, 28, has been sent to Vernon State Hospital, where he is being treated with mood-stabilizing medication to treat his bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive disorder.
A psychiatrist who interviewed Mr. Allen in jail expects him to regain competence in 60 to 90 days. Dr. Michael Ray Pittman also said he believed the Rowlett man defaced the memorial during a manic episode brought on by his illness, according to court records filed Wednesday.
All defendants accused of felony crimes and declared incompetent are sent to Vernon State Hospital. The hospital notifies the court if it determines a defendant has regained competency, said Magistrate Corinne Mason, who handles many of Dallas County's mental health hearings.
If either side objects, another hearing will be held to determine the defendant's competence, she said.
Prosecutor Keith Robinson said the felony graffiti charge for which Mr. Allen has been indicted still awaits him "after he has regained his competency and is released to the custody" of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department.
Wayne Lacy, Mr. Allen's attorney, said that it's too early to say whether he would seek an insanity defense and that he'll discuss Mr. Allen's options with him after he's released from the hospital.
"That's the whole purpose of the competency hearing. He wasn't in a position where he could even discuss the case with me," Mr. Lacy said.
The attorney said initial speculation that the graffiti - which included intertwining lines, a swastika and a happy face - was motivated by hate was simply untrue.
"It's a sad situation concerning his mental health," Mr. Lacy said. "This was an isolated incident. He's a college graduate and a person who has worked real hard to make something of himself.
"All of this has come on in a situation that's strictly out of his control. I don't think they really know what causes bipolar disease."
Mr. Lacy said his client had never been in trouble with the law and would be a productive citizen with proper medical treatment.
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