Final_Judgment

[226] Final Judgment 287
assassination—pointing the finger, like Angleton, in the direction of the
communists.")
THE MURDERED MISTRESS
Angleton's interest in the affairs of John F. Kennedy were evidently
broad-ranging. For example, The Washington Post reported on February 23,
1976 that after Washington socialite Mary Pinchot Meyer was shot to death
(in what was said to be a robbery) on October 12, 1964, it was Angleton
who obtained Mrs. Meyer's diary and destroyed it at CIA headquarters.
Mrs. Meyer, in fact, had been a longtime lover of President Kennedy's—
one of many, apparently, and her diary contained much information about
her relationship with the president. It was her sister, Toni Bradlee, wife of
Post editor Ben Bradlee (himself a reported former CIA asset) who provided
Angleton Mrs. Meyer's diary for his disposal. 605
What the diary contained is anyone's guess, but it does suggest that
Angleton was very much involved in intrigue involving the late president.
There have been those who have speculated that the diary may have
contained secrets about the CIA-Organized Crime plots to assassinate Castro
that JFK may have told Mrs. Meyer about. However, of course, it is just as
easy to speculate that perhaps the diary also contained Mrs. Meyer's written
memories of President Kennedy's musings about his most unpleasant
relationship with the state of Israel.
Angleton's own relationship with Hunt is also quite mysterious to say
the least. If indeed Angleton did sign off on a 1966 memo pinpointing
Hunt as having been in Dallas, the CIA's shadowy counterintelligence chief
seemed to have forgotten by 1972 at the time of the Watergate break-in.
WHAT DID HE KNOW AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT?
According to investigative reporter Jim Hougan, Angleton, on June 19,
1972 denied ever having seen Hunt, following revelations that Hunt had
been involved in the Watergate burglary. Hougan quotes Angleton as having
said, "I'd never seen [Hunt] before in my life." 606
This suggests that Angleton was proclaiming ignorance of Hunt's
existence, although this, of course, is highly unlikely, especially since we
now know of the existence of the memo from Angleton which was
evidently drafted in 1966—six years before the Watergate affair.
Or, logically, we could also suggest that the memorandum itself was
not, in fact, drafted in 1966 as we have been told. It could, instead, have
been drafted at a much later time and then given the earlier date.
What's more, of course, Angleton was knee-deep in the Bay of Pigs
invasion planning and it is inconceivable that he would not be aware of the
existence of Hunt, the chief political liaison to the anti-Castro Cuban exiles
involved in that operation.
Whichever the case, it strongly suggests that there was a lot more to
the Angleton-Hunt relationship than meets the eye.