Final_Judgment

466 ”Deep Throat” [369]
Vesco's ultimate fate remains to be seen, but there is no question that
his allegations that the forces behind Watergate had also been behind the
JFK assassination conspiracy have great relevance and credibility,
particularly since we do know for a fact that as the Watergate scandal began
to unfold, the subject of the Kennedy assassination seemed to preoccupy
Richard Nixon.
NIXON AND THE JFK ASSASSINATION
JFK assassination researchers who have been looking for the muchdiscussed
"Dallas-Watergate Connection" often cite the memoirs of
Nixon's former White House Chief of Staff, H. R. Haldeman, in which
Haldeman described how Nixon sought to have the CIA intervene to
prevent the burgeoning Watergate scandal from going any further. Nixon
told Haldeman how he (Haldeman) should approach then-CIA director
Richard Helms and convince Helms to cooperate.
Nixon advised Haldeman to remind Helms how ex-CIA man E.
Howard Hunt was one of the Watergate burglars. "Hunt ... will uncover a
lot of things," said Nixon. "You open that scab there's a hell of a lot of
things . . . . tell them we just feel that it would be very detrimental to have
this thing go any further. This involves these Cubans, Hunt, and a lot of
hanky-panky that we have nothing to do with ourselves." 950
Haldeman said that, at the time, he had no idea what "hanky-panky"
Nixon was talking about. But Nixon continued: "When you get the CIA
people in say, 'Look the problem is that this will open up the whole Bay of
Pigs thing again. So they should call the FBI in and for the good of the
country don't go any further into this case. Period." 951
Later, in a subsequent meeting, Nixon again elaborated on this cryptic
theme saying: "Tell them that if it gets out, it's going to make the CIA look
bad, it's going to make Hunt look bad, and it's likely to blow the whole
Bay of Pigs which we think would be very unfortunate for the CIA." 952
In fact, Haldeman did go to Helms and passed on this message. The
reaction of the CIA director astounded Haldeman who described it in his
memoirs: "Turmoil in the room, Helms gripping the arms of his chair
leaning forward and shouting, 'The Bay of Pigs had nothing to do with this.
I have no concern about the Bay of Pigs.'" According to Haldeman: "I just
sat there. I was absolutely shocked by Helms' violent reaction. Again I
wondered, what was such dynamite in the Bay of Pigs story?" 953
(Haldeman' s emphasis).
What is interesting is that Haldeman said that later, after he began
putting things together, that he determined that "it seems that in all of those
Nixon references to the Bay of Pigs, he was actually referring to the
Kennedy assassination." 954
(Shortly before his death, and years after the memoirs were published,
Haldeman claimed that the co-author of his memoirs, Joe DiMona, inserted