Alex Constantine - February 23, 2011
By Alex Constantine
KCRW-FM's Warren Olney - a heavy-handed, IMhO, veteran state propagandist whose hoax talk show airs on NPR-affiliate KCRW in Los Angeles on weekdays - is actually Warren Olney IV.
His great-grandfather, Warren Olney I, fought on the Confederate side of the Civil War, went on to graduate from the University of Michigan and become the Mayor of Oakland, California in 1903.
Wikipedia on the first Warren Olney, the family tree and connection to the official "investigation" of John Kennedy's murder in 1963:
" ... Olney's son and grandson, who shared his name, were also lawyers. His son, Warren Olney II, served on the Supreme Court of California from 1919 to 1921. His grandson, Warren Olney III was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as an Assistant Attorney General to oversee the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. Although Warren Olney III was Chief Justice Earl Warren's choice to be chief counsel for the Warren Commission, J. Lee Rankin was chosen instead.
"His great-grandson, Warren Olney IV is noted radio journalist."
(REFERENCE: Gerald McKnight, Breach of Trust, pp. 41–55; Donald Gibson, The Kennedy Assassination Cover-Up (2000), pp. 91–96.)
Warren Olney IV is a graduate of Amherst. He has also developed and taught laboratory courses at the University of Southern California. Olney went on to work as a reporter for the Los Angeles flagship stations of CBS, NBC and ABC, his Wiki entry notes, "as well as engaging in many other print and broadcast journalist duties. He is the only two-time winner of the Los Angeles Society of Professional Journalists' Distinguished Journalist award. ... He received it in 1985 for his work with KABC-TV and in 1998 for his work with KCRW."
Warren Olney III was Earl Warren's first choice for chief counsel of the Warren Commission - and his name was floated at the very first meeting of the panel charged with "investigaing" the murder of John Kennedy. The CIA's John J. McCloy attended the meeting. Hale Boggs turns up in the minutes for the second meeting. Boggs was the father COKIE ROPERTS - ANOTHER NPR CONNECTION. According to the Mary Ferrell Foundation website:
Walkthrough: Warren Commission Executive Sessions
The first meeting of the Commission included Assistant Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach. After an opening statement by Earl Warren, discussion included the Texas Board on Inquiry's parallel investigation, the FBI's essentially completed report, the Ruby trial, the need for the Commission to have subpoena power, and staffing. Chief Justice Warren proposed Warren Olney for Chief Counsel; this was met with resistance and a subcommittee was formed to make a recommendation. Katzenbach recommended that the Commission make a statement endorsing the FBI report to "dispel rumors;" the Commission never did so and in fact omitted the FBI report from its 26 volumes of hearings and exhibits. The political need that the Commission was to fulfill was perhaps stated mostly bluntly by Commissioner McCloy, who said that "This Commission is set up to lay the dust, dust not only in the United States but all over the world.
6 Dec 1963 - The following day, J. Lee Rankin was tentatively selected over Warren Olney as Chief Counsel. There was also discussion of a letter from the Texas Attorney General regarding the Texas Board of Inquiry, as well as a proposed reply asking Texas officials to stop their investigation ("a public inquiry in Texas might be more harmful than helpful..."). Hale Boggs brought up the leaking of the FBI report ot the press and described it as the "most outrageous leak I have ever seen." At the end of this session, press members were admitted and allowed to ask a few questions. ...
http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Walkthrough_-_Warren_Commission_Executive_Sessions
Postscript: Also interesting is Warren Olney III''s correspondence, as assistant attorney general of California under Earl Warren, with Martin Luther King, Jr. In one letter, Olney actually claims that the racist violence of the infamous White Citizens' Council in Montgomery, Alabama - including bombings - was perfectly legal under federal law:
Reverend M. L. King, Jr., President
The Montgomery Improvement Association
530 South Union Street
Montgomery, Alabama
Dear Reverend King:
This acknowledges your letter of August 27,1956 with respect to alleged threats and violence directed against Negro citizens of Montgomery, including the bombings of certain homes on January 30, February I , and August 24 of this year. Your letter also states that thousands of Negroes of the State of Alabama are being deprived of the right to vote because of their race.
The information concerning the alleged violence, the activities of the White Citizens Council and the local officers, does not appear to indicate violations of federal criminal statutes. We are concerned however, with the statement concerning the alleged denial of the right to vote on the ground of race or color. If you know of specific instances of this, and will furnish us with full information concerning the same, you may be assured that it will receive prompt and careful consideration.
Sincerely,
WARREN OLNEY I11
Assistant Attorney General
Criminal Division
Legal "reasoning" of this sort explains why Olney III was nearly chosen to advise the equally oily bureaucrats of the Warren Commission.
I think Mr. Constantine is mistaken when he says “In one letter, Olney actually claims that the racist violence of the infamous White Citizens’ Council in Montgomery, Alabama – including bombings – was perfectly legal under federal law…”. It appears to me that what Olney III was saying was that, in 1957, that certain crimes (which may now come under federal law) did not fall under federal law so that the federal government would not have jurisdiction. Olney III goes on to express his concern over an area that did have federal jurisdiction, denial of voting rights, and asks King for further details.
So Larry Stein leaves NPR and goes to our new low power FM Station in port townsend. All programming is vetted by larry before broadcast; as in OK’ed by the idiot. So there is absolutely no great rock or rap on the Olympic Peninsula; the other low power station is run by a former cop; sucks, man. Nazis everywhere here too. You know the new yuppie nazis with children forcing their interpretation of reality on everyone else, and they are really nasty dumb small minded little piggies too.
The thing I find interesting about Warren Olney IV is that he broke the story of the Santa Susana/Rocketdyne meltdowns in the 70’s, and then never covered them again despite the lawsuits and the publicity from other sources on this very toxic land. I do have to wonder why he stopped reporting on it.
Good thing you can legally libel a dead person.
I’m not sure the point you are making. Sure, Olney was proposed as the head of the commission. But it’s pretty clear that certain individuals who were neck deep in this whole mess were totally opposed to him assuming this role. Most notably FBI #3 Alan Belmont (who was running the investigation in Dallas), Attorney General Nick Katzenbach and eminence grise, John McCloy.