JFK Page #48

At Arlington Cemetery on the same day, Jim visits the grave

of President Kennedy. We see the eternal flame. Jim thinks

about what he should do now. The size of it stuns him. He

is lost, reeling back to the past in his mind.

DISSOLVE TO DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE of Dachau concentration camp:

thousands of bodies are piled and bulldozed... And then back

to Jim at Arlington Cemetery reliving it... only the enormity

of past evil can prepare him to confront present evil. In a

strange way, it reassures him.

X:

...don't underestimate the budget

cuts Kennedy called for in March of

'63 either - close to 52 military

installations in 25 states, 21

overseas bases, you're talking big

money. You know how many helicopters

have been lost in Vietnam? About

three thousand so far. Who makes

them? Bell Helicopter. Who owns

Bell? Bell was near bankruptcy when

the First National Bank of Boston

approached the CIA about developing

the helicopter for Indochina usage.

How 'bout the f-111 fighters? General

Dynamics in Fort Worth. Who owns

that? Find out the defense budget

since the war began. $75 going on a

hundred billion ... $200 billion'll

be spent before it ends. In 1950 it

was $13 billion. No war, no money.

Sometimes I think the organizing

principle of any society is for war.

The authority of the state over it's

people resides in it's war powers.

Even Eisenhower - military hero of

WWII - warned us about it: "beware

the military - industrial complex",

he said. Kennedy wanted to end the

Cold War in his second term. He

wanted to call of the moon race in

favor of cooperation with the Soviets.

He signed a treaty with the Soviets

to ban nuclear testing, he refused

to invade Cuba in '62, and he set

out to withdraw from Vietnam. But

that all ended on November 22, 1963.

FLASHBACK TO the White House, 1963. Lyndon Johnson is with

Henry Cabot Lodge. We see them as shadowy figures from a

distance across the wide room, or near a veranda with a porch

and plenty of light. Johnson, his back to us, talks in a

loud, thick Texas drawl (mostly muted) and signs a document.

X:

Only four days after J.F.K. was shot,

Lyndon Johnson signed National

Security Memo 273, which essentially

reversed Kennedy's new withdrawal

policy and gave the green light to

the covert operations against North

Vietnam that provoked the Gulf of

Tonkin incident. In that document

lay the Vietnam War.

In the park with X, Jim is staggered by all this information.

X ceases walking and looks at Jim.

JIM:

I don't... I can't believe it. They

killed him because he wanted to change

things. In our time - in our country?

X:

(shrugging)

Kings are killed, Mr. Garrison.

Politics is power, nothing more.

But don't believe me. Don't trust

me. Do your own work, your own

thinking.

JIM:

The size of this is... beyond me.

Testify?

X:

No chance in hell, Mr. Garrison.

I'd be arrested and gagged, declared

insane and hospitalized... maybe

worse. You, too. I can only give

you background, you got to find the

foreground, the little things...

Keep digging. Y'know you're the

only person to ever bring a trial in

the murder of John Kennedy. That's

important - it's historic.

JIM:

I haven't yet. I don't have much of

a case.

X:

(rising to leave)

But you don't have a choice anymore.

You've become a significant threat

to the national security structure.

They would've killed you already,

but you got a lot of light on you.

Instead, they're gonna destroy your

credibility; they already have in

many circles in this town. You're

some kinda ego-crazed southern

caricature to many folks. Be honest -

the best chance you got is come up

with a case, something, anything,

make arrests, stir the shitstorm.

You gotta hope to reach a point of

critical mass where other people

will come forward and the government

will crack. Remember, fundamentally

people are suckers for the truth,

and the truth is on your side, 'bubba.

I hope you get a break...

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