- Breaking Up the Opposition -

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS

Now. The first article I'm going to be reading here comes from Counterspy magazine, Volume IV, Number 1. And it was published in 1980. This is a statement by a group of radical feminists who called themselves "The Red Stockings," who (despite the fact that neither Nip [co-host] nor myself would agree with nor identify with their ideological underpinnings), they did some excellent and readily verifiable research. And that research is "front and center" in the following letter which they mailed to Counterspy. (By the way, Counterspy is one of the top publications covering the activities of the U.S. intelligence establishment. It's now been renamed, The National Reporter.) ...the following statement from the Red Stockings Collective (this from September 6, 1979). It's headlined,

STATEMENT
We feel that we must respond to the latest in a series of attempts to suppress the inquiry into the details and nature of Gloria Steinem's association with the Central Intelligence Agency. We are alarmed that the most visible commentary on these events comes from several well-known figures in the feminist movement who not only condone but endorse this suppression.

Because feminism's appeal and impact spring from a fundamental intellectual honesty, it is particularly distressing that the suppression of dissent may be seen as some kind of official feminist position.

In 1975, after Red Stocking researched Gloria Steinem's affiliations and raised questions about her political past, Steinem published a "statement," in connection with her activities on behalf of the Independent Research Service, a CIA-funded group. Many feminists found this document neither entirely credible nor to the point, and they have insisted upon seeking more enlightening answers.

Because of the conscious counter-revolutionary role that the CIA has played at home and abroad over the years, it makes sense to expect a participant in the women's movement, especially one who has come to symbolize it, to fully discuss her past relationship to the CIA. We are still waiting to hear Steinem's opinion of the Agency. The last one she gave characterized the CIA as "liberal" and far-sighted. [New York Times, Feb. 21, 1967, according to Emory.]

The events that prompted us to send out this letter include:

Gloria Steinem, Clay Felker (sp?) (most recently publisher of Esquire), and Ford Foundation president Franklin Thomas, were among those who threatened to sue for libel if Random House allowed the CIA chapters to be published in the Random House edition of Red Stocking's Feminist Revolution. At the same time, Newsweek and Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham and Warner Communications (a major Ms. [magazine] stockholder) also complained. The offending chapters were deleted. Thus, Steinem and her powerful supporters successfully used the threat of litigation to exercise prior restraint over publication.

When Steinem learned that the Village Voice had assigned journalist Nancy Borman (sp?) to prepare an article on the censorship of Feminist Revolution, her attorneys, Greenbaum, Wolf & Ernst (sp?), threatened suit against the Voice if any mention of Steinem's CIA association appeared in this article.

After some delay, to allow the Voice's legal counsel to review the material, the Voice published the article on May 21st, 1979. And, in subsequent issues, several letter writers responded with attacks on Borman and the Voice.

In May of 1979, when Heights and Valley News, a New York City neighborhood paper published by the Columbia Tenant's Union [CTU], began a series on the material deleted from Feminist Revolution, Steinem's attorneys again threatened suit. But instead of threatening the Columbia Tenant's Union corporation, they sent a letter to each of CTU's 32 board members. Board members cannot be individually sued for a corporation's acts except in a few instances not relevant here. But Steinem's attorneys stated in their letter to the board members that publication of the material "could subject them to individual liability." Heights and Valley News stood up to this attempt at intimidation and is continuing the series. All this legal harassment was in response not to any actual instance of false, malicious defamation, but to the potential raising of embarrassing questions about some feminist relations with the power elite. We think that Steinem and her associates have not made a convenient case for cutting off discussion.

And at the bottom they have a few questions they ask about the implications of this for the women's movement. And there's a series of signatories to this particular statement. And the only two names I recognize here are, a woman by name of Marge Piercy who's a well-known feminist poet, and also a woman named Louise Billotte, who is a KPFA [radio] staff member.

There are a number of points to be brought up concerning this particular statement, here in Counterspy.

First of all, Steinem, as the article pointed out, has never denied her relationship to the Independent Research Service. However, people who have attempted to highlight the nature of the Independent Research Service relationship to the CIA and, in turn, Steinem's relationship to Independent Research Service, have been threatened with litigation and have had a lot of pressure put on them. The pressure in this instance not only coming from Steinem herself, but also from a man named Clay Felker (whose role in establishing Ms. magazine we're gonna take a look at), as well as Katherine Graham. We're gonna take a look at Katherine Graham, her relationship with CIA, and her involvement with Ms. [magazine], in just a couple of minutes.

Not only was the book Feminist Revolution "leaned on" (I guess you'd say) by the Ms. axis, but also the Village Voice, when writing an article about the censorship of Feminist Revolution, also had similar pressure put on them.

And the interesting thing is, the attorneys Greenbaum, Wolf & Ernst are a law firm that produced some of the people helping to defend, among others, Richard Nixon, in the Watergate case. The fact that the Independent Research Service is, for all intents and purposes, a CIA front, is a matter of record.

If there was nothing to be covered up, why all of the pressure to cover it up? Even Steinem's own resume will maintain that she was related to the Independent Research Service.

So keep an eye on these events, and remember the names Clay Felker and Katherine Graham. We're going to come back to those a little bit later.

As far as the Independent Research Service itself, there's quite a few sources that document the connections of the Independent Research Service to the Central Intelligence Agency. I'm going to read one of them, very briefly, right now.

The book is called (and it's published in hardcover), it's called The Espionage Establishment, by David Wise and Thomas Ross. Published in hardcover by Random House and copyrighted 1974. In the [book] there's a footnote, in which a number of CIA domestic funding conduits and organizations funded by the CIA are listed. The organizations range from some which are obviously not CIA fronts but have simply received money from CIA (such as the National Council of Churches [sic--the World Council of Churches was inaugurated by those who were the predecessors to the CIA¹, so why not the National Council?--risephoenix]), to organizations like Radio Free Europe which were not only begun, basically, by the CIA but for all intents and purposes are CIA fronts and always have been. And in the list (which is in alphabetical order -- this, by the way, on page 155 of The Espionage Establishment), the Independent Research Service is listed right there.

risephoenix note 1: ["Peace agitator," William Sloane Coffin, tapped for 1949 Skull and Bones and a CIA agent himself--] "His uncle, the Reverend Henry Sloane Coffin (S&B 1897), had also been a "peace" agitator, and an oligarchical agent. Uncle Henry was for 20 years president of the Union Theological Seminary, whose board chairman was Prescott Bush's partner Thatcher Brown. In 1937, Henry Coffin and John Foster Dulles led the U.S. delegation to England to found the "World Council of Churches", as a "peace movement" guided by the pro-Hitler faction in England." from Chapter 7, The Unauthorized Biography of George Bush. This section of the book is reproduced here.

Still more information about the Independent Research Service and just exactly what sorts of functions it performs on behalf of CIA is carried in an excellent article that appeared in the Berkeley Barb. (Now again, as I indicated, neither Nip [co-host] nor myself endorses the ideological underpinnings of a publication like the Berkeley Barb.)

The reportage here is excellent and essential, and it represents the deepest investigation into the background of Gloria Steinem we've been able to come up with.

The following article from the Berkeley Barb is from the issue of May 30th thru June 5th of 1975. The article is by Gabriel Schang and it's titled, "Radical Women Won't Be Ms.-led." And it concerns Steinem and her whole relation with Independent Research Service.

Gloria Steinem, founder and editor of Ms. magazine and president of the Ms. Corporation, has an association spanning ten years with the CIA which she has misrepresented and covered up. To some people, particularly feminists, the relationship seemed obvious, if nebulous and difficult to verify. Others will probably remain incredulous until Time magazine finally acknowledges it. And then, there will be people who don't perceive the implications of such a liaison, and still more who will simply shrug it off.

A group of women tied-in with the origins of the modern Women's Liberation Movement and concerned about its future, who call themselves "Red Stockings," have been able to piece together enough documentation to convincingly expose and describe the Ms./Steinem/CIA connection. Moreover, the Red Stockings have closely examined the financial backing and contents of Ms. magazine and have arrived at the conclusion that the ideology put forth by Ms. has been positively harmful to the Women's Movement.

The first revelations of Gloria Steinem's relationship to the CIA appeared in the New York Times in 1967, in an article that stated that Steinem had a part in launching a CIA front group which was called the "Independent Research Service." Just prior to this exposure, Ramparts magazine had disclosed that the organization was CIA-funded.

The purpose of the Independent Research Service seems to have been to subvert communist-minded youths on an international basis. The supposedly "Independent" Research Service was, in fact, totally dependent on the CIA. It is believed to have been formed in response to the Communist World Youth festivals occurring throughout the 1950s and 1960s. These festivals were held in communist countries until 1959, when the festival for that year was scheduled to take place in Vienna -- neutral territory during the Cold War. The State Department did its best to discourage American youths from attending. Some did go, though, and in the meantime the CIA covertly arranged for the Independent Research Service to organize an anti-communist delegation to attend and disrupt the festivals.

In 1967, Ramparts exposed the intricate laundering and funneling process by which the Independent Research Service obtained money from the CIA. The funds passed through five different foundations: the Borden Trust, the Price Fund, the Beacon Fund, the Edsel Fund, and the Kentfield Fund, on its way to the Independent Research Service as well as to the National Students Association and other groups. The final channeling was accomplished through the well-known Boston law firm of Hale & Dorr (sp?). This same law firm produced Joseph Welch as attorney for the Army and in its confrontations with Joseph McCarthy and, more recently, James St. Claire as Nixon's chief counsel during the Watergate scandals.

(Excuse me. I was a little confused at first. The law firm representing Gloria Steinem in her media pressure efforts was not the same one which was involved... [i.e., Greenbaum, Wolf & Ernst are apparently not Nixon-related.] I was confusing that with the law firm involved with setting up the Independent Research Service in the first place.)

(Of course, it's still intriguing that this organization would be so very much involved with Gloria Steinem and connecting her to people like James St. Claire -- Nixon's counsel during the Watergate crisis. The Watergate crisis and its connections with Katherine Graham we're going to be looking at, as I had indicated, a little later.)

No one claims to know why Gloria Steinem was chosen to found and direct this group. But two early organizers of the Independent Research Service stated, in a New Republic article of May 11th, 1959, that "most of the sponsors have had considerable experience in domestic and international youth and student affairs."

What in Steinem's past prepared her for this sort of work? It is a matter of public record that Gloria M. Steinem graduated from Smith College and then received the Chester Bowles Asian Fellowship to the Universities of New Delhi and Calcutta, in India, in 1956 thru 1958. All the Red Stockings could glean of her activities in India is the alleged publication of a book in 1957 called, The Thousand Indias. Although the recent edition of Who's Who in America lists the title of the book, all attempts by Red Stocking to find it in past or current listings of the Cumulative Book Index listings of the New York Public Library Books in Print and the Library of Congress were unsuccessful. The very existence of Steinem's book cannot be determined, let alone its contents or the identity of the publisher.

According to the recent Red Stocking press release, and a February 21st, 1967 interview in the New York Times, Steinem was described as "a full-time Independent Research Service employee in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1959 until after the Helsinki Youth Festival in 1962." Under media pressure, Steinem could not disavow her CIA association. But she gave a distorted view of her activities at the festivals. Steinem claims all the group did at the two festivals was establish a newspaper, a news bureau, cultural exhibits, and jazz clubs. The groups most important work, she said, was convincing youths from Asia, Africa, and Latin America that there were some Americans who understood and cared about their situation. Steinem emphasized, "I was never asked to report on other Americans or assess foreign nationals I had met."

"I was never asked to report on other Americans or assess foreign nationals I had met." -- Gloria Steinem

The Red Stockings charge that this statement is an alarming lie. In a "Report on the Vienna Youth Festival" printed with Steinem's name on it as director of the Independent Research Service, there are 13 pages devoted exclusively to biographies, political affiliations, and even some superficial analyses of persons from all countries participating in the festival. Youths were monitored in much the same way at the 1962 World Youth Festival in Helsinki. In addition to the news and cultural events put on by the Independent Research Service, the Helsinki festival was marked by four nights of "spontaneous" rioting against the festival during which 40 people were arrested. It was reported by Newsweek in August 1962 that "Pravda, of course, blamed the disturbances on well-financed CIA and FBI agents."

(Interrupting briefly. Of course remember that Newsweek is published by Katherine Graham. We're going to be coming to *her* role in setting up Ms. [magazine] in just a minute.)

This is Gloria Steinem's background from the late 1950s and early 1960s. She functioned as a secret representative of the American government abroad. At least, she was representing certain American interests, and her activities in the Independent Research Service involved her inextricably with the U.S. domestic political intelligence network.

Another fact exhumed by the Red Stockings is the group's [Independent Research Service's] publication of a pamphlet in 1959 called, "A Review of Negro Segregation in the United States." Steinem's name is listed on the inside cover, this time as co-director of the Independent Research Service. The pamphlet focusses on the supposed advances made by black people in the U.S. For example: "Beyond the noisy clamor of those who would obstruct justice and fair play, no alert observer can be unaware of the concerted effort to rule out segregation from every aspect of American life." The reason some discrimination does still occur, according to the research group, is because "it is also self-perpetuating, in that the rejected group, through continued deprivation, is hardened in the very shortcomings, real or imaginary, that are given as the reasons for the discrimination in the first place." In other words, the oppression of blacks continues not because of white, ruling-class interests, but because black people actually have become inferior. [CN: Here Red Stocking is paraphrasing how they see the Independent Research Service pamphlet's argument.]

The Red Stocking's analysis equates this denial of black oppression with Ms. magazine's rationalization to explain the prolonged subjugation of women: both blacks and women have supposedly become apathetic and deficient.

By 1967, the Independent Research Service was declared "largely inactive" by the New York Times. Steinem, however, was still a director in 1968 when Ramparts [magazine] broke another story. This time they disclosed that the CIA had plans of their own for another World Youth Festival to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria. A scandal involving some confidential letters implicating the CIA, which found their way into print before the festival, had the effect of curtailing the CIA's plans for youths in Sofia.

It was during the following year, 1969-70, that Gloria Steinem first began publicly identifying herself with the Women's Movement. Around this same time, Red Stocking researchers noted there was a change in the biographical information listed about Steinem in Who's Who. Reportedly, Who's Who sends data sheets to their subjects requesting them to furnish the details. The 1968 and '69 edition was the first issue ever mentioning Steinem, and at the time she was listed as "Director, educational foundation, Independent Research Service, Cambridge, Massachusetts/New York City, 1959-62. Now member Board of Directors, Washington." By the 1970 edition of Who's Who, this entry was shortened to "Director, educational foundation, 1959-60." No mention of her position in Washington on the Board of Directors appears, and she abbreviated her term of employment with the Independent Research Service to one year. The censored version appears in each successive edition of Who's Who.

There does seem to be an attempt on Steinem's part to mislead Ms. readers and conceal parts of her past. For instance, her bio-blurb in June 1973 Ms. is even vaguer: "Gloria Steinem has been a free-lance writer all her professional life. Ms. magazine is her first full-time, salaried job."

(Obviously, that is not the case.)

Then there is Gloria Steinem's mysteriously swift rise to national prominence so soon after the 1967 exposures. It is a common complaint among ex-CIA agents that past involvement with the Agency often impedes their ability to find other forms of employment. This was not the case for Steinem. According to Red Stocking, "her career skyrocketed after the 1967 exposures. Much of the credit for this must go to Clay Felker, publisher of New York Magazine. Recently in the news for his acquisition of the Village Voice, Felker immediately fired its two remaining founders from their jobs as publisher and editor. Felker was Steinem's editor at Esquire [magazine] where her first free-lance pieces were published. He hired her as contributing editor to New York Magazine in 1968 and booked publicity spots for her on radio and tv talk shows. Felker put up the money for the preview issue of Ms. in January of 1972, a large part of which appeared as a supplement in the 1971 year-end issue of New York Magazine. In effect, it was Felker who made Steinem famous by giving her a platform from which to establish her Women's Liberation credentials.

These facts are all part of the public record. What has not been widely known up to this time are the earlier political roots of the Steinem/Felker collaboration. Felker was with Steinem at the Helsinki Youth Festival editing the English language newspaper put out by the CIA-financed delegation.

In addition to Steinem's initial boost from Clay Felker, the Red Stockings were able to determine two other major sources of funds for the then fledgling Ms. magazine. One resource was Katherine Graham, owner and publisher of the Washington Post and Newsweek. She bought $20,000 worth of stock before the first issue of Ms. was ever published. According to "perfect Ms. ideology," Graham was recently featured on the magazine's cover, depicted by the headline as "The Most Powerful Woman in America."

(That, by the way, from the Ms. issue of October 1974.)

It should be noted in conjunction to this fact that Newsweek became the most enthusiastic, mass-circulation magazine promoting the Independent Research Service and later, Gloria Steinem as an individual. (See early articles of 5/10/65 and cover story of 8/16/71.)

The second major money source for Ms. was Warner Communications, Inc. They purchased $1 million worth of Ms. stock after the preview issue appeared. Warners allegedly put up nearly all the money and only took 25 percent of the actual stock holdings. Even the Ms. editors admitted that this was a trifle odd: "We are especially impressed that they took the unusual position of becoming a major investor but minority stockholder, thus providing all the money without demanding the decision vote in return."

(That from the Ms. Reader, page 226.) (Skipping down in the article.....)

The ad policies of Ms. are an equally important indicator of the magazine's financial and political backing, especially in view of the frequently stated Ms. claims of extreme selectivity regarding which ads they will accept. This stance makes any ad they choose tantamount to an endorsement. Blatantly sexist ads are most often rejected, along with ads for cosmetic and fashion products. However Ms. seems to have no moral problem accepting public relations and job recruitment ads for large corporations. IT&T is one of the most regular advertisers in Ms., along with non-product ads from Ortho Pharmaceuticals, Exxon Oil, Chemical Bank, Bell Telephone, Singer Aerospace, Shearson-Hammel stockbrokers, Gulf & Western, and Merrill-Lynch stockbrokers.

In their special "Human Developments" section each month, Ms. runs a series of advertisements for careers in companies like these.

A letter in September of 1973 from Amy Sverdlow (sp?) of Women's Strike for Peace questioned what the recruiting of women for IT&T had in common with human development: "Let's have a Ms. story on all IT&T activities around the world. Then, let the reader decide what talented women will find at IT&T headquarters," she submitted. Ms. editors replied that in light of all the unemployed women and women on welfare that they could not be too selective about their job ads. As if welfare mothers are all headed toward IT&T careers! There is much controversy over whether Ms. magazine is a commercial or a political enterprise. Elements of both seem to exist as ingredients of the Ms. ideological package.

Recently, in a television appearance, Pat Carbine, now publisher of Ms. [magazine] and formerly editor of McCalls [magazine] in 1971 when that magazine named Gloria Steinem "Woman of the Year," declared that the Women's Movement was currently in "Phase II." What that means here (the Red Stockings go on to explain), "radicals were necessary for getting the thing started," she conceded, "but the moderates were now in control."

(And skipping down still further, the article closes here with an interesting little blurb.)

Do not forget that Gloria Steinem dated Henry Kissinger at one time. And think about this: "There is still the assumption that a woman is not a complete human being by herself. We have to consider the ways in which we are 'man junkies.'"

(That from Gloria Steinem in a New York Times interview of August 11, 1974.)

Well the Kissinger association is not necessarily very significant at all [sic! risephoeinx]. However we *are* going to talk about a man that she's been with for a very long time who appears to be a very insidious individual indeed.

Perhaps none of the things in any of the material that we're gonna present here, taken by themselves, would be too conclusive. However the intersection of all of them is very intriguing indeed.

Now reviewing some of the key points of this Berkeley Barb article: The Independent Research Service, founded to a considerable extent by Gloria Steinem and co-directed by her for quite some time, was involved with basically breaking up socialist youth conferences and disrupting them abroad, as well as reporting on the affiliations of some of the people involved. That is obviously the kind of activity CIA does engage in. And one of the most interesting things is the role of Clay Felker in boosting Steinem's career and helping to get Ms. started, because Felker was an associate of Steinem's in the Independent Research Service. Katherine Graham here played a key role in launching Ms., and then a sort of symbiotic relationship between Ms. [magazine] and Steinem and Newsweek followed from that.

We're gonna take a look at Katherine Graham -- her and the Washington Post's long-standing affiliation with CIA as well as role in Watergate -- a little later in the broadcast.

It's also worth noting that (as the article here points out) some corporations which have sort of dubious policies, at least abroad, have been very prominent Ms. advertisers. I think people who would like to find out more about IT&T should take a look at IT&T's role in the Chilean coup of 1973. And then examine some of the Amnesty International reports on what happened to women political prisoners under Pinochet's regime. One of the most grotesque things that I recall reading in the Amnesty International reports about the political repression and torture under Pinochet immediately after the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile, was that female political prisoners were often subjected to torture by specially trained dogs who would first rape them, and then sexually mutilate them. Although Ms. [magazine] does not appear to have too much hesitation about running ads by an organization that would help precipitate that kind of activity, I suspect that if Gloria Steinem were tied down onto a Chilean torture table getting the "once over" from "Fido," I expect her attitude would be somewhat less circumspect than it was under the circumstances.

And last, but certainly not least, it's interesting to note that she dated Henry Kissinger. Of course Kissinger was very much involved in setting up that very same coup, as was Richard Helms (part of the Washington Post orbit.) We're going to take a look at another interesting fellow, though, that Gloria Steinem dated. Again: one doesn't want to damn people by association. But when you're examining intelligence connections, the people one associates with intimately and over a long period of time are one of the indicators of where one's real sympathies lie.

We're now going to play a short section of the "One Step Beyond" show from June 17th, 1984. You're going to hear some material here from Newsweek magazine, as well as some material from the New York Times. And it's going to be talking about Gloria Steinem's paramour for the past, what... It was nine years in '84. I don't know whether they're still together, but that's a long time to be with anybody in terms of a dating relationship. Gloria Steinem's relationship with a man named J. Stanley Pottinger, who J. Stanley Pottinger is, some of the things he has been involved in, is the next thing we're going to take up in relation to Gloria Steinem and the whole Ms. axis.

Playing now from "One Step Beyond," June 17th, 1984.

An interesting bit of information here concerning Gloria Steinem. And again: this on the occasion of her 50th birthday. This is from Newsweek, the issue of June 4th, 1984. There's an article on Gloria Steinem's 50th birthday. It's very short. It's entitled, "Steinem at 50: Gloria in Excelsis." (And I'm only going to read you one sentence of this article.)

"In previous incarnations, Steinem dated Mike Nichols, Rafer Johnson, and other notables. For the past nine years she has been romantically involved with Washington attorney Stanley Pottinger, a Republican and former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights."

But he was Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under the Nixon/Ford administration, from 1973 until 1977. You'll all recall what Nixon's Justice Department was like: both Mr. Kleindeist and John Mitchell were indicted -- Mitchell convicted and Kleindeist eventually... I don't know whether he was convicted and received a suspended sentence, or whether he eventually was acquitted. But half the Nixon Justice Department wound up being indicted on one charge or another, many of them acquitted, most in connection with the Watergate affair. They also presided over COINTELPRO and a number of other interesting things. Surely the Nixon administration has never been regarded as a great champion of civil rights. And a woman like Gloria Steinem, who is at least nominally aligned with a civil rights movement, the feminist movement... Well, her association, her 9-year romantic involvement with Mr. Pottinger, is really intriguing.

Now those of you who listen to Mae Brussell's "World Watcher" series will recall Mae referring very briefly to Mr. Pottinger's [alleged] involvement in an arms smuggling scam. (Research credit for the following article, again, goes to Mr. Ted Rubenstein.)

(By the way, that Newsweek article, if you'd like to look it up, is from June 4th, 1984.)

Now, concerning Mr. Pottinger and his alleged involvement in an arms smuggling scam, the following article (research credit goes to Ted Rubenstein)... This is from the New York Times of June 3rd, 1984. This is an article by Solwyn Rabb, headlined "Iranian is Sought in Inquiry on Arms." Subtitled: "Banker Wanted in Smuggling of Prohibited Equipment."

"An Iranian banker in New York City who offered to help seek the release of the American hostages in Iran in 1980 is under investigation for leading a group that purportedly smuggled banned military equipment into Iran, according to federal authorities. The investigation, which began four years ago, resulted in the arrests in New York last month of the brother of the banker and of a Huntington, Long Island businessman on smuggling charges. According to federal officials, a former United States Assistant Attorney General, J. Stanley Pottinger, is also under investigation. The 44-year-old Mr. Pottinger, who was in charge of the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department from 1973 to 1977, recently testified before the federal grand jury in Manhattan investigating the case. He did not return telephone calls left at his Manhattan office or his home."

So, again, he [Pottinger] is being investigated in connection with... That is to say, J. Stanley Pottinger, longtime paramour of Gloria Steinem (9 years, to be exact), is being investigated in connection with an arms smuggling case, which in turn is connected with a possible attempt to seek the release of the American hostages in Iran in 1980.

It certainly isn't conclusive, obviously, because, first of all, Pottinger's only being investigated in connection with the case. But that his name should turn up at all... And I understand from broadcast news reports on the subject (there haven't been many in print), apparently his voice was on wiretaps of the Hashemi's, the Iranians involved in this arms smuggling scam and also the attempt to obtain the release of the hostages from Iran.

Well, of course, arms smuggling is a major focus of intelligence activity. And Iran, of course, has also been a major focus of intelligence activity for many years. And among the many people who crop up in connection with attempts to obtain the release of the American hostages, Frank Turpel(sp?) and former congressman John Jenrette (sp?), who went out in the ABSCAM convictions, were among the many names that crop up in connection with various attempts to win the release of the hostages.

And of course that whole crisis, the Iranian hostage crisis, in many ways is viewed by many people as having brought President Reagan into power.

So, again, we have Gloria Steinem, associated with the Independent Research Service, a documented CIA domestic funding conduit. We have her making statements about the "fact" that the CIA is a liberal and far-sighted organization. And we have her attempts, through attorneys and major stockholders in Ms. [magazine], to attempt to suppress the information concerning her affiliation with Independent Research Service. In addition, she's 9-years-involved with one of the Nixon/Ford administration's Assistant Attorneys General, this one in charge of civil rights, whose name crops up in connection with a major arms smuggling scam. So, nothing conclusive, but very interesting indeed.

That concludes the tape segment.

Now one of the things that's intriguing about Steinem's association with Pottinger concerns the fact that Pottinger was not only possibly involved in an arms smuggling scheme to Iran. What is very intriguing is the fact that J. Stanley Pottinger was involved, while working for the Nixon/Ford Justice Department, not only in helping to block the investigation into the assassination of Martin Luther King, but also in operating in connection with former Director of Central Intelligence and current Vice-President of the United States [1981-89] George Bush in covering up the assassination of Orlando Letelier, a dissident Chilean diplomat who was blown up (as many of you, I'm sure, here know) in the middle of Washington, DC. Although U.S. intelligence has disclaimed any involvement in that, that claim has been destroyed by a number of different books. One of those is an excellent book we've used before on this program. It's called Death In Washington, co-authored by Donald Freed and Fred Landis. It was published in hardcover by Lawrence Hill & Co. and it was copyrighted 1980.

And of J. Stanley Pottinger's role in blocking the investigation of Martin Luther King [assassination], when it began to lead in the direction of the FBI, Freed and Landis write as follows in Death In Washington:

At the Department of Justice, J. Stanley Pottinger and Michael Shaheen (sp?) were working overtime to blunt the charge that the Federal Bureau of Investigation might have murdered Dr. King and certainly had not investigated the crime.

Pottinger was not only involved in blunting the investigation into the assassination of Martin Luther King, but he also was involved in a milieu that helped block the investigation, not only block the investigation into the assassination of Orlando Letelier, but to deflect it into the direction of the Chilean left.

Some of the people involved in not only setting up the [Letelier] assassination but covering it up are names that we've used here before. The two names here, Frank Turpel and Edwin Wilson, are going to be "front and center" here. Specifically, Frank Turpel supposedly met with (according to this account here) James Buckley, in New York City, shortly before the Letelier assassination. And according to Landis and Freed, some of the explosives used in the Letelier assassination were provided by Edwin Wilson and Frank Turpel. Of course, we've looked at the fact that Turpel and Wilson were by no means ex-CIA agents when they worked with Moammar Khaddafi in Libya. And certainly, since this took place before that, they were not ex-CIA agents at this time too.

So what we have is, Turpel and Wilson, George Bush, and J. Stanley Pottinger, as well as James Buckley (and later, William F. Buckley), working not only to assassinate Orlando Letelier, but to cover it up and deflect blame for the crime in the direction of the Chilean left.

Again, reading from Death In Washington by Landis and Freed. (The "Townley" referred to here was Michael Vernon Townley (sp?), the man actually convicted, along with a couple of anti-Castro Cubans, in performing the Letelier assassination.)

Townley met with Frank Turpel one week before the Letelier murder, on the same day that he met with Senator James Buckley and aides in New York City. The explosives, sent into the United States on Chilean airlines, were to replace explosives supplied by Edwin Wilson, according to a source close to the office of U.S. Attorney Lawrence Barchella (sp?), Jr. Barchella had worked with Eugene Propper (sp?) on the Letelier/Moffit (sp?) case.

Each increment of American involvement in the crime leads to the threshold question: What did George Bush and the CIA know, and when did they know it? On October 4th, 1976, Director of Central Intelligence Bush met with Eugene Propper and J. Stanley Pottinger, and promised cooperation in exchange for FBI caution in any national security matters. Then, on November 8th, Bush flew to Miami on the pretext of "a walking tour of Little Havana." Actually, he met with FBI Special Agent in Charge Julius Matson (sp?) and the chief of the Anti-Castro Terrorism Squad. According to a source close to the meeting, Bush warned the FBI against allowing the investigation to go any further than the lowest-level Cubans. This was a secret meeting, but publicly, Bush was selling headlines like, "Left Is Also Suspect In Slaying Of Letelier," to Jeremiah O'Leary and the Washington Star [newspaper].

And just the week before, on November 1st, the Washington Post had quoted both Bush and Kissinger to the effect that the [Chilean] Junta was not involved.

This is obstruction of justice, and misprision of a felony at the least. Why would the Director of the American Central Intelligence Agency violate the law in the interests of the Chilean Junta?

Well I think that the reasons are fairly obvious, because of the involvement of the CIA in installing and preserving that very Junta are a matter of public record.

So again, Michael Vernon Townley cooperating not only with Frank Turpel and Edwin Wilson on the actual assassination of Orlando Letelier, but interestingly enough, he meets with Senator James Buckley on the same day he meets with Frank Turpel. And both the Buckleys were involved in helping to circulate the myth that the Chilean left had been involved in killing Orlando Letelier.