Here Dodd Stood in Thomasdodd
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7 ThomasJ. Dodd& Son: Conupdonol Slood? By Llsa Perse TheCongress shall havePower to declarethe Punishmmtof Tieason,but no Attainder of Tieasonshall worh Corntption of Blood,or Forfeitureexcept during the Life of the Personattainted. - UnitedStates Constitution, Article 3, Section3 ,[ nhis romana cleftitled Corruprionof Blood, II due to a high blood pressurecondition. Instead,he ( f Roben K. Tanenbaum,former Depury Chief prosecuteddraft dodgers.In later years,he would go \f Counselfor the HSCA,suggests, in the guise to greatlengths to minimize his sonJeremy'sdme in I of ficrion,rwo inrereslingelements which the service. | ) mayhave conrriburedro rhe inability of the Dodd was a successftrlprosecuto! who had won -L HSCAlo fulfill irs mandarero serrlerhe ques- convictions against Nazi spies and mineral moguls. tions surrounding the Kennedyassassination. In the Dodd's record eamed him an appointment to the novel, characterHalk Dobbs appearsto be quietly Nurembergtrials of the GermanNazi high command. sabotagingthe HSCA, partly due to somethingabout Dodd was the secondhighest ranking man in t}te del- his father'spast. These chalacters are clearlysugges- egation. The Nuremberg tdals are a separatestory, tive of committee member Christopher Dodd, now but hints of unsavoryhappenings behind the scenes currently chairmanofthe DemocraticNational Com- linger. Key evidencedisappeared. Despite the efforts mittee. and his father.Thomas Dodd. ThomasJ. Dodd ofthe head ofthe delegation,Supreme CoufiJustice Thomas Dodd has long been suspectedofhaving some sort of RobertJackson, to prosecutenot just the military leadersbut key connectionwith Lee Harvey Oswald. It seemsto many odd that industrialists,these people were excluded.Shady events caused a when Oswald was hanging out with the Fair Play for Cuba Com- break between OSShead "Wild Bill" Donovan and Jacksonwhen mittee (FPCC),allegedly ordering weapons from the mail order Donovan wanted to give cerrain Nazis-one of them Hjalmar gun companiesofSeaport Tladers and Klein's SportingGoods, that Schacht-a chancero defendthemselves through testimony since SenatorThomas Dodd was investigatingthe FPCCand mail order somehad been ofhelp to American intelligenceeffons durin! the guns-ftom placesthat includedKlein's and Seaport.Coincidence? war Jacksonwanted to stick to the documentaryrecord, believing Perhaps.But the recordshows far more seriousimplications about the Nazis would lie to protect rhemselves.3Where Dodd stood in ThomasDodd. How many Senators,for example,when in trouble tlese debatesis not known. Butclues exist.When Franzvon paDen. with the Senate,get a letter in their defensefrom the head ofthe whom Dodd had inrerrogared,was granLed a reprieve,Dodd bought Central IntelligenceAgency? him a box ofCuban cigars.aAccording to Dodd's top assistantand The story ofthe rise and fall ofthe late Tom Dodd is an Ameri- speechwrirerJames Boyd: can tragedy,a story of how power corrupts even the best us. of Thefiuremberg ordeal had L profoundinpact on Dodd.For twenty years How far Dodd's corruption took him is still up for debate.But the h€has nalntalned silence o,boui th € nost lr0portantasp €ctsof hls par- facts outlined here are not. And how much does the son Chris tlclpatlon.Ee has Dever written about ihe trlal, ashave lesser par cl- resemblethe father?Should Chris Dodd's role with the HSCA be patrts,... Norwould he a.n6wer sellous lnquiries from hlstorlans seeklng called into question? to reconstruotthe trlal.o BoYdwent on to note: Before tlre trall Wlateverthe reasons for his uncbaracterlstle reticence-rh €therhurtrll- ThomasJ. Dodd was a likable, charismaticman. Tall, dark and lly, 0r a reacilonto the horrorsuDeapthed therc, or renorseover sottro handsome,Dodd graduatedfrom YaleLaw Schoolwith a shining a8lectof ihot searingexperlence-Dodd reiurned fron Nurenb€rga future aheadof him. After a brief stint as a SpecialAgent of the chaDgedman.outwardly he had agod;hlshah had whltened at th1rty,nlne. FBl, he was appointed Dbputy Director of the new, experimental hwardlyhe had becone sn tdeologlcalCold Wa,rrior, hls vlewson publlc National Youth Association, a program designed to help under- l86u€doEloated8 by a preoccupstioowllh theCommunis! EeDare.. privilegedyouth find work. Dodd would later tell colleaguesthis had been the most rewarding period of his careerl After ![uremberci In 1938, Dodd was appointedspecial assistant to the Attorney For a man ofsuch views,joining rhe CIA would haveseemed a Generaland becamea charter member ofthe firstJustice Depart- likely option. Dodd did in fact have an oven flination with the ment Civil Rights section. There he fought the Klu Klux Klan, ClA. He joined, briefly, CIA officer Cord Meyer's United World amongothers. "We won some cases,and lost some,mostly lost," Federalists,becoming the PresidentofConnecticut's chapter. Dodd he said in later years.2Dodd was not called to servein World War later pulled out, saing one-worldism was unrealisric and unat- pEIO:IE .tuly-Au€tust,leeo rainable.T followthe Roben Kennedy assassination, Manny pena, in charge After a failed bid for Govemor of Connecticut in 194g. Dodd of the R.FKinvestigarion for the Los Angeles po'liceDepanmerit, returned to ptivate pracrice.When JosephMcCanhy's anti-Com- was a witness to Dodd,s committee on Seaport,sactivities. munist preachingsrolled through Connecricut,Dodd, then work_ One Dodd committee investigator-whom Boyd describedas ing for Senaror Brien McMahon, denounced McCarthv's "amentally disturbed son ofa friend ofthe Senator,s,who collected demagoguery,helping rhe Senarorwin reelecrion.When McMahon submachine guns and insisted on carrying a revolver at all times,,- died in 1952, Dodd hoped to take was caught trying to smuggle guns McMahon's seat, but the state pafiy and ammunition into HyannisDort leader tapped anorher, encour;gin; 'Kennedy,s during one of President Dodd to run instead for a House seat. speaking engagements there. When Dodd was the only Democrat to win caught, the invesdgator threw a tem- national office in that statein 1952. per tantrum.r, Several authors have Dodd lost his 1956reelection bid for speculated that perhaps the sameseat. Ever the fightea Dodd Oswald too was secretly working for Dodd,s began aiming at the 1958 Senate com- election. mrnee. Another of Dodd's subcommittees In the interim, Dodd became a was actively investigating play registered agent for the Govemment rhe Fat for Cuba Commitree (FPCC) of Guatemala,only recently iDstalled with which Oswald was also involved, after the CIA coup that ousted Bear in mind that while Arbenz. He was paid by Guatemala Dodd,s commit- tee was investigating the FpCC of0- $50,000 a year for his services. Despite this background,Dodd -well.-and cially,the FBI had their fingers in this pie as behind the gaineda coveredseat on the Foreign RelationsComhittee. s_c-enes,James McCord (rop CIA officer larer arresred Perhapsdue ro his associarionwirh Guatemala, ar rhe Dodd became watergatebreak-in) and David Arleephillips fiiends with Thomas B. ,,Tommy wereengaged in FpCC the Cork,, Corcoran,the Unired activities of their own. Fruit Company'scorporate liaison ro the CIA during rhe CIA,5anti_ AI9:g people called ro resrify was the vocally anri_CtA Arbenz operarions.Dodd,s serviceto Guatemalaoitensibly ended , :!u chretot rheNew Yorkchaprer ofrhe FpCC,Richard Gibson. the day before he entered the Senatein 1959. Curi- Columnist Drew ously, under Gibson, LheFpCC was Pearsonnoted acidly: also actively supporting nor iust Fjdel Castrobur Congo leaderparrice Lumumba, inothei tar_ Forelgtragetrto are Dot th € roootutrpleludlced p€ ople to sppolntto the sup, C+ assassinarionplot..r And evenmore curiously,after po8edlyutrpr €Judlcedporelgn Bela onsConmlttee, snd 9:,:.t " Doddshowed his rne Kennedyassassinarjon, [he rabid anri_CI_Aacrivist Gibson pr8ludlceby once offerhg a l5 r0lllloDanendnent to be_ theforclgn ald bll for camean informantfor the Cl,A,'aprompring Guatemalr.But Johnson pushed Dodd lnto the post anyw&y.! the quesrionofwherher ne wasever ffuty anti-CIA,or a planrwirhin the FpCC.SuDDonine Dodd and Johnsonwere so close thar at one LBI that Doint brieflv suspicionis the facr Lhatwhile headofthe New york'officeoi consideredDodd for the Vice presidentialslot- the FPCC,Gibson continued to receivea fellowship Aorn CSSfo, srudy at ColumbiaUniversity, a universirywirh closeries ro rhe The Subcommittee Inresti€tetiong clA-tnendly Rockefellers.Dodd also askedGibson poinr blank a Dodd's star rose quickly in the Senate.He positioned question himself which raisesanother Rockefeller connection to the FpiC. earlyas a fervent anti-Communist.He oncewajso upsetthat Dodd ABC askedGibson if he knew of anyother bank account of ihe aired a program which featuredAlger Hiss thar he iemanded FPCC, an widefrom the oneat ChoseManiattan nank.'" the moli iii FCC invesrigarionof ABC., He headedimponanr subcommittee leams about the FPCC,the more one wonders ifthe wtroleorgani- investigarions.Two ofLhesewould touch on areasin rhe life ofLee zaoon wa-snot originally serup as a typical ..falseflag,, Hawey Oswald. recruilitenr Prograrnfrom the starT. As head of the Subcommittee to InvesdgateJuvenile Delin_ quency,he probed mail order firearms. In a recent issue of TIE Dodd and his GIA lllitnesses AssassinationChrcnicles, George Michael Evicaalleges that: Dodd had.amost interesting set ofwitnesses appearbefore his Strongchoumstan committees, pena, al €Vldencesupports the cotrcluslonth&t Senator including Manny RichardGibson, and eventhe Thoms,sDodd (or soneone close