Posted by Larry Jordan on September 12, 2016, 6:34 pm Edited by board administrator September 12, 2016, 6:38 pm
A proverbial source of unfounded speculation about Jim Reeves has posted a story online that reads as follows:
"11 SEPTEMBER 2016
"IN OCTOBER 2017 ANY FBI DOCUMENTS RELATED TO JIM REEVES AND DEAN MANUEL ABOUT THE ASSASINATION (Sic) OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY WILL BE RELEASED."
"The U.S. government retains approximately 3,600 records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that have never been made public, according to the latest count of the National Archives.
"In her April 10 presentation, Martha Murphy, a National Archives official, made it clear that all withheld information will be released in October 2017, as mandated by the 1992 JFK Records Act, unless the President orders otherwise.
"There is speculation that there are documents concerning FBI interviews with both Jim Reeves and Dean Manuel, who were in Dallas at the time of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy."
As I report in my 672-page book, "Jim Reeves: His Untold Story," I was informed that (after my Freedom of Information Act requests), files pertaining to Jim Reeves were destroyed on orders of a judge in Washington. So that information is probably lost forever.
There are other records relevant to Jim under seal with JFK assassination files -- as I was the first to report in my book -- but there is NO evidence either of the two men were ever interviewed by the FBI, and Dean Manuel was NOT in Dallas at the time of the President's murder. The Blue Boys left on the bus for their next venue that morning, while Jim remained behind -- and then had trouble getting out of town because all flights were grounded in the aftermath of the assassination.
Furthermore, Mary Reeves and I talked about JFK and surely she would have mentioned it to me if her husband had ever been interviewed by the FBI in connection with the President's murder.
Jim and his band did, indeed, play Dewey Groom's nightclub in Ft. Worth the night before, and had trouble getting a motel room because so many people were in town to see the Kennedys the next day. (Groom, incidentally, had been in a business partnership with Jack Ruby). And as I revealed, Jim recognized accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald when he saw him on TV the night of the tragedy, saying he could never forget that face and that Oswald had come to some of his shows. Jim also stayed at a hotel in Dallas that had a coffee shop frequented by Oswald's killer, Jack Ruby, and Jim and his band also went to strip clubs owned by Ruby.
However, some of the files that pertain to Jim that are retained with JFK records specifically relate to ARKANSAS, as I was informed by the FBI in correspondence addressed to me.
So once again, some foreign webmaster is spinning yarns and has no substance to back it up. Furthermore, for anyone to believe that all records will be released is naive in the extreme. The U.S. government does not have a history of candor and keeps many things secret.
Bottom line: the headline is misleading to the fans and fosters the wrong impression and false hopes.
Re: Another totally stupid post on a foreign website
I am not aware of there being anything in that book that contradicted what I reported and in fact David Wayne is a friend of mine and the two men (the other named Richard Belzer, the famous actor/author) relied on my research to build upon.
Re: Another totally stupid post on a foreign website
Larry Given the information re jr speaking openly about recognising Oswald and his frequenting of Ruby's joints surely it is likely that the FBI would have at least interviewed him. Equally jr would have not told Mary of such investigations as he kept a lot of things from her and would not want untoward publicity. Thus there is a possibility, albeit faint, that a jr/FBI interview transcript exists? Regards Rodney James
Re: Another totally stupid post on a foreign website
If such interviews took place, why would Jim and Dean not have been mentioned in the Warren Commission report along with others who were interviewed by the FBI?
Jim DID talk to an investigator about the Patsy Cline crash.
But remember, I was informed that a judge in Washington ordered the destruction of some of the files pertaining to Jim Reeves. And certainly the rest of the government across the board has obviously been sanitized of records pertaining to Jim's plane crash, even though you can go back decades earlier and retrieve the accident reports on other crashes. I managed through back channels to get my hands on the missing report but it is not publicly available from official sources like it should be. I used it in reconstructing events leading up to and following his crash, in the two chapters I devote to the topic.
Also intriguing are questions about why was Jim hiring 24-hour guards to watch the rental airplanes he flew, when he went places like Texas? That is VERY unusual. How is it that he was landing at military airports...something that most civilian pilots DO NOT do?
If you've read my book, "Jim Reeves: His Untold Story," you know that I was contacted shortly before it went to press, by someone who was introduced to me by a Nashville official as being a former intelligence agent. He warned me against probing too deeply into the Reeves crash and provided the tantalizing comment that he had been told Jim had been a courier. When I asked for whom, he replied "both sides."
It was not uncommon for U.S. intelligence agencies to use entertainers as go-betweens and ask them to in essence carry out a certain amount of espionage, especially on their foreign travels. This is well documented. In fact, some of Hollywood's biggest stars were involved in such activities.
Re: Another totally stupid post on a foreign website
All this strange stuff.I think Jim's plane crash was tampering/sabotage and he and Dean were therefore murdered.Why else conceal and destroy the evidence?Jim did not tell Mary a lot of things.He kept much secret from Mary.He likely was more than merely a courier.Who are "both sides"?Anita L. Cooper
Re: Another totally stupid post on a foreign website
Yes, there was no post crash investigation of the engine or control surfaces - they simply assumed pilot error and the wreckage was dumped. There are many cases today where pilot error is assumed only for investigation to show inherent defects.