LBJ canceled an Air Force plane for a top Boston brain surgeon for a dying RFK

Lyndon Johnson canceled an Air Force plane for top Boston brain surgeon for a dying RFK

[C. David Heymann,  RFK: A Candid Biography Of Robert F. Kennedy,  p. 505] 

      Ted Van Dyk: “In the middle of the night I was shaken awake by David Gartner, a personal aide to the vice president. And Dave said, ‘Humphrey says get up, Robert Kennedy's been shot.’ And I said, ‘David, that's a sick joke.’ He said, ‘No, no, Robert Kennedy's been shot.’

     “So I got up and Humphrey was absolutely distraught, he was just absolutely beside himself with anxiety and concern. And we then received a telephone  call from Steve Smith and Pierre Salinger in California. They said, ‘There's a brain surgeon we trust in Boston. Could you arrange for a private plane to fly him to Los Angeles? Because Robert Kennedy's still alive and there's a possibility of saving him.’

     Humphrey called up the commanding general of the air force, who happened to be there at the academy. And Humphrey said, ‘Will you please dispatch this plane?’ The general said, "I surely will."

     “Ten minutes later we received a call from an aide in the White House: President Johnson had canceled the plane because Humphrey had no authority to send it. The fact was, Johnson preferred Robert Kennedy dead.

     “It was one of the most heinous acts I've ever experienced in my life, and it all but broke Humphrey's heart.” [C. David Heymann,  RFK: A Candid Biography Of Robert F. Kennedy,  p. 505]

--Ted Van Dyk, Aide to then Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey 

Bio: Ted Van Dyk has been active in national policy and politics for more than 30 years. He began active military duty in 1957 as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst. His subsequent jobs have included Soviet specialist and intelligence analyst at the Pentagon; senior assistant to Vice President Hubert Humphrey and coordinator of foreign assistance programs in the Carter Administration, to name just a few. He also served as a senior political and policy advisor to seven Democratic presidential candidates. Since early 2001, he has been an editorial-page columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and has continued writing periodically for national publications. 

http://www.washington.edu/alumni/clubs/communication/newsletter/200609/halloffame.html 

 

Pat Speer on LBJ nixing a plane for a brain surgeon for a dying RFK

June 7, 2014 post at Education Forum: http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=21239#entry287534

 Although Heymann is a serial fibber, there may be some truth to this one. No less than Ramsey Clark has admitted that Johnson's buddy Hoover deliberately timed the release of info about James Earl Ray's arrest to interfere with TV coverage of RFK's funeral. If you've ever taken a peak at the FBI file of Robert Kennedy, moreover, you'll find that Hoover sent agents to a gathering in RFK's honor, not to honor Kennedy, but to report on who was there and whether they were crying, etc. In other words, he wanted to know who was loyal to Kennedy, and thus, who he should consider an "enemy." Johnson was of the same mind-set. It is still little-appreciated in academic circles, but Johnson was completely obsessed with the thought RFK was gonna get him, and find some way to blame him for the JFK assassination. Johnson made at least three phone calls to Fortas in which he claimed Bobby was behind Mark Lane, etc, and that they were all out to get him. 

Lyndon Johnson wanted to name the stadium for the Washington Redskins after HIMSELF but it was named RFK Stadium 

https://twitter.com/HowardMortman/status/1282800963905114120 

Jeff Sheshol on C-SPAN 1997: "Johnson wanted it named after himself. He thought it would appropriately be named LBJ Stadium. But a group of Kennedy aides in Interior Department under Stewart Udall...plot was crafted..."