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@ -20,13 +20,26 @@ Johnson's ties to [[Israel]] were strong, influenced by his close advisers like
Johnson's strong emotional ties to Israel and his belief that Soviet arms were altering the balance of power in the [[Middle East]] drove him to become the first American President to supply Israel with offensive weapons and the first publicly to commit America to its defense. In the early years of his presidency, he echoed Kennedy's policy by urging Israel to submit [[Dimona]] to [[International Atomic Energy Agency|IAEA]] inspection, motivated by his belief that a nuclear Israel could lead to a nuclear [[Egypt]], increased Soviet involvement, and potentially war.[^1]
### Intelligence during the June 1967 crisis and war
On the morning of May 23, 1967, Johnson summoned [[Richard Helms]] from a congressional briefing and asked for an assessment of the Middle East situation. [[David S. Robarge]], the CIA's chief historian, writes that Johnson declined to airlift special military supplies to Israel or to support it publicly, and quotes Johnson's later recollection of telling the Israeli foreign minister [[Abba Eban]] on May 26: "All of our intelligence people are unanimous that if the UAR attacks, you will whip hell out of them."[^2] On May 25 [[Walt Rostow]] sent Johnson an Israeli intelligence estimate with a CIA appraisal attached that, in Rostow's words, "throws a great deal of cold water on the Israeli estimate"; a handwritten "L" on the memorandum indicates that the President saw it.[^3]
On June 5, 1967, Johnson told congressional leaders that he had been expecting Israel's move, which Robarge attributes to CIA analyses and a tip from Helms. Helms recalled that "in the midst of one meeting" during the war Johnson asked how accurate his intelligence was on the progress of the war, and that he answered it was accurate "just as long as the Israelis are winning."[^2]
Notes of the [[National Security Council]] Special Committee meeting of June 9 record [[Clark Clifford]] saying that the attack on the [[USS Liberty Incident|USS Liberty]] should be handled "as if Arabs or USSR had done it" and calling it "Inconceivable that it was accident"; the note-taker's marginal notation next to the remarks reads: "President subscribed 100%."[^4] On June 12 Johnson requested a special study on the strafing and torpedoing of the ship, covering pilot conversations and "everything we can get" from the [[NSA|National Security Agency]]; Rostow sent a preliminary CIA report on June 13 as the "CIA's first cut at the problem," noting "They do not find evidence of U.S. identification before the attack."[^5] On June 26 Rostow sent Johnson the proposed public release of the Navy Court of Inquiry summary, noting that the Israelis had asked for 24 hours of lead time and that Deputy Secretary of Defense [[Cyrus Vance]] was inclined to give 12; the 12-hour option is the one checked.[^6]
### Bobby Baker
Lyndon B. Johnson served as the 36th President of the United States. His rise to power emanated directly from his friends in Texas oil, including the [[Clint Murchison, Sr.|Murchison family]].[^2]
Lyndon B. Johnson served as the 36th President of the United States. His rise to power emanated directly from his friends in Texas oil, including the [[Clint Murchison, Sr.|Murchison family]].[^7]
As Senate Majority Leader, Johnson made [[Bobby Baker]] his secretary of the Senate Democrats in 1955, referring to Baker as "my strong right arm, the last man I see at night, the first I see in the morning." A major scandal brewed around Baker in the autumn of 1963, involving numerous questionable deals that were tightly interwoven with the Murchison family and organized crime figures.[^2]
As Senate Majority Leader, Johnson made [[Bobby Baker]] his secretary of the Senate Democrats in 1955, referring to Baker as "my strong right arm, the last man I see at night, the first I see in the morning." A major scandal brewed around Baker in the autumn of 1963, involving numerous questionable deals that were tightly interwoven with the Murchison family and organized crime figures.[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 9.
[^2]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^2]: Robarge, David S. "Getting it Right: CIA Analysis of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War." *Studies in Intelligence* 49, no. 1 (March 2005). https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/CIA-Analysis-1967-War.pdf Robarge quotes Helms's memoir and Johnson's The Vantage Point.
[^3]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 61, Memorandum from Rostow to President Johnson, May 25, 1967, with attached CIA appraisal. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d61
[^4]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 236, Notes of a Meeting of the Special Committee of the National Security Council, June 9, 1967 (Saunders's handwritten notes). https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d236
[^5]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 284, Intelligence Memorandum, "The Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty," June 13, 1967, with source note on Helms's notes of the June 12 meeting and Rostow's covering memorandum of June 13. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d284
[^6]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XIX, Document 324, Memorandum from Rostow to President Johnson, June 26, 1967. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v19/d324
[^7]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.