JFK The Enduring Secret - Episode 188 The Reverend Raymond Broshears Part 1

Episode 188 The Reverend Raymond Broshears Part 1

Explicit content warning

10/05/23 • 55 min

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JFK The Enduring Secret

Episode 188 is the first in a two part mini- series wander covering the Reverend Raymond Broshears. Broshears was one of the most bizarre witnesses that surfaced during the Garrison investigation. He met David Ferrie in New Orleans and became rather good friends with him. They were sexual partners as well. According to the story that the good Reverend told back in the day, Ferrie confided in Broshears after the fact, regarding his involvement in the assassination plot to kill the president, with Ferrie participating as the pilot who was to fly two of the assassins out of the country. The two men were purportedly the shooters who were situated on the Grassy Knoll. The assassins changed the plan and apparently escaped by others means, thereby eliminating the need for Ferrie to fly them out of the country. Broshears was a homosexual who was also an ordained minister. Among his many notable notable assertions, he claimed to have had sex with Lee Harvey Oswald. After a sordid period of his life in which he was charged with sex crimes involving a minor, he would make his way to New Orleans and begin a tail that you will hear in this episode and capped off by his testimony to the House Select Committee on Assassinations some ten years after his interviews with the Garrison team. After 1965, he moved to California in search of a new start in his life, and ended up as a rather controversial figure out there. Broshears appeared on a local Southern California television show, where he revealed the startling fact that he knew Ferrie and he told the story rather matter of factly to the television audience of what Ferrie told him of his involvement in the assassination. The show happened to be watched by a Garrison investigator living in the area, and Garrison and his team immediately moved to interview Broshears. Four interviews were conducted, including two which took place in New Orleans. However, Garrison and his team, while they believed Broshears was telling the truth about the basic facts related to Ferrie, declined to use him in the Clay Shaw trial. Listen to this episode, which includes the audio from that original television appearance, and I think you will understand why. Even so, he is an important part of the history of the investigation and we leave it up to you as a juror to determine which parts of his testimony may be credible.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Previous Episode

Episode 187 Richard Case Nagell Part 5 Bonus Episode 3

Episode 187 is the fifth and final in a multi-part series covering Richard Case Nagell. This is third bonus episode as well, and it may be the the most interesting one yet. Addressing the Eroshkin incident, the Luma Hotel, and the death of Marine Emmett Dugan. Richard Case Nagell was a highly decorated United States Army veteran, counterintelligence officer, and former CIA Double Agent for a brief period with ties to Russia. Nagell was arrested on September 20, 1963 after he entered the State National Bank in El Paso, Texas and fired two shots into a wall at the bank. After firing the 45 calibre pistol, Nagel allowed himself to be taken into custody at the bank. Nagell had observed and then penetrated a group that included Lee Harvey Oswald and learned that they were planning the assassination of President Kennedy. Working as a double agent, he refused to execute the orders given by his Russian handler which was to foil the assassination plot by convincing Oswald that he was being set up as a patsy or, in the event he was not successful in doing that, to kill Oswald instead. Shortly before the bank incident, Nagell sent a letter to J. Edgar Hoover exposing the plot. Not surprisingly, the letter was never acknowledged by the FBI. Nagell met twice with New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison who at the time was investigating Clay Shaw's possible complicity in the assassination. The famous character Mr. X in Oliver Stone’s movie JFK is modeled after Richard Case Nagell. Nagell, like so many other characters in the JFK story, had a fascinating life and he first crossed paths with Oswald while Oswald was stationed in Japan at Atsugi Air Force Base. He would survive two military airplane crashes but the injuries sustained in the most serious of the two crashes were later hypothesized to have possibly impacted his mental health and they were the subject of an intense examination during his criminal trial related to the bank charges. Nagell died at the age of 65 in Los Angeles, California...one day after receiving his subpoena to appear before the Assassination Records Review Board. It would have been his first ever appearance under oath to discuss what he knew about the assassination. Previously, he had not testified or given statements about it to any government arm that was officially investigating the assassination. Although he officially died of a heart attack, he had no previous history of heart problems and is included in that dubious category of mysterious deaths that occurred amongst witnesses in the aftermath of the assassination.

Richard Case Nagell may be the single most fascinating character in the JFK story, and Nagell's story is yet another moment where fact is stranger than fiction in the case of the JFK assassination. Come join us for this multi-part series covering one of the most interesting story tells contained in our podcast series.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.

Next Episode

Episode 189 The Reverend Raymond Broshears Part 2

Episode 189 is the second and last in a two part mini- series wander covering the Reverend Raymond Broshears. In today's final mini-series "wander" episode, we present Broshears' taped audio deposition that he gave to the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA). Broshears was one of the most bizarre witnesses that surfaced during the Garrison investigation. He met David Ferrie in New Orleans and became rather good friends with him. They were sexual partners as well. According to the story that the good Reverend told back in the day, Ferrie confided in Broshears after the fact, regarding his involvement in the assassination plot to kill the president, with Ferrie participating as the pilot who was to fly two of the assassins out of the country. The two men were purportedly the shooters who were situated on the Grassy Knoll. The assassins changed the plan and apparently escaped by others means, thereby eliminating the need for Ferrie to fly them out of the country. Broshears was a homosexual who was also an ordained minister. Among his many notable notable assertions, he claimed to have had sex with Lee Harvey Oswald. After a sordid period of his life in which he was charged with sex crimes involving a minor, he would make his way to New Orleans and begin a tail that you will hear in these two episodes and capped off by today's rendering of his testimony to the House Select Committee on Assassinations which occurred some ten years after his interviews with the Garrison team. After 1965, he moved to California in search of a new start in his life, and ended up as a rather controversial figure out there. Broshears appeared on a local Southern California television show, where he revealed the startling fact that he knew Ferrie and he told the story rather matter of factly to the television audience regarding what Ferrie told him of his involvement in the assassination. The show happened to be watched by a Garrison investigator living in the area, and Garrison and his team immediately moved to interview Broshears. Four interviews were conducted, including two which took place in New Orleans. However, Garrison and his team, while they believed Broshears was telling the truth about the basic facts related to Ferrie, declined to use him in the Clay Shaw trial. Listen to these two episodes combined , and I think you will understand why. Even so, he is an important part of the history of the investigation, and we leave it up to you as a juror to determine which parts of his testimony may be credible.
Even as early as 1964, rumors and serious concerns over the lone gunman theory and the evidence that might contravene it, were becoming a major concern for the government and the commission. Conspiracy theories were contrary to the government's stated narrative from the very beginning. This real-life story is more fascinating than fiction. No matter whether you are a serious researcher or a casual student, you will enjoy the fact filled narrative and story as we relive one of the most shocking moments in American History. An event that changed the nation and changed the world forever.