On Thursday night, Nov. 21, 1963, the last evening prior to Camelot's demise, I attended a social at Clint Murchison's home. It was my understanding that the event was scheduled as a tribute honoring his long time friend, J. Edgar Hoover (whom Murchison had first met decades earlier through President William Howard Taft), and his companion, Clyde Tolson. Val Imm, the society editor for the now-defunct Dallas Times Herald, unwittingly documented one of the most significant gatherings in American history. The impressive guest list included John McCloy, Richard Nixon, George Brown, R. L. Thornton, H. L. Hunt and a host of others from the 8F group. The jovial party was just breaking up when Lyndon made an unscheduled visit. I was the most surprised by his appearance since Jesse had not mentioned anything about Lyndon's coming to Clint's. With Lyndon's hectic schedule, I never dreamed he could attend the big party. After all, he had arrived in Dallas on Tuesday to attend the Pepsi-Cola convention. Tension filled the room upon his arrival. The group immediately went behind closed doors. A short time later Lyndon, anxious and red-faced, reappeared I knew how secretly Lyndon operated. Therefore I said nothing... not even that I was happy to see him. Squeezing my hand so hard, it felt crushed from the pressure, he spoke with a grating whisper, a quiet growl, into my ear, not a love message, but one I'll always remember: "After tomorrow those goddamn Kennedys will never embarrass me again - that's no threat - that's a promise."

Madeleine Brown, reported to be Johnson’s mistress for twenty years, has publicly stated that Johnson had foreknowledge of the assassination. But did Johnson really have enough power to initiate the assassination and force literally dozens of government officials and agents to lie and cover up that fact? Probably not.

Madeleine Brown was one of Johnson's lovers during his Senate career and later. She had a son by Johnson and was paid through Brazos-Tenth, the money-laundering corporation.

Just a few weeks later (after the assassination) I mentioned to him that people in Dallas were saying he himself had something to do with it. He became really violent, really ugly, and said it was American Intelligence and oil that were behind it. Then he left the room and slammed the door It scared me.

Madeleine has claimed over the years that she attended a party at Clint Murchison’s house the night before the assassination and LBJ, Hoover and Nixon were there. The party story, without LBJ, first came from Penn Jones in Forgive My Grief. In that version, the un-credited source was a black chauffeur whom Jones didn’t identify, and the explanation Jones gave was that it was the last chance to decide whether or not to kill JFK. Of course, Hoover used only top FBI agents for transportation and in the FBI of 1963, none were black. Actually, there is no confirmation for a party at Murchison’s. I asked Peter O’Donnell because Madeleine claimed he was there, too. Peter said there was no party. Madeleine even said there was a story about it in the Dallas Times Herald some months later (which makes no sense), but she had not been able to find it. Val Imm (Society Editor of the Dallas Times Herald) told Bob Porter (of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza staff) recently she had no memory of such an event and even looked through her notes - in vain.

Could LBJ have been at a Murchison party? No. LBJ was seen and photographed in the Houston Coliseum with JFK at a dinner and speech. They flew out around 10pm and arrived at Carswell (Air Force Base in northwest Fort Worth) at 11:07 Thursday night. Their motorcade to the Hotel Texas arrived about 11:50 and LBJ was again photographed. He stayed in the Will Rogers suite on the 13th floor and Manchester (William Manchester - author of The Death of a President) says he was up late. Could Nixon have been at Murchison’s party? No. Tony Zoppi (Entertainment Editor of The Dallas Morning News) and Don Safran (Entertainment Editor of the Dallas Times Herald) saw Nixon at the Empire Room at the Statler-Hilton. He walked in with Joan Crawford (Movie actress). Robert Clary (of Hogan’s Heroes fame) stopped his show to point them out, saying “. . . either you like him or you don’t.” Zoppi thought that was in poor taste, but Safran said Nixon laughed. Zoppi’s deadline was 11pm, so he stayed until 10:30 or 10:45 and Nixon was still there.

Madeleine Brown bore President Lyndon Johnson's son, Steven Mark Brown. She and the young Senator, later President, maintained an affair for 21 years through the period he was in the White House. These were historic times when war, disorder and international turmoil rent the world. Brown describes in riveting detail these events passing through the lives of ordinary people, and those who had to deal with crisis after crisis. In the midst of all the tumult was the private life and love of a woman and her children with no father. It is, to put it mildly, a great story.

But this is a poignant tale, one of live and an illegitimate son whom Johnson could not publicly acknowledge. Above all it is a romantic and erotic love story, the story of a young girl fallen in love with a man who was determined to be President. Madeleine Brown, a young advertising executive, got to know everyone who was anyone in Dallas, and became convinced that they conspired, along with her lover, to kill President Kennedy and go to war in Vietnam. Brown tells it like it is and does not mince words. This is a bawdy, lusty, and honest book and those who are in haste to sit in judgement should stay away. Perhaps there has never been a book like this to reach print and the public - an erotic and romantic love story of a President and his mistress. Its truth is that we are all human and all alike in our needs and failings.

This book sings. It has some of the greatest historical writing in American literature. The long description, by someone who lived in Dallas at the time, of the 24 hours before President Kennedy came to Dallas, his assassination and the immediate aftermath beats Jim Bishop by a mile. The tragedy and pathos in this story, along with love and joy and great achievement, add up to an extraordinary book of great power. After all, President Johnson, for all his faults and for the possibility that he in some way participated in various murders including that of President Kennedy, had an amazing string of achievements in his presidency that no other president might have duplicated. In a sense, he carried through Kennedy's program where Kennedy might have had no chance to do so at all. But soon Johnson's achievements in his own "Great Society" program turned to bitter fruit, the joy of life and success soured, and he died a bitter and tormented man. The horror of 22 November 1963 and the Vietnam war was forever to haunt him.