Ep. 151 David Ramsay Steele on Socialist Calculation, Mental Illness, and the JFK Assassination
Libertarian writer David Ramsay Steele joins Bob for a fun tour of some essays from his collection, *The Mystery of Fascism*.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:
- The YouTube version of this interview.
- David Ramsay Steele’s books The Mystery of Fascism and From Marx to Mises. #CommissionsEarned (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
- Bryan Caplan’s article endorsing the Thomas Szasz approach to mental illness.
- Comedian Bill Hicks on the JFK assassination.
- Help support the Bob Murphy Show.
The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.
About the author, Robert
Christian and economist, Chief Economist at infineo, and Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute.
I really like Mr. Steele, but his arguments supporting the Warren Commission’s conclusions about the JFK assassination are weak.
Just a few things off the top of my head:
Ed Hoffman actually witnessed a guy firing at JFK from the grassy knoll. He even gave a statement to the Dallas Police. After the Warren report came out he went to the FBI. He told this to several people at the time. He was never called before the Warren Commission (which only interviewed witnesses vetted by the FBI, doing no independent investigation on their own). The fact that he was a deaf mute and had to communicate in sign language may have had something to do with them not taking him seriously. But his written statement is in unambiguous, perfect English.
At least one of the doctors (Crenshaw) who examined JFK in the hospital was absolutely certain that the small wound in his neck was an entrance wound.
Another witness testified to seeing a bullet hole in the windshield. The car was immediately removed and dismantled (very suspicious behavior, since it was the number one piece of forensic evidence) and sent to a shop to be repaired, where another guy also testified to having seen a bullet hole in the windshield. Of course, the Warren Commission never took testimony from either of these people. You can view their interviews in the video series The Men Who Killed Kennedy.
There was a witness to the shooting of Officer Tippit (Acquila Clemons) who was not heard by the Warren Commission, but you can view her filmed interview by Mark Lane on YouTube. She claimed she saw two men kill Tippit, neither one of whom looked like Oswald.
Numerous witnesses claimed to have seen Ruby and Oswald together at Ruby’s nightclub. No interest from the FBI or Warren Commission, of course.
Roger Stone says that he and Richard Nixon were watching TV and when Ruby was on the news, Nixon jumped up and said that he recognized Ruby as “Lyndon’s boy.” (Meaning Ruby had worked for LBJ)
Contrary to what Steele says, there is LOTS of evidence that JFK was planning to pull out of Vietnam. Look up National Security Action Memorandum 263, dated Oct. 11, 1963. Or read this: https://whowhatwhy.org/2017/09/26/jfk-ordered-full-withdrawal-vietnam-solid-evidence/
Steele claims that people would have come forward. As you yourself pointed out, Bob, people have! Howard Hunt fessed up to his involvement before he died. James Files is also on video saying that he shot JFK from the grassy knoll. I’m not sure if he is telling the truth or not, but his story ought to be investigated.
Or how about Rose Chemarie? She came forward two days BEFORE the assassination. On Nov. 20, 1963 Cheramie said: “… she had been thrown out of a car by two gangsters who worked for Jack Ruby. She claimed that the men were involved in a plot to kill John F. Kennedy. Cheramie added that Kennedy would be killed in Dallas within a few days. Later she told the same story to doctors and nurses who treated her. As she appeared to be under the influence of drugs her story was ignored. Following the assassination, Cheramie was interviewed by the police. She claimed that Lee Harvey Oswald had visited Ruby’s night club. In fact, she believed the two men were having a homosexual relationship.” https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKcheramie.htm
I could go on and on. It’s been several years since I studied this, but the evidence that the lone nut theory is bogus is overwhelming.