Birchite Sees Communist Influence In Kennedy's Programs and Death

President Kennedy's assassination was a direct result of the "international Communist conspiracy," Col. Laurence F. Bunker '26, U.S. Army (Ret.), a member of the John Birch Society's Advisory Council, told an International Student Association Forum last night.

The truth is not likely to be made known to the American people, however, because Chief Justice Earl Warren, the head of the investigating commission, has prejudged the case, Bunker added. "Immediately after the assassination, both Warren and Khrushchev stated that Kennedy's death was the result of hate stirred up by right-wing groups. I can only hope that the similarity of these statement is an unfortunate coincidence."

Bunker also claimed that Kennedy was easily manipulated by Moscow during his lifetime, although he refused to state whether the late president was a conscious Communist agent, or merely a dupe of the Soviets.

Kennedy's espousal of the doctrine of peaceful coexistence, his negotiation of the wheat-trade deal with the USSR, his introduction of federal civil rights legislation, and his "management" of the news, were cited by Bunker as instances of Communist influence.

Bunker claimed that civil rights issues should properly be handled by the states. He said that the legislation favored by Kennedy tended to centralize power is the federal government and make it potentially easier for the internal Communist conspiracy to effect a coup d'etat and control the political life of the United States from Washington.