Speaker Phil Nelson's interest in the darker character traits of Lyndon B. Johnson actually began well before John F. Kennedy's assassination. Even as a sophomore in high school, in 1960, he was intrigued by magazine articles about Johnson which had appeared in a number of news magazines in the period of Johnson's vice presidency; one such incident occurred just weeks after the Kennedy-Johnson administration took office in January, 1961. It involved a radio announcement about the crash of an airplane on Johnson's ranch on February 17, 1961, a Friday, which went unreported until the following Monday. Nelson thought it seemed a little strange when the announcement was made on the high school PA system during English class; the class was assured that the vice president had not been injured, "only" the pilots were dead.

Phillip F. Nelson, after years of researching Johnson and the JFK assassination, concludes that the reason Johnson undermined Kennedy's domestic and foreign policy initiatives was for the purpose of cunningly saving them for his own legacy.  In this provocative book, Nelson examines Lyndon B. Johnson's flawed personality and character traits which were formed when he was a child, and the manipulation skills he perfected by the time he graduated from college. These skills, combined with his overpowering manic personality, amoral instincts, and thirst for power, allowed him to prosper both financially and politically during his years in Congress. Unfortunately, his "darker side" included a lifetime struggle with bipolar disorder, which he successfully hid from the public. His struggle would eventually be visited upon the American people.

Since his college days in 1967, Ernest has been studying and examining the assassination of JFK -- and specifically, the Warren Report that concluded its official investigations. He was fascinated by the story of Adams. A lonely woman in the city, an orphan, she happened to be looking out the fourth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository and saw the president murdered. She was standing in the same stairwell that Oswald himself was concluded to have hurriedly scaled down to make his escape. From the sixth floor, Oswald would have passed right by Adams, who swore she saw no such man.

After 35 years of searching for Adams, Ernest compiled his research in The Girl On The Stairs, a book that looks into the investigation and eventual discrediting of a valuable witness to the assassination of JFK by the Warren Commission.

With a degree in journalism and communications, Barry Ernest honed his skills as an investigative reporter and features writer at newspapers in New York and Pennsylvania. It was a tip from a friend in 1967 that started Mr. Ernest looking for answers to the John Kennedy assassination. The result of those lengthy efforts is THE GIRL ON THE STAIRS. His study of this subject over the years has led him to the witnesses of Dallas as well as the documents of the National Archives.

 gives you opportunity to honor your fellow researchers and authors while sampling the fare at the fabulous Adolphus Hotel. Last year conference attendees raved about this historic location and the superlative cuisine at the banquet.