We Found a Russian Princess While Looking For Merson Booth's Parents

If there is anything we have learned from the JFK assassination and the attempted Trump coup d'etat, there are probably some White Russian royalists lurking in the shadows if the conspiracy is big enough. 

First, a point of clarification.

Aside from the cocktail, the term "White Russian" can mean:

1. A person from White Russia or White Ruthenia, "a territory in the eastern part of present-day Belarus." 
2. Anyone from Belarus, under the presumption that "White" is "an archaic literal translation for Belarus." 
3. A member of the "White" movement during the Russian Civil War. The forces that opposed the "Red" movement (Communist/Boslshevik.) They were often monarchists, or those that remained loyal to the Russian Royal family, but also included Russian Nationalists, Ukranian and other regional Nationalist proponents ("Free Lithuania", "Free Belorus",  anti-Soviets, pro-democracy and other factions, the common denominator being anti-Red.)
• Also narrowly, emigres from Imperial Russia during and after the civil war that remained actively opposed to the Reds while in exile.
• More Broadly, any emigre from Imperial Russia during the civil war, whether or not they cared about returning to Russia. (ie. forced out of Russia but no plans to return.)

What was Merson Booth's "White Privilege?"

We called attention Merson Booth in this post "The Gibson Island Atomic Lighthouse and Introduction to Merson Booth" a few days ago. Briefly, we are interested in learning more about Merson Booth (1924-2012)  for the following reasons:

• Member of the Gibson Island Club.
• Recruited by Admiral Hyman Rickover to work on US Navy Nuclear Submarine Program.
• Contemporary of, and likely worked directly with, Zalman Shapiro, founder of NUMEC and central figure in "The Apollo Affair" (the illegal sale of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) to Israel in 1960s.)
• Worked for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) during the period the HEU went missing and was involved in the investigation of a radiation incident less than an hour away from the NUMEC plant in Apollo, Pennsylvania. 

Naturally, we like to know more about the background whenever we come across suspicious characters from Gibson Island, especially when they have connections to important conspiracies.

Since Gibson Island is so exclusive and limited in size, residents (property owners) are "privileged" to live there. In our research into the history and families of Gibson Island, we have noticed a few broad patterns with which we can suggest a stereotypical family. These stereotypes, especially for pre-World War II founding families, with much overlap, include:

• WWI War Profiteers
• Standard Oil "Trusters" (Rockefeller relatives, as well as early investors, partners, corporate officers and bought-out competitors of Standard Oil before it was broken up in 1911.)
• Colonial Founders (Mayflower and early Virginia descendants, etc.)
• Revolutionary War Fighters & Declaration Signers
• "Spurious Nobility" (ie. family can claim some type of lineage to a European Royal Family.)
• "Confederate Royalty" (ie. a great-grandfather [great-great, etc.] was a high ranking officer in the Confederate Army or politician.
• "Baltimore Brahmans" (Social Register listed families from nearby Baltimore.)
• Annapolis Admirals

We believe that residents and families of Gibson Island that purchased houses later in the 20th century likely fall into one or more of the categories above, but there may be a few exceptions. These exceptions might include people that ingratiated themselves via displays of competence while undertaking a specific mission for the Deep State. A few of the Admirals, Intelligence Officers, Media Manipulators, Academics and Industry Leaders might fall into the category. Nonetheless, we would not be surprised to find out if most of the newer members of the Gibson Island Gang, were put in a position to demonstrate competence, and eventually progress to "Full Member" status, because their lineage could be traced to one or more of the bullet-pointed groups.  

Among the privileged, Merson is a descendant of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The Booths were a large family. William Booth had nine children (not all shown) and at least two of his children had eight children. We believe two Booths on the "Skull & Bones" Membership Roster from the 1880s are related to Merson Booth, as well as Clare "Booth" Luce. Further research is required.

Who are Merson Booth's "White Russians?"

We will often find that a suspicious character does not end up playing a roll in a conspiracy out of sheer coincidence. For example, as a member of the Gibson Island Club, Merson Booth would have rubbed shoulders with the Muellers and duPonts, who have already been connected to post WWII nuclear weapons and power projects (as well as pre-WWII weapons projects in general).

Booth also would have come into contact with Godfrey Rockefeller (worked for Bell Helicopter at same time as Lee Harvey Oslwald "friend" Michael Paine), and Harold Noel Arrowsmith, Jr., whom we can connect to George Lincoln Rockwell, the neo-Nazi founder believed to be an associate of several JFK assassination suspects, and Hans Reckenberg, an original Nazi that corresponded with Otto Skorzeny. See these posts:

• Arrowsmith & Rockwell Post: About the Gibson Islander Neo-Nazi Financier, the "Face" he Financed, and the Futile JFK File Search
• Arrowsmith - Reckenberg Skorzeny Post: Arrowsmith of Gibson Island, a Few More Familiar Names and a Dueling Scar

Along another line of inquiry that is discussed in this thread, Who was Edward Pierpont Morgan? Was Charles W. Lyons a CIA Cut Out? Did Otepka run across a Nazi Rat Line? we delve into a potential CIA sponsored effort to smuggle Nazi War criminals into the United States by disguising them as White Russians, using any of the definitions for White Russian we highlighted above.

As things tend to happen, a simple google search of the name "Merson Booth" pulled up "Irina Troubetzkoy" as some sort of relative. Russian names and anything nuclear related are always worth a look, so digging deeper into Irina revealed that she is married to William Clay Booth, the son of Merson, and a White Russian Princess.

Princess Irina Troubetzkoy hails from "The Princely House of Gagarin" which originates from the founder of Russia, "Rurik" in 867, according to this genealogy website http://www.gagarin.com/.

The full Family Tree of the House of Gagarin can be viewed at this link. Gargarin Family Tree - Beginning Year 879.

The Primary modern branches of the House of Gagarin are shown in the table below.

Other Information and References

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Related Follow Up Post: 

Wash, Rinse, Repeat at the Troika Laundromat

Link for Later Post:

George de Mohrenschildt (Deep Politics Forum)

  

The Gibson Island Atomic Lighthouse and Introduction to Merson Booth

In the years following the splitting of the atoms over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, scientists, government leaders and business men described a future where atoms would be split, at a slower pace, for fun and profit. 

Atomic Studebakers would whisk commuters to cities where the electricity was too cheap to meter. Flying cars, moving side walks, elevators to space, all powered by nuclear energy were the promise. While we are still waiting for our atomic powered flying cars, Gibson Island did manage to get the only Atomic Lighthouse in North America. 

"It's easy to grin, when your ship comes in,
and you've got the stock market beat..."

Members of the Gibson Island Yacht Squadron have no doubt appreciated the sight of the Lighthouse (officially the Baltimore Harbor Light) after a long sail from Newport or Bermuda, since the Gibson Island Yacht Club was created in the 1920s. The children and grand children of the original Club founders, such as the Eugene DuPonts, the Gifford Pinchots, and the Sifford Pearres (a relative of General Charles "Pearre" Cabell, and Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell)  probably radiated with pride when a nuclear light was installed in 1964, before being replaced a year later with conventional power.

We can only guess as to why the Gibson Island approaches were chosen to test the first and only nuclear powered lighthouse. Perhaps Gibson Island resident Merson Booth thought it was a good idea and was in the position to make it happen.

Merson Booth passed away in 2012 at the age of 88. He spent his entire career in the Nuclear industry. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1946, Merson was assigned to work on the US Nuclear Weapons program in Los Alamos, NM.

In the 1950s, Admiral Hyman S. Rickover recruited Merson Booth "to participate in the early development of the Navy's first nuclear-powered vessels" according to his Washington Post Obituary.

In 1958, Merson resigned from the Navy and joined the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He retired in 1972 as chief of systems at the age of 48. (The WAPO obituary does not make it clear if Merson just retired from the AEC and went to work somewhere else or retired permanently.)

Merson Booth Obituary - 12/2/2012 (Part 1)

Merson Booth Obituary - 12/2/2012 (Part 2)

How do you sneak 300 lbs. of Highly Enriched Uranium out the back door

We have another series of posts in progress where we present facts, opine and speculate on an incident called The Apollo Affair. The Wikidpedia summary is below.

The Apollo Affair was a 1965 incident in which a US company, Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC), in the Pittsburgh suburbs of Apollo and Parks Township, Pennsylvania was investigated for losing 200–600 pounds (91–272 kg) of highly enriched uranium, with suspicions that it had gone to Israel's nuclear weapons program. Full Wikipedia Article

Our posts are more focused on the possible financial mechanisms that could be used to launder the large sums of money that must have changed hands in order to move HEU from Pittsburgh to Israel. The Posts (so far) are here:

The Apollo Affair, Missing Uranium and Katy Perry (Part 1)
The Apollo Affair, Missing Uranium and Katy Perry (Part 2)
The Apollo Affair, Missing Uranium and Katy Perry (Part 3)
The Apollo Affair, Missing Uranium and Katy Perry (Part 4)

Our broader thesis, with respect to the Apollo Affair is that Zalman Shapiro, the President of NUMEC is not at the "tippy-top" of the conspiracy pyramid and that he must have had help from government agencies, and/or the Navy, and/or other Uranium industry companies to be able to pull off the caper. In short, the government agencies and other entities that were responsible for keeping tabs on weapons grade uranium had to have been persuaded to look the other way.

The AEC, where Merson Booth worked, was the primary agency that was mandated to keep track of all sorts of nuclear material, including the HEU at Apollo. They were also the primary agency in charge of investigating the loss of the HEU.

The "persuaders" would naturally be wealthy and powerful, so when we discovered that Merson Booth was a member of the Gibson Island Club, we figured we had a good lead.

Manhattans at the Gibson Island Club

Your finer and more exclusive Eastern Establishment clubs will usually have a "signature" cocktail that you must have at least one of before switching to your preferred cocktail. The Gibson Island Club probably has one. We don't know what it is, but for narrative purposes, we'll say its a "Manhattan" as in "Manhattan Project Cocktail."

How exactly Merson got involved with the Gibson Island Gang, we have no idea. Nevertheless, he would have been useful in the illicit weapons trade business the gang started back in World War 1. Maybe over Manhattan's, Merson mentioned he worked with Zalman Shapiro under Admiral Rickover's nuclear boat project.

That Merson worked for the AEC is also more than a curiosity and deserves a deeper dive in to the archives. In the meantime, Merson's involvement in a "Radiation Incident" is also worth a closer look.

• Radiation Incident, Westinghouse Testing Reactor, Waltz Mills, PA - April 18, 1960
• Investigation of Radiation Incident, May 27, 1960

The Radiation Incident

Merson Booth was a member of the AEC committee that investigated the radiation incident at Waltz Mills. We are still going through the documents that are linked above. In the meantime, our cynicism prevents us from dismissing the proximity of Waltz Mills, PA from Apollo PA, where the AEC would discover in 1965, that 300 lbs. of HEU was missing, and it was eventually discovered that the HEU ended up in the hands of the Israelis. 

Apollo PA to Waltz Mills PA, 25 miles as the crow flies. 40 Minute Drive

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