January 1975--End of the Lost Weekend.



June 1975--Interviewed by Pete Hamill of Rolling Stone, Lennon says that he has become “jumpy” and “nervous” about offering political commentary.

Commentary: This proves that Lennon had made a conscious decision to stifle his political activities and comments out of a conscious concern for his well-being (professional, personal or otherwise).


June 1975--Chapman goes to Beirut.

Commentary: Chapman himself defines this as a pivotal moment in his life, despite the fact that according to all other sources he did virtually nothing. Chapman himself was evasive about what he did to make himself so proud of the time he spent there. Bresler and Brussell would be correct in assuming that Chapman had become desensitized to violence (or ’blooded,’ in spy parlance) during this time. This change was noted by the Blankenship family upon his return.

Bresler correctly notes the irony of the YMCA rejecting Chapman’s application to Moscow because he doesn’t speak Russian, but sends him to Beirut, despite the fact that he doesn’t speak Arabic, either. Beirut was far more unstable and dangerous a place than the Soviet capitol. In hindsight, it would seem that he would have been a better fit in the USSR.

Speculation: It would seem reasonable to think that something happened to Chapman other than his abortive efforts to work for the YMCA, there--hence Bresler and Brussell’s concern about this period in his life. Then again, one might say that Mark might have imagined something happened because he tends to imagine all sorts of things.


August 1975 - December 1975--Chapman goes to work for the YMCA at Ft. Chaffee.

Elaboration: Specifically, Chapman organized and executed youth programs for Vietnamese refugees temporarily displaced by the fall of Saigon.

Commentary: A number of South Vietnamese aided or fought with US forces during the 1960s and early-1970s. Many feared imprisonment and execution as traitors. The US exfiltrated as many of these folks as they could. Some of them wound up at Ft. Chaffee.

Bresler and Brussell saw Ft. Chaffee as the beginning of Intel‘s hypnoprogramming of Chapman. Assuming Chapman were programmed by someone, that could have happened earlier (say in Beirut) or later (when he’s visiting psychiatric clinics around Honolulu).

Speculation: Seems to me that Chapman would have been too busy to have been indoctrinated at this time, if the descriptions of his activities by David Moore and others are accurate. By comparison, Johnny Gray Jr. testified that Sirhan Sirhan’s handlers isolated him for long stretches of time--for weeks.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that Chapman was isolated for long stretches of time at Ft. Chaffee, and that his superiors falsely reported him present and active in the day-to-day activities.


October 7, 1975--Lennon allowed to stay in US by order of US District Court of Appeals.

Commentary: After a long, arduous battle, Lennon allowed to stay in the US.



October 9, 1975--Birth of Sean Lennon.

Commentary: After years of trial, it would seem that everything is coming Lennon’s way.



October 1975 - Summer 1980--Lennon’s quasi-retirement.

Commentary: For the most part, Lennon stayed out of the limelight during these years.

Speculation: If he ever had an understanding that his silence was critical for permission to stay in the US, Lennon might have interpreted further silence as necessary for gaining citizenship.

Although the Lennons maintain that he spent his time being a devoted father, other sources (among them Albert Goldman and Lennon’s personal assistant, Fred Seaman) say that these were wasteful, wanton years, marked by Lennon’s virulent heroin relapse. If such were true, then it would seem Lennon’s decision to withdraw didn’t have much to do with concentrating on fatherhood as much as it was avoiding publicity and political entanglements.

Of course, the condemnation of Goldman’s biography on Lennon are many and diverse because of alleged problems in accuracy. As for Seaman, many point out that he stole Lennon’s diary, and quoted it contrary to context to make it seem far more sensationalistic than it actually was. On a more sinister note, Lennon’s friend, Elliot Mintz, believed that some of the information falsely attributed to and taken out of context from the diaries might have been published by authors connected to the CIA.



April 24, 1976--NBC’s Saturday Night Live Producer Lorne Michaels, as a joke, offers the Beatles $3,000 to play for the show.

Elaboration: On this particular night, Paul McCartney and his wife Linda Eastman were visiting the Lennons in New York at the time Michaels made the offer. According to both, Lennon and McCartney seriously considered going to 30 Rock to take Michaels up on his offer, but eventually decided against it. According to Linda, the McCartneys left the following morning, and never made another visit.

Figure 1. Lorne Michaels makes the offer.




Commentary: Reportedly, Ringo Starr and George Harrison were also in the Big Apple that night. I cannot ascertain that for certain. Still, a Lennon and McCartney reunion would have been a major coup for the show, and could have become a major step in reuniting the band, as many fans would have hoped.

One can certainly understand the reasons for them wanting to do the show (although the check wouldn’t have been one of them). But the reasons given for not going through with it have been rather vague, and swirled with rumor.


Speculation: Some have rumored that at some point during the night, Lennon and Eastman had an affair, putting a fresh rift in the friendship between he and McCartney. That’s why they decided against the gig.


That doesn’t seem likely to me. After all, Lennon had just gotten out of Ono’s doghouse. Unless he wanted to go back in, I don’t see why he would have even conceived of it. Then too, if they were planning to perform that night, one would have to surmise that this tryst somehow took place during a commercial break.

Another rumor was that both Lennon and McCartney were eager to do it, but cancelled for “security reasons.” That would be interesting if they did, for Lennon walked around town without bodyguards on a routine basis (including the night of his death). He certainly wouldn’t have had security issues going to NBC, if the network sent a limousine for him, because the limo would have arrived and departed through a secret entrance, and security would have guarded the studio during the live taping.

Suppose Lennon and McCartney had decided upon doing it. At the time, McCartney would have been aware of past Lennon’s immigration problems. Still the court ruling in Lennon’s favor would make the issue seem settled. On the other hand, he might not have known about the death threats Lennon had been getting since 1972. Maybe Ono feared Lennon going into the limelight and courting disaster. Moreover, she might have felt it necessary to warn McCartney of the danger he might have faced were he to take the stage with John--not necessarily with his life, but with his career, his family, his piece of mind, and so on.



June 1976--Lennon receives his green card, and has permission to apply for US citizenship in 1981.



January 1977--Chapman relocates to Honolulu over the objection of Dana Reeves.

Elaboration: Initially staying at the ritzy Moana Hotel, he quickly ran low on money and job prospects. He subsequently checked into a local YMCA hostel.

In letters to Jessica Blankenship, Chapman complained about the unemployment and the poverty he found in Hawaii. Blankenship urged him to return to DeKalb. He mistakenly interpreted this as a reconciliation overture. He returned to Hawaii when it became clear to him that Blankenship saw him as a friend only.

Commentary: Note that when Chapman first came to New York to kill John Lennon, this pattern of high-living followed by penny-pinching would continue. On his last trip to NYC, however, this pattern was reversed.

Speculation: If Chapman felt some sort of undue influence, especially from Reeves, relocating to Hawaii makes sense. After all, it’s as far as you can get from Georgia and still be warm all year 'round in the US.

Bresler and Brussell both noted the huge presence of the US Navy in Hawaii, and speculated that it would have given Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) doctors to work on him in the local clinics and hospitals where he went.