In reponse to a poignant HuffPo piece, Jean Davison says the late Paul Mandel of Life magazine was wrong, but not necessarily lying, when he mistated some facts about JFK’s assassination. Read more
Review
Warren Commissioner says ‘history will prove us right.’
Howard Willens, a former senior staff attorney for the Warren Commission, has a new book coming out that insists the first investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was the best and most accurate.
The book is called “History Will Prove Us Right.” Read about it here on (on Amazon.com). Read more
Best new JFK website
For a snapshot of young America thinking about the assassination of JFK, check out WhokilledJFK.org
This is a polished website created by the students in an honors American History course on JFK’s assassination taught by Don Fulsome at American University in Washington DC.
I spoke to the class last week and came away impressed by the level of thoughtfulness. It’s clear these young people have grasped the complexities of November 22. I’m going to post some of the comments I received from the students in the days ahead.
Stephen Hunter goes ballistic: ‘The Third Bullet’ rethinks the JFK story
Bob Lee Swagger cracks the case.
Stephen Hunter is the cleverest JFK assassination conspiracy theorist to come along in many a year, so clever that few of his fellow theorists have even noticed that he is one.
In his latest novel, “The Third Bullet,” Hunter pulls off a an authorly act of legerdemain: he dresses up a rigorous reading of the forensic evidence about the assassination fo President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in the guise of an international shoot ‘em up thriller.
The trail of adventure runs from Baltimore to Moscow to Dallas as Hunter’s creaky alter ego Bob Lee Swagger, a humble soldier of fortune who packs a mean pistol, solves the crime of the century while chatting up old buddies and twitching for a drink. Read more
Q & A with Jeff Greenfield: ‘I have revisited my revisionism’
After writing up the news of Jeff Greenfield’s forthcoming book, “What If JFK Had Lived?” I contacted him to see if he would answer some questions about the book’s scope and purpose. He responded right away by email. Read more
NatGeo’s un-journalism on JFK
The re-broadcast of National Geographic’s JFK documentary, The Lost Bullet, in Canada last weekend is another reminder of how stilted and weird the mainstream media discussion of JFK assassination is. I haven’t seen the film yet, so I won’t comment on the particulars of its thesis.
But the film’s not-terribly relevant point illuminates a curious phenomenon: how the obsession with conspiracy distorts, defines and limits the editorial vision of news organizations. It is a species of un-journalism.
Plausible suspect: William K. Harvey
“William King Harvey is worthy of our attention,” writes Alan Dale. In 1962, Harvey served as chief of Task Force W, the CIA’s anti-Castro operation, and then lost his job after an argument with Attorney General Robert Kennedy. When Congress investigated JFK’s assassination in the 1970s, the CIA pulled a 123-page file on Harvey’s operational activities.
All of that file remains secret, according to the National Archives online database.
Dale writes of Harvey:
Bill O’Reilly’s ‘fun’ JFK fictions
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was brutally and very publicly ambushed 49 years ago on November 22, 1963, though you wouldn’t know it from reading Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot, by Bill O’Reilly. Once closely read, however, it becomes apparent that the title is apt. The Fox Television host aims to assassinate JFK’s character today, and especially to obfuscate the truth of his murder. Read more
Tom Hanks and the politics of reassurance
Tom Hanks’ take on the JFK story is advancing. The actor/producer’s feature film, Parkland, about the events of November 22, 1963, has signed on A-list actors, Billy Bob Thornton, Paul Giamatti, and Jackie Weaver. The producers say the talented thespians will bring VIncent Bugliosi’s 2007 book, “Reclaiming History” to life. That will be a challenge.
Bugliosi’s tome is a flabby 1,600 page doorstop of polemic that managed to Read more
JFK conspiracy theories are a mug’s game
In a press release for his new JFK book author Mark Huffman tells us he is not offering a conspiracy theory. Thanks, Mark! That’s a good move.
Instead of speculating, Huffman offers four and half factually solid points about the JFK’s assassination, and one debatable assertion. My only disagreement
Indy Week’s useful JFK guide
The JFK assassination story is bleeping complicated.
From Indy Week, the North Carolina alt-weekly, comes a useful guide for making sense of it all: 13 documents you should read about the JFK assassination. Read more
The Yuma Sun hearts O’Reilly’s JFK yarn
But editor John Vaughn says there’s nothing new in the TV talk show host’s “Killing Kennedy.”
Which is unfortunately true. Read more