We interrupt our regularly scheduled JFK programming for this special message. David Kaiser, a prolific and subtle diplomatic historian, has a piece on his blog,History Unfolding, that is well worth reading. Kaiser’s long historical perspective frames our political realities without pity.
Tag Archive for David Kaiser
Oswald and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee
A note from Professor David Kaiser, diplomatic historian and author of a fine JFK book, The Road to Dallas.
Kaiser’s account of Lee Oswald’s activism on behalf of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans is key to understanding the JFK story.
Attacking Trump’s JFK theories, the New York Times neglects the facts
The disturbing shadow of John F. Kennedy’s assassination remains visible in American politics and journalism.
Witness the appearance of Roger Stone, adviser to Donald Trump, at a symposium on Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans, which drew the attention of the New York Times (and the pro-Clinton attack group Media Matters.)
“At a time when talk of having lost the country is very much in vogue, along with deep suspicions of a powerful and secretive elite, the symposium seemed remarkably of the moment,” writes reporter Campbell Robertson.
Of course, reporting on how fears of secret power are driving the discourse of the 2016 presidential election is an eminently timely and worthy subject. But reporting is what Robertson failed to do. Instead of learning the latest JFK facts, Times readers were served a birthday cake. Read more
Watch the trailer for JFK documentary, ‘Killing Oswald’
The film is called Killing Oswald. I haven’t seen it but Mark Groubert has and here is what he said in his review for Crooks and Liars: Read more
LBJ and ‘Selma’: Who gets it right?
Civil rights legislator
According to historian David Kaiser, writing in TIME, “the portrayal of Lyndon Johnson and his role in the passage of the Voting Rights Act [in the movie “Selma”] could hardly be more wrong. And this is important not merely for the sake of fidelity to the past, but because of continuing implications for how we see our racial problems and how they could be solved.”
But, according to author Philip Nelson, Selma gets LBJ dead right. Writing in Op-Ed News, Nelson and right-wing political consultant Roger Stone assert:
What the Warren Commission couldn’t comprehend
Professor David Kaiser is the latest to respond to our 140-word Warren Commission Challenge as follows:
JFK balked at Castro peace feelers, historian says
Historian David Kaiser
Diplomatic historian David Kaiser, the author of a new and well-reviewed book about World War II, took time out from flogging it to respond to John Simkin’s post on JFK’s Cuba policy, CIA looped in on Castro peace feelers.
Kaiser, author of The Road to Dallas, says the argument that JFK was a dove on Cuba is overdrawn. He dismisses the idea that Kennedy’s evolving Cuba policy fatally alienated the CIA.
The JFK connection: Why COINTELPRO still matters
The Today Show’s story about the break-in at an FBI office in 1971 is important because it reminds us of the pregnant connections between COINTELPRO and the assassination of President Kennedy.
From Michael Isikoff’s story:
Was JFK going to pull out of Vietnam?
Yes. He had a plan to do just that, as University of Texas professor Jamie Galbraith demonstrates in this recent piece for The Nation.
Panel to highlight national security implications of JFK assassination
JFK’s assassination has to be understood as “a national security event.”
Two historians will explain why at the University of North Texas on November 2.
Panel to highlight national security and death of JFK
JFK’s assassination has to be understood as “a national security event.” Two historians will explain why at the University of North Texas next week on November 2.
Is Max Holland right about JFK and Cuba?
Max Holland unearths a JFK-related document recently found in Bobby Kennedy’s papers. The story it tells provides a granular look at the workings of President Kennedy’s Cuba policy on the eve of the disaster in Dallas. Read more
