nvestigative analysis of anti-Castro campaign mounted by such interests as the CIA, Mafia, billionaire Howard Hughes, Time-Life publisher Henry Luce and Texas oilman H.L. Hunt. Warren Hinckle, founding editor of Ramparts, and William W. Turner, an FBI agent for ten years, treat a complicated subject with insightful detail and objectivity. Lots of interesting stories about little-known side-events and minor characters that add texture and drama to the almost-bizarre plotting and innumerable twists. Many exiles felt JFK had betrayed their cause; the more rightist, including some from Batista’s secret police, turned increasingly violent and independent of the US government, and began courting the paramilitary right and CIA renegades. Ultimately, Kennedy couldn’t trust the intentions of either the exiles or CIA, and tentatively developed a “separate track” that might have led to an accommodation with Castro; feelers were in the works when JFK went to Texas. “The Mystery of 544 Camp Street,” a 54-page chapter midway through the book, looks at possible connections to Oswald during his pivotal summer in New Orleans in 1963. During this period, the FBI raided several unauthorized exile operations and weapons caches in Louisiana; for some reason, the bureau released the Lake Pontchartrain Eleven. Guy Banister, a detective operating out of the Newman Building (544 Camp), once ran the Chicago FBI office and was now a sponsor of Cuban exile operations. Oswald had a batch of FPCC (Fair Play for Cuba Committee) pamphlets rubber-stamped with the 544 Camp address. The “missing link” between Oswald and the paramilitary right was David W. Ferrie, who did work for Banister; in 1956, Oswald had joined Ferrie’s Civil Air Patrol squadron in New Orleans. Substance is given to the claims of Oswald’s presence in Banister’s office by his secretary Delphine Roberts, as related in Summers’ 1980 Conspiracy. The authors term a “charade” Oswald’s declaration of Marxism, as shown through his FPCC work and a radio debate he had with Carlos Bringuier, a Cuban active in exile operations. After the assassination, Oswald’s “pro-Castro posturing” would provoke a “retaliatory invasion” of Cuba. Oswald, or an imposter (or both), furthered the charade with visits to the Cuban and Soviet consulates in Mexico City. Added into the mix are the Sunbelt Mafia’s assassination plots against Castro, and the Chicago mob’s sense of betrayal at the hands of RFK’s crackdown. Among the “credible reports of an Oswald-Ruby link” is the tale of Dallas attorney Carroll Jarnagin, who reported overhearing the two at Ruby’s nightclub plotting to shoot Governor Connally for not opening up the state to the rackets. Jarnagin’s bombshell was challenged in Seth Kantor’s 1978 Who Was Jack Ruby? The authors cite Farewell America’s account of HL Hunt fleeing Dallas on Nov. 22nd to seclusion in Mexico for a month. The curious actions of other mysterious figures throughout the day of the assassination is presented: conman Jim Baden (aka Eugene Hale Brading); David Ferrie; Desmond FitzGerald; Jimmy Hoffa; and Jack Ruby. New Orleans becomes a focus, with the activities of Guy Banister, Dean Andrews, and later Clay Shaw and Jim Garrison. Allegedly, LBJ ordered the FBI into the investigation as a means to control rumors, with the Warren Commission charged with substantiating the FBI’s lone-assassin conclusions; the Katzenbach memo and Dulles keeping secret the CIA-Mafia plots are symptomatic of the official cover-up. While in Mexico City in late 1963, Richard Case Nagell alleges he became aware of a plot involving Oswald to kill Kennedy and that he deliberately got himself arrested in El Paso to protect himself. The Nagell allegation of an anti-Castro cabal working Oswald sits well with the book’s theme. The authors note the HSCA concluded the “probable conspiracy” that claimed the life of President Kennedy was most likely carried out by mobsters and anti-Castro extremists. The chapter concludes with RFK’s personal misgivings about the Warren Commission findings, his desire to reopen the investigation, and his own untimely end with its elements of conspiracy. Originally published as The Fish is Red in 1981, less two chapters that update ‘92 edition. Hardcover, 464 pages, 14 B/W photos. Thunder’s Mouth softcover Nov. 1993.

rominent forensic pathologist, with many early links to the JFK evidence and researchers, looks at ten controversial celebrity cases, and two unusual ones in Pittsburgh. First three chapters on the Kennedy assassinations and Chappaquiddick. Introduction by co-authors mentions Dr. Wecht’s popularity with the conspiracy-theory culture, and it’s soon demonstrated why. Wecht dismisses the Warren Report as “absolute nonsense,” and the Single-Bullet Theory as “an asinine, pseudo-scientific sham at best.” Wecht’s doubts began early, with a February 1965 paper to the Academy of Forensic Sciences that took issue with the Kennedy autopsy being prevented in Dallas. Wecht regrets “career military doctors” being given task, seen as “government’s desire to control every action.” Deficiencies include failure to dissect back wound and section brain, and Humes burning his original notes. Association with Josiah Thompson led Wecht to perceive the Single-Bullet trajectory was impossible, further negated by 1.5 second pause between wounding of both men. Disbelief results in harsh attacks on Arlen Spector, who, along with other authorities, Wecht asserts make facts fit their scenario; but when later on the autopsy photos and X-rays he sees don’t fit Wecht’s allegations, he resorts to charging they were “manipulated, altered, or revised.” Seems akin to a medical version of Jim Garrison, whom Wecht not only praises but now parrots; he accuses every other member of the HSCA Forensic Pathology Panel of having a “predetermined mindset” against conspiracy. Similarly, any colleague who has an involvement with government (through grants or appointment) has, in Wecht’s view, compromised their objectivity; one must now ponder the distance between prosecutors and Wecht, each fed by the same hand. For a forensic expert, Wecht makes many glaring errors, such as accepting the “low” back wound placement (Wecht ignores the motorcade photos and measurement from the apex) and believing a piece of tissue lying atop the rear hairline was an exit wound complete with flap. Claims Bethesda pathologists concocted an early scenario of the neck bullet being stopped by “some serious starch” in Kennedy’s shirt collar and that 2766 serial no. was Mannlicher-Carcano model no. Wecht even buys into the long-discredited London Sunday Times mysterious death odds, the Milteer tapes, and the tales of Ed Hoffman and Jean Hill. Because it supposedly showed promising conspiracy indicators in photos, Wecht eagerly champions the work of hometown computer analyst Tom Wilson, whose grayscale technique is now considered highly-dubious. As if to top it off, Wecht recalls with fondness and pride being instrumental in Costner’s goofball courtroom-chair trajectory “recreation” in the JFK movie. Offers theory of CIA renegades and mob elements effecting assassination and cover-up. Sad to say, Wecht is the best model of forensic expertise the conspiracy theorists have mustered. Hardcover, 314 pages, 20 B/W photos. Onyx Books paperback Nov. 1994.

opular TV detective probes the death of a Hollywood talk show host who sought to reveal JFK’s real assassin on an upcoming show. Lieutenant traces leads from never-before-seen photos of assassination aftermath sent to program. Mafia-rightwing plot superseded by some other rifleman in plaza. Harrington has done his homework, basing missed shot from knoll on HSCA acoustics contention. Unorthodox approach and easy manner of Columbo will strike a chord with some critics (as might the first-season Jessica Fletcher). Original novel written for book series; never made into a TV movie. Hardcover, 288 pages.

the wake of the Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, the Johnson Library decided to release its entire collection of recordings from the Johnson Oval Office, originally under seal until 2023. The tapes of phone conversations covered the entire 1963-69 span of the Johnson administration, a period that proved a turning point in American history. Presidential historian and PBS commentator Beschloss, who’s written on the assassination for Newsweek, edited and provided commentary for the transcripts, of which this book was to be the first of a series (second volume Reaching for Glory published 2001). The private Johnson is riveting and Beschloss’s annotations provide insight and context. Adds meat to basic facts about LBJ’s own fears that he was a potential target in Dallas, the arm-twisting to cement the Warren Commission and his suspicion of Robert Kennedy. Also interesting are conversations concerning the 1964 convention and election, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident. So much of history, it turns out, may hinge on a turn in a sentence or a passing comment. See 2004 The Kennedy Assassination Tapes. Hardcover, 591 pages, 29 B/W photos. Touchstone Books softcover Sept. 1998.

ajor re-evaluation of Kennedy’s political and personal ambitions that Hersh alleges compromised the nation’s security and destiny. JFK is seen as a “take-no-prisoners” campaigner who stops at nothing and promises anything to win. So much fraud surrounds the 1960 election that a recount would have upset the result. Kennedy’s naive obsession with foreign intrigue led to assassination plots and escalation in Vietnam. A powerful, if subjective, challenge to the post-assassination canonization view embraced in most conspiracy books. Much of the material is rumor and hearsay, such as Hersh believing Kennedy had a prior marriage to a Florida woman. One major revelation concerned a break-in at the LA apartment of JFK mistress Judith Campbell Exner; Hersh alleges General Dynamics used the info obtained to blackmail the President into awarding it the TFX fighter contract. Somehow, Hersh got four Secret Service agents to tell how they conducted JFK’s paramours in and out of the White House. Assassination controversy not examined, although book opens with RFK protecting sensitive files in assassination aftermath. Hersh alleges JFK tore a groin muscle in September 1963 during a vigorous sexual romp. The stiff canvas brace Kennedy subsequently wore to ease the pain, Hersh argues, may have left the President a stationary target after the first shot struck. The 1980 book Kennedy and Lincoln draws the same conclusion, but attributes the need for the brace to “a consequence of the painful loosening of his joints, around the sacroiliac area, probably a result of his long-continued cortisone therapy,” a conclusion echoed in a 2003 article. When Hersh signed the book deal in 1993, he intended to look at the assassination, but a brush with forged documents sent him in a different direction. See book review by Jules Witcover. Hardcover, 500 pages, 31 B/W photos. Little, Brown & Co. softcover Sept. 1998.

onnecticut historian Richard Rhodes examines and applies the “violentization” social process model of American criminologist Dr. Lonnie Athens, of the University of Wisconsin and Berkeley. Seriously violent people, proposes Athens, are conditioned by a four-stage process: brutalization (victim of aggressive authority figure); belligerency (to avoid brutalization, aspires to be the one who administers violence); violent performances (reads respect and fear in others); virulency (violence becomes usual means of problem resolution). Challenges notion that violence is impulsive or unconsciously motivated. Observes those with bland backgrounds have difficulty accepting violentization could stem from social experiences, though academics readily cite social forces in general histories. 23-page chapter on Oswald doesn’t seek to prove assassination role, but uses record of violentization to demonstrate Oswald’s capacity for violence. As youth, Lee was exposed to Marguerite’s outbursts and gloom, and was kept isolated by her as a means of control. Marguerite minimized her son’s violent behavior, in effect, endorsing it. Truancy episodes and a psychiatric diagnosis revealed belligerency towards society; Lee’s insecurity and frustrations were masked with a “vivid fantasy life” that included “hurting or killing people.” The Rosenberg spy case appealed to Oswald’s fantasy; furthermore, he identified with their victimization. Blaming cruel capitalist abuses for the Rosenberg’s plight—as well as the misfortune he and his mother shared—drew Oswald to Marxism. In fall of 1953, Lee refused to salute the flag in class, his first expression of political protest. Rhodes suggests Oswald’s avoidance of lethal violence for the next decade was due to a “restraining judgment” in which day-to-day injustices were subsidiary to his commitment to revolutionary Marxism; for his political ideals, though, Oswald would risk everything. In the Marines, he suffered considerable provocation; self-wounding could be seen as non-confrontational means to avoid further baiting. But incident led to court-martial and attack on officer who had punished him further with KP duty. After time in brig, Oswald withdrew from most perfunctory socializing on- and off-base. 1959 defection to Soviet Union demonstrated political idealism; when act began to unravel, a suicide attempt demonstrated commitment to cause. Returning to America in 1962, Oswald began beating his wife and threatening to kill her. “Violent notoriety” offered a dubious status. Political violence began with near-miss sniper shot at Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker, an anti-Castro arch-rightist living in Dallas. Commitment to revolutionary Marxism (and Castro in particular) demonstrated in activities in New Orleans during summer of 1963. Castro’s complaints of CIA assassination attempts against him may have motivated Oswald to retaliate. Reportedly, Oswald threatens to take Kennedy’s life during his visit in the fall of 1963 to the Cuban consulate in Mexico City. Oswald’s relative calm immediately after the assassination and while in custody is attributed to having “finally established himself as an authentically violent individual of historic dimensions.” Jack Ruby’s violentization occurred at a young age, accelerating with Chicago street gangs and brushes with organized crime; as nightclub operator, Ruby had frequent violent outbursts towards unruly customers and uncooperative employees. Like Oswald, Ruby developed an intense hatred towards the ideology his victim represented. Rhodes sums up Oswald’s life as a “lethal trajectory” of violentization and despair, for which Oswald extracted a terrible revenge. Hardcover, 371 pages. Knopf softcover Oct. 2000.

isappointing book by two Connecticut medical professors, one the respected Dr. Henry Lee, forensic expert with the State Police, and well-known through his work on the OJ Simpson case and network TV appearances. Of seven classic cases, a third of the book explores Sacco-Vanzetti; JFK chapter rates a mere 19 pages. Neither doctor attempts to apply modern forensic methods to the issues nor take a stand, as did the HSCA Medical Panel. Demonstrating a surprising distance from the research, Lee asks questions that have long been answered, such as why Humes burnt the autopsy draft notes and what happened to the brain. Lee suggests if modern DNA testing on the “magic bullet,” should detect tissue only from Connally, then the SBT is proven wrong. This idealistic suggestion, however, fails to acknowledge that the bullet went nearly undeflected through JFK’s soft tissue but tumbled and struck hard tissue in Connally, thus the latter’s DNA had a far better chance of adhering to CE 399. Lee’s point is probably moot given the amount of handling and cleaning that the bullet has received over the decades. Time travel device and “Joe Constant” character (representing public opinion) detract from the flow. Hardcover, 303 pages, 65 B/W photos, 6 illus, 3 docs, no index.

ook on forensic history, techniques, advances and some personal adventures from New York forensic pathologist who headed up the HSCA Medical Evidence Panel in the late 1970s, which ruled the autopsy record supported all shots that struck were fired from above and behind. Kennedy autopsy mentioned in passing here and there, with the suggestion that modern forensic methods applied in 1963 “might have hushed the conspiracy rumors.” Oswald exhumation cited as example of why height at autopsy is important. As Baden describes one routine autopsy in detail, the book unfolds with chapters themed on items like blood, crime scenes, bugs and exhumation. One chapter is devoted to “superstar” criminalist Henry Lee; another to “junk” science that discredits Fred Zain and Texas’ “Dr. Death” James Grigson. Attempts at rumor throughout the book and closing chapter on antics at Reno convention fall flat. Baden wrote the 1989 Unnatural Death (with a chapter on JFK) and is now a freelance pathologist, lecturer and host of HBO’s Autopsy. Hardcover, 288 pages, 16 B/W photos. Fireside softcover Sept. 2002.

tah historian probes seeds and current popularity of American conspiracy theories. Chapter each on five major theories: Red Scare, Antichrist, Jewish plot against blacks, Roswell and JFK. “The View From the Grassy Knoll” probes what “may be the most intensively studied event in U.S. history.” Conspiracy was the immediate instinct of many principals, becoming “conventional wisdom” in the wake of great loss and a sense “that history had turned away from promise.” Media blamed for turning “hearsay and rumor into news.” Ruby’s murder of Oswald “added layers of complexity” for which conspiracy became a “coping mechanism” that was easier to accept than a “simple twist of fate.” The “public disquiet” led to the formation of the Warren Commission, which in turn was viewed as “an instrument of cover-up.” Its Report received “lavish praise” from the press, which masked the “human nature of the investigation” marred by dependence on federal agencies, deadlines, redrafts, members’ infighting and test methods considered faulty today. Goldberg concisely runs down the critics’ “mantra,” gauging the “magic bullet” the most important. In building “a foundation of doubt,” Goldberg argues the critics “lost perspective” by not making allowance for the “confusion” of the moment and official “incompetence or sins of omission.” Garrison investigation “grounded more in faith than evidence” but the New Orleans “subplot” opened up new opportunities giving impetus to researchers. Garrison shifted attention to the “why and who benefited,” questions the Commission “abdicated.” Other assassinations and Watergate again made conspiracy a “mainstream phenomenon.” HSCA tried to address this sentiment, but their problems mirrored that of the Commission. Goldberg notes the Best Evidence theory of wound alteration “stunned even Lifton,” who defied the doubters and (it would seem) logic. Several pages explore the JFK movie and its impact, demonstrating “filmmakers are the twentieth century’s most influential historians.” Stone creatively “breathed life into the conspiracy” but only by ignoring such things as Kennedy’s militancy. Popular culture embraced the conspiracy theme with movies like In the Line of Fire and The Rock, and TV fare like Quantum Leap and The X-Files. Goldberg concludes the conspiracy model offers more than just “crime solution;” it appeals to believers as an “alternative history” correcting the social ills and political mishaps that followed Dallas. Hardcover, 354 pages, 5 B/W photos.

ery impressive ad-free magazine that chronicles the Kennedy legacy of misfortune. Articles consistently exploit any scandal angle and sensationalizes events. Several familiar photos printed here for possibly the first time in high-quality and large-scale. 14-page chapter on Kennedy assassination highlighted by five Zapruder color enlargements licensed from the Sixth Floor Museum. Two-page spreads given Kennedys and Connally in limo at Love Field, and Bob Jackson’s photo of Oswald taking bullet. Text describes Oswald as assassin, but contends first shot transited the neck to strike Connally; the head shot was a “second bullet, or possibly a third.” Eight-page chapter on RFK assassination features full-page B/W photos of Booby prone on floor, including possibly the most gristly image taken that night, of RFK’s head cradled above a blood pool. Eight-page chapter on Chappaquiddick. Some other sections: “Monstrous Greed of Joe Kennedy,” “Frankenstein Tragedy Rosemary,” “Kennedy Connection: Mafia,” “Journey to Self-Destruction: Teddy,” “Killer in Connecticut,” and “Rape, She Said.” Near end is 16-page chapter on JFK, Jr.’s “troubled” marriage and fatal plane crash. Book concludes with Caroline’s “Arthritis Agony.” Large-format softcover, 132 pages, over 200 photos.

oston University professor (author of several Presidential histories) gains access to sealed archives, disclosing the seriousness of Kennedy’s medical condition. While acknowledging some take issue with having a junkie and sex addict for President at the height of the Cold War, Dallek readily applies a thick gloss of varnish to the “unfinished” wood, covering over worm-holes and all. Contradictions abound: campaign “abuse level” from Humphrey and press “enough to discourage” JFK, but page later “Kennedy largely ignored Humphrey’s assaults.” To Dallek, JFK (not Humphrey) is the victim; the victimization myth prevails throughout the book, as when the President is pressured by generals to go all-out in Viet Nam and Cuba (as if the thought never would have intrigued him). The character trait of winning at all costs is downplayed when convenient. A few paragraphs touch directly on the assassination, citing Oswald as the culprit and the back brace his mute cohort. This is the first major single-volume biography in decades—pity. Excerpted in Atlantic. Hardcover, 838 pages, 32 pgs of (50) B/W photos.

lose to many in the Kennedy family, this New York Times Magazine editor argues some members of the clan thought themselves above taking ordinary precautions. Klein contends “No other family … has been subjected to such a mind-boggling chain of calamities.” Robert (after Dallas) and Ted (after Chappaquiddick) wondered whether the family was cursed. The curse didn’t start with Joseph Kennedy; Klein notes first of the Kennedys in America died early. Under Joe, family competitiveness led to members willing to take chances, exhibiting a reckless indifference to danger. Wealth and power caused sense of omnipotence, with expectation some were entitled to get away with things. Klein purports SS told in 1961 that Castro might retaliate for CIA attempts on him. Claims the SS in Dallas thought they, like the President, could break rules; some went drinking in Fort Worth the night before. After the assassination, “Kennedy clan felt more united than ever before” until RFK’s murder. Death of JFK Jr. brought back curse talk. Author of All Too Human and Just Jackie. Hardcover.

From the only other person struck during the gunfire in Dealey Plaza. Tague’s minor cheek wound caused the WC a great deal of trouble. Tague recounts the day, and his later run-ins with officials. Large-format softcover, 200 pages.

ife of Governor Connally—and last survivor of the couples in the limousine—puts down her thoughts on the tragedy and aftermath. Nellie may be the most beautiful First Lady that Texas ever had; her Lone Star defiance is muted but evident. Nellie terms Oswald’s State Dept. loan “subsidized…from a federal relief agency”; she’s unmoved by Oswald’s death; and Jackie is a “man’s woman” with “East Coast” style. Nellie considers herself apart from the “conservative fringe” of Dallas that violently attacked politicians; later she would defend the city from outside attacks. She reveals that while Nixon’s Treasury Secretary, John Connally used his resources to review classified material on the assassination, finding no conspiracy. But Nellie denies the SBT, stills maintaining her husband was wounded by a separate shot (note: Z-film shows she first turned to the President just after the second shot, yet she claims she saw him wounded by the first shot). Blames Dallas wounding for husband’s demise from pulmonary fibrosis in 1993. Book evolved from her memorable and touching appearance on the Larry King Show in 1998. Family friend Herskowitz co-authored John Connally’s autobiography. Includes original handwritten text of Nellie’s contemporaneous notes and JFK’s “Watchmen” speech written for Dallas luncheon. Hardcover, 208 pages, 52 B/W photos, 25 docs.

ompendium of President Johnson’s White House telephone recordings that relate to the assassination, unfolding investigation, creation of the WC, and more. Book is similar in scope and intent to Beschloss’s Taking Charge (also Robert Dallek’s Flawed Giant), to which Holland refers, making his own forceful interpretations. Insight is given to LBJ’s concern over his depiction in Death of a President and his interest in the questions raised by the Garrison investigation. Dispells some conspiracy charges against certain Washington officials. The Johnson Administration was keenly aware of the political impact of the assassination. Holland is a contributing editor to the Nation. See review "The Kennedy Assassination Tapes: The 11/22 Commission" by Thomas Mallon (Oct. 31, 2004 issue of NY TImes Sunday Book Review). Hardcover, 453 pages.

Interesting profiles of (mostly Texan) conspiracy buffs and their supposed patriotic motivations. Cover story on actor Gary Oldman touches on his role as Oswald in the JFK movie.

aw Professor Elmer Gertz is a contributing editor to this Chicago-based review of crime books, which devotes a mere nine pages to the assassination. Gertz leads off with his four-page “The 30th Anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination” reflecting on his fleeting ties to Kennedy starting with the 1956 Democratic Convention, then classmate Arthur Goldberg as JFK’s Secretary of Labor, and as a guest at a luncheon during the President’s last visit to Chicago. Gertz represented Lincoln assassination theorist Otto Eisenshiml during a copyright suit over Eisenshiml’s book Why Was Lincoln Murdered. After being approached by Ruby’s brother Hyman, who lived in Chicago, Gertz helped win Ruby’s appeal to set aside the death sentence and later wrote the 1968 book Moment of Madness. Says Ruby shot Oswald “purely by reflex” through “a series of coincidences.” Terms Rush To Judgment an “outrageous book (that) set the pattern for many other fabrications to come.” Former FBI Special Agent Robert P. Gemberling contributes two pages on his own involvement in the massive Kennedy investigation coordinated by Dallas SAIC J. Gordon Shanklin. Gertz blasts some recent conspiracy books in “The Assassination Compost Pile” and a boxed review of Case Closed, admires the “author’s skill and unruffled manner.” There’s a one-page listing of “Current Books on the Assassination” that itemizes particulars only. Despite cover’s tic-tac-toe simplicity, it’s one of the most creepy you’ll come across.

anada’s long-running newsmagazine devotes seven pages to the Kennedy assassination and its impact on North America. Lead-off article by Corelli leaps into the myriad of conspiracy theories, then steps back for a retrospective of the weekend’s astounding events through contemporary interviews with key witnesses. Jim Ewell, then Dallas Morning News police reporter, recalled the arrival at Love Field, meeting the Presidential party on its way to Parkland, being at the Depository during the police search and witnessing Oswald’s arrest; he says “Someone was trying to poke the barrel of a shotgun down among all the heads and arms and shoulders of those cops fighting Lee Harvey.” Also interviewed were Henry Wade, Jim Leavelle, Rev. Louis Sanders and Paul Groody. Dallas’ current decline (“fading oil-fed prosperity”) and racial strife are noted, as is the Sixth Floor Museum. A box “America’s Enduring Mystery: Was Oswald a Lone Assassin?” leaves the question open due to “major arguments” of the “magic bullet,” autopsy notes destroyed, head snap, inability to duplicate Oswald’s shooting, and Commission under time and bureaucratic restraints. Countering that were computer-generated reconstructions of the trajectory, panels of doctors accept autopsy findings, enhancements of knoll photos showing nothing and no leak by “conspirators” in three decades. Companion article “Why Canada Wept” by Charles Lynch notes only FDR meant as much to Canadians as JFK, and that both were generally more popular there than in the US. (lead-off spread shown)

Upon retiring from the Kennedy Library in 1994, Dave Powers shared some of his private photographic hoard from the Kennedy Years. Included is a frame from Powers’ 8mm color film, showing the limousine just minutes before the shooting. It reveals the alignment between Kennedy and Connally that confirms the Single-Bullet Theory.

Despite lurid cover, nice 48-page collection of previously-published comics that parody (I should hope!) various conspiracies, oddball coincidences and Presidential misfortunes. Best story on Masonic conspiracies throughout history. There are 33 degrees of masonry; did ya know that White Sands and Dallas are on the 33rd degree of latitude? Trinity River and Triple Underpass. Gee, no wonder Os didn’t fire off that fourth bullet.

ormer dean of Hamline School of Law introduces reassessment of 1965 escalation based on his assistance with the memoirs of the late Ellsworth Bunker, Ambassador to Vietnam, appointed by LBJ in 1967 because of his experience at containment in the Dominican Republic crisis. Argues introduction of combat troops, in response to prior escalation by Hanoi the previous year, was “a temporary expedient rather than a new strategy for victory.” The containment of Hanoi, while allowing the South to expand its capability, set the stage for Johnson’s goal of negotiating an phrased American withdrawal, achieved in 1973. Young points out that the President declined Pentagon demands for increased manpower to effect a total victory. Article refutes general belief “that Johnson was bent on escalation and full-scale war, whereas Kennedy had been essentially a man of peace.” When Bunker left Vietnam in 1973, American combat troops had been withdrawn, the South was defending itself and the Communists had signed a treaty pledging to honor the South’s autonomy, more than anticipated in JFK’s NSAM 52 of 1961. (lead-off page shown)

nsightful account of visit to Dealey Plaza and Sixth Floor Museum. At the latter, Bowden realizes a guilty attachment to some of the cultural and societal displays that hint at a more innocent, albeit naive, period. Expresses appreciation that some of that era’s excesses (the assassination gore in particular) is discretely ignored. Mentions Robert Groden’s makeshift retail outlet atop the knoll and his obsessive concern with the mechanics of the killing. Bowden finds less mystery—and perhaps more comfort—in the sense that the assassination took a toll on every American’s belief in government and society’s potential. (lead-off page shown)

venhanded 35th anniversary retrospective that featured 13 pages, highlighted by 45 B/W and 9 color photos. Recites all the pertinent facts—and a few rarely mentioned—of JFK’s life from birth, including Addison’s disease and near-deaths. Kennedy gets all the credit for the PT109 rescue. Suspicions over 1960 election results and crisises during administration presented. Gives a tally of conspiracy theories (“none has been proven”) but acknowledges public indifference to “the scenario of Oswald as the sole, crazed shooter.” Box on JFK wit had this chestnut on how crowd estimates were made during 1960 campaign appearances: “Plucky (his nickname for press secretary Salinger) counts the nuns and then multiplies by 100.” (lead-off spread shown)

or 35th anniversary of Dallas—and in wake of Hersh’s The Dark Side of Camelot—Kennedy special assistant and in-house historian (A Thousand Days) issued this broadside against the “countermyth” of Camelot “revisionists.” Blames Ike hold-overs like Allen Dulles for the CIA-Mafia assassination plots and Bay of Pigs fiasco. Claims JFK sought “possibility of normalizing relations with Cuba” and had John McCone “brought in to clean up” the CIA. On Vietnam, cites withdrawal plans and refusal to “Americanize” by sending combat troops. Had JFK lived, Schlesinger predicts the “republic would have been spared much of the trauma, disorder and violence that disfigured the raging 1960s.” To transfer credit to Kennedy for what good did happen, the Great Society achievements are less to do with LBJ than to the “extra 37 Democrats in the north, nearly all liberals from the north” elected in 1964. Article should have been titled “Camelot Redux.” Twenty B/W photos show positive aspects of Kennedy’s life, including relaxing with a cigar (guess Bill went overboard a bit). One funny picture shows a discomforted JFK in a convertible riding into LA during the 1960 campaign being dogged by Nixon supporters in an old jalopy. May be best JFK cover art ever, done by John Boyd Martin exclusively for the upscale magazine.

ANADIAN magazine interviews Pierre Salinger (With Kennedy, 1966) about his current book John F. Kennedy: Commander in Chief. Disillusionment after RFK murder drove Salinger to start over in Paris, where he became enamored with conspiracies; so much so he made headlines in the late 90s promoting the theory that TWA Flight 800 was the accidental victim of a US missile. French culture also made Salinger, who served JFK as Press Secretary, scornful of US/Anglo media prying into politicians’ private lives. Angry over revisionist Dark Side of Camelot, which prompted Salinger’s new book. Disputes Kennedys ordered Castro assassination plots. JFK became distrustful of CIA and military assessments, who in turn viewed him as soft on communism when he choose diplomacy over confrontation. De Gaulle and MacArthur “helped persuade Kennedy to withdraw from Vietnam,” a decision that “may have caused his death.” Four-page article includes two Love Field photos, two Zapruder stills and the tracheotomy autopsy photo (all B/W). Reverses his support of The Warren Report (as in foreword to 1967 The Truth About the Assassination), citing several contentious conspiracy claims. (lead-off page shown)

ine-page article, in anticipation of book JFK: An Unfinished Life, on new details in medical files at the Kennedy Library, recently made available to Boston history professor Robert Dallek. Suggests the problems began as a child, and were made worst by poor diagnosis and improper treatments. Thought sympathetic, Dallek suggests Kennedy “was more intend on winning the presidency than on revealing himself to the public.” As President, JFK was receiving “official” care from Janet Travell and Admiral George Burkley, and secret doses of amphetamines from NY “Dr. Feelgood” physician Max Jacobson. Suggests Kennedy’s “corsetlike back brace” held him stationary during the shooting in Dallas, a scenario visited in 1980 Kennedy and Lincoln and 1997 The Dark Side of Camelot. Concludes the “lifelong health problems of John F. Kennedy constitute one of the best-kept secrets of recent U.S. history.” Some of the health issues, to which Dallek now adds confirmation, had previously been detailed in 1963 JFK: The Man and the Myth, the Blairs’ The Search for JFK, and 1992 High Treason 2 (Livingstone argued JFK had Pott’s Disease rather than Addison’s).

Dallas-based weekly acknowledges recent donation to the Sixth Floor Museum of Jay Skaggs’ series of color slides taken of JFK on Houston and the Plaza during the shooting aftermath. Skaggs, now 82 and a retired member of the Texas Baptists organization, wasn’t aware of the photos’ significance until he showed them to Museum curator Gray Mack in 2001. (inside page shown)