JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters

This is a deeply disturbing book made all the more so because the reader hopes in vain that it is untrue. Over the years I had developed a hopeful scepticism that the JFK assassination conspiracy theories were all just unsupportable theories. This incredibly well researched book dashes all that hopeful scepticism. The book is a combination of first hand interviews and research into recently released documents, as well as the categorisation of the number of mysterious deaths of individuals whose eye-witness accounts defied the distorted wisdom of the local Police, FBI, CIA, Secret Service and the Warren Commission. I read the book from cover to cover only putting it down to sleep and eat over a three day period. It draws a web of conspiracy, it is superbly crafted and reads in reality just like a Frederick Forsythe novel but with an unhappy ending. In addition to eye witnesses mysteriously dying or being declared insane, relevant documents and photographs known to have existed have been disappeared, mislaid or destroyed and Douglass meticulously documents dozens upon dozens of these cases. There is no doubt in the writer's mind that the CIA engineered the assassination acting upon the orders of who knows who at the top of the tree, and then there is no doubt that the FBI covered it up and the local police colluded, however unwillingly, on the basis that if the CIA and their helpful Mafia could kill a President they surely wouldn't hesitate to shoot the odd dissenting policeman. We have all read the stories of the grassy knoll, the Texas Book Depository , the sounds of shots coming from the grassy knoll, the running gunmen, the subsequent cover-up, allusions to Oswald's CIA connections, Ruby's connection to Oswald the CIA and the Mafia. All of this is covered in detail with no stone unturned and in that sense the book is like all the others only more thorough and convincing. What this study does that others only allude to is explain `why', rather than `how' or `what'. The central thesis is that Kennedy experienced a moment of redemption at the time of the Cuban missile crisis and in stepping back from the brink together with his brother Robert determined upon a course of ending the Cold War by entering into a condition of trust with Kruschev and through him ultimately entering upon a process of dialogue with Castro. He began to see the enemy as his own Military Industrial complex and his out of control Intelligence Services, rather than the Soviet Union. The CIA disenchantment with Kennedy had begun with his anger at being backed into a corner over the Bay of Pigs fiasco and his refusal to escalate the invasion by the addition of US Forces. So we have Kennedy entering a secret pact 18 months later with Kruschev, who apparently backed down over the Cuban missiles but only after a Kennedy secret guarantee. This was added to by his agreement to the neutralisation of Laos, his secret directive to withdraw US Forces from Vietnam by end of 1965, his support of Indonesia, the US signing of the first Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a myriad of other matters which angered others in Government. So the `Why' scene was set. But it had the even more sinister undertone of ensuring that everything about the assassination was designed to point to the Soviets and/or Cuba. The author admits that neither man was a saint and that both gave the sixth commandment a very good rattling on many occasions. Even so it now occurs to me that we have probably all been the target of a concerted CIA campaign of disinformation since the mid 60s. Lurid biographies, many unsourced, have blackened the Kennedy name and loosened the Kennedy hold on their natural constituency. If the CIA can assassinate two very obvious public figures in the Kennedys, and cover their tracks, then a subsequent process of character assassination would be a pushover. This book at least for me restores my faith in Camelot even if only to a small degree. The Kennedy and the author's worst howlers are in the Kennedy dealing with Indonesia. He applauds the Kennedy backing of Indonesia's claim to West Papua in 1962, a decision based on total ignorance. Look what the Papuans have had to deal with since, ethnic cleansing, relocation and exploitation and a degraded people with a hopeless future. The Kennedy naïveté was also evident in his dealings with Diem and Kennedy's disastrous appointment of the treacherous Henry Cabot Lodge as Ambassador against his brother's advice. The Buddhist crisis was in many ways a beat up with hostile Press collusion. The author would be well advised to read Mark Moyar's superb 2007 treatise on Vietnam at that period "Triumph Forsaken" before openly accepting that there was a Buddhist crisis. As subsequently proved to be the case, Moyar avers that only one man could lead Vietnam through the maelstrom and that was Diem. One gets some comfort throughout the book from the gentle nudgings of Pope John XXIII, Thomas Merton and the peacenik Christians who we all disparage but nevertheless need. The USA needed Camelot as the 1960s developed apace and Kennedy offered a fleeting vision of the possibilities of peace. What actually followed and continues to follow is disillusionment and cynicism. This is a good book. Read it. And if you have doubts about the author's take on the CIA watch again "The Good Shepherd" with Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin and Robert de Niro.

This review is based on the new paperback edition of the book. Out of all the hundreds of books written about the Kennedy assassination, none is more easily readable than "JFK and the Unspeakable". I would go so far as to say that if you are new to this topic, than perhaps you need read only this extremely well written tome about what is probably the greatest tragedy of the last half century. I say that because so many things would have been so different had he lived. I did not say better, or worse. I said different. The Douglass book in a poetical way is the only book to have latched on to this discerning difference between the "Unspeakable" and all the others. In a nutshell, the author uses the late Catholic writer Thomas Merton as a metaphor for the life of JFK. Merton lived from 1915 until five years after JFK's death. Writer of 70 books, Merton's most famous book was "The Seven Storey Mountain", something you should take a look at in its own right. Merton is well known for being a pacifist, and for spirituality, and social justice. It is for his pacifism that Merton serves as a metaphor in the "Unspeakable". Douglass uses the term unspeakable in the sense of a crime so monumental, a tragedy so pervasive, and evil so extraordinary, that it is unspeakable. It is the Douglass thesis that JFK was moving from "cold warrior" to a rapprochement with Khrushchev and the Soviet Union. Please read JFK's speech in June 1963 at the American University which is part of the appendix to the book. The speech is revolutionary in its intent, and absolutely frightening and threatening to JFK's fellow cold warriors for what it was seeking to achieve. According to Douglass, JFK came to the conclusion that nuclear war is UNTHINKABLE, because all civilization would be lost. One hundred million Americans dead in the first 60 minutes, the living will envy the dead was JFK's term. At the same time as JFK was transitioning to dialogue with Khrushchev, the machinery of government meaning the military, intelligence complex was moving towards war with the Soviets. It is now difficult to believe from more than a half century forward that there was a time when very smart, patriotic, powerful Americans who truly loved their country and would willingly die for it also believed that we could survive a nuclear war, destroy all of the former Soviet Union and move on. Among these individuals were the members of the Joint Chiefs, and the entire upper echelon of the CIA, various military intelligence organizations, and hundreds of anti-communist individuals in all walks of government. It is the author's point of view all these factions came together in 1963 to provide an atmosphere, and ultimately the consolidation of an assassination plan that would remove JFK as head of the government, and allow once again a government to form that would: 1) Invade Cuba and remove it from the Soviet sphere of influence, and 2) Move on to general nuclear war with the USSR itself. The thesis is frightening and perhaps unbelievable to American citizens living today in today's environment. Back then, it is not so unbelievable. Since the publication of the book, evidence has been brought forward that the military had proposed to JFK that America launch a first strike against the USSR in late 1963. He rejected it out of hand. After that date, the military believed that the Soviets would have built up enough nuclear weapons to make a US first strike no longer feasible. I believe you will love this book. It is indeed a page turner. It is riveting in both the nature of its content, and the dramatic way in which the story unfolds. The book is separated into six distinct, long chapters. They are laid out as follows: 1) A Cold Warrior Turns (meaning JFK) 2) Kennedy, Castro, and the CIA 3) JFK and Vietnam (JFK was willing to withdraw within months) 4) Marked Out for Assassination (Chicago, Tampa, then Dallas) 5) Saigon and Chicago (Diem assassinated, as the Chicago plot unfolds) 6) Washington and Dallas (The final ride) The chapter titles lay out the thesis of the book. Notice there is no mention of organized crime in the chapter headings. There is no major discussion of the medical evidence, and no major discussion of the so called ensuing cover-up after the assassination. The main thrust of the book as viewed through the chapter headings is that JFK lost his passion as a cold warrior, did not handle himself correctly with Castro, Viet Nam, Russia, our intelligence agencies, our military, and he was marked for death in Chicago, Tampa, Dallas, and the plotters caught up with him in Dallas. In conclusion, I believe you will love this book also. It simply reads like poetry; it is so well written. It adds tremendous new light on the assassination of a pivotal leader in the 20th century. Although he only served 1,000 days, everything changed upon his death. Whether it was the framing of Camelot, or the loss of faith in our leaders which led to further entanglements in Viet Nam, Watergate, the deaths of RFK and Martin Luther King, Jr, the intent of the book is extraordinary. My SUBJECTIVE Thoughts: Although I loved the book, I believe the conclusions are wrong. There is so much new information since the releases of the Assassination Records Review Board from 1992 until 1998. Over 60,000 documents compiling some 4 million pages have been released. I for one believe it is now fairly clear that organized crime had a very big role to play in JFK's death, and RFK's death as well. Although there are thousands of facts, and events that comprise the historical record, I would ask you to focus on just a handful. * The whole matter of the assassination could have been put to bed forever, had an autopsy been allowed on the body of Governor John Connolly when he died in 1993. Had the bullet fragments from the assassination been removed from his body, and weighed, it would have demonstrated conclusively that the number of bullets fired during the shooting, exceeded the number in Warren investigation Report. The autopsy never took place. * The government has never released any information whatsoever about the previous plots to kill JFK that took place in Chicago, and Tampa Florida just prior to the successful attempt in Dallas. * I have asked several former professional military snipers about the line of fire in Dallas. Every one of them has said that they would have never taken a going away shot. All would have fired as the motorcade moved towards the Texas Book Depository. The Warren Commission stipulates that Oswald took the most difficult shot with a weapon that had a 90% failure rate in the field. * Why would anyone buy weapons to kill a President (leaving a beautiful paper trial) through the United States Post Office, when anyone in Texas at that time could buy any weapon over the counter with NO paper trail? * So many of the physical witnesses at the assassination site privately stated that the shots came from the "grassy knoll" area. These included Dave Powers, and Kenneth O'Donnell whose loyalty to JFK is unquestioned. * The Magic Bullet Theory - Ask anyone in any homicide unit or crime scene unit in any police department in any city in America, and not one of them will ever say that it is possible for the so-called "Magic Bullet" to do all the damage the Warren Commission says it did, and to remain basically pristine. It is not possible under any set of conditions. Even a bullet traveling through a balloon filled with water will be deformed. In addition to this book, the best recent books written on the assassination are Larry Hancock's "Someone Would Have Talked", and Lamar Waldron's "Legacy of Secrecy", and "Ultimate Sacrifice". Please read JFK and the Unspeakable first, and be prepared to be mesmerized by a truly gifted writer, telling a story that must be told. It has been 50 years. We are all entitled to closure, and thank you for reading this review. Richard C. Stoyeck

(Possible Spoiler Alert for 2nd Part) In more than 37 years spent as a researcher into the JFK assassination, and having read more than four dozen books, this is the first time I have ever written a review. The reasons mainly boil down to one: with each book I always found some manner of untied up loose string, or defect that rendered my judgment tentative. I simply didn't feel it worth the time, or energy to invest in writing something I didn't accept completely. I confess I was also very skeptical of Douglass' book to start. I worried he'd go over the same well-trod ground as others, merely regurgitate many of the same issue with no new insights, while repeating most of the mistakes. I am happy to report I was wrong on all counts. When I finished Douglass' book I had the sense (that I had received from few others) that this 46 year mystery and all the attendant, ambiguating "Operation Mockingbird" tricks, pseudo-evidence and propaganda that engulfed it,were finally finally unravelled. And not only unravelled, but the new story woven into a credible and coherent narrative. More importantly, using a key criterion (how much it dovetailed with the other most serious books I have read), I score it a '10'. Here, I want to digress and say the best accompanying book one can have to read along with this book is Military Science Professor John Newman's: 'Oswald and CIA'. Important because while Douglass makes the coherent anecdotal case for Lee Harvey Oswald being an intelligence operative, Newman proves it using his insights, and vast troves of FOIA -released documents. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that one cannot fully appreciate Douglass' achievement here, without first reading Newman's book. Okay, why have I never done a review of Newman's? Probably because, while worthwhile, I beheld one or more reviews that already said pretty much what I would have. There was nothing new to add. In reading the book, I strongly advise people not to immediately skip to the end and Douglass' assassination scenario. I believe it is much more important to first: read his Introduction (and the basis for the definition of the "unspeakable" predicated on Thomas Merton's insights) then the Chronology of Events: 1961-63 and then the first three chapters: 1) A Cold Warrior Turns, 2) Kennedy, Castro and the CIA, and 3) JFK and Vietnam. These comprise 134 pages, but every page is essential to the overall picture Douglass is portraying. The reason for the first two is to get into the context in which the author is placing his book. Without the context, it will be difficult to appreciate what he puts forth as relevant. People will become too impatient for the "meat" and neglect the "veggies". The first three chapters proper lay the moral perspective for how and in what deep ways JFK altered his stance from being a cold-warrior ab initio. What threads and dynamics turned him? These are critical to grasp, if one is to understand who had the means, motive and opportunity to kill him. In (2) the most important aspect that Douglass brings to light is the now well-documented rapprochement which JFK initiated with Castro via the latter's aide-de-camp, Rene Vallejo. Peter Kornbluh, of the National Archives, has done yeoman work in making the series of events known, via a book as well as NA documents - and terrific articles in The Baltimore Sun wherein I first became aware of it. It is essential more people know about it to understand how it may well have been the key and final "nail" in JFK's coffin, after his withdrawal of air cover for the Playa de Cochinos debacle (finally fessed up and owned by the CIA itself in its secret report on the events, made public some ten years ago), his reluctance to use aggressive force (invasion, bombing) during the October, 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis (I lived in Miami at the time), and his NSAM-263 to remove all personnel from VietNam by 1965. Another reason the Cuban-CIA link is so meaningful to me is personal. Many of the same CIA-trained elements that were causing problems for Kennedy ca. 1961-63 (via Operation Mongoose, etc.) re-emerged years later in the right-extremist group "Alpha 66" - which also was responsible for the worst act of terrorism in the hemisphere before 9/11. That, of course, was the bombing of the Cubana Airlines Flight 455 over BARBADOS on Oct. 6, 1976 - resulting in the deaths of all 73 on board. I saw the plane explode then break up in the sea while swimming at Paradise Beach, Barbados, with my nieces- visiting in Barbados at the time from Trinidad. To this day, they still have terrible nightmares driven by those grotesque images - and they are now all grown women. My wife, who worked at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital as a radiographer at the time, was there when the hundreds of body parts were brought in. Anyway, there is still an immediacy there, and the pain and horror from that bright, clear skies day remains with me, and why I still have trouble understanding why people (trapped in denial and the "unspeakable") are more attuned to blaming the "left" for assorted horrors than the extremists of the Right. (Just look at the recent faux outrage that erupted when the Right's terrorists were being noted by the Justice Dept. for extensive scrutiny. Weeks after the Dept. relented an abortion provider was murdered- then people were shot at- 1 killed- in the Holocaust museum by another loonie) But I digress. Once the potential reader has covered the chapters above, it is okay to plow full steam ahead with the rest. You will be especially impressed with how the various narratives, interviews are intertwined and integrated to make the connections that need to be made. Among these, the interviews with Thomas Arthur Vallee's sister is critical - along with other documents Douglass has - to show how an early assassination attempt was originally scheduled for Nov. 2, 1963 in Chicago - the same day the Diems were to be offed in Vietnam. As fortune transpired, an operative named "Lee" phoned in to Chicago FBI HQ and gave the heads up, whereby the hit was thwarted. Also thwarted, was the effort to trot out the first patsy or scapegoat, who was to be Thomas Arthur Vallee, another former Marine like Oswald. In any case, it all became academic as plans to go to the football game at Soldier Field were cancelled. Douglass makes the excellent case that it was none other than Lee Oswald who alerted the feds in Chi-town, but in so doing he placed himself in the cross-hairs, as the next patsy- but now in Big D. One omission I am having trouble processing is that there was no mention by Douglass of the next attempt on JFK's life in Miami, on Nov. 18. I lived in Miami and to all intents, the motorcade went off uneventfully. However, years later undercover FBI tape recordings (of a Joseph Milteer) were released of the plan to shoot Kennedy from a tall office bldg. Some of these recordings were presented in the A&E Special: 'The Men Who Killed Kennedy' - but I have not seen or heard of this program since last shown in 2002. The other most critical interview is that with Sgt. Robert Vinson, who on Nov. 22 was tring to get home to Colorado Springs. He took a bus to Andrews AFB in Washington, DC, and got on a C-54 (the first available flight to "the vicinity" of COS is what he wanted, and was informed it was about to depart for Lowry AFB near Denver. What Vinson recalled most about this particular flight, is that it had no crew chief or manifest. (Usually the crew chief always asked him to sign a manifest). The flight itself didn't land at Lowry, but in Dallas, as Vinson made out the skyline. Vinson noted a lot of dust blew up as the craft landed near the Trinity River. Two men boarded, just after 3:30 p.m. central time, one a "Latino", 6' or 6'1" weighing 180-190 lbs. and wearing a mustache, the other 5'7" to 5'9" and Caucasian, 150-160 lbs. Only later, when press photos materialized and circulated in newspapers, did Vinson realize the latter guy was the spitting image of Lee Harvey Oswald. I don't wish to give any more of the Vinson narrative away here -especially as it connects to other critical segments, but suffice it to say many researchers (including me) had always suspected an Oswald double may have been employed to paint the necessary patsy. The process itself is known in CIA lingo as "sheep dipping". While the patsy was being marched through Dallas Police HQ, one of the actual mechanics - an Oswald lookalike, was making his getaway from the airfield near the Trinity River. Needless to say, when the authorities found Vinson had been on this flight (by mistake), they put the guy through the wringer. Including making him work as a covert operative to keep him under close scrutiny, and on a short leash in case he might have tempted to blab. Now, some aspects of the latter part of the book, nailing down the time frames and personnel for the assassination, that I found credible and compelling: 1) No where is any mention made of "James Files" or the Files claimed-evidence that he was the Grassy Knoll shooter. It is clear from this that Douglass is either leery of the evidence put forth, or of the credibility of Files. This discloses a caution that is redeeming, especially for many new readers to the literature- who might at first balk at "Oswald doubles" and earlier patsies set up for earlier assassination attempts. 2) There is no attention whatever to the claimed "Murchison Party" - ostensibly held the night before to "sign all parties onto the deed". The Murchison party, at the home of oil tycoon Clint Murchison, has figured prominently in the online research community and also certain books (e.g. 'Killing the Truth', By H.L. Livingstone) 3) There is no attempt to pinpoint the number or timing of the shots, or diagnose the magic bullet and its "evidence" or the autopsy photos, or the x-ray images. Again, this is heartening and discloses that Douglass is only content to deal with he believes is most credible and which backs up other facets of his presentation, and propositions. 4) The personal notes and effects that showed Lee "loved and respected JFK", totally dovetail with interviews Marina Oswald gave for the 30th anniversary, which I still have on tape. In one particularly intense altercation with Tom Brokaw, she makes clear that the Warrenites twisted her arm (and testimony) in not so subtle ways, threatening deportation if she refused to play ball. In toto, when read right through, this book is absolutely terrifying. It reveals the unspeakable still in our midst, especially amongst those who would still defend the Warren Commission's version of history, despite the fact it is now essentially consigned to the dustbin. Douglass - as well as Newman, cited earlier- give numerous examples of outright fraudulent or manipulated evidence. In short, this is the best book I have ever read on this topic. For the first time it powerfully shows the moral force and character in Kennedy, even - following the past ten years or more- numerous cowards have sought to make their names and profits off the stories circulating about a dead man, who can no longer defend himself. None of this is "Kennedy worship" it is important to grasp, since as author Michael Parenti (The Dirty Truth) has noted, the error of all who claim it is that they typically conflate the low political value of the victim with the high political value of the assassination". Thereby effectively deflating the widely held perception amongst media mavens that people so worshipped JFK and "Camelot" it was unfathomable he could be offed by a lone loser....WRONG. What we, including Douglass, want - is for the nation to finally face this tragic event without pretense for the first time. NO denials, no subterfuge, no deflections. We do so not to try and "run from reality" but to face it. As Michael Parenti notes (op. cit. p. 186), we are citizens who are effectively: "raising grave questions about the nature of state power in what is supposed to be a democracy." It is more than past time those questions got answered, and Douglass' book is an excellent start.

THE GOOD... - Presents a chronology of events before Douglass presents his research in 6 sections/chapters, which I believe is important to keep in mind since Douglass does not go in chronological order (understandably so when you see how he organizes the book). This will elevate the information presented in his book if you keep the chronology of the events in mind. - Douglass' unique and objective narration does a supreme job of detailing the unspeakable truth of JFK's REAL situation in the White House when he was in the midst of politically dealing with historical events (aka the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, and Indonesia), which climactic-ally led to his controversial assassination - Like a good book, Douglass also communicates a positive, redeeming message from these ugly events and truths, which I doubt other books do on JFK's controversial assassination. This book uncovers how JFK was himself a profile in courage and candidly shows his true character during his presidency as he courageously turns towards peace. However, it does not do it in a fanatical way... the author posed questions as to why JFK did and what compelled him to advocate for more peaceful resolutions when the majority of his administration would rather be "dead than red." This book, I would say, is a redemption of what happened and I have much admiration for JFK now (which I didn't when I first read this book). --- THE BAD... - As thorough and detailed Douglass is... this book is dense. There are sections where you're thoroughly engaged and in wonderment as to how this whole thing was uncovered and covered up, but then there are sections where it's so loaded that it can be a bit confusing and draining at the same time. - Douglass does not go in chronological order in presenting and exposing the unspeakable truth, but he does present his information in a functional manner. However, he goes back and forth so much, that sometimes I wonder if the impact is lost because of this. However, from time to time, he does a good job of reminding you the critical part of the information when he does go back and forth. - This isn't really a criticism, but it would've been nice to get RFK's viewpoint, post-assassination in there. As we all know, RFK was JFK's most trusted adviser and companion throughout this time - I'm sure having that bit of information would've created more depth and complete-ness to this already complete book. This is something I would have preferred knowing as well. ------- All in all, great book, great buy. This was the first book I bought on JFK after becoming well-versed on the Kennedys - I was curious as to why there were so many good reviews on this on Amazon and gave in and bought it. I think it's worth it and endorse this book!

Douglass argues the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the superpowers to the brink of a nuclear war, profoundly changed JFK. During the emergency, JFK's hawkish cabinet and Pentagon officials pressured him to attack Cuba. Had he done so, we have since learned, Russian soldiers in Cuba possessed 130 Soviet nuclear-armed missiles with which they could have annihilated the US. Kennedy's restraint in the face of his advisors' hot-headed, maniacal demands for war with the USSR saved the world from a nuclear conflagration. But Kennedy's problems with the hawks began before the Cuban Missile Crisis, with the Bay of Pigs. The plan to overthrow the Castro regime had been hatched under the Eisenhower administration. Cuban exiles were assisted by the CIA in a plan that involved sending armed exiles onto the shores of Cuba. The right-wing exiles and their backers in the CIA hoped JFK would be pressured into sending US troops and/or air support for the attack, but JFK refused both. The exile brigade surrendered and more than one thousand were imprisoned in Cuba. Following that episode, an angry JFK said he wanted "to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds." For his refusal to countenance a nuclear war with the USSR over Cuba, the sociopathic hawks in the Pentagon and CIA saw JFK as "weak." Many in the Cuban exile community in Miami also hated him for failing to provide air support to their illegal invasion. Five months after the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK delivered a visionary address to the UN, calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons "before they abolish us..." This speech could not have thrilled the manufacturers of nuclear weapons nor the hawks in the Pentagon, who were pushing for a nuclear first strike against the USSR. In September 1961, JFK and Khrushchev began a back channel correspondence that lasted the remainder of JFK's life. Despite their differences, they came to a mutual understanding of the need for disarmament and détente. The understanding reached via this channel of communication helped save both of them from knuckling under to their more hawkish advisors during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In November 1961 Kennedy ordered advisors and support units to Vietnam, beginning a steady buildup. Yet six months later he issued National Security Action Memorandum 239, including orders to withdraw all US military personnel from Vietnam by the end of 1963. He had already decided Vietnam was a lost cause; it wasn't our war to fight. In April of 1962 he forced the steel industry leaders to rescind price increases that violated a JFK-brokered agreement to fight inflation. When they balked, he canceled Pentagon contracts with the industry, earning him the wrath of the power brokers in the Military Industrial Complex. The next month, he ordered Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to command General Paul Harkins to devise a plan for turning the Vietnam War over to the South Vietnamese and reducing the size of the US military command there. It is uncertain when exactly JFK crossed the line--from pissing off the suits in the CIA and Military Industrial Complex, to their decision to kill him. But it might well have happened before the missile crisis. His support of a coalition government in Laos over a more militarized approach didn't help his cause. A turning point may have been reached when JFK ordered a crackdown on the Cuban exile gunboats being run by the CIA out of Miami. The CIA's repeated attempts to entrap the president into launching a US invasion of Cuba, which Douglass documents carefully, had failed yet again. Of course, JFK was no angel, nor does Douglass present him as such. He made mistakes. Only nine days after his visionary American University address, JFK approved Operation Mongoose, a CIA program of sabotage and harassment against targets in Cuba. This was, as Douglass rightly says, against international law. Douglass suggests Kennedy did this under strain from hawks in his administration demanding increased pressure on Castro to counter Cuba's policy of apparently exporting revolution in Latin America. Once we accept that the CIA killed JFK, the point about whether JFK would or would not have pulled out of Vietnam becomes secondary. The CIA killed him--but why? It is wholly implausible that the CIA would kill a president simply to settle a score over his failure to be sufficiently belligerent toward Castro. They would only kill a president if they thought it would make a profound policy difference. And President Kennedy had repeatedly proven himself insufficiently hawkish for the crackpot "realists" in the CIA and Pentagon. From 1957 to 1958 Lee Harvey Oswald worked as a radar operator at Atsugi Air Force Base in Japan. Here he had a "crypto" clearance (higher than "top secret") and regularly listened to the U-2 radio communications. Atsugi was the CIA's main operational base in the Far East; many U-2 spy planes departed from this base on their missions over the USSR and China. Oswald, having resigned from the Marines two months earlier, appeared at a US embassy in Moscow in 1959, saying he wanted to renounce his US citizenship and affirming his allegiance to the USSR. He said he would give them all information he had about US radar operations. When the Soviets shot down a U-2 on May 1, 1960, the pilot, the pilot Gary Powers later questioned whether or not his having been shot down might have resulted from information Oswald provided to the Soviets. It was not an unreasonable conjecture, and it underscored the fact that Oswald's giving all the information he had as a Marine radar specialist to the Soviets was a treasonous act, performed at the height of the Cold War. This fact is significant, because when Oswald returned to the US Embassy in Moscow a year later, US officials welcomed him back with no questions asked. Not only was he not prosecuted, they gave him a loan to return to the US, and a new passport, 24 hours after he applied. Victor Marchetti, ex-CIA agent and author of the book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence, told Anthony Summers that in 1959 the Office of Naval Intelligence launched a program involving sending approximately three dozen ostensibly disenchanted, poor American youths to the USSR in an attempt find out what communism was all about. Technical eavesdropping was less effective then, and human intelligence was pivotal for intelligence work. Judge James Botelho, Oswald's former roommate in Santa Ana, said Oswald was never a Marxist or Communist. He claimed Oswald's "defection" was a US intelligence trick, and that Oswald had been on assignment in Russia for US intelligence. Upon arriving back from the USSR in 1962, Oswald was met by Spas T. Raikin, a representative of the Traveler's Aid Society, an anti-communist organization with ties to the CIA. With Raikin's help, Oswald, his wife and infant child passed easily through customs and immigration. That summer the Oswalds settled in Fort Worth, Texas. There, George de Mohrenschildt, an oil company consultant and CIA asset, befriended Oswald. De Mohrenschildt admitted in a 1977 interview that he has been given the assignment to meet with Oswald from J. Walton Moore, the Dallas CIA Domestic Contacts Service chief. (47) De Mohrenschildt became Oswald's mentor in Dallas, where he helped Oswald secure a new job with a graphic arts company. But De Mohrenschildt likely had little inkling of the convoluted and sinister plot in which he was enmeshed. Years later, in fact, he would express remorse over what had happened to both JFK and Oswald, who were both victims of the same forces. In 1963 Oswald moved to New Orleans, where he worked at the Reily Coffee Company, owned by a wealthy supporter of the CIA-sponsored Cuban Revolutionary Council. The company was located near the offices of the CIA, FBI, Secret Service, and Office of Naval Intelligence. Oswald also worked directly across the street from the Naval Intelligence and Secret Service, in the detective agency of former FBI agent Guy Banister. Banister's office was more a covert-action center for US intelligence than a detective agency. It helped supply weapons for CIA covert operations, including the Bay of Pigs and other Cuban-exile attacks on Cuba. Daniel Campbell, an ex-Marine hired by Banister, later admitted that "Banister was a bagman for the CIA and was running guns to the Alpha 66 (an armed anti-Castro group) in Miami." (62) It was in New Orleans that Oswald posed as a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, distributing pro-Castro leaflets, apparently intent on drawing attention to himself as a Castro supporter. Oswald would continue to be shepherded and "mentored" by various CIA handlers until the assassination of JFK. In addition to his documented history as a CIA asset, Oswald was also an FBI informant. Moreover, the evidence suggests that not only was Oswald not a communist, he was a supporter of JFK. Oswald's work with the CIA and the Cuban exiles led him to believe JFK was going to be assassinated. Indeed, there was a plot to kill JFK in Chicago, only twenty days before JFK arrived in Dallas. Douglass cites compelling evidence that it was Oswald himself who tipped off the Chicago police who then arrested the gunmen on the eve of Kennedy's arrival there. This book is loaded with creepy details of how this assassination was done: how the autopsy process was taken over by the military; how JFK's cranial x-rays were fraudulently re-made to cover up the documented fact of an entrance wound on his neck and witnesses seeing the back of his skull blown out; how his parade route was changed at the last day, making it more vulnerable to assassins; how fake "Secret Service" agents with Secret Service badges thwarted witnesses from pursuing a gunman seen fleeing from the grassy knoll after the shooting; how Jack Ruby was seen by a witness dropping off a gunman in Dealey Plaza at 11 a.m., an hour and a half before the assassination. Twenty-one out of twenty-two witnesses at Parkland Hospital--most of them doctors and nurses, trained medical observers--agreed in their earliest statements that JFK's massive head wound was located in the right rear of his skull, demonstrating a fatal head shot from the front. They were later pressured by the Warren Commission to recant their statements, making them consistent with the Commission's fabrication of history. Dr. Malcolm Perry repeatedly described a bullet entrance wound in the front of the neck. Yet after being threatened by "men in suits" in the Secret Service, he later repudiated his first account as "inaccurate." (308-09) Douglass's book is not a hagiography of JFK, who was certainly no saint. He was a Cold Warrior; he was a politician. But he was one who, certainly after the Cuban Missile crisis, was turning toward peace and disarmament. And Kennedy was well aware that his moves toward peace--in Indochina as well as with the Soviets, could cost him his life. By the time he went to Dallas, he was certainly aware that he had more to fear from the CIA and hawks in the military industrial complex than he did from the USSR. This is a haunting book. It makes it clear that something fundamentally changed with JFK's death. His murder was a coup d'état by the CIA acting on behalf of the military industrial complex. There is extraordinary detail and documentation in this book: it is 410 pages long, with 96 pages of endnotes. Douglass adduces evidence in some cases that did not emerge until after the fall of the Soviet Union, as in the case of the communications between the Kennedy family and the Soviet premier Khrushchev. The correspondence showed that the Kennedy family was well aware that JFK had been killed not by a lone gunman but by "a right-wing conspiracy." Douglass illustrates how the CIA plot was apparently designed to portray the assassin as a pro-Castro agent, to justify a retaliatory invasion of Cuba and possible nuclear strike against the USSR. But the evidence emerging after the murder revealed too many "Oswalds" in too many different places at the same time for that story to be credible. Moreover, it would have been impossible for Oswald to have killed JFK from where he was alleged to have done so. President Johnson faced three choices in response to the assassination: (1) Take what was obviously bogus evidence of a Castro-Soviet connection to the murder and use it to justify an invasion of Cuba and possible hot war against the Soviets; (2) confront the CIA on its falsified documents of Oswald's visit to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City in the months prior to November 1963, and face a domestic war with the CIA in which it would fight with every covert weapon at its command; or (3) participate in a cover-up of any conspiracy evidence "and a silent coup d'état that would reverse Kennedy's efforts to end the Cold War. He chose to cover up everything and surrender to Cold War prerogatives." (81) The FBI is revealed to have been implicated in the cover-up surrounding JFK's assassination, as was the Dallas Police department. What is amazing is how the CIA had so much power to pull this off, but after reading Douglass' careful, meticulous review of the evidence, one has little room to doubt it. I keep returning to the "unspeakable" in the title, and "why it matters." "Unspeakable" is a perfect word, because it connotes evil--"unspeakable evil"--and at the same time denotes what is forbidden or taboo. It is axiomatic within enlightened circles that there is evil at the heart of the United States. We saw it during the Civil Rights movement in the south, in the lynchings, the cross burnings. We saw it in the Vietnam War. And we saw it in the murder of JFK, certainly. But with the other evils, it was easier to place the locus of responsibility onto an Other. The problem was the southern racists, or the KKK, or the war criminals in the White House. Douglass makes clear, however, that the foe we face is much more formidable foe: it is ourselves, and our denial. What does Douglass mean by the "unspeakable"? He means not only those men and institutions who killed JFK, those who dedicate their lives to promoting war and killing over peace and cooperation. Thomas Merton used the term "unspeakable" after the murders of JFK, MLK and Robert Kennedy in the 60s, for "an evil whose depth and deceit...go beyond the capacity of words to describe." We might go so far as to say the unspeakable is the existence in the heart of the power structure of the US government, of a Mafia. Indeed, the CIA had an ongoing working relationship with the Mafia at the time of JFK's killing. Rather than define the unspeakable too narrowly, Douglass leaves us with some profound questions: "What does the nature of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy reveal about ourselves? What does it reveal about a national security state we have allowed to assume control over our lives? Have we reached the point where the state itself has become an enemy of the people, at least until we the people can manage to change, even revolutionize, its purpose? Can we transform our lives, and the state of the United States of America, so as to practice the truth that waging peace is our only real security?" (374)

In James W. Douglass' outstanding new book, "JFK and the Unspeakable," the author explains the title in his introduction. Coined by spiritual writer Thomas Merton, The Unspeakable refers to "an evil whose depth and deceit seemed to go beyond the capacity of words to describe." Regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Unspeakable succeeded due to deniability by the nation's citizens of the horrifying truth of the event and to plausible deniability by the government agencies responsible for the murder. (Vincent Bugliosi's recent fictional paperweight is a perfect example of the plausible deniability that allows the Unspeakable to thrive.) Many excellent books have proven that the assassination of JFK was the result of a conspiracy. Douglass verifies the certainty of the conspiracy and, as the subtitle of the book states, explains "Why He Died and Why It Matters." He scrutinizes the historical facts surrounding the assassination, from the creation of the CIA to the gradual obliteration of the freedoms upon which this nation was founded. This book is primarily the story of John F. Kennedy who changes from a Cold Warrior to an altruistic leader willing to risk his life to ensure that the world's children will not become victims of a nuclear catastrophe. Equal time is spent on JFK's presidency as on the assassination but one of the many rewards of this book is the author's capacity to show the relationship between his policies and his death. And the book is a tragedy because it gradually becomes obvious that each step he makes toward peace steadily increases the hatred of his enemies who will eventually betray him. It is also the story of the designated patsy, Lee Harvey Oswald. Moved around the country like a pawn by government agencies (as was the second "Oswald"), he was being set up as the scapegoat. Enter some despicable characters, including David Atlee Philips, James Hosty and, of course, Michael and Ruth Paine. Simultaneously, the Soviet Union was being set up as the evil empire behind the assassination, along with its satellite Cuba. Douglass credibly illustrates the origin of the Crime of the Century. During President Truman's administration, the CIA was empowered to be a paramilitary organization with unlimited powers. Truman's successor, President Eisenhower, fell out of favor with the CIA when he planned a summit meeting with Soviet Premier Khrushchev. This was cancelled after a U.S. spy plane crashed in Russia. Eisenhower had reportedly ordered such flights cancelled and had his suspicions about who had ruined his peace plan. He subsequently issued his warning about the "military industrial complex" in his farewell address. But he didn't defy "this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry." He left that task to his successor, JFK. The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba was planned by the CIA to regain control of the island and to re-open the casinos for organized crime. President Kennedy refused to provide air support for the Cuban brigade because he knew that he had been lied to by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by the CIA; the invasion had been designed to fail without U.S. support but they hadn't told this to JFK who refused to fall into their trap. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK once again enraged the CIA and the Joint Chiefs by resisting their tremendous pressure on him to take military action which would have led to nuclear war. Following that crisis, JFK became intent on ending the Cold War by establishing a peaceful relationship with the Soviet Union. However, many CIA and Pentagon personnel believed that it was better to be "dead than red" and that it was preferable to destroy civilization rather than let the Communists rule. They also knew that war generated billions of dollars into the arms industry. As a result, they would repeatedly subvert the President's policies and isolate him within his own government. Enter some more despicable characters: Richard Bissell, Charles Cabell, Henry Cabot Lodge, Lyman Lemnitzer, Curtis LeMay and perhaps the most contemptible of all, Allen Dulles. Ironically, JFK learned to trust Khrushchev more than people within his own government. At American University on June 10, 1963, JFK spoke about his desire for world peace. He communicated his resolve to form a new relationship with Khrushchev. He spoke about the necessity of a pursuit toward disarmament. He related his intentions to establish a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He acknowledged his country's past faults and recognized the Russian people as wanting peace as much as the American people. "And we are all mortal," he stated. Though this extremely important speech was ignored in the United States, it was disseminated throughout the Soviet Union, per order of Khrushchev, who was prepared to respond favorably to JFK's peace initiative. The speech also certified JFK's death warrant. With so many powerful enemies opposing his policies and hating him, JFK didn't have a chance as he was being maneuvered into the crossfire in Dallas. President Kennedy was aware of the power of his enemies and he knew the dangers facing him. But he persevered and mandated that all U.S. personnel would be withdrawn from Vietnam; he was determined to never send in combat troops even if this meant defeat. He also refused to intervene militarily in Laos. He exchanged private letters with Khrushchev, which infuriated the CIA, and secretly initiated plans to attain rapproachement with Cuba, which further incensed the Agency. Cuba's Fidel Castro, whom the CIA hated as intensely as it hated Kennedy, was equally eager to begin an American-Cuba dialogue. In fact, Castro was meeting with a JFK representative when the President was murdered. JFK died a martyr and the forces of evil that killed him also killed his vision of peace. Lyndon Johnson, the CIA's ally, assumed the presidency. He cancelled talks with Khrushchev and refused Castro's pleas to continue the dialogue. He reversed JFK's withdrawal plan from Vietnam as well as his plan to neutralize Laos. The military industrial complex took control of the country. The policy of plausible deniability led the way to assassinations of foreign leaders, the overthrowing of foreign governments and horrors committed all over the globe. If JFK had not been murdered, we would not have had the prolongation of the Cold War, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the purported War on Terror and the steady moral deterioration of America. Interestingly, one month after JFK's assassination, President Truman wrote an article for The Washington Post cautioning about the threat of the CIA taking over America. The author meticulously examines the evidence and draws conclusions which ring with unassailable truth: (1) The CIA coordinated and implemented he assassination of President Kennedy, an act of treason which destroyed democracy in the U.S. (2) The Warren Commission was created to propagate lies to conceal the truth from the American people. (3)There has been a continued cover-up by successive administrations and their stooges in the mass media. (4)The murder of JFK is directly related to the current domination of the American people by powerful oppressors within a shadow government that will continue to insist that only sustained war can keep the country safe from its enemies, never admitting that they themselves are the supreme evil. This is an exceptional book that will be used by future historians to determine the truth about the assassination and how it changed America. And it will also be used to honor John F. Kennedy as a courageous president who believed in doing God's work on earth. In doing so, he came into conflict with the Unspeakable and his life was extinguished.

I just bought the Kindle version of this book, even though I bought (and read) the hardback well over a year ago. I had always thought that Kennedy was a crappy president and that his "legacy" was merely the good feelings about "Camelot", and sympathy for his assassination. Whenever I challenged someone to name something good that Kennedy had accomplished, the only thing ever brought up was the Cuban Missile Crisis. I always responded with, "well, since he appeared so weak to Khrushchev in Vienna, Kennedy was just fixing the mess that he had created. Sorry, no brownie points for that." I relate this, so that you can understand the lack of respect that I had for Kennedy when I started reading this book. I had already understood JFK as a pill-popping, boozing, womanizer; and I really did not see anything positive in his short presidency. I had no concept of the gargantuan battle that JFK fought with the CIA and the rest of the congressional-military-industrial complex. His efforts at bringing peace to our country in Laos and Vietnam took an exceptional amount of courage. The author makes a compelling case for why the CIA wanted Kennedy killed, and he presents a plethora of evidence as to why we should believe that the CIA was behind it. Previous to this I had never had an opinion on, nor was at all interested in, any of the JFK assassination conspiracy theories. I have just finished reading "The Secret History of the CIA", whose author posits the theory that the Soviet Union was behind the JFK assassination, contrasting sharply with this book. This prompted me to reread "Family of Secrets" by Russ Baker. I now want to reread parts of James Douglass' book again, but I loaned out my hardback copy and have little hope of getting it back. I found "JFK and the Unspeakable" to be probably the best book that I have read in the past thirty years. Much of this because the author presented enough evidence to actually penetrate my great bias against Kennedy, and I was able see how remarkable and courageous a man Kennedy really was. Not to disregard his many failings, but they did not have the potential impact that his courage and propensity for peace had in trying to turn the strongest country in the world away from the allure of war and world domination. It is mind-boggling to imagine how different our world today might be if Kennedy had been allowed to live, and if the aggressive foreign policy framework of the neoconservatives had been allowed a more peaceful alternative in our democratic society. This book is well-written, engaging, and persuasive. I rated it so highly because it has really made me think, and to look deeper into the "back stage" action that guides the policies of our government rapidly toward moral and financial collapse.

Let me preface this review by saying I'm intrigued by all things related to this horrible historic event. It's amazing and almost dumbfounding how our very own government and rogue agencies can perpetrate such a coup and most people are oblivious as to who set it up and why. I've read a few books on this topic and have probably watched every major conspiracy documentary available and this book by far is probably the best statistical overview of the JFK assassination. And more importantly, its subsequent cover up by those involved in meticulously planning & executing it. When one objectively looks at the Warren Commision and its conclusion that Oswald alone killed Kennedy you find glaring omissions, factual inaccuracies, misleading fabrications, destruction of evidence, and numerous other issues. Even if one is not inclined to believe "conspiracy theories" you'd read this book and probably lean that way. In the case of the assassination, there's plenty of motive for the CIA, the Mafia, the FBI, Texas big business(oil), and Kennedy no doubt made innumerable enemies within his own government. People who do not put stock in conspiracies will ask which one of these groups done it? It's clear when you look at the conclusion of the 1975 House Select Committee on Assassinations, they reviewed the same evidence as the Warren Commission and were overwhelmingly forced to admit JFK was killed as a "likely result of a conspiracy". This book gives specific details from all historical sources to really build the case for conspiracy fact and yes I say fact. If one sees through the obviously bogus sham of The Warren Commission, then conspiracy goes from theory to fact. Especially with the peculiar witness deaths, the intimidation of those witnesses not killed, the deaths of prominent alleged figures in the plot before their testimonies potentially to Jim Garrison or the House Select Commitee, and the overwhelming evidence that Oswald was indeed as he said "just a patsy". This book even goes as far to name other potential "patsies" who would've assassinated Kennedy in earlier plots in both Chicago and Miami before JFK eventually took his fateful and fatal trip to Dallas. If you're interested in historical truth and the hows/whys of the JFK assassination, I'd highly recommend this book as it has been one of the more informative and enlightening books on the subject I've read. The only thing keeping it from being the best book on the topic is the author's continuous comparison of a monk's philosophy of what he termed "the unspeakable" and events of history all culminating in the assassination. If I were making a top two list of informational and historically accurate books on the JFK assassination I'd say "Crossfire: The Plot To Kill Kennedy"-by Jim Marrs is #1 with this book being a very close #2.

Frightening account of the coverup of the century. Recommended for anyone who wonders what happened to a great president and a great man.

Behind the scene! Brilliant

This is one of those rare books that anyone interested in modern history and current affairs really should read. It tells the story of an outrageous unfolding both of the inner character of a world leader (Kennedy) plus two others (Khrushchev and Castro), the inner workings of the American Intelligence Community (aka 'Deep State') and how it is powerful enough not only to murder an elected President, but also so direct public opinion as to have gotten away with it. A recent poll in the US (July 2017) shows that Americans trust the Intelligence Services (who control their media!) more than any other institution in society, above the Courts (by a whisper), and way above Presidents or Congress or Media. This book, in painstaking but well-written detail, takes the reader through Kennedy's various initatives, step by step, showing why they led to his assassination, because essentially he was going against the grain by successfully getting to the point where within a few months, had he been allowed to live, the Cold War would have ended and the Vietnam War would never have begun. So this is a primer on 'how things really are' in our body politic, not only for Americans, but for anyone living in the modern 'developed' world.

Douglas explains that JFK had to die because his foreign policy stood in the way of powerful commercial interests. Kennedy was trying to make peace with Kruschev and Castro behind the scenes. But both Kennedy and Kruschev were opposed by their military leaders who were hell bent on war. The secret correspondence and dialog between these three is revealed by Douglas to paint a fascinating portrait of how possible world peace was in the 1960's. Kruschev, Castro and Kennedy reveal themselves to be intelligent, empathic leaders all capable of considering the needs of the other sides and willing to negotiate a de-escalation of the cold war in ways the lead to better outcomes for all countries. But that was anathema to the business interests who wanted to exploit Cuba, South America, Asia, and Africa, and which didn't want to compete against Russia or China in international markets or for resources. And so world peace didn't happen. How didn't it happen? James W Douglass takes us through it.

Es para información y conocimiento del contenido del libro, muchas gracias