J.F.K. Cold War Assassination - Paperback

by Marc Birnbaum (Author)

This book explores John Fitzgerald Kennedy during the Cold War, and his much-too-brief Presidency.

Decades after the assassination, as the public largely disbelieved many of the conclusions of the Warren Commission, Congress passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992, directing the assembly and release of secret files from the National Archives and Records Administration no later than twenty-five years after enactment, or October 26, 2017.

As some of these documents became publicly available, my interest was drawn as I began to recall my emotions at the time of the assassination. One particular document was written on November 24, 1963, by J. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the FBI, two days after the assassination. It was a two-page memo to file, written within a few hours of Lee Harvey Oswald being shot by Jack Ruby in the garage of the Dallas Police Department and a week before the establishment of the Warren Commission. Referring to the investigation that would come, Hoover dictated, "The thing I am concerned about...is having something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin." This tells us how, before the Warren Commission was announced, the Director of the FBI was not interested in the truth but rather to convince America and the world of a narrative allowing a cover-up of critical facts.

Looking at some of that history, the writing began, and I wanted to know more about the world realities of the Cold War and JFK's experiences and contributions with three terms in the House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953, United States Senator from 1953 to 1960, and President from 1961 to 1963. The book explores JFK and his contributions and confrontations through the Cold War, the defeat of Richard Nixon for President, the space race, the Bay of Pigs, summit meeting with Khrushchev in Vienna, the Berlin Wall construction, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the reassessment of Vietnam.

The loss of John Fitzgerald Kennedy is a loss to history and what could have been. We can only imagine.