Category Archives: John Kennedy

The Secrets of the JFK Assassination Archive

Lee Oswald handing out pro-Castro leaflets in New Orleans. “In 1988, in an elevator at a film festival in Havana, the director Oliver Stone was handed a copy of On the Trail of the Assassins, a newly published account of … Continue reading

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1963 South Vietnamese coup d’état

Rebel tanks are drawn up in front of the presidential palace in Saigon, on Nov. 3, 1963, during coup that brought the downfall and death of South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu. “In November … Continue reading

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Steinski & The Mass Media – The Motorcade Sped On (1986)

“November 22, 2013 will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This post is part of a series that will run throughout this year focusing on songs that address the JFK assassination. ‘The Motorcade Sped … Continue reading

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Biden’s ‘Final’ Order on Kennedy Files Leaves Some Still Wanting More

President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy preparing to drive into Dallas from the airport on Nov. 22, 1963. He was assassinated later that day. “On June 22, 1962, an intelligence official drafted a memo summarizing a letter intercepted between … Continue reading

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How the CIA Tricked the World’s Best Writers

A distinguished roster of speakers attend the opening day of the General Conference of the Congress for Cultural Freedom in West Berlin June 16, 1960. “‘The past is a foreign country,’ L.P. Hartley famously wrote as he opened The Go–Between. … Continue reading

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Badge Man

The degraded original version of the Moorman photograph: the Badge Man is purportedly located behind the stockade fence at photo center. “The Badge Man is a figure that is purportedly present within the Mary Moorman photograph of the assassination of … Continue reading

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The National Archives Is About to Release More JFK Files. Here’s What to Expect.

“For this nation’s army of conspiracy theorists, few long-secret government documents have whipped up so much suspicion in the 59 years since President John F. Kennedy’s death as the CIA’s massive, multivolume background file on assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. White … Continue reading

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Why We Still Don’t Have the JFK Assassination Files

President John F. Kennedy is seen riding in motorcade approximately one minute before he was shot in Dallas, Tx., on Nov. 22, 1963. In the car riding with Kennedy are Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, right, Nellie Connally, left, and her husband, … Continue reading

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History in photos: Is this photo of JFK’s killer fake?

“On this day, almost six decades ago, US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Among the many photos and footage that surfaced following the incident shows the accused killer Lee Harvey Oswald. In the video above, the … Continue reading

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Vietnam War A collection of documents related to Ellsberg’s interest and participation in the Vietnam War.

“Daniel Ellsberg went to Vietnam for the first time in September 1961 as part of a Pentagon fact-finding task force. He hoped to learn that the South Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem, with U.S. backing, was defeating the Communist-led … Continue reading

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Thinking About the Sixties by Richard Goldstein

“The ’60s was was a decade without nostalgia, and thus a decade without irony. It’s only natural, then, that the current wave of nostalgia for the ’60s is suffused with irony — for we are looking back to a time … Continue reading

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‘JFK’: Oliver Stone’s Emotionally Accurate and Masterfully Crafted Trip Down the Rabbit Hole

“… There is literally zero doubt about it—director Oliver Stone has always been drawn to making movies about significant men who were creators, conquerors or critics, i.e. free thinkers, whether it be king Alexander the Great, president Richard Nixon, fictional … Continue reading

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Did John F. Kennedy and the Democrats Steal the 1960 Election?

Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy debate during the 1960 election. “For Richard Nixon, the holiday season of 1960 was a sullen affair. Weeks before, on Nov. 8, he had lost an exceedingly close presidential election to Senator John F. … Continue reading

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What Bob Dylan Does—Or Doesn’t—Know About the Assassination of JFK

JFK’s murder was most foul, and that event paved the way, in Dylan’s mind, for the process of long decay, the rootlessness and suspicion, that we have lived since then. “Not long after Covid-19 began its insidious spread, Bob Dylan … Continue reading

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What Biden is keeping secret in the JFK files

Part of a file from the CIA released by the National Archives in 2017, dated Oct. 10, 1963, details “a reliable and sensitive source in Mexico” report of Lee Harvey Oswald’s contact with the Soviet Union embassy in Mexico City. … Continue reading

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JACOBIN No.29 / Spring 2018: 1968

“Between us we can change this rotten society. Now, put on your coat and make for the nearest cinema. Look at their deadly love-making on the screen. Isn’t it better in real life? Make up your mind to learn to … Continue reading

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“Barbed Wire Sunday”

On August 13, 1961, the National People’s Army of the German Democratic Republic began constructing the Berlin Wall “At midnight on this day in 1961, units of the East German army began to close the border between East and West … Continue reading

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Aldous Huxley Tells Mike Wallace What Will Destroy Democracy: Overpopulation, Drugs & Insidious Technology (1958)

“Overpopulation, manipulative politics, imbalances of societal power, addictive drugs, even more addictive technologies: these and other developments have pushed not just democracy but civilization itself to the brink. Or at least author Aldous Huxley saw it that way, and he told … Continue reading

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Drive-in theater

“A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies … Continue reading

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The US Blockade on Cuba Must End

Richard Nixon, then Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president, met with Cuba’s Fidel Castro on April 19, 1959, in Washington, DC. “… The US blockade on Cuba has been a key part of Washington’s long-standing war on the country, launched shortly … Continue reading

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What Was J. Edgar Hoover Biggest Secret that Could Have Destroyed Him?

“John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. He was appointed director of the Bureau of … Continue reading

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‘We’re Going to Publish’ An Oral History of the Pentagon Papers

“On Oct. 1, 1969, Daniel Ellsberg walked out of the RAND Corporation offices, where he worked as a Defense Department consultant, into the temperate evening air of Santa Monica, Calif. In his briefcase was part of a classified government study … Continue reading

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Vienna summit

“The Vienna summit was a summit meeting held on June 4, 1961, in Vienna, Austria, between President John F. Kennedy of the United States and Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union. The leaders of the two superpowers of the … Continue reading

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Chasing the Moon – PBS

“The most harrowing moment in the new three-part PBS series Chasing the Moon, about the race to the Moon in the 1960s, happens on Earth, in the suburban home of astronaut Frank Borman, near the Manned Spacecraft Center south of … Continue reading

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Vietnam War Photos That Made a Difference

“A group of people are huddled together in a jungle clearing, some with arms reaching toward a light from above. At first glance, perhaps an allegorical painting from the age of da Vinci. But on closer examination, it’s a black … Continue reading

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Medgar Evers

“Medgar Wiley Evers (July 2, 1925 – June 12, 1963) was an American civil rights activist in Mississippi, the state’s field secretary for the NAACP, and a World War II veteran who had served in the United States Army. He worked … Continue reading

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Heresies of “Dune”

“Some historical periods fade, others end abruptly. For the United States, the Technicolor-tinted era that began when the troops returned from World War II terminated in an instant: 12:30 pm on November 22, 1963. The gunshot that took John F. … Continue reading

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JFK Assassination Song: “The Motorcade Sped On” by Steinski

“November 22, 2013 will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. This post is part of a series that will run throughout this year focusing on songs that address the JFK assassination. ‘The Motorcade Sped … Continue reading

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Bobby the K: Robert Kennedy Comes to New York

“Throughout the 1960s, the Village Voice, like much of the American media, was fascinated by the Kennedy family. In a sense, the paper’s coverage of Robert F. Kennedy began with an endorsement of his brother John for president, in 1960: … Continue reading

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The Things We Knew Then: Vivid Then, Fading Now?

“1. James Forman was a. ’68 Olympic heavyweight champion b. national director of the Congress of Racial Equality c. a Czechoslovakian film director d. executive secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 2. In Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, … Continue reading

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Who Was the Umbrella Man? | JFK Assassination Documentary

On the 48th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Errol Morris explores the story behind the one man seen standing under an open black umbrella at the site. “For years, I’ve wanted to make a movie about … Continue reading

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James Baldwin Talks About Racism in America & Civil Rights Activism on The Dick Cavett Show (1969)

James Baldwin, New York City, 1976; photograph by Nancy Crampton “There are many reasons, some quite literal, that it can be painful to talk about racism in the U.S. For one thing, it often seems that writers like W.E.B. Du … Continue reading

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Libra – Don DeLillo (1988)

“Libra is a 1988 novel by Don DeLillo that describes the life of Lee Harvey Oswald and his participation in a fictional CIA conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. The novel blends historical fact with fictional supposition. … The … Continue reading

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Death of Marilyn Monroe

“Marilyn Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose late in the evening of Saturday, August 4, 1962, at her 12305 Fifth Helena Drive home in Los Angeles, California. Her body was discovered before dawn on Sunday, August 5. She was a … Continue reading

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JFK – Oliver Stone (1991)

“JFK is a 1991 American political thriller film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy and alleged cover-up through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim … Continue reading

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1960 United States presidential election / 1960: The Making of the President Game Rules

John F. Kennedy, with his brother Robert and Robert’s wife, Ethel, behind him, watching election coverage at Hyannis Port, Mass., on the morning of Nov. 9, 1960. “…  Kennedy won a 303 to 219 Electoral College victory and is generally … Continue reading

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Operation Ranch Hand

Four-plane defoliant run, part of Operation Ranch Hand “Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. Largely inspired by the British use of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D (Agent Orange) during the Malayan … Continue reading

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The Death of a President: November 20–November 25, 1963 – William Manchester (1967)

“The Death of a President: November 20–November 25, 1963 is historian William Manchester‘s 1967 account of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The book gained public attention before it was published when Kennedy’s widow Jacqueline, who had initially asked Manchester … Continue reading

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What Was the Vietnam War About?

A group of South Vietnamese army soldiers and an American soldier with two captured Vietcong suspects, in Plaines des Joncs, South Vietnam. “Was America’s war in Vietnam a noble struggle against Communist aggression, a tragic intervention in a civil conflict, … Continue reading

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The Fantasy World of US Empire

American helicopters hover above armed U.S. soldiers, preparing to lift them from combat back to their base in Tay Ninh. “In US social memory, the Vietnam War is typically imagined to have been a civil war between two sides: South … Continue reading

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