As friends know, I am a bit of a JFK assassination geek. Let's face it. When I was twelve years old, I was reading the 700-page "Death of a President" by William Manchester. At the time, that was allegedly the most complete account of this notorious day in Dallas. Since then, I have devoured any and all books, documentaries, and analyses of what happened on November 22, 1963. A book full of the Kennedy autopsy photos was on my coffee table for two years. Not the same elegance as a rain forest compendium published by National Geographic, but you get the grisly picture. In more ways than one.
About two months ago, there was a movie release that nobody paid attention. The film "Parkland" was sadly ignored by almost everybody and that's sad because it was a marvelous depiction of the JFK assassination as seen through the eyes of those people on the fringe of the event, i.e. the Parkland Hospital doctors, the Dallas FBI agents, the assassin's brother, etc.. It was clearly one of the best movies I saw this year and the DVD was out virtually the very next week.
But, as I read through the closing credits of "Parkland," I noted that one of the sources for the screenplay was this book by famed crime writer and historian Vincent Bugliosi. You'll remember him from his outstanding work on "Helter Skelter," which took us moment-by-moment through the Manson Family murders. But I had never heard of his book on the JFK shooting. I had clearly missed it.
Given my affinity for "Parkland," I immediately bought the Bugliosi book. And couldn't stop reading it. Of all the JFK assassination works I have encountered, this was clearly the best. Because, after all this time, I learned things in this book that I never knew. There was new information for me and major kudos to Vincent Bugliosi for giving them to me.
For instance, I never knew that there were anonymous phone threats into the Dallas Police station against Lee Harvey Oswald the night before he was killed.
I previously thought that Oswald never regained consciousness after being shot. Well, apparently, in the ambulance, he did for a moment and thrashed around wildly.
I also never knew that, on the night of the President's burial at Arlington, Jackie Kennedy and his brother Bobby made a midnight trip to the gravesite for prayers.
This book, which is so copiously researched and written, tells a story that is so gripping that it almost seems new to the reader. I turned each page with anticipation to see what was happening next. This is a tough feat to accomplish with a history book.
The second half of the work is almost exclusively devoted to the Dallas Police investigation of the murders of the President and Patrolman J.D. Tippett and it is almost as compelling as that CSI show you watched last night. Indeed, Bugliosi talked to everybody and his bibliography and footnotes go on for almost 100 pages.
With this book, Bugliosi also has another achievement. He turns me into one of those folks who no longer believes in the conspiracy theories revolving around this day. I've read and seen all the stories about what people think happened in Dealey Plaza. It was Russia. It was the CIA. It was the Mafia. It was Elmer Fudd up in the window and Oprah Winfrey with a rifle on the grassy knoll.
Nope.
Once you read this book, you will believe that it was Lee Harvey Oswald up there on the sixth floor. By himself. And Jack Ruby was just a kook who was so delusional that he thought America would regard him as a hero. With Bugliosi at the helm, you can't accept anything but this scenario as fact.
"Four Days in November" is clearly the best and most complete account of the JFK assassination. Sorry, Oliver Stone. You had your chance.
Dinner last night: Ribeye steak and salad.
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