Kennedy's Last Days: The Assassination That Defined a Generation Read online

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  This book is dedicated to my ancestors,

  THE KENNEDYS

  OF YONKERS, NEW YORK:

  hardworking, generous, and honest folk.

  CONTENTS

  Frontispiece

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Epigraphs

  Prologue

  Key Players

  PART 1 THE MAKING OF A HERO

  PART 2 THE MAKING OF A LEADER

  PART 3 DALLAS, TEXAS—NOVEMBER 1963

  PART 4 THE MAKING OF A LEGEND

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  The Kennedys: A Photo Family Tree

  The Crew of USS PT-109 on Its Last Mission

  John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address

  John and Jackie Kennedy: Some Famous and Interesting Words

  The Zapruder Film: A Moment-by-Moment Record

  Investigating the Assassination: The Warren Commission

  Some Facts About the Early 1960s

  Time Line

  Places to Visit

  The Author Recommends …

  Recommended Reading

  Recommended Websites

  Recommended Viewing

  Bibliography

  Sources

  Index

  Copyright

  John’s sisters Patricia, Jeanne, and Eunice show their support during Kennedy’s senatorial campaign. The donkey is a symbol of the Democratic Party. [© Bettmann/Corbis]

  “The stories of past courage can define that ingredient—they can teach, they can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.”

  —John Fitzgerald Kennedy

  “It can be said of him, as of few men in a like position, that he did not fear the weather, and did not trim his sails, but instead challenged the wind itself, to improve its direction and to cause it to blow more softly and more kindly over the world and its people.”

  —E. B. White

  PROLOGUE

  THE BAD NEWS ARRIVED in religion class. We were in Brother Carmine Diodati’s room that day when the radio report came over the loudspeaker: President John F. Kennedy has been shot in Dallas, Texas, and taken to the hospital. A short time later, we would learn that he was dead.

  We were startled. No one knew what to say. I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news, and so do most Americans who were born before 1953. I’ll bet there is someone in your family who can tell you what it felt like to hear the awful news that the president had been assassinated.

  Chaminade High School, where I was a freshman, was (and still is) all boys, or “young men,” as we were called, so there weren’t a lot of tears then. The days that followed were filled with sadness and confusion. We had to go to several sorrowful masses and listen to lectures about the slain president and the tragedy that had befallen America.

  The author’s ID for Chaminade High School, 1965–66.

  Mostly, we were confused. My life at the time revolved around sports and friends. I didn’t think too much about national politics. I took pride in wearing the red and gold school colors on the field, did my homework, and tried to stay in line with the school rules. I don’t remember talking to my friends about the assassination.

  Life was pretty simple in those days. For adults the rules seemed to be these: You worked, obeyed the law, cared for your family, looked out for your neighbors, and respected your country. The Kennedy assassination shattered that calm sense of order. People throughout America were asking themselves and one another why it happened and who really killed the president.

  In 1960, when Kennedy was elected, I was in sixth grade at St. Brigid’s Catholic School. Of course his picture was soon on the walls because he was the country’s first Catholic president. And he was Irish, too. I had Kennedys in my background. My mother’s grandmother was Winifred Kennedy, and all American Kennedys liked to think they were related to this groundbreaking president. And because we were Irish Catholic, too, our family felt deep emotional ties to the president and his family.

  Soon after Kennedy was elected, there was a scary change at school. Three months after the inauguration, there was a standoff with Russia and Cuba, and people were afraid there would be a nuclear war. To prepare for this, we had fallout-shelter drills at school. When the bell rang, all the kids had to file out to the school parking lot. If a war had started, buses would take us to an underground bunker.

  The Kennedys with Jackie’s sister’s family, Christmas Eve, 1962. The black dog is Clipper. Mrs. Kennedy is holding Charlie. [JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

  There would be other showdowns during Kennedy’s presidency, as well as times of family relaxation. And it seemed as if we were in on them all. There were photos of the president in meetings, walking with world leaders, speaking around the world, sailing on his yacht, and playing with his children. He was a glamorous figure, young and energetic. He had style, and his wife, Jackie, had even more. Kennedy was friendly with the press and let them show what his life was like. He was our first president who liked to be on television.

  And it was television that kept the country in touch when he was killed. After the assassination, my mother and father, like most Americans, were glued to the TV. For three days after the 1:40 P.M. news bulletin on November 22, 1963, the country watched. Walter Cronkite, the most respected man in television news, had broken into the broadcast of a soap opera to announce the shooting. All the major networks showed the return of the president’s body to Washington, D.C., his funeral mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew, and his burial in Arlington National Cemetery. Not a single commercial was aired during those three days.

  My father was not enthusiastic about the new president, Lyndon Johnson. My mother was sad and mostly worried about Jackie Kennedy and her two young children. To me, Kennedy was a distant figure who died in a terrible way, although many of the photographs of that day have stayed with me always.

  It wasn’t until I got to college that I began to be interested in politics and in how great men like John Kennedy met the challenges that were thrown at them.

  New York

  June 2013

  KEY PLAYERS

  PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY AND FAMILY

  CAROLINE KENNEDY

  Caroline Kennedy: Daughter of the president and first lady.

  EDWARD KENNEDY

  Edward “Ted” Kennedy: Younger brother of JFK, U.S. senator.

  JACQUELINE BOUVIER KENNEDY

  Jacqueline “Jackie” Bouvier Kennedy: Wife of JFK, first lady of the United States.

  JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY

  John Fitzgerald Kennedy: World War II hero, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian, U.S. congressman and senator, 35th president of the United States.

  JOHN KENNEDY JR.

  John Kennedy Jr.: Son of the president and first lady.

  JOSEPH KENNEDY JR.

  Joseph Kennedy Jr.: Older brother of JFK, U.S. Navy land-based bomber pilot during World War II.

  JOSEPH KENNEDY SR.

  Joseph Kennedy Sr.: Patriarch of the Kennedy family, former U.S. ambassador to Great Britain.

  ROBERT FRANCIS KENNEDY

  Robert Francis Kennedy: Younger brother of JFK, U.S
. senator, U.S. attorney general, candidate for president in 1968.

  PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S CABINET AND ADVISERS

  McGEORGE BUNDY

  McGeorge Bundy: JFK’s national security adviser.

  LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON

  Lyndon Baines Johnson: JFK’s vice president, then 36th president of the United States.

  ROBERT S. McNAMARA

  Robert S. McNamara: Secretary of defense.

  KENNETH P. O’DONNELL

  Kenneth “Kenny” P. O’Donnell: Organizer of JFK’s 1960 presidential campaign, special assistant and appointments secretary to President Kennedy, later campaign manager for Robert Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign.

  DAVID FRANCIS POWERS

  David “Dave” Francis Powers: Special assistant and assistant appointments secretary to President Kennedy, later curator of the JFK Library and Museum.

  PIERRE SALINGER

  Pierre Salinger: White House press secretary.

  ARTHUR SCHLESINGER JR.

  Arthur Schlesinger Jr.: Special assistant to the president.

  TED SORENSEN

  Ted Sorensen: Special counsel to the president.

  EARL WARREN

  Earl Warren: Fourteenth chief justice of the Supreme Court, chairman of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, informally known as the Warren Commission.

  POLITICAL LEADERS

  FIDEL CASTRO

  Fidel Castro: Prime minister and later president of Cuba.

  John Connally: Governor of Texas, rides in the presidential limousine in Dallas.

  DWIGHT EISENHOWER

  Dwight Eisenhower: Thirty-fourth president of the United States.

  ANDREI GROMYKO

  Andrei Gromyko: Soviet foreign minister.

  NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV

  Nikita Khrushchev: Premier of the Soviet Union.

  MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

  Martin Luther King Jr.: Minister, activist leader of the civil rights movement, and later Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

  RICHARD NIXON

  Richard Nixon: President Eisenhower’s vice president, presidential candidate against Kennedy.

  HARRY TRUMAN

  Harry Truman: Thirty-third president of the United States.

  GEORGE WALLACE

  George Wallace: Governor of Alabama.

  SECRET SERVICE, FBI, AND POLICE

  U. E. BAUGHMAN

  U. E. Baughman: Head of the Secret Service.

  Arnold J. Brown: Texas-based FBI agent who investigates Lee Harvey Oswald and his mother.

  Jesse Curry: Dallas police chief.

  John Fain: Texas-based FBI agent who investigates Lee Harvey Oswald.

  Bill Greer: Secret Service agent driving the presidential limousine.

  CLINT HILL

  Clint Hill: Secret Service agent in charge of Jackie Kennedy’s detail.

  J. EDGAR HOOVER

  J. Edgar Hoover: Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States.

  James Hosty Jr.: FBI’s expert on Lee Harvey and Marina Oswald.

  Roy Kellerman: Secret Service agent protecting JFK.

  WINSTON G. LAWSON

  Winston G. Lawson: Secret Service special agent in charge of organizing JFK’s travel protection.

  Eugene “Bull” Connor: Birmingham, Alabama, public safety commissioner.

  J. D. TIPPIT

  J. D. Tippit: Officer of the Dallas police force who is killed by Oswald.

  LEE HARVEY OSWALD, FAMILY, AND ACQUAINTANCES

  GEORGE DE MOHRENSCHILDT

  George de Mohrenschildt: Russian-American businessman who helps the Oswalds.

  LEE HARVEY OSWALD

  Lee Harvey Oswald: U.S. Marine, defector to the Soviet Union, assassin of Kennedy.

  MARGUERITE OSWALD

  Marguerite Oswald: Mother of Lee Harvey Oswald.

  MARINA PRUSAKOVA OSWALD

  Marina Prusakova Oswald: Wife of Lee Harvey Oswald.

  ROBERT OSWALD

  Robert Oswald: Lee Harvey Oswald’s older brother.

  RUTH PAINE

  Ruth Paine: Friend of Marina Oswald.

  OTHERS

  WALTER CRONKITE

  Walter Cronkite: CBS newsman who first announces the shooting of the president.

  JACK RUBY

  Jack Ruby: Nightclub owner who kills Lee Harvey Oswald.

  EDWIN ANDERSON WALKER

  Edwin Anderson “Ted” Walker: Major general in the U.S. Army, assassination target of Oswald.

  Sterling Wood: Boy who testifies that he saw Oswald at the rifle practice range.

  Kennedy places his hand on an 1850 edition of the Bible brought from Ireland by his ancestors. [JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

  CHAPTER ONE

  JANUARY 20, 1961

  Washington, D.C. 12:51 P.M.

  THE MAN WITH FEWER THAN THREE YEARS to live places his left hand on the Bible.

  Earl Warren, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, stands before him reciting the Presidential Oath of Office. “You, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, do solemnly swear…”

  “I, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, do solemnly swear,” the new president repeats in his Boston accent.

  John Kennedy was born into wealth and has a refined manner of speaking that would seem to distance him from many people. But he is an enthusiastic and easily likable man. He won the popular vote over Richard Nixon by a razor-thin margin, getting just 49 percent of the total votes. So not everyone loves JFK, but this is an exciting moment for the country.

  “… that you will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States…”

  “… that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States.…”

  Eighty million Americans are watching the inauguration on television. Twenty thousand more are there in person. Eight inches of thick, wet snow have fallen on Washington, D.C., overnight. Spectators wrap their bodies in sleeping bags, blankets, thick sweaters, and winter coats—anything to stay warm.

  The Marine Band stands in front of the Capitol during the inauguration ceremonies. [JFK Presidential Library and Museum]

  But John Kennedy ignores the cold. He has even removed his overcoat. At age 43, JFK exudes fearlessness and vigor. His lack of coat, top hat, scarf, or gloves is intentional—this helps to confirm his athletic image. He is trim and just a shade over six feet tall, with greenish-gray eyes, a dazzling smile, and a deep tan, thanks to a recent vacation in Florida.

  “… and will to the best of your ability…”

  “… and will to the best of my ability…”

  In the sea of dignitaries and friends all around him, there are three people vital to Kennedy. The first is his younger brother Bobby, soon to be appointed U.S. attorney general. The president values him for his honesty and knows that Bobby will always tell him the truth, no matter how brutal it may be.

  Behind the president is the new vice president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who is often called LBJ. It can be said, and Johnson himself believes, that Kennedy won the presidency because Johnson was on the ticket, which allowed them to win the most votes in Johnson’s home state of Texas.

  Finally, the new president glances toward his young wife, standing behind Justice Warren. Jackie’s eyes sparkle. Despite her happy face today, Jackie Kennedy has already known tragedy during their seven years of marriage. She miscarried their first child, and the second was a stillborn baby girl. But she has also enjoyed the birth of two healthy children, Caroline and John Jr., and the stunning rise of her dashing young husband from a Massachusetts politician to president of the United States.

  John F. Kennedy takes the oath of office, administered by Chief Justice Earl Warren. [© Bettmann/Corbis]

  “… preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

  “… preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

  Kennedy’s predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, stands near Jackie. Behind
Kennedy stand Richard Nixon, Eisenhower’s vice president and Kennedy’s adversary in the presidential campaign, and Harry Truman, the Democratic president who held office before Eisenhower.

  Normally, having just one of these dignitaries at an event means heightened security. Having all of them at the inaugural, sitting together, is a security nightmare.

  The Secret Service is on high alert. Its job is to protect the president. The leader of the service, Chief U. E. Baughman, has been in charge since Truman was president. His agents scan the crowd, nervous about the proximity of the huge audience. One well-trained fanatic with a pistol could kill the new president, two former presidents, and a pair of vice presidents with five crisp shots.

  “… So help you, God.”

  “… So help me, God.”