Riassunto
Goodreads Top 200 Best 21st Century Nonfiction, 2022. Pulitzer Prize in History nominee, 2018. Ranked Second on Amazon Bestseller list, Presidents category, 2017.
While numerous books cover the 1963 crime-of-the-20th-century from a conspiracy or lone-assassin viewpoint, this work by veteran journalist Kevin James Shay presents the facts in an objective manner to allow readers to better understand what happened. The moving, compelling account is infused with behind-the-scenes details that have been brought to light in recent years through new government documents and other sources.
Shay grew up in Dallas and has researched the tragedy since 1978. He witnessed President John F. Kennedy’s funeral in Washington, D.C., where he was born on JFK's birthday. He first became interested in the case when eyewitness Bill Newman entered his college newspaper office and led him on a search.
The book details new facts related to potential plots against Kennedy that occurred in Chicago, Tampa, and other cities shortly before the November 1963 assassination. For instance, suspect Thomas Vallee was arrested right before Kennedy was to visit Chicago on November 2, matching some of the same characteristics as Lee Harvey Oswald. Vallee was in Tennessee at the same time that a gunman approached Kennedy in that state in May 1963. Then Vallee soon moved to Chicago and took similar actions there as Oswald did in New Orleans and Dallas. Vallee later wrote to FBI Director Hoover, who amazingly wrote him a polite response shortly before the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.
A different suspect in the November 18 Tampa plot, Gilberto Lopez, also featured a similar background as Oswald. Lopez traveled from Texas into Mexico soon after JFK was killed, along an escape route that Oswald tried to take, and then flew to Cuba. There were also gunmen along the proposed presidential motorcade routes in Chicago and Tampa, with Vallee and Lopez believed to be set up to take the blame should an assassination attempt be successful.
New government documents also detailed many other threats, such as statements shortly before JFK's assassination by a CIA courier on how Kennedy and his presumed assassin would both be killed. Another aspect not covered in most books is the involvement of Willie Somersett. The Klan leader opposed the racial violence in the 1960s to the point that he risked his life exposing and helping to prevent it as a government informant. He likely helped save and prolong the Kennedys' and King's lives.
Finally, this book shows how some justice in the case has been served. Several prime suspects in the Mafia, CIA, and Cuban community received prison sentences for other crimes, similar to how gangster Al Capone was imprisoned for tax evasion.
Informazioni sull'autore
Kevin James Shay published his first short story in his school literary publication when he was only seven. After playing basketball for the Wildcats of Lake Highlands High School and Richland College in Dallas, Kevin figured he better learn something. He started working for the student newspaper at Richland and UNT - it was either that or go into accounting and one day be arrested for an Enron-like scam. Kevin remains one of the few in his generation to actually use his journalism degree - earned from the University of North Texas in 1981 - for more than three decades. He has worked as a journalist for many newspapers and magazines, including The Washington Post's Gazette newspaper chain, The Dallas Morning News, Arlington Morning News, Mapquest, AOL, One World News Service, Minority Business News USA, Dallas Examiner, Fort Worth Weekly, Texas Catholic, Dallas Times Herald, Dallas Child Magazine, Alternet, Eoutdoors, and Online Journal. His books include Death of the Rising Sun: A Search for Truth in the JFK Assassination [2017], It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Trip: On the Road of the Longest Two-Week Family Road Trip in History [2014], Walking through the Wall [2012], A Parent's Guide to Dallas/Fort Worth [2003], and And Justice For All: The Untold History of Dallas [2000]. Kevin has received awards from numerous professional and community organizations, including the Maryland-Delaware-Washington, D.C. Press Association, Lincoln University's Unity Awards in Media, Dallas Press Club, Bethesda Literary Festival, Texas Press Association, American Cancer Society, Local Media Association, Suburban Newspapers of America, and Mental Health Association. He earned a $500 prize in the 2002 International PeaceWriting Awards. A 2013 road trip, where he drove his two kids through 22 states and 6,950 miles across the country and back in 17 days, was certified as the most miles driven by one driver on a family road trip in 17 days by a world record organization. He also has written for the most different publications at more than 44. Kevin also does some photography. An Eagle Scout, he is active in community organizations, including in Scouts and youth sports. NOTE: After his father passed away in 2008, Kevin started using his full middle name, James, which was his dad's name, rather than just the initial. So some of his work is under "Kevin James Shay" and some under "Kevin J. Shay."
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