Kennedy’s Last Days is completely a work of nonfiction. It’s all true. The actions of each individual and the events that took place really happened. The quotations are words people actually spoke. Those details are made possible in large part because JFK is a contemporary historical figure whose entire presidency was thoroughly documented by all manner of media.
The sheer volume of material available on the life and death of John F. Kennedy allowed for unexpected research delights when compiling the manuscript. Not only were there a number of first-person manuscripts that provided specific details about meetings, conversations, and events, but there are also numerous Internet videos of JFK’s speeches and television appearances, which brought his words and voice to life during each writing day. For readers, taking the time to find and watch these will add immeasurably to learning more about John Kennedy.
To hear about life inside the Kennedy White House from Jackie herself, listen to Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy, a series of recordings she made not long after the assassination. It is remarkable to hear the honesty with which the former first lady speaks, particularly when she opens up about so many of the most famous and powerful figures in the world at that time. As with her husband, her wit, warmth, and sheer presence are palpable.
The author owes a special debt to the team of Laurie Austin and Stacey Chandler at the Kennedy Library. No research request was too big or too small, and suffice it to say that it was quite a historical rush to receive, for instance, copies of John Kennedy’s actual daily schedule, showing his precise location, the names of different people at various meetings, and the time each afternoon he slipped off to the pool or to “the Mansion.” To read these schedules was to see the president’s day come alive and gave a vivid feel for what life was like in the White House. When in Boston, a visit to the Kennedy Library is a must.
Special recognition must also go to William Manchester’s The Death of a President, which was written shortly after the assassination and built around first-person interviews with almost everyone who was with JFK in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Manchester’s work was written with the complete cooperation of Jackie and the Kennedy family. The level of detail is fantastic for that very fact and proved invaluable as the ultimate answer to many questions when other resources conflicted with one another.
The backbone of this text are books, magazine articles, videos, the Warren Commission Report, and visits to places such as Dallas, Washington, and the Texas Hill Country. The author owes a debt of gratitude to the many brilliant researchers who have immersed themselves in the life and times of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Their works are listed in the bibliography.
These are some particularly helpful resources:
The White House Museum website, which offers a fine map of the entire building, along with its history in words and pictures. The Kennedy Library’s website is also a great source of detail on life in the White House.
When it was necessary to know what the weather was on a specific day, the Farmers’ Almanac for that year was very useful.
The reader can go online and watch Jackie’s excellent White House tour.
The Kennedy Library’s website has a feature that allows you to browse the New York Times by date. This provides much of the background information on the travels of the president, the atrocities in East Berlin, and other events.
FBI special agent John Fain’s recollection of Lee Harvey Oswald comes from Fain’s Warren Commission testimony.
Believe it or not, the Mona Lisa’s unveiling can be found on YouTube.
The Warren Commission Report includes a solid summary on the history of presidential assassination and the need for a Secret Service. The Secret Service’s own website shows this, too. Much of the behind-the-scenes information about the various agents and their details can be found in Clint Hill’s fascinating Mrs. Kennedy and Me, and in Gerald Blaine’s The Kennedy Detail.
Many details about the freedom marchers came from Washington Post coverage the following day. Glenn Eskew’s But for Birmingham and Diane McWhorter’s Carry Me Home provide additional awesome detail. Shelley Tougas’s Birmingham 1963 speaks of how a single photograph changed so many minds.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s entire “I Have a Dream” speech can be heard online at www.americanrhetoric.com.
Special agent James Hosty’s Warren Commission testimony provides the details about his visit to Ruth Paine.
The Warren Commission Report and David Kaiser’s The Road to Dallas provide unique insight into the days leading up to the assassination.
There is still some question as to whether Oswald was actually the shooter whom Sterling Wood witnessed, since the owner of the shooting range swore he saw Oswald there on a completely different date. The fact that a lone man was seen firing a unique Italian rifle, however, is not in doubt.
A wide range of websites and books were used to sift through the vast number of facts surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The timing, crowd descriptions, and arrival scene, as well as all other aspects of the shooting and drive to Parkland Hospital, are standard facts. However, the primary sources for specific conversations, private moments, and otherwise particular details are The Death of a President, the Warren Commission Report, Mrs. Kennedy and Me, Vincent Bugliosi’s Reclaiming History, Robert Dallek’s writings on JFK’s medical woes and on the assassination itself, and, of course, the Zapruder film. The author watched it time after time after time to understand the sequence of events, and it never got less horrific—nor did the outcome ever change.
Jackie’s filmed newsreel thanking the nation for its sympathy can be found online, and her grief is still startlingly painful to watch.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Adams, John
Air Force One
Albert, Raymond
Aldrin, Edwin, Jr. “Buzz”
Alphand, Herve
Alphand, Nicole
Amagiri (Japanese destroyer)
Anderson, Rudolf, Jr.
Arlington National Cemetery
Armstrong, Neil
Azcue, Eusebio
Baker, Marrion
Bartett, Charles
Baughman, U.E.
Bay of Pigs invasion. See Cuba
Berlin Wall
Bessette, Lauren
bin Laden, Osama
Birmingham, Alabama
Blackett Strait
Black Jack (riderless horse)
Bono
Brigade 2506
Brown, Arnold J.
Brown, Jim
Bumbry, Grace
Bundy, McGeorge
Casals, Pablo
Castro, Fidel
Bay of Pigs and
Cuban missile crisis and
U.S. visit of
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Bay of Pigs and
de Mohrenschildt and
Oswald and
Warren Commission and
Cézanne, Paul
Chaminade High School
Charlie (dog)
Checker, Chubby
Chicago Sun-Times
Children’s Crusade
Churchill, Winston
Cincinnati Reds
Civil Rights Act (1964)
civil rights movement
Children’s Crusade
Freedom Riders
JFK’s meeting with King and
JFK’s speech on
King’s Nobel Peace Prize and
March on Washington
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing
Clark, Dick
Clark, Dr. William Kemp
Clipper (dog)
Clooney, George
Cold War
Colli
ngwood, Charles
Collins, Addie Mae
Collins, Michael
Communism
Connally, John
Oswald shoots
Connally, Nellie
Connor, Eugene “Bull”
Cooper, Gordon
Cronkite, Walter
Cuba
Bay of Pigs invasion
missile crisis
Oswald and
revolution in
Cuban exiles
Curry, Jesse
Dallas. See also Dealey Plaza; Texas School Book Depository
anger at JFK in
JFK arrives in
JFK assassinated in
JFK memorials in
JFK’s trip planned
motorcade begun
motorcade route
O’Reilly as reporter in
Oswald moves to
Oswald’s escape attempt and
Dallas Police
Oswald arrested by
Oswald’s murder and
Walker assassination attempt and
Dallas Times Herald
Dallas Trade Mart
Dante Alighieri
da Vinci, Leonardo
Dealey Plaza
De Gaulle, Charles
Democratic Party
de Mohrenschildt, George
Diem, Ngo Dinh
Diodati, Brother Carmine
Dugger, Ronnie
Dulles, Allen W.
Dulles, John Foster
Eisenhower, Dwight D. “Ike”
JFK’s inauguration and
presidency of
Eisenhower, Mamie
elections
of 1946
of 1960
of 1964
of 1968
Emancipation Proclamation
Essex (U.S. aircraft carrier)
ExComm (Executive Committee of the National Security Council)
Fain, John
Fair Play for Cuba Committee
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Dallas motorcade and
death of JFK and
Marina and
Oswald and
Paine and
Warren Commission and
Ferguson, Anne
Ferguson Passage
Ford, Gerald R.
Fort Worth, Texas
Foster, Robert
Fox, Michael J.
Frazier, Wesley
Freedom Riders
Frost, Robert
Fulbright, J. William
Gadsden, Walter
Germany. See also Berlin Wall
WW II and
Gold Star Mothers
Graham, Billy
Greer, Bill
Gromyko, Andrei
Harris, Charles A.
Harvard College
Hayes, Rutherford B.
Hill, Clint
Hitler, Adolf
Hoover, J. Edgar
Hosty, James, Jr.
Hudson, Bill
Hughes, Sarah
Ireland
Irish Americans
Jackson, Michael
Jaggars-Chiles-Stoval
Japan
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza
John F. Kennedy National Historical Site
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Johnson, Claudia “Lady Bird”
Johnson, Lyndon Baines “LBJ,”
Caroline and
civil rights and
Cuban missile crisis and
Dallas trip and
death of
JFK’s assassination and
JFK’s inauguration and
as president
Secret Service and
space program and
sworn in, as president
as vice president
Warren Commission and
Johnston, William
Joint Chiefs of Staff
Justice Department
Kellerman, Roy
Kennedy, Arabella (daughter)
Kennedy, Caroline (daughter)
childhood in White House
JFK’s departure for Dallas and
JFK’s funeral and
later in life of
pony of
Secret Service and
Kennedy, Carolyn Bessette
Kennedy, Edward “Teddy” (brother)
elected Senator
JFK’s funeral and
Kennedy, Ethel (sister-in-law)
Kennedy, Eunice (sister)
Kennedy, Jacqueline Bouvier “Jackie” (wife)
Cape Cod and
childhood and youth of
children and family life and
Dallas motorcade and
Dallas trip and
death of
Emmy Award and
famous words of
France and
glamour and style of
at hospital after assassination
JFK’s assassination and
JFK’s funeral and
JFK’s inauguration and
Kennedy Center and
later life of
LBJ and
Mona Lisa and
Secret Service and
White House entertaining and
White House renovated by
White House TV tour by
Kennedy, Jean Ann (sister)
Kennedy, John Fitzgerald “JFK,”
assassination of
awards and honors of
back problems of
body returned to Washington
brother Bobby and
brother Joe and
civil rights and
coconut shell and
Cuba and
Cuban Bay of Pigs and
Cuban missile crisis and
culture of 1960s and
Dallas trip and
death of, announced
elected president
elected to Congress
enemies of
family life and
famous words of
father Joe and
favorite quote of
funeral and burial of
Graham and
inaugural address
inauguration of
Irish background of
King and
legacy of
Mona Lisa and
Oswald plots to kill
Oswald reads about
places to visit commemorating
popularity and style of
as president
press and TV and
Profiles in Courage and
PT-109 and
sculpture of
Secret Service and
speech at Fort Worth
speech at inauguration
speech on civil rights
speech on Cuban missile crisis
speech on Gold Star Mothers
speech on Peace Corps
sports and
timeline of
travels to Ireland
travels to Montana
vacations and
Vienna summit and
Vietnam and
Warren and
Warren Commission and
Zapruder film and
Kennedy, John Jr. (son)
childhood in White House
death of
JFK’s departure for Dallas and
JFK’s funeral and
later life of
Secret Service and
Kennedy, Joseph, Jr. “Joe” (brother)
death of
Kennedy, Joseph P., Sr. “Joe” (father)
JFK’s inauguration and
Kennedy, Kathleen Agnes (sister)
Kennedy, Patricia (sister)
Kennedy, Patrick (son)
Kennedy, Robert Francis “Bobby” (brother)
assassination of
Bay
of Pigs and
civil rights and
Cuban missile crisis and
JFK’s assassination and
JFK’s inauguration and
JFK’s relationship with
Kennedy, Rose (mother)
Kennedy, Rosemary (sister)
Kennedy, Winifred (O’Reilly’s great grandmother)
Khrushchev, Nikita
Cuban missile crisis and
nuclear test ban treaty and
U.S. visit by
Vienna summit and
King, Martin Luther, Jr.
assassination of
awards and honors
“I have a dream” speech of
JFK’s funeral and
JFK meets with
LBJ and
March on Washington and
Kirksey, Andrew Jackson
Ku Klux Klan
LaLanne, Jack
Landis, Paul
Lawson, Winston G.
Leavelle, J.R.
Lemass, Sean
Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963)
Lincoln, Abraham
Lincoln, Evelyn
Los Angeles Dodgers
Macaroni (pony)
Mafia
Maguire, John E.
Mahfouz, Naguib
Malraux, André
Malraux, Marie-Madeleine
Manchester, William
Mao Zedong
March on Washington
Marney, Harold W.
Mauer, Edman Edgar
Mays, Willie
McDonald, M.N.
McGovern, Elizabeth
McIntyre, Bill
McMahon, Patrick Henry
McNair, Denise
McNamara, Robert S.
Mexico City
Mona Lisa (da Vinci painting)
Monroe, James
moon landing
Murphy, Eddie
Mussolini, Benito
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
National Archives
National Gallery of Art
Nelson, Ricky
Newsweek
New York Times
Nicaragua
Nixon, Richard M.
Oswald targets
nuclear weapons. See also Cuba, missile crisis
bomb shelters and
test ban treaties
Obama, Barack
O’Donnell, Kenneth P. “Kenny”
Onassis, Aristotle
101 Dalmations (movie)
O’Reilly, Bill
de Mohrenschildt and
early life of
heroes of
Kennedy ancestors of
memories of JFK
Oswald, June Lee
Oswald, Lee Harvey
arrest of