BOOK REVIEW -- "RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY" - Page 4

Re: BOOK REVIEW -- "RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY"

Well, Chris, let me think.....

It took me exactly one month to read all of Mr. Bugliosi's (excellent) book, including the 1,100+ pages of Endnotes and Source Notes on CD-ROM (and I was writing portions of the review as I was reading the book; it would have been impossible to read the entire 2800 pages and then try to write this kind of review, with extended quotations included, from sheer memory)....and it took additional time to assemble and organize all of the other stuff I wanted to incorporate into the 3-part review (e.g., pertinent photographs, audio clips, video clips, and related links).

All totalled, I guess it took approximately 5 to 6 weeks to put together my HTF version. (I have several other "versions" of this review too, in varying sizes.)

That 5-6 week period, however, doesn't count any of the literally hundreds of times I've edited something within the 3-part review (in order to add an update of some kind, or a new video or audio clip, etc.).

Anyhow, I'm very proud of the review. I know that it is excessively lengthy in the minds of some people. But I look at it as a deserved Mega-Review For The Mega-Book On The JFK Case.

And, btw, to restate something I emphasized in Part 1 of the review, I have obtained express written permission from the publisher of "Reclaiming History" (W.W. Norton & Co.) to use all of the many quoted passages that appear in my review within this Home Theater Forum thread. (Just in case a copyright lawyer might be looking in and getting ready to pounce. )

I, of course, have encountered the usual batch of lone-assassin critics who bark at me and scold me because they think my "RH" review (and general thoughts on this historic murder case) are nothing but pure "propaganda". And I've been accused (many times in fact) of actually being a paid "disinformation agent" for the Government and/or the CIA and/or Vincent Bugliosi himself! (I always get an especially big kick out of those accusations.)

But, anyway, no matter what any of the hardline conspiracy theorists call me, I am (and always have been) sincere in my belief that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone on November 22, 1963 (which is a belief that extends back many years as well, certainly well prior to the publication of Mr. Bugliosi's mega-tome).

And I'm sincere in my opinion that Vincent Bugliosi has, indeed, written the best and most accurate book ever authored on the John F. Kennedy assassination. (It's certainly the lengthiest and most comprehensive book ever penned on that subject, to be sure.)

RARE AUDIO PROGRAM FEATURING JIM GARRISON & STEVE ALLEN.....

The link below contains an audio file of a very rare program -- Jim Garrison on "The Steve Allen Show" in 1971 (which was two years after Garrison's case against Clay Shaw collapsed like a house of cards via the jury's ultra-swift Not Guilty verdict in a New Orleans courtroom).

This interview is more than just Garrison, too. Way more, in fact. It's practically a "Vietnam War battlefield", with the JFK assassination tossed into the fray as well.

The program also featured another famous name, Mort Sahl, plus a politician named Robert Dornan, who (as a lone-assassin believer with respect to JFK's murder) gives Garrison a really good run for his money, as he calls Garrison's CIA theory "idiocy". (Good for him!)

Anyway, I thought perhaps some people here in the "Lounge" might enjoy listening to this old and rarely-heard Steve Allen Show. (I know I did.)

CLICK HERE to access the program.

Re: BOOK REVIEW -- "RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY"

Indeed he did. (At least the majority of it anyway. Some stuff he dictated into a tape recorder.)

But the conspiracy-happy kooks have even decided to start up a rumor about that too. They never stop.

Have a look.

Exact-tilly-oso. This is what conspiracists very often do. Mr. Lifton being an excellent example.

And please note (if you didn't already) the fact that Lifton's kneejerk "ghostwriting" accusation directed at author Pat Lambert has been proven to be 100% B.S., with Lifton not offering up any kind of apology to Ms. Lambert (that I am aware of).

Why anyone would suddenly start believing a known teller of falsehoods (as some CTers have) is simply ludicrous.

That's the same kind of argument I have made in the past regarding Oswald too -- i.e., why anyone would believe a known liar like LHO when it comes to his "I'm just a patsy" remark is just beyond all semblance of sensible thinking.

BTW, regarding the "Patsy" comment made by Saint Oswald, a lot of people probably don't fully realize just WHO it is that Oswald is aiming his "Patsy" remark at.

Most hardline CTers think Oswald was being "set up" IN ADVANCE by a band of always-unidentified conspirators. But when we listen to the ENTIRE "Patsy" statement uttered by Oswald in the halls of the DPD, it becomes quite obvious that Oswald is full of feces and is aiming the remark at the Dallas Police Department (which was, after all, the organization that "took him in", per part of his "patsy" statement).

LHO wasn't aiming his patsy remark at the Mob, or at Clay Shaw and that ragtag group of supposed New Orleans-based "plotters" (Ferrie, Banister, et al).

Just listen to the whole Oswald quote for yourself, and see what I mean. The unedited "patsy" statement is linked below via a streaming audio file.

BTW, Mr. Bugliosi, in his incredibly-comprehensive JFK book, also touches on this exact subject that I'm talking about here, and have talked about on other forums years prior to VB's book being published (i.e., the fact that Oswald's "I'm just a patsy" whitewash has been completely skewed by the conspiracy community over the years).

Please also take note of another interesting admission made by Oswald during this famous 21-second audio clip -- when Oswald admits to having been inside the Book Depository Building at the precise time when John F. Kennedy was being gunned down on Elm Street.

So much for the theory (still believed by some people to this day) that Oswald was standing on the front steps of the TSBD when JFK was being murdered. Oswald himself inadvertently debunked that theory, via his own words that he spoke within the audio clip linked below:


LEE HARVEY OSWALD'S "PATSY" DECLARATION


"They've taken me in because of the fact that I lived in the Soviet Union.....I'm just a patsy!" -- LHO

VIDEOS FEATURING DALE MYERS DISCUSSING THE SINGLE-BULLET THEORY:



SECRETS OF A HOMICIDE: JFK ASSASSINATION - Project Home

PRESS CONFERENCES OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY:

The following audio links provide access to several complete, uncut press conferences given by President John F. Kennedy, including his 64th and last conference as the 35th U.S. President, which took place eight days before his death.

These conferences display Kennedy's vast knowledge of the issues he was tackling each and every day, and serve as a fascinating portal back to the early 1960s:

==================================================

NOVEMBER 10, 1960 (JFK's first press conference after
beating Richard Nixon in the 1960 Presidential Election):






APRIL 21, 1961:





MAY 5, 1961:






JANUARY 31, 1962:






FEBRUARY 7, 1962:






FEBRUARY 14, 1962:






APRIL 11, 1962:





AUGUST 20, 1963:





NOVEMBER 14, 1963:
JFK'S LAST NEWS CONFERENCE


CLIPS FROM VARIOUS KENNEDY CONFERENCES:





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All of President Kennedy's press conferences can be read (word-for-word) at the JFK Library website. Here's a link to the text versions of the JFK press gatherings:

Press Conferences of President Kennedy - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum

===============================================

MORE JFK LIBRARY TALK:

Another interesting part of the John F. Kennedy Library website is the "White House Diary", which contains information about JFK's activities for every one of the 1,037 days he was Chief Executive of the United States.

If you click on "White House Diary" within the red toolbar on the following webpage, you'll get an "audio/visual" version of the "Diary", which includes many video and audio clips throughout the diary's pages:

The White House Diary - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum

===============================================

OTHER RELATED LINKS OF INTEREST:

Amazon.com: David Von Pein's review of John F. Kennedy Library and Museum (Margar...

Amazon.com: "JOHN F. KENNEDY: 35th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES"

Amazon.com: "FAMOUS DATES IN HISTORY: 11/22/63 -- THE JFK ASSASSINATION"

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/2017935-post.html

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/2919858-post.html

Historical Televison Events on DVD? - Home Theater Forum

JFK Material on DVD - Home Theater Forum

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/2017964-post.html

KENNEDY PHOTO ALBUM/SLIDESHOW:

A JFK PICTURE ALBUM

(Clicking on an image and then clicking the "Play" button turns this into a slideshow.)

"Four Days In November" On DVD

AN F.Y.I. ANNOUNCEMENT FOR KENNEDY FANS:

Today (June 27, 2008), an Internet-based distributor of CDs and DVDs, EarthStation1.com, released on DVD a very good 1964 feature motion picture about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy -- "FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER" -- which was nominated for a "Best Documentary" Oscar (it was beaten out by "Jacques Cousteau's World Without Sun").

The EarthStation DVD version of "Four Days" isn't a studio version (from MGM or UA), but it's still nice to be able to finally have a resource available with which to obtain this outstanding documentary film on the DVD format. And it makes me wonder if this film has fallen into the "public domain" realm somehow? Because I'm doubting that an established independent DVD/CD distributor (EarthStation1), which has been in business for more than 10 years, would willfully violate any copyright laws by producing an unauthorized version of this movie on DVD.

I wrote the following passage within Part 1 of my four-mile-long "Reclaiming History" book review. It seems fitting to repeat it here:


DVP: Before I move on to Chapter 2, I'd like to add another semi-related footnote to this top-notch "Four Days" chapter of VB's book by putting in a plug for another production titled "Four Days In November", that production being the 1964 motion picture which features the exact same title as the first chapter of Mr. Bugliosi's book.

In fact, I was somewhat expecting Vince to use portions of that exquisite "Four Days" documentary film (which is an excellent chronicle of the events surrounding JFK's death) as reference material throughout his book, but the film isn't mentioned at all in VB's book.

That Academy Award-nominated movie, which is generally based on the Warren Report, could have been used by author Bugliosi to cite various quotes from witnesses, including unique references to Johnny Brewer, Wesley Frazier, Linnie Mae Randle, and William Whaley. Each of those witnesses provided information and direct quotes during the movie's intriguing "re-created" scenes.

None of the above witnesses said anything in the movie that could be considered a bombshell or something strikingly different from their Warren Commission testimony, but their individual statements made on film could have been cited by Vince as an extra source of information to back up certain lone-assassin-leaning assertions.

One good example: The scene where cab driver Whaley says in the film that he positively dropped Oswald off at "Neely and North Beckley" (instead of "Neches") on the day of the assassination. In earlier statements, Whaley was confused about the street names, as he mixed up the two similar-sounding streets, "Neely" and "Neches".

In any event, even though the Richard Basehart-narrated documentary feature film "Four Days In November" isn't referred to in "Reclaiming History", I'd still recommend it very highly to people who want to take a two-hour visual tour of the sad events of November 1963. The film was released by MGM on VHS home video in 1988 and again in 2000, and it was also made available on DVD by EarthStation1.com in June 2008.

Much more information concerning that motion picture can be accessed by clicking the link below:

MOVIE/VHS VIDEO REVIEW: "FOUR DAYS IN NOVEMBER" (1964)

RARELY-SEEN JFK FILMS (Through the courtesy of
"The Sixth Floor Museum At Dealey Plaza"):

GEORGE REID

JACK JERNIGAN

ROBERT HUGHES

GEORGE JEFFERIES

ELSIE DORMAN

ABRAHAM ZAPRUDER (RARE VERSION)

MAURY SEITZ (FROM OCTOBER 1962)

=======================================

http://www.jfk.org

Re: BOOK REVIEW -- "RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY"

Thank you, Steve. I appreciate those kind words very much.

I'm quite proud of this thread/book review. It took a great deal of time to write and fine-tune (I'm still fine-tuning it, in fact). I'd like to think of it (on the whole) as a mini version of Mr. Bugliosi's massive JFK book. And, if you don't feel like reading a 2,800-page tome about this subject--well, just come here to HTF and read this review. That'll take a while in itself--but not quite as long as reading all 2,800+ pages of Vincent's magnum opus.

It took me exactly one month to read all of "Reclaiming History" (May 21 to June 20, 2007, reading nearly all day long, every day, for that entire one-month period). Some people who bought the book last year still haven't reached the end.

Plus, by being able to place the review on the HTF Forum (in the "After Hours Lounge"), for which I am very grateful, I was able to utilize this forum's outstanding array of features, which permits the author of threads/posts to do so many more things to enhance a topic (e.g., post photos, hyperlinks, change the look of the text, embed videos, etc.) that I cannot do at other forums (such as Google Groups). The Google Groups forums are very nice too (with a vast archive that goes all the way back to 1981, if you can believe that), but HTF's forum platform has all others beat, IMO.

BTW, Steve, how long did it take you to get through this lengthy thread? (Just curious. I assume you read every single word and looked at all the external links provided, too, right? Because a 100-question quiz will commence shortly.)



That story reminds me of a certain author named Brian David Andersen (to whom I think I referred somewhere within my 70-mile-long book review in this thread).

Anyway, Mr. Andersen has a JFK book on the (limited) market now. It's called "My God, I'm Hit!", and in the book Andersen theorizes that President Kennedy faked his own death (with the aid of wife Jackie). And--get this--a JFK "double" popped up out of a secret compartment inside the limousine on the way to the hospital in Dallas on 11/22/63 and traded places with the real JFK in the car.

Now that's a bona fide kook, folks.

Incredibly, the book actually did get published (although I think it might have been only self-published by Andersen himself).

More on Andersen's idiocy HERE.

Re: BOOK REVIEW -- "RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY"

Okay. Gotcha. (You slipped out of that one in a slick fashion indeed.)



Which is just exactly what I had intended when I wrote it. Thank you.*

* = And in case anybody who has accused me of being a "Paid CIA Disinformation Agent" (and, yes, several conspiracy theorists have said that very thing to me) wants to know --- No, Steve O. is not being paid by me (or the CIA, or Vince B.) to say the things he has said in this thread.



Once again Steve hits the nail squarely on its head.

In fact, Steve, if you have a weak urinary bladder, I'd advise you to be extra careful when visiting the alt.conspiracy.jfk forum, because (as I mentioned in the thread I linked a minute ago) your bladder will be put to the test if you visit that Google Groups forum (aka: The Asylum).



Steve, you've perfectly described the mindset of the vast majority of the conspiracy theorists who post at the JFK Google forum.

There's one guy there who doesn't believe there was ANY bullet hole in the back of JFK's head on 11/22/63. None at all! Not even the small entry wound. That's the type of nonsense that exists out there in the world of make-believe conspiracies. And such nonsense will always continue to flourish, despite Mr. Bugliosi's monumental effort to quell it.

....

Re: BOOK REVIEW -- "RECLAIMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY"

Excellent question, Philip. (Although, naturally, any answer to it is bound to be a bit of a subjective one, and could result in a bloody brawl in the nearest alley. )

I suppose it's a matter of what a person considers "legitimate", and whom a person considers a bona fide "historian" as well. Many people think that authors Mark Lane, Jim Marrs, and Jim Fetzer are "legitimate historians" when it comes to the topic of John Kennedy's assassination. I'd, of course, disagree.

IMO, about as close as you can get to "legit" from a pro-conspiracy perspective in the JFK case is probably Josiah Thompson (a "first-generation" JFK author/researcher who penned the book "Six Seconds In Dallas").

And many people have very good things to say about the late Harold Weisberg too, with even Vince Bugliosi handing out several compliments for Mr. Weisberg in "Reclaiming History".

David Talbot (author of "Brothers") is another researcher who earns high marks from many people. I haven't read his book, but some people take it as the Holy Grail it seems, as it convinced them that Bobby Kennedy knew a lot more about his brother's murder than he ever let on.

BTW, Vince Bugliosi was interviewed by RFK's son (Bobby Kennedy Jr.) on July 12, 2008, regarding VB's new book about George W. Bush. A good interview too.*

* = I won't say another word about VB's Bush book. I consider that hot topic to be completely off limits here at HTF, and I don't want to get this thread closed down. Thank you.

....

.......

To add to Jeff Gatie's earthy (yet accurate) comments above:

"[Oswald's] attempt, just seven months [before JFK's murder], to kill Major General Edwin A. Walker clearly showed his propensity for murder, at least where his target was political. .... When we couple his capacity for violence with his deep hostility for people and institutions, there can be little question that Oswald was a ticking time bomb, and it was only a matter of time before something like the Kennedy assassination occurred. .... Remarkably, many major books on the assassination by Warren Commission critics and conspiracy theorists don't even mention Oswald's attempt to murder Walker. Not one word. ....

"If anyone ever had the psychological profile of a presidential assassin, it was Oswald. He not only had a propensity for violence, but was emotionally and psychologically unhinged. .... His alleged act was completely consistent with his personality." -- Vincent T. Bugliosi; Pages 942 and 949 of "Reclaiming History" (c.2007)

"ON TRIAL: LEE HARVEY OSWALD" coming to DVD October 28, 2008:

Amazon.com: On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald: Vincent Bugliosi, n/a: Movies & TV



"On Trial" was the springboard for Vincent Bugliosi's massive book "Reclaiming History".

Related Links:

"ON TRIAL: LEE HARVEY OSWALD" (1986 TV DOCU-TRIAL)(AUDIO & VIDEO EXCERPTS) - alt.conspiracy.jfk | Google Groups