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A review by socraticgadfly
The Kennedy Assassination--24 Hours After: Lyndon B. Johnson's Pivotal First Day as President by Steven M. Gillon
5.0
Steven Gillon has a very solid look at one or two "small" corners of Jack Kennedy's assassination.
The first is, about transition of power worries of the first, and so far only, assassination of a president in the nuclear age. Contra to some people who say, "What's the big deal whether Jack Kennedy" officially was declared dead at 1 p.m. or at 12:53 p.m., if Oswald HAD been part of either a Soviet or a Cuban conspiracy, this would have been HUGE! And, as Gilliam shows, Johnson and just about everybody else was thinking this was at least a possibility.
The second corner is that Jack's assassination ripped the mask of politeness off the RFK-LBJ angst, and rubbed salt in it. Gillon shows how a variety of LBJ worry about Bobby's reaction to decisions of his, LBJ's natural duplicity, the Irish Mafia's snobbishness and more, all contributed to making reasonable decisions into tragic grand opera, or comic opera or a bit of both. Gilliam makes a good effort to get past the "spin" both camps put on some of their decisions and largely succeeds.
This is a bit pricey as a book, even for today, and might be more four-star than five, if my review were the only one. But, as at other times, reviews are a blog of sorts, and sometimes, a review's star-weight needs bumping upward, or downward, to counter the current average.
The first is, about transition of power worries of the first, and so far only, assassination of a president in the nuclear age. Contra to some people who say, "What's the big deal whether Jack Kennedy" officially was declared dead at 1 p.m. or at 12:53 p.m., if Oswald HAD been part of either a Soviet or a Cuban conspiracy, this would have been HUGE! And, as Gilliam shows, Johnson and just about everybody else was thinking this was at least a possibility.
The second corner is that Jack's assassination ripped the mask of politeness off the RFK-LBJ angst, and rubbed salt in it. Gillon shows how a variety of LBJ worry about Bobby's reaction to decisions of his, LBJ's natural duplicity, the Irish Mafia's snobbishness and more, all contributed to making reasonable decisions into tragic grand opera, or comic opera or a bit of both. Gilliam makes a good effort to get past the "spin" both camps put on some of their decisions and largely succeeds.
This is a bit pricey as a book, even for today, and might be more four-star than five, if my review were the only one. But, as at other times, reviews are a blog of sorts, and sometimes, a review's star-weight needs bumping upward, or downward, to counter the current average.