Brothers—The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years

David Talbot
Simon & Schuster, May 2007
Pages: 478

CapitolReader Political Book Summaries (August 2007) as abridged by Infonomics (August

2007)

Regarding David Talbot

• David Talbot, a pioneer of online journalism, is the founder and former editor-in-chief of
Salon. He has served as editor of Mother Jones and the San Francisco Examiner and he
has written for The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and many other publications.
• Based on interviews with more than 150 people as well as newly released government
documents
• This CapitolReader.com summary does not offer judgment or opinion on the book’s
content. The ideas, viewpoints and arguments are presented just as the book’s author has
intended.

Regarding the Assassinations of JFK and RFK

• The lone gunman theory for both JFK and RFK seems inadequate.
• Because of the errors and omissions, the Warren Report amounts to one of the greatest
frauds against Americans.
• The report by the Warren Commission was a whitewash at best. In 1991, however, Oliver
Stone’s controversial film, JFK, suggested that President Kennedy had been killed by a
Right-wing cabal within the national security apparatus that was determined to drag the
country into war.
• The cultural and political milieu in Washington suggests that certain forces within the U.S.
government itself may have played a part in their deaths.
• Circumstantial evidence suggests that many interlinked groups– Cuban exiles, the mob,
and elements in the CIA – wanted JFK dead. Privately, RFK, LBJ, and even Nixon
believed that JFK’s assassination might have been an inside job.
• Circumstantial evidence suggests that the CIA may have recruited Oswald and it appears
that Oswald may also have been an acquaintance of Ruby’s. Speculation of a conspiracy
was palpable at the highest levels of government.
• As a nation, we must face a sobering truth: “If a president can be shot down with impunity
at high noon on the sunny streets of an American city, then any kind of deceit is possible.”
 • RFK reluctantly accepted the Warren Commission report because he thought that other
theories might have been too much for the public to bear. His clout as attorney general
waned and he knew that he could not uncover and punish the conspirators unless he
himself reached the presidency.
• RFK assassination: Once again, forensic and circumstantial evidence would leave the door
wide open to the prospect of a wider conspiracy. For instance, witnesses claimed a dozen
shots had been fired that night, but the assassin’s revolver could only hold eight rounds.
The coroner concluded that the existence of a second gunman was a distinct possibility.
• Further, Kennedy’s emphasis on diplomacy and his policy of peaceful co-existence
exasperated elements in the U.S. military that sought a pretext for launching a first strike
against the Soviet Union. The Kennedys often felt they were at war with the CIA, the FBI,
and the military establishment. JFK often mused privately whether a coup or an
assassination was on the offing. The fatalistic JFK, however, refused to insulate himself
from the public or take exceptional security precautions.
• Kennedy, however, was aware that there were a lot of rogue operations taking place, even
if he didn’t know the details. The fact that the CIA, FBI, and the Pentagon were pursuing
agendas that were in conflict with the president’s engendered a sense of foreboding, if not
paranoia, in the White House. This mood was reflected in popular books like Seven Days
in May and The Manchurian Candidate, which dealt with Right-wing coup plots against
the president. Kennedy read these books and privately wondered if he might be the target
of a Right-wing conspiracy
• From Dallas to Vietnam to Iraq, the United States has a habit of preferring the comfortable
lie to the uncomfortable truth. “Do Americans want the truth?” To reverse the moral rot
and vacancy of soul that afflicts our country, we need to cultivate a little more honest self-
examination.
• The United States has never adequately investigated the assassination of JFK; thus another
more complete and honest investigation should be opened.

Regarding the Cold War

• The Joint Chiefs of Staff included many Right-wing generals who loathed Kennedy and
his soft stance against Communism.
• Kennedy believed his generals were trying to maneuver him into a war with the Soviets
that he was determined to avoid.
• In September of 1963, Kennedy succeeded in getting the Senate to ratify the Limited Test
Ban Treaty. Kennedy viewed the U.S.-Soviet agreement as his most important
accomplishment.
Regarding the Bay of Pigs

• JFK initially sanctioned the clandestine mission, but when the invasion went badly, he
refused to escalate the operation by ordering air cover. Kennedy had reason to believe his
generals were deliberately trying to draw him into a larger conflict.
• Kennedy’s muscular rhetoric, however, would lead many on the political Right to expect
an aggressive foreign policy towards the Soviets and communism. They would be
disappointed. For instance, in addition to a massive arms buildup, hardliners wanted to
roll back communism by invading Cuba. But Kennedy believed such “gunboat
diplomacy” would destroy America’s image and raise the specter of imperialism. Given
his campaign rhetoric, he couldn’t sit back and do nothing about Cuba, so he agreed to
support limited and clandestine efforts by Cuban exiles to oust Castro. However, Kennedy
was determined not to commit the full might of the U.S. military to what became known as
the Bay of Pigs operation.
• Hawks in the administration believed Kennedy’s failure to support the invasion was
treasonous and a sign of weakness. However, Kennedy had good reason to believe his
own generals were trying to manipulate him into a conflict that could quickly escalate into
a wider war.
• Shortly after the Bay of Pigs, President Kennedy came under pressure from the military
and intelligence communities to launch a pre-emptive first strike against the Soviet Union.
The Bay of Pigs fiasco had created immense ill will towards Kennedy from within the
CIA, among the Cuban exile community, and also among organized crime elements that
were part of the anti-Castro campaign. The military, for its part, believed Kennedy was
both weak and an appeaser.

Regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis

• In hindsight, Kennedy’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrated greatness, but
at the time many in his own government despised the president for not being more
hawkish.
• In October of 1962, a U.S. spy plane discovered the existence of Soviet-built missiles in
Cuba. It was the beginning of a high-stakes international crisis that historian Arthur
Schlesinger, Jr. would describe as “the most dangerous moment in human history.” For 13
days, the world was on the brink of a nuclear war. Kennedy and his advisors were
determined to resolve the matter short of resorting to force; they hoped a naval blockade
would pressure the Soviets to withdraw the missiles. But virtually the entire national
security apparatus was pushing Kennedy towards launching a military strike against Cuba.
JFK even took the remarkable step of indirectly informing the Soviet leader, Nikita
Kruschchev, that it was possible that the American military could get out of control and
launch a coup against the White House.
 • After 13 days, the crisis was resolved. The Soviets agreed to dismantle the missiles and
ship them home in exchange for Kennedy’s private pledge that the U.S. would pull its
missiles out of Turkey at a later date. The U.S. also promised not to invade Cuba. At
home, the Kennedy Administration succeeded in spinning the story in the media as a
victory of American resolve. But Washington hardliners saw it differently; they believed
Kennedy had capitulated. Anti-Kennedy sentiment was rampant and there was a “coup
atmosphere” in the Pentagon according to one defense analyst.
• JFK had averted a nuclear catastrophe and the world was far safer after the Cuban Missile
Crisis than before, but Right-wing forces would never forgive Kennedy for failing to
dislodge the Communists from Cuba. Ironically, Kennedy’s Cold War counterpart, Nikita
Krushchev, faced a similar predicament with hard-line elements in his own regime. Both
Kennedy and Krushchev had forged an understanding with one another, which marked a
turning point in the Cold War. However, both men were deeply at odds with their own
national security bureaucracies.

Regarding Kenndey’s Political Challenges

• Kennedy, however, knew he could never get elected as a dove. After all, Kennedy was
facing a cunning Republican, Richard Nixon, who had the anti-communist credentials to
paint his rival as a Democratic defeatist. Kennedy, however, succeeded in outflanking his
opponent by running as a hawk. For instance, Kennedy insisted that the Eisenhower-
Nixon Administration had allowed a “missile gap” with the Soviets to materialize under
their watch. And Kennedy also promised to support Cuban “freedom fighters” in their
efforts to overthrow Castro.
• Dallas, Texas was a hotbed of anti-Kennedy sentiment. Among reactionary elements in
the South, Kennedy was loathed for his progressive stance on civil rights, his conciliatory
approach to the Soviet Union, and his “betrayal” of Cuban freedom fighters.
• JFK and RFK pursued a progressive agenda that was extremely threatening to many
reactionary elements in the United States. Because they fought for civil rights and racial
integration, they engendered a white flight from the Democratic Party in the South.

Kennedy’s and the Mob

• There is no doubt that the Kennedy’s political fortunes were aided and abetted by family
patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy’s ties to mobsters. JFK’s narrow victory in 1960 against
Richard Nixon owed much to the efforts of organized crime stealing votes for Kennedy.
Richard Nixon had good reasons of his own not to challenge the outcome.
• The Kennedys believed that organized crime would infiltrate legitimate businesses and
government institutions. Therefore, the Kennedys, though in some sense they owed their
positions to underworld elements, also championed law enforcement campaigns against
 organized crime. RFK’s zeal as attorney general made him many enemies, most notably
Jimmy Hoffa – the corrupt head of the Teamsters Union

Regarding Vietnam

• At this time, the U.S. involvement in Vietnam was reaching a critical point. The evidence
suggests that Kennedy, contrary to the wishes of his national security establishment, made
the decision to begin a phased withdrawal from Vietnam.

Regarding Cuba

• Kennedy was also intent on normalizing U.S relations with Cuba. The CIA, however, was
doing everything it could to kill the president’s peace initiatives. For some Right-wing
elements, Kennedy’s dovish overtures to Fidel Castro were the last straw. As one
diplomat close to Kennedy put it, “there were elements in the CIA that were violently
opposed to rapprochement with Cuba.”
• After it became clear Kennedy would not agree to an invasion of Cuba, the director of the
CIA at the time, Richard Helms, “took it upon himself to rekindle Mafia plots against
Fidel Castro.” These plots began before Kennedy became president and they would
continue after his assassination. In retrospect, it seems clear that JFK would never get a
handle on what the CIA was up to during his administration.

The FBI and CIA Monitor JFK

• FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, compiled secret files on the Kennedys that gave him
enormous leverage in Washington.
• The CIA bugged the premises of Mary Meyers, one of JFK’s mistresses. Although JFK
had many extramarital affairs, Mary Meyers was Kennedy’s favorite mistress. After a
family tragedy, Meyers divorced her CIA husband, Cord Meyers, and began
experimenting with drugs. She believed psychedelics offered a way of reducing world
conflict and according to one CIA source, Meyers introduced the president to marijuana
and the hallucinogenic LSD.

JFK’s Character