Editor’s Note: This review will remain top left of TMV until Nov. 26.
It has been 50 years since the Nov. 22 assassination of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and the anniversary is marked by a flood of new books. Quite of a few are conspiracy theory books that make their case and seem almost dismissive of other theories or the official conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin. But there is one book that seriously examines a good chunk of the many theories in detail, has conducted new scientific tests to assess a piece of evidence, provides a compelling account of Kennedy’s presidency, details specifically how Kennedy influenced the Presidents that came after him — and is a can’t-put-it-down read: “The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy,” by Larry Sabato.
And for good reason: Sabato uses the same thoroughness, balance, and analytical incisiveness that have made him one of the country’s top political analysts, and most accurate election forecasters (he is the anti-Dick Morris). Just as we now have TV news channels and websites that people to go to to get an affirmation of what they already believe, we now have books on the Kennedy killing that give people what they already believe. Sabato doesn’t play that game: he analyzes, studies, weighs and THEN concludes. “The Kennedy Half Century” takes off like a super jet, moving quickly with the opening chapter on the November 22 and it never lets down the pace. He eventually outlines what is likely to occurred given the f-a-c-t-s and e-v-i-d-e-n-c-e at hand that have been weighed and proven reliable — and not just stated to be facts and evidence. Then he details what could be ruled out and why.
Three things set Sabato apart from most of the other assassination books coming out this year.
He’s doing serious, detached scholarship on the assassination using high standards before he will transform an assumption or suspicion into a fact. His superb writing makes this book that took five years to complete one you literally have to keep reading until it’s totally finished. And he has exhaustively poured over every fact and bit of evidence and even conducted scientific tests to undercut a key part of evidence that led the the House assassinations committee to conclude that JFK was likely the victim of a conspiracy. In the end, he concludes that Oswald was the shooter but could have been helped or enabled by others.
Sabato offers some of the best chapters ever written on Kennedy’s short administration and ground-breaking analysis on how Kennedy influenced other Presidents. To do this he and his staff examined every, single utterance made in public or documented to have been made in private by Presidents about JFK — so he can detail who made the most use of his name and used the Kennedy template to govern (Ronald Reagan is high on that list).
It’s likely that the debate over who killed JFK will continue another 50 years. And 50 years from now, many of the books coming out now will largely be forgotten as niche books or boilerplate accounts. Except one: fifty years from now you can count on people still reading, studying, and discussing Sabato’s “The Kennedy Half Century.” Because like great Presidents, solid, serious scholarship, great writing and thoughtful analysis long endure.
On a TMV scale of five stars, we give “The Kennedy Half Century” ten stars.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.