Customer Reviews

The Kennedy Assassination Tapes

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Max Holland's book should be read by everybody with an interest in LBJ, political history in the sixties, and the JFK assassination. Holland uses LBJ telephone-tape transcipts pertaining to the JFK assassination to create a vivid internal history of the mind and actions of LBJ from November 1963 until 1967. An epilogue, serving as coda to a grand symphony of material, takes the reader into LBJ's own memoir of 1971.

Although a book structured around transcripts might well put readers quickly to sleep, Holland has elevated the aesthetic punch of this form by virtue of deeply intelligent sections of his own prose which give the background of particular conversations, which broaden the historical framework of the dialogue, and which tie together the entire set of transcipts into a profoundly coherent and pungent tale. And it has its moments of deep poignance as well, especially around Jacqueline Kennedy, when we get to feel LBJ's strong regard for other people at the same time as we see his ingrained flaws when dealing with people while in the public eye.

Holland takes us from Dealey Plaza to Parkland Hospital and then onto Air Force One. We end up in the White House and inside LBJ's head. It's an amazing account with an incessant narrative drive, aided by sensibility-expanding footnotes at the bottom of the text pages where we can fold them into the story without grappling with back-of-the book interruptions, and accelerated by the feeling of immediate history registering in our awareness. I've never seen an internal history with such a compelling grip on the reader, with such a magnetic pull to continue the act of reading.

The conversations treated deal with the assassination, the transition to power, Jackie Kennedy's grief, the formation of the Warren commission, Hoover's FBI, the work of the Commission, the Garrison investigation, the Clark forensics panel, and, throughout, LBJ's bete noir Bobby Kennedy. A good feel for the political exigencies capturing LBJ's options emanates from the pages.

Holland has produced also a number of correctives to previous books by force of his painstaking research and interpretive savvy. In a gracious manner, he exfoliates some important errors of textual judgment by Michael Beschloss in TAKING CHARGE and Jeff Shesol in MUTUAL CONTEMPT which have led to significant inaccurate conclusions about the detailed history. Also by virtue of close reading and pin-point documentation, Holland dispels most of the myths fueling conspiracy theories about LBJ, the Warren panel, Gerald Ford, Richard Russell, Hale Boggs, Allan Dulles, and John McCloy. Nothing crushes nonsense like the truth and Holland has a bear-hug on it.

If you want to climb into a particular place and time, and want to experience the perceptions and vagaries of LBJ and his milieu about these specific events, Holland's masterful book is the book to read.

Max Holland's latest book is by far the most lucid and compelling account of the role President Johnson played in the investigation of JFK's assassination.

Holland's previous work has been highly acclaimed.He first established his credentials as a JFK assasination expert through his painstaking research into how conspiracy theorists had misled the public about the role the CIA and other intelligence agencies played in the Dallas tragedy.He was also one of the first researchers to provide evidence which established that a Soviet disinformation campaign had been responsible in creating many myths about alleged US Government involvement in the death of JFK.Holland's research concerning Soviet efforts in the dissemination of false information about CIA involvement in the assassination is bolstered by Christopher Andrew's 'The Sword and the Shield - The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB' which establishes the nature of KGB disinformation techniques in the USA during the 1960s and 1970s.

Holland's new book is no less valuable for the unique expertise he brings to the subject.Correctly, he criticises Beschloss and Shesol for misinterpreting the tapes.And Holland, unlike Beschloss, puts the assassination-related conversations all in one volume together with his extensive added commentary.The result is a clearer understanding of what transpired when LBJ became embroiled in the conspiracy controversy and the related Warren investigation.

I wasn't sure what to expect after the Publishers Weekly Review made this volume sound redundant, or worse, exploitative. As I opened the book my heart did sink a bit when the prologue and introduction to the book gave me the feeling that author Max Holland had some serious axes to grind against previous commentators on LBJ's tapes.

And yet as soon as the introduction left off saying what those previous bad writers had failed to do, and began to explain what he himself planned to do--just like a campaign stump speech--for me, the book took off. Now, nothing is going to replace the impact of hearing all these tapes oneself. But seriously now, who is going to do that? A well edited transcript, sensitive to nuance is for me the better choice. And I think Holland has an amazing ear, and he is sensitive not only to LBJ's distinctive speech but to the regional dialects of dozens of other people, from Dallas policemen to the high-cultured fluty voice of Jackie Kennedy. As a sidelight, one thing that's amazing is how, in the forty some years since the Kennedy assassination, television and mass media have almost eradicated regional accents from Americam so that we all talk more or less alike now. Not back then! No wonder standup comedians could make whole careers out of imitating the bizarre, almost 'private' accents of JFK or LBJ.

The story itself, and the way it uplinked into phone conversations, is compelling, magnetizing. The witnesses seem all universally to be trying to do the best thing in a time of terrible national anguish. I was struck once again by how perceptive and genuine and giving a First Lady we had in Lady Bird Johnson, whose account of the assassination is one of the best documents of its kind in the world. No way, after reading these transcripts, do I believe that either Johnson had anything to do with a conspiracy. It just doesn't seem possible. I look forward to Holland's next book--the book to which this one ws just a side project--a "narrative history of the Warren Commission." Now we'll see in full color how history was really made--made, and made up.

I am writing this review for those, like me, who are not intimately familiar with either the US government, its history, its politics, etc.

The book is well written and makes excellent use of these primary sources. The text is well footnoted and primary source material is used well. One might wonder why there is so much reliance on Manchester's "Death of a President", as that is a secondary source, but having read Manchester's autobiography, as well as his book on General MacArthur, I have little doubt that his book is as good a reference as any and is no doubt solidly researched itself.

What does this book do? There is no inside look at the JFK assassination nor LBJ's involvement in the investigation of some (and anyone believing that a "smoking gun" might point to LBJ's involvement in the actual crime itself will be sorely disappointed." The author presents the story from a non-conspiracy point of view, and what the book does is describe Johnson's political maneuverings in the immediate wake of the assasination - and then talks about how he put together the Warren Commission. Johnson, in actual fact, knows virtually nothing of the details of the crime that took place and seems not interested - that is, in the end, why he started the commission in the first place.

So anyone hoping to read a real thriller will be disappointed. What the book does do is provide a look at the relationships between Johnson and all the branches of government as well as the various agencies at his command - Secret Service, FBI, CIA etc. The book is recommended to those with an above average understanding of how the government of the US was organized in the 1960s, however, even a layman such as myself found it interesting. My own personal bias comes from having read Groden, Lane, Garrison on the conspiracy theories but eventually being convinced by Posner that the Warren Commission had it right.

Holland seems to proceed from the same conclusions.

The book is thus not going to entertain those who enjoy the conspiracy books, but will probably appeal more to those that are interested in Johnson as a historical character (his personality is very much evident), or those interested in how the Warren Commission was formed.

The book presents an almost minute to minute look at Johnson's first days as the President, then shifts to cover entire months at a time by focussing solely on assasination-related work. An interesting focus which will also not please those looking for a broad overview of Johnson's presidency. However, having said that, Holland does provide very good historial synopses and does take pains to make the uninitiated reader understand the significance of eacy person mentioned and their relationship to Johnson, the Commission, and each other.

Only problem with sources is a reliance on newspaper articles from which Holland seems to draw a lot of conclusions. A minor point, perhaps.

Very readable nonetheless, but true value to you, as with any book, will depend on what you expect to get out of it.

I've authored/edited 2 books on LBJ and I must say that I have rarely, if ever, seen a more nuanced and shrewd understanding of President Johnson and the political context in which he functioned. Few authors have an equally good understanding of the Cold War climate and its impact on politicians of the 1950s/1960s. Fewer still understand the ways in which those politicos tried to shape events, and the apparent motivations driving them. Among many other things, Max Holland shows how much the JFK assassination was a shadow over LBJ.

Max Holland has given us a book that seems to have been interpreted (by people, I suspect, who have read the cover and not the innards) as merely transcription. Their interpretation would be that LBJ taped many of his conversations and here are the transcripts of those conversation somehow related to the assassination of his predecessor.

"Why another book on the LBJ tapes?" a trade reviewer asks. The answer is: because Max Holland's book is not just a book about LBJ tapes. Mr. Holland's book is a fascinating look inside the Oval Office. This book shows us LBJ and many of those with whom he spoke on the phone with their makeup off, their hair down, and their humanity on display.

I should think that this book would be gobbled up with genuine relish by students of the JFK assassination, students of LBJ, students of the American presidency, and students of complex personalities. LBJ is one of those characters most of us find impossible to summarize or put into a box.

Hitler, with all his complexities, was evil. Schweitzer, imperfect like any human being, was obviously a good person. LBJ was toweringly good and stupefyingly bad, sometimes in serial fashion, often simultaneously. LBJ's complexities are on display in Mr. Holland's book.

Let me note very carefully that it takes an experienced and practiced eye to understand much of what LBJ was saying on the tapes. Context is everything, and a naked LBJ transcript would baffle me and, I am sure, almost anyone. Mr. Holland has even been kind enough to point out where other LBJ tape commentators (like Michael Beschloss) have missed a subtlety here and there. Mr. Holland has given the reader context that is more than sufficient to understand what is being said and not said by LBJ and his interlocutors.

A good example is on p. 118. The conversation in question took place on 11/28/63, and is between LBJ and Senator James Eastland. Eastland was a notorious segregationist and he was discussing his efforts to make assassinating a president a federal crime. Johnson replies that: "... it might set a precedent that you wouldn't want to HAVE." [emphasis by Holland]

This seems cryptic until you look at Mr. Holland's footnote. He explains that this was an oblique reference to what might happen in Eastland's home state if a terrible racial crime was committed, and there were federal laws against such crimes. Annotations like this immeasurably enhance the experience of reading these transcripts.

A few points:

1. I love the fact that there are plenty of footnotes and they are at the bottom of the page. I would love to force-feed a few pages of this book to all non-fiction publishers with the message that footnotes are by definition supposed to be notes at the foot of the page. How annoying is it to have to thumb to the end of a chapter or the back of the book to find the footnote? Confronted with a footnote, one always feels curious to know what additional information this footnote is going to add - why not have them handy?

2. For my taste, the most interesting parts of the book are those that deal with the immediate post-assassination period, when LBJ was to a certain extent in shock and feeling his way towards the levers of power, and the complex machinations surrounding the creation of what has come to be known as the Warren Commission. LBJ was getting lots of advice, good and bad, and taking it all in. For a few days, the consensus seemed to be that a Texas Inquiry and the FBI investigation would be sufficient to satisfy the public that the truth had been uncovered. When it became clear that multiple congressional investigations were likely to pop up, and that sensitive matters of national security might be compromised, LBJ put his weight behind the presidential commission. LBJ was masterful and manipulative in the way he went about deciding who should be on the commission and then convincing them to serve. Particularly difficult were LBJ's old friend Richard Russell, and the (supposedly trusted) Chief Justice Earl Warren. Even though we all know the outcome, these parts of the book are absolute page-turners.

3. There are poignant moments as well. LBJ was unexpectedly solicitous of and tender to Jackie Kennedy. He did his best to help her cope with the enormous tragedy in her life. LBJ's hurt and anger at Bobby Kennedy, whose resentment of LBJ was the defining point in the LBJ/RFK relationship, was poisonous. It is a minor tragedy in American history that these two men could not find a way to join forces, the better to help enact their progressive views of what kind of country we should live in.

In short, I cannot recommend this book too highly. You will come away from this book shaking your head at the triumph and tragedy that was LBJ.

As if offering a new translation of a minor classic, the author warns us about previous works that have used this same material, to the extent, at least, that his precursors have misinterpreted--out of faulty understanding or to forward a point of view. Mr. Holland occasionally lapses himself into pre-conceived assumptions, as where he disposes of a notion Chief Justice Warren might have threatened Senator Russell about something in the Commission report, dismissing it simply as " unbelievable" (p.xix), or when editorializing, with some vituperation, about Jim Garrison. p 389 et seq

There is at least one instance where his corrective account requires still further translation (not forthcoming), as in the "threat" matter noted above. Russell, as to his attempt to get a "dis-sent" into the Report, is quoted telling how other members would "...come round and trade me out of it by givin' me a little old thread of it." p. 251. Assuming "trade me out" is used in its market sense, it is unclear what, in pre-internet times, "givin' me a little old thread of it" might have meant.

A fascinating aspect of this book, perhaps the most historically trivial, is likely nonetheless to supply "MacBird" theorists, for decades scrutinizing LBJ under the merciless lens of cui bono? with evidence of a bizarrely ghoulish inclination, as LBJ appears to attempt a courtship of Jacqueline Kennedy, "widow to a woeful bed", over the phone.

Robert Kennedy et al were reportedly upset by LBJ calling Mrs. Kennedy "honey", the "Irish Mafia" apparently tone deaf to Al Tracery [...]. But even taking into account the Texas trash-talking version of Confederate Chivalry, the handful of conversations with Jackie are startling. In the first place, whatever justification for bugging other callers, wiring Mrs. Kennedy's remarks was certainly questionable. As to the gist:

Of the Dec 2 conversation, less than two weeks after her husband's murder, and while Mrs. K is still in White House residence, Mr. Holland tells us "the tenderness in his voice is impossible to convey". We'll have to take his word for that, but in cold print it carries an erotic charge, more like Gloucester chatting up Lady Anne, with all the "honey"'s and "sweetie"'s and "darlin'"s, and "You just come over [and] put your arm around me, that's all you do. When you haven't got anything else [to] do, let's take a walk. Let's walk around the backyard ..."

Others reproduced are of the same ilk, always including declarations of Universal Love and cloying invitations to drop by. On Dec 7, he goes so far in his efforts, whatever may be their aim, to congratulate her on how well her news photos appear ("...gorgeous. And you had that chin up and that chest out, and you looked so pretty marching...") and to seemingly deprecate his already reverberant "All I have..." statement. ("All I have ever possessed I would have gladly given not to be here today." Speech to joint session 11/27/63. Not even Johnson's most steadfast adherents likely believed that, and most listeners then found his unctuous, corny pulpiteering a jarring change, if not a purely laughable one. We all kept a straight face, though--hoping in the uncertain interregnum, he might actually be sincere about the substance of his message--as he turned out to be, no matter the oiliness of the presentation.)

Reading these transcripts, notions of great-stags-in-the-forest rivalry is inescapable. Although Holland repeatedly insists LBJ, whatever his problems with "Bobby", was ever devoted and admiring of JFK, decades of reports scarcely bear out such retrospective benignity. And Johnson's well-circulated pique regarding JFK's womanizing reputation cannot but be brought to mind. Recalling his scornful assertion that he'd had more women by accident than Kennedy had on purpose, his intentions in these dialogues take on, to say the least, a peculiar aspect.

Having read some of the short reviews in Publishers Weekly and Choice, I wasn't sure what to make of this book. But once I started it, I was hooked, and found myself reading it cover to cover, along with every footnote. Holland is a careful and meticulous historian. But what the other reviewers got wrong was to think that this is a narrow book. In fact, this book forces one to rethink the whole nature of American politics in the 1960s, to recognize the intensity of the personal and political conflicts within the Democratic party and their impact on a range of policy questions, including the decision to escalate the war in Vietnam. Along with these larger questions, Holland has managed to put the controversies surrounding the Kennedy assassination back into the mainstream of the historical narrative of the 1960s, and to recognize how the conspiratorial theories affected events. It is a truly remarkable book that shows the value of the presidential tapes as a historical source, especially in the hands of a masterful writer and judicious researcher.