Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination [Hardcover]

Lamar Waldron (Author), Thom Hartmann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2008

John F. Kennedy's assassination launched a frantic search to find his killers. It also launched a flurry of covert actions by Lyndon Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, and other top officials to hide the fact that in November 1963 the United States was on the brink of invading Cuba, as part of a JFK-authorized coup. The coup plan's exposure could have led to a nuclear confrontation with Russia, but the cover-up prevented a full investigation into Kennedy's assassination, a legacy of secrecy that would impact American politics and foreign policy for the next 45 years. It also allowed two men who confessed their roles in JFK's murder to be involved in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, in 1968. Exclusive interviews and newly declassified files from the National Archives document in chilling detail how three mob bosses were able to prevent the truth from coming to light – until now.

Editorial Reviews

Review

''I believe Waldron's heavy-to-lift book is actually all but the last word on these troubling assassinations which have been so wildly speculated about since 1963. . . Lamar Waldron, indefatigable public servant and author, deserves his own Pulitzer Prize for his great work.'' --Liz Smith, New York Post

''Explosive.'' --Vanity Fair

''Astounding . . . Thorough and meticulous in its research.'' --Mark Crispin Miller, author of Fooled Again

''A riveting take on the assassination itself and the devastating results of government secrets, this account proves the continuing relevancy and importance of seeking the truth behind one of the US's most personal tragedies.'' --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

''Exhaustively researched.'' --New York Observer

''They've done a service by digging up the deepest, darkest, most disturbing archival evidence to support their Mob hit theory.'' --Ron Rosenbaum, acclaimed journalist

''[Legacy of Secrecy contains] over eight hundred pages of intricately documented data . . . Their findings add pieces to one of our most perplexing puzzles and suggest where the key missing pieces may be found.'' --Daily Beast --This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

About the Author

THOM HARTMANN is a New York Times bestselling author and national radio host, formerly with Air America and now syndicated by Dial Global. Recently called the most important progressive talk show host in America by Talkers magazine, he is also the author of numerous books, including The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, which helped inspire Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary The 11th Hour, which features Hartmann. His other books include We the People, Unequal Protection, What Would Jefferson Do?, and Screwed. --This text refers to the MP3 CD edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 864 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint; First Edition edition (November 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781582434223
• ISBN-13: 978-1582434223
• ASIN: 1582434220
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 2.2 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #485,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

129 of 144 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The wool has been pulled over our eyes.. June 8, 2009

By Peter Va Hoelen

Format:Hardcover

I hate to sound this naive, especially at my age (56), but as clearly evidenced by "Legacy of Secrecy" (and before that "Ultimate Sacrifice")there is an awful lot we do not know about the Assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK. I have spent my entire career working for the FBI (as a clerk) and 20 years as a Secret Service Agent, and I have read over 50 books on the JFK assassination. I am sure that I am only one of millions of people who are equally interested in learning the truth about who committed one of the biggest crimes in the history of this country.

Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann have come along at the right time (46 years after the JFK assassination) and put many years of meticulous research and interview into producing the "State of the Art" book(s) on the subject. Now we know why all these FBI, CIA, Secret Service, Army and Naval Intelligence files had to remain classified all these years. The truth about the assassination of JFK would have destroyed the CIA, the Mafia, the FBI, as well as the people who were in charge of those organizations. Some agencys, of course, had legitimate reasons for hiding the truth (as these books clearly show), and some were shamelessly protecting their own self interests.

The Mafia and the CIA have unalterably changed and distorted the course of US history with their collaborative efforts in Central and South America (not to mention Cuba). They continued to work together for many years thereafter. The CIA lied to Bobby and John Kennedy about their continuing efforts to kill Castro with the Mafia. After being explicitly ordered not to include the Mafia in their "JFK/Almeida" Castro overthrow plan.... In so doing the Mafia was allowed to go undetected in their efforts to kill JFK, to masterfully set Lee Harvey Oswald up as the Patsy for a crime he could never have pulled off on his own, then to order Ruby to kill him while Oswald was in Dallas PD custody, and then spend the next 46 years using it to blackmail the CIA and the White House into protecting them from exposure. CIA people like Richard Helms, E. Howard Hunt, William Harvey, David Atlee Phillips, and David Morales (may they all burn in hell) have destroyed a large part of what makes this country beautiful, and given the world good reason to hate the USA in the process. The CIA and the FBI then waged war on the media in an effort to prevent articles and books, which were critical of the Warren Commission findings, to keep the truth from ever getting out. And why? Because it was not correct in its' findings, and why was that? Because the CIA (Richard Helms) and the FBI (J.Edgar Hoover) lied to the Warren Commission and refused to help them do their job. In an effort to protect their own agencys and their own careers they lied to the American public and the world.

The Mafia did what the Mafia does, they serve their own sordid ends. They dont care about anyone but themselves... why should they? They were allowed to prosper and thrive all these years, because of the FBI's failings, J.Edgar Hoover's homosexuality, and the CIA's affinity for working with organized mobsters. All of our worst fears about the FBI, and the CIA, in the wake of the Vietnam War, and Watergate have been realized. They were doing what the peace activists had been alleging all along. It is a sad day when we are forced to realize that what Waldron and Hartmann told us here is the truth. But at the same time God Bless them for their dedication to the truth, their many years of hard work, and for the many declassified documents which finally enabled them to reveal the truth about these terrible murders. Read more ›

72 of 85 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Unconvincing In its Argument that Mafia could Box In CIA! January 29, 2009

By Boyce Hart VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

There is much valuable new datails in this book as there were in Ultimate Sacrifice.

However, this book suffers from the same problem as the last one. It assumes too much power for the Mafia and too little for the CIA. There is too little attention given to JFK's back channel to Castro, and once again the evidence does not support the authors strong conclusions about JFK's commitment to the coup, given the backchannel and given the authors seemingly predetermined view that the Mafia was more to blame than the CIA.

A far supperior book is JFK and the Unspeakable by james W. Douglass. This book finds the CIA behind the hit and ties it dircetly to the core of US Cold War policy. It is not just a how book about the assassination but a why book about the continution of the Cold War trajectory that has bought us where we are today: a bankrupt garrison state. This book has been received rave reviews by Daniel Ellsberg and Kennedy Insider Marcus Raskin among many others. Ellsberg claims that it completely changed his view of the assassination.
This guy knows a thing about the CIA, an organization whith significantly more sophisticated media contacts than even Mr. Waldron's Mafia.JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters

48 of 61 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Legacy of Secrecy November 24, 2008

By R. Shapiro

Format:Hardcover

Legacy of Secrecy, a follow up volume to their earlier work Ultimate Sacrifice, is a brilliant piece of research regarding the assassination of JFK. Based upon new evidence from the national archives it tells the story of how the Mafia-specifically Carlos Marcello the boss of New Orleans as well as Dallas along with Johnny Rosselli and Santo Trafficante the boss of Tampa and the rest of Florida- conspired to assassinate JFK and reveals for the first time that the FBI had taped their confessions. It details their connection to various plots organized by the CIA to assassinate Castro and install a new government in Cuba as well as their infiltration to an ongoing plot run out of the White House and directed by RFK; a plot that continued even after JFK had publicly announced all attempts to overthrow Castro were discontinued in the wake of the Bay of Pigs fiasco. It details the massive cover-up as well as the connection to the assassinations of RFK and MLK. This is an absolute must read for anyone who wants to know the real story behind these heinous acts. I want to thank the authors, Lamar Waldron with Thom Hartmann, for helping us know the truth of how, why and who killed JFK. It has haunted me ever since I saw the horrific images of the Zapruder film of the event itself and I hope people still care enough to know the answers.

49 of 63 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE NEXT CHAPTER, THE CLEARER TRUTH December 30, 2008

By Hallauthor

Format:Hardcover

LEGACY OF SECRECY is, in many ways, superior to it's predecessor, ULTIMATE SACRIFICE. While it paints a more complete picture of the era, I found this work much less repetitive in it's text than ULTIMATE. As much as I enjoyed ULTIMATE for it's detail, the amount of detail/backstory that was repeated throughout the work was distracting. While some of the detail contained in LEGACY can make you feel like you've been condemned to a twilight zone of names and initials, it is the attention to detail that is so very convincing of the case put forth by the authors, and also revealing of the failure of 'research' in pro-Warren Commission books by the likes of Posner and Bugliosi.

Waldron and Hartmann got it right. And frankly, that's something I never thought I'd say ( or see ) in my lifetime.

This is a true gem, the crown jewel of the assassination ouevre.