Legacy of Secrecy: The Long Shadow of the JFK Assassination (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Thom Hartmann (Author)
Key Phrases: station chief, security chief, César Chávez, New Orleans, Bobby Kennedy, Carlos Marcello (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Explosive new material, based mainly on government documents from the National Archives.” —Vanity Fair

“Waldron and Hartmann offer convincing evidence . . . 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)

“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

“They’ve done a service by digging up the deepest, darkest, most disturbing archival evidence to support their Mob hit theory.” —Ron Rosenbaum

“Staggering!” —Mark Crispin Miller

“Exhaustively researched” —New York Observer

“[Legacy of Secrecy contains] over 800 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.” —Ronald Goldfarb, Daily Beast

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 864 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (November 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582434220
• ISBN-13: 978-1582434223
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #70,381 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #47 in	Books > History > United States > 20th Century > 1960s
  #83 in	Books > Nonfiction > Current Events > Conspiracy Theories
  #100 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Political Science > Government

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Hallauthor "Tom A" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

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.

20 of 23 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 "bubblegum" (nyc) - See all my reviews

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

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	R. Shapiro "book addict" (Huntington Beach, Ca USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.