The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ Paperback – September 2, 2014

I've been following this JFK assassination from day one. And I like many Americans my responses evolved from shocked, to relieved (when they found the "assassin"), to shocked and relieved (when they killed the "assassin"), to dismayed when the Warren Report was issued, to outraged when the mysterious deaths of witnesses occurred, and when the lies and deceptions began to gather like flies on a corpse.

But, I always ignored the obvious:cui bono. Believing that LBJ was the chief conspirator was just too simple an explanation. Everyone knew he was obnoxious, kinky and hinky, but believing that he would kill his boss to assume the presidency seemed a stretch. Surely someone in the vast army of print, radio and television reporters would have investigated this possibility. And of course, considering the importance of the crime, our congressmen and senators would have checked this out. They did run a committee in 1978 which did determine a probable JFK conspiracy without mention of LBJ. But alas, no one in a position of power could find the bloody dots or connect them. Historically, LBJ was just a All-American rascal who crawled his way to the top, became a civil rights hero, enabled and inflamed that "silly Asian war", and ultimately left office as sort of a tragic flawed and wounded man.

There were those who tried to expose LBJ: J. Evetts Haley 1964 book: A Texan Looks at Lyndon; Newcomb and Adams 1974 manuscript: Murder from Within; and more recently Mark North's: Betrayal in Dallas; Phil Nelson's: LBJ. The Mastermind of the JFK Assassination. All these books are credible and well written, but again, there was no reaction from the news media or congress.

Now Roger Stone, a Washington insider, comes to the forum with his book: The Man Who Killed Kennedy. Based on his radio interviews, I can say that Stone is not a JFK supporter. But he appears to be a person who is willing to hold up the American military/industrial/political/media complex to the light and give the common man a whiff of its smelly, rotten underbelly. To sum it up: LBJ was an egotistic maniac who murdered anyone who got in his way to the presidency. LBJ was one of the biggest crooks who ever set foot in Washington. LBJ was a big, ugly snake and a leader in a generation of vipers. If JFK had lived a couple of additional days, LBJ would have been exposed to the nation, via a LIFE magazine story scheduled for print, as a big crook. He would have been indicted, tried, convicted, and sent to prison. But everything changed on 11/22/63. JFK was dead and instantly the world forgot about the new president's sins. The media buried their heads and made soothing mockingbird sounds of relief. It was all over. The world is safe for democracy. Back to business. Move along there's nothing to see here. And so it went over 50 years.

Now Stone's book appears to be having some impact on the general population, possibly due to his tireless and sturdy promotional efforts, and to the fine quality of this book, and because he appears to be an insider "in the know". Buy the book, it will either reaffirm your cynical thoughts or change your naïve beliefs about LBJ. Stone's information is timely, verifiable, and clear. The conclusion: a successful coup d'etat. The sad fact: everyone in power today appears to represent viewpoint of the original conspirators and they are continuing the nasty, evil work that started in November, 1963. Coup d'etat...C'est la vie.

Roger Stone has made one of the most compelling cases for who was behind JFK's assassination by assembling circumstantial evidence, first hand accounts, evidence of destruction/misrepresentation and more. Then overlapped the latter with motivation, documented movements of the players, people who were shut down etc. to show all the facets of a much larger effort.

I think one of the biggest problems with the JFK assassination has been researchers either looking for an individual to point the finger at one person or struggling to tie the many facets together in a palatable manner. Stone's achievement is to clearly present JFK's assassination as a synthesis of individuals with agendas that LBJ helped along.

The fact that Kennedy discretely ordered 5000 troops be pulled out of Vietnam a few weeks before he was assassinated and the day before his assassination Lyndon Johnson typed a memo to veto the troop reduction is suspect. The VP has no such powers...only the president....unless the president is dead. Then tie that in with LBJ's comment to his mistress Madeline Brown (again the day before the assassination) "I promise you this... After tomorrow those G*d d*mned Kennedys will never make me look like a fool again!". Clearly he knew something and there's way, way more.

It's funny but I used to, vehemently, believe the lone gunman theory and poked into the Kennedy assassination to prove to a friend (who asserted a conspiracy) wrong. Go figure.

Stone's book is well written, interesting, very well researched (I did some random fact checking and everything I looked into held water) and there's no taking of creative liberties. This is not a book for JFK conspiracy theorists but a book for everyone.

Another JFK assassination book claiming LBJ was in on the plot, if not before then after the fact. I don't know if the claims presented in this book would sway a jury but the arguments are very persuasive that Johnson was no stranger to murder before the assassination. If LBJ did all the terrible things this author claimed, it was a small step to order the rubout of the only obstacle between him and ultimate power. It took a long time for experience and wisdom to erode my gullibility, for me to analyze the events of 22 Nov 1963 and realize that we had all been liked to. The power behind the lie is so invested in it that it is no longer possible to get to the truth. Future historians will analyze the clues correctly and our descendants will wonder how we were ever so foolish.

A very interesting book by a well-connected author. You do not have to believe all that the book argues to enjoy and find the book very useful.

One thing that I would have found useful is a different way of updating the book replying to criticism. In effect the rebuttal follows the original story; I would have preferred if the new material were integrated in the original part of the book.

One nit: On the shooting date the Dallas Times Herald was an afternoon paper, not a morning paper as stated in the book.

Convincing, well supported facts. The horror slowly sinks in as you realize the kind of world we live in and the kind of men who rule us. The book could not be more clear, fair, and fact-based. I was young when Kennedy became president and I feared him being Catholic--something Stone mentions as a hammering point for the other side. The more I read about JFK, the more I see him, for all his faults, as a good man who was good for America. Even if he was a Democrat.