It Did Not Start with JFK: The Decades of Events that Led to the Assassination of John F Kennedy

I have read and studied the Cold War and its impact on the JFK assassination. There were many adamant anti-Communists who were at high levels in our government while JFK was president. As the author states, the Deep State did not start with Kennedy. this book covers just about everything and to me it was interesting reading. Excellent sourcing of the subject. Ike was right when he said beware of the military industrial complex. The MIC was rooted under FDR and Truman long before JFK came into office and was mostly unchecked. Billions were made from the Vietnam War. The Oil Billionaires kept their tax break. Kennedy wanted to reduce the % of their generous tax break. The Federal Reserve survived when JFK died. Johnson was going to be held accountable for death and corruption but that never happened when JFK died. RFK mob pressure ceased. Anti-Castro Cubans who hated JFK for his non-support of the Bay of Pigs were satisfied. Allen Dulles was in a position with the Warren Commission to help quell the true story of our president's death. I recommend these well researched books. There are two books.

I was given this book on the recommendation of a friend, and it was spot on. I am the same age as Mr. Herbst, and the circumstances around the JFK assassination have remained with me ever since those days in November of 1963 that were played out on our black and white TVs. Even as young as I was, I remember being so shocked by the actions of Jack Ruby the day Lee Harvey Oswald was shot on live TV. I have always wondered how that could have happened. Mr. Ruby had a fascinating background to say the least, most of which I’m sure would be as enlightening to other readers as it was to me. Likewise, Lee Harvey Oswald is of course the central figure in any discussion of the JFK assassination; however there is so much more to his story and place in American history that is laid out in the book. The plights of Ruby and Oswald with regards to the JFK assassination are just two of dozens of people and historical events laid out by the author with incredible detail and supporting research. There are so many names of people that we would all remember from the 60’s and 70’s related to the assassination and their connections to both the pre- and post-assassination events. Disparate entities such as Nazi Germany, Corporate America, both big and small time politics, organized crime, and religious institutions all come into play. It sounds like a novel, but through the investigative skills of Mr. Herbst it is all tied together in very plausible conjecture. I found myself often diving into all of the reference materials and other books on the subject cited by the author, which were also extremely informative. I never felt like I was being told “Here is how it happened…”. Rather, the information is presented in a concise, factual manner and it allows the reader to absorb everything and begin to draw their own informed evaluation. The assassination of an American President in and of itself is an immense historical event. Combined with so much of what happened in the 40 or so years leading up to the assassination and how they are intertwined makes for a very interesting read. Now on to Volume 2, which promises to further explain the Ruby and Oswald connections and more about that fateful event.

Through his historical research, Mr. Herbst noted the rise, in the 1930s, of a movement, with racist and fascist overtones, whose adherents were committed to the defeat of communism and to the preservation of what they perceived to be the American way of life. This movement or way of thinking, a malady of the mind perhaps, appears to have strengthened in the years immediately after World War II, and took hold among the military, the CIA, members of Congress and as the movement grew (esp. during the 1950s) included elements of big business and organized crime. Presidents from FDR through JFK threatened this movement (or philosophy) by encouraging certain social programs, civil rights initiatives and efforts to ease tensions and foster coexistence with communist countries. Certain individuals inspired by the aforementioned way of thinking and alarmed by what they perceived to be mounting threats to their shared value system during the JFK presidency felt that a coup was necessary and to effect the coup murdered JFK. Mr. Herbst contends Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby became known to these conspiracists during the Cold War and became part of the plot to murder JFK.Mr. Herbst contends that by an analysis he terms relative plausibility he's able to identify assassination suspects as evidenced by their treasonous acts or behaviors. Such behaviors would include the formulation and/or execution of actions which circumvent or stymie the policies of the presidents they supposedly serve. I wish that Mr. Herbst explored “relative plausibility” perhaps in an appendix, and detailed its relevance as a theory of evidence in a legal context. In any event, in the many pages of this book, Mr. Herbst chronicles these behaviors and explores the connections and associations among the various groups or individuals who would perhaps at some point conspire to assassinate JFK.I’m an agnostic with regard to the JFK assassination and skeptical of the many alternatives to the lone gunmen theory. I’m not impressed by attempts to attribute a murder motive to any individual or group who didn’t like JFK or felt short changed, cheated, harassed, betrayed or otherwise threatened by him or his policies. Mr. Herbst’s thesis appears different in that while he expands the pool of potential organizations or groups with apparent motive (the CIA, the military, business, etc.) he appears to be narrowing the field to individual participants to those not motivated as much by revenge but by ideology. Herbst, discusses many individuals apparently influenced by this ideology and presumably, if given sufficient motivation might be encouraged to stage a coup if not an assassination. However, in this volume at least, no persons except Oswald and Ruby have been tagged by Herbst with specific involvement with the assassination. Perhaps names will be revealed in future volumes. I made an effort to check the author’s sources particularly in the Korean War chapters, a frustrating exercise because Mr. Herbst did not provide page numbers in his footnotes. While I found his examples technically correct a review of the larger context, even in the books he cited might cause a reader to reassess some of Mr. Herbst’s conclusions especially regarding the responsibility for starting the War. On the other hand his accounts of Eisenhower’s frustrations and lack of support within his own administration to establish some rapport with the Soviet Union were very consistent with the sources. This chapter, entitled The War Machine and much of what followed was intriguing, eye opening and in some cases disturbing. In general the book is well researched primarily relying secondary source material, and even if I’m not convinced (on the strength this volume) by Herbst’s thesis, there was much to be learned from the book.

This work puts a deep clarification as to why JFK ran into so much resistance during his administration. Given the powers that loomed in the background, it is amazing that he won the election albeit in thanks to his father’s last minute dealings in sealing up Illinois and West Virginia electoral votes.This was truly a paradigm shifting book, with a deep look into the growth of the right wing almost fascististic power in the U.S.The amazing aspect of this book is how the author captured world events and how they helped develop such a strong right wing movement in the United States.Very deep and very illuminating work.

In a time where our history is being deleted this author has gone to great lengths to save it!

I’ve been obsessed with the JFK assassination ever since I first heard about it as a kid. I started off with whatever documentary was on tv and as I got older discovered none of it added up, the “official story” made no sense. Then I began to look into it all further and managed to piece a few things together from here and there but thankfully I’ve not found everything I need to know in one place, this book. I can’t get my head around the sheer amount of research that has gone into this book, it’s insane. I’m a terrible reader and get distracted easily but I could not put this book down. I then immediately ordered volume two and now I’m already ready for volume three. Incredible book 10/10

The information and reporting/story/historical record are top notch. The writing kept me interested, but, and there always is a but, there were parts of sentences that had 2 words repeated it mad no sense, 1 year wasn’t even legible. Who ever checked the book after first printing missed a lot of errors just saying. However I did learn some interesting tidbits I didn’t know before. All in all a excellent book even with the errors.