The President Has Been Shot!: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

For the most part, the only historical context Swanson discusses concerning President Kennedy's first campaign and his administration is that of the Cold War and Communism. Swanson claims that both Kennedy and his opponent in his presidential campaign, Richard Nixon, both shared similar views about the importance of the United States standing against the Soviet Union (8). He also highlights Kennedy's inauguration speech, in which he "summoned the American people to stand up for freedom in the shadow of the Cold War" (16). For Swanson, the impact of the Cold War is thus key to understanding Kennedy and his times.

When Swanson describes the origin of Communism, he describes Karl Marx as a “philosopher […] who believed that every individual must give way to the collective” (9). Swanson portrays Communism as a force of tyranny and destruction. He writes, “In pursuit of their goal, Communists established totalitarian political regimes that flouted individual rights, banned freedom of speech, eliminated free elections, set up police states, corrupted the rule of law, and imprisoned and murdered opponents” (10). For Swanson, even when Kennedy makes clear mistakes like the Bay of Pigs invasion (20-23), the story of the Kennedy administration is that of the global conflict between freedom and authoritarianism, which casts the ideological conflict between the two superpowers as a moral conflict, not just a political one.

Swanson also presents the Cold War as important for understanding the life of Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. As a troubled teenager, he was interested in Communism, which as Swanson notes would have been unusual for a boy growing up at the height of the Cold War (52-54). Oswald’s commitment to Communism and U.S. politics during the Cold War shaped much of his life. He lived in the Soviet Union and married Marina Prusakova, a Soviet citizen. He attempted to assassinate a right-wing political figure, General Edwin Walker, and was involved in advocacy for Castro’s Communist government in Cuba through the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Communism was an important factor in Oswald’s personality and how he presented himself to the world. Even after Kennedy’s assassination, Oswald gave a hand gesture associated with Communism to the media that was captured on camera (169-70). At the same time, he claimed to have been falsely arrested because of the fact that he used to live in the Soviet Union (170).

However, Swanson suggests that Oswald may not have been a sincere believer in Communism at all. Instead, he argues that adopting Communist was just how Oswald tried to get attention, wishing to defy the establishment of his time (61-62). Although Swanson does mention the theory that Oswald assassinated Kennedy in order to "impress Fidel Castro," he also suggests that Oswald simply wanted to "go down in history" (207). Even so, Swanson does present the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, and between capitalism and Communism, as shaping both President Kennedy's political views and actions and the life of his assassin.

An important and lengthy part of Swanson's narrative is capturing the details of the assassination of President Kennedy and the surrounding events day-by-day. Swanson also provides a multifaceted view of the assassination. He does this by switching between the perspectives of President Kennedy and Jackie, and the actions and possible mindset of Lee Harvey Oswald. Throughout his analysis, Swanson emphasizes the unlikelihood of conspiracy theories.

After the assassination, Swanson details the events of the swearing-in of the next president Lyndon Johnson, the funeral of President Kennedy, and the arrest and murder of Oswald. Such details are important for understanding why and how the assassination happened and why there has been so much mystery surrounding the events. For example, the fact Oswald was able to commit the assassination is at least partially explained by the fact Kennedy chose to travel "leisurely and slow to show himself to the crowds and wave to people as he drove by" (93). Swanson is also clearly interested in using detail to convey the tragedy of the event. One example of this is his description of Jackie's state of mind following the assassination and her insistence on holding on to a part of Kennedy's brains and giving it to one of the doctors operating on him (134).

Swanson stresses how the details are important given how many conspiracy theories surround the assassination. The mystery that allowed space for such conspiracy theories resulted from poor decisions, like the Secret Service and Kennedy's staff not allowing an immediate autopsy of Kennedy's corpse (140). Swanson insists that there is no factual basis behind any of the conspiracy theories that hold that either Kennedy was assassinated by someone other than Oswald, or that Oswald was not acting alone. Swanson writes, "Today we know much more about the assassination of President Kennedy than the members of the Warren Commission did" (207). By recounting the assassination of President Kennedy and the events surrounding it in such detail, Swanson hopes to combat the arguments of conspiracy theorists that the established narrative about the assassination cannot be trusted.