For those who have long wondered who killed JFK and why, this work by David Talbot answers those questions in great detail. More than just another shop worn book on the JFK assassination, the author provides a vivid look into the recesses of the United States Government during the early 1960's. What Talbot reports is a Presidency under attack by his own government and other elements of American society. Using interviews with 150 key eyewitnesses and documents, Talbot writes a masterpiece of intrigue in our nation's capital.

For many years people have questioned why Robert Kennedy as Attorney General and the close brother of the slain president did not do more to find the truth behind the events of Dallas on November 22, 1963. As the author makes clear, Bobby Kennedy while giving lip service to the Warren Report on the JFK Assassination and its conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman responsible, he initiated immediately secret background investigations with individuals who he could trust.

Shortly after taking office, JFK was presented with the CIA planned invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, a plan that the CIA knew full well that without US military intervention was doomed to failure. Even though JFK warned the CIA in advance he would not militarily get involved with the invasion, CIA operatives believed they could panic the young president into using the air force and even US Navy to support the invasion. They were wrong. As a result the CIA, used to operating independently of the US Government, will work continually to oppose the president.

Additionally, the Joint Chief of Staff now view Kennedy as weak and unable to stand up to the communist menace just 90 miles off the US mainland. When the Cuban Missile Crisis erupts in October 1962, the same military leaders call on JFK to bomb and invade Cuba. As we now know, 40,000 Russian combat troops were in Cuba armed with and authorized to use tactical nuclear weapons! As a symptom of the military cold warriors' thinking, General Cutis LeMay advocated in 1961 to JFK that the US should initiate a nuclear war on the Soviet Union before that country is able to reach nuclear parity with America!

The now often repeated story of the Mafia involvement with the CIA in attempts to overthrow Castro is given attention by the author. Add to this group were the radical elements of the Cuban exiles in south Florida who increasingly viewed JFK as a traitor to their cause.

Meanwhile, in Congress Barry Goldwater is leading the charge against the Kennedy's as are southern senators and congressmen resentful of JFK's support of civil rights efforts.

When taken together, the CIA, the military leadership, the Mafia, radical Cuban exiles and fierce political foes, it is the coalescence of these forces that leads to JFK's brutal murder on the streets of Dallas.

Talbot names names of likely conspirators even noting E. Hunt Hunt of Watergate fame announced in 2006 that he was alerted to the assassination plan. Five years later, Bobby Kennedy would be slain by a similar lone gunman and the author reveals some startling information on that assassination as well.