JFK and the Unspeakable

In this fascinating and disturbing work, James Douglass presents a compelling account of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and why unmasking and accepting this truth remains crucial for the future of our country and the world. The title comes from a phrase of Thomas Merton, naming of the attitudes, forces and interests that generate and support international tension and conflict. Drawing on a vast field of investigations, including many sources available only recently, Douglass lays out a sequence of of steps over the last three years of his life that transformed JFK from a traditional "Cold Warrior" to someone determined to pull the world back from the edge of nuclear apocalypse. Beginning with the fiasco of the Bay of Pigs invasion (which left the President wishing to "splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces"), followed by the Cuban Missile Crisis and his secret back-channel dialogues with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, JFK pursued a series of actions--right up to the week of his death--that caused members of his own U.S. military-intelligence establishment to regard him as a virtual traitor who had to be eliminated.As the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination approaches, the story of why he was killed--his turn toward peace--is not ancient history, and bears crucial lessons for today in the light of a decade of war and continuing revelations of clandestine national security and military activities. Douglass shows convincingly how those who plotted the death of JFK were determined not simply to eliminate a single man but to kill a vision. Douglass's book has all the elements of a political thriller. But the stakes couldn't be higher. Only by understanding the truth behind the murder of JFK can we grasp his vision and assume the urgent struggle for peace today. "In JFK and the Unspeakable Jim Douglass has distilled all the best available research into a very well-documented and convincing portrait of President Kennedy's transforming turn to peace, at the cost of his life. Personally, it has made a very big impact on me. After reading it in Dallas, I was moved for the first time to visit Dealey Plaza. I urge all Americans to read this book and come to their own conclusions about why he died and why--after fifty years--it still matters." -- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

"A remarkable story that changed the way I view the world."--JAMES BRADLEY, author of Flags of Our Fathers

"Arguably the most important book yet written about a U.S. president ... Should be required reading for all high school and college students, and anyone who is a registered voter!"--JOHN PERKINS, author of Confessions of an Economic Hitman

"The best account I have read of this tragedy and its significance ... But don't take my word for it. Read this extraordinary book and reach your own conclusions." --OLIVER STONE, director

"Jim Douglass has unraveled the story of President Kennedy's astonishing and little-known turn toward peace, and the reasons why members of his own government felt he must be eliminated. This disturbing, enlightening, and ultimately inspiring book should be read by all Americans. It has the power to change our lives and to set us free."--MARTIN SHEEN

"JFK and the Unspeakable is an exceptional achievement. Douglass has made the strongest case so far in the JFK assassination literature as to the Who and the Why of Dallas."--GERALD McNIGHT, author of Beach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why

"Once in a great while a book comes along that both records history and makes it. ... An exciting work with the drama of a first-rate thriller." --MARK LANE, author of Rush to Judgment

"Right now, I ask all of you--please please, read JFK and the Unspeakable! I cried all night reading it, and didn't sleep a wink. It is a book that could make us stand up and change the world, right now. Maybe we can save the world before it blows up. Really." (Yoko Ono)

"In JFK and the Unspeakable Jim Douglass has distilled all the best available research into a very well-documented and convincing portrait of President Kennedy's transforming turn to peace, at the cost of his life. Personally, it has made a very big impact on me. After reading it in Dallas, I was moved for the first time to visit Dealey Plaza. I urge all Americans to read this book and come to their own conclusions about why he died and why -- after fifty years -- it still matters." (Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.)

James W. Douglass is a longtime peace activist and writer. He and his wife Shelley are co-founders of the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, Washington, and Mary's House, a Catholic Worker house of hospitality in Birmingham, Alabama. His books include The Nonviolent Cross, The Nonviolent Coming of God, and Resistance and Contemplation.

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