 "With JFK's Rep where it Belongs, it's time to start on the Big Boys...." | 2008-07-03 |
| - Reviewed By shanbooks |
| Given the obvious falsehood of the Clinton era nonsense that personal morality is irrelevant to the public figure, we now need to start in on the fools who, with hubris and no qualms about bald-faced lying to the American public, we need to start revising our views of the men REALLY responsible for mutilating the constitution in favor of ego and a misguided sense that they knew better than the founding fathers, instead of just second tier types like JFK, academicians should start on the (attempted) court packing, congenital liar, and true war monger F.D.R (or the brain dead, subservient socialist mouthpiece Woodrow Wilson, and his Edgar Bergan, Col. House.) One chapter on what could have happened if F.D.R had died before replacing Socialist Henry Wallace during his last, fourth,ego-trip term-perhaps Henry Dexter White as Secretary of State and Alger Hiss as Secretary of Defense should make it obvious what a dangerous, naive fool F.D.R was. It COULD have been even worse than that, instead of "just" knowing every secret communication out of F.D.R's White House sieve, Stalin could have actually RUN the damn thing personally. Given what F.D.R gave Stalin at Yalta, what would Wallace have given him? All of Western Europe, too, or just Germany,France and England? |
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 "Slimeball proffering slimeballs telling stories about slimeballs" | 2008-03-25 |
| - Reviewed By ball-was-right |
Seymour Hersh, the man according to whom we have to thank for the Church Commission (which led to idiotic government intelligence "reforms" that, in turn, contributed to the intelligence failures that permitted 9-11), presents his best shot in this book at smearing the Kennedy clan. John especially, but also Joe and even to a certain extent Bobby. In most of the book, he succeeds in this task only to the extent we can trust mobsters, convicted felons, former madams, self-professed ex-lovers, hustlers, disgruntled employees and bankrupt, disbarred attorneys to tell us the truth.
However, Mr. Hersh does present some very compelling testimonies from JFK's secret service agents, who describe JFK's White House adolescent hijinks in rhyparographic detail. Believe me, that section alone (pp 226-246) is enough to take the shine off Camelot -- permanently.
Hersh is perplexing. He has impeccable anti-American and Democratic Party credentials, yet he savages JFK, a fellow Democrat, in a way that no one had done before, or in the eleven years since the book was published. Why? I can only conclude that Hersh's anger stems from his view that JFK was responsible for Vietnam. Hersh addresses Vietnam in the last two chapters of the book, and although these chapters are better sourced than some of the more salacious sections, the chapters seem disjointed, meandering, and tied together only by rage towards JFK. |
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 "Get the official CIA/corporate press version of JFK right here!" | 2008-01-28 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3B50A16OZZXAB |
Normally I would not review an 11-year-old book, but as it presents a distorted view of JFK to say the least, and is still in print in 2008, here goes.
Mr. Hersh has obliged his corporate and government sponsors with a double-barreled hit. First, he produced a best-seller, and second, he produced a JFK biography sure to please both the corporates and their government cronies.
Mr. Hersh reveals JFK's sexual escapades in great length and detail. I estimate that at least 25% of the book is spent on this topic. This is fair enough, since JFK apparently spent the same percentage of his time pursuing sexual adventures. Mr. Hersh also presents much evidence backing claims of JFK's health problems, including frequent doses of various medications that kept him going. The early chapters tell some interesting stories about JFK's father, Joseph, and other family members including JFK's maternal grandfather, John F. "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald.
Mr. Hersh presents some interesting insights into crucial moments in JFK's presidency. The Bay of Pigs, the Berlin crisis, the Cuba missile crisis, plots to assassinate Fidel Castro, and the escalation of US involvement in Vietnam are dealt with in detail. Mr. Hersh contradicts accounts of these events written by close Kennedy associates, Ted Sorensen in particular. Mr. Hersh reveals a secretive, inexperienced, power-hungry and vindictive President who trusted only one man other than himself, his brother Robert. There does seem to be some truth to Hersh's contradictory accounts, but there also seems to be an underlying motivation behind this book, and this is the promotion of an official version of JFK and his presidency that focuses on JFK's personal weaknesses, presents CIA in a favorable light, and either lies about important events, or omits them entirely.
Did you know, for example, that the Bay of Pigs fiasco was entirely JFK's fault? Did you know that JFK and RFK micro-managed plots involving the Mafia to kill Castro, and that the Vietnam War is JFK's legacy, not something he would have ended? With that knowledge, surely you should also learn about JFK's firing of Allan Dulles (later appointed to the Warren Commission), General Cabell and Richard Bissell? Sorry, that's not in the official story. Furthermore, since JFK was obviously so much at odds with CIA, surely you should read about JFK's threats to disband CIA? Sorry again.
I quote from the "Author's Note" at the beginning of the book:
"It [this book] tells of otherwise strong and self-reliant men and women
who were awed and seduced by Kennedy's magnetism, and who competed with
one another to please the most charismatic leader in our nation's history.
Many are still blinded today.
In writing this book, my hope is that I have been able to help the nation
reclaim some of its history."
Some very select and well chosen bits of its history, perhaps, but nothing that really matters, like who was responsible for JFK's assassination. Mr. Hersh is not one to talk about being "blinded", as he still professes to believe the official Lee Harvey Oswald "lone nut assassin" myth. Among the few remaining adherents to the myth are mainstream corporate media types like Mr. Hersh, anyone in government, and current and former intelligence agency employees who don't want to lose their security clearances or be sentenced to "dine alone". John Loftus and Tennent H. "Pete" Bagley are two examples of the latter.
Despite this best-selling book and others written with the same intent, most of the public continue to admire JFK despite knowing that he was a highly flawed human being. Most people also disbelieve the official lone-nut assassin myths about JFK and RFK. To remove the spell of Mr. Hersh's quote above, I'll close with a quote from St. John Hunt (source: a Rolling Stone article you can easily find), author of "The Last Confessions of E. Howard Hunt":
"Actually, there were probably dozens of plots to kill Kennedy, because everybody hated Kennedy but the public."
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 "Interesting book that is stronger on reportage than analysis" | 2008-01-21 |
| - Reviewed By robbieandrose |
| Mr. Hersh paints a convincing picture of JFK as an extremely hard working, ambitious man who was party to a myriad of addictions including painkillers and sex. I actually found the early sections of the book which deal primarily with his father Joe Kennedy to be insightful into the kind of environment he grew up in and undoubtably led to his immoral nature. Where Hersh is on weaker ground is when he tries to psychoanalyze JFK. He attempts to connect all of Kennedy's personal issues to decisions made about international politics, a hazardous course. I think Hersh was too close to Kennedy and his sense of profound disappointment as well as his breathy, rumormonger style of writing sometimes hurts his credibility which is unforunate because I think the author wrote a thought provoking, intelligent book |
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| "JFK: Real Person." | 2007-09-11 |
| - Reviewed By emeritus6 |
| Legend and hero are the words most of us learn in school to apply to John F. Kennedy. We usually tend to see him only in his media and photographic image, but Seymour Hersh portrays him here as being a man with an abundant set of flaws and characteristics. Most likely, although I grant that not everything the author says can be definitively proven, Hersh's depiction of JFK is far closer to that of the real person than the one we see gazing down upon us in posters. Of course, The Dark Side of Camelot is about a whole lot more than the 35th President. We find out all manner of fact and rumor concerning his grandfather, Honey Fitz, his father, and the rest of his family; not to mention Richard Nixon and an array of women who are too numerous to name here. Kennedy was the quintessential high status male, and, intrinsic to his status, were a great many politically incorrect features that are fun to read about (while still being informative in regards to the leader and his times). |
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| "BOUGHT AND PAYED" | 2007-08-05 |
| - Reviewed By fredoverdorp |
If there is one election that was bougth,it was this one.
Nixon would have won in a ,,regular,, election!! |
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| "Clinton wasn't so bad after all...." | 2007-07-21 |
| - Reviewed By rickzz |
This is an important book because once and for all, it shows that JFK was a lousy human being and a lousy president. The ONLY reason he's so well regarded today is because he was charming, handsome, charismatic and had great press- in other words, he would have made a great Hollywood movie star...
It's time for the myth to die- as far as I'm concerned, the JFK eternal flame in DC (and other useless memorial nonsense) should be put out- a waste of tax payer money...
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| "Historical Journalism at its Best" | 2007-05-06 |
| - Reviewed By gregosaurus |
Kennedy fans, beware. All of the trite, happy fictions and mythologies about your beloved President are forever popped by Seymour's tome. He has done extensive homework in defeating the Kennedy propanganda machine's skilled agenda of disinformation and lies. (Just for the record, I am a leftist with no sympathy for anything Republican or conservative. That does not, however, allow me to ignore the unpleasant facts about Democrats.) JFK's immoral, illegal and reckless behavior is that of a spoiled, indulgent child with an inferiority and manhood complex and a domineering father. That aspect of his presidency is clear. Less obvious is how he got away with it for so long. That bespeaks of an as-yet-undescribed conspiracy of silence, dissembling and coverup that is as troubling as the mysteries of the assassination. Curiously, Hersch tersely states at the end of his book that he found no compelling evidence of any conspiracy in the 11-22-63 murder. However, his book is intended to dismiss myths about JFK's life, rather than death, and in this he admirably succeeds. Hersch's masterpiece does a wonderful job describing how the sex-obsessed Kennedy was constantly being threatened to have his numerous liaisons exposed, some, like that of Marilyn Monroe, that may or may not have ended in suicides. Even his alleged triumphs, such as the Missile Crisis, are shown to have been public relation manipulations as much as any competent Cold War victory. Sadly, the unbiaised reader must conclude that JFK was as immoral, venal and corrupt a President as we have ever had in the White House, and that probably includes the present idiot who has been bought and sold by every special interest in the world.
Read about Kennedy's accepting bribes from defense contractors, how he was married before he met Jaqueline but never got a divorce, how he plotted to get rid of South Vietnam's Diem because Diem wanted to make peace with the North, how his operatives were planning Castro's death the very day he himself was murdered, how he slept with an East German whore and hundreds more less-suspect women, how he sought Mafia help in winning the crooked 1960 election, how he looked the other way at corruption within his own group of cronies, how he planned to bomb the Chinese nuke facilities, and how all the evidence points to a more massive US involvement in Vietnam had he prevailed in '64. In short, just about everything you know in the public forum about JFK is a lie. |
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 "Good and informative book with one weakness" | 2007-02-23 |
| - Reviewed By bengurion3 |
A very good read , very honest and compelling . I can only recommend the book to all the people who wants to know the whole story . I'm fascinated by the Kennedy family , and I was glad to got the book .
However , I have to subtract one star , because the author perpetrated the myth and the fairy tale of the lonegunman .
With all what we know today , this is an offense for the intelligent mind . Otherwise the book is absolutely great .
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| "Review for The Dark Side Of Camelot" | 2007-01-18 |
| - Reviewed By User: A23N2LW7DWGXZP |
| As I read this book I got the feeling that it was a tabloid at worst and simply petty at best. The author clearly has an agenda and is out to discredit the president. I am saying this with no attachment to either party or to JFK whatsoever. The book is basically about JFKs affairs, his supposed ties to the mafia, the botched Bay of Pigs invasion, and a few others. It's basically a tearing down of JFK and his public persona. I found it rather parochial frankly. |
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