Book Review of "Killing Kennedy" by Bill O'Reilly

BOOK REVIEW

The Rev. Willis R. Schwichtenberg, Pastor

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Freeport, Illinois

“Killing Kennedy” by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, published by MacMillan Audio, 2012; ISBN 978-1-4272-2684-6

Most people who are over 50 years of age probably remember what they were doing when they heard the news about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  I was sitting in study hall as a senior in high school at Waterville-Elysian High School in Minnesota.  The news was piped through the PA system and we listened with great surprise and sadness as the events unfolded that Friday afternoon in November of 1963.

I have always been interested in the Kennedy assassination and probably have a dozen books and dozens more articles on the subject.  While I realized that Bill O’Reilly might not be plowing any new ground on the subject, I was nonetheless interested in this book.

Surprisingly, O’Reilly spends about two thirds of the book on giving extensive background about the so-called “Camelot” years.  As he relates the story of Kennedy, beginning with his presidency, he also relates what Lee Harvey Oswald, the pro-Communist assassin, was doing as the story unfolds. 

He also spends much time on the background intrigue of Kennedy’s womanizing and the tension in the White House between Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and many of the other “players.”  Some might feel that O’Reilly has a political “agenda” about Kennedy but O’Reilly shares the fact that he was actually related to Kennedy.

The book is an interesting “read” but I was a bit surprised at how little information is shared about the assassination itself.  After all, the book was titled, “Killing Kennedy.”  The book does relate some very fine history about the botched Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis.  Also, when the author spends time sharing the genuine love and respect that JFK and Jackie had for each other, it is a very helpful read.

I felt that O’Reilly’s previous book on “Killing Lincoln” was much more to the point.  I was not disappointed in this book, however, and I recommend it, especially for younger readers who may not know some of this history and who may be turned off by the “National Enquirer” mentality of many conspiracy theory buffs. 

The assassination of JFK did change the world and even today we continue to “harvest” the seeds that were sown when Camelot “died.”