The

The So in 1991, a highly influential movie came out titled JFK by Oliver Stone.

And many of our listeners are probably familiar with it, may have seen it, and it has a very

provocative thesis. The idea that basically JFK, our 35th president, was assassinated in a massive

conspiracy that involved basically everyone in the government, the CIA, the military industrial complex, a

whole bunch of other people. And he was killed essentially because he didn't want to get into Vietnam.

And so the premise is that there was this cabal that was hell bent on making a profit from the war.

And JFK was the one person standing in their way. Regardless of how you feel

about this theory, historians have argued back and forth about this critical question of the Vietnam

War. We look back at the Vietnam War as a quagmire, as one of the most unpopular wars in

American history, as a traumatic historical event.

And we know that Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy's successor, got America involved, dramatically escalated that involvement.

And so the big question is whether John F. Kennedy would have done the same thing. If maybe he wouldn't have done the same

thing, maybe he would have done something similar. But essentially, it's this debate about what

JFK would have done in Vietnam. And it's a major part of the discussion, the debate about

JFK's legacy. JFK being one of the most popular presidents in

American history. People have been fascinated by him endlessly. And Kennedy aides,

like Arthur Schlesinger, have made the argument that JFK was going to leave Vietnam. And so the

ideas that had he left, America would have avoided the trauma of that war.

And of course, it makes Kennedy out to look like basically a martyr for peace. And others would have said,

oh, he would have gotten caught in the same trap. And it would have been no different.

Well, Professor Mark Selverstone has written what I believe to be the

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