News Archive - Sep 2006
Rose Kennedy Papers Made Public
Sep 28, 2006: The papers of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, who died in 1995 at the age of 104, are now being made public according to a story in the Boston Globe. The JFK Library and Museum is featuring an exhibit entitled "Rose Kennedy: In her Own Words," highlighting pages from her diaries, photographs, documents, and other memorabilia.
Paperback Version of ''Ultimate Sacrifice'' Names Coup Leader
Sep 25, 2006: Ultimate Sacrifice, by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann, claims that Kennedy had a "coup plan for Cuba" in the works, set to launch just days after his fateful trip to Dallas. The hardcover book did not name the alleged coup leader, though it seemed to hint that the man was Che Guevera. Now the paperback edition of the book is out, and it names Juan Almeida, who currently occupies the #2 spot in the Cuban government, just under Raul Castro. See our Ultimate Sacrifice Document Walkthrough for more information on the book's claim that CIA Project AMWORLD was a code-name for this coup plan. Other experts dispute this, and note that Project AMWORLD documents mostly concern themselves with the project of moving Manuel Artime and his MRR off U.S. shores to Nicaragua.
Phil Melanson, Author and Educator, Dies
Sep 21, 2006: Phil Melanson, an expert on political assassinations and author of several books, died of cancer on Monday at the age of 61. An obituary appears in South Coast Today. Dr. Melanson was a Chancellor Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, where he created the Robert F. Kennedy Assassination Archive. The wikipedia page for Philip H. Melanson lists most of the many books which he authored or co-authored, among them:
- The Murkin Conspiracy
- Spy Saga
- The Robert F. Kennedy Assassination: New Revelations on the Conspiracy and Coverup, 1968-1991
- The Martin Luther King Assassination: New Revelations on the Conspiracy and Coverup, 1968-1991
- Shadow Play: The Killing of Robert Kennedy, The Trial of Sirhan Sirhan, and the Failure of American Justice
Peter Dale Scott wrote the following upon hearing the news of Dr. Melanson's passing:
Philip Melanson was an intellectual pioneer, one of relatively few American academics to realize that a full understanding of American history and public policy requires the study of socially stigmatized topics such as political assassinations. His research was impeccable, and an example to a generation of younger scholars. In a field often marred by eccentricity and gratuitous controversy, Melanson was a steadying force, a personally modest but intellectually forceful pursuer of truth.
He will be greatly missed.
Patricia Kennedy Lawford, JFK's Sister, Dies at 82
Sep 18, 2006: Patricia Kennedy Lawford, the sister of John F. Kennedy, died at her home in Manhattan yesterday at the age of 82. See stories in the New York Times and CNN. The Kennedy Library website includes a biography of of Mrs. Lawford, the sixth child of Joe and Rose Kennedy. She participated in the political campaigns of her brothers and was an active supporter of the arts.
Nellie Connally Dies at 87
Sep 3, 2006: Nellie Connally, wife of former Texas Governor John Connally, died yesterday at the age of 87. She rode in the Presidential limousine with her husband and the Kennedys on the fateful motorcade through Dallas on November 22, 1963, uttering the fateful line "Mr. President, you certainly cannot say that Dallas does not love you" moments before shots rang out. The Associated Press obitiary (see short version in the New York Times and full version in the Washington Times) noted this but failed to mention that both Mrs. Connally and her husband always believed that he had been struck by a separate bullet, which would require the presence of a second gunman in Dealey Plaza. The Reuters obituary did include this fact. Unfortunately, Mrs. Connally had rejected requests to allow removal a fragment from her dead husband's leg which could have settled the question. Mrs. Connally was the last surviving passenger of the Presidential limousine.