Word: johnsons
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Bishop has written a 713-page anticlimax. It does not contain the massive flaw of William Manchester's The Death of a President-namely, a distaste for Lyndon Johnson's necessary assumption of power. But neither does it boast the cogency of the Manchester book, the pertinent details-nor even the drama. As for style, it simply clogs the mind. Concerning Kennedy's arrival in Dallas, for example, Bishop writes: "This multiphrenic city sitting alone on a hot prairie like an oasis spouting a fountain of silver coins gave its elixir to John F. Kennedy...
...Brien aboard Air Force One, "the Roman consuls left Caesar on his shield and sat with Johnson, listening...
...findings-one unassisted assassin, three bullets. He says that the first bullet shattered on the pavement, the second wounded both Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally, and the third struck Kennedy in the head. He offers a couple of other, less credible ideas. He says that until Johnson received the oath of office he was powerless to act as Chief Executive. This statement adds a certain breathlessness and suspense to Bishop's narrative, but it is hardly to the point, considering Lyndon Johnson's character. Moreover, competent legal opinion holds that the full powers of the presidency...
...officer who carries the codes for nuclear attack-was at one point nowhere to be found. "As the clock hung silent, the United States of America stood, for a little time, naked." This is nonsense. Kennedy's military aide, Ted Clifton, knew where the bagman was and where Johnson was. And Bishop's statement to the contrary, Johnson had certainly been briefed at least twice on the use of the nuclear emergency system. Clifton, who established communication with the White House, was also in continuous touch with Defense Secretary Robert McNamara; any military responses could have been ordered...
...Lyndon Johnson could have declared nuclear war from Parkland Hospital with a dime and a pay phone...