The JFK Assassination – a Debate with Jefferson Morley and Mark Zaid (Part 1)

Summary

Jefferson Morley and Mark Zaid join Andrew in a debate over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Mark and Jeff are longtime friends and colleagues with very different viewpoints of what truly happened on November 22nd, 1963. 

What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

• The lasting questions surrounding the Kennedy assassination
• Lee Harvey Oswald’s intelligence connections
• The Warren Commission and the JFK Assassination Records
• The strangest theories Mark and Jeff have heard, and the most plausible explanations of who killed President Kennedy

Reflections

• Public distrust and the search for truth
• Reactions and responses to tragedy

And much, much more …

Quotes of the Week

 ”That's why I think they probably have something to hide. Because it doesn't make sense otherwise … If they had access to that kind of straightforward story, we would get that.” – Jefferson Morley.

Resources 

SURFACE SKIM

*SpyCasts*

• The Skinny on American Intelligence & the Law with D.C. “Super Lawyer” Mark Zaid (2024)
• Rise of Devils: The Origins of Modern Terrorism with James Crossland (2024)
• Havana Syndrome – A Panel featuring Nicky Woolf, Marc Polymeropoulos, and Mark Zaid (2023)
• The Past 75 Years with Historian of the CIA Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (2022)

*Beginner Resources*

• Lee Harvey Oswald, Britannica (2024) [Short biography]
• JFK Files: What we're learning from newly released Kennedy assassination records, CBS News, YouTube (2022) [6 min. video]
• Kennedy Assassination Timeline, The Sixth Floor Museum (n.d.) [Timeline of events]

DEEPER DIVE

Books

• The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government, D. Talbot (Harper Perennial, 2016)
• JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters, J. W. Douglass (Touchstone, 2010)
• Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA, J. Morley (University Press of Kansas, 2008)

Primary Sources 

• President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act (1992)
• Select Committee on Assassinations Report (1978)
• Warren Commission Report (1964) 
• LBJ Address to Congress (1963)
• Interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald (1963)
• JFK Autopsy Report (1963)
• The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection 

*Wildcard Resource*

• Test how you would do in Kennedy’s shoes by playing 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 – A two-player board game that tests your quick-thinking strategy and conflict resolution skills. 

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