Read Online Kennedy's Last Days: The Assassination That Defined a Generation by Bill O’Reilly - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Bill O’Reilly
Ads: Link
Jackie. The agent in charge of her detail, six-foot-tall Clint Hill (code name Dazzle), has become her close friend and confidant.
Thus, it is almost natural that Secret Service protection be extended to the Mona Lisa . The passionate crowds who will surround da Vinci’s painting are similar to the throngs who scream for JFK and Jackie on their travels around the world.
That is why the Secret Service never lets down its guard.
Not yet, at least.
* * *
If the Secret Service is aware of Lee Harvey Oswald, that fact is nowhere in any record.
Their ignorance is not unusual. Why would the powerful Secret Service be watching a low-level former marine living in Dallas, Texas?
Oswald’s life continues to be defined by a balance of passion and rage. Marina has moved back in with him. On January 27, 1963, as crowds 10 abreast line the streets of Washington to view the Mona Lisa , Oswald orders a .38 Special revolver through the mail. It costs him $29.95. Oswald slides a $10 bill into the envelope, with the balance to be paid on delivery. He keeps the purchase a secret from Marina by having the gun sent to a post office box.
Oswald has no special plans for his new pistol. Nobody has been making threats on his life, and for now he has no intention of killing anyone. He merely likes the idea of owning a gun—just in case.
Lee Harvey Oswald is growing more isolated. He has turned a closet in his home into an office. There he writes angrily about the world around him. He becomes increasingly agitated, and people are beginning to fear him.
On March 12 in Dallas, Oswald decides to buy a second gun. This time it’s a rifle. He buys an Italian Mannlicher-Carcano gun that was made in 1940 and originally designed for Italian infantry use during World War II. This is not a gun designed for hunting animals, but for shooting men. As a former Marine Corps sharpshooter, Oswald knows how to clean, maintain, load, aim, and accurately fire such a weapon.
The rifle arrives on March 25. Marina complains that they could have used the money for food. But Oswald is pleased with the purchase and gets in the habit of riding the bus to a dry riverbed for target practice.
On March 31, while Marina is hanging diapers on the clothesline to dry, Oswald steps into the backyard dressed all in black. His new pistol is tucked into his belt. He waves the rifle in one hand and holds copies of two Communist newspapers in the other. He demands that an amused Marina take photographs of him. He plans to send them to the newspapers to show that he is prepared to do anything to support communism.
On April 6, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald is fired from his job at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall. His communist rants have grown offensive to coworkers, and his bosses claim he has become undependable.
On April 10, 1963, Oswald decides it’s time to kill someone.
Lee Harvey Oswald in his yard, holding his rifle and newspapers. [© Corbis]
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
APRIL 1963
Washington, D.C.
T HE MAN WITH SEVEN MONTHS TO LIVE is thinking about a faraway war that is gaining steam.
Dwight Eisenhower was the first president to send American soldiers to Vietnam. He and his advisers were afraid that if Vietnam became communist, the countries around it would, too, and then all of Southeast Asia would turn its back on democracy. But it is John Kennedy who orders a gradual escalation in the number of troops, hoping to ensure that Vietnam does not fall.
Kennedy’s good intentions have gone awry, however. The original handful of American “advisers” in Vietnam has now swelled to almost 16,000 pilots and soldiers. They hope to destroy the rebel Viet Cong army that is fighting the U.S.-backed Vietnam government. Thousands of Viet Cong soldiers have been killed—as have thousands of innocent Vietnamese citizens.
John Kennedy believes that America needs to end the Vietnam conflict, though he is not quite ready to go public with this. “We don’t have a prayer of staying in
Thus, it is almost natural that Secret Service protection be extended to the Mona Lisa . The passionate crowds who will surround da Vinci’s painting are similar to the throngs who scream for JFK and Jackie on their travels around the world.
That is why the Secret Service never lets down its guard.
Not yet, at least.
* * *
If the Secret Service is aware of Lee Harvey Oswald, that fact is nowhere in any record.
Their ignorance is not unusual. Why would the powerful Secret Service be watching a low-level former marine living in Dallas, Texas?
Oswald’s life continues to be defined by a balance of passion and rage. Marina has moved back in with him. On January 27, 1963, as crowds 10 abreast line the streets of Washington to view the Mona Lisa , Oswald orders a .38 Special revolver through the mail. It costs him $29.95. Oswald slides a $10 bill into the envelope, with the balance to be paid on delivery. He keeps the purchase a secret from Marina by having the gun sent to a post office box.
Oswald has no special plans for his new pistol. Nobody has been making threats on his life, and for now he has no intention of killing anyone. He merely likes the idea of owning a gun—just in case.
Lee Harvey Oswald is growing more isolated. He has turned a closet in his home into an office. There he writes angrily about the world around him. He becomes increasingly agitated, and people are beginning to fear him.
On March 12 in Dallas, Oswald decides to buy a second gun. This time it’s a rifle. He buys an Italian Mannlicher-Carcano gun that was made in 1940 and originally designed for Italian infantry use during World War II. This is not a gun designed for hunting animals, but for shooting men. As a former Marine Corps sharpshooter, Oswald knows how to clean, maintain, load, aim, and accurately fire such a weapon.
The rifle arrives on March 25. Marina complains that they could have used the money for food. But Oswald is pleased with the purchase and gets in the habit of riding the bus to a dry riverbed for target practice.
On March 31, while Marina is hanging diapers on the clothesline to dry, Oswald steps into the backyard dressed all in black. His new pistol is tucked into his belt. He waves the rifle in one hand and holds copies of two Communist newspapers in the other. He demands that an amused Marina take photographs of him. He plans to send them to the newspapers to show that he is prepared to do anything to support communism.
On April 6, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald is fired from his job at Jaggars-Chiles-Stovall. His communist rants have grown offensive to coworkers, and his bosses claim he has become undependable.
On April 10, 1963, Oswald decides it’s time to kill someone.
Lee Harvey Oswald in his yard, holding his rifle and newspapers. [© Corbis]
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
APRIL 1963
Washington, D.C.
T HE MAN WITH SEVEN MONTHS TO LIVE is thinking about a faraway war that is gaining steam.
Dwight Eisenhower was the first president to send American soldiers to Vietnam. He and his advisers were afraid that if Vietnam became communist, the countries around it would, too, and then all of Southeast Asia would turn its back on democracy. But it is John Kennedy who orders a gradual escalation in the number of troops, hoping to ensure that Vietnam does not fall.
Kennedy’s good intentions have gone awry, however. The original handful of American “advisers” in Vietnam has now swelled to almost 16,000 pilots and soldiers. They hope to destroy the rebel Viet Cong army that is fighting the U.S.-backed Vietnam government. Thousands of Viet Cong soldiers have been killed—as have thousands of innocent Vietnamese citizens.
John Kennedy believes that America needs to end the Vietnam conflict, though he is not quite ready to go public with this. “We don’t have a prayer of staying in
Similar Books
