Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 327.7307291
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Carroll & Graf
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 912
Printing Date: November 18, 2005
Publishing house: Carroll & Graf
Sale Popularity Level: 86547
Studio: Carroll & Graf
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Ultimate Sacrifice reveals, for the very first time, John and Robert Kennedy's plan for a coup in Cuba on December 1, 1963 — a plan that involved a U.S. military invasion. Unique, distinctly different, and far more advanced than any previously disclosed operation, this plan is corroborated by many declassified military and CIA documents that have never been quoted in any book before. It provides the missing piece of the puzzle regarding JFK's murder, and explains why Bobby Kennedy told close associates that the Mafia was behind his brother's assassination. The Mafia had managed to infiltrate the Kennedys' intended coup. Ultimate Sacrifice describes and documents an endeavor they made to kill JFK in a motorcade several days prior to Dallas. This endeavor had more than a dozen parallels to Dallas. Building on the work of the seven governmental committees that investigated aspects of JFK's assassination, the four million documents that were declassified in the 1990s, and exclusive interviews with many Kennedy insiders, the authors are able to tell the full story of these incidents. Ultimate Sacrifice Makes News with Kennedy's Cuba Coup Plan New History Reveals Previously Unknown CIA Code Name — As Well As Linked Assassination Attempt
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Rated by buyers 
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This book cites so many sources that have only become available in the last ten or so years that I found myself wondering how legitimate were the sources and the book itself. It would be easy to cite illegitimate sources because very few readers have the time or inclination to conduct such extensive research to discredit a book of this nature.
Assuming, however, that Waldron and Hartmann were legitimate researchers who devoted a large part of their life to this cottage industry of proving a conspiracy against President Kennedy, they make a very compelling argument in favor of a conspiracy. Their basic premise is that the US Government was still trying to rid itself of the Communist nuisance in Cuba in 1963. The Kennedy Administration, the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Intelligence Community (IC) were all meticulously plotting the demise of Fidel Castro with a target date of 1 Dec 1963. They were using different groups of defectors to make it happen. And it was through these defector groups that this Top Secret operation was compromised and infiltrated by others who were also intent on seeing the demise of the Cuban leader - the Mafia. Unfortunately, the Mafia was also intent of seeing the demise of another leader whose brother had been their nemesis. Their rationale was that the US Government's attempts to destroy the Cuban Government was the perfect cover for their ultimate hit on the President of the United States. If any legitimate investigation into the murder of President Kennedy resulted in the Mafia being exposed, then the Mafia could expose the activities the US Government was involved in to destroy President Castro -- activities that would not only embarrass the US Government but also risk an increase in international tensions with our foes. Confronted with such a scenario, the Mafia reasoned the US Government would redirect their investigation. Waldron and Hartmann contends that the Mafia's assumption was correct.
The authors introduces various "dots" into the US plot to overthrow the Cuban Government. They discuss how these various components operated and interacted -- and in many cases did not interact -- with each other. And it was through these interactions the Mafia saw their chance to kill President Kennedy, neutralize Robert Kennedy whose power died when his brother died, and still support the demise of the Cuban Government. It was a near perfect scenario. The only thing that really went wrong was that President Johnson chose not to continue the plan to overthrow Castro. So the Mafia was not able to move back into that island nation.
Waldron and Hartmann's "dots" included the well known cast of characters such as Oswald, Ruby, the Kennedys, the CIA, DIA, and lesser known characters. It includes many characters who became well known a decade later such as James McCord and E. Howard Hunt and other CIA operatives who were involved in another mis-adventure called Watergate. The problem with the book is that although all these dots were well documented the authors were confronted with the task of connecting these dots. Many of the connections were well documented but many were not as there are still many documents not yet released. So Waldron and Hartmann endeavor to connect these dots is reduced to a certain degree of speculation. The two authors conceded in so many words that their scenario as to what happened was partially speculative. But based on what they did find out they did present a plausible scenario as to what happened before, during, and after the assassination. Whether their scenario is true is yet to be determined and I cannot hold that against them.
As I was reading the book and the names of the individuals who later became part of the Watergate break-in in 1972 kept popping up I had to wonder if another book may be forthcoming. I do not have a copy of the Nixon tapes transcripts in front of me but I seem to remember that Nixon suggested to Bob Haldeman to use the CIA to try to block the initial Watergate investigation by suggesting that an investigation could resurrect the issues pertaining to the Bay of Pigs and even the Kennedy Assassination. If I recalled correctly, Haldeman reported back that when he brought that up with the CIA Director, the director's reaction was very animated as though the White House had hit a raw nerve. After reading Ultimate Sacrifice I found myself wondering how raw that nerve was.
Rated by buyers -
I rate this book with five stars nor for what is says, but for what it does not say; not because I have accepted the authors' theory, but because it drove me to pay very special attention precisely to things left unsaid.
If a top secret plan, "C-Day", had indeed been penetrated, if Chicago, Tampa and Dallas had been three identical attempts by the "penetrators" to kill JFK, if RFK had realized that "C-Day" had been used to kill his brother hours after the tragedy in Dallas, then, in exactly the same manner, immediately after Chicago, RFK must have known that "C-Day" was compromised. And then, Dallas should never have happened. But it did. And I repeat: the only difference between Dallas on the one hand and Chicago and Tampa on the other is that in Dallas, there had been no advance warning to "outsider" law enforcement and no extra security deployment over and above what the planners of C-Day must have planned based on standard procedures. Which should logically lead to the assumption that "C-Day" - RFK's plan - had in fact been compromised twice: first, both in Chicago and Tampa, when an imminent endeavor against JFK had become known in advance to "outsiders" (all the law enforcement officers that were not privy to C-Day) and triggered a sharp increase in protection, rendering the smooth execution of RFK's plan impossible. And second, in Dallas, where everything went according to plan until JFK got actually killed (which obviously was not part of RFK's "plan"). So basically, if one adheres strictly to the authors' theory, it should be assumed that very first C-Day was unknowingly compromised in Chicago and Tampa by unwitting "outsiders" with good will, and second, in Dallas, knowingly, by "insiders" with malice. Now, two questions must be answered then: what exactly was this part of the C-Day plan? Who planned it and knew about it? Well, not only do the authors leave these questions unanswered, they don't even raise them (if only to dismiss them as invalid by any kind of arguments). They keep silence.
As do the Secret Service and the Naval Intelligence who were, by the authors' own admission, the biggest stonewallers in all the investigations and who, unlike the CIA, have destroyed all evidence (documents related to JFK's assassination). Which should lead, again in line with the authors' theory, to another assumption: both agencies were covering up some part of C-Day - RFK's plan. And again the same two questions must be answered or somehow dismissed with some degree of plausibility: what was this part of the plan? Who planned and knew about it? And again, the authors don't even bring the questions up.
These are the silences in the book that made me think and for which I give the authors the highest rating. What I thought about was:
- if the Secret Service was somehow involved in C-Day planning and/or execution, then "that part of the plan" had something to do with the security of the President of the United States (and the authors do relate how "attacks against American officials" were considered);
- by the authors' own admission RFK was handling "himself" the "patsy" part of whatever assassination was being planned, but not with the CIA, nor with the Cuban exiles. Then whom with? (By the authors' own admission all patsies in Chicago, Tampa and Dallas, apart from all their other common traits, were being handled by the Naval Intelligence.)
Was a staged (and obviously unsuccessful) endeavor on JFK's life part of the C-Day plan? Was it planned by RFK's in total and supreme secrecy with some trusted men in the SS and the Naval Intelligence? If somehow the Mafia learnt about it through the CIA, which in turn "deducted" it from the bits and ends that it was bound to know through its own involvment in the planning, then - everything else the authors say in this book falls into place. If only the authors would have started to think and talk about these things - maybe their theory would have been complete and totally sound. And would explain the otherwise unexplainable desperation and guilt in the reaction to JFK's murder by the one member of the Kennedy's clan who was their strongest - Robert. To understand this particular point better, I highly recommend to anyone interested my "unconditional" five stars book: "Brothers. the Hidden History of the Kennedy Years" by David Talbot. Together with "Ultimate Sacrifice", these two are the best books I have read so far about JFK, RFK and their fate.
Rated by buyers -
I'm only a third of the way through this nearly 1000 page book, but it's extremely impressive. Packed full of details, this book does an excellent job of laying the groundwork for a satisfying and wholly credible conspiracy theory. According to this account, the root of the JFK assassination can be found in RFK's (and JFK's, to lesser extent) pursuit of the mafia, beginning in 1958 (see 'The Enemy Within' by RFK for more). And the book provides even the background of this public investigation (NYC mob boss Anastasia's barbershop murder...increasing mafia power and influence, resulting in increasing mafia murders as a result of mafia infighting for a share of the expanding pie, ect...). The official version- the 'lone nut theory'- is so weak as to be laughable, yet it still persists. Professional mafia-hired hitmen assassinated JFK and Oswald was a patsy. If this wasn't the case, then why would Jack Ruby (who had a long and deep relationship with the mafia) assassinate Oswald? To kill a communist???...because he loved JFK??? Ruby killed him because they (the mafia) absolutely needed to shut Oswald up...that simple. This book is very well-written, researched, and documented. Highly recommended.
UPDATE: Now that I've read a handful of books on the JFK assassination, I find that this book is excellent in providing a crucial framework for understanding JFK's assassination. That said, there's very very little (nearly none) on US government officials (in any department) being directly involved in the assassination or (especially) in the cover up. Thus, this book is only part of the whole story. Apparently E. Howard HUNT said to one of his grandson's on his deathbed that "LBJ, Harvey and Ward (CIA), and then Morales and Phillips (also CIA), and "French gunman grassy knoll" were all involved...what should we make of this information?
Rated by buyers -
Anyone who wants to know what really happened to JFK should get this book. More solid research than any other book on JFK. Amazing revelations.
Rated by buyers -
A clear, understandable recital of the facts. Well documented.
One of the best-if not the best,I've read on the subject.
There is a great deal of material, but can be digested.
Clear and precise in showing WHY and HOW things happened on Nov 22, 1963.
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