[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

up his life can kill any leader in the world: “The fanatics, the sick, transform their hate
and frustration into a final, physical act.” 140
Stylistically, Bishop too used many strained metaphors in describing the events of
November 22, 1963. In the Oval Office, he wrote, there was “the array of pens standing
in a holder like asparagus.” 141 He described a conversation as having “the quality of a
snowball running downhill; it became bigger, more magnificent as the mood plumbed the
depths.” 142 Perhaps Bishop and Manchester faced a similar problem in trying to describe
events in a new way that had received massive media coverage. Bishop also reverted to
stereotypes at times, including references to “the natural feminine contempt for time” and
“Negro prisoners” whose giggles “lasted the longest.” 143
The Ford, Bishop, and Manchester books reached hundreds of thousands of
readers. Manchester reported that his bestselling book sold more than 550,000 copies in
bookstores and 800,000 more through the Book of the Month Club. 144 Despite the brisk
sales, their unquestioning acceptance of the official version of events and their
unflinching praise of Kennedy are dated products of their time. However, others would
take up the pen to defend the commission, and better explain the lone assassin’s motives.
Some emphasized the psychological wellsprings for Oswald’s alleged actions.
140
Bishop, 679.
141
Bishop, 615.
142
Bishop, 658.
143
Bishop, 69 and 388.
144
Manchester reported the figurse in a letter to the New York Times on February 5,
1992. Reproduced in Zachary Sklar, and Oliver Stone JFK: The Book of the Film, (New
York: Applause Books, 1992), 452
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