Final_Judgment

534 The Continuing Cover-Up [437]
goes deeper. Our Kennedy obsession obscures something crucial. He was,
at best, a mediocre president or, less charitably, a lousy one." 1094
Samuelson went on to blame Kennedy for the tragedy of the war in
Vietnam. "It was Kennedy who made the critical commitment to Vietnam.
All the subsequent speculation about whether he would or wouldn't have
increased that commitment, as Johnson did, is really irrelevant. We can
never know what Kennedy would have done, only what he did. And what
he did was make a major military (and political) commitment to a country
whose survival was not a vital national interest, and thereby, involves us in a
conflict that politically we could not sustain. Once this happened, there
was no easy exit. Bad judgment." 1095
The opinionated columnist determined that JFK lacked "wisdom or
good instincts" and that he did "not have the background or values to make
good decisions by himself." 1096
"The Kennedy who lives beyond the grave," concluded Samuelson,
"commands neither my sympathy nor my interest. He is simplified,
romanticized and exploited. He is not a person but a popular delusion." 1097
So much for the memory of John F. Kennedy in the judgment of one of the
nation's most respected opinion-makers. Perhaps, then, it should be no
surprise that on November 22, 1994—the 31st anniversary of the JFK
assassination—the Washington Post, America's political newspaper of
record, said not a single word in commemoration of that tragic day.
By November 22, 1997—four years after Samuelson's harsh attack on
John Kennedy—the big "news" of the day was the release of The Dark Side
of Camelot, Seymour Hersh's book about the JFK years (discussed earlier
in these pages). Clearly, the new media thrust is to say that John F. Kennedy
wasn't really such a great guy after all and that maybe, as Malcolm X said at
the time of the JFK assassination, the chickens had come home to roost.
ASKING FOR A DEBATE
Just prior to the release of the third edition of Final Judgment, I sent
copies of the second edition to a number of individuals inviting them to
debate the thesis of Final Judgment with me—on radio or in any public
forum or in writing. I gave them the opportunity to refute the book in the
manner they wished. Not an unfair offer, I should think.
Here are those who received copies of Final Judgment and the
invitation to a debate:
Jack Anderson - The syndicated columnist and international wheelerdealer
who has promoted a number of conflicting theories about the JFK
assassination, notably the myth that "Castro Killed JFK."
Robert Dornan - Then a GOP congressman from Orange County,
California and a shrieking devotee of Israel, Dornan later joined his arch foe,
Rep. Loretta Sanchez, in co-hosting a September 19, 1998 fund-raiser to