John F. Kennedy
Assassinations have an awkward tendency to backfire
A prime example – the murder of the SS officer Reinhard Heydrich in 1942 – may have been a technical success for SOE, but brutal reprisals made it an operational disaster
JFK conspiracy theories won’t die
One of the most controversial things that can happen at any American table is to start talking about the JFK…
Monkey business
A labyrinthine plot involving Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedy clan form the basis of the latest in James Ellroy’s planned new ‘LA Quintet’
A light crack of the whip
Orgies! Gangsters! Drugs! Spies! Scandals! This biography promises much but I’m not sure it actually delivers, or not in any…
The world held its breath
Nuclear weapons carry a payload of cold logic: if both sides have them, neither will ever use them. But in…
Richard Nixon took the high road in 1960. Donald Trump should now
‘You gotta swallow this one, they stole it fair and square.’ That’s a Republican hack speaking to Richard Nixon, as…
A rising star
It’s easy to forget that John F. Kennedy lived such a short life. At 43, he was the second youngest…
The Democrats have learned nothing in four years
On night two of the Democratic National Convention, Jack Schlossberg, son of Carolyn Kennedy and grandson of President John F.…
The history man
History for Gore Vidal was a vehicle to be ridden in triumph, perhaps as in an out-take from Ben-Hur, which…
From Umbrella Man to the Coughing Major
Are you sitting comfortably and wearing your tinfoil hat? If so, open YouTube and watch a full-screen version of the…
Eight presidents
Encounters with leaders of the free world – as a journalist, as a friend, and as a boy running in the hallway
The President and the muckrakers
Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Era are well-worn subjects for both professional and amateur historians, so it’s pertinent to ask…
