JFK: The CIA, Vietnam and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy
Encyclopedia
JFK: The CIA, Vietnam and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy (ISBN 978-0806517728) is a book by L. Fletcher Prouty
who was a Washington insider for nearly 20 years. Made famous for being the origin of the anonymous "Mr. X", played by Donald Sutherland
in the Oliver Stone
movie JFK
, who asks Jim Garrison
to ponder why Kennedy was killed. The president, he claims, had angered the military-industrial establishment with his procurement policies and his determination to withdraw from Vietnam
, and had threatened to break the CIA into "a thousand pieces" after the Bay of Pigs Invasion
fiasco. The book speculates that President Kennedy's death was, in effect, a coup d'état that placed in the White House
a very different man with a very different approach. A man much more acceptable to what Prouty consistently calls "the power elite."
L. Fletcher Prouty
Leroy Fletcher Prouty served as Chief of Special Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President John F. Kennedy. A former colonel in the United States Air Force he retired from military service to become a banker, and subsequently became a critic of U.S...
who was a Washington insider for nearly 20 years. Made famous for being the origin of the anonymous "Mr. X", played by Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
in the Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
movie JFK
JFK (film)
JFK is a 1991 American film directed by Oliver Stone. It examines the events leading to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and alleged subsequent cover-up, through the eyes of former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison .Garrison filed charges against New Orleans businessman Clay...
, who asks Jim Garrison
Jim Garrison
Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison — who changed his first name to Jim in the early 1960s — was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 to 1973. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy...
to ponder why Kennedy was killed. The president, he claims, had angered the military-industrial establishment with his procurement policies and his determination to withdraw from Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, and had threatened to break the CIA into "a thousand pieces" after the Bay of Pigs Invasion
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...
fiasco. The book speculates that President Kennedy's death was, in effect, a coup d'état that placed in the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
a very different man with a very different approach. A man much more acceptable to what Prouty consistently calls "the power elite."