AS TOLD TO NERO

J F K : ASSASSINATION REHEARSAL (N. Y.: Algora Publishing, 2014),

by NICK M. NERO, Introduction by Dr. James H. Fetzer

Rev. by Hugh Murray

            When President Kennedy assessed the disaster of the Bay of Pigs invasion, he observed, “Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan”(p. 36)  However, the assassination of Kennedy was so successful that now over 50 people have claimed to have been among the shooters.(86)  Reading Nero’s short volume on the JFK Assassination Rehearsal, JT. a reviewer on amazon wrote scathingly : “The titular topic ‘JFK Assassination Rehearsal’ is barely mentioned in a sentence. No kidding. One sentence!”  So, then, what is the book about?  In the Foreword, David Luhrssen concludes, “What separates Nero from many earlier commentators are the details…for an overarching narrative connecting many of the startling events of the 1960s.  He proposes a unified field theory…”(2)  And the field theory is based on the 5-days of revelations by Nero’s Uncle Ben Fazzino shortly before his death.

            Fazzino had been a young fighter whose upset win over a major contender upset the mob, and friends quickly encouraged Ben to join the marines and get out of town.  In the marines, Fazzino fought nobly and courageously, especially in the gruesome battles to take Okinawa from the Japanese.  After the war, holding a legitimate business, Fazzino was also involved with the CIA, and knew men like Frank Sturgis [Fiorini].  Indeed, Fazzino was a bag man for the agency, and brought funds to the families of the Watergate burglars when they were serving time in prison.   Nero’s book weaves general questions about the official history of the Kennedy assassination and other events with lesser known theories in his “unified field theory.”

            Yet, astonishingly, in his short chapter on the assassination of Robert Kennedy, Nero omits all mention of what the murderer said upon his arrest – “I can explain it – I did it for my country.”  I recall the bewilderment of one of those nearby who heard Sirhan Sirhan utter those words, “How could he say that?  How could he believe it?  How could he do it?”  The answer is rather simple: Sirhan was not an American citizen.  This was not his country.  He was officially a Jordanian, but really a Palestinian opposed to Israel and Kennedy’s pro-Israeli pronouncements in the 1968 Presidential campaign.  I recall teaching with an Arab in 1969.  He remarked that if Sirhan were ever released from prison, he would be hailed as a hero in the Middle East.  Of course, this does not exclude the possibility of a conspiracy to kill Bobby Kennedy, - the woman in the polka dot dress, etc. may have been involved with Sirhan.  But Sirhan’s killing may have had nothing to do with a conspiracy.  Unlike Oswald who proclaimed he was a patsy, Sirhan openly declared his motive a political and nationalistic.  If his weapon did not kill Kennedy, his shooting may have simply caused such panic in the closed area that someone trying to protect the Senator shot him by mistake.  I found this chapter most unconvincing.

            I have never before read the allegation that Mary Jo Kopechne had been shot in the head and placed in the car of a drugged Ted Kennedy at Chappaquiddick to destroy his Presidential chances.  Anything is possible, but there must have been easier, simpler ways to eliminate Teddy as a Presidential contender.  This chapter is not convincing either.

            Some of the allegations in Nero’s book are more probable – that George H. W. Bush was involved with the CIA years before he acknowledged such connections (42); that JFK was preparing another invasion of Cuba for December 1963 (46); that he was also planning a pull out from Vietnam (99-102); that along with New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw, leaders of the Permindex Corp. included Wernher v. Braun, Joe Bonanno, and H. L. Hunt (54); that JFK’s personal doctor placed the back wound of the President to be some 4 inches below the shoulder (making it impossible for the bullet to exit through his throat as the magic bullet)(102).  Nero also alleges that LBJ had his sister killed (52), but Nero is wrong in portraying JFK’s proposed civil rights legislation as stronger than that which passed under LBJ (98); and he is wrong is discussing the origins of the wire taps on Martin Luther King.  Nero essentially says the Kennedys did so to yield to blackmail from J. Edgar Hoover.(60)  However, the phone taps that brought King to the attention of the FBI were those on the phone of Stanley Levison, whom the agency suspected of being a secret member of the CPUSA, and one of its undercover financiers.  When the FBI overheard him speaking with King, the agency naturally wanted more information on King, too.

            I question Nero’s interpretation of the election of 1912 (80).  To what extent did FDR, and other left-wing Progressives in the US State Department, seek to arm Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and Communists in North Korea (and work to undermine Chiang Kai-Shek in China) at the end of WWII?(172)

            Nero is excellent at raising questions regarding the photographic evidence.  There is a still picture taken at the time of the shooting in Dallas and a young man, who looks remarkably like Lee Oswald, is standing on the steps of the Texas State Book Depository, not firing on the 6^th floor.(134)  He reminds readers that the stills from the Zapruder film, when originally published in Life, included captions indicating that Kennedy had been shot from the front.(134)  Moreover, the Zapruder film was not seen by the general American public until shown on Geraldo Rivera’s television program on 6 March 1975. (108)   [A copy was shown at the trial of Clay Shaw by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison in 1969.]  Nero asks if the Zapruder film has been tampered with?  Nero contends many eyewitnesses in Dallas saw the President’s limo come to a halt, but the film does not show that.  On the other hand, the film has the driver turning his head faster than humanly possible.(133)  He implies tampering with the film resulted in missing frames.(93, 194)

            Nero’s discussion of the “plumbers” and the Watergate break-in is quite amusing.(176)  However, if that crew was so incompetent at Watergate, how could they have been so efficient in Dallas?

            For a short book, Nero provides a quick refresher course on why most Americans still reject the official history of the Kennedy Assassination.  But Nero includes too much that is speculative and unlikely.

            On the trivial side, there are errors: “that numbers has” for “number” (19); “In August 1969, Eisenhower” should have been “1959” (34); “broke into the Watergate offices of the Republican National Committee” should read “Democratic” (92); “Sherman and Cooper” should read Senators Richard Russell and Sherman Cooper (106 #1); “a few day before’ should be “days” (175); “Bill Moyer” should be “Moyers” (188).

            Despite my objections, this book is short and raises legitimate issues.  It is a type of “as told to” story, and should be read with appropriate caution.  Yet, with all the inside information, there is nothing on the rehearsal or more importantly, little on who shot from what place and how it was all accomplished.