Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot

Adlai Stevenson, US Ambassador to the United Nations, receives harsh treatment from angry protesters in Dallas. One young man spits in the ambassador’s face. A middle-aged woman clubs Stevenson over the head with the sign she’s carrying. Dallas simmers with rage, fueled by fringe hate groups. Friends and associates advise President Kennedy to avoid the city.

In Vietnam, a CIA-sponsored coup topples Ngo Dinh Diem. An officer from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam executes the former president by shooting him in the back of the head.

FBI agent James Hosty Jr. arrives at Ruth Paine’s home in search of Lee Harvey Oswald. Paine informs Hosty that Oswald works at the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. Marina, who still lives with Paine, at first assumes that the agent must belong to some kind of Soviet-style secret police, but Paine assures her that everything is fine. Special Agent Hosty sees no cause for alarm in the Oswald case. The Secret Service likewise identifies no known threats to the president from anyone residing in the Dallas area.

President Kennedy attends a Veterans’ Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. He remarks on the beauty of the place and tells Congressman Hale Boggs, “I could stay here forever” (235).