New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch’s latest book, “The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy — and Why It Failed,” takes a deep dive into a 1960 assassination plot shortly after Kennedy’s election and before his inauguration. Meltzer joined GBH news anchor Henry Santoro to share details in the book. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.
Henry Santoro: If you’re of a certain age, you know exactly where you were on Nov. 22, 1963. That’s the date of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas. ... What many people don’t realize is that three years earlier, on Dec. 11, 1960, President-elect Kennedy was this close to being assassinated. And we have two people extremely close to him to thank for the murder not being carried out.
Enter authors Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch, collaborators on a brand new book, “The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy — and Why It Failed.” And here’s the deal: I have read every book that Brad Meltzer has written. We’re friends. And Brad, this is as good as it gets. Congrats to you and congrats to Josh.
Brad Meltzer: Thank you very much, Henry. We are very proud. This is a Kennedy story that we felt needed to be told, and I’m so happy to bring it to Massachusetts.
Santoro: What took you and Josh to bring this story to light? I mean, why did this assassination attempt not making major headlines? He was the president-elect.
Meltzer: So, let’s paint a picture, right? It’s Sunday morning in 1960, right after JFK is elected, and he’s headed to church. And what he doesn’t know is a former postal worker named Richard Pavlick wants to kill him and has packed his car with seven sticks of dynamite. Pavlik has followed JFK to Palm Beach, Florida, because he thinks JFK’s security is weaker there. And he’s right about that. So as JFK leaves his house, all the killer has to do is hit the trigger mechanism and — boom! — the dynamite will explode.
And you’ve got to say to yourself, why don’t I know this story? And the reason you don’t know it is on the day that it happened, there was a plane crash in New York City. Two planes collided and everyone on board died except for one young boy, a sole survivor. And America became obsessed with this boy. And it moved this JFK story from the front page nationwide to somewhere in the middle of the paper. And it became a footnote. And we were like, “We must tell this story.” This is why the JFK conspiracy exists, is it’s one of the craziest JFK stories you’ve never heard.
Santoro: It’s off-the-charts crazy. And we should say there are four central locations that play a role in this book. There’s this guy, Pavlick, who comes to us from Belmont, New Hampshire, a little town in New Hampshire. And then there’s the Kennedy compound in Hyannis, which we all know about here in Massachusetts. There is the White House and what’s happening in Washington. And there’s also the Kennedy compound in Palm Beach, Florida. And this guy, Pavlick, he travels to all of them.
Meltzer: It’s wild. He starts and lives in Massachusetts for some time. That’s why he hates the Kennedys. He thinks they bought their way into power.
I know it’s titillating for me to say we found a secret plot to kill Kennedy three years before Oswald. But to me, what’s far more interesting is why do we tell this story now? Why is it vital now?
And if you look at the 1960 election, it’s the closest election in the 20th century. Whatever side you’re on, Kennedy or Nixon ... you think the other side are complete and utter morons. Does that sound familiar to you, Henry?
That’s exactly where we are right now. And let’s just talk about why Pavlick hates them so much. He is just anti-Catholic. And there are all these groups that are anti-Catholic as well. And it sounds almost silly to say today, but there are prominent ministers, Christian ministers, Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, who wrote “The Power of Positive Thinking,” is working with Rev. Billy Graham. And a huge group of religious leaders are saying, “We can’t let Kennedy take the White House because he’s Catholic.” They’re terrified that Kennedy will not be loyal to the United States but will only be loyal to the pope. And as silly as that sounds, they were doing everything in their power to make sure Kennedy didn’t get to the White House.
Santoro: And you start the book with Kennedy’s PT-109 episode, and how a Japanese war ship rammed Kennedy’s boat . And that is where we see the strength of what Kennedy was really all about.
Meltzer: That story is incredible. In fact, I didn’t know the full story. Kennedy’s PT-109 boat is shattered by a Japanese destroyer, and all of his fellow sailors are floating in the water. There’s one who’s basically unconscious, can’t swim. And Kennedy says to his fellow soldiers, “Put him on my back. I’m the best swimmer.” And they swim to an island for a few miles. And then they’re on the island and they’re like, “You know what? There’s no food here. There’s barely any fresh water that we can drink here. And we’re going to have to swim to another island or we’re going to die here.” And Kennedy says again, “Put him on my back again.” And this man saves everyone. And here’s the part that struck me: When he is done, they get rescued. And at that point, his father, Joe Kennedy, can easily get him out of the military. He’s a hero and he’s got medals, and his father said “This is great. Come home son.” And JFK says, “Dad, I’m not coming home. There’s still more work to do.” And he goes back to fight in World War II.
This is why we love JFK. And we’ve reduced JFK to this guy who’s got the perfect hair and the perfect life and a perfect wife. And we do him a huge disservice when we don’t talk about the best parts of his character.
Santoro: That’s true. As you said, those who didn’t like him would like to focus on his womanizing and his traveling around and leaving his wife and family behind. But, at the end of the day, that’s who he was.
But he was still a strong and important man in the history of the country. Now, in the book, we’re allowed to see how this new first family takes shape. One person that you watch is JFK’s wife, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. We know of her proper upbringing. We know the Kennedy compound and the beautiful outfits. But we didn’t know the hell that she was put through, especially from outgoing first lady, Mamie Eisenhower.
Meltzer: I think the secret weapon in this book for anyone who reads it are the scenes with Jackie. And again, she’s incredible. We don’t pull punches. We show you JFK’s marital affairs and document them. We show you that when she gives birth, that she’s hemorrhaging, JFK is nowhere to be found. He’s on a plane headed to Florida. You know what would happen to me if my wife was going to the hospital and I was on a plane to somewhere else? I won’t be doing this interview right now. And for me, what I think is so striking about Jackie, she’s holding it all together. Jackie’s exhausted. She’s literally left the hospital that day. She can barely walk. She’s obviously had a major surgery. She’s been through it all. They take her to the White House. She’s like, “I need a wheelchair.” She’s worried that she’s not going to be able to walk through the whole thing. And I won’t ruin the scene because it’s so tense now. But I will say she doesn’t get it. And when she meets Mamie Eisenhower, and it’s like that moment where you meet Hannibal Lecter for the first time. It’s so scary and so frightening. And I will tell you, she doesn’t get that wheelchair. And I think it’s one of the most amazing and unrecorded scenes that I had never heard of.
Santoro: There are two other people who play prominent roles in this story. One is the postmaster who is in Belmont sorting mail ... running the post office there. And the other is the Secret Service agent assigned to protect Jackie Kennedy at all possible costs. And that’s the person who was there in Dallas the day Kennedy was assassinated. And not only was he there, but he was also on the back of the limousine.
Meltzer: I owe a huge thank you to Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin for their firsthand account. And they let us jokingly use that account. And it lets us look at not just what was happening to Jackie, but also, in fact, we have the actual assassination that eventually does happen. We get to show it through Jackie’s eyes. And it was striking to me because when he got assigned in here, he was going to the White House. He was so excited. He felt, “I’m going to protect the president of United States.” And then he found out, “No, you’re assigned to the first lady.” And he thought, “No.” He thought it was terrible. He said, “I’m going to go to tea parties. This is terrible.” And of course, it winds up being the opportunity of a lifetime.
When he first goes on walks with Jackie — because she like to go on these long walks, but doesn’t say a word to him. He has young kids. She has young kids. But slowly on those walks, she does start talking to him. And then a friendship comes and blooms out of it. And it’s one of the most beautiful, amazing friendships you’ll ever see. And it really shows you who Jackie is as a person. Of course, it shows you who Clint Hill is as a person too.
And I think so often with the Kennedys, we focus on that big moment at the end and those big moments at the beginning, you know, the swearing in and then the assassination itself. But they’re human beings. This book really goes deeper into their lives and see how complicated they are. Is JFK a good person as a World War II veteran? Is he a reckless husband and a bad father? Is he good? Is he bad? Is he, like all of us, just very complicated? And I love the fact we have the room in this book to look at them all.
Santoro: How much do you want to say about Pavlick’s assassination attempt being foiled and how it was thwarted?
Meltzer: I don’t want to ruin the ending of this book, but let’s talk about being caught. When I talked to the Secret Service, they told me that presidential assassins are divided into two categories: there are hunters and there’s howlers. And a howler makes a lot of noise as “I’m coming to get you.” But they rarely take action. A hunter is very different. A hunter doesn’t say a word, but they’re the ones who tend to pull the trigger. And if you look at the four men who have successfully killed presidents from Abraham Lincoln all the way to JFK, all four of them are hunters. And Richard Pavlick, he thinks he’s a hunter [but he] is a bit of a howler and he opens his mouth. I will not ruin the ending of how he’s caught. But it has to do with Jackie inadvertently saving JFK’s life. And when you see what happens — and you will — it is the craziest story about JFK you have never heard.
Santoro: Well, this is your fourth book with Josh Mensch. It is called “The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy — and Why It Failed.” Brad Meltzer, you got another winner on your hands.
Meltzer: Thank you very much, Henry.
