JFKGet ready for some JFK-era fireworks. This is the year that was.

Back in May of 2012, I wrote a blog post for a Hollywood website known as The Wrap that was headlined, “Lee Harvey Oswald Tried to Prevent JFK Assassination, Manuscript Says,” and the post got dozens of conspiracy-oriented comments, both pro and con. The manuscript in question is now a book—a ”nonfiction novel,” whatever that is—and it has been published as both a POD paperback and an e-book. Is America ready?

As I noted  in my piece, “Lee Harvey Oswald was framed with a surgically-created double, and inspired to try to save JFK by Frank Sinatra in ‘The Manchurian Candidate,’ according to senior U.S. journalist and author Douglas Brode.

Brode’s book is titled “‘Patsy!’ – The Life and Times of Lee Harvey Oswald,” and it’s right on time. Is it right on the money? That’s for readers to decide.

JFK
Douglas Brode

In addition to Brode’s novel, some new items from the hours following JFK’s assassination are now on display at the Newseum, a museum in Washington, D.C., devoted to journalism and the First Amendment. The museum is marking
the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination with two new shows and a new documentary.

One exhibit, entitled “Three Shots Were Fired” (see video below), follows the events and news coverage that unfolded after Kennedy was shot in Dallas on November 22, 1963. It will be on view through January 5, 2014.

But back to Brode’s fresh take on all this. According to his non-fiction novel, Oswald was ”innocent” because there was a plastic surgeon who created a double. His recreation of that episode in American history retells the Kennedy assassination from Oswald’s perspective.

Since the assassination of John Kennedy in 1963, three theories have been forwarded as the involvement of Lee Harvey Oswald: That he was a lone assassin, as the Warren Commission claimed; that Oswald was a part of a vast, complex conspiracy to kill the sitting president, as those who reject the Warren report insist; and that Oswald was not involved, either alone or collectively, in what went down that day in Dallas.

“The greatest stumbling block to the latter has to do with hard, cold evidence: Not only was Oswald located on the sixth floor of the book depository that day; he absolutely carried a rifle with telescopic sight and fired it out the window,” Brode told TeleRead in a recent email. “How could it be remotely possible, then, that Oswald was completely innocent as to JFK’s murder?”

Brode presents a detailed argument as to the theory of innocence, taking into account one of Oswald’s final statements—”I’m a Patsy!”—proceeding from there to trace his entire life.

When viewed from a contrarian perspective, Brode’s novel may shed light on who actually wanted Kennedy dead and why. It is a non-fiction novel written in the style of an imaginative work, yet events detailed in the book remain true to fact, Brode told TeleRead.

A playwright, a Hollywood screenwriter, and a film and TV historian, the award-winning journalist collaborated with Carol Kramer Serling on ”Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone”, the only official analysis of that late author’s work and vision. Brode, now in his 60s, has worked nationwide as a TV talk show host, radio commentator and a drama and film critic. This new book promises more fireworks on the JFK story.

Brode maintains that Oswald did not kill Kennedy. In fact, his book argues, Oswald was in Dallas to prevent the killing of the president by taking out the actual assassin. That person, who fired the fatal shots from the grassy knoll, had undergone plastic surgery so as to look exactly like Oswald. And Oswald was driven to save Kennedy by Frank Sinatra’s assassination-thwarting role in “The Manchurian Candidate,” Brode writes.

Far-fetched? To say the least! Just the sort of high-concept that Hollywood filmmakers will be leaping at, particularly as we come up on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination in 2013—just like
Stephen King’s popular “11/22/63.”

For now, however, it’s a fascinating novel that purports to “get inside the head” of Oswald in the days leading up to both his and Kennedy’s death with a fact-based narrative. Now, I don’t do conspiracy theories, but I am intrigued by this unique take on Oswald taken from an entirely new perspective.

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  1. Dang. I thought it was time travelers from an alternate future were Kennedy became a tyrannical King; they use orbital mind control lasers upon Oswald to do the killing, thus preventing the collapse of the free world by one assassination.

  2. “…I thought it was time travelers from an alternate future where Kennedy became a tyrannical King…” – the BBC sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf did that exact plot, except it was the alternate-future J F Kennedy himself who pulled the trigger (from the grassy knoll) to ensure history went to plan!

  3. Why do people not recognize that ok most theories are outrageous but there was something sinister…..the warren commission nailed Oswald as the LONE assassin. Actuallly he was nailed as the LONE assassin within 2 hours of his arrest yet he proclaimed his innocence the entire time. The fbi ignored the witnesses who said they heard and saw a shot from grassy knoll and the warren commission cherry picked which witnesses they wanted and didn’t call on those they didn’t.

    To make fun of the fact it’s possible that a change in government took place without you guys knowing it is sad. After kennedy was murdered Vietnam happened and many politicians got rich. Kennedy tried to reach for peace with the soviets…cuba and even test ban treaties……..it would have put a lot of dirty corrupt defense contractors out of work. Plus they were gonna drop LBJ from the 64 ticket due to his corruption charges in texas…..hoover was nearing his mandatory retirement. After the murder of JFK , LBJ made Hoover director for life. Only time in history. Examine the facts before you make fun of the issue. Yes there are ridiculous theories out there but do your own research before making fun of it. It’s like 9/11……the bush clan made billions off of that and the subsequent invastion of Afghanistan and Iraq…..and took many of our fundamental rights away and gave them to the NSA. I know you’ll all make fun of what I have to say but when the world has too many ppl and not enough food you’ll see why a change of government happened in nov 22 63. a shadow government ran by cia, and rich cliques including bush family. Notice all the men working for W Bush worked on Nixons Administration……coincidence? Nixon names hwbush as cia director…….Rumsfeld is on the admin, so is cheny…….hmmmmm……oh well………half the country lost their money and life savings and bush gave it all back to the banks. No everything is alright in America. Fuck!

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