Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism

by James Piereson

It has now been more than forty years since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on the streets of Dallas on November 22, 1963. No event in the post-war era, not even the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has cast such a long shadow over our national life. The murder of the handsome and vigorous president shocked the nation to its core, and shook the faith of many Americans in their institutions and way of life. The repercussions from that event continue to be felt down to the present day. Looking back, it is now clear that Kennedys death marked a historical crossroads after which point events began to move in surprising and destructive directions. In Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism, James Piereson examines this seminal event from an entirely new and provocative point of view. Most books on the assassination take up the question as to who was really responsible for killing the President. Mr. Piereson takes it as established fact that Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. What needs to be explained, he argues, is the bizarre aftermath of the assassination: Why in the years after the assassination did the American Left become preoccupied with conspiratorial thinking? How and why was John F. Kennedy transformed in death into a liberal icon and a martyr for civil rights? In what way was the assassination linked to the collapse of mid-century liberalism, a doctrine which until 1963 was the reigning philosophy of the nation? In answering these questions, Piereson places great weight on the influence of Jacqueline Kennedy in shaping public memory of her husband and the meaning of his death. The Kennedy assassination, he argues, is a case study in public myth-making and the ways in which images and symbols can override fact and substance in political life.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Cultural, American History

412 pages, Paperback

First published May 21, 2007

Reviews

[Greg Benham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and informative look at how Oswald's assassination of JFK compelled the Left to create the Camelot myth and their "Culture of Hate" narrative to supersede the fact that an anti-Communist President was murdered by a vehement Marxist.

Pierson does a good job tracing the roots of the American Left's anti-Americanism to the confusing aftermath of Kennedy's murder.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend suggested this book in the wake of the recent shootings in Tucson. Immediately after the shooting of Representative Giffords a general explaining theme in the media was a culture of hate in the country had led to this tragic event. After some history of the shooter was revealed -- apparently non-political, clearly disturbed and with a long running grudge against the congresswoman -- this accusation was muted, although it has not disappeared. The parallels to the assassination of President Kennedy, as outlined by James Piereson in this book, are that the media and Kennedy loyalists painted a picture of the slain president as a victim of a culture of hate. This segued into a presentation of JFK as a martyr to the cause of civil rights. That Lee Harvey Oswald was a Marxist was basically ignored and, as Piereson argues, this had the unintended effect of causing a rift in the Democratic Party so severe that a Cold War liberal like JFk would hardly have recognized it. Another fascinating result of this inability to place the blame of the assassination on Oswald -- the lone gunman etc. - was that the conspiracy theories once dear to the extreme right before Kennedy's death now shifted to the extreme left. Piereson's thesis will not resonate with all, for one thing he traces the ascendancy of the conservative movement to the fact that it did not suffer from the internecine struggles that beset the Democrats in the wake of the assassination; nevertheless, for me this book did an excellent job of providing a less-than-conventional-wisdom response to the sharp turn the country experienced in the aftermath of November 22, 1963. Recommended for the open minded.

[The American Conservative]

'By the usual rules of politics, Republican conservatives—however brilliantly they preached and organized—should have been doomed to opposition for a generation or two. Instead, they made impressive gains in the 1966 midterm elections, won the presidency in 1968 and, delayed only briefly by Watergate, placed Reagan in the White House a decade later. Why had the seemingly inevitable gone into reverse?

What happened, according to James Piereson in his closely reasoned, original, and stimulating new book, Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism, is that American liberals committed political suicide. They picked up Oswald’s gun and turned it upon themselves. And in the mid-1960s, they made an unmissable target.'

Read the full review, "What Jackie Did Next," on our website:
http://www.theamericanconservative.co...

[John Waldrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the book a very interesting read, and greatly appreciated the author's take on the distortion of reality introduced by Jacqueline Kennedy to interpret her husband's assassination in terms of a fictional perspective rather than JFK being the victim of the communist Lee Harvey Oswald most certainly was. Troubling to me was the author's repeated reliance on Richard Hofstadter, who was one of the notorious gang of cultural Marxists who emigrated to the USA before World War Two and who influenced so much of American culture in the 1960s known as the Frankfurt School. If I had the time I would read the book again with a view to considering how much of what Piereson wrote was the direct result of Hofstadter's efforts to undermine American culture.

[Edward Podritske · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many guilt-ridden reviewers might object to this dissection of the sacred cow otherwise called the era of Camelot.

However, Piereson does summarize the factual and speculative elements of the actual event of Kennedy's killing along with the curious four-decade period of evasion of the facts and substitution of conspiracy theories.

It is because of the political and cultural obfuscation of the event of Kennedy's assassination by a lousy communist that a book like this became necessary. That should forgive any appearance of it sounding like an extended essay of opinion.

The facts are there for all to read along with the reasonable interpretation of them.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oswald killed Kennedy, but Oswald was driven by a culture of hate, meaning ultimately that hate gunned down the young idealistic Kennedy. That's the narrative crafted by the Left to prevent having to come to terms with the fact that a Castro loving Communist assassinated a liberal President. This book was great and took time to explain how and why the Culture of Hate narrative was crafted and what ends it served.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who is a collector of conspiracy theories, I have often believed that the Kennedy assassination was in a class of its own. The argument developed in this work shines a bright light on the cleavage of American society since the 60's. This treatment provides a sweeping reinterpretation of the subsequent history of the American left, and its increasing alienation from the founding principles.

[Gunnar Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, I was assigned it for one of my classes and had to do a project on it. There are some issues with the author saying he's not addressing conspiracy theories and then continuing to speak on conspiracy theories. However in the end, I would recommend it for those fascinated by JFK and his death