• Jackie Kennedy was a chain smoker and kept it hidden from the public.
• The number of women that JFK reportedly slept with while in the White House, including Marilyn Monroe.
The prologue is captivatingly written. The authors start with the oath of office and wraps details about Kennedy around the oath. They do the same in the prologue to the Lincoln book.
In the Lincoln book, the authors write about how Lincoln himself believed he would not survive his second term. He continually had thoughts and dreams of his own death. Both presidents suffered great loss of children during their time in office.
Both books give the readers an in-depth look at each assassin. The authors write about the man who killed Kennedy, “Oswald’s father died before he was born. His mother remarried and soon divorced. Marguerite Oswald has little money and moved young Lee frequently, traveling through Texas, New Orleans, and New York City. By the time he dropped out of high school to enlist in the Marines, Oswald had lived in 22 different addresses and attended twelve different schools.”
Neither book reads like a history book. Instead, they read like the true stories they are about events that changed America. The opening section of the Kennedy book compares commonalities between the two presidents, such as:
• Lincoln was first elected in 1860 while Kennedy’s win was in 1960.
• Both were killed on a Friday and in the presence of their wives.
• Successors to both men were named Johnson, Andrew Johnson born in 1808 and Lyndon Johnson born in 1908.
• Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846 and Kennedy was elected to the House in 1946.
I highly recommend both Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln to readers, both young and older. Each represents devastating events in American history. Both are stories that no American should forget.
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