Introduction by Authors

NOTE: The following introduction is assumed to be written from the point-of-view of Harry Turtledove and Bryce Zabel, writing from today's date in the alternative reality where President John F. Kennedy was not assassinated in 1963.

    Had John F. Kennedy died from the assassin’s bullets that were fired at him on November 22, 1963, chances are his reputation today would still burn brightly.  Yet in a marvelous instant of anticipation by Secret Service agent Clinton J. Hill and fast reaction by fellow agent and driver William R. Greer, the President of the United States lived. Looking back, it seems that surviving Dallas was the easy part.

    The wrenching agony of President Kennedy’s impeachment and trial is less vivid today.  For many Americans, it is only something they have read about in history books.  For those of us who lived through the cold winter of 1966, however, the memories, brought to the surface by a phrase or a photo, can be as stark and vivid today as they were forty-one years ago.  Kennedy’s fall from grace was monumental exactly because we as a people placed him on such a high pedestal.

    John Kennedy cheated death in Dallas only to face a fate that for him might have been even worse – the public revelation of his private double life.  Learning the truth was just as difficult for many Americans.  We loved him when we knew him less well.  Being forced to face the whole picture – for Kennedy and for the nation – was something no one ultimately was prepared for, yet we all took the journey together.

    Maybe the sense of denial, anger and tragedy which hung over those days leading up to March 17, 1966 made us all just wish that it had never happened, that it would just go away.  Some of us may have secretly wished that our charismatic and vigorous leader died in Dallas, leaving only cherished memories.

    It is hard to imagine that four decades have passed since Washington Ledger investigative reporters Chuck Duncan and Alan Lefkowitz worked to bring these events into a context that history could judge.  Back then, both Duncan and Lefkowitz were barely able to believe themselves that the “Story of the Century” had their imprint all over it. 

    Both Duncan and Lefkowitz intended to write a book about their experience, weaving their own personal accounts into the larger story of the decline and fall of John Kennedy.  Their proposal to publishers makes it clear that they intended to write a “true novel” in which they were central characters.  Business-savvy publishers seemed uncomfortable with such personal storytelling in 1966 when the reporters shopped that proposal.  Seven different publishing houses turned down their book idea before the men gave up and went back to their careers in journalism.  After all, they each had families and obligations.  Americans, they were told, were in no mood to read such a book.  They had lived through these tumultuous events in the daily news and moved on.  They did not want to live through the tragedy again.

    Several years ago, long after the Ledger had finally surrendered to the inevitable decline in daily newspapers and closed its doors, we made a bold offer to Fischoff Communications which once owned the paper.  We asked for the original notes from both Duncan and Lefkowitz.  A full twenty-six boxes of this work product had been gathering dust in a Virginia warehouse when we first got our hands on them.  Inside one box was the idea for this book.

    We became obsessed with a single, clarifying idea.  We would take the notes and write them – to the best of our skills – into the book that these two excellent reporters had been hoping to write.  The intent was to capture not just the times, but the incredible personal story these two men lived through.  We planned to do this out of respect for their work, and for its unique place in American history.

    Sadly, neither reporter has survived to see this “might-have-been” anniversary edition.  Chuck Duncan passed away in 1987, nearly a decade after JFK himself died.  Alan Lefkowitz continued his long and distinguished career in journalism, even shifting into broadcasting for ABC, until 1993 when he retired.  He passed on in 2003.

    Intending only journalism, Duncan and Lefkowitz became historians of a sort.  Today, we are proud to tell their unique story for those who have grown up in a world without the wild highs and lows of that hectic time.  With the perspective that only years passed can grant, we can now see the whole picture more clearly.  Reviewing Duncan and Lefkowitz’s work from so many decades ago, we can appreciate how few factual errors got into their original reporting.  Those we have found, or that history has found for us, are corrected in this book.

    You will notice that Winter of Our Discontent does not start on January 20, 1961, when our youngest elected president took the oath of office.  This book begins when the first shot rang out in Dealy Plaza.  Although we did not know it at the time, it was a bell that could not be unrung.

        Duncan and Lefkowitz interviewed 347 individuals during the time they reported this story.  As they write in their own book proposal, “Some persons spent dozens of hours going over details, large and small.  Many supplied us with contemporaneous notes and diaries.  All interviews were conducted ‘on background,’ meaning we could use the information if the identity of the source could be protected.  We did not accord equal weight to all sources.  In the course of nearly two-and-a-half years of reporting on the fall of the Kennedy Administration, we knew who could be trusted and who couldn’t.”

    Forty years after those rules were made, we have changed them for what we hope is a good reason.  Most of the individuals named in the reporters’ detailed notes are now deceased.  Any agreement between Duncan and Lefkowitz and any source should no longer be observed, we believe, in the service of history.

    Besides the work of Duncan and Lefkowitz, we also acknowledge the support of so many researchers whose work we have built upon in this telling.  The thousands of pages of congressional testimony generated by the Joint Committee on the Assassination Attempt on the President (JCAAP) provided the key building blocks for this work. 

    At the end of the day, however, the foundation those senators and representatives laid through their hearings was strongly buttressed by the wonderful and, frankly, unexpected investigative journalism practiced by Chuck Duncan and Alan Lefkowitz.  It’s important to remember today that these two reporters had – along with many, many others – protected the secrets of the Kennedy Administration in its early days.  When they turned their attention to telling the story they were complicit in covering up, they faced charges of betrayal not only from that administration but also from close friends and even family members. 

    Finally, we and the nation still owe a great debt of gratitude to those men and women who years ago decided that the code of silence they had followed to protect John Kennedy was no longer valid and chose to speak for the first time, also in the service of our nation’s history.

    On November 22, 1963, most of this nation loved John F. Kennedy.  Few enjoyed seeing the inevitable march toward impeachment.  Some will probably still think this material is best left alone.  But President Kennedy himself said, “Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”

Bryce Zabel
Harry Turtledove
March 17, 2007

Comments

[steve cater]

Looks very intriging - I'd buy it if it were in the store!

[Kevin]

As a fan of Mr Turtledove's alternate history series, I cannot wait to read the full book. Mr. Zabel's writing is new to me, but i plan to correct that.

When do you plan to publish this excellent idea for a story?

Kevin

[Charles W.]

We've seen books on what 'might have been' if John Kennedy had lived, and Bobby Kennedy had lived, **but** will there ever be a book describing the alternate World events that might have occurred if Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. had survived World War Two, and come back a decorated war hero?

[Charles Ward]

Gentlemen,

Interesting first 3 chapters, I look forward to the complete book to add to my 'alternate history' collection.
Might I suggest a 'novel idea?' Pre-WW2, Hitler's "ultimate solution," deport all Jews from Europe to Palestine. What would the World reaction be in that time line?
Or, President Roosevelt dies in office in 1938, leaving John Nance Garner as President.
Or, going back even *further* Edward the VIII decides that "Country and Tradition Must Come Before Personal Happiness" and gives up his quest to marry Wallis Simpson and remains King of England..

[D. Schneider]

I'm a great fan of Harry Turtledove's writing and although I haven't yet read this one, you can be sure I will. As a historian (MA, Adjunct Prof of History at a -undisclosed- college), I am fully aware that much of what today's public is told about Kennedy is mythology. His many disasters - from Bay of Pigs to Vienna to Vietnam - are typically played down. My personal belief regarding the assassination is that it was done at the orders of Castro in revenge for the many attempts on his life that Kennedy authorized. However, one thing certain about Kennedy is that his many personal flaws were well-known yet well hidden by a compliant press. American in the early-mid '60s would have been much less tolorant than American in the mid '90s for this sort of thing and if it came out, impeachment would have likely resulted in conviction, unlike the Clinton experience. Looking at our past leaders "warts and all" is not [whomever]-hatred. To try to censor what one doesn't like or doesn't want to hear - that is true intolorance.

[Bryce Zabel]

Howard... Please don't confuse this story with our position on JFK. As we've said, we're both Democrats, and both loved JFK. We're simply stating the premise that if he survived Dallas, the investigation would have set a situation in motion that would have led to his impeachment. This is independent of his skills as a leader, or our admiration of his style and grace. It's simply a "what-if" that hasn't been done before. Bryce

[Howard Price]

I don't understand the Kennedy hate here. JFK was the best president this country had in the 20th Century, and in my view one of the 5 best ever in our history. Impeached? Why not write a novel on George H.W. Bush (who was involved in the plot to murder President Kennedy) or his moronic, mentally ill son being impeached (both deserve it)? You even go along with the long since debunked fiction of "Lee Harvey Oswald" being "the" assassin. I've enjoyed some of Mr. Turtledove's alternate history before, but if this is an example of you people's research, and your intent to smear a great president (and yes, I know all about his personal life and infidelities) then I don't need to read any further.

[Carter Lowe]

Well done the both of you. Although I've never read any of Mr. Zabel's work, I certainly plan to read up on some of it now. However, I'm an avid reader of Mr. Turtledove's books. I'm still reading The Great War series. I've recently finished Blood & Iron, and am still trying to locate a copy of The Centre Cannot Hold. I've also purchased Days of Infamy a few days ago.
I've always thought that the American people should know of JFK's dark side, and finally something comes that does that. I won't hold the fact that your both Democrats against you (:)). I am very excited about the story and am sure to purchase it once it is published.
Uchronia genius.
-Carter, Myrtle Beach