Category Archives: American HIstory

“Into the Mind of the Assassin: Oswald’s Last Month, October-November 1963”

American HIstory, Books of the Times, JFK Assassination, John F. Kennedy, Kennedy Assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald, Memory, Oswald, Politics, United States history, Warren Commission, Zapruder

Continuing the series of JFK assassination episodes in this, the 60th year since the assassination, we look not at the thinking of the CIA, FBI, Warren Commission, Mob, Cuba, Russia or any of the other institutions that have been falsely imagined as being behind it, but inside the mind of the man who actually did it, and did it alone: Lee Harvey Oswald.  It may not be the most popular theory, but facts don’t have to be popular. They only need to be true.  This is an essay by myself, Rick Reiman, and narrated by myself, in response to the excellent insights of Burt Griffin, who wrote the new book, JFK, Oswald, Ruby: Politics, Prejudice and Truth. A staff member on the Warren Commission (1963-1964). Griffin challenges historians to take the assassination seriously as history, something that is simple to understand once contextualized in history.  Frankly, historians have not recognized their responsibility in this regard.  Historians, when are you going to do your jobs, and take this intersection of the Cold War and cvil rights, which is what the assassination was, seriously as history?  Until they do, this will continue to be a blot, a stain and a disgrace for the historical profession, as it has been for sixty years.

Photo taken by Marina Oswald.

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Half-Story Hoaxes, 2023: A Critique of Rob Reiner’s JFK Conspiracy Theories

American HIstory, JFK Assassination, John F. Kennedy, Kennedy Assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald, Memory, Oswald, Warren Commission, Zapruder

Most of the thousands of books on the JFK assassination are re-cyclings and re-spinnings of the foundational myths of the first generation of conspiracy fabulation tales. To hear Rob Reiner’s repetition of the tired magic bullet trope that we have heard before–you know the one that has long since been debunked–it seems that the half-story hoaxes that I discussed in my first Warren Commission episode two weeks ago are not just historical relics of the past.  They continue to be retailed to an unsuspecting public.  Here is the rest of the story of the very-unmagical second shot in the assassination, as well as the first shot, told in the epistemological technicolor of the truth.

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Dum-Dum Bullets or Dum-Dum Fabulists? Half-Story Hoaxes in the JFK Assassination

American HIstory, JFK Assassination, John F. Kennedy, Kennedy Assassination, Memory, Oswald, Zapruder

One of the chief reasons why people still believe the nonsense of a conspiracy in the assassination of John F. Kennedy is because of the fiendishness of those, out of malice or effort at pecuniary gain, deliberately lie to their readers and tell only half of a story they know too well to be false.  We examine two of the many half-story hoaxes, as I call them, which try to spread the lie of conspiracy by covering up the proofs of no-conspiracy which have grown to mountainous proportions in the 60 years since 1963.

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Deja Vu History: The Biden Oval Office Speech on Israel and Ukraine of 2023 and the FDR “Arsenal of Democracy” Speech of 1940

American HIstory, Audio narration, FDR, Holocaust, Western Civilization II, World War II

No one has caught the similarities between the Biden Oval Office Speech on Israel and Ukraine of 2023 and the FDR “Arsenal of Democracy” Speech of 1940, other than the use of the phrase “Arsenal of Democracy.” Yet the parallels are eery and uncanny.  They are also portentous for revealing the resonance of the world situations of 1940 and that of today.  Listen and learn how the Biden speech drew on two FDR speeches, one in 1940 and one in the wake of Pearl Harbor (no, not that one, not the “Day of Infamy” speech but one a few days later) and you will agree on the striking similarities. I hope you will also agree on the gravity of their meanings as discussed here.

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NEW!! “The United States versus Donald J. Trump,” Federal Indictment of the Department of Justice, on Audio

American HIstory, Audio narration, U.S. Constitution

I narrate the watershed indictment, the first federal prosecution of a former President of the United States in American history. Every American should read this document to understand and appreciate the gravity of the crimes alleged to have been committed by Donald F. Trump. This is necessary because Trump’s defenders have been distorting the charges. Audio narrations of the indictment are available elsewhere. This one is narrated by an historian.

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An Audio Narration of Chapter One, “The Big Lie,” from the January 6 Report of the House Select Committee on the Attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021

American HIstory

The January 6th report by the Select Committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the US Capitol was published December 22nd, 2022. The document consists of eight chapters of more than 800 pages, documenting President Donald Trump’s attempt to thwart the will of the people by overturning the election of 2020 with lies plots, frivolous legal claims, and even the orchestration of mob violence. Never before had a president stood in the way of the legal certification of an election in blatant disregard for the commands of the Constitution. When lies did not work and spurious legal fiction failed, Trump tried to shut down the transition to a dually elected new administration by brute force, waging war against an independent branch of the federal government.

To say that he disregarded his oath of office to make sure that the laws were faithfully executed is to state the obvious.

The January 6th report is a fast moving document and a devastating indictment. Still, it is a dense document and a PDF that will not be read by millions of Americans more than will have the time and technology to read it. Many Americans cannot read it for various reasons, including disability.

This audio recording is a narration of Chapter One only “The Big Lie,” For those who cannot read the free pdf at House.gov or who prefer to listen rather than read. This narration does not include a reading of the footnotes.Please refer to the published document for these.

Every word of Chapter One is included. This document is in the public domain. My name is Richard Reiman. Depending on the number of clicks or downloads, I may record more chapters. Remember, there are eight chapters in all, and this is only the first of them. I heartily recommend that all who can do so read all eight chapters. Download the free report from House.gov and read the full report.

Lastly, a disclaimer: Because this Report includes quotations by some who participated in the Big Lie, it includes offensive language at times.

And so click on the link below to listen to Chapter One of the Report By the House Select committee on the Attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

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The Need to Remember: Fighting Back Against Bigotry toward Asian Americans

American HIstory, Covid-19 crisis, Memory, World War II

The shocking attacks against Asian Americans in 2021 are outgrowths of a long history of bigotry against these, our fellow citizens. Besides bringing shame to America’s claim of “liberty and justice for all,” these attacks flow from the ignorance of too many Americans in this history of bigotry, especially of the worst violation of civil liberties in all of American history, the relocation and internment of Japanese Americans in World War II. To defeat this legacy of bigotry and to break with this sorry past, Americans must first learn to remember.

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