JFK, Malcolm X, MLK, RFK: What the government didn’t want you to know

By Bharat Dogra 

An author may write many books, but some can only be written once in a lifetime. Such is the recent work by James W. Douglass: Martyrs to the Unspeakable – The Assassinations of JFK, Malcolm, Martin, and RFK, published by Orbis Books (USA).

This is a book that may bring tears to your eyes many times over. Yet you must still read these 590 pages – because understanding not just recent history, but also our own deeply troubled times, has never been more urgent.

Let’s hear what some senior, well-informed voices have to say.

Richard Falk, former professor of international law at Princeton University, says of the author and this book: “Throughout his life, James Douglass has combined courageous activism with brave, groundbreaking scholarship. He always speaks truth to power, yet in an uncompromising Gandhian grounding of hope and love. In this spirit, this book is his masterpiece – a must-read for all who aspire to a better human future.”

Marie Dennis, Senior Program Director of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, adds: “Every high school and university class on U.S. history, every person in pursuit of a more just and peaceful life, should read this book.”

Alan Storey, an ordained minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, writes: “This is a book of revelation: a detailed unveiling of the principalities and powers, and an introduction to four saints of resistance. These four chose life for all – a choice that would be met with murder.”

The acclaimed filmmaker Oliver Stone, best known for JFK, calls this book “a staggering achievement.” He continues: “As in [his earlier book] ‘JFK and the Unspeakable’, Jim Douglass has once again put together an astonishing collection of facts and documents about the collusion of the U.S. government in the murders not only of JFK, but – in groundbreaking revelations – of MLK, RFK and Malcolm X.”

Finally, we must hear from a man who knows a great deal on this subject, given the important position he once held. Douglas Horne, former Chief Analyst for Military Records at the Assassination Records Review Board, states: “Jim Douglass presents the eminently reasonable, logical and unchallengeable case that the assassinations of JFK, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and RFK were all state-sanctioned murders, for which convenient and dramatic scapegoats were provided – scapegoats that precluded any investigations from having to deal with the actual evidence. They all knew that their lives had been targeted by the National Security State, and yet they courageously persisted in their efforts.”

It is also vital to hear from the author himself. In his Letter to the Reader, Douglass writes:

“Researching and writing this story – what Gandhi called an experiment with truth – has been a long journey. I am 87 years old, nearing the end of life in every earthly sense. We are all nearing that end, the end of humanity – and because of us humans, the end of the lives of our fellow creatures. We will choose now either the death of our planet, and everyone on it, or a way of life for us all.

Let us choose life.

This is what the story of JFK, Malcolm, Martin and RFK is all about – the future of life or death for us all. Because they asked why, turned to create a better world, and were willing to die for it, they were shot down at the ages of 46, 39, 39 and 42. They were targeted to keep us from realizing our movement for a more just and peaceful world.”

Douglass concludes: “Let us discern a way to walk with our martyrs out of the darkness – from the things as they are to the things as they should be.”

I described this book at the outset as one that may make the reader cry many times – because again and again, we encounter very noble persons striving against heavy odds to lead us toward peace and justice, only to be targeted in the cruellest ways just as they stand on the verge of their greatest potential success. Yet within these tears lie a wealth of highly significant facts, documents, and urgent lessons. That is what makes this book so compelling, absorbing, and essential.

For this writer, one of the most enduring lessons from Douglass’s work is the further confirmation of a long-held belief: that the external and internal are closely interlinked. If a country pursues unjust wars and aggression abroad, it must also destroy the path of peace and justice at home – even to the extent of killing its own best and most noble leaders who refuse to abandon that path. More simply put, anyone who decides to destroy others first kills his own soul and sensitivity – as I argued long ago in my small book Burning on Both Ends.

For readers who somehow cannot find the time to read James W. Douglass’s great book, I recommend watching a discussion between the author and Professor Jeffrey Sachs in the latter’s Book Club podcasts (Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs – A Podcast).

Before concluding, I wish to draw attention to a wider issue I have repeatedly emphasised in my own writings: some of the most important events of recent and contemporary history need to be re‑examined whenever there is a significant need for evidence‑based re‑examination. The realisation of truth can pave the way for meaningful, much‑needed reform – including systemic reform.

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The writer is Honorary Convener of the Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Protecting Earth for Children, Earth without Borders, Man over Machine – Gandhi’s Path to Peace, and A Day in 2071