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fifty years ago President John Kennedy\h
survived an assassination attempt on the\h\h

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streets of Dallas Texas I'm Peter DuBose and\h
this is Roundtable on the CB 2 radio network

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we now know that powerful forces were unleashed\h
by that near-miss on November 22nd 1963 they put\h\h

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the kennedy administration into turmoil and of\h
course led to a constitutional crisis here today\h\h

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to talk about those long ago events is our weekly\h
round table panel first there's Cynthia Freeman\h\h

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White House correspondent for the CB 2 Network\h
- Cynthia's right we have presidential historian\h\h

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and Kennedy biographer Brian hitch finally\h
there's Jonathan Berkowitz the son of the late\h\h

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investigative journalist Stephen Berkowitz Brian\h
let's start with you five decades later how should\h\h

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we be looking at the Kennedy presidency Peter\h
I think we have to at least start with what the\h\h

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Kennedy presidency accomplished it did keep us\h
alive during a very tense time during the Cold\h\h

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War it did introduce the topic of civil rights to\h
the nation in a profound way and eventually it did\h\h

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step back from a deeper involvement in Vietnam\h
so there were a lot of things that the Kennedy\h\h

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administration should get some credit for but as\h
your introduction makes very clear things changed\h\h

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that day in Dallas when President Kennedy was shot\h
at but did not die if he died that day he might\h\h

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have become a martyr in our country but that's\h
not what happened instead by surviving he became\h\h

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a mere mortal and he went back to a Washington DC\h
that was on fire with these events and he ended up\h\h

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having to fight for his presidency in a way that\h
no president has ever had to fight for quite in\h\h

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the same way before or since and as a consequence\h
of that I think our nation was changed I know the\h\h

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Kennedy administration was certainly changed\h
and we should probably look back on it for the\h\h

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reality of the situation which is we remember\h
it not so much anymore for what it did but for\h\h

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how it ended what about that Cynthia Freeman does\h
the unraveling of the Kennedy administration have\h\h

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any relevance in today's White House oh it most\h
certainly does I think the whole relationship\h\h

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between the press corps and the office of the\h
presidency has fundamentally changed forever to\h\h

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a more serious one a more accountable one let\h
me paint you a word picture for a moment the\h\h

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White House pool an area of recreation too much\h
recreation as it came out in these details is\h\h

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now the press corps it is the the office where\h
we have our our briefings and the presidents\h\h

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are held accountable and in their second terms\h
especially accountable as a result of everything\h\h

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that happened with JFK let's bring in Jonathan\h
Berkowitz now your father co-wrote the 1965 story\h\h

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about John Kennedy's secret life what memories do\h
you have of that story and of course the aftermath\h\h

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well of course I was just a kid at that time\h
we had my mom and I had recently moved there to\h\h

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Washington to be with my dad and you know we were\h
very excited for him because he was covering the\h\h

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president and it was a great story for him and\h
then this scandal happened and all of a sudden\h\h

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everything kind of turned upside down I didn't\h
really have a you know a great understanding of\h\h

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what was going on but I knew there was a lot of\h
pressure and stress and and my father actually\h\h

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took me aside and told me that some kids might\h
say some nasty things at school actually that\h\h

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didn't happen I don't think any of the kids were\h
really aware of what was going on or that I was\h\h

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any part of it because I really wasn't but we\h
had to be on our toes about it and you know as\h\h

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I got older I look back on it and you know people\h
have mixed feelings about my father's work during\h\h

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that time but I'm very proud of what he did I\h
think it was a story that had to be told and he\h\h

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did it with integrity and in great journalistic\h
skill Brian hitch set the table for us here now\h\h

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aside from surviving the shooting in Dallas what\h
was the most dramatic moment in what remained of\h\h

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the Kennedy presidency Peter there were so many\h
dramatic moments was truly an unprecedented time\h\h

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and it almost depends on who you talk to a lot\h
of historians do tend to focus on what happened\h\h

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with those audio tapes as you recall those were\h
the tapes that were made in the Oval Office by\h\h

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President Kennedy and his advisors often including\h
Attorney General Robert Kennedy and so when those\h\h

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tapes were destroyed and and prevented from being\h
entered into evidence by legitimate congressional\h\h

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authority that was a big scandal in a big dramatic\h
moment and when Dave powers came forward and\h\h

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admitted that he had destroyed them and he was\h
a presidential aide that was was heavy drama and\h\h

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a lot of other people focus also on the firing of\h
J Edgar Hoover Hoover and Kennedy never got along\h\h

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but Hoover always had those files on the President\h
and and that was what he used to basically cause\h\h

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the Kennedys to do things the way he wanted them\h
done but it's at a certain point the relationship\h\h

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was broken and Hoover was literally fired by the\h
president in the Oval Office which had to be very\h\h

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dramatic and of course because of that firing\h
Hoover went on and made sure that the Kennedy\h\h

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file was leaked which ultimately led to the\h
unraveling of the Kennedy administration in the\h\h

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second term so those really are high points for\h
a lot of people but I have one of my own that I\h\h

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think is the one that strikes me most because it's\h
so very personal imagine the night of November\h\h

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22nd John Kennedy has been fired upon in broad\h
daylight on a public street in Dallas in front\h\h

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of a crowd and he has survived thanks to the brave\h
efforts of Secret Service agent Clint Hill when he\h\h

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returns to the White House that night he is still\h
wearing the same suit the same blood-soaked suit\h\h

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with the blood of Clint Hill on him and he doesn't\h
even change clothes he goes into the Oval Office\h\h

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where his brother is waiting to meet him and the\h
two begin to discuss who might have been behind\h\h

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the Dallas shooting and the Attorney General of\h
the United States sprawls on a notepad we can't\h\h

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talk here and the president and the Attorney\h
General excused themselves from the Oval Office\h\h

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and go to a more secure place where they would\h
not be recorded and you have to ask yourself in\h\h

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terms of drama what was it that the President\h
of the United States and the Attorney General\h\h

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of the United States had to talk about that\h
was so secret that it couldn't be talked about\h\h

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in the Oval Office of the United States and the\h
answer to that question of course is what changed\h\h

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history and ended a presidency Jonathan what\h
about you what were your recollections of the\h\h

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most dramatic moments in the Kennedy presidency\h
well for my family it was it was clearly when\h\h

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this investigation was about to come out my father\h
was working extremely hard at that time and under\h\h

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a lot of pressure and the magazine wasn't even\h
sure that they wanted to publish the work that\h\h

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my father did with his partner Frank Altman\h
and you know they had to go through lawyers\h\h

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and make a final decision and before they did\h
they wanted to get the Kennedy administration\h\h

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on record because the the president and no one\h
in his administration really had commented very\h\h

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substantively on my father's findings so they took\h
the unusual step unprecedented really of inviting\h\h

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them to the magazine office to review the story\h
right there in the office before it was published\h\h

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and they and and the president didn't come but\h
Robert Kennedy came with a team of his advisers\h\h

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and they gave them an office in the in the you\h
know on the floor there and not in the newsroom\h\h

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but in an office there a private office where they\h
were able to close the curtains and keep everybody\h\h

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from looking inside and my father was in there\h
trying to get some clue of what was happening\h\h

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and when when the doors opened and Robert Kennedy\h
came out he gave my father a look that my father\h\h

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described as chilling him to his bones and he knew\h
from that point on that everything was going to be\h\h

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different for him as a reporter in Washington the\h
Cynthia your thoughts your most dramatic moments\h\h

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in the Kennedy presidency well Peter I want to\h
put the spotlight here on Jacqueline Kennedy\h\h

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in her role here we had a peel of it first lady\h
betrayed so there was a top story scandal breaking\h\h

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two days later there's a news conference how\h
is Jacqueline Kennedy the lover of the Arts the\h\h

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fashion trendsetter going to handle this how is\h
she going to divorce her husband this is something\h\h

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everybody wanted to know how is someone with such\h
an elegance gonna handle some very dirty business\h\h

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and what she did became a role model for future\h
political wives because she held her head she\h\h

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stood by her man and largely ignored the betrayal\h
and went on with her life she did not divorce JFK\h\h

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and later we found out that basically she had\h
cut a deal Joe Kennedy had reached out to Ethel\h\h

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and said we will set up trust funds for your two\h
children but they will only stay active if you do\h\h

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not divorce my son and she respected that she\h
was a wonderful mother and the rest is history

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I want to thank our guests today Cynthia\h
Freeman Jonathan Berkowitz and Brian hitch\h\h

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and a reminder the cb2 TV network will air a\h
two-hour documentary special on the events of\h\h

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Dallas Texas and the subsequent constitutional\h
crisis on Friday November 22nd at 8 p.m.\h\h