[accessed January 11, 2011].

6. Some researchers believe that the Kennedys also ordered the IRS to audit the uncooperative steel executives' books. Although the evidence is not ironclad that JFK ever used the IRS for political purposes, there is certainly some support for this conclusion. See James Bovard, "A Brief History of IRS Political Targeting," Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2013,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324715704578482823301630836.html

[accessed May 17, 2013]; John Gizzi, "IRS Political Abuse Started Long Before Tea Party," Newsmax, May 13, 2013,

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/irs-tea-party-political/2013/05/13/id/504108

[accessed May 17, 2013]; and Joseph J. Thorndike, "An 'Unthinkable' IRS Scandal? More Like Unavoidable," Washington Post, May 17, 2013,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/an-unthinkable-irs-scandal-more-like-unavoidable/2013/05/17/3f89a1ce-bd84-ne2-89C9-3be8095fe767_story.html

[accessed May 17, 2013]. When I asked Stephen Plotkin, archivist at the JFK Library, if President Kennedy ever used the IRS as a weapon against his political enemies, Plotkin replied: "I'm missing one thing, which is a direct connection between the office of the president and the IRS activity. It's one thing for JFK to create an atmosphere receptive to IRS investigations of right wing organizations, but it is quite another to imply that he ordered such investigations. And let's not forget that a great many of these organizations richly deserved to be audited." E-mail from Stephen Plotkin, May 15, 2013.

7. Reeves, President Kennedy, 29899; Robert Dallek, An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 191763 (Boston: Back Bay Books, 2003), 486; Giglio, Presidency, 132.

8. Burton Crane, "Stock Prices Dive in Sharpest Loss Since 1929 Break," New York Times, May 29, 1929; Thomas C. Reeves, A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy (Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1992), 332; Giglio, Presidency, 132; Theodore C. Sorensen, Kennedy (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 462.

9. Giglio, Presidency, 13335; John F. Kennedy, "Radio and Television Report to the American People on the State of the National Economy, August 13, 1962," John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project, Santa Barbara, CA,

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8812&st=&sti=

[accessed January 12, 2011]. Similarly, President Obama tried to repair relations between the White House and the business community in 2011 after two years of health care reform, financial industry regulation, and other battles with business. In February 2011 he delivered a pro-business address at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington. Previously, the chamber had lobbied against Obama's various reforms. It made little difference, of course. Business interests overwhelmingly opposed Obama's successful reelection in 2012. Scott Horsley, "New Approach: Obama Woos Chamber of Commerce," February 14, 2011, National Public Radio website,

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/07/133551752/new-approach-obama-woos-chamber-of-commerce

[accessed February 14, 2011].

10. Giglio, Presidency, 138.

11. C. Douglas Dillon, JFK's treasury secretary, thought that Kennedy had been sold on tax cuts even before he assumed the presidency: "This was something that was originally discussed by me with the president before my appointment. It was part of our original policy that was mentioned in the tax message of 1961. Our idea then was that the first tax bill would be passed in 1961, and that we would come along the next year with the overall tax cut. We didn't, at that time, know the exact size of the tax cut that we would propose, but we did know that we wanted to reduce the top rates to the area of 65 or 70 percent and other rates accordingly." Interview with Douglas Dillon, C. Douglas Dillon Papers, Box 43, "Dillon Tapes," John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts.

12. Tax rates have jumped up and down over the years. As the Great Depression deepened in June 1932, President Hoover and Congress raised the top income tax rate from 25% to 63% and quadrupled the lowest tax rate from 1.1% to 4%. President Roosevelt raised taxes at times to pay for his New Deal programs and World War II. Under President Truman, income tax rates were cut across the board, with the top marginal rate, 94% on all income over $200,000, cut to 86.45%. The lowest rate was cut to 19% from 23%, and with a change in the amount of income exempt from taxation an estimated 12 million Americans were eliminated from the tax rolls entirely. There were also changes in the separate corporate tax rate structure. See Alan Reynolds, "The Hoover Analogy Flunks," Cato Institute website, reprinted from Forbes, September 29, 2008,

http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/hoover-analogy-flunks

[accessed April 9, 2013], and Burton Folsom, Jr., and Anita Folsom, "Did FDR End the Depression?" Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2010,

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304024604575173632046893848.html

[accessed April 9, 2013].

13. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, "Yale University Commencement (June 11, 1962)," Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia,

http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3370

[accessed January 13, 2011]; Schlesinger, Thousand Days, 648; Matt Viser, "JFK's Words Echo Once More in Washington," Boston Globe, January 21, 2011; David Greenberg, "Tax Cuts in Camelot?" January 16, 2004, Slate,

http://www.slate.com/id/2093947/

[accessed January 13, 2011]. Liberals counter by arguing that JFK was trying to put money in the hands of consumers with a kind of demand-side economics, not further enriching the wealthy. They may be right about the intent, but the effect of the Kennedy tax cut disproportionately benefited the well-off.

14. Bundy knew about the missile sites on October 15, but decided to withhold the information from the president until the following day. Bundy later explained the reasons for his decision: (1) it would take 24 hours to put together a presentation, (2) a hastily-assembled meeting of top officials would alert the press to the crisis, (3) Bundy thought that Kennedy, back from a "strenuous campaign weekend," would benefit from a good night's sleep. So-rensen, Classic Biography, 673.

15. Sorensen, Classic Biography, 67374; "Kennedy's Cuba Statement," New York Times, September 5, 1962; Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, "One Hell of a Gamble": Khrushchev, Castro, and Kennedy, 195864 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1997), 22223. Sorensen said Ex-Comm actually consisted of as many as "fourteen or fifteen men."

16. Fursenko and Naftali, Hell of a Gamble, 22425; Sorensen, Classic Biography, 67577; Dallek, Unfinished Life, 54547; Audio Clips from the Kennedy White House, Tuesday, October 16, 11:50 A.M., Cabinet Room, White House, National Security Archive, George Washington University,

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/audio.htm

[accessed January 19, 2011].

17. Fursenko and Naftali, Hell of a Gamble, 226; Reeves, President Kennedy, 37677.

18. In the autumn of 1963, LeMay occasionally served as acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in that capacity recommended sabotage operations against Cuba. Some conspiracy theorists tie LeMay's aggressive posture toward Cuba, and President Kennedy's refusal to sign off on the general's plans, to LeMay's alleged but unsubstantiated involvement in JFK's assassination. See LeMay's memo to the Secretary of the Army, September 23, 1963, Mary Ferrell website,

http://www.maryferrell.org/mffweb/archive/viewer/showDoc.do?docId=10220&relPageId=1

[accessed January 5, 2012]. LeMay's hawkish views were the inspiration behind Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey's book Seven Days in May, which tells the story of a right-wing general who plots a coup against a president who is trying to make peace with the Soviets. See Adam Bernstein, "Charles W. Bailey II, 'Seven Days in May' Co-author, Dies at 82," Washington Post, January 4, 2012.

19. Fursenko and Naftali, Hell of a Gamble, 230; Dallek, Unfinished Life, 55152; Audio Clips from the Kennedy White House, Thursday, October 18, 12:00 P.M., Cabinet Room, White House, National Security Archive, George Washington University,

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/audio.htm