Surrounded by Enemies by Bryce Zabel

from the ambush at Dealey Plaza, the Kennedys had to come to realize how many moving parts now existed in the management of what had happened there. There were federal and state investigations, a laundry list of potential suspects and a clear battle brewing over jurisdiction.
    Massachusetts' newly elected Senator Edward Kennedy, or Teddy as the youngest brother was called, had been told by Jack and Bobby to stay clear of strategy sessions on the grounds that he needed “plausible deniability,” a term then gaining currency in the intelligence community. They had kept him at arm's length to this point, because they wanted Teddy to be able to hear what was being said in the shadows of the Senate without having to offer up any real insight from the White House. At his insistence, however, they relented and brought him into their conversations at Hyannis Port.
    On Friday, the blood relations were joined by the political family. The White House team contributed Kenny O’Donnell, Pierre Salinger, Dave Powers and Ted Sorensen. This self-described group of “all the President’s men” was brought together to review the options that would be on the table when Congress returned from the Thanksgiving break in less than seventy-two hours.
    It began with them all seated outside at a round table on a cold, dreary afternoon, looking out over the water. Federal agents had established a cordon around the property. They had advised against an outdoor meeting but had been overruled by the President himself.
    Web of Suspicion
    As the men gathered outside, the scoop from Washington, D.C. was that Senator Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader of the Senate, was going to call for a congressional investigation of the botched assassination at an afternoon news conference. Teddy, being a United States senator, broke the news that everyone had been expecting. They knew Dirksen would try to “stir up his own unique brand of shit” and had been waiting for the moment.
    President Kennedy made some small talk, then nodded to Bobby, who announced there would be two primary issues to be debated before dinner. First they would have a spitball session on the issue of what collection of killers had planned the ambush of last Friday afternoon. It would be free-flowing and off the record; no one would ever confirm or deny anything said today on this subject. O’Donnell stopped the conversation when he asked, “What if we were put under oath?”
    “Well, Kenny, we would never allow that to happen,” assured the President. He turned to his kid brother. “Of course, the attorney general may have another opinion.”
    Bobby assured everyone that no oath-taking was contemplated but that, even if it came to pass, this conversation was protected under the umbrella of “executive privilege.” Under oath, all participants would confirm that they were at a meeting, but any other questions would require them to invoke privilege and refuse to answer. “It is my opinion,” said the top law enforcement officer in the United States, “that this conversation as well as any other conversations you may have had on these subjects, both in the past and in the future, are protected by privilege.”
    If there was anyone uncomfortable with accepting this legal strategy and supporting it for the administration, Bobby advised them to leave now. The choice was simple: Stay and learn everything going forward, or resign. Everyone stayed.
    The middle Kennedy brother then explained the ground rules for the next hour. He would propose the name of an individual or a group, and O’Donnell, Powers, Salinger, Sorensen and Teddy Kennedy would speculate about what they knew. The President and the attorney general would only contribute after everyone else had spoken. They needed to hear independently what the others had to say. It was safer that way.
    The following assessments have, over time, now been confirmed by multiple participants and represent the thinking of the Kennedy