Betrayal At Bethesda: The Intertwined Fates of James Forrestal, Joseph McCarthy, and John F. Kennedy

On May 22, 1949, former secretary of defense James Forrestal fell from the sixteenth floor of a building in Bethesda, Maryland. His death was investigated by the US Navy, but the official report listed no definitive cause. On May 2, 1957, US senator and staunch anti-Communist advocate Joseph McCarthy died of acute hepatitis. No cause was given and no autopsy was ever conducted. On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while visiting Dallas, Texas. The ensuing investigation would inspire a controversy that would last well into the twenty-first century. Three of the most important men in the fight against global communism all died in sinister circumstances. In the span of fourteen years, Forrestal, McCarthy, and Kennedy, three men who were great friends during their lives, were all effectively removed from international politics. J. C. Hawkins refuses to believe this is a coincidence. His new expose, Betrayal at Bethesda, presents an alternate theory to all three deaths. The men were too closely connected in their policies and political careers for their deaths to be written off as unrelated. Hawkins not only challenges the historical record but also shows how each man died for the ideals they collectively held in such high esteem.