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By Jasmine Laws
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A little-known plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy has been unveiled by authors Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch, who published a book on the subject earlier this year.
Why It Matters
Shortly after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to release documents containing information about the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.
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The order, issued on January 23, said the director of national intelligence and other officials had 15 days to "present a plan to the President for the full and complete release of records relating to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy" and 45 days to do the same for King and Robert F. Kennedy.
The release of such documents has long been highly anticipated. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of the late senator and nephew of the former president, previously suggested that the CIA could have been involved in his uncle's assassination in 1963. The Warren Commission, which investigated the killing in the immediate aftermath, found no evidence to support that claim.
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What To Know
According to the authors of The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy―and Why It Failed, published on January 14, there was a lesser-known plot to assassinate John F. Kennedy in 1960.
Reports said the plot occurred when Kennedy was at his Palm Beach family estate in Florida celebrating his victory against then-Vice President Richard Nixon in the November 1960 presidential election.
The president-elect's would-be assassin was Richard Pavlick, 73, a retired postal worker who was anti-Catholic, according to The Palm Beach Post. Pavlick reportedly loaded his car with dynamite and planned to ram his vehicle into Kennedy's as the politician headed to St. Edward Catholic Church, which was a five-minute drive from his La Querida home.
Kennedy was the first Catholic to be elected president of the United States.
According to Meltzer and Mensch's book, per the Daily Mail, the Secret Service was waiting on North Ocean Boulevard, right outside the Kennedy home, for the family to go to the church around 9:50 a.m. for a service beginning 10 minutes later.
When he saw the family appear, Pavlick, who was waiting nearby in a green 1950 Buick, moved to start the ignition.
However, on seeing Kennedy with his wife, Jackie Kennedy, their son John Jr. and daughter Caroline, Pavlick stopped and fled the scene. He returned later to inspect the church as he planned his next assassination attempt.
At this point, the Secret Service was on to him. Pavlick was eventually arrested, determined to be mentally ill and admitted to a mental institution.
What People Are Saying
Brad Meltzer, a co-author of The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy―and Why It Failed, said on the January 14 episode of The James Altucher Show: "It's the craziest JFK story you've never heard in your life."
Meltzer told The Palm Beach Post: "The America of 1960 was bitterly divided, with people on each side thinking those on the other side were morons. When you unleash venom and hatred, you have to expect that will activate someone with evil intent. You have to expect that people will start hating each other."
Co-author Josh Mensch told Newsweek: "The most surprising thing about the 1960 assassination plot is how close it came to succeeding. Had the would-be assassin not lost his nerve at the last moment, the Kennedy presidency would have likely ended in tragedy before it even began. And the course of American history would've been forever altered."
He added: "We were amazed by the parallels between the Kennedy era and today. In 1960, when JFK was elected, America was deeply divided on issues of race and immigration, just like today. Kennedy had voiced support for the civil rights movement, and he openly celebrated immigration. But a large segment of the public was anti-immigrant and wanted America to remain white, Protestant and native-born. At the time, Catholicism was widely equated with immigration because so many recent immigrant groups were Catholic. So many Americans hated Kennedy, and some of that hatred was what drove one unstable man to the brink of committing a truly horrific act."
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will release documents related to the former president's assassination.
Update 3/12/25, 7:15 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Josh Mensch.
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