Stanley Karnow on Oliver Stone's "JFK"
- Fred Litwin
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 hour ago
One of the great chroniclers of the Vietnam War wrote a short piece on Oliver Stone's JFK, for the book Past imperfect : history according to the movies:
Money Quote:
In one of JFK's most pivotal scenes, a secret agent tells Garrison about a late 1963 White House reception at which Johnson told the joint chiefs of staff, "Just get me elected, and then you can have your war." Stone, by his own admission, borrowed the anecdote from my book, and I am convinced of its accuracy, having heard it from Gen. Harold K. Johnson, then the army chief of staff and a guest at the party. I used the story to illustrate Lyndon Johnson's practice of making different promises to different factions. In this instance, he estimated that by placating the brass he could rally their conservative allies on Capitol Hill behind his liberal social agenda. At the same time, as I wrote, he confided to members of Congress who had qualms about Vietnam that he had no intention of getting immersed in that "damn pissant little country." However, Stone, to depict Johnson as a warmonger, lifted the story out of context.
Update
Here is the excerpt from Karnow's book with the anecdote: (pages 342 - 343)
Hat tip: Hideji Okina.
And Oliver Stone discussed this anecdote in an article in Premiere Magazine: (page 356 in JFK: The Book of the Film)
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