Malcolm Kilduff

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

He had a Navy background, and worked under Salinger. 11/22 was aparently the first time outside of

Washington as traveling acting press secretary. His Arlington Cemetary site ref mentions an interesting

conversation he had with Johnson in aranging the press coverage for the swearing in ceremony for LBJ.

Does anyone have any interesting material on him. I was surprised that there wasn't already a thread on

him.

Aparently he stayed on as Assistant Press Secretary under LBJ, before going into cosulting in 1965.

Edited November 12, 2006 by Nathaniel Heidenheimer

[Peter McGuire]

He had a Navy background, and worked under Salinger. 11/22 was aparently the first time outside of

Washington as traveling acting press secretary. His Arlington Cemetary site ref mentions an interesting

conversation he had with Johnson in aranging the press coverage for the swearing in ceremony for LBJ.

Does anyone have any interesting material on him. I was surprised that there wasn't already a thread on

him.

In the picture you can see what he first reported; that the bullet hit Kennedy in his right temple. But in a 1975 interview with Geraldo Rivera, he went back to the party line. This picture was never shown by the mainstream media, nor was the complete film of what Kilduff actually said. It was not until the 1988 "The Men Who Killed Kennedy" series was shown to the public that most people became aware of the statement " it was a simple matter, Tom, of a bullet right through the head", while pointing to where the bullet actually hit Kennedy. The scene always stopped before he got to that part. Kilduff was reporting what he had been told by Dr. Burkley, one of the physicians treating Kennedy. But there would be no "treatment" as Kennedy was dead around 12:30, from this frontal shot.

Edited November 13, 2006 by Peter McGuire

[Josh Cron]

Interesting interview with Mac Kilduff from the 28th anniversery on a program called "The Hensley Report". Apparently he subscribed to the notion Oswald was trying to kill Connally and not President Kennedy.

[David Andrews]

I recall reading recently that there was friction between Kilduff and press secretary Pierre Salinger. I believe some of it carried over to press office planning for the Dallas trip.

I don't know how relevant this disharmony is to Kilduff's death announcement, but if I remember correctly, Salinger had wanted Kilduff replaced by the fall of 1963, and Kilduff's career suffered after the assassination due to Salinger.

I'll try to remember where I read this. It's possible it was in Vanity Fair's article of last year on William Manchester writing Death of a President. Perhaps worth researching if you have any interest in this area of the administration.

Edited February 16, 2013 by David Andrews

[Guest Robert Morrow]

Lyndon Johnson told Malcolm Kilduff within hours of the JFK assassination that there was a "conspiracy" or an "international conspiracy" that killed John Kennedy. LBJ told several others (including Gen. Godfrey McHugh, who had to slap a hysterical LBJ to compose him) this same line. LBJ also told a Dallas cop this.

[Bernice Moore]

If of interest, there is much within the works of Vincent Palamara, on Malcolm Kilduff.....

here is one mention...http://spot.acorn.net/jfkplace/03/VP/53-VP.html

http://spot.acorn.net/jfkplace/03/VP/53-VP.html

Edited February 16, 2013 by Bernice Moore