This talk caused a controversy in the media when it was first aired on the 30th anniversary of the JFK assassination. Parenti sees not just the violent death of an individual but says: âIf the truth were known it would call into question the entire state system and the social order it representsâ. And that troubling implication is probably the reason why the mainstream press has suppressed the work of those who researched the circumstances of Kennedyâs death. In his investigation Parenti had focussed on the troubling contradictions In Lee Harvey Oswaldâs life to add to the proof that Oswald was at best a âpatsyâ.
Michael Parenti is one of the nations leading progressive political analysts. He has taught at colleges and universities in the US and abroad. With roots in a working class Italian district in New York City and a PhD in political science from Yale, Parenti is an internationally known lecturer and author. An extended text of this talk can be found in Parentiâs book: Dirty Truths, published by City Lights in 1996.