The fifty-first anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on Nov. 22 underscored a threat that the murder has intimidated JFK successors in both parties.

New historical books and ongoing headlines on current affairs paint a grim portrait of an unpunished assassination by a cabal so powerful that its successors decisively influenced the Johnson, Nixon and Ford presidencies and, arguably, Washington policymaking as recent as this month.

Meanwhile, a complacent mainstream media and academic community glosses over key facts pointing to a CIA-implemented coup d’etat against JFK likely involving as CIA-orchestrated Cuban exiles, Mafia and selected other government personnel or assets, including Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby.

The cover-up’s impact on current policy is illustrated by Nov. 21 House report denying irregularities in the 2012 Benghazi massacre and the Obama administration’s reluctance to release a Senate report on CIA misconduct.

Today’s column explores the CIA’s unaccountable power in these issues extending over decades. The topic comprises the twentieth installment of the Justice Integrity Project’s “JFK Assassination Readers Guide,” whose previous segments are listed below.