Why did you give your book the title of 'Back Channel'?
Answer
“Back Channel” is a term that I came up with in a conversation with JFK in early June 1962. It is meant to describe a means for one government to communicate with another government via a communications conduit which is wholly outside the formal, official channels of communication and a channel which is totally deniable. I’m sure that sort of non-official communication existed in every previous administration since the founding of the country. I just invented a name for it.Search result for 'Back Channel' in Back Channel The Kennedy Years
Chapter 1:
An Underwater Approach to the White House
105.
"... terribly busy so let me not detain you any longer. I’ll contact you after the Lieutenant and I have finished our discussions.”
- Back Channel Inception -
He sat back down and said, “Now that we have a little time together, why don’t you take me back to the very beginning of this ..."
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Chapter 2:
Bertie in the White House
"...Back Channelany question, the most important thing that happened that day (as the culmination of the intense Back Channel communication) was a late night visit by Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet Ambassador to the United States, to the office of Robert F. Kennedy, who had invited him. After a long and ..."
"...Back Channelynin was a charming, extremely intelligent man who was born on November 16, 1919 and died at age 90 on April 6, 2010. His father was a locksmith. Dobrynin served as the Soviet Ambassador to the United States from 1962 to 1986 - from John. F. Kennedy to ..."
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Chapter 3:
Camelot
"...Back Channelasn’t part of the inner circle surrounding President Kennedy can imagine the intensity of that situation - and the fear that this really could be the beginning of a nuclear holocaust and the end of life on earth as we know it. I know I was petrified that I ..."
"...Back Channelt was mid-December 1962 when I had the luxury of time to reflect on what had happened and I wondered what was going to happen to me now that I was no longer needed as a Back Channel to Chairman Khrushchev. Fortunately, the President had been impressed by the ..."
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Chapter 5:
Evaluating Vietnam
"...Back Channel very much wanted to get out of Vietnam. In January 1963, I had served once again as Back Channel to Nikita Khrushchev who was surprisingly receptive to the idea of trying to achieve a negotiated solution – but in the end, it came to nothing. First of ..."
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Chapter 6:
Hyannis Port and Work
"...Back Channelll somebody for the first time in my life, which triggered a cascade of hapless innocent victims who got killed because of the simple fact that I exist - my limo driver, my Marine guard, the doorman and concierge at my apartment, Siddhi and his entire family – well, ..."
Search result for 'Back Channel' in the FAQs of Back Channel The Kennedy Years
What do you want your readers to come away with after reading 'Back Channel'?
What period of time does 'Back Channel' cover?
