In Seymour Hersh’s insightful book, The Samson Option, which addresses Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal, Hersh covers John Kennedy’s fight to stop Israel’s nuclear proliferation. He writes that Kennedy was “fixated” on stopping the Jewish state’s nuclear build up.
Another interesting point in Hersh’s book is that the Democrat John Kennedy appointed a Republican, John A. McCone, to lead the C.I.A. because McCone was not afraid to confront Israel about its nuclear weapons work at Dimona. In 1965 McCone resigned because Lyndon Johnson was afraid to confront Israel as Kennedy had done and Johnson was scared he would lose Jewish votes and support if he did try to stop Israel’s nuclear weapons program. In 1965 the Gilpatric report, which has since been declassified, called for the U.S. to pressure other nations, including Israel, to not build nuclear weapons. Johnson ignored and suppressed the report. Every politician after Kennedy toed the line with the Israeli lobby after the assassination of John Kennedy.