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A plot to kill President elect John F. Kennedy in December 1960
barely got a mention in the Des Moines papers.
The Des Moines Tribune reported
the story on page 7 in the December 16, 1960 issue. Headline: “Plot to Kill
Kennedy, Man Seized.” The December 19 issue of the Des Moines Register buried
the story on page 9, lumping it in with an article titled, “Kennedy Sets Talks
On Bills.”
The Iowa City Press-Citizen was
the only paper to run the story on the front page. It was one small column
wedged between an article on the plane crash in New York and Christmas for
missing airmen. The tiny headline said: “Hold Man In Death Plot On Kennedy.”
The story that claimed the front page that
week was the crash of two airliners in New York, which claimed 126 lives. The
Kennedy story faded into the background.
And yet, what happened in Palm Beach that week
could have blown the entire decade apart.
The man at the center of it didn’t look like a
villain out of central casting. Richard Paul Pavlick, 73, was a retired postal
worker from Belmont, New Hampshire. The guy you’d expect to argue about stamps,
not wire a car full of dynamite.
But he’d convinced himself Kennedy was
dangerous. Too rich. Too Catholic. Propped up by “big money.” Pavlick decided
the country needed saving.
So he bought explosives.
Not one stick. Not a little bundle tucked
under a coat. Authorities later said there was enough dynamite in his Buick to
level a building. He rigged it with blasting caps and a detonator. The plan was
simple and horrifying: park close to Kennedy, hit the switch, and die along
with him.
This wasn’t Dallas. No rifle. No long
distance.
It was going to be a suicide car bomb in broad
daylight.
Kennedy was in Palm Beach in December 1960,
staying at his father’s estate and easing into the role of president-elect. He
hadn’t taken the oath yet. The inauguration was still weeks away. Security was
present, but nothing like the wall of protection that would surround presidents
after 1963.
Pavlick followed him.
