{"object":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"59434"},"creditline":{"label":"Credit Line","value":"The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection"},"labelText":{"label":"Description","value":"Photocopy of one-page typed letter from Jim Bishop to Robert Loomis, the Editor of Random House, written on April 4, 1966 in which Bishop states that he will be going ahead with his book on President Kennedy's assassination despite Mrs. Kennedy's objections. This copy is a photocopy of the original typed letter. In the letter, Bishop admits that \"when Mrs. John F. Kennedy warned she would shut off my sources of information, she wasn't speaking idly. They have been shut.\" Jim Bishop goes on to state that there is no rush to publish his book. Not only does he not want to engage in a publishing race with William Manchester, Manchester's book \"The Death of a President,\" which was endorsed as the \"official\" account by the Kennedy family, will then become source material for his and \"dozens of Kennedy books as yet unborn.\" Bishop concludes the letter to Robert Loomis by stating that he intends to do research for a book on Washington before he tackles the book on Kennedy, which will require a great deal of digging and research."},"invno":{"label":"Object number","value":"2018.071.0003"},"description":{"label":"Description","value":"Photocopy of one page typed letter to Robert Loomis at Random House from Jim Bishop, 04/04/1966. It is very likely that this letter was originally written by Jim Bishop. It is unsigned, but the context of the letter makes it extremely likely. Letter is discussing the writting and publishing a book about the Kennedy assassination despite Mrs. Kennedy's objections. The reference to the author's wife \"Kelly\" at the end of the letter also supports the author's identity as Jim Bishop.\r\n\r\nThe text of the letter reads as follows:\r\n\r\nCopy to Mrs. K\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\tApril 4, 1966\r\nMr. Robert Loomis, Editor\r\nRandom House\r\n457 Madison Avenue\r\nNew York, New York\r\n\r\nDear Bob:\r\n\t\r\n\tThank you for the kind note. I appreciate it. My\r\nintention remains the same: to complete one more book before doing\r\nthe Kennedy thing. The book about the president requires enormous\r\nresearch, and when Mrs. John F. Kennedy warned that she would shut\r\noff my sources of information, she wasn\u2019t speaking idly. They have\r\nbeen shut.\r\n\tStill, the book is a natural for me and I intend to write it.\r\nI have no desire to hurry, so that my book may be published before hers.\r\nIn fact, it does not seem to have occurred to the Kennedy family that,\r\nonce their book is published, it becomes source material for all other\r\nbooks to follow. The Sorenson and Schlesinger books are now used as\r\nbibliography for dozens of Kennedy books as yet unborn, so what will\r\nprevent authors tomorrow and a hundred years from tomorrow from using\r\nwhatever small pickings may be found in the Manchester book?\r\n\tWhat was the President\u2019s source material for Profiles in Courage?\r\nOld books. What was my source for The Day Christ Died and The Day\r\nLincoln Was Shot? No eyewitnesses were available. Those subjects had\r\nbeen done hundreds of times. Still, the Lincoln book sold over\r\n3,000,000 copies; the Christ book has passed 2,750,000. I cannot\r\ntolerate a race between Manchester and me toward the publication of a \r\nbook which will be written again and again and again. Patience, my\r\nfriend. Let the Washington book come first, then Kennedy. If the\r\nWashington research does not start soon, I will go back to prodding\r\non the Warren Commission Report. After that, Dallas. The Texas\r\nsection alone will require a lot of digging.\r\n\tKelly and I expect to be in New York May 10th\u2014Ginny is having\r\nher 7th\u2014and we will stop in for lunch.\r\n\r\n\tBest Wishes,\r\n\r\nCondition note:The photocopied page is in excellent condition with no damage noted. [Stephanie Allen-Givens, 11/02/2020]"},"medium":{"label":"Medium","value":"Paper"},"onview":{"label":"On View","value":"0"},"media":{"label":"Media","value":[{"mediaURL":"https://emuseum.jfk.org/internal/media/dispatcher/61446/full","displayOrder":"0","mediaType":"Image","mediaId":"61446"},{"mediaURL":"https://emuseum.jfk.org/internal/media/dispatcher/62282/full","displayOrder":"0","mediaType":"Document","mediaId":"62282"}]},"title":{"label":"Title","value":"Photocopy of typed letter to Robert Loomis at Random House from Jim Bishop"},"classification":{"label":"Classifications","value":"Documents"},"primaryMedia":{"label":"PrimaryMedia","value":"/internal/media/dispatcher/61446/full"},"thesconcepts":{"label":"Terms","value":["Letters","Author","Kennedy, John F.","Kennedy, Jacqueline","Bishop, Jim","Manchester, William","Warren Commission","Warren Report","New York"]},"culture":{"label":"Object","value":"Letter"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"04/04/1966"},"width":{"label":"Width","value":["21.5900431801"]},"textEntriesTextentries":{"label":"Curatorial Commentary","value":["Jim Bishop (1907-87) started his journalistic career at the New York Daily Mirror in 1930. He would go on to serve as associate editor of Collier's Magazine, executive editor of Liberty Magazine and a longtime columnist with King Features Syndicate, though by the 1950s he was primarily recognized as a best-selling author. In addition to a series of religious titles, his 1955 examination of the Lincoln assassination, The Day Lincoln Was Shot, sold more than 3 million copies. He continued his focus on the presidency the following year with a Cosmopolitan article, \"A Day with Dwight D. Eisenhower.\" He had just completed the manuscript for the book, A Day in the Life of President Kennedy, ten days before the assassination. The book was published the following year and was one of the top ten books in sales for 1964. A follow-up title, A Day in the Life of President Johnson, was published in 1967. Some four years after his correspondence with Mrs. Kennedy, Bishop's The Day Kennedy Was Shot was finally published in 1968. As of 2020, the book remains in print more than half a century later. - Stephen Fagin, Curator","Even though this letter is unsigned, it is very likely that this letter was originally written by Jim Bishop. The context of the letter, which discusses the writting and publishing of a book about the Kennedy assassination despite Mrs. Kennedy's objections, as well as the reference to the author's wife \"Kelly\" at the end of the letter, supports the author's identity as Jim Bishop. - Stephanie Allen-Givens, Collections and Exhibits Manager","Despite Mrs. Kennedy's objections, Jim Bishop proceeded with his book, The Day Kennedy Was Shot, which was published in 1968. - Stephanie Allen-Givens, Collections and Exhibits Manager"]},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"66136"},"dimensions":{"label":"Dimensions","value":"11 × 8 1/2 in. (27.9 × 21.6 cm)"},"height":{"label":"Height","value":["27.9400558801"]}}]}