JFK Assassination references in “The Irishman”

[Charles Collins]

I watched the movie today and enjoyed it. One thing that shocked  me more than a little was the flag at half-mast at the teamsters union headquarters in Washington DC after the JFK assassination (like the others all over the country and probably elsewhere). The movie shows Hoffa’s reaction as he noticed it. And Hoffa subsequently forcing his union employees to raise it to the top of the mast as a show disrespect to JFK.

Did this actually happen that way?

[Royell Storing]

I watched the movie today and enjoyed it. One thing that shocked  me more than a little was the flag at half-mast at the teamsters union headquarters in Washington DC after the JFK assassination (like the others all over the country and probably elsewhere). The movie shows Hoffa’s reaction as he noticed it. And Hoffa subsequently forcing his union employees to raise it to the top of the mast as a show disrespect to JFK.

Did this actually happen that way?

    Do Not know if the half mast routine really happened, but with AG Bobby Kennedy having created a "Get Hoffa Squad" inside the Justice Dept, Hoffa felt justified in any course of action he chose to take.  Hoffa was also against the Mob Bosses cutting a deal with Joe Kennedy to secure Illinois for JFK in the "60" election. Once JFK failed to provide the air support for the Bay Of Pigs Invasion, and the Mafia then knew that they were Never going to get their Cuban casinos back/open as Joe Kennedy had promised, JFK was toast.

[Charles Collins]

    Do Not know if the half mast routine really happened, but with AG Bobby Kennedy having created a "Get Hoffa Squad" inside the Justice Dept, Hoffa felt justified in any course of action he chose to take.  Hoffa was also against the Mob Bosses cutting a deal with Joe Kennedy to secure Illinois for JFK in the "60" election. Once JFK failed to provide the air support for the Bay Of Pigs Invasion, and the Mafia then knew that they were Never going to get their Cuban casinos back/open as Joe Kennedy had promised, JFK was toast.

Have you read the book? Does it claim that the half-mast routine is really true? Or was this just something that the Hollywood folks thought would make for good drama in the movie?

[Royell Storing]

Have you read the book? Does it claim that the half-mast routine is really true? Or was this just something that the Hollywood folks thought would make for good drama in the movie?

    I have read the book and do Not recall if the half-mast routine was included. It might have been a throw away line in the book and dramatized to a greater extent in the movie. Hoffa's hatred for AG Bobby Kennedy and his "Get Hoffa" squad makes the half-mast flag raising easy to accept as being fact. Per the book, Nixon pardoned Hoffa for a $400,000 "contribution" to the Nixon Re-Election Campaign. The cash was carried by Hit Man Sheeran and handed directly to Nixon's AG John Mitchell. Unknown to Hoffa at the time was the pardon also included the caveat that Hoffa could Not run for President of the Teamster's Union until 1980. I would guess that Nixon also got a kick back/$$$ from current Teamster Pres Frank Fitzsimmons for inclusion of that caveat. Raising a flag from half-mast is duck soup in comparison to what Hoffa wanted done to the prominent names on his lengthy enemies list. 

[Royell Storing]

There's a reference to the funeral, so it's being implied that Hoffa raised the flag before the funeral.

Maybe he had the flag raised back up late on the 25th, after the funeral. Or the following day. Maybe it was a decision out of Hoffa's hands.

According to an account from an official who was at the Teamsters Headquarters in DC, Hoffa in Miami on the 22nd complained that the flag had been lowered at the Headquarters. Could be that over time this evolved into Hoffa personally having something to do with it being raised back up. Some accounts have Hoffa ordering the flag not to be lowered and that it wasn't.

Took at the dramatic license the "JFK" movie took and how truth was distorted.

   'Truth distorted" in Stone's JFK? Be specific. No "JFK" = No ARRB

[Paul May]

Bill Paxton was an eight year old in the crowd in Fort Worth to see JFK on the day Kennedy died. He became a successful actor and co-produced the movie "Parkland" based on the book "Four Days in November". He may have had other LN-type projects in mind but died mysteriously at age 61 in 2017, some days after open-heart surgery.

The "official" line was that Paxton had suffered rheumatic fever as a child, which damaged his heart. Still some wonder if he was silenced by rogue elements of the CT community.

Some still wonder? Who are some of these people?

[Paul May]

The is likely one of the most boring films I’ve seen in recent years. Surprised at Scorsese. Way to long. Pesci, DiNiro and Pacino are very average in their roles. Not in the same league as Goodfellas, Casino or The Departed as a mob movie.