RIP Joan Mellen: Biographer, Historian, Film Critic, and JFK Scholar
Her books on Jim Garrison, Lyndon Johnson, George de Mohrenschildt, and the Cuban Revolution are a unique contribution to the history of the Kennedy era
I just heard that my friend Joan Mellen had passed. Dan Alcorn posted the sad news on the Assassination Archives and Research Center website.
A professor at Temple University and author of 20(!) books, Joan was a film critic, novelist, feminist, sports fan, and scholar of JFK’s assassination. Her books were fluent and well-informed. Beware if she disagreed with you on a JFK issue. I received more than one tongue-lashing from Joan for one of my opinions that she found half-baked, under-informed, and generally unworthy of further discussion.
But she had the soul of a teacher. In 2004, she was awarded one of Temple University’s coveted “Great Teacher” awards for outstanding achievement. When she wasn’t dressing me down, she could be quite sweet with her salty sense of humor.
Alcorn wrote:
Joan was a force in the research community. She could be harshly critical of work she did not like, but also warmly kind to those she favored. She was good to have on hand as I found at a conference when an overly zealous attendee rushed towards us. Joan blocked him with her cane and yelled at him demanding “What is wrong with you?” Joan questioned my work on Nazi influence in contemporary America, until the direction of events made the subject unavoidable.
How many people do I know who could talk knowledgeably about Luis Buñuel, Marilyn Monroe, Bobby Knight, and Lyndon Johnson? I can only think of one: Joan.
You can listen to my conversation with Joan from last year.
What did we talk about? What didn’t we talk about? We talked about:
how she met Jim Garrison
why her former husband and “dearest friend” Ralph Schoenman was “a world revolutionary”
their friendship with Gore Vidal
her one conversation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
much much more.
Or visit her Amazon page and prepare yourself to be impressed by the range of her curiosity and scholarship.
RIP Joan Mellen.
Joan was agreat scholar and researcher. Her work had a profound impact on the truths of the conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. May she Rest in Peace.
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A pretty outstanding review of her book on Jim Garrison's investigation by Doug Horne. Color me intrigued & this is going on the list.
>Review on Amazon: Better Late Than Never...I Wish I had Read This Book 4 Years Ago https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/review/B005MWN8DW/R23PG1FKJMC3AJ?