SENATOR FULBRIGHT’S 1963 AIPAC HEARING IN THE SHADOW OF THE JFK ASSASSINATION CONSPIRACY

Kobby Barda

doi:10.1093/mj/kjag012

SENATOR FULBRIGHT’S 1963 AIPAC HEARING IN THE SHADOW OF THE JFK ASSASSINATION CONSPIRACY

Kobby Barda

Department of General History

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article examines the 1963 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing led by Senator J. William Fulbright, which scrutinized whether the American–Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) predecessor should have registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and its implications for U.S. political lobbying and foreign influence regulation. In light of the recent public release of the JFK assassination files by President Donald Trump, which have been exploited by antisemitic conspiracy theorists to falsely claim that AIPAC orchestrated President Kennedy’s assassination to avoid losing its legal status, this article situates the 1963 hearing within a broader historical debate over AIPAC’s identity as a domestic American organization versus a foreign agent. The study engages with archival records, contemporary media coverage, and congressional transcripts to provide a detailed, evidence-based analysis of the political, legal, and diplomatic dynamics surrounding the Fulbright hearing and its lasting significance for U.S.–Israel relations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	103-117
Number of pages	15
Journal	Modern Judaism
Volume	46
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/mj/kjag012
State	Published - May 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected] for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact [email protected].

Keywords

AIPAC
Isaiah Kenen
U.S.–Israel relations
foreign agents registration act (FARA)
senator J. William Fulbright

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cultural Studies
History
Religious studies
Sociology and Political Science
Political Science and International Relations

Access to Document

10.1093/mj/kjag012

Cite this

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title = "SENATOR FULBRIGHT{\textquoteright}S 1963 AIPAC HEARING IN THE SHADOW OF THE JFK ASSASSINATION CONSPIRACY",

abstract = "This article examines the 1963 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing led by Senator J. William Fulbright, which scrutinized whether the American{\textendash}Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) predecessor should have registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and its implications for U.S. political lobbying and foreign influence regulation. In light of the recent public release of the JFK assassination files by President Donald Trump, which have been exploited by antisemitic conspiracy theorists to falsely claim that AIPAC orchestrated President Kennedy{\textquoteright}s assassination to avoid losing its legal status, this article situates the 1963 hearing within a broader historical debate over AIPAC{\textquoteright}s identity as a domestic American organization versus a foreign agent. The study engages with archival records, contemporary media coverage, and congressional transcripts to provide a detailed, evidence-based analysis of the political, legal, and diplomatic dynamics surrounding the Fulbright hearing and its lasting significance for U.S.{\textendash}Israel relations.",

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N2 - This article examines the 1963 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing led by Senator J. William Fulbright, which scrutinized whether the American–Israel Public Affairs Committee's (AIPAC) predecessor should have registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and its implications for U.S. political lobbying and foreign influence regulation. In light of the recent public release of the JFK assassination files by President Donald Trump, which have been exploited by antisemitic conspiracy theorists to falsely claim that AIPAC orchestrated President Kennedy’s assassination to avoid losing its legal status, this article situates the 1963 hearing within a broader historical debate over AIPAC’s identity as a domestic American organization versus a foreign agent. The study engages with archival records, contemporary media coverage, and congressional transcripts to provide a detailed, evidence-based analysis of the political, legal, and diplomatic dynamics surrounding the Fulbright hearing and its lasting significance for U.S.–Israel relations.

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SENATOR FULBRIGHT’S 1963 AIPAC HEARING IN THE SHADOW OF THE JFK ASSASSINATION CONSPIRACY

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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