Bill O’Reilly is a journalist and commentator best known for hosting The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News from 1996 to 2017. O’Reilly often referred to his show as the “No Spin Zone,” with the underlying implication of a straight-talk, facts-based, no-nonsense program that would appeal to a large number of viewers. He also promises to take this approach in Killing Kennedy. For a time, O’Reilly was wildly successful, and The O’Reilly Factor regularly earned the highest ratings of any prime-time show in cable news. Likewise, his Killing series with coauthor Martin Dugard has sold millions of copies.

Later in his career, however, O’Reilly faced mounting controversies. Critics charged that he exaggerated or falsified certain incidents in his experience as a journalist, including his claim in Killing Kennedy that he “heard the shotgun blast that marked the suicide” of George de Mohrenschildt (300). In 2017, revelations that O’Reilly and Fox News had settled a series of sexual-misconduct lawsuits by paying millions of dollars to six different women led to the host’s departure from the network. Given this context, it is notable that Killing Kennedy highlights President Kennedy’s extramarital affairs and even notes that Jackie Kennedy regarded her husband’s behavior toward Marilyn Monroe as predatory.