1963 is the year everything began coming together for JFK. Down payments on nuclear disarmament, Vietnam withdrawal, and Cuban-American rapprochement. In a race with a national security apparatus intent on sabotaging his efforts, the President finally has the upper hand. Meanwhile, a plot to terminate JFK's presidency is progressing. The patsy is being sheepdipped and moved along to his final assignment. For two years, the Joint Chiefs and the CIA had been pointing to the end of 1963 as the last chance for a preemptive nuclear strike on the Soviets. It turned out to be the last chance to prevent a JFK-negotiated withdrawal from Vietnam, a JFK-negotiated nuclear arms disarmament treaty, a JFK-negotiated rapprochement with Cuba, and a JFK-negotiated truce in the Cold War. Time to act.