Nicholas Branch in Libra
In Libra , Don DeLillo provides a fictional account of the events leading up to Kennedy’s assassination in 1963. He constructs a complicated plot that involves many more characters than Lee Harvey Oswald alone. However, interspersed between chapters focusing on Oswald and the deep state forces plotting to kill Kennedy, DeLillo weaves in a small storyline featuring Nicholas Branch. Branch is a retired CIA analyst who is hired to write the secret history of Kennedy’s assassination (15). He spends hours pouring over every detail and piece of evidence sent his way in an attempt to better understand what happened leading up to the infamous 6 seconds in Dallas. Branch plays a subtle but important role throughout the book. Although DeLillo lays out a convincing conspiracy, his inclusion of Branch’s character acts as a reminder to readers that the story that’s being told about the assassination has been constr...