In The President’s Kill List, Luca Trenta reveals how the US government has relied on a variety of methods, from the use of poison to the delivery of sniper rifles, and from employing hitmen to simply laying the groundwork for local actors to do the deed themselves. It shows not only how policymakers decided on assassination but also the level of Presidential control over these decisions. Tracing the history of the US government’s approach to assassination, the book analyses the evolution of assassination policies and, for the first time, reveals how successive administrations – through private justifications and public legitimations – ensured assassination remained an available tool.

The book:

• Traces continuities in the conduct of US foreign policy and in the arguments used to justify and legitimate assassination plots
• Details the direct and indirect methods deployed by the US government to assassinate foreign officials
• Utilises extensive and often recently declassified archival material to unveil new details of Cold War and post-Cold War plots
• Analyses the secretive decision-making surrounding assassination plots, as well as the extent, nature, and role of presidential orders to kill
• Explores and exposes the euphemisms, innuendos, silences, and denials that have long characterised the US government’s approach to assassination