The Spy Who Squished Me

Prolific local author Philip Myers, 68, has published his latest book, Squished: Jackie Kennedy, Espionage, Murder and Me.

The revelatory tome combines facts Myers gleaned from working with former First Lady Jackie Kennedy, whom he got to know through his work with the Santa Barbara Committee on Foreign Relations. Myers is a Stanford University Phi Beta Kappa graduate who has made 58 trips to Russia over 25 years.

“It assumes Jackie took a CIA job actually offered to her in 1951 and kept it,” says Philip about the book from his home in Palm Springs. “The marriage to JFK is arranged by the CIA unknown to him, but known to his father, Joe.

“She remained an agent all her life, collaborated with the Russian spy of Squished, who was murdered in a staged auto accident in France.”

Philip, who has written 14 books, started work on his book in 1992.

“Jackie and I collaborated on the research for two and a half years. When she died in 1994, work largely halted, but bit by bit I gathered more information. It really took off again in 2006 when a book on Cold War espionage, The Main Enemy, appeared and its information dovetailed with him, allowing me to identify tentatively a Russian mole in the U.S. government who had been involved in the murder.”

A work worthy of Ian Fleming.