Alfred Goldberg, historian who helped probe JFK assassination, dies at 105

An eminent scholar of military affairs, Dr. Goldberg served as chief historian for the office of the defense secretary for more than three decades.


Alfred Goldberg, who served as chief historian for the defense secretary's office for more than three decades, is shown in the mid-1990s. (Department of Defense)

By Brian Murphy
September 6, 2024 at 11:34 a.m. EDT

Alfred Goldberg, a prominent historian of U.S. military affairs who also shared moments as part of history, advising the Warren Commission that probed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and compiling insider accounts from the Pentagon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, died Sept. 3 at his home in Falls Church, Va. He was 105. … His granddaughter Rachel Goldberg confirmed the death but did not cite a cause.

A chance meeting launched his career. In England during World War II, he bumped into a well-placed college classmate who helped arrange a transfer from the mess hall to an assignment as a historian attached to Army Air Forces command within Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s war room. … Soon after the 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy, he entered France to begin a comprehensive history of U.S. air operations in the closing months of the war.

Over the next seven decades, Dr. Goldberg’s journals, interviews and books formed an indispensable archive tracking the dilemmas and decisions inside the Defense Department — often with privileged access as the chief historian for the defense secretary’s office from 1973 to 2007, spanning seven presidents and more than 10 defense chiefs. (Dr. Goldberg stayed on in a part-time role until 2013.)

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By Brian Murphy
Brian Murphy joined The Washington Post after more than 20 years as a foreign correspondent and bureau chief for the Associated Press in Europe and the Middle East. Murphy has reported from more than 50 countries and has written four books.follow on X @BrianFMurphy