October 14, 1996

This issue examined the escalating tensions in the Middle East following Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial decision to open a tunnel near Jerusalem's holiest sites, covered by Charles Krauthammer. The magazine also explored the enduring cultural fascination with JFK through Noemie Emery's essay on why the Kennedy mythology continued to captivate American imagination as "The Great American Novel." Andrew Ferguson's major investigation exposed the widespread reliance on focus group polling in political campaigns as fundamentally fraudulent, questioning the authenticity of political messaging in the 1996 election cycle.