Psychological Blueprints of Two Men Line Up Like the Brothers They were Accused of Assassinating
Two men. Two murders. Two assassinated brothers. Two moments that changed American history forever. But beneath the bullets and conspiracy theories lies a darker, less-explored truth: sometimes, killers aren’t built in backrooms or by shadowy forces—they’re shaped in plain sight. Breakdown rips the cover off the polite narratives and drills into the raw, unnerving parallels between two disturbed young men whose paths to infamy followed eerily similar tracks. This isn’t about who pulled the trigger—it’s about what drove them there.
In Breakdown, criminologist Dr. John Brady offers a provocative and unprecedented psychological profile of two young men whose names remain etched in American tragedy: Lee Harvey Oswald and Sirhan Sirhan. Without re-litigating guilt or innocence, Brady focuses on what’s long been neglected—the common psychological and criminal patterns that shaped these men’s inner lives and violent trajectories.
What do we really know about what drove these two 24-year-olds toward acts of lethal aggression? Breakdown digs deep into the criminal motivators, fractured identities, and unstable developmental histories that link Oswald and Sirhan across time and circumstance. It’s a comparative true-crime investigation—less about who pulled the trigger, and more about how parallel paths of alienation, delusion, and unresolved rage took root in two troubled minds.
Dr. Brady is available for interviews to explain how both men, shaped by unstable childhoods, ideological extremism, and antisocial personality traits, exhibit disturbing psychological overlap. His book explores the factors that may have warped each man’s moral reasoning, disconnected them from social norms, and pointed them toward political violence as a personal resolution.
With decades of expertise in criminal behavior and forensic psychology, Brady delivers more than speculation—he builds a case for why we must better understand how ideology, trauma, and mental instability combine to produce real-world violence.
Breakdown is essential reading for anyone trying to understand not just two dark chapters of American history, but the deeper forces that keep repeating themselves.
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OPTIONAL Q&A
- What initially drew you to compare the psychological profiles of Lee Harvey Oswald and Sirhan Sirhan?
- In your research, what were the most striking behavioral or emotional similarities between the two men?
- How did childhood trauma or instability play a role in shaping their criminal thought processes?
- Do Oswald and Sirhan show signs of shared personality disorders or psychological pathologies?
- To what extent did political ideology distort their personal grievances into violent intent?
- What role did isolation, alienation, or detachment from society play in both of their lives?
- How does understanding their mental composition help us prevent future acts of political violence?
- What are the risks of ignoring psychological factors in analyzing high-profile criminal cases?
ABOUT DR. JOHN BRADY…
Dr. John Brady is a forensic psychologist who for 25 years has spent hours analyzing why individuals commit heinous crimes, providing testimony in numerous criminal cases, and writing six books taken directly from his professional clinical work and court records.
Having worked with some of the nation’s top defense attorneys, prosecutors, private investigators, judges and even perpetrators themselves, Dr. Brady holds that powerbrokers in some of the most prosperous communities often work to hide the evil lurking within some of the biggest work hubs, endangering the public by withholding information.
Dr. Brady, who has written about why wealthy women shoplift to why individuals commit horrific mass-murders, can explain the step-by-step journey taken in the perpetrators’ unconscious journey into darkness.
“It is possible to learn to identify the hidden reasons for crime,” said Dr. Brady, “to understand what leads an individual to the breaking point.”
Whether such behaviors can be attributed to depression, to over-medication with anti-psychotic drugs, or to disorders such as dissociative identity disorder, Dr. Brady can discuss why the criminal is often caught in their own trap.
Books by Dr. Brady include:
PSYCHOLOGICAL DNA: A Cold Case Analysis of Who Killed Robert F. Kennedy
Men of steal: A brief look at the psychology of Celebrity Theft
Klepto-Bismo: Big Pharma, Shoplifting and Psychiatric Deception
