The Day of The Jackal - References To Historical Persons, Places or Events

References To Historical Persons, Places or Events

• Forsyth was a reporter for Reuters in France at the time of the novel's writing and borrowed much of his detail from actual incidents he reported on. These included the assassination attempt on de Gaulle at Petit-Clamart, and the arrest, trial, and execution of Bastien-Thiry. Likewise, the OAS did exist, inspired by the Gaullist government's 1962 cession of independence to Algeria after the Algerian War.
• The Jackal may have been partially inspired by an assassin employed by the French SDECE during the Algerian War, known only as "the Killer," who specialized in killing arms traffickers in creative ways (including a poison dart fired from a hand-propelled blowgun, and a limpet mine filled with ball bearings).
• Though virtually nothing of the Jackal's past history is explored, he finds several of his underworld contacts through an old friend whom he knew in Katanga, indicating he is an ex-mercenary with a military or quasi-military background. Forsyth also reported on European mercenaries' involvement with several African conflicts in the 1960s and 1970s, which inspired his third novel, The Dogs of War (1974).
• One of the potential candidates for the assassin considered by both Rodin and Lebel is an elderly ex-SS officer formerly employed as a contract killer for ODESSA, the underground organization of ex-Nazi war criminals. The ODESSA and its activities form the background of Forsyth's subsequent novel, The Odessa File (1972).
• Both Lebel and the Jackal refer to the deceased Roger Degueldre as the closest thing the OAS has to a professional political killer.
• At the time of his summons from the OAS, the Jackal has just completed the assassinations of two German missile engineers, recruited to work on President Nasser's heavy rocket program in Egypt. This recruiting effort, and the Egyptians' continuing pursuit of the program, likewise form part of the plot of The Odessa File.
• Thomas's SIS contact mentions the defection of Kim Philby in 1962, and the shake-up of the SIS's organization and personnel precipitated by it.
• Forsyth lauds de Gaulle's security forces as among the best in the world, and refers to an event (which may or may not have happened) in which de Gaulle's security advisors were invited to view the similar arrangements of the United States Secret Service, and came away with a derisive opinion - which, Forsyth writes, seems to have been borne out by the later assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963 (the year the novel takes place), in contrast to de Gaulle's death in 1970 from natural causes. However, Forsyth befriended most of De Gaulle's security detail while as a journalist for Reuters in Paris so this may be true.
• The enmity between the governments of France and the United Kingdom is largely ascribed to de Gaulle's forceful rejection, earlier in 1963, of the United Kingdom's bid to enter the European Common Market.
• The British Prime Minister is only beginning to recover from the stress caused by the Christine Keeler scandal earlier that year.