Besides detailing the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, The President Has Been Shot! also details Kennedy's actual presidency. Swanson lists what he presents as several achievements of the Kennedy administration. These include a focus on civil rights, the Bay of Pigs invasion, the establishment of the Peace Corps, and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. In doing so, Swanson argues for the importance of the Kennedy presidency to modern American history.  

Most of Swanson's focus is on Kennedy's actions and accomplishments in the context of the Cold War and on his opposition to Communism, especially as expressed through speeches and statements like the Berlin Wall speech (29-30) in which "he'd denounced the evils of Communism" (39). Even Kennedy's newfound commitment to civil rights is mostly interpreted in the context of the Cold War: Anti-civil rights violence "played into Communist propaganda that the United States was the land of hypocrisy and oppression of blacks, not liberty" (35). Domestically, Swanson focuses on the argument that Kennedy sought to lower taxes to improve the economy (34), a focus that arguably reflects Swanson's own modern conservative views.