As we
approach the fifty year anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s death, the
same questions linger in the air like a dense smoke that refuses to dissipate. Looking
backward we still see a tangled web of information regarding the death of
America’s first Catholic President.
Utterly
necessary for any successful body of research requires the researcher to put
themselves inside the map. In order to truly understand the propensity of his
assassination, it must be understood the mentality of the era in which JFK was
President.
Born May 29,
1917, no one knew he would later become the thirty fifth President of these
United States. Often referred to as the “Roaring Twenties”, this decade stands
out as a turning point in American society.
Victorian elements fade away and the era of the flapper takes center
stage. The U.S. solidified its status as a world power and we witness a major
shift in American domestic life.
Kennedy was
born in an exciting era full of remarkable changes. Prohibition was set into
action just as he was brought into this world. Henry Ford developed his
assembly line and “revolutionized production” (academicamerican.com). Women’s Rights
movements began and Darwin’s theory of evolution is tried and banned from being
taught in schools. The first “talkie” films are brought to theatres. The
twenties were a time of cutting loose, enjoying freedom and finding new
pathways of pleasure.
All the
energy of the twenties meets a brick wall as the Stock Market Crashes in 1929.
This event leads to a series of circumstances that propel America into the
Great Depression.
Fast forward
to the fifties and we find President Kennedy now in his thirties, surrounded by
a whole new list of societal obstacles. Civil Rights movements become a full
force operation. The end of World War II unleashes “…an energy never before
experienced” (lonestar.edu). The country is again in a state of flux, unrest,
and great societal pressure for change.
Three
million are unemployed. The average salary is less than three thousand dollars
per year. The labor force is 5:2 Male to female. A loaf of bread costs a mere
fourteen cents (lonestar.edu).
On January 2,
1960, after much disseminating material against the Catholic Church had become
widespread, John Fitzgerald Kennedy began to solidify his campaign. Later that
same year, at forty three years of age, he defeated Richard Nixon
(jfklibrary.org). JFK “was the youngest man elected President; he was the youngest
to die” (whitehouse.gov).
As JFK began
his role as President of the United States, he was confronted by many situations
of large importance. Civil Rights movements were at an all-time high and much
violence was associated with its presence. The KKK was a powerful faction
dedicated to the segregation, subjugation and elimination of the African race.
The Vietnam War was a major focus as we went in with much passion from those
who objected it. (historynet.com)
Perhaps,
more important than any other crisis to be considered during his timeframe as
President, we must focus on the Bay of Pigs, and all the layers of thought
associated with it. The Cuban Missile Crisis stemmed from the Cold War and
presented a “clear and present danger”. Anyone paying attention would be very
wary of Fidel Castro especially considering his relationship with Khrushchev. JFK
was briefed on a plan that had been put into existence during the realm of
Eisenhower. The CIA had the major stated goal of developing a Cuban government
that was United States friendly, and it was agreed that would mean the removal
of Castro. Leader of the Cuban Revolutionary Council, Jose Miro Cardona was
poised and ready to become President of Cuba were their plan of invasion to
conclude successfully (jfklibrary.org).
It seems
plausible when all information is carefully regarded that the President did not
know what the CIA knew regarding the Cuban invasion. It also seems completely
credible to agree that the other government agencies were not in harmony on
this matter. With so much going on in one country at the same time, it is hard
to imagine how Kennedy maintained composure.
The failed
invasion at the Bay of Pigs caused the Kennedy Administration much embarrassment
and stress. Our relations with Castro’s Cuba remained “strained and tenuous”
(jfklibrary.org).
There are
many stories that intertwine into the life of President Kennedy; many elements
to be considered while pondering information and postulating theories. One
prominent story in his time was the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King, a
minister’s son, was a highly educated man. He was a man that lived by his
strong sense of morality but one that believed civil disobedience could affect
necessary change. His life and the life of JFK weave in and out of one another
immeasurably.
Dr. King was
a black man in the middle of heightened KKK power; in the middle of heightened
awareness of just what it meant to be black in America in the fifties. Dr. King
believed in JFK, privately voting for him in 1960 and stated, “I felt that
Kennedy would make the best President…had (he) lived I would publicly have
endorsed him in 1964 (Hachette Digital, Autobiography of Martin Luther King,
Jr. p, 187)”.
In the words
of Dr. King, “Agape is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return…When
you rise to love on this level, you love all men not because you like them, not
because their ways appeal to you, but you love them because God loves them.
This is what Jesus meant when He said, ‘Love your enemies’…I’ve seen too much
hate to want to hate, myself, and I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many
sheriffs, too many white citizens’ councilors, and too many Klansmen of the
South to want to hate, myself; and every time I see it, I say to myself, hate
is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up before our
most bitter opponents and say…do to us what you will and we will still love you
(King, Martin Luther, Trumpet of Conscience p. 73-74).”
How could
JFK, also a passionate and intelligent man who believed in progressive change,
not be moved by the words of a man such as Martin Luther King? Months before
Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, JFK proposed action that would offer “the
kind of equality of treatment which we would want for ourselves
(taylormarsh.com).”
President
Kennedy met with MLK and other civil rights leaders August 28, 1963 just three
short months before his assassination (usliberals.about.com). If the KKK was
composed of many high ranking US officials, would it be so ridiculous to
postulate a theory where they got rid of the President due to his serious
involvement in aiding the Civil Rights Movement?
There are so
many theories put forward, many of which are utterly ridiculous, and some of
which hold high merit. The Warren Commission interviewed five hundred fifty two
witnesses. They published a final report that was almost nine hundred pages
long! Still, the truth is a mystery in a country where so much is documented
and recorded by her citizens.
In the era
we now find ourselves, we are not so quick to trust the government. However, in
the fifties and sixties that unrest had only just begun. The general population
at the time of Kennedy’s presidency had implicit faith in the structure of the
government. America was still something worth dying for to most of her
citizenry.
The public
was shocked awake as they realized that the theory being proposed was pretty
preposterous! How could one bullet turn so many times? How could one person be
responsible for all that happened that day? If the government was trying to
cover up a conspiracy of this proportion what else did the American public not
know?
Lee Harvey
Oswald was arrested and titled as the assassin. He was shot a short time later,
destroying a link that might have ended up helping tremendously. The theory of
the “lone nut” was the most populated and perhaps the most widely accepted, at
first.
Over the
years, many other theories have surfaced some that hold strong threads of
truth. Perhaps, it was Lyndon B. Johnson. He stood to benefit greatly by taking
over the Presidency. It was well known that J. Edgar Hoover despised the
Kennedy family. It was also common knowledge that Hoover and Johnson were close
friends. Could it have been a man who swore the Kennedy’s would not “embarrass
him again” just a few nights prior to the assassination?
Another
postulated theory is that of the Israelis. Kennedy would not allow them to have
nuclear weaponry. Could their leaders have planned an assassination in
retaliation against Kennedy because they did not get their way?
What if it
was his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy jealous over affairs that the Kennedy family
was notorious for? What if she had simply had enough of not feeling the most
special to him? What if was better for her if he were dead than sleeping with
Marilyn Monroe?
We can
consider, the driver, Oswald, the Mafia, the CIA, the KKK, Castro himself, the
Israeli’s, and so many other theories that have continued to surface over the
last five decades. Yet, what we all really want to know is what really
happened?
Arlen
Specter, an ambitious junior counselor was the author of the single bullet
theory. Both the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee adopted this
stance.
Though the
Warren Commission is focused on more harshly, the Select Committee’s findings
were of the same basic nature. Both the Commission and the Committee try to
explain the assassination with the defining characteristic of a bullet that
seemingly makes several sharp turns.
Due to
acoustical evidence, the Select Committee proposes the existence of a second
gunman; although, he is assumed to have missed everything. The House Committee
decided the first shot misses and the Warren Commission never decides.
The House
Select Committee concurs pretty emphatically with all the Warren Commission
infers except on the element of conspiracy.
The Zapruder
film coming forward allows people to view a recording of the assassination. It
is hard to watch it and believe that there is no one on the grassy knoll. The
President does not look toward the Depository but toward the knoll. Was there a
firing squad behind the fence?
Furthermore,
if the admission of the Dictabelt recording is accepted as actuality, the
acoustical experts who studied it state it is ninety five percent likely that a
shot was fired from the grassy knoll. This would disprove the Warren
Commission’s non-conspiracy approach. It would also disprove the possibility of
Oswald being the “lone nut” (youtube.com/Zapruder Film with Dictabelt Recording
2).
A few months
after the assassination and too much evidence has been set forward to confirm
the story the government hoped we would accept as truth. Now, we have an FBI
that is embarrassed, and a mortified Justice Department trying with all their
might to silence the Press.
By 1976,
eighty one percent of Americans which answered the Gallup Polls believe that
Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone and that there was indeed a conspiracy
(Ebenkamp, Becky, Only the Grassy Knoll Knows, Brandweek, Vol. 42, Issue 15,
p18).
The American
Public has been deeply moved by this story for decades now. What does it mean
when a President is assassinated? What does it mean when a government is caught
in a lie? What does it mean when those meant to protect us set out to deceive
us? What do we do when we can no longer be led?
President
Kennedy’s story may never be known exactly. It seems most plausible to believe
that the iron triangle created between the Mafia, the Cuban exiles and the CIA
(especially Operation Mongoose) must be the predominant suspect. President
Kennedy was a young President who was fired up and ready to make a remarkable
difference. He intended to pull out of Vietnam which upset the balance of many Joint
Chiefs of Staff and many four and five star Generals. He was after Fidel Castro
and perhaps Castro arrived at him first. He double crossed mobsters and we all
know how much power they had once upon a time. So much speculation has been
made but will the absolute truth ever be known?
Deep in the
heart of CIA machinations, I believe we could find our solid answer. However, I
do not see the arrival of that day after fifty years of confusion, speculation
and tireless research. The American people deserve an honest answer. We deserve
to know the truth. Ultimately, we deserved a President such as JFK! So much has
changed because of that fateful day.
No longer do
the American people take the words of her government at face value. No longer
do the American people believe what popular imagery would have them believe. No
longer do the American people rest in the most present propaganda. No longer do
we sit idly to be deceived by the ranks of governmental control.
My closing
question is, when will we rise to challenge the forces that have the power but
so clearly do not emulate the truth or what is best for the American People?
Long live
the memory and the story as adulterated as it has become, of President John
Fitzgerald Kennedy!
“Time is
precious, but truth is more precious than time -Disraeli (Fonzi, Gaeton. The
Last Investigation, 1993).”
References:
·
Fonzi,
Gaeton. The Last Investigation. Thunder’s Mouth Press. 1993.
·
Jfklibrary.org
·
King,
Martin Luther. The Trumpet of Conscience. Harper & Row Publishers. 1967.
·
Archives.gov/research/jfk/select.committee
·
Usliberals.about.com
·
King,
Martin Luther. Autobiography of. Hachette Digital. P. 187. ISBN
978-0-446-52412-4.
·
Taylormarsh.org
·
Ebenkamp,
Becky. Only the grassy knoll knows. Brandweek, Volume 42. Issue 15. P. 18.
·
Environmentalgraffiti.com
·
Time.com
·
Academicamerican.com
·
Lonestar.edu
·
Whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy
·
Ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/23022
·
Youtube.com
(JFK Assassination The Full Original Dictabelt Recording/Zapruder Film with
Dictabelt Recording)
·
JFK
The Book of the Film: the Documented Screenplay. Oliver Stone, Zachary Sklar.
Hal Leonard Corporation. 1992.
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