JFK: Was His Assassination Inevitable? Essay written by Unknown A popular misconception is that President John F. Kennedy’s assassination was an isolated event perpetrated by one man. This could not be farther from the truth. Instead, it was the result of a complex combination of domestic and foreign events.
When President Kennedy was in office, he had to deal with many issues, ranging from business and finance to crime-fighting and war issues. Perhaps it is not as important to decide who it was that killed him, but why. President Kennedy’s decisions and courses of action were not popular with everybody, and thus it is not surprising that his assassination was inevitable. The people who might have wanted John F. Kennedy dead can be classified into the following groups: Russians, Cubans, Mobsters (Organized Crime/Mafia), Special Agents (CIA), G-men (J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI), Rednecks and Oilmen (Right-wing Extremists), and the MIC (Military Industrial Complex).
Each group had its own motives for killing John F. Kennedy. Many of these groups that wanted JFK dead are very closely intertwined, so in order to understand each group, they will each be analyzed separately. In order to better understand the relationship between JFK, the Cubans and Russians, several important events must be mentioned and discussed. Two of the most important foreign affairs in Kennedy’s presidency were the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
During Eisenhower’s administration, Cuba was torn apart by revolution. The Cuban dictator, Batista, was an extremely corrupt man. While he was enjoying a luxurious life, the people of Cuba were in poverty. Thus it was not surprising when a rebellion, led by a man named Fidel Castro, took place.
The Term Paper on Jfk Assassination 3
Introduction November 22, 1963 is considered one of the darkest days in the history of the United States. Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas was the setting for one of the most horrific moments ever captured on video, in what has become one of the most controversial topics in US history. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy has raised many theories about what exactly happened that day in the ...
Batista, knowing that the majority of Cuba wanted him out, chose to flea rather than be caught and face execution. Once Batista was out of the way, Cuba was Castro’s for the taking. One of the first actions Castro took while in charge of Cuba was to close down all casinos. The people running them were either imprisoned or deported. Exploitation of Cuban workers by American was unacceptable to Castro, and he took immediate action against this. He believed American capitalists were taking advantage of the Cubans.
Angered by this aggressive attitude toward American ‘interests’, the United States government established a trade embargo, hoping the Cuban people would overthrow Castro and reinstate a more ‘American friendly’ leader. With a starving population on one side, and a broken economy on the other, Castro turned to Russia for help. Since Russia did not own any land or power in the US/Cuban region, Castro offered the Russians a chance to extend their sphere of influence. An opportunity which was not refused. Of course, the American government did not accept this situation readily. A plan to train and arm Cuban exiles who would return to Cuba to overthrow Castro was contrived.
This secret operation was viewed as far less dangerous than a direct invasion by American troops. As the election of 1960 approached, the CIA had already made plans to overthrow Castro with the Cuban exiles. However, to the surprise of just about everyone, a young John F. Kennedy defeated favorite Richard Nixon by the slimmest of margins. Nonetheless, the invasion had to go on.
The plan was to bomb Cuba’s airfields to prevent the Cuban military from killing the invading exiles. However, two things went wrong in the invasion. First, the CIA underestimated the Cuban army, and second, the airstrips were not all taken out, allowing the Cuban airforce to retaliate. Upon hearing news of this, the CIA told Kennedy that in order to succeed the US must provide air coverage for the exiles. Kennedy refused however, believing it would be foolish to provoke a crisis with the Soviets just in order to aid the exiles. Due to this, the exiles were given no chance and were quickly demolished, and the invasion had failed.
The Essay on The Cuban Revolution Cuba Castro Soviet
The Cuban Revolution Mr. Barron Jason Rosenzweig January 9, 1997 After the Cuban Revolution many change occurred in Cuba. Cuba was once a corrupt dictatorship, now and for the past 36 years Castro has led a communist government. Before Castro took over Batista, Batista ran a bossed economy for the rich. Officials took pay offs, keeping the majority of the peoples thoughts invisible. Protestors of ...
Now that Castro knew the United States’ intentions, he knew he was in immediate danger. Once again, he turned to Russia for aid. Castro realized the only way to assert his safety was to defend himself, and what he did was a very strategic move. He asked Russia to send nuclear missiles to Cuba, saying to the US that any more attempted invasions of Cuba would exact their price. For years now, the US was sending nuclear missiles to friendly countries around Russia in order to halt any Russian expansionism, and the Russians were more than eager to return the favor. This led to what is now known as the Cuban Missile Crisis.
On October 16, 1962 Kennedy called his closest advisors to the White House. The CIA had verified that nuclear missiles were indeed present in Cuba, Kennedy had to react fast. He eventually decided to launch a naval blockade to prevent any further missiles from entering Cuba. Though threatened by Russian Prime-Minister Nikita Khruschev Kennedy would not let this disturb him, and he did not stop the naval blockade. The Russian ships eventually returned home, with nuclear war being narrowly averted. However, one must consider what kind of relationship Kennedy had with both Castro and the Russians after the crisis.
Could the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile crisis made the Russians and or Cubans mad enough to kill Kennedy? As was mentioned before, many of the groups that might have wanted JFK dead are closely related. The CIA, the Military Industrial Complex, and maybe even the FBI were all involved in the situation in Cuba, and might of had their own reasons for wanting Kennedy dead. ‘I will smash the CIA into a thousand pieces’, said Kennedy after the disaster at the Bay of Pigs. The President soon commissioned a report to see why the Cuban invasion had failed. The results of the report were quite disturbing. It turned out that the CIA had intentionally lied to Kennedy even though they were fully aware the invasion was predestined to fail.
However, they did not tell him this so he could be pressured into providing air cover at the last minute. Kennedy later learned that the CIA had a secret plot to kill Castro, a plot which he would have vehemently opposed. Kennedy realized how powerful the CIA could be, that they could lie to him as they please, and could plot assassinations, while he remained completely ignorant. Kennedy was not going to take this lightly.
The Essay on Analyze President Kennedy’s Approach In Cuba In The Context Of The Cold War
Analyze President Kennedy’s approach in Cuba in the context of the Cold War. How successful was he? To what extent were his actions typical of a Cold War President? Introduction During the tenure of president Kennedy as a president in the united states, John F Kennedy was seriously concerned with stopping the spread of communism in the world, and there were hot pots that triggered ...
He fired the Director of the CIA, Allen Dulles. Kennedy saw the CIA not only as corrupt, but as a threat to the freedom of America, and to democracy everywhere. A threat too powerful to exist in a democracy such as the United States’. One of Kennedy’s first courses of action to restrain the CIA was to sign the NASM 55 (National Security Action Memorandum), which would relieve the CIA of it’s role as presidential advisor, and NS AM 57, which said any proposed paramilitary operation in its early staged must be presented in front of the Strategic Resources Group for initial consideration, and than approval by the president, if necessary. Then, the SRG will give out the responsibilities for planning, coordination, execution of the Task Force, the department or individual best qualified to carry forward the operation, and will choose supporting resp on.
