It is the 50th anniversary of the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy is unusual
figure in the History of the United States of America, because more has been
written about his death than his life. This fact is part of the tragedy.
Kennedy was shot and killed on November 22, 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald an
agent of the KGB the secret policy and national security or spy organization of
the Soviet Union and Cuba.
The evidence comes from looking at
the facts alone, with the realization that all the conspiracy theories are
misinformation planted and encouraged by the two top national security agencies
of the time, the KGB and the CIA. Their reasons were to preserve their
respective countries from thermonuclear annihilation in retaliation for the
assassination.
The Soviets killed Kennedy because
they could, and because he was perceived as a threat, as any president of the
United States is, but he was also pursuing a black operation himself that
involved the assassination of communist leaders, specifically Fidel Castro.
Nikita Khrushchev
the Soviet Premier at the time of the assassination may also have been a target
of Operation Mongoose. Additionally, Khrushchev most likely needed to
re-consolidate his power, according to the arcane machinations of Russian politics,
after he had showed weakness during
the Cuban Missile Crises.
The way the Soviets reacted to the Cuban crises indicates that there may have been a power shift or a power vacuum in the Soviet Union as a result of the crises. The Kennedys and thus the United States of America might not have fully understood this need to fill the power vacuum left by the crises in Cuba.
During the Cuban crises, Khrushchev sent two messages to
the United States. In his first message to the
Kennedys, Khrushchev expressed his fear of impending doom.
Holding on to power in Russia is complicated and informal. It is a
struggle of strength versus weakness. Under pressure of the crises,
Khrushchev broke, and while broken, sent
a message to the United States. The message Khrushchev sent to the Kennedys
expressed fear, not resolve or statesmen like concern, over the prospect of
nuclear war. As a result of showing weakness in the letter and the
resulting response of the Kennedys to his letter, Khrushchev, most likely lost
face with Russian Communist Party leaders. To control the damage to his ability
to hold on to power under the Russian,
soviet Communist system, Khrushchev immediately followed up the initial letter by a more official letter without the
expressions of concern and fear of imminent nuclear war.
Khrushchev’s comrades in the Russian, Soviet Communist power structure, those beholding to him for
their own positions of power within that structure knowing that the US had the
first letter, must have believed that
the Kennedys would be astute enough not to respond to the first weak message.
Thus allowing Khrushchev to save face with his enemies within the
Russian, Soviet, Communist power structure. The Kennedys as it turns out were
not that smart. They responded to the first message, thus exposing Khrushchev
to the realities of holding on to power in the Russian culture. In fact it was
Robert Kennedy who first decided to respond to the first message from an apparently
weakened Khrushchev. If the Kennedys had
responded to the second letter in the same manner that they had responded to
the first, the Russians would surely have backed down in the same manner that
they had. In fact, they may have stood down sooner.
The letter and the Kennedys’ response was not the only problem for
Khrushchev stemming from the Cuban crises.
Khrushchev was embarrassed three times as a result of the Cuban
Crises. The first embarrassment was the show of weakness in the letter he sent
to the Kennedys. The second embarrassment was when Russian cargo ships were
turned back as they were approaching Cuba, and the third was the dismantling
and removal of the missiles from Cuba.
What the Kennedys needed was a better understanding of Russian
power for sure, one that would have lead them to let Khrushchev off the hook
with as few hits to his weakness meter as possible. Instead, the
President threatened nuclear war as an ultimatum to the Soviets and Khrushchev.
This was exactly that – a threat. No one who knew the Kennedys could seriously
imagine either one of them ”pushing the button.” Nuclear war was not imminent. All the alerts
in the United States were for show, activities to show the Soviets that
the US and in particular the Kennedys were strong, so that the Soviets would remove
the missiles. We not actually planning a war or to launch, but going through
the motions as if we were. The Kennedys had all the cards but didn't seem to
know that. They had caught the Soviets with their pants down and needed only to
provide Khrushchev with a face saving way out. But the Kennedys
overreacted and made a show as if preparing for nuclear war.
To end the crises and have the missiles removed, the US needed
only to invade Cuba, which would have served US ambitions to free Cuba from
Castro’s tyranny, or destroyed the missiles from the air. The Kennedys
thought these options were too aggressive, and opted to feign nuclear war
instead. Their decision shows a lack of understanding of foreign affairs and a
lack of understanding of how to
effectively relate to a dangerous enemy during the cold war.
Threatening nuclear war was actually the more aggressive option If
the threat had failed we would have had nuclear war, if it succeeds, as it did,
the result would be a completely embarrassed and humiliated opponent with no
other way to save face than to take a bold action themselves.
The goal of threatening nuclear war, was to frighten the Soviets
into submission. This is not a very statesman like goal. An air strike with
possibly the loss of a US plane, would have allowed the Soviets to save face
and point to us as the military aggressors, something they liked to do as it
would have served their propaganda purposes. The missiles would have been
destroyed, the message would have been sent to the Soviets not to put missiles
in Cuba. Who's to say how the propaganda war would have looked to the world.
Probably it would have favored the US since the Soviets no matter how they
yelped and puffed their chests, had put the missiles there in Cuba in the first
place. Instead the Kennedys chose to press on feigning preparation for nuclear
war as if this were not the most aggressive of the options available to them
for resolving the crises.
So the Kennedys pressed the
Primer and backed him into a corner and he backed down; they won. Khrushchev showed
weakness, he blinked first. However in the process Khrushchev ended up
appearing weak to the world and more importantly he appeared weak to those constantly
vying for his power within the Soviet Union.
By ending the crises this way Robert may have set the stage for
the next act of the play, and his brother’s death. Khrushchev needed to
consolidate his power after he was humiliated during the Cuban Crises.
The Cuban missile crises, touted in history as the Kennedys'
finest hour was actually their biggest failure. A failure that showed their
lack of understanding of the Soviet Union, foreign policy and power in general.
The way they handled the Cuban Crises
was a major blunder that actually lead to JFKs death.
Khrushchev needed to do something fearless and outrageous. Khrushchev knew this and his comrades must
have advised him of the same. An assassination was just the sort of bold
act Khrushchev needed.
Is it outrageous to think that while the US was planning to kill
Castro and or Khrushchev, but that the Soviets and Cubans could not be planning
the same assignations of American leaders, specifically JFK?
Having failed at the bay of pigs invasion, and having blundered
through the Cuban Crises the Kennedys next added Operation Mongoose to their
long line of foreign policy blunders.
Sometime after the Cuban crises, the Kennedys deliberated a plan
to assassinate Soviet and Cuban leaders specifically Fidel Castro. This plan to
kill Castro and other Communist leaders was known as Operation Mongoose.
Failure to take into account the state of Soviet power after the Cuban
crises and during the deliberations on Operation Mongoose, was a major flaw in
the analysis that preceded approval of the Operation. A flaw that invited
Kennedy's assassination.
Having just humiliated the Cubans and the Soviets the Kennedys now
moved in for the kill, so to speak. Certainly the Kennedys must have looked somewhat
like reckless gun slingers, who were out for blood to both the Soviets and the
Cubans.
With Khrushchev needing a fearless act of strength, and Operation Mongoose approved by JFK, Kennedy's assassination was and could have been portrayed as an act of self-defense in the Soviet Union. It was also an act of political self preservation for Khrushchev. Khrushchev made the decision to Kill Kennedy, to protect Fidel Castro and other communist leaders from assassination by the United States under Operation Mongoose, and to hold on to power before due to his display of weakness during the Cuban crises some other competing faction ousted him. The Soviets needed to kill JFK. The Cuban Crises coupled with Operation Mongoose made the assignation not just possible but necessary.
To add a bit of irony, it was JFK's bother Robert Kennedy who was in charge of Operation Mongoose, and thus a second time by his ineptness and ignorance of foreign affairs, responsible for the death of his own brother. Perhaps after the fact he realized this and this realization added to his public grief, desire to have his brother remembered, and his own “death wish”. In 1961, Bobby wrote, 'We will take action against Castro. It might be tomorrow, it might be in five days or ten days, or not for months. But it will come.'1s
Having motive Khrushchev just needed the opportunity.
What made Kennedy an easier target
for assignation, than his communist counter parts was the nature of American
Democracy, and the politics or campaign politics of the time. Politicians of
the time, prior to television and the ad wars which most campaigns have now
become, wanted to go out and be among the people. There was a sense, that was
cultivated by actually being with the people, that politicians were regular
guys, and that anyone could aspire to and achieve greatness and become president
of the United States. This egalitarianism -- the need to portray oneself as a
regular guy, average American -- was still important in Kennedy's time. Being seen
as an average American
during Kennedy’s era was a complement.
The open access to candidates for President of the United States of America provided by American campaign politics during the time provided Khrushchev with the access needed to kill Kennedy.
Khrushchev already had a KGB agent in the Dallas area, when Kennedy made his trip. Why Dallas and not some other city is unknown? Oswald worked or took a job near the motorcade route?
The fact that Oswald was a KGB agent is supported by the facts
contained in his biography.
The facts regarding Oswald start with that he was dishonorably discharged from the Marine Corps. Whether he was a communist with Soviet sympathies prior to discharge is not clear. The only way to know this would be if Oswald had left any writing indicating his intellectual development over time. All we have to go by are the facts. He joined the marines, so he probably was not a communist at the time he joined up. Somewhere between his joining and discharge his thinking must have gravitated toward communism, which is the reason he acted out in order to be discharged.
After being discharged, Oswald wrote
his famous letter to the Secretary of the Navy. The letter expressed feelings
of disgust with the marines and disenchantment with American way of life. The
KGB may have picked up on Oswald at this point in time. The KGB was always
looking for agents, and as a former marine, with communications experience, Oswald would certainly have
been a worthwhile recruit.
I don't think either Oswald nor the Soviets were looking for someone to assassinate a future President of the United States, The Soviets were following their standard procedure of recruiting agents for the KGB. Oswald was disenchanted with the American way of life, he had skills and intelligence that were valued be the Soviet Union, and Oswald was reading more about Marxist Lenninism.
After his discharge from the
Marines, Oswald defected to the Soviet Union where he was most likely
indoctrinated into the Soviet version of communism and formally joined the KGB.
He married, marrying a Russian citizen was standard KGB procedure when recruiting agents during Oswald’s time. Oswald
was sent back to the US by the KGB, to
engage in what espionage his level and assignment in the KGB would have required.
Jack Ruby may or may not been in Oswald’s chain of command when Oswald began his career with the KGB.
Shortly before the assassination, Oswald visited both the Soviet and Cuban embassies in the foreign country nearest him, Mexico, His reason for visiting these embassies was probably to receive his orders to assassinate the President, and be briefed on the operational details. These would have included ways of denying Soviet and Cuban involvement if Oswald was caught, as well as his exit plan after his assignment to assassinate the president was complete.
There is no evidence that either the Soviets or the Cubans warned the United States either formally or informally of the plan to kill President Kennedy. This point is critical. Had Oswald been recognized as unstable and not working under Soviet KGB auspicious then it would have been protocol for the Soviets to warn the US of the nut Oswald's intentions. This would have averted World War III at the most logical point and absolved the Soviets of involvement even if the US failed to heed their warning. We know sufficient informal or back channels existed, as these played a critical role in absolving the Cuban Missile Crises. Such a warning by the Soviets is conspicuously absent even from the most outrageous conspiracy “theories.”
After the assassination Oswald was
picked up within 2 hours. He was not 2 hours away from Dallas but in the
vicinity. He appeared to be anxious. He shot a police officer and hid out in
the movies. A lone unstable personality would not have waited around. Oswald
was waiting for his ride his exit from the country.
For whatever reason, the area was
too hot after the assassination, the Soviets
had no intention of providing a ride, the CIA got to his exit before his exit got to
him, for whatever reason the ride and exit from the United States never showed
up. Therefore Oswald had to wait nervously for a ride that did not
show. He shot a police officer. He hid out. He was not leaving town on his
own. Even an unstable
individual would have had the sense to flee the scene and the town. John
Wilkes Booth was long away from the scene of Lincoln's assassination when he
was apprehended. Oswald was still in Dallas waiting.
The proliferation of conspiracy theories after Kennedy's assassination persist to this day and were planted and encouraged by both the CIA and KGB. There is evidence that both the CIA and the KGB planted and encouraged the spread of conspiracy stories in the media. They are both adept at planting stories and encouraging stories that divert attention from the truth. Manipulating the media in this manner is a very basic part of what security agencies, spy organizations, espionage agencies do. It is a part of their business.
There are a number of conspiracy theorists who agree that the KGB assassinated Kennedy. Mostly these are just that, theories looking for hard evidence, but with secret espionage agencies the smoking gun linking the KGB is unlikely to be found. Secret killings in addition to planting stories is another thing that these types of agencies do.
This blog has looked at the facts as a thread, realizing that we are not going to find direct linkage.
Khrushchev ordering the KGB to assassinate Kennedy is the most obvious explanation, for his death. Even more obvious then Oswald being a lone nut. The theories offered about the KGB being responsible for JFKs death do not show a link to both the Cuban Crises and Operation Mongoose, thus they lack credible motive. The Cuban crises is generally accepted as Kennedy's greatest foreign policy achievement, but it was in fact a dismal failure. Kennedy's humiliation of a worthy adversary left that adversary needing a bold move. That bold move was to kill Kennedy.
Additionally the conspiracy theories linking Kennedy's assassination to the
KGB see Cuba and the Soviet Union as separate entities with
separate security interests viz a vis the US and separate national security
agencies. Oswald visited both embassies but while having defected to the
Soviet Union and joined the KGB he would have worked for the interests of
both Cuba and the Soviet Union. Cuba was not as independent at the time as we
would believe. No truly independent sovereign nation would have allowed another
country's missiles in their country. Oswald defected to the Soviet Union,
became a KGB agent, married a Soviet (standard KGB procedure for foreign agents)
and returned to the US to work for the KGB. His last assignment whether he
volunteered or was assigned was the killing of the president who had
implemented a black Op to kill communist leaders. These are the facts
Tragically and ironically it was John Kennedy's own brother Robert who headed Operation Mongoose for the United States and is the one responsible for advising the President to respond to Khrushchev’s first conciliatory letter to end the Cuban Crises. RFK played a major role in setting the stage for his own brother’s assassination.
John F. Kennedy was a great intellect and as an academic might have been on his way to greatness. He was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald a KGB agent. Kennedy was an easy target. He was killed in retaliation for the Cuban missile crises, and Operation Mongoose, as part of a power play typical of internal Russian politics. Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby another KGB agent in order to keep Oswald from talking and making a cover up more difficult, and thus nuclear retaliation by the United States more likely. Oswald was picked up by the Dallas Police while he was waiting for his exit from the United States. Oswald's exit plans were foiled by the CIA, the CIA working in conjunction with the KGB, or unbeknownst to Oswald were never part of the KGB's plan to assassinate JFK. The conspiracy "theories" that proliferate about Kennedy's assassination to this day, were stories planted and encouraged by both the CIA and KGB as smokescreens covering the truth. The truth is that the assassination was an act of war that demanded retaliation by the United States, but the United States chose not to retaliate and thus avert nuclear war with the Soviets.
Further the assassination was the result of the youthful exuberance, the hubris of JFK and his brother, that is, Operation Mongoose was ill conceived and ill advised. Operation Mongoose would not have been devised by an older wiser President. Further the handling of the Cuban Missile Crises long touted as Kennedy's great foreign policy success was in fact a dismal failure. How could a strategy of pushing countries to the brink of nuclear annihilation as a ploy be seen as anything but a failure and bad policy. There were other ways that would have had the missiles removed and allow their adversary to save face. JFK was an academic who had no understanding of the complexity of power and the subtleties of foreign affairs. It is tragic he had to pay for his ignorance with his life.
Operation Mongoose and the assassination of JFK are sad testaments to this country and the world.
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