Historical Framework – The Assassination of JFK
Essay #1 ended with the United States and our allies defeating the Axis Powers and establishing a new world order designed to prevent future world wars. Three keys to this were: forming very strong military alliances, opening up free trade, and creating the United Nations. These plus other factors such as the extensive and wise deployment of “soft power”, made the world a better place for my generation in both wealth and security, and made the United States the greatest and most respected nation in the world.
Up until the early 1960’s one aspect of our society was respect and support for the national government, our major institutions, and big business. Public trust in government hovered near 80%. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/06/24/public-trust-in-government-1958-2024/. Afterall, it was through them that America had overcome the Depression, won the war, greatly increased personal income/quality of life, and become history’s GOAT nation. The one section of the country that was less than enthusiastic about the Federal Government (including the Supreme Court) was the Jim Crow South. They feared the Feds would interfere in their affairs and force them to integrate. The shot across the bow was the 1954 SCOTUS ruling on Brown vrs Board of Education which ended “Separate but Equal”. Billboards shot up across the South with the slogan “Impeach Earl Warren”.
And then something happened that changed everything: the assassination of President Kennedy. Among the many terrible repercussions of this, one of the worst was the Vietnam War. While JFK did believe the Domino Theory was valid, he was totally opposed to the US invading Vietnam. He was also committed to finding a way to end the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The problem he had was that the “military industrial complex” that his predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower had warned America about in his farewell address, did not want to end the Cold War and did want to get involved in a war in Southeast Asia. At a meeting of the NSC in July 1961, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of the CIA recommended a massive First Strike (i.e. employ ICBM nuclear weapons) against the Soviet Union. JFK was horrified. His response “and we call ourselves the human race?” Kennedy found himself so at odds with his advisors in the military, the intelligence community and the State Department that he opened up a personal back channel with Nikkita Khrushchev. This was instrumental in ending the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy conveyed to Khruschev that he (JFK) did not have the ability to control his military if the Soviet ships did not turn around. There could very well be nuclear war even though he opposed it. Khruschev turned the ships around, and Kennedy later removed US nuclear missiles from Turkey. This infuriated many top officials in the US.
As much as I hate conspiracy theories, I firmly believe that the greatest one in American history is true. When Kennedy gave the Commencement speech at American University, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/commencement-address-american-university-washington where he laid out his case for ending the Cold War, the die was cast. He had to go. The CIA put in motion the plan to kill the President of the United States. They carried it out in Dallas, TX on Nov 22, 1963. No Administration since has wanted to release the official documents that will make it indisputably clear that the Deep State murdered the POTUS because this would so undermine Americans’ faith in their government. As I understand, President Trump is going to release all of it soon.
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