Fall 2013 Part 4



JFK Assassination 50 Years Later

President John F. Kennedy had an interesting history and life. His Presidency is filled with triumphs or victories, defeats, and controversies. It is fair to say that the late John F. Kennedy was not a reactionary, but he was not an extreme progressive either. He was a regular man whose appeal appealed to folks from across the political spectrum. YET, JFK WAS A LIBERAL. President John F. Kennedy called himself a LIBERAL by his own words in the following terms:

"...What do our opponents mean when they apply to us the label "Liberal?" If by "Liberal" they mean, as they want people to believe, someone who is soft in his policies abroad, who is against local government, and who is unconcerned with the taxpayer's dollar, then the record of this party and its members demonstrate that we are not that kind of "Liberal." But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal'...I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves..." (John F. Kennedy, at his Acceptance of the New York Liberal Party Nomination
on September 14, 1960).


He created the Peace Corps in 1961 as a means to allow Americans to assist those in nations from across the world (especially in the Third World). Strategically, they were instituted as a means to combat influence of the Communists in the world. He wanted to handle the issue of gender inequality and equal pay with the creation of the Commission on the Status of Women back in 1961. The Freedom Riders came about in May of 1961. JFK was in error to have a moderate stance of the Freedom Riders. The Freedom Riders were a collaboration of youth and other activists that want to defeat Jim Crow segregation. They were assaulted by violent racists. The U.S. government did not strong enough to protect them. We are still fighting the same fight for racial justice as the Freedom Riders were fighting for back in the day. The 1961 meeting between President John F. Kennedy and Khrushchev in Vienna was an important point in history. Each man had distrust over each other at first. They viewed each other as potentially trying to extend militarism and overt hostility in the world from Berlin to Vietnam.

By 1963, JFK was different and he wanted collaboration with the Soviets as a means to go into the Moon. The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was important. JFK allowed wise judgment to prevail by allowing making a deal with the Soviets secretly as a means to end the blockade of Cuba. JFK went against the wishes of reactionary war generals who wanted an immediate U.S. military strike against Cuba (which will cause a Soviet Union retaliation and possible nuclear war). Khrushchev and Kennedy, at the last second, through their—through Dobrynin and his brother Robert, said no, basically, to their hardliners. And it cost both men dearly. The generals were furious with Kennedy. LeMay was raging at the meeting that was described by McNamara and others. They thought—LeMay said, "We lost. We lost. This was our moment." And Khrushchev was criticized by his own people, but the Soviets were inferior in strength. JFK was wise.

In 1963, JFK passed tax cuts and later he wanted to have his expenditure spending program by 1964. On February of 1963, he sent the Medicare bill to Congress. JFK gave his historic Civil Rights speech on June 11, 1963 where he called for the end of racial discrimination in American society. He said the following words on civil rights: "...One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free..." In August of 1963, he signed the progressive Nuclear Test Ban treaty. He saw the March on Washington in August of 1963 where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his historic I Have a Dream Speech. Four little girls were killed later in a Birmingham church. James Meredith came into the University of Miss back in September 1962. He signed the Equal Pay Act in June of 1963. So, the legacy of President John F. Kennedy is important to know. He was not perfect, but his foreign policy was much more progressive than other Presidents. He wanted to oversee the CIA. He wanted a withdrawal of troops of Vietnam. JFK never wanted an escalation of the war in Vietnam. He rejected a war with the Soviets and he wanted universal health care for the elderly in the United States. He refused to go militarily into Laos. John F. Kennedy was careful and subtle in his thinking process, which was his gift (since careful intellectual deduction is better than rash decision making). President Kennedy was fighting the reactionaries in the military all of the time. President John F. Kennedy wanted détente with the Soviet Union and a more progressive relationship with the nation of Cuba. The assassination of John F. Kennedy was a tragedy.



The Assassination

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy came about on Friday, November 22, 1963. On that day on 11:40 am. CST, John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline arrived at Love Field in Dallas, Texas. They left off of Air Force One after a very short flight from nearby Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth. The late President John F. Kennedy was with his presidential entourage as well. The motorcade cars had been lined up in a certain order earlier that morning. The original schedule was for the president to proceed in a long motorcade from Love Field through downtown Dallas, and end at the Dallas Business and Trade Mart. JFK was to deliver a speech and share a steak luncheon with Dallas government, business, religious, and civic leaders including their spouses. President John F. Kennedy wanted to run his 1964 campaign in late 1963. This was the beginning of his 1964 Presidential campaign that he never finished unfortunately.

At 12:29 pm. CST, the Presidential limousine entered Dealey Plaza after a 90 degree right turn from Main Street onto Houston Street. There were over two dozen known and unknown amateur and professional still and motion picture photographers that captured the last living images of President John F. Kennedy. Just before 12:30 pm CST, President Kennedy was riding on Houston Street and slowly approached the Texas School Book Depository head on. By 12:30 CST, shots were fired. Witnesses heard the shooting start after the limousine made the turn form Houston onto Elm Street. Most of these witnesses recalled the first shot happened after the president had started waving with his right hand. Most of these witnesses recalled hearing three shots, with the second and third shots bunched distinctly much closer together than the first and second shots. As seen in the Zapruder film when the President first emerges from being temporarily behind the Stemmons Freeway sign at Zapruder film 224 to 225 his mouth is widely open in a shocked expression and his hands clench into fists, then he quickly raises his arms dramatically in front of his face and throat as he turned leftwards towards his wife. Secret Service Agent Clint Hill testified that he heard one shot, then jumped off the running board of the Secret Service follow-up car directly behind Kennedy (Hill was filmed jumping off his follow-up car at the equivalent of Zapruder frame 308; about a quarter of a second before the president's head exploded at frame 313). Hill then rapidly ran towards the Presidential limo and then a shot hit Kennedy in the head, opening up the right side of his head. As the limousine began speeding up, Mrs. Kennedy was heard to scream. She climbed out of the back seat onto the rear of the limo. At the same time, Hill managed to climb aboard and hang onto the suddenly accelerating limo, and Mrs. Kennedy returned to the back seat. Hill then shielded her and the President. Both of the Connallys stated they heard Mrs. Kennedy say, "I have his brains in my hand!" The limo driver and police motorcycles turned on their sirens and raced at full speed to Parkland Hospital, passing their intended destination of the Dallas Trade Mart along the way, and arriving at about 12:38 pm.

During the shots Governor Connally was also struck, and his wife pulled him closer to her. He suffered several severe wounds that he survived; a bullet entry wound in his upper right back located just behind his right armpit; four inches of his right, fifth chest rib was pulverized; a two-and-a-half inch sized chest exit wound; his right arm's wrist bone was fractured into seven pieces; and he had a bullet entry wound in his left inner thigh. Although, there is controversy about exactly when he was wounded. During the shots a witness, James Tague, was also wounded when he received a minor facial wound on his right cheek. The Main Street south curb he had been standing 23.5 feet away from was struck by a bullet or bullet fragment that had no copper sheath, and the ricocheting bullet fragment struck Tague. At Zapruder frame 313 Tague's head top was located 271 feet away from and 16.4 feet below President Kennedy's head top. The bullet or bullet fragment that struck the cement curb was never found. Although President Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 pm CST, the official announcement would not come for another half hour. Immediately after receiving word of the president's death, acting White House press secretary Malcolm Kilduff told Vice President Lyndon Johnson that Kennedy died. News of it spread globally.



The Warren Commission

The Warren Commission was a controversial commission. Even those who agreed with the Oswald did it alone viewpoint admitted that imperfections and errors greatly acuminated in the Warren Commission. It had no defense team representing Oswald. Lee Harvey Oswald was essentially convicted by the national media from the very beginning. There was huge pressure on the Warren Commission to find Lee Harvey Oswald guilty. As a matter of fact, in a document dated January 11, 1964, and titled "Progress report", J. Lee Rankin prepared a work outline, with subheadings titled "Lee Harvey Oswald as the Assassin of President Kennedy", and "Lee Harvey Oswald: Background and Possible Motives." So, even before the first witness was called to testify, the Warren Commission decided automatically that Oswald was the assassin. We know that on the morning of November 23, 1963, Hoover told LBJ that the case against Oswald was not then very good. We know that the Commission tried to duplicate the feat of shooting Kennedy from the Book Depository building with first class marksmen from the Armed services. None of them could achieve the goal. Secondly, by no stretch of the imagination was Oswald a first-class rifleman. In fact, when author Henry Hurt interviewed dozens of Oswald’s Marine Corps colleagues, they were dumbfounded that the Warren Commission could state that Oswald could perform with such shooting skill because the Oswald they recalled was either a mediocre shot or worse. For instance, Sherman Cooley said, “I saw that man shoot, and there’s no way he could have learned to shoot well enough to do what they accused him of.” (Hurt, Reasonable Doubt, p. 99). And Cooley was an expert hunter and excellent shot. Hurt concluded after interviewing several dozen Marines, “on the subject of Oswald’s shooting ability there was virtually no exception … it was laughable.” So, the Warren Commission's report is filled with omissions, distortions, and other things that all sides of the JFK assassination debate know about. Even Senator Richard Russell has internal criticisms of the Commission. One of the biggest mistakes of the Commission was that its most active members were Allen Dulles, John McCloy, and Gerald Ford. These 3 men are key members of the Western establishment. Allen Dulles was fired by President John F. Kennedy for lying to him on Cuba and other foreign affairs. JFK also fired deputy Director of the CIA Charles Cabell and Director of Plans Richard Bissell. A real commission will deal with independent voices, but not conflicts of interests or establishment figures at all. Even we have plenty of evidence that Jack Ruby had links to Mafia figures. Ruby was associated with Mafia figures such as Joe Campisi and Joseph Civello. Also, Ruby also idolized Lewis McWillie, the Mafia associate who was involved in transporting guns to Cuba with Ruby. According to British journalist John Wilson, Ruby had visited an American gangster named Santo, in a Cuban prison. Wilson was almost certainly referring to Mafia don, Santo Trafficante. Not to mention that Ruby was in contact with Mafia figures such as Lenny Patrick and Barney Baker leading up to the assassination.

On January 11, 2013, Robert Kennedy Jr. told Charlie Rose in front of a large Dallas audience that his father, Robert F. Kennedy (brother to JFK), privately believed the Warren Commission was “a shoddy piece of craftsmanship,” and that “the evidence at this point I think is very, very convincing that it was not a lone gunman.” Kennedy said his father had “asked Justice Department investigators to informally look into allegations that the accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, had received aid from the Mafia, the CIA or other organizations.  He said the staff members found phone lists linking Jack Ruby, Oswald’s assassin, to organized crime figures with ties to the CIA, convincing the elder Kennedy that there was something to the allegations." Robert Kennedy Jr. praised the scholarship of the book entitled, "JFK and the Unspeakable." One man who “went there” in the sixties was the young award-winning Dallas Deputy Sheriff, Roger Dean Craig, who was on duty when JFK was killed.  Craig, in a virtually unknown interview following several attempts on his life, spoke clearly about his orders that morning to watch but not offer security to the JFK motorcade. The rifle Craig and other officers examined in the Texas School Depository did not match the three spent cartridges. Craig’s clear testimony and the tragic story of his ensuing destruction are available online he said that there was surprisingly few Dallas police:  none riding beside the limousine, and none sitting on the trunk to shield him. A 2011 study tells of a witness who went into hiding for decades after testifying to the Warren Commission that she was on the Depository stairs and did not see Lee Harvey Oswald at the official time he was reported to have fled.  She later found that her testimony to the Commission had been revised. Even now, there are 1,100 JFK assassination records still under wraps, which is in violation of the 1992 JFK Assassination Act

We know that Lee Harvey Oswald was a member of the Civil Air Patrol with the CIA affiliated David Ferrie. Ferrie had recruited many of these young men for future affiliation with the military. We know that the FBI and the CIA done tons of wrongdoing then and now. So, the terrorist actions of the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, and other intelligence organizations have been omitted by the Warren Commission because of obvious reasons. Therefore, we know that the late President John F. Kennedy was not perfect. Yet, he did some good for American society from his support for conservation to his call for world peace in his famous American University speech from 1963. He wanted a federal effort to grow jobs in American society. So, we should fight for the truth. We have the right to seek justice and to investigate lives all of the time.





Legacy

The late President John F. Kennedy's last 100 days was a very important of American history. The late President John F. Kennedy did a lot of accomplishments in the last 3 months of his Presidency. He did some remarkable things at home and abroad. UN Chairman Dag Hammarskjold and JFK dealt with the Congo crisis. There is the book made by Susan Miller entitled, "Who Killed Hammarskjold?" The book makes the argument that foul play could influence the death of Hammarskjold. There is the situation of Achmed Sukarno. He was the President of Indonesia of 1963. He was a man that John F. Kennedy understood and appreciated as a leader of the Non-Aligned nations movement. This movement wanted nations during the Cold War era to maintain their sense of independence and not worship America or the Soviet Union. This movement was a movement that Kennedy respected and was in agreement with. John F. Kennedy had a more progressive approach to the nations of Asia and Africa. There are three books that document this reality.  Even though there have now been three crucial books written on the subject: Richard Mahoney's JFK: Ordeal in Africa in 1983, Philip Muehlenbeck's Betting on the Africans, and Robert Rokave's Kennedy, Johnson and the Nonaligned World, the last two both published in 2012. Kennedy has transformative views on many issues before 1963 even. He broke with Eisenhower's policies in Congo and Indonesia in 1961. JFK in 1963 wanted to use back channels as a means to end the conflict or tension between America and Cuba. Then Senator Kennedy visited Saigon in 1951. He visited the American diplomat Edmund Guillion. Guillon told the young congressman that the French attempt to recolonize Vietnam would not succeed.

The reason is that the Vietnamese as a strong desire to be free from imperial influence and it was extremely strong. This influence John F. Kennedy to rebels against the Orthodox views of the Democrats (like Dean Acheson) and the Republicans (like John Foster Dulles). So, President John F. Kennedy was not some radical Cold War Warrior. He never sent combat troops for massive, extensive missions at all for colonizing lands. And, in fact, Clarke later uses a revealing quote from National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy in this regard. Bundy told his assistant Marcus Raskin,

"You know there are only two pacifists in the White House, you and Kennedy." (p. 217).

Gibson understands that Kennedy actually liked Juan Bosch of the Dominican Republic. He even advised him on how to run his economy. Once Bosch was overthrown by the rightwing powers on the island with the military in cahoots, Kennedy immediately spearheaded a program of diplomatic and economic sanctions against the new regime. It actually began within hours of him hearing about the overthrow. Kennedy actually led this growing hemisphere wide movement which was picking up steam at the time of his death. Within one month, the Dominican Republic was wincing at the isolation Kennedy had condemned them to. (Gibson, Battling Wall Street, pgs. 78-79). Bundy, who should know, also told author Gordon Goldstein for the book Lessons in Disaster, that Kennedy did not buy into the domino theory. That book was published in 2009. The late President John F. Kennedy signed the 1963 nuclear test ban treaty in 1963. Kennedy told Ted Sorenson that he would have gladly forfeited his reelection bid as long as the treaty passed. And once it was secured of passage, Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko wanted more agreements made with the Russians. President Kennedy in turn suggested a mutual cooperation in the space race. JFK ordered Webb to seek cooperation with the USSR in space. He furthered followed detente by having the 1963 wheat deal to the Russians that Kennedy had rammed through. Then Senator John F. Kennedy believed in immigration as he wrote a brief book called A Nation of Immigrants.  In fact, Kennedy concluded the book with a rapier attack on the 1958 status of American immigration laws. He first quoted the famous words on the base of the Liberty Bell: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Kennedy added to this by saying that until 1921 this was relatively accurate. But after then, it was more appropriate to add, "as long as they come from Northern Europe, are not too tired or to poor or slightly ill, never stole a loaf of bread, never joined a questionable organization, and can document their activities for the last two years." (p. 157).

So, John F. Kennedy wanted immigration laws to be fair to Asians, those from Eastern and Southern Europe, etc. His views influenced the passage of an Immigration bill in the 1960's. Also, Clarke and James Blight's Virtual JFK book talked about China.  It was commonly known through Kennedy's diplomatic corps that, in his second term, President Kennedy had planned on extending an olive branch to communist China. As Clarke notes,

"His intention to change U.S. China policy was not a secret. He had told Marie Ridder that it was on his agenda for his second term, and Dean Rusk said they often discussed it, and he thought Kennedy would have reached out to the Chinese in 1965." (p. 320).

JFK worked with Walter Heller, who was Kennedy's chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. JFK wanted the economy to grow in high gear after he thought that the Eisenhower years were sluggish in economic performance. He and Heller brainstormed on how to get a Keynesian stimulus into the economy as the lowest possible cost to the consumer and the producer. They first discussed a large government-spending plan. It would be hard for Congress to vote for their plans back in the day (especially today obviously). They finally decided on a tax cut on the marginal rates of income. Heller said this might produce a short-term deficit but it would eventually produce a long-term surplus. What made this proposal even more daring was the fact that the economy was already growing when Heller proposed it. Further, unemployment was only at 5%. In other words, many other presidents would have been satisfied with what they had. But as Clarke notes, Kennedy was determined to double the growth rate of Eisenhower, "preside over 8 recession free years, and leave office with the nation enjoying full employment." (p. 178).

The package worked extremely well. It eventually brought down unemployment to 3.8% in 1966. And tax revenue actually increased in 1964 and 1965. Heller's design worked marvelously until President Johnson decided to greatly expand the Vietnam War without raising taxes. Heller knew this would cause an inflationary spiral. So he resigned. Heller despised Milton Friedman and his acolytes; he used to poke fun at them. When Heller proposed the tax cut, marginal rates were at over 90%. He brought the top rate down to 70%. The bottom 85% got almost 60% of the benefits of the cuts. Therefore, it was not a cross the board tax cut. And it was not supply side oriented; it was demand oriented, since most of the benefits went to the middle and working class. That is a far cry from what Ronald Reagan proposed and passed. In fact, the top rate was twice as high after Heller's cut than what the Reaganites proposed. Reagan's cuts really were supply side oriented since most of the benefits went to the top end. Laffe style across the board tax cut only benefits the rich and ultra-rich now. Further, there was still an effective corporate tax rate in 1963, and a significant capital gains tax. In other words, with Heller's plan, the money saved in taxes would really go into consumer spending and investment. Kennedy's economic views rewarded reinvestment and expansion of business.

Even JFK originated the War on Poverty not Johnson. He knew that tax cuts alone would not alleviate poverty.  In fact, he made the specific point about this in his State of the Union address in 1963. Heller was also concerned with this issue and warned JFK that America was experiencing a "drastic slowdown in the rate at which the economy is taking people out of poverty." (p. 243) Heller decided this could not be remedied unless a specific program was devised to address it. About this proposed program Kennedy said, "Walter, first we're going to get your tax cut, and then we're going to get my expenditure program." (ibid) He then told Heller, that the attack on poverty would be a part of his 1964 campaign. The book also reminds us that Kennedy's Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Anthony Celebrezze, presented a Medicare Plan to congress in November of 1963. (p. 311) And Clarke goes on to add that, in large part, Johnson's Great Society was a compendium of leftovers from Kennedy's proposals and initiatives. (p. 355). Kennedy was good friends with Republican Senator Everett Dirksen and he already targeted him as the key vote for the Civil Rights bill.   In fact, this was all known back in 1964. Because Look magazine had done an extensive survey about whether or not Kennedy's program was going to pass if he had lived. This survey including dozens of interviews and the result showed that the Kennedy program was going to pass in 1964. It may have taken a bit longer, but there was little doubt it was going to pass. So, President John F. Kennedy was a great President and his true legacy was cut short by a tragedy. We can use JFK's like as inspiration to move forward in advancing justice, progressive foreign relations, and true equality among all humankind.

The coup against Diem was one of the most controversial events during the Kennedy Presidency. The Hu Brothers died at the hands of coup plotters. There was the May 1963 famous bombing of the Hue radio station during a Buddhist holiday. This Buddhist rally was in progress as a means for the Vietnamese to protest another discriminatory edict by the Catholic Diem. The firing into the crowd caused 7 to be dead and 15 wounded. It caused a full blown political crisis causing huge strikes and large street demonstrations. The twin explosions were at first blamed on the Viet Cong. Then, it was blamed on the South Vietnamese police. This caused the Buddhist population to be enraged against Diem since his brother Nhu was in charge of the security forces. The State Department soon lost faith in Diem. The State Department backed the coup of the generals against the Nhu generals. There was a plastic explosive that blew up the building, which only the CIA possessed at the time. A further investigation by a Vietnamese newspaper located the American agent who admitted to the bombing. This puts the event into a new light. The Hue atrocity caused even the liberal establishment members of the State Department to abandon Diem. Harriman and Hilsman united with the conservative hawks in an effort to oust him.

General Giap of Vietnam knew that President John F. Kennedy was going to withdrawal militarily from Vietnam. The Non Aligned Movement of Third World nations wanted to be independent from the machinations of the Cold War. There is an old photograph of North Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Dong, Indian Prime Minister Nehru, and the legendary Chairman Ho Chi Minh himself.  According to Mani S. Kang, Prime Minister Nehru and Ambassador John Kenneth Galbraith (an economist and once Ambassador to India) discussed topics. Nehru advised Gabraith to get America out of the dire situation in Vietnam. He said that doing that action would be best for the United States and its then young President. Vietnam fought against the armies of Genghis Khan, the Chinese, and Western imperialists for long centuries. General Vo Nguyen Giap was a famous human being surrounding the course of events during the Vietnam War. The truth is that President John F. Kennedy woke up a great deal in 1963. He had a transformational experience and he saw that peace is superior to war (and the hope and aspirations of all humankind are essential to build up a progressive, enlightened society). The 1963 JFK was radically different from the JFK from 1960. It was Richard Nixon's and Allen Dulles' plans to have the Bay of Pigs invasion not JFK. Mr. Vo interrupted and added, "He was withdrawing from Vietnam."   He then stated in a very clear and firm voice, "President Kennedy was withdrawing from Vietnam in late 1963."   These words came from the son of General Vo Nguyen Giap. This is one piece of evidence out of many that proves that JFK was not going to have a massive military intervention policy in Vietnam. The late President John F. Kennedy was changing on many issues.

In late August of 1963, they manipulated President John F. Kennedy into approving a cable that gave the go ahead to a group of South Vietnamese general to explore the possibility of a coup. Afterwards, at least one high staffer offered to resign over misleading Kennedy about McNamara's previous approval of the cable. The leading conservative mounting the effort to dethrone Diem was Henry Cabot Lodge.  Kennedy had planned to recall Ambassador Nolting and appoint Edmund Gullion to the position.  And, as readers of the Mahoney book will know, Gullion was much more in tune with Kennedy's thinking on Third World nationalism. He had actually tutored him on the subject in 1951 when Congressman Kennedy first visited Saigon. But Secretary of State Dean Rusk overruled this appointment, and suggested Lodge for the job. Lodge lobbied hard for the position because he wanted to use it as a springboard for a run for the presidency in 1964. Henry Cabot Lodge was told by Henry Luce that he should not negotiate with Diem. From the time of the August cable, Lodge plotted with CIA officer Lucien Conein to encourage the coup and to undermine Diem by ignoring him.  Even though, as Douglass makes clear, this is contrary to what JFK wanted.  Kennedy grew so frustrated with Lodge that he sent his friend Torby McDonald on a secret mission to tell Diem that he must get rid of his brother Nhu. Lodge was the one who got John McCone to withdraw CIA station chief John Richardson, who was sympathetic to Diem.   On September of 1963, Kennedy accidentally discovered that the CIA had cut off the Commodity Import Program for South Vietnam. That action will harm the South Vietnamese economy. On October 24th, the conspirators told Conein the coup was imminent.  JFK told Lodge he wanted to be able to stop the coup at the last minute.  (Conein later testified that he was getting conflicting cables from Washington: the State Department was telling him to proceed, the Kennedys were telling him to stop.)  At this time Diem told Lodge he wanted Kennedy to know he was ready to carry out his wishes. (p. 202) But Lodge did not relay this crucial message to Kennedy until after the coup began. So, this is the truth without spin. JFK was not some radical war hawk. Lodge and Conein were with the generals. Kennedy was so distraught by this outcome he decided to recall Lodge and fire him. He had arranged to do this on November 24th.  Instead, President Johnson called the ambassador back with a different message: the US must not lose in Vietnam. Diem and Nhu were murdered after they walked out of a Catholic church. Therefore, President John F. Kennedy wanted peace.


Views

He made a 1960 speech that believed in religious tolerance and a separation of church and state. Kennedy said the following in the Houston: "...I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all...Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end; where all men and all churches are treated as equal; where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice; where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind; and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood... would not look with favor upon a president working to subvert the First Amendment’s guarantees of religious liberty. Nor would our system of checks and balances permit him to do so. And neither do I look with favor upon those who would work to subvert Article VI of the Constitution by requiring a religious test — even by indirection — for it. If they disagree with that safeguard, they should be out openly working to repeal it..."


Conclusion


The Assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, Fred Hampton, and others remind us what is most important in life. What is most important in life is dealing with the dealing with our families, respecting our friends, and having love for our communities as well. Growing our cultural heritage and honoring our ancestors including our past loved ones are great ways to create a humorous, glorious future. For the past 50 years, we have been faced with the choice of destruction or peace. The assassinations of the previously mentioned men were tragic and evil. They wanted peace and justice for the human race. They realized that life is not easy, but with strong effort and progressive insights, then solutions can be achieved in the world society. The nuclear arms race and its near disaster of 1962 were narrowly averted by President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, and the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. In June, 1963, President John F. Kennedy made an impassioned plea at the American University to make peace with the Soviets in his following words: “If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s futures. And we are all mortal."

We should continue to fight in the world. Human beings have the right to have health care, education, housing, and a great live filled with joy and happiness. We must love Nature and believe in improving the environment as the great Black Woman and Great Friend Courtney have written about too. We must be better than the status quo. The desire for human liberation and economic justice are awe inspiring goals to seek. For when he see the poor in the world, this is a strike against all of us (for when one suffers, we all suffer). We should always advance transformative, revolutionary changes in the world society.


The assassination of John F. Kennedy was wicked and evil. Even now, we are learning more facts o it. There have been debates on it, but we know a lot of what happened during the date of November 22, 1963. We know that President John F. Kennedy was much more progressive on foreign policy than what the mainstream media sometimes gives him credit for. We realize his strengths and weaknesses. His legacy inspire us in a myriad of ways. His legacy causes us to embrace leadership, careful evaluation of issues, and the rejection of the ideal of the Pax Americana. His death reminds us that unjustified assassination is evil and that legitimate activism is necessary to achieve intrepid social change. His assassination encourages us to seek the truth and never be intimidated by the powers that be. So, we will continue onward in this journey of life. I will continue to love wisdom and abhor evil. I will go forward in advocating justice and embracing altruism forever. That is my M.O.




By Timothy