John Fitzgerald Kennedy, or J.F.K., was born in Brookline, MA, as the second of nine children in a well-established Roman Catholic family that insisted on psychological and physical competition amongst the siblings, which led to an early indoctrination into the guiding principles of the Democratic Party. His father had been successful enough in his business dealings to establish trust funds for his children allowing him to step away from the day to day grind of ‘banking, bootlegging, shipbuilding, and the film industry’ (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020)., to focus on his political aspirations where he served first as the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission and then as the United States Ambassador to Great Britain.
In 1938, while John attended Harvard University, he also served as his father’s secretary during the time he was an Ambassador, effectively allowing the foundation to be laid for the family’s political standards to be passed unto him. (Gaa, 2018).
After Harvard and a brief but heroic stint in the United States Navy, John Kennedy fulfilled his family’s expectations by successfully running for Congress with a landslide victory in 1946. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020). Serving three consecutive terms as a House Representative, Kennedy had secured a safe seat in his congressional district, but opted for a run at the more powerful United States Senate.
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While in the Senate, J.F.K. became a national statesman through fame gained on the New York Times bestseller list, a Pulitzer Prize, and advocation for civil rights. His popularity would earn him a nod at becoming Democratic Nominee for President, Adlai Stevenson’s, running mate, and his concession of the honor to Estes Kefauver was just a part of ‘Kennedy’s carefully calculated pursuit of the presidency years before the first primary established a practice that became the norm for candidates seeking the nation’s highest office.’ (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020). Although the election was scrutinized for vote fraud, John F. Kennedy would remain undefeated when running for office and take his last as President of the United States of America for 1,037 days. (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020).
J.F.K. had agreed to further the outgoing President, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s foreign affairs efforts to combat the spread of communism, which included a disastrous effort to incite an uprising to oust the pro-Soviet Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. The failed coup prompted the Soviets to stock-pile nuclear missiles in Cuba, that when discovered led to a thirteen day stand-off, in which America was on the brink of nuclear war with Russia. (Price, 2015).
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot in the neck and head by an alleged lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, as he rode next to his wife through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, TX. (Ling, 2013)., and numerous theories have been presented as to the motivation behind the assassination; however, it is the situation surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis that garners most theorists’ support.
Chief Justice Earl Warren would head the commission that investigates Kennedy’s murder, and their findings are widely regarded as a political smokescreen at the urging of President Johnson, who took over after J.F.K.’s death. The Warren Commission’s lead witness Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) Director, John McCone, swore under oath that Lee Harvey Oswald was not acting as a part of a larger conspiracy, rather a lone Marxist defector acting on his own accord.
Fifty years after the assassination of J.F.K., senior C.I.A. historian David Robarge reports that ‘McCone and other senior C.I.A. officials were ‘complicit’ in keeping ‘incendiary’ information from the Warren Commission.’ (Price, 2015). Likely the most pertinent information McCone withheld was his knowledge of the many plots by the C.I.A. to assassinate Fidel Castro, including the enlistment of organized crime, who had a presence in Cuba’s casino and entertainment industry. On its face, the withheld information seems little to do with Lee Harvey Oswald or his attack on President Kennedy.
However, had the Warren Commission known, they might have discovered the C.I.A. had been in contact with Mr. Oswald some years earlier. Furthermore, just weeks before the assassination, Oswald met with Cuban and Soviet spies in Mexico City. In a hearing before Congress, McCone claimed to be oblivious to the C.I.A. plots to kill Castro, which might have led to further investigation into President Kennedy’s murder, but ‘it was later determined with certainty that he had been informed about the CIA-Mafia plots nine months before his appearance before the Warren Commission.’ (Ling, 2013).
C.I.A. Director John McCone could be credited as a co-conspirator in the cover-up of the J.F.K. assassination, but so could the Kennedys who were afraid that an autopsy would reveal secrets the family kept regarding his medical condition before the murder. John Kennedy suffered from hereditary conditions and war injuries that he treated with steroids, painkillers, and methamphetamines, in addition to the recreational drugs such as marijuana and L.S.D., he often enjoyed.
The Dallas Police Department unknowingly, or not, destroyed or failed to secure evidence from the crime scene that may have been used in a more in-depth investigation. Whether a lying C.I.A. Director, a family concerned with protecting an image or police folly, it is clear that the post-assassination efforts to determine the truth did not meet the standards the Office of the President of the United States warranted.
As Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the Presidential oath a few hours after J.F.K. was shot, he had a great many things to consider. John McCone revealed to President Johnson that Lee Harvey Oswald had visited the Soviet embassy and Cuban consulate in Mexico. If word got out that Oswald was acting on orders from either, the people would demand war. (Ling, 2013). American’s were used to war, but this time it would be different. It would be nuclear.
Perhaps President Johnson instructed McCole to guide the Warren Commission’s investigation towards a lone shooter situation while downplaying Oswald’s communist ties in order to save millions of Americans’ lives from Russian nukes. It may have been President Kennedy’s ongoing efforts to remove Castro even after he pledged not to invade, which could have been highlighted had investigators connected the dots to Cuba, which might have led to war.
There is another theory that the assassination was an inside job because of Kennedy’s failures and perceived soft stance on communism in Cuba and Vietnam. Whatever the reason J.F.K.’s assassination was covered up, it undoubtedly saved lives. President Johnson used the Warren Commission to maintain peace and to help win the next election.
References
- Corbett, P. S., Volker, J., Lund, J. M., Pfannestiel, T. J., Vickery, P. S., & Waskiewicz, S. (2019). U.S. History. Houston, TX: OpenStax College, Rice University.
- Gaa, J. (2018, July). Political Standards: Corporate Interest, Ideology, and Leadership in the Shaping of Accounting Rules for the Market Economy, by Karthik Ramanna. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 2015. 296 pp. ISBN: 978-0226210742. Retrieved April 24, 2020, from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=6801245b-12c0-4996-9d1a-ac1cbdcd0ae9@sessionmgr4007
- John F. Kennedy. (2020). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://academic-eb-com.macu.idm.oclc.org/levels/collegiate/article/John-F-Kennedy/45085
- Ling, P. (2013). Killing Kennedy. History Today, 63(11), 50-56
- McMillan, D. (2017). JFK in Congress. Retrieved April 26, 2020, from https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2017/spring/jfk-congress
- Price, S. (2015). CIA director withheld information about JFK assassination. UPI Top News.
- The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection. (2018, April 26). Retrieved April 24, 2020, from https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk
