Cia's Role In The Kennedy Assassination example essay topic

Assassination of JFK On Friday, November 22nd 1963 at 12: 30 p.m. the 35th president of the United States of America, John Fitzgerald Kennedy assassinated while he rode in an open limousine though the streets of Dallas. This event, which abruptly and severely altered the course of history, it has created more controversy than any other single event. Some haunting questions still remain. "Who did it"Why did they do it"How was it done"Was there a cover up" The official answers complied by the Warren Commission have never satisfied the majority of the world's population. In this following essay I will try to show who was responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I believe the only way to prove that there was a cover up, is to firstly prove that Lee Harvey Oswald is not the killer.

The Warren Commission consisting of "various outstanding citizens" was created to "ascertain, evaluate and report upon the facts relating to the assassination... and the subsequent violent death of the man charged with the assassination Lee Harvey Oswald. The purpose of the Commission was to examine the evidence developed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and any additional evidence that may hereafter come to light... to make such further investigation, as the Commission finds desirable. In less than one week they found that a 'lone nut' killed JK. At no time did the Warren Commission seem to consider the basic legal rights of Oswald - innocence until proven guilty, the right to legal representation, or the right to cross-examine witnesses and evidence against him. There is no way that Lee Have Oswald was the lone assassin. Firstly the paraffin test of Oswald's hands and his right cheek conducted on November 23, 1963, has been positive for his hands but negative for his cheek.

Generally, this is evidence in Oswald's favor, but the Commission asserted that the test "is completely unreliable in determining either whether a person has recently fired a weapon or whether he has not". Nobody saw Oswald on the 6th floor window after 11: 55 on November 22nd. 90 seconds after the assassination, Roy Truly and Police officer M.L. Baker saw Oswald on the second floor. Oswald had to take the stairs down.

But he had just 90 seconds to hide the rifle in the opposite corner of the sixth floor, run downstairs 4 floors passing Victoria Adams who never saw him and reach the second floor where he was encountered to be "calm and collected". The Warren Commission claimed that Oswald fired three shots in 5.6 seconds from the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository. The first shot was the 'magic bullet' which made a total of seven wounds on JFK and Connally. Which appeared later in the Parkland Memorial Hospital - you can see - in an almost pristine condition. The second shot missed JFK and hit a bystander in the cheek and the third was the fatal head. The Warren Commission said the third shot hit JFK from behind, however his head was pushed backwards and to the left.

This means the bullet must of come from the grassy Knoll. Also many witness thought they heard shots from there. (See graph) Oswald rifle's had poor capability (experts tried to do the same what Oswald was claimed to have done, but only one was able to do that! because he got not familiar with the rifle and the inaccurate attached scope of the rifle. It was near impossible for him to make the shot in 5.6 seconds "If I had to pick one man in the whole United States to shoot me, I'd pick Oswald. I saw that man shoot and there's no way he could have ever learned to shoot well enough to do what they accused him of.

I'm one of the best shots around, and I couldn't have done it". -Sherman Cooley (US Marine, served with Oswald) If Oswald was not the killer then who would have wanted to see President Kennedy dead Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) The CIA J. Edgar Hoover The Mafia Anti-Castro Cubans Richard Nixon I am convinced Lyndon Johnson may very well have been involved in the plot to murder President Kennedy. I believe Johnson probably knew about the plot ahead of time and either sanctioned it or actively took part in it. Another possibility, in my view, is that Johnson realized soon after the shooting that Kennedy had been killed by a conspiracy, and that Johnson had an idea as to whom had been behind it. In any case, Johnson was a driving force behind the cover-up that followed. However there is only circumstantial evidence, but there is a lot against LBJ.

The CIA in reference to its alleged involvement in the assassination, are referring primarily to the CIA's covert action personnel, i. e., those agents who deal in sabotage, propaganda, and assassination. There is evidence that suggests that some of the Agency's covert operations personnel have also taken part in drug trafficking. Most CIA personnel are not involved in such activities and would be appalled at any attempt to harm an elected official. The covert operations personnel make up a large portion of the CIA, and they, along with the Agency's top officials, are the most powerful group in the CIA. Some high-ranking CIA officials have attempted to frustrate presidential policies and have initiated or sanctioned illegal operations, to include working with organized crime. JFK and the CIA were in a virtual state of war from the moment of the Bay of Pigs disaster until the day he died.

JFK did not trust the CIA and he reportedly intended to dismantle it after the 1964 election. In Vietnam, the CIA refused to carry out instructions from the ranking American official in the country. The CIA ignored President Kennedy's directive that it not initiate operations requiring greater firepower than a handgun. It also ignored JFK's orders to stop working with the Mafia. When Kennedy heard the news that South Vietnam's dictator Ngo Diem had been murdered by a CIA-backed coup, against his express wishes, he was outraged. Kennedy was no fan of Diem's, but he did not want to see him murdered.

General Maxwell Taylor wrote that upon learning of Diem's death JFK "leaped to his feet and rushed from the room with a look of shock and dismay on his face". Kennedy blamed the CIA for Diem's murder. Kennedy said he had to "do something about" the CIA and that the Agency should be stripped of its exorbitant power. On another occasion, Kennedy reportedly said he would scatter the CIA "into a thousand pieces".

One of the more troubling cases of CIA disobedience to presidential authority was its behavior in relation to Cuba. In September 1963, long after President Kennedy had ordered a halt to the covert campaign against Castro, senior CIA staffers, including the deputy director, Richard Helms, and Desmond Fitzgerald, the head of the Agency's Cuba unit, approved plans to kill Castro, without seeking presidential authorization. They also continued other covert operations against Cuba in violation of the President's instructions. Needless to say, these CIA officers did not inform the President of their activities; nor did they inform Congress or the Attorney General, Robert Kennedy. They didn't even tell then-CIA director John McC one, probably because he was appointed by President Kennedy following the Bay of Pigs disaster.

In short, as Anthony Summers has observed, "in September and October 1963-a crucial moment politically-CIA officers were acting in a way that gravely endangered White House policy". A key figure linking the Agency to the assassination was CIA man David Atlee Phillips, who was seen with Oswald a few months before the shooting. Among many other things, Phillips was the propaganda chief for the Bay of Pigs operation and later rose to become the chief of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Division. In 1954 Phillips worked with E. Howard Hunt and others to overthrow the Arbenz government in Guatemala.

Based on his extensive investigation of Phillips for the Church Committee and then for the Select Committee, Gaston Fon zi believes that "David Atlee Phillips played a key role in the conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy". Phillips was in charge of the CIA's Cuban operations in Mexico City at the time of the assassination, so he was strategically positioned to frame Oswald, and it is quite possible, if not probable, that he was involved in the phony Oswald visits to the Cuban embassy. Another former CIA agent who has come under suspicion is E. Howard Hunt. Hunt, a former high-ranking covert operator and a propaganda specialist, was a key figure in the Bay of Pigs invasion. As mentioned, Hunt and David Atlee Phillips helped to overthrow the Arbenz government in Guatemala. According to former (and now deceased) CIA operative Frank Sturgis, who knew Hunt well, Hunt was involved in CIA assassination operations.

Hunt has made no secret of his intense dislike for John Kennedy. To this day, Hunt blames JFK for the failure at the Bay of Pigs. When Watergate whistleblower John Dean opened Hunt's private safe, he found bogus telegrams that falsely linked JFK with the assassination of South Vietnam's corrupt dictator Ngo Dinh Diem. Where was E. Howard Hunt on November 22, 1963 Hunt has given conflicting accounts of where he was at the time of the shooting. In his 1985 libel trial in Miami, Florida, the jury concluded Hunt was not being truthful about his whereabouts on the day of the assassination. Hunt was believed to be the small "tramp" in the famous "tramp photos".

The tramp photos show three supposed tramps, which were arrested in the railroad yard behind the grassy knoll shortly after the assassination. The tramps were found in a freight train that had pulled out from behind the T SBD without authorization. The railroad tower controller stopped the train because he knew it did not have permission to depart. The police then searched the train and found the tramps. In the tramp photos the tramps are being escorted by some Dallas police officers who are holding shotguns, presumably on route to the police station. In 1988, 3 M's Comt al Corporation analyzed photos of Hunt and of the third tramp and found a noticeable resemblance between them.

All of this does NOT prove Hunt was the third tramp, but it is worth noting that he bears a strong resemblance to a man who was arrested in Dealey Plaza shortly after the assassination. The Mafia had the means, the motive, and the opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy. Prior to the assassination, various Mafia leaders were heard to threaten JFK's life. The Mafia were believed to of pay JFK's way into Power. They thought they had someone in the White House, however JFK began to crack down on Mafia. On November 20, two Mafia men told Rose Cher amie that it was common knowledge in the underworld that Kennedy was about to be killed.

Mafia-CIA man David Ferrie was very probably involved in framing Oswald while he was in New Orleans, and Ferrie engaged in highly suspicious activity shortly after JFK was shot. And, as mentioned, a Mafia courier named Eugene Hale Brading was arrested in the Dal-Tex Building overlooking Dealey Plaza immediately after the shooting. Brading had an FBI rap sheet with about three dozen arrests. He had met with one of the sons of avowed Kennedy-hater H.L. Hunt the day before, ostensibly to discuss some oil business. After he was arrested, Brading gave the Dallas police an alias, and told them he had merely gone into the building to use the phone. The police released him a short time later.

Without question, a Mafia man, Jack Ruby, silenced Lee Harvey Oswald before he had a chance to tell his side of the story. Furthermore, right after the President's visit to Dallas was announced, Ruby began making numerous calls to important Mafia contacts all over the country. Ruby, like Eugene Brading, was in H.L. Hunt's offices the day before the shooting. Convicted Texas hitman Charles Harrelson has been identified as the tall man in the famous photos of the three "tramps" who were arrested in the railroad yard behind Dealey Plaza shortly after the assassination.

In the early 1980's, Harrelson was convicted of murdering federal judge John Wood with a high-powered rifle, and is currently serving his sentence in a Texas prison. During the standoff that preceded his arrest, Harrelson not only confessed to killing Judge Wood, but also said he had been involved in the Kennedy assassination. Harrelson later retracted his statement about having taken part in the assassination, claiming he had fabricated it under the influence of cocaine. When arrested, Harrelson was found to be carrying the business card of R.D. Matthews, who, was acquainted with Jack Ruby and with other Dallas crime figures.

At Harrelson's trial, Joe Ch agra, the brother of the man who was believed to have hired Harrelson, testified that Harrelson was given the contract to kill Judge Wood after he claimed to have participated in the JFK assassination. Indicted along with Harrelson in the plot to kill Judge Wood was the brother of New Orleans crime boss Carlos Marcello, who was one of the Mafia figures identified by the Select Committee as possibly having been involved in the assassination of President Kennedy. The photos of the tall tramp were compared with pictures of Harrelson. It was likely that they were same person.

Similarly, police officers trained in photo identification have that Harrelson definitely appears to be the tall tramp. So far federal authorities have shown no interest in investigating Harrelson in connection with any role he might have had in the assassination. Why would the Mafia have wanted JFK dead Quite simply, because the Kennedy administration was threatening the very existence of organized crime in America. Robert Kennedy was waging an unprecedented war on the Mafia, a war that targeted not just Mafia operations but also Mafia leaders themselves. Soon after Lyndon Johnson took over, the war on organized crime came to a virtual halt.

Sam Giancana (real name: Momo Salvatore Guingano) was a Chicago Mafia boss involved in CIA plots to kill Fidel Castro. Giancana was also the target of attacks by then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, despite the fact that the Attorney General's own brother, John Kennedy, had been having an affair with Giancana's paramour, Judith Einer, starting in March 1960. Further infuriating Giancana, Robert Kennedy ordered the FBI to shadow his every move so closely that other mob figures kept their distance from him, effectively isolating him from business and social associates. Later, out of desperation, Giancana went to court and obtained an injunction against the FBI. Anti-Castro Cubans could have also been involved in the Assassination of JFK. The anti-Castro Cubans were admittedly furious with Kennedy over the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion but later forgave him because, among other things, he ransomed 1,200 captured exile troops from Castro.

But there is strong evidence that some anti-Castro Cubans never forgave Kennedy for the failure at the Bay of Pigs, and many of these same individuals were furious at Kennedy over his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis and over his shutting down of their para-military training camps. It should be noted that the militant anti-Castro exiles were almost exclusively under the control of the CIA. Richard Nixon was one of the most corrupt residents in the history of our republic. If nothing else, I believe Nixon might have had foreknowledge of the assassination (and obviously did nothing to prevent it). The Nixon administration repeatedly intervened to quash prosecutions and investigations of criminal activity in Mafia-dominated labor unions. Nixon was involved in a number of highly questionable-and, in some cases, Mob-connected-financial dealings.

Nixon pardoned organized crime figures after the government had spent millions of dollars to put them in jail. Among those pardoned was Mafia killer Angelo DeCarlo. On one occasion, recorded on a 1971 Watergate tape, Nixon and his aides discussed using Mob thugs to attack anti-war protestors. Not surprisingly, by all accounts the Mafia warmly endorsed and supported Nixon's campaigns. John Davis, an authority on organized crime, has said, For one thing, there is some evidence linking him to Jack Ruby. It was reported in a 1947 FBI document that Jack Ruby had performed "information functions for the staff of Congressman Richard Nixon".

Nixon flew to Dallas on November 20, 1963, two days before the assassination. Asked later why he had come, he said he was there to attend a board meeting of the Pepsi-Cola Company. Yet, a subsequent review of Pepsi-Cola corporate files revealed there was no record of any Pepsi-Cola board meetings in Dallas in 1963. While in Dallas, Nixon made comments to the city's newspapers to the effect that he, unlike President Kennedy, did not need Secret Service protection. Several researchers believe that this taunting might have contributed to the decision not to have the Plexiglass bubble top placed on his limousine on the day of the assassination. He is also believe to have influenced the mayor of Dallas to change the route of the limousine.

The route of JFK's car was changed for an unknown reason to a more dangerous route. (See map of route) Nixon left Dallas on the morning of the assassination. However, during an FBI interview in early 1964, he said the only time he had been in Dallas in 1963 was two days before Kennedy was killed. It has been said that Nixon must have been the only adult at the time who could not remember where he was on November 22, 1963. Why did Nixon tell the FBI he had not been in Dallas on the day of the murder What exactly was he doing there from November 20 till the morning of the assassination According to none other than Nixon's chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, Nixon attempted to force the CIA to assist in thwarting investigations into Watergate by threatening to expose the CIA's role in the Kennedy assassination.

In connection with this, it is worth mentioning again that E. Howard Hunt of the CIA was able to blackmail Nixon for a million dollars. What did Hunt know As discussed earlier, several researchers have accused Hunt of complicity in Kennedy's death, and Hunt has given conflicting accounts of where he was on the day of the shooting. Also several of the people who were hired or considered for employment by the Nixon White House during Watergate had been connected with the Warren Commission. Was this just a coincidence In addition, some of the operatives and Cuban exiles who were involved in the Bay of Pigs operation later turned up in the Watergate affair. In my opinion, the principal individuals and forces behind the assassination were fanatical right-wing elements in the CIA and in the military, J. Edgar Hoover and Lyndon Johnson. I believe CIA and Mafia operatives, to include disaffected anti-Castro Cubans, constituted the largest part of the on-the-ground, operational arm of the plot.

I believe that members of the Dallas law enforcement community were involved in the Dallas end of the cover-up, and that some of them knowingly allowed Jack Ruby to murder Oswald. I believe that FBI agents, along with J. Edgar Hoover, played a major role in most aspects of the cover- up. I believe Oswald was setup by LBJ, Hoover and the CIA. The magic bullet found mysteriously, later in the Parkland Memorial Hospital in an almost pristine condition was planted to match Oswald's rifle...

In my view, the main reasons President Kennedy was killed were (1) He refused to further escalate American involvement in Vietnam (2) He was moving to end the Cold War (3) Mafia's outrage over his war on organized crime. Just below these reasons, I would list LBJ's lust for the presidency, J. Edgar Hoover's hatred of JFK and his desire to remain director of the FBI and Kennedy's reported intent to drastically reorganize or dismantle the CIA.

Bibliography

Jim Marrs CROSSFIRE: THE PLOT THAT KILLED KENNEDY, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1989.
James Di Eugenio, DESTINY BETRAYED: JFK, CUBA, AND THE GARRISON CASE, New York: Sheridan Square Press, Inc., 1992.
Harrison Edward Livingstone, HIGH TREASON 2, New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1992.
web J.F.K. & the cold war Urs Schwarz, John F. Kennedy, C.J. Bucher Ltd 1964 Elizabeth Greenup, Case Studies in Modern History, 1987.