Murder Tales: The JFK Conspiracies Read online

  President Kennedy was sworn in on Thursday the 20th of January 1961, his inaugural speech once again rung out with the words of hope he wanted to fill the people’s hearts and minds with, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’. He also asked for the countries of the world to come together after what had been the most turbulent fifty years in humanities existence, in order that we could all fight together ‘the common enemies of man, tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself’. Straight away Kennedy showed that he was willing to make unpopular choices for the greater good of the nation, telling the people who had contributed to his election campaign that they should not expect favours in return for their support, he promptly raised taxes; a slap in the face to the millions that had been given to him by the American business elite. Appointing his brother, Robert Kennedy, as Attorney General, together the Kennedy brothers launched a war on organised crime, effectively stabbing in the back the criminal organisations that had helped him get into the Oval Office in the first place.

  There were some responsibilities President Kennedy couldn't get out of; one of the first issues was his inheritance of the loony Bay of Pigs invasion. President Eisenhower had accepted this operation from the CIA, and had believed them when they had told him that a small invasion force of just 1297 under trained and ill-equipped Cuban refugees and criminals; could easily invade communist Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro. The invasion itself wouldn’t take place until Monday the 17th of April 1961, but by the time Kennedy had been inaugurated into office the CIA had already spent $13 million devising the plan, setting up a training camp in Guatemala, and arming the men with what basic arms supplies they needed. The whole operation was doomed from the outset, the invasion force was so undisciplined men were killed during simple training exercises, and at one point there was an active rebellion amongst the men. When the day of invasion came it was a bloodbath, the men of the invasion force had blabbed their mouths openly about the plans for invasion, so it was no secret they were coming. In the event a lack of discipline on the way to Cuba meant that 17 men drowned before even getting there, and when the dissidents eventually stormed the beaches their loose lips ensured they faced T-34 and IS-2 tanks, SU-100 Tank Destroyer guns, B26 Bombers and T33 jets flying over the invasion site carpet bombing the invaders out of existence, not to mention an army of Castro Loyalists armed with 122mm Howitzers. All the invaders had to defend themselves with were some second-hand World War II rifles and bayonets; borrowed from the CIA. President Kennedy was furious, he commented bitterly in the hours after the bloody massacre, ‘How could I have been so stupid, to let them go ahead?’ The invasion had only ensured that Fidel Castro appeared stronger than ever after the resounding victory. Reinforcing this view, world famous and iconic revolutionary, Che Guevara, sent President Kennedy a note, it read simply, ‘Thanks for Playa Girón. Before the invasion, the revolution was weak. Now it's stronger than ever’. In the aftermath of the whole sorry debacle Allan Dulles, the Director of the CIA, attempted to pin the failure of the invasion on the new President. Inferring that President Kennedy’s inexperience had left him floundering; and that President Kennedy was the one who had failed to order the military support that was essential for the plan to be a success. This was a revelation to President Kennedy, who suddenly began to see the CIA as the international menace and bully that others around the world viewed the organisation as being. In response President Kennedy declared that he was going to ‘splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds’. In signing the CIA's death warrant President Kennedy had made a powerful enemy. President Kennedy's wrath was swift, within twelve months he had forced all the senior men at the CIA, including Allan Dulles, to resign, and had made it clear to those left that the organisation’s days were numbered. The Bay of Pigs also altered President Kennedy’s view of his administration, the people around him and the manner in which he would handle international foreign policy. From that day forward the views of his military advisers and the Joint Chiefs of Staff would matter less than in previous administrations, as President Kennedy told reporter Ben Bradlee, he would from that day on, 'avoid feeling that because they were military men their (his generals) opinions on military matters were worth a damn'. President Kennedy was unfortunate in so much that the international situation was spiralling into the abyss when he took office, yet; I believe, the world was lucky to have such a liberal and moderate man at the helm during this tumultuous period, lest the world descended into nuclear flames. When the Soviets began to erect the Berlin Wall in 1961, blocking free access from East to West Berlin, rather than escalating the situation and leading the world into a nuclear conflagration, an outcome Kennedy believed was highly likely, he decided to studiously ignore the clumsy sabre rattling from the Soviets, and instead focused his attention on the post-colonial situation in Africa. You see where many commentators at the time saw this as a weakness in President Kennedy, the man himself realised that by challenging the Soviet's immediately it would simply lead to an instant heightening of animosity and aggression, but by taking the slow and steady road of diplomacy, even though it would take many years, ultimately the American's would win out in Berlin; without any further bloodshed. Yet the Generals had advised otherwise, they had wanted Russia punished with extreme prejudice for dividing Berlin. In fact on no less than six occasions during his administration President Kennedy’s military advisors recommended that he take the country to all out nuclear war. If President Kennedy had not been in power the world would have faced nuclear incineration over Laos in the Spring of 1961, Cuba in April 1961, Berlin twice, in the Summer and Autumn of 1961, Cuba again in the October of 1962, and Vietnam once more in October of 1963. The generals that surrounded him were chomping at the bit, demanding that President Kennedy flex his muscles, and show the Soviets that he was not a pushover, that he was not afraid to drop the bomb. You see the general’s fundamentally misunderstood the Russian mentality, they believed Russia wouldn’t dare retaliate and risk total global destruction. Yet President Kennedy believed otherwise, he rightly guessed that any acts of overt aggression on the world stage would only antagonise Russia, and they would have no compunction to use their nuclear arsenal and hang the consequences, therefore for President Kennedy, thank god, nuclear weapons were an option of last resort.

  Of course the major incident of President Kennedy's administration was the Cuban Missile Crisis, thirteen days where the world came closer to nuclear annihilation than ever before or since. The crisis arose from a slow and steady build-up of military missteps; which antagonised Soviet Russia, beginning with the USA placing missiles with a nuclear payload capable of levelling Moscow; in Turkey, missiles that were pointing directly at the Kremlin. The Americans then lumbered into the dreadful Bay of Pigs disaster. In response to this attempted invasion the Soviets offered to help give the Cuban's protection, the placement of a nuclear payload on Cuban soil, just ninety miles from the American coastline. On Sunday the 14th of October 1962, a U-2 Spy-plane flying over Cuba observed and photographed the erection of nuclear missile silos. Immediately President Kennedy's military aids advised the President that he should order an immediate invasion of Cuba; and attempt to overthrow the pro-Soviet Fidel Castro in favour of a more pro-American leader. President Kennedy was unwilling to commit to another potentially disastrous invasion of the troublesome island, and instead ordered the US Navy to enforce a 'quarantine' of the island. In conjunction with this Russia was to dismantle the missile silos and return any weapons they had given to Cuba back to Russia. In response to the ultimatum Soviet Premier; Nikita Khrushchev, sent President Kennedy a blistering letter which accused the President of provoking, 'an act of aggression propelling human kind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war'. President Kennedy was aware that both he and Khrushchev were expected to act in a certain way during this crisis, that both men had to appear strong and unflinching, but that this behaviour would inevitably end in disaster, so behind his military
advisers backs, Kennedy began to use back channels to secretly communicate with Premier Khrushchev, to try and alleviate the Premiers fears and negate nuclear annihilation. As these secret talks commenced, several Soviet ships attempted to rush the blockade and reach Cuba, in response the Navy were ordered to fire a warning shot across the ships bows, and if they still attempted to enter the quarantine zone then they were to be sunk. Then America messed up, they sent more spy planes over Cuban airspace, and the Soviet officials on Cuba used their missiles to down a U-2. This infuriated the American generals, and they pleaded with Kennedy to retaliate with the nuclear option. Despite immense pressure; President Kennedy point blank refused to fire a nuke at Russia. So the generals groused and complained, and bitched behind the President’s back, and muttered amongst themselves that he was too weak to be President. President Kennedy was aware that a compromise had to be made, that America would get nowhere without offering the Soviets something in return, a quid pro quo deal was called for. So President Kennedy astutely offered Khrushchev a ball breaker of a deal. President Kennedy would promise that America would never invade Cuba, and also agreed to remove the missiles that could level Moscow from Turkey. In return Khrushchev would remove the missiles from Cuba. An agonising wait for a reply ensued, but eventually level heads prevailed; and Khrushchev agreed to the massive compromise. At 6.45 p.m. on Tuesday the 20th of November 1962, the crisis officially ended, nuclear annihilation had been averted. Although Russia got the better deal from the peace talks, only losing a missile base it didn't yet have fully operational, and agreeing a lasting peace treaty for their friends in Cuba; publicly America was seen to have won the showdown, as the missile base in Turkey had been a closely guarded secret and was closed down away from public view. The greatest winner over all was the people of the world, who were saved from a nuclear holocaust thanks to President Kennedy and his unwillingness to bend to the will of the generals who advised him so badly. Even after the crisis was ended those military advisers refused to admit that they had been wrong, General Curtis LeMay described the incident as, 'the greatest defeat in our history', and tried to pursued President Kennedy to renege on the deal and invade Cuba anyway. President Kennedy stood fast, and moved forward with ever greater confidence, persuading Khrushchev that the Kremlin and Whitehouse would be better served by having a direct line between each Premier, so that differences could be talked through before the differences became insurmountable; and mutually assured destruction became a certainty. The Cuban Missile Crisis also served to solidify President Kennedy’s beliefs, it made him more determined than ever before to end the cold war, to stop the madness of nuclear proliferation based on political ideology; before it led to everyone’s death, in short President Kennedy’s foreign policy was to stealthily herald in a new era of peace in our time reigning supreme.

  President Kennedy the peace maker was one thing, but there were other facets of the President’s personality that were a little bit more difficult to reconcile. For one President Kennedy had, shall we call it, a complicated relationship with the Mafia, on the one hand he was indebted and roundly in bed with them, it was after all Mafia actions that enabled the President to get the crucial extra two percent of the vote he needed to win the election and become President in the first place. Also the Mafia were key players in several CIA plots and operations around the world. The CIA found the Mafia useful, as they could ask a friendly godfather to send some men to kill a dictator here, or a legitimate President there, and if it all went rum there would be no comeback on the American establishment; the blame could fall fairly and squarely on organised crime. Frighteningly the same applied if the CIA decided that someone needed to die on American soil, they’d call in the Mafia and the unlucky American citizen became just another unsolved crime statistic. President Kennedy knew of some of these operations, he even had intimate back channels via which he could get messages to the Mob bosses about these operations. Yet despite this cosy co-operation, publically President Kennedy and his brother waged a war against the Mob; which angered them greatly. Until the Kennedy brothers came along; organised crime had been largely ignored by law enforcement agencies, in fact FBI head J. Edgar Hoover had for decades been adamant that organised crime did not exist on American soil. The Kennedy's changed all that, they knew organised crime existed, their father had been friends and business partner to many involved in organised crime, and the brothers were determined to put a stop to it. Robert Kennedy had formerly served on a committee which had a purview to investigate racketeering for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. From this useless exercise, which achieved very little, Robert Kennedy had fortuitously walked away with a thick dossier on over eight hundred mafia connected criminals. This dossier allowed the Kennedy’s to quickly mount over six hundred prosecutions within the first two years of Robert being appointed Attorney General; this in turn put a massive dent in the Mafia's organisation and ability to operate. One massive coo that the Kennedy's were able to facilitate was the deportation of key mafia godfather Carlos Marcello. Marcello was the Louisiana crime boss, and major contributor to the much feared and corrupt Teamsters Union official Jimmy Hoffa. The operation was daring, Marcello was kidnapped, put on a plane in the dead of night, flown over Guatemala and kicked out with nothing but a parachute. This wasn't an exactly legal action; but it made a clear statement to Marcello, he and his criminal endeavours were no longer welcome in America. It was ultimately; like the Bureau of Narcotics hearings, a pointless exercise, for two weeks later Marcello was back in the United States, back in charge of business. A year later the Kennedy's pulled the same stunt again; and once again within a fortnight Marcello had returned from Guatemala to the United States. Still these actions left Marcello livid, his dignity dented, and when asked about Robert Kennedy's actions; Marcello was said to have uttered the famous repost, ‘A dog will continue to bite you if you cut off its tail, whereas if you cut off the dog's head, it will cease to cause you trouble’, from which immortal utterance countless conspiracy theories blossomed. The Mafia were also annoyed with President Kennedy over his inaction over Cuba. For years Cuba had been a cash-cow for the Mob, the money they made from the Casinos of Havana; made the money coming out of Las Vegas look like small change. Yet this had all come to an abrupt stop when Fidel Castro overthrew the corrupt government of Batista, and instead installed himself as the benign dictator. The Mob felt that Kennedy just wasn't doing enough to 'free' Cuba, not for any humanitarian reasons; but simply so they could get the casinos up and running again; and start making-up the millions they were losing in lost revenue. Yes it was a complicated relationship, the Mafia were both friends and enemies of the Kennedy family, President Kennedy infuriated, thwarted and employed them. He massaged their egos with one hand and slapped them in the face with the other, and it is this complex relationship which remains one of the greatest paradoxical paradigms of the whole Kennedy administration.

  One of the resounding myths that have grown around President Kennedy and his administration; is that he and his cabinet saw themselves as a modern day King Arthur and his romantic Knights of the Round Table, benignly ruling in a ‘New Camelot’. Of course not everything was perfect within the confines of the ‘New Camelot’; you see Kennedy had an addiction, that addiction was sex. President Kennedy’s one thousand days in office has become almost as famous for its 'One Thousand Nights'; because of the sheer number of affairs President Kennedy was alleged to have had. The President suffered from satyriasis, or an uncontrollable sexual desire, what we might term in this modern era as a real and harmful sex-addiction. Kennedy's affairs were legendary, his tastes ranged from young Whitehouse interns such as Mimi Alford, Priscilla Wear, Jill Cowen and Pamela Turnure, to Hollywood stars such as Marlene Dietrich (who was by the time of their affair a pensioner) and the world’s most desirable woman, Marilyn Monroe, whose affections and sexual favours President Kennedy shared with his brother Robert Kennedy. Yes, Kennedy didn't mind sharing his lovers with others, he even tried at one po
int to seduce his father's mistress, Janet Des Rosier, but one Kennedy clansman had been enough for her bed. Sometimes Kennedy's affairs were spare of the moment, in one famous incident he had a Secret Service Officer arrange for a Pan-Am flight attendant he had taken a fancy to; to be whisked from her flight to his hotel suite. The Secret Service were constantly running around trying to protect Kennedy from his own sexual exploits, it was their job to keep a watchful eye on Jackie Kennedy, and to tell the President when his wife was returning to the Whitehouse, or nearing a part of the palatial building where he was getting up to his sordid shenanigans. Not all of President Kennedy’s bedroom exploits were entirely for fun; he could be conniving with his sexual dalliances, using his affairs to further his policies and plans. He deliberately shared one of his mistresses with Mafia boss Sam Giancana, and then used this poor woman, Judith Exner, as a go between to channel messages to the Mob. This was in the heady days when the Kennedy administration toyed with the idea of assassinating Fidel Castro, and using the Mob as the hired guns. President Kennedy also entered into a long term affair with the wife of a CIA operative. Mary Pinochot Meyer was useful to President Kennedy; as her marital closeness to a CIA operative allowed President Kennedy to gather intelligence on the agency he so hated and feared, and at the same time mask his interest as simple pillow talk. Perhaps Meyer's too used her regular sexual indiscretions to spy on the President for her husband? It wouldn’t, after all, be the lowest trick the CIA ever sunk to.