JFK Conspiracy Theories: It Never Ends

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jargon buster said:
Cuban?
http://jfkfiles.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/kennedy-assassination-did-castro-know.html
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Correct.

Castro’s Secrets: The CIA And Cuba’s Intelligence Machine, a new book by a CIA analyst Brian Latell published in April, reveals that Castro was aware before the JFK assassination that Oswald had visited the Cuban embassy in Mexico City and offered to kill JFK "for the [Cuban] revolution."

The media is treating this as "fresh meat for JFK assassination hounds," but the fact that Castro was briefed on Oswald's embassy visit and his threat against Kennedy has been known for years.

James Hosty, the Dallas FBI agent assigned to Oswald, revealed in a book published 1996 that Castro discussed Oswald's embassy visit with American Communist Party officials Jack and Morris Childs in Havana (the Child brothers, high officials in the CPUSA, were FBI informers) but Oswald's assassination offer was dismissed as "the rantings of a madman."

Investigative journalist and assassination researcher Gus Russo developed the Cuban angle further in two books, Live by the Sword, The Secret War Against Castro and the Death of JFK published in 1998 and Brothers In Arms: The Kennedys, the Castros, and the Politics of Murder (written with Stephen Molton) published in 2008. Russo also collaborated with Wilfried Huismann, a German filmmaker, on Rendezvous with Death: JFK & the Cuban Connection, a television documentary shown in Europe in 2006 and in Canada but not in the U.S. (You can view it on You Tube here.)

Hosty believed that the Cubans may have had a role in the assassination. Russo goes much further. In Brothers he and his co-author claim that the KGB passed Oswald's file to Cuban Intelligence in July 1962 (shortly after Oswald’s return to the U.S.), instructing the Cubans “to observe Oswald in the U.S.” and that Oswald was recruited as a "foreign collaborator" by the Cubans before his visit to Mexico City in September of 1963.

Intriguing as Russo's theory is he is honest enough to admit it cannot be conclusively proven and the the "full truth" may never be known. What is known is that the CIA is still withholding information about what they knew about Oswald's activities in Mexico City and that there was a government cover up by the CIA, FBI, LBJ, RFK and the Warren Commission to cut off speculation about Oswald's motive for killing JFK and terminate any further investigation of Oswald's Mexico City trip.

From an article in Salon.com about Latell's book.

“Castro and a small number of Cuban intelligence officers were complicit in Kennedy’s death but … their involvement fell short of an organized assassination plot,” [Latell] writes in “Castro’s Secrets: The CIA and Cuba’s Intelligence Machine,” a well-footnoted polemic about Cuba’s General Directorate of Intelligence...

Latell says accused assassin Lee Harvey Oswald told Cuban diplomats in Mexico City in September 1963 that he might kill JFK. Latell also speculates, without any direct evidence, that Oswald kept the Cubans apprised of his plans as he made his way to Dallas...

Latell’s most intriguing contribution is the testimony of Florentino Aspillaga, a career General Directorate of Intelligence officer who defected to the United States in 1987. Latell interviewed him extensively in 2007 and 2008, and found him unusually credible on the workings of the Cuban security forces. Aspillaga told Latell that on Nov. 22, 1963, he was manning a Cuban radio monitoring station that usually focused on Miami or Langley. His bosses, he said, made an unusual request that day: monitor the airwaves in Texas. Soon came the shocking news that JFK had been killed in Dallas. “Castro knew,” Aspillaga is quoted as saying. “They knew Kennedy would be killed.”
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A prediction: Latell's book will be attacked or poo-pooed by leftists and conspiracy theorists of the JFK assassination (the two groups overlap of course) who would much rather believe the U.S. government killed Kennedy than believe a communist government under attack by the JFK administration would have had a motive to encourage Oswald to kill JFK.

Leftists who admire and adulate Castro (and also, bizarrely, at the same time, JFK, the man who hated Castro and wanted him dead and was planning another invasion of Cuba when he was killed) do not want believe this. It is no coincidence that Oliver Stone after making JFK, the biggest CT movie of all time, when on to make not one but two ass-kissing documentaries about Fidel for HBO.
 
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SpitfireIX said:
Welcome to the forum, Rebel. He is. In one interview he claimed that he'd shot JFK on his left side--from the grassy knoll. When he realized his error he claimed that he'd meant his own left. :rolleyes:
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You'd have to be beyond crazy for even the crazies to not believe you; they will believe anything.

Walter Ego said:
A prediction: Latell's book will be attacked or poo-pooed by leftists and conspiracy theorists of the JFK assassination (the two groups overlap of course) who would much rather believe the U.S. government killed Kennedy than believe a communist government under attack by the JFK administration would have had a motive to encourage Oswald to kill JFK.

Leftists who admire and adulate Castro (and also, bizarrely, at the same time, JFK, the man who hated Castro and wanted him dead and was planning another invasion of Cuba when he was killed) do not want believe this. It is no coincidence that Oliver Stone after making JFK, the biggest CT movie of all time, when on to make not one but two ass-kissing documentaries about Fidel for HBO.
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Another thing that always has amazed me is how far right CTers tend to even admire JFK.
 
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Rebel Yellow said:
Another thing that always has amazed me is how far right CTers tend to even admire JFK.
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Welcome to the forum.

I've been reading a lot about the Kennedy years recently (history and commentary, not conspiracy theories). What amazes me is that the fawning adulation of JFK has no relation to his actual policies, his character (when he wasn't boffing Mafia molls he was being injected with mind-altering drugs) or the historical record.

LBJ was correct when he said the Kennedy brothers were running "a damned Murder Inc. in the Caribbean." (Not just the Castro murder plots, but CIA plots to assassinate Trujillo in the Dominican Republic as well.) LBJ was wrong in only one regard when he said, "Kennedy tried to kill Castro but Castro got him first."

It wasn't Castro who "got" JFK. It was his surrogate, Lee Harvey Oswald.
 
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Walter Ego said:
I've been reading a lot about the Kennedy years recently (history and commentary, not conspiracy theories). What amazes me is that the fawning adulation of JFK has no relation to his actual policies, his character (when he wasn't boffing Mafia molls he was being injected with mind-altering drugs) or the historical record.
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Here is part of a page from McAdams' site that ought to (but undoubtedly won't) dispel these myths about JFK (reformatted slightly because I'm too lazy to look up how to do a table in BB Code):

Myth: Liberal JFK and conservative Richard Nixon were enemies.
Reality: JFK respected Nixon, and preferred him to liberal members of his own party.

The Historical Record


Myth: John and Bobby Kennedy Opposed McCarthyism.
Fact: Both Bobby and John were friends with, and politically supported, McCarthy.

The Historical Record


Myth: The Kennedys Were Good Friends with Adlai Stevenson.
Fact: John and Bobby were suspicious of, and sometimes downright contemptuous of, the "effeminate" Stevenson.

The Historical Record


Myth: Kennedy's Domestic Policy Agenda was Liberal.
Fact: Kennedy was stand-offish toward the Civil Rights movement and cut the capital gains tax.

The Historical Record


Myth: Kennedy was a Foreign Policy Liberal who Planned to Let Communists Take over in South Vietnam.
Fact: Kennedy was a Cold Warrior and anti-communist.

The Historical Record
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As a side note, here is a video I came across of Ronald Reagan and RFK defending American involvement in Vietnam in a debate with an English student in 1967.


 
Myth: John and Bobby Kennedy Opposed McCarthyism.
Fact: Both Bobby and John were friends with, and politically supported, McCarthy.
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Tailgunner Joe dated two of their sisters and was godfather to Kathleen, RFK's oldest.

I honestly don't know why JFK is so mythologized. Because he was young?
 
bynmdsue said:
Tailgunner Joe dated two of their sisters and was godfather to Kathleen, RFK's oldest.

I honestly don't know why JFK is so mythologized. Because he was young?
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I think it was his charisma. People really liked the guy, he died a gory, public death. People felt both traumatized and personally connected to his death since they saw it, and he was so well liked. It became significant to them, thus the man became significant.
 
bynmdsue said:
I honestly don't know why JFK is so mythologized. Because he was young?
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Ditto the charisma, but I also think PT-109 had something to do with it. There are plusses and minuses in Kennedy's Navy career, but the well-publicized story of a heroic young captain personally saving his crew will tend to endear people to him.
 
He was mythologised becasue he representated the spirit of the age, it all seemed possible, it more than likely still is.....
 
I wonder if a certain poster saw the recent national geographic show about the mob conspiracy. Must have been very confusing for somebody who refuses to believe a word Posner says having the author agree with the conspiracy theory....
 
I honestly don't know why JFK is so mythologized. Because he was young?
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Happens pretty much anytime someone famous dies young and before the shine wears off. James Dean, Marylin Monroe, etc... Think how even more famous Elvis would be if he had passed while still the "Thin Elvis."
 
I am Bigfoot said:
http://www.alternet.org/news/155622...-_Has_a_Theory_About_Kennedy's_Assassination/

Anyone think this would be worth reading?
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If you mean the Stephen King novel, yes, but only if you are a King fan. I read it and found myself skipping ahead after a while, only reading the parts about Oswald. If you want a fictional take on Oswald, read Don DeLillo's Libra, a much better book.

From the linked article.

Oswald's motives were more personal than political... The evidence points to the conclusion that Oswald killed JFK because of deep rooted personality issues...
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I would disagree. Oswald's motives were personal but they were also deeply political.

There was a post-assassination cover up of Oswald's pre-assassination activities and associations and, yes, the Kennedy family, specifically RFK, was involved in the cover up along with LBJ, the CIA, FBI, et al. Avenues of investigation were curtailed and information was withheld from the Warren Commission, governmental agencies and officials and the American public.

This cover up is by far the most interesting and intriguing angle on the assassination as it relates to suppressed information about Oswald's motive in killing the President and the possible assistance and tacit encouragement he received in carrying out the assassination.

The scientific and forensic evidence nails Oswald and there is no credible evidence of a second shooter. The only remaining question is who had foreknowledge of Oswald's expressed intention of killing JFK and what did they do to advance (or, at the very least, not impede) his goal of political assassination.
 
Walter Ego said:
If you mean the Stephen King novel, yes, but only if you are a King fan. I read it and found myself skipping ahead after a while, only reading the parts about Oswald. If you want a fictional take on Oswald, read Don DeLillo's Libra, a much better book.
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I was hoping it would be less like a King novel and more like a piece of (mostly) non-fiction written by someone with years of experience writing books combined with really high-dollar publishers and editors. But oh well.
 
I am Bigfoot said:
I was hoping it would be less like a King novel and more like a piece of (mostly) non-fiction written by someone with years of experience writing books combined with really high-dollar publishers and editors. But oh well.
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If you haven't studied the Kennedy assassination in detail and want to read a book with a non-conspiratorial point of view, start with Gerald Posner's Case Closed. After you have a good overview of the case and Oswald's life history, I would recommend the two books by Gus Russo mentioned above.
 
Walter Ego said:
If you mean the Stephen King novel, yes, but only if you are a King fan. I read it and found myself skipping ahead after a while, only reading the parts about Oswald. If you want a fictional take on Oswald, read Don DeLillo's Libra, a much better book.

From the linked article.




I would disagree. Oswald's motives were personal but they were also deeply political.

There was a post-assassination cover up of Oswald's pre-assassination activities and associations and, yes, the Kennedy family, specifically RFK, was involved in the cover up along with LBJ, the CIA, FBI, et al. Avenues of investigation were curtailed and information was withheld from the Warren Commission, governmental agencies and officials and the American public.

This cover up is by far the most interesting and intriguing angle on the assassination as it relates to suppressed information about Oswald's motive in killing the President and the possible assistance and tacit encouragement he received in carrying out the assassination.

The scientific and forensic evidence nails Oswald and there is no credible evidence of a second shooter. The only remaining question is who had foreknowledge of Oswald's expressed intention of killing JFK and what did they do to advance (or, at the very least, not impede) his goal of political assassination.
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Or James Ellroy's re-imagining of the whole 60's assassiniation zeitgeist, American Tabloid, The Cold Six Thousand and Blood's a Rover.

Ellroy turned me on to Libra, and I found it a very interesting read.

At some point, I'll post a thread about my family (primarily my father and his older brother) and how I was raised to believe the mafia hit both the Kennedy brothers - a tease - my father said (after having seen Oswald on TV) "that ******* won't last a week."

When Ruby shot and killed Oswald, to me at least, it was like my father had some secret power I couldn't fathom.

My old man was a Korea Marine, a LEO and his brother had joined the Marines before WWII, stayed on through the Pacific and Korea, retired from the MC and signed on with the F.B.I. - with no college degree.

My family is Sicilian on both sides, and our relatives came to New Orleans and settled there after WWI.

It will be a long post to put together properly, and yes, after growing up and being out in the world and studying the evidence, I believe Oswald pulled the trigger.
 
BStrong said:
At some point, I'll post a thread about my family (primarily my father and his older brother) and how I was raised to believe the mafia hit both the Kennedy brothers - a tease - my father said (after having seen Oswald on TV) "that ******* won't last a week."
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In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, the idea that the killing of JFK was the result of a conspiracy was not unreasonable, especially when Oswald himself was gunned downed less than 48 hours after Kennedy was shot which certainly gave the appearance that someone wanted to silence him.

But now, almost 50 years later, none of these conspiracy theories have panned out. The only unanswered questions relate to Oswald's connections to the Cuban government.

Keep in mind that the KGB passed Oswald's encrypted file to Cuban intelligence shortly after he returned from the Soviet Union in 1962 and he was contacted in the U.S. by Cuban operatives before he went to Mexico City where he also met with Cuban intelligence officers.
 
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