This week on my DVR were “50 Years of Questions: The JFK Assassination”, “JFK: 50 Questions Answered”, “Killing Kennedy”, and NOVA’s “Cold Case JFK”. 50 years after his assassination, we still think about it. We’re obsessed. My question is: Why?
Omnipotentblog is biased against conspiracy theories. The notion that many people across different groups and agencies could keep a secret about anything nefarious is spectacularly wrong. Omnipotentblog works for government and at one time, was in the military. Not only that, I was in…MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. (The first to say, “Isn’t that an oxymoron?” was clever. The next ten million were not. Leave it.) Most in the field are patriots. If a large group of them is told to do something evil and corrupt, you can bet $20 that somebody will spill the beans. See Edward Snowden and the other NSA whistle blowers. The very notion of some grand conspiracy about JFK’s assassination doesn’t pass the smell test. Apparently, 59% of us disagree.
Omnipotentblog works with a very diverse population. It has led to one indisputable conclusion: People are idiots. Not all, of course, but humanity at large is not brilliant. In my “What we can learn from a Devil Worshiper” blog, I outlined research showing the vast majority of us are somewhat closed minded. No one, government, military, and Omnipotentblog included, are totally immune from this curse.
Indisputable fact #1: Oswald was a wife beating, deranged communist. He was hospitalized as a young teenager for trying to kill his family. When asked by an American Embassy worker why he was renouncing his citizenship, he stated, “I’m a Marxist”. If only they all were so honest. He lived in the USSR for a while before being disillusioned by breadlines and the cold. Documents reveal that the KGB thought he was a moron and not of much use. He returned to the U.S. annoyed with Russia but still enamored with tin pot dictators like Castro. Hope springs eternal.
Indisputable fact #2: Kennedy was a virulent anti-communist.
Indisputable fact #3: Oswald already had one assassination attempt under his belt. He tried to kill right wing General Edwin Walker on 4/10/63.
Years ago, I watched a documentary featuring Gerald Posner, author of “Case Closed”. He was compelling, demolishing seemingly every theory peddled. Jeffrey Toobin of the Chicago Tribune wrote, “Unlike many of the 2,000 other books that have been written about the Kennedy assassination, (it) is a resolutely sane piece of work…utterly convincing…I started 'Case Closed' as a skeptic…but this fascinating and important book won me over.” Pollster Larry Sabato started a skeptic but as he wrote “The Kennedy Half Century”, became convinced Oswald was the lone gunman. The only person to personally know both men, Priscilla Johnson McMillan worked as a researcher for JFK and interviewed Oswald for six hours in Russia. What she saw was a delusional, unbalanced renegade. She is convinced he alone was responsible. She befriended Oswald’s wife and wrote a book about their tortured relationship. Likewise, Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Charles Manson (Who might be engaged now. Yay! Congratulations!) wrote an exhaustive, 1600 pages debunking the conspiracy theories. Nobody cares. We will have our conspiracy.
Star crossed lovers met on Prison-is-for-lovers.matchmakers.com.
To be fair, there are some interesting questions, notably, Jack Ruby’s connection with the mafia, a major suspect, and the government’s fear that a connection to Russia would lead to nuclear war. More interesting, however, is not the debate over a magic bullet but the sociological implications of our ongoing obsession. If we were honest, we would admit, as Dylan Matthews argues, JFK wasn’t that great. Many experts say JFK, misunderstanding Kruschev’s intentions, escalated the Cuban Missile crisis and almost brought about nuclear war. JFK himself eventually admitted the missiles in Cuba were analogous to those he had just put in Turkey. Matthews also notes the Bay of Pigs invasion. Even JFK thought it was a bad idea but he went ahead anyway. He argues that Kennedy likely would have taken us to war in Viet Nam. JFK also helped overthrow an Iraqi dictator, which brought Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to power. D’oh!
Matthews also argues convincingly that JFK moved very slowly on Civil Rights. He did send troops to protect the Freedom Riders but, according to Jackie Robinson, who had backed Nixon in 1960, JFK had to be heavily pressured by civil rights leaders to back the Civil Rights Act. Matthews states, “It's hard to say if Nixon would have been better on civil rights — though it's worth remembering that he was friends with Martin Luther King Jr., was an NAACP member, and expressed to King his frustration with the tepid pace at which civil rights was moving — but Hubert Humphrey, who made his name in politics with a 1948 stand for civil rights at the Democratic convention, certainly would have been. In any case, Kennedy's record is nothing to write home about”.
Kennedy also passed no domestic legislation of any consequence. He tried to pass MediCare but it was sabotaged by his own bumbling criticism of Congressional Democrats. It took the negotiating skills of LBJ to get it done.
Liberals lionize JFK but the president who quoted him most was Ronald Reagan. Realizing JFK was not quite so liberal, he used him to turn Kennedy Democrats into Reagan Democrats. Some credit Reagan’s supply side economics and the “Laffer Curve” with JFK/LBJ’s 20% tax cut, which increased revenues substantially between 1961 and 1968. JFK once said, “A rising tide lifts all boats”. Sounds very “trickle down” to me.
Some liberals, like the degenerate Oliver Stone, believe JFK would have avoided Vietnam. How so?? He tried to overthrow Castro and he did overthrow Vietnam’s Ngo Diem, showing great eagerness to get involved. His famous “Ich bin ein Berlinner” speech was a warning to East Germany not to encroach. Unlike Stone, JFK hated commies.
What to make of all this? Apparently, we need our heroes. He almost called fire and brimstone down on the east coast and we now know he was bringing prostitutes into the White House. No matter. We need someone to venerate. We idealize and replace what is vague with what is lovely and romantic. We ascribe royalty and create fantastical language like “Camelot” to describe his reign. With Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, the Great Society, and the War on Poverty, LBJ was much more consequential. He was hated for the war in Vietnam but he was a great and powerful liberal. Too bad he’s ugly. And has a Texas drawl, which, if you’re on the left, is where all jerks are from. What cemented Kennedy’s fame were a devastating smile, a fashionable and pretty wife, and the fact that he died before he could screw up. Had he lived, he would have been seen as mediocre. But, like Princess Di, it’s inconceivable someone so special can be cut down by a drunken chauffer or that Obama, our first messiah, can fail simply because he sucks. It must be racism. An American royal killed by a single confused, angry loser? It’s just too terrible.
We like to believe.
