Jfk Assassination Of Fidel Castro Analysis
JFK presidency came to be in Jan 20, 1961 and sadly ended on Nov. 22 1963. During this time the U.S was in the Cold War and participating in various operations around the world in order to combat communism and the Soviet Union's leader Khrushchev. Though the main focus at the time was placed on the Soviet Union the real threat was much closer to home about 90 miles off the coast of Miami in Cuba and its Leader Fidel Castro. Fidel Castro at the time was the leader of the state of Cuba and received much help from Russia to help defend them by providing them with missiles and eventually nuclear weapons. This placed Fidel Castro on the radar of the U.S intelligence and Covert operations and lead to many failed attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro during JFK'S presidency and lead to the ambiguous question of whether or not JFK directly order the Assassination of Fidel Castro. Through the analysis of the readings there is much to take into account on whether or not Kennedy had knowledge of the assassination attempts against Castro, and much contradiction within the testimonies.
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And through the reading that I have done I firmly believe that John F.
Kennedy did not directly order the assassination of Fidel Castro, rather was indirectly involved in the assassination attempts against Fidel Castro through his indecisive
leadership.
The U.S started to place more attention on Fidel Castro and in “August 1960 the CIA took steps to enlist members of the criminal underworld with gambling contact to aid in assassinating Castro (Pg.74).” There were two contacts Mahu and Rosselli that set up the plans to kill Castro by poisoning him. Rosselli was the underworld contact that orchestrated and recruited people to launch the covert operation to assassinate Fidel Castro. Before Rosselli agreed to go through the assassination attempt he insisted on meeting with a representative of the Gov. to assure that the U.S was in full support of the plans. Maheu deceived Rosselli who was hesitant to undertake the covert op that “.... That the support chief was with the CIA.”(Insert) Rosselli believing that the U.S supported his mission he went on to plan the assassination of Fidel Castro that was later abandoned, as Fidel Castro could no longer be poisoned due to Castro drastic change in movements. Their were later attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro two of which were authorized by Richard Bissell- the incident involving a Cuban in contact with Raul Castro and the attempt involving the underworld figures that took place prior to the Bay of Pigs. In Various testimonies of Bissell asserted the he informed neither the president nor any other officials outside the CIA about the assassination efforts. Each Kennedy administration official who testified said that he had not known of the plans. Bissell told the committee that he believed Dulles had informed President Kennedy and that the highest authority had accordingly approved the plot. This did not just occur once in Bissell career, As with President Eisenhower Bissell once again assumed that Dulles had informed the president… that some such thing was underway. In reality Bissell was operating on hearsay and assumptions that his plans were approved, he did not receive any explicit approval of his operations against Castro. Even when Bissell talked in person with President Kennedy he used circumlocutions’ language to tell him about the activity rather than explicitly telling the president what was occurring. Bissell defends his actions by saying that he advised the president in a manner calculated to maintain plausible deniability in case the procedure went south. He gave the president just as little information about the operations as possible and neither Bissell nor anyone else in the agency would have discussed this operation with members of the white house staff. This lack of advisor from Bissell was shown through the Kennedy administration officials’ testimony, which revealed that the living high officials had no knowledge or active role in the assassination planning that was underway. Further this ambiguity of advisory continued with Bissell’s successor Helm’s. Helm’s authorized and was aware of the attempt on Castro's life involving underworld figures that took place the year following the Bay of Pigs. Helms also authorized and was aware of the Am/Lash operation"(pg.91)
Through many of the testimonies most then all of the people involved agreed, “Such an act (as assassination) was totally foreign to (Kennedy's) character (Pg. 121).” Many of the testimonies gave a character profile of Kennedy and that the assassination plots where something outside his character and something that he would never allow to occur. Further more the testimonies also conveyed that if such an operation reached the president he would stop henceforth and many believed that he had no idea what was occurring. The testimony of Szule contracts these testimonies. Szule said that the president asked, “ What would you think if I (President Kennedy) ordered Castro to be assassinated (Pg. 124).” Suzule further revealed that President Kennedy raised the question because “he was under terrific pressure from advisors to okay a Castro murder (Pg.).” This gives the revelation that Kennedy did have some recollection of what was occurring and the plots that were developing against Castro. Though the other testimonies reiterate that President Kennedy did not explicitly know what plots were underway it gives the possibility that Kennedy did know what was occurring. A man with that stature and position should have known even to the slightest degree of what was occurring especially was the various meetings he had with Bissell and Helms. The Kennedy administration officials who testified agreed that no direct order was ever given for Castro’s assassination and that no senior administration officials were informed about the assassination activity. Helms testified however that he believed the assassination activity was permissible and that it was within the scope of authority given to the agency. Kennedy administration officials disagreed testifying that assassination was impermissible without a direct order (Pg.148). Both Bissell and Helms did not know the extent of their authority and over stepped their boundaries, but this was all do to the lack of leadership of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy had no direct involvement with the plans nor did he orchestrate or authorize any of them, with testimonies such as Suzule it makes it hard for me to believe that such a drastic operation was never explicitly told to the president of the U.S even for the reason of plausible deniability. So through the readings Kennedy did not order the assassination of Castro but he does hold some responsibility. It is his job to be involved in major decisions especially during this time in which Cuba was a hot topic and the U.S planned an invasion to overthrow Castro. His lack of involvement in Cuban affairs lead to many officalas such as Bissell and helms to over step their boundaries for there was no strong leader to guide them and thus they took matters into their own hands.
And through the reading that I have done I firmly believe that John F.
Kennedy did not directly order the assassination of Fidel Castro, rather was indirectly involved in the assassination attempts against Fidel Castro through his indecisive
leadership.
The U.S started to place more attention on Fidel Castro and in “August 1960 the CIA took steps to enlist members of the criminal underworld with gambling contact to aid in assassinating Castro (Pg.74).” There were two contacts Mahu and Rosselli that set up the plans to kill Castro by poisoning him. Rosselli was the underworld contact that orchestrated and recruited people to launch the covert operation to assassinate Fidel Castro. Before Rosselli agreed to go through the assassination attempt he insisted on meeting with a representative of the Gov. to assure that the U.S was in full support of the plans. Maheu deceived Rosselli who was hesitant to undertake the covert op that “.... That the support chief was with the CIA.”(Insert) Rosselli believing that the U.S supported his mission he went on to plan the assassination of Fidel Castro that was later abandoned, as Fidel Castro could no longer be poisoned due to Castro drastic change in movements. Their were later attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro two of which were authorized by Richard Bissell- the incident involving a Cuban in contact with Raul Castro and the attempt involving the underworld figures that took place prior to the Bay of Pigs. In Various testimonies of Bissell asserted the he informed neither the president nor any other officials outside the CIA about the assassination efforts. Each Kennedy administration official who testified said that he had not known of the plans. Bissell told the committee that he believed Dulles had informed President Kennedy and that the highest authority had accordingly approved the plot. This did not just occur once in Bissell career, As with President Eisenhower Bissell once again assumed that Dulles had informed the president… that some such thing was underway. In reality Bissell was operating on hearsay and assumptions that his plans were approved, he did not receive any explicit approval of his operations against Castro. Even when Bissell talked in person with President Kennedy he used circumlocutions’ language to tell him about the activity rather than explicitly telling the president what was occurring. Bissell defends his actions by saying that he advised the president in a manner calculated to maintain plausible deniability in case the procedure went south. He gave the president just as little information about the operations as possible and neither Bissell nor anyone else in the agency would have discussed this operation with members of the white house staff. This lack of advisor from Bissell was shown through the Kennedy administration officials’ testimony, which revealed that the living high officials had no knowledge or active role in the assassination planning that was underway. Further this ambiguity of advisory continued with Bissell’s successor Helm’s. Helm’s authorized and was aware of the attempt on Castro's life involving underworld figures that took place the year following the Bay of Pigs. Helms also authorized and was aware of the Am/Lash operation"(pg.91)
Through many of the testimonies most then all of the people involved agreed, “Such an act (as assassination) was totally foreign to (Kennedy's) character (Pg. 121).” Many of the testimonies gave a character profile of Kennedy and that the assassination plots where something outside his character and something that he would never allow to occur. Further more the testimonies also conveyed that if such an operation reached the president he would stop henceforth and many believed that he had no idea what was occurring. The testimony of Szule contracts these testimonies. Szule said that the president asked, “ What would you think if I (President Kennedy) ordered Castro to be assassinated (Pg. 124).” Suzule further revealed that President Kennedy raised the question because “he was under terrific pressure from advisors to okay a Castro murder (Pg.).” This gives the revelation that Kennedy did have some recollection of what was occurring and the plots that were developing against Castro. Though the other testimonies reiterate that President Kennedy did not explicitly know what plots were underway it gives the possibility that Kennedy did know what was occurring. A man with that stature and position should have known even to the slightest degree of what was occurring especially was the various meetings he had with Bissell and Helms. The Kennedy administration officials who testified agreed that no direct order was ever given for Castro’s assassination and that no senior administration officials were informed about the assassination activity. Helms testified however that he believed the assassination activity was permissible and that it was within the scope of authority given to the agency. Kennedy administration officials disagreed testifying that assassination was impermissible without a direct order (Pg.148). Both Bissell and Helms did not know the extent of their authority and over stepped their boundaries, but this was all do to the lack of leadership of President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy had no direct involvement with the plans nor did he orchestrate or authorize any of them, with testimonies such as Suzule it makes it hard for me to believe that such a drastic operation was never explicitly told to the president of the U.S even for the reason of plausible deniability. So through the readings Kennedy did not order the assassination of Castro but he does hold some responsibility. It is his job to be involved in major decisions especially during this time in which Cuba was a hot topic and the U.S planned an invasion to overthrow Castro. His lack of involvement in Cuban affairs lead to many officalas such as Bissell and helms to over step their boundaries for there was no strong leader to guide them and thus they took matters into their own hands.