JFK, The Russians, And Us.

I was writing about the Kennedy assassination on Facebook, and one of the commentators wanted to know why something that happened 60 years ago mattered. I tried to answer the question, and did a decent job, but it has also bothered me — does this brutal murder of a President, recorded on film in all of its horrific detail, still matter? I think it does, and may matter MUCH more than we think.

We are being subjected to Russian chicanery, supposedly through Facebook, but whether or not their influence in the election is what they, the Russians, claim, they still have the power to capture American attention. Why?

Stephanie Ruhle, who always seems to swim down and find the germane fact, points out that our trade with Russia is small. The Russians come in 30th in the amount of trade. They aren’t that important. They have a weak military, they have a low quality of life, they don’t have many worldwide brands. Yet, we have obsessed about the Russian influence on the 2016 elections.

So, Russia can still make us obsess. We have been here before. When Kennedy was killed, we immediately looked to the Russians. Lee Harvey Oswald had been in Russia, his wife was a Russian national. He had knew the Russian ex-pat community in Dallas, he spoke some Russian, although apparently not well. There was a vague, possibly important connection, but nothing definitive.

Does this sound familiar? We are there again. We have vague, seemingly important Russian connections to the election, but nothing solid yet. We just KNOW they caused Hillary to lose, supposedly. So, again, the Russians play us.

Is 2016 another Russian designed plot? Or is it a propaganda program, albeit a wildly successful one? I will leave the answer to the experts, and probably the historians.

Yet, the JFK murder informs. We can look back, and see what gripped the country then, and the conclusion. It informs today.

You have to look at the context. It was 1963. We were 17 years away from Hiroshima, nuclear weapons had been loosed on the World, and half of Europe was under Soviet domination. There was peace in Europe, but barely. The economies of Japan, Germany, Britain, France, and Europe had been bombed, strafed, and blown up. There had been 60 to 70 million casualties. 7 Million Jews and others had been murdered. The Americans had, with NATO, guaranteed Europes defense, but De Gaulle, being De Gaulle, had pulled French troops out of NATO, complaining that the Americans always waited too long, and arrived late. Krushcev, feeling that John Kennedy was young and could be manipulated, had bullied and threatened the President in meetings. The Russians, fearing mass defections from East to West Berlin, had started building the wall.

Into this whole scenario we can add: The failed Bay of Bigs invasion, and President Kennedy’s refusal to send the Air Force, to provide air cover when the invasion fell apart. We were a year out from the Cuban Missile Crisis, which could have resulted in 20 million American casualties. Things were tense. Then, suddenly, the President of the United States was murdered, right in front of us. Two days later, his assassin was murdered, on live TV. Lyndon Johnson, trying to run and hold together a shocked and distraught nation, wondered if the Russians were behind it. J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, realized how explosive the whole situation was. The Secret Service, which was responsible for the safety of the President, had failed.

There have been 4 American Presidents assassinated. Kennedy, Lincoln, Garfield, and William McKinley.

The Kennedy assassination raised so many questions because of the times, the brutal nature of it, (remember Jackies dress,) and television. It is estimated that 8 of every 10 Americans watched the whole weekend. There were no commercials.

The questions still remain: How could the most important and powerful man in the country and the world be murdered with a cheap gun and some guy? Didn’t he have to have help? How could he have done this alone? There were people who were not honest actors. There were people who captured the whole thing on film, the Zapruder film, which the Secret Service took control of, there was a dead President, and a gravely injured Governor. So, the questions still remain: Did Oswald act alone?

Nellie Connelly, before she died, said she believed it was just Oswald. She wrote a book, and she pointed out that it didn’t “feel,” organized. That is intriguing, and may be the best explanation. But, the government keeps holding out — they have messed around with these papers for 60 years. They should release all of it, and have it over with. Sorry to make this too long.