Kennedy (1961-63) – Flashcards

January 20, 1961. High was 22 degrees. Kennedy did not wear an overcoat. He only wore a suit. Proving that he is young and strong. Gave the most famous inaugural speech in history. "The torch has been passed to a new generation". "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." Puts together his cabinet. Picks young, successful, and bright people. In a controversial move, he puts his brother Robert (Bobby) up for attorney general. His dad forced him to do this. Nepotism- Putting family in. Cronyism- Putting friends in. His presidency is going to be called Camelot. He is the king, Jackie is queen, Caroline is born in 1957 and John Jr. is born in 1960. These are America's children. Kennedy is in office for approximately 1,000 days.

Robert Francis Kennedy. He is the head of the Justice Department. He is the head prosecutor for those who break the laws. FBI Director- J. Edgar Hoover. He is powerful, because he has dirt on everyone. He is the director of the FBI for 49 years. Robert wants to break up organized crime by going after the Mafia. Hoover claims that the Mafia doesn't exist. Robert won't be getting much help. Robert sets up OCS (Organized Crime Section), to infiltrate the mafia. The OCS begins to make arrests. The mafia is upset, because they helped Joe Kennedy to get John elected, and the mafia is currently doing business with the U.S government. The CIA and the mafia have a shared interest in Cuba. They are working together to assassinate Castro with Operation Mongoose. They tried over 12 times to kill Castro.

Born Norma Jean Mortensen JFK had started seeing Marilyn Monroe. She is obsessed with Kennedy. She is unstable at the time. She had an affair with a Chicago mobster. Bobby Kennedy is assigned to tell her that Kennedy is done with her. Then Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe get together. After they break up, Marilyn Monroe dies. Marilyn dies of a Barbiturate overdose on August 5, 1962 in her Los Angeles home. Had deep depression and had been seeing a psychiatrist. Ruled a suicide. August 5, 1962. Marilyn Monroe is found lying down naked on her bed in her California home with the phone in her hand. OD'ed on sleeping pills. Ruled as a suicide. Seemed to be an accidental overdose. Many conspiracy theories. Was 36 years old.

Their purpose was to desegregate bus terminals. A result of Boynton v. Virginia. Headed by CORE. Both whites and blacks are involved. The buses have CORE members. In May of 1961, they start in D.C They travel south to New Orleans over 13 days. 13 initially in one bus. 7 blacks. 6 whites. In their 40's and 50's. Their plan is to get off the buses and sit in the opposite waiting rooms. In the upper south, there are not many problems. They didn't have time to prepare for this. Rock Hill, SC. Member was attacked. Trouble really begins in Alabama. Some people throw a Molotov cocktail in the bus. People get off the bus. Freedom Riders get beat up by crowd. The second bus got to the station in Birmingham, but whites got on the bus at the station and beat them. Bobby Kennedy calls Governor Patterson of Alabama and tries to make the mob stop attacking the Freedom Riders. The Freedom Riders gain members and carry on. The Southern states were furious, because they didn't think that the federal government should be concerned with state matters. Kennedy is fine with civil rights, but he doesn't want to risk losing votes in the next election. He wants to be reelected. The bus traveled to Montgomery. They get off the bus and are beaten again. The cops are there at the bus station to preserve peace, but the cops leave to investigate another case (made-up). The mob beats the Freedom Riders. Bobby sends in Federal marshals to protect them. The U.S marshals are part of the judicial branch. Responsible for security of courts, and prisons. Marshals want to uphold the law. The Freedom Riders eventually get to New Orleans. Effort ended up working, because the Federal Government enforced their laws over state laws.

January 19, 1961. The day before Kennedy's inauguration. Ike informs Kennedy of a plan to invade Cuba. The beauty of the plan was that the Cubans would do it. Cuban exiles hate Castro for throwing them out of the country when he nationalized it. These exiles are in the United States in Florida. They are extremely angry. There are 1500 of these men. Not enough to take over Cuba. CIA believes that this is possible, because they believe that the Cubans want to revolt against Castro. If it doesn't work, there is plausible deniability. It's all exiles; it isn't the United States fault, because of this technicality. We could deny it. JFK doesn't want U.S military involved at all. Dulles is extremely upset. Bobby says not to do this. The joint chiefs of staff tell Kennedy that it will work. JFK can't find a reason to not go through with it. He could have walked away, but he doesn't. April 17, 1961. Exile forces land in the Bay of Pigs. Castro's army is waiting for them. The exiles were not told that there would be no U.S military support. Landing is a disaster. Most are captured. 100 dead. Makes the United States and JFK look bad. JFK admits that it was his entire fault. In private, JFK tells Dulles that CIA screwed up. Castro says he will give back the Cubans for 50 million dollars. We pay. Kennedy believes that the exiles will be ok, since Kennedy bailed them out. They hate him. Kennedy is hated by LBJ, CIA, Cuba, Exiles, Southerners, etc. This helps to contribute to the conspiracy theories over his death.

June 1961, Kennedy meets with Khrushchev at a Summit Meeting. Khrushchev is going to try and bully Kennedy, but Kennedy expects it. Khrushchev wants to have all of Berlin. Khrushchev says to recognize East Germany as a nation. Kennedy refuses. Khrushchev says that we will go to war. Kennedy says bring it. Currently in Berlin, there is only a road that divides East and West Germany. The Easterners are escaping. The people crossing over are the professionals. East Germany is losing their best people. Khrushchev decides to put up a wall. The wall circles West Berlin, so that no one can get in there. August of 1961, East German soldiers begin putting up barbed wire over all West Berlin. JFK has no response at all. He tells the Americans to build shelters in case of a nuclear war. The only way to travel through the two zones was Checkpoint Charlie. People tried everything to get through. Hot air balloons, tunnels, hid in boxes, speakers, etc.

Panama City, Florida. Arrested on June 3, 1961 for breaking and entering and intent to commit petty larceny. Placed at the scene by a witness at 5:30 a.m with items in pocket denied a lawyer. Can't afford a lawyer. One witness claims to have seen Gideon with things in his pocket at the site of robbery. Convicted. Gideon writes a hand written appeal. Supreme Court agrees to hear the appeal. Gideon believes he has a right to a lawyer. Chief Justice Earl Warren on March 18, 1963 decides that Gideon had the right to a lawyer. Supreme Court overruled the decision. Gideon gets a re-trial. 2nd Trial- Lawyer Fred Turner. Picks apart the witness. Discredits him. Gideon walks free. Overruled Betts v. Brady First case in the development of Miranda Rights.

June 1962- January 1964. Thirteen women were strangled to death in Boston. Victims of a single serial killer or possibly multiple killers. Serial killer is a new term. Former serial killers include "Jack the Ripper" "The Butcher" Of these women, 11 were popularly known as the work of the "Boston Strangler". The police suspected multiple killers, but the public believed that it was just one killer. The victim ranged in age from 19-85. Women were responsible and led modest lives. Similarities in the killings. Found in the apartments. Sexually molested. Strangled with articles of clothing. No signs of forced entry. He had been let in. Serial killers usually had issues in childhood. White males in their 20s and 30s most of the time. A lot of them are psychopaths and have no conscience. There is a need to fulfill fantasies and they kill over and over. There is an escalation. The Measuring Man is knocking on doors and asking women to be measured. He is supposedly with a modeling agency. (Albert DeSalvo). The green man wore green pants and rapes women. (Albert DeSalvo). DeSalvo was put in the hospital for the criminally insane. DeSalvo tells a fellow inmate that he is the strangler. The inmate calls his lawyer who is F. Lee Bailey. F. Lee Bailey defends him. The police believe that DeSalvo is behind the strangulations. There is little to no evidence against DeSalvo. They put him on trial for the green man rapes. They put him in a hospital with only a rape charge. The judge believes that he is the strangler, so he sends him to prison for life. DeSalvo is going to live for 7 more years. He is found dead in his secure hospital ward in prison in 1973. As of 2002, there were DNA tests that show he did not kill at least 2 of the girls. It might not have been him. The murders may not have been committed by one person.

University of Mississippi was an all-white school. Meredith had applied several times and been denied. He finally gets in. He shows up and they won't admit him He takes it to court. Supreme Court rules that Meredith should attend. Federal troops and U.S marshals come in to protect him 2 dead. Dozens injured. Hundreds arrested. Meredith will graduate. It cost 3 million dollars to educate him, because of the riots and such.

February 20, 1962- New space hero. 4 hours 55 minutes. Orbits earth 3 times.

Summer of 1962- CIA reports an arms buildup in Cuba. JFK orders U2 photos over Cuba. The actual Crisis is not going to occur until October. October 14- October 28 We discover nuclear missiles in Cuba. Russia has supplied nuclear missiles to Cuba. These missiles would give the U.S 3 minutes to respond. A first strike weapon. They are used for intimidation. Cubans now have some form of protection. ExComm is formed- Executive Committee of the National Security Agency. Helps Kennedy manage the crisis. On it is the director of the CIA, Secretary of Defense (Robert McNamara). RFK is on it. Secretary of State (Gene Rust), Secretary of Treasury, National Security Advisor, Army Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Options: Invasion (Wanted by Joint Chiefs of Staff), Bomb the missile site (Wanted by Air Force), A blockade (Stops future missiles from coming), Diplomacy (Wanted by Secretary of State). Problem with Invasion and Bombing (Could result in a war [WWIII]) JFK tries to avoid a panic by keeping it secret. Keeps his regular schedule. JFK goes to Chicago to meet with Mayor Daly. Bobby calls JFK and tells him to come back. JFK pretends he has the flu. Decide to go with the Blockade. JFK plans to make a national speech. JFK announced quarantine with 50 warships would surround Cuba. 25 Soviet ships are headed towards Cuba. 12 of these ships turn around and go back home. Now we have to worry about the remaining thirteen. Rust says that we are eyeball to eyeball, psyching each other out. A letter arrives at the white house from Khrushchev. He will remove the missiles if the U.S promises to remove the blockade and never invade Cuba. JFK is for this. Another letter arrives that says the same thing, but also remove our missiles in Turkey. This causes confusion on interpreting where the letters our originating. The first is from Khrushchev and the second is from the Communist party. A U2 is shot down over Cuba. The pilot is killed. That's the last straw. Military is calling for blood. The Russians had told the people on the ground to not fire at the planes. Guy who did it gets yanked out. Overzealous. Bobby proposes a solution to the letter problem. Pretend we didn't get the second letter and hope that Khrushchev will go for it. And he does. We do tell him that we will remove the missiles from Turkey down the road. If we removed the missiles right then, it would send the message that we are willing to give up protection of another country in order to gain security for ourselves. That would have made us look horrible. The crisis is over. Everyone loves JFK for getting us through this. Khrushchev did a good job in keeping his country out of war. JFK does a great job. JFK says, "This is the night I should go to the theater". This is a high point for JFK (Just like it was for Lincoln when he went to the theater). A hotline is set up directly between the Kremlin and the White House.

Birmingham is the most racist city in the country. MLK's group is the Southern Christian Leadership Council. The Commissioner of Public Safety is Bull Connor. Most Racist man in the city. King organizes economic pressure followed by marches. He is arrested in April of 1963. While in jail, he writes the famous letter from Birmingham Jail. In it, he says "negroes have been told to wait too long. The time is now." Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. King calls for the children to march. 18 and younger. Children begin to march on May 2, 1963. Over 700 are in jail by the day's end. King's goal was to flood the prisons. Next day, 1,000 more marchers come out. Connor responds with police dogs and fire hoses. Mainly a peaceful march. Some people do fight with the police. All of this is shown in pictures and on Television. There is video of them turning the hose on young people. Film of people being attacked by Police Dogs. Birmingham looks terrible. The Russians send videos to Africa in order to convince Africans to join their side. May 13. Three Thousand federal troops are brought in to bring peace. The marches are successful. Birmingham is slowly desegregated and Bull Connor loses his job. Media attention huge in exposing the conditions in the south. 8 Days later, businessmen agreed to desegregate lunch counters and open jobs in the community for blacks. The Klan threatens to kill King. Sets a bomb off outside of his hotel room. After this, JFK proposes a Civil Rights bill that he had waited on because it would damage his reputation.

U.S and U.S.S.R are main countries. 100 others. Treaty states that these countries agree to no nuclear testing under water, above ground, or in space. We use a bunch of underground tests in Nevada. China and France refuse to sign. JFK considers this the most important thing that he did

August 28, 1963. Thousands came to the capital. Culminated at the Mall in D.C Speeches are made at the Lincoln Memorial. This is about jobs and rights for the black. From 200-300K people there. 80% were black. The head of SNCC was going to give a speech criticizing JFK, but the other leaders told him to change it. "I Have a Dream" speech by MLK. Televised. First time that whites saw MLK speak. March is a huge success. No violence. JFK sees it as support for his Civil Rights Bill.

16th Street Baptist Church. It had been a staging point for Civil Rights Meetings. Punishments for organizing Civil Rights Movement. Bomb was set by KKK to discourage the integration of the city. Has the opposite effect September 15, 1963. Sunday Morning. 4 Black girls are killed (Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carol Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley). They were in the bathroom. All 14, except for McNair who was 11. 22 others were injured. Sad and shocking because they were children. Black response was to register to vote in order to change things. The consequence would be the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The bombers were Herman Cash, Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, and Robert (Dynamite Bob) Chambliss The authorities made little effort to find who bombed the church. 1977- Arrests are made on Chambliss. Dies in 1985. Cash dies in 1994. Other two are arrested in 2001 and 2002. Cherry died in 2004. Blanton is still alive.

Tuscaloosa, AL. All white university. Ordered to integrate by the federal government. Governor of the state is George Wallace. Typical Southern White Man. Famous Quote given at nominating convention "segregation now. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever." Claims that he isn't a racist. Goes to the door of registration office and stands there. Defies federal courts. Makes a speech on states' rights. Bobby Kennedy contacts him and tells him to get out of the way. He stays there. Bobby goes to JFK. JFK federalizes the Alabama National Guard and the U.S marshals come in. Students Vivian Malone and James Hood June 11, 1963, Malone and Hood register at University of Alabama. Malone is first to graduate. Hood leaves after two months. Returns in 1995 to get his doctorate. Malone graduates from Department of Justice. Dies in 2005. Wallace apologizes to Hood and Malone later on.

Doesn't know what is happening in Vietnam, because it is so far away. Gets information from CIA In Vietnam there are 17k CIA men and military advisors. Goal is to get Communists out of South Vietnam (Viet Cong) They want ground troops. JFK is resisting this idea. He doesn't necessarily want to escalate. Sends only Special Forces soldiers. Called the Green Burets. The advisors want napalm. A gasoline that sticks to you and burns. Kennedy lets them have it. The North Vietnamese have built tunnels into South Vietnam. Vietnam has thick jungles. Advisors come up with a defoliant known as Agent Orange. Want to get rid of foliage to find them and to kill the North Vietnamese crops. Gno Dinh Diem. He is a Catholic. Begins to brutalize the Buddhist's in the south. Buddhist monks begin setting themselves on fire to bring attention to Diem. Called Self-Emulation. Images are sent back to United States. We are linked to Diem. By late summer, there are plots to assassinate Diem. We could have stopped them, but we don't. Diem is assassinated November 1, 1963. This is terrible. There is no stable government in South Vietnam. Harder to protect against communism.

November 22, 1963. This is the weekend that television became an American staple. Everyone was tuned in and focused This date was a Friday. Dallas, Texas. He is on the campaign tour to help mend the Democratic Party. Kennedy is supporting Civil Rights, and the Democrats in the south are not supportive of this. Because of Civil Rights, the Southerners go to Republicans and Northerners go to Democrats. Kennedy has a premonition about the assassination. He lands in Dallas on the Air Force 1. Gets a warmer response than expected. Travels in a 15 car procession to the rally and then to the airport. In the car, Jackie is beside him and Governor John Connelly and his wife Nelly. Abraham Zapruder. Films the procession. Gets the entire assassination on film. 3 shots fired. They go to Parkland Hospital. Arrive at 12:25. Death at around 12:45. Priest came in to give last rites. At the time, assassinating the president wasn't a federal crime. That will change. Autopsy adds to conspiracy theories. Autopsy told about entrance and exit wounds. Secret Service agents want to take the body. Bring a casket in. The hospital tries to stop them from taking the body. Autopsy is not complete. Take casket to Air Force 1. The big fear is that this is a start of a major attack by the Soviet Union. This adds to more conspiracy theories. LBJ wants to become president, because someone needs to be running the country and stabilizing the country. Johnson is sworn in on board of Air Force 1 before they leave Dallas. Jackie is witness to his being sworn in. She is still in incredible shock and still wearing the bloody clothes.

Back at Dealey Plaza, witnesses saw rifle out of Texas School Board Repository's 6th floor. An officer is at the door in 1.5 minutes. He gets the foreman and they start heading upstairs. They see someone on the second floor. Lee Harvey Oswald. They let him go, because the foreman recognizes him. Then they find the sniper's nest on the 6th floor. They find the three shell casings and a rifle. M91 rifle. Lee Harvey Oswald leaves the building through the front door and goes to his boarding house. Changes his shirt. Puts 38 revolver in his pants. Police officer stops him. J.E Tippet. Oswald kills the cop in broad daylight. Oswald is identified as the shooter. Searching for Oswald for murder of Tippet and Kennedy. Cops surround Oswald in Texas Theater. In interrogation room, they realize they have Tippet's killer and Kennedy's killer. Oswald lived in Soviet Union for 3 years. He has a Russian wife. He lies about his rifle, but he works on fifth and sixth floors. He was seen carrying long box with rifle in it. They go to get his rifle and he is not there. He is picked out in the lineup for Tippet's murder. His alibi falls through. Oswald doesn't say anything to the reporters about the murder. He is charged for Tippet's murder and JFK's murder. Air Force 1 lands. They take casket to Bethesda Naval Medical Center. The doctor kind of messes up the autopsy. He says head wound is an exit wound. Parkland said it wasn't. Autopsy is botched, and the evidence is ultimately lost. Sunday Morning. Oswald transferred from City to County Jail. Doing it in garage underneath police station.

Jack Ruby shoots Oswald in stomach. He dies. Fuels conspiracy theory. Ruby is a crazy person. Said he was patriotic, because he didn't want Jackie to have to go through trial. Ruby is in a business where he encounters the mafia. He owns a strip club. Has a severe temper.

The official report is known as the Warren Report. LBJ puts a team to investigate officially for the government. January 1964, the Warren Commission is set up. Earl Warren and six others including Dulles and Ford and other Senators and Representatives. 26 volume report. 9 month investigation. Report is condensed into one volume for the American People. The Warren Report. Three basic conclusions: Oswald did it; three shots are fired from behind, no evidence of a conspiracy. They say that the first bullet hits Kennedy. Second bullet hits Connelly and third bullet hits Kennedy. Witness says first shot missed. Revised to say First Missed. Second Bullet hits Kennedy and then Connelly. Third bullet hits Kennedy is the head. Most people accepted the report. With Zapruder film, they concluded it took 8.6 seconds for all three shots. FBI marksman could reload and shoot in 2.3 seconds. Traveling down four flights of stairs wouldn't put Oswald out of breath. Witness that came forward about first bullet caused more problems. The "Magic Bullet" is possible. The bottom of the bullet is beveled out Connelly thought it was a separate shot. That's it. Ruby is sentenced to life in prison. Dies of cancer in the 80's.

The House Select Committee on Assassinations reported that "[t]here was no indication in Oswald's CIA file that he had ever had contact with the Agency" and concluded that the CIA was not involved in the assassination of Kennedy.[293] Gaeton Fonzi, an investigator for the House Select Committee on Assassinations, wrote that investigators were pressured not to look into the relationship between Lee Harvey Oswald and the CIA. He stated that CIA agent David Atlee Phillips, using the pseudonym "Maurice Bishop", was involved with Oswald prior to the Kennedy assassination in connection with anti-Castro Cuban groups.[294] In 1995, former U.S. Army Intelligence officer and National Security Agency executive assistant John M. Newman published evidence that both the CIA and FBI deliberately tampered with their files on Lee Harvey Oswald both before and after the assassination. Furthermore, he found that both agencies withheld information that might have alerted authorities in Dallas that Oswald posed a potential threat to the President. Subsequently, Newman expressed a belief that CIA chief of counter-intelligence James Angleton was probably the key figure in the assassination. According to Newman, only Angleton "had the access, the authority, and the diabolically ingenious mind to manage this sophisticated plot." However, Newman surmised that the cover operation was not under James Angleton, but under Allen Dulles (the former CIA director, and later Warren Commission member, who had been dismissed by Kennedy after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion).[295] According to investigative reporter Joseph Trento, among senior government officials, only James Angleton continued to express the belief that the Kennedy assassination was not carried out by a lone gunman.[296]

The House Select Committee on Assassinations wrote: "The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that anti-Castro Cuban groups, as groups, were not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy, but that the available evidence does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have been involved".[293] With the 1959 Cuban Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, thousands of Cubans left their homeland to take up residence in the United States. Many exiles hoped to overthrow Castro and return to Cuba. Their hopes were dashed with the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961, and many exiles blamed President Kennedy for the failure.[316] The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that some militant Cuban exiles might have participated in Kennedy's murder. These exiles worked closely with CIA operatives in violent activities against Castro's Cuba. In 1979, the committee reported: President Kennedy's popularity among the Cuban exiles had plunged deeply by 1963. Their bitterness is illustrated in a tape recording of a meeting of anti-Castro Cubans and right-wing Americans in the Dallas suburb of Farmer's Branch on October 1, 1963.[317] Holding a copy of the September 26 edition of The Dallas Morning News, featuring a front-page account of the President's planned trip to Texas in November, Cuban exile Nestor Castellanos vented his hostility: CASTELLANOS ...we're waiting for Kennedy the 22d, [the date Kennedy was murdered] buddy. We're going to see him in one way or the other. We're going to give him the works when he gets in Dallas. Mr. good ol' Kennedy. I wouldn't even call him President Kennedy. He stinks.[317] Author Joan Didion explored the Miami anti-Castro Cuban theory in her 1987 non-fiction book Miami.[318][319] She discussed Marita Lorenz' testimony regarding Guillermo Novo, a Cuban exile who was involved in shooting a bazooka at the U.N. building from the East River during a speech by Che Guevara. Allegedly, Novo was affiliated with Lee Harvey Oswald and Frank Sturgis and carried weapons with them to a hotel in Dallas just prior to the assassination. These claims, though put forth to the House Assassinations Committee by Lorenz, were never substantiated by a conclusive investigation.

The House Select Committee on Assassinations wrote: "The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the national syndicate of organized crime, as a group, was not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy, but that the available evidence does not preclude the possibility that individual members may have been involved".[293] Documents never seen by the Warren Commission have revealed that some Mafiosi worked with the CIA on assassination attempts against Cuban leader Fidel Castro.[320] CIA documents released in 2007 confirmed that in the summer of 1960, the CIA recruited ex-FBI agent Robert Maheu to approach the West Coast representative of the Chicago mob, Johnny Roselli. When Maheu contacted Roselli, Maheu hid the fact that he was sent by the CIA, instead portraying himself an advocate for international corporations. He offered to pay $150,000 to have Castro killed, but Roselli declined any pay. Roselli introduced Maheu to two men he referred to as "Sam Gold" and "Joe." "Sam Gold" was Sam Giancana; "Joe" was Santo Trafficante, Jr., the Tampa, Florida, boss and one of the most powerful mobsters in pre-revolution Cuba.[321][322] Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post explained: "After Fidel Castro led a revolution that toppled a friendly government in 1959, the CIA was desperate to eliminate him. So the agency sought out a partner equally worried about Castro—the Mafia, which had lucrative investments in Cuban casinos."[323] In his memoir, Bound by Honor, Bill Bonanno, son of New York Mafia boss Joseph Bonanno, disclosed that several Mafia families had long-standing ties with the anti-Castro Cubans through the Havana casinos operated by the Mafia before the Cuban Revolution. Many Cuban exiles and Mafia bosses disliked President Kennedy, blaming him for the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion.[324] They also disliked his brother, the young and idealistic Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who had conducted an unprecedented legal assault on organized crime.[325][326] This was especially provocative because several Mafia "families" had allegedly worked with JFK's father, Joseph Kennedy, to get JFK elected.[327] Both the Mafia and the anti-Castro Cubans were experts in assassination—the Cubans having been trained by the CIA.[328] Bonanno reported that he recognized the high degree of involvement of other Mafia families when Jack Ruby killed Oswald, since Bonanno was aware that Ruby was an associate of Chicago mobster Sam Giancana.[329] Some conspiracy researchers have alleged a plot involving elements of the Mafia, the CIA and the anti-Castro Cubans, including Anthony Summers, who stated: "Sometimes people sort of glaze over about the notion that the Mafia and U.S. intelligence and the anti-Castro activists were involved together in the assassination of President Kennedy. In fact, there's no contradiction there. Those three groups were all in bed together at the time and had been for several years in the fight to topple Fidel Castro."[330] News reporter Ruben Castaneda wrote in 2012: "Based on the evidence, it is likely that JFK was killed by a coalition of anti-Castro Cubans, the Mob, and elements of the CIA."[331] In his book, They Killed Our President, former Minnesota governor Jessie Ventura concluded: "John F. Kennedy was murdered by a conspiracy involving disgruntled CIA agents, anti-Castro Cubans, and members of the Mafia, all of whom were extremely angry at what they viewed as Kennedy's appeasement policies toward Communist Cuba and the Soviet Union."[332] Carlos Marcello allegedly threatened to assassinate the President to short-circuit his younger brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who was leading the administration's anti-Mafia crusade.[333][334] Information released in 2006 by the FBI has led some to conclude that Carlos Marcello confessed[to whom?] to having organized Kennedy's assassination, and that the FBI covered-up this information which it had in its possession.[335][dead link] In his book, Contract on America, David Scheim provided evidence that Mafia leaders Carlos Marcello, Santo Trafficante, Jr., and Jimmy Hoffa ordered the assassination of President Kennedy. Scheim cited in particular a 25-fold increase in the number of out-of-state telephone calls from Jack Ruby to associates of these crime bosses in the months before the assassination, and to an attempted confession by Jack Ruby while in prison.[336] David E. Kaiser has also suggested mob involvement in his book, The Road to Dallas.[337] Investigative reporter Jack Anderson concluded that Fidel Castro worked with organized crime figures to arrange the JFK assassination. In his book Peace, War, and Politics, Anderson claimed that Mafia member Johnny Roselli gave him extensive details of the plot. Anderson said that although he was never able to independently confirm Roselli's entire story, many of Roselli's details checked out. Anderson said that Oswald may have played a role in the assassination, but that more than one gunman were involved. Johnny Roselli, as previously noted, had worked with the CIA on assassination attempts against Castro. The History Channel program The Men Who Killed Kennedy presented additional evidence for organized crime involvement.[338] Christian David was a Corsican Mafia member interviewed in prison. He said that he was offered the assassination contract on President Kennedy, but that he did not accept it. However, he said that he knew the men who did accept the contract. According to David, there were three shooters. He provided the name of one—Lucien Sarti. David said that since the other two shooters were still alive, it would break a code of conduct for him to identify them. When asked what the shooters were wearing, David noted their modus operandi was to dress in costumes such as official uniforms. Much of Christian David's testimony was confirmed by former Corsican member Michelle Nicole, who was part of the DEA witness protection program. The book Ultimate Sacrifice, by Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartman, attempted to synthesize these theories with new evidence. The authors argued that government officials felt obliged to help the assassins cover up the truth because the assassination conspiracy had direct ties to American government plots to assassinate Castro. Outraged at Robert Kennedy's attack on organized crime, mob leaders had President Kennedy killed to remove Robert from power. A government investigation of the plot was thwarted, the authors allege, because it would have revealed embarrassing evidence of American government involvement with organized crime in plots to kill Castro.[339]

The Warren Commission reported that they investigated "dozens of allegations of a conspiratorial contact between Oswald and agents of the Cuban Government" and that they found no evidence that Cuba was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.[359] The House Select Committee on Assassinations also wrote: "The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that the Cuban Government was not involved in the assassination of President Kennedy".[293] Conspiracy theories frequently implicate Fidel Castro as having ordered the assassination of Kennedy in retaliation for the CIA's previous attempts to assassinate him.[326] In the early 1960s, Clare Boothe Luce, wife of Time-Life publisher Henry Luce, was one of a number of prominent Americans who sponsored anti-Castro groups. This support included funding exiles in commando speedboat raids against Cuba. In 1975, Clare Luce said that on the night of the assassination, she received a call from a member of a commando group she had sponsored. According to Luce, the caller's name was "something like" Julio Fernandez and he claimed he was calling her from New Orleans.[360][361] According to Luce, Fernandez told her that Oswald had approached his group with an offer to help assassinate Castro. Fernandez further claimed that he and his associates eventually found out that Oswald was a communist and supporter of Castro. He said that with this new-found knowledge, his group kept a close watch on Oswald until Oswald suddenly came into money and went to Mexico City and then Dallas.[362] Finally, according to Luce, Fernandez told her, "There is a Cuban Communist assassination team at large and Oswald was their hired gun."[363] Luce said that she told the caller to give his information to the FBI. Subsequently, Luce would reveal the details of the incident to both the Church Committee and the HSCA. Both committees investigated the incident, but were unable to uncover any evidence to corroborate the allegations.[364] In May 1967, CIA Director Richard Helms told President Lyndon Johnson that the CIA had tried to assassinate Castro. Helms further stated that the CIA had employed members of the Mafia in this effort, and "...that CIA plots to assassinate Fidel Castro dated back to August of 1960—to the Eisenhower Administration." Helms also said that the plots against Castro continued into the Kennedy Administration and that Attorney General Robert Kennedy had known about both the plots and the Mafia's involvement.[365] On separate occasions, Johnson told two prominent television newsmen that he believed that JFK's assassination had been organized by Castro as retaliation for the CIA's efforts to kill Castro. In October 1968, Johnson told veteran newsman Howard K. Smith of ABC that "Kennedy was trying to get to Castro, but Castro got to him first." In September 1969, in an interview with Walter Cronkite of CBS, Johnson said in regard to the assassination, [I could not] honestly say that I've ever been completely relieved of the fact that there might have been international connections," and referenced unnamed "others." Finally, in 1971, Johnson told his former speechwriter Leo Janos of Time magazine that he "never believed that Oswald acted alone".[365] In 1977, Castro was interviewed by newsman Bill Moyers. Castro denied any involvement in Kennedy's death, saying: It would have been absolute insanity by Cuba.... It would have been a provocation. Needless to say, it would have been to run the risk that our country would have been destroyed by the United States. Nobody who's not insane could have thought about [killing Kennedy in retaliation].[328][366] President Lyndon Johnson also implicated the CIA in the assassination. According to an FBI document released in 1977, Johnson's postmaster general, Marvin Watson, told the FBI "...that [Johnson] was now convinced there was a plot in connection with the assassination. Watson stated the President felt the CIA had something to do with this plot.

Formed on March 1, 1961. Headquarter's in D.C. The Peace Corps was established through an executive order by Kennedy. The program was announced on T.V on March 2, 1961 and approved by Congress on September 21. A volunteer program run by the United States government. Helps those outside of the United States to understand our culture and helped us to understand others culture. Established to promote world peace. First Director was R. Sargent Shriver. The ulterior motive was to change the view of other country's that the U.S was a harsh and cruel imperialistic country, and to take natural resources from other countries.

First: Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union. He was on board of the Vostok I. He was the first person to enter space and orbit the earth on April 12, 1961. First U.S: Alan Shepard was launched into space from Cape Canaveral, FL aboard the Freedom 7 space capsule on May 5, 1961. The flight lasted 15 minutes and reached a height of 116 miles.