President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 at 12:30 p.m. while riding in his presidential motorcade in Dallas. He was shot in the back of the head was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. Kennedy was 46 years old. According to the official investigation, Oswald acted alone, firing three bullets from a sixth-floor window. Kennedy was struck once in the upper back and once in the head. Oswald was arrested a few minutes later in the back of a movie theater. Fairly soon after his death, the conspiracy theories began surfacing. Among these were theories that the CIA organized his assassination or that the current vice president Lyndon Johnson was behind it. However, since the recent release of the JFK files by President Trump in 2017, there is enough evidence for the Cuban government being behind Kennedy’s assassination.
Firstly, Lee Harvey Oswald was a staunch leftist and a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. According to a 1966 memo by the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, the Soviet’s initial reaction to Kennedy’s assassination was that the Vice President Johnson had something to do with it and that Lee Harvey Oswald was disloyal to his country. This was a likely story to pursue for the Soviets because it shifted the blame away from them. They indicated that they were in possession of evidence that Johnson was responsible for the assassination. However, this evidence most likely never existed. Contrary to the Soviet’s memo, the CIA was able to intercept a call between Oswald and the Russian embassy in Mexico City. In this call, Oswald was heard speaking some Russian to a known KGB officer. Additionally, a Cuban intelligence officer knew Oswald and praised his shooting abilities.
With all this evidence, one may ask, “Why would Cuba desire to assassinate the President of the United States?” It most likely have had something to do with the Bay of Pigs disaster early in Kennedy’s administration. Cuba likely did not view America in the highest regard after Kennedy and the U.S. Army attempted to assassinate him. In a speech given by Fidel Castro soon after President Kennedy’s assassination, he said: “In the circumstances that surrounded the assassination of President Kennedy, we believe it has no justification. But analyzing the question from the political, objective point of view, I also said it was serious news, bad news. And some will ask why? Why precisely the Cubans, who have received so many aggressions on the part of the United States, from the Kennedy Administration itself, why can they say that it is bad news, why can they take an attitude of this kind in the face of this news? But in the first place we Cubans must react as revolutionaries. In the second place, we Cubans, as conscious revolutionaries, should not confuse men with systems. And we have to begin by considering that we do not hate men, we hate systems.” While this may seem like a deflection away from the allegations of conspiring with the assassination, Castro still states that he and Cuba hate America’s political system, which could have easily given them a motive to conspire. With all this evidence presented against the Cuban government, it is hard not to believe that Lee Harvey Oswald’s relationship with them has nothing to do with motivating him to assassinate President Kennedy.
Works Cited:
Dow Jones News Service. “The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.” The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, 1963 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 22 Nov. 1963, www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/spotlight-primary-source/assassination-john-f-kennedy-1963.
History.com Editors. “Assassination of John F. Kennedy.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 19 Nov. 2018, www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/jfk-assassination.
Lee, Karen. “Assassination of John F. Kennedy - Topics on Newspapers.com.” Topics, 17 Jan. 2019, www.newspapers.com/topics/cold-war/assassination-of-john-f-kennedy/.
“November 22, 1963: Death of the President.” JFK Library, www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president.
Pruitt, Sarah. “JFK Files: Cuban Intelligence Was in Contact With Oswald, Praised His Shooting Ability.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2017, www.history.com/news/what-the-jfk-assassination-files-say-declassified-release-oswald.
“Twenty-Four Years.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 20 Nov. 2003, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/twenty-four-years/.
Firstly, Lee Harvey Oswald was a staunch leftist and a member of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. According to a 1966 memo by the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, the Soviet’s initial reaction to Kennedy’s assassination was that the Vice President Johnson had something to do with it and that Lee Harvey Oswald was disloyal to his country. This was a likely story to pursue for the Soviets because it shifted the blame away from them. They indicated that they were in possession of evidence that Johnson was responsible for the assassination. However, this evidence most likely never existed. Contrary to the Soviet’s memo, the CIA was able to intercept a call between Oswald and the Russian embassy in Mexico City. In this call, Oswald was heard speaking some Russian to a known KGB officer. Additionally, a Cuban intelligence officer knew Oswald and praised his shooting abilities.
With all this evidence, one may ask, “Why would Cuba desire to assassinate the President of the United States?” It most likely have had something to do with the Bay of Pigs disaster early in Kennedy’s administration. Cuba likely did not view America in the highest regard after Kennedy and the U.S. Army attempted to assassinate him. In a speech given by Fidel Castro soon after President Kennedy’s assassination, he said: “In the circumstances that surrounded the assassination of President Kennedy, we believe it has no justification. But analyzing the question from the political, objective point of view, I also said it was serious news, bad news. And some will ask why? Why precisely the Cubans, who have received so many aggressions on the part of the United States, from the Kennedy Administration itself, why can they say that it is bad news, why can they take an attitude of this kind in the face of this news? But in the first place we Cubans must react as revolutionaries. In the second place, we Cubans, as conscious revolutionaries, should not confuse men with systems. And we have to begin by considering that we do not hate men, we hate systems.” While this may seem like a deflection away from the allegations of conspiring with the assassination, Castro still states that he and Cuba hate America’s political system, which could have easily given them a motive to conspire. With all this evidence presented against the Cuban government, it is hard not to believe that Lee Harvey Oswald’s relationship with them has nothing to do with motivating him to assassinate President Kennedy.
Works Cited:
Dow Jones News Service. “The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.” The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, 1963 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 22 Nov. 1963, www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/spotlight-primary-source/assassination-john-f-kennedy-1963.
History.com Editors. “Assassination of John F. Kennedy.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 19 Nov. 2018, www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/jfk-assassination.
Lee, Karen. “Assassination of John F. Kennedy - Topics on Newspapers.com.” Topics, 17 Jan. 2019, www.newspapers.com/topics/cold-war/assassination-of-john-f-kennedy/.
“November 22, 1963: Death of the President.” JFK Library, www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president.
Pruitt, Sarah. “JFK Files: Cuban Intelligence Was in Contact With Oswald, Praised His Shooting Ability.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2017, www.history.com/news/what-the-jfk-assassination-files-say-declassified-release-oswald.
“Twenty-Four Years.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 20 Nov. 2003, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/twenty-four-years/.
