What I Learned

From The Murder Of JFK

To the Editor

The bell ending seventh period history had rung, and the halls became suddenly bloated with throngs of students hungry to get on with their weekend plans. But on that Friday — November 22, 1963 — the usual din quickly turned chaotic; an unusual cacophony — not just crying, but genuine howling reverberated off the narrow walls and metal lockers. And, as I turned around, my girlfriend rushed up to me, trembling, and literally blubbering into my chest, “The president has been shot! I think he’s dead!”

I was 16 then — the same age as many of my students at the alternative school where I teach English. I am writing this as the midnight hour approaches, and soon it will officially be the 47th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Forty-seven years have gone by, and the most significant murder of the century remains an unsolved mystery, the details truly dissolving like ice in the drinks of cocktail party know-it-alls. Theories about who did it persist: Lone gunman or conspiracy? Oswald? The Mafia? Castro? The CIA?

But what is important now is not who killed JFK; a more relevant question is why was he eliminated.

Since I have chosen here to write about this, before I quote others, I want to include my personal beliefs based on over 40 years of research. Overwhelming evidence — both circumstantial and documentary — suggests that clandestine factions of the military and intelligence communities within our own government, combined with ultra right-wing ideologues, conspired and carried out the execution of the president, in broad daylight in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses, to send a message to Americans — and to the world — about who really was in charge.

Many believe that those who assumed power in 1963 still call the shots, governing covertly in the guise of democracy. Historical timeline of contributing factors: 1) JFK angered the CIA after the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, and his popularity flagged; 2) He frustrated the military after the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, but faith in his leadership grew; 3) He exasperated the entire right wing with a speech in June 1963, at American University, advocating nuclear disarmament and an end to the Cold War, thus becoming a “marked man”; 4) JFK sealed his fate when he infuriated the entire coalition in October 1963, by issuing National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) 263, ordering the withdrawal from Vietnam of “1,000 US military personnel by the end of 1963” and “by the end of 1965…the bulk of US personnel”; JFK had to go.

Recalling Eisenhower’s Farewell Address: “…we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplace power exists and will persist…we must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.”

From Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.:

…And Oswald didn’t do it!

Michael Luzzi

Boggs Hill Road, Newtown                                    November 22, 2010