JFK Assassination Analysis

There are numerous competing theories and perspectives that strive to unravel the mystery that surround one of the most notorious assassinations in the history of United States; President, John F. Kennedy (Waldron 2). Many scholars have described the premature demise of JFK as one of the biggest blows to democracy and peace in the United States. The war in Vietnam is reported to have escalated after JFK assassination, a feature that has been used to back the underlying notion that United States military imperialism and aggression significantly increased after 1963 (Stone, Zachary, Garrison & Marrs 4). Even though perceptions on the

“In August of 1964, in response to the American and GVN espionage along its coast, the DRV launched a local and controlled attack against C. Turner Joy and the U.S.S. Maddox , two American ships on call in the Gulf of Tonkin” (Brigham 2). This resulted in the United States government giving Lyndon Johnson the ability to make war under the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. President Johnson then gave orders to perform air raids on Northern Vietnam pushing the United States further into the war. Compared to 1962 when only 9,000 soldiers supported the South Vietnamese, by June 1965 82,000 soldiers occupied the country. The number only continued to rise exponentially, and by 1966 370,000 soldiers had been sent in to prop their South Vietnam allies. President Richard Nixon withdrew American soldiers from Vietnam and as part of the “vietnamization” of the war. Over and 60,000 American soldiers had been lost in a war to preserve the status quo, not to win.

At the time of John Kennedy’s assassination there were 16,000 troops that were stationed in Vietnam -Brigham, 1. U.S. policymakers had to face the fact that there still needed to be more troops deployed into Vietnam to maintain the ultimate south

The U.S. Military has also been an easy target. By sworn testimony from Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense at the time; in October of 1963, approximately one month before his death, President Kennedy, signed an order authorizing the pull out of 1,000 troops from Vietnam by the end of 1963. This decision was unpopular to many and was reversed by President Johnson when he took the oath of office after the President's untimely death.

The assassination of John F. Kennedy is one of the most controversial and debated topics in American History. JFK was one of the most beloved presidents of our time. One article of his death wrote, "The day the country cried". Unlike previous presidential assassinations, the JFK assassination is one that is filled the conspiracy theories. Such theories include a Government cover-up, Mafia influence and Cuban President Fidel Castro. The idea of a lone mind, Lee Harvey Oswald, plotting to kill President Kennedy is too simple. In the eyes of scholars there is simply no way that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Even with the growing number of bogus theories, there are a number of logical theories that do hold water. In this paper I will discuss

The CIA’s involvement in the killing of JFK is one of the popular theories put forward by conspiracy theorists. President Kennedy was said to have told an official in his administration, “I want to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds” (McGovern, 2013, para. 3). Many of the individuals who disliked Kennedy believed he was the reason for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. They also believed that he would reduce the size of the military industrial complex and that he was not going after communism hard enough. The CIA was involved

There is a plethora of conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. They range from the incumbent of the former Soviet Union to organized crime.

The Vietnam War lasted longer, bloodier, and more hostile than any U.S. President or American citizen imagined. Lyndon Johnson faced many other enemies during the war such as the duration, the immense number of deaths, and for the first time in most American’s history, failure. Through deep evaluation of Lyndon B. Johnson’s foreign policies as President during the Vietnam war, failure was a recurring outcome, as he faced military and political difficulties over having complete authority over political decisions made leading to the misuse of his respective power, receiving split support through torn Americans at home, and his accord to deport so many troops into combat in Vietnam.

Thirty-fifth president John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. There campaigning for next year’s presidential election, he would have never expected to be assassinated while sitting in a motorcade, waving at the people who had congregated in the streets. The drop in the stock market, conspiracy theories, and dilemmas regarding social aspects of America were things that were affected after his assassination. The assassination of John F. Kennedy is the most controversial presidential assassination in American history.

Johnson made great strides towards improving conditions for those that are impoverished, conditions for mothers and students, and for the environment, he fell flat regarding national security and the Vietnam War. Following in the footsteps of what Kennedy sought to accomplish before his assassination, Johnson quickly authorized a national security memorandum called NSAM 273 after his inauguration. NSAM 273 directed the United States Government to "to assist the people and Government of South Vietnam to win their contest against the externally directed and supported Communist conspiracy." When counterinsurgency failed, Johnson signed OPLAN 34A-64 on January 16, 1964, calling for stepped up infiltration and covert operations against the North to be transferred from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to the military. After reports of attacked U.S. naval vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson asked Congress for a resolution of support. By a vote of 98 to 2 in the Senate and a unanimous vote in the House, Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and authorized the President to take all measures necessary to protect the armed

Lyndon Johnson took over as President when John F. Kennedy was assassinated on a hot Dallas day. Many feel that the government acted quickly after JFK was pronounced dead to move on actions that JFK was not going to do in his presidency. Johnson sent over 22,000 troops to the Dominican Republic in 1965 without the approval of congress (Schlesinge, 1973). Johnson also sent combat troops in Vietnam. People still have a bad taste in their mouth over the debacle in Vietnam. Vietnam ranks 4th among all wars in troop casualties and was a war that lead people to flee the country because they did not want to fight and did not believe the war was just. Congress required 48 hours’ notice when a president wants to send troops to another country and Lyndon Johnson did

Dallek, R. (2003). An unfinished life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963. Boston: Little, Brown, and Co.

Preceding Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination was North Vietnam’s Tet Offensive against the United States which “signified the beginning of the end of U.S involvement in the Vietnam War” (CNN). Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, “was a holiday during which the North and South had previously observed an informal truce” (CNN). However, on January 31st, 1968, a “coordinated attack by Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese targeted 36 major cities and towns in South Vietnam” (CNN). Despite the heavy casualties, “North Vietnam achieved a strategic victory with the Tet Offensive, as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of the slow, painful American withdrawal from the region” (“Tet Offensive”). This attack was a crucial turning point in the war because the ambush resulted in Americans withdrawing their support of the war. Before the offensive, the U.S.

On August 4, 1964 the Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred in which American Naval Vessels in South Vietnamese waters were fired upon by North Vietnam. On August 5, 1964 President Johnson requested a decree expressing the determination of the United Sates in supporting freedom and in protecting peace in Southeast Asia. On August 7, 1964, in reply to the presidential request, Congress authorized President Johnson to take all necessary measures to repel any attack and to prevent aggression against the U. S. in Southeast Asia (United States). The selective bombing of North Vietnam began immediately in reply to this resolution. In March of the following year U. S. troops began to arrive The political involvement in Vietnam was about much more than just promised aid to a weak country in order to put off the spread of communism. It was about money. After all, wars require equipment, guns, tools and machinery. Most of which was produced in the United States. It was about proving America's commitment to stop socialism, or rather to confine communism in its present boundaries. But most of all it was about politics. The presidential political involvement in Vietnam had little to do with Vietnam at all. It was about China for Eisenhower, about Russia for Kennedy, about Washington D.C. for Johnson and about himself for Nixon (Post). The last two of which were the major players in America's involvement in

In 1965, the United States of America officially enter the war against North Vietnam. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident where North Vietnamese attacked two U.S. ships on August 2nd and 4th, 1964, this event was a chance for U.S. President Lyndon Johnson to give authority for U.S. to enter war in Vietnam. United State involvement in Vietnam War was an approach to seize the communist aggression. A campaign authorized by President Johnson called “Operation Rolling Thunder” which started on February 24th, 1965 is a series of extensive bombing directed towards the North Vietnamese predicted to be eight weeks long until the North Vietnamese surrender to U.S. power. However, this campaign lasted two years longer than expected.