The Cold War – Great History

The 1991 Soviet Coup

Mikhail Gorbachev was a farmer and later member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He ascended to become secretary of the party Central Committee and was eventually appointed to the Politburo Executive Committee, the highest executive committee within the party and the de facto ruling body of the country. Following the death of Konstantin Chernenko, he was eventually elected President of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Committee by the Politburo in 1985.

Gorbachev, unlike his predecessors, realised where the issues of the Soviet Union had come from, as he was the only leader to have been born and grown up after the revolution. Much of government economic policy was centred around a command economy, in which many economic activities were planned centrally by the government, who prioritised machinery and large projects over consumer goods and quality. The inefficiency and bureaucracy of the Soviet economy also began to show. Many Soviet projects involved the government setting a goal and throwing as much money at it until it happened. This meant that less efficient, and thus longer, processes received more funding over the quicker ones, even if they both achieved the same goal.

They also spent far too much on weapons in order to compete with the United States as a superpower whilst also prioritising policies that were “communist” regardless of whether it worked or not. This disregard for pragmatism and solely prioritising ideological loyalty meant mass housing projects had extremely poor living standards, a free healthcare system was notoriously poor and cheaper food came at the cost of an unhealthy diet. Gorbachev was one of the only few to realise this, and began implementing mass reforms, constraining the power of the secret police, known as the KGB, bringing about freedom of speech and freedom of the press, and returning power to the people instead of the tight grip on power at the top. What was important to note was that Gorbachev was not opposed to communism, but instead believed that the Soviet system, established by Lenin, tightened by Stalin and enforced by Brezhnev, was a bastardisation of communism and had become nothing more than a bloated bureaucracy that did not serve the people like the initial ideology was founded upon.

There is plenty of everything: land, oil and gas, other natural riches, and God gave us lots of intelligence and talent, yet we lived much worse than developed countries and keep falling behind them more and more. The reason could already be seen: the society was suffocating in the vise of the command-bureaucratic system, doomed to serve ideology and bear the terrible burden of the arms race.
Gorbachev in his resignation speech

An image of the famous Soviet Apartment Blocs

One of the key steps in delivering his change was replacing the hardline Stalinists in government with those more open to change. One notable member of this group was Boris Yeltsin, the chair of the Communist Party in Moscow. He began improving diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, by opening up foreign investment, opening up trade opportunities and ceasing production of weaponry in order to bring an end to the Cold War, strongly contrasting with American policy of increasing military spending to combat the “evil empire.” He also transformed the Soviet economy from the command economy to a mixed economy, which incorporated more free market elements. Whilst businesses had to make a minimum amount set by the government to give to the state, they could also go above the minimum and sell that for profit.

The government stopped propping up failing businesses and introduced limited private ownership and reduced state control over enterprises. However, this shift from a far-left centralised economy to a left-wing or centre-left mixed economy faced hardships. Whilst many expected this stark change to create a temporary and small economic downturn, the downturn extended much longer than was anticipated. Firstly, Gorbachev overestimated how mismanaged the economy actually was, as when they withdrew funds from failing businesses, wide gaps in the market opened up, leading to rationing of resources and overcrowding of shops and infamous massive queues. In addition, tax breaks combined with increased spending in certain areas led to a massive government deficit. This wouldn’t have been an issue if the transition was faster, but, as Gorbachev stated in his resignation speech, the old system had collapsed too quickly and did not give enough time for the new system to build.

A queue outside a Soviet shop during Gorbachev’s Presidency

Meanwhile, social reforms were improving too. Many in the Soviet leadership believed that democracy should take a more important factor in communism, holding them to account when they were voted out by the people that communism claimed to serve. With the restriction of the secret police, the publishing of government documents and the permission to publish previously banned books an intellectual renaissance was created within the Soviet Union and its client states. However, this did not go the way the government intended. Instead of people seeing the transparency of the government and thinking of ways to fix the communist system, they instead decided to remove communism altogether.

In Poland, a trade union rebellion instigated the first democratic elections in Poland since the 1930s, in which the anti-Soviet liberal Solidarity Citizens’ Committee won a 99 out of 100 seat majority in the Polish Senate. The very notable thing that the Soviet Union did, however, was nothing. Unlike prior revolutions in Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, the Soviet Union did not strike back against the trade unionists with military force. All of a sudden multiple protests occurred across Eastern Europe in 1989, all of which resulted in democratic elections and the end of communist rule for the first time in nearly 50 years. Most notably Hungary opened up its fenced off border with Austria, allowing the first citizens to cross the Iron Curtain.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, many other European nations began to reject communism. In Bulgaria, the Communist Party agreed to free elections after mass protests, while in Czechoslovakia the Velvet Revolution saw huge, peaceful demonstrations force the government to resign. In Romania, however, the collapse of communism was far more violent, as armed clashes in the streets led to the overthrow and execution of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, footage that was later broadcasted on TV. Together, these events showed that Soviet control over Eastern Europe had fatally weakened, feeding a wave of anti-communist sentiment that eventually reached Moscow.

By 1991, the reforms had fatally weakened the political foundations of the Soviet state. Mass protest movements across Eastern Europe and within the Union’s own republics had already dismantled Communist rule beyond Moscow’s control. These pressures converged with institutional decay within party leadership. Economic decline, declining faith in Marxist ideology and the erosion of censorship under Gorbachev deprived the Communist Party of its claim to political necessity. When Gorbachev permitted competitive elections in the Republics that made up the USSR in 1990, the Union’s authority was further fractured by creating a dual structure of power. Gorbachev had remained President of the Union, while the Russian Republic elected Yeltsin as its own president, challenging the supremacy of the Soviet state from within.

A photo of Yeltsin after winning the Presidency

This unresolved constitutional conflict culminated in August 1991. A group of senior Party officials, military commanders, and KGB leaders formed an emergency committee and placed Gorbachev under house arrest while he was on holiday in Crimea. Declaring that reforms had endangered socialism and national stability, they announced a state of emergency and attempted to restore central control through force. Tanks entered Moscow and surrounded the Russian parliament building, the “White House,” where Yeltsin and his supporters established a barricade to resist the oncoming army. The coup plotters proved incapable of securing loyalty from either the armed forces or the public. After three days of mass demonstrations, military defections, and administrative paralysis, the coup collapsed. Its failure discredited the Communist Party beyond recovery and destroyed what remained of Soviet authority.

In the weeks that followed, republics including Ukraine and Belarus declared full independence. The Communist Party was banned in Russia, its assets seized, and the Union reduced to a powerless committee. In December 1991, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus formally dissolved the Soviet Union. The Cold War ended not through military defeat, as many had expected, but through political implosion. A system built on ideological unity collapsed when it could no longer reconcile reform with authority, or central control with national self-determination. Unlike the Third Reich, the Soviet Union did not come crashing down in a burning wreck but merely fizzled out.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

For 26 long and arduous years, the Berlin Wall stayed up. Anywhere between 130-200 people attempted to cross the wall and died trying. Many Presidents and Soviet Leaders came and went, until two very divisive figures showed up.

One of them was Ronald Reagan, a film star turned Governor of California and later POTUS, who had a very tough stance on communism compared to his predecessor, Jimmy Carter. Whilst no-one wanted communism to spread, Reagan was harder on it than most. He advanced technology, especially in the space programme and computers. In order to stop the spread of communism in South America, he actively traded with Iran, who had an embargo due to their war with Iraq who was a US Ally, in order to fund anti-communist militia forces in Nicaragua, in the infamous Iran-Contra affair.

Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness—pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the State, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world. So, in your discussions of the nuclear freeze proposals, I urge you to beware the temptation of pride—the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.
Ronald Reagan, National Association of Evangelicals, 1983

The USSR believed much of what Reagan was doing was an intentional prep for war. Whilst tensions rose, the unthinkable happened. Leonid Brezhnev died. He was replaced by Yuri Andropov, who also died. He was replaced by Konstantin Chernenko, who also died. He was replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev, who did not die. He believed that the reason the Soviet system was failing was because people were not satisfied with the outcome of their hard work, due to the lack of free speech in the country.

His changes were enacted quickly. People were allowed to criticise the government, they were allowed to enjoy Western pop-culture and food and the media were allowed to interview western politicians, most notably the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. He also began de-escalating the arms race with the West, most notably stopping the production of Intermediate Ballistic Missiles. Where many others in the Eastern Bloc saw reform, Reagan saw an opportunity.

Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. . . . Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar. . . . As long as this gate is closed, as long as this scar of a wall is permitted to stand, it is not the German question alone that remains open, but the question of freedom for all mankind. […] General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Ronald Reagan, Brandenburg Gate, 1987

Reagan making his famous “Tear down this wall” speech

With all these reforms, many began to question what would become of the Eastern Bloc, an idea that crossed the Prime Minister of Hungary’s mind. He visited Moscow, and asked Gorbachev about reforms he wanted to enact. Gorbachev said that he did not agree with them but would not stop them from happening either.

Many countries in the Eastern Bloc began carrying out free and fair elections, with Poland’s anti-Soviet party winning 99 out of 100 seats in the Senate. Barbed wire began to come down in Hungary and the Iron Curtain was crumbling. One country that did not enact such reforms was Germany, run by hardline Stalinist, Erich Honecker. The still destitute Germans realised that if transport was permitted out of Hungary, then they could get to Hungary and move to the West that way. Tens of thousands practiced this before Honecker stepped in and banned all transport to Hungary. However, the Freedom Fever kept going as the Czech Embassy for East Germany was opened to civilians and political unrest began occurring in East Germany. Honecker was ousted by the Politburo whilst the unrest continued. One target on their minds was the wall.

On November 9th, 1989, in order to quell the chaos, the East German Government held a press conference led by Günter Schabowski, where it was announced that the travel ban from East to West Germany would be lifted. Towards the end of this hectic conference, he was asked when this would take effect he said that “As far as I know, it takes effect immediately, without delay”. This was a mistake. The ban was meant to be lifted the next day. But, the German people had heard what they wanted to hear and, later that day, thousands of Germans came to the wall. The guards, overwhelmed, allowed the people through, whereupon the Berlin Wall was torn down.

The tearing down of the Berlin Wall is considered to be one of the great stepping stones in Eastern European freedom and the downfall of the Soviet Union. Families and friends who had been separated for nearly 3 decades partied into the night. The next year, Germany reunified into one German State.

The Chernobyl Disaster

In 1932, in Cavendish University, J. D. Cockcroft and E. T. S. Walton bombarded lithium with protons from a particle accelerator. The protons caused the lithium atom to split. Many scientists realised that if they continued to split uranium and plutonium atoms, with the protons from one atom splitting another and the process repeating in a process called fission, they could make a new source of energy. Much of this energy was harnessed in Nuclear Power Plants. By 1986, there were 389 power plants, 37 of which resided inside the Soviet Union.

Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was constructed in 1983, with Viktor Bryukhanov, manager of construction of the plant, telling higher ups in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that a test had been conducted in order to ensure the safety of the reactor. However, this was false. Bryukhanov would later defend this saying that completing work ahead of schedule entitled party members to significant bonuses. Despite the lack of the safety check, the plant went into operation.

A photo of the plant before the explosion

Eventually, Nikolai Fomin, Chief Engineer, authorised the test to go ahead on April 25th, 1986 and the test would be performed by the workers of the afternoon shift. However, party officials from Kyiv requested that the test be delayed to late that night, as they did not want citizens to lose power in the middle of the day. Despite the workers of the afternoon shift being debriefed on what to do, the night shift workers were tasked with going ahead with the test instead.

Anatoly Dyatlov, deputy Chief Engineer, was monitoring the test, with the nightshift foreman, Alexander Akimov, and the Senior Reactor Control Engineer, Leonid Toptumov, who was only 25. Toptumov had only been operating the reactor for 2 months before the test, whilst neither Akimov or Toptumov had ever done the test before and weren’t properly briefed, with the test manual being heavily annotated and thus hard to follow. This meant that the two men were relying entirely on Dyatlov, as he was the most experienced in nuclear energy. In order to conduct the test, the reactors power levels had to be reduced to around 700 MW. However, an error was made by Toptumov.

Control rods help moderate the fission reactions, which heat up the water, which spins the turbines that generate the electricity. Toptumov’s mistake was that he had put these control rods in far too deep and the reactor practically went offline. Dyatlov was infuriated at the error but still insisted that the test go through anyway, despite the lack of power that was required to do so. He ordered that the control rods be raised, in an attempt to bring the power back up. The workers did what they were told and raised all but 8 control rods, whilst the minimum amount for safety is around about 30.

Many debate what happened next. Dyatlov claimed that everything was going as planned and part of the test was to press the emergency shut down button. However, many others testified that the power levels began to rise incredibly fast to dangerous levels. Whatever the case may be, what we know for certain is that Akimov pressed the AZ-5 emergency shut down button, which re-inserted every single control rod into the core.

Logically, this was supposed to immediately shut down all power. However, due to cutting cost, the rods were tipped with graphite, which got stuck at the heart of the core due to steam pressure. Graphite, when reacting with the radioactive elements, causes an increase in energy, before the control rods shut it down. The levels of energy rose higher and higher and, with the added steam pressure, the 1000 ton lid of the reactor was blown clean off. Then, once the core was exposed a second, undetermined, reaction occurred, causing and even larger explosion that blew the roof off the factory.

At 1:23 in the morning, the explosion echoed around the nearby city of Pripyat. Decimeters in the plant, that were only capable of detecting 3.6 roentgen per hour, broke due to the overload. The reactor was actually emitting over 15,000 roentgen per hour. Firefighters quickly arrived on the scene, many of whom succumbed to radiation sickness. Once they arrived at Pripyat Hospital, their highly radioactive clothes had to be taken off and we thrown into the basement, where they still rest to this day.

A photo of the firefighters clothes in the basement of Pripyat Hospital

Over 45,000 residents from Pripyat had to be evacuated. Eventually, a large sarcophagus was built over the reactor to contain the radiation, which was replaced by the Chernobyl New Safe Containment in 2016.

Dyatlov was sentenced to 10 years in prison for criminal negligence and failure to comply with the safety regulations of the test. He was released after serving only 4 years due to health concerns and died in 1995, aged 64 of bone marrow cancer, likely caused by his exposure to the plant’s radiation. Tomin, despite attempting to commit suicide multiple times, was also sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was also released from prison early and, as far as we’re aware, he is still alive today, living with his family in Udomlya. Bryukhanov sentenced to 10 years also, for gross violation of safety regulations, creating conditions that led to an explosion, mismanagement by understating the radiation levels after the accident, administrative negligence and sending people into known contaminated areas. He was released for good behaviour in 1991 and died in 2021 from an undisclosed disease, although we know he had Parkinson’s later in life.

Bryukhanov (left), Dyatlov (centre) and Tomin (right), on trial for their negligence at Chernobyl

To this day, the Russian Government still claims that only 31 people died from the disaster, whilst UN estimates claimed that 50 deaths were caused as a direct result of the explosion, with a further 4,000 succumbing to radiation sickness or other illnesses related to exposure such as cancer. Many scientists cite the Chernobyl Disaster as the worst disaster in the history of nuclear energy.

The Soviet-Afghan War

In 1973, Mohammad Daoud Khan overthrew his own first cousin, the King of Afghanistan, establishing an autocratic one party nation. Despite his many economic reforms, similar to those of his cousins, Khan’s foreign policy strained tension with neighbours and factions within his own country. Eventually, Khan was overthrown and killed by the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan lead by Hafizullah Amin in 1978, making Afghanistan a Communist nation.

Insurgent cars arriving at the Presidential Palace, 1978

Soon, the new Communist Afghanistan, with new President, Nur Muhammed Taraki, began facing struggles. They tried to reform women’s rights, mainly to education, make the state more secular and enacted some awful land reforms. Anyone who spoke out about these reforms would be arrested. Soon, uprisings from Islamic Rural areas began occurring and Taraki began losing control of his nation. During the violence, Taraki was killed by Amin, allowing Amin to ascend to power

Meanwhile, Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Soviet Union, and the rest of the Kremlin did not trust Amin and decided that in order to secure their next door neighbour, not wanting yet another fundamentalist Islamic country on their doorstep like Iran before it, Amin had to die. On December 27th, 1979, Soviet forces raided the palace, killing Amin, putting a Soviet puppet in his place, Babrak Karmal. Whilst Soviet forces did manage to capture key military forts in cities and urban areas, they were unable to secure the insurgents in the mountainous countryside, who would use the mountainous terrain to wage brutal guerilla warfare. These insurgents were called the Mujahideen. And this was just the ticket, the US needed.

Outside of the Warsaw Pact, the international community strongly opposed the invasion, with many other Communist nations such as China, Muslim majority countries such as Pakistan and many more opposing the occupation. However, no-one was a stronger opponent than the United States, who imposed a trade embargo on Soviet products, boycotted the Olympic Games, which were being held in Moscow that year, and, most importantly funded the Mujahideen.

It was the height of the Cold War, and, after the Iran Hostage Crisis, Jimmy Carter had not won a second term. The new “tough on Communism” Ronald Reagan wanted to limit Soviet expansion as much as possible, whilst also wanting to give the Soviets their own Vietnam.

2/2/1983 President Reagan meeting with Afghan Freedom Fighters in the Oval Office to discuss Soviet atrocities in Afghanistan

We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives—on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua—to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth.
Reagan in his 1985 State of the Union address.

Over six years, in Operation Cyclone, the CIA would funnel $3.2 billion worth of weapons, economic help and military training towards the Mujahideen. Pakistan was also a large supporter of the Mujahideen’s efforts against the Soviets, serving as an operational base for the Mujahideen. The British were also a key supplier of finances and weapons, with MI6 assisting from their base in Islamabad.

During the war, atrocities were committed by both sides, with the Soviet Forces engaging in chemical warfare and airstrikes on civilian targets, whilst the Mujahideen brutally tortured captives. These acts forced 4 million citizens to seek asylum and did nothing to help either side.

Soon, the USSR, under the new leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, realised that there was no winning this conflict. It began to slowly withdraw whilst stabilising a Communist government under their new puppet, Mohammad Najibullah, who, despite his decent reforms, did not help the trust in the communist government. They also restricted direct involvement, only training and funding a new Communist Afghan Army, which ultimately resulted in failure.

The Soviet-Afghan War was an absolute catastrophe for the Soviets. It showed the weakness in the Belly of the Bear, and proved that, with time, the Soviet Union could be defeated. Many historians cite the war as laying the groundwork for the collapse of the Soviet Union, only 2 years after the end of the war. The Communist regime eventually collapsed, thrusting Afghanistan into civil war, with one of the factions of the Mujahideen, the Taliban, taking control of the country in 1996 and were not deposed until 2001 during the War in Afghanistan, starting a terrorist insurgency that would last 2 decades, eventually returning to power in 2021 after the American withdrawal from the country. By many scholars, the Taliban and the rule they imposed over Afghanistan, as well as their insurgency, is currently considered to be one of the greatest enemies to the United States and the world at large

A modern day photo of Taliban Insurgents in Afghanistan

The United States respects the people of Afghanistan […] but we condemn the Taliban regime. […] It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists. By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder.
George W. Bush addressing Congress

The Iranian Revolution

In 1952, Mohammed Mosaddegh was elected to the office of Prime Minister of Iran by the Iranian People. An openly socialist leader, he increased social security, mandated higher taxes and enacted mass land reforms. The most famous of his policies was to nationalise Iranian Oil. These oil fields were initially owned by the British in Persian land, through the private Anglo-Persian Oil Company. This meant that the fields were now under state ownership, posing a problem to British and American oil interests in the region. On August 19th, 1953, the MI6 and CIA backed a coup in Iran, overthrowing the democratically elected Mosaddegh and centralising power under the absolute monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had been the Shah of Iran in a constitutional standing since the end of the Second World War.

The kings had been absolute rulers of Iran for millennia before a parliament was introduced in 1906. The rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the father of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was widespread with oppression and suppression of minority groups. He was forced to abdicate in 1941 and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi took power. After the Second World War, Britain began to allow democracy to have more power in Iran. Once oil was nationalised under Mosaddegh, who was backed by an Iranian Communist party, the coup was orchestrated and democracy died.

Between 1963 and 1975, the Shah was considered to be quite a decent ruler. He reorganised the oil industry, which went from producing $555 million in 1964 to $20 billion by 1976. Much of this money was re-invested into infrastructure and education. The population grew, infant mortality fell and a professional middle class was beginning to develop. However, the problem was these reforms were coming fast and hard. Many universities pumped out graduates quicker than jobs could be made, especially prevalent in the capital city of Tehran, where this effect was most dire. After 1975, the Shah ruled with absolute autocratic power. Many political prisoners were tortured and arrested by a brutal secret police known as the SAVAK. He abolished all political parties, replacing them with the pro-Monarchy, Conservative Liberal Resurgence party.

Many of the positive reforms, however, were largely opposed by Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia Cleric from Qom. He mainly complained that the reforms would give women too many rights, including the right to vote, as well as saying that the government neglected the poor and was strongly opposed to the sale of Iranian Oil to Israel. Khomeini believed that a king was inherently un-Islamic and that he must be deposed. Due to his opposition, he was exiled to Türkiye in 1964. Iran was a powder keg of economic inequality and vast oppression. All it needed was a match.

On January 7th, 1978, an Iranian Newspaper published an article that was highly critical of Khomeini. Small demonstrations began to break out across the country. However, these grew once the army began to fire on protestors. Once more protestors arrived, the army would once again crack down and the cycle would continue. Many had also grown discontent with the West’s influence in Iranian life and society.

American lifestyles had come to be imposed as an ideal, the ultimate goal. Americanism was the model. American popular culture – books, magazines, film – had swept over our country like a flood…We found ourselves wondering ‘Is there any room for our own culture?
A woman interviewed by Michael Axworthy

A confused Shah had no idea why the people were protesting him, suspecting them to either be Communists or controlled by the British. Despite his attempts to appease the people, he was forced to flee to the United States on January 16th, leading to a break down of diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States from then on. Many say that these initial protests were not about fundamental Islam, however, but with a discontent with a decreased standard of living. In the second phase of the revolution, Khomeini moved to establish an Islamic Republic, which involved extreme anti-American fever and the taking of hostages inside the US Embassy in Iran.

Since the revolution, Iran has become a fundamentalist Islamist dictatorship, with the people’s vote in parliament and President ultimately being worthless, when all parliamentary legislation can be superseded by God, embodied by the Supreme Ruler, who, from 1979 until his death, was Khomeini. To ensure the support of an Islamic Republic in Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary guards and Hezbollah were created in order to ensure there would be no counter coup. Sharia law was strictly enforced, with those who disobeyed receiving harsh punishments. By at least October of 1979, several hundred people had already been executed. Everything was owned by the state, including the media, who always bowed down to the Supreme Leader. Repression is still rife in Iran, perhaps even more than it was under the Shah, especially in relation to women’s rights, which have been highly supressed.

The Suspect Line-Up for Kennedy’s Assassination

Before we get into this, I do want to clarify, everything I’m about to say is complete satire, I’m just a guy who makes jokes on the internet. I am healthy, of sound body and mind, a competent swimmer and have no intentions of killing myself anytime soon.

Ok, so who actually shot President Kennedy?

#1: Lyndon B Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson, VP to Kennedy and later 36th President of the United States

Before President Kennedy was elected, Johnson had also been in the running for the Democratic Party but was only nominated as Vice President. Johnson specifically requested of Kennedy that he still had partial power as Texas Senator, not wanting the practically only showy job of Vice President. The night before the shooting, Kennedy and Johnson allegedly “had words”. There were also rumours circulating that he could’ve been dropped off the 1964 Presidential Ballot. A witness came forward by the name of Madeleine Brown, who claimed she had been at a party with Johnson, Nixon and Hoover the night before the assassination. She claimed that Johnson had whispered in her ear, claiming that:

After tomorrow, those Kennedys will never embarrass me again. That’s no threat, that’s a promise.
What Johnson allegedly whispered into Madeleine’s Ear, 1963

However, Johnson was being observed the whole evening so this interaction may never have even occurred. Other than these possible motives, there is no other proof that Johnson had Kennedy shot.

#2: Russia

Nikita Khrushchev, Premier of the Soviet Union

Russia seems like a very obvious choice. America and the Soviet Union were arch enemies at the time and one of the alleged assassins had Soviet ties. But, isn’t this a little too obvious? If Russia actually did kill Kennedy and were found out, it would cause all out nuclear annihilation so would be incredibly risky so is highly unlikely.

#3: The Mob

Kennedy allegedly had many ties to the mob, most famously with Sam Giancana, head of the Chicago mob. Giancana had allegedly worked with Kennedy’s father in the bootleg alcohol business back during the Prohibition Era. It was also reported by a multitude of news outlets that Giancana also rigged the 1960 election in Kennedy’s favour. The two also shared a mistress in Judith Exner. In 1975, Giancana was supposed to testify about some “CIA related assassinations” before he was shot 7 times in his home in Illinois by an intruder, despite a police presence guarding the home.

Kennedy also may have had ties to Jimmy Hoffa, through an alleged shared mistress, Marilyn Monroe, who it is rumoured that Hoffa may have had killed. Hoffa was under heavy scrutiny by the Attorney General, Robert F Kennedy, John’s brother, who formed the “Get Hoffa” squad. Hoffa was convicted in 1964 for tampering with a jury. It is rumoured that when Kennedy was shot, Hoffa cheered and whooped. He also allegedly raised the American Flag on top of his building from half mast, which is protocol when a President dies, to full mast. Hoffa also mysteriously vanished in 1982.

#4: The CIA

Allen Dulles, Former Director of the CIA during the Bay Of Pigs

In the twilight of Eisenhower’s presidency, he authorised an invasion of Cuba, in order to overthrow the communist dictator of the nation, Fidel Castro. This operation would be led by CIA officials. Kennedy, taking a firmly anti-Castro stance, decided to go ahead with the invasion on April 4th, 1961. By the 17th, ground troops needed air support where they were pinned down at the Bay of Pigs as their planned uprising within Cuba had failed. Kennedy refused to authorise the air support. The Bay of Pigs was a disaster with thousands of lives lost. In public, Kennedy claimed all responsibility for the catastrophe

We got a big kick in the leg and we deserved it. But maybe we’ll learn something from it.
Kennedy speaking on the Bay Of Pigs, ‘A Thousand Days’ by Arthur M. Schlesinger

However, according to biographer Richard Reeves, Kennedy blamed the CIA for allegedly trying to set him up to make him look bad, making the public hate him, even allegedly saying that he wanted to:

“splinter the C.I.A. in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.”
Kennedy (allegedly) speaking on the CIA

Eisenhower had also planned an attempted assassination against Castro and Dominican Republic Communist leader, Rafael Trajillo. Kennedy allegedly requested that if such a thing were to happen, the US must have plausible deniability, whilst he publicly opposed such efforts. In 1961, Trajillo was killed.

The car that Trajillo was ambushed in by the CIA

In October of 1962, Soviet Missiles were spotted in Cuba and for the next 13 days, the world sat on the precipice of nuclear annihilation. Once the crisis was averted, rumours began to spread that Kennedy had struck a deal with the Soviet Premier, Nikita Kruschev to not invade Cuba as long as he kept their missiles out. People began to suspect that Kennedy was soft on Communism.

Kennedy publicly denounced America’s involvement in Vietnam and Laos.

In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisers, but they have to win it, the people of Vietnam, against the Communists… But I don’t agree with those who say we should withdraw. That would be a great mistake… [The United States] made this effort to defend Europe. Now Europe is quite secure. We also have to participate—we may not like it—in the defense of Asia.
Kennedy being interviewed for CBS

There were rumours that he staged the coup in South Vietnam on November 1st, 1963, only 3 weeks before he was killed, a coup which deposed the anti-communist dictator. Many rumours circulated that he was planning on pulling military advisors out of Vietnam before his death.

The Presidential Palace in South Vietnam during the coup, 1963

In fact, many of his policies advocated for peace not just with South East Asia but also with the USSR.

All of that threatened to make the CIA obsolete. Kennedy was a threat to the CIA’s existence and they knew it. The Warren Commission, set up by Hoover and Johnson, also featured as a prominent member of the committee was Allen Dulles, Director of the CIA up until 1961, after which he was dismissed by Kennedy after the Bay of Pigs. Another member of this Committee was Gerald Ford, a Michigan Representative and later became the president of the United States. Another CIA member was allegedly elected to keep Kennedy safe. After failing such a simple task in the most spectacular way possible, he was promoted to Director of the CIA in 1976 and later was elected President of the United States. That man was George H. W. Bush.

In 1991, Oliver Stone released a film called JFK, discussing the possible conspiracy behind the assassination of Kennedy. The film was so influential that the CIA was demanded to release all files regarding the Kennedy Assassination. A lot of these files are still yet to be released and a lot of those that have been released are heavily redacted.

Kevin Costner portraying Jim Garrison in JFK (1991), an attorney determined to find who really killed Kennedy

In 2004, a video game was released called “JFK Reloaded”. In the game you are put into the position of Lee Harvey Oswald in the South East Corner of the Texas School Book Depository. The objective of the game is to get as close to the actual shots that hit the President as possible, in order to prove the Warren Commission’s findings. To incentivise people to play the game, the developers had a prize pot wherein if someone got to 100%, or 1,000 points, they would receive a $100,000 cash prize. It has been 20 years since the game’s release and the highest score ever achieved in the game is currently only 75% and the only cash reward received from the game was to a 16 year old boy in Paris and the money he received was only a tenth of the promised prize.

Ultimately a select few people knew what actually happened that day, and the majority of them are dead. Could it be Russia? Could it be Giancana’s Mob? Or could it be the CIA? But I always want you to remember, if you ever think, “What, no, the government wouldn’t do that!” Oh yes. Oh yes they would.

The (Potential) Conspiracy Behind Kennedy’s Assassination

You remember Arnold Rowland, correct? He claimed that at around 12:15, he spotted a white man on the South West corner of the Book Depository. Whilst it is reasonable to assume that this could be Oswald prepping, there is one small issue.

At around 11:45 am, Depository Employees decided it was time for lunch and had a race down to the lunchroom down from the sixth floor using the elevators. Oswald was working on the 6th floor at this time and decided not to participate. They spotted Oswald on the 5th floor as they were going down, who told them to close the gate to the elevators once they got to the bottom. Charles Givens quickly went back upstairs in the lift, realising he’d forgotten his jacket and cigarettes. Upon returning to the lift at around 11:55, he officially became the last person to see Oswald before the shooting. Oswald yet again requested that the gates would be pulled shut, meaning that the elevators would return to the top floor and refused to go down for lunch. Givens left soon after and not long after that another employee, Bonnie Williams, came upstairs to eat his lunch on the third window from the east side facing Dealey Plaza and watch the motorcade. Around ten minutes before the shooting, Bonnie finished his lunch and joined some friends down on the fifth floor. This puts Bonnie Williams on the sixth floor at some time between 11:55 and 12:20 However, this creates a conflict. If both Arnold and Bonnie are to be believed, then Bonnie had an unobstructed view of the South West corner, meaning he could’ve spotted this gun man. And yet, Bonnie has no recollection of such a gunman.

Bonnie Williams’ view of the South West Corner, where Rowland claimed the white gunman was

Furthermore, Arnold allegedly spotted an elderly black man on the same floor, but this time on the south east corner. Whilst it is conceivable that Arnold confused the fifth floor with the sixth, instead spotting Bonnie and his friends on the floor below, as they were the only black employees observing the motorcade past the first floor, but none of them were elderly, ranging between 20 and 30 years of age. However, when asked to describe what the man looked like, Arnold was stumped.

Interrogator: Will you describe with as much particularity as you can what that man looked like?
Rowland: It seemed to me an elderly [black man], that is about all. I didn’t pay very much attention to him.
Arnold Rowland’s Testimony for the Warren Commission, 1964

But, when asked the same question his answer had become significantly more detailed

Rowland: He was very thin, an elderly gentleman, bald or practically bald, very thin hair if he wasn’t bald. Had on a plaid shirt. I think it was red and green, very bright colour, that is why I remember it.
Interrogator: Can you give us an estimate as to age?
Rowland: Fifty ; possibly 55 or 60.
Interrogator: Can you give us an estimate as to height?
Rowland: 5’8″, 5’10”, in that neighbourhood. He was very slender, very thin.
Interrogator: Can you give us a more definite description as to complexion?
Rowland: Very dark or fairly dark, not real dark compared to some [black men], but fairly dark. Seemed like his face was either—I can’t recall detail but it was either very wrinkled or marked in some way.
Arnold Rowland’s Testimony for the Warren Commission, 1964

His wife and many of his teachers testified that he has a habit of embellishing the truth to benefit his own ego.

Imagine, you, dear reader, are in the crowd on this shining, rainless November Dallas morning. And you look across the street and you see a man with an umbrella in hand, raising it aloft. That would be odd right? But what if not only you saw it, but it was captured on film.

A frame of the Zapruder film, where an umbrella is clearly seen. It had been raining that night but by the morning, the sky was clear. It was midday by the time of the assassination

In the foreground of the Zapruder Film, just in front of a sign, a large black umbrella can be spotted. And the moment the Limo passes said umbrella, the shot that strikes President Kennedy is fired. Not only that but there are photos of said umbrella man casually reclining next to another man on the empty grassy knoll after the shooting. Some believe this man was a signal to another gunman. Others believe it was a secret device designed to shoot out darts once opened.

The Umbrella Man after the shooting. He has been circled in red.

The Alleged Umbrella Man came forward before a trial, with said umbrella, claiming that it was a method of protesting Kennedy’s father’s appeasement methods during the eve of World War 2, the umbrella being a reference to a popular accessory carried by Neville Chamberlain, who is very well known for his appeasement methods with Adolf Hitler. He also claimed that the umbrella blocked his view of the assassination, explaining why he sat down on the curb with another man after the shooting. The man was never brought back in for questioning.

So even if we are to believe all this, we still have a question of the shots that were fired. More specifically, this second shot is very controversial.

The Warren Commission claimed that the second bullet, which was fired from the sixth floor of the Book Depository Building, struck Kennedy 6 inches below his collar, exited through the knot in his tie, struck Connelly in the right side of his back, exited below Connelly’s right nipple, re-entered him through his right wrist, fracturing it, before exiting and ending in his left thigh.

Observing this, you may think it’s impossible. Modern Arizona scientists have proven that the single bullet theory is physically impossible unless Connelly was sat in the middle of the row he was in. Not only that but Governor Connelly also claims that both him and his wife believe that 2 separate shots struck him and the President. In fact, in this documentary “The Men Who Killed Kennedy”, Connelly gives a very detailed account of what he experienced whilst Kennedy was being shot.

I heard what I thought was a rifle shot. I immediately reacted, by turning to look over my right shoulder because that’s where the sound came from. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and was in the process of turning to look over my left shoulder when I felt a blow in the middle of my back, as if someone had hit me with a doubled up fist
John Connelly speaking on the assassination, The Men Who Killed Kennedy by Nigel Turner

In addition, this bullet was found in Connelly’s stretcher, which the Warren Commission claimed to be the second bullet.

Besides a slight indent, the bullet is practically intact, despite having gone through 3 different objects and lodging itself in a fourth. According to multiple sources online and the Zapruder film, there is not enough time for Oswald to put in another shot between the time Kennedy is hit in the neck and his fateful head shot. And trust me, that is being extremely generous. The Warren Commission claims that the Single Bullet theory is not integral to their claim that Oswald acted alone. However, considering all the evidence I’ve just explained, if the Magic Bullet theory isn’t true, then there must’ve been at least 2 shooters.

In the 1970s, another commission was set up by the government to look into possible conspiracies behind the assassinations of Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr, due to the CIA allegedly withholding information regarding both the assassinations. This commission had some audio from the assassination and it is alleged that there were 6 distinct shots. And in between the time the Zapruder film starts and Kennedy is shot, there is nowhere near enough time to fire 6 shots. Not only that but a film was shown with a different angle to that of the Zapruder Film. It shows a now iconic grassy knoll, where many have described a puff of smoke or seeing the actual shooter. The committee ruled that:

[…] on the basis of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The Committee is unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy.
The House Committee on Assassinations Ruling, 1970

However, after this ruling was made, this second film was mysteriously lost by the CIA overnight.

Not only that but multiple people have speculated as to why that, if Oswald was the only shooter, why he didn’t kill Kennedy when he was coming up Houston instead of when he was moving away down Elm, which, more likely than not, would be an easier shot. Even more so considering that the view of Elm from the South East sixth floor window was blocked by some branches. Many have postulated that the reason they waited to get to when he was turning onto Elm was to engage an at least 2 pronged attack. In addition, upon further analysis of the Zapruder Film, Kennedy’s head appears to snap to the back and left. Such a force wouldn’t have been created if Kennedy was shot from behind, more likely from the front right of him. For example, from the grassy knoll. Further evidence comes from that the back of Kennedy’s brain came out, not the front. This is pointed out by firearms expert and YouTuber, Brandon Herrera upon a visit to Dallas.

If you remember the previous article, you may remember the incident during Oswald’s escape, wherein Truly and Baker encountered Oswald on the second floor. Upon re-enactment, 2 years later, it took them, on average, a minute and 22 seconds. They then decided to do a similar recreation with someone similar to Oswald. They tested with the fire escape where there wasn’t enough time with that and the lift couldn’t have possibly been used as Truly testified that the lift was up on the fifth floor. The only conceivable escape was via the stairwell. It took an average of 1 minute and 16 seconds. It’s conceivable that Oswald attempted to blend into the lunch room upon hearing Truly shout up the elevator shaft. However, as always, there’s a problem.

Victoria Adams and Sandra Styles had watched the shooting from the fourth floor. Around 30 seconds after the shooting, they took the stairs down to the bottom floor. Such an incident causes a problem. This would put Adams and Styles on the stairs at the exact same time as Oswald. And yet, they claimed to have never seen Oswald once, nor did she hear anyone else using the stairs. If we hypothetically suggest that Adams and Styles were a few flights below Oswald so they didn’t hear Oswald, being drowned out by their own feet, there is yet another problem that arises. Dorothy Garner, who could see the stairs, claims that in between the time that Adams and Styles left and she saw Truly and Baker go up the stairs to the roof, she at no point saw Oswald going down the stairs. In fact, in 2002, Adams and Styles both claimed that their testimony was altered. In their official testimony, they claimed to have met two employees by the name of William Shelley and Billy Lovelady. However, they recall no such incident, implying that their testimony was altered after the fact. She claimed that she’d met a large black man but neither Lovelady and Shelley are black. In fact, Billy remembers encountering a woman but never put a finger on it being Adams.

Whilst under interrogation after being arrested, Oswald claimed that during the shooting, he was down in the first floor lunchroom with a black co-worker, who he couldn’t name, and James Jarman. While Jarman denies having lunch with Oswald, a different interrogator claims that Oswald said he was eating lunch alone and Jarman and this other co-worker happened to walk through whilst he was eating.

Carolyn Arnold, a spectator of the motorcade, also claimed that she may have caught a fleeting glimpse of Oswald by the front door of the book depository, after Charles Givens claims to have seen Oswald on the sixth, although she could not confidently identify him. However, Carolyn also claimed in 1978 that no such incident occurred. She claimed that it had instead happened in the second floor lunchroom, just near where Oswald was spotted by Baker and Truly, an ID which was 100% positive. It appears to me that a lot of evidence suggests that Oswald was never on the sixth floor during the time of the shooting.

However, Howard Brennan, who was spectating from the street corner of Elm and Houston, claims to have gotten a very clear view of Oswald from the Book Depository. When given a line-up of 4 suspects, Brennan vaguely identified Oswald. However, upon testifying in 1964, he claimed that he did not want to immediately identify Oswald as he believed that the assassination was a part of a Communist Conspiracy. Whilst a flimsy excuse for not being able to identify Oswald, even he believed it was part of a plot to kill the President, and not just a raving lunatic acting on his own, like the Warren Commission claims.

The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

John F Kennedy was a Democrat Party member, who represented Massachusetts in both houses of Congress. After a brief time in the Navy and Journalism, Kennedy got into politics. In 1960, he ran for President and won by only a hundred thousand votes to Eisenhower’s Vice President, Richard Nixon. Kennedy was and still is the youngest President Elect in history. Kennedy was well known for his stances on civil rights, foreign policy and lower taxes.

In the months leading up to November 1963, Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson had made plans to make trips to soothe over tensions between the Liberal and Republican candidates in Texas. The plan was to arrive in Fort Worth, spend the night at Hotel Texas, drive to an Airforce Base, take Air Force One down to Love Field Airport in Dallas, and drive down to the Trade Mart via Dealey Plaza for a banquet. The idea of driving to the Trade Mart was proposed by Republican Texas Governor John Connelly. The turns through Dealey Plaza would proceed as follows. The motorcade would turn right onto Houston off Main before making a sharp left onto Elm Street to disembark onto the freeway.

A very crude diagram made by yours truly of the turns made through Dealey Plaza

However, another option was considered for the banquet, the Women’s Building. Had this been the case, the car would have remained straight on Main Street facing the opposite way, only just grazing the plaza. This would’ve meant that Kennedy’s left shoulder would’ve faced the plaza with his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy in between him and the plaza. In addition, these odd turns through the plaza could’ve been avoided if they hadn’t chosen to go down the freeway. However, the freeway was considered more scenic by secret service agents over the route through the Design District so was chosen instead. The motorcade was finalised and publicised to the public by November the 16th.

A potential alternate route highlighted in yellow. The route taken is highlighted in red

Whilst inspecting the route, secret service agents discovered that there were over 20,000 windows overlooking the route. Instead of inspecting them, they decided to inspect none of the windows along the motorcade route due to a lack of manpower being able to monitor the route.

After having arrived at Love Field, the motorcade was 15 minutes late due to the President shaking hands with all his citizens. This was a common habit for Kennedy to do, departing from the secret service to be among his people.

Kennedy shaking hands with the public at Love Field

Eventually they got into the motorcade and sped off. Kennedy and Jacqueline were in the back seats which were slightly elevated, with Kennedy sitting on the right side of the car. John Connelly was directly in front of Kennedy with his wife, Nellie, sitting on his left. Two secret service agents sat in the front, William Greer driving and Roy Kellerman in the passenger seat. The limousine was open top, giving the public a very clear view of President Kennedy.

A diagram of the limo used on that day. It was specifically modified to be convertible

At Dealey Plaza, the streets were lined with masses of people. One such person was Arnold Rowland. He looked up, at around 12:15, and spotted something unusual.

Interrogator: While you were standing on Houston Street […], did you have occasion at any time to observe the Texas School Book Depository Building?
Rowland: Yes, […] We looked and at that time I noticed on the sixth floor of the building that there was a man back from the window, not hanging out the window. He was standing and holding a rifle. […] This was on the west corner of the building, the sixth floor […] and this was the only pair of windows where both windows were completely open and no one was hanging out the windows, or next to the window. […] We thought momentarily that maybe we should tell someone but then the thought came to us that it is a security agent. We had seen in the movies before where they have security men up in windows and places like that with rifles to watch the crowds, and we brushed it aside as that, at that time, and thought nothing else about it until after the event happened.

Rowland: Do you ever have reoccurring dreams, sir?
Interrogator: What?
Rowland: Do you ever have reoccurring dreams?
Interrogator: Yes.
Rowland: This is a reoccurring dream of mine, sir, all the time, what if I had told someone about it. I knew about it enough in advance and perhaps it could have been prevented. I mean this is something which shakes me up at times.
Arnold Rowland’s Testimony for the Warren Commission, 1964

At around 12:20, a man named Howard Brennan also spotted a man on the sixth floor. He was described to be white and was pacing back and forth, this time on the most Eastern window that faced the plaza

At 12:29, Kennedy’s motorcade turned onto Houston. Around this time, Connelly’s wife turned to Kennedy and said “Mr. President, they can’t make you believe now that there are not some in Dallas who love you and appreciate you, can they?” Kennedy responded with “No, they sure can’t.” These would be the President’s final words. At 12:30, as Kennedy turned onto Houston, student Amos Euins looked up to the window as the car slowed down to around 9 mph.

Then I was standing here, and as the motorcade turned the corner, I was facing, looking dead at the building. And so I seen this pipe thing sticking out the window. I wasn’t paying too much attention to it
Amos Euins’s Testimony for the Warren Commission, 1964

The first shot rang out. Only a few people realised what had happened. A car backfire, a firework. Some jested about being startled by such an insignificant little thing.

Another shot rang out. “Then I looked up at the window, and he shot again.” Amos describes. Kennedy is now clutching his neck, bleeding profusely. Jacqueline tends to her husband as Connelly also reacts to being hit from the same bullet. Clint Hill leaps towards the Limo in order to protect the President

Kennedy holding his neck after being shot

The final shot rings out as President Kennedy’s head explodes, a large flap of tissue still clinging onto the side of his head. His brain matter is sprayed all over the bonnet. Jacqueline screams and attempts to clear it up. As the limo sped up, Hill clambered onto the back of the bonnet.

A diagram of the second shot that struck Kennedy’s head

At 80mph, the Limo speeds away to Parkland Memorial Hospital and Kennedy is taken inside at around 12:36, 6 minutes after his lethal headshot. Somehow he was still alive, if only technically. After 20 minutes of operation, the word came out.

From Dallas, Texas, the flash apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, 2 o’clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.
Walter Cronkite on CBS, 1963

Johnson, Jackie and the other officials drove back down to Love Field and took off on Airforce One. On the flight, Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States. Whilst also on the flight, the officials received some shocking news.

Lee Harvey Oswald was, at the time, 24 and was a worker at the school book depository, where Amos claimed that the shots were fired from. He was hired there in October of 1963. Oswald was rather open about his Marxist beliefs and had attempted to renounce his US citizenship and had visited Russia in the late 50s. In fact, his wife was a Russian Immigrant. He was a member of the US Marine Corps for 3 years and was a very talented marksman, specifically with the M1 rifle. He was also prone to violent tendencies, having chased his brother around with a knife when they were both children. He was under observation by the FBI agents, who failed to inform anyone about Oswald, despite his place of work overlooking the route. Oswald was also in possession of a 6.5 mm Carcano Italian made rifle. A fully intact bullet found in Connelly’s thigh matched a round that could’ve been fired from such a rifle.

Not long after the shooting, Oswald was spotted in the second floor lunchroom of the Texas School Book Depository by police officer Marrion Baker with the accompaniment of Roy Truly, superintendent of the Book Depository, who positively identified Oswald. He seemed calm. He is then believed to have left the building 3 minutes later to catch a bus.

At 1:15, Officer J D Tippit discovered Oswald, having been given the description of a slender white man in his early 30s at 5 foot 11 and weighing 165 lb or 75 kg. After walking around to the front of his car, he was, seemingly unprovoked, shot 5 times in the chest by Oswald with a handgun. Multiple witnesses reported the crime and could identify Oswald out of a line-up later. Oswald then strolled down to the Texas Theatre and took a seat without paying for a ticket. Police ran into the building. Oswald allegedly resisted arrest before being taken down to Dallas PD. However, two officers on the scene claimed Oswald acted very differently. After being interrogated for 12 hours, he denied all involvement in the assassination of Kennedy.

On the morning of November 24th, Oswald was scheduled for a transfer to the county jail. At 21 minutes past 11, on live TV, Oswald was shot and fatally wounded by local nightclub owner, Jack Ruby. Ruby claimed to be an admirer of Kennedy’s and was so distraught by the killing, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Ruby was sentenced to death before it was alleviated and died of cancer in 1967.

Almost immediately after the assassination, Johnson and J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, formed the Warren commission, a group of higher ups inside the US government, whose purpose it was to investigate Kennedy’s death. They were adamant that Oswald acted alone and fired 3 shots from the South East corner of the School Book Depository, the first shot missing and hitting the ground, the second shot hitting President Kennedy and Governor Connelly and the final shot being the fatal head shot to Kennedy. The reason they were so fixated on this reasoning is that 3 shell casings were found by the window, around which boxes had been placed in order to form a sniper’s nest. A 6.5 mm Carcano Rifle was found in another corner of the building, with Oswald’s palm prints only being found on the rifle after his death. This was the official ruling, that Oswald acted alone after having explored no other avenues.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

In 1959, the Cuban communist revolutionary, Fidel Castro with the help of Che Guevara toppled the US Backed military dictator, Fulgencio Batista. He immediately began mass land reforms, giving land taken by the Americans back to the Cuban people, before he aligned himself with Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

A photo of Castro (left) and Khrushchev (right)

Fearing the communism in his own backyard, President Dwight D. Eisenhower cut off all diplomatic relations with Cuba and issued a trade embargo. He also requested, on his way out, that some Jupiter Class Nuclear Missiles be place in Turkey and an invasion would go ahead against Cuba, using 1400 trained CIA Trained Cuban exiles. The next President, the young and charming John F. Kennedy was told that the US involvement could be covered up and that the invasion would cause an anti-Communist uprising in Cuba.

Unfortunately, the plan went awry very quickly, with poorly disguised bombers missing their targets and immediately being identified as American. The invasion was an absolute disaster, with hundreds of American lives being ended and thousands captured.

American Operatives being captured in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs

Sensing weakness from America, Khrushchev took this opportunity to erect the Berlin Wall in August of that same year. Kennedy spoke on the wall in his famous speech, where he said:

[D]emocracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.
Kennedy speaking in Berlin in 1963

Not long after that, Khrushchev was on his boat in the Black Sea, thinking about the Jupiter Missiles in Turkey. Whilst the missiles weren’t highly effective, Khrushchev still believed the missile’s presence to be an act of aggression. And slowly, an idea began to brew in Khrushchev’s head.

Day 1 – October 16th, 1963

At around 8 in the morning on October 16th, 1962, NSA, McGeorge Bundy arrived at the White House, informing President Kennedy of a photograph taken by a U2 Spy plane over Cuba. The photographs clearly showed Soviet Medium Range Ballistic missiles, with a range far enough to destroy most of the Eastern Seaboard.

Labeled photographs taken by the spy plane

Within minutes, Kennedy gathered his foreign policy team, including Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara, Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chief’s of Staff, General Maxwell Taylor, Speech Writer, Ted Sorenson and ambassador Lewin Thompson. As the crisis developed, the committee would soon become known as the Executive Committee of the National Security Council, or ExComm for short.

They agreed to secrecy and not to let anyone else know about the crisis. However, the secrecy could not really be broken, as no-one really knew specifics. Would the missiles launch and, if so, when? Could there be more missiles? But, amidst the uncertainty and speculation, Kennedy was firm. He could not allow Soviet missiles in Cuba and they had to be removed immediately. There were 4 main options considered, either a limited airstrike on the missile bases, a wider strike which would include other Cuban military facilities, an even larger airstrike which would then be followed up with an invasion or a blockade of Cuba.

Day 2 – October 17th, 1962

They eventually ruled out just the airstrikes, insisting that if an airstrike were to be conducted it must be backed by an invasion, lest Khrushchev send more missiles. However, this was under the pretence that the missiles were not ready to fire, which they, in fact, were. More U2 Spy planes discovered even more sites, with the number now totalling 32 Soviet missiles in Cuba. However, Kennedy had to keep up appearances, having a dinner with the Libyan Crown Prince and supporting Democratic Congressional candidates in Connecticut.

Day 3 – October 18th, 1962

Kennedy decided to take action and had a meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko, who denied that any Soviet offensive weapons were in Cuba.

As to Soviet assistance to Cuba, Mr. Gromyko stated that he was instructed to make it clear, as the Soviet Government had already done, that such assistance, pursued solely for the purpose of contributing to the defense capabilities of Cuba and to the development of Cuba, toward the development of its agriculture and land amelioration, and training by Soviet specialists of Cuba nationals in handling defensive armaments were by no means offensive. If it were otherwise, the Soviet Government would have never become involved in rendering such assistance.
An excerpt from a memorandum from the meeting with Gromyko

Kennedy was specific to not mention the missiles specifically, but did recall his public warning that he made on September 14th, that in response to any offensive weapons being put into Cuba by the Soviets, there would be the “gravest consequences”

Day 4 – October 19th, 1962

Still attempting to keep up appearances, Kennedy attended campaign events in Ohio and Illinois, whilst the rest of ExComm discussed plans to move forward. During this time, another spy plane managed to capture photos of an Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Site. This would mean that if missiles were to fire from Cuba, the only safe major city in the United States would be Seattle.

A map with the range of the missiles highlighted in red

Day 5 – October 20th, 1962

Kennedy ended up having to lie to the American people so they would not panic, saying he had a cold, in order to return home to Washington instead of continuing his six state tour. After 5 hours of deliberation, ExComm came to the conclusion that a blockade must be enforced. However, they could not exactly call it a blockade, as that would be an act of war, so they very subtly decided to call it a “Quarantine”

Day 6 – October 21st, 1962

The military advisors, fearing their planned invasion would not go ahead, attempted to convince Kennedy one more time of an air strike. However, they could not guarantee that all the missiles would be hit. This was too much of a risk for Kennedy, who decided to go ahead with the quarantine.

Day 7 – October 22nd, 1962

Kennedy contacted Truman and Eisenhower, the two presidents before him, about the situation, before contacting British Prime Minister, Harold McMillan. He then wrote to Nikita Khrushchev before addressing the nation on national television.

This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet Military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.

[…]

Neither the United States of America nor the world community of nations can tolerate deliberate deception and offensive threats on the part of any nation, large or small. We no longer live in a world where only the actual firing of weapons represents a sufficient challenge to a nation’s security to constitute maximum peril. Nuclear weapons are so destructive and ballistic missiles are so swift, that any substantially increased possibility of their use or any sudden change in their deployment may well be regarded as a definite threat to peace.

Acting, therefore, in the defence of our own security and of the entire Western Hemisphere, and under the authority entrusted to me by the Constitution as endorsed by the resolution of the Congress, I have directed that the following initial steps be taken immediately:

First: To halt this offensive build-up, a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba is being initiated. All ships of any kind bound for Cuba from whatever nation or port will, if found to contain cargoes of offensive weapons, be turned back. This quarantine will be extended, if needed, to other types of cargo and carriers. We are not at this time, however, denying the necessities of life as the Soviets attempted to do in their Berlin blockade of 1948.

Second: I have directed the continued and increased close surveillance of Cuba and its military build-up. The foreign ministers of the OAS, in their communique of October 6, rejected secrecy in such matters in this hemisphere. Should these offensive military preparations continue, thus increasing the threat to the hemisphere, further action will be justified. I have directed the Armed Forces to prepare for any eventualities; and I trust that in the interest of both the Cuban people and the Soviet technicians at the sites, the hazards to all concerned in continuing this threat will be recognized.

Third: It shall be the policy of this Nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.

Fourth: As a necessary military precaution, I have reinforced our base at Guantanamo, evacuated today the dependents of our personnel there, and ordered additional military units to be on a standby alert basis.

Fifth: We are calling tonight for an immediate meeting of the Organ of Consultation under the Organization of American States, to consider this threat to hemispheric security and to invoke articles 6 and 8 of the Rio Treaty in support of all necessary action. The United Nations Charter allows for regional security arrangements–and the nations of this hemisphere decided long ago against the military presence of outside powers. Our other allies around the world have also been alerted.

Sixth: Under the Charter of the United Nations, we are asking tonight that an emergency meeting of the Security Council be convoked without delay to take action against this latest Soviet threat to world peace. Our resolution will call for the prompt dismantling and withdrawal of all offensive weapons in Cuba, under the supervision of U.N. observers, before the quarantine can be lifted.

Seventh and finally: I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations. I call upon him further to abandon this course of world domination, and to join in an historic effort to end the perilous arms race and to transform the history of man. He has an opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction–by returning to his government’s own words that it had no need to station missiles outside its own territory, and withdrawing these weapons from Cuba–by refraining from any action which will widen or deepen the present crisis–and then by participating in a search for peaceful and permanent solutions.

[…]

My fellow citizens: let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one can see precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred. Many months of sacrifice and self-discipline lie ahead–months in which our patience and our will will be tested–months in which many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our dangers. But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are–but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high–and Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.

Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right- -not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.
JFK’s address to the nation

Day 8 – October 23rd, 1962

Kennedy signing the authorisation for the quarantine

Kennedy once again wrote to Khrushchev, requesting the stop of all Soviet ships towards Cuba. However, this writing would often take an obscenely long amount of time, with them having to be shipped halfway around the planet, translated, having a response written up, sent back and translated again. Sometimes, messages were not given responses for 12 hours at a time.

Day 9 – October 24th, 1962

Khrushchev wrote back to Kennedy regarding his letter. Whilst he did not actively threaten Kennedy, he also did not say he wouldn’t back down either.

You, Mr. President, are not declaring a quarantine, but rather are setting forth an ultimatum and threatening that if we do not give in to your demands you will use force. Consider what you are saying! And you want to persuade me to agree to this! What would it mean to agree to these demands? It would mean guiding oneself in one’s relations with other countries not by reason, but by submitting to arbitrariness. You are no longer appealing to reason, but wish to intimidate us.
An excerpt of Khrushchev’s letter to Kennedy

The DEFCON level was moved to DEFCON 2, one step short of all out war.

Day 10 – October 25th, 1962

Photos from the missile sites being shown at the UN

Kennedy once again urged Khrushchev to back down, whilst at the UN, United States Ambassador, Adlai Stevenson, verbally attacked Valerian Zorin, Soviet Ambassador to the UN, presenting photos of the missiles.

Stevenson: Mr. Zorin, I remind you that you didn’t deny the existence of these weapons. Instead, we heard that they had suddenly become defensive weapons. But today — again, if I heard you correctly — you now say they don’t exist, or that we haven’t proved they exist. […] Do you, Ambassador Zorin, deny that the U.S.S.R has placed and is placing medium and intermediate range missiles and sites in Cuba? Yes or no? Don’t wait for the translation: yes or no?

Zorin: I am not in an American courtroom, sir, and therefore I do not wish to answer a question that is put to me in the fashion in which a prosecutor does. In due course, sir, you will have your reply. […]

Stevenson: You are in the court of world opinion right now and you can answer yes or no. You have denied that they exist. I want to know […] if I’ve understood you correctly. [shows the photos] These weapons, gentlemen, these launching pads, these planes — of which we have illustrated only a fragment — are a part of a much larger weapons complex, what is called a weapons system. To support this build-up, to operate these advanced weapons systems, the Soviet Union has sent a large number of military personnel to Cuba — a force now amounting to several thousand men. These photographs, as I say, are available to members for detailed examination in the Trusteeship Council room following this meeting. There I will have one of my aides who will gladly explain them to you in such detail as you may require.

Day 11 – October 26th, 1962

A Soviet Freighter was stopped at the quarantine line and was searched for contraband. No such contraband was found and it was allowed to pass into Cuba. Castro sent a letter to Khrushchev, urging him to initiate a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States.

Day 12 – October 27th, 1962

A letter arrived from the Kremlin, requesting that in exchange for removing the missiles from Cuba, Kennedy had to withdraw the Jupiter Missiles from Turkey. Many in ExComm saw this as outrageous, with some even comparing it to Chamberlain’s appeasement before WW2, an appeasement which Kennedy’s father strongly supported. This option is opposed even more when Cuban Anti-Aircraft guns shoot down a U2 Spy Plane, killing the pilot. An American man had been killed because of this, and many military men in ExComm sought war. Kennedy resisted this pressure to invade strongly. Later that night, Bobby Kennedy met with a Soviet Ambassador to negotiate the terms of the missile withdrawal.

Day 13 – October 28th, 1962

The thirteen most tense days in human history were over, as both nations withdrew their missiles from Turkey and Cuba respectively as the world blew a massive sigh of relief. In addition, the United States pledged to never invade Cuba again.

Kennedy was eventually shot in a motorcade in Dallas in November of the next year. Some suspect that Kennedy’s handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis undermined the CIA, who many believed ordered his assassination. Khrushchev was ousted from the communist party in 1964 and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev. Khrushchev then died of a heart attack in 1971. A hotline was set up between the two nations via a famous red phone in each of the leader’s offices, to ensure such delays in communication would never happen again. However, the United States and Cuba never sought diplomatic reconciliation until 2016, when Barack Obama became the first President to visit the country since 1928.

President Obama meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro

Many say, to this day, that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest humanity ever came to ending the world via nuclear annihilation. Whilst many, at the time, saw the two leaders of the two superpowers as traitors to their people for seeking a diplomatic solution, many today see them as brave men for doing such things and many in the West cite them as some of the greatest leaders of their respective countries.

The Construction of the Berlin Wall

After the end of World War 2, the 4 major powers that defeated the Nazis, the Americans, French, British and Soviets gathered together to discuss the matter of Germany. The powers feared that if Germany were to be reunited, at least immediately, the ideas of Nazism and Fascism could make a rise once more. An idea was proposed, that Germany be divided into West and East as a temporary measure, the West being occupied by the USA, UK and France and the East being controlled by the USSR.

However, soon the question of Berlin came up. Being around 200 miles into East Germany, logic dictated that Berlin fell into the hands of the Soviets. However, whoever controlled the capital practically controlled the country so a subdivision was set up, wherein France, Britain and America made the Western side of Berlin a part of West Germany, whilst the Eastern half was controlled by East Germany.

Soon, this temporary measure became somewhat permanent. The city of Berlin soon became divided into East Berliners and West Berliners. The West promoted the values of the countries occupying such as democracy and liberal market economies whilst the East promoted communism, not just in East Germany but other countries surrounding themselves. Trade from West to East was banned and a practically impenetrable border was made across East Germany and Czechoslovakia.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone — Greece with its immortal glories — is free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation.
Winston Churchill speaking at a Midwestern College, 1946

Whilst East Germans weren’t strictly allowed to leave East Germany to West Germany, the East Berliners, could simply walk across the road to West Berlin and were allowed to move from there. By 1961, 3.5 million people had followed this practice. This open border posed a problem to the Soviets. The Soviets had been portraying the West as a continuation of Nazism and their citizens were soon finding that wasn’t the case.

Whilst the Western Allies were promoting the reconstruction of Germany after the war, Soviets were extracting resources as war reparations, making the economic situation dire. Many East Berliners sought jobs in the West due to the more stable currency, whilst West Berliners bought products for cheaper prices in the East. Whilst education and healthcare were free in the East, consumer goods, salaries and general freedoms were better in the West, in no small part to the Eastern Secret police, called the Stasi, who would report on and arrest anyone accused of Anti-Soviet behaviour. Eventually, the General Secretary of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev had enough of the emigration.

On August 13th, 1961, Berliners woke up to a large fence surrounding West Berlin. With 43km (27 miles) across Berlin and a further 112km (69.5 miles) in East Germany, Berlin was permanently divided. Before further construction could continue, some chose to leap over the barbed wire into the West but, before long, the Berlin Wall was fully constructed.

By 1975, large concrete barricades, rising to 3.6m (11ft) in height replaced the fences, with a smooth pipe to prevent climbing on the West Side. 302 watchtowers were set up in a new area called the Death Strip, a 100m (328ft) wide area in between the main wall and a less developed wall on the Eastern side. This area was littered with landmines, guard dogs and spike traps. Families were divided, friends separated and the ultimate symbol of the Eastern Bloc had been built, an authoritarian impassible wall that represented everything the West believed about Communism.

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was “civis Romanus sum.” Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

[…]

There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass’ sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. […] While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together.

What is true of this city is true of Germany–real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. [This] generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people.

[…]

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
John F. Kennedy speaking at the Rudolph Wilde Platz in Berlin, 1963