Untitled Flashcards Set

Important Terms (see Canvas file)

1. Warren Commission

   1. commission of 7 officials appointed by President Johnson (known as LBJ) which concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, a left-wing “Marxist,” shot JFK by himself. This is the “official” position of the US government

2. Bay of Pigs

   1. a CIA-organized operation to invade Cuba, April 1961, using Cuban exiles. It was a terrible failure for the US (and the CIA), and most of the 1,000 Cuban exile invaders were captured. JFK was angry at the CIA, which he accused of lying to him about it

3. Watergate

   1. a scandal during Nixon presidency (1972-4) that eventually forced him to resign as president in August 1974. It involved the attempt by 7 burglars working for Nixon’s re-election campaign to steal documents from the Democratic Party headquarters on June 17, 1972. 5 of the 7 burglars had worked for CIA. 4 were Cuban-Americans who had been involved in the Bay of Pigs operation; the 2 ringleaders were James McCord & E. Howard Hunt, CIA officers

4. House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA)

   1. 976. Investigated the assassinations of BOTH of JFK (1963) & Martin Luther King, (1968). Its final report in 1979 concluded that JFK was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy—this contradicted the Warren Commission, which said that Oswald was the only assassin

Wikipedia

1. Eisenhower farewell speech: military-industrial complex

   1. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, 3½ million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations.” Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence...by the military-industrial complex ...We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes

Bamford

1. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara 

   1. Right wing government official

2. Maj. Gen. Edward A. Walker

   1. fired by Def. Secretary McNamara

   2. committed to a mental institution by Attorney General Robert Kennedy

3. Senate Committee report on right-wing extremism

   1. warned of a potential revolt by US military officers, pointing out in particular the involvement of the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [top leader of the US military] Gen Lyman Lemnitzer.

4. Chief of Staff Gen. Lyman Lemnitzer

   1. Hated JFK

   2. Called hin “soft on communism”

5. Gen. Lansdale

   1. Operation Mongoose

   2. Critizied by RFK

6. Operation Mongoose

   1. a campaign of terrorist attacks against civilians and secret operations in Cuba, planned by the CIA

7. Operation Northwoods

   1. to assassinate Cuban immigrants in the US, sink boats with Cuban refugees at sea, shoot down planes, blow up a US ship, and conduct terrorism in the US.

   2. Planned by Lemnitzer

Lane

1. Lee Harvey Oswald 

2. Bill Hunter

3. The Single Bullet theory 

4. E. Howard Hunt

5. Gov. John Connally 

6. Marita Lorenz

7. Abraham Zapruder 

8. Novo brothers

9. Officer Tippitt 

10. Officer Roger Craig

11. Dorothy Kilgallen

12. Dorothy Hunt

Parenti

1. Ways in which JFK’s policy in Vietnam were different from those of LBJ (Lyndon Johnson, who became US President after JFK was assassinated)

   1. JFK was anti-war

   2. JFK planned to take 5000 military personnel out of Vietnam after the 1964 election

2. What did JFK do to the CIA after the Bay of Pigs failure?

   1. Training camps

   2. Fired major CIA leaders who were “insubordinate”

   3. Reduced CIA power and set up an investigative commitee

3) Eladio del Valle

4) JFK’s American University speech

5) JFK and oil depletion allowance

6) Government harassment of Walter Reuther; questions about Reuther’s death

7) What Victor Reuther said about CIA and the Mob

8) J. Edgar Hoover and the Reuther brothers

9) Gulf of Tonkin (see Topics for Reading on Canvas)