John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, moved into the White House while the Cold War was in full swing: the Cuban missile crisis, the launch of the space race, nuclear proliferation… But on November 22, 1963 , he was murdered in Dallas, Texas. Despite the declassification of certain secret documents, many gray areas persist about his assassination. Historian André Kaspi, specialist in the United States, provides his insight. Interview.
RFI: John Fitzgerald Kennedy was narrowly elected in 1960. In what national and international political context did he come to power?
André Kaspi : Kennedy narrowly won the presidential election. He was facing a Republican candidate that Eisenhower supported, it was Richard Nixon. There was an intense electoral battle between Nixon and Kennedy. In the end, Kennedy won by a narrow margin. Which means that its freedom of maneuver is not as great as one might imagine. He must obviously take into account the difficulties he encountered in being elected. In other words, he also arrives in a period of the Cold War, that is to say in full opposition between the United States and the Soviet Union.
A very strong Soviet Union, led by Nikita Khrushchev, who succeeded Stalin, who died in 1953. He managed to take power and is certainly trying to impose on the world the vision that the Soviet Union could have. So, it is a vision which concerns Europe and it is a vision which concerns Latin America. The Middle East, in this affair, plays a minor role, it is not the main theater. As far as Europe is concerned, Germany is divided, Berlin is cut in two, by the Wall, with the Federal Republic of Germany on one side and the German Democratic Republic on the other.
And then, in Latin America, there is a problem that particularly disturbs the United States, namely the actions of Fidel Castro in Cuba. John Kennedy arrives in a situation that is difficult for the United States, but which, at the same time, poses America as the champion of the free world.
Basically, there is no particular dispute among democratic nations. Even General de Gaulle considers that Kennedy represents one of the strong elements of the free world camp. So, it is in these circumstances that Kennedy will try to act, first of all with regard to Cuba.
Shortly after his arrival at the White House, he was confronted with the Cuban Missile Crisis and he also launched the space race with the Apollo program…
Yes, the two superpowers oppose each other in all areas. So, the Apollo program, that is to say the space race, is important, because the one who wins would have indisputable superiority over the other. The affairs that Kennedy must manage are extremely sensitive and at the same time require an understanding with the Allies, that is to say with the European powers who are the main allies of the United States at that time.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy also wanted to launch the fight against the mafia. Was it one of his plans that may have cost him his life?
The fight against the mafia once again takes place in Cuba. Because it is 150 kilometers from the coast of Florida and it is, for the mafia, an ideal place where all types of trafficking are possible. But also, the political influence of the United States in Cuba until the dictator who preceded Fidel Castro, namely Batista, was overthrown. It is obvious that Cuba is an ideal place for the mafia. This is the place where we can establish play areas. This is the place where you can buy and sell drugs. It is the place where we can settle matters that otherwise could not be settled within the territory of the United States. And I add that there has been, for a very long time, a part of Cuba that has been annexed by the United States or practically annexed. This is the Guantanamo base, which is still an American base. This therefore means that there are areas of conflict within the United States, but also of conflict with the Soviet Union, to the extent that Fidel Castro feels close to the Soviet Union, much more than it is close to the United States, of course.
On November 22, 1963, Kennedy is in Dallas, the presidential motorcade is passing through the city. Shots are fired at Kennedy. Why this attack? Who could he bother?
He was beginning the campaign for the 1964 elections. There was certainly a more or less strong, more or less spectacular rapprochement with Cuba. That is to say, between the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 and the assassination in November 1963, there was the missile crisis in October 1962, when the Soviet Union wanted to install missiles in Cuba. The United States demonstrated its opposition by all means. And finally, the two super-big guys agreed to find a solution acceptable to both. In November 1963, the situation was no longer at all the same as eighteen months earlier. Kennedy experienced presidential power. He is no longer the young president who arrives at the White House with great ideas, but with little experience. On the contrary, he is a president who has experience and who knows very well what he must do. Simply, he gave rise to very strong ideas and enmities which made his adversaries, but I don’t know which ones and I couldn’t reveal that to you, wanted him to disappear. So, it could be the mafiosi who regretted having lost the Cuban market. It could be inside the United States itself, Kennedy’s adversaries, it could be the Cubans, it could be the Soviets. In short, for the moment, that is to say today, with 60 years of distance, we still do not have absolute certainty about the origins of the Kennedy assassination.
Why finally, 60 years later, do we not have more details on this assassination?
Because the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was murdered within 48 hours by Jack Ruby and he himself was tried and sentenced to death. Jack Ruby died in prison in 1967, even before being executed and before it was even certain that he was solely responsible for the assassination. So, we still don’t know if this is an individual act or if it’s a conspiracy. So, there was another investigation which was carried out in the 1970s, but this investigation did not produce particularly clear results.
As the case remains shrouded in mystery, we cannot definitively say who is responsible, who did what and how. Things happened as clearly as possible. For now, unless there is a sudden revelation, we remain in the realm of mystery. But we shouldn’t exaggerate, because there are still a certain number of elements, but let’s say that we don’t have absolute certainty about the Kennedy assassination.
What is the world after Kennedy? What are the consequences of the attack on a global scale?
Kennedy became a myth of the young president who was full of dynamism, who expressed new ideas and who was shot down in mid-air. But I think what we also need to remember is that Kennedy was assassinated at the same time that the United States was turning its attention to Vietnam. Cuba is no longer the main theater on which they try to focus their actions. From 1963, and especially after Kennedy’s death, the United States immersed itself in the Vietnam War. And the question that arises is whether Kennedy alive would have practiced the same policy as his successor Lyndon Johnson and committed hundreds of thousands of American soldiers to the jungles of Vietnam.
How is Kennedy remembered today?
An assassinated president necessarily enters into a myth. There was another president assassinated, it was Abraham Lincoln in 1865 at the end of the Civil War. Today, Lincoln and Kennedy are two martyrs in the political history of the United States. But again, it was a long time ago: for Kennedy, 60 years ago, for Lincoln, no more than 150 years ago. Memories fade and we enter the realm of legend.