What If?

Jack Kelly of Irish Pennants thinks Castro ordered the Kennedy Assassination. I've always personally thought it was Joe DiMaggio, but Kelly makes an interesting case:

Retired FBI Agent Lawrence Keenan, who was sent to Mexico to retrace Oswald's steps there, but recalled suddenly when he found evidence of Cuban involvement, thinks the truth was withheld because the disclosure could lead to war.

But why such a coverup?

Alexander Haig, who as a military aide in the White House at the time, said LBJ had a partisan political motive as well:

"[Johnson] said we simply must not allow the American people to believe that Fidel Castro could have killed our president," Gen. Haig told Mr. Huismann. "The reason was there would be a right-wing uprising in America that would keep the Democratic Party out of power for two generations."

There have been few political mechanics like LBJ; it seems in character.

But say what you will - the interesting part of Kelly's latest piece starts when the possible facts leave off. What if the word had gotten out, and Barry Goldwater won in 1964?

What would have a President Goldwater meant?

It might have meant World War III, because Goldwater certainly would have taken military action against Cuba. It depends on how the Russians would have reacted. My guess is they would have been cautious. Cuba represented an opportunity for great gain for them, but no vital interests of the Soviets would have been threatened if communism failed there. Soviet vital interests definitely would have been threatened if SAC appeared over Moscow, as the Sovs feared in the two weeks following the Kennedy assassination. My guess is Khruschev would have rattled the saber, but not picked it up, when Goldwater took out Castro.

The Vietnam war certainly wouldn't have unfolded as it did. Goldwater was an Air Force general, and he wouldn't have pussyfooted around as Johnson and McNamara did. The bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong that Nixon did in 1972 would have happened immediately after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1965...if there had been a Gulf of Tonkin incident. The North Vietnamese, having had the example of Fidel Castro to profit from, might not have messed around with President Goldwater.

Read the whole thing.

And think about the "Might have beens" we can prevent today...

Posted by Mitch at January 9, 2006 12:37 PM | TrackBack