Kennedy Assassination Cause And Effect

The Kennedy Administration consists of a series of “what if” moments. What if moments such as what if Kennedy sent troops during the Bay of Pigs or what if Kennedy listened to his advisors during the Cuban Missile Crisis serve as some examples. Coupled with this “what if” perception, the more time passes since the incidents, the more complex the possibilities become. History is based on contingencies, a random catalyst, and the effects of prior actions. Every action is based on, the often random, event before it, and said action goes on to influence events later on in the historical timeline. History is a cycle of cause and effect, action and reaction, where a change in the action changes the later reactions. The Kennedy assassination turns

Made from contingencies and correlations, everything in history happens because of something else. Kennedy’s skepticism towards his advisors stems from the failures of the Bay of Pigs. The Bay of Pigs was a CIA operation in the early 1960’s. It involved Americans training Cuban exiles in Nicaragua before sending them to invade Cuba in the hopes of overthrowing Castro. Kennedy largely inherited the Bay of Pigs from the Eisenhower administration as “The decision to overthrow Castro’s regime had been taken by the Eisenhower administration in January 1960, and by March of that year the CIA had developed a program of action”. Kennedy took office in January 1961 and he trusted the CIA and his advisors, and in April 1961 the exiles were on their way to Cuba. The plan failed terribly with Castro anticipating the attack. Cuba held the exiles hostage, and Kennedy was confronted with the issue of using American forces to liberate the hostages. Kennedy’s hawk advisors and the CIA all urged the use of American forces, but Kennedy was resilient against it. Ultimately, the hostages were released, and Kennedy would learn a lesson that he would incorporate into the rest of his administration. From that moment on Kennedy grew more opposed to using military forces, and sought plausible deniability in his actions. The Bay of Pigs was not the end of Kennedy’s relationship with communist Cuba; his other two

United States spy planes found Soviet missile hangers being constructed throughout Cuba with the missiles being capable of reaching various targets in the United States. Panic raced throughout the Kennedy administration. Kennedy’s defense advisors urged for increased force, with options ranging from invading the island to destroying the hangers with bombs. Kennedy, who feared the possibility of nuclear war, wanted a solution without escalation. The solution was to put a quarantine on Cuba. The quarantine would place American naval ships around Cuba to prevent Soviet supply ships from bringing materials to Cuba. This act was called a quarantine as a blockade would constitute an act of war thus escalating the conflict with Cuba. The second solution to the missile crisis was diplomacy. The United States had aging missiles stationed in Turkey which they planned on removing. Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, demanded Kennedy withdraw the missiles from Kennedy from Turkey. After thirteen days of conflict, both superpowers agreed to withdraw their missiles. Although it was a stalemate, in the US this was presented as a major victory. Nuclear war was avoided without any loss of life or destruction. Just as in the Berlin Crisis, Kennedy used diplomacy to resolve conflicts with the Soviet Union. For Kennedy, “his readiness to offer negotiations was in part based on a politician’s belief