The headlines on 23 November 1963 screamed, “Kennedy Assassinated in Dallas: Castro Sympathizer is Charged.” Just 13 months previously, we had narrowly averted nuclear war with the Soviet Union in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Now, the new President Lyndon Johnson feared that speculation about an international communist conspiracy behind the assassination could get out of control and provoke another nuclear confrontation between the US and the USSR.
At 10:00 AM Sunday morning, 24 November, President Johnson met with Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and CIA Director John McCone. They alerted the new President that the assassination might have been Cuban retaliation for an ONGOING plot by the CIA to kill Fidel Castro.
Astonished, Johnson asked for details.
CIA’s Ongoing Plot to Kill Castro
McCone reported that, since September, CIA had been meeting with Rolando Cubela, an erstwhile revolutionary rival of Castro who subsequently had been politically marginalized. Mafia kingpin Santos Trafficante had introduced Cubela to CIA officer Nestor Sanchez. At their first meeting on 7 September 1963, Cubela volunteered to overthrow Castro and, if necessary kill him. Sanchez promised to raise Cubela’s offer to “the highest levels in the US government.”
On 29 October in Paris, Sanchez and senior CIA officer Des Fitzgerald met again with Cubela, who repeated his offer to overthrow and, if necessary, kill Castro. He wanted assurances, however, that President Kennedy personally knew about the plot and supported it. They agreed that the President would provide words of assurance for Cubela in a public speech to anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Miami on 18 November.
On 19 November, the headline in the Dallas morning newspapers was, “Kennedy Virtually Invites a Cuban Coup.” These were the words of assurance to Cubela that the President knew of and supported his plotting with CIA. (They were also the words that motivated Lee Harvey Oswald to decide to attempt the assassination, as we have seen in “60 Years Ago Today - Oswald’s Fateful Decision.”)
At their next meeting in Paris, Sanchez passed Cubela a hypodermic needle disguised as a ball point pen and Black Leaf poison to kill Castro, if necessary. That meeting took place at 7:30 PM Paris time and was interrupted by the news that President Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas.
McCone noted the possibility that Cubela was a double agent reporting everything back to Castro. [1]
Later that afternoon, President Johnson received word that Jack Ruby had silenced Oswald forever.
The Warren Commission
Shocked by McCone’s report and shaken by Ruby’s murder of Oswald, President Johnson moved to calm things down. On 25 November - 60 years ago today - he issued the following guidance:
“Speculation about Oswald’s motivation should be cut off and we should have some basis for rebutting the thought that this was a communist conspiracy.”
Hence was born the Warren Commission.
The Commission had a commendable goal: avert another nuclear confrontation between the US and the USSR.
But former CIA Director Allen Dulles was named to the Commission to protect CIA equities. Likewise, Congressman and future President Gerald Ford was named to the Commission to protect FBI equities. “Protecting the equities” quickly became synonymous with “covering up the embarrassing failures” of these key elements of the US government.
As these cover-ups were uncovered over the years - as inevitably they would be thanks to our amazing press - the trust and confidence of the American people in the US government was severely damaged.
We still have not recovered.
[1] In 1987, a senior Cuban Intelligence officer named Florentino Aspillaga defected to the US. He was by far the most important Cuban defector we ever had. He provided proof that Cubela was indeed a double agent. Everything CIA had discussed with Cubela, Cubela turned around and reported to Fidel Castro. Thus, Castro knew as of 29 October that CIA wanted him dead, and he knew as of 18 November that President Kennedy was aware of the CIA plot and supported it.
Let's hear it for an amazing press - it sure has been beaten up lately. This is a good reminder that it is vital if democracy is to survive. Well done, Bruce!