JFK Wrote That The Communists in South Vietnam Were Terrorists

[Benjamin Cole]

JFK's legacy has been hijacked by many, so it is good to remember President Kennedy in his own words, and writing.

In this letter to South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem, written late December 1961, Kennedy pledges US support for South Vietnam and notes the "deliberate savagery of the communist programs of assassination, kidnapping and wanton violence."

JFK added that "the campaign of force and terror now being waged against your people and your Government is supported and directed from outside by the authorities at Hanoi."

JFK ardently opposed communism and terror in 1961, and would until his death.

Had JFK survived, he would have not changed in these regards.

The letter: 


Dear Mr. President,

“I have received your recent letter in which you described so cogently the dangerous conditions caused by North Vietnam’s effort to take over your country. The situation in your embattled country is well known to me and to the American people. We have been deeply disturbed by the assault on your country. Our indignation has mounted as the deliberate savagery of the communist programs of assassination, kidnapping and wanton violence became clear.

Your letter underlines what our own information has convincingly shown – that the campaign of force and terror now being waged against your people and your Government is supported and directed from outside by the authorities at Hanoi. They have thus violated the provisions of the Geneva Accords designed to ensure peace in Vietnam and to which they bound themselves in 1954.

At that time, the United States, although not a party to the Accords, declared that it “would view any renewal of the aggression in violation of the Agreements with grave concern and as seriously threatening international peace and security”. We continue to maintain that view.

In accordance with that declaration, and in response to your request, we are prepared to help the Republic of Vietnam to protect its people and to preserve its independence. We shall promptly increase our assistance to your defense effort as well as help relieve the destruction of the floods which you describe. I have already given the orders to get these programs underway.

The United States, like the Republic of Vietnam, remains devoted to the cause of peace and our primary purpose is to help your people maintain their independence. If the Communist authorities in North Vietnam will stop their campaign to destroy the Republic of Vietnam, the measures we are taking to assist your defense efforts will no longer be necessary. We shall seek to persuade the Communists to give up their attempts to force and subversion. In any case, we are confident that the Vietnamese people will preserve their independence and gain the peace and prosperity for which they have sought so hard and so long.”

Signed,
John F. Kennedy
December 14th 1961

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Anyone wanting to read up on the assassination would be wise to read at least one objective book on JFK's presidency and not this nonsensical conspiracist history that portrays JFK as someone who didn't believe in the Cold War/containment policies. He was an anti-communist not an anti- anti-communist. The Douglas portrayal of JFK, which I think is the dominant view of him among the conspiracy Left, is a fantasy, make believe, an imaginary Kennedy.

The idea that he was just going to walk away from South Vietnam, abandon it, that he was going normalize relations with Castro (the Kennedys wanted him dead, period), that he didn't believe that the Soviets and Chinese and others were an existential threat to the West is just hooey. He believed in containment and that the West was threatened by the East.

Here's JFK in the speech he was to make in Dallas before Oswald shot him:

"About 70 percent of our military assistance goes to nine key countries located on or near the borders of the Communist bloc – nine countries confronted directly or indirectly with the threat of Communist aggression – Viet-Nam, Free China, Korea, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Greece, Turkey, and Iran. No one of these countries possesses on its own the resources to maintain the forces which our own Chiefs of Staff think needed in the common interest. Reducing our efforts to train, equip, and assist their armies can only encourage Communist penetration and require in time the increased overseas deployment of American combat forces."

That's not just political boilerplate, something to dismiss; it's someone who believes in containment not someone who wants to abandon it. There's lot more from where that came from.

Here's a good book on his presidency:

 

[John Corbett]

Progressive revisionists want to think of JFK as one of them from the same mold as his youngest brother Teddy, but the reality is that JFK was much more conservative for most of his political life. He was the most conservative of all the Democrats who made a bid for the Democrat nomination for President in 1960, staunchly opposed by Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt. In his early days in Congress, he was a friend and ally of Richard Nixon and even donated $1000 to Nixon's campaign for the Senate in 1950. The Kennedys alliance with Senator Joe McCarthy is well documented.

JFK moderated some of his views prior to seeking the Democrat nomination in 1960 but he remained a staunch anti-Communist until his dying day.

[Benjamin Cole]

No one disputes that JFK tried to have Castro assassinated.

That is a pretty strong indication of JFK's views on communist oppression.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

No one disputes that JFK tried to have Castro assassinated.

That is a pretty strong indication of JFK's views on communist oppression.

It seems to me there are a number of historians and researchers, and not just Kennedy partisans like Schlesinger, who insist even today that he didn't order the attempts. Or that at the very least the evidence is inconclusive about what he wanted to happen to Castro. It was perhaps a sort of "Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?" of thing about Castro where JFK said he wanted something done but didn't directly order it. The "plausible deniability" idea.

According to the CIA inspector report on the plots and the Church Committee investigation, there were plots in 1964 and another in 1965 and I believe '66. Yes, most took place during JFK's presidency but several came after he was assassinated. I don't think there's evidence that LBJ ordered those. That indicates by itself that elements in the CIA acted without presidential approval. Richard Helms testified that he knew of the plots but that JFK never directly ordered them. That supports a " the evidence is inconclusive" defense.

From the Church hearings (and yes, Helms could have been protecting the President here):

[John Corbett]

JFK issued the order for Operation Mongoose on 11/30/1961. If he didn't explicitly order the attempts to assassinate Castro, he turned a blind eye to them and in so doing, gave tacit approval. Perhaps it was along the lines of telling his national security advisers or maybe RFK that he couldn't issue such an order (wink, wink). I can't believe JFK was unaware of what Operation Mongoose was doing to get rid of Castro.

[Fred Litwin]

https://www.onthetrailofdelusion.com/post/a-kennedy-plot-to-kill-castro

This might be the proof that Kennedy did order the hit on castro.

fred