Cuban Missile Crisis Began Long Before
These Men had to Deal with its Realities
The title, Truman and the Cuban Missile Crisis, may puzzle those few readers who think they know their history; however, the reality is that Truman initiated the events that caused this and nearly every subsequent crisis in American foreign policy. In my two previous posts, Pathway to American Impoverishment and International Manifest Destiny Rise and Fall, we discussed the beginnings of the Truman Doctrine, Marshal Plan and the United Nations as organs to extend both the Democratic Party’s and America’s power domestically and abroad. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a result of these policies, sans the United Nations (UN), and the addition of one other ingredient: the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
This Supposed CIA Coin is a Metaphor
Expressing the CIA’s Mission for the US
The Truman Doctrine {military force} and the Marshal Plan {Foreign Aid (Bribery)} were overt organs for the expansion of Democratic, and later Republican, power abroad. The UN was the international wild card to legalize America’s use of power abroad and was used to create the Korean Conflict {it was never a declared war}. However, American had become drunk with the usage of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II (WWII). America used these agents behind the lines to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines. Their activities were hidden and thus were not governed by international treaties or rules of law. They became a law unto themselves with one objective: to win at any cost. After WWII the OSS had no legitimate function, if it ever did during WWII. However, Truman needed a wild card that could do his bidding hidden from prying eyes and oversight committees. The CIA came into being, morphed from the OSS to the CIA, with the National Security Act of 1947.
Since Truman made the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR) the central controlling force of communistic world domination, the CIA described its major mission as America’s arm to counter the USSR’s secret service, the KGB (The Peoples’ Commissariat for State Security); at least publicly to the American people. The KGB was primarily used against Soviet citizens more often than internationally. The CIA was frequently used against non-communist governments and a few of these were toppled and their leaders replaced with compliant dictators; i.e., Shah of Iran. This open secret, hidden from Americans, made both America and the CIA feared among third-world nations. Needless to say, this eventually led to the overthrow of the Shah by Islamic militants whose influence continues to be felt today. Again, another far reaching consequence of Truman’s policies and directives. However, America’s hidden military force projection would dramatically come home to roost.
U.S. First put Nuclear Jupiter Missiles in
Turkey; then USSR put Missiles in Cuba
Eisenhower was under pressure via the media and the military due to a perceived bomber gap crisis. Supposedly the USSR had more bombers capable of delivering nuclear bombs than America. Eisenhower could not refute this charge since America had no overflight capability and satellites were either not feasible or not practical; yet. He tasked the CIA to develop an aircraft capable of overflying the USSR surreptitiously to determine the truth. The CIA developed the U-2 jet which disproved the bomber gap theory on its first flight. However, this and other fights, along with Sputnik, did lead to another problem: the missile gap crisis. America had invested in yesterday’s technology: bombers. USSR had invested in tomorrow’s technology: missiles and satellites. The latter negated the tens of millions of dollars spent on a bomber force. USSR had utilized its captured German scientists better than America. America now had to not only catch up but surpass her, so-called, mortal enemy.
America developed a medium range ballistic missile (MRBM) called the Jupiter. Due to the range limitations, this missile could not be deployed in America; thus, they were deployed by Eisenhower in Turkey. Once again, America projected power first to make a threat that would cause a response; hegemony in action. USSR decided to counter this threat with missiles of their own in Cuba, nearest communist territory they could control and be effective. However, this required sea power, a force the USSR had not developed as had America.
Eisenhower had allowed the CIA to develop an invasion plan against Cuba so that America could have deniable plausibility should it be discovered before its deployment. When Kennedy gained office as president and was advised of this plan he was encouraged by Eisenhower to continue and deploy this force to rid America of communism in its hemisphere; you know, the self-serving Monroe Doctrine. This resulted in the Bay of Pigs fiasco that embarrassed both America and Kennedy. The CIA blamed Kennedy for not supporting the plan with air and sea power to ensure its success. Its failure would ensure that Castro, leader of Cuba, would be receptive to the USSR’s plan. It also soured Kennedy on the usefulness of the CIA.
Jacob G. Hornberger, U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Turkey? Didn’t JFK Order Their Removal?, writes of Kennedy’s surprise that the USSR would take this provocative move. Here is was Kennedy was set up to fail just as Trump was by the previous administration. Kennedy had not been informed of America’s missiles in Turkey until the USSR began moving missiles into Cuba. Whereas Eisenhower embraced the CIA, and secretive American projections of power; Kennedy was seen as a novice, especially after his response to the Bay of Pigs and his stated wish to shut down the CIA. He viewed them as half-baked bunglers whose antics could drag America into nuclear war. Some say that this desire to shut down the CIA is what actually led to his assignation in order to keep America’s secret organs in place {JFK’s War with the National Security Establishment: Why Kennedy Was Assassinated}.
We do know that the CIA’s Operation Mockingbird was designed to influence domestic and international media in favor of the CIA’s and thus America’s hegemony. The press in America and its allies, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), demonized the USSR while suppressing America’s role in causing this crisis. Kennedy negotiated the removal of USSR’s missiles, openly, in exchange for removing of America’s missiles, secretly. For decades Americans were ignorant of the true facts. They only knew the stories, today we call it Fake News, perpetuated by Operation Mockingbird and the compliant media. Subsequent generations were taught this sanitized version as gospel truth when in fact it was mainly propaganda designed to suit the needs of those in power. Any threat of nuclear war was due to the actions of hidden political, military and secretive powers behind the curtain {Homage: Wizard of Oz}. American children were terrorized by nuclear classroom drills and some people were so fearful as to build personal bomb shelters. Obviously Hollywood has also kept this myth alive in subsequent generations with frequent references in such movies as Hunt for the Red October; USSR again cast in the role of aggressor.
CIA influenced ending to Animal Farm
Their ending: Capitalism over Socialism
Fake News and political intrigues are not new; our naivety that our government does such things cannot be explained except as a delusion (2Th 2:3-12). Control of information is control AND compliance of the people with their consent. Christians with access to absolute truth should have been the most resistant; instead, they are the most compliant due to poor hermeneutical understanding of the Bible (Mt 10:16-22). Nearly all information is controlled, especially via the internet, to cause confusion and chaos while concentrating control in the hands of the few. We are to stay focused on the Gospel for all will become worse; even in our times.