Now, I stumbled across a couple documents which I have not seen cited anywhere else, and felt that they yielded such incredible information, it would just be important to share it with you, my readers and supporters, now!
The two documents in question challenge any pre-conceived notions of the Kennedy brothers as being “peaceful” figures, or non-imperialists. Indeed, many critical scholars and writers have often presented the Kennedy’s as “exceptions to the rule” for American political leadership, myself included (I have been guilty of presenting them as such on a number of occasions!). However, when reading documents quoting the brothers (John F. and Robert Kennedy), one cannot read such statements without adjusting your own views of these individuals (unless of course, you already had a more informed opinion of them). Both documents referred to here deal with the crisis in the Dominican Republic between 1961 and 1965, in which America’s favoured dictator since 1930, Rafael Trujillo, was assassinated, and several transition governments faltered, ultimately resulting in an American invasion and occupation in 1965 by President Truman.
Following the assassination of Trujillo, internal documents show, American officials were meeting on matters related to ensuring that U.S. interests would not be threatened, and were discussing the prospects of an American invasion to ensure a favourable outcome. Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General at the time, according to the State Department cable, “clearly looking for an excuse to move in on the island,” and even suggested, “apparently seriously, that we might have to blow up the [American] Consulate to provide the rationale.” Feeling that the new government would align with Castro, Robert Kennedy thought, “that it should be destroyed – with an excuse if possible, without one if necessary.” Secretary of Defense McNamara agreed.
President John F. Kennedy was quoted in a cable sent by his assistant to the National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy, which reported on a meeting that took place a week after the assassination of Trujillo, in which JFK stressed that the United States “wanted a Democratic regime in the Dominican Republic,” but that, “failing that we would prefer a friendly dictatorship,” a phrase that could only be logical if stated from an imperial perspective. The last thing the United States wanted, said Kennedy, “was a Castro type regime.”
There are several other documents that I have come across which are incredibly revealing in exposing the American Empire, through their own eyes and in their own words, but I don’t want to give away all the information I have comes across yet! But these were quite important documents which reveal a great deal not only about popular political leaders, both of whom have been idolized by many of the left/progressive and critical perspectives (not excluding some of my previous work here), but also in terms of exposing very general ideas and strategies used by political leaders in pursuit of empire, domination, and control, even supposedly “liberal” politicians. In these two documents, we see that the United States Attorney General suggested blowing up an American Consulate in the Dominican Republic in order to create an excuse to invade the country and “destroy” elements which threaten American interests. In the other document, we see how President JFK, who was at the time establishing the hemispheric strategy of the “Alliance for Progress” in which it was America’s stated objective to promote and support democracies in region, stating that if a democracy which is friendly to the U.S. is not possible, “we would prefer a friendly dictatorship.” Apparently, whether or not the dictatorship is “friendly” to its domestic population is of no significance. In fact, dictatorships which actually help their populations (particularly the poor), are framed as “Castro-type regimes”, and therefore, “friendly dictatorships” are typically those which ruthlessly repress their populations and crush resistance. It is, after all, the “friendly dictatorships” of the region which were among the most ruthless, brutal, fascistic, and oppressive governments in the past century.
But they were good for business, so… they were “friendly”! Funny how that works, eh? Well, I suppose it would be funny if the consequences weren’t so horrific. Anyhow, some important documents worthy of sharing.
There are sure to be much more of these types of documents in all my chapters on the American Empire, so this is a mere tiny sample of what’s to come thanks to your support!
Cheers
Andrew
Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The People’s Book Project.
