John F. Kennedy's Gallup Mission

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The light rain that fell early in the morning of November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas had stopped, and thousands of people lined a ten mile route that would take President John F. Kennedy from the Dallas airport to the Trade Mart where he was scheduled to speak. At approximately 12:30 pm, the Presidential motorcade turned off Main Street and entered Dealey Plaza. As the limousine passed the Texas School Book Depository, shots rang out in the plaza. President Kennedy was hit in the head and neck shattering a large portion of his skull and killing him. That imagery is burned into the collective mind of the American public, and has contributed to the mythology created about the Kennedy presidency. In a Gallup poll conducted in 2011, Kennedy …show more content…
Their mission, approved by John F. Kennedy, was to spark an anti-Castro uprising within Cuba. The mission was covertly planned by the CIA and was meant to keep U.S involvement in the invasion a secret. On the night of the invasion, the treacherous waters of the bay sunk some of the fighter’s ships displacing them across the island. The CIA had also planned for a second group to parachute onto the island, but the paratroopers eventually landed in the wrong location. The errors made repelling the exiles easy for Castro’s troops. The invaders were pinned down, and 114 were killed while 1,100 were captured (Bay of …show more content…
Kennedy’s name (Strauss). All of these create an image in the mind of the American public that John F. Kennedy was one of the greatest presidents in United States history. The reality is that Kennedy through covert action and inaction in Germany almost caused nuclear war. His greatest success, defusing the Cuban Missile Crisis, would not even have occurred had Kennedy not agreed to covertly invade Cuba. One of his greatest speeches, given to thousands in Berlin and admonishing the construction of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred had he been able to reach an understanding with Khrushchev. The United States would not have been involved in a long and contentious war in South Vietnam had Kennedy not continued Eisenhower’s policies and tacitly allowed the overthrow the government. One has to wonder if Kennedy had not been assassinated on that rainy November day in Dallas if Americans would look as kindly on him as they do

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