[Sample B: Approval/Signature Sheet] - George Mason University

associated with Bobby Kennedy’s efforts against Castro. In the end, “the activities of
Robert Kennedy’s New Orleans agents inspired Lee Oswald, perhaps with Cuban
instigation, to assassinate Kennedy.” 237 Supposedly, Oswald may have had dealing with
Cuban operations during his trip to Mexico City, which Russo described as “the most
spy-infested [city] in the Western Hemisphere.” 238 However, Russo said he found no
conclusive proof of Cuban involvement.
After the assassination, Russo detailed how Bobby Kennedy and others moved to
protect his brother’s legacy from revelations about his health and especially the CIA
covert campaign against Cuba. Russo claimed that the “politically-motivated assassin”
Oswald, ironically, “accomplished his chief goals of changing American policy towards
Cuba, and rising to heroic proportions in Cuba eyes.” 239 Upon assuming office, President
Johnson sought to avoid a possible nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union over Cuba and
quietly shelved the plans against Cuba. The Kennedys – in Russo’s version of events –
lived by the sword in dealing with Castro, and tragically Jack Kennedy would die by the
sword by a defender of the Cuban leader.
In the end, Russo provided an updated, much more detailed version of the Oswald
as Castro’s avenger thesis, but the broad outlines of the argument can be seen in
Newman’s book from 1970. As can be seen, the Warren Commission’s defenders have
had to incorporate revelations about the “Dark Side of Camelot” and the nasty
intelligence underworld of the Cold War in order to convince a skeptical public that
237 Russo, 134.
238 Russo, 209.
239 Russo, 458.
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