One of the CIA’s most successful propaganda campaigns in its 70-year history has been its use of the term “conspiracy theorist” or “conspiracy theory” to disparage anyone who dares to question the official narrative of the Kennedy assassination. The campaign has worked brilliantly. Today American society is filled with people who have a deeply seated fear of being labeled a conspiracy theorist. The fear is almost as big as the fear that people had of being labeled a communist during the Cold War.
I was once talking to two friends and the Kennedy assassination came up in the conversation. I mentioned that I had written a book called The Kennedy Autopsy, which had become a best-seller on Amazon. One of my friends suddenly asked me, “Are you a conspiracy theorist?” I responded, “Well, yes, I guess I am.”
That was the end of that particular subject. Immediately, the conversation was shifted to another topic, never to return to the Kennedy assassination. My friend wasn’t about to engage in a conversation that could lead him down the road to becoming a dreaded conspiracy theorist.
One of the most amusing aspects of this propaganda campaign was an op-ed about the Robert Kennedy assassination that appeared a few months ago in a mainstream newspaper. Of course, most mainstream newspapers have long been extremely afraid of being labeled as conspiracy theorists. The author began his piece by making it clear to everyone that he was not a conspiracy theorist. He then proceeded to explain why he felt that the Robert Kennedy assassination, which officials long ago concluded was the act of a lone gunman, should be reopened to determine whether the assassination was actually the result of a conspiracy.
The deep fear of being labeled a conspiracy theorist has caused many people to effectively conclude that there really has been only one conspiracy in our lifetimes. That would be Watergate. In their minds, every other suggestion of conspiracy, including the assassination of President Kennedy, is immediately put into the same category as the fake moon landing conspiracy, including the following conspiracies in the 10-year periods before and after the Kennedy assassination, i.e., from 1953-1973:
Conspiracy to oust Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh from office.
Conspiracy to oust Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz from office.
Conspiracy to secretly develop a written manual on assassination and cover-up.
Conspiracy to assassinate Arbenz and other Guatemalan officials.
Conspiracy to assassinate Congo President Patrice Lumumba.
Conspiracy to subject Americans to drug experiments without their knowledge and consent.
Conspiracy to murder U.S. official Frank Olson.
Conspiracy to destroy all MKULTRA records.
Conspiracy to invade Cuba.
Conspiracy to oust Cuban President Fidel Castro from power.
Conspiracy to impose an economic embargo on Cuba.
Conspiracy to assassinate Castro.
Conspiracy to partner with the Mafia to assassinate Castro.
Conspiracy to commit sabotage in Cuba.
Conspiracy to commit terrorism in Cuba.
Conspiracy to initiate a coup in Vietnam.
Conspiracy to assassinate Kennedy to remove him from office and elevate Lyndon Johnson to the presidency.
Conspiracy to conduct a fraudulent military autopsy on the body of President Kennedy.
Conspiracy to initiate a military coup in Brazil.
Conspiracy to concoct a fake North Vietnamese attack on U.S. warships in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Conspiracy to prevent physician Salvador Allende from becoming the democratically elected president of Chile.
Conspiracy to bribe Chilean congressmen into voting against Allende.
Conspiracy to kidnap and assassinate the commanding general of Chile’s armed forces, General Rene Schneider.
Conspiracy to cover up involvement in the assassination of Schneider.
Conspiracy to create economic chaos in Chile.
Conspiracy to initiate a military coup in Chile to remove Allende from office.
Conspiracy to execute American citizens Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi during the Chilean coup.
Conspiracy to support brutal Chilean military dictator General Augusto Pinochet.