You don’t want to believe it, you don’t even want to think it. But we cannot forget our past. Horrible events, no matter how bad they make the United States look, need to be remembered. Because if we forget our history, we are doomed to repeat it. Over the years we as a nation have accumulated many disgusting movements and/or events that us Americans either turned a blind eye to or encouraged. Why was it ok for a human being to own another human being? How was it fair to kick PEOPLE out of their native land and onto reservations because we found oil? The bottom line is the United States has allowed gruesome and vile things to happen, but recognition is the first step to recovery and if slavery and how we wronged the Native Peoples can be owned up to, so can the 1960 Presidential Election rigging.
With John F. Kennedy representing the Democrats and Richard Nixon representing the Republicans, both left the Presidency with a bang (pun intended) by the way, the left was in an obvious hole. Nixon was the current Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower, D-Day hero, and had certainly made a name for himself during the Red Scare whereas Kennedy was just a Junior Senator at the time he ran for office but was the face of the new Democratic party. Evenly matched they were in popularity but a Southern Democrat also had his hat thrown in the ring, Harry F. Byrd, as a third party candidate because he did not like the direction the new Democrats were going. With Byrd running, Kennedy was now in danger of splitting the left votes and conceding the presidency to the conservatives.
Although JFK was guaranteed the Catholic vote, as he headlined the popularity of the religion way back when he was still in the lacking the backing he needed. Until the Presidential debate between the two party leaders. Sex sells, well this was 1960 where those values were a bit more conservative so “foreplay finances” would be a more apt term, and this debate was a prime example. Radio listeners swore that Nixon won the debate but people who viewed on television came away with a different viewpoint. The current Vice President had been campaigning all day and didn’t feel the need to prepare his appearance for the debate, while JFK was looking dapper as ever. As far as facts and general argument points, Nixon carried the advantage but JFK just had a certain look and charisma about him that reversed the minds of so many people.
Businessinsider tells us Kennedy also chose Lyndon B. Johnson as a running mate. The Republican Majority Senate Leader carried a lot of weight in the South, especially in his home state of Texas, where Kennedy was able to flip deeply traditional Red state to Blue. JFK still needed all the help he could get as the race appeared to be coming down to a few swing states, the most important being Illinois. Where the Democrat got his hands a bit dirty. The key to Illinois was mob controlled Chicago, or the first ward, which was notorious for delivering the vote for a price, going as far back as the Al Capone days. The outfit allegedly had many of the current legislatures in their pockets and now, the most powerful member of the Executive Branch.
But this seems far fetched, right? A member of our government giving power to the mob? But wait! Shortly into JFK’s term as Commander in Chief, Cuba was quickly becoming a problem. Again, why does this matter? Well, what was previously a corrupt, mob infested country was overtaken in a rebellion led by Fidel Castro. Which in America’s eyes only made Cuba a bigger threat. The United States had been thwarting communism every chance they could, and Castro turning the neighbor country red poised a problem. Not only to capitalist America but also to all organized crime. See Cuba was a money machine for the mob, and its eradication cost an arm and leg. JFK and the CIA seemed to buy into the statement “The enemy of our enemy is our friend” and contracted the mob to “whack” Fidel Castro. Who was in charge of the assassination you may be asking yourself? The same man who allegedly flipped the state of Illinois for Kennedy’s, Sam Giancana.
In the end, the execution was botched, but it proves the United States was not above using the mob to its advantage. The acclaimed podcast “Mafia,” a program detailing the rise and fall of high profile gangsters, confirms the relationship between the government and the mob through the testimony of CIA Director of Security, Sheffield Edwards, who admitted everything to the FBI. They also point out that Sam Giancana was furious with Kennedy for appointing his brother, Robert Kennedy, as Attorney General, who was dead set on taking a page from Castro’s book and uprooting the mafia from his homeland. And for what it’s worth, Mafia theorized the mob boss organized the assassination of Kennedy out of anger and betrayal, this attempt, of course, being more successful than the last.
A lot has been accused but there hasn’t been any hard-hitting proof that Kennedy actually used the Chicago outfit to obtain the electoral college in Illinois, right? Well according to “The Dark Side of Camelot” by Seymour Hersh, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. (JFK’s father) set up a meeting with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana to obtain Giancana’s support for Jack Kennedy’s run for the White House. But one boss? That is just one guy, what is Kennedy going to do with one vote? Well, unlike most people, the Mafia played dirty and they did it by buying votes, Hersh tells us.
You can’t exactly pay voter by voter to cast a ballot for the liberal politician, because the money would run out in a heartbeat with no guaranteed results. Instead, Giancana funneled money to lower-level street thugs as “walking around money.” Nothing illegal there, in fact, Sam just looks like a nice guy, which cannot be further from the truth. But that payday came with an implied promise, “Mafia” reports. The people performing their civic duty would be “persuaded” to vote blue. What made this possible was not only harassment of poll goers but each gangster had a “territory” they ruled. A territory could be as little as a hundred people or as large as thousands, all of which listened to their criminal neighborhood boss. Not exactly from respect or friendliness but out of fear.
Funneling cash to buy votes and harassing conservative voters was among their many tactics to steal the election in Illinois. Combine that with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s alleged ballot stuffing political machine and the state was Kennedy’s. Illinois was won by nearly 10,000 votes and John F. Kennedy was the new President of the United States. But wait, there’s more.
The Mafia Podcast lists testimonies of various anonymous (out of safety) gangsters claiming to have helped also buy the Virginia primary for Kennedy. Giancana even loudly bragged about buying local politicians new office furniture and paid bar owners to keep Frank Sinatra’s campaign song, “High Hopes,” playing frequently throughout pubs.
But one doesn’t contact an unknown gangster for help, which is correct. However, Giancana and the Kennedys had more ties than you’d think. The first being previously mentioned Frank Sinatra, a man who was very familiar with the mafia and a close friend of the Kennedy’s. He was said to be the go-between man for the two during the West Virginia primary rigging according to Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia professor and author of The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy. Sabato also highlights the connection by citing the story that Joseph Kennedy asked for Giancana’s help over a dispute with another mobster, Frank Costello, and offered “the president’s ear” in return. This is all backed by Sinatra’s daughter, Tina Sinatra, in a “60 Minutes” story, summarized by CBS News.
Tina adds that Joe Kennedy arranged the West Virginia primary rigging through Giancana. Who boasted the request was “a couple of phone calls away.” But the gangster, after all his hard work and dedication was not rewarded with the president’s ear and was turned on through the hiring of Robert Kennedy. While the Kennedy’s didn’t seem to care about the cut ties between the mobster, Sinatra was hung out to dry and was not in Giancana’s good graces, somewhere you never want to be. But Tina Sinatra confirms the beef was squashed by Frank who played in Sam’s night club, Villa Venice, twice a day for an absurd eight straight nights, bringing “Rat Packers” Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin along.
But Sinatra isn’t where the connection stops. All That’s Interesting tells us Kennedy, Sinatra, and Giancana all shared a common mistress, making a go-between connection much more likely. The black-haired beauty, Judith Exner, first enjoyed the presence of Sinatra after a vacation in Hawaii for two. But her life changed dramatically after February 7th, 1960 when she caught the eye of then-Senator John F. Kennedy. Exner spent the next day with Kennedy at Sinatra’s place. Exner claimed that Kennedy called her every day for a month following that encounter in Las Vegas. On March 7, 1960, the night before the New Hampshire primary, Kennedy and Exner made love for the first time in New York City, according to her account. She also testified to be a go-between for the mob for an unprecedented 10 times, where it’s theorized she began another romantic relationship with, this time, Giancana.
As you might be able to see, there are way too many connections between the Kennedy’s and the mob on multiple occasions for something not to be fishy. The Mafia had allegedly rigged the primary in West Virginia through middlemen Frank Sinatra and Judith Exner (reported by both Kennedy/Giancana’s mistress Judith Exner and Sinatra’s daughter, Tina) and conspired with the Kennedy’s and CIA to murder Fidel Castro (testified by CIA Director of Security, Sheffield Edwards). So why would it be so far fetched for the testimonies claiming the rigging of the Illinois electoral college to been true? The Kennedy’s had obvious various connections with the Chicago outfit boss, Sam Giancana and the evidence speaks for itself. The 1960 Presidential Election was stolen from Richard Nixon and maybe Kennedy wasn’t so undeserving of his assassination.
This was a more serious piece with a definte bias presented intentionally.
