The "Fake" Attempt on JFK's Life: Or, Great Minds Think Alike

[Gordon Gray]

Having failed to take the bate twice before, with the Bay of Pigs and the Missile Crisis, it's hard to beleve anyone would expect him to do so because someone the CIA says is connected to Castro took a shot at him.

Unless, of course, Plan A called for immediate public release of the "Castro was behind this" story and/or RFK was in on it.

Also given their general distrust of the intelligence community at that time, I doubt either RFK or JFK would knowingly go along with such a plan.

Beginner's mistake, I'm afraid. Both JFK and RFK trusted certain intelligence and military officers -- and, for that matter, certain anti-Castro Cubans operating in the U.S. You must understand that governments and their agencies are not ideologically monolithic in nature.

You should also consider the notion that RFK provided protection, in the form of plausible deniability, for his brother.

I would doubt that the members of the intelligence community they trusted would be part of such a plan. After the Missile Crisis it should have been very clear to both Kennedys that most of the miltary and intellignece establishment were trying to do every thing they could to entrap the Kennedys into an invasion. And no matter what the provocation, be it missile sites or assassination attempts, I doubt Kennedy would be willing to risk nuclear confrontation with the Soviets. The only reason I could see for such a plan would be to go over the Kennedys' heads and force them to invade through public opinion. Still seems a bit far fetched to me.