Historian Mike Swanson and The Past American Century podcast return with author C.A.A. Savastano to discuss the historical successes and failures of Director of Central Intelligence Allen Dulles. They consider whether he is truly the mastermind of lore or perhaps his legend is founded upon less than substantial evidence.
The Past American Century podcast is back featuring a discussion with author C.A.A. Savastano and historian Mike Swanson. They review US covert action operations while considering if decades of official and public debate and restructuring have diffused responsibility so much that no official or government agency completely does.
During the Cold War the United States government spent tens perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars seeking the death of their greatest perceived communist nemesis in the Western hemisphere, Fidel Castro. He was everything business interests and corporations feared, a formerly rich person who embraced violent populism, nationalization of industry, and overturning the established order of Cuban society for communal doctrine. Years passed and the foretold implosion of the Castro regime failed to materialize due in part to widespread internal popularity and the brutal repression of dissident voices. This left a stark enemy camped just less than one hundred miles from the United States and Cuba began to dominate the imagination of several anti-Communist leaders. Yet what if Fidel Castro was not the true communist influence but instead just the dominant ego of the regime, what if all those failed plots were not just a costly series of failures but failed targeting the right Castro…
Read MoreThe first season of a nearly two-year sixteen-episode journey assessing the assassination of President John F. Kennedy ends in this episode of the Ochelli Effect's JFK 101 series. Author Larry Hancock, researcher C.A.A. Savastano, and your host Chuck Ochelli return to offer developments in the case and ideas about the next season of JFK 101.
A selection of over twenty notable documents largely from the new JFK Records releases that present additional details regarding Operation MONGOOSE and related officials. Among the files are documents regarding Phase I (Course A), Phase II (Course B), Special Group Augmented meetings, and one related official's view of Mongoose Chief Edward Landsdale being a "kook...wildman" and "just plain crazy". #JFK #CIA #MONGOOSE
In the Central Intelligence Agency files regarding Cuba under the Batista regime, Fidel Castro "manages to get himself involved in many things that do not concern him." "Beginning in 1948, the activities of Fidel Castro came to be of increasing concern to the Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Government (USG)." Despite the allegations of some officials, no direct link to Communism was established in Castro's history until after hostilities with the United States. "In fact, Agency support for the peaceful transfer of power from Batista to a democratically elected successor and amnesty for Castro and his followers...was proposed in a memorandum from the Inspector General in November 1957...
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