Before the Cataclysm: JFK and Sukarno in 1963

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

It is easy to overlook all of the ways that JFK was in conflict with the Pemanent Military Industrial bureacrecy by 1963.

Especially with all of the work done on the "''left media''" to make him seem like "just another Cold War Hawk" as GURU CHOMSKY endlessly bashed him,

There are so many huge and fundemental differences JFK had with ruling elites over both foreign and domestic policy.

Here is one that is lesser-known: a fundemental disagreement over Indonesia policy.

INDONESIA? WHO THE HECK CARES??????

Well consider this: After Kennedy was murdered by the National Security State which still rules this country today, there was a GENOCIDE IN INDONESIA IN which up to 1.25 million people were killed. The CIA was directly involved in providing names to the Indonesian military while this happened.

NOW READ THIS ABOUT JFK AND PRESIDENT SUKARNO WHO WAS THE GUY THE CIA FLIPPED ON IN 1965 BEFORE THEIR BLOODBATH!

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JFK's murder kept him from being the one to make critical decision in Washington that would decide the fate of not only Vietnam but also Indonesia.

As we have seen, when he left for Texas, Kennedy had said he was willing to accept an invitation from President Sukarno to visit Indonesia in the spring of 1964. Such a turn of events, sought strongly by Sukarno, would have signaled in a dramatic way Kennedy's support for independent third world nations. As one analyst pointed out, Sukarno was "the most outspoken proponent of Third World neutralism in the Cold War" Sukarno had himself

coined the term "Third World" at the first Conference of Non-Aligned Nations that he hosted at Bandung, Indonesia, in 1955.

Kennedy's support for Sukarno was another sign of how out of step he was with his national security state. Sukarno was a close ally in the Non-Aligned Movement with Ghana's president Kwame Nkrumah, a leading African nationalist whom Kennedy was also helping--to the dismay of advisers opposed to Nkrumah, including even Robert Kennedy. When JFK challenged the National Security COuncil in November 1961 by announcing he had decided to lend Kwame Nkrumah the money for his Volta Dam project in Ghana, he added, "The Attorney General has not yet spoken, but I can feel the hot breath of his disapproval on the back of my neck( note 899, Chapter 6)

However, regardless of who opposed him in his support fro Nkrumah, the president was determined "to dramatize the new American attitude toward non-alignment thoughout Africa" (note 900) Suakarno's invitation to him to vist Indonesia gave JFK the further oppostunity to support hte leader of the nonaligned bloc in Southeast Asia.

A presidential visit to Sukarno would have been a major setback to the corporate leaders with a heavy stake in third world resources, particularly in oil-and mineral-rich Indonesia, where they accused Sukarno of having gone Communist by ekpropriating their holdings. Yet Sukarno had recieved a warm welvvome from Kennedy at the WHite House. In his invitation to JFK to visit Indonesia, Sukarno promised him in return "the grandest reception anyone ever received here" (note 901) In visiting Indonesia, Kennedy would cross a threshold by demonstrating publicly hs long-held support of third world nationalism. In terms of the policies he was forging in Indonesia, Ghana, and the Congo, with their adverse impact on multinational corporations, the presidnet was being seen increasingly as a class traitor and a Cold War heretic

(note 902 Chapter 6)

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Immediately after the assassination Johnson surprised former Kennedy staffers by refusing to sign a document that would have enabled further US economic aid to the Sukarno government:

As Kennedy aide Roger Hilsman observed, 'Since everyone down the

line had known that President Kennedy would have signed the deter-

mination routinely, we were all surprised when President Johnson

refused (note 903)

When Johnson repeated his refusal to sign into law the necessary

presidential support for aid to Indonesia at a National Security Council

meeting on January 7, 1964 (904) it became clear that Sukarno no

longer had a friend in the White House. Its new occupant was in fact

hostile to Sukarno and the independent nationalist policies he espoused.

In the months following Johnson's accession to the presidency, the U.S.

government cut off economic aid to Indonesia. (note 905, Chapter 6)

However a significant exception to the end of U.S. funding was military

aid to the Indonesian Army, under the rising control of Major General

Haji Mohammad Suharto (note 906) With the covert support of the US

military, Suharto was preparing to overthrow Sukarno ( JFK and the Unspeakable:Why He Died and Why It Matters, pp. 376-377)

Sukarno had been targetted earlier by the CIA in 1957-58. Now Kennedy was

planning on visiting someone whom the CIA saw as the a communist leader of a nation of 170 million people. The CIA also believed-- using the same monolithic anti-communist logic that lead to disaster in Vietnam, where Kennedy wanted to end US military involvement-- that the Nonaligned movement was just a front for communists.

One has to wonder how the outcome of Indonesia in 1965 would have been different had Johnson not replaced Kennedy.

This very stark contrast between JFK and LBJ's policies in Indonesia is matched by equally stark contrasts between their plans for South America.

[Paul Rigby]

Kennedy's support for Sukarno was another sign of how out of step he was with his national security state.

Ambassador Allison later recalled a “fruitless” 1957 encounter with the “head of the Far Eastern Section of the CIA,” who was utterly convinced of the “imminent Communist danger” throughout the region. Upon Allison’s return to Washington he learned that the CIA man had “reported that Sukarno was beyond redemption and that the American Ambassador seemed confused and was inclined to be soft on communism” (1). Allison’s successor similarly opposed the Agency’s policy of arming and financing revolts across Indonesia (2).

In Indonesia in mid-1963, an American academic found President Sukarno “still much concerned about the CIA’s hostility toward him…Sukarno regarded Ambassador Allison and his successor, Howard P. Jones, as separate from the CIA and acting autonomously from it. I then had the sense that Sukarno was no more clear than I whether State Department and CIA policies that impinged on Indonesia emanated from the same or different sources” (3).

(1) John M. Allison. Ambassador from the Prairie: Or Allison Wonderland (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1973), p. 307.

(2) Audrey R. Kahin & George McT. Kahin. Subversion as Foreign Policy: The Secret Eisenhower & Dulles Debacle in Indonesia (NY: The New Press, 1995), p. 176.

(3) Ibid., p. 269, n. 63.

[Tim Gratz]

. . ."Kennedy was murdered by the National Security State."

Ha!

Nathan, who constituted the "National Security State"? Did it have a board of directors which voted whether or not to off JFK? Were there any members of its board which dissented from the idea of murdering a United States president?

Please cite any evidence you have to support your allegation that any such organization participated in the assassination.

Thanks.

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

"I then had the sense that Sukarno was no more clear than I whether State Department and CIA policies that impinged on Indonesia emanated from the same or different sources”

That confussion was warrented. I have read Subversion As Foreign Policy, and was aware of how the CIA had already made up their mind.

This only added to my surprise when I learned in Douglass that JFK was actually going to VISIT THE GUY IN HIS OWN COUNTRY! I had no idea the contrast was so stark.

Also why is this the first time I ever heard of this contrast? 1965 is one of the biggest genocides of the twentieth century; yet one hears much more of 1975 and East Timor in US """"left"""" publications. Hmmmmmm.

[Paul Rigby]

"I then had the sense that Sukarno was no more clear than I whether State Department and CIA policies that impinged on Indonesia emanated from the same or different sources”

That confussion was warrented. I have read Subversion As Foreign Policy, and was aware of how the CIA had already made up their mind.

This only added to my surprise when I learned in Douglass that JFK was actually going to VISIT THE GUY IN HIS OWN COUNTRY! I had no idea the contrast was so stark.

Also why is this the first time I ever heard of this contrast? 1965 is one of the biggest genocides of the twentieth century; yet one hears much more of 1975 and East Timor in US """"left"""" publications. Hmmmmmm.

Nat, you're being picky. After all, our heroic left-gatekeepers did pick up on the Cambodian slaughterhouse - er, but only to blame Nixon and Kissinger. They do, I concede, tend to be a little less forensic about this bit of the prelude:

Cambodia’s Prince Sihanouk was similarly perplexed at much the same time: “I was officially informed by President Kennedy that ‘on his honour’ his country had played no role in the affairs of the Khmer Serei. I considered President Kennedy…an honourable man but, in that case, who really represented the American government? Almost at the same time as I received this assurance, traitors like Preap In were openly asserting that the CIA completely controlled the Khmer Serei – of which Preach In was a leading cadre…I was not the only one to ask who, and what is, the American government?" (1). By November 1963, after a long series of coup and assassination attempts, Sihanouk had had enough. He unilaterally terminated US economic aid, just as he had previously called a halt to US military assistance. The decision was made on the eminently practical ground that US economic aid “was being used to finance CIA-directed activities inside the country” (2).

(1) Prince Norodom Sihanouk with Wilfred Burchett. My War with the CIA (London: Pelican, 1974), pp. 124-125.

(2) Ibid., p. 133.

[Nathaniel Heidenheimer]

I'm sensing a theme here.... lets call it the Unpublishable.... that the CIA often acts without permission of elected officials. Hope this did not startle anyone here on the Forum. Try and read it in any US magazine with a circulation over 10,000!

[Paul Rigby]

I'm sensing a theme here.... lets call it the Unpublishable.... that the CIA often acts without permission of elected officials.

Inconceivable. Repeat after me until hypnotised: "Policy flows from institutions, reflecting the needs of power and privilege within them..."

But remember: The CIA is not an institution; and does not reflect the needs of the US elite.

By order of the Gnome.

[Robert Howard]

I'm sensing a theme here.... lets call it the Unpublishable.... that the CIA often acts without permission of elected officials.

Inconceivable. Repeat after me until hypnotised: "Policy flows from institutions, reflecting the needs of power and privilege within them..."

But remember: The CIA is not an institution; and does not reflect the needs of the US elite.

By order of the Gnome.

There is indeed almost a sense of the surreal, when looking at other persons whose names are familiar, at least to some Forum members regarding the JFK-Sukarno era..... Remember Willem Oltmans.....In 1963, Oltman's [cover?] was a United Nations journalist for an obscure Dutch newspaper....He attended Yale in 1950 for a brief time, but either was booted out or had trouble with finances.....He also testified in the 1962 Senate Subcommittee Hearing re Cuba, appearing to confirm the developing contention that Castro had abandoned any Democratic ideals and was firmly integrated into Marxism; But in the same general time frame Oltman's, was in fact, extremely active re Indonesian politics...He was not only in Indonesia, but by virtue of a gift to Sukharno's had wormed his way into Sukharno's inner circle. CIA documents noted that Oltman's comments parroted the official Communist Party line re Indonesian politics.

It is also interesting to note that Anthony Summers would years later write about Marilyn Monroe in connection with Sukharno.....Nick Redfern, ostensible JFK Researcher in his chapter on Marilyn Monroe. wrote the following..........Anthony Summers, a noted authority on Monroe has stated that “During the shoot of Bus Stop, in 1956, Marilyn had met the Indonesian President, Achmed Sukarno.......She would tell her friend Robert Slatzer that she and Sukarno had ‘spent an evening together.’“

Redfern continues.......on 2/21/62 deleted visited Monroe in her suite at the hotel continental Hilton at 5:00 PM. The visit was arranged through New York friends and was based on his former friendship with ARTHUR MILLER, her former husband. He stayed about an hour and she agreed to go with [him] on 2/23/62 to Toluca, Mexico for the day. Monroe arrived in Mexico on 2/19/62 from Miami. Her entry into Mexico was arranged by Frank Sinatra through former President MIGUEL ALEMAN. She was accompanied by an agent, a hairdresser, and an interior decorator. The latter was identified as EUNICE CHURCHILL, a widow about 65 from Los Angeles. She is a part time interior decorator and also claims to be an assistant of Dr. Wexley, Monroe’s analyst. According to CHURCHILL, Momroe was much disturbed by ARTHUR MILLER’s marriage on 2/20/62 and feels like a “negated sex symbol.” CHURCHILL said that subject “has a lot of leftist rubbed off from MILLER.” Monroe reportedly spent some time with ROBERT KENNEDY at the home of the PETER LAWFORD’s in Hollywood. Monroe reportedly challenged Mr. KENNEDY on some points proposed to her by MILLER.

excerpt from Celebrity Secrets, page 107

Last but not least are the esoteric activities of Tom Slick, who passed through Indonesia back then...He seems to be, IMO a real good deep cover candidate for intelligence gathering in a hot spot, which Indonesia certainly was......But that is a very speculative comment.

Obviously, Indonesia was a rather important piece of geography, not unlike the Congo, which certainly had its own share of spook encounters........

Edited July 2, 2008 by Robert Howard