JFK and the Moon: The Nature of Moon Exploration

Two gigantic topics in the minds of conspiracy theorists are surely the JFK assassination and the Moon hoax. It really should not seem surprising that these conspiracies are related.

When JFK took office in 1960, he did so with a warning from President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In his farewell address to the American public, Eisenhower warned that "In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex." Eisenhower, himself a five-star general and leader of the armed forces in Europe during WWII, knew that America's war machine was becoming dangerously powerful. This problem would fall squarely on John F. Kennedy's shoulders.

Kennedy immediately found himself being pressured to send troops into battle in places around the globe. The military pressed for action in Cuba, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and elsewhere. Kennedy must have felt swamped. He refused to lend US support to the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba - a US CIA project (created by Eisenhower and staff) that would send Cuban exiles on a mission to destroy Fidel Castro and communist Cuba. Kennedy's lack of support for this and other projects of war put him at great odds with the military-industrial establishment. Say, what exactly is a military-industrial establishment, anyway?

To explain what the military-industrial establishment truly is, we have to begin with World War II. When America entered the war on December 7, 1941, the nation was still in the wake of the Great Depression. Yet, not more than 4 years later, America would emerge from the war as the richest and most powerful nation on Earth. How could that even be possible? The answer: military-industrial complex.

When America entered World War II, all production was immediately transformed into military production. Civilian factories were transformed into military factories, and loads of profit rolled in. Shipyards, aircraft factories, artillery factories, tank factories, coal and oil mining centers, infantry weapon factories, and an eye-popping host of subsidiary establishments began to take over American industry. All able-bodied individuals came out to produce America's weapons. A stream of money flowed into everyone's pocketbooks - factory owners, the government, and workers alike. World War II obliterated the Great Depression. The government and military would take notice of this. For the government, military, and factory owners, war created immense prosperity.

Enter a period of general prosperity - the 1950s. The military-industrial complex was churning out armaments like nobody's business (and selling them like hotcakes). Eventually, though, the sales would die out. By 1960, the establishment was hoping for the US to enter into more wars. They looked to Kennedy for the go-ahead.

Kennedy doesn't give the military establishment more wars, though. He cripples the Bay of Pigs invasion, and stalls missions to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. He brushes off the notion of the communist menace in favor of peace. He tells America that we will go to the Moon, not some far-off war in a far-off country.

Some say that Kennedy attempted to dismantle the military bureaucracy, and that he attempted to disintegrate the CIA. Instead of war, Kennedy wanted to give Americans peace. Instead of pouring government money into military ventures, Kennedy wanted to fund explorations to the Moon and beyond. All of this may have brought the powers that be against him.

Kennedy had struck a chord with Americans. Not only had he escalated the space race, but he had inspired Americans into believing that their country could do almost anything. Perhaps that last statement is the whole problem. America could do anything. America could assassinate JFK, install a leader who supported the military-industrial complex, and inspire the country with a faked Moon landing taped on a Hollywood-style set. Outlandish as all of this may seem, you have to admit that it would be possible.

Kennedy's successors, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon, gave their full support to the Vietnam War. The allowed the military-industrial complex to flourish.

The idea of peaceful exploration was loathsome to military interests. Kennedy's thrust to "go to the moon" before the end of the 1960s shocked America's war apparatus. They believed that Kennedy would divert a majority of military funding toward peaceful endeavors like space exploration. The result was an assassination, and (possibly) a Moon hoax. Why the Moon hoax? Well, again, Kennedy's words inspired Americans. Near-Earth space could be used for missile stations and vital military purposes, but the Moon itself had no direct military usage. Ultimately, NASA may have used any extra funding to develop near-Earth space technology. In the end, a Moon hoax would have been necessary to satiate the desires of Americans and the world - and to beat the Russians.