Taken from JRE #1999 w/Robert Kennedy, Jr.:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3DQfcTY4viyXsIXQ89NXvg?si=7ea76e40445e4877

The Joe Rogan Experience My uncle John Kennedy, you know, did that.

So he was surrounded by military industrial complex and he learned very early and an intelligence apparatus that he realized early on that the purpose of the CIA and the intelligence apparatus was to create a constant pipeline of new wars for the military-industrial complex 3 days before he took the oath of office, Eisenhower, who was the outgoing president, gave what is probably the most important speech in American history which was, you know, where he warned against the military-industrial complex.

It was a six-year-old boy and I was sitting on the stands behind him, in front of him during his inauguration.

2 months later, the military and intelligence came to him and said, we got to invade Cuba.

And he was like, I'm not going to Cuba and I'm not going to let the military.

And they said, well, we got all these Cubans trained and they're going to go attack Castro.

And he said, well, we can't, the US government can't be doing that.

I don't like what Castro's doing down there, but it's not the United States' job to dictate what kind of governments other countries have.

And they said, well, as soon as they land, there's going to be a big revolution.

Everybody's going to rise up, and they're going to overthrow Castro.

And he said, well, you can't use the US military.

And they ended up bringing those guys over with United Fruit boats.

And in the middle of it, in the night, they came to him and said, they're getting wiped out on the beach and you need to send in the military and invade.

And he stepped out of that meeting and he realized they had been lying to him and trying to trick him.

And he said, I want to take the CIA and shatter it into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.

And then, you know, for the next thousand days of his presidency, he was at war with his military and intelligence apparatus.

They tried to get him to go into Vietnam with combat troops.

They said that we need 250,000 combat troops.

Everybody around him wanted him to go into Vietnam.

He sent 16,000 military advisors as fewer people than he sent to get James Meredith into Ole Miss in Jackson, Mississippi to get 1 black man into school.

They were allowed to fight, many of them did.

They both violated the rules of engagement.

In October of 1963, he heard that some of his Green Berets had been killed over there And he said, I want a total casualty list from Vietnam.

And his aide came to him and said, 75 Americans have died.

And he signed that day a national security order ordering all troops out of Vietnam, US troops.

The first thousand over the next month and then the rest by the beginning of 1965.

But what his view was is that he believed that the view of Americans abroad should not be a soldier with a gun.

It should be a Peace Corps volunteer building wells And it should be USAID helping poor people and it should be Alliance for Progress building middle class.

And he just started the Kennedy Milk Program to, you know, give nutrition to poor kids all over the world.

As a result of that, In Africa today, there are more statues to John Kennedy, more boulevards named after him, more hospitals, schools, universities, avenues, and all the major cities named after him than any other president.

And that is the Chinese have taken that template and done the same thing now.

And they are, you know, all these countries that were supposedly allied with us are now realign with the Chinese and they're switching to their currency because the Chinese are not there to kill people.

They're there to build roads, to build universities, to build colleges.

And it turns out that people like that a lot more.

And we should be projecting economic power around the globe and not military power, it will make us much stronger.

But what do you think happens when you get into office?

Like if you're talking about your uncle who was assassinated and you believe the intelligence agencies were part of that.

You know, I'm aware of that, and I'm not, you know, I — I'm aware of the — of that danger, and, you know, I don't live in fear of it at all, but I'm not stupid about it, and I take precautions.


Speaker 0: The Joe Rogan Experience My uncle John Kennedy, you know, did that. He refused to go to war. So he was surrounded by military industrial complex and he learned very early and an intelligence apparatus that he realized early on that the purpose of the CIA and the intelligence apparatus was to create a constant pipeline of new wars for the military-industrial complex 3 days before he took the oath of office, Eisenhower, who was the outgoing president, gave what is probably the most important speech in American history which was, you know, where he warned against the military-industrial complex. I was at my uncle's inauguration. I was in Washington that day.

It was a six-year-old boy and I was sitting on the stands behind him, in front of him during his inauguration. He understood that. 2 months later, the military and intelligence came to him and said, we got to invade Cuba. And he was like, I'm not going to Cuba and I'm not going to let the military. And they said, well, we got all these Cubans trained and they're going to go attack Castro.

And he said, well, we can't, the US government can't be doing that. We can't be attacking it. I don't like what Castro's doing down there, but it's not the United States' job to dictate what kind of governments other countries have. And they said, well, as soon as they land, there's going to be a big revolution. Everybody's going to rise up, and they're going to overthrow Castro.

And he said, well, you can't use the US military. And they ended up bringing those guys over with United Fruit boats. And in the middle of it, in the night, they came to him and said, they're getting wiped out on the beach and you need to send in the military and invade. And he said, we're not going to do it. And he stepped out of that meeting and he realized they had been lying to him and trying to trick him.

And he said, I want to take the CIA and shatter it into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds. And then, you know, for the next thousand days of his presidency, he was at war with his military and intelligence apparatus. They tried to get him to go into Laos. He said no. They tried to get him to go into Vietnam with combat troops.

They said that we need 250,000 combat troops. He refused. Everybody around him wanted him to go into Vietnam. He sent 16,000 military advisors as fewer people than he sent to get James Meredith into Ole Miss in Jackson, Mississippi to get 1 black man into school. He sent fewer to Vietnam.

They were allowed to fight, many of them did. They both violated the rules of engagement. In October of 1963, he heard that some of his Green Berets had been killed over there And he said, I want a total casualty list from Vietnam. And his aide came to him and said, 75 Americans have died. He said, that's too many.

And he signed that day a national security order ordering all troops out of Vietnam, US troops. The first thousand over the next month and then the rest by the beginning of 1965. And then a month later, he was killed. But what his view was is that he believed that the view of Americans abroad should not be a soldier with a gun. It should be a Peace Corps volunteer building wells And it should be USAID helping poor people and it should be Alliance for Progress building middle class.

And that's what he did. And he just started the Kennedy Milk Program to, you know, give nutrition to poor kids all over the world. As a result of that, In Africa today, there are more statues to John Kennedy, more boulevards named after him, more hospitals, schools, universities, avenues, and all the major cities named after him than any other president. And that is the Chinese have taken that template and done the same thing now. And they are, you know, all these countries that were supposedly allied with us are now realign with the Chinese and they're switching to their currency because the Chinese are not there to kill people.

They're there to build roads, to build universities, to build colleges. And it turns out that people like that a lot more. And we should be projecting economic power around the globe and not military power, it will make us much stronger.

Speaker 1: But what do you think happens when you get into office? Like if you're talking about your uncle who was assassinated and you believe the intelligence agencies were part of that. What happens to you?

Speaker 0: Well, I got to be careful. You know, I'm aware of that, and I'm not, you know, I — I'm aware of the — of that danger, and, you know, I don't live in fear of it at all, but I'm not stupid about it, and I take precautions.

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Robert Kennedy, Jr. on His Uncle JFK and the Military Industrial Complex