How should power be wielded? An ethical question at best… but in a practical sense, what really is power? How is it defined? Is it the ability to pulverize? The ability to influence? The ability to purchase? Is it defined by one’s ability n
ot to respond and shrug it off? All valid questions, particularly when one decides to look behind the curtain of Stark Industries.It was nearly 10 years ago that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us of this specter… this unseen and hidden power behind this unelected “secret government.” His warning was in vain because now this shadowy consortium exerts more influence over our elected officials than the citizens who actually enter the voting booths every four years.
More recently, we’ve seen what happens to anyone who thinks that military spending ought to be curtailed or cut-back in favor of domestic or social programs. Not even Presidents are safe when this shadowy power feels threatened.1968
Marvel Confidential contacted Stark Industries, as well as Mr. Stark’s personal assistant Ms. Pepper Potts, for an interview (or some sort of quote or co-operation) for this article. All requests were respectfully declined.
Tony Stark meeting with then-presidential candidate John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson, JFK's Vice-Presidential running mate and long-time friend of Stark's.encounters is one of motivation.
Secrets are often whispered in the halls of power. Unnamed sources close to the Johnson Administration have indicated that, following the horrible events in Dallas several years ago, an amazing reversal of policy occurred from one Administration to another. Rumors indicate that a top secret government memorandum named NSAM 273 reversed President Kennedy’s intended plans of removing American forces from Vietnam. The problem with the reversal is that the general public is mostly unaware of Kennedy’s original order, let alone Johnson’s changes to it.
Now, for the first time, Marvel Confidential can reveal the contents of Kennedy’s original order, NSAM 263, which we have obtained from confidential sources within the Pentagon.
National Security Action Memorandum #263, a long-secret document issued by President Kennedy a little more than a month before his assassination.It is no secret that there was no love lost between Tony Stark and President Kennedy, nor between President Kennedy and then Vice-President Johnson. Stark contributed generously to Kennedy’s campaign, mainly due to his family’s life-long relationship with Lyndon Johnson. Johnson had persuaded Stark to support the Democratic ticket early on and he was an active participant in the 1960 campaign.
Once Kennedy was in the White House, Stark, as most others in his position do, expected to receive payback for his financial backing of the ticket. Sources say that Kennedy did what he could to steer government contracts to Stark Industriess, but Kennedy’s clout within his own military establishment was seriously wanting. Stark made no qualms about publicly insinuating that politicians are only good during an election and forget you once they’re in office.
Confidantes of Kennedy have been quoted anonymously in numerous publications indicating Kennedy’s fury at Stark’s disrespect for the Office of The President.
So it was not surprising that many tongues were wagging in early November 1963 when Tony Stark was asked by Kennedy to travel to Vietnam to meet with military commanders regarding weapons needs and specifications. As a well known American businessman, reports at the time suggested that Kennedy was using Stark to impress upon the government of South Vietnam that America was committed to the fight against Communism. What most didn’t know, and what secret leaked documents now tell us, was that Kennedy had no intentions of supporting the war effort. He was using Stark to give a false impression while his administration was quietly planning the removal of all advisors and combat troops by 1965.
What happened next has been hotly debated for several years now. Reports began to make their way back to American media outlets that something had happened to Stark on his mission. First reports were that he had been kidnapped, followed by reports of his death. For several days no one was really sure what had happened and Kennedy’s Administration remained mum, invoking national security when questioned about the situation. It was soon revealed that all hell had broken loose in South Vietnam and Stark had been caught in the middle of a military coup – a coup which would ultimately take the lives of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother and advisor, Ngo Dinh Nhu. When the dust had settled, Stark was back in the States and in an undisclosed location undergoing medical treatment for a serious and life-threatening injury. It was following this event that Stark, seriously concerned about his personal security, began to be seen with his new armored body-guard, Iron Man.
Iron Man, a personal bodyguard who Stark began employing following his "accident" in Vietnam, holds back a crowd in New York as Stark arrives for the U.N. General AssemblyNow, years after, and many tragedies later, Marvel Confidential has learned that the Kennedy Administration was in chaos over the coup. Conflicting reports of administration shock at the coup were buttressed against reports that the Administration had supported the coup. Tight-lipped whispers are now circulating that the coup was actually a cover for the Kennedy Administration’s efforts to have Stark, who had become a thorn in Kennedy’s side during an important election year, removed. Stark, as a big fund-raiser and contributor to the Kennedy campaign was, according to sources, becoming increasingly belligerent with the President regarding government contracts which Stark Industries had been pursuing.
Stark, following his release from the hospital, sat for a public appearance and photo-op with Kennedy, just days before the tragedy in Dallas. Stark and Kennedy look clearly uncomfortable in each other’s presence.
Nov. 22, 1963: Stark appears with Kennedy, Gov. Connally and LBJ just hours before the assassination.Perhaps their demeanors would have been different had they known this would be one of the last times they would be meet. But then again, perhaps not.
Stark, reportedly at the behest of Johnson, made a quick appearance with Kennedy upon his arrival in Fort Worth on the morning of November 22, but reportedly flew back to New York following Kennedy’s speech. News reports placed him “in the air en route” to New York at the time of the assassination. The whispers which followed this national tragedy we dare not repeat here in print.
A White House hand-out press photo of Iron Man meeting with president Johnson.In the almost 5 years since Kennedy’s assassination, Stark Industries has gone from a boutique electronics shop to the world’s largest defense contractor and arms dealer. If people had thought Stark was close with Kennedy, they can only assume that he is an actual “unofficial” member of the Johnson Administration! Stark is often jetting around the world on behalf of Johnson initiatives. Even Stark’s personal bodyguard and Avenger, Iron Man, can be seen regularly meeting with LBJ in the West Wing. Rumors even continue to circulate that Stark, while in Washington to attend Kennedy’s funeral, actually helped Johnson craft NSAM 273, the document which whole-heartedly committed the United States to the War in Vietnam, and in so doing, turned Stark into a global power-player the likes of which the world has never known. One can’t help but wonder where Stark might be today had Kennedy lived. That, however, is a story for another issue.
