Background
There have been numerous conspiracy theories offered in lieu of explanations surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) in 1963(“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy, n.d.”). In addition, details about the assassination have been uncertain for the last 40 plus years due to the fact that many of the tapes with information and evidence have been tampered with, and so many legal experts and scholars, and historians have refuted a lot of the information published on the case and deem them unreliable (“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy, n.d.”). In addition, due to the irregularities and abnormalities in various occurrences on that day in 1963, more experts are leaning more to theories of conspiracy to thicken the plot surrounding the assassination of the President Kennedy.
Conspiracy Theories
Many stories were swirling at the time about the assassination, and so people did not know what to think (“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy. n.d. “). Some theories offered were Defense Readiness Condition (DEFCON) was changed to Vietnam on the day of President Kennedy’s assassination, military codebooks were missing from the jets in order to prevent a nuclear war, the phones of the Federal government were down for two hours after the death of the President, the assassination was done by a “double” and not the real Oswald. The ‘real’ Oswald was in Mexico City six weeks before the assassination; the inference here is that Oswald had some KGB-Cuba connection, and that the Secret Service oved the President’s body to Bethesda in Maryland. To date none of these theories presented in reports have ever been proven or validated (“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy, n.d.”).
So what really happened?
On the 22nd Day of November, 1963 at approximately 12:30 p.m., President John F. Kennedy traveled through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, in what was common at that time, ‘an open air motorcade’(“November 22 1963: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. n.d.”). At this time John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States of America (U.S.A). As he traveled through the Plaza three gunshots rung through the Texas School Book Depository, which was ran along the route the presidential motorcade took killing President Kennedy(“November 22 1963: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. n.d.”). The 1964 Warren Report stated that the three shots that were fired were done by a lone gunman who was on the sixth floor of the Depository Building (“November 22 1963: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. n.d.”) Out of the three shots, two hit people and one missed. One hit the President, the other James Tague who was an innocent bystander who was also on Dealey Plaza observing the motorcade (“Fetzer, n.d.”). The Warren Commission initially reported that all shots hit targets; one hit the President in his back, the second hitting then Governor John Connally and the third hitting John F. Kennedy in the head, which was reported as the shot that took the President’s life (“Fetzer, n.d.”). Other reports suggested that two shots killed the President, one to the right temple blowing his brains out and the other to his throat. When the Commission presented its official report, those four mentioned shots were reduced to two; one hitting the President at the back of the head and another at the bac of his head (“Fetzer, n.d.”)
Lee Harvey Oswald was identified as the lone gunman and later arrested for assassinating President JFK (“November 22 1963: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. n.d.”); in a single incident. The report confirming this arrest suggested that Mr. Oswald shot and killed Officer J.D. Tippit and President JFK as well as wounding Governor Connally. This report was taken close to one hour after the assassination occurred. At the time when Oswald was identified, no formal police investigation had taken place; fastest police work observed to date (“Fetzer, n.d.”). Oswald was a former Marine who in 1962 defected to the Soviet Union before returning to his home in the U.S.A. After his arrest, he was arraigned for the murders of Officer Tippit and President JFK. While Oswald was being transferred between jails, Jack Ruby a club owner in Dallas shot and killed Oswald (“November 22 1963: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. n.d.”).
Weapon
According to Fetzer (n.d.) Oswald used a Mannlicher-Carcano carbine to assassinate President JFK. A picture of the weapon was taken by Dallas Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C. The issue is both pictures were very different. A weapon such as the Mannlicher-Carcano has a velocity speed of 2,000 fps, however, this weapon is not classified as a ‘high velocity gun’, which ignited major debates about this fact and possibility of Oswald actually being President JFK’s killer, since he was killed by high velocity bullets (“Fetzer, n.d.”).
Warren Commission
After the death of President JFK, President Lyndon B. John assumed leadership and upon entering office he appointed what he called the ‘Warren Commission”, led by then Chief Justice Earl Warren to investigate the assassination of President JFK (“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy. n.d. “). The findings from the extensive investigation surrounding the particulars of the assignation were presented in a report of about 296, 000 words published by the Commission in 1964 (“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy. n.d. “). The findings stated that Lee Harvey Oswald was a self-proclaimed Marxist, a former member of the United States Marine Corps who fired shots resulting in the death of President Kennedy, and that he acted alone, and neither he nor Jack Ruby were part of any local, domestic or international conspiracy plan (“November 22 1963: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. n.d.”) to kill the President. Close to 500 witness testimonies were mirrored in the report and compiled by a team of investigators. The only information many believed was lacking in the Warren report was information refuting the many conspiracy theories mentioned, and that perhaps there were two shooters and not one as mentioned in the conspiracy theories. In the end, many concluded that perhaps there were conspiracies surrounding the death of President John F. Kennedy (“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy. n.d. “). Two memos were prepared; Hoover and Katzenabch, which many saw as final confirmations that there was a cover-up of the facts resulting in President John F Kennedy’s assassination (“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy. n.d. “).
Investigation
The assassination of President John F Kennedy shook the nation, and up to that year in 1963, no incident had captured the attention of the American people as this killing of a well-beloved President (“The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies, 1976”). The Warren Report was compiled from evidence, which many believed highlighted the failures of both the FBI and the CIA in carrying out their duties as they related to the investigation of the assassination. These intelligence agencies illustrated deficiencies and failures in their investigative techniques, preventing the Warren Commission from being able to conclusively refute conspiracy theories as motivating factors resulting in President JFK’s assassination (“The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies, 1976”). The Warren report was devoid of information from those intelligence agencies about the President’s assassination, the relationship these agencies have with each other as well as with the Warren Commission, and the impact their individual operations had on the entire investigation surrounding the assassination (“The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies, 1976”). In addition, both the FBI and CIA operations in Cuba had an impact on the investigation. One major finding is that the Committee stated that it had no evidence that there was a plot to kill President JFK by some in the Cuban government or Fidel Castro for the U.S.A operations that negatively impacted Cuba(“The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies, 1976”).
The Warren Report detailed the U.S.A. operations against Cuba as relevant to the investigation of the assassination. The operation led by the CIA involved a high-ranking Cuban official who the CIA gave a code name of AMLASH. The importance of the operation, and its potential negative impact were all mentioned in the Warren report as integral to the investigation of the assassination (“The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies, 1976”). Even though Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro were not in favor of the Kennedy Administration's actions that restricted the Cubans’ activities, there was no concrete evidence that Cuban officials or Fidel Castro were plotting to kill President John F. Kennedy (“The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies, 1976”). A major part of the conspiracy was that since Fidel Castro assumed power, and became President of Cuba, Cubans believed that the United States’ government has done everything to depose of Fidel Castro. Business interests, underworld figures, anticommunists, the United States’ government and Cuban exiles all had solid reasons and arguments for wanting to overthrow Fidel Castro, and how regime. These various interests operated as independent entities, and did not work in conjunction with each other; however, at times some would band together in order to consolidate their efforts to depose, and oppose Castro’s government (“The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies, 1976”).
Conclusion
Still in the end, Americans and people around the world do not know that to think or believe. Similar to the September 11, 2001 World Trade Organization (WTO0 conspiracy, the conspiracy theory regarding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination is still lingering in the American community, causing continuous doubts to remain in the minds of its citizens(“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy, n.d. “). Since 1963, public awareness has peeked, but this awareness was not strong enough to identify the truth. At the same time, many believe that the truth might be too much to handle and too dangerous, so perhaps it might be best for them never to know the truth (“John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy, n.d. “).
Works Cited
Fetzer, James, H. Dealey Plaza Revisited: What Happened to JFK? n.d. Web July 27, 2016
John F. Kennedy: Assassination or Conspiracy. n.d. Web July 27, 2016
November 22 1963: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. n.d. Web July 27, 2016
The Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: Performance of the Intelligence Agencies. 1976. Web July 25, 2016
