Kennedy Assassination Essay, Research Paper

Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator of Germany during World War II, once said,

"The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it." Although this

may sound ludicrous, we can see many example of this in the world’s history. One

example would have to be the John Fitzgerald Kennedy assassination. For over

thirty years the people of the United States were led to believe that a single

gunman shot and killed Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m…

However, in this paper, I will dispute the ancient analization of the facts that

show a single gunman was involved, and try to show that a conspiracy must have

been present.According to the old facts regarding the case of the JFK

assassination, Kennedy was killed by a single gunman. On November 22, 1963, at

12:30 p.m. CST (Central Standard Time),Kennedy was riding in an open limousine

through Dallas, Texas. At this time, Kennedy was shot in the head and neck by a

sniper. He was then taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital,where he was pronounced

dead. Later, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine, at a

nearby theater. By the next morning, Oswald was booked for the murder of

President John F. Kennedy. Two days later, Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby, a

Dallas nightclub owner, while he was being moved from the city to the county

jail. At a glance, the above story sounds as if this should be an open-and-shut

case. After all, according to the facts above, Oswald must have killed Kennedy.

However, you must take a deeper look into this case. Many people who witnessed

the murder of John F. Kennedy dispute the facts above, saying that they heard

shots from places besides the book depository, and other things that may

contradict what is stated above. One of these witnesses, Abraham Zapruder,

captured the entire assassination on his Bell and Howell eight millimeter movie

camera. This movie, cleverly called the Zapruder Film,is the single best piece

of visual evidence in this case. In order to more clearly understand the

Zapruder Film, it is necessary to break it down into frames. The particular Bell

and Howell movie camera that Zapruder was using ran at eighteen and

three-hundredths (18.3) frames per second. When using this frame system, you

must remember that all shots were actually fired several frames before the

number that is assigned to them. For example, the fatal heard wound, called

Z313, was probably fired at Z310, since it took 2-3 frames at 18.3 frames per

second for the bullet to reach the victim. Also, you must remember that sound

travels at about one thousand-one hundred(1,100) feet per second, or a little

over half as fast as the Mannlicher Carcano’s bullets. When keeping this in

mind, it is expected that witnesses heard the shot at some point after the

bullet passed. The following shows a break down of the frames of the Zapruder

film: – The Presidential limousine first comes into view at frame 133 (the

starting point of this timeline.) – The first shot at (or just before) Z187

would have passed through both Governor Connally and the President. – The second

shot, which passed above the limousine at Z284, missed the President and hit the

curb near witness James Tague. This caused his minor wound. – At Z313, the fatal

shot occurs, which blew out major portions of the Presidents brain and skull. -

A fourth shot occurred at Z323 (slightly 1/2 second after the fatal wound at

Z313). Due to the proximity of this report to the one at Z313, as well as it’s

more distant origin, most witnesses were unable to hear this shot. Thus, the

above is when the bullets hit either Kennedy or Connelly, or passed through the

frames of the Zapruder film (in the case of the second shot). Of the one-hundred

seventy-eight (178) witnesses at Daley Plaza, one-hundred thirty-two 132) said

that they hear exactly three shots. If Oswald was a single gunman, it would have

taken him at least 2.3 seconds to reload his Mannlicher Carcano rifle. However,

the general consensus of the witnesses is that they heard a single shot,

followed by silence, with the second and third shots bunched together. For

example, Lee Bowers, one of the witnesses, testified, "I heard three shots,

one, then a slight pause, then two very close together." Also, Warren W.

Taylor, a Secret Service agent, said, "As a matter of course, I opened the

door and prepared to get out of the car. In the instant that my left foot

touched the ground, I heard two more bangs and realized that they must be

gunshots. "Lastly, when Miss Willis, a witness, was asked if she heard any

shots, she testified, "Yes; I heard one. Then there was a little bit of

time, and then there were two real fast bullets together. When the first one

hit, well, the President turned from waving to the people, and he grabbed his

throat, and he kind of slumped forward, and then I couldn’t tell where the

second shot went." Thus, it would have been impossible for one gunman to

fire a shot with the Mannlicher Carcano rifle, reload, fire again, and fire

again in a very short amount of time in order to make the shots sound close

together. Also, when the fatal shot hit Kennedy, his head went back and to the

left, implying that the bullet came from the front and right, not from the

though many people dispute the single bullet theory, this may be true. To

understand why, you must understand the trajectory of the bullet and the angles

involved. The bullet,if fired from the Texas School Book Depository, should have

hit Kennedy at a 21 degree angle, and, in fact, it did. (See the pictures on the

subsequent pages.) Also, President Kennedy was sitting nearly six inches above

the level of Connally’s seat. Thus, when the bullet left the President, it hit

Connally, who was turned 15-20 degrees. When the bullet hit Connally, the hole

in his back was 5/8 inches wide by 1/4 inches high, or more than twice as wide

as tall. This means that the bullet was partially turned sideways when it

entered Connally’s back. Thus, the bullet must have hit something before it hit

Connally. Also, the bottom of the bullet that was found was broken open and was

extruding tiny particles of lead. X-rays taken at Parkland showed precisely that

type of particle embedded in the Governor’s wrist and thigh wounds. However,

even if the single bullet theory is true, it in no way lessens the fact that

there were multiple gunmen, and there was a conspiracy. (The "magic

bullet" is thought to be bullet one on the Zapruder film.) Lastly, one has

to consider what the biggest motives would be to kill the President. One motive

has to deal with President Kennedy trying to get out of Vietnam. This war was

the biggest business in America at the time. It brought in over eighty billion

dollars a year. Thus, since the President was trying to get out of the war, he

would have been costing business men a lot of money. Also, vice-president

Johnson would have profited a lot because he was the next to become president.

Thus, people, including the vice-president, had motives to kill the President.

As you can see, the killing of John F. Kennedy was a conspiracy. There is no way

a single gunman could have fired all the bullets that hit Kennedy and Connnally

in that short period of time. Also, since Kennedy’s head went back and to the

left, the bullet must have been fired from the front and right of Kennedy. This

shows that there was another gunman, which makes this a conspiracy. Someday, it

would be nice if the truth is revealed about who fired the bullets, and how many

gunmen there actually were.

1. Harris, Robert. "The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: A

Reassessment of Original Testimony and Evidence." 2. Harris, Robert.

"The Single Bullet Theory: A Question of Probability." 3. Newman,

John. "Oswald and the CIA." Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc. New

York: 1995. 4. Summers, Anthony. "Conspiracy." McGraw-Hill Book

Company. New York: 1981. 5. "JFK" Directed by Oliver Stone. Warner

Bros., Inc. 1991.