Jfk Essay, Research Paper

J.F.K

On November 22, 1963, it was said that everything changed. This was the day

that President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The facts of

the J.F.K. assassination will be assessed and the many different conspiracy theories will

be explored and explained. How did one of the greatest and most influential President?s

of our time become assassinated, and why? Throughout this paper the facts will be

brought to your attention and therefore you will be able to draw your own conclusions.

By midday of November 22, 1963, the skies overlooking Dallas, Texas showed

the threat of possible rain. This did not stop President Kennedy from greeting the crowds

from his open limousine. To the left of the President in the rear seat was Mrs. Kennedy.

In the driver seat was agent R. Greer of the Secret Service, next to him was agent Roy H.

Kellerman. In the backseats were Governor Connally and Mrs. Connaly. Directly behind

the Presidential limousine was a car with eight Secret Service Agents. Behind that car

was the Vice Presidential car, carrying, the Vice-president, Lyndon Johnson and his wife

Lady Bird. There were also several cars and busses for additional dignitaries, press

representatives and others.

Shortly after 11:50 a.m., the motor cade left from Love Field, and preceded

through neighborhoods, and only stopping two times at J.F.K.?s request to greet

onlookers Each time the motor cade stopped, the Secret Service men stood near the

President and Mrs. Kennedy to protect them. The motor cade then preceded down

Houston Street and directly ahead on the intersections northwest corner a seven story,

orange brick warehouse and office building, The Texas Schoolbook Depository. At

a speed of 11 miles per hour, the President?s motor cade descended gradually toward a

railroad overpass, then reaching the Stemmons Freeway. The front of the Texas

Schoolbook Depository was now on the President?s right. He waved to the crowd as he

passed the building. Dealey Plaza, a landscaped area marking the end of downtown

Dallas, was on the President?s left.

A Secret Service Agent, whom was riding in the motorcade, radioed ahead that

the President would arrive in five minutes. As soon as the President arrived the shots

rang out in rapid fury. Kennedy?s hands moved to embrace his neck as blood gushed

through his fingers onto the floor of the Presidential limousine. Kennedy appeared to

stiffen for a few seconds and he leaned forward in his seat to gasp a breath.

The crowd looked stunned with disarray. The Secret Servicemen then huddled

around the President and Mrs. Kennedy. Governor Connally was also shot and had

serious wounds. The Presidential limousine then proceeded with full speed to the

Parkland Memorial Hospital, which was a total distance of four miles. When the

President arrived at the hospital, he was immediately treated by physicians who had been

alerted of the President?s arrival by the Dallas Police Department by radio from the

motorcade.

The doctor?s noted irregular breathing movements and a possible heartbeat,

although they could not find a pulse. They examined the bloody wound in the

President?s head and a smaller wound, which was 1/4 inch in diameter in the lower 1/3 of

his neck. The physicians a Tracheotomy. The physicians were so obsorbed in saving the

Presidents? life that they never turned the President over for an examination of his back.

At 1:00 p.m., the

last rights were administered by a priest, President Kennedy was pronounced dead.

Governor Connaly underwent surgery and recovered from his wounds.

When Vice – President Johnson learned of Kennedy?s death he left the hospital

under close guard and flew away in the Presidential plain. At 2:38 p.m., in the central

compartment of the plain, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 39th President of the

United States, by Federal Judge, Sarah T. Hughes. The plain landed in Washington at

5:58 p.m.. The President?s body was taken to the National Naval Medical Center. There

it was given a pathological examination.

Now lets look at the different theories of how our 35th President was

assassinated. Police arrested a man named Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine.

Oswald was booked for the murder of President John F. Kennedy. Two days later,

Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby, while he was being moved from the city to the county

jail. Many people who witnessed the assassination, dispute the facts. Many say that they

heard shots from places besides the Book Depository. Of the one – hundred – seventy -

eight witnessed at Dealey Plaza, one hundred – thirty – two said that they heard exactly

three shots.

If Oswald was a single gunman, it would have taken him at least 2.3 seconds to

reload his riffle. The witnesses said that they heard a single shot followed by silence

with the second and third shots fired simultaneously. Thus, it could have been

impossible for one gunman to fire the riffle, reload, fire again, and fire again in a very

short amount of time. Also, when Kennedy was shot, his head went back to the left,

which means the bullet came from the right. Although many people dispute the single

bullet theory,

it may be true. However, even if the single bullet theory is true, it in no way lessens the

fact that there were multiple gunmen.

The formal charge against Oswald for the assassination of president Kennedy was

pronounced shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 28th. By 10:00 p.m. of the

day of the assassination, the FBI had traced the rifle found in the depository to a mail

order house in Chicago, where Oswald had a mailbox. Information in the mailbox

concluded that payment of the rifle had been made by Lee Harvey Oswald.

Oswald carried the rifle into the depository building on the morning of November

22nd, 1963. At the time of the assassination, Oswald was present at the window in the

depository where the shots were fired. Shortly after the assassination, the rifle belonging

to Oswald was found hidden between a stack of cartons on the sixth floor, and the paper

bag that Oswald used to smuggle the rifle in was found close to the window where the

shots were fired. Based on testimony of the experts and their analysis of films of the

assassination, they had concluded that a rifleman of Oswald?s capabilities could have

fired the shots from the rifle used in the assassination within the elapsed time of the

shooting. They also concluded that Oswald possessed the capability with a rifle that

enabled him to commit the assassination. This conclusion upholds the finding that

Oswald fired the shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally.

Nine eye witnesses positively identified Oswald as the man they saw leaving the

scene with a revolver in his hand. Oswald?s jacket was also found along the path of the

flight taken by the gunman as he fled from the scene of the killing. Within eighty

minutes of the assassination, Oswald

resisted arrest by attempting to shoot another Dallas police officer. Nevertheless, after

thorough investigation, the assassination commission had

found no evidence that anyone assisted Oswald in planning or carrying out the

assassination.

One other conspiracy theory is Lyndon B. Johnson Theory. President Kennedy

was planning to run for re-election and wanted to exclude Johnson from the ticket as

vice-presidential candidate. This upset Johnson, therefore he planned and coerced the

assassination of JFK. LBJ was obviously the one with the most to gain from the murder.

It is established the Johnson was allegedly the type of selfish, corrupt, power obsessed

thug that would have done anything in order to become president. After the assassination,

Johnson allegedly ordered the immediate removal of JFK?s symbolic rocking chair from

the White House, as well as all of his other belongings. Some researchers say careful

study of Johnson?s body movements in his motorcade car directly behind the president?s

indicated he allegedly began to duck before the first shot rang out. This theory is not

among the most popular, but definitely a great possibility.

One of the main conspiracy theories of the JFK assassination is that organized

crime is to blame- the Kennedy Contract, or the Cuban plot to assassinate the president.

It casts New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello, with help from Santos Trafficante of

Florida, and Sam Giancana of Chicago as the villains. This conspiracy is rooted from the

Cuban rebellion against Fidel Castro. The U.S. government had supplied and trained

Cuban rebels to fight the dictatorship of Fidel Castro. Aside from training the rebels, the

US also offered a ?secret alliance? which promised help from US forces if the rebels

would run into trouble.

But when the war got hot and heavy, and Russia later showed themselves as

secret alliances to Castro, the US pulled out of the operation

and allowed many Cuban rebels to be captured, or killed. This caused an uproar among

the Cuban people, and many swore America as a mortal enemy. Thus, after the

assassination of JFK, the Organized Crime Conspiracy Theory arose.

Another theory of the assassination would be the idea of the secret service agent

shooting Kennedy by accident, but how about the one that did so on purpose? The

famous Zapruder 8mm shows the president?s limo driver, William Greer, allegedly

whipping out a gun, turning quickly, shooting JFK, and then returning his attention to the

road as if all was well.

With all the controversy surrounding the assassination of president

Kennedy, it?s surprising to learn that there are many facts about the case- facts that are so

well established, they aren?t disputed by anyone who has seriously studied the case. The

facts alone indicate that the assassination resulted from a conspiracy, and that it was

followed by an extensive cover-up.

For example: J Edgar Hoover informed Lyndon Johnson during a phone

conversation that someone had been impersonating Lee H. Oswald, the alleged single

assassin, at the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City. There can be no credible doubt that the

Oswald who called the Soviet embassy from the Cuban embassy in Mexico City on

9-28-63, was not the real Oswald.

Also, Sylvia Odio, from Cuba, testified that two anti-Castro Cubans and a man

named Leon Oswald visited her apartment in Dallas during the last week of September in

1963. Yet according to the Warden commission,

the real Oswald was ending his stay in New Orleans and heading off for Mexico City at

this time.

Miss Odio said that Leon Oswald bore a striking resemblance to Lee Harvey

Oswald. The house select committee on assassinations concluded Miss Odio?s testimony

was credible and truthful.

On the other hand, nearly all of Oswald?s fellow Marines who were asked to

comment on his shooting ability expressed the view that he was not a very good shot, in

fact several of them said he was a very poor shot. None of them described him as an

excellent shot. During the 1986 ?mock Oswald trial? sponsored by a British television

company, Monty Lutz, a member of the HASC?s firearm panel, and an expert rifleman

said to his knowledge, no one had ever duplicated Oswald?s alleged shooting feat.

During the Warren Commission?s version of the shooting, not one of the eleven expert

marksmen participating scored as high as Oswald would have.

Jack Ruby killed Oswald while he was being transferred in broad daylight in the

basement of the Dallas police station, which was supposed to be a secure area. The

HSCA concluded Ruby?s killing of Oswald was not spontaneous and that Ruby probably

entered the basement with assistance, backing up the theory that Oswald was framed and

Ruby was trying to cover up. It is said that Ruby had extensive ties with the Mafia. He

was also characterized as a so-called ?gangster.?

Though there are many widespread conspiracy theories of the JFK assassination,

some just plain ridiculous, the most popular opinion is still that Lee Harvey Oswald was

the sole assassin of president John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Obviously, this theory has the

most supportive evidence to back

itself up. Oswald seemed to have a motive, and among other things- carried a weapon

and resisted arrest.

Since Oswald was assassinated shortly after being arrested, we may never know

what his intentions were. There is one possibility that Oswald was assassinated by Ruby

not for reasons of rage and anger, but to keep him quiet…and if this was his intention, he

surely succeeded.

In the evidence that I have gathered, I believe that the most likely conspiracy

theory of J.F.K.?s assassination, is that Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin. Although, I

feel that he was coerced into doing this. Oswald surely had to have help from other

conspirators because the evidence points in so many different directions, rather than all

just pointing at Oswald.

Of all conclusions that can be drawn, one is certain: there is a person or persons

who know exactly what and why the JFK assassination took place. Whether or not these

facts will be brought to the public one day, only time can tell. was Lee Harvey Oswald

the lone assailant, or did the CIA plot against kennedy? Were anti-Castro Cubans

responsible or did Lyndon Johnson plan Kennedy?s demise to further his political gain?

We may never know who really killed our 35th President. As of now the only thing we

can do is speculate and draw our own conclusions.

1. J.F.K. Directed by Oliver Stone. Warner Bros.; Inc. 1991

2. Robert Harris. ?The assassination of President John F. Kennedy: A reassessment of

original testimony and evidence?

3. Grover B. Proctor, jr. ?The JFK assassination? – Spectator magazine – November,

1993.