Who Killed JFK? Essay, Research Paper

Assessment for Australian Year 11 Modern History. I got top marks for this. They limit you to 4 pages, so extend your margins and make your font small!

Who killed John Fitzgerald Kennedy? This question can be considered as cryptic as the meaning of life. Does anyone know who killed Kennedy? The J.F.K Assassination is a conspiracy wrapped in a conspiracy, wrapped in an enigma? Can the people of the world serious accept what the U.S government has told them ? Lee Harvey Oswald single handily killed the President of the U.S.A? Evidence shows that it seems possible that the American Central Intelligence Agency could have been involved in the president?s death? All the facts suggest that this assassination was not the work of one, Lee Harvey Oswald, but a higher power, one which had the clearance to change motorcade routes, fake photo?s and successfully cover-up the assassination until this very day.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on May 29, 1917. Graduating from Harvard in 1940, he entered the Navy. In 1943, when a Japanese destroyer sank his PT boat, Kennedy, despite injuries, led the survivors to safety. On his return from the war, John F. Kennedy became a democratic congressman for the Boston area, and in 1953 he advanced to the Senate. On September 12, 1953, John F. Kennedy Married Jacqueline Bouvier. John F. Kennedy worked hard inside his party and in 1961; JFK was appointed President of the United States of America.

No more than 1000 days into John F. Kennedy?s presidency, he was assassinated in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Apparently by Lone Gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.

It was the 22nd of November 1963, when President Kennedy was travelling through Dallas on a speech presenting tour. The president had previously been warned that the people of Dallas disliked him, and that the trip would be dangerous. Despite these warning, JFK saw it as a way to gain popularity and enhance his standing in the Southern states.

As President Kennedy disembarked Air Force One, he was escorted into an open limousine 2nd from the front of the Motorcade, where he was to be driven to a conference in the Trade Mart Building. The original route of the Motorcade was to travel straight down Main Street and into their intended destination. But, on the day of the assassination, the Motorcade made a very sharp 90 degree turn from Main, to Houston street, where the car was slowed down to 25 m/ph, then another sharp turn from Houston, to Elm street, whereby the car was slowed right down to 15 m/ph. Near halfway down Elm street, at approximately 12:31pm, 4 shots were fired. The first bullet struck Kennedy in the throat, the second passed through Governor John Connally?s chest and left wrist. The third bullet hit Kennedy in the front of the head, and the fourth was said to have missed all targets. All these bullets were said have been shot from the Texas School Book Depository.

The presidents car quickly sped up and rushed to Parkland Memorial hospital where Dr. Paul Peters and Dr. Clark tried their hardest to save JFK?s life. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:04pm.

All doctors who witnessed JFK?s wounds all state that the president?s head was partially destroyed, they say the back right side of the presidents head was missing, and that 20% of his brain was not intact.

Ambulance Officer Aubrey Rike explained that there were large arguments between the state and the Secret Service as to where the autopsy was to be performed. Dr. Rose, a very experienced doctor in autopsy?s demanded that the president?s body be examined in the Parkland Hospital; the Secret Service denied his request. Dr. Paul Peters quotes; ?Had Dr. Rose of performed the autopsy immediately after Kennedy?s death, confusion over what direction and angle the bullet came from would be cleared up?.

Later that day, the Secret Service illegally moved Mr. Kennedy?s body from Dallas to Washington D.C. This move included the use of 2 helicopters, for what reason, is largely unknown.

When the body arrived in Washington, there was speculation over the appearance of both, the wounds inflicted on JFK and the casket in which he arrived. Aubrey Rike remembers JFK being placed inside one of the most expensive Bronze caskets that was available in the Parklands hospital, and that he was wrapped in a white silk sheet. But when JFK arrived in Washington D.C, he was unloaded in a very cheap shipping casket, and inside the casket, JFK was wrapped in a Slate grey body bag. Which means, somewhere between Dallas and Washington D.C, the presidents body was tampered with. Further speculation arose over the descriptions of the president?s wounds from the eyewitnesses in Dallas and the ?Official? autopsy photo?s released by the government. The Dallas doctors clearly state large exit wounds in the back right-hand side of the president?s head, yet the ?Official? autopsy photo?s show a very clean entry and exit wound, and the wound seems to be near the right temple.

One week after President Kennedy?s Assassination Lyndon B. Johnson, the new formally appointed President ordered that a commission be assembled to examine the president?s assassination. This commission was to be headed by Chief Justice Warren.

The Warren Commission, after so-called ?Investigation? announced that the Assassination had been planned and executed by a ?Sole Assassin? Lee Harvey Oswald.

No more then an hour and 20 minutes after the President had been shot, a man by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in the Texas Theatre. When Oswald was taken into Dallas Police station, he showed no sign of nervousness or guilt. He was said to be very relaxed, not in a state that a normal person would be in after assassinating someone.

Lee Harvey Oswald, a 23yr old white man with Russian decent, and ties with Russian Intelligence, was a perfect ?patsy? for a massive conspiracy. To further increase the sense of a conspiracy, Lee Harvey Oswald was murder at close range by Strip Club owner ?Jack Ruby? ? An errand runner for Al Capone in the 1920?s and known by the most powerful gangsters.

The Warren Commission?s end report was riddled with faults however. The original report says there were 3 shots fired in 7.99 seconds. But, not even expert marksman could let off 3 shots in that space of time, while maintaining accuracy and penetrating the target on all 3 shots. Another revelation came from a man standing under the triple Underpass, just moments after the president had been shot, felt something sting his face, it was bullet that had missed its targets, and rebounded off a curb. This allegation contradicted the Warren Report and so one of the most controversial theories was created. The ?Magic Bullet? theory. The Warren Commission concluded that, 3 bullets were fired, 1 passed through Kennedy?s neck, on exit, it moved downwards and leftwards, stuck John Connally in the back, exited Connally?s Chest, entered his left wrist and ricocheted into his right thigh. The Second bullet was now said to have missed target, and the third caused the fatal head wound from the ?back? of Kennedy?s head. But, all were said to have been shot from the South East Corner of the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository by one Lee Harvey Oswald. By placing the blame on a ?Sole Assassin?, further investigations into a conspiracy to kill the president are ruled out.

Despite the ruling by the Warren Commission that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, substantial evidence shows that there was a second gunman upon a hill, known as the Grassy Knoll, and could even rule out Lee Harvey Oswald from the assassination entirely.

Gordon Arnold an ex-army officer remembers that on the day of the assassination, he was walking through the car park of the TSBD (Texas School Book Depository), when he was stopped by a man in a suit and was told to leave the area, Gordon, remembers saying ?Yeah, you and who?s army?s gonna stop me?? After that the man pulled out Identification and said he was with the CIA, Gordon thought no more of the matter and started walking. He walked halfway down the car park and stopped to see if he could get any footage, the man walked up to him again and said, ?I told you to leave the area?. Gordon, then walked right around the car park, and stood up near the Grassy Knoll. As Gordon was filming, he remembers hearing a shot pass by his left ear; he immediately dropped to the ground. Moments after the shots, what looked to be a man dressed in police officers uniform approached him, looking shaken and very disturbed, with a revolver in his hand, and asked if Gordon was filming, Gordon said yes, and handed him the film from the camera. Gordon also says, he remembers the Policeman having Dirty hands, which seemed unusual.

Arnold is not alone in his reports. A Mr. Hopmann, a deaf mute remembers seeing a man in a police uniform up on the Grassy Knoll. Hopmann remembers seeing a puff of smoke, he thought at first it may have been from a cigarette, but then realised that the man was carrying a rifle. The Policeman then walked very calmly towards a man in a rail workers uniform, handed him the gun, straightened his suit, then walk back. The man in the Railroad uniform took the gun to a railroad box, dismantled the gun, and placed it into a toolbox, then proceeded to walk down the direction of the rail tracks. When Hopmann went to the FBI to tell them what he had witnessed, the FBI told him to be quiet and even offered him money to keep silent.

Alongside both of these witnesses, is photograph taken just a split second before the president was fatally wounded. The photograph faces the Grassy Knoll, where after years of research uncovers what appear to be 3 men, standing up behind the picket fence of the Grassy Knoll. One of the men, the police officer, in charge of firing the fatal wound to President Kennedy?s head, a man that looks to be in some sort of uniform, and the third, what appears to be Gordon Arnold.

All this evidence proves that the Warren Commission?s ?Sole Assassin? theory could not have been, and that there was more then just 1 person involved in the killing.

More and more evidence was beginning to emerge that Lee Harvey Oswald?s involvement in the assassination may have been no more then knowledge of it, if that.

Officer Baker, was on duty on the day of the assassination, he says after he heard the shots, he remembers seeing a flock of pigeons fly off the roof of the TSBD. He quickly rushed into the building and asked the building director where the elevator was, he was then taken to the second floor, where he remembers seeing a man ? Lee Harvey Oswald ? He turned to the director and asked whether that man works in the building and he said yes, he does. Officer Baker says that within 90 seconds of the gunshots he was on the 2nd floor of the building, and Oswald was there. This claim makes it almost impossible for Lee Harvey Oswald to have fired a shot at all, as he would had to of quickly run to the other corner of the 6th floor place the gun between comics, and run down 4 flights of stairs, within 82 seconds and appear calm with no excessive breathing or nervousness.

Furthermore, none of Lee Harvey Oswald?s finger prints could be found on the gun, until after he was dead, only then did a smudge palm print appear. A worker at the funeral home where Oswald body was being prepared for burial, tells how, ?Agents? ? Not known whether they were CIA, FBI or Secret Service ? Walked into the home and demand that they observe the body privately. The workers agreed and after a short period of time, the ?Agents? walked out. When the workers went back into the room that Lee H. Oswald was in, they realised ink stains, on his palm and a few fingers. It was their job to remove those marks.

Another embarrassment to all agencies involved in the investigations was the linking of Lee H. Oswald to the weapon that killed JFK. The gun was never registered to Oswald, and so couldn?t ?Legally? be his.

All this evidence suggests that Lee Harvey Oswald was just ?Patsy? from the real perpetrator, The Central Intelligence Agency, and higher Government Military Sanctions. Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby then became public decoys for the assassination. People were beginning to worry more about the Oswald ? Ruby, murder, then the Oswald ? Kennedy, murder.

The CIA and Military had many reasons for Assassinating President Kennedy. The first international bombshell of Kennedy’s administration exploded in April 1961, when a force of anti-Castro Cubans, trained, armed and directed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, failed in an attempt to establish a beachhead in Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. The invasion had been planned before Kennedy took office, and he allowed it to proceed with important modifications limiting the degree of American military support. The Cuban debacle, for which Kennedy accepted “sole responsibility,” was a stunning setback for the new administration, and was the first compromise in National Security.

The CIA, bitter with Kennedy?s reluctance to send military forces in aid of the mission, knew that the Kennedy administration would push for peace ? A profitless adventure.

Having Had Kennedy in for just over 1000 days, the Military could see Kennedy?s hatred for war. He had signed a treaty with Britain and the Soviet Union, banning the testing of Nuclear weapons in the atmosphere ? the Test-Ban Treaty. President Kennedy had also dramatically slowed down the arms race, started during the Cold War, and had allowed Cuba to remain under Castro rule, without American dispute.

The American Military was beginning to see uproar in Vietnam, and knew that a serious war was beginning to erupt. The American Military knew that there were massive amounts of money to be made from this war. This war didn?t directly involve America, so weapons could be sold to both parties, with help from higher sanctions of the CIA. With the Kennedy Government in power, the Military and the CIA knew that America?s involvement in both the fighting, and selling of arms during this up and coming war would not be permitted.

Now, with both, Higher Levels of the Central Intelligence Agency, and rogue factions of the U.S Military against Kennedy, a plot to have him assassinated begun.

In April 1963, Kennedy announced that he would be making a speech presenting tour in Dallas, Texas, to enhance his standing within the Southern States ? In which he was not liked, or welcome. The tour was to take place in late November were he would be driven in an open Limousine, through the streets of Dallas.

As the day approached, the President?s Security was breached. The original route of the motorcade was to travel straight up Main Street and onto the Freeway to the Trade Mart Building. But, only days before the journey, the motorcade route was altered, making the motorcade take 2 very sharp turns, allowing the car to be slowed down to 15 m/ph, an easy shot for any expert marksman. This route compromised Presidential Security as an open motorcade, is never to travel below 45 m/ph. The Secret Service, or CIA, to allow a sniper to execute JFK, must have changed the route of the motorcade. The other major fault was the lack of Secret Service and CIA agents around the area. During a motorcade journey the Secret Service is authorised to employ as many army officers as needed to ensure the protection of the President, None were ordered. The next breach in security was the allowance of open windows in building. The CIA during such events is meant to make sure that all windows in higher set buildings are closed, and if opened, were to be, without delay, shut.

Immediately after the assassination, the cover-up began. ?Agents? would circulate finding footage, photo?s and any other evidence that disputed with what they wanted the public to know, Lee Harvey Oswald Killed the President.

The Warren Commission only allowed people that they thought, would not compromise the ?Agency?s? plot, to testify. People who thought that shots came from the Grassy Knoll were ignored, or ?silenced?. All doctors that viewed Kennedy?s wounds at Parkland Hospital were not allowed to see the ?Official? autopsy photos at the Warren Commission hearing. People who claimed they saw suspicious characters near the railway tracks were dismissed.

With Lee Harvey Oswald, a then recent Soviet Union Defect, living in the U.S, with links to low-level Intelligence, and seen as both a Communist and Castro Supporter, made him the perfect ?Patsy?.

Jack Ruby, the owner of a strip club, was then threatened by the CIA to murder Oswald or die himself. Evidence that might sustain this theory came from Don Archer, a police officer that was with Jack Ruby after he had shot Oswald. He said, Jack Ruby was sweating profusely, very shaky, and even asked him for a cigarette. When word had got down that Jack Ruby had ?Killed? Oswald, his nervousness ended. He then seemed calmed and claimed that ?He did not smoke? when Don Archer offered him another cigarette.

Now with two perfect decoys, and a Commission containing some of the most corrupt government officials, including FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover. It is unquestionably the perfect stage for a massive government conspiracy.

Although many believe that the Mafia was somehow involved in the Kennedy assassination, I believe that the Military and Intelligence ?Agency?s? had far more beneficial reasons for killing the president ? Money. There is no possible way that any rogue group, outside the government, could execute such a well thought out plan, without access to change motorcade routes, alter, or fake the ?Official? autopsy photos and description and use the Warren Commission to cover-up a conspiracy by the Intelligence and Military network. This is undoubtedly the work of the Agency?s John Fitzgerald Kennedy relied his life on.

This is based on what i think, but hey! Who cares what i think!