The day was November 22, 1963. Everyone in my generation remembers where he or she was the moment President John F. Kennedy was killed. The following days were devastating as we all gathered around our TVs and watched the elaborate funeral and heard about the chilling details of the murder. Everyone was living in anger and sadness, wondering why Lee Harvey Oswald would commit such an atrocity. Then, out of nowhere, a second murder occurred. A man named Jack Ruby completely destroyed any chances the American public had of finding out what really happened. That moment would ignite the most talked about conspiracy theory of modern times.
Who Really Shot John F. Kennedy?
Looking back, this tragedy marked my first experience with government cover-ups, and boy, what a cover-up it has been. Let’s go back to that day, shall we? They expected us to believe that a disgruntled young man took up an undetected sniper position in a building (in an area of Dallas covered with police and Secret Service personnel), sat in an open window six stories up, and shot President Kennedy with a bolt-action 91/38 Carcano rifle? (And, by the way, even the government has admitted that this rifle is a chunky piece of junk that has the same chance of blowing up in the shooter’s face as it does of firing properly.)
Then, after Oswald shot the president, he just strolled off and headed to a movie theater to catch a matinee. While en route, Officer J.D. Tippit recognized and confronted him. Oswald killed Tippit and was immediately caught and arrested for murdering a police officer. He was promptly booked and then re-arrested for shooting JFK. OK, are you still with me? Next, while police were moving their suspect to a more secure jail through the basement of the Dallas Police headquarters, a nightclub owner pushed his way through reporters and shot Oswald, killing him instantly with a concealed .38 revolver. Hmm … something smells fishy here.
The Funeral
After the funeral and all the news about Oswald’s murder, the country settled down in front of their TVs to find out the details of what happened. Now, you have to remember that this was before cable news and investigative reporting, so we were relying on three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) to tell us what was up. The government informed us that they were putting together a team of experts to do a complete investigation. This became the famous Warren Commission. What was strange to me was that the former head of the CIA (see sidebar on possible conspirators) was appointed to this investigation. We all eagerly awaited the findings since we knew something was shady, but we didn’t know exactly what the conspiracy theory was yet.
When the 888-page Warren Commission Report was finally delivered, it flew off the bookshelves at all the stores. I read it three times before I actually stopped laughing. They wanted us to believe this shmuck. Oswald fired three shots at a moving target with his bolt-action rifle. One shot was a miss, which I totally believe. Oswald’s second shot became known as the “Magic Bullet.” It supposedly struck the President to the right of his spine, came out the front of his neck, went into Texas Governor Connally’s chest, traveled through Connally’s wrist, and lodged itself in his thigh. Then, Oswald fired another shot to the back of the President’s head, which ultimately killed him. It is amazing that the government is still sticking to this story over 50 years later.
The Plot Thickens
Eventually, a film by Abraham Zapruder of the actual killing shot surfaced. It provided some pretty amazing evidence that there were most likely two shooters. In addition, an audio analysis in the 1970s showed that there could have been up to six shots fired. It is weird they only found three bullet casings from Oswald’s position. You do the math. Oh, and don’t get me started about the man with the black umbrella or the shrapnel wound of bystander James Tague. Were the truth told, there are tons of head-scratching evidence surrounding this historical event.
My generation knows that this assassination is a government cover-up—we have known this for over five decades. In fact, there are still 520 documents that haven’t been released to the public because they might cause panic. Sadly, by the time they are released, it is most likely no one will even remember President Kennedy or care about how or why he was assassinated.
So, the next time you talk to any baby boomers, make sure to ask them who killed Kennedy. The answers will all be different, but there will likely be one piece of common ground: Don’t trust Big Brother, and be sure to question everything.
Quick Facts:
70 percent of Americans do not believe Oswald acted alone.
Top Five Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy Theory Suspects:
The Cuban Government
The CIA
The Soviet Union
The Mafia
Lyndon B. Johnson
Want to dive even deeper into this story? Check out this book by Paul Landis: The Final Witness: A Kennedy Secret Service Agent Breaks His Silence After Sixty Years
