jfk assassination: origins of the conspiracy theories

JFK Assassination:

Origins of the

Conspiracy Theories

Presidential Assassinations

Abraham Lincoln: April 14, 1865

Shot by John Wilkes Booth.

Originally started as a kidnapping plan.


John Wilkes Booth

Famous actor at the time; this was a conspiracy

(nowadays maybe we might call it a terrorist act).


William McKinley: September 6, 1901

McKinley had just been reelected and was popular.

Shot in stomach by lone assassin. Died of gangrene a week later.


Leon Czolgosz

Czolgosz was a loner, reportedly bullied and had a poor relationship

with his family. He was influenced by a political activist.

He was tried and executed.

Presidential Assassination (Attempted)

Ronald Reagan: March 30, 1981

Reagan had been in office two months. He was struck in the chest and

had a punctured lung.

Presidential Assassination (Attempted)

John Hinckley Jr.

Hinckley was trying to get attention and impress a movie star.

Found to be insane.

He is in a mental institution in Washington, D.C.

Why So Much Attention to JFK

Assassination?

• Strong political divide between Republicans & Democrats

• JFK had fired CIA chief & was looking to pull out of Vietnam

• Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct 1962)

• The Bay of Pigs (invasion of Cuba) failure (April 1961)

• RFK, as attorney general, was investigating the Mob

• Civil Rights: JFK calls national guard to escort James

Meredith into U. Mississippi

• Later in 1960s, MLK (April 1968) and RFK was killed (June

1968). Conspiracy claims arose

People With Motive (a focal point of all

conspiracy theories)

• The Mob: Because RFK was cracking down on them.

• Segregationists: Because JFK was pushing civil rights.

• CIA: Because they feared JFK wanted to disband the agency.

• Anti-Communists/War hawks: Because JFK wanted the US to

exit Vietnam.

• Castro: Revenge for the attempted invasion.

• Lyndon Johnson: to take the presidency.

Timeline

11:40 Love Field

12:30 Shots

12:36 DP radio re: TSBD

(eyewitness)

12:45 DP radio

description

1:00 LHO home

1:15 Tippit murder

1:40 Apprehended in

Texas Theatre

Lots of Crowds

On Nov 22, 1963

Entering Dealey Plaza

JFK remarked before boarding the plane for Dallas on

November 22, 1963, “if anybody really wants to shoot the

President of the United States … all one has to do is get

high in a building someday, with a telescope rifle, and

there would be nothing anybody could do to defend

against such an attempt.”

Zapruder:

Not the Only Person

With a Camera

Turning onto Houston Street

Hughes film

Croft Photo

(just after turn onto Elm)

Bronson Photo

(moving down Elm St)

Mr. Zapruder’s perspective

Dillard Photo, shortly after

shooting (CE 482)

Powell photo, cropped

View from 6th Floor Window

Elm Street looking back to 6th floor

Bullet Trajectory

Zapruder film

Nix film (opposite from Mr. Zapruder)

Nix film (opposite from Mr. Zapruder)

Moorman photo

Altgens photo (just down from Moorman)

Altgens Photo (enlarged)

Between 2nd and 3rd shoot

Murray Photo

(attention on the TSBD after shooting)

Shots Compared to Zapruder Slides

1st shot: early, missed (Z150-160)

2nd shot: JFK’s neck into GC’s back (Z220-

225). Bullet was recovered & matched to gun.

3rd shot: Entered rear R of skull, exited as 3

large fragments, 2 of which were in front seat.

At some point, a fragment flew forward and hit

bystander, Mr. Tague.

James Tague, hit by fragment

(not possible if shots were from Knoll)

Zapruder

Sniper view

Zapruder

Sniper view

Zapruder

Sniper view

JFK Movie (1991) “Back and to the Left”

Frames 312-313 Zapruder film

(Shows head goes forward… a

moment later, JFK goes backwards

as bullet leaves his head)

Zapruder 313

(from Life Magazine)

It Wasn’t Just the Warren

Report:

8 Investigations into the

Assassination

The Investigations 1. Warren Commission

1. Some testimony taken in secret

2. Evidence sealed, some missing

3. Completed in 10 months

4. Not examine autopsy photos + x-rays

5. FBI did leg work

Origin 2. Clay Shaw Trial (D.A. Jim

Garrison)

The jury returned a defense verdict… in less than an hour.

Shaw sued the District Attorney… and won THREE TIMES.

*5th Circuit: “the district attorney’s relentless harassment of Shaw”

*”Garrison’s prosecution [was in] bad faith and harassing…”

*“The court found a serious question concerning the basis for Garrison’s

decision to investigate the assassination”

*”Garrison had a significant financial interest in the continued prosecution of

Clay Shaw…”

The Investigations 3. Rockefeller Commission

*1975

*Grassy Knoll shooter: Zapruder &

medical evidence

”… no evidence to support the

claim that President Kennedy

was struck by a bullet fired

from... the Grassy Knoll.”

The Investigations 4. Church Committee

*1975

*Investigate FBI / CIA after Watergate

”The Committee emphasizes

that it has not uncovered any

evidence sufficient to justify a

conclusion that there was a

conspiracy to assassinate

President Kennedy.”

5. House Select Committee on

Assassinations (HCSA)

•1976 –1979 “Final Report”

• post Watergate; Cold War

• personnel turnover

•Findings:

• “Scientific accoustical evidence evidence

establishes a high probabillity that 2 gunmen

fired at JFK”

• “The committee believes…that JFK was probably

assassinated as a result of conspiracy.”

but HCSA agreed LHO fired two shots which hit JFK

6. National Academy of Science Report

*1982

• Dept of Justice asked NAS to review acoustic

evidence.

“The acoustic analysis do not

demonstrate that there was a grassy

knoll shot”

“The acoustic impulses attributed to

gunshots were about one minute

after the President had been shot.”

7. Assassination Records Collection Act of

1992

Most records released

to public… no one

found any evidence of

second shooter.

8. National Archives and Records

Administration

*January 2000

Dept of Justice asked for bullet

fragments to be tested for fibers.

“Lab Test on Kennedy Assassination

Evidence Now Complete”

Conspiracy Theories

If this is right, where did bullet go?

No reaction that close to

supposed shooter?

If this is right, where did bullet go?

North Knoll “Sniper”

Mrs. Hopkins was there!

Dealey is not that big for

all of these shooters!

Photo in aftermath of the

shooting (a lot of press around!)

The Newmans

Pretty Good View for Sniper…

But Wouldn’t These People See or

Hear???

Grassy Knoll Shooter

• Argument in support:

- Shot(s) heard from that direction.

- Some claimed to see a puff of smoke.

- One witness claimed to see shooter there.

- Dramatic rearward lurch of JFK’s head.

Grassy Knoll Shooter

Evidence AGAINST:

- No physical trace there (rifle, shells).

- No damage to left side of Kennedy’s skull.

- Where would this bullet have gone after hitting JFK?

- All fragments from crime scene trace back to Oswald’s

rifle ballistically/chemically.

- Too close up there – bystanders would have seen

and heard.

Evidence of Oswald’s

Guilt

Lee Harvey Oswald

Midnight Press Conference

Evidence of Guilt

•LHO tested positive on hands, not cheek

• Odd behavior of fleeing

•Owned rifle

•Seen carrying odd package in that morning

•Paper bag found, nothing in it

•Rifle on 6th floor, last person there

•Witnesses

“Backyard Photos”

Paper Bag

Sniper’s nest

“Magic Bullet” Theory


Same height

This diagram has the men: (1) in front of

each other and (2) at the same height

(Paris Match)

Magic Bullet Theory

relies on wrong seating

arrangement


Same

height


Vs. Height Difference

JFK sitting here Gov sitting here

Seats are not

at the same

height

Limo at Love Field


Actual Alignment

JFK Movie (1991) “Back and to the Left”

In the movie, they use

the wrong seating

arrangement to

“prove” the Magic

Bullet Theory.

Actual Limo is in a Museum in Michigan

Actual Limo is in a Museum in Michigan

Seats are not

the same

height, size,

and are not

directly in front

of each other

Weird

West Palm Beach

Connection

To JFK Assassination

Oswald’s “Best Friend” Died in Palm

Beach

Why Make Up Conspiracy Theories?

Lessons from JFK Assassination

• Popular opinion is not fact.

•Eyewitness testimony is not the best evidence.

•A good story, does not make a conspiracy story

true.

•Is the person telling the story trying to “sell” you

something?

The End

Zapruder film (enhanced)

jfk assassination: origins of the conspiracy theories

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