November 22
In the sixty years between Pearl Harbor Day and the destruction of the World Trade Center, the most traumatic event in the lives of the American people was the assassination of President John F Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
While the other two events created national unity in the face of attacks by foreign enemies, the Kennedy case and subsequent investigations have sparked division, cynicism, and distrust of our government. Those with an agenda of generating suspicion and hostility toward Lyndon Johnson, the CIA and the federal government have deliberately fostered Kennedy conspiracy and cover-up theories to advance their causes. The mistrust of the US government resulting from the Vietnam War and Watergate have also made these conspiracy/cover-up theories appear more plausible in retrospect than they seemed at that time.
President Lyndon Johnson appointed a commission to investigate the assassination under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren. The Warren Commission blamed the crime on Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone. In 1967 New Orleans District Attorney charged local businessman Clay Shaw with plotting the assassination, but he was acquitted by a jury in 1969. In 1975 the House of Representatives convened a select committee to reconsider the findings of the Warren Commission and probe other major assassinations.
The Kennedy case has been the subject of numerous books, a ghastly spoof Broadway play (1) and a major film(2). As the anniversary of the tragedy approaches this week, let us return to that sunny early Friday afternoon in downtown Dallas to learn what really happened.
On a political trip to Texas, President and Mrs. Kennedy arrived at Dallas Love Field on Air Force One late in the morning of November 22, 1963. The presidential Lincoln Continental convertible limousine was to take them, along with Governor and Mrs. John Connally, through downtown Dallas to the Trade Mart, where the President was scheduled to speak.
President Kennedy was seated in the right rear seat of the limo, next to Jacqueline. Governor Connally was seated directly in front of the President, next to his wife, and two Secret Service Agents occupied the front seats.
Shortly after passing the Texas Schoolbook Depository (TSD) at about 12:35 PM, the limo entered the on-ramp to the Stemmons Freeway, which led to the Trade Mart. Suddenly a rifle shot rang out among the tall buildings behind the motorcade, and President Kennedy clutched his throat, where a bullet that pierced the base of his neck had expelled a sharp bone-splinter. As Governor Connally turned toward the President, a second shot tore through the Governor. Seconds later, a third shot hit President Kennedy in the head.
Dallas police escorted the limo to Parkland Hospital, where President Kennedy was pronounced dead, and major surgery managed to save the Governor.
About an hour after the shootings, Dallas Police Officer J D Tippit was shot to death in northern Dallas, and a suspect named Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested at a nearby movie theater with a gun in his pocket. When the FBI determined that a rifle found in the sixth floor of the TSD had been ordered by Oswald, he was also charged with the murder of President Kennedy. On Sunday morning, November 24, Oswald was shot to death in the basement of the Dallas Central Police Station by Jack Ruby (aka Rubenstein), a nightclub owner with a long history of Mafia connections.
1. Who was Lee Harvey Oswald?
His father died shortly after his birth in 1939, and he grew up as a troubled youngster in New Orleans and New York City. After high school he joined the Marine Corps, where he earned the designation of "expert marksman."
Oswald obtained a hardship discharge from the Marines and then moved to the Soviet Union, where he married and worked a few years. He returned to the United States with his wife and daughter in 1962. Oswald formed a one-man chapter of the pro-Castro Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans while associating with anti-Castro Cuban exiles.
In early 1963 Oswald and his wife moved to Dallas; she lived with friends in Irving while Lee rented a room in northern Dallas. Lee Oswald travelled to Mexico City to inquire about moving to Cuba and the Soviet Union, but neither county would accept him. He was hired as warehouse laborer at the TSD about a month before the assassination.
Oswald's widow later told investigators that Lee had fired a shot at retired Gen. Edwin Walker in April of that year, but missed.
2. What is the evidence that Oswald shot President Kennedy?
Oswald bought the Italian World War II rifle that police found in the TSD under a phony name via mail-order, and he had used it to shoot at General Walker. Ballistic and chemical tests indicated that the bullet fragments retrieved from the President's body were fired from this rifle. Three shell casings were also found on a window sill of the TSD facing the motorcade route. Oswald's palm-print was detected on the interior surface of this rifle.
The man who drove Oswald to work on the fateful morning reported that he was carrying a long package (said to be curtain rods) into the building.
3. What about reports that some shots were fired from behind a fence on a grassy knoll to the right of the motorcade route?
None of the five surviving passengers in the limo saw any shots fired from that direction. In addition, a bullet fired from the front would have hit the windshield, the agents in the front seat, or other parts of the limo-----and none did. When the occupants of the limo are properly aligned, all bullet trajectories are consistent only with a gun behind and about six flights above the vehicle.
4. Where did Oswald go after the shootings?
He took a bus and then a cab to his rooming house, where he put a hand-gun in his pocket and walked out. Witnesses identified Oswald as the young white man who shot Officer Tippit about two blocks from the rooming house, and ballistic tests confirmed that the gun in Oswald's pocket when he was arrested at the nearby Texas Theater was used in the officer's murder. Tippit presumably stopped Oswald for questioning, since he fit the description broadcast over police radio of a missing TSD employee wanted for questioning. If Oswald had not been involved in the Kennedy/Connally shootings, there is no reason he would have shot the officer.
5. If Oswald was the assassin, was he part of a conspiracy?
He associated with people with very strong animosity toward President Kennedy (both anti-Castro Cubans and those with mob connections), although no one recalled hearing him express such sentiments.
His movements after the shootings indicate that he had planned to meet someone near the rooming house, perhaps for a ride to some safe place, but something went wrong.
A thorough search of his room in Dallas and lodgings in Irving turned up no ammunition at all, so it is likely that his box of bullets was kept by someone else. There is no record of Oswald ever buying ammunition for his rifle.
Despite these hints at involvement by others in the crime, there is no evidence that Oswald conspired with anyone else, and after all this time, there probably never will be.
6. What motive did Oswald have for shooting President Kennedy?
He might have learned of Kennedy's approval of attempts to kill Fidel Castro, and decided to seek revenge. He died without ever confessing guilt.
7. Why did Jack Ruby kill Oswald?
Ruby died in 1967, without revealing his true motive. In his twisted view of reality, Ruby may have believed he would be hailed as a hero of some sort for avenging the President.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1)The play entitled MacBird, by Barbara Garson, was a parody of Shakespeare's MacBeth, in which the title character was identified with Lyndon Johnson and the slain king with John Kennedy. Following the plot of the Shakespearean tragedy, MacBird implies Johnson was responsible for the assassination. The author later wrote that "I couldn't seriously believe it (Johnson's guilt), but it was fun to play with anyway." Mrs. Garson and her audience apparently shared a dispicable idea of "fun."
(2) The 1991 film JFK by Oliver Stone was based upon Jim Garrison's memoir of his investigation. Although the jury took less than an hour to acquit Garrison's suspect, the film (starring Kevin Costner as Garrison) makes his case seem quite plausible. An anonymous former intelligence officer in the film also tells Garrison that the CIA was ultimately responsible for the murder of the President, and that Shaw was acting for the Agency. (Actually, Clay Shaw was a CIA informant, but never an agent.)
While the other two events created national unity in the face of attacks by foreign enemies, the Kennedy case and subsequent investigations have sparked division, cynicism, and distrust of our government. Those with an agenda of generating suspicion and hostility toward Lyndon Johnson, the CIA and the federal government have deliberately fostered Kennedy conspiracy and cover-up theories to advance their causes. The mistrust of the US government resulting from the Vietnam War and Watergate have also made these conspiracy/cover-up theories appear more plausible in retrospect than they seemed at that time.
President Lyndon Johnson appointed a commission to investigate the assassination under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren. The Warren Commission blamed the crime on Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone. In 1967 New Orleans District Attorney charged local businessman Clay Shaw with plotting the assassination, but he was acquitted by a jury in 1969. In 1975 the House of Representatives convened a select committee to reconsider the findings of the Warren Commission and probe other major assassinations.
The Kennedy case has been the subject of numerous books, a ghastly spoof Broadway play (1) and a major film(2). As the anniversary of the tragedy approaches this week, let us return to that sunny early Friday afternoon in downtown Dallas to learn what really happened.
On a political trip to Texas, President and Mrs. Kennedy arrived at Dallas Love Field on Air Force One late in the morning of November 22, 1963. The presidential Lincoln Continental convertible limousine was to take them, along with Governor and Mrs. John Connally, through downtown Dallas to the Trade Mart, where the President was scheduled to speak.
President Kennedy was seated in the right rear seat of the limo, next to Jacqueline. Governor Connally was seated directly in front of the President, next to his wife, and two Secret Service Agents occupied the front seats.
Shortly after passing the Texas Schoolbook Depository (TSD) at about 12:35 PM, the limo entered the on-ramp to the Stemmons Freeway, which led to the Trade Mart. Suddenly a rifle shot rang out among the tall buildings behind the motorcade, and President Kennedy clutched his throat, where a bullet that pierced the base of his neck had expelled a sharp bone-splinter. As Governor Connally turned toward the President, a second shot tore through the Governor. Seconds later, a third shot hit President Kennedy in the head.
Dallas police escorted the limo to Parkland Hospital, where President Kennedy was pronounced dead, and major surgery managed to save the Governor.
About an hour after the shootings, Dallas Police Officer J D Tippit was shot to death in northern Dallas, and a suspect named Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested at a nearby movie theater with a gun in his pocket. When the FBI determined that a rifle found in the sixth floor of the TSD had been ordered by Oswald, he was also charged with the murder of President Kennedy. On Sunday morning, November 24, Oswald was shot to death in the basement of the Dallas Central Police Station by Jack Ruby (aka Rubenstein), a nightclub owner with a long history of Mafia connections.
1. Who was Lee Harvey Oswald?
His father died shortly after his birth in 1939, and he grew up as a troubled youngster in New Orleans and New York City. After high school he joined the Marine Corps, where he earned the designation of "expert marksman."
Oswald obtained a hardship discharge from the Marines and then moved to the Soviet Union, where he married and worked a few years. He returned to the United States with his wife and daughter in 1962. Oswald formed a one-man chapter of the pro-Castro Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans while associating with anti-Castro Cuban exiles.
In early 1963 Oswald and his wife moved to Dallas; she lived with friends in Irving while Lee rented a room in northern Dallas. Lee Oswald travelled to Mexico City to inquire about moving to Cuba and the Soviet Union, but neither county would accept him. He was hired as warehouse laborer at the TSD about a month before the assassination.
Oswald's widow later told investigators that Lee had fired a shot at retired Gen. Edwin Walker in April of that year, but missed.
2. What is the evidence that Oswald shot President Kennedy?
Oswald bought the Italian World War II rifle that police found in the TSD under a phony name via mail-order, and he had used it to shoot at General Walker. Ballistic and chemical tests indicated that the bullet fragments retrieved from the President's body were fired from this rifle. Three shell casings were also found on a window sill of the TSD facing the motorcade route. Oswald's palm-print was detected on the interior surface of this rifle.
The man who drove Oswald to work on the fateful morning reported that he was carrying a long package (said to be curtain rods) into the building.
3. What about reports that some shots were fired from behind a fence on a grassy knoll to the right of the motorcade route?
None of the five surviving passengers in the limo saw any shots fired from that direction. In addition, a bullet fired from the front would have hit the windshield, the agents in the front seat, or other parts of the limo-----and none did. When the occupants of the limo are properly aligned, all bullet trajectories are consistent only with a gun behind and about six flights above the vehicle.
4. Where did Oswald go after the shootings?
He took a bus and then a cab to his rooming house, where he put a hand-gun in his pocket and walked out. Witnesses identified Oswald as the young white man who shot Officer Tippit about two blocks from the rooming house, and ballistic tests confirmed that the gun in Oswald's pocket when he was arrested at the nearby Texas Theater was used in the officer's murder. Tippit presumably stopped Oswald for questioning, since he fit the description broadcast over police radio of a missing TSD employee wanted for questioning. If Oswald had not been involved in the Kennedy/Connally shootings, there is no reason he would have shot the officer.
5. If Oswald was the assassin, was he part of a conspiracy?
He associated with people with very strong animosity toward President Kennedy (both anti-Castro Cubans and those with mob connections), although no one recalled hearing him express such sentiments.
His movements after the shootings indicate that he had planned to meet someone near the rooming house, perhaps for a ride to some safe place, but something went wrong.
A thorough search of his room in Dallas and lodgings in Irving turned up no ammunition at all, so it is likely that his box of bullets was kept by someone else. There is no record of Oswald ever buying ammunition for his rifle.
Despite these hints at involvement by others in the crime, there is no evidence that Oswald conspired with anyone else, and after all this time, there probably never will be.
6. What motive did Oswald have for shooting President Kennedy?
He might have learned of Kennedy's approval of attempts to kill Fidel Castro, and decided to seek revenge. He died without ever confessing guilt.
7. Why did Jack Ruby kill Oswald?
Ruby died in 1967, without revealing his true motive. In his twisted view of reality, Ruby may have believed he would be hailed as a hero of some sort for avenging the President.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1)The play entitled MacBird, by Barbara Garson, was a parody of Shakespeare's MacBeth, in which the title character was identified with Lyndon Johnson and the slain king with John Kennedy. Following the plot of the Shakespearean tragedy, MacBird implies Johnson was responsible for the assassination. The author later wrote that "I couldn't seriously believe it (Johnson's guilt), but it was fun to play with anyway." Mrs. Garson and her audience apparently shared a dispicable idea of "fun."
(2) The 1991 film JFK by Oliver Stone was based upon Jim Garrison's memoir of his investigation. Although the jury took less than an hour to acquit Garrison's suspect, the film (starring Kevin Costner as Garrison) makes his case seem quite plausible. An anonymous former intelligence officer in the film also tells Garrison that the CIA was ultimately responsible for the murder of the President, and that Shaw was acting for the Agency. (Actually, Clay Shaw was a CIA informant, but never an agent.)
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 2:51 PM
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