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.
Presidential Assassinations
John Wilkes Booth
Famous actor at the time; this was a conspiracy
(nowadays maybe we might call it a terrorist act).
Presidential Assassinations
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.
Presidential Assassinations
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 (Z220225). 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
No reaction that close to
supposed shooter?
If this is right, where did bullet go?
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
“Magic Bullet” Theory
Same height
This diagram has the men: (1) in front of
each other and (2) at the same height
Magic Bullet Theory
relies on wrong seating
arrangement
(Paris Match)
“Magic Bullet” Theory
Same
height
“Magic Bullet” Theory
Vs. Height Difference
JFK sitting here
Seats are not
at the same
height
Gov sitting here
Limo at Love Field
“Magic Bullet” Theory
Actual Alignment
“Magic Bullet” Theory
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)