Jfk Assassination

It was the chilling CBS Radio Broadcast heard by millions of Americans that marked one of the biggest mysteries of modern time.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States is dead. John F. Kennedy has died of the wounds received in the assassination in Dallas... We Repeat- President Kennedy is dead."(Bennett 75)

Although the assassination of President John F. Kennedy occurred forty-four years ago, the buzz surrounding his death never died down (Anders). It's the most controversial case in U.S. history. Was Lee Harvey Oswald the lone killer, or is there more to the story? If you are like most Americans, you believe it was a conspiracy that killed JFK and have heard the numerous stories of how it probably happened. The number of factual oddities present in the theory, claiming the CIA and the Mafia backed the murder, is enough to make even the biggest skeptic a believer (Anders).

It was the morning of November 22, 1963. The motorcade planned to "snake" through downtown Dallas, ending at the Dallas Trade Mart, where the President would make a speech (Bennett 10). Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry drove the first truck of the motorcade, followed by 3 motorcycles and the Presidential Limousine, which seated: two Secret Service, John and Jackie Kennedy in the back seat, and Texas Governor John Connally and wife, Nellie, riding in the front (Bennett 10). Four more motorcycles followed, along with more Secret Service, Vice President Johnson and his wife, and the press (Bennett 10). Despite fears about anti-Kennedy sentiments, there were tons of people in Downtown Dallas waiting to see the President and his wife (Bennett 12).

Junot 2

After traveling down Main Street, the motorcade turned onto Houston Street , then made the final turn on Elm Street in front of the Texas School Book Depository- a seven story warehouse for textbooks (Bennett 14). As they passed the depository, Nellie Connally turned to the president and said, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you."(Bennett 12) As Merriam Smith, a White House Correspondent, recalls,

"Suddenly, we heard three loud, almost painfully loud cracks. The first sounded as if it might have been a large firecracker. But the second and third blasts were unmistakable. Gunfire."(Newseum 24)

It wasn't until after the third, fatal shot- received five seconds after the first- that the limousine sped off to Parkland Hospital (Hurt 16). Those moments marked the start of one of the most intensely studied few seconds in history, caught on film (Hurt 14).

Dallas Police Department- Radio Transmission: Officer 260, "I have a witness that says that [the gunfire] came from the 5th floor of the Texas Book Depository Store."(Bennett 34) About an hour after that dispatch was sent out, the suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested, hiding in the balcony of the Texas Theater (Bennett 55). As accounted for by a reporter, "Lee Oswald has denied it to the world... he told us all this morning that he didn't kill the president."(Bennett 109) On November 24th the Dallas Police planned to transfer Oswald from the city jail to the county jail, where a crowd of reporters had gathered to watch the move. As written in the New Orleans State Item,

"The Dallas Times Herald, Reported today the FBI had received and anonymous telephone tip that an attempt would be made on Oswald's life during his transfer...The FBI would not confirm." (Oswald 4)

As Oswald was being led out, a man reportedly lunged forward, pointed his pistol, and fired (Bennett 80). Tom Pettit, NBC News, reported live on the scene, "He's been shot! He's been shot! Lee Oswald has been shot! There's absolute panic, absolute panic here in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters..."(Bennett 207). The gunman was identified as Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner.

"It was an incredible climax to the wildest weekend in Dallas history- a savage, sudden moment of raw drama that was caught by national television..."(Oswald 4)

Despite what the media, which is controlled by the government, lead others to believe, Lee Harvey Oswald was not the lone killer. There is reason to believe that it was actually a conspiracy brought about by a combination of the Mafia and the CIA. The Kennedy family had been linked to the Mafia since the 1920's (Philebar). It began when JFK's father Joseph Kennedy and mob leader Sam Giancana, started illegally smuggling scotch, from Cuba, into the U.S. during the age of prohibition (Alexander). Pete Philebar also claims that the Mafia helped John Kennedy get elected in Chicago. Trouble began when both John and Robert Kennedy, JFK's brother, intensified government investigations into the mob's activities(Alexander). Then came the Bay of Pigs fiasco of 1961. According to Philebar, because the operation was unsuccessful, the casinos in Cuba, which were operated by the Mafia and had been shut down by Castro, were not started up again. Therefore, leaving the mob no place to hide their "dirty" money (Crime Library). The Bay of Pigs also gave way to the CIA's motive as a response to a wave of firings Kennedy ordered after the disaster, starting with CIA director Allen Dulles (Crime Library).

With this underlying hatred for Kennedy by both the mafia and the CIA, it's unrealistic to believe Oswald was the only assassin. As far as Pete Philebar is concerned, "Oswald wasn't even one of the shooters involved." "Many witnesses saw him buy an orange Crush and watch Kennedy go by," says Philebar. He might have been in the Marines, but Oswald was a marksman not a sharp shooter (Oswald 1). "There's no way he could have released so many bullets in only eight seconds," says Pete. Among the two hundred sixty-six known witnesses to the attack, thirty-two placed the origin of the shots at the Texas School Board Depository, which was above and behind Kennedy; fifty-one witnesses- including two Secret Service and many police officers- believed that the shots came from the area of the grassy knoll, above and in front of Kennedy. Others thought the shots came from both directions (Hurt 16). One of the most convincing of these grassy knoll witnesses was Gordon Arnold, who had just been released from Army boot camp (Hurt 16). There, he had been required to crawl on the ground with bullets "whizzing" inches above his head (Hurt 17). " I knew the sound and the sensation like the back of my hand," Arnold proclaims as he states that the bullets came from behind him on the grassy knoll (Hurt