Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
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Transcript of Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
November 22, 1963
Assignment
• Your notes on the people involved in the assassination and ultimately who you think did it will be your assignment.
Early life
Born to Elizabeth and Joseph Kennedy on May 29, 1917. Wealthy family.
Military
Served in the US Navy during World War II in the South Pacific as PT-Boat captain.
Congressional Career
Served Massachusetts’ 11th House District in the US House of Representatives from 1947-1953.
Served in the US Senate form 1953 through 1960.
Election to Presidency
Kennedy defeated Vice President andRepublican candidate Richard Nixon. At age 43, he was the youngest elected to the office and the second youngest President (after Teddy Roosevelt.
First person born in the 20th century to serve as president
First Catholic to serve as President.
The debate that won Kennedy the election
Election Results very close
Kennedy 34,220,984Nixon 34,108,157
Very active Presidency
“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”• Peace Corps• Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba (US trained Cubans
sent in to take over the Castro regime)• Cuban Missile Crisis• We will go to the moon• Attorney General Robert Kennedy went after the
Mob very aggressively.
Theories are many
• Though the Warren Commission researched the killing of President Kennedy very closely, many people have conspiracy theories about how President Kennedy died.
Lee Harvey Oswald
The Warren Commission came to the conclusion that John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Warren Commission Single Bullet Theory
As Lee Harvey Oswald could not fire his bolt-action rifle fast enough to wound President Kennedy and Governor John Connally and with separate shots, they argued that a single bullet hit Kennedy in the back of the neck and exited from the throat just below the Adam's apple. The same bullet entered Connally's back, exited from his chest, went completely through his right wrist, and lodged in his left thigh.
Texas Book Depository
• (1) The shots which killed President Kennedy and wounded Governor Connally were fired from the sixth floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository. This determination is based upon the following:
• Witnesses at the scene of the assassination saw a rifle being fired from the sixth-floor window of the Depository Building, and some witnesses saw a rifle in the window immediately after the shots were fired.
What about all of the mafia theories?
David Scheim has published two books claimingthat the Mafia were responsible for theassassination of Kennedy. He believes that it wasorganized by three mafia bosses including JimmyHoffa. This theory is based on the idea that theMafia were angry with both Kennedy and hisbrother Robert Kennedy for their attempts todestroy organized crime.
Cuban/Russian Communist Plot
Author James Angleton believed that Russian Leader Nikita Khrushchev was involved in the assassination. He claimed that Khrushchev sought revenge after he had been humiliated by Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Anti-Castro movement
Author Anthony Summers believes that Kennedy was killed by a group of anti-Castro activists, funded by mafia mobsters who had been ousted by Cuba and had the help of the CIA.
Rich Texas Oilmen and Johnson
Just before Kennedy was assassinated he upset people like Clint Murchinson and Haroldson Hunt when he talked about plans to submit to Congress a tax reform plan designed to produce about $185,000,000 in additional revenues by changes in the favorable tax treatment until then accorded the gas-oil industry. Kennedy was particularly upset that Hunt, who had an annual income of about $30,000,000, paid only small amounts of federal income tax. Some claimed Johnson himself was part of it.
John Birch Society
Harry Dean was an undercover agent for the FBI. In 1962 he infiltrated the John Birch Society. He later reported that leading members of the society hired two gunman to kill President Kennedy.
Central Intelligence Agency
After the assassination of President Kennedy, CIA agent Gary Underhill told his friend, Charlene Fitsimmons, that he was convinced that he had been killed by members of the CIA. He also said: "Oswald is a patsy. They set him up. It's too much. The bastards have done something outrageous. They've killed the President! I've been listening and hearing things. I couldn't believe they'd get away with it, but they did!"
Abraham Zapruder
At the time of the assassination, Zapruder was anadmirer of President Kennedy and considered himself a Democrat. Not originally intending to bring his camera to work in order to film the motorcade, Zapruder, at the insistence of his assistant, retrieved it from home before going to Dealey Plaza.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq1PbgeBQ4
Was it Oswald or some type of conspiracy?