The Kennedy Assassination

Definitions

• Governor Connally- Governor of Texas

• Lee Harvy Oswald- man who shot President Kennedy

• Texas School Book Depository- Where Warren Commission says JFK was shot from

Definitions

• Warren Commission- a seven person committee appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the JFK assassination

• Warren Commission Report- a 26 volume report that was put out in 1964 and stated the Warren Commission’s findings

Definitions

• Grassy Knoll- a hill where some people and the House Select Committee believe a shot may have been fired from

• House Select Committee- a committee that was appointed to re-open and investigate the Kennedy assassination in 1976

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ELM

GRASSY

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DRIVER Gov. JFK and Wife

Why is there controversy?

• 76% believe in a conspiracy theory

• Psychological explanations– Magnicide theory– JFK is father figure

• Whole nation experiences loss

Peculiar Circumstances

• LBJ and Texas ties• Atmosphere of cold war• No judicial process

– Lee Harvy Oswald assassinated by Jack Ruby– Jack Ruby also killed

• Other assassinations of the time– Robert Kennedy– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Peculiar Circumstances

• Key witnesses silenced– 2 reporters go to Ruby’s after he kills Oswald

and say they find information, they are both killed

– Cab driver killed- Oswald takes cab right after assassination

• Entertainment Value- is exciting and dramatic

Peculiar Circumstances

• Disappearance of Kennedy’s brain

• Credibility Gap

• Botched Medical Evidence by Warren Commission– Issued in 1964- 10 months later– They conclude 3 shots from book depository– 1st- neck of JFK, 2nd , Conally, 3rd- head shot

Peculiar Circumstances

• Limo driver slows down

• Oswald is 5’8” when enters Marines, 5’11” when he leaves, man they do autopsy on is 5’ 9”- some say it is a different Oswald

Warren Commission Report

• Problems with this• Zapruder film shows Connally reacting .7

seconds after Kennedy shot, takes 2.3 seconds to refire – Either a conspiracy or magic bullet– Say this bullet hits JFK in back of neck, exits

out neck, strikes Connaly in back, exits chest, goes into wrist, exits out, and lands in leg in pristine condition.

Warren Commission Report- 3rd Shot

• WC says shot from back from book depository, but head goes backward

Warren Commission Controversy

• 1st shot- – Dr.’s in Dallas do tracheotomy– Don’t see wound in back of neck- assume shot

from front– Jackie has body moved to Parkland hospital

• They see wound in back, tracheotomy and head wound

• They re-write autopsy and mess it up.

Warren Commission Controversy

• 1st shot- neck– W.C. sketch indicates wound 5” down back,

also hole in jacket– Report says shot in neck

Warren Commission Controversy

• 3rd shot- head shot

• Neurological spasm

• Policemen behind JFK hit with blood and brain matter

• 6.5 mm rifle wouldn’t cause brain to explode like it did– Conspiracy? Different gun?

House Select Committee

• Study the assassination from 1976-1979

• Say it was a conspiracy

• 1st shot missed

House Select Committee

• 2nd shot- could have come from book depository and hit both Kennedy and Connolly– Neutron activation analysis- same material– Said autopsy sketch was just a bad sketch– JFK reacting to first shot and put shoulders up– Would also explain why Connaly says not same

bullet

House Select Committee

• 3rd shot misses- fired from grassy knoll

• 4th shot- head shot– Use dictobelts- recreate the scene, come up

with same sounds– Use Jet Effect to explain head going backwards– Say wind catches brain matter and blows it

backwards

House Select Committee

4th Shot-– X-ray skull and see beveling motion in back

where bullet entered.

Why there is controversy about the grassy knoll

• Umbrella man-– Think he is the signal man

• Orville Nix film- shows people running toward grassy knoll

• Julia A. Mercer testimony- saw two men, fit description of Oswald and Ruby, one went to the knoll

Why there is controversy about the grassy knoll

• Lee Bowers- reports seeing smoke from grassy knoll

• J.M. Smith (policeman)- says man holding gun shows secret service ID- – Secret service says no one there

• Dictobelt locates shot at grassy knoll

Motive of Oswald

• Personality- resented authority

• Has difficulty establishing meaningful relationships

• Wants to establish place in history

• He is a radical committed to Marxism

• Has ties to Castro

Feel FBI Is Involved

• Oswald not on list of dangerous people

• Hoover destroys FBI files on Oswald

• Feel they are trying to cover-up

Foreign Government Involved

• Cuba-– Feel Castro is after Kennedy as part of Cold

War

• U.S.S.R.– Think they sent Oswald back to kill Kennedy

• Vietnam- Diem family– U.S. helped overthrow Diem and have him

killed

Involvement of Mafia

• Can link JFK, Oswald, and Ruby with ties to the mafia through phone calls

• Mafia provides JFK with money and women and then he sends his brother, Robert Kennedy, the Attorney General, after them.

• Judith C. Ernor, one of Kennedy’s mistresses, murdered before she can testify

Involvement of Mafia

• David Ferry, contact agent for CIA, has ties to mafia

• He dies during the trial and his best friend is killed the same day.