The Warren Commission determined in 1964 that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. In the half a century since, polls have never indicated more than 30% of American believe that.
Vincent Bugliosi estimates that 214 different people have been accused in various conspiracies ranging across 42 groups with 82 possible gunmen.
In 1979, the United States House Select Committee on Assassination concluded that a second gunman besides Oswald probably fired at Kennedy. Afterwards, the acoustic evidence it used for this determination was dismissed.
From the beginning there was a rush to cover- up what happened. Discrepancies include the body being taken from Texas back to Washington the same day of the shooting and illegally.
The original autopsy was destroyed. What was thought to be the original, to the right, is one made later. The original photos from the autopsy also went missing.
Kennedy had many enemies, including numerous Americans.
Earlier in 1963, after being arrested in New Orleans, Oswald asked to speak to the FBI. He did, but just a memo that the talk occurred was filed. The FBI never followed up. Why?
Sam Giancana, from the Chicago “Outfit” and Kennedy actually shared a mistress at one point, Judith Campbell Exner. She arranged meetings between Kennedy and Giancana regarding assassinating Castro.
Giancana, and the Outfit, had supposedly helped Kennedy win Chicago, and thus Illinois, in the 1960 election. They felt Kennedy wasn’t living up to his end of the “deal.”
Carlos Marcello, head of the New Orleans mob, wasn’t happy with the Kennedy brothers. Bobbie Kennedy had him deported out of the country and dumped in the middle of Guatemala in 1961. Jack Ruby, who would shoot Oswald, was supposed to be in debt to Marcello.
Kennedy’s Administration had sanctioned the Bay of Pigs and several assassination attempts on Fidel Castro.
Kennedy had faced down the Russians during the Cuban Missile Crisis, forcing their ships to turn back. In return, of course, but little known, we removed our Jupiter missiles from Turkey and Italy.
There are many theories, but none of them quite fit. It seems as if the top level of government would have to be in on the coverup if there was more to it than just Oswald. Why would it do that?
What if the answer were very simple? That there were two ‘gunmen’. And the identity of the 2nd gunman is the reason for the cover-up which began immediately?
The first gunman was, of course, Lee Harvey Oswald.
It’s the second gunman that’s the problem. A Secret Service Agent in the follow car.
The Agent, not part of the normal security detail, was issued a weapon he wasn’t familiar with, an AR-15. Upon hearing the first shot, he jumped to his feet. Just as the car accelerated, also in response to the first shot. Losing his balance, the agent accidentally discharged the weapon. Kennedy had already suffered a wound that would be fatal, but this round was the infamous head shot and has given birth to many of the conspiracy theories.
Could such an accident be admitted? Or was the reality known by those who made the decisions, including the President’s widow, and the decision was made to keep it quiet?
We may never know. But what did Mrs. Kennedy mean when, during the viewing of her husband’s body in the Rotunda, she told Russian Ambassador Mikoyan: “I am sure that Chairman Khrushchev and my husband could have been successful in the search for peace, and they were really striving for that. Now the Chairman must continue the agreed upon endeavor and bring it to completion.”
What was The Kennedy Endeavor? Why was his mistress, Mary Meyer, killed a year later? Why was Khrushchev forced out of power the very next day? What was in Mary Meyer’s diary that disappeared?
A free slideshow on this topic and many others about interesting history, survival, writing and other topics is on my web site at www.bobmayer.com/workshops
Recent Comments