John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory

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Revision as of 08:11, 17 November 2013

Some dare call it

Conspiracy

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Secrets revealed!
The revealers

The assassination of John F. Kennedy is one of the most popular sources for conspiracy theories. The people who subsrcibe to these theories often focus on the idea that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone, that he was a "patsy," or that Oswald didn't commit the murder at all. They also often argue that shots were fired from the "grassy knoll" near Dealey Plaza in Dallas, and not only from the Texas School Book Depository from where Oswald shot Kennedy. Some conspiracy theorists also believe that the Warren Commission report was a coverup. Thank goodness Earl Warren's not alive right now to hear it.

JFK conspiracy theorists are notoriously fractious and may hold to one of several competing theories:

  • Oswald made the shot; however he had some group providing logistics.
  • The mafia was behind it, as payback for JFK and his brother (Robert F. Kennedy) cracking down on organized crime. Alternatively, they did it because JFK went too easy on Fidel Castro, which cost the mob revenues from Cuban casinos.
  • Right-wing anti-Castro groups were behind it, as payback for the botched 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
  • Fidel Castro himself was behind it, in retaliation for the Bay of Pigs invasion or numerous assassination attempts from the CIA.
  • The CIA, or a rogue faction of CIA agents and private wingnut activists was behind it.
  • The government of Israel and the Mossad were behind it.
  • The Soviet Union brainwashed Oswald during his time in the USSR and programmed him to do it.[1] That or he was recruited by the KGB to do it. Or the KGB sent a double in his place. Or...
  • Lyndon Johnson was behind the assassination. (Due to LBJ's personality and style, this is the one that manages to get the most fanfare.)
  • Kennedy was assassinated because he had attempted to restore the printing of paper money by the U.S. Treasury rather than the Federal Reserve bank (a favorite theory of Paulbots).
  • Kennedy was assassinated by a cabal who wanted to expand the Vietnam War, because he was about to pull U.S. troops out.
  • Some focus more on the theory that there was a second gunman at the grassy knoll and, again, Oswald being a "patsy" rather than trying to ascribe any broader conspiratorial motive.
  • T. Casey Brennan did it,[wp] or so he says. This claim is just one ingredient of his mighty chick-magnetism.
  • Principia Discordia author Kerry Thornley was Lee Harvey Oswald's best friend in the Marines in 1959 so there is a Discordianism connection to the assassination.
  • Kennedy shot first.
  • The driver shot Kennedy.
  • Kennedy arranged it all as an elaborate suicide.
  • Kennedy was killed by a version of himself from the future, because otherwise it would cause WWIII.
  • Kennedy survived and was replaced by a double "they" buried instead, alien abducted, still secretly running things from behind the scenes along with his family, the "curse" being a huge smokescreen, died in a mental institution as a vegetable from the brain damage... take your pick.

Conspiracy theories about the assassination are popular on both the left, right, and amongst the American public.[2]

Contents

Investigation

The first official investigation was undertaken by the Warren Comission, which concluded that the assassination was not a conspiracy, and all official investigations after it have more or less accepted its findings.[3] The United States House Select Committee on Assassination, however, concluded that there is a high probability that the assassination was a conspiracy.[4] Two conflicting reports, and that's where it all began.

Two early books critiquing the Warren Commission report were Inquest by Edward Jay Epstein, and Rush to Judgment by Mark Lane. Both hinted at a conspiracy and were relatively tame by today's standards. Mark Lane later went off the deep end with conspiracy books on several other subjects (including the Jonestown mass suicide, and the assassination of Martin Luther King). The John Birch Society was an early proponent of an assassination conspiracy theory, with an article by Revilo P. Oliver claiming the KGB did it. Liberty Lobby later took up the assassination conspiracy theory and wooed Mark Lane into defending them in a libel lawsuit against Liberty Lobby filed by E. Howard Hunt, in response to an article in Spotlight newspaper claiming Hunt was implicated in the assassination. Louisiana district attorney Jim Garrison prosecuted New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw in 1969 for conspiracy to murder in the Kennedy assassination; the jury found Shaw not guilty, but Garrison's theory remained popular in some quarters and became the basis of Oliver Stone's 1991 movie JFK.

Movies

Two popular movies portraying the Kennedy assassination as a conspiracy were Oliver Stone's JFK (1991), based on Garrison's attempted prosecution of Clay Shaw, and the 1973 movie Executive Action, based on Mark Lane's theory that a cabal of right-wing businessmen was behind the assassination. JFK assassination conspiracy books proliferated, in particular, after the popularity of the 1991 film, ranging from the meh to the completely ludicrous.

Reality

Lee Harvey Oswald did it.

Why? It was due to lack of bowling alleys and nightclubs. No, really.[5]

See also

External links

  • The Umbrella Man, an Errol Morris mini-documentary on one aspect of the assassination.

Footnotes

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