John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot dead in downtown Dallas, Texas, on Friday, November 22, 1963. According to various investigations by US intelligence agencies, Kennedy was killed by former US Marine Lee Harvey Oswald. However, despite the evidence, many people don't believe that Oswald acted alone, which has almost single handedly given birth to the conspiracy theory.
Official Conclusions
The known facts about the Kennedy killing are that at around 12.30pm, Kennedy, his wife Jackie, and Texas governor John Connally, turned into the Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas in an open-top limousine. After passing the Texas School Book Depository, shots were fired into Kennedy's throat and his head.
Kennedy died before reaching hospital and Connally was also injured by the first bullet. As police searched the Texas School Book Depository, they were informed that employee Lee Harvey Oswald was missing. Less than an hour later, an officer by the name of J. D. Tippit spotted Oswald, but was also shot dead as he attempted to apprehend him. Oswald was found and arrested in a movie theatre an hour later.
The following day, Oswald was charged with the two killings, but denied them both. On November 24, as Oswald was being transferred to a new jail, Dallas strip-club owner Jack Ruby shot Oswald dead on live TV.
The Warren Commission
The most famous investigation into Kennedy's death was set up by Lyndon B. Johnson, the new President, and was known as the Warren Commission - because it was led by Chief Justice Earl Warren. The report took ten months to produce and concluded that Oswald acted alone, and that he fired three shots in Kennedy's direction; two of which connected, while the final one missed. The report states that Oswald, who had fled the Marines to the USSR years before, was a Marxist and Fidel Castro sympathiser who hated American society. Despite the report's findings being made public in September 1964, the 26 volume report was released into the public domain over the next thirty years. The delay has aroused suspicions and criticisms.
Conspiracy theories
Many people argue that Oswald couldn't have killed Kennedy with the cheap rifle he used and from the angle he was said to have fired from. The three shots were all made within ten seconds, with many suggesting that the reload speed and accuracy would be too big an ask for just one man. The Warren Commission were limited to artist impressions of Kennedy's wounds instead of actual photographs, which further compromises the validity of their findings. Some have claimed that the head shot would have had to have been made from the front in order to be consistent with the entry and exit wounds, and that the single bullet, which also injured Connally, would have had to have changed direction in order to do the damage it was said to have done - plus it was in perfect condition all things considered (the "magic bullet" theory). Also, some witnesses spoke of a man with a rifle leaving a grassy knoll near the limousine and a group of three suspicious looking homeless men, who were arrested near the time of the shootings, but were surprisingly clean-shaven and well-dressed.
With doubts in mind, many groups have been blamed for the killing, such as the CIA, the Mafia and the Communists. One of the more interesting theories claims that Richard Nixon had something to do with it. The Nixon theory is associated with the three homeless men, one of whom is said to have been Howard Hunt, who was later convicted as part of the Watergate burglary.
Official Conclusions
The known facts about the Kennedy killing are that at around 12.30pm, Kennedy, his wife Jackie, and Texas governor John Connally, turned into the Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas in an open-top limousine. After passing the Texas School Book Depository, shots were fired into Kennedy's throat and his head.
Kennedy died before reaching hospital and Connally was also injured by the first bullet. As police searched the Texas School Book Depository, they were informed that employee Lee Harvey Oswald was missing. Less than an hour later, an officer by the name of J. D. Tippit spotted Oswald, but was also shot dead as he attempted to apprehend him. Oswald was found and arrested in a movie theatre an hour later.
The following day, Oswald was charged with the two killings, but denied them both. On November 24, as Oswald was being transferred to a new jail, Dallas strip-club owner Jack Ruby shot Oswald dead on live TV.
The Warren Commission
The most famous investigation into Kennedy's death was set up by Lyndon B. Johnson, the new President, and was known as the Warren Commission - because it was led by Chief Justice Earl Warren. The report took ten months to produce and concluded that Oswald acted alone, and that he fired three shots in Kennedy's direction; two of which connected, while the final one missed. The report states that Oswald, who had fled the Marines to the USSR years before, was a Marxist and Fidel Castro sympathiser who hated American society. Despite the report's findings being made public in September 1964, the 26 volume report was released into the public domain over the next thirty years. The delay has aroused suspicions and criticisms.
Conspiracy theories
Many people argue that Oswald couldn't have killed Kennedy with the cheap rifle he used and from the angle he was said to have fired from. The three shots were all made within ten seconds, with many suggesting that the reload speed and accuracy would be too big an ask for just one man. The Warren Commission were limited to artist impressions of Kennedy's wounds instead of actual photographs, which further compromises the validity of their findings. Some have claimed that the head shot would have had to have been made from the front in order to be consistent with the entry and exit wounds, and that the single bullet, which also injured Connally, would have had to have changed direction in order to do the damage it was said to have done - plus it was in perfect condition all things considered (the "magic bullet" theory). Also, some witnesses spoke of a man with a rifle leaving a grassy knoll near the limousine and a group of three suspicious looking homeless men, who were arrested near the time of the shootings, but were surprisingly clean-shaven and well-dressed.
With doubts in mind, many groups have been blamed for the killing, such as the CIA, the Mafia and the Communists. One of the more interesting theories claims that Richard Nixon had something to do with it. The Nixon theory is associated with the three homeless men, one of whom is said to have been Howard Hunt, who was later convicted as part of the Watergate burglary.
