John F. Kennedy Assassination Research Abstract

CSC Abstract on John F. Kennedy Conspiracy research paper:

              My research project is on the assassination of John F. Kennedy and what the conspiracies are behind his death. John F Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 (Warren). Oswald was captured hours after the assassination, but few short days after Oswald was and murdered by Jack Ruby, leaving many unanswered questions as to why and who else was behind the assassination. In 1978 there were reports from the House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations that said that Oswald may have not acted alone (Rietzes). When this came to light about half of the American population believed it. Also, they believed that Oswald was part of larger group known to be working with the Russians. There was another poll taken in 2003 said that 70% of the American population still believes the assassination was part of a conspiracy (Rietzes). The other 30% believe that the research and investigation done by the Warren Commission is a trustworthy and reliable source, stating that Oswald did act alone thus meaning there is no conspiracy. Classified documents concerning the assassination have recently released which have sparked a new interest in this cold case (Fulsom). Identifying the many different points behind this case and examining the facts are the focal point of my research.

Works Cited:

Fulsom, Don. “Did Jack Ruby Know Lee Harvey Oswald?” Crime Magazine, 27 Mar. 2009,
      crimemagazine.com/did-jack-ruby-know-lee-harvey-oswald. 

Rietzes, David. “JFK Conspiracy Theories at 50.” Skeptic Magazine, 2017, 
            eds.a.ebscohost.com.dist.lib.usu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=242f9ec0-b260-4d23-a8c9-  
            8b10e5d0d039%40sessionmgr4008

Warren, Earl. “Chapter 5.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records
        Administration, www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-
        report/chapter-5.html#chronology. 

Contradiction of Facts

The conspiracy behind the death of President John F. Kennedy has brought many speculation and many different opinions. From conspiracies about the grassy knoll and the number of shooters that were there that day at Dealey Plaza. Many of the controversy and conspiracies came out after the Congress's House Assassinations Committee report 1976 stated that there may be cause for conspiracy.

With the silent Zapruder film the public could only see Kennedy react to two shots. Reports from witnesses though said that there were at least three shots fired. A couple days after the assassination there was they found that a motorcycle Policeman inadvertently left on his microphone. This sound recording adds to conspiracy because there were reports that there were four shots fired after listening to the recording. Coinspirators claim that the fourth shot came from the grassy knoll behind the white picket fence. The Moormans photo helped in the conspiracy because of the angle of photo at the grassy knoll. After closer inspection and clearing out some of the background noises it was confirmed that there were only two shots. The supposedly fourth shot was actually background noise and there was no fourth shot.

The Congress's House Assassination Committee was put together to investigate the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. In the conclusion of the report the facts the they present leave a lot of room for speculation. There were claims of people getting paid off and cover ups. These were facts up they were not presented in the best way so people took these and made them into conspiracy theories. After the report came out and conspiracies blew up the Committee came out with statement that said there was no conspiracy. The intent of committee was to silence all conspiracies but in fact they only made them explode even more. The American public believed that the government was involved in a cover up.

After the dust has settled there were many different sides and angles to this part of the conspiracy. With the evidence presented it is easy to believe there was a cover up. with more research and more in depth research the answers will be more clear. 

Works Cited:

Baker, Nicholson. “Dallas Killers Club.” The None and Many, 2014,
        eds.a.ebscohost.com.dist.lib.usu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=d96e47bf-c7cc-4d36-               8a74-feb418f4f4f3@sessionmgr4009. 

Cohen, Jacob. “Will We Ever Be Free Of The Kennedy Assassination.” American Jewish Committee, Dec.          2013, eds.a.ebscohost.com.dist.lib.usu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=ea9b0bfa-74a2-              4247-8862-10274597e7c1%40sessionmgr4007.        
      
Conkin, Paul, and Michael L. Kurtz. “The JFK Assassination Debates: Lone Gunman versus Conspiracy.”         The Journal of Southern History, vol. 74, no. 2, 2008, p. 515., doi:10.2307/27650215.

Pellegrini, Frank. “The Grassy Knoll Is Back.” Time, Time Inc., 26 Mar. 2001,                                                       content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,103958,00.html.            

More Conspiracy

When Donald J. Trump became President of the United States he promised to release some of the classified files from the John F. Kennedy Assassination. President Trump has done just that, slowly since takin office he has been releasing these top secret documents to the public (Morley). Nearly 19,000 pages have been released (Keystone), but what do they say? Researches and conspirators alike have combed through these pages over and over to find not much of anything. The main point that they reveal is that Oswald had an escape route planned. He had previously visited the Cuban and Russian embassies in Mexico the September prior to the assassination of President Kennedy (Warren). So did the CIA or FBI know about Oswald's movements before? The answer is yes. he was on both agencies watch lists but they did nothing. There were many signs and warnings that when off that they neglected. This is where the conspiracy that the CIA and or FBI were behind the assassination. Kennedy already didn't like the CIA saying that they should "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds" (Keystone). These simple words made Kennedy a target for the CIA (Warren), this giving them motive to help Oswald carry out the assassination (Keystone). They could turn a blind eye as Oswald prepared and preformed the violent assassination. With these new documents being released the case for a conspiracy involving the CIA grows stronger and stronger.

Another conspiracy called the Cambridge connection. MI5 headquarters in Cambridge received a phone call anonymously that said to be ready for big news, and to call the US embassy in London(Keystone). This was interesting because this phone call took place 25 minutes before the actual assassination (Keystone). How was this possible? This could only mean one thing, that somebody else knew about the assassination, and that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone in the murder (Morley). People knew what was going to happen before it actually did, and with the timeline provided by the Warren Commission there would be no time for Oswald to call himself to make the tip.

These two bits of evidence don't help the case that there was no government cover up, and really lowers the trust that people have in the government. If I'm being honest, in my opinion the Cambridge connection to me was a big deal as to whether Oswald acted alone or not. From what I've read so far there wasn't anything solid enough to convince me of a conspiracy, but this really makes me think again. The release of all the documents doesn't help the trust in the government because it look like they were hiding something in the first place keeping the documents hidden. I am still convinced that there is no conspiracy, Oswald may not have acted alone though, the Cambridge call makes me think again.

Works Cited:

Keystone. “The Most Popular JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theories.” The Week UK, 9 Nov. 2017,
        www.theweek.co.uk/55933/who-killed-jfk-a-guide-to-the-kennedy-conspiracy-theories. 

Warren, Earl. “Chapter 5.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records
        Administration, www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-5.html#chronology. 

Morley, Jerrerson. “Twitter Fingers On the Grassy Knoll.” NewsWeekGlobal, 7 July 2017,
        eds.a.ebscohost.com.dist.lib.usu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=3276657b-b2b7-4033-
        8c91-bba7a2545edd%40sessionmgr4009.                         

                        

Ruby

      In Chapter 6 of the Warren Commission report it address the issue behind whether or not there was conspiracy of the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby. The chapter consists of three major heading. First is Ruby's activities from November 21st -November 24th. Second is whether there was any connection between Oswald and Ruby in the past. Third is research done on Ruby's past and his associations (Warren).
      The Warren Commission has put together extensive research on the movements of Jack Ruby the day before the murder of the president and the days following. No suspicious movement was detected before the assassination of the president. It what was what happened after that the assassination that starts to raise the eyebrows. There is notable distress after he received the news of the death of Kennedy (Warren). Ruby was the owner of a couple clubs in town and he closed them all down for three days after the assassination, which was a big deal because he would lose a lot of money(Fulsom). He made comments to an off duty police officer that frequented his club that "they should cut this guy [Oswald] inch by inch into ribbons" (Warren). There are many other instances where Ruby shows his distraught over the death of Kennedy.
     There is has been little connection made between Jack Ruby and Harvey Oswald. As owner of multiple clubs in the downtown area of Dallas Ruby had many friends and acquaintances. Many witnesses said they saw Oswald in various clubs owned by Ruby (Fulsom). There is a chance that they could have met on one of these night because Ruby would go out on the floor of his clubs and get to know the people there (Knox). When Oswald was being moved and was shot by Ruby there was a camera rolling, and this has been analyzed by many. When Oswald is ono the move he makes no facial expression or body reaction to the sight of Ruby as he is on the move (Warren). Ruby then pops out with a gun and the look on Oswald's face is more confusion than fear (Warren). This could be an added explanation that Oswald had no connection to Ruby.
      The last point is whether Ruby was paid to kill Oswald by somebody. Ruby had a troubled childhood, growing up in the slums of Chicago. When he was young he would run errands for Al Capone himself (Knox). There is no doubt that Ruby had the connections and means to kill Oswald, but the question is weather he acted alone or not.
      In my opinion I believe after reading the Warren Commission report that he did in fact act out of grief and shock for what happen to his president. Ruby may have had a shady past but there was one thing that he did love, and that was his president and country. The events the followed up to the shooting of Oswald visibly show that Ruby had taken the death of Kennedy personally and hard. The little connection that Ruby and Oswald had is no grounds for a conspiracy.


Works Cited:

Fulsom, Don. “Did Jack Ruby Know Lee Harvey Oswald?” Crime Magazine, 27 Mar. 2009,
      crimemagazine.com/did-jack-ruby-know-lee-harvey-oswald. 

Knox, Patrick. “Who Shot Lee Harvey Oswald, Did He Know Jack Ruby and Why Did He Shoot JFK? The Full              Lowdown.” The Sun, The Sun, 4 Dec. 2017, www.thesun.co.uk/news/4771034/lee-harvey-oswald-jfk-                      assassination-jack-ruby/. 

Warren, Earl. “Chapter 6.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records                     Administration, www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report/chapter-6.html#top.                                               

The Facts

The many conspiracies that surround the death of President John F. Kennedy still loom overhead. There have many theories in the past, but with new technology there could be a way to crack this cold case and put the conspirators to rest. Nova, and affiliate with PBS, has done research using cutting edge technology to try and recreate the crime scene to look at it from every angle. Based off their research in company with the original report generated by the Warren Commission in 1964 (Warren). The many different angles presented by the Commission will be looked at as well as other angles that were not addressed initially. 

The Single Bullet Theory is one of the points that the Warren Commission reports on. This is the theory that one bullet was used to injure President Kennedy, as well as Governor John Connelly (Warren). The forensics behind this shot is studied by one Luke Haag, who has been  a firearms expert for 47 years. The first shot stuck Kennedy in the upper part of his shoulders with the bullet exiting just above the knot on his necktie (Warren). After the exit from Kennedy bullet then began to yaw. This means that the bullet was no longer was flying straight, the nose was now tilted up (DeNooyer). Haag set out to prove this theory. He obtained ballistic gelatin, which is just will react the same was as human flesh will. When he fires the shot into the gelatin, it parts as if it were going through a bag of water, but as it leave the bullet does in fact begin to yaw (DeNooyer). To help prove this theory the bulled hole on the back of Connelly's suit coat is shaped as if the bullet went through side ways, helping prove the theory (Warren). After the bullet exited Connelly's chest it then hit is wrist, shattering it, then it lodged itself into the left thigh of the governor (Warren). Thus one single bullet cause four wounds, which all encompass the single bullet theory.

The ability to recreate the crime scene has been attempted many times, but few if any results have come from these attempts. With recent technology there is a new way to re-create the crime scene that could help the case. Tony Grissman is a 3D laser scanning tech advisor from California, and was called in to help on the case. He uses laser scanners to recreate the crime scene, which allows him to look at the scene from every single angle possible. With this technology they were able to look at the trajectory from the Book Depository to see if it matched up with The Warren Report, which in fact it does stating that Oswald fired three shots from the 6th floor of the depository (Warren). The angle at which the bullet would have been fired matches with the prescribed trajectory of the 3D scans (DeNooyer). 

With these two bits of evidence they support all that the Warren Commission has said. The more and more I research the more I begin to silence the conspirators. There maybe some things here and there that are fishy, but there are too many facts that line up with the Warren Commission's report which states there was no conspiracy. 

Works Cited:

DeNooyer, Rushmore, director. Cold Case JFK. PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 2016, www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/cold-case-jfk.html.

Warren, Earl. “Warren Commission Report: Table of Contents.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report.

What does the tale tell?

             John F Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963 (1). A few short days after the president was assassinated, Oswald was captured and killed, leaving many unanswered questions as to why and who was behind the assassination. In 1978 there were reports from the House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations that said the Oswald did not act alone (1). When this came about half of the American population ate it up and believed that Oswald did not act alone (1). Also they believed that he was part of larger group know to be working with the Russians. There was another poll in 2003 that was taken that 70% of the population believes that it was part of a conspiracy (1). Americans also believes that the research and investigation done by the Warren Commission is a trustworthy and reliable source, that Oswald did act alone thus meaning there is no conspiracy behind the Presidents death(2). There are many different points a view, especially with the release of many classified documents that had been kept for decades (2). With this release, it sparked a new interest in the conspiracy. In my opinion with the release of these documents it doesn't help the case that there was no conspiracy. I think it would be cool if there was a conspiracy but what I think will happen is once the release of these all the documents it will just prove what we already know.

Sources
1)Rietzes, David. “JFK Conspiracy Theories at 50.” Skeptic Magazine, 2017, 
            eds.a.ebscohost.com.dist.lib.usu.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=242f9ec0-b260-4d23-a8c9-  
            8b10e5d0d039%40sessionmgr4008

2)Goldman, Russell. “The Top 5 John F. Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy Theories.” ABC News, ABC New Network
           abcnews.go.com/US/top-john-kennedy-assassination-conspiracy-theories/story?id=20614951.