JFK Assassination
by Nick Plummer
Who, What, When, Where, Why
John F Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States from January 20, 1961 until his assassination on November 22nd, 1963. JFK was in Texas to campaign for reelection, when he along with governor at the time were supposedly shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. He was later arrested and sent to the police headquarters and to be sent to the county jail on the 24th. However, he was shot by Jack Ruby as they were transferring him.
Perspective 1 (Single Bullet theory)
The first theory is the single bullet theory. The thought behind the assassination is that Oswald was a lone gunmen, and was responsible for both Kennedy and the governor's injuries. The official report is he was on the 6th floor, and shot both of them. The thing is, Kennedy had a chest and neck injury, and the neck injury came from the opposite side according to the doctors. Not to mention the way the bullet was traveling, there was no way the bullets could have hit Kennedy in the neck in the chest, and continue to hit the governor too. Some reports from witnesses suggest he wasn't even in the 6th floor, rather the first or second. Some witnesses even claim he was on a grass knoll closer to the president.
Perspective 2 (Conflicting opinions)
Of the 40 witnesses, only 10 were named. 4 of them say that there was a man in the window with a gun (10% of the original 40 witnesses) another 4 saw a gun in the window without someone behind it (another 10% of witnesses) and 2 say they saw a man but no gun (5% of the original 40). The witnesses prove unreliable anyways, as one mister Howard Brennan says the man in the window was standing, which would have been impossible. He also was unable to point out Lee Harvey Oswald in a line. Does this mean that Oswald isn't the shooter like we thought, or was he not even the gunman to begin with?
Media's Bias
People today are still talking about the assassination because it doesn't make sense. There are several missing pieces and inconsistencies. Many people believe it was a government job, and they are just covering it up. The government doesn't have much going for it with all the bad theories they put out.
Cultural critique
One thing that came out of this assassination was the people became very wary of it's government. Sense that day, the people of the US have went from being very trusting of the government to always assuming it was lying to us. This stems from the fact that later on in the investigation, the government dropped the single bullet theory for the lone gunman theory after it was revealed the CIA knew of Oswald's imprisonment in mexico a few weeks prior to the assassination.
Critique 2
The biggest reason why the government switched to the lone gunman theory is the growing discontent and disbelief in the single bullet theory. The problems are numberless. There was no way possible for Oswald to have done it. there were 3 shots and 7 wounds. this leads many to believe that Oswald was either not involved at all or was aided by the mob or the government.
citations
http://22november1963.org.uk/
Mr. Bright's history class from last year.