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KS3 History - JFK: The assassination of JFK: Theories

A guide to resources on John F Kennedy, his life and death, compiled by your librarians.

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Conspiracy theories

The men who killed Kennedy

Is Oswald guilty?

How many gunshots were fired?

The CIA theory

Did Castro kill Kennedy?

The mafia theory

Route changed at last minute

The LBJ theory

Acoustic evidence investigation

Conspiracy theories

The men who killed Kennedy

The men who killed Kennedy - 

Is Oswald guilty?

Did Castro kill Kennedy?

A German documentary uncovers new evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald murdered President Kennedy on behalf of the regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The film also claims that the KGB recommended Oswald to Havana as the man for the job.

A former Cuban secret agent, tells the camera that Havana wanted Kennedy dead because "he was an enemy of the Cuban Revolution" -- a sworn and public enemy who had even sent a team of CIA-contracted militants to overthrow Castro in 1961. The article appeared in Spiegel in 2006. 

Route changed at last minute?

In Jim Garrison's book, On the Trail of the Assassins, he claims that supposedly, John Kennedy's motorcade through Dallas, which was to go directly down Main Street and onto the Stemmons Freeway, was changed at the last minute to turn off Houston Street, and then Elm Street.

Acoustic evidence investigation

The acoustic evidence theory examines the audio recording analysis from a dictaphone. What do you think after watching this film?  

Video source : Youtube

What's the opinion of American public?


Theories and more theories

Most theorists do not believe Oswald was responsible for Kennedy's murder, and those that do, believe he had help. Alleged participants involved in the assassination range from the American Mafia to the FBI and KGB.

The motive? Well, that depends on what theory you subscribe to. Some say the murder was orchestrated because Kennedy wanted to bring an end to the Cold War, whereas others believe he was killed because he supported an invasion of Cuba. A multitude of other motives also exist, all surrounding Kennedy's personal and political activities. (source)

Who killed Kennedy? Part 6

Hear the viewpoints of people who knew Oswald, who investigated the assassination and judge for yourself (46 min duration)

JFK - Top Conspiracy theories

Vincent Bugliosi investigates some of the top conspiracies surrounding the John F. Kennedy assassination.

The Mafia theory

David E. Scheim has published two books claiming that the Mafia were responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He believes that it was organized by Carlos Marcello, Santos Trafficante and Jimmy Hoffa. This theory is based on the idea that the Mafia were angry with both John F.Kennedy and Robert Kennedy for their attempts to destroy organized crime. 

The LBJ theory

BY 1963 LYNDON JOHNSON HAD GROWN WEARY of the obscurity of his office and was concerned that the scandals surrounding his cronies Bobby Baker and Billie Sol Estes would ruin his hopes for the presidency. When rumors circulated that JFK was going to drop him from the 1964 ticket, LBJ worked to stage an elaborate coup on home turf, enlisting loyal Texas oilmen who feared losing the oil depletion allowance and warmongers who wanted to step up involvement in Vietnam. One of their foot soldiers was an angry young man named Lee Harvey Oswald.

Believers

Authors David Lifton (The Texas Connection) and Harrison Edward Livingstone (Killing Kennedy).

Strange Details

  • John Connally, LBJ's longtime friend and colleague, roomed in college with Dallas County district attorney Henry Wade, whose November 24, 1963, press conference made the definitive case against Oswald.
  • Eugene Locke, the deputy ambassador to Vietnam under LBJ, once served as the attorney for Marie Tippit, the wife of Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit, whom Oswald shot soon after the assassination.

Source

Why did the Secret Service agent step away?

Watch as the two secret service men assigned to protect president Kennedy's motorcade are ordered to stand down just minutes before entering Dealey Plaza.

Video source : Youtube

The grassy knoll is back

In 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that only three shots were fired — all from behind the President, all from the Texas School Book Depository, all from the bolt-action rifle of Lee Harvey Oswald. In 1979, an investigation conducted by Congress's House Assassinations Committee disagreed — a fourth shot, which missed, had been fired from behind a white picket fence on that grassy knoll.

Conspiracy theories

"THERE IS NEVER AN ORDINARY DAY AT DALLAS' DEALEY PLAZA, where personal revelations and quiet mourning are as familiar as the downtown rush-hour traffic" 

Theories abound over the assassination of JFK....

The CIA Theory

The Mafia Theory

The LBJ Theory

The KGB Theory

The FBI Theory

The Castro Theory

The Cuban exiles Theory

The Secret Service Theory

The Vietnam Theory

The Shadow Government Theory 

Want to know the details? 

How many gunshots were fired?

How many shots may have been fired at the President in Dallas on that fateful day? 

How many gunshots were fired?
Two: 0 votes (0%)
Three: 2 votes (100%)
More than three: 0 votes (0%)
Total Votes: 2

The CIA theory

President Kennedy entered office as an advocate of a stronger line against Fidel Castro's Cuba, and was a fan of the kind of counterinsurgent warfare employed by the CIA. This changed with the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, inherited from the Eisenhower administration. Kennedy accepted responsibility publicly, but privately blamed the CIA and obtained the resignation of longtime Director Allen Dulles and others. He also implemented NSAM 55, transferring control of paramilitary operations to the Defense Dept. 

Were the CIA-Mafia plots to kill Fidel Castro somehow related to JFK's murder?  Was Oswald in fact an agent of the CIA? Why did the CIA bury some of its knowledge of Oswald's trip to Mexico? What have we learned from the voluminous CIA declassifications of the 1990s? Was the CIA involved in the Kennedy assassination?

All you've heard is wrong!!

In “Triangle of Death,” co-authors Brad O’Leary and L.E. Seymour untangle for readers a seemingly outrageous web that becomes increasingly convincing with each corroborated detail.

They build a case that leads to a stunning, but convincing conclusion: President John F. Kennedy was killed Nov. 22, 1963, as the result of a massive conspiracy between the CIA-installed government of South Vietnam, the French global heroin syndicate and the New Orleans Mafia. Curious?? Read from link below. 

Where was Mary Moorman?

It sounds utterly stupid to ask whether Mary Moorman, when she took her famous Polaroid picture of the assassination, was standing on the pavement in Elm Street, as opposed to standing on the grass of the Dealey Plaza infield. After all, the Zapruder film of the assassination shows her standing on the grass, in a black coat, with the camera to her face.