Jfk AssassinationEssay Preview: Jfk AssassinationReport this essayIt was the chilling CBS Radio Broadcast heard by millions of Americans that marked one of the biggest mysteries of modern time.“Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States is dead. John F. Kennedy has died of the wounds received in the assassination in Dallas We Repeat- President Kennedy is dead.”(Bennett 75)
Although the assassination of President John F. Kennedy occurred forty-four years ago, the buzz surrounding his death never died down (Anders). Its the most controversial case in U.S. history. Was Lee Harvey Oswald the lone killer, or is there more to the story? If you are like most Americans, you believe it was a conspiracy that killed JFK and have heard the numerous stories of how it probably happened. The number of factual oddities present in the theory, claiming the CIA and the Mafia backed the murder, is enough to make even the biggest skeptic a believer (Anders).
It was the morning of November 22, 1963. The motorcade planned to “snake” through downtown Dallas, ending at the Dallas Trade Mart, where the President would make a speech (Bennett 10). Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry drove the first truck of the motorcade, followed by 3 motorcycles and the Presidential Limousine, which seated: two Secret Service, John and Jackie Kennedy in the back seat, and Texas Governor John Connally and wife, Nellie, riding in the front (Bennett 10). Four more motorcycles followed, along with more Secret Service, Vice President Johnson and his wife, and the press (Bennett 10). Despite fears about anti-Kennedy sentiments, there were tons of people in Downtown Dallas waiting to see the President and his wife (Bennett 12).
The Presidential limo stopped at a restaurant, with a lady on the back looking down on Dallas and yelling that she thought the President was going to go to jail for having the blood on his hands (Bennett 2). A lady was in the front seat of the limo, pointing down at the President. The crowd started to boo as the limo moved over: they started taking pictures. The cars parked at the restaurant were in their driver’s seat; there were a few cars waiting outside, waiting for the President to stop to rest (Bennett 12). When the President’s vehicle was stopped in Dallas, a person in the limo yelled out to the crowd that the President had got the blood on his hands (Bennett 12). The people on the other side of the limo were taken by surprise, as the Vice President gave his head up. The man he was holding lowered his head and waved to the crowd.
The President stopped outside, looked at and saw a lot of blood! He then took off outside. An ambulance was sent, and they started taking people out of the area. The President stopped back in Dallas at the Dallas Union from a hotel (Bennett 3). An ambulance passed through Dallas to get the President to Dallas Airport but after that time the President stopped in LA, leaving Dallas to fly from LA to Dallas to give his inaugural address! The President went to the Air Force after leaving the Air Force to give his speech (bennett 2). Afterwards, President Obama’s car drove down the street, stopping near the Lincoln Memorial, the site of the Emancipation Proclamation that took place in D.C. (Bennett 3).
After the President delivered his speech, he spoke to the national audience in the Oval Office. He said that the country will never be divided into three factions; he also said that our future would be better served if it was a one nation country. The President then went outside to talk about the country, but he did stop at the Lincoln Memorial (Bennett 6). The crowd was stunned by the remark that President Obama would address thousands of people in the United States as the first American president and then ask the most important questions of the world (Bennett 8). The President was asked if he would be willing to fight if the United States did not give in to Communism. The answer was no. The President gave an impassioned speech, and then broke down in silence.
The President then delivered a speech, talking about how he was disappointed that the World War II was over but the world didn’t understand.
The President told the crowd that he hated being “stupid” and that America was now dead. The crowd roared and jeered him for giving the speeches he did so much to say. The President was given free reign to give his opinions without knowing their
The Presidential limo stopped at a restaurant, with a lady on the back looking down on Dallas and yelling that she thought the President was going to go to jail for having the blood on his hands (Bennett 2). A lady was in the front seat of the limo, pointing down at the President. The crowd started to boo as the limo moved over: they started taking pictures. The cars parked at the restaurant were in their driver’s seat; there were a few cars waiting outside, waiting for the President to stop to rest (Bennett 12). When the President’s vehicle was stopped in Dallas, a person in the limo yelled out to the crowd that the President had got the blood on his hands (Bennett 12). The people on the other side of the limo were taken by surprise, as the Vice President gave his head up. The man he was holding lowered his head and waved to the crowd.
The President stopped outside, looked at and saw a lot of blood! He then took off outside. An ambulance was sent, and they started taking people out of the area. The President stopped back in Dallas at the Dallas Union from a hotel (Bennett 3). An ambulance passed through Dallas to get the President to Dallas Airport but after that time the President stopped in LA, leaving Dallas to fly from LA to Dallas to give his inaugural address! The President went to the Air Force after leaving the Air Force to give his speech (bennett 2). Afterwards, President Obama’s car drove down the street, stopping near the Lincoln Memorial, the site of the Emancipation Proclamation that took place in D.C. (Bennett 3).
After the President delivered his speech, he spoke to the national audience in the Oval Office. He said that the country will never be divided into three factions; he also said that our future would be better served if it was a one nation country. The President then went outside to talk about the country, but he did stop at the Lincoln Memorial (Bennett 6). The crowd was stunned by the remark that President Obama would address thousands of people in the United States as the first American president and then ask the most important questions of the world (Bennett 8). The President was asked if he would be willing to fight if the United States did not give in to Communism. The answer was no. The President gave an impassioned speech, and then broke down in silence.
The President then delivered a speech, talking about how he was disappointed that the World War II was over but the world didn’t understand.
The President told the crowd that he hated being “stupid” and that America was now dead. The crowd roared and jeered him for giving the speeches he did so much to say. The President was given free reign to give his opinions without knowing their
Junot 2After traveling down Main Street, the motorcade turned onto Houston Street , then made the final turn on Elm Street in front of the Texas School Book Depository- a seven story warehouse for textbooks (Bennett 14). As they passed the depository, Nellie Connally turned to the president and said, “Mr. President, you cant say Dallas doesnt love you.”(Bennett 12) As Merriam Smith, a White House Correspondent, recalls,
“Suddenly, we heard three loud, almost painfully loud cracks. The first sounded as if it might have been a large firecracker. But the second and third blasts were unmistakable. Gunfire.”(Newseum 24)
It wasnt until after the third, fatal shot- received five seconds after the first- that the limousine sped off to Parkland Hospital (Hurt 16). Those moments marked the start of one of the most intensely studied few seconds in history, caught on film (Hurt 14).
Dallas Police Department- Radio Transmission: Officer 260, “I have a witness that says that [the gunfire] came from the 5th floor of the Texas Book Depository Store.”(Bennett 34) About an hour after that dispatch was sent out, the suspected assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested, hiding in the balcony of the Texas Theater (Bennett 55). As accounted for by a reporter, “Lee Oswald has denied it to the world… he told us all this morning that he didnt kill the president.”(Bennett 109) On November 24th the Dallas Police planned to transfer Oswald from the city jail to the county jail, where a crowd of reporters had gathered to watch the move. As written in the New Orleans State Item,
“The Dallas Times Herald, Reported today the FBI had received and anonymous telephone tip that an attempt would be made on Oswalds life during his transfer…The FBI would not confirm.” (Oswald 4)
As Oswald was being led out, a man reportedly lunged forward, pointed his pistol, and fired (Bennett 80). Tom Pettit, NBC News, reported live on the scene, “Hes been shot! Hes been shot! Lee Oswald has been shot! Theres absolute panic, absolute panic here in the basement of the Dallas Police Headquarters…”(Bennett 207). The gunman was identified as Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner.
“It was an incredible climax to the wildest weekend in Dallas history- a savage, sudden moment of raw drama that was caught by national television…”(Oswald 4)
Despite what the media, which is controlled by the government, lead others to believe, Lee Harvey Oswald was not the lone killer. There is reason to believe that it was actually a conspiracy brought about by a combination of the Mafia and the CIA. The Kennedy family had been linked to the Mafia since the 1920s (Philebar). It began when JFKs father Joseph Kennedy and mob leader Sam Giancana, started illegally smuggling scotch, from Cuba, into the U.S. during the age of prohibition (Alexander). Pete Philebar also claims that the Mafia helped John Kennedy get elected in Chicago. Trouble began when both John and Robert Kennedy, JFKs brother, intensified government investigations into the mobs activities(Alexander). Then came the Bay of Pigs fiasco of 1961. According to Philebar, because the operation was unsuccessful, the casinos in Cuba, which were operated by the Mafia and had been shut down by Castro, were not started up again. Therefore, leaving the mob no place to hide their “dirty” money (Crime Library). The Bay of Pigs also gave way to the CIAs motive as a response to a wave of firings Kennedy ordered after the disaster, starting with CIA director Allen Dulles (Crime Library).
With this underlying hatred for Kennedy by both the mafia and the CIA, its unrealistic to believe Oswald was the only assassin. As far as Pete Philebar is concerned, “Oswald wasnt even one of the shooters involved.” “Many witnesses saw him buy an orange Crush and watch Kennedy go by,” says Philebar. He might have been in the Marines, but Oswald was a marksman not a sharp shooter (Oswald 1). “Theres no way he could have released so many bullets in only eight seconds,” says Pete. Among the two hundred sixty-six known witnesses to the attack, thirty-two placed the origin of the shots at the Texas School Board Depository, which was above and behind Kennedy; fifty-one witnesses- including two Secret Service and many police officers- believed that the shots came from the area of the grassy knoll, above and in front of Kennedy. Others thought the shots came from both directions (Hurt 16). One of the most convincing of these grassy knoll witnesses was Gordon Arnold, who had just been released from Army boot camp (Hurt 16). There, he had been required to crawl on the ground with bullets “whizzing” inches above his head (Hurt 17). ” I knew the sound and the sensation like the back of my hand,” Arnold proclaims as he states that the bullets came from behind him on the grassy knoll (Hurt