Shandelle+Sullivan


 * Who killed JFK? Use conspiracy theories to explain your conclusion(s).**

Since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy there has been controversy over who is to blame and whether or not it was done as a conspiracy.The most popular belief is that Lee Harvey Oswald is the murderer and that he was more than likely working with J.D Tippit (a police officer he murdered on the night of JFK's assassination) and Jack Ruby (a club owner who shot and killed Oswald that very same night). This ring of men is believed to have devised a plan to murder JFK, however such plans went sour when they turned on one another. The Warren Commission completed an investigation that concluded a conspiracy was not probable. Following their lead were organizations like the FBI and CIA whom all concluded a conspiracy as not being probable.

According to the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) these investigations were not conducted properly and therefore did not produce enough evident that a conspiracy had not happened. In their investigation they found that four shots were fired at JFK, thus leading them to believe that there was more than one shooter aiming to take the President's life. With speculation growing and Americans leaning more towards HSCA others theories were formed that pointed a finger at the CIA and FBI as being responsible for the assassination.

The controversy of whether or not the investigation was even conducted correctly led to a split in views and pretty much laid out the foundation for other theories to be formed. Off the 500 witnesses that were interviewed many spoke to a conspiracy theory, these statements were ignored by the Warren Commission. For those who did talk the FBI and CIA intimidated them and threatened their lives if they told anyone what they had really seen that night.

Those not intimidated by this told investigators that they saw Oswald at the Texas School Book Depository by the window on the 6th floor, which is where the shooter was allegedly standing. Oswald was investigated thoroughly as the murderer even though he was killed the same night. This investigation showed that Oswald had fired a gun recently and his hand prints were all over the rifle used to kill JFK. A police officer saw Oswald in the Depository across the street the night of JFK's murder and the officer was shot three days later by Oswald. Thus creating theories that the two were working together to assassinate the President and something went wrong.

With coincidental happening like this theories were popping up left and right. People couldn't tell the difference between probable theories and those so farfetched that they appeared to be true. It has never really been determined who killed JFK, however a majority of the theories point to Oswald, the officer that he killed, and Jack Ruby the man who killed Oswald.


 * Works Cited**

Bugliosi, Vincent. //Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy//. //Google Books//. Norton and Company, 21 Mar. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2012. .

"John F. Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy Theories." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 Apr. 2012. .

"Oswald Innocent? A Lawyer's Brief." //Kenneth A. Rahn's Home Page//. National Guardian, 19 Dec. 1963. Web. 19 Apr. 2012. .