Conspiracy and the Kennedy Assination

There are people in the United States who believe that there was not a conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy. Yet, those who do not believe in the conspiracy theory are clearly in a minority. As early as 1966, Gallup and Harris polls showed that 66 percent of the American people did not believe in the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone assassin. Another poll, taken in 1975, found that four out of five Americans did not accept the Warren Commission's version of the assassination (Blumenthal and Yazijian, 1976, p.ix).

Counter arguments for those who choose to disbelieve in the conspiracy theory are flimsy indeed. Three counter arguments may be presented. These are the following: (1) the integrity of the Warren Commission, the FBI, the CIA, the American media, and the very foundations of American society cannot be questioned; (2) the questionable behavior of some of the Warren Commission critics such as Mark Lane and Jim Garrison; and (3) the evidence cited by the Warren Commission in placing Lee Harvey Oswald and his rifle in the Texas School Book Depository. Let us examine these counter arguments briefly.

First, recent events have cast considerable doubt upon integrity in government. The Watergate scandal and all its ramificatio

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ng the President in the back), at frame 231 (striking Governor Connally), frame 313 (striking the President a glancing blow from behind and thus moving his head slightly forward), and at frame 314. Groden describes this last shot: "A bullet entered JFK's head from the right front, throwing him violently backward and to his left . . . with such force it actually lifted him out of his seat" Blumenthal and Yazijian, 1976, pp. 8-9). Thus, in contrast to the Warren Commission statements, Groden found at least five shots were fired and from different vantage-points. Finally Groden notes a curious thing at frame 407. A round object appears at the bottom right of the frame. By frame 412, a man's head becomes increasingly evident. "At frame 413 Zapruder stops panning for one frame, and the head, ears, and rifle of the fourth assassin become clear" (Blumenthal and Yazijian, 1976, p. 10). It is interesting to note that the initial call in the Dallas Police Log focuses attention to the front of the presidential caravan. The Dispatcher says: "Get men on top of that underpass and see what happened. Go up to the overpass. Have Parkland stand by (Bonner, 1969, p. 355). It is not for several minutes that attention is drawn to the Deposi
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Approximate Word count = 2749
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)