Time after time again we are told in our schools, our homes, and by our media that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy. How can this conclusion by made about a case that was never completely solved? If we as Americans accept the government given “truth,” such as in this case, without questioning how they came to their conclusion, then what would stop the government from altering other “truths” given to the general public. Why wouldn’t they instead help out their own cause instead of the helping out the ood of the country by creating false conclusions that would aid their selfish motives.
This is why it is essential that we as Americans must not accept the single assassin theory given to us regarding John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Friday, November 22, 1963, as the president was traveling through the city of Dallas, Texas, hundreds of spectators lined the streets to watch President John F. Kennedy parade through in his presidential limousine. More than half of the spectators were using cameras trying to capture the brief moment when the president, the first lady, and Texas Governor John Connally’s rare motorcade passed by.
At about 12:30 just as the secret service was beginning to pat themselves on the back for completing a successful parade, a gun shot was fired, striking the president in the upper back. Slightly more than one second later a second shot rang out, and Governor Connally collapsed into his wife’s arms. Finally, a third shot was fired that struck the president in the back of the skull causing massive brain damage and ultimately, death. Less than two hours later the Dallas police arrested the thought to be assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, taking him into custody.
Police found a rifle and three shells from the rifle in the sixth floor of the Texas Depository building, about 100 feet from where the President was shot. After doing ballistic tests on the rifle the police found a palm print of Oswald’s on the barrel. Oswald was officially named the lone assassin involved in JFK’s murder by the, government appointed, Warren Commission. However, before the police had time to question Oswald and get any type of concrete evidence against him, a man named Jack Ruby walked up and shot Oswald while he was being transferred form the county jail, killing him nstantly.
Ruby was immediately arrested and taken to county jail. (Burr, p. 3) After hours of questioning by the Warren Commission, Ruby gave no specific reason for his murderous act upon Oswald. He just said that he was “framed into killing Oswald. ” (Knight, p. 81) He also said that his own life was in great danger unless he was transported to Washington D. C. and protected. Jack Ruby denied that his act was anyway connected with a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy. (Waggoner, p. 65) The Warren Commission concluded after questioning Jack Ruby, as well as many others, hat Oswald acted alone in assassinating President Kennedy.
The Warren Commission’s conclusion was given without proper investigation and not nearly enough supporting evidence to draw such a conclusion. When looking at the most helpful film of the assassination known as the “Zapruder film” one can see that the president’s body movements alone disprove the Warren Commission’s lone assassin theory. In the 312th frame of the “Zapruder film” the impact of the fatal third shot can be noted. Precisely as the fatal shot strikes Kennedy’s head his body is jolted orward at a rate of 69. 9 feet per second.
The forward motion, however, comes to an abrupt halt a mere 1/18th of a second later. In the 314th frame the president’s head begins to accelerate backwards and to the left. (Callahan, p. 81) The sudden forward movement of the president’s head was due to the force of the bullet striking the back of his head. But what was the sudden movement backwards caused by? After examining the film one could tell that the president’s head had not struck some fixed object in the limo, nor had his wife grabbed him to try to pull him to safety. Could it have been a nuero- muscular reaction as many have questioned? Not even close. ” Says UCLA physics professor A. J. Riddle. “Even if this bullet did excite some nerve impulse of the brain, the body would not react as the president’s had but would merely cause the body to go limp. ” (Klaidman, p. 32) The only explanation that can logically be made is that some outside force must of caused Kennedy’s body to react as it did. Somewhere in between Zapruder frames 312 314, the President had been shot again. One shot had been fired from the rear (causing the orward movement); the second shot had been fired from in front of the President, somewhere to his right.
If one were to stand at the exact location where the president was fatally shot, behind you stands the Texas Depository Building, where Oswald fired his shots from. To the right and in front of you stands a wooden fence on the edge of a grassy knoll. This is from where the After the Warren Commission questioned witnesses who stood near the presidential limousine on November 22, 1963 an amazing number of people (over 120) said that they hought the shots were being fired from the rear of the grassy knoll to the right of the presidential limousine. (Associated Press, p. ) How then could the Warren Commission think that we would accept the theory that Oswald acted alone? That is absurd, the only mathematic, logical, and correct answer is that more than one gunman was amidst the crowd that afternoon in Dallas. This hastily made conclusion by the Warren Commission seemed almost to have an ulterior motive of some sort. What was this ulterior motive behind the governments conclusion regarding the John F. Kennedy assassination? We may never know, however, researching of this case will help us immensely towards finding the truth behind this tragic assassination.
We must always exercise our first amendment right to question our government’s decisions and review the motives behind their actions. If we as Americans fail to do this we could be as George Orwell stated in the novel 1984, “If The Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened- that was surely more terrifying than mere torture and death. ” This quote relates to he government censorship of information to the general public such was the case when the Warren Commission gave their delusive conclusion.
So where do we draw the line on the amount of say our government can have regarding what the general public is told and what they are sheltered from? Do we continue to allow the government the power to alter facts and make false conclusions, and possibly even adjust our past history just like in 1984 ? In order to keep these totalitarian ideas away from our government we as Americans must not let the “truth” be handed to us by the government with no questions asked.