After the assassination, Oswald returned home to retrieve a pistol; he shot and killed lone Dallas policemanJ. D. Tippit shortly afterwards. Around 70 minutes after Kennedy and Connally were shot, Oswald was apprehended by theDallas Police Department and charged under Texas state law with the murders of Kennedy and Tippit. Two days later, at 11:21 a.m. on November 24, 1963, as live television cameras covered Oswald's being moved through the basement ofDallas Police Headquarters, he was fatally shot by Dallas nightclub operatorJack Ruby. Like Kennedy, Oswald was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he soon died. Ruby was convicted of Oswald's murder, though the decision was overturned on appeal, and Ruby died in prison in 1967 while awaiting a new trial.
Kennedy's assassination is still the subject of widespread debate and has spawned many conspiracy theories and alternative scenarios; polls found that a vast majority of Americans believed there was a conspiracy. The assassination left a profound impact and was the first of fourmajor assassinations during the1960s in the United States, coming two years before theassassination of Malcolm X in 1965, and five years before the assassinations ofMartin Luther King Jr. and Kennedy's brotherRobert in 1968. Kennedy was the fourth U.S. president to be assassinated and is the most recent to havedied in office.
In 1963, Kennedy decided to travel to Texas to smooth over frictions in thestate's Democratic Party between liberal U.S. senatorRalph Yarborough and conservative governorJohn Connally.[10][11] The visit was first agreed upon by Kennedy, Johnson, and Connally during a meeting inEl Paso in June.[12] The motorcade route was finalized on November 18 and announced soon thereafter.[13] Kennedy also viewed the Texas trip as an informal launch of his1964 reelection campaign.[14]
Lee Harvey Oswald (center) and others distributing pro-Castro leaflets in New Orleans, August 16, 1963.
A photograph of Oswald posing withhis rifle, holstered pistol, and communist literature[note 1]
Lee Harvey Oswald (born 1939)[17] was a formerU.S. Marine who had served in Japan and the Philippines and had espoused communist beliefs since readingKarl Marx aged 14.[18][19][20] After accidentally shooting his elbow with an unauthorized handgun and fighting an officer, Oswald was court-martialed twice and demoted.[19] In September 1959, he received adependency discharge after claiming his mother was disabled.[21] A 19-year-old Oswald sailed on a freighter fromNew Orleans to France and then traveled to Finland, where he was issued a Soviet visa.[22]
Oswalddefected to the Soviet Union,[23][note 2] and in January 1960 he was sent to work at a factory inMinsk, Belarus.[26][27] In 1961, he met and marriedMarina Prusakova,[28] with whom he had a child.[29] In 1962, he returned to the United States with a repatriation loan from the U.S. Embassy.[29] He settled in theDallas/Fort Worth area,[30] where he socialized with Russian émigrés—notablyGeorge de Mohrenschildt.[31][32] In March 1963, a bullet narrowly missed GeneralEdwin Walker at his Dallas residence; a witness observed two conspicuous men. Relying on Marina's testimony, a note left by Oswald, and ballistic evidence, theWarren Commission attributed this assassination attempt to Oswald.[33]
In April 1963, Oswald returned to his birthplace, New Orleans,[34] and established an independent chapter of the pro-CastroFair Play for Cuba Committee, of which he was the sole member.[35][36] While passing out pro-Castro literature alongside unknown compatriots, Oswald was arrested after scuffling with anti-CastroCuban exiles.[37][38][note 3] In late September 1963, Oswald traveled toMexico City, where, according to the Warren Commission, he visited the Soviet and Cuban embassies.[40] On October 3, Oswald returned to Dallas and found work at theTexas School Book Depository onDealey Plaza.[41] During the workweek he lived separately from Marina ata Dallas rooming house.[42] On the morning of the assassination, he carried a long package (which he told coworkers contained curtain rods) into the Depository;[43][note 4] the Warren Commission concluded that this package contained Oswald's disassembled rifle.[46]
The motorcade's meandering 10-mile (16 km) route through Dallas was designed to give Kennedy maximum exposure to crowds by passing through a suburban section of Dallas,[48][13] andMain Street inDowntown Dallas, before turning right on Houston Street. After another block, the motorcade was to turn left onto Elm Street, pass through Dealey Plaza, and travel a short segment of theStemmons Freeway to the Trade Mart.[13] The planned route had been reported in newspapers several days in advance.[13] Despite concerns about hostile protestors—Kennedy's UN AmbassadorAdlai Stevenson had been spat on in Dallas a month earlier—Kennedy was greeted warmly by enthusiastic crowds.[53][54][55]
Shooting
Dealey Plaza in 2006, with Elm Street on the right and the Triple Underpass on the left. The white concrete pergola, from whichZapruder was filming, is at the center, behind the lamp-post, and theGrassy Knoll is slightly to its left. The red building partially visible at the extreme upper right is theTexas School Book Depository. Kennedy's motorcade moved from right to left, and Kennedy was struck by the final bullet just left of the lamp-post in front of the pergola.
Robert Croft's photograph of Kennedy inDealey Plaza, before the first shot struck Kennedy (left), and theMary Moorman photograph (right), taken a fraction of a second after the fatal shot
Kennedy's limousine entered Dealey Plaza at 12:30 p.m. CST.[3] Nellie Connally turned and commented to Kennedy, who was sitting behind her, "Mr. President, they can't make you believe now that there are not some in Dallas who love and appreciate you, can they?" Kennedy's reply – "No, they sure can't" – were his last words.[56]
From Houston Street, the limousine made the planned left turn onto Elm, passing the Texas School Book Depository.[57] As it continued down Elm Street, multiple shots were fired: about 80% of the witnesses recalled hearing three shots.[58] The Warren Commission concluded that three shots were fired and noted that most witnesses recalled that the second and third shots were bunched together.[59] Shortly after Kennedy began waving, some witnesses heard the first gunshot, but few in the crowd or motorcade reacted, many interpreting the sound as a firecracker orbackfire.[60][61][note 5]
Per theWarren Commission'ssingle-bullet theory (top), one bullet caused Kennedy's nonfatal wound and Connally's wounds. Conspiracy theorists, neglecting that Kennedy was not directly behind Connally, claim that the trajectory required a "magic bullet" (bottom).[63]
Within one second of each other, Governor Connally and Mrs. Kennedy turned abruptly from their left to their right.[64] Connally—an experienced hunter—immediately recognized the sound as that of a rifle and turned his head and torso rightward, noting nothing unusual behind him.[62] He testified that he could not see Kennedy, so he started to turn forward again (turning from his right to his left), and that when his head was facing about 20 degrees left of center,[65] he was struck in his upper right back by a shot he did not hear,[65][66] then shouted, "My God. They're going to kill us all!"[67]
According to the Warren Commission and the HSCA, Kennedy was waving to the crowds on his right when a shot entered his upper back and exited his throat just beneath hislarynx.[68][69] He raised his elbows and clenched his fists in front of his face and neck, then leaned forward and leftward. Mrs. Kennedy, facing him, put her arms around him.[65][70][71] Although a serious wound, it likely would have been survivable.[72]
According to the Warren Commission'ssingle-bullet theory—derided as the "magic bullet theory" by conspiracy theorists—Governor Connally was injured by the same bullet that exited Kennedy's neck. The bullet created an oval-shaped entry wound near Connally's shoulder, struck and destroyed several inches of his right fifth rib, and exited his chest just below his right nipple,puncturing and collapsing his lung. That same bullet then entered his arm just above his right wrist and shattered his rightradius bone. The bullet exited just below the wrist at the inner side of his right palm and finally lodged in his left thigh.[73][74][72]
As the limousine passed thegrassy knoll,[75] Kennedy was struck a second time, by a fatal shot to the head.[76] The Warren Commission made no finding as to whether this was the second or third bullet fired, and concluded—as did the HSCA—that the second shot to strike Kennedy entered the rear of his head. It then passed in fragments through his skull, creating a large, "roughlyovular" [sic] hole on the rear, right side of the head, and spraying blood and fragments. His brain and blood spatter landed as far as the following Secret Service car and the motorcycle officers.[77][78][79][note 6]
Secret Service AgentClint Hill was riding on therunning board of the car immediately behind Kennedy's limousine.[81] Hill testified to the Warren Commission that he heard one shot, jumped onto the street, and ran forward to board the limousine and protect Kennedy. Hill stated that he heard the fatal headshot as he reached the Lincoln, "approximately five seconds" after the first shot that he heard.[82] After the headshot, Mrs. Kennedy began climbing onto the limousine's trunk, but she later had no recollection of doing so.[83] Hill believed she may have been reaching for a piece of Kennedy's skull.[82] He jumped onto the limousine's bumper, and he clung to the car as it exited Dealey Plaza and sped toParkland Memorial Hospital. After Mrs. Kennedy crawled back into her seat, both Governor and Mrs. Connally heard her repeatedly saying: "They have killed my husband. I have his brains in my hand."[65][84][85]
BystanderJames Tague received a minor wound to the cheek—either from bullet or concrete curb fragments—while standing by the triple underpass.[86] Nine months later, theFBI removed the curb, and spectrographic analysis revealed metallic residue consistent with the lead core in Oswald's ammunition.[87] Tague testified before the Warren Commission and initially stated that he was wounded by either the second or third shot of the three shots that he remembered hearing. When the commission counsel pressed him to be more specific, Tague testified that he was wounded by the second shot.[88]
Aftermath in Dealey Plaza
Civilians shielding their children after hearing shots and dropping to the grass. The grassy knoll and its picket fence are visible in the background.[note 7]
As the motorcade left Dealey Plaza, some witnesses sought cover,[90] and others joined police officers to run up the grassy knoll in search of a shooter.[75][91] No shooter was found behind the knoll's picket fence.[92] Among the 178 witnesses who testified to the Warren Commission, 78 were unsure of the shots' origin, 49 believed they came from the Depository, and 21 thought they came from the grassy knoll.[93] No witness ever reported seeing anyone—with or without a gun—immediately behind the knoll's picket fence at the time of the shooting.[92]
Lee Bowers was in a two-storyrailroad switch tower 120 yards (110 m) behind the grassy knoll's picket fence; he was watching the motorcade and had an unobstructed view of the only route by which a shooter could flee the grassy knoll; he saw no one leaving the scene.[92] Bowers testified to the Warren Commission that "one or two" men were between him and the fence during the assassination: one was a familiar parking lot attendant and the other wore a uniform like a county courthouse custodian. He testified seeing "some commotion" on the grassy knoll at the time of the assassination: "something out of the ordinary, a sort of milling around, but something occurred in this particular spot which was out of the ordinary, which attracted my eye for some reason which I could not identify".[94][note 8]
At 12:36 p.m., teenager Amos Euins approached Dallas police Sergeant D.V. Harkness to report having seen a "colored man ... leaning out of the window [with] a rifle" on the sixth floor of the Depository during the assassination; in response, Harkness radioed that he was sealing off the Depository.[96] WitnessHoward Brennan then approached a police inspector to report seeing a shooter—a white man in khaki clothing—in the same window.[97][98] Police broadcast Brennan's description of the man at 12:45 p.m.[99] Brennan testified that, after the second shot, "This man... was aiming for his last shot ... and maybe paused for another second as though to assure himself that he had hit his mark."[100] Witness James R. Worrell Jr. also reported seeing a gun barrel emerge from a sixth floor Depository window.[101] Bonnie Ray Williams, who was on the fifth floor of the Depository, stated that the rifle's report was so loud and near that ceiling plaster fell onto his head.[102]
Oswald's flight, murder of J. D. Tippit, and arrest
The view of theTexas School Book Depository from witnessHoward Brennan: circle "A" indicates where he saw Oswald firing a rifle. At right, the view from the "sniper's nest" in the Texas School Book Depository.
When searching the sixth floor of the Depository, two deputies found an ItalianCarcano M91/38 bolt-action rifle.[103][note 9] Oswald had purchased the used rifle the previous March under the alias "A. Hidell" and had it delivered to his DallasP.O. box.[105] The FBI found Oswald's partial palm print on the barrel,[106][107][note 10] and fibers on the rifle were consistent with those of Oswald's shirt.[110] A bullet found on Governor Connally's hospitalgurney and two fragments found in the limousine wereballistically matched to the Carcano.[111]
Oswald left the Depository and traveled by bus to his boarding house, where he retrieved a jacket and revolver.[112] At 1:12 p.m., police officerJ. D. Tippit spotted Oswald walking in the residential neighborhood ofOak Cliff and called him to his patrol car. After an exchange of words, Tippit exited his vehicle; Oswald then shot Tippit three times in the chest. As Tippit lay on the ground, Oswald fired a final shot into Tippit's righttemple. Oswald then calmly walked away before running as witnesses emerged.[113]
As Dallas police officers conducted a roll call of Depository employees, Oswald's supervisor Roy Truly realized that Oswald was absent and notified the police.[114] Based on a false identification of Oswald, Dallas police raided a library in Oak Cliff before realizing their mistake.[115] At 1:36 p.m., the police were called after a conspicuous Oswald, tired from running, was seen sneaking into theTexas Theatre without paying.[116] With the filmWar Is Hell still playing, Dallas policemen arrested Oswald after a brief struggle in which Oswald drew his fully loaded gun.[117] He denied shooting anyone and claimed he was being made a "patsy" because he had lived in the Soviet Union.[118]
At 12:38 p.m., Kennedy arrived in the emergency room ofParkland Memorial Hospital.[119] Although Kennedy was still breathing after the shooting, his personal physician,George Burkley, immediately saw that survival was impossible.[120][121][122] After Parkland surgeons performed futilecardiac massage, Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m., 30 minutes after the shooting.[121] CBS hostWalter Cronkite broke the news on live television.[123][124]
The Secret Service was concerned about the possibility of a larger plot and urged Johnson to leave Dallas and return to theWhite House, but Johnson refused to do so without any proof of Kennedy's death.[125][note 11] Johnson returned to Air Force One around 1:30p.m., and shortly thereafter, he received telephone calls from advisorsMcGeorge Bundy andWalter Jenkins advising him to depart for Washington, D.C., immediately.[127] He replied that he would not leave Dallas without Jacqueline Kennedy and that she would not leave without Kennedy's body.[125][127] According toEsquire, Johnson did "not want to be remembered as an abandoner of beautiful widows".[127]
At the time of Kennedy's assassination, the murder of a president was notunder federal jurisdiction.[128] Accordingly, Dallas County medical examinerEarl Rose insisted that Texas law required him to perform an autopsy.[129][130] A heated exchange between Kennedy's aides and Dallas officials nearly erupted into a fistfight before the Texans yielded and allowed Kennedy's body to be transported to Air Force One.[129][130][131] At 2:38 p.m., with Jacqueline Kennedy at his side,Johnson was administered the oath of office by federal judgeSarah Tilghman Hughes aboard Air Force One, shortly before departing for Washington with Kennedy's coffin.[132]
President Kennedy's autopsy was performed atBethesda Naval Hospital inMaryland on the night of November 22. Jacqueline Kennedy had selected a naval hospital as the postmortem site as President Kennedy had been anaval officer duringWorld War II.[134][135] The autopsy was conducted by three physicians: naval commanders James Humes and J. Thornton Boswell, with assistance from ballistics wound expert Pierre A. Finck; Humes led the procedure.[136] Under pressure from the Kennedy family and White House staffers to expedite the procedure, the physicians conducted a "rushed" and incomplete autopsy.[137] Kennedy's personal physician, Rear Admiral George Burkley,[138] signed adeath certificate on November 23 and recorded that thecause of death was a gunshot wound to the skull.[139][140]
Three years after the autopsy, Kennedy's brain—which had been removed and preserved for later analysis—was found to be missing when the Kennedy family transferred material to theNational Archives.[141][142] Conspiracy theorists often claim that the brain may have shown that the headshot entered from the front. Alternatively, the HSCA concluded that an assistant to Attorney GeneralRobert F. Kennedy, the president's brother, likely removed the footlocker holding the brain and other materials at his direction, and he "either destroyed these materials or otherwise rendered them inaccessible" to prevent "misuse" of said material or to hide the extent of thepresident's chronic illnesses and consequent medication.[143][142] Some autopsy X-rays and photographs have also been lost.[144]
Most historians regard the autopsy as the "most botched" segment of the government's investigation.[133] The HSCA forensic pathology panel concluded that the autopsy had "extensive failings", including failure to take sufficient photographs, failure to determine the exact exit or entry point of the head bullet, not dissecting the back and neck, and neglecting to determine the angles of gunshot injuries relative tobody axis.[145] The panel further concluded that the two doctors were not qualified to have conducted a forensic autopsy. Panel member Milton Helpern—Chief Medical Examiner for New York City—said that selecting Humes (who had only taken a single course on forensic pathology) to lead the autopsy was "like sending a seven-year-old boy who has taken three lessons on the violin over to theNew York Philharmonic and expecting him to perform aTchaikovsky symphony".[146]
Kennedy's coffin is carried from theCapitol, November 25
Following the autopsy, Kennedy lay in repose in theEast Room of the White House for 24 hours.[147][148] President Johnson issuedPresidential Proclamation 3561, declaring November 25 to be anational day of mourning,[149][150] and that only essential emergency workers be at their posts.[151] The coffin was then carried on ahorse-drawncaisson to theCapitol to lie in state. Hundreds of thousands of mourners lined up to view the guarded casket,[152][153] with a quarter million passing through therotunda during the 18 hours of lying in state.[152] Even in the Soviet Union—according to a memo by FBI DirectorJ. Edgar Hoover—news of the assassination "was greeted by great shock and consternation and church bells were tolled in the memory of President Kennedy".[154][155]
Drifting in and out of consciousness, Oswald was taken by ambulance to Parkland Memorial Hospital; he was treated by the same surgeons who had tried to save Kennedy.[164] The bullet had entered his lower left chest but had not exited; major heart blood vessels such as theaorta andinferior vena cava were severed, and the spleen, kidney, and liver were hit.[165] Despite surgical intervention anddefibrillation, Oswald died at 1:07 p.m.[166]
Arrested immediately after the shooting, Ruby testified to the Warren Commission that he had been distraught by Kennedy's death and that killing Oswald would spare "Mrs. Kennedy the discomfiture of coming back to trial". He also stated he shot Oswald on the spur of the moment when the opportunity presented itself, without considering any reason for doing so.[167] Initially, Ruby wished to represent himself in his trial until his lawyerMelvin Belli dissuaded him: Belli argued that Ruby had an episode ofpsychomotor epilepsy and was thus not responsible.[168] Ruby was convicted, but thedecision was overturned on appeal. While awaiting retrial in 1967,[169] Ruby died of apulmonary embolism, secondary to cancer. Like Oswald and Kennedy, Ruby was declared dead at Parkland Hospital.[170]
Films and photographs of the assassination
My god, I saw the whole thing. I saw the man's brains come out of his head.
TheBell & Howell Zoomatic movie camera used byAbraham Zapruder to capture footage of the motorcade and Kennedy's killing, which later came to be known as theZapruder film. The camera is preserved within the collection of theNational Archives.
Standing on the pergola wall some 65 feet (20 m) from the road,[171] tailorAbraham Zapruder recorded Kennedy's killing on 26 seconds of silent8 mm film — known as theZapruder film.[172] Frame 313 captures the exact moment at which Kennedy's head explodes.[173]Life magazine published frame enlargements from the Zapruder film shortly after the assassination.[172][174] The footage itself was first publicly shown at the 1969trial of Clay Shaw, and on television in 1975 byGeraldo Rivera.[175] In 1999, an arbitration panel ordered the federal government to pay $615,384 per second of film to Zapruder's heirs, valuing the complete film at $16 million (equivalent to $27.5 million in 2022).[176][177]
Zapruder was one of at least 32 people in Dealey Plaza known to have made film or still photographs at or around the time of the shooting.[178] Most notably among the photographers,Mary Moorman took several photos of Kennedy with herPolaroid, including one of Kennedy less than one-sixth of a second after the headshot.[179]
In addition to Zapruder, Charles Bronson,Marie Muchmore, andOrville Nix filmed the assassination, but at farther distances than Zapruder.[180][181] Of the three, only Nix — who filmed the assassination from the opposite side of Elm Street from Zapruder, capturing the grassy knoll — actually recorded the fatal shot.[181][182][note 12] In 1966, Nix claimed that, after he gave the film to the FBI, the duplicate that they returned had frames "missing" or "ruined". Although lower-quality duplicates exist, the original film has been missing since 1978.[182] Previously unknown footage filmed by George Jefferies was released in 2007.[183][184] Recorded a few blocks before the shooting, the film captures Kennedy's bunched suit jacket, explaining thediscrepancies between the location of the bullet hole in Kennedy's back and his jacket.[185]
Some films and photographs captured an unidentified woman apparently filming the assassination; researchers have nicknamed her theBabushka Lady due to theshawl around her head.[186] In 1978,Gordon Arnold came forward and claimed that he had filmed the assassination from the grassy knoll and that a police officer had confiscated his film.[187] Arnold is not visible in any photographs taken of the area, whichVincent Bugliosi—author ofReclaiming History—called "conclusive photographic proof that Arnold's story was fabricated".[188]
At the Dallas Police headquarters, officers interrogated Oswald about the shootings of Kennedy and Tippit; these intermittent interviews lasted for approximately 12 hours between 2:30 p.m. on November 22 and 11 a.m. on November 24.[189] Throughout, Oswald denied any involvement and resorted to statements that were found to be false.[190]
CaptainJ. W. Fritz of the Homicide and Robbery Bureau did most of the questioning and kept only rudimentary notes.[191][192] Days later, Fritz wrote a report of the interrogation from notes he made afterwards.[191] There were no stenographic or tape recordings. Representatives of other law enforcement agencies were also present, including the FBI and the Secret Service, and occasionally participated in the questioning.[190] Several of the FBI agents who were present wrote contemporaneous reports of the interrogation.[193]
On the evening of November 22, Dallas Police performedparaffin tests on Oswald's hands and right cheek in an effort to establish whether or not he had recently fired a weapon. The results were positive for the hands and negative for the right cheek. Such tests were unreliable,[190][194] and the Warren Commission did not rely on these results.[190]
The Dallas police forced Oswald to host a press conference after midnight on November 23, and, early in the investigation, made many leaks to the media. Their conduct angered Johnson, who instructed the FBI to tell them to "stop talking about the assassination".[128] Dallas Police, after the FBI expressed concerns that someone might try to kill Oswald, assured federal authorities that they would provide him adequate protection.[195]
The FBI immediately launched an investigation into the assassination, relying on a federal statute that forbade assaulting a federal officer. Within 24 hours of the killing, FBI Director Hoover sent President Johnson a preliminary report finding that Oswald was the sole culprit. After Ruby killed Oswald, Johnson decided that the Texan authorities were incompetent and instructed the FBI to conduct a complete investigation.[128]
On December 9, 1963, the Warren Commission received the FBI's report of its investigation which concluded that three bullets had been fired—the first striking Kennedy in the upper back; the second striking Connally; and the third striking Kennedy in the head, killing him.[197] The FBI continued to serve as the main investigative arm of the Warren Commission in the field. A total of 169 FBI agents worked on the case, conducting over 25,000 interviews and writing over 2,300 reports.[196]
The thoroughness of the FBI's investigation is contested. Bugliosi applauded its quality and cites conspiracy theorist Harrison Edward Livingstone's praise of the FBI's commitment to following all leads.[198] In its 1979 report, the HSCA found that the FBI's investigation of pro- and anti-Castro Cubans, and any connections to Oswald or Ruby, was insufficient.[196] The HSCA also noted that Hoover "seemed determined [to make the case that Oswald was the lone assassin] within 24 hours of the assassination".[199]
On November 29, President Johnson established by executive order "The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy" and selected Chief JusticeEarl Warren of theU.S. Supreme Court to chair the investigation, commonly known as the Warren Commission.[200][128] Its 888-page final report was presented to Johnson on September 24, 1964, and made public three days later.[201] It concluded thatLee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in killing Kennedy and wounding Connally, and thatJack Ruby acted alone in killing Oswald.[202][203] It made no conclusions as to Oswald's motive, but noted hisMarxism,anti-authoritarianism, violent tendencies, failure to form personal relationships, and his desire to be significant in history.[204]
Upon examining the Zapruder film, commission staffers realized that the FBI's gunshot theory was impossible. The reaction times of Kennedy and Connally were too close to have been caused by two bullets from Oswald: the reaction interval was less than the 2.3 seconds that it took to reload.[205][206] This was one of the commission's most crucial findings: that a single shot caused the non-fatal wounds of Kennedy and Connally, known as the "single-bullet theory".[207][208] In May 1964, stafferArlen Specter replicated the single bullet's trajectory via a reenactment in Dealey Plaza: the bullet's path was exactly consistent with Kennedy's and Connally's wounds.[209]
Out of the eight commission members, three—RepresentativeHale Boggs and SenatorsJohn Cooper andRichard Russell—found the theory "improbable"; their qualms were not mentioned in the final report.[210] Conspiracy theorists labelled this theory the "magic bullet theory", partly due to the bullet's intact and purportedly pristine state. However, the HSCA'sMichael Baden noted that the bullet, despite its lack of fragmentation, was fundamentally deformed.[73] In 2023, Secret Service Agent Paul Landis—who had stood on the running board of Kennedy's car—toldThe New York Times that he retrieved the "magic bullet" from immediately behind Kennedy's seat upon arrival at Parkland, and that he placed it on Kennedy's stretcher. Landis believes that the bullet dislodged from a shallow wound in Kennedy's back.[211]
As well as the Warren Report's 27 published volumes, the commission created hundreds of thousands of pages of investigative reports and documents.Relman Morin stated that "Never in history was a crime probed as intensely"; Bugliosi concluded that the commission's basic findings have "held up remarkably well".[212] According toGerald Posner, the Warren report is "universally derided" by the American public.[213] Walter Cronkite noted that, "Although the Warren Commission had full power to conduct its own independent investigation, it permitted the FBI and the CIA to investigate themselves – and so cast a permanent shadow on the answers."[214] According to a 2014 report by CIA Chief Historian David Robarge, then-CIA directorJohn A. McCone was involved in a "benign cover-up" by withholding information from the commission.[215]
Clay Shaw (pictured in 1951) wasacquitted by the New Orleans jury after less than an hour of deliberation.
On March 22, 1967, New Orleans District AttorneyJim Garrison arrested and charged New Orleans businessmanClay Shaw with conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy, with the help of Oswald,David Ferrie, and others.[216] A respected businessman who had helped renovate and preserve theFrench Quarter,[216] Shaw was described as "the unlikeliest villain sinceOscar Wilde".[217] Both Shaw and the neurotic, avidly anti-Castro Ferrie were members ofNew Orleans' gay community.[218] Ferrie died, possibly by suicide, four days after news of the investigation broke.[219] OnThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1968, Garrison first publicly alleged that Shaw and Ferrie had been part of alarger CIA scheme to kill Kennedy and frame Oswald.[220] In the 34-day trial conducted in 1969,[221] Garrison played the Zapruder film and argued that the backwards motion of Kennedy's head after the fatal shot was indicative of a shooter in front on the grassy knoll.[222]
After a brief deliberation, the jury found Shaw not guilty.[221]Mark Lane interviewed the jurors after the trial and stated that some believed that Shaw likely was involved in a conspiracy but that there was insufficient evidence to convict.[223][224] Lane's claims have been disputed by playwrightJames Kirkwood—a personal friend of Clay Shaw—who said that he met several jurors who denied ever speaking to Lane.[225][226] Kirkwood also questioned Lane's claim that the jury believed that there was a conspiracy:[227] jury foreman Sidney Hebert told Kirkwood, "I didn't think too much of the Warren Report either until the trial. Now I think a lot more of it than I did before."[228]
According to academic E. Jerald Ogg, the Shaw trial is now widely regarded as a "travesty of justice";[229] Kirkwood likened the trial to aSpanish Inquisition hearing.[230] Other observers have characterized the proceedings as relying on homophobia.[231] It remains the only trial to be brought for the Kennedy assassination.[216] In 1979, former CIA directorRichard Helms testified that Shaw had been a part-time contact of theDomestic Contact Service of the CIA, through which Shaw volunteered information from his travels abroad, mostly to Latin America. However, according toMax Holland, some 150,000 Americans were contacts.[232] In 1993, the PBS programFrontline obtained a group photograph that featured Ferrie and Oswald together at a 1955 cookout for theCivil Air Patrol: Ferrie had denied ever knowing Oswald.[233]
Ramsey Clark Panel
The panel organized by Attorney GeneralRamsey Clark (pictured with PresidentLyndon B. Johnson in 1968) found that two bullets struck Kennedy from behind.
Excluding Chief Justice Warren, the members of Warren Commission did not view the photographs or X-rays taken during Kennedy's autopsy. According to Warren, this was to avoid having to publicly release the explicit material to "sensation mongers".[234] Due to persistent speculation, in February 1968, Attorney GeneralRamsey Clark convened a panel of four medical experts to examine the photographs and X-rays from the Kennedy autopsy. Their findings concurred with the Warren Commission: Kennedy was struck by two bullets, both from behind.[235]
In 1975, PresidentGerald Ford—who had been a member of the Warren Commission a decade prior—established theUnited States President's Commission on CIA Activities within the United States, better known as the Rockefeller Commission after its chairman, Vice PresidentNelson Rockefeller.[236][237] The commission received a mandate to determine if any domestic activities by the CIA were unlawful and to make appropriate recommendations: accordingly, it also re-examined the Kennedy assassination.[235]
TheRockefeller Commission first proposed that the backwards motion of Kennedy following the fatal shot—which conspiracy theorists claim is indicative of a shot from the grassy knoll—was due to a "seizure-like neuromuscular reaction".
After five months of investigation, the Rockefeller Commission submitted its report to President Ford.[238] The report reviewed the medical evidence and agreed that Kennedy had been killed by two shots from behind.[235] Refuting Garrison's claims that the backwards motion of Kennedy's head seen on the Zapruder film was indicative of a grassy knoll shooter,[222] the commission found that "such a motion would be caused by a violent straightening and stiffening of the entire body as a result of a seizure-like neuromuscular reaction to major damage inflicted to nerve centers in the brain".[239] The later HSCA suggested that the "propulsive effect resulting from brain matter" ejected from the exit wound may have been responsible.[240] PathologistVincent Di Maio testified before the HSCA that the notion of a "transfer of momentum" from a grassy knoll bullet was unfounded and something from "Arnold Schwarzenegger pictures".[239]
The Rockefeller Commission also sought to determine whether CIA operatives—particularlyE. Howard Hunt andFrank Sturgis—were present in Dealey Plaza during the assassination, and whether they were among the "three tramps" pictured shortly after the assassination. The commission found no evidence for these claims.[237] It also inquired into purported connections between the CIA and Oswald and Ruby, for which it found no evidence and concluded was "farfetched speculation".[237] They concluded that there was "no credible evidence of CIA involvement".[235]
In its final report, the Church Committee concluded that there was no evidence of a CIA- or FBI-led conspiracy.[244] They found that the original investigation into the assassination was "deficient" and criticized the FBI and CIA for withholding information from the Warren Commission. In particular, it noted that knowledge of theCIA's many failed attempts to assassinate Castro may have significantly affected the course of the investigation.[244][245] Moreover, the Church Committee revealed that the CIA had conspired with theMafia in these plots against Castro.[244][246] These revelations led to further public scrutiny of the assassination.[245]
United States House Select Committee on Assassinations
The HSCA concurred with theWarren Commission'ssingle-bullet theory. (The figure illustrates how the oblong wound in Connally's back was indicative of a bullet which had been tumbling after striking an intervening object.)
Of the nine-member medical panel, only Dr.Cyril Wecht (testimony above) rejected the theory.[247]
As a result of increasing public and congressional skepticism of the Warren Commission's findings and the transparency of government agencies,[245] in 1976 the House Select Committee on Assassinations was created to investigate the assassinations of Kennedy and ofMartin Luther King, Jr.[248]
The HSCA conducted its inquiry until 1978 and issued its final report the following year, concluding that Kennedy was likely assassinated as a result of aconspiracy.[249] They concluded that there was a "high probability" that a fourth shot was fired from the grassy knoll, but they stated that this shot missed Kennedy.[250] Concerning the conclusions of "probable conspiracy", four of the twelve committee members wrote dissenting opinions.[251]
The HSCA also concluded that previous investigations into Oswald's responsibility were "thorough and reliable" but did not adequately investigate the possibility of a conspiracy, and that federal agencies performed with "varying degrees of competency".[252] Specifically, the FBI and CIA were found to be deficient in sharing information with other agencies and the Warren Commission. Instead of furnishing all relevant information, the FBI and CIA only responded to specific requests and were still occasionally inadequate.[253] Furthermore, the Secret Service did not properly analyze information it possessed prior to the assassination and was inadequately prepared to protect Kennedy.[251]
The chief reason for the conclusion of "probable conspiracy" was, according to the report's dissent, the subsequently discredited acoustic analysis of apolice channel Dictabelt recording.[250][254][255] In accordance with the recommendations of the HSCA, the Dictabelt recording and acoustic evidence of a second assassin was subsequently reexamined. In light of investigative reports from the FBI's Technical Services Division and a specially appointedNational Academy of Sciences Committee determining that "reliable acoustic data do not support a conclusion that there was a second gunman",[254] the Justice Department concluded "that no persuasive evidence can be identified to support the theory of a conspiracy" in the Kennedy assassination.[255]
Oliver Stone's 1991 filmJFK spurred the "JFK Act", which mandated the release of all relevant classified files.
In 1991,Oliver Stone's filmJFK renewed interest in the assassination and particularly in the still-classified files relating to the killing. In response, Congress passed theJFK Records Act, which called for the National Archives to collect and release all assassination-related documents within 25 years.[256][257][258] The act also mandated the creation of an independent office, theAssassination Records Review Board, to review the submitted records for completeness and continued secrecy. From 1994 until 1998, the Assassination Records Review Board gathered and unsealed about 60,000 documents comprising over 4 million pages.[259][260]
A 1998 staff report for the Assassinations Records Review Board contended that brain photographs in the Kennedy records may not be of Kennedy's brain, reportedly showing much less damage than Kennedy sustained. Dr. Boswell refuted these allegations.[261] The board also found that, conflicting with the photographic images showing no such defect, several witnesses (at both Parkland hospital and the autopsy) remembered a large wound in the back of Kennedy's head.[262] The board, and board member Jeremy Gunn, stressed the problems with witness testimony, urging people to weigh all of the evidence, with due concern for human error, rather than take single statements as "proof" for one theory or another.[263]
All remaining assassination-related records were scheduled to be released by October 2017, with the exception of documents certified for continued postponement by succeeding presidents due to "identifiable harm... to the military, defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or conduct of foreign relations... of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest in disclosure."[264][265] PresidentDonald Trump said in October 2017 that he would not block the release of documents,[265] but in April 2018—the deadline he set to release all JFK records—Trump blocked the release of some records until October 2021.[266][257] PresidentJoe Biden, citing theCOVID-19 pandemic, delayed the release further,[267][268] before releasing 13,173 unredacted documents in 2022.[269] A second group of files were unsealed in June 2023, at which point 99 percent of documents had been made public.[269][270]
The Kennedy assassination has been described as "the mother of all conspiracies".[274]For decades, polls have consistently found that a majority of Americans believe there was a conspiracy;[275][276][277] some 1,000 to 2,000 books—mostly pro-conspiracy—have been written about the killing.[278] Across different theories, Oswald's role varies from co-conspirator to entirely innocent.[279][280] Common culprits include the FBI, the CIA, the U.S. military,[280] the Mafia,[281] themilitary-industrial complex,[281] Vice President Johnson, Castro, theKGB, or some combination thereof.[282] Bugliosi estimated that a total of 42 groups, 82 assassins, and 214 people had been accused in various assassination theories.[283]
Conspiracy theorists often argue that there were multiple shooters—a "triangulation of crossfire"—and that the fatal shot was fired from the grassy knoll and struck Kennedy in the front of the head.[284] Individuals present in Dealey Plaza have been the subject of much speculation, including thethree tramps, theumbrella man, and the purportedBadge Man.[285][286][287] Conspiracy theorists argue that the autopsy and official investigations were flawed or, at worst, complicit,[288] and that witnesses to the Kennedy assassination, such asGary Underhill, met mysterious and suspicious deaths.[289]
Conspiracy theories have been espoused by notable figures, such asL. Fletcher Prouty, Chief of Special Operations for theJoint Chiefs of Staff under Kennedy, who believed that elements of the U.S. military and intelligence communities had conspired to assassinate the president.[290] Governor Connally also rejected the single-bullet theory,[291][292] and President Johnson reportedly expressed doubt regarding the Warren Commission's conclusions prior to his death.[293] According toRobert F. Kennedy Jr., his father believed that the Warren Report was a "shoddy piece of craftsmanship" and that John F. Kennedy had been killed by a conspiracy, possibly involving Cuban exiles and the CIA.[294] Communist rulers like Castro and Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchev believed that Kennedy had been killed by right-wing Americans.[295] Former CIA directorR. James Woolsey has argued that Oswald killed Kennedy as part of a Soviet conspiracy.[296]
Legacy
Political impact and memorialization
Congress authorized the minting of a new 50-cent piece, theKennedy half dollar in December 1963.[297]
Kennedy's assassination also resulted in an overhaul of the Secret Service and its procedures. Open limousines were eliminated, staffing was significantly increased, and specialized teams likecounter-sniper units were established. The agency's budget has also increased, from $5.5 million in 1963 (equivalent to $56,500,000 in 2024) to over $1.6 billion by the 50th anniversary in 2013.[307]
John F. Kennedy's assassination was the first of four major assassinations during the 1960s, coming two years before theassassination of Malcolm X in 1965, and five years before the assassinations ofMartin Luther King Jr. andRobert F. Kennedy in 1968.[309] For the public, Kennedy's assassination mythologized him into a heroic figure.[310] Although scholars typically regard Kennedy as a good but not great president,[311] public opinion polls consistently find him the most popular post-WWII president.[311][312]
Kennedy's murder left alasting impression on many worldwide. As with theattack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941, and, much later, theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001, asking "Where were you when you heard about President Kennedy's assassination?" became a common topic of discussion.[313][314][315][316][317] JournalistDan Rather opined that the Kennedy assassination will be discussed "a hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, in somewhat the same way as people discuss theIliad. Different people readHomer's description of the war and come to different conclusions, and so it shall be for Kennedy's death."[318]
TheBoeing 707 that served as Air Force One at the time of the assassination is on display at theNational Museum of the United States Air Force; Kennedy's limousine is at theHenry Ford Museum.[333] TheLincoln Catafalque, on which Kennedy's coffin rested in the Capitol, is exhibited at theCapitol Visitor Center.[334] Jacqueline's pink suit, autopsy X-rays, and President Kennedy's blood-stained clothing are in the National Archives, with access controlled by the Kennedy family. Other items in the Archives include Parkland Hospital trauma room equipment; Oswald's rifle, diary, and revolver; bullet fragments; and the limousine's windshield.[333] The Texas State Archives preserve Connally's bullet-punctured clothes; the gun Ruby used to kill Oswald came into the possession of Ruby's brother Earl, and was sold in 1991 for $220,000[335] (equivalent to $510,000 in 2024).
At the direction of Robert F. Kennedy, some items were destroyed. The casket in which Kennedy's body was transported from Dallas to Washington was dropped into the sea, because "its public display would be extremely offensive and contrary to public policy".[336]
Notes and references
Notes
^This photo and a similar one are known as the "backyard photographs"; according to Bugliosi, it is one of the pieces of evidence most damning for Oswald. Oswald told Dallas police that the photographs were not genuine and that someone must have superimposed his head.[15] Marina Oswald testified that she took the pictures.[16]
^In 1964, KGB AgentYuri Nosenko defected to the United States. He divulged that Soviet intelligence surveilled Oswald, regarded him as mentally unstable, and had no association with him.[24] Although the FBI trusted Nosenko, the CIA believed that he was amole and convinced the Warren Commission not to interview him.[25]
^At Oswald's request, he met with FBI Special Agent John Quigley while in custody. Posner cites this as proof that Oswald was not a government agent, questioning why he might "blow his cover".[39]
^Jack Dougherty, the only witness who saw Oswald enter the Depository on the morning of the assassination, testified to the Warren Commission that he did not remember seeing Oswald with any package.[44] Bugliosi questioned his reliability as a witness: Dougherty's father told FBI agents on November 23 that his son "had considerable difficulty in coordinating his mental facilities with his speech".[45]
^After the first shot, witness Virgie Rachley—an employee at the Texas School Book Depository—reported seeing sparks on the pavement shortly behind the president's limousine.[62]
^Student Billy Harper later found a fragment of Kennedy's skull on the road.[80]
^The journalists pictured with them arrived as the end of the motorcade passed through Dealey Plaza.[89]
^Bugliosi notes that Lee Bowers Jr. did not mention the "commotion" in an earlier affidavit, in which Bowers did take time to list all other suspicious happenings like circling vehicles with "Goldwater for '64" stickers. Moreover, conspiracy theorist Jim Moore questions whether Bowers could even have seen the area. Bowers testified that he "threw [the] red-on-red [signal]" just after the fatal shot, but the grassy knoll was partially obstructed from Bowers' position at the work panel.[95]
^Three spent cartridges were found on the floor. One live round was found in the rifle. Dallas policemen thoroughly photographed the rifle before its removal.[104]
^Lieutenant Day of the Dallas police examined the weapon prior to its seizure by the FBI. He found and photographed fingerprints on the trigger housing. Although Day believed the prints to be those of Oswald's right middle and ring fingers, the ridges were not clear enough to make a positive identification. Day then discovered a palm-print on the barrel underneath the wooden stock. He tentatively identified it as Oswald's, but was not able to photograph or analyze it in more depth as the FBI took the Carcano.[108] In D.C., FBI fingerprint expert Sebastian Latona found the photographs and extant prints to be "insufficient" as to make any conclusion. The rifle was returned to the Dallas police on November 24.[107] Five days later, the FBI made a positive identification using a card from Day.[109]
^At the time of Kennedy's assassination, most of his cabinet was on a trip to Japan.[126]
^Nix himself believed that the shots had come from the grassy knoll.[182]
^In 1973, due to Floridians' discontent with the change, Florida GovernorReubin Askew mandated that Cape Kennedy be referred to as Cape Canaveral on all state documents and maps. TheU.S. Board of Geographic Names accepted the name change later that year.[303]
Cilento, Fabrizio (2018).The Ontology of Replay: The Zapruder Video and American Conspiracy Films. Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN9783030064891.
Daniel, Douglass K. (2007).Harry Reasoner: A Life in the News. University of Texas Press.ISBN9780292714779.
Fischer, Heinz-D; Fischer, Erika J. (2003).The Pulitzer Prize Archive: A History and Anthology of Award-Winning Materials in Journalism, Letters and Arts. Vol. 17 Complete Historical Handbook of the Pulitzer Prize System 1917–2000. De Gruyter.ISBN9783110939125.
Hinckle, Warren; Turner, William W. (1981).The Fish is Red: The Story of the Secret War Against Castro. Harper & Row.ISBN9780060380038.
Jones, Howard (2008).The Bay of Pigs. Oxford University Press.ISBN9780195173833.
Kirkwood Jr., James (1992).American Grotesque: An Account of the Clay Shaw-Jim Garrison-Kennedy Assassination Trial in New Orleans. Harper Perennial.ISBN9780060975234.
Pett, Saul; Moody, Sidney C.; Henshaw, Tom (1963).The Torch Is Passed: The Associated Press Story of the Death of a President. Associated Press.OCLC13554948.
Testimony of Mrs. John F. Kennedy.Warren Commission Hearings (Report). Vol. V. June 5, 1964. pp. 178–181.Archived from the original on October 23, 2013 – via Assassination Archives and Research Center.
Testimony of Dr. Robert Roeder Shaw.Warren Commission Hearings (Report). Vol. IV. pp. 101–117.Archived from the original on July 20, 2013 – via Assassination Archives and Research Center.
Testimony of James Thomas Tague.Warren Commission Hearings (Report). Vol. VII. July 23, 1964. pp. 552–558.Archived from the original on July 20, 2013 – via Assassination Archives and Research Center.
Testimony of Bobby W. Hargis.Warren Commission Hearings (Report). Vol. VI. April 8, 1964. pp. 293–296.Archived from the original on September 25, 2012 – via Assassination Archives and Research Center.
Testimony of Clyde A. Haygood.Warren Commission Hearings (Report). Vol. VI. April 9, 1964. pp. 296–302.Archived from the original on July 20, 2013 – via Assassination Archives and Research Center.
Testimony of Jack Ruby.Warren Commission Hearings (Report). Vol. V. pp. 198–200.Archived from the original on February 25, 2021 – via Assassination Archives and Research Center.
Testimony of Kenneth P. O'Donnell.Warren Commission Hearings (Report). Vol. VII. pp. 440–457.Archived from the original on January 25, 2012 – via Assassination Archives and Research Center.
Testimony of Howard Brennan.Warren Commission Hearings (Report). Vol. III. pp. 144–145.Archived from the original on July 26, 2018 – via Assassination Archives and Research Center.
Ball, Moya Ann (Winter 1994). "The Phantom of the Oval Office: The John F. Kennedy Assassination's Symbolic Impact on Lyndon B. Johnson, His Key Advisers, and the Vietnam Decision-Making Process".Presidential Studies Quarterly.24 (1):105–119.JSTOR27551197.
Evica, George Michael (1992). "Deconstructing the DA: The Garrison Image in JFK".Cinéaste.19 (1):17–19.JSTOR41688060.
Fantova, Johanna (Autumn 1964). Cape Canaveral to Cape Kennedy.The Princeton University Library Chronicle (Report). Vol. 26. Princeton University. pp. 57–62.JSTOR26402928.
Holland, Max (2001). "The Lie That Linked CIA to the Kennedy Assassination".Studies in Intelligence.45 (5).
Ogg, E. Jerald (Spring 2004). "Life and the Prosecution of Clay Shaw: A More Curious Silence".Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association.45 (2):133–149.JSTOR4233998.
Witherspoon, Patricia D. (Summer 1987). ""Let Us Continue:" The Rhetorical Initiation of Lyndon Johnson's Presidency".Presidential Studies Quarterly.17 (3):531–539.JSTOR27550444.
Magazines
Bagdikian, Ben H. (December 14, 1963).Blair, Clay Jr. (ed.). "The Assassin".The Saturday Evening Post (44). The Curtis Publishing Company.
Friedman, Rick (November 30, 1963). "Pictures of the Assassination Fall to Amateurs on Street".Editor & Publisher.
Burkley, George Gregory (November 23, 1963).Certificate of Death. National Archives and Records Administration.front side,back side. NAVMED Form N – via The President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection.
"The Catafalque".History of Capitol Hill. Architect of the Capitol.Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. RetrievedNovember 26, 2012.
"George Jefferies Film".George Jefferies Collection. Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. RetrievedAugust 11, 2019.
Spivak, Alvin (November 26, 1963). "Eternal flame burns at Kennedy gravesite". United Press International.At the mass, the Most Reverend Philip Hannan, auxiliary bishop of Washington, read from the fallen president's inaugural address and from his favorite biblical passages. This was the closest approach to a eulogy in the funeral service.
Vollman, William T. (February 26, 1995)."En Route to the Grassy Knoll".The New York Times.Archived from the original on May 27, 2023. RetrievedMay 27, 2023.
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