Kennedy Assassination Essay, Research Paper
Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator of Germany during World War II, once said,
"The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it." Although this
may sound ludicrous, we can see many example of this in the world’s history. One
example would have to be the John Fitzgerald Kennedy assassination. For over
thirty years the people of the United States were led to believe that a single
gunman shot and killed Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m…
However, in this paper, I will dispute the ancient analization of the facts that
show a single gunman was involved, and try to show that a conspiracy must have
been present.According to the old facts regarding the case of the JFK
assassination, Kennedy was killed by a single gunman. On November 22, 1963, at
12:30 p.m. CST (Central Standard Time),Kennedy was riding in an open limousine
through Dallas, Texas. At this time, Kennedy was shot in the head and neck by a
sniper. He was then taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital,where he was pronounced
dead. Later, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine, at a
nearby theater. By the next morning, Oswald was booked for the murder of
President John F. Kennedy. Two days later, Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby, a
Dallas nightclub owner, while he was being moved from the city to the county
jail. At a glance, the above story sounds as if this should be an open-and-shut
case. After all, according to the facts above, Oswald must have killed Kennedy.
However, you must take a deeper look into this case. Many people who witnessed
the murder of John F. Kennedy dispute the facts above, saying that they heard
shots from places besides the book depository, and other things that may
contradict what is stated above. One of these witnesses, Abraham Zapruder,
captured the entire assassination on his Bell and Howell eight millimeter movie
camera. This movie, cleverly called the Zapruder Film,is the single best piece
of visual evidence in this case. In order to more clearly understand the
Zapruder Film, it is necessary to break it down into frames. The particular Bell
and Howell movie camera that Zapruder was using ran at eighteen and
three-hundredths (18.3) frames per second. When using this frame system, you
must remember that all shots were actually fired several frames before the
number that is assigned to them. For example, the fatal heard wound, called
Z313, was probably fired at Z310, since it took 2-3 frames at 18.3 frames per
second for the bullet to reach the victim. Also, you must remember that sound
travels at about one thousand-one hundred(1,100) feet per second, or a little
over half as fast as the Mannlicher Carcano’s bullets. When keeping this in
mind, it is expected that witnesses heard the shot at some point after the
bullet passed. The following shows a break down of the frames of the Zapruder
film: – The Presidential limousine first comes into view at frame 133 (the
starting point of this timeline.) – The first shot at (or just before) Z187
would have passed through both Governor Connally and the President. – The second
shot, which passed above the limousine at Z284, missed the President and hit the
curb near witness James Tague. This caused his minor wound. – At Z313, the fatal
shot occurs, which blew out major portions of the Presidents brain and skull. -
A fourth shot occurred at Z323 (slightly 1/2 second after the fatal wound at
Z313). Due to the proximity of this report to the one at Z313, as well as it’s
more distant origin, most witnesses were unable to hear this shot. Thus, the
above is when the bullets hit either Kennedy or Connelly, or passed through the
frames of the Zapruder film (in the case of the second shot). Of the one-hundred
seventy-eight (178) witnesses at Daley Plaza, one-hundred thirty-two 132) said
that they hear exactly three shots. If Oswald was a single gunman, it would have
taken him at least 2.3 seconds to reload his Mannlicher Carcano rifle. However,
the general consensus of the witnesses is that they heard a single shot,
followed by silence, with the second and third shots bunched together. For
example, Lee Bowers, one of the witnesses, testified, "I heard three shots,
one, then a slight pause, then two very close together." Also, Warren W.
Taylor, a Secret Service agent, said, "As a matter of course, I opened the
door and prepared to get out of the car. In the instant that my left foot
touched the ground, I heard two more bangs and realized that they must be
gunshots. "Lastly, when Miss Willis, a witness, was asked if she heard any
shots, she testified, "Yes; I heard one. Then there was a little bit of
time, and then there were two real fast bullets together. When the first one
hit, well, the President turned from waving to the people, and he grabbed his
throat, and he kind of slumped forward, and then I couldn’t tell where the
second shot went." Thus, it would have been impossible for one gunman to
fire a shot with the Mannlicher Carcano rifle, reload, fire again, and fire
again in a very short amount of time in order to make the shots sound close
together. Also, when the fatal shot hit Kennedy, his head went back and to the
left, implying that the bullet came from the front and right, not from the
though many people dispute the single bullet theory, this may be true. To
understand why, you must understand the trajectory of the bullet and the angles
involved. The bullet,if fired from the Texas School Book Depository, should have
hit Kennedy at a 21 degree angle, and, in fact, it did. (See the pictures on the
subsequent pages.) Also, President Kennedy was sitting nearly six inches above
the level of Connally’s seat. Thus, when the bullet left the President, it hit
Connally, who was turned 15-20 degrees. When the bullet hit Connally, the hole
in his back was 5/8 inches wide by 1/4 inches high, or more than twice as wide
as tall. This means that the bullet was partially turned sideways when it
entered Connally’s back. Thus, the bullet must have hit something before it hit
Connally. Also, the bottom of the bullet that was found was broken open and was
extruding tiny particles of lead. X-rays taken at Parkland showed precisely that
type of particle embedded in the Governor’s wrist and thigh wounds. However,
even if the single bullet theory is true, it in no way lessens the fact that
there were multiple gunmen, and there was a conspiracy. (The "magic
bullet" is thought to be bullet one on the Zapruder film.) Lastly, one has
to consider what the biggest motives would be to kill the President. One motive
has to deal with President Kennedy trying to get out of Vietnam. This war was
the biggest business in America at the time. It brought in over eighty billion
dollars a year. Thus, since the President was trying to get out of the war, he
would have been costing business men a lot of money. Also, vice-president
Johnson would have profited a lot because he was the next to become president.
Thus, people, including the vice-president, had motives to kill the President.
As you can see, the killing of John F. Kennedy was a conspiracy. There is no way
a single gunman could have fired all the bullets that hit Kennedy and Connnally
in that short period of time. Also, since Kennedy’s head went back and to the
left, the bullet must have been fired from the front and right of Kennedy. This
shows that there was another gunman, which makes this a conspiracy. Someday, it
would be nice if the truth is revealed about who fired the bullets, and how many
gunmen there actually were.
1. Harris, Robert. "The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy: A
Reassessment of Original Testimony and Evidence." 2. Harris, Robert.
"The Single Bullet Theory: A Question of Probability." 3. Newman,
John. "Oswald and the CIA." Carroll and Graf Publishers, Inc. New
York: 1995. 4. Summers, Anthony. "Conspiracy." McGraw-Hill Book
Company. New York: 1981. 5. "JFK" Directed by Oliver Stone. Warner
Bros., Inc. 1991.