Today Marks 60 years since the assassination of America’s 35th President John F. Kennedy. This event changed the course of American history, and was caused by one man… supposedly. The official consensus is that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy. However that explanation has been questioned for decades, and rightfully so. I am not writing this to create a theory or really dive into already existing conspiracy theories. Rather to question the story given to the American people. That said, there are so many aspects of this story that don’t mention due to the fact this article could be 10,000 words easily. Here are a few examples though.
In short the Warren Commision (the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy) concluded that Oswald acted alone, firing 3 shots using a Carcano model 38 bolt action carbine chambered in 6.5x52mm and was perched on the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository. At a short glance this story may make sense. Oswald was a U.S. Marine. Like all Marines, Oswald was trained and tested in marksmanship. In December 1956, he scored slightly above the requirements for the designation of Sharpshooter (meaning he was an average shot) In May 1959 he scored lower, which reduced his rating to Marksman(a not so great shot in the Marines). Though most likely a better shot than most the population, Oswald was not some expert shooter. This hurts the case for his firearms skills, then comes motive.
Lee Harvey Oswald’s political views were initially influenced by Marxism, leading him to defect to the Soviet Union in 1959. However, his disillusionment with life in the Soviet Union and concerns about being monitored by authorities prompted his return to the United States in 1962. Oswald maintained left-leaning tendencies but exhibited a complex and evolving political stance. Though according to the Warren Commision, was a member of the Communist Party. The exact nature of his political beliefs remains elusive.
This story seems possible and could very well be the case, but many aspects of the official story just don’t add up. Specifically Oswald’s planning and execution of the assassination. Even if Oswald knew for weeks in advance that Kennedy would be coming to Dallas that wouldn’t allow him to plan the assassination. Oswald was employed at the Texas School Book Depository beginning October 16th 1963. Oswald had struggled with unemployment. He learned about this job through his wife’s friend, who knew a woman whose husband got a job at the depository. An odd way to come across a job which would conveniently put you in front of a motorcade route, which even more importantly wasn’t announced until over a month after Oswald began working at the depository. The motorcade route wasn’t made public until November 19th in the Dallas Morning News, 4 days before the assassination. This convenient series of events would give Oswald 4 days to decide and then plan to assassination the leader of the free world. Seems like a small amount of time to make such decisions.
Wesley Frazier, the man who connected Oswald to the job, gave him a ride to work the morning of the 23rd. While on the way to work, Frazier noticed Oswald had a package, he asked what was inside; Oswald said curtain rods. It is believed that was the rifle used to kill the President. After arriving at the Depository, Oswald walked in to work alone, which Frazier found odd because they usually walked together, but didn’t think much of it. During the month Oswald worked at the depository, most of his coworkers found him to be quiet and rather anti-social. So it was no surprise that while many of his co-workers took a break to eat lunch and watch the motorcade drive by, Oswald did not join them. Instead he stayed on the sixth floor. On the southeast corner of the building Oswald set up his “snipers perch”.
The motorcade route would have had Kennedy coming straight toward Oswald down Houston Street. This would seem like the perfect time for Oswald to take a shot. He had an easy angle, unobstructed view, and even if he missed his first shot, should have had time to correct and take another with little effort. It would seem to be the easy choice, but Oswald waited for the motorcade to turn left down Elm going away from him. Why would Oswald do this? In total Oswald took three shots (three spent shell casings were found in the sniper’s perch). One of three is believed to have missed according to the Warren Commision. It is unknown which of the three shots missed, but it is seen that the missed shot was most likely the first. The second supposedly struck Kennedy in the neck and then hit Texas Governor John Connolly in the following trajectory.
Then a third struck Kennedy in the right rear of his head. Seems rather straightforward, but the odds of Oswald taking two successful shots out of three in what the Warren Commision guesstimates between 7.1 to 7.9 seconds is very unlikely. Oswald used a M91/38 Carcano carbine. This is a bolt action rifle meaning to chamber another round after taking a shot, a shooter would have to pull the bolt back to eject the casing, then push the bolt forward to chamber the next round. According to the Warren Commission, simply chambering another round would take a minimum 2.3 seconds. Meaning in the 7.9 seconds of the assassination(It is estimated by the Commision that 4.8 to 5.6 seconds passed from the shot hitting Kennedy in the neck to the shot hitting his head), 4.6 seconds were simply spent rechambering a round. To pull the bolt action back, Oswald would have to remove his eye from the scope (which was a 4×18 telescopic sight). Meaning after each shot, not only would Oswald have to take 2.3 seconds to chamber a round, he must also refocus on his sight, on a moving target. For a man with such who did not score highly on his marksmanship test in the Marines years before, that would be an incredible feat. Over the years even the most skilled marksmen have attempted to recreate this event; many have failed to recreate the supposedly skillful shots taken by Oswald. That’s not even considering that Oswald was most likely under stress due to the importance of the shots.
The third shot struck Kennedy in the right rear of his head, yet oddly enough, the Zapruder film (the best video of the assassination) shows that when hit, Kennedy moved back and to the left rather than forward and to the left. As if there was another shooter who shot Kennedy from the front and to the right. It makes little sense as to why a shot from behind would make Kennedy move back rather than forward. This has led many to believe that there were multiple shooters and that Kennedy’s assassination was part of a larger conspiracy. This is a claim that even the 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations said was a high probability. What’s left for speculation is if there was a conspiracy who killed the President. Some believe it was the Soviets (after all Oswald did have connections to communism), some say it was organized crime, some even believe it was the government, but don’t worry the government investigated themselves and found themselves not guilty of any wrongdoing.
Later that day Oswald was captured (though he killed Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippett while on the run). It would have been very valuable to hear the testimony of Oswald, but he was killed two days later by a local nightclub owner named Jack Ruby. Oswald himself said he was a patsy. Was he killed as part of a larger cover up? Who knows? If that were the case, who killed John F. Kennedy. The truth is we may never know the full story. What we do know is that the the story given to us by the Warren Commision seems to be full of convenient coincidences that lead to the the death of America’s leader. I believe there is so much more than meets the eye.