Who Killed JFK? By Sean Thomas

What exactly was the motive for killing JFK? Was it the CIA? Did the mysterious Babushka lady have anything to do with it? There was a shooter who shot the insane “magic bullet” named Lee Harvey Oswald, but who else was involved? Some say the CIA had a motive to kill him and that could be linked, and some say there was multiple shooters. Let’s explore who killed JFK, and why they did it and hopefully gain a better understanding of the topic.

           John F. Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, in Brookline Massachusetts. He served in the U.S House of Representatives and the U.S Senate. He later became the 35^th president of the United States in 1961. He was beloved by the people(“James Starks, of Abc News”) of the U.S and as president he was able to accomplish many accolades such as being the youngest president in U.S history, taking the U.S economy out of recession, establishing a peace corp, and even averting nuclear war(“Learnodo-newtonic.com”). But on November 21st, 1963, Kennedy went down and flew to Dallas. On the 22nd ,Kennedy and his wife along with the Governor of Texas rode through the streets of downtown Dallas in a car with the roof down. He was assassinated by a man identified as Lee Harvey Oswald who shot from an upstairs building. Kennedy died in the Parkland Memorial Hospital at just age 46. Oswald was later assassinated by Jack Ruby, but the damage had already been done.

            President John F Kennedy was a charming, good-hearted, and respected man by the people. Thousands of people were in attendance of his parade appearance in Dallas when he was assassinated, this shows how many people wanted to see him in person and how many people respected him. His accomplishments and life will not be forgotten. “He is the most positively rated president amongst men who served in the oval office.” said by a today.yougov.com article. “His death shocked Americans and people around the world.”, said an article from (“learningenglish.voanews.com.”) These just show how many people cared and loved the man, it shows how much America appreciated him. He left four children, Caroline, Arabella, John, and Patrick Kennedy, who all enjoyed spending time and competing against one  another.

            John F. Kennedy was said to have some controversial things said and done that a lot say caught the attention of the CIA and that makes most believe that the CIA and the government had a motive and played a part in the JFK assassination. But was it worth a man’s life? To put a nation and a family through tragedy? Wasn’t there another way? Apparently not. The CIA ended JFK’s Presidency in a tragic and disrespectful way.

            Kennedy ended up being praised during the Cuban missile crisis for how “calm” and “steady handed” he was, said by Mark Hudson(“History.state.gov”), but some suggested that the Kennedy Blockade that prevented WWIII was a sign of weakness and a failure of nerve. His conflict was what the CIA was doing in the meantime, plotting to kill him. The CIA plotted the assassination of Kennedy to maintain the tensions between the Soviet Union and Cuba was said by Jim Garrison. Oswald was a CIA agent brought in and was hired to kill JFK. They were upset with the lack of action to remove Castro. It only intensified after the Cuban Missile Crisis and was viewed it as a dangerous thing to the U.S. The evidence about the motive isn’t all clear but it makes sense. The evidence that the CIA had a hand is how CIA Headquarters sent out two cables on the Oswald with false information, prior to the assassination. Another is how they covered up Oswald and things just didn’t add up. This all raised suspicion. Things like saying “He spoke poor Russian” and how he was actually fluent in Russian and how they were unable  to produce a single photo of the “real Oswald” all raised red flags and made the nation wonder if they were really covering him up and it was more than just a crazy shooter killing the president. The CIA killed one of the most popular presidents and brought tragedy to the U.S and the Kennedy family, It was not worth a man’s life. They could’ve went about it differently. Instead, a tragedy and the loss of one of the nation’s most popular president.

            After being informed of JFK’s death and most witnessing it on national T.V, the nation mourned.  Kennedy had been described as “helpful”, “anti-poverty”, and a “good person” said by Kai Jaeger. He was your normal handsome, charming, rich president that was easy to like and hard to hate. He did things like free MLK from jail and prevent a nuclear holocaust. His wife died in May 1994 and his brother had been assassinated a few years later. His son grew up but died in 1999 and his other son died due to a birth problem. Out of his daughters, only one is living while the other had died as an infant. A family with no shortage of tragedy, John F. Kennedy’s death was maybe the biggest, but certainly not the only tragedy amongst the Kennedy family.

After  the assassination of JFK many conspiracies sparked about his death. The first one was that it was an inside job. Basically, Lyndon B. Johnson and the CIA were involved (“Washington Post”). Many people believe it to be “insane” or “contrived” (Washington Post”). A lot of that is because they don’t believe the government could be behind something so traumatizing to a nation such as the assassination of a president but in reality, the government has left us in the dark and has kept things secret from us for years so don’t think that they are above something like this. The CIA is believed to have killed Kennedy out of anger over the Bay of Pigs invasion and how he was a threat to the safety to the US (“Time Magazine”). Lyndon B. Johnson is also believed to have a motive to kill Kennedy because he was Vice President and with JFK out of the picture, he would be president. It was quoted by Richard Nixon “Lyndon and I both wanted to be president, the difference is I wouldn’t kill for it”. The inside job theory is that the CIA killed JFK at the behest of Lyndon B. Johnson. Lyndon gave the green light for the CIA to take Kennedy out and used the Bay of Pigs as a reason for it.

            The second theory is that the Cubans and Soviets were involved in the assassination. Mr. Oswald visited Mexico City for six days shortly before the assassination. He said he was there to obtain visas from the Cuban and Soviet Union embassies(“NY Times”). No one knows for sure what he did while in Mexico but a lot of people believe he was given orders to assassinate Kennedy there. “One Soviet official whom Oswald purportedly contacted, Valeriy Kostikov, was not only a KGB officer but also was believed to have worked for the KGB’s Department 13, which the CIA report described as ‘the department charged with sabotage and assassination,'”(“Huffington Post”). This is the prime reason he is believed to have been told by them to assassinate Kennedy. People say many things about how the information of Oswald’s trip was handled, “I’ve always considered the Mexico City trip the hidden chapter of the assassination. A lot of histories gloss right past this period.”(“Philip Shenon, Former NY Times Writer”). The fact that the CIA and the FBI seemed to not know what was going on is also a reason that they aren’t out of the suspect equation.

            The third and final theory is that there were multiple shooters. This is mainly because of how he was shot in the back and the head but we only heard one gunshot. The “magic bullet” is the supposed reason for this but it seems very unlikely that something so strange would happen like that. This one is a little less likely simply because there wasn’t a second gunshot heard and there wasn’t a second shooter discovered. However, it is just unlikely that the bullet really did something so insane like what the “magic bullet” is claimed to have done. In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations released its final report. It said some accusations and contained things that shocked them, "Scientific acoustical evidence establishes a high probability that two gunmen fired at President John F. Kennedy."(“ABC News.com”). The finding is based entirely on sound of the recording though,(“abcnews.go.com”). The House Committee on Assassinations asked Bolt Beranek and Newman to analyze the footage and sound to see whether there were records of shots.(“Huffington Post”). They concluded that there was evidence of multiple gunshots on the recording. Evidence was found not only for the three known shots from the Book Depository, but of another shot from the grassy knoll.(“Abcnews.go.com”).This is why the Grassy Knoll is so infamous when It comes to the JFK theories, this is where the second shot came from. They said that there was a 50 percent probability that it is true but it is likely to be higher. A magic bullet is just unlikely, but timing the shots is easier and much more likely.

            The three theories can possibly tie together and it is possible even with multiple shooters, Oswald got his orders from Cuba and the Soviets. Wheather you believe them to be true or not, I urge you to consider it. The government will hide things like this to keep the public out of panic and to protect the Kennedy family, but the truth must be told. There are multiple reasons that LBJ could have done it, there are multiple reasons the Cubans and Soviets did it and there is a good chance that there was multiple shots, but one thing is certain, we won’t have a clear answer until the government tells the truth.

John F. Kennedy was one of the most beloved presidents in US history. His end was tragic way to early, but he left behind a legacy that won’t be forgotten. However, this led to three conspiracies.

1.      His assassination was an inside job by the CIA and LBJ

2.      The Cubans and Soviets are to blame

3.      How many shooters were there really?

There is evidence for all 3 of these and there is a chance that they could all be connected and true but until there is an official statement or someone comes clean, they will just be conspiracies.

Citations

K, James. “Arabella Kennedy (1956-1956) - Find A Grave...” (1956-1956) - Find A Grave Memorial, Arabella KEnnedy, 2013, www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3001.

Ferral, Mary K. “The CIA And The JFK Assassination.” The CIA and the JFK Assassination, MFerral.org, 21 Nov. 2011, www.maryferrell.org/pages/The_CIA_and_the_JFK_Assassination.html.

Moran, Daniel. “Quara.” Wuara.com, QU, 2016, www.quora.com/How-would-you-describe-John-F-Kennedy.

       

        K, J F. “John F. Kennedy.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 27 Oct. 2017, www.biography.com/people/john-f-kennedy-9362930.

Kennedy, John F. “Life of John F. Kennedy.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, JFKLibrary, 0ADAD, www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/Life-of-John-F-Kennedy.aspx.

Ross, James. “HISTORY | Watch Full Episodes of Your Favorite Shows.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 0 Nov. 0ADAD, www.history.com/.

Miller, Michael E. “JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theories: The Grassy Knoll, Umbrella Man, LBJ and Ted Cruz’s Dad.” Washington Post, Washington Post, 27 Oct. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/24/jfk-assassination-conspiracy-theories-the-grassy-knoll-umbrella-man-lbj-and-ted-cruzs-dad/?utm_term=.0f132ae20c8b.

Press, Associated. “The U.S. Just Released Thousands of JFK Assassination Documents. Here's What They Say.” TimeMag.com, Time, Oct. 2017, time.com/4999713/jfk-assassination-donald-trump-john-f-kennedy-documents-archives-classified/.

Ferral, Mary. “The CIA And the JFK Assassination.” Marry Ferral.com, MMF, 0ADAD, www.maryferrell.org/pages/The_CIA_and_the_JFK_Assassination.html.

NEWS, ABC . “Expert Discounts JFK 'Second Gunman' Theory.” Abc.com, ABC NEWS, 20 Nov. 2015, abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=131461.

Li, David K. “How the KGB Responded to JFK Assassination.” NYPost.com, NYPOST, 27 Oct. 2017, nypost.com/2017/10/27/unsealed-docs-reveal-kgb-thought-lbj-could-have-been-behind-jfk-assassination/.