The Assassination of J.F.K. by Alexander Carlisle

 

          Imagine you are the President’s wife, you are by his side riding down the street with hundreds of people waving. You look into your husbands pretty green eyes and then he grips his throat, and before you can ask him what’s wrong the top right section of his skull violently burst into a red mist killing him immediately ( “Fast Facts about John F. Kennedy.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum,). This horrific event happened to Jacqueline B. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, when her husband John F. Kennedy was assassinated (“John F. Kennedy Life and Biography.” John F. Kennedy Biography). Since no one truly knows who killed J.F.K, many conspiracy theories have been made:

1) Did Lee Harvey Oswald kill J.F.K?

2) Did the Mob kill J.F.K?

3) Did the Government kill J.F.K and try to cover up evidence?

Let’s explore these conspiracy theories and see why the most logical conspiracy is the CIA killing J.F.K, and covering up their evidence.

     Who was J.F.K? If you google this question you will see that he was the 35^th president of the United States, you will see that he was the youngest president of the United States, and finally you will see that at just age 46 he was assassinated on November 22, 1963, during his innocent journey to present a speech at the Luncheon (J.F.K Presidential Library). These are common facts that anyone with a few minutes of free time can look up. To really learn more about the President you must look at what the people that were the closest to him described him as. People that not only saw him as the president but has a friend, a father, and a husband. What did Jacqueline Kennedy have to say about her husband?

Jacqueline Kennedy was at her husband’s side the dreadful day of his assassination. Instead of coming home to the warmth of a hug from their two kids, J.F.K Jr., and Caroline Kennedy, Jacqueline’s day came to an end with her standing in shock covered in her loving husband’s brains and blood. After some well needed time to comprehend what happened that day she opened up to media and had about eight and a half hours of talk time recorded with in her remanding years. Some of the videos were not released into the public until recently. One video was her talking about her husband and his unconditional love for their children. She states

“John would be rolling on the floor doing exercises to Jack LaLanne with their father encouraging them He’d have them tumbling around. He loved those children tumbling around him (ABC News).”

While a father of two and a loving Husband John F. Kennedy was also a man that was well liked by the Colored community. J.F.K thought that African Americans should have more rights, but could not support them too much due to the need for southern votes. This is where his vice president Lyndon B. Johnson came in handy. Lyndon B. Johnson was to be in charge of campaigns supporting rights for African Americans, holding up the promises made by Kennedy (J.F.K President Library). What did Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson have to say about Kennedy? After Kennedy’s death President Lyndon B. Johnson made a speech out to the Heart Broken America. He stated, “The greatest leader of our time has been struck down by the foulest deed of our time. Today John Fitzgerald Kennedy lives on in immortal words and works that he left behind. He lives on in the hearts of his countrymen… Under John Kennedy’s leadership, this Nation has demonstrated that it has the courage to seek peace, and it has the fortitude to risk war (Johnson, PBS news).” These nice thoughts stated by Lyndon B. Johnson could have been said about most presidents, but in a list of J.F.K’s characteristics one stands out the most making him very unique. What Made J.F.K different from every president and so unique?

At age 30 John F. Kennedy was diagnosed with a rare disease known as Addison’s disease. The Mayo Clinic further describes this disease, “Addison's disease is a disorder that occurs when your body produces insufficient amounts of certain hormones produced by your adrenal glands. In Addison's disease, your adrenal glands produce too little cortisol and often insufficient levels of aldosterone as well (Mayo Clinic).” Some of the side effects of the disease include extreme fatigue, extreme weight loss, and Low blood pressure (Mayo Clinic). The fact that the president was able to lead the United States while filling his responsibilities as a father of two all while having Addison’s disease, is what makes J.F.K a unique non stereotypical president. This brings the unanswered questions back into the mind of the United States citizens.

Who would assassinate the father of two children? Who would assassinate a strong young man that is ill and hurting with a rare disease? Who would assassinate the loved president of the United States?

          Let’s talk about the possibility of Lee Harvey Oswald killing J.F.K. The day of J.F.K’s death November 22, 1963, former Marine core sharpshooter Lee Harvey Oswald was on the sixth story of the book depository Building, and was said to have shot Kennedy with a Carcano sniper rifle two times out of three shots (Mcadams Dealey plaza). With this information many people would believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the killer, however the more the information is researched, the more small details are uncovered that fight against this theory of Oswald being the killer. Some of the information uncovered include the condition of the rifle, the obstructions in the way of Oswald’s position, and Oswald’s shooting records in the marine core.

The type of rifle Oswald used was a Carcano rifle. This rifle is known to jam, and is classified as a lower quality long rifle. In the warren commission hearing the gun was described as “A cheap old gun” (Warren Commission Hearings, vol.4, p.29). Many reenactments were performed by professional expert marksman from the FBI and Army who scored better than Oswald on the marine shooting test, and even when tweaking the rifle to fire better, the shooters could not successfully reenact Oswald’s Assassination. Oswald’s most recent scores recorded in May 1959, show hip scoring 191 points out of a possible 250. This score is one more than the minimum score to be classified as a marksman (22 November 1963). This shows that for this theory to be true, a low class marksman would have to have been better at shooting than the expert shooters in the Army and FBI. The evidence proves that the possibility of Lee Harvey Oswald making the shot from where it is thought he did twice, is very unlikely.

      With the public’s knowledge of J.F.K’s relationships with people in the mafia, the thought of a mafia member or boss wanting him dead would not be doubtful. This leads to the conspiracy and well asked question. Did the Mafia assassinate J.F.K?

When researched it is seen that many members of the mob and friends of the mob such as mob member Sam Giancana and famous singer Frank Sinatra have actually communicated to the Kennedy family in many different events. The daughter of Frank Sinatra, Tina Sinatra, told the T.V. program “60 minutes” that Giancana help J.F.K win the West Virginia primary in 1960. As stated “approached Giancana. Sinatra allegedly asked Giancana to use mob muscle to pressure local union members to vote for JFK. The request was made through an intermediate, Sinatra, because "it would be in Jack Kennedy's best interest if his father did not make the contact directly," Tina Sinatra explained (Patrick J. Kiger).” This while very detailed information, does not prove that the mafia was actually involved with the Kennedys, especially, because of the source of the information being someone so protected by the mob. Out of all of the sources one of the most logical sources would be the Judith Campbell Exner. Judith Campbell Exner was a mistress of both Sam Giancana and President John F. Kennedy as National Geographic states, “Giancana and Kennedy also shared a mistress, Judith Campbell Exner, with whom they were involved with at different times (Kennedy first, then the mob boss) (Patrick J. Kiger).” The reasons that make Judith Exner a very logical source are simple and reasonable. J.F.K while a good father, was known to have many affairs with many different women, none of which were fully security checked by the secret service. This shows that the possibility of Exner being a mistress of J.F.K is very likely and not at all surprising. However the fact that there is no true proof of the Mafia killing J.F.K, or even being connected with his murder, still stands. The sources from Tina Sinatra and Judith Campbell Exner, while not proven to be one hundred percent correct, would lead to a dead end whether they were correct or not. The possibility of the mafia having J.F.K assassinated is there for proven unlikely due to the lack of proof connecting J.F.K to the Mafia.

     All of the sloppy mistakes made by the government that occurred after the assassination of J.F.K are what lead to the most reasonable possibility of the Government being behind the assassination. The questions build up, and as more research is done they all meet together and intertwine into one. What strange mistakes did the government make?

      One mistake the government made was hiring professional gun inspectors to inspect Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle and not having the professionals take any notes in any way. As stated by the court “Just as there was no established procedure for deciding which tests were to be performed on a particular item of evidence, there was no requirement that test results be expressed in a particular format, or expressed at all if the results were insignificant. In most instances, the examiner performing a test took notes during the testing. Cunningham Deposition, at 11; Frazier Deposition, at 10; Gallagher Deposition, at 38. However, all deponents testified to not having made notes on results they deemed insignificant or insufficiently reliable Judge John Pratt).” This not only shows that the government didn’t really want the people hired to take evidence, but that all of the evidence taken was unusable in court due to it not being in the right format. The evidence also failed to hold up in court, because of its inaccuracy, and the fact that most of it was wrong, as shown when the district judge states, “Cunningham Deposition, at 21. Gallagher explained the absence of observation data in a neutron activation analysis folder by suggesting that he might have skipped the step of noting down the readings and done the tabulations in his head. Gallagher Deposition, at 61-62. He indicated later that he did not report a thirty percent variation in primer residue data between shells because he did not consider (John Pratt).” This shows that the notes taken by Cunningham were completely unusable.

  The biggest shadiest mistake the government made was losing President J.F.K’s brain. The official government records state, “In his testimony before the committee, Bouck stated that he is quite positive all the autopsy-related material that came into his possession was given to Mrs. Lincoln at the time of the 1965 transfer. He also stated that he was uncertain whether Dr. Burkley had custody of the brain, but that if the brain was part of the autopsy materials in the custody of the Secret Service, it was transported to the National Archives Mrs. Lincoln was not an employee of the National…National Archives did not have authority or

responsibility for them (117-119, House select committee on assassination).” This shows that the brain was not given to the right people and was lost, all while under the supervision of the government. The president’s brain was the only way to figure out how severe his illness was, how the bullet entered his head, and what type of bullet it really was. The fact that the government hired so many shady people and did so many shady things with no answers to provide, makes it responsible for President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

          While there is minor evidence connecting Lee Harvey Oswald and the Mafia to J.F.K’s assassination, the people that are seen to be the most responsible for the assassination are the government. The government and the mistakes they made connect them to the murder of the loving father, and President of the United States. Leaving them to continue to be the prime suspects of this assassination.

 

                                                                       Works cited

“Fast Facts about John F. Kennedy.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Fast-Facts.aspx.

Kennedy, John F. “John F. Kennedy Life and Biography.” John F. Kennedy Biography, Birth Date, Birth Place and Pictures, www.browsebiography.com/bio-john_f_kennedy.html.

“Addison's Disease.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 4 Aug. 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/addisons-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350293.

News, CBC. “JFK Had Most Complex Medical History of Any U.S. President.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 21 Nov. 2013, www.cbc.ca/news/health/john-f-kennedy-s-medical-secrets-linger-1.2435675.

“November 22, 1963: Death of the President.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/November-22-1963-Death-of-the-President.aspx.

“Civil Rights Movement.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Civil-Rights-Movement.aspx.

“Jacqueline Kennedy's Audio Tapes: 'John John' Talks about Dad - National News.” ABC News Radio, abcnewsradioonline.com/national-news/jacqueline-kennedys-audio-tapes-john-john-talks-about-dad.html.

PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/ladybird/epicenter/epicenter_doc_speech.html.

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-       “The Mary Ferrell Foundation Is a Non-Profit Organization Engaged in an Ongoing Effort to Bring Accessible and Interactive History to a New Generation of Critical Thinkers.” Main Page, www.maryferrell.org/pages/Main_Page.html. 

-       (http://www.lab99.com/), Lab 99 Web Design. “Was Oswald an Expert Marksman?” Was Lee Harvey Oswald an Expert Marksman? : The JFK Assassination, www.22november1963.org.uk/lee-harvey-oswald-marksman-sharpshooter#content. 

-       scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=10925704647547703766&q=j+f+k+assassination+magic+bullet&hl=en&as_sdt=6,44. 

-       “Was Kennedy Tied to the Mob?” National Geographic Channel, 23 Oct. 2013, channel.nationalgeographic.com/killing-kennedy/articles/jfks-secret-mafia-history/.