John F. Kennedy was the President of
the United States until one day in late November 1963. The next day all the headlines across the
country read “President Kennedy Assassinated” (Cooke 1). Kennedy had been shot in the head and died
later that same day. The country was in
shock for the loss of their beloved President.
This tragic event has had many theories suggested to how or who shot the
shots, or who knew something but could never be found: were there multiple
shooters, who was the Babushka lady? Let's
explore!
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the
thirty-fifth President of the United States, was beloved by many for his
charming demeanor. John Kennedy was born
in Brookline, Massachusetts to Rose and Joseph Kennedy (“Life of John F.
Kennedy”). From a young age, John F.
Kennedy began to show signs of being quite the handsome kid. The Kennedy’s were a wealthy Catholic family
that lived a carefree life which added to John’s ability to charm the ladies. John Kennedy was very charming to everyone he
met, creating a very political atmosphere around him. This along with his charming behavior made
him an excellent politician. His dad, Joseph Kennedy, was the United State
ambassador to England (“Life of John F. Kennedy”). John F. Kennedy had many character traits that
helped him achieve the presidency, but his charm was one of his greatest.
Though John Kennedy was a very
charming man; that was not the only thing about him that helped him make it to
the top of the political world. John F.
Kennedy was, throughout his life, determined to succeed in everything he
did. If someone were to tell young
Kennedy he could not do something everyone else could do he would find a way to
(“John F. Kennedy”). John was sick most
of his childhood, he suffered from many diseases that caused him to miss out on
a lot of the things that the other kids were doing (“Life of John F.
Kennedy”). However, through his
determination, when he was healthy enough he would play harder than any of the
other children. Shortly after John
Kennedy graduated from Harvard he joined the US Navy, despite his health issues
with his back. John was determined to
fight for the United States against the Japanese in the Pacific (Doyle). Once he was in the navy he was assigned to a
PT boat in the Pacific named PT 109, but shortly after he arrived in the
Pacific his PT boat was rammed by a Japanese submarine (Doyle). After the crash, Kennedy was determined to
live instead of dying there in the water.
It took everything he had to swim through the current while pulling one
of his men to make it to an island in the middle of the channel (Doyle). After this event, John Kennedy decided to run
for president and even though he would be the youngest and the first Catholic
president in American history, he was determined to succeed (“Life of John F.
Kennedy”). John F. Kennedy was
determined throughout his life to prove to everyone that he was not just a
normal person.
John F. Kennedy was a charming and
determined man who was well-liked by the general public of the United
States. These character traits helped to
produce a third trait: his witt. This is
what helped him when it came time to make an informed decision about anything
that needed to be done. Through his
witt, he was able to generate relationships with foreign ministers faster and
better than any before him. He was also
able to make informed decisions about world events coming across his desk. Kennedy’s witt is what helped make him one of
the most popular presidents that had ever been elected. John F. Kennedy’s witt helped to make him
into the person that everybody knew and loved.
John F. Kennedy was a very charming,
determined, and witty man; all of these gave him a trustworthiness that every
American citizen loved. Kennedy had this
way to make someone trust him no matter how bad anything ever got. Everybody trusted in him to lead the nation;
through the cold war and into what lay ahead.
Even in college Kennedy had many friends, because everyone trusted him
no matter what (“John F. Kennedy”). All
of his classmates at Harvard loved him for the same reason that Lem Billings
states in this quote:
Jack was more fun
than anyone I've ever known, and I think most people who knew him felt the same
way about him. Kennedy was also an incorrigible womanizer. He wrote to Billings
during his sophomore year, I can now get tail as often and as free as I want
which is a step in the right direction. (“John F. Kennedy”)
Kennedy had a trusting personality which helped him make
friends that all loved and trusted him.
John was also a womanizer which was helped by his trusting
personality. All the women trusted him
which is the reason he was able to get to them.
No matter what he did, however; everybody still believed and trusted in
him. John F. Kennedy was a very trusting
man that everybody always believed in.
John F. Kennedy was one of America's
most well-liked president that was unfortunately assassinated late into
November 1963. Due to the surrounding
event, there have been many theories that have been raised about what actually
happened when Kennedy was Shot. There
have been many theories about Kennedy’s assassination, but there are two main
theories that have been raised are: how many shooters were there, and who was
the babushka lady? The theories have
been heavily debated and studied for more than a decade after the assassination
occurred.
The first theory is that of how many
shooters were involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In the days following the assassination, a
chemist from the University of California-Irvine by the name of Dr. Vincent C.
Guinn theorized that each bullet had a chemical make up that made it unique
(Speigelman). Dr. Vincent believed that
by examining the bullet fragments recovered from Kennedy’s body he would be
able to determine how many bullets were fired and struck the president
(1). Through his study, Dr. Vincent
discovered that two of the bullets fired from Oswald’s gun were the only ones
that hit and killed John F. Kennedy (1).
This was the leading evidence to prove that Oswald was the only person
who shot at President Kennedy that day.
Over the years, many have questioned Dr. Vincent’s theory of each bullet
having an individual chemical makeup. In
2004, a study was conducted at the University of Texas A&M to test Dr.
Vincent’s theory that there were only two bullets fired at John F. Kennedy
(1). The study consisted of bullets of
the same style of that used in 1963 and the fragments from the original
assassination. The team used a process
called Neutron Activation: “the process irradiates the bullets then measures
the gamma rays the radioactive bullet emits, to reveal their chemical
composition” (1). Through this process, the team discovered that all of the
bullets had the same chemical compotes as other bullets from the boxes. This
finding disproved Dr. Vincent theory that only two bullets struck John F.
Kennedy on the day that he was assassinated.
Oswald was not the only shooter; in fact, there most definitely could have been another shooter on the
street somewhere that went unnoticed through all of the commotions of Oswald’s
shots from the window.
The second theory involves a woman that
witnessed the assassination but has never come forward to tell her view of the
story. During the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy, there was a woman who stood and watched the whole
event unfold while others around her ran or fell to the ground. This woman was wearing a scarf around her
head that resembled that of a Russian headscarf (Raga). The woman’s head garment made her stand out
among the crowd of people. Many believe
that she was Russian and was there to observe the assassination of the American
President (1). In some video footage,
you can see the Babushka Lady standing holding what is thought to be a camera
that could have valuable footage on it about the assassination of John F.
Kennedy (1). Though we do not know the
identity of the Babushka lady the way she acts could tell us a lot about what
she was doing that day. Based on her
actions after the shots, many believe that she is a Russian spy; that was sent
to film the assassination of Kennedy for the Russians (1). It has also been theorized that she was not
holding a camera at all; instead, they believe that she could have had
binoculars or even a camera gun (1).
There is no hard evidence for what the Babushka lady was holding at the
time of the assassination, but she could be the second shooter that was never
found. She could even be a he; she could
have been Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner, who shot Lee Harvey Oswald only days
after the assassination. Based on the
evidence we currently have there is no way to know exactly who the Babushka
lady was.
Both of the
conspiracy theories could be put together to make the theory that I believe to
be the best answer to the solution. This
would indicate that the Babushka lady was the second shooter at the
assassination of John F. Kennedy. In, a
survey that I conducted seven of the twenty-five people that I asked said that
there were definitely multiple shooters at the JFK assassination, and twelve
said it was possible. Where six said
there was only one shooter at John Kennedy’s assassination.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy
was one of the most disputed events in the past century. Why would someone shot and kill John Kennedy,
with his charming charisma and determined attitude, who did not like him? Why would anyone want such a great man
dead? These are the questions that have been
asked many times. Over the years there
have been many theories concerning the death of John F. Kennedy but the two
main ones are how many shooters were there, and who was the Babushka lady. These theories have been heavily disputed
over the years and to this day they are still just theories.
Work Cited
Cooke, Alistair. “President Kennedy Assassinated: from the
Archive, 23 November 1963.” The Guardian,
Guardian News and Media, 23 Nov. 2005, www.theguardian.com/news/1963/nov/23/mainsection.fromthearchive.
Doyle, William. PT
109: an American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy.
William Morrow, 2016
“John F. Kennedy.” Biography.com,
A&E Networks Television, 27 Oct. 2017, www.biography.com/people/john-f-kennedy-9362930
“Life of John F. Kennedy.” John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/Life-of-John-F-Kennedy.aspx.
Speigelman, Clifford. “Two Shooters?
Texas A&M Statistician Says Better Forensic Science Can Reveal More About
The JFK Assassination.” Texas A&M
Today, 7 Dec. 2017, today.tamu.edu/2017/12/07/two-shooters-texas-am-statistician-says-better-forensic-science-can-reveal-more-about-the-jfk-assassination/
Raga, Suzanne. “Who Was the
Mysterious Babushka Lady at JFK's Assassination?” Mental Floss, 22 Nov. 2016, mentalfloss.com/article/72245/who-was-mysterious-babushka-lady-jfks-assassination
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