FREE ESSAY ON JFK ASSASSINATION

JFK ASSASSINATION

On November 22, 1963, shots rang out in Dealey Plaza that would change our country
forever. As our 35th president was killed, a country began mourning the death of one of
its great visionaries, a man who believed in peace and racial equality, a man unlike any
leader before him. The assassination of John F. Kennedy was one of the most tragic events
in our nation's history, but as horrific as the shooting itself were the lies which were
told to the American people in the aftermath. The Warren Commission's investigation
concluded that a lone assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, shot the president without an
accomplice. Stretching their imaginations to far reaches, this government-sponsored
commission disregarded an amazing amount of evidence and inconsistencies. What should
have been one of the most thorough investigations ever conducted was unbelievably flawed,
leading many to believe there could have been a conspiracy, and yet to this day, the
Kennedy case is considered closed by the majority of Americans. To understand why such a
conspiracy is believable, one only needs to read through the pages of the Warren Report,
the testimonies of various witnesses at Dealey Plaza on the day of his assassination and
the investigation of his death in the aftermath. 
One of the most unfortunate and inexcusable errors in the federal investigation of the
Kennedy assassination was the flawed autopsy that was performed. Because the doctors did
not do a thorough examination, historians have been withheld from gathering sufficient
evidence, indicating the possibility of a second or third gunman. Dr. Helpern explains: 
The tragic, tragic thing is that a relatively simple case was horribly botched from the
very beginning, and then the errors were compounded at almost every step of the way
(Hurt, 35).
An hour after the shooting, the Secret Service and the Dallas County medical examiner,
Dr. Earl Rose, had a conflict of who should perform the autopsy of the president's body.
Dr. Rose insisted he do it, citing that it was against Texas law to remove the body from
the state without an autopsy. However, Kenneth O'Donnell, special assistant to the
president, disregarded his orders, and held him and Judge Ward up against the wall at
gunpoint while they removed the body. Later that evening at Bethesda Naval Hospital,
three army doctors performed the official autopsy on President Kennedy. Amazingly, during
the reporting of the Kennedy assassination case in 1978 by the Congress's assassination
committee, it was determined that the three doctors, "had insufficient training and
experience to evaluate a death from gunshot wounds." (Summers, 42-44). The chairman of
the committee's medical panel, Dr. Michael Baden, went on to say that the "autopsy was
deficient in the qualifications of the pathologists... the failure to inspect the
clothing... the inadequate documentation of the injuries, lack of proper preservation of
evidence, and the incompleteness of the autopsy." (Summers, 45). During this incredibly
botched autopsy there remains much confusion over where the wounds actually were, and
which wounds were exit wounds and which were entry wounds. This medical evidence is
essential for figuring out where the shots were fired from, and how many shots hit the
president. While the assassinations committee officially stated that these errors were
due to the pressure in which the doctors were forced to perform the autopsy, Dr. Pierre
Finck, the second doctor performing the autopsy, remembers a different story. "Had Texas
law been observed and the autopsy conducted in Dallas, the country might have been spared
the enduring confusion spawned by the events at Bethesda Hospital." (Hurt, 36). Finck
testified under oath that an Army General instructed him not examine the bullet wounds
closely, and that the brain was not to be looked at closely at that time. Finck was in a
situation where he was forced to take orders, something that would not have happened at a
Dallas autopsy. The chief went so far as to burn his notes at the order of a general, and
by 1966 almost all pictures, sketches and notes had disappeared (JFK).
As bizarre as the autopsy itself, was the fact that the sketches drawn up and declared
accurate by the Warren Commission, supposedly marked the bullet hole in the presidents
back four inches lower than all the pathologists remember seeing it. In addition, a CIA
liaison's, Regis Blahut, fingerprints were found in a vault where some autopsy photos had
been tampered with (Summers, 45). While the true motive of Blahut will never be known,
his crime reinforces the idea that the Central and Army Intelligence Agencies have sought
to cover up the evidence regarding the president's assassination. Doctors in Dallas would
have done an extremely thorough investigation, possibly uncovering the information that
the wounds in Kennedy's body made the Oswald theory impossible. The autopsy is one of the
greatest pieces of evidence suggesting that there was a conspiracy.
Even if one disregards the errors in the autopsy as innocent mistakes caused by a chaotic
situation, there still remains evidence pointing towards a conspiracy. Acoustics Studies
of the Zapruder Film, as well as the testimonies of over fifty witnesses have shown that
there were four or more shots fired at the president, with at least one or more coming
from the grassy knoll. The Zapruder Film was taken by a parade onlooker Abraham Zapruder,
who shot eighteen apocalyptic seconds of film chronicling the assassination from start to
finish. It shows that when president reacts to the first shot, clutching his throat,
Governor Connally who is clearly not wounded turning around to his right. Later Kennedy
is then visibly hit with the second shot, and his body goes stiff. An interlude of three
to four seconds pass before the next shot is fired. In this time, Jackie Kennedy turns to
her husband, and as the third shot is fired, he is propelled forward and to the left. The
forth and fatal headshot thrusts president Kennedy backward and to the left as his brain
explodes. Backward and to the left. The motion of his head is significant because it
indicates the shot came from the right of the president, the grassy knoll. It is obvious
that the three previous shots had come from behind the limousine, for both Kennedy and
Connolly are hurled forward; indicating that the shots came from the Book depository
(JFK). 
The Zapruder film, obvious evidence that the shots had come from the front right, was
purchased by Life magazine for a quarter of a million dollars, and not shown to the
American public for over a decade. Had it been revealed, the American public would have
seen that it was obvious that the president fatal headshot had come from the front right,
the grassy knoll. When it was finally released in 1975, most Americans had already come
to accept the Warren Commission's conclusion as fact, but even so, it, among other
evidence prompted the reporting of the Kennedy case by the Congress' Assassination
Committee. 
Ironically, every member of the Warren Commission saw the Zapruder film, and yet there is
not one mention of the president's head and torso being propelled backward. Although two
still frames of the headshot are printed in the Warren Commission, they are in reverse
order (making it look as though the president is being propelled forward). J. Edgar
Hoover explained this as a printing error, but it seems as though the unmistakable truth
was being held from the American public (Summers, 63). The Warren commission also chose
to disregard over fifty witnesses who said they heard shots come from the grassy knoll,
others who saw suspicious men hanging around in the rail yard behind the grassy knoll, as
well as witnesses who saw smoke from behind the fence. As in the autopsy, the government
only published information that fit their theory of a single gunman, going to the
extremes when they had to explain how one almost perfect bullet, could have caused so
many wounds in both President Kennedy and Governor Connally (Summers 55-61).
The "single bullet" theory, later dubbed the "magic bullet" theory is one of the most
problematic areas of the Warren Commission's case. Midway through the Warren Commission's
investigation they realized that they had a serious dilemma: the Zapruder Film showed
that the time frame in the shooting allowed only a second in between when the president
reacted to the wounds in his neck and back, and when Governor Connally froze, apparently
hit and wounded in his torso, wrist and thigh. Since a lone gunman would not have had the
time to fire twice, the Warren Commission was left with two choices. They could admit
that there must have been a second shooter and thus a conspiracy, or they could conclude
that one bullet must have passed through both Kennedy and Connally. But even with the
extremely vague autopsy, they chose the latter (Summers, 66). To accept this "magic
bullet" theory they had to establish that the bullet entered, took a U-turn, zigzagged
right and suspended itself in mid-air for over a second (JFK). 
As if this was not preposterous enough, the Warren Commission also claimed that they had
the actual bullet, which was suspiciously found in the hospital hours later in near
pristine condition. This "magic bullet" had passed through multiple layers of skin, hit
bones and muscles and was in much better condition they any of the hundreds of slugs
fired in tests which had only penetrated through skin once. Even three out of the seven
members of the Warren Commission found the "single bullet" theory impossible to believe,
in essence saying that there must have been a second gunman (Summers, 67). The four
others who did believe the "magic bullet" theory cited that experts in Washington had
proved it to them with theoretical physics. But as Jim Garrison said, "theoretical
physics can also prove that an elephant can hang off a cliff with his tail tied to a
flower." (JFK). "One must use common sense when looking at the evidence in the actual
shooting, because too often the government has tried to confuse us with riddles" (JFK). 
There is even some evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald may not have pulled the trigger in the
book depository, and that there were possibly two men in the window. Only fifteen minutes
before the shooting, Oswald was seen eating lunch in the cafeteria and it is believed
that he was still down there five to ten minutes before the shooting (Hurt, 91). At the
same time he was spotted in the lunchroom by three witnesses (12:15pm.), spectators
supposedly saw two snipers in the 6th floor window, thinking they were secret service
agents. Howard Brennan, a witness who was standing 120 feet from the Book Depository,
claimed he was facing the sniper's perch when the shots sounded, therefore making him the
closest eyewitness that the authorities could find (Hurt, 88). While he stated that he
saw only one man in the window of the Book Depository, at that night's police lineup he
failed to positively identify Oswald. What is interesting to note is that in a repeatedly
contradictory testimony, Brennan decided that it was indeed Oswald whom he saw in the
window. Later when the FBI questioned him he went back to his original story and told
them he was no longer certain who it was in the perch. But when it finally came time for
him to testify to the Warren Commission, he was able again to positively identify Oswald
as the man. The Warren Commission snapped up his statements and used them as valuable
evidence in their report (Hurt, 89). Other key witnesses, Carolyn Walther and Ruby
Henderson, both testified that they saw two snipers in the perch. Walther told the FBI,
"I saw two men in the open window on the upper floors, one was holding a rifle and had
lightish and wearing a white shirt, and the second man was wearing a brown suit." (Hurt,
93). Ruby Henderson told the FBI that she also saw two men in the window. If one chooses
to disregard these witnesses it is understandable, but one cannot hide from the motion
picture taken on the day of the assassination, revealing that there were two men in the
window. Robert J. Groden, one of the panel's consultants on the photographic evidence and
a long critic of the Warren Commission analyzed the film. His conclusions were very
startling, stating: 
The fact there is movement in two pairs of windows that are separated by a good eight
feet indicates beyond question that there was more than one person up in the perch (Hurt,
94).
In the end, the Warren Commission chose to disregard both the statements made by Walther
and Henderson, as well as the motion picture, yet decided to use Howard Brennan's very
unreliable testimony (stating that Oswald was the lone assassin) as crucial evidence in
their attempt to prove there was only one shooter. 
Witnesses have also reported that the person they saw in the perch seemed to be in no
hurry, slowly withdrawing his rifle after the last shot. Had Oswald been one of the
snipers, he would have had to fire the shots, slowly squeeze through a rather tight
opening, wipe his prints off the rifle, and then stash it on the other side of the room,
all this in under ninety seconds. He then would have had to run down five flights of
stairs in order to fit the timeframe when he was spotted by a police officer and a fellow
Book Depository employee on the second floor lunchroom. Tests done by the Warren
Commission and the Assassination Committee have shown that it was definitely possible for
Oswald to have accomplished this, but that he would have had to run down the stairs at a
very quick pace (Summers, 107-113). If Oswald was on the sixth floor, then three female
employees on the stairwell did not even notice him as he passed them in a frantic rush.
And if Oswald had hurried down five flights of stairs after just committing a murder one
would assume that he would be nervous and out of breath. When a cop and a fellow employee
spotted him, the two of them noticed nothing unusual about him (Hurt, 90). In the
hysteria of the assassination it is plausible that the three women might not have noticed
a man running past them and that Oswald could have composed himself in front of the
policeman, but it does seem ironic that even the Warren Commission's timeframe on Oswald
is a bit of a stretch. 
Of all the debate surrounding the actual shooting, nothing has caused more argument than
whether or not Oswald could have executed the amazingly fast and accurate shots (Hurt,
98). The Warren Commission believed he could, but there is a great amount of evidence
saying that it was impossible, thus creating a conspiracy. If Oswald was the sniper, he
would not only have had to been extremely swift but also would have had to be incredible
accurate, something that those who knew him recognized he had none of. Oswald's records
in the Marine Corp reveal that he had an awful shot. In a firing test, "He scored only
one point over the lowest possible level of qualification." (Hurt, 99). The Warren
Commission heard testimony from one former Marine, Nelson Delgado, who stated that
Oswald's marksmanship was "a joke", and that he could barely qualify on the range
(Summers, 99). Also, less important, but relevant to the shooting was the gun which was
used for the shooting. The fifteen-year old, bolt-action Mannlicher-Carcano, represents
the opposite of what any sniper would carry. One handbook on rifles has called it "an odd
choice" for an assassination, since it "has no great reputation for accuracy." (Hurt,
100). Mechanix Illustrated, dismissed this rifle as being, "crudely made, poorly
designed, dangerous, inaccurate...unreliable on repeat shots," and the fact that the
telescope on the rifle was off center gave Oswald an even greater handicap (Hurt, 100).
Oswald's poor marksmanship, and his inferior weapon presented a considerable challenge to
the Warren Commission. This challenge was heightened when expert sharpshooters, using the
same rifle, failed to duplicate Oswald's accuracy. The first two shots were fired only
1.66 seconds apart, ironic considering that Oswald's alleged murder weapon took a minimum
of 2.5 seconds to recycle. There is the same problem with the third and fourth shots
which were fired only .82 seconds apart. For one man to make these shots is physically
impossible, and is almost indisputable proof that in fact, there were most likely three
gunmen forming a triangular crossfire to massacre the president, thus proving a
conspiracy. In order to avoid any more evidence proving the Commission's theory false, a
member of the HSCA committee, Robert Blakey said, "While it is not impossible for Oswald
to have fired these shots, none of my experts were able to duplicate his marksmanship."
(Marrs, 432). With those words said, the Commission disregarded any of the other evidence
presented and ran, using it as decisive evidence confirming that Oswald was the lone
assassin. Using common sense, one can easily see that it was impossible for Oswald to
have fired these shots, thus spelling conspiracy. 
What is even more suspicious than the extremely flawed autopsy are the events surrounding
Oswald's prints on the rifle. The Warren Report cited the palm print found on the rifle
confidently as evidence linking Oswald to what is considered the assassination rifle.
There are no questions concerning whether or not it was Oswald's print on the rifle, but
instead questions arise over how the print actually got there. Before removing the rifle
from the Book Depository, Lieutenant Carl Day of the Dallas police crime laboratory
dusted the rifle and tried to expose some of the vague prints he noticed in the vicinity
of the trigger (Hurt, 106). He found nothing that was of any forensic value. After taking
the rifle to the laboratory to continue his efforts, he concluded and told the Warren
Commission, "I could not make any positive identification of these prints." (Hurt, 107).
The rifle was then taken to an FBI laboratory in Washington where professionals examined
it. After much deliberation it was decided that they could not identify the prints found
on the rifle to be Oswald's. It is in the following events that take place where much
speculation transpires. After Oswald's autopsy, his body was taken to Miller's Funeral
Home in Fort Worth to be prepared for burial. "The only visitors reported were a team of
FBI agents, who spent more than an hour with his body," and it was said that these agents
came with crime lab kits (Hurt, 107). Paul Groody, the funeral director recalled the
visit in an interview:
I was not in the room...but I had to clean up his fingers after they got through
fingerprinting him. They put black gook on his fingers, and they couldn't get it off...It
was a complete mess of his entire right hand, which would leave me to believe that they
did take his (Oswald's) prints off his palms (Hurt, 107).
In an interview with FBI Agent Drain, a man closely involved in the investigation, he
stated that there was no reason why the FBI would have needed further prints from Oswald,
because they had already taken sufficient ones for the case. What was even more puzzling
to Drain was the time in which the agents went to the funeral home, for he felt there had
been ample earlier opportunities (Hurt, 107). The day after the FBI agents had visited
Oswald's body, his palm print was found on the rifle. It is a bit suspicious that they
found Oswald's print on the rifle after they visited him, for when the rifle was tested
professionally two times prior no prints were found. The Warren Report failed to address
the significance of these peculiarities in the emergence of the palm print. They chose
simply to overlook the reasons that weighted against the legitimacy of the print, and
embrace it as further evidence of the guilt of Lee Harvey Oswald. All the Warren
Commission needed was proof that Oswald was related to the rifle found. How this was gone
about did not matter. The only evidence that the Warren Commission found to be relevant
to their case was evidence that pointed towards Oswald as the lone assassin, all the
other evidence was basically disregarded, and for this, there must have been a
conspiracy.
Twenty-two years after the JFK assassination, a festering reservoir of indisputable,
disjointed facts has made its way into the public domain. Some of the points raise the
most frightening questions. Of all the gross deficiencies on the part of the government
agencies and the Warren Commission, one ingredient is common at each juncture: an obvious
disregard for the truth. This fundamental mistake is at the core of every major debacle
in the investigation of Kennedy's assassination. Who controlled Kennedy's autopsy, and
why were the people performing it so un-qualified? Why was the Warren Commission so
insistent on proving the single-bullet theory, when it was deemed impossible? Why were so
many reliable witnesses (who said they saw two men) disregarded, and those who were
un-credible (who said they only saw one man, Oswald) used as key evidence? How did
Oswald's prints make it onto the rifle when it was made certain that the prints could not
be identified? These are just a few questions which those who were connected with the
case sought to cover up, and still remain unanswered. While it is unlikely that we will
ever know the truth behind these questions, we can be sure of one thing: a conspiracy did
indeed exist. 
"And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." (John 9:32) 
Bibliography
Hurt, Henry. Reasonable Doubt. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985.
Marrs, Jim. Crossfire: The plot that Killed Kennedy. New York: Carroll and Graf 
Publishers, 1989.
Sloan, Bill. JFK: The Last Dissenting Witness. Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company, 
1992.
Summers, Anthony. Conspiracy. New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1978.
JFK. Director Oliver Stone. 1992