On this day in history (and I really couldn't let it go by without a post about it), John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a convertible during a visit to Dallas. Also in the car with him was his wife Jackie Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connelly and his wife. We've all heard the official story. Lee Harvey Oswald reportedly fired three shots from a sixth floor window of the Book Depository. Later that day, Oswald was arrested for the shooting death of Officer J.D. Tippit. Two days later, as he was being moved from the Dallas jail, night club owner Jack Ruby managed to get past other police officers and press in a tiny hallway and shoot Oswald dead. Ruby later died of cancer in prison.
That's the official version. However, there are several conspiracy theories regarding the death of JFK. They include:
- Vice President Lyndon Johnson arranged it
- The mafia arranged it (Ruby has been linked to the mafia)
- Cuban leader Fidel Castro ordered it
- The CIA arranged it
- The Soviet Union had a hand it
- There was a second shooter on the Grassy Knoll
The majority of Americans firmly believe that Oswald either is the scapegoat or he had help. Some conspiracy theories are as usual beyond silly and ridiculous. There are of course some that are possible. Even though the official documents regarding the shooting are due to be completely released by 2017, it is highly possible that if the United States government or CIA had any hand in it, there will always be something withheld or perhaps the papers no longer exist. After all why keep records of your association ordering the assassination of a very popular president?
Regardless of who ordered the death or who actually shot him, Kennedy has become a icon of America of the time, a legend whose death legacy probably far exceeds his accomplishments despite the fact that he had many. Kennedy handled the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs, Communism, and the rising conflict of Vietnam. He also signed the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Kennedy also supported Civil Rights, intervening during the infamous blockade of the University of Alabama preventing two African American students from entering the school. Kennedy also launched an initiative for greater voting rights protection and equal schooling for all children. Kennedy also supported women's rights, signing the Equal Pay Act of 1963.
America was changing radically during the 1960s and young Kennedy provided the figurehead of the progressive America. His death, whether by a single man or two gunmen, signaled an end to the trust of the American government. Americans, now believing that the government had something to do with Kennedy's death lost faith in it and no longer trust it. That's obvious even today when nearly everything the government days or claims is disregarded as propaganda. Do not get me wrong, Kennedy's death was only the beginning of the downward spiral of the trust in our government. Scandals ranging from Watergate to Clinton's affair have largely contributed but the starting point seems to be Kennedy's death.
Did Oswald act alone? Was there a second shooter? We may never know. But 50 years ago today, America changed but a family also lost a husband, father, brother, uncle, and friend. Today, remember a man who was helping change America for the better. He wasn't a perfect man by any means. He had known affairs and possibly with mostly famously Marilyn Monroe, but there is no telling what he else he would have done had he lived, what our country would have been like. Remember that a single second can change the entire course of history and a country. R.I.P. John F. Kennedy.
