And most people have forgotten.
For me, I shall never forget. I was in gradeschool, and the teacher entered the class, announced his death, and sent us all home. I was amazed that the buses were already lined up, ready to take us all back to our homes.
I also can recall, watching on our ancient square black metal cubed RCA TV (the kind that, when shut off, the screen went blank and then shrank down to a small little point for a number of minutes!), the procession down Washington, the caisson rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue, the riderless horse, the sole boot in the stirrups. And then the diminutive John Jr. saluting his father’s casket as it rolled by.
Yesterday, Thanksgiving, was the 44th anniversary of JFK’s death.
Perennial questions:
- Was the Warren Commission correct?
- Was Lee Harvey Oswald the sole shooter?
- Why did Jack Ruby shoot Oswald?
- Can the best sniper pull off shots from that yardage with a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle?
- Why the conflicting evidence?
- Why the botched autopsy?
- Why are all records sealed?
Will we ever know?
BZ
I dunno BZ, I’ve always questioned everything myself. I don’t know if we’ll ever know for sure.
63, I was a mere twinkle in my fathers eyes before he took momma down just a few years later…
I have always believed there was more to this than we were told.
The great conspiracy theory will live on in the Kennedy murder for a long time to come….
Unlike 9-11 the event was captured by very few media, and the investigative journalist tools had not yet materialized.
Now with the internet, and global communication conspiracies like this are extremely hard to pull off.
I still honestly believe there was CIA or FBI involvement in Kennedy’s death.
Well, didn’t experience it as I wasn’t on this planet then… I have, however, seen the aftermath of it.
The evidence taken from all the knowns. Who Lee Harvey Oswald was (not the paper cardboard version trotted out by conspiracy theorists) – a pretty typical small time loser in America that wanted to be famous. He joined the USMC, got great sharpshooting scores and left because he was a non-conformist. He defected to the USSR and the KGB archives reveal that Oswald had to slit his wrists to get his way… they didn’t want him nor trust him. He failed at raising a family in Kiev and came back to America expecting lots of press coverage, and had prepared speeches… no one cared or showed up for his return. A basic anti-US activist, disillusioned, repeated failure with skill to kill and wanting to make his impact on the world.
He did.
We hate the injustice of a fair-haired, pretty well liked President being downed by a *nobody*. Welcome to the Land of the Free. The dark side of merit based recognition are those that choose poorly, and rebel as the world does not work to their simlplistic outlooks. In becoming someone, they fail… in having a change on the course of the Nation, they fail. They fail in raising families, doing everyday jobs and cannot understand how *they*, of all people, can fail. The possibility of succeeding does not guarantee success, and that is hated in Lake Wobegone land where everyone is ‘above average’.
Everything has been retested by the limits of modern forensics and prior questions resolved: no conspiracy, no grand underground of the powerful, no huge cover-ups. All the films of the event from different individuals, not just the famous, but the dull ones of driving through Dallas have been compiled into a huge timeline. All the audio analyzed, taking into account buildings, wind speed and such… even to the point of finding that one police officer mis-remembered where he was at the shooting. The audio places him not where he thought he was and that is confirmed by other film footage. He didn’t lie – his life memory was at fault.
The gun, the bullets, the training, the distance, the speed, the vehicle itself, the fact that the Governor was on a small jump seat… tested, re-tested, recreated… multiple times and independently, mind you. The report is: a lone gunman.
Lee’s own brother confirms his state of mind, his attitude in life, the weapon, and wanting to make it *big* and shake the world. There is no question in his mind concerning Lee: he was incapable of keeping a secret, of being trustworthy, and was pretty incapable in life, generally. Lee tried his hand prior to that at assassination, something not generally known.
Much of the original evidence is gone, by now… conspiracy? Ever been through a life emergency and find things that you had *thought* you done are missing, while other things show up unexpectedly and you have no memory of them? After a few years the Dallas PD has proven to be: poorly organized, inefficient, and given to rash destruction of old evidence.
Welcome to America.
Its all a conspiracy, because we like to feel that we have some secret, direct line to the hidden. We call that religion. Once you start believing in conspiracies, where do you stop? Until you are alone in a room without a friend in your life because you are afraid of ‘the conspiracy’?
Never been much for them, myself. Too much is explained by the ordinary… and incompetence. That latter covers so very much!
I don’t think we’ll ever really know, BZ.
I was pregnant with my third child when I watched this on the news. It was a day I’ll never forget. It was such a shock I suffered what’s known as “false labor” and wound up going into the Hospital three times before she was finally born. I’ll always believe that never would have happened had Kennedy not been assassinated.
I don’t think we will ever know. I was only about 2 months in my mom’s tummy at the time. I think she almost lost me because of the stress of it all.
All: an EXCELLENT (but massively weighty — literally!) book on the topic is “Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.” He makes the argument: no conspiracy. One lone gunman.
BZ
It was the first event in current history books that I actually remember. Oddly, my biggest memory was all my TV shows were canceled for the news.
I remember my mother crying in the kitchen when I got home from school, she was really upset.
I also remember my Grandfather walking in and saying, “It’s about time somebody shot this SOB.”
My mother told him to get out, “How dare you say something like that in front of my kids.”
He left and Yes, he was a asshole.
Someone knows, someone ALWAYS knows, but we may never know, there are generations that need to die before the truth of this can ever be released…
We had some friends who had just come from Hungary. The whole family came over to the house to be with friends and family for the political power struggle time. After a couple of days they were convinced that there would be no violence and it would be a peacefull transition.