11-22-63: Who You Got?

All I know is the shot that took him out was the mother of all shots. Brains and blood went everywhere.

 

This is a big reason why I think we've only gotten a fraction of the story.

 

You're absolutely right. I watch the Zapruder Film and can't help but rewind or stop on the frames (#313). If that makes me morbid then so be it.

Here's a neat take on the Zapruder Film's influence on media - http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/11/1122zapruder-films-jfkennedy-assassination/ - and how it as the first user-generated content/social media-like clip.

 

I think a small cadre of CIA definitely had a role. They were still pissed over the Bay of Pigs, Kennedy asserting himself during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam. Its not like they had no experience in that sort of thing at that time. They had motive, means and the ability to keep it on the DL.

 

I was fascinated by the JFK/MLK/RFK/Wallace attempt/John Lennon assassinations, as a boy (still am, in fact).

The conspiracy theories had really, really picked up momentum by my last two years of high school. Because of my inherent knowledge and interest in these particular events, I crafted some elaborate term papers that probably helped me great into a far better college that I deserved.

So... thank you, assassins, for opening the doors of academia to me. Especially you, Sirhan, you crazy SOB.

 

My last two years of high school brought two seminal films from Oliver Stone. "The Doors" (to a 16 year old that was a holy grail of sorts) and, then "JFK". Still remember watching it on Christmas Night, 1991. Riveting. Absolutely riveting.

 

My co-worker says she, as a young girl, saw the procession with Kennedy's matorcade in San Antonio the day before.

 

My theory is that it was a mob hit ordered by Carlos Marcello, who controlled the New Orleans Mafia, in conjunction with the Chicago mob, and the object was both to punish the Kennedys for what they saw as a betrayal and to get Bobby Kennedy out of the Attorney General's office.

Remember that old Joe Kennedy was mobbed up to his eyeballs, going all the way back to his days as a rumrunner during Prohibition. He called in a few markers from the Chicago mob to buy the votes in Cook County that pushed JFK over the top in the '60 election. The Mafia, in turn, expected a compliant administration, but they were rudely disabused of that notion when Bobby Kennedy was made AG.

Bobby's most public investigative target was Marcello, whose territory just happened to include Dallas (and Jack Ruby's strip joint). Marcello had come to hate Bobby's guts with a passion, and devised the plot to remove the biggest thorn in his side and to teach the Kennedys a lesson in loyalty. The idea was not to move directly at Bobby, because Jack would just promote someone more zealous to the AG's post. But if JFK was removed from office, Johnson would be president and it was common knowledge that LBJ and Bobby loathed each other. Bobby Kennedy would not serve long as AG under a Johnson administration, which was, in fact, what happened. And it is a fact, too, that the heat on the Mafia simmered down once Bobby Kennedy left the Justice Department.

Oswald was a useful dupe who fell into the plot's lap in the summer of '63 when he was spotted handing out pro-communist literature in New Orleans. According to a pretty convincing documentary I saw a few years ago, the actual shooters were from France, and were recruited through the Chicago mob's ties in Montreal. Oswald was a competent enough shooter that he could create a diversion and be a reasonable fall guy, but Ruby was called on just to make sure Oswald never got to tell his story.

What convinced me that Oswald didn't act alone was the frame-by-frame look at the uncut Zapruder film. You see Kennedy's head pushed forward from the shot from the book depository, then immediately his head jerks up and to the left as the back of his head explodes. There is no way that a shot from six stories high causes that kind of reaction. The kill shot HAD to come from in front of the car and to the right – i.e. the grassy knoll.

The astonishing thing to me is how widespread knowledge of a plot to kill JFK was among the Texas media. According to one book I saw (sorry, can't recall the name), a lot of the press corps was joking the night before about taking bets on whether Kennedy would leave Texas alive.

Could all of this have been done without the connivance of the FBI? Maybe, maybe not. It would have been easier if they had some inside help either from the FBI or the Secret Service, but the Mafia in the early '60s could have pulled it off without anyone's help. What I don't doubt is that the FBI orchestrated a cover-up to hide either its involvement or its incompetence in failing to stop the shooting of the president.

FWIW, I was in third grade living outside Houston at the time, and the night before about a half-dozen kids in my class went to the airport in Houston (what is now the Hobby Airport) to see Kennedy. All the girls who were there were talking about how handsome he was and how glamorous Jackie was. Then, right after lunch, we got the news. We went home early that day, but not before we learned a new word: assassination. It was, needless to say, a day I'll never forget.

 

I remember seeing "The Doors" in college. My school had a special midnight showing, and it was pretty cool to watch while everyone was drunk.

 

Oswald did it alone. Plain and simple.

ABC did a great documentary on the subject in 2003. Here's a few important highlights from Youtube worth watching:

I highly recommend watching it. It erased any doubt in my mind of any conspiracy.

 

Oswald -- and Ruby -- were lone nuts who THOUGHT they were part of a grander conspiracy.

Probably most if not all of the supposed movers behind the conspiracy theories (Chicago/New Orleans mob, Castro commies, Russkies, FBI/CIA/LBJ) were somewhat less than heartbroken when JFK was killed, but it just seems crazy they would have sent dopes like Oswald and Ruby to do the wet work.

 

Who would have guessed both of those "dopes" would have been successful?