The continuing controversy about the JFK assassination

HISTORY & CULTURE

The continuing controversy about John F. Kennedy’s assassination

By G. Arnold

On a sunny day forty-five years ago,  John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in an open air limousine through the streets of Dallas, Texas. From that day until the horrific events of September 11, 2001, the president’s assassination stood unrivaled as the nation’s most widely shared and deeply felt national tragedy. If you were old enough to remember anything in 1963, you remember that. And you probably remember the exact circumstances in which you heard the shocking news.

The assassination was arguably the “crime of the century.” The alleged killer, a troubled man named Lee Harvey Oswald, was captured within hours of the shooting. But soon after, while he was in custody awaiting trial and as the police investigation went forward, Oswald was murdered.

Without a trial, there were many open questions. To address them, the federal government launched an official investigation under the auspices of the Warren Commission. In its final report, the Commission concluded that Oswald was the lone killer.

But not long after the Warren Commission issued its report, some people started questioning its judgment. Some people were especially skeptical of the Commission’s claim that Oswald had acted alone. They figured there must be more to the story, that there must have been a conspiracy to pull off such a shocking event.

Over the years, many official and unofficial investigations attempted to clear up the mystery. Many studies did not agree with the Warren Report. But conclusive evidence of a conspiracy — evidence about which all parties could agree — was not forthcoming. All these years later, despite Herculean efforts and massive investigations, people still disagree about whether Oswald acted alone or whether there was a conspiracy.

The possibility of a JFK conspiracy has prompted an avalanche of publications, films, and Internet sites. The multitude of theories presented includes a long list of potential conspirators, ranging from the mob, anti-Castro Cubans, pro-Castro Cubans, the Soviets, and officials in American government and industry. In the many theories that have been presented, the cast of possible conspirators sometimes appear in surprising combinations, with a wide range of possible motivations. Some of the theories seem much more plausible than others. Perhaps the most famous of all such theories appears in Oliver Stone’s 1991 movie JFK, which struck a cord with many viewers.

Public opinion polls show that a sizable number of  Americans  believe the Warren Commission’s findings were wrong and that there was probably a conspiracy involved. For those people seeking to refute such beliefs, it’s hard going. Skepticism about the original finding that Oswald was the lone killer runs high.

Last year, famed attorney Vincent Bugliosi entered the fray, issuing a massive tome with no less than 1,648 pages and so many citations that they are contained in an accompanying CD-ROM. The book, Reclaiming History (W.W. Norton, 2007) is a truly monumental work, in which Bugliosi tries to debunk as many of the conspiracy theories as possible.

Still, it is hard to disprove the theoretical possibility of a conspiracy. And it does not appear that he has persuaded many conspiracy theorists so far.

Whatever you think about the assassination — whether you think it was the work of one man or of a cabal — the shock of the president’s assassination and its murky circumstances still reverberate in our society. It’s an unsettled part of our national story that probably won’t go away anytime soon.

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G. Arnold is an editor of Bread and Circus and the author of Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics (Praeger, 2008). You can read more about this topic in a recent article in the Providence Journal.