In my recent post about JFK assassination sites in Dallas, I mentioned that I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president. That triggered an avalanche of angry replies from conspiracy theorists who argue there was a plot involving one or more of the following – the CIA, FBI, Mafia, Secret Service, Soviet Union, military-industrial complex, anti-Castro exiles and right-wing businessmen. One reader even claimed that LBJ was behind the assassination, a preposterous idea also pushed by Trump-loving sleazebag Roger Stone.
I’m a true JFK assassination buff. I’ve read dozens of books on the case, including Vincent Bugliosi’s 1,600-page “Reclaiming History,’’ closely examined all the evidence and theories, and even wrote a few stories about the assassination during my journalism career. My conclusion: There is massive evidence that Oswald killed JFK, and no concrete proof that he got help from anyone.
Forget, for a moment, that every conspiracy theory has huge holes in it and that they usually contradict each other. And let’s not even consider the virtual impossibility that a complex conspiracy could remain a secret for more than 50 years.
Instead, just review the compelling evidence that Oswald was the lone assassin:
• Oswald bought the rifle that was fired from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. He was in the building when the shots were fired, and his palm print was found on the weapon.
• Several witnesses spotted a rifle in the sixth-floor window, and one of them a saw a man in the window who fit Oswald’s description.
• Three shots were fired at the motorcade and three shell casings were found in the sniper’s nest.
• Oswald left the Book Depository after the shooting, went to his rooming house and picked up a pistol. Police officer J.D. Tippit was shot and killed in the same neighborhood a short time later, and numerous eyewitnesses identified Oswald as the shooter.
• Oswald fled to the Texas Theatre, where he punched and tried to shoot a cop while being arrested. “Well, it’s all over now,’’ Oswald reportedly told the policeman.
• According to the co-worker who drove him to work that day, Oswald put a long paper bag in the car. A similar bag, believed to have hidden Oswald’s rifle, was found near the sniper’s nest with his fingerprint and palm print on it.
• JFK’s motorcade route wasn’t made public until Nov. 19, just three days before the assassination. So, if there was some grand conspiracy, do you think the plotters would have waited until the last minute to find a shooter who worked in a building along the motorcade route?
While Oswald certainly had a suspicious background – he was a former Marine who defected to the Soviet Union during the Cold War – his loner personality and vagabond past made him a highly unlikely participant in any organized plot.
As for claims that Jack Ruby was part of the conspiracy and killed Oswald to silence him, one simple fact refutes that theory. Oswald was scheduled to be transferred to the county jail at 10 a.m. on Sunday. So if he was planning to kill Oswald, Ruby would have been waiting for him in the police station basement prior to 10 o’clock. But Ruby was still in his apartment at that time. As it turned out, Oswald’s transfer was delayed and Ruby didn’t shoot him until 11:21, just minutes after leaving a Western Union office where he wired money to one of his strippers. That seems to be incontrovertible proof that Ruby acted on impulse, and not as part of a conspiracy.
Most interesting. Yet the conspiracy tours in Dallas are entertaining and bring in plenty of business. Smile. On a Dallas trip in conjunction with their marathon I took such a tour and for the moment was convinced and always wondered. Knowing your quest for facts I’m glad to read your logic.
Equally I’m glad to see the collection of your writings. Thanks!
Believe it or not, I used to be a conspiracy guy. But the more I read about the assassination, the more I realized that all the conspiracy theories were a collection of random incidents, speculation, misunderstandings, distortions and selective facts that just didn’t add up. A perfect example is the claim that the fatal shot came from the front, meaning there was a second gunman. There is absolutely no physical evidence to support that notion. Conspiracy supporters often point to the Zapruder film, which appears to show JFK’s head snapping backward from the fatal shot. But slow-motion versions of the film actually show that JFK’s head initially moves forward before snapping back, probably due to a neuromuscular reaction to the brain injury.
Great recap of a horrible day for our country and for the world! As you probably know, my sister lives outside Dallas, so we have been to Dealy Plaza many times over the years. It’s very awe-inspiring to tour the book depository building, and to view the road as Oswald would have that fateful day. Have you seen the documentary starring Paul Giamatti as Abe Zapruder, the fellow who unintentionally captured the events in a home movie? It was very interesting to see how dramatically his life changed, and to see the tragedy from the perspective of Oswald’s brother and crazy-ass mother.