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.
I wish I wasn’t so dang observant, otherwise I may have believed the Oswald acted alone. Unfortunately, I have a habit of noticing even the tiniest details. The police lying about finding the backyard photos on Saturday when they showed them to the Paines, Friday. Finding officer Baker’s 2nd floor lunchroom encounter with Oswald a lie, per his other 2 affidavits. His second story was encountering Oswald on the 1st floor, by a storage room closet. His first actually encountering someone on the 4th floor who wasn’t Oswald. Then I noticed the person he described was exactly the same description as the TSBD & Tippit suspect, which couldn’t have been Oswald.
TSBD /Tippit suspect: White man, 30ish, 165 lbs, black hair, white shirt, tan jacket, black pants.
Oswald: White man, 24, 131 lbs, brown hair, long sleeved brown shirt, gray pants.
The only similarity is being white. For some reason, everyone believes it was Oswald because a white man, as if no other white men existed in Dallas. I noticed that somehow in the WC testimony, witnesses were saying they saw a gunman on the 6th floor, and yet, no mention of the 6th floor in the dispatch logs. Witnesses told police they saw a gunman on the 2nd, 3rd & 4th or 5th floors, but no 6th. Which makes sense, since it took nearly an hour for the police to find 6th floor evidence, as opposed to going to straight to where multiple witnesses allegedly said they saw a gunman.
Then I come across WC info that an FBI agent named Nat Pinkston was on the 6th floor immediately after the shots. Mm. Nothing suspect about that. Then I find at least 6 cops look at a Carcano with “6.5” & “Made Italy” stamped right on the barrel, and they all thought, “Must be a 7.65 German Mauser” for 2 days. Hm. Confusing Italy with Germany & 6.5 for 7.65. Weird.
Then there’s the whole 2nd Oswald wallet at the Tippit murder scene that the cops were trying to plant. That wouldn’t have been so bad if one of the cops hadn’t pretended to read the names “Oswald” & “Hidell” from it. Even Dale Meyers, who investigated it thoroughly, said it wasn’t Oswald’s wallet. If it had been, they would have shown it everywhere. And yet a random cop somehow knew those 2 names anyway. Said them out loud even. Yikes!
Then I find the cops lied about the reason why they stopped looking for the official suspect to go after 1 employee missing from a roll call. yet, 22 other employees were missing because the cops actually locked them out before lunch was over. Weird they would be more worried about 1 of 23 employees they locked out over an official suspect. Just 1 of 23.
The WC said eyewitnesses saw Oswald kill Tippit. Yet, when I read their testimonies, they were all inconsistent. According to them, Oswald was short, tall, heavy & slender with light brown, medium brown & black hair. He was also wearing a white jacket, tan jacket, tanish gray jacket, and dark black sports coat. He had a pistol & revolver in his right & left hand. Shot Tippit 2 times, 3 times, 4 times & 5 times. At 1:00, 1:07, 1:10, 1:15, 1:30/35 & 2:00. Then he runs 6 blocks from Tippit to the theater in 30 minutes with more than 20 police cars looking for him less than a block away. Somehow he was seen in an alley according to unit 111, but nobody bothers to go there. How did unit 111 know he was in the alley? Unless they saw him.
Then dispatch gets a call from a mystery person saying their suspect just ran into the theater, and he would be hiding in the balcony. Hm. Who saw the suspect go into the theater? How did they know he was a police suspect? How did they know where he would be hiding? Which suspect were they even talking about? The official 165 lb, white shirt, black pants, black hair in his 30s suspect that ditched his white jacket & would be hiding in the balcony? Or the 24-year-old, brown hair, brown shirt, gray pants suspect who was never even a suspect at all, but was arrested anyway on the bottom floor?
And if those things weren’t odd enough… when the police were arresting Oswald as their supposed suspect wanted for killing Tippit (yet didn’t even match the description), one of the cops said “Kill the president will you” while beating him. Wait, what? Where did that come from? That doesn’t make any sense, unless they knew who Oswald was beforehand? That’s another slip from the cops that I couldn’t help notice.
Yeah, hard to imagine why anyone ignore all those things and more. Like Helen Markham admitting 6 times that Oswald wasn’t who she saw shoot Tippit. Then let it slip that she only chose him because something about him gave her the chills, not because she saw or recognized him. And specifically said not because she saw or recognized him. Yet the WC ignored that too. Some people may call that a fair & justice, honest investigation. I call that suspicious.
Like claiming Oswald made a fake ID to buy a gun in a different name, even though he never even needed ID. And it wasn’t ID, it was a draft card, with a photo (red flag of being fake). All to have a rifle shipped to his real name. Making a fake ID he didn’t need, to buy a gun in a fake name with his real name post box? And now I recently learn an Israeli spy was monitoring Oswald’s mail. Yeah. I wish I could ignore all those things and just believe what a bunch of liars said. But I just can’t. It wouldn’t feel right.