As we are all aware from either having lived through it or studied it in history books, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas on the afternoon of Friday, November 22, 1963. A commission appointed shortly thereafter headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren (the “Warren Commission”) determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the President firing from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. That conclusion was met with skepticism and outright disbelief from the time it was published, and countless books, movies and scholarly papers in the decades that followed have set forth alternative, oftentimes elaborate, theories as to who actually was responsible for the President’s death and why he was killed.
Last month the National Archives released thousands of previously classified documents collected as part of the government investigation into the assassination. Conspiracy theorists no doubt will be poring through them looking for evidence that someone other than Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible for President Kennedy’s death. While I’m certain there will be plenty of mysterious phone calls, unexplained activity involving Russia or Cuba, and the like, the probability of finding anything of real import seems remote. I believe, quite frankly, that is because there is nothing to find. As much as people hate to believe that a lone nut can change the course of history in a matter of seconds, I believe that’s exactly what happened that fateful day in Dallas.
Evidence of Oswald’s guilt
As much as conspiracy theorists like to pick it apart, the evidence of Oswald’s guilt is overwhelming. In March of 1963, Oswald mail-ordered a rifle and a pistol using an alias of “A. Hidell.” Ballistics would later match Oswald’s rifle to the bullets used to kill President Kennedy—the only bullets ever found at the scene of the crime. One of Oswald’s co-workers, Charles Givens, testified to the Warren Commission that he last saw Oswald on the sixth floor of the depository at approximately 11:55 a.m., which was 35 minutes before the Presidential motorcade entered Dealey Plaza. Clerks working on the fifth floor told CBS news that they heard the shots above them and even heard the shell casings as they dropped. Oswald’s rifle with his prints was found on the sixth floor of the depository following the assassination.
But perhaps even more incriminating than the physical evidence are Oswald’s actions leading up to and following the assassination. Oswald worked at the depository. During the week, he stayed at a boarding house near the depository and rode to work with a co-worker. On Fridays, he would go home to his wife and child in Irving, Texas and spend the weekend with them. However, on Thursday, November 21, he asked his neighbor to take him to his house to get “some curtain rods.” And on Friday morning, he showed up with a long brown package. We can all surmise what was in this package, and the wrapping would later be found on the sixth floor of the depository next to Oswald’s rifle.
Second, of all the employees in the building, Oswald was the only one who was not present when a headcount was conducted shortly after the assassination. Instead, as the Warren Commission would later determine, he went back to his boarding house and retrieved the pistol that he had ordered. He would use this pistol to shoot Dallas police officer, J.D. Tippit, who stopped to question Oswald as Oswald was walking down the street not far from his boarding house. Tippit did so because Oswald fit the description of the suspect in the Presidential shooting which had come across the police radio. Oswald was subsequently arrested with the pistol on him in a nearby theater. Simply put, these are not the actions of an innocent man.
But could Oswald have done it alone?
The Warren Commission determined that Oswald fired three shots (there were three shell casings found near Oswald’s rifle on the sixth floor). One shot missed the motorcade entirely. One shot struck President Kennedy in the neck and then injured Texas Governor John Connally. The third shot struck Kennedy in the head ultimately leading to his death. Many question whether Oswald could have pulled off this feat by himself in such a short time. However, CBS news back in 1967 invited 11 volunteer marksmen to attempt to strike a target moving at the exact pace and angle of the motorcade with a rifle just like the one used by Oswald in the time it took Oswald to fire three shots. One of the marksmen scored three hits on the target…in less time than Oswald…and others scored two hits. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No.
Many also question the movement of President Kennedy’s head on the famous Zapruder film (Dallas businessman Abraham Zapruder unwittingly captured the assassination on his 8 mm camera). On the so-called head shot, Kennedy’s head appears to move backwards towards the depository building upon being struck. Critics of the Commission’s findings insist this must mean the shot came from in front of the motorcade. However, this is simply not the case. As CBS news pointed out, 19 doctors had studied the medical evidence and autopsy (up to that time in 1992) as part of government investigations, and all but one had determined that the bullet came from behind the motorcade. And perhaps most importantly, the bullet fragments recovered from the President’s head matched the gun fired by Oswald…from behind.
Finally, many question whether the same bullet could have gone through President Kennedy’s neck and then injured Governor Connally’s ribs and wrist (the so-called “single bullet” or “magic bullet” theory) while sustaining as little damage as the bullet found ultimately did. They insist a second bullet must have struck Connally. While I will concede that this appears somewhat remarkable, experts have noted that after the bullet left the President’s neck it was still traveling at a high velocity. And if there was another bullet from some other source, it and its owner somehow managed to elude capture.
But what about the grassy knoll?
There were hundreds in Dealey Plaza that day to see the Presidential motorcade. Many pointed to the depository as the source of the shots. Still others insisted shots came from the grassy knoll area along Elm Street in front of the motorcade. With the acoustics of Dealey Plaza, the way they are (and were) and the excitement of the situation, it is not surprising that so many versions of the number of shots fired and from where emerged. If someone was firing from the grassy knoll…or any other area…they managed to leave the scene without a trace. No shell casings. No bullets. This seems just as, if not more, remarkable to me than the so-called “magic bullet.” Again, all the evidence recovered points to Oswald.
Was it a conspiracy?
There is no shortage of conspiracy theories floating around about the assassination. Many claim a group…any one from the CIA to the Mafia to Castro’s Cuba… conspired to have Kennedy killed. Here is my primary issue will all of these theories: I believe, for all the reasons explained above, that Lee Harvey Oswald was firing from the sixth floor of the depository that day. So, in order for there to be a conspiracy, you have to convince me that one of these organizations concocted a scheme to fire on the President of the United States in the middle of downtown Dallas in front of hundreds of eyewitnesses with a loose cannon (pardon the pun) like Oswald firing from the sixth floor of a building. Not only did they plan to do so, but they figured out a way (or had the incredible fortune) for the other shooters involved to escape without leaving the first shred of tangible evidence. This seems highly improbable and, in all honesty, borderline idiotic. If one of these groups had wanted Kennedy killed, there would have been any number of ways to do so without leaving so much to chance and risking so much (Keep in mind, too, that this was late November in Dallas. There was a good chance that the weather would be cold and/or rainy and the bubble would have been placed on top of the motorcade. It just so happened that the weather was nice that day, and Kennedy asked that the top remain off).
Of course, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shooting and killing Oswald on the Sunday after the assassination, forever silencing him, only made the public more convinced that others were involved. And the government has only continued to add fuel to the conspiracy-theory fire by releasing its classified documents in such a piecemeal fashion over the years. President Biden said in a recent memo that the National Archives and other agencies have until May 2023 to review the remaining private documents. After that, “any information withheld from public discourse that agencies do not recommend for continued postponement” will be released before June 30, 2023.
We shall see if any deep, dark secrets are ultimately revealed. Again, I believe it is doubtful. Even after all the documents have been released, there will be some who are not convinced. They will claim the government is releasing only what it wants to. Quite frankly, that’s understandable. Our government throughout history has given all of us plenty of reasons to be a little skeptical. But perhaps Governor Connally said it best back in early 1992. When asked about the possibility of a conspiracy, he said, “I don’t know any secret this country can keep for 28 years.” Neither do I, Governor…and certainly not for 60.
C. Stephen Stack, Jr. practices in the litigation section of Biggs, Ingram & Solop, PLLC, in Jackson with an emphasis on transportation law, premises liability defense, construction litigation and insurance coverage litigation. For a complete biography and list of areas of practice, go to www.bislawyers.com.
