JFK, Term Paper Example

Introduction

This paper explores the historical event of the assassination of US President John.F. Kennedy on November 22nd 1963 in Dallas, Texas.  JFK was the 35th President of the USA and was fatally shot in a car whilst being accompanied by his wife Jacqueline. This was a shattering event at the time and the ramification was felt throughout the world. It heralded a number of conspiracy theories and was later made into a feature film.  JFK was a greatly admired President and viewed as a beacon of new hope and prosperity for the American people. The paper addresses the question of – Do we really know who was truly behind the assassination of the President and do we believe the findings of the Warren Commission? (Wicker T. 1963)

President Kennedy had arranged a presidential visit to Dallas for three main reasons: (1) It was the start of his presidential campaign for re-election as President (2) to help in the fund raising efforts for the Texas Democratic Party and (iii) to mend some political fences that had occurred with the Texan Democratic Party.  Prior to the planned visit there had already been concerns about security arrangements. The concept of Presidential assassination is not new to American History and one remembers the fall of Abraham Lincoln in April 1865.  This brought about a poem of lament of the death of Lincoln called “O Captain My Captain”. For those who lived through this period, many will recall where they were when they heard of the death of the President. (Wicker, T. 2004)

The UK witnessed a similar public outrage when Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris also in suspicious circumstances with a conspiracy theory developing. John F Kennedy will be remembered for a number of significant events in his Presidency.  These include the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that came into law in August 1963. The development of the Peace Corps that took volunteers to help underdeveloped countries in different parts of the world.  In addition the handling of the Cuban Missile crisis and the Bay of Pigs. O this day most of the official records on the assassination of JFK remain classified material. (New York Times 1993).

Theories on Assassination

In the early days the assassination of JFK was thought to be the work of a lone gunman.  However, it was later discovered that the President was killed by a number of different assassin’s bullets. Witnesses later revealed that they saw multiple gunmen firing from different locations.  On that fateful day  the presidential car entered Dealey Plaza, in Dallas Texas, around 12.30 pm. The sound of gunfire echoed in the Plaza and bullets were seen to hit the Presidents neck and head as he slumped towards Mrs. Kennedy. The Governor as also hit in the chest.  At 1.00pm a Catholic Priest administered the last rights and the President was pronounced dead.  The Governor, despite his serious wounds, later recovered.  A short time later Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the new President.  This was a short swearing in ceremony and shortly before this Lee Harvey Oswald had been arrested by the police). The CIA have maintained a veil of secrecy over this and in 2007 there are those still seeking the truth. (Wyatt E. 2007). In 1993 the CIA stated that it would release 23,000 documents for public inspection but that was considered to be only less than 10% of the total information repository. (New York Times 1993)

On the Sunday morning Lee Harvey Oswald was being transferred from Police Headquarters to the County Jail but before but before he could make it he too was gunned down.  Viewers across America saw this live when suddenly saw a man aimed a pistol and fired at point blank range.  The gunman that shot Oswald was identified as Jack Ruby who owned a local nightclub.  Oswald died two hours later from the gunshot wounds.

In essence the conspiracy theories continue to shadow JFK’s assassination and it is unlikely if the full extent of the truth will be revealed until the entire CIA dossier can be fully examined at some unforeseeable date in the future.  From an evidential viewpoint we can draw a number of preliminary conclusions:

Theory #1. The Lone Gunman

1. It does not appear that this was the act of a lone gunman and ballistics evidence supports that theory;
2. This suggests other ‘shooters’ were in play and to some extent this suggests that others were involved and complicit in the act. This adds further fuel to the conspiracy theory;

Theory # 2. Conspiracy Theory – CIA Involvement

1. The CIA have blocked their findings from being disclosed to the public under the premise of state security. The fact that there is such a large amount of undisclosed material adds credence to the fact that there is more to this than what has currently been revealed;

Theory # 3. Other Foreign power involvement

There are a number of other countries that may have been complicit in a plot to eliminate the President.  This includes both Cuba and Israel as possible suspects. At the time Israel had one of the worlds most sophisticated secret service agencies in Mossad and they collaborated with the CIA.  Cuba had ties with Russia but probably lacked the intelligence sophistication to carry this operation out.  The CIA is once again linked to a potential conspiracy theory;

The Warren Commission – Investigation

This was established in order to investigate the death of the President and will be remembered for the result of its findings: In 1965 Chief Justice Earl Warren carried out hearing on the assassination of the President. He concluded that Lee Harvey-Oswald was solely responsible for the death of the President and Jack Ruby killed Oswald, whilst in police custody and there was no conspiracy in place. It was later discovered the FBI had a file on Lee Harvey-Oswald long before the assassination took place. (L.A. Times 2011)

Over 50,000 documents were numbered and investigated as part of the examination of the events leading towards the Presidents death.  What is significant is that the commission stated that Lee Harvey Oswald acted as a lone gunman and unaided killed the President.  It ruled out the “grassy knoll” theory and secondary gunmen in the plot.  It also stated that the killer of Oswald (Jack Ruby) was not implicated or part of a conspiracy. Public opinion polls indicated the majority of American people did not believe the Warren Report. There later followed a number of conspiracy theories and this started on the assumption that the President was killed by two bullets that must have been fired from different angles. Later ballistics reports confirmed this. (N.Y. Times 1993)

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, struck by two bullets — one in the head, one in the neck . Many of the public believed that the CIA was involved in a plot to get rid of the President because of his handling of the ‘Bay of Pigs’ affair. Whilst others state that it was his opposition to the Vietnam War where Lyndon B Johnson was implicated.  Many different conspiracy theories started to emerge.  A poll that was conducted by the news agency ABC in 2003 concluded that some 70% of the American respondents polled considered that Kennedy’s death was the consequence of a broader plot or conspiracy. Many feel that the evidence presented and the trajectory of the assassin’s bullets was not indicative of being fired from a six storey building. The Public became much more distrustful of the political scene as the Vietnam War took place and later the Watergate scandal.

Jim Garrison Investigation

Jim Garrison the New Orleans District Attorney put forward the premise of  Oswald being linked to the Castro Government in Cuba and the CIA were implicated in the conspiracy. Initially the public dismissed this but with the Vietnam War and later Watergate the level of distrust increased. There was also the thought that JFK was against Israel building a nuclear weapons program and secretly opposed this. As such the Israeli intelligence service, in collaboration with the CIA wanted him removed from the scene.  The CIA wanting the Vietnam War to take place, which Kennedy also opposed New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison who had privately concluded that Mossad (Israeli intelligence) was ultimately the driving force behind JFK’s murder. (Goldstein G.M. 2088).

Interpretation of the Event

In general terms the international community was saddened and extremely shocked at the death of the President.  Many saw Kennedy as the bright hope for the American future and an ambassador for peace.  This particularly so in the UK and Europe.  The author Michael Collins in his novel did not pull any punches in implicating Israel with the murder of John F Kennedy and implied that the Israeli intelligence arm of Mossad was highly implicated in a conspiracy to end the life of JFK. With large resources at its disposal and a vast network of contacts it had the opportunity and the motive to play a lead part in the assassination of the President. (LA Times 2011)

Israel was known to be disappointed with Kennedy in his non-support of their nuclear arms program development.  Israel, in secret, began working with China on the development of its’ own nuclear program. Israel was already known to be conducting nuclear tests with the Chines from as early as 1964.  This was under the close scrutiny of the CIA who was watching the developments of Israel with the Chinese at that time. This made it very interesting times for the CIA as they saw the potential expansion of communism in South East Asia and a potential partner in Israel developing relationships with the Chinese.  This all against the backdrop of a President who supported non-nuclear proliferation and the development of a peaceful world. (Morris, E. 2011)

Importance in Todays World

Despite Kennedy having a relatively peaceful stance on the world stage, nevertheless he did adopt a very hard line towards communism and its threat to democracy.  In this regard he supported American involvement in Vietnam stating that the US Government would continue to provide support to the South Vietnam administration and he stressed the point that he would not allow Vietnam to become another Communist state as this would create a threat to world peace. The death of Kennedy was interpreted by the American people, in general terms, as a conspiracy with 70% disputing the Warren Report and claiming that there was essentially a cover up by the Government or CIA.  The film made by Oliver Stone called JFK went on to develop the conspiracy theory in great detail and to a large extent is still supported by American today.

The French remained concerned about the USA and its position with regard to Vietnam, particularly after their terrible time in that region.  The French had already experienced defeat in Vietnam and the French President cautioned JFK that if he was not careful he would drag the US administration into a swamp of bitter and endless political debate that would ultimately prove to be to the detriment of the US Administration.  This ran counter to the advice being given to the president who was told that the US could win victory in South Vietnam.

Conclusions

From a personal perspective it is unlikely that the world will ever reveal the true events behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  It was a time of the cold war and many other countries re-positioning themselves on the world stage for power.  One thing is certain and that is the Kennedy dynasty played an important part in the formulation of the American political scene. The assassination of Kennedy also threatened to slow down the progress of the Civil Rights movement in addition to hamper the peace efforts after the cold war.

It was Kennedy and his administration that publicly committed to a civil rights bill and offered his endorsement to the civil rights movement. It was Lyndon B Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy as President, who signed the Civil rights Act into Law on July 2nd 1964.  Tragically on 5.9.1968 John Kennedys Brother Robert was assassinated by a Palestinian Arab. It was a young Palestinian Arab who moved forward and fired a .22 calibre revolver at Robert Kennedy. The assailant was quickly apprehended by the police and the end result was that 5 people were wounded and Robert Kennedy was killed. (N.Y. Times 2010)

Despite the fact that there have been many official investigations into the assassination and death of President Kennedy the real archives of documentation remain classified and not open to public scrutiny.  There has never been any definitive proof to state that there was no conspiracy or indeed this was the act of a lone gunman as put forward in the Warren Commission.  It is unlikely if the truth will ever be revealed for some time to come.  What is certain is that John F Kennedy will go down in history as a WW2 hero and one of the most influential and remarkable Presidents in US History.

The Kennedy Family continue to by a dynasty in American politics. The latest emergence of Joseph P Kennedy 111rd to run for the US Senate is set to build upon the political legacy of the Kennedy family.

References

Goldstein, G. (2088, 11 22). Kennedys assassination 45 years ago today made it an American war. L.A.Times, pp. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-goldstein22-2008nov22,0,1076289.story.

LA Times. (2011, 9 12). Jacqueline Kennedy: JFK’s doubts on LBJ, Vietnam and hers on MLK. LA Times, p. http://www.latimes.com/search/dispatcher.front?page=2&Query=1963%20JFK%20Assassination&target=adv_article .

Morris, E. (2011, 11 21). The Umbrella Man. NY Times , pp. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/opinion/the-umbrella-man.html .

New York Times. (1993, 8 18). CIA to release ’63 Kennedy Assassination data. New York Times, pp. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/19/us/cia-to-release-63-kennedy-assassination-data.html .

Wicker, T. (1963, 11 23). KENNEDY IS KILLED BY SNIPER AS HE RIDES IN CAR IN DALLAS; JOHNSON SWORN IN ON PLANE. New York Times, p. http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1122.html#article.