The JFK assassination

1
The JFK assassinationconspiracy or not?
Investigated by Josh Wilkins
2
Lee Harvey Oswald

• Traditional Theory
• POSITIONIt was believed by many from the
  beginning of the investigations that there was
  only ever one person behind the assassination of
  JFK, and in the Warren Commission, it was stated
  that this man was Lee Harvey Oswald
• EVIDENCEIt could be suggested that in fact LHO
  had the motives with which to carry out the
  assassination of JFK. He was married to Marina
  Prusakova In April 30 1961, and as she was a
  communist Russian, it was believed LHO may have
  been influenced by her beliefs. Furthermore,
  whilst some argue that LHO was not a very good
  shot, and thus could not have performed such
  accurate shootings, a further investigation into
  his files revealed that actually out of 35 shots,
  32 were on target
• ASSESSMENTI would suggest that as a result of
  the findings of these files, which clearly show
  the mans ability to shoot and kill JFK, whilst
  also having a motive to do so implies that it
  could well have been the LHO by himself.

3
Lee Harvey Oswald

• The revisionist theory
• POSITION The revisionist theory states that it
  was not soley Lee Harvey Oswald acting on his
  own, instead a group of people and thus a
  conspiracy were behind the killing of JFK.
• EVIDENCEIt was suggested that despite LHOs
  involvement in the marines in his early
  childhood, he was renowned for being an awful
  shot, and thus getting one shot on target was a
  rarity, let alone getting two on target, in a
  moving vehicle. It has also been suggested that
  whilst the Warren Commission states that LHO was
  in certain places at certain times, some reports
  counter this, and argue that actually he was not
  where the commission said he was, thus there must
  have been someone else involved.
• ASSESSMENTOne whole spate of sightings occurred
  in a place called Alice, Texas where seventeen
  separate witnesses thought they saw Lee Oswald
  usually with Marina and a baby in arms. In an
  essay from his web site, Dave Reitzes reviews
  many of the sighting, and argues that in fact
  they are inaccurate, thus allowing for LHO to
  actually have been at the scene of the crime.
  One particular witness reports LHO to be with his
  wife and a child, however at the time, given the
  child's date of birth, it is impossible that the
  child meet the descriptions given. Furthermore,
  whilst another witness stated that LHO checked
  into a hotel in the Alice area, the Warren
  Commission clearly has database evidence that LHO
  checked in and stayed in the Dallas areas, for 3
  nights, leading up to the assassination.

4
The Magic Bullet Theory

• In what is one of the most interesting pieces of
  evidence, it is suggested that there must have
  been a magic bullet to have created all the
  wounds. Traditional Theory
• POSITION Given that there was a total of 7
  wounds, in different places, it has been argued
  that this was indeed possible because of physics
  and magic bullet.
• EVIDENCEI would suggest that this position is
  valid as a result of the fact that the physics
  allows for one such bullet to cause all of the
  wounds. Furthermore, despite the argument that
  even if the bullet had caused all of the wounds,
  it would have been amaged gfiven the path it
  took, the picture to the right hand side of the
  actual bullet, in a close up clearly shows that
  the bullet is not in the so called pristine
  condition, which would suggest it has been on a
  dramatic course.
• ASSESSMENT Whilst it is argued that Kennedy and
  Connally were sat directly in front of each
  other, given the evidence that they were not
  further aids the cause of the magic bullet
  theory, and given the proven physics I would
  suggest that however freakish, it was a possible
  event.

5
The Magic Bullet Theory

• Revisionist theory
• POSITIONThe revisionist, conspiracy theory
  suggests that because of the actual positions
  of Kennedy and Connoly, it was imposiible for the
  wounds to have been made with one bullet thus
  there must have been other bullets, and given the
  speed at which this second bullet would have had
  to have been shot at, it was impossible for this
  to have been the same gunman.
• EVIDENCE It is suggested that as the pair were
  apparently directly in front of each other, it
  would thus have been impossible for one bullet to
  have caused all of the wounds,
• as the below image suggests there is no way the
  bullet could have
• taken the suggested course. Also it was
  suggested that because of the
• mysterious disappearance then re-appearing of
  the bullet, it may
• have been placed in the hospital so as to
  suggest that one bullet did it.
• Whilst the argument from the revisionist point
  of view is that given the
• pristine condition of the bullet, nit could not
  have
• caused the wounds.
• ASSESSMENTI would suggest that this evidence is
  slightly unreliable.
• Further investigations have realised that
  commonly conspiracy authors will attack the
  Single Bullet Theory by moving the entrance wound
  in Kennedy's back down below the Warren
  Commission location, and move the wound in the
  front of Kennedy's neck up in order to require an
  absurd trajectory though Kennedy's body, and from
  that argue that the physics are impossible. Such
  tampering suggests the argument is flawed.

6
Back and to the left

• The traditional theory suggests that this does
  not necessarily mean that a shot came from the
  grassy knoll
• POSITION Simple Newtonian physics does not allow
  for the freak reactions felt when you have just
  been shot, thus despite what the theory may
  suggest, a back and to the left reaction could
  have happened regardless of where the shot came
  from.
• EVIDENCE One of the most profound bits of
  evidence supporting the theory that a back and to
  the left movement was possible regardless of
  where the bullet came from is that of a
  neuromuscular spasm. The House Select Committee
  decided that this was the key factor after
  watching an experiment where a goat was shot in
  the head, and the spasms witnessed could easily
  have caused the backward, and left movements.
• It is entirely possible for an object hit by a
  bullet to move in the direction from which the
  bullet came. Richard Trott demonstrated this by
  shooting melons and the "jet effect" phenomenon
  was thus first suggested. It was later
  experimentally demonstrated by physicist Luis
  Alvarez. Trott shows that the average citizen
  with a rifle can recreate the effect.
• ASSESSMENT Given all of this evidence, I would
  suggest that indeed this back and to the left
  movement was possible regardless of where the
  bullet came from, thus the sole killer in LHO, up
  in the office buildings was entirely plausible.

7
Back and to the left

• The conspiracy theory
• POSITION conspiracy theorists suggest that back
  and to the left movements recorded of JFKs
  movemen's after having been shot suggest that a
  shot was fired from somewhere else, other than
  the office buildings thus a second gunman was
  involvede.
• EVIDENCE The physics suggest that by being shot
  from the front, thereby from the direction of the
  grassy knoll, the only possible movement of
  JFKs head was to go backwards and then fall to
  the left. As a result this thus suggests that
  the shot came from the grassy knoll and therefore
  indicates that another gunman was involved in the
  assassination of JFK. A gun was later uncovered
  by the grassy knoll.
• ASSESSMENT Firstly I would suggest that whilst
  this theory is backed up by evidence in the form
  of physics, the mysterious appearance of the gun
  at the grassy knoll (which may have been placed
  there as a cover up) and indeed the argument
  which states that a spasm could have caused a
  similar movement, in fact the conspiracy theory
  seems less likely.

Apparent sightings of a man holding a gun by the
infamous grassy knoll
8
Conclusion

• All in all I would suggest that given these three
  bits of evidence and theories from both the
  conspiracy and traditional side, I would be of
  the opinion that it was not a conspiracy that
  killed JFK.
• Given the vast amounts of evidence backed in the
  traditional theorys favour, and the mysterious
  and somewhat suspicious actions taken so as to
  provide an argument for the conspiracies, it can
  surely only be argued that Lee Harvey Oswald
  performed the assassination by himself.
• It was proven that he had the motives, he had
  the ability to perform the assassination, his
  magic bullet could indeed have caused all of the
  wounds and finally it was indeed possible for the
  back and to the left movements recorded of JFK to
  have been caused by the fatal bullet shot by LHO
  from his office building.
• For the conspiracy theory to have been credited,
  it would have been required that no tampering
  with evidence occurred, and that hard evidence
  were required, which, however argued, cannot and
  will not ever be presented.