TC_Squared
May 4, 2013
Research Papers / The assassination of President John F. Kennedy [2]
The Lone Gunman
On the afternoon of Friday, November 22nd, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, President of the United States (POTUS) John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and Texas Governor John Connally, who sat in front of him, was critically wounded. Hours later, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in a movie theatre for the murder of Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit. It was later discovered that Oswald's finger prints matched those on the 6.5 Caliber Carcano-World War II assault rifle-that was found in the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository.
At 11:21 am, Sunday, November 24th, while he was being transferred to another facility, Oswald was shot and fatally wounded (later died) by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner who was distraught over the Kennedy assassination. Since then, countless people have been creating conspiracy "theories"-an actual theory requires evidence from various forms of study-about the whole ordeal, despite the fact that Jack Ruby himself said that he killed Oswald to avenge Kennedy, who Ruby greatly admired for "How well he treated Jews" (Jack Ruby was born Jacob Rubenstein). Friends and relatives of Ruby's confirmed that he was shaken from the assassination, and even crying on occasion to the point that he closed his night club for three days as a mark of respect. He also had a history of hyperexcitability, was taking phenmetrazine, and more than once released aggression among those around him, including the exotic dancers at the night club he owned. A televised statement given by Oswald the night before he was killed shows Ruby in the room pretending to be a journalist. He had the opportunity to kill Oswald at this moment, but didn't do so until the next day, proving that it was not premeditated, but rather a spur of the moment act of aggression. This is not an uncommon thing to happen, as murder convicts require extra security to protect them from angry "mobs". Yet the conspiracy "theories" continue.
As the common American is unaware of however, after the evening of April 14th, 1865, the day that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, countless Americans began flooding the crowds with conspiracy theories despite the countless people-including Mary Ann Todd Lincoln-in the theatre witnessing John Wilkes Booth shooting Abraham Lincoln at point-blank range in the back of the head. Lincoln was the first President of the United States to be assassinated, and the conspiracy "theories" were raging within hours of it happening. Today, a conspiracy isn't even considered to be a possibility in terms of the Abraham Lincoln assassination, primarily because everyone who was alive at the time have long since passed, and the new generations have no choice but to analyze the facts and evidence objectively. Upon doing just that, Americans today realize that there is no logical reason whatsoever to believe that John Wilkes Booth, upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, was part of a conspiracy.
Some people even go to the extreme of claiming that the Kennedy assassination was maneuvered by the United States government, but conspiracy "theorists" obviously make such a claim without logically thinking about such an outcome. If the federal government truly wanted to kill the President of the United States, it would be more logical for them to do it in his sleep and claim that it was due to natural causes. Such a claim would be more logical to place among the death of President Franklin Roosevelt, who died from cerebral hemorrhaging at a vacation home. Conspiracy claims soared after Lincoln was assassinated; not one was mentioned after FDR died of natural causes. If the federal government wanted to assassinate the POTUS, they would have done so to look like a natural death so that there was no suspicion; and Kennedy had the health problems due to Addison's disease to make it believable. The fact that he was shot in a parade in broad daylight in front of thousands of people logically proves that it was not a government run conspiracy. Not to mention the fact that if fellow politicians of John F. Kennedy's-such as Robert Kennedy, Kenneth O'Donnell, Barry Goldwater and Robert McNamara-had believed for the slightest second that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy they would have mentioned it.
Kenneth P. O'Donnell, who was an old college friend and Special Assistant to President Kennedy never believed that it was a conspiracy, let alone one conducted by Lyndon Johnson. "Later it was reported that President Kennedy was tired and irritated that day because Vice-President Lyndon Johnson had forced him, in a long and bitter argument, into making the trip to Texas against his will." Kenneth O'Donnell wrote in his book titled Oh, Johnny We Hardly Knew ye. "Nobody had to force President Kennedy to go to Texas, least of all Lyndon Johnson; he could not have been held back from going there...Actually, Lyndon Johnson was not anxious for the President to go to Texas. He did not want the President to see for himself how little prestige and influence the Vice-President then had in his own state." O'Donnell also stated later in the book, "I also felt that a walkout of Kennedy aides and Cabinet members might give the totally wrong impression that we were blaming Johnson for President Kennedy's death in Texas."
It has been claimed by many, including the Oliver Stone movie JFK that our involvement in Vietnam was the primary reason that government officials, including Vice-President Lyndon Johnson, had Kennedy assassinated. However, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Boston University History Professor and Lyndon Johnson Biographer, Robert Dallek has confirmed on more than one occasion that LBJ not only didn't want a direct involvement in Vietnam, he pushed the subject aside and avoided it through the entire election of 1964 even after the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed by congress in August 7th, 1964. President Johnson was so focused on passing bills through congress and achieving "The Great Society" that he didn't want a war to get in the way. U.S. combat units, consisting of approximately 150,000 soldiers, were not deployed into Vietnam until mid 1965, after the Tonkin Gulf Incident (August 2nd, 1964) and the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed by congress (August 7th, 1964), and almost two years after Kennedy was assassinated. Simple history as well as the book We Were Soldiers Once...and Young, written by Lt. General Harold Moore, who led one of the first major United States military combat missions in Vietnam (November, 1965) prove that LBJ had no intention of increasing U.S. involvement in Vietnam until long after Kennedy was assassinated.
The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) remains one of the top suspects in the eyes of conspiracy "theorists". Due to their bad reputation and history of bending the rules, conspiracy "theorists" come up with countless ways that the CIA "could have done it". However, simply observing how the CIA is run and how it originated helps to prove this claim to be more than highly improbable, but down-right ridiculous. The CIA was created under the National Security Act of 1947, which was signed into law by President Harry S Truman. The CIA has quite the reputation of bending the rules as munch as possible without breaking them, but they are set up to do so under Executive Order by the President of the United States. Every time that the CIA has done such a thing (Bay of Pigs, Watergate, Iran-Contra) they did so under direct order from the President. To claim that the CIA killed President Kennedy would be to claim that Kennedy signed off on his own assassination. This is another area that many conspiracy "theorists" have claimed that Vice-President Johnson must have signed off on it, but any person who knows even slightly how the government is run knows that the Vice-President has absolutely no power outside of Congress, hence the reason the position is identified as the President of Congress.
If more people would simply apply the outcomes of other conspired scandals to the outcome of the Kennedy assassination, they would be forced to doubt that a conspiracy took place. The Watergate scandal, which began with the arrest of five men who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters on June 17th, 1972 (nine years after the Kennedy assassination) failed to remain a secret. The men were connected to the Committee to re-elect President Nixon in 1972. As a response, Nixon's staff conspired to cover up the break-in, but evidence revealed from President Nixon's tape recordings-revealing that he had attempted to cover up the break-in-as well as evidence uncovered by journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and the information leaked by W. Mark Felt, a.k.a. "Deep Throat", led to the public awareness of the cover up conspiracy, conviction of the burglars, and resignation of President Nixon.
To assume that the government could carry out and cover up the assassination of the POTUS when they couldn't even perform the cover up of a burglary with direct help from the President is simply ludicrous. Nixon's opponents had a field day once word leaked about the Watergate scandal, and the same thing would have happened with Lyndon Johnson's opponents (like Bobby Kennedy and Barry Goldwater) if they actually had reason to believe that he had something to do with the Kennedy assassination. Such information would make a journalist's career, as Watergate did for Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and they wouldn't hesitate to leak it to the public. In fact, many journalists have admitted that they were looking for evidence of a conspiracy, hoping to find some, but discovered that there just wasn't any.
It's quite incredible and rather sad how many people continue to believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was not the assassin of President Kennedy, despite the fact that people such as Jacqueline Kennedy believed it, and so much evidence to this day support it. The rifle that was found on the 6th floor of the book depository, a 6.5 Caliber Carcano, had Oswald's finger prints on it and belonged to him, as confirmed by photographs which were taken by his wife. The window of the book depository that was next to the rifle was a perfect location for a sniper position in order to shoot President Kennedy, and Lee Harvey Oswald worked in that building.
While Lee Harvey Oswald was in the Marine Corps., he was trained to use the M1 Garand rifle. After training, in December of 1956, he obtained a score of 212, which was 2 points above the minimum for qualifications as a sharpshooter. In May 1959, on another range, he scored 191, which was 1 point over the minimum for ranking as a marksman. The movie JFK claimed that he was a lousy shot, but his military records from 7 years before the assassination, which prove far more sufficient than a Hollywood movie, proves quite the opposite.
Left: Photo of Oswald in the backyard of his apartment in Dallas, Texas
Right: Rifle found on the 6th floor of the book depository that was used to assassinate President Kennedy
People today who claim that this photo was fake believe such based on today's technology and overlooking the fact that this photo was taken in 1963. The first televised Presidential debate was aired during the election of 1960. Televisions were still rather new, let alone computers. So to assume that this photo was modified through computers, when microprocessors weren't invented until the 1970s, is simply ludicrous. Even graphically altered photos today are impossible to cover up. A zoomed image would prove if a photo was graphically altered due to the different textures, which was proven to not be the case with this photo by the House Select Committee on Assassinations. It's far more likely that Oswald, upon desperation after being caught, simply lied. Marina Oswald, Lee Harvey's wife, even testified in 1964, 1977, 1978, and 2000 that she took the photographs at Oswald's request.
Left: The 3 cars in the picture mark the 3 locations on Elm Street Kennedy's vehicle was when each shot was fired. The car's third destination proves that the shot wasn't fired from the Grassy Knoll because the bullet would have entered Kennedy's right temple and exited the left half of his head
Various locations have been claimed to be possible sniping points-Grassy Knoll, the over-pass, a man-whole-during the assassination, but simply observing Dealey Plaza, and acknowledging the fact that the fields and side walks were crowded with people proves that the only places possible for a sniper to take position unspotted is in one of the buildings around Dealey Plaza, all of which were located behind President Kennedy the moment he was shot. That is not including the fact that Connolly was sitting in front of Kennedy, a Secret Service Agent was in front of Connolly and the wind shield was in front the Secret Service Agent. These factors prove that the sniper had to be both behind Kennedy and elevated above him, and Dal-Tex building and Texas Schoolbook Depository (County Records building and County Criminal Courts building would have had Kennedy's left hemisphere in range, not his right) were the only two buildings that were located in such a range..
Left: Governor Connolly's seat in the automobile was at a lower elevation and more inward than Kennedy's
Right: Frame 226-230 of the Zapruder Film proves that Kennedy and Connelly were hit within literally one second of one another
District Attorney Jim Garrison in the movie JFK claimed that the "magic bullet" would have to change direction a total of seven times in order to inflict such injuries on both President Kennedy and Governor Connelly. Garrison's claim was rejected immediately in the court room-but not shown in the movie-because he lined the two people up directly front-to-back on equally sized chairs. The courts rejected the claim so quickly because the photos clearly show that Governor Connolly's seat in the automobile was both at a lower elevation and more inward than Kennedy's seat was. These seats were engineered as such so that the POTUS would sit both higher and closer to the crowds of people than whom sat in front of him. When aligned that way, the injuries on both Kennedy and Connelly align perfectly for a single bullet.
Left: Arlen Specter presents the Single Bullet Theory to the House Select Committee on Assassinations
The bullet entered Kennedy's back (going 1,700-1,800 feet per second), exited his throat just below the trachea tumbling. Entry wound in Connally's right shoulder (going 1,500-1,600 fps) was 1 ΕΊ" inches long-the exact length of the bullet-indicates that the bullet was tumbling. The bullet traversed inside Connolly's chest and shattered his right rib, causing the bullet to change the angle of direction. Exit wound was just below the right nipple-nearly 2" in diameter-proves that it was an exit wound. The bullet then entered Connally's right wrist (going 900 fps) and exited the other side of it, fracturing the radius bone. The bullet entered Connally's left thigh (going 400 fps) where it came to a halt. The bullet stopping in his leg proves that it first pierced his torso, confirming that he was shot from behind.
Left: The mass of his injury below the trachea helps prove that it is the exit wound due to the bullet tumbling
Right: The means in which his skull shattered proves that the bullet either entered the front of his head and exited the back, or entered the back of his head and exited the front. Absolutely no injury on the left half of his head indicates that the bullet did not enter the right side of his head and exit the left or vice-versa, proving the shot was not fired from the Grassy Knoll
The claim that President Kennedy's body twitched "back and to the left" as D.A. Jim Garrison continually stated in the movie JFK, holds minor grounds for evidence of where the Sniper was positioned. The bullet that caused his body to jerk "back and to the left" was the final 6.5 Caliber round that went through Kennedy's brain, the source of the Central Nervous System. A simple imbalance of electrical current through the brain's neurons can cause a person to have a seizure, so certainly a bullet piercing through the brain can cause a person to jerk "back and to the left".
The largest irony after this whole outcome is that there are still a few possible, although very improbable, conspiracy possibilities within this whole ordeal, but not one is ever mentioned by conspiracy "theorists". If someone were to simply say "There was a second gunman on the sixth floor of the book depository with Oswald, but he/she took the gun with him/her", the evidence wouldn't be able to 100% prove otherwise. However, conspiracy "theorists" never claim this, but rather they stick to the far-fetched claims that a second gunman was on the Grassy Knoll...Or the road over pass...Or the man-whole...Or the CIA did it. What tends to be the case however is the more that an individual learns about it, the more they realize that it is far more likely for a crazed, lone gunman, who had a history of psychological problems that was reported by his own relatives, finally snapped and shot the President of the United States from a window of the very building he worked at with the rifle that he owned. Eventually all of the conspiracy "theorists" will pass on, and the new generations will have no choice but to analyze the facts and evidence objectively, just as what happened with the Abraham Lincoln assassination.
Citation:
Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. May 10, 2008., Based on the Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1964
Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. May 10, 2008, Based on the Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives, Washington DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1979
Image of an Assassination: A New Look At the Zapruder Film, 1998 MPI Media Group, Zapruder Film 1967 (Renewed 1995) LMH Co., Packaging & Design MPI Home Video, 1998
Gerald Posner, Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK, Anchor Books, A Division of Random House, Inc., New York, First Edition September 2003, Copyright 1993, 2003 by Gerald L. Posner
Arlen Specter with Charles Robbins, Passion for Truth, Hardcover edition published by HarperCollins Publishers, 2000, First Perennial edition published 2001, Copyright 2001, 2000 By Senator Arlen Specter and Charles Robbins
Kenneth P. O'Donnell, David F. Powers and Joe McCarthy, Oh, Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye, Published by Doubleday & Company, Inc. Copyright, 1961, Robert Graves, 1962, Copyright Kenneth P. O'Donnell, David F. Powers and Joe McCarthy, 1970, 1972
Robert Dallek, Flawed Giant, Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973, New York Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998, Published by Oxford University Press, Copyright Robert Dallek, 1998
Lt. General Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, A Presidio Press Book, Published by The Random House Publishing Group, Copyright 1992 by Lt. General H.G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, First Edition, October 1992, First Mass Market Edition, June 2004
Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, All The President's Men, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, Rockefeller Center, Simon & Schuster, Inc., Copyright by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, 1974
Barry M. Goldwater & Jack Casserly, Goldwater, Bantam Dell Pub Group, Winter Ventures, First Edition Hardcover, 414 Pages, Published by Doubleday, 1988, Paperback by St. Martin's Press, 1989
The Lone Gunman
On the afternoon of Friday, November 22nd, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, President of the United States (POTUS) John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and Texas Governor John Connally, who sat in front of him, was critically wounded. Hours later, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in a movie theatre for the murder of Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit. It was later discovered that Oswald's finger prints matched those on the 6.5 Caliber Carcano-World War II assault rifle-that was found in the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Depository.
At 11:21 am, Sunday, November 24th, while he was being transferred to another facility, Oswald was shot and fatally wounded (later died) by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner who was distraught over the Kennedy assassination. Since then, countless people have been creating conspiracy "theories"-an actual theory requires evidence from various forms of study-about the whole ordeal, despite the fact that Jack Ruby himself said that he killed Oswald to avenge Kennedy, who Ruby greatly admired for "How well he treated Jews" (Jack Ruby was born Jacob Rubenstein). Friends and relatives of Ruby's confirmed that he was shaken from the assassination, and even crying on occasion to the point that he closed his night club for three days as a mark of respect. He also had a history of hyperexcitability, was taking phenmetrazine, and more than once released aggression among those around him, including the exotic dancers at the night club he owned. A televised statement given by Oswald the night before he was killed shows Ruby in the room pretending to be a journalist. He had the opportunity to kill Oswald at this moment, but didn't do so until the next day, proving that it was not premeditated, but rather a spur of the moment act of aggression. This is not an uncommon thing to happen, as murder convicts require extra security to protect them from angry "mobs". Yet the conspiracy "theories" continue.
As the common American is unaware of however, after the evening of April 14th, 1865, the day that President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, countless Americans began flooding the crowds with conspiracy theories despite the countless people-including Mary Ann Todd Lincoln-in the theatre witnessing John Wilkes Booth shooting Abraham Lincoln at point-blank range in the back of the head. Lincoln was the first President of the United States to be assassinated, and the conspiracy "theories" were raging within hours of it happening. Today, a conspiracy isn't even considered to be a possibility in terms of the Abraham Lincoln assassination, primarily because everyone who was alive at the time have long since passed, and the new generations have no choice but to analyze the facts and evidence objectively. Upon doing just that, Americans today realize that there is no logical reason whatsoever to believe that John Wilkes Booth, upon the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, was part of a conspiracy.
Some people even go to the extreme of claiming that the Kennedy assassination was maneuvered by the United States government, but conspiracy "theorists" obviously make such a claim without logically thinking about such an outcome. If the federal government truly wanted to kill the President of the United States, it would be more logical for them to do it in his sleep and claim that it was due to natural causes. Such a claim would be more logical to place among the death of President Franklin Roosevelt, who died from cerebral hemorrhaging at a vacation home. Conspiracy claims soared after Lincoln was assassinated; not one was mentioned after FDR died of natural causes. If the federal government wanted to assassinate the POTUS, they would have done so to look like a natural death so that there was no suspicion; and Kennedy had the health problems due to Addison's disease to make it believable. The fact that he was shot in a parade in broad daylight in front of thousands of people logically proves that it was not a government run conspiracy. Not to mention the fact that if fellow politicians of John F. Kennedy's-such as Robert Kennedy, Kenneth O'Donnell, Barry Goldwater and Robert McNamara-had believed for the slightest second that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy they would have mentioned it.
Kenneth P. O'Donnell, who was an old college friend and Special Assistant to President Kennedy never believed that it was a conspiracy, let alone one conducted by Lyndon Johnson. "Later it was reported that President Kennedy was tired and irritated that day because Vice-President Lyndon Johnson had forced him, in a long and bitter argument, into making the trip to Texas against his will." Kenneth O'Donnell wrote in his book titled Oh, Johnny We Hardly Knew ye. "Nobody had to force President Kennedy to go to Texas, least of all Lyndon Johnson; he could not have been held back from going there...Actually, Lyndon Johnson was not anxious for the President to go to Texas. He did not want the President to see for himself how little prestige and influence the Vice-President then had in his own state." O'Donnell also stated later in the book, "I also felt that a walkout of Kennedy aides and Cabinet members might give the totally wrong impression that we were blaming Johnson for President Kennedy's death in Texas."
It has been claimed by many, including the Oliver Stone movie JFK that our involvement in Vietnam was the primary reason that government officials, including Vice-President Lyndon Johnson, had Kennedy assassinated. However, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Boston University History Professor and Lyndon Johnson Biographer, Robert Dallek has confirmed on more than one occasion that LBJ not only didn't want a direct involvement in Vietnam, he pushed the subject aside and avoided it through the entire election of 1964 even after the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed by congress in August 7th, 1964. President Johnson was so focused on passing bills through congress and achieving "The Great Society" that he didn't want a war to get in the way. U.S. combat units, consisting of approximately 150,000 soldiers, were not deployed into Vietnam until mid 1965, after the Tonkin Gulf Incident (August 2nd, 1964) and the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was passed by congress (August 7th, 1964), and almost two years after Kennedy was assassinated. Simple history as well as the book We Were Soldiers Once...and Young, written by Lt. General Harold Moore, who led one of the first major United States military combat missions in Vietnam (November, 1965) prove that LBJ had no intention of increasing U.S. involvement in Vietnam until long after Kennedy was assassinated.
The CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) remains one of the top suspects in the eyes of conspiracy "theorists". Due to their bad reputation and history of bending the rules, conspiracy "theorists" come up with countless ways that the CIA "could have done it". However, simply observing how the CIA is run and how it originated helps to prove this claim to be more than highly improbable, but down-right ridiculous. The CIA was created under the National Security Act of 1947, which was signed into law by President Harry S Truman. The CIA has quite the reputation of bending the rules as munch as possible without breaking them, but they are set up to do so under Executive Order by the President of the United States. Every time that the CIA has done such a thing (Bay of Pigs, Watergate, Iran-Contra) they did so under direct order from the President. To claim that the CIA killed President Kennedy would be to claim that Kennedy signed off on his own assassination. This is another area that many conspiracy "theorists" have claimed that Vice-President Johnson must have signed off on it, but any person who knows even slightly how the government is run knows that the Vice-President has absolutely no power outside of Congress, hence the reason the position is identified as the President of Congress.
If more people would simply apply the outcomes of other conspired scandals to the outcome of the Kennedy assassination, they would be forced to doubt that a conspiracy took place. The Watergate scandal, which began with the arrest of five men who broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters on June 17th, 1972 (nine years after the Kennedy assassination) failed to remain a secret. The men were connected to the Committee to re-elect President Nixon in 1972. As a response, Nixon's staff conspired to cover up the break-in, but evidence revealed from President Nixon's tape recordings-revealing that he had attempted to cover up the break-in-as well as evidence uncovered by journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and the information leaked by W. Mark Felt, a.k.a. "Deep Throat", led to the public awareness of the cover up conspiracy, conviction of the burglars, and resignation of President Nixon.
To assume that the government could carry out and cover up the assassination of the POTUS when they couldn't even perform the cover up of a burglary with direct help from the President is simply ludicrous. Nixon's opponents had a field day once word leaked about the Watergate scandal, and the same thing would have happened with Lyndon Johnson's opponents (like Bobby Kennedy and Barry Goldwater) if they actually had reason to believe that he had something to do with the Kennedy assassination. Such information would make a journalist's career, as Watergate did for Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and they wouldn't hesitate to leak it to the public. In fact, many journalists have admitted that they were looking for evidence of a conspiracy, hoping to find some, but discovered that there just wasn't any.
It's quite incredible and rather sad how many people continue to believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was not the assassin of President Kennedy, despite the fact that people such as Jacqueline Kennedy believed it, and so much evidence to this day support it. The rifle that was found on the 6th floor of the book depository, a 6.5 Caliber Carcano, had Oswald's finger prints on it and belonged to him, as confirmed by photographs which were taken by his wife. The window of the book depository that was next to the rifle was a perfect location for a sniper position in order to shoot President Kennedy, and Lee Harvey Oswald worked in that building.
While Lee Harvey Oswald was in the Marine Corps., he was trained to use the M1 Garand rifle. After training, in December of 1956, he obtained a score of 212, which was 2 points above the minimum for qualifications as a sharpshooter. In May 1959, on another range, he scored 191, which was 1 point over the minimum for ranking as a marksman. The movie JFK claimed that he was a lousy shot, but his military records from 7 years before the assassination, which prove far more sufficient than a Hollywood movie, proves quite the opposite.
Left: Photo of Oswald in the backyard of his apartment in Dallas, Texas
Right: Rifle found on the 6th floor of the book depository that was used to assassinate President Kennedy
People today who claim that this photo was fake believe such based on today's technology and overlooking the fact that this photo was taken in 1963. The first televised Presidential debate was aired during the election of 1960. Televisions were still rather new, let alone computers. So to assume that this photo was modified through computers, when microprocessors weren't invented until the 1970s, is simply ludicrous. Even graphically altered photos today are impossible to cover up. A zoomed image would prove if a photo was graphically altered due to the different textures, which was proven to not be the case with this photo by the House Select Committee on Assassinations. It's far more likely that Oswald, upon desperation after being caught, simply lied. Marina Oswald, Lee Harvey's wife, even testified in 1964, 1977, 1978, and 2000 that she took the photographs at Oswald's request.
Left: The 3 cars in the picture mark the 3 locations on Elm Street Kennedy's vehicle was when each shot was fired. The car's third destination proves that the shot wasn't fired from the Grassy Knoll because the bullet would have entered Kennedy's right temple and exited the left half of his head
Various locations have been claimed to be possible sniping points-Grassy Knoll, the over-pass, a man-whole-during the assassination, but simply observing Dealey Plaza, and acknowledging the fact that the fields and side walks were crowded with people proves that the only places possible for a sniper to take position unspotted is in one of the buildings around Dealey Plaza, all of which were located behind President Kennedy the moment he was shot. That is not including the fact that Connolly was sitting in front of Kennedy, a Secret Service Agent was in front of Connolly and the wind shield was in front the Secret Service Agent. These factors prove that the sniper had to be both behind Kennedy and elevated above him, and Dal-Tex building and Texas Schoolbook Depository (County Records building and County Criminal Courts building would have had Kennedy's left hemisphere in range, not his right) were the only two buildings that were located in such a range..
Left: Governor Connolly's seat in the automobile was at a lower elevation and more inward than Kennedy's
Right: Frame 226-230 of the Zapruder Film proves that Kennedy and Connelly were hit within literally one second of one another
District Attorney Jim Garrison in the movie JFK claimed that the "magic bullet" would have to change direction a total of seven times in order to inflict such injuries on both President Kennedy and Governor Connelly. Garrison's claim was rejected immediately in the court room-but not shown in the movie-because he lined the two people up directly front-to-back on equally sized chairs. The courts rejected the claim so quickly because the photos clearly show that Governor Connolly's seat in the automobile was both at a lower elevation and more inward than Kennedy's seat was. These seats were engineered as such so that the POTUS would sit both higher and closer to the crowds of people than whom sat in front of him. When aligned that way, the injuries on both Kennedy and Connelly align perfectly for a single bullet.
Left: Arlen Specter presents the Single Bullet Theory to the House Select Committee on Assassinations
The bullet entered Kennedy's back (going 1,700-1,800 feet per second), exited his throat just below the trachea tumbling. Entry wound in Connally's right shoulder (going 1,500-1,600 fps) was 1 ΕΊ" inches long-the exact length of the bullet-indicates that the bullet was tumbling. The bullet traversed inside Connolly's chest and shattered his right rib, causing the bullet to change the angle of direction. Exit wound was just below the right nipple-nearly 2" in diameter-proves that it was an exit wound. The bullet then entered Connally's right wrist (going 900 fps) and exited the other side of it, fracturing the radius bone. The bullet entered Connally's left thigh (going 400 fps) where it came to a halt. The bullet stopping in his leg proves that it first pierced his torso, confirming that he was shot from behind.
Left: The mass of his injury below the trachea helps prove that it is the exit wound due to the bullet tumbling
Right: The means in which his skull shattered proves that the bullet either entered the front of his head and exited the back, or entered the back of his head and exited the front. Absolutely no injury on the left half of his head indicates that the bullet did not enter the right side of his head and exit the left or vice-versa, proving the shot was not fired from the Grassy Knoll
The claim that President Kennedy's body twitched "back and to the left" as D.A. Jim Garrison continually stated in the movie JFK, holds minor grounds for evidence of where the Sniper was positioned. The bullet that caused his body to jerk "back and to the left" was the final 6.5 Caliber round that went through Kennedy's brain, the source of the Central Nervous System. A simple imbalance of electrical current through the brain's neurons can cause a person to have a seizure, so certainly a bullet piercing through the brain can cause a person to jerk "back and to the left".
The largest irony after this whole outcome is that there are still a few possible, although very improbable, conspiracy possibilities within this whole ordeal, but not one is ever mentioned by conspiracy "theorists". If someone were to simply say "There was a second gunman on the sixth floor of the book depository with Oswald, but he/she took the gun with him/her", the evidence wouldn't be able to 100% prove otherwise. However, conspiracy "theorists" never claim this, but rather they stick to the far-fetched claims that a second gunman was on the Grassy Knoll...Or the road over pass...Or the man-whole...Or the CIA did it. What tends to be the case however is the more that an individual learns about it, the more they realize that it is far more likely for a crazed, lone gunman, who had a history of psychological problems that was reported by his own relatives, finally snapped and shot the President of the United States from a window of the very building he worked at with the rifle that he owned. Eventually all of the conspiracy "theorists" will pass on, and the new generations will have no choice but to analyze the facts and evidence objectively, just as what happened with the Abraham Lincoln assassination.
Citation:
Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. May 10, 2008., Based on the Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1964
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