Who Assassinated

John F. Kennedy?
by Christy McManus
1

Packet Includes:
Lesson Sequence
TN Ready Standards
Marzanos Comprehension Strategies Chart
J.F.K. Assassination Anticipation Guide
List of Texts Used in Activities
Text #1: Mafia Hit Man Confesses to Killing President Kennedy
Text #2: Oswald Visited Soviet Union and Cuba Before Kennedy
Assassination
Text #3: Who Killed Kennedy Part I
Text #4: Who Killed Kennedy Part II
Text #5: Excerpts from November 22, 1963: Death of the President
Text #6: Warren Commission Explained
Text #7: Excerpts from National Archives Supreme Court Ruling
Text #8: 1963 J.F.K. Assassination
Text #9: Americas First Family and Kings of the Underworld
J.F.K. Assassination Suspect Sheet
J.F.K. Assassination Theory Sheet
Socratic Seminar Explained
Dialogue vs. Debate
Socratic Seminar Preparation Sheet
Socratic Seminar Dialogue Sheet
Socratic Seminar Reflection Sheet
Writing Prompt

J.F.K. Lesson Sequence

Day #1
1. Anticipation
Guide: Before
2. Focus
Question: How
do historical
events affect
people?
3. Watch Scopes
introduction
video
4. Read Scopes
The Presidents
Been Shot
(homeroom
listen; switch
read
independently)
5. Close Read
Questions

Day #2

Day #3

Day #4

1) Focus Question:
How do we look
for information
on the internet?
2) Kennedy
Assassination
Video
3) Read texts using
Jigsaw strategy
(Think-PairShare)
4) During
presentation of
texts, complete
JFK
Assassination
Suspect Sheet
5) Once
presentations
are complete,
complete JFK
Theories Sheet
6) Class Discussion
on material

1) Focus Question:
What is the
difference
between
dialogue and
debate?
2) JFK
Assassination
Preparation
Discussion for
Socratic
Seminar
3) Dialogue vs.
Debate sheet
4) Conduct
Socratic
Seminar
(fishbowl style)
5) Complete
Dialogue Sheet
during seminar
6) Once Socratic
Seminar is over,
students
complete
Reflection Sheet

1. Anticipation
Guide: After
2. Extended
Response

TN Ready Standards
Reading

Writing

Focus Standard:
RI.5.9 Integrate evidence from
several texts on the same topic in
order to write or speak about the
subject knowledgeably.

W.5.1 Write opinion pieces on

topics or texts, supporting a
point of view with reasons and
information.

Secondary Standards:
RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a
text when explain what the text
says explicitly and when drawing
inferences from the text.
RI.5.3 Explain the relationships
or interactions between two or
more individuals, events, ideas,
or concepts in a historical,
scientific, or technical text based
on specific information in the
text.
RI.5.6 Analyze multiple accounts
of the same event or topic, notice
important similarities and
differences in the point of view
they represent.
RI.5.8 Explain how an author
uses reason and evidence to
support particular points in a
text, identify which reasons and
evidence support which points.

John F. Kennedy Assassination Anticipation Guide

Before

Statement

U D

After

U D

J.F.K. was assassinated by Lee

Harvey Oswald.
Other people have confessed
to killing the President.
Oswald was connected to the
Soviet Union.
Oswald was connected to
Cuba.
The government conducted a
flawless investigation of the
assassination.
The Warren Commission
concluded Lee Harvey Oswald
acted alone in the
assassination.
The evidence supports that
Oswald did not kill Kennedy.
The Cubans had motive
(reason) to kill J.F.K.
The Russians had motive to
kill J.F.K.
Anti-civil rights activist had
motive to kill the president.
Organized crime had motive
to kill J.F.K.
Over 50 years later, the
mystery of who killed J.F.K.
has finally been solved.
*A - agree; U - undecided; D - disagree

List of Text Used in Activities

Text #1: Mafia Hit Man Confesses to Killing President Kennedy
Text #2: Oswald Visited Soviet Union and Cuba Before Kennedy
Assassination
Text #3: Who Killed Kennedy Part I
Text #4: Who Killed Kennedy Part II
Text #5: Excerpts from November 22, 1963: Death of the President
Text #6: Warren Commission Explained
Text #7: Excerpts from National Archives Supreme Court Ruling
Text #8: 1963 J.F.K. Assassination
Text #9: Americas First Family and Kings of the Underworld

Text #1

Mafia Hit Man Confesses to Killing

President Kennedy
By Jim Meyers | Thursday, 20 Nov 2014 08:14 PM

Mafia hit man James Files says in interviews first aired nationally on Newsmax TV Thursday
night that he worked along with major mob figures and fired the shot that killed Kennedy from
the grassy knoll at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Friday, Nov. 22 marks the 51st anniversary of
President John F. Kennedy's tragic assassination and Newsmax TV marked the occasion by
airing the provocative premiere of the blockbuster documentary "I Killed JFK", featuring neverbefore-seen footage of Kennedy's confessed killer.
The documentary, produced by Hollywoods Barry Katz, presents convincing forensic evidence
supporting Files' contention that he, and not Lee Harvey Oswald, fired the fatal shot at
America's 35th president.
"I squeezed off my round. I hit him and blew his head backward," Files said of the single shot he
fired that fateful day.
"I Killed JFK" Executive Producer Barry Katz said: "Until now, no one has ever confessed to the
murder of JFK, and most people still believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the killer. After the
world sees this special, I am confident that the greatest mystery of our generation will finally be
solved."Files, who changed his name from Jimmy Sutton, was born in Alabama in 1942, and
after a stint in the Army became associated with both the Chicago mob and the CIA.
He worked under mobster Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti, an underling of mob boss Sam Giancana.
Giancana and other mobsters had been angered by the presidents brother, Robert, who as U.S.
attorney general was targeting organized crime in a major prosecution effort.
Retired FBI Special Agent Zack Shelton appears in the documentary and reveals that he
provided inside information to private investigator and Kennedy assassination investigator Joe
West about Files possible connection to the Kennedy killing.
Two decades after the assassination, Files told West he would confess to Kennedy's killing in
return for immunity from prosecution. West was negotiating on Files' behalf when he died in
1993.
Files is currently incarcerated at the Danville Correctional Center in Danville, Ill. He was
convicted of the attempted murder of two police officers during a roadside shootout in 1991 and
sentenced to 50 years in prison.
The documentary chronicles how Files, along with Nicoletti and mobster Johnny Roselli, came
to be in Dallas on the day Kennedy was assassinated.
In his "I Killed JFK" interviews from prison, Files tells why he chose to position himself on the
grassy knoll to await JFK's motorcade while another shooter took a different position.
"I've got the railroad yard in back of me," he said. "We got a parking lot there and I got a place
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where I could stash whatever I would need, and I could pass myself off as a worker in the
railroad yard for the time being until the time comes and nobody would really pay any attention
to me."
Shortly before the assassination, Files said, "I went back to the plaza, got my briefcase out with
the gun in it. I went into the railroad yard, put it away where nobody could see it."
As the Kennedy motorcade entered the plaza and made a turn, the president's car cruised past a
street sign in front of Files.
"That's when I started focusing through the scope. As far as I can see at this point the president
has not been hit in the head. I've seen the body lurch. I know he's been hit. How serious I don't
know.
"But my last instructions were we're going for head shots. If you have to take a shot take it, but
don't fire unless you really have to.
"I was aiming at his right eye. When I pulled the trigger it was almost like looking from six feet
away through the scope.
"As I squeezed his head moved forward. I missed and got it right along the temple, right behind
the eye. I squeezed off my round. I hit him and blew his head backward. I fired one shot and one
shot only.
"I never saw Mr. Nicoletti shoot Kennedy but I know he was the man in the building who was
supposed to be doing the shooting.
"As I was leaving Dealey Plaza nobody tried to stop me. There were two police officers within 20,
25 feet of me. I didn't run. I just carried a natural gait and proceeded to exit, just like a
businessman walking away from lunch."
Files, who received no compensation for the interviews, spoke of a shell casing he ejected from
his gun.
"I took the shell casing. I bit down on it. I looked at it and set it on the stockade fence. There was
an indentation from my teeth on the shell casing."
A man and his son discovered a casing of the same caliber in the area just behind where Files
claimed he was positioned on the grassy knoll in 1987. The casing was buried four inches in the
ground. A dental forensics expert confirmed that an indentation on the casing was made by
human teeth.
Shelton is one of two former FBI agents who believe Files' story is credible.
He said: "I have tried to verify Files' story. A lot of that story I have been able to verify,"
including that a shot was fired from the grassy knoll "exactly where Files said he was standing."
The documentary presents mounds of other evidence that Kennedy's assassination was not the
work of a lone gunman and that Files' account is more credible than the official version put forth
by the Warren Commission.Files himself asserts: "Oswald never fired a shot.
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Text #2

CIA: Oswald Visited Cuba and Soviet

Union Before Kennedy Assassination

Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963 (Lawrence Schiller/Polaris Communications/Getty Images)

By Cathy Burke | Wednesday, 16 Sep 2015 04:59 PM

Soviet Union weeks before the slaying of President John F. Kennedy information the CIA
gave to President Lyndon Johnson three days after the fatal shooting in Dallas, according to
newly declassified data.
The Washington Times reports the travel plans were included in the 19,000 pages of
presidential daily briefings from the 1960s known as the President's Daily Brief and
stamped "For the President's Eyes Only" on some pages being made public. About a fifth
of the content is still redacted to protect sources and methods.
The Times reports in a Nov. 25, 1963, briefing that Oswald, a former Marine who defected to
the Soviet Union in 1959, visited both the Cuban and Soviet embassies on Sept. 28.
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"He was trying, we are told, to arrange for visas so that he could travel to the USSR via
Havana," the briefing reads.
Oswald returned to the United States Oct. 3, according to the briefing.
On Nov. 22, 1963, Oswald shot Kennedy with a sniper rifle as he rode in an open-air
motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Charged with the assassination, Oswald claimed
he was a scapegoat; two days afterward, he was shot and killed by Dallas nightclub owner
Jack Ruby.
The day of the assassination, the spy agency's briefing concluded a Soviet anti-missile
paraded in Moscow appeared only designed for use in the atmosphere. In Japan, meanwhile,
an election didn't change the balance of power. At least one page in the briefing remains
classified.
The newly declassified briefings also included information to Kennedy a day before the
end of the Cuban Missile Crisis that a new warhead launcher was spotted in Cuba.
"These are an incomparable window into how a president thinks," said William Inboden,
who worked under President George W. Bush and now leads the Clements Center for
National Security at the University of Texas at Austin. "When we're reading these, it's a
mirror image of what the president's concerns were."
The release of the briefs was made possible by a 2009 executive order from President Barack
Obama stating all classified material will automatically undergo a declassification review
and release after 25 years. The full collection of briefs from the Kennedy and Johnson era are
posted on the CIA's website.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Text #3

Who Killed Kennedy? Part 1

By CBS NEWS CBS NEWS November 15, 2013, 12:57 PM

Many theories cropped up almost immediately and have endured: the Soviets murdered Kennedy or
the CIA, Cuban exiles, Fidel Castro, the country's military-industrial complex, even President
Lyndon B. Johnson. The Warren Commission found in its 879-page report on the assassination that
Oswald acted alone -- but it is still being criticized from all sides. The House Select Committee on
Assassinations concluded in 1979 that it was likely Kennedy was killed as a result of a conspiracy.
What did happen in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963? Who killed Kennedy? Here are a few of those theories.

Lee Harvey Oswald

The Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald fired three bullets, all from the Texas
School Book Depository. But disagreements persisted over whether Texas Governor John Connally
was wounded by one of the bullets that had already hit Kennedy in the neck. Skeptics pounced on
the single-bullet theory and got a boost from Connally himself who testified before the commission
that he had been hit separately. Tapes released by the National Archives in 1994 show that President
Lyndon B. Johnson thought so too. And if the men were hit at about the same time by different
bullets, there had to have been a second gunman.

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The Kennedys' motorcade drives through downtown Dallas Nov. 22, 1963, moments before the shooting of President John F. Kennedy.
BETTMANN/CORBIS

A SNIPER ON THE GRASSY KNOLL?

Witnesses reported hearing shots from the now famous grassy knoll ahead of the president's
limousine in Dealey Plaza. In a new book, University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato reports that
some Dallas policemen who ran up the knoll encountered people with Secret Service credentials.
Who were they? The policemen let them go, and only later discovered that there were no Secret
Service agents still in Dealey Plaza, said Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the
University of Virginia and author of "The Kennedy Half-Century." Conspiracy theorists, meanwhile,
poured over the amateur film made by Abraham Zapruder, frame by frame, and insisted that it
showed the president being shot from the front.
In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations challenged the Warren Commission's
conclusions and decided that an audio recording -- from a motorcycle policeman whose microphone
was stuck in the "on" position -- caught the sound of four gunshots being fired, one possibly from the
grassy knoll. The finding was discounted three years later by the National Academy of Sciences
which said that the noises were made after the assassination. Sabato had the recording re-examined
and says the sounds are not gunshots at all, but an idling motorcycle and the rattling of a
microphone.

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Text #4

Who Killed Kennedy? Part 2

By CBS NEWS CBS NEWS November 15, 2013, 12:57 PM

THE MAFIA
The mafia is a favorite culprit because the Mob disliked Kennedy's brother, Robert. The aggressive
attorney general had gone after James Hoffa, the president of the International Brotherhood of
Teamsters with his own connections to the Mafia. Plus the crime bosses were angry over Kennedy's
failed attempts to overthrow Fidel Castro, who had closed their casinos in Havana. Some accounts
have crime bosses bringing over hit men from Italy or France for the job; others accuse the CIA of
hiring mobsters to kill the president.
Then there was Jack Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who shot Oswald in the basement of the
Dallas police station two days after the assassination. Ruby was connected to the Chicago mob and
allegedly smuggled guns first to Castro and then to anti-Castro groups. The Associated Press
reported the morning of the shooting that police were looking into the possibility that Oswald had
been killed to prevent him from talking.
Oswald had Mob connections too. In New Orleans before the assassination, he stayed at the home of
an uncle who was a bookmaker with ties to the Mafia.
The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that organized crime as a group did not
assassinate the president, but left open the possibility that individual members might have been
involved. It singled out Carlos Marcello and Santo Trafficante as two men with "the motive, means
and opportunity," though it was unable to establish direct evidence of their complicity.

FIDEL CASTRO

Cuba President Fidel Castro in Havana on May 15, 2006.

The Cuban dictator had no lack of motive to want the American president dead: the failed Bay of
Pigs invasion, the CIA's attempts to kill him -- with Mob help. Only two months before the
assassination, Castro said: "United States leaders should think that if they are aiding terrorist plans
to eliminate Cuban leaders, they themselves will not be safe."
In Philip Shenon's new book, "A Cruel and Shocking Act," Shenon reports that a Warren
Commission staff member, William Coleman, was sent to meet with Castro and was told that the
Cuban regime had nothing to do with the assassination.
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A former BBC journalist and author of "Not in Your Lifetime," Anthony Summers, writes on his blog
that he first heard the story from Coleman in 1994, though Coleman would not describe the
assignment from U.S. Chief Justice Earl Warren, saying it was confidential. Summers later
recounted it and Coleman's denial in a 2006 article in the Times of London. Summers says Coleman
brought back documents, which he said were in the National Archives.

THE SOVIETS
The country was deep in the Cold War and Oswald had myriad connections to the Soviet Union.
After a stint in U.S. Marines, he had defected there in 1959, and had married Marina Prusakova,
whose uncle worked for Soviet domestic intelligence. Later while in Mexico, Oswald tried to get visas
for Cuba and the Soviet Union.

Lee Harvey Oswald and his wife, Marina, are seen aboard a train as they depart Russia in 1962.
WARREN COMMISSION REPORT

Plus Nikita Khrushchev's gamble to place missiles in Cuba had failed. But KGB officer Vacheslav
Nikonov told "Frontline" in 1993 that Oswald seemed suspicious to the KGB because he was not
interested in Marxism.

THE MILITARY-INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY

Various versions have the CIA, the FBI, the Pentagon or the Secret Service turning on Kennedy as a
traitor and plotting his death. James W. Douglass in his 2008 book "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why
He Died and Why It Matters," argues that Kennedy was killed because he had moved away from a
Cold War view of the world and was seeking peace.

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Oliver Stone's movie, "JFK," centers on New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, who conducted
his own investigation of the assassination. Garrison told Playboy magazine in 1967 that Kennedy was
killed not by Oswald but by a guerrilla team of anti-Castro adventurers and the paramilitary right.
The CIA had plotted the assassination together with the military-industrial complex because both
wanted to continue the Cold War and the escalation of the conflict in Vietnam, he said.
The Warren Commission staff members who are still living say that to this day no facts have
emerged undercutting their conclusions: Oswald was the assassin and neither he nor Ruby were part
of a larger conspiracy. But the conspiracy theories are likely to linger.

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Text #5
Excerpts from November 22, 1963: Death of the President
JFK Library

The Assassination
Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around
12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza.
Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The governor was also hit in the
chest.

The car sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital just a few minutes away. But little could be done for the President. A Catholic
priest was summoned to administer the last rites, and at 1:00 p.m. John F. Kennedy was pronounced dead. Though seriously
wounded, Governor Connally would recover.
The president's body was brought to Love Field and placed on Air Force One. Before the plane took off, a grim-faced Lyndon B.
Johnson stood in the tight, crowded compartment and took the oath of office, administered by US District Court Judge Sarah
Hughes. The brief ceremony took place at 2:38 p.m.
Less than an hour earlier, police had arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a recently hired employee at the Texas School Book
Depository. He was being held for the assassination of President Kennedy and the fatal shooting, shortly afterward, of
Patrolman J. D. Tippit on a Dallas street.
On Sunday morning, November 24, Oswald was scheduled to be transferred from police headquarters to the county jail.
Viewers across America watching the live television coverage suddenly saw a man aim a pistol and fire at point blank range.
The assailant was identified as Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner. Oswald died two hours later at Parkland Hospital.

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Text #6

Warren Commission Explained

President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed the President's Commission
on the Assassination of President Kennedy, commonly called the
Warren Commission, by Executive Order (E.O. 11130) on November
29, 1963. Its purpose was to investigate the assassination of
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 22, 1963, at Dallas,
Texas. President Johnson directed the Commission to evaluate
matters relating to the assassination and the subsequent killing of the
alleged assassin, and to report its findings and conclusions to him.

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Text #7
Excerpts from Supreme Court Ruling
National Archives

The committee found that, to be precise and loyal to the facts it

established, it, was compelled to find that President Kennedy
was probably killed as a result of a conspiracy. The committee's
finding that President Kennedy was probably assassinated as a
result of a conspiracy was premised on four factors:
1. Since the Warren Commission's and FBI's investigation into
the possibility of a conspiracy was seriously flawed, their
failure to develop evidence of a conspiracy could not be
given independent weight.
2. The Warren Commission was, in fact, incorrect in
concluding that Oswald and Ruby had no significant
associations, and therefore its finding of no conspiracy was
not reliable.
3. While it cannot be inferred from the significant associations
of Oswald and Ruby that any of the major groups examined
by the committee were involved in the assassination, a
more limited conspiracy could not be ruled out.
4. There was a high probability that a second gunman, in fact,
fired at the President. At the same time, the committee
candidly stated, in expressing it finding of conspiracy in the
Kennedy assassination, that it was "unable to identify the
other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy.

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Text #8

1963 John F. Kennedy assassinated

by History.com

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated while traveling
through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible.
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy rarely accompanied her husband on political outings, but she was
beside him, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through the
streets of downtown Dallas on November 22. Sitting in a Lincoln convertible, the Kennedys and
Connallys waved at the large and enthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle
passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired
three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor
Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas Parkland Hospital. He was 46.
Vice President Lyndon Johnson, who was three cars behind President Kennedy in the motorcade, was
sworn in as the 36th president of the United States at 2:39 p.m. He took the presidential oath of office
aboard Air Force One as it sat on the runway at Dallas Love Field airport. The swearing in was witnessed
by some 30 people, including Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing clothes stained with her
husbands blood. Seven minutes later, the presidential jet took off for Washington.
The next day, November 23, President Johnson issued his first proclamation, declaring November
25 to be a day of national mourning for the slain president. On that Monday, hundreds of thousands of
people lined the streets of Washington to watch a horse-drawn caisson bear Kennedys body from the
Capitol Rotunda to St. Matthews Catholic Cathedral for a requiem Mass. The solemn procession then
continued on to Arlington National Cemetery, where leaders of 99 nations gathered for the state funeral.
Kennedy was buried with full military honors on a slope below Arlington House, where an eternal flame
was lit by his widow to forever mark the grave.
Lee Harvey Oswald, born in New Orleans in 1939, joined the U.S. Marines in 1956. He was
discharged in 1959 and nine days later left for the Soviet Union, where he tried unsuccessfully to become
a citizen. He worked in Minsk and married a Soviet woman and in 1962 was allowed to return to the
United States with his wife and infant daughter. In early 1963, he bought a .38 revolver and rifle with a
telescopic sight by mail order, and on April 10 in Dallas he allegedly shot at and missed former U.S.
Army general Edwin Walker, a figure known for his extreme right-wing views. Later that month, Oswald
went to New Orleans and founded a branch of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, a pro-Castro
organization. In September 1963, he went to Mexico City, where investigators allege that he attempted to
20

secure a visa to travel to Cuba or return to the USSR. In October, he returned to Dallas and took a job at
the Texas School Book Depository Building.
Less than an hour after Kennedy was shot, Oswald killed a policeman who questioned him on the
street near his rooming house in Dallas. Thirty minutes later, Oswald was arrested in a movie theater by
police responding to reports of a suspect. He was formally arraigned on November 23 for the murders of
President Kennedy and Officer J.D. Tippit.
On November 24, Oswald was brought to the basement of the Dallas police headquarters on his
way to a more secure county jail. A crowd of police and press with live television cameras rolling
gathered to witness his departure. As Oswald came into the room, Jack Ruby emerged from the crowd and
fatally wounded him with a single shot from a concealed .38 revolver. Ruby, who was immediately
detained, claimed that rage at Kennedys murder was the motive for his action. Some called him a hero,
but he was nonetheless charged with first-degree murder.
Jack Ruby, originally known as Jacob Rubenstein, operated strip joints and dance halls in Dallas
and had minor connections to organized crime. He features prominently in Kennedy-assassination
theories, and many believe he killed Oswald to keep him from revealing a larger conspiracy. In his trial,
Ruby denied the allegation and pleaded innocent on the grounds that his great grief over Kennedys
murder had caused him to suffer psychomotor epilepsy and shoot Oswald unconsciously. The jury
found Ruby guilty of murder with malice and sentenced him to die.
In October 1966, the Texas Court of Appeals reversed the decision on the grounds of improper
admission of testimony and the fact that Ruby could not have received a fair trial in Dallas at the time. In
January 1967, while awaiting a new trial, to be held in Wichita Falls, Ruby died of lung cancer in a Dallas
hospital.
The official Warren Commission report of 1964 concluded that neither Oswald nor Ruby were
part of a larger conspiracy, either domestic or international, to assassinate President Kennedy. Despite its
seemingly firm conclusions, the report failed to silence conspiracy theories surrounding the event, and in
1978 the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in a preliminary report that Kennedy was
probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy that may have involved multiple shooters and
organized crime. The committees findings, as with those of the Warren Commission, continue to be
widely disputed.

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Text #9

Americas First Family and the Kings of the Underworld

by Krysta Cardinale
One of the most popular topics of discussion for historians and conspiracy theorists
alike is the connection between the Kennedy family and the Mafia. While most of the
information available is based on word-of-mouth information passed down from people
with questionable motives, a general thesis is plausible. It is generally agreed that the
association between the Kennedys and the mob goes back to the years before JFK took
over the White House, back to when his father Joe Kennedy was becoming a very wealthy
man in the bootlegging business. During Prohibition, Kennedy befriended Sam Giancana,
the most powerful man in the Chicago underworld. Together, they made a fortune selling
illegal booze and sparked a lifelong partnership and friendship. Knowing that his past
would never allow him to successfully run for office, Joe Kennedy satisfied his insatiable
quest for power through his sons, insisting that they enter politics. The elder Kennedy used
his significant monetary influence and enlisted his underworld connections to strong-arm
support for his son in the media. Here he provided lucrative incentives to editors and
journalists alike, in law enforcement, and in business. Joe Kennedys Mafia ties pulled
through for him, and his efforts translated into John F. Kennedy being elected president in
November 1960. When broken down, the margin worked out to a single-vote victory in
every poll in America. However, Joe Kennedy made sure there was no connection between
the Mafia and John F. Kennedys presidential win. The Mafia and John F. Kennedy After
JFK became president, he appointed his brother Robert to the post of attorney general.
Bobby Kennedy immediately set out on a relentless pursuit of members of organized
crime, arresting and jailing the very people who allegedly helped get him his job in the
first place. His war on the underworld felt like a betrayal to mobsters like Sam Giancana.
Especially since Giancana was rumored to have helped seal the election for JFK in Illinois,
secure the West Virginia primary that got him the Democratic nomination, and had
allegedly been assured by Joe Kennedy that the mob would be safe with his sons in office.
There was also the theory that the Kennedy brothers knew about and continued to support
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CIA-backed plans to use mobsters to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Thus, they
used and pursued mobsters and their resources at the same time. Jimmy Hoffa, leader of
the Teamsters and a well-known mob cohort, was closely watched by the government.
Hoffa allegedly wanted Robert Kennedy eliminated. It had been rumored that he decided
to get to Bobby by rubbing out his brother first. The Mafia killed Kennedy Jimmy Hoffa,
leader of the Teamsters and a well-known mob cohort, was closely watched by the
government. Hoffa allegedly wanted Robert Kennedy eliminated. This is because Robert
Kennedy had uncovered and indicted Hoffa on several charges. Hoffa had a mistrial in his
first trial for allegedly tampering with the jury. In the second trial, Hoffa was found guilty
and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. It had been rumored that he decided to get to
Bobby by rubbing out his brother first. So in 1963, when John F. Kennedy was
assassinated the stories began. The Kennedy assassination and the Mafia were rumored to
be linked together by orders of Jimmy Hoffa. However, the evidence never proved that the
Mafia killed Kennedy. In another tragic event, on June 6, 1968 Robert Kennedy was shot
dead. Once again, the Kennedy assassination and the Mafia were supposedly connected.
And, once again, despite rumors there was no evidence that proved the Mafia killed
Kennedy number two. Though much of the evidence to this effect is circumstantial, and
many facts arose years after the assassination, one thing is certain: America lost one of
its most popular and beloved presidents on November 22, 1963. Though the events leading
up to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and later, his brother Robert are still unknown,
many people have their own theories, the legacy they left is undeniable.

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John F. Kennedy Assassination Suspects

Suspect

Information

Resource

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John F. Kennedy Assassination Theories

Theory

Resource

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Socratic Seminar Explained

The goal of a Socratic seminar is for students to help one another understand
the ideas, issues, and values reflected in a specific text. Students are
responsible for facilitating a discussion around ideas in the text rather than
asserting opinions. Through a process of listening, making meaning, and
finding common ground students work toward shared understanding rather
than trying to prove a particular argument. A Socratic seminar is not used for
the purpose of debate, persuasion, or personal reflection, as the focus is on
developing shared meaning of a text.
Before beginning the seminar, it is essential that students have time to
prepare ideas. Students should annotate the text before the start of the class
discussion. (If students do not know how to annotate a text, you should
model this for them.) Often teachers assign a discussion leader who
generates a few open-ended questions that can be used to begin the seminar.
Socratic seminars have rules that may not apply to other forms of discussion,
so before beginning the seminar, it is important that everyone is aware of the
norms. Below are typical rules used to structure a Socratic seminar. Of
course, you can adapt these to fit the needs of your students:
1)

Talk to each other, not just to the discussion leader or teacher.

2)

Refer to evidence from the text to support your ideas.

3) Ask questions if you do not understand what someone has said, or you
can paraphrase what another student has said for clarification. (I think you
said this, is that right?)
4) You do not need to raise your hands to speak, but please pay attention
to your airtime how much you have spoken in relation to other students.
5)

Dont interrupt.

6) Dont put down the ideas of another student. Without judging the
student who you may disagree with, state your alternate interpretation or ask
a follow-up question to help probe or clarify an idea.
7) Common statements or questions used during a Socratic seminar
include:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Where does that idea come from in the text?

What does this word or phrase mean?
Can you say that in another way?
Is this what you mean to say
What do you think the author is trying to say?
What else could that mean?
Who was the audience for this text? How does that shape our
interpretation of these words?
8. Who was the author of this text? What do we know about him/her?
How does that shape our understanding of these words?
Before beginning the seminar it is also important to remind students that the
purpose of the seminar is not to debate or prove a point, but to more deeply
understand what the author was trying to express in the text. Also, if you
have never done a Socratic seminar with your students before, you might
spend a few moments brainstorming the qualities that would make for a
great seminar. These qualities or criteria can be placed on rubric and used to
evaluate the seminar at the end of the class period. Criteria you might use to
evaluate a Socratic seminar include: engagement (everyone listening and
sharing), respect (no interruptions or put-downs), meaning-making
(students understand the text more deeply at the end of the seminar), and
use of evidence (comments always refer back to the text).
A Socratic seminar often begins with the discussion leader, a student or the
teacher, asking an open-ended question. A typical Socratic seminar opening
prompt is: What do you think this text means? Silence is fine. It may take a
few minutes for students to warm-up. Sometimes teachers organize a
Socratic seminar like a fishbowl, with some students participating in the
discussion and the rest of the class having specific jobs as observers. Socratic
seminars should be given at least fifteen minutes and can often last thirty
minutes or more. As students become more familiar with Socratic seminars,
they are able to discuss a text for longer periods of time without any teacherintervention.
To start, choose ten students to be the inner circle. They will need to bring
discussion questions and their text(s) in order to participate in the inner
circle. In order for students on the outside to enter the discussion they must
tap out a student in the circle. This teaches students not just manners but
also how to listen closely to conversation.
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After the Socratic seminar, give students the opportunity to evaluate the
seminar in general and their own performance specifically. This can be an inclass or a homework assignment. You can create evaluation forms to help
with this step. Students can also reflect on their comfort level during the
seminar and high points of engagement and disengagement. Reflecting on
the seminar process helps students improve their ability to participate in
future discussions. Here are some questions you might discuss or write about
when reflecting on the seminar:
1. At any point did the seminar revert into a debate/discussion rather
than dialogue? If so, how did the group handle this?
2. What evidence did you see of people actively listening and building on
others' ideas?
3. How has your understanding of this text been affected by the ideas
explored in this seminar?
4. What would you like to do differently as a participant the next time you
are in a seminar?

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Socratic Seminar Preparation Sheet

Before the Socratic Seminar, I have:
Developed 3 open ended discussion questions.
Flagged evidence in my text(s) I want to discuss.

An open ended question is a question that can be discussed. My 3

discussion questions are:

1.
2.
3.
Evidence I want to discuss during the seminar are:

1.
2.
3.
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Socratic Seminar Dialogue Sheet

During the discussion, you need to pay close attention to what
your classmates are saying. Fill out the chart below as you observe the
Socratic Seminar.
Student

Refer to text(s)

Code
Response

Point Made

Y/N

Y/N

Y/N

Y/N

Y/N

Y/N

Coding Observation:
T: Used text evidence to support claim
C: Makes connection of idea and text

A: Analyzed evidence logically

B: Build off others idea
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Socratic Seminar Evaluation

Did you... (check all that apply)
Prepare for the Socratic Seminar?
o Provide evidence:

Participate in the inner circle discussion?

o Provide evidence:

Participate in the outer circle observation?

o Provide evidence:

Gather information for your opinion extended response?

o Provide evidence:

How did the Socratic Seminar help you understand the issue
or text more deeply?

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J.F.K. Assassination Extended Response

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for assassinating President John F. Kennedy. Using
the evidence youve gathered throughout our activities this week, do you believe he
did it? Or do you believe someone else did? Provide evidence from the texts to
support your claims. In your opinion piece, state your opinion, provide logically
ordered reason, and support your reasons with details and facts from the source texts.

Writers Checklist
Keep the central idea of topic in mind?
Keep your audience in mind?
Support your ideas with details, explanations, and examples?
State you ideas in a clear sequence?
Include an opening and a closing?
Use a variety of words and vary your sentence structure?
State you opinion or conclusion clearly?
Capitalize, spell, and use proper punctuation correctly?
When you write your essay, write it neatly and clearly.

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