Running Head: Assassination of a Nation 1

Assassination of a Nation

Melinda Roberts & Veronica Echeverria

Professor Lee

HISTORY 1700
Running Head: Assassination of a Nation 2

Assassination of a Nation

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen. is one of the most well-known

phrases by our thirty-fifth president, John F. Kennedy. Ironically this phrase seems to have a lot

in common with his own demise. Who murdered the president of the United States? Was it a

stand-alone act by Lee Harvey Oswald or was it something much more? Due to the

overwhelming evidence, its a simple fact that John F. Kennedy was murdered by someone

much bigger than a man with a craving for fame.

John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 at 12:30 pm, in Dallas, Texas

at the Wallas Dealey Plaza. John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald. Lee Harvey

Oswald, had a history in the book Case closed by Gerald Posner it explained the childhood that

Lee Harvey Oswald had. He didnt have the greatest history of a personality. In the book Case

closed Lee explained to the psychiatrist, I dont want a friend and I dont like to talk to people.

(Posner, 1993) As we come to find out more about the investigation we come to realize that this

was the beginning of it all. Police stated that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone, while other

authors have come upon other reports from the FBI. The book Four days in November supported

that he would have acted alone. Presidents John F Kennedys investigation had lasted for over

ten months from November of 1963 to September of 1964. We will learn why it took so long and

what theories might prove that there were more government officials that were involved than

what people might know.

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The official investigation was investigated by the Dallas Police Department who arrested

Lee Harvey Oswald in a nearby movie theater just over an hour after the President was

assassinated. In Four Days in November, it states that after the arrest the interrogation had lasted

for 12 hours (this is including breaks in between). The interview went from 2:30 pm on

November 22 until 11 am on November 24 (Bugliosi, 2008). Captain Fritz from the Dallas police

department interrogated Oswald, though the strange thing is that in this interrogation there were

no recordings, in the final report there were only notes. During the interrogation of Oswald, the

Paraffin test, a test for what came back negative. In Conspiracy in Camelot- The Complete

History of the Assassination of JFK it states ...the most important individuals alleged to have

been associated with hiding or distorting information regarding the assassination over the last 38

years from James Host( the FBI agent who tore up Oswalds Letter) (Kroth, 2013). When we

start learning and understanding all the cover- up we will be able to get to the source of the

conspiracy.

Lee Harvey Oswald was, a former United States Marine who defected to the Soviet

Union. He was said to be fame hungry, wanting attention for the murder of a president and shot

the president from his own place of employment (Millard, 2012). How could a single man fire

three single rifle bullets within a matter of seconds from a six story building and impeccably hit

one man? The Warren Commission had the answer, the Single Bullet Theory. The Warren

Commission easily put a very questionable concern to rest by simply stating that one bullet hit

two men. There were no definite results that Oswald had assassinated the President. There were

many factors that were left out that were in favor of Oswald. In Conspiracy in Camelot proves

that Oswald couldnt have been the one that shot the President. For example: The rifle was oily,

but no oil was found on the brown paper bag allegedly used to carry the rifle into the depository.
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Oswalds print was found on the bag, but the absence of any oil from the weapon was unusual.

Oswalds palm print was found on the rifle barrel, not initially but after the FBI worked on it in

Washington. The location of the print was such that it could only have been made while the rifle

was disassembled. (Jerome A. Kroth, 2003).

Which brings us to the Federal Bureau of Investigation-they did not submit their report

until almost a whole month after the President's assassination with big evidence contained within

them stating that three bullets were fired. This isnt the first time the FBI was slow in revealing

evidence for assassinations (Morely, 2016). In the Four days of November the author states that

the FBI was already aware that Lee Harvey Oswald was in Dallas, Texas but Dallas State law

enforcement officials had no idea that he was even in town. In most scenarios, the FBI would

inform the state of such instances (Bugliosi, 2008).

The Warren Commission was established on November 29, 1963. During their time 888

reports were submitted to President Johnson. Warren Commission agreed that Lee Harvey

Oswald had acted alone as well as Jack Ruby acting alone in the heinous act of murdering Lee

Harvey Oswald. Many Americans started to question whether or not the information being

portrayed by the media was accurate. In Vincent Bugliosis Reclaiming History: The

Assassination of President John F Kennedy he reports that an unpublished portion of record have

been sealed for 75 years which contained more evidence of a conspiracy shooting (Bugliosi,

2007). Through the Freedom of Information Act 1969, those sealed records have now been

released to the public and will then provide proof for all conspiracy theories (Ferrel, 2014).

Im just a patsy were words screamed by Lee Harvey Oswald at the time of his arrest in

which planted the seed of doubt in public opinion which supported the conspiracy theory. A poll

conducted in 1963 showed that 81% of Americans believed that Lee Harvey Oswald wasnt the
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only man involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy (Newman, 1995). Why would a man

who sacrificed his life as a Marine do this out of anger? The answer was simple; it was a set up.

It has been said that Kennedy received a large sum of money from the Mafia to help

leverage his way into the presidency of the United States. Once elected president, John F.

Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy both tried to attack organized crime in attempt to unearth the

Mafia to America and to limit the Mafias powers. They kicked the Mafia out of Cuba, where

they invested all of their money into casinos, drugs and prostitution. Feeling betrayed, they

needed a way to not only to secure their own finances but to make sure that Kennedy does not

interfere with their future endeavors (Opydo, 2013).

Carlos Marcello, Santos Trafficante and Jimmy Hoffa all organized a scheme in which

they would murder John F. Kennedy, planning it so perfectly that the blame falls all into one's

patsy hands. They simply needed more than one shooter to be unnoticed and a main man to

take the blame. Unfortunate for Lee Harvey Oswald, he took the blame. It is rumored that there

were five bullets and three shooters total, one of which the lethal shot came from grassy knoll.

Thomas Killam, a man who worked for Jack Ruby, confessed that there was a link

between his former employer, Lee Harvey Oswald and the Mafia. He told his brother, I am a

dead man, but I have run as far as I am running. Killam was later found dead in an alleyway

with his throat slit in March of 1964.

The autopsy photos are one of the biggest pieces of evidence. The photos released

showed no damage to the head whatsoever, just the bullet hole exit from his neck. This

contradicts all videos showing his head thrashing back and the recovery of part of his skull. Later

on, there were photos released suggesting that John F Kennedy with evidence that he was,
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indeed, shot in the head (Freeman, Magic Bullet Theory). Coroners notes were released,

signifying that he was shot in the head.

It has been over fifty-one years since a beloved president was assassinated. Americans are

still in awe to this day about our biggest tragedies of the nation. Generation upon generations

will be told that our president was murdered by a man who was just blood-thirsty. We as

Americans have the power to rewrite history books but the real question is: who will allow it?

Unearth the fifty-year rumor that a single man killed the president and an innocent police officer.

This man died in the hands of Cubans and possibly our own government.
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Bibliography

Bugliosi, V. (2008). Four days in November. Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.

Ferrel, M. (2014). Mary Ferrel Foundation preserving the legacy. Retrieved from Mary Ferrel:

https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Freeing_the_JFK_Files.html

Freeman, David(2013 Nov. 13). "JFK 'Magic Bullet Theory' In Spotlight On Anniversary Of President

Kennedy's Assassination." The Huffington Post. Retrieved April, 07. 2017 fromTheHuffingtonPost.com,

21 Nov. 2013. Web. 07 Apr.

2017.

Jerome A. Kroth, J. K. (2003). Conspiracy in Camelot: The Complete History of the Assassination of

John Fitzgerald Kennedy. In J. K. Jerome A. Kroth, Conspiracy in Camelot: The Complete

History of the Assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Algora Publishing.

Kroth, J. (20013). Conspiracy in Camelot- The complete history of the assassination of John Fitzgerald

Kenney. New York: Algora Publishing.

Millard, C. (2012, June 06). Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a

President. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Newman, John M. Oswald and the CIA: The Documented truth about the unknown relationship

between the U.S. Government and the Alleged Killer of JFK. New York: Skyhorse Pub, 2008.

Print.
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Posner, G. (n.d.). Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of JFK. In G. Posner, Case

Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and The Assassination of JFK (pp. 23-23).

Morely, Jeff. 7 JFK Files the CIA Still Keeps Secret. JFKfacts, N.P., 16 Aug. 2016. Web.

Opydo, Kasia. The Cuban Plot in JFK Murder. Le Journal International Archives. N.P., 25

July 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2017

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Reflection

How has it influenced your major? They way that this course has prepared me for my

major is by helping me prepare how to write properly with using historical dates. This

class has taught me how to find primary sources and how to inquire them into my work.

Overall this course taught the student how to cite properly so that in the future when we

all decided to work on our PHD and require to write a thesis we are able to write with

confidence.

Make connections with previous classes and your subject of your major? I had to bring

my 2010 writing skills into this class. We had to write a thesis for our final paper. We had

to know how to construct the perfect paper. We had to do the sandwich method, that is

where we had a thesis, two primary sources, our conclusion. By taking that class it had

helped how to properly construct a body of a final paper.

How has it influenced your views and feelings about society? How did the event impact

society at the time and even now? This course has changed my views on how things

really happened. As by taking this course had opened my eyes to research more and

not just take what the media gives you. My project was about the assassination of JFK it

impacted society because it broke a lot of ties especially to the countries that we think

might have hired someone to assassinate the President. This impacted our society

today because now the have higher security to protect our president now a days.