Who Assassinated JFK?

By: Matthew McMillan

There are many conspiracy theories over the assassination President John F. Kennedy even after

the government released its official conclusion over what they say happened. He was

assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald, or was he? In this

paper I will go into detail over the theory that I believe is most likely true and show that it has a

lot of support to go with it, I’ll go over evidence provided by many of articles and videos, show

why other conspiracy theories are faulty, then test the theory with the criteria of adequacy. In

my own opinion I think there were more than just one shooter and that Lee Harvey Oswalt was

not the killer, but a secret service agent was.

I would like to first talk about the theory of how a Secret Service agent was the shooter and see

how consistent it is. The government did their own investigation to figure what exactly happened

that day of the assassination, but many people still didn’t believe that was the case. In their final

statement they said there was one shooter and that was Lee Harvey Oswald. He was said to have

shot three times in the matter of six seconds (Warren Report). He shot from the sixth story of a

library with a bolt action rifle. The first shot was said to have hit JFk in the neck, second bullet

was the fatal shot to the head, then the third was a missed shot (Warren Report). The theory that I

believe has the most consistency says all of this true except for the fact that JFk was hit with two

different bullets and wasn’t actually hit with the first bullet, but actually the second round

(Mortal Error,1992). In the movie, JFK: The Smoking Gun, the investigators look over the report

from the government and look over the findings from Howard Donahue, a marksmen and

ballistics expert (Movie,2013). Donahue’s findings showed that the Warren report was

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Source: The movie JFK: The Smoking Gun
Movie suggested by classmate Tarik Sarica
inconsistent with his knowledge of ballistics. After he read witnesses reports he heard a lady talk

about how she heard something and then she saw a bullet hit the pavement, then heard the

second shot go off (Movie, 2013). This shows how the Warren report was inconsistent in one

way. Donahue also discovers how the bullet wound to the head couldn’t have come from the

sixth floor, but from a second shooter which is the theory I believe is true (Mortal Error, 1992).

To further my research on this topic I had to dig up evidence on this topic and differ from good

and bad information. The most helpful information that I could find on my theory was from the

movie, JFK: The Smoking Gun. This movie went into depth on investigations from Howard

Donahue and also new research by Colin McLaren, who is an undercover investigator from

Australia who is highly decorated. All of the evidence and facts from this movie come from

experts and also come from the Warren report which is the official government investigation.

Needless to say, this information is very reliable and is consistent with other studies. Howard

Donahue, from the book Mortal Error, was obsessed with the assassination of JFK and

researched the crime scene for 25 years and gathered information to find out what really

happened that day of the assassination. Donahue’s findings influenced McLaren to do his own

investigation. Donahue first started his research with going over witness reports from the Warren

report, which was over 800 pages long, and that’s where he found something that would spark

major controversy. The driver of the car told the committee that JFK said he was hit before he

got hit the neck. In the report though, they said JFk was hit the neck by the first bullet which was

not the case. How could this be though? One of the witnesses recalls seeing a bullet hit the

pavement before the second bullet hits JFK in the neck. This explains how JFK got hit before the

second shot. The bullet hit the road and the debris from the bullet hit JFK in the right side of his

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Source: The movie JFK: The Smoking Gun
Movie suggested by classmate Tarik Sarica
body (Movie, 2013). Then the second hit JFK in the neck which shattered his windpipe, and this

is where more conspiracy theories start to appear. How would John B. Connally, passenger seat

in front of JFK, get hit in the back then the left leg when he was to the “right” of him? Donahue

drew out the car seating in which they were sitting and the trajectory of the bullet in which it was

shot at a downward angle (Mortal Error, 1992). At first it appears that the Magic Bullet theory is

true until Donahue here’s Connally’s testimony about what he said happened that day. Connally

says that he wasn’t hit by the first bullet but by the second one. He said that he heard something

so turned to his right to see what was going on and then that’s when he and JFK were hit (Movie,

2013). This would prove that the Warren report got that right, but it was indeed the second shot

that hit JFk and Connally. Another controversial part of the investigation was the fatal shot that

killed JFk. The Warren report said that Oswald shot Kennedy in the head, but when Donahue

dug deeper into his expertise of ballistics he found something that would change everything

(Movie, 2013). The shot that Oswald would have had on Kennedy would have made an entry

wound of at least 6.5mm or bigger (Mortal Error, 1992). When Donahue looked more into this

he found that the bullet actually made a hole less than 6mm (Mortal Error, 1992). He also

noticed that the wounds differed from both shots. Why would someone use two different bullets?

The fact of the matter is no one would do this, and Oswald didn’t shoot JFK with his shot,

someone else did (Movie, 2013). The first bullet went straight through Kennedy then went into

Connally making small exit wounds unlike the second round which when made impact, exploded

into multiple pieces causing a bigger exit wound that was fatal. This proves my theory of there

being a second shooter due to the fact that there were two different rounds used that differed in

size and bullet type (Movie, 2013).

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Source: The movie JFK: The Smoking Gun
Movie suggested by classmate Tarik Sarica
 Now it’s time to show why the other theories are not consistent with the given facts and don’t

fall in line with my theory. One of the many conspiracies is that there was a shooter on the grassy

knoll (JFK Theory, 2019). This theory is easily debunked due the fact that the knoll was to the

left of Kennedy and the entry wound to the head came from behind him (History, 2018). Another

conspiracy was that there was a corrupt CIA agent by the of J.D. Tippit. He was said to be seen

on the grassy knoll but as I’ve previously shown, that shot would have been impossible to make

clearly debunking that theory (Movie, 2013).

As my paper comes to an end I would like to go over how my theory goes along with the

criteria of adequacy. My theory of there being two shooters during the JFK assassination is a

very simple concept to understand and that’s because of the evidence provided by my sources.

There were two different types of bullets that hit Kennedy and they both hit from different

trajectories. Making an assumption that there were two shooters would not be a reach but would

be the most logical option. This theory is also testable because you test the ballistics and look at

the autopsy to see if in fact there were two bullets that went into Kennedy. The autopsy showed

the entry wound from Oswald’s rifle was from a 6.5mm bullet, the second bullets entry would

was less then 6mm in diameter meaning that it wasn’t the bullet. They concluded it was from a .

223 caliber bullet. In order for my theory to follow all the criteria of adequacy it has to have

conservatism (Martin, 2011). The theory I presented to you before has its own evidence due to

research by outsiders, but this wouldn’t have been possible without the evidence giving to them

by the governments work, the Warren report. It provided a starting point for them to go off of

and it’s what the public believed was true. This theory gives a lot of room to further research and

for more findings since there is so much information and evidence to go through, such as

ballistics, witness reports, physics, probability, and using known facts.

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Source: The movie JFK: The Smoking Gun
Movie suggested by classmate Tarik Sarica
 In conclusion, I went over the conspiracy theory of the assassination of President John F.

Kennedy and gave a good amount of evidence to back it up. I laid out my essay in a TEST

format starting with my theory, evidence, scrutinizing other theories, and testing the theories

ability to follow the criteria of adequacy. I feel that I presented a quality amount of evidence to

at least bring my readers attention to the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald did not assassinate

President Kennedy and that this case is still unsolved.

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Source: The movie JFK: The Smoking Gun
Movie suggested by classmate Tarik Sarica
Bibliography

“Warren Commission Report: Table of Contents.” National Archives and Records

Administration, National Archives and Records Administration,
www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warren-commission-report.

Surge0n, Dave. “JFK The Smoking Gun (2013).” YouTube, YouTube, 5 Feb. 2019,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIcsxAfstVE.

“Mortal Error.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Mar. 2019,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Error

Blakemore, Erin. “What Physics Reveals About the JFK Assassination.” History.com, A&E
Television Networks, 26 Apr. 2018, www.history.com/news/jfk-assassination-grassy-
knoll-theory-debunked.

“John F. Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy Theories.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25

June 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination_conspiracy_theories.

“Criteria of Adequacy - Philosophy 101 with Martin at University of Wisconsin - Green Bay.”
STUDYBLUE, 2 July 2011, www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/criteria-of-
adequacy/deck/160941.

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Source: The movie JFK: The Smoking Gun
Movie suggested by classmate Tarik Sarica