Introduction
Assassination of John F Kennedy is termed as the most contentious issue in the Modern American History. While some Americans believe it was a conspiracy, others attribute it to the Twenty four year old Lee Harvey Oswald. In that connection, if the conspiracy aspect should be suspected, was Oswald involved (‘America in the 20th Century’ p. 910). The continuing discussions and probes in the matter suggest that the fact to prove the assassination’s real motive is yet to be established. This paper discusses on the possibility that the president’s death was a conspiracy and the facts that suggest it could have been the case. It also seeks to establish the reasons as to why Lee Harvey was a suspect in this murder, and compares these two views associated with the murder of the American president. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the assassination of JFK was a conspiracy.
Assassination of John F Kennedy – Friday, November 1963
The American President, John F Kennedy assassination was a shock to the Americans and the speed at which he was replaced was even more surprising (Gladwin, para 5). The murder happened on a Friday, 11/1963 at 12:30 PM CST, when JFK was in a motorcade. He was passing via the Dealey Plaza Dallas. He was, thereafter, rushed to the parkland hospital where any attempts to save his life were futile. After he was dead, his body was removed from the hospital (Donald 17). After his death, President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in on the plane immediately, this seems like it was a pre arranged plan to have the president killed and a replacement was done. The manner in which the next president was sworn in creates a lot of suspicions (Wicker p. 1).
The President’s, assassination occurred when the atmosphere was unusually tense with the cold war. It was during the time, when the Civil Rights Movement had gathered up some momentum, but later sparred with resistance especially in the southern part. It was the same time 1960s, when Robert, the president’s brother, who by then was the attorney General declared an exceptional fight on pre-arranged crime (Bowles 54). These events suggest that there were suspicions on the probability of crime which hints that the knowledge of a possible attack was there. Given the status of the country’s security with almost everyone having a drive to take away life, some group of individuals took advantage of the situation in the country to plan and effect this assassination. The society was in complete disaster before, during and after the assassination of Kennedy this is evidenced by the documentaries, declassifications and individual accounts supplementing to the image of the presidency from within and without the country. It indicates that this could have been properly planned to be camouflaged in the series of events and make investigations even harder. However, the issue of concern here is the motive of the parties behind the assassination of the American President because according to the Americans, the president was a good person whom they liked and would have lasted as a president for longer (Douthat, Para 5).
Burkley (a private medical personnel for Kennedy) whom warren commission has never interrogated, asked his legal representative to get in touch with the committee with accurate information that, Kennedy’s murder was not carried out by Oswald singlehandedly, but there were other individuals who took part in the crime. After a short while, Sprague was expelled from his job and was replaced by Burkley (Thomas pp. 12). This was also another controversial twist of events that hint that Harvey may have murdered the president it can be assumed that the president confided in Burkley and, therefore, the parties involved in the investigation had deliberately avoided interrogating the doctor, and this is suspicious because Burkley should have been among those to be interrogated (WA Report, p. 32).
Lee Harvey Oswald’s involvement
Lee Harvey’s act of slaying a policeman on approaching him in the street raises a lot of suspicion, investigations would have been conducted normally without suspicions on him had he not resisted police. However, further suspicions from his inquisitive pro-Castro Involvement during the summer time in New Orleans also point towards him, and this could also support the fact that he had a hand towards the assassination and that the police were right in suspecting him. Later on, Lee Harvey Oswald was put behind bars and alleged to have killed a police officer, by the name of J.D Tippit. Lee protested against the charges, and to make it worse he was brought before the world and accused of murdering the American President, John F Kennedy. Lee shortcomings and Marxists sympathies were swiftly covered in the media. As investigations continued, Lee was also cross-examined, but nothing was recorded (Donald, 1). It is evident that there were loopholes in this investigation considering that no records were available after his cross examination. However, the fact that he had several allegations to his name is a concern that raises questions as to why they were all directed towards him.
Lee Harvey Oswald was later killed on Sunday 24th. After this murder, Federal authorities together with other renowned high muscled people in the government, for instance, the then FBI director, J. Edgar closed the case (Donald 1).This death and the events that followed up sums all the suspicions into an almost believable fashion that he did murder the president. Conversely, the killing of a key suspect in a crime suggests that the suspect held some information which would probably show that he did not commit the crime but had some information that would lead the police in establishing the real offender. Alternatively, it could be argued that the suspect had been instructed to commit the murder by another party who resulted in murdering him to kill evidence. This can be supported by the haste in which key government officials and federal authorities put towards closing the case.
Conclusion
As discussed herein, there is a high possibility that the assassination of JFK was a conspiracy. The issue on the assassination of John F Kennedy remains a contradicting matter in the history of America. For some and from the reports delivered to the President Johnson, Oswald was alleged to have killed the president and the report was remarkably clear to claim that he did it alone and unaided. This was to clear out the public uncertainty that the death of Kennedy was organized. Some allegations claimed that Oswald was an FBI informant and CIA agent. Commissions involving the investigation on the death of Kennedy were highly secretive, and any participating party was required to adhere to that policy. Sprague refused to sign the secrecy oaths merely meant to cover up the evils conducted by Oswald in Mexico saga. From this analysis, it can be concluded that most of the evidence was also buried through Harvey’s killing and poor investigations going to the extent of closing the case.
Works Cited
America in the 20th Century. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2003. Print.
Bowles, James. The Kennedy Assassination Tapes, a Rebuttal to the Acoustical Evidence Theory, USA: Facts on File, inc., 1979. Print.
Donald, Wilkes. “Did the Mob kill JKF?” The Athens Observer, 1994. Web.
Douthat, Ross. “The Enduring Cult of Kennedy” The New York Times, 2011, Web.
Gladwin, Hill. Kennedy is Dead, Victim of Assassin; Suspect, Arab immigrant, Arraigned; Johnson Appoints Panel on Violence Surgery in Vain President Calls Death Tragedy, Proclaims a Day of Mourning. The New York.Times, 1968. Web.
Thomas, Donald. “Echo Correlation Analysis and the Acoustic Evidence in the Kennedy Assassination Revisited.” Science & Justice.1, 2001. P. 21-32. Web.
Thomas, Donald. “Hear No Evil. The Acoustical Evidence in the Kennedy Assassination.” Mary Ferrell Foundation Press. 1, 2001. P. 12-14. Web.
WA Report. HSCA Proceedings, 1, 2001, p. 32-59. Web.
Wicker, Tom. “Kennedy Is killed By Snipper as he Rides in Car in Dallas; Johnson Sworn on Plane,” The New York times, 1963. Web.