The JFK Conspiracy Essays (1842 words) - , Term Papers

The JFK Conspiracy On November 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy arrived in Dallas to a crowd of excited people lining the streets hoping to get a glimpse of the President. As his motorcade proceeded down Elm Street, Governor Connally's wife said, "You can't say that Dallas isn't friendly to you today Mr. President." Upon that, John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth President of the United States was assassinated. The United States mourned the death of its young and inspiring President. It has been thirty-seven years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy and many people are still uncertain as to who is actually responsible for his assassination. Through the years there have been numerous theories that the CIA and the FBI were somehow linked to the assassination. Though many would doubt that the president's own government would conspire to murder him; there are several possible reasons for their potential participation in an assassination plot. The Bay of Pigs was the spark that ignited the devastating fire. 1500 CIA trained anti-Castro expatriates were sent to seize Cuba. At the critical last moment President Kennedy cancelled the air strikes which were supposed to disable Castro's air force. As a result more than 100 of the CIA's men were killed; the remaining agents surrendered. (Morrissey) Kennedy took full public responsibility for the Bay of Pigs disaster though secretly he blamed the CIA. Kennedy fired three of the CIA's top men whom were responsible for the operation: Director Allen Dulles, who was later a member of the Warren Commission (Lifton 176), General Cabell, and Richard Bissel. (Morrissey) After the CIA lost time, effort, and people in the attempt to secure Cuba, the CIA became hostile and wanted to get rid of Kennedy to prevent him from losing more ground, especially in Vietnam.Adding to the fire were Kennedy's secret commitments to pulling out of Vietnam and his threat to?Smash the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter them in the wind? (Belzer 79) There were three known attempts on taking JFK's life in the fall of 1963. In late October, Thomas Arthur Vallee was arrested by the secret service in Chicago days before a scheduled visit by Kennedy. Vallee was discovered to have an M-1 rifle, a handgun, and three thousand rounds of ammunition. Days later, the Secret Service received another threat: Kennedy would be ambushed in Chicago by a Cuban hit squad. The Chicago trip was cancelled without explanation. On November 18, four days before the assassination in Dallas, Joseph Milteer outlined the details for the upcoming Texas attempt to a police informant. None of these threats were forwarded to authorities in Dallas. (Belzer 10) The amounts of activity and suspicious incidents in Dallas on November 22, 1963 are astounding. The evidence in the third and final attempt on President Kennedy's life in Dealey Plaza provides a reason to believe that U.S. government agencies had a role in JFK's death. It all begins on Main Street on which the motorcade was supposed to stay (Garrison 117). The Dallas Morning News featured a detailed map of the planned motorcade route. The motorcade was supposed to take a relatively strait course through Dealey Plaza without passing by the Book Depository. Suddenly, unexpectedly the motorcade veered from the approved route. This exposed JFK to snipers positioned at the Book Depository, ?Grassy Knoll?and the Dal-Tex building. This also caused drivers to slow down to an estimated 10 miles per hour. The Secret Service have had to approve the unexplained changes. (Garrison 117-119) There were many photographers and people videotaping in the Dealey Plaza who captured the devastating moments in which President Kennedy was murdered. Mary Muchmore shot a movie of the final frontal shot into Kennedy's head (Belzer 17). Orville Nix shot a video that features flashes from the grassy knoll and an image of what people believe to be a gunman (Belzer 17). Robert Hughes captured movement from the sixth floor corner window of the Book Depository and the window next to it (Belzer 17). Abraham Zapruder shot perhaps the most famous film of all. His film stemmed evidence that for instance, there was a question ?based on the timing of the firing sequence taken from his film- as to whether a lone gunman could