It is a sad commentary to think that just prior to Thanksgiving Day in 1963 President John F. Kennedy was murdered while on tour on the streets of Dallas. The months of November and December are not necessarily happy occasions for the United States in recent history and the fate of JFK in Dallas on that November day is indeed another sad reminder. America was not only never the same again, but surely our nation lost its innocence.
Epitaph
John F. Kennedy was perhaps one of the most beloved presidents in US history despite his indiscretions and escapades that would probably have cost him the upcoming election in 1964 had the US media been unable to conceal testimonials to his conduct. Yet, JFK was everything a native son should be. An accomplished football player at his alma mater, a PT Boat Captain in World War II who helped rescue his crew after a Japanese destroyer had rammed and cut his boat in half, and a young, dashing, political figure whose charisma captivated the American people.
Forever etched in the public’s mind
The death of an American President with the achievements of JFK weighs heavily on the conscience of a nation, however, and redefines just who we think we are as a society in the wake of that terrible moment in US history. Forever will that foreboding shadow fall upon those who ascribed to the American dream of freedom and righteousness tarnished forever by the horrid images captured on the Abraham Zapruder film taken as he and his family gazed upon the motorcade as it passed by with the President and his wife waving to the crowds of Texans who had turned out in unexpected numbers that day.
Darker suspicions
Along with that terrible legacy will forever be the question of who really murdered JFK with a majority of Americans today convinced that not only was there more than one shooter, but quite possibly a rogue element within the US government itself had plotted to take the President’s life. Those allegations do not come with vague and hard to prove evidence but a mountain of possibilities that would at least equal the useless volumes produced by the Warren Commission that have been rebuked by most investigators. That not even the president of the United States of America can be safe from such ruthless elements of a conspiracy shook most citizens to the core!
Serious questions begin
From the very first minutes following the shocking sounds of rifle fire that marked the end of JFK’s life a rapid fire chain of events leading to doubt and conspiracy theories followed. Attorney Jim Garrison of New Orleans was one of the first authoritative sources to come out against the results of the Warren Commission, as he reviewed the controversial evidence. Accounts given by the surgeons of the Parkland Hospital Trauma on hand as the dying president was rushed in to the ER were only one aspect.
Official version in doubt
The very moment shots rang out as the motorcade glided down the downtown Dallas thoroughfare witnesses thought the shots had come from the grassy Knowles as opposed to the Texas Book Depository. Discrepancies between whether 3 or 4 shots had been fired ensued. Dallas police officers and civilians quickly ran to the direction they felt where the deadly bullets had been fired from. Witnesses had reported that what seemed to be a uniformed policeman had fled the scene carrying what appeared to be a bagged rifle as he got into a car from a street over and drove away.
Battle for possession
Once the president had arrived at Parkland surgeons went to work in a state of confusion as to what to do about a gaping hole in the skull and a large portion of the rear lobe of the president’s brain having been dislodged by a “Missile” as was described by one the surgeons. Within minutes efforts at resuscitation and blood transfusion proved futile and JFK quickly expired as doctors attempted to define exit and entry wounds on JFK’s body. In complete contradiction to local city and county law federal agents began confiscation of the body while hospital officials argued for more time and autopsy results. A stunned Jacqueline Kennedy who had sat just outside the emergency room door managed to get a final moment with her slain husband before the body was ushered out upon a stretcher and down the hallway to the rear exit. Her hand was still bloodied from clutching onto a piece of her husband’s skull seconds after the shots rang out.
Erasing the crime scene?
Meantime Authorities were already cleaning the Lincoln Continental of JFK’s blood and skull fragments in complete disturbance of forensic investigation protocol in the mass confusion of the tense aftermath. One surgeon of the Dallas trauma team who refused to allow the Feds to leave with the President’s body was simply picked up by one big man, presumably one of the Secret Service, personnel and moved aside. These events were highly unusual and very suspect among the many irregularities that plagued the tragedy. It seemed the entire response of the federal authorities was to quell rumors that a conspiracy has occurred and that a lone gunman must be responsible.
Lost ammo
Close to the underpass not far from where JFK’s motorcade had been in those fatal moments that the assassin or assassins had fired a bystander had been struck on the cheek by a bullet fragment that had landed on the curb in front of him. He picked it up and handed it to a man identifying himself as a Secret Service agent, but the casing was never found after that. This was the fourth bullet that was fired, but never recovered.
In pursuit of a suspect
Many people asked once Lee Harvey Oswald had been identified as the only School Book Depository employee not present as Dallas Police rushed the building as a suspect. Yet, one fellow worker had seen Oswald just moment’s before JFK had been shot on a different floor making it very difficult if not impossible for someone to have been at the exact spot of the “Sniper’s Nest” when the shots rang out. One employee commented on how calmly and composed Lee Harvey Oswald seemed as he left the building as all the commotion transpired. Logic would have dictated that he would have been winded and ruffled from running up and down the stairs had he fired at JFK from the window of the upper floor.
The proposed sniper’s lair
A man whom Oswald hitched a ride to work with everyday to the job had said that Lee had brought what appeared to be curtain rods with him and had not brought his lunch. Yet, when the Dallas Sheriff inspected the sniper’s nest not only did he find a concealed Italian made hunting rifle but remnants of a chicken sandwich at the scene. This once again tended to contradict Dallas Police conclusions to rush to judgment over Oswald as being the assassin. The death of Officer J. D. Tippet witnessed by a woman in nearby Oak Cliff was another problem in the conclusion of authorities over Oswald’s guilt as the assailant who murdered the Dallas policeman did not at all fit Lee Harvey Oswald’s description. How a man on foot who did not have a car at his disposal that day to Oak Cliff just moments after JFK had been fatally wounded does not add up.
In Part II we will further examine the contradictory evidence that led authorities to make their hasty conclusions on that terrible day in November of 1963.
