Who Shot JFK?

2/7/2022

Elise Ward '23

In a chaotic series of events on November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, died in a hospital outside of Dallas after having been shot in his motorcade. Following the subsequent investigation into the assassination, the Federal Government concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US Marine had shot the president after defecting to the Soviet Union; however, after several discrepancies were identified within the federal reports, thousands of conspiracy theorists have taken to sharing their truths for the actual assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Two of these conspiracy theories are as follows:

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1.) The CIA

One of the most common and perhaps most well-supported argument is that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) orchestrated the attack in an attempt to secure a more "stable" leader in office following both the President's firing of CIA director Allen Dulles and his refusal to provide air support for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. The reasoning for this belief falls back on the House Select Committee's ruling that there had been a second, unidentified gunman at the murder site. Theorists believe that Gaeton Fonzi was hired by that same committee to look into Cuban exile groups. Fonzi received a testimony from a member of one of these groups claiming to have seen Fonzi's CIA contact conferring with one Lee Harvey Oswald -- providing both a motive and the means for the CIA to have killed the late president.

2.) Aliens

The infamous Umbrella Man is another conspiracy theory for the killer. Following the public release of the assassination tapes, thousands were quick to accuse a witness of the photo, who was holding an umbrella above his head despite it being a clear, sunny day, to have played a part in the murder by using the umbrella as a cover. Later theorists would clarify this theory, now believing this so-called Umbrella Man to have been an alien sent down to kill JFK in an attempt to keep humanity from reaching the stars.

JFK moments before his assassination.