X marks the spot

[telemann.livejournal.com]

The stockade fence overlooking the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza, where President Kennedy was assassinated.

Since it's "Conspiracy Month" on talk politics and because recently, a community participant recently suggested Lyndon Johnson was "in on the Kennedy assassination," and was aghast I didn't believe in such a theory, I thought it would be a good time for a post on the subject.



During the years of Vietnam, then Watergate, followed by Senator Frank Church's investigation into illegal activities by the United States intelligence agencies, the belief that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy seemed ludicrous. Mark Lane's book Rush to Judgment was the first attempt in the mid 1960s to codify doubts about the Warren Commission's report on the Kennedy assassination. That book was turned into a movie Executive Action (financed in large part by actor Donald Sutherland who went on to play a major role in Oliver Stone's movie JFK) For many, the opening few minutes explaining the motivation of a conspiracy was captured perfectly by Executive Action-- several defense contractors with connections to the government use their connections to pull strings behind the scenes, and take advantage of ineptitude to pull over their goal and subsequent cover up. You can see that over in Youtube land (and the entire movie for that matter.



Visitors to Dealey Plaza pose on Elm Street, marked with an "X" to indicate where President Kennedy was shot.

But for most Oliver Stone's movie has set the stage for belief in a conspiracy to kill the President. Oliver Stone took a great deal of liberty with historical fact to weave his web, and was challenged by historians over his dramatic license. As in the case of Executive Action, Stone suggested a nebulous conspiracy between defense contractors with unspecified military officers participation to help execute the commander-in-chief. Kennedy's removal of all military involvement from Vietnam by December 1965 was the suggested reason for such a conspiracy. The trouble with such a theory: Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and President Kennedy didn't formalize those plans until mid October. You can see McNamara's description of this (along with an absolutely heart-rendering retelling of how he found out about the assassination) in this clip from The Fog of War:

Gerald Posner's 1994 book Case Closed also settled firmly that Oswald acted alone<, along with new photographic technologies along with computer analysis of various films of the assassination, nuclear analysis of the bullets in the Kennedy assassination and attempt by Oswald on General Walker, along with two fingerprints by Oswald on the trigger guard, etc.

On a sidebar, one of the most frustrating lost opportunities for evidence was Elsie Dorman's bungling the filming the Kennedy assassination on the fourth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Mrs. Dorman was supervisor who was filming the motorcade for her sick husband. She never had operated a Kodak Brownie movie camera before, and while filming, held the camera to the side of her face, instead of using the viewfinder. Being on the fourth floor of the school book depository gave Mrs.Dorman an completely unobstructed view of Dealey Plaza (even more so than Abraham Zapruder), but stopped filming a split second before the shooting.

Now on a lighter note

An art installation is shown on the Grassy Knoll in Dealey Plaza.

A cool documentary Dealey X Plaza - Life on the Grassy Knoll features as its subject the people that live and work in Dealey Plaza, including an Elvis impersonator, and a wild assortment of characters who give guided tours around the site to tourists. As the producers state on their official website: "Dealey Plaza is a feature length documentary about the people who work and visit the spot where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. This is not a documentary about the JFK assassination." To be honest, seeing some of this makes me very uncomfortable, but your mileage may vary.

Comments

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

But believing in conspiracies makes me smarter than everyone else. How else do you propose I feed my ego? With love and wisdom? Psh, don't even...

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

Your counter-evidence to my belief only makes it stronger.

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

You're persecuting me for my superior insights!

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

All the JFK conspiracy books in one stack would reach from the grassy knoll to Saturn.

Follow the money

[harry-beast.livejournal.com]

Who benefited from the assassination? Professional conspiracy theorists, film makers, the Dealy Plaza tourism industry, Hollywood, publishers ... All people you don't want to mess with.

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

Being from Dallas and very much an alive 8 year old at the time of the murder, I know fully well who did it and why.

Remember the scene from the X-Files movie? The smoking man in the storm drain?



It happened like that, only it was the storm drain across the street, the one in front of the grassy knoll not facing it as in the movie. Shooter was a mid-level enforcer out of KC (one of Trafficant's lieutenants). Oswald was the patsy; he did shoot from the SBD, but only one shot hit a target. Notice how much damage is done to Kennedy's head with the fatal shot. Pretty obvious a much larger caliber (say a .45) blew his head band to hell.

Of course, the next obvious person to pull the kill shot was Jackie-O, and if you watch her actions, it does look like she pulled a John Wilkes Booth on his head. Example: while Nellie is pulling John down out of harm's way, Jackie is holding John upright, shoved against the side of the limo. Also, that pink pill hat is a great way to zero in on the target (hit the guy to the right of the pink hat).

Starting editing a documentary of someone involved in this situation, who happened to be a close relative. The mob story not the Jackie one.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

You're kidding me, right?

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

Absolutely not. The reason "Bruno" was picked because he was short in stature so he could crawl from the storm drain, which coupld be entered through the opening near the "Terminal Annex" post office building. That, and he was a crack shot with this particular weapon, which could easily be put in a tote bag and drug alone the drain system.

He heard the other shots, knew that Jackie would be shoving the mark towards him, had about 2 seconds and took the top of his head off.

The following week, that drain was closed, filled in, and a new on installed a few feet to the west, making it look as if there could not be a clear shot from the drain.

There were a lot of guns aimed at JFK, but only one got the kill shot. To the head. Mob Style.

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

Also, this particular group murdered JD Tippet. Tippet was a known dirty cop, and hung out frequently at the Carousel. Remember, Tippet drove by Oswald's house and stopped for a few minutes, as if waiting on him to give him a ride. Right. A ride to an 'encounter' with Tippet, making in Tippet's mind the historic hero for killing Oswald. Except the mob guys planned on killing Oswald and Tippet to make it look like a shootout between the two occurred.

However, when Tippet met "Raoul", Bruno, and a few other mob guys known to be in town and didn't have Oswald, they simply killed Tippet to make it look as if Oswald did it (no weapon was ever tied to Oswald and Tippet). Oswald went to the alternative meet up with Tippet on 6th, saw the aftermath, put it all together he was being set up, and high tailed it into the Texas Theater.

http://www.jdtippit.com/html/theory_nov.htm

explains more about Tippet and his involvement in all this mess.