The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: The Lone Gunman Theory

1
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy The Lone
Gunman Theory

• Eric Garment
• SBF5-02

Instructor M. Villani
2
Dallas November 22, 1963

• John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United
  States, was suffering from low approval rates in
  the American South.
• He decided to go on a short tour of Texas in
  November 1963 to try and turn the states
  attitude towards him around.
• On November 22, President Kennedy rode in a
  motorcade through Dallas, Texas with his wife, as
  well as Texas Governor John Connally and his
  wife, Nellie.

• Below is a photo of President Kennedy and his
  wife Jackie arriving in Dallas earlier in the day
  on November 22.

3
The Motorcades Route

• The motorcade was set to take a path through
  downtown Dallas to the Trade Mart in order to
  give an address at a luncheon at 1230 PM that
  day.
• To get to the freeway that allowed the motorcade
  to reach the Trade Mart, it had to drive through
  Dealey Plaza, past the Texas School Book
  Depository.
• Before the car carrying Kennedy could make it
  onto the freeway, tragedy struck Dallas.

• The path that the motorcade took through Dealey
  Plaza.

4
President Kennedy Is Shot

• This grainy image from the famous Zapruder film
  shows Kennedy reacting to being hit by a bullet.

• As the Kennedy motorcade passed along Elm Street,
  shots were fired at the moving vehicle.
• Mass chaos ensued, as people who had just been
  gleeful to see the President were running in
  horror from a gunman.
• No one was sure where the shots came from, but
  they were sure that the President had been hit.

5
Lee Harvey Oswald

• Born October 18, 1939, Lee Harvey Oswald was a
  24-year-old man who, after struggling through
  parts of his life in America and Russia, had
  settled in Dallas, with a job at the Texas School
  Book Depository.
• The building for the depository was located at
  the corner of Houston and Elm Streets, where
  Kennedys motorcade made a left turn.
• Oswald is regarded as the most likely candidate
  to be the killer of John F. Kennedy.

6
How He Shot Kennedy

• The way that Oswald was able to set up a shot on
  Kennedy was through his job at the depository.
• He snuck a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle and bullets
  into the depository and brought them to the 6th
  floor, where he set up a spot to aim at the car.
• The spot was surrounded by cardboard boxes and
  located at such a place so that Oswald could
  point the rifle down Elm Street towards the
  motorcades path.

7
Officers Tippit McDonald

• Officer McDonald, later on the day of the crime.

• After the shooting, Oswald fled the depository.
• He came across Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit,
  father of three, who recognized Oswald from a
  police description.
• Scared, Oswald shot Tippit with a .38 caliber
  revolver, and ran to the Texas Theater.
• At the theater, he was apprehended by Officer
  Nick McDonald, who was almost shot himself.

8
Oswalds Arrest

• Based on reports coming in throughout the day, as
  well as discovered evidence in the depository,
  Oswald was arrested.
• The police, as well as a great portion of the
  media, quickly assumed Oswald to be the
  Presidents killer.
• Further investigation of photographs also showed
  that the rifle found at the crime scene (shown at
  right) belonged to Oswald.

9
The Aftermath

• Lee Harvey Oswald was officially charged with the
  murder of J.D. Tippit, although speculation raged
  that he was the killer of President Kennedy.
• Two days after the assassination of Kennedy, a
  Dallas nightclub owner named Jack Ruby took
  matters into his own hands.
• While Oswald was being moved to a different
  police station, Ruby snuck in and shot him in the
  stomach, killing him.

• Ruby shooting Oswald.

10
Warren Commission

• The Warren Commission, led by Supreme Court Chief
  Justice Earl Warren, was a group put together by
  the federal government to officially investigate
  the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
• The results of the report were published in
  October 1964, nearly a year after the killing.
• The report stated that the Warren Commission
  found Lee Harvey Oswald to be the lone assassin
  of John F. Kennedy.

11
Computer Simulation of the Assassination

• The report stated the belief of the commission
  that one or two bullets did all of the damage to
  President Kennedy as well as Governor Connally,
  who suffered minor injuries.
• Many Americans were skeptical of the findings.
• The single-bullet theory is one of the most
  controversial ideas about the Kennedy
  assassination, and is generally regarded to be
  untrue.

• Below is a created 3D image of how the single
  bullet could have potentially hit both men.

12
Conspiracy Theories

• Shortly after the fateful day, various conspiracy
  theories began to surface.
• Many Americans believed that foreigners had a
  role in the assassination.
• Countries such as Russia and Cuba were not on the
  best terms with the U.S., and it was believed
  that they had major political incentives to have
  Kennedy dead, such as the Bay of Pigs incident
  for Cuba.

• Many books and movies have been made touting
  different conspiracy theories.

13
Eyewitness Accounts

• Some witnesses, such as Jean Hill, from Dealey
  Plaza on the day of the crime reported seeing a
  puff of smoke from the grassy knoll on the
  motorcades right.
• Some of those witnesses even said they were able
  to see movement behind a fence.
• This has led to the multiple gunman theory, the
  most commonly accepted theory about the
  assassination today.

14
The House Select Committee

• A 1976 Detroit Free Press poll found that about
  87 of Americans didnt believe in the lone
  gunman theory.
• A second investigative committee, the House
  Select, published a report in 1979 determining
  the assassination to be a probable conspiracy.
• It also came to the conclusion that there was a
  95 chance that a shot had been fired from the
  grassy knoll, based on acoustical evidence taken
  from the scene of the crime.

15
Abraham Zapruder

• Dallas resident Abraham Zapruder famously
  captured Kennedys assassination on his Bell
  Howell 8mm video camera (diagram at right). It is
  the best and most commonly used video of the
  days events.
• The video, aside from a portion where the
  motorcade goes behind a standing road sign, shows
  the motorcades ride down Elm Street, as well as
  all of the shots hitting Kennedy.

16
The Shot That Killed Kennedy

• It is to be noted that the Zapruder film had
  three jumps or shakes in the picture.
• Those who believe in the lone gunman theory
  believe that each shake represents a shot by
  Oswald, and the shake is because of the chilling
  sound to Zapruders ears.
• This theory was later tested through a CBS
  investigation.

17
More Time

• Originally, researchers of the Kennedy
  assassination had come to the determination that,
  based on Oswalds location in relation to the
  motorcade, he would have had only 5.5 seconds to
  take three shots, making deadly hits unlikely.
• A reevaluation of the scene proved there to be a
  timeframe of 8.5 seconds for Oswald to shoot,
  allowing more accurate shots to be taken.

• This image shows where a potential grassy knoll
  assassin could have shot from, which would
  disprove the lone gunman theory.

18
CBS Testing Part 1

• For their own investigation of the assassination,
  CBS did certain tests related to the crime.
• One test done was to see if it was truly possible
  to make 3 accurate shots with the same model
  rifle that Oswald used.
• The results of the test showed 4 of 11 shooters
  making at least 2 of 3 hits on a moving target,
  with one marksman making 3 hits.

• This proved that it was indeed possible for
  Oswald to be a lone gunman, as the accuracy
  questions were answered with this CBS test.
• Below is a recreated view that Oswald could have
  had on the motorcade.

19
CBS Testing Part 2

• A second test, also conducted by CBS, was done to
  see how close to the shots Abraham Zapruders
  shakes were.
• Two men were given cameras similar to Zapruders
  and told to follow a moving target as shots were
  fired at the same time that Oswalds shots would
  have been fired.
• With each shot, both men flinched in perfect time
  to the jumps on the film, showing that there were
  only three shots on that day.

• The image below is a blurry frame from the
  Zapruder film, inferring that a shot had been
  taken.

20
The Bullets Path

• Believers of the multiple gunman theory use
  images such as the one below to show that it
  would have been impossible for Kennedy and
  Connally to have been hit the way they were by
  just one shooter.

• However, what is not often known is that
  Kennedys second row seat was much higher than
  Connallys, as seen below, making it much more
  likely for bullets to hit them and cause the
  injuries they did.

21
Fatal Explosion

• The Zapruder films frame of Kennedys head
  exploding is the biggest case that believers of
  the multiple gunman theory have to support their
  claims.

• They say that because of the way that Kennedys
  head exploded, to the back and left, that there
  must have been a shot from the front.
• However, this is inconclusive, as many
  investigators have stated that despite the way
  Kennedys head was blown up, the shot could have
  come from either the front or the back of the
  motorcade.

22
Why Oswald Did It

• Lee Harvey Oswald was a pro-Castro man, wildly
  against American foreign policy under John F.
  Kennedy.
• This is a major reason that people believe Oswald
  had incentive to shoot Kennedy, because Kennedy
  had tried to kill Castro.
• Lee Harvey Oswald had also associated with
  Russia, making his anti-American sentiments
  greater.

• Oswald handing out pro-Cuba literature.

23
Multiple Gunmen

• Although the multiple gunman theory is the most
  commonly accepted one in regards to the JFK
  assassination today, it is still not viable to
  select it as the final solution to the case.
• Most of the collected evidence on the case favors
  the lone gunman theory.
• Also, most of the testimony of those who saw the
  puff of smoke ended up being generally regarded
  as misremembered or wrong.

• This crack in the limousines windshield
  suggests, based on the crack pattern, that there
  was at least one shot from the front.

24
Further Conspiracies

• Some Americans believe that Oswald was part of
  either a federal or foreign conspiracy to kill
  Kennedy.
• Some believe that the CIA or FBI had a role in
  the killing others believe that foreign leaders
  like Fidel Castro ordered the assassination.
• The classic graphic novel Watchmen plays with
  these theories, revealing that JFK was killed
  by a government operative. Since it is a work of
  fiction, however, it is not to be regarded as
  truth.

25
The Killer

• Based on the evidence, Lee Harvey Oswald acted
  alone in killing the 35th President of the United
  States, John F. Kennedy.
• This determination can be reached because the
  evidence collected in regards to this case
  supports that theory over all others.
• There is not enough evidence to suggest multiple
  killers in this case.

26
Conclusion

• The case of John F. Kennedys assassination will
  most likely never be solved, but Lee Harvey
  Oswald will always be the prime suspect.

27
References

• Title slide http//sydwalker.info/blog/wp-content
  /uploads/2009/01/jfk.jpg
• Slide 1 http//www.arlingtoncemetery.net/dallas01
  .jpg, http//www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/
• Slide 2 http//knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/6/6b/
  Dealey-plaza-annotated.png, http//knowledgerush.c
  om/kr/encyclopedia/John_F._Kennedy_Assassination/
• Slide 3 http//news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/
  stories/november/22/newsid_2451000/2451143.stm,
  http//www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images2/kennedys_dal
  las1.jpg
• Slide 4 http//www.ivegotatheoryaboutthat.com/ima
  ges/oswald2_0ut7.gif
• Slide 5 http//www.jfklancer.com/photos/Evidence/
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  82/305908482KBYeaW_ph.jpg
• Slide 6 http//www.jdtippit.com/,
  http//jdtippit.com/html/happen.htm,
  http//www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jan-29
  -Sat-2005/photos/mcdonald.jpg
• Slide 7 http//neatorama.cachefly.net/images/2007
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  http//mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/exhibits/ce0520.jp
  g
• Slide 8 http//www.solstice.us/russell/16question
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• Slide 9 http//www.archives.gov/research/jfk/warr
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  g
• Slide 10 http//www.archives.gov/research/jfk/war
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  http//www.jfk-online.com/100myersbw.jpg
• Slide 11 http//ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51
  RHBV46EAL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
• Slide 12 http//www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFK
  grassyN.jpg, http//farm3.static.flickr.com/2011/1
  698950369_202ab81943.jpg?v0
• Slide 13 http//www.history-matters.com/archive/c
  ontents/contents_hsca.htm, http//www.spartacus.sc
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  http//2020ok.com/img/7/7717.jpg
• Slide 14 http//www.jfk-info.com/zavada1.htm,
  http//www.jfk-info.com/zav-cams.jpg
• Slide 15 http//img118.exs.cx/img118/7629/Zaprude
  r-SlowMo-2.png
• Slide 16 http//tommcmahon.typepad.com/photos/unc
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  http//mcadams.posc.mu.edu/dealey.htm
• Slide 17 http//mcadams.posc.mu.edu/images/SOH_10
  61.jpg
• Slide 18 http//www.assassinationresearch.com/zfi
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