Jfk Death - the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Sanel Thomas

The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

3A History DC

On November 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Official documents indicate that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing of the President that afternoon at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Over the years there have been many conspiracy theories circulating around people's mind. Will people ever know the true story of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy with every questionable doubt answered?

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917. He served a couple of years in the military as a commander and then entered into politics. He was first elected as a representative to the House of Representatives by the people of Massachusetts in 1947. Then he was elected senator of Massachusetts in 1953. On September 12, 1953 John F. Kennedy married Jacqueline Bouvier at St. Mary's church Rhode Island. He decided to run for President in the 1960 Elections, received the Democratic Party nomination and defeated Richard Nixon. They had the first ever televised debate for the presidency in American history. Kennedy won the very close election and He became the youngest man ever elected President of the United States. He was the 35th President and succeeded President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

On the day of the assassination, President Kennedy was riding in a hood open Presidential limousine waving and smiling at his supporters who lined the streets of Dallas to see him. Along with him in the limo was his wife Jacqueline Kennedy, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie Connally. The President was shot around 12:30 pm by a sniper named Lee Harvey Oswald. President Kennedy was rushed to Parkland Hospital, but unfortunately was pronounced dead at 1pm. Kennedy's body was removed and flown back to Washington against the wishes of Texas authorities. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the presidential oath aboard Air Force One and became the 36th President of the United States.

Around 2pm, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the murder of President Kennedy. Authorities questioned Oswald through the weekend, and no recordings or transcripts were made. The interesting part about the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald is that he wasn't arrested for the assassination of President Kennedy; he was arrested because he murdered a Dallas police officer. On Sunday the 24th of November, Oswald was killed by a local nightclub owner named Jack Ruby on live television in the basement of the Dallas police station. Ruby had some connections to organized crime in the Dallas area during that time. Jack Ruby was given the death sentence, but appealed for a new trial. He became ill and died before the new date of the trial was ever set.

Hours after Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered, authorities moved to close the case because they were sure Oswald was the assassin and that he had acted alone in committing this crime. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover was one of the men who believed that Oswald acted alone without investigating the case at all. After much debate over this situation, on November 29, 1963 President Johnson formed the President's Commission soon known as the Warren Commission through executive order 11130. This commission was headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. This commission had many well respected politicians as well as high level FBI and CIA agents. The Warren commission delivered its report on the assassination of President Kennedy on September 24, 1964 to President Johnson. The commission concluded that Oswald killed Kennedy alone and unaided and that there was no conspiracy in the assassination. The case of the murder of President John F. Kennedy was officially closed.

Through the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald acted alone in the assassination, over the years many conspiracy theories have been mentioned. In 2003, a poll showed that more than 75 % of Americans believe that that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone in the assignation of President Kennedy. Almost forty years have passed and still all those people; from the facts they read and been told by their parents and grandparents believe that it was a government cover up. People started to think about these conspiracy theories because President Kennedy had a lot of enemies, and many very strongly minded non-supporters that would like to see him dead. Some theories are more probable then others, but there is always a possibility.

One theory is that there was more