Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator of Germany during World War II, once said,”The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it. ” Although thismay sound ludicrous, we can see many example of this in the world’s history. Oneexample would have to be the John Fitzgerald Kennedy assassination. For overthirty years the people of the United States were led to believe that a singlegunman shot and killed Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p. m.
. . However, in this paper, I will dispute the ancient analization of the facts thatshow a single gunman was involved, and try to show that a conspiracy must havebeen present. According to the old facts regarding the case of the JFKassassination, Kennedy was killed by a single gunman.
On November 22, 1963, at12:30 p. m. CST (Central Standard Time),Kennedy was riding in an open limousinethrough Dallas, Texas. At this time, Kennedy was shot in the head and neck by asniper. He was then taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital,where he was pronounceddead.
Later, police arrested Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U. S. Marine, at anearby theater. By the next morning, Oswald was booked for the murder ofPresident John F. Kennedy.
Two days later, Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby, aDallas nightclub owner, while he was being moved from the city to the countyjail. At a glance, the above story sounds as if this should be an open-and-shutcase. After all, according to the facts above, Oswald must have killed Kennedy. However, you must take a deeper look into this case. Many people who witnessedthe murder of John F. Kennedy dispute the facts above, saying that they heardshots from places besides the book depository, and other things that maycontradict what is stated above.
One of these witnesses, Abraham Zapruder,captured the entire assassination on his Bell and Howell eight millimeter moviecamera. This movie, cleverly called the Zapruder Film,is the single best pieceof visual evidence in this case. In order to more clearly understand theZapruder Film, it is necessary to break it down into frames. The particular Belland Howell movie camera that Zapruder was using ran at eighteen andthree-hundredths (18. 3) frames per second. When using this frame system, youmust remember that all shots were actually fired several frames before thenumber that is assigned to them.
For example, the fatal heard wound, calledZ313, was probably fired at Z310, since it took 2-3 frames at 18. 3 frames persecond for the bullet to reach the victim. Also, you must remember that soundtravels at about one thousand-one hundred(1,100) feet per second, or a littleover half as fast as the Mannlicher Carcano’s bullets. When keeping this inmind, it is expected that witnesses heard the shot at some point after thebullet passed. The following shows a break down of the frames of the Zapruderfilm: – The Presidential limousine first comes into view at frame 133 (thestarting point of this timeline.
) – The first shot at (or just before) Z187would have passed through both Governor Connally and the President. – The secondshot, which passed above the limousine at Z284, missed the President and hit thecurb near witness James Tague. This caused his minor wound. – At Z313, the fatalshot occurs, which blew out major portions of the Presidents brain and skull. -A fourth shot occurred at Z323 (slightly 1/2 second after the fatal wound atZ313).
Due to the proximity of this report to the one at Z313, as well as it’smore distant origin, most witnesses were unable to hear this shot. Thus, theabove is when the bullets hit either Kennedy or Connelly, or passed through theframes of the Zapruder film (in the case of the second shot). Of the one-hundredseventy-eight (178) witnesses at Daley Plaza, one-hundred thirty-two 132) saidthat they hear exactly three shots. If Oswald was a single gunman, it would havetaken him at least 2. 3 seconds to reload his Mannlicher Carcano rifle. However,the general consensus of the witnesses is that they heard a single shot,followed by silence, with the second and third shots bunched together.
Forexample, Lee Bowers, one of the witnesses, testified, “I heard three shots,one, then a slight pause, then two very close together.” Also, Warren W.Taylor, a Secret Service agent, said, “As a matter of course, I opened thedoor and prepared to get out of the
