{"id":7154,"date":"2013-11-21T20:07:32","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T02:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/?p=7154"},"modified":"2013-11-21T20:07:32","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T02:07:32","slug":"the-kennedy-assassination-50-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/?p=7154","title":{"rendered":"The Kennedy Assassination: 50 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday marks the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, one of the most-studied and most controversial events in U.S. history.<\/p>\n

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, the victim of a gunshot wound to the head as his motorcade drove slowly through Dealey Plaza.\u00a0 Now, fifty years later, our nation still seeks closure as to what really happened on that fateful day in Dallas.<\/p>\n

While the Warren Commission investigation (appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson) determined the killer to be an ex-Marine named Lee Harvey Oswald who acted alone (the \u201clone-gunman theory\u201d), most Americans don\u2019t buy the story.\u00a0 Recent polls released in November 2013 by Gallup and ABC\/Washington Post<\/a> report at least 61% of Americans believe there was more than one shooter and that there was \u201csome sort of official cover-up\u201d regarding the assassination.<\/p>\n

Even in 1963, when a Gallup Poll was conducted during the week following the assassination, 52% of Americans already said they believed the killing was the result of a \u201cstill undetermined conspiracy,\u201d and that Oswald had not acted alone.<\/p>\n

Since that time, the Kennedy assassination has been the inspiration for dozens of other theories as to \u201cWho killed Kennedy?\u201d\u00a0 According to Vincent Bugliosi, author of \u201cReclaiming History,\u201d \u00a0\u201c\u2026doubters of the lone gunman theory have accused 42 groups, 82 assassins and 214 people of being involved in the assassination.\u201d\u00a0 And the list of \u201csuspects\u201d continues to grow.<\/p>\n

So if most Americans believe Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone, then whom do they blame for Kennedy\u2019s death?\u00a0 The following are some of the top theories regarding the assassination.<\/p>\n

The government.\u00a0 Taking the pulse of the American public both then and today, \u201cthe government\u201d leads the list of suspects for being involved in Kennedy\u2019s assassination.\u00a0 Perhaps it was the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion or Kennedy\u2019s \u201ctaking on\u201d the Federal Reserve that angered enough governmental agencies to warrant his assassination.\u00a0\u00a0 Or perhaps it was the letter JFK wrote to the CIA demanding to see secret UFO files, which may have threatened certain top-secret projects, <\/a> which led to his assassination.<\/p>\n

Just as unsettling, however, is the theory that involves Kennedy\u2019s Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson, who supposedly ordered Kennedy killed.\u00a0 According to this theory, Johnson certainly had the most to gain, and supposedly there was no love lost between the Kennedys (JFK and Robert) and Johnson.\u00a0 Perhaps Johnson feared they were going to dump him from the Democratic ticket in 1964 and he struck first.\u00a0 Such is the premise of Roger Stone\u2019s book, \u201cThe Man Who Killed Kennedy:\u00a0 The Case Against LBJ\u201d (Skyhorse Publishing, 2013).\u00a0 But even Stone admits LBJ probably didn\u2019t act alone in ordering the kill, stating that Johnson was just \u201cthe linchpin of the conspiracy that involved the CIA.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CIA.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the \u201cspookiest\u201d theory of them all, and the hardest one to dismiss.\u00a0 JFK certainly had his differences with the CIA, especially after the bungled Bay of Pigs Invasion.\u00a0 Additionally, Kennedy was supposedly fed up with the CIA\u2019s actions, especially when he found out they were trying to kill Fidel Castro, a known fact.\u00a0 Was the supposed threat of being disbanded by Kennedy enough to warrant the CIA\u2019s ordering his assassination?\u00a0 Consider also that the former head of the CIA, Allen Dulles, was also a member of the Warren Commission, who determined Oswald acted alone.<\/p>\n

Also, Oswald was a supporter of Soviet-backed Cuba, and it\u2019s known he visited the Russian Embassy in Mexico City just weeks prior to the assassination.\u00a0 Could it be the CIA used this information to their advantage, or that Oswald himself was on the CIA\u2019s payroll?<\/p>\n

Those questions lead to the next theory, which involves the Russians.\u00a0 This theory contends Oswald became a KGB operative<\/a> after his defection to the USSR in 1959 and that he was \u201cprogrammed\u201d to kill Kennedy in retaliation for the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.\u00a0 This theory doesn\u2019t seem as likely, however, according to investigator Dave Perry<\/a>.\u00a0 He believes \u201cThe Russians would never have ordered Oswald to kill Kennedy because of his well-known links to Russia and his pro-Cuban sympathies.\u00a0 Russia\u2019s leaders knew they would have been the first suspects if they\u2019d engineered an assassination by Oswald.\u00a0 It would have been an act of war, which could have triggered a nuclear attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

But many theories involving both Oswald and the CIA overlap with those involving \u201cThe Mob,\u201d the next \u201cpossible suspect.\u201d\u00a0 One of the main theories revolves around a mobster named Carlos Marcello of New Orleans, who had been deported back to Guatemala by Kennedy\u2019s brother, Robert, after JFK appointed Robert U.S. Attorney General.\u00a0 Supposedly Marcello even confessed<\/a> to ordering the kill to an unnamed FBI informant.<\/p>\n

Going even deeper, another shocking theory arises which points to CIA\/Mafia connections.\u00a0 In his explosive book, \u201cSmooth Criminal:\u00a0 A One Man American Crime Wave,\u201d former ABC and CBS news editor\/journalist Bill Deane<\/a> contends that Kennedy was aware of a program which involved the CIA systematically releasing dangerous criminals back into society to work for them on secret missions overseas.\u00a0 Deane says the program started during the Kennedy administration as a way of dealing with the rising Communist threat of Castro and actually had JFK\u2019s seal of approval.\u00a0 Supposedly Kennedy endorsed freeing drug dealers and Mafia hit men so they could attempt to murder Fidel Castro\u2026an extreme move coming on the heels of his failed Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961.\u00a0 Basically these released prisoners were allowed to do whatever they liked without fear of being arrested or prosecuted.\u00a0 Even more shocking is that Deane alleges this program is still very much in force today.<\/p>\n

If Kennedy was attempting to take out Castro, what\u2019s to say Castro didn\u2019t try to do the same?\u00a0 That premise leads to the next theory involving Fidel Castro.\u00a0 After the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, Castro knew the Kennedy administration, working with the CIA, was attempting to assassinate him.\u00a0 Maybe Castro struck back.\u00a0 Even Lyndon Johnson was an advocate of this theory, stating in interviews that he believed Castro had been behind the assassination.<\/p>\n

But Castro wasn\u2019t the only Cuban disgruntled with Kennedy.\u00a0 Many of those who died in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion were Cuban exiles trained by the CIA.\u00a0 Another theory contends many Cuban exiles living in the U.S. never forgave Kennedy for not providing more support for the invasion, so they had him killed.<\/p>\n

Going along the lines of \u201cnot enough support,\u201d brings up the Texas Oil Theory<\/a>.\u00a0 This theory involves Texas oil magnates who were disgruntled with JFK\u2019s plans to eliminate their oil depletion allowance, which brought them millions in profits.\u00a0 LBJ was a supporter of the allowance, and supposedly these oil magnates made sure LBJ became president.<\/p>\n

No list would be complete, however, without a theory involving former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.\u00a0 Hoover and Robert Kennedy did not get along, and Hoover did not believe he got the respect he deserved from either of the Kennedys.\u00a0 The \u201cHoover Connection Theory\u201d alleges Hoover made sure LBJ became president.<\/p>\n

So who killed Kennedy?\u00a0 Was it a conspiracy or an accident?\u00a0 One final theory alleges it was an accident.\u00a0 Author James Reston, Jr., argues in his book, \u201cThe Accidental Victim,\u201d that Oswald was really trying to kill Texas Governor John Connally, but \u201caccidentally\u201d ending up shooting the president instead.<\/p>\n

With so many theories and culprits we may never really know the \u201ctruth,\u201d but perhaps that \u00adis<\/span> the point.\u00a0 One thing is certain, however, and that is the American people do not believe Oswald acted alone.\u00a0 Even Secretary of State John Kerry recently stated \u201cTo this day, I have serious doubts that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, fifty years after Kennedy\u2019s assassination, our nation still ponders what really happened in in Dallas on November 22, 1963.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s best to take pause and remember all that has occurred in our country since that day, and perhaps, too, we need to look within and ask ourselves one key question, \u201cAre we really willing to accept what happened?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, one of the most-studied and most controversial events in U.S. history. On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, the victim of a gunshot wound to the head as his motorcade drove slowly through Dealey Plaza.\u00a0 Now, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-articles","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7155,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7154\/revisions\/7155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbadamslive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}