Who was responsible for JFK's death?

Introduction

What really happened to John F. Kennedy? On November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m., the 35thPresident of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was traveling with the motorcade in an open-top limo near Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The President was shot two times: once in the head and once in the neck. Two hours after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Vice

President Lyndon Baines Johnson took the Oath of Office, becoming the thirty-sixth President of

the United States. Who did it? Who is responsible for his death?

Can the Cuban government be to blame?
Was it an inside job by the vice President?
Or it could have just been the man himself, Lee Harvey Oswald?

Now, let us get deep into who and why John F. Kennedy died in Dallas that day.

Character analysis

Who was John F. Kennedy? Not only was JFK the 35th president, but he was also the youngest man ever elected to be the president of the United States. He was a man who overcame everything he encountered, from scarlet fever, an almost fatal disease in his time, to being a senator and overcoming the challenges as president. Throughout life, John F. Kennedy was known for being courageous, confident, and an optimistic leader.

How was John F. Kennedy courageous? When he was young, he would overcome a deadly disease, scarlet fever, which at the time would kill one in every five inflicted with the illness(Bahman Sotoodian), John F. Kennedy had the courage to beat the fever. While as a young man attending Harvard, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. After he saw his brother Joe enlist, he would follow. At the start of World War II he would accomplish many achievements, according to jfklibrary.org” When he returned home, Jack was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his leadership and courage as well as the purple heart(“Life of John F. Kennedy”). While in the Navy, he served in Intelligence, where he used his superior intellect to excel. Soon after he'd enter combat, late at night, a Japanese destroyer would collide with Kennedy's ship, leaving the crew stranded in enemy territory. They got word to another ship and were saved without being found by Japan. He was known by his peers as a courageous leader and a hero. John F. Kennedy was promoted to Lieutenant and continued as the skipper of the PT-59. Unfortunately by 1944, the injuries sustained in the collision with the Japanese destroyer sent him stateside. Eventually he would go on to become a senator and then the president of the United states.

John F. Kennedy was a confident leader. According to Presidentprofiles.com Things were worse, he said, than he had expected, America's defenses were weaker, its position in certain international situations in greater jeopardy. Yet that sobriety was countered by his youth, vigor, self-confidence, and wit (presidentialprofiles,). John F. Kennedy was always confident in his plans. He came across as a witty, confident man who won over the public with his speeches. While in office, he would continuously wow and impress congress, proposing bold and new ideas and winning more and more votes every time he would speak. He was also the first president to televise his press conferences and reached more people than ever before. He would continue to use the invention to speak to the people of the United States of America. The people rallied behind his belief and optimism .

While being confident, he was also very optimistic. According to Christina Pazzanese, "Though it's been a century since the birth of President John F. Kennedy '40, and more than half a century since he articulated his inspirational and optimistic vision of the United States as a force for prosperity and peace, his words and ideals remain deeply pertinent." (Pazzanese, The Harvard Gazette). John F. Kennedy was always found to be optimistic in the game of life. He managed to always find the good in the situation or in people. While serving at the height of the Cold War, he could plan and think with the best in mind. With all the challenges in the 1960s, even then, he was optimistic and confident he would do right in this country. In the end John F. Kennedy was known as a confident,optimistic, and courageous leader.

Conspiracy Theories

On November 22, 1963, a tragedy struck the current President John F. Kennedy, who was shot in a motorcade going through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Since then, there have been three prominent theories on who and why John F. Kennedy was murdered. The first and the central conspiracy involved Cuba and their government after the events of the Cuban missile crisis. Another highlight is Vice. President Lyndon Johnson. The last one points out the behavior of Lee Harvey Oswald and where and what he did leading up to the assassination.

The first and most notable theory is that the Cuban government set up the assassination. The Senate Select Committee that would study Governmental Operations revealed that the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) had multiple attempts on Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader's life. Fidel Castro would try to off-put these allegations, stating the attempt would be too risky, resulting in USA retaliation. "What they reported was that Castro told them that Oswald had come into the embassy in Mexico City – and Castro said, 'I knew about it when it happened,' it was reported to him" (Apoyan). These acts stem from the Cuban missile Crisis that happened a little more than the year before the assassination. With the support of the Soviet Union, this could be a possibility. The Committee also concluded that neither any U.S. security or intelligence agencies (including the CIA) nor the government of Cuba and the Soviet Union had been involved.

The second conspiracy offers the possibility that Vice President Lyndon Johnson is at the center of this assassination for his own gain. It all began with the Bay of Pigs, which John F. Kennedy did not support; this angered the CIA and the vice president. Perry has shot this theory down. "It's based primarily on statements made by Madeleine Brown," who Perry described as a "crackpot." People had a general dislike of LBJ, which led to the start of this conspiracy. The night before, LBJ attended a party with the FBI director, Richard Nixon, and Edgar Hoover. According to Perry, Brown said LBJ whispered into her ear, "After tomorrow, those Kennedys will never embarrass me again. That's no threat. That's a promise." He would later refuse ever to say this even though this caught traction; there was never enough significant evidence to have anything put into motion to have him arrested or start a full war.

The last and most proven theory involves the man who was convicted for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was found to participate in pro-Castro groups and spent time in Cuba, and he would speak and work on behalf of these groups. In September of 1963, Oswald spent multiple months in Mexico City trying to communicate with the Soviet Union and Cuban consultants, making multiple attempts. On the other side, he was also tied to anti-Castro groups that were angry at Kennedy for withholding support for the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. Along with the upset CIA and FBI, some think they put Oswald up to the murder. Two FBI agents at the time had been in the same Civil Air Patrol squadron as Oswald in 1950. The HSCA's findings were largely in line with those of the Warren Commission, including the conclusion that a shot by Oswald had killed the President and that a single bullet had hit both Kennedy and Connally ("Conspiracy Theories"). The Oswald theory is the most developed and the one that was convicted for the murder on March 14, 1964.

Conclusion

After researching the death of John F. Kennedy, there are three theories that stick out:

Can the Cuban government be to blame?
Was it an inside job by the vice President?
Or it could have just been the man himself, Lee Harvey Oswald?

To this day, there is still yet to be a whole way to know who is responsible. This mystery is unsolved, but the Cuban government still stands at the top of the list of suspects.

Work Cited

Apoyan, Jackie. “Assassination Expert Says Cubans Encouraged Oswald to Kill JFK.” The Mob Museum, 29 Dec. 2021, themobmuseum.org/blog/assassination-expert-says-cubans-encouraged-oswald-to-kill-jfk/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWhat%20they%20reported%20was%20that,President%20Kennedy%2C%E2%80%9D%20Russo%20said.

Bahman Sotoodian, M. (2023a, June 13). Scarlet fever. Background, Pathophysiology, Etiology. https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1053253-overview

“Conspiracy Theories.” Britannica, Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/event/assassination-of-John-F-Kennedy/Conspiracy-theories. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.

“Conspiracy Theories.” Time, Time Inc., 20 Nov. 2008, content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1860871_1860876_1861003,00.html.

“Findings.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/part-1c.html. Accessed 4 Dec. 2023.

“JFK Assassination Records - 2023 Additional Documents Release April 13, 2023: 422 Documents.” Reddit, www.reddit.com/r/JFKassasination/comments/12lka2j/jfk_assassination_records_2023_additional/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2023.

Life of John F. Kennedy. Life of John F. Kennedy | JFK Library. (n.d.). https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/life-of-john-f-kennedy

John F. Kennedy - decisive leadership. U.S. Presidents - World Biography. (n.d.). https://www.presidentprofiles.com/Kennedy-Bush/John-F-Kennedy-Decisive-leadership.html

Patterson, Thom. “One JFK Conspiracy Theory That Could Be True.” CNN, Cable News Network, 21 Mar. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/03/21/us/jfk-assassination-conspiracy-theories-debunked/index.html.

Pazzanese, Christina. “100 Years Later, the Enduring Legacy of JFK’s American Ideals.” Harvard Gazette, 9 Nov. 2023, news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/04/kennedys-100th/.