Until recently most of the versions of the Zapruder film that were in public circulation were pretty fuzzy. I don’t know if it was the result of intentional censorship years ago, or just the natural degradation of an image that occurs from making a copy of a copy of a copy. But after the film was digitally restored in the late 1990’s and donated to the Dealy Plaza museum, it’s been possible to see extremely sharp first-generation copies of the footage. It’s much, much easier to see what happened in the limosine. Oswald literally blew Kennedy’s brains out, not to put too fine a point on it.
Er…
Wiki
This analysis of the TV coverage of the assassination (link might not work).
This FlixYA clip of Dallas TV shows a show being broken into with the news that “10 minutes ago…” JFK was shot.
Oh, friends of yours were there. Well, that changes everything. As long as your FRIENDS were there, you must know everything that happened.
The thing is, my friends were there too, and they say shots came from only one direction. Why are your friends more trustworthy than mine?
My friends were there and said Jackie did it.
Just kidding. I don’t have any friends.
You are an intelligent person.
It’s not the author of the new book that recommends ridiculing people who still believe in the possibility of a conspiracy. It is the New York Times book reviewer. The author, who prosecuted Charles Manson and wrote the chilling Helter Skelter has, in the past, been a reasonable man. I could be mistaken, but I don’t think that he would suggest ridiculing those who have continued to be suspicious. But I’ll bet that he makes a damn good case that Oswald acted alone.
I saw information about that on network evening news – probably NBC. The conclusion stated by the anchor was one that most of us who were adults when the assassination took place may have held for a long time: We will probably never know for certain the circumstances under which President Kennedy was killed.
I believe it is fairly safe to say that almost all of us believed in 1963 that it was Oswald alone that killed Kennedy. Jack Ruby’s murder of Oswald on live television may have planted the first seed of doubt, but the first real murmurings of conspiracy came from attorney Jim Garrison. Generally the public scoffed at him at first. By 1966, as the polls show, people weren’t scoffing anymore.
I will say that I think that Oliver Stone’s movie did a lot of damage. By presenting one theory as true, it made all believers in a conspiracy seem irrational. That in itself is irrational. Anecdotal information about the “king of nutjobs” doesn’t shed much light on the full evidence either.
Conspiracy theories about Kennedy’s death have been a wee bit more enduring and substantiable than the general black-helicopter/aliens at the Denver airport tripe.
The story has been unfolding for forty-three years. I’ve been following it for that long. I don’t think anything will convince me at this point one way or the other.
This style of thinking is incredibly prevalent in JFK CT lore. You think there might be a conspiracy. You want there to be conspiracy.
No, don’t bother researching, because your gut feeling is true!
For the record, Jim fucking Fetzer’s lecture “THE ZAPRUDER FILM WAS FAKED!” lecture is making the rounds on my hometown’s public access channel. No doubt it’s playing on public access channels throughout the nation. God, I wish this paranoid fuck embarassment attention whore of a tenured college professor would meet an Umbrella Man in a dark alley.
FWIW, A&E or some channel recently did a recreation of the shooting, to see if LHO could have done everything he would’ve had to have done in the time allotted (Oliver Stone said the time frame made it impossible LHO was the only one involved) and they “proved” he had plenty of time to do it, and be at that spot at that time, this spot at this time, etc.
I’m in the same camp. I don’t want to go through another JFK who-done-it. The different angle issue has been addressed with different conclusions by different authors. I found Mortal Error to be the most interesting in that it named a specific person, who for some reason waited for the statute of limitations to run out before suing the author. Too bad Kennedy’s brain disappeared. Would have answered a lot of questions. Makes me wonder how an assassinated president’s brain goes missing but what do I know.
Another often cited CT factoid. That’s ok, I don’t mind doing your homework for you since you obviously can’t be bothered.
JFK’s brain was buried with his body when he was reinterred at his memorial structure in 1967.
CBS did the same thing years ago with marksmen using the same gun at the same angle against a moving target approximating the motorcade. It’s damn near impossible to do it in the time alloted. Not impossible, but very difficult. I would not use “plenty of time” to describe the scenario.
It’s not the consipiracy theories that interest me as much as the information that was deliberately set asside. The transcripts of the commissioners were originally classified until 2039. And I remember Jackie Kennedy holding documents for release at a particular date but I cannot find a cite for the date. President Ford promoted a complete release of all information related to the event. I’m just curious. What’s so frickin important that needs to be held back for a later date?
The single thing I don’t get about this whole deal is Jack Ruby. What, was he the world’s biggest Kennedy fan? Why the hell did he walk up in front of cameras and shoot Oswald? Did he think he was going to get away with it? Did he think people would cheer? Did he think Johnson would give him a medal and make him a Hero of the Soviet Union - whoops, wrong superpower - or what?
If you read the material in your cite you would know that government documents were specific in that this did not occur.
From your cite:
The House Select Committee reexamining JFK’s assassination in the 1970s (HSCA) investigated this issue; click here to read their report on the subject.
PART V. CONCLUSIONS
(148) Despite these efforts, the committee was not able to
determine precisely what happened to the missing materials. The
evidence indicates that the materials were not buried with the
body at reinterment. It seems apparent that Angela Novello did
remove the footlocker containing to the materials from the office
of Mrs. Lincoln at the direction of Robert Kennedy, and that
Herman Kahn had knowledge of this transaction. After the removal
from Lincoln’s office, Robert Kennedy most likely acquired
possession of or at least personal control over these materials.
Burke Marshall’s opinion that Robert Kennedy obtained and disposed
of these items himself to prevent any future public display
supports this theory.
(149) There are least two possible reasons why Robert
Kennedy would not have retained the autopsy photographs and
X-rays. First, the only materials retained were physical
specimens from the body of his brother: Tissue sections, blood
smear slides, and the container of gross material. He may have
understandably felt more strongly about preventing the misuse of
these physical materials than the photographs and X-rays. Second,
the Justice Department under Ramsey Clark pushed hard to acquire
the photographs and X-rays but did not request the physical
materials. Even if Robert Kennedy had wished to prevent the
release of all the autopsy materials, he was not in a position to
do so when confronted with Justice Department demands.
(150) Consequently, although the committee has not been
able to uncover any direct evidence of the fate of the missing
materials, circumstantial evidence tends to show that Robert
Kennedy either destroyed these materials or otherwise rendered
them inaccessible.
*“Everybody has fantasies about wanting to be a hero,” says James R. Leavelle, the homicide detective in the white hat who was handcuffed to Oswald at the moment Ruby emerged from the shadows. “Ruby told me an interesting thing when I was a patrolman,” Leavelle recalls, “which didn’t make any sense to me at the time, but it did after [Ruby shot Oswald]. He told me, ‘I’d like to see two police officers sometime in a death struggle about to lose their lives, and I could jump in there and save them and be a hero.’”
…
Sgt. Gerald Hill had known Ruby for over a decade at the time of the assassination. Hill says, “I think his calculating mind was going all the time on the assumption that ‘I’ll shoot Oswald. Public sentiment will get me off, and then I’ll make a million bucks because everybody’ll come to see the man that killed the man that killed the President!’”
…
Police Captain W. R. Westbrook had also known Ruby for years. Westbrook says, “Ruby probably thought he was going to be a hero, maybe like John Wilkes Booth.”
…
Captain L. D. Montgomery, who also knew Ruby, concurs: “I think that he thought that if he killed the man that killed the President, then it would make him a hero and possibly some money.”
…
Ruby lamented to Chief Justice Earl Warren during his Warren Commission deposition, “I am as good as guilty as the accused assassin of President Kennedy.” He asked, “How can you remedy that, Mr. Warren? Do any of you men have any ways of remedying that?”*
Are you reading the same cite I am?
*There is very little doubt that Robert Kennedy took control of the “missing” material. This was the finding of the HSCA, as well as many of the Archive employees. The only mystery remaining is exactly how Bobby disposed of the material. And even that mystery is finally starting to fade.
In 1976, RFK’s former press aide, Frank Mankiewicz, told HSCA Counsel Blakey he thought that the “President’s brain is in the grave. LBJ, Ted, Bobby, and maybe McNamara buried it when the body was transferred. Ted seemed to confirm it later.”
JFK’s body was, in fact, reinterred in Arlington in March 1967, upon completion of a memorial structure. HSCA Chief Investigator Robert Tanenbaum related to the author a comment that Mankiewicz allegedly made to him in 1978 – that RFK, in an earlier phone call, said that the brain “is being put back in the coffin. Do not leak this or you’ll be in big trouble.” Mankiewicz denies saying this, but acknowledges being on guard at the perimeter for the reinterment. Evelyn Lincoln told the Committee that she would continue to investigate the matter on her own.
In 1992, in a final attempt to determine the whereabouts of the material, the author enlisted a close friend who is also a confidante of Mrs. Lincoln to put the question to her. After she told the HSCA that she would conduct further inquiries into the matter, did she indeed learn anything about the disposition of the President’s brain? According to the intermediary, Mrs. Lincoln became quiet, looked her friend in the eyes, and simply said, “It’s where it belongs.”*
Absolutely true. 100%. Knowing where the shots are fired from is difficult based on sound. That’s different than being able to discern if the sounds are different, which would suggest they are made from different locations. You may not be able to tell where the locations are but you will know if they are different sounds. No?
By that logic, nobody ever wins the lottery because the odds against it are too great. Oswald was a former Marine, using his own rifle (presumably giving him ample opportunity to practice with it and learn its particular quirks) and he got off a fairly impressive but by no means superhuman shot.
If there had been a grassy knoll shooter, wouldn’t his shot be about as “not impossible, but very difficult”. Wouldn’t any shot that hits any moving target be the same? How close to Kennedy would the shooter have to be to no longer be described as “not impossible, but very difficult”?
I posted the government findings from a cite linked to the cite you posted. If you read the official government findings you will know that nothing was added to the reinternment. This was testomony by the person you’re quoting, not an alledged conversation by someone relating to this person. What you’re describing is a coverup by someone to hide the fact Kennedy’s remains were reintered with his body. How messed up is that?
Again, from government documents specifically addressing the whereabouts of JFK’s autopsy remains: (bolding mine)
(145) After failing to determine the fate of the missing materials by tracing that chain of custody, the committee investigated the possibility that someone had placed the missing autopsy items all of which were physical specimens taken from the body of President Kennedy, in the final grave on reinterment, on March 14, 1967. The persons contacted who were present for the ceremony could not recall any additional package or material being placed in the grave. The Superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery from 1951 to 1972 John Metzler, informed the committee that he attended the burial of the President and the reinterment. At the time of burial, the coffin was placed in a “Wilbur” vault, which has a lid and vault that operate on a tongue and groove system. Tar is placed on the points of contact of the grooves to insure a tight fit and permanent seal. Metzler witnessed the lowering of the lid and the sealing of the vault, and believed that the only method to open the vault subsequently would be to break the lid on the main portion of the vault.
(146) Metzler supervised the reinterment in 1967 and was present at all phases of the transfer: from the opening of the old site through the transfer by crane of the vault to the closing of the new site Metzler said there was no way anyone could have placed anything in the coffin or vault during the transfer without his seeing it. Metzler also said that nothing could have been placed in the vault since 1963 because there was no indication of damage to the vault indicating any disturbance. Metzler stated further that no one placed anything in the new or old gravesite besides the vault.
Well, there are four types to JFK conspiracy Theorists:
-
Those who say Oswald didn’t fire the shots. They are complete loonies and need to be treated like the flithy dude standing on the corner screaming obsenities.
-
Those who say there were two gunmen. Tinfoilhat dudes, who should be shunned.
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Those who say Oswald had help before the shooting. They need to be treated with skepticsm, but if they have some interesting new info, they aren’t crazy. There’s some serious questions there that have not been answered.
-
Those who feel there was some cover-up of non-critical info after the shooting. Well, yeah, duh.
So how DID Oswald know Ruby, then?
(to be fair to lekatt, perhaps he remembers the wrong event-wasn’t the killing of Oswald on live tv?)