# Who killed JFK? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 3, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495 "2011-10-03T23:49:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FixMyIgnorance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7feea3/32.png) [@FixMyIgnorance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FixMyIgnorance)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/1 "2011-10-03T23:49:14Z")
I’ve always wondered if this was one of those questions where the simple answer was the right one (Lee Harvey Oswald) and the conspiracy theories were just unfalsifiable nonsense and extrapolation. What does the evidence suggest? ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/2 "2011-10-03T23:51:17Z")
Lee Harvey Oswald ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/3 "2011-10-03T23:52:58Z")
The evidence suggests that Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald, a mentally unstable Communist who worked along the motorcade route and held a grudge against Kennedy for US actions in Cuba. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/4 "2011-10-03T23:55:34Z")
The evidence suggests nothing but Oswald. Crazy made-up stuff can suggest whatever you want. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/5 "2011-10-03T23:56:54Z")
I can’t stand it anymore! I have to confess, I did it! I can’t stand the guilt anymore, and … Wait, did you mean John Fitzgerald Kennedy, or[John Franklin Kennedy](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=621962&highlight=john+franklin+kennedy)? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/6 "2011-10-04T00:10:09Z")
Since everyone is posting nonsense conspiracy theories, I’m going go swim against the current and say: Lee Harvey Oswald. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/7 "2011-10-04T00:12:08Z")
It’s funny how WTC Truthers ended up boosting the credibility of Oswald as the sole and only killer of JFK. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/8 "2011-10-04T00:12:54Z")
Lee Harvey Oswald Now, I love the film JFK. If you can take it as fiction it is an excellent piece of film-making with wonderful performances throughout. Not least by Gary Oldman as Oswald himself. But having said that…it\* is\* fiction. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/9 "2011-10-04T00:15:30Z")
There’s always room for another thread about the Kennedy assassination, but I think the question was definitively resolved in this [epic thread from 2009](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=525537). You will find that the ignorance fighters on this message board are convinced that JFK was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/10 "2011-10-04T00:15:44Z")
I’m going to break the mold here and go against the overwhelming sentiment of the board. Who REALLY killed JFK? 😕 Wait for it… 😕 WAAAIIIITTTT FOOOORR IIIIITTTT… 😕 The answer is…Oswald. Lee Harvey. That’s right. I know that this is going to be a shocking revelation, and totally cuts against the grain, but the overwhelming evidence indicates that it was Harvey, Lee Oswald who dunnit! :eek: -XT ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/11 "2011-10-04T00:16:23Z")
Well, _I_ don’t have an alibi. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/12 "2011-10-04T00:18:02Z")
I was 3 years old, so don’t look at me… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/13 "2011-10-04T00:18:08Z")
It was Lee Harvey Oswald but . . . he was standing on the grassy knoll when he did it - not the book depository ---
**Author:** ![New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9d8465/32.png) [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/New_Deal_Democrat)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/14 "2011-10-04T00:20:24Z")
If there was a conspiracy, Lee Harvey Oswald was part of it. His finger prints were on the rifle that ballistics tests linked to the bullets that killed John Kennedy. A paraffin test demonstrated that Oswald had recently fired a gun. I think Oswald probably acted alone. However, I can think of two possible conspiracies. Both would have involved a fairly small number of people. The larger a conspiracy is, the more likely someone is to talk. First, while Kennedy was president the CIA made several attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. KGB agents guarding Castro may have decided to hit back. This would not have been a conspiracy by the entire KGB, but several rouge agents acting on their own. If the Warren Commission had uncovered this conspiracy it may have covered it up in order to avoid the possibility of war with the Soviet Union. Second, during the campaign of 1960 Joseph P. Kennedy, John’s father, paid Mafia gangsters to stuff ballot boxes in tight districts. After Kennedy’s inauguration, he appointed his brother Bobby as Attorney General. Bobby began to go after the Mafia. The gangsters who had stuffed the ballot boxes would have felt betrayed. Members of the Kennedy family would have had a motive to cover up this conspiracy in order to avoid publicizing the knowledge of Joseph P.'s behavior. Conspiracy buffs seem to be people on the left who blame left wing hate targets, like the CIA, the Pentagon, the defense industry, and/or even Lyndon Johnson. A conspiracy that vast would certainly have been exposed by now. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/15 "2011-10-04T00:22:11Z")
We can safely say it wan’t Obama, since… …he was still in Kenya at the time! ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/16 "2011-10-04T00:33:16Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > a conspiracy by the entire KGB, but several rouge agents acting on their own. Red and rouge? They’re gonna end up Vermillion. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/17 "2011-10-04T02:01:46Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Red and rouge? They’re gonna end up Vermillion. Rogue? Are you saying Sarah Palin was part of the conspiracy? ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/18 "2011-10-04T02:23:33Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Rogue? Are you saying Sarah Palin was part of the conspiracy? I havent said anything. _You_ said it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/19 "2011-10-04T02:25:28Z")
Who killed the Kennedys? After all, it was you and me. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495/20 "2011-10-04T02:28:30Z")
[Wiki section on the conspiracy theories.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_assassination_conspiracy_theories#Conspiracy_theories) Pretty comprehensive. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jfk/598495.md?page=2)