The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

by McAuliffe, Carolyn

• ISBN13: 9780737713541
• ISBN10: 0737713542
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-07-01
• Publisher: Greenhaven Pr

Summary

On November 22, 1963 the United States lost its youngest president, John F. Kennedy, to a senseless assassination. This anthology explores the myriad of theories that continue to surround the mysterious death of Kennedy. The official version of the assassination is carefully analyzed for its strengths and weaknesses, and the numerous conspiracy theories are presented for examination. JFK Researchers, including a retired Air Force officer and a former district attorney, are among the contributors to this fascinating volume.

Table of Contents

Foreword	6	(2)
Introduction	8	(9)
Chapter 1: The Warren Report
1. The Warren Report: One Gunman, Acting Alone, Shot and Killed the President
by The Warren Commission	17	(9)
The official report on the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy concludes that Lee
Harvey Oswald was a lone assassin. The Warren Commission dismisses the possibility of a conspiracy
to kill the president.
2. The Commission Used Unsound Tactics in the Case Against Oswald
by Leo Sauvage	26	(11)
Leo Sauvage addresses Chapter IV of the Warren Report titled "The Assassin." He finds it reprehensible
that police questioned Lee Harvey Oswald for twelve hours after his arrest in the absence of a
lawyer. He also observes the contradictions found in Marina Oswald's testimony concerning the whereabouts
of the rifle. Sauvage questions the integrity of the evidence used to convict Oswald.
3. Weak Links in the Warren Report
by Gerald Posner	37	(7)
Gerald Posner examines the areas in the Warren Report that made the commission vulnerable to
conspiracy theorists and doubters. The deliberate omission of eyewitness testimonies that
challenged the official version of the assassination caused great suspicion. He questions the
commission's support of the "single-bullet" theory despite its lack of positive evidence.
4. Shifting Testimony Clouds the Report
by Matthew Smith	44	(11)
The Warren Commission's indictment of Oswald was based in part on the sometimes-shifting testimony of
eyewitnesses. That testimony, a misidentitied murder weapon, and a "magic bullet" that somehow struck both
the president and the Texas governor-added up to a confused mountain of evidence and caused many to discredit
the commission's final report.
Chapter 2: The Conspiracy Theories
1. The Mafia Killed the President
by David E. Scheim	55	(13)
David E. Scheim's ten-year private investigation concludes that the Mafia conspired to kill the president. Scheim
focuses on Jack Ruby, a member of organized crime, whom he believes killed Lee Harvey Oswald to silence him from
revealing the truth. Scheim's findings include evidence of a meeting over drinks between Jack Ruby and a man who had
an uncanny resemblance to Oswald.
2. The FBI Perpetrated a Cover-Up
by Peter Dale Scott	68	(7)
Peter Dale Scott uncovers evidence he says proves that the FBI deliberately withheld information from the Warren Commission
in order to protect government interests. The FBI was privy to government connections with organized crime, possibly in a
tentative plan to assassinate Cuba's Communist leader Fidel Castro. A cover-up may have transpired to prevent the public's
discovery of associations unrelated to the assassination of JFK.
3. A Team of Assassins Killed Kennedy
by Jim Garrison, interviewed by Playboy	75	(8)
In this revealing interview with Playboy magazine, attorney Jim Garrison claims that a team of at least seven men killed
Kennedy and that Oswald was merely a "patsy." He provides a detailed account of the sequence of shots fired during the assassination,
pointing out what he believes to be the implausibility of the Warren Commission's "single-bullet" theory.
4. Kennedy's Policy on Vietnam Led to His Murder
by L. Fletcher Prouty	83	(10)
L. Fletcher Prouty, a retired Air Force officer who served in the Pentagon, suggests that government officials had Kennedy killed
in order to prevent him from implementing his plan to remove U.S. soldiers from Vietnam.
5. The Armchair Theorists Lack Credibility
by Richard Warren Lewis	93	(14)
Richard Warren Lewis questions the credibility of the claims and findings made by the JFK assassination buffs. He discredits, for instance,
David Lifton's "discovery" of multiple assassins in enlarged photographs taken on the day of the assassination. Lifton claims that the shadows
in the photographs are assassins, whereas Lewis states the shadows are merely distorted engraving dots that naturally occur in all film.
For Further Research	107	(3)
Index	110