Who killed John F. Kennedy? What conspiracy theories there are

While in the official version the shooter Lee Harvey Oswald is a lone perpetrator, countless conspiracy theorists believe in a plot against the 35th US President by the CIA, the Mafia, Fidel Castro or even Kennedy’s successor Lyndon B. Johnson.

Since the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy 60 years ago, hundreds of book authors and documentary filmmakers, as well as Hollywood directors, have been searching for the real murderer of the popular US president. According to surveys, more than half of US citizens believe in a conspiracy to date. The loose ends that remain after much investigation continue to provide fodder for wild speculation about Kennedy’s assassination.

“I didn’t kill anyone”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Oswald told reporters shortly after his arrest. He denied involvement in Kennedy’s assassination until his death two days later. However, the evidence found spoke against him. Police found his fingerprints on the murder weapon, which was found in the Texas textbook depot. As an employee of the depot, he was able to enter and leave the crime scene without any problems. Oswald was arrested in a cinema an hour and a half after the attack, having shot patrolman JD Tippit as he fled.

What was missing, however, was Oswald’s plausible motive. The psychological and private problems of the former marine, who had meanwhile lived in the USSR, were not satisfactory enough for many. The bar owner Jack Ruby, who was said to have ties to the mafia, further fueled the rumor mill with his statement after Oswald’s murder. If the world wants to know the true background of the dramatic events, he must be brought to Washington, he said at a press conference. He couldn’t talk “here” and referred to ominous “powerful people” who prevented him from doing so.

When the work for the conspiracy theorists was just beginning

Just a few days after the attack, the voices of those who believed in a conspiracy became increasingly louder in the press. The increasing pressure to investigate the assassination prompted Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, to set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry headed by the Chief Justice of the United States, Earl Warren, a week after his predecessor’s death. After interviewing over 500 witnesses and reviewing approximately 20,000 pages of FBI interrogation transcripts, the Warren Commission concluded that the shots at the president were fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. It was also established that neither Oswald nor Ruby were participants in any conspiracies. For the commission and President Johnson, Oswald’s individual perpetration was proven.

• more on the subject: Kennedy assassination: What happened to the man in the trunk?

For conspiracy theorists, this is just the beginning of their work. The Warren Commission was unable to provide a convincing answer to the central question of Oswald’s motive. It was rumored that a president of the world power USA should not just be killed by an inconspicuous man, there had to be something bigger behind it – that could also mean that the perpetrator was the CIA’s own domestic secret service.

CIA plays a central role in all theories

The CIA plays a central role in almost all conspiracy theories. For many skeptics of the official version, her poor cooperation with the Warren Commission made her even more suspected of being involved in the murder plot. The focus was on the assassination of Cuba’s then ruler Fidel Castro, planned by the CIA. Kennedy is said to have intended a peaceful rapprochement with the communist country and paid for it with his life.

The OÖN edition from 1963 for download:

The CIA, however, pursued its own theories about Kennedy’s death and identified a counter-conspiracy. This opinion was also spread by people close to the government. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Castro had something to do with it,” said US Senator Richard Russel in a conversation with Johnson shortly after the attack. According to statements by CIA Director Richard Helms, which were quoted in the 2009 book “CIA” by Tim Weiner, Castro is said to have learned of the CIA’s assassination plans and launched a counterattack. The CIA remained silent, including in the case of the Warren Commission, so that the public would not be held responsible for Kennedy’s death. The CIA did not disclose Castro’s assassination plans until 1974.

The Soviet Union is also among the suspects

Given Oswald’s past, the Soviet Union is also among the suspects. The Kennedy assassin traveled to the USSR in 1959 and spent several years there. When he returned to the United States with his family, he repeatedly contacted the Soviet and Cuban embassies in Mexico, according to the CIA. Theories that the USSR sent a “false Oswald” to avenge the disgrace of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 were shelved with a later exhumation of Oswald.

The Kennedy family’s past also led conspiracyists to believe in mafia involvement. The father, Joseph P. Kennedy, had a close relationship with Cosa Nostra at the time of Prohibition. This is also said to have supported John F. Kennedy in obtaining votes when he was elected president. When John’s brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, no longer wanted to tolerate the Mafia, the friendly relationship came to an end. A Senate committee later found that the Mafia was also involved in CIA assassination plots against Castro.

The list of possible murderers is long

The list of possible murderers of Kennedy is long. In order to further invalidate the lone perpetrator thesis, the “Magic Bullett”, known as a ballistic miracle, became the focus of conspiracy theorists.

Three empty cartridge cases were found on the sixth floor of the school book depot – so according to the official version there were only three shots. One bullet was proven to miss the target, one hit the US President in the neck, left the front of his body and hit Texas Governor John Connally, who was sitting in front of him, in the upper body from behind. The third hit Kennedy in the head, killing him.

The first bullet puzzled experts

However, the first bullet puzzled experts. Their run seemed impossible due to the firing angle and the seating arrangement of Kennedy and Connally. The distance from which the shot was fired also spoke against a clean shot. Testimony other than that on which the Warren Report relied has been unearthed. There was talk of at least four shots, some even as many as sixteen. Weapons experts found that Oswald could not have had time to fire all three shots. His weapon – an old Italian Mannlicher-Carcano – was not technically designed as a repeating rifle, as stated in the report, to fire three shots in 8.3 seconds – Oswald would therefore have needed at least twice that time.

Discoveries like these gave way to theories about a second perpetrator at the scene. A popular theory in the USA is that of the “Badge Man”. Gary Mack claims to have discovered the second shooter with an Army badge while developing a photo showing Kennedy’s motorcade and the Grassy Noll behind it. But “Badge Man” only exists in one photo.

Shot from the front?

Against the background of the amateur filmmaker Abraham Zapruder’s recordings of the assassination attempt, which were only published in 1975, there is also discussion in skeptic circles as to whether Kennedy was actually shot from the front. The president’s “bleeded” shirt is used to support the thesis: According to this, it was not Oswald, but Kennedy’s own chauffeur who fired the final and fatal shot through his body from the front. The autopsy images, which were only published years after his death and which confirmed bullet holes from behind, are ignored.

There will probably be no final clarification. Filling the resulting gap with conspiracy theories is deeply American, explained the Austrian historian Günter Bischof in 2013 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the attack. “In American history, conspiratorial thinking is a basic trait among the population.” Whenever events happen that are too big and overwhelming to immediately understand, like the 9/11 attacks, a portion of the US population simply refuses to accept rational explanations.

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