Harrison Kilgore, '26
JFK’s death was a spawn of conspiracy for many people. The fact that the commission investigating his death felt that the CIA and the FBI withheld information says enough. Congress in the 80’s stated that they believed JFK’s death was part of a wider conspiracy. Furthermore, JFK’s “assassin” was killed two days after the fact and before a trial could investigate him publicly. Finally, three shots were fired, and 2 of them hit JFK in a moving car across the street from over 200 feet away, which is hard to believe. Why was JFK assassinated, who did it, and why doesn't the story add up?
Let’s start with why Lee Harvey Oswald was even at the book depository where he shot JFK. Oswald’s wife had been invited to Ruth Paine’s house as she was new to Texas. Ruth Paine decided to invite her friend Linnie Rondle. In conversation, they brought up that Lee Harvey Oswald needed a job. Linnie Rondle’s husband worked at the book depository and mentioned that there was a temporary opening. Linnie Rondle booked an interview, where he landed the job. It is worth noting that he had secured this job a full month before the announcement of the motorcade and route. If his goal was to get a clean shot on Kennedy, this was a very odd way to go about it. The person carpooling with Lee Harvey Oswald reported seeing him with a bag with “curtain rods” the day of the shooting. But when the person on the first floor saw him, they didn’t see him with the bag.
The day prior, it was reported in the Dallas Newspaper that the motorcade would be unlikely. JFK insisted. When it became apparent it would happen early in the workday; Lee Harvey Oswald asked one of his colleagues why people were gathered out front. His colleague told him the President would be driving by. He could not have gotten to his house without a driver's license. Oswald was known for following politics and he likely read this information in the same newspaper that published the story about the motorcade. So either he didn’t do it, or he had inside information.
Twenty minutes before the shooting, a man named Bonnie Williams was on the 6th floor eating lunch and looking out the window. This just so happens to be where Kennedy’s shooter shot rounds. Williams claims he didn’t see anybody up there with him but does admit that large boxes were blocking his view on the left, which is the believed origin of the shots. He then heard the voices of his friends on the floor below him. He left 5-10 minutes before the shots were fired from that floor without seeing or hearing anyone up there. This report directly conflicted with a man named Arnold Rowland. Rowland had seen a man with a rifle in the far left of the building 10-15 minutes before the shooting. This means that Bonnie Williams would have seen him on his right, but he didn’t. Both of these people were consistent with their claims even years after the event; countless people tried to poke holes in their stories, but that didn’t change anything. This could be the brain distorting a traumatic event, but it is still worth considering.
The most convincing point is the number of bullet shots and location discrepancies. The number of shots is often brought up when discrediting the official story. A little under 50% of people there heard four shots, while a little over 50 % heard only 3 shots. This is enough people to cast doubt but isn’t enough alone to discredit the official story. But, there is another side to the gunshots. The gunshots were heard from a grassy hill nearby as well as a book depository. Over half the people by the grassy hill heard a gunshot behind them and from the depository, even though there is no mention of a second gunman in the official report.
All things considered, the JFK story may have some truth to it, but there definitely seems to be an inconsistent amount of information, some of which may even be historically withheld.