The assassination of John F. Kennedy: Conspiracy or fact?

President Kennedy arrived in Texas on 21 November 1963 to begin a planned tour of several cities during which he intended to strengthen political support among Southern Democrats ahead of the 1964 presidential election.

Early the next morning, he spoke briefly to a crowd outside the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth.

Soon after, he boarded Air Force One and flew to Dallas, where thousands of supporters had gathered.

At Love Field, the president and First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy, greeted the crowd before they stepped into a custom-built open-top limousine.

Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, joined them for the motorcade through the city. 

As the vehicle made its way through downtown Dallas, large crowds stood shoulder to shoulder on footpaths and leaned out of windows to catch a glimpse.

The route turned onto Elm Street around 12:30 p.m., when the motorcade entered Dealey Plaza.

At that moment, three shots rang out. A bullet hit President Kennedy in the upper back, another struck Governor Connally, and a third caused a fatal wound to the president’s head.

Jacqueline Kennedy tried to shield her husband as Secret Service agents rushed toward the car.

Shocked spectators ran for cover or looked around in confusion. Abraham Zapruder, a local dress manufacturer, filmed the events on a home movie camera and his film would become one of the most studied pieces of footage in history. 

Police officers reacted quickly and. within minutes, several ran into the Texas School Book Depository after witnesses had pointed toward the building.

A rifle was found on the sixth floor beside three spent cartridges that lay near a window.

The weapon was identified as a 6.5mm Italian Carcano Model 91/38 rifle with serial number C2766 and it was later matched to the bullets recovered from the victims through ballistics tests and purchase records that linked it to Oswald.

Oswald, who worked in the building, had already left and was later seen in Oak Cliff, where he was accused of killing a patrol officer named J. D. Tippit.

Soon after, police arrested Oswald in the Texas Theatre. They charged him with both murders, which led to immediate questioning, according to police records.

Captain Will Fritz led the interrogation. 

During his interviews, Oswald had consistently denied shooting anyone, according to interrogation transcripts.

Two days later, as police prepared to move him from the city jail to the county facility, Jack Ruby stepped out of the crowd and shot him at point-blank range.

Ruby was a Dallas nightclub owner whose real name was Jacob Rubenstein and he had reported ties to local criminals and police officers.

The incident, broadcast live on national television at 11:21 a.m., stunned the public and raised new questions. Ruby used a .38-calibre Colt Cobra revolver. 

Soon after the assassination, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a full investigation.

On 29 November 1963, he created the Warren Commission under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren, and other members included former CIA Director Allen Dulles, Senator Richard Russell, and Congressman Gerald Ford.

The commission collected testimony from hundreds of witnesses and examined film and photographs together with physical evidence from the scene.

Howard Brennan, one of the key eyewitnesses, had seen a man who was firing from the sixth-floor window and later identified Oswald. 

The final report appeared in September 1964 and it stated that Lee Harvey Oswald, who had acted alone according to the commission, had fired three shots from a sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas School Book Depository.

According to the report, the first shot missed. The second struck Kennedy in the upper back and passed through his throat before entering Connally’s back and exiting his chest.

It then passed through his wrist and lodged in his thigh. The third bullet hit Kennedy in the head, killing him instantly. 

Ballistics experts at the time matched the bullets to the Carcano rifle that had been recovered from the building, according to early tests.

Oswald had allegedly brought the weapon to work in a long paper bag, though the bag’s size and the reliability of eyewitness descriptions have been debated by some researchers.

Investigators stated that he waited until the motorcade passed directly below the window, then fired three shots in under six seconds.

Testimony from colleagues confirmed he had been in the building that morning and had left shortly after the shooting. 

Oswald’s background was seen by some commentators as supporting the theory of a lone assassin.

He had spent time in the Soviet Union, returned to the United States with a Russian wife, and showed support for Castro’s Cuba.

His previous attempt to assassinate General Edwin Walker in April 1963, combined with his political beliefs, added to the picture of a disturbed and disillusioned man who acted out of personal conviction. 

From the moment the Warren Report appeared, critics questioned its conclusions.

Many focused on the “single-bullet theory.” According to this explanation, one bullet passed through both Kennedy and Connally, causing seven wounds.

Arlen Specter, a junior counsel for the commission, was the chief proponent of this theory. Critics called it unlikely.

They argued that the bullet’s path and the relatively intact condition of the recovered bullet raised serious doubts. 

Some witnesses said they heard shots that seemed to come from the grassy knoll rather than the book depository.

Some had run toward that area immediately. The Zapruder film, which captured the assassination in vivid detail using a Bell & Howell Zoomatic Director Series Model 414 PD camera, showed Kennedy’s head, which moved slightly forward before it snapped backward, and some people interpreted this as evidence of a shot from the front.

Although investigators argued that this could be explained by muscle reactions, doubts remained. 

Meanwhile, doctors at Parkland Hospital initially described Kennedy’s throat wound as an entrance point, according to some medical staff there.

This contradicted the idea that all shots came from behind. The autopsy, performed at Bethesda Naval Hospital by Dr. James Humes, Dr. Thornton Boswell, and Dr. Pierre Finck, had been criticised by some reviewers for poor documentation and restricted access, and which had omitted key procedures such as dissection of the wound tracks.

The doctors, who were military pathologists without formal training in forensic ballistics, did not follow several key forensic procedures.

As a result, disagreements between the Parkland and Bethesda teams caused confusion. 

Some analysts also studied the timing closely. According to the Zapruder film, all three shots occurred within a short window of time.

Many critics argued at the time that Oswald could not have fired and re-aimed the bolt-action rifle so quickly, particularly with accuracy.

Tests with similar rifles produced mixed results, but some experts managed to repeat the timing under controlled conditions. 

Because the official account left many questions unanswered, a wide range of alternative theories developed.

Some suspected involvement by organised crime. Others believed elements of the United States government had conspired to remove the president. A few claimed that foreign agents played a role.

Each theory offered a different motive and explanation, but all shared one thing in common. They rejected the idea that Oswald acted alone. 

One major theory blamed the Mafia, according to some researchers. Several figures in organised crime had reportedly supported Kennedy’s campaign in 1960, particularly in Illinois.

After the election, however, Attorney General Robert Kennedy launched aggressive investigations into Mafia activities.

Some theorists argued that the assassination was payback. Jack Ruby’s known connections to criminals in Dallas strengthened this theory, although no solid link to the murder plot was ever found. 

Another theory focused on the CIA. After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, some within the agency had lost confidence in Kennedy’s leadership.

His decision to limit further action against Cuba and his move toward negotiations with the Soviet Union made some within the intelligence community view him as a liability.

According to this theory, unauthorised CIA officers, possibly with the help of anti-Castro exiles, arranged for Oswald to carry out the attack. 

Some believed that military leaders viewed Kennedy as a threat to national security.

His plans to reduce American involvement in Vietnam, as outlined in National Security Action Memorandum 263, may have angered those who favoured stronger military action.

According to this view, powerful figures acted to protect their interests and preserve the direction of Cold War policy. 

Foreign involvement also became a topic of speculation. Oswald had spent time in the Soviet Union and later contacted both the Cuban and Soviet embassies in Mexico City.

Some theorists claimed that he had received instructions or promises of protection in return for his actions.

Although no evidence ever confirmed this, the suspicion continued. 

Many supporters of the official explanation defended the Warren Commission’s conclusions by pointing to physical and forensic evidence and the lack of clear proof behind any conspiracy claims.

According to ballistics experts, the single bullet could have caused the wounds if the men’s positions inside the car matched what the report described.

Test firings with identical rifles had shown that a skilled shooter could fire three aimed shots in six seconds. 

Investigators argued that the confusion about the origin of the shots came from the echoes within Dealey Plaza.

The buildings and open space created a distorted sound pattern, which misled witnesses.

Audio studies had failed to confirm the presence of more than three shots. When later reviews examined the supposed recording of a fourth shot used by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, they found it to be invalid. 

Medical evidence, though incomplete, also supported the theory that all shots came from behind.

Forensic pathologists who reviewed the autopsy records concluded that the wounds were consistent with Oswald’s position in the book depository.

While procedural mistakes had affected the original autopsy, the basic findings remained intact. The claim of a frontal shot could not be verified. 

Conspiracies that involved large groups of people also raised logical problems. The more individuals involved, the greater the risk of exposure.

Yet over six decades, no participant came forward with verifiable proof. Released documents under the JFK Records Act showed some intelligence failures and Cold War tensions, but none confirmed the existence of a murder plot.

This lack of solid evidence made most conspiracy theories difficult to prove. 

Kennedy’s assassination left a permanent scar on the American public. The president’s death had been witnessed on live television and reported almost instantly.

His funeral, watched by millions, became a moment of national mourning. The sight of his young children walking behind the casket captured the country’s heartbreak. 

Oswald’s killing two days later created further shock. Americans saw the main suspect gunned down before he could face trial.

For many, this event confirmed their fears that something had gone terribly wrong.

The idea that a lone gunman could kill the president and then be killed in police custody seemed unbelievable. 

Public trust in government institutions began to weaken gradually. Events that followed in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Vietnam War, Watergate, and revelations about CIA activities, had confirmed that leaders had often hidden the truth.

Kennedy’s death became part of a larger pattern of disillusionment. Americans increasingly believed that authorities did not tell the whole story. 

Cultural works showed this suspicion. Films, books, and documentaries offered alternative views and fuelled debate.

Oliver Stone’s JFK, released in 1991, reached a wide audience and argued that the assassination had involved a high-level conspiracy.

The film renewed interest in the case and led to the creation of the Assassination Records Review Board.

Earlier works such as Mark Lane’s "Rush to Judgment" and Jim Marrs’ "Crossfire" also shaped public attitudes toward the case. 

Public opinion polls showed that most Americans rejected the idea that Oswald acted alone.

A Gallup poll in 1976 found that 81% believed a conspiracy had occurred. As of 2023, more than 60% of Americans still held that view.

Successive generations grew up believing that a conspiracy had been hidden. For them, the Warren Commission’s version never explained everything. 

Congress reopened the case in 1976. The House Select Committee on Assassinations reviewed the evidence and concluded in 1979 that Kennedy was probably killed as a result of a conspiracy.

Its decision had been based on an audio recording that seemed to contain four shots.

This finding briefly changed the public debate, though the dictabelt recording came from an open microphone on a police motorcycle and was not originally intended as evidence.

The committee reaffirmed that Oswald had fired at the president but suggested the possibility of a second gunman. 

Later studies had shown the recording to be false. Scientists found that the noises had been misinterpreted and were not gunshots from Dealey Plaza.

Without reliable acoustic evidence, the conspiracy conclusion lost its foundation.

However, the committee’s report still raised questions about the limitations of the original investigation. 

In 1992, Congress passed the JFK Records Act, which required the release of all assassination-related documents.

President George H. W. Bush signed the act into law. The Assassination Records Review Board oversaw this process and made millions of pages public.

Some files remained classified for security reasons, but the majority became available to researchers. 

By the early 2020s, most government records on the case had been declassified.

Still, no clear evidence of a conspiracy had emerged. Scholars, journalists, and independent investigators continued to examine the details.

Yet after six decades of investigation, no theory had successfully replaced the Warren Commission’s conclusion.

The unanswered questions have ensured that the Kennedy assassination continues to be one of the most closely examined events in American history.