60 Years Since JFK’s Death
TOMORROW marks 60 years since President John F Kennedy was shot as his motorcade snaked through Dallas, Texas – but even after six decades his assassination remains steeped in mystery and intrigue. From the moment his horrifying last moments were caught on film, conspiracy theories have been rife, from mob hits to CIA plots and even aliens.
This week, a Gallup poll showed that 65 per cent of Americans believe Oswald was involved in a conspiracy with others to kill the President. On the anniversary, we look at the emerging evidence and most believed theories surrounding JFK’s death.
The Withheld Records
PRESIDENT Joe Biden’s release last year of 13,000 records linked to the Kennedy case means 70,000 can now be viewed by the public. But 3,684 documents are still partly or completely redacted, further fuelling speculation that US Government agencies are involved in a cover-up.
The Medics
Doctors at Parkland Memorial Hospital who tried to save JFK’s life said they believed there was more than one shooter involved. Dr Robert McClelland said: “In all probability there was a conspiracy. There was more than one shooter.”
The ‘Magic’ Bullet
OSWALD is believed to have fired three bullets. The first missed, while the third delivered the fatal blow to the President’s head. The second bullet has been at the centre of theories of another shooter — possibly hiding on the grassy knoll that the motorcade passed. Witnesses also claimed to have heard shots from that direction.
The Vanished Film
Famous home-movie footage of the JFK shooting filmed by tailor Abraham Zapruder shows the moment of impact before wife Jackie leans over the car to retrieve part of her husband’s skull. But a second home movie, taken by maintenance worker Orville Nix, was subpoenaed by the Government as part of its investigations.
The Russian Link
Records released two years ago revealed that self-styled Marxist Oswald went to Mexico two months before the assassination and met Consul Valery Kostikov — identified by the CIA as a KGB agent in a branch responsible for “sabotage and assassination”, according to papers.
The Female Pilot
Author and documentary maker Mary Haverstick has investigated a pilot named Jerrie Cobb, who had passed medical tests for the 1960s Mercury space missions, only to be ruled out because she was a woman.
The Spy Theory
AMERICAN intelligence admitted they were watching Oswald before JFK was murdered — but took years to come clean on just how keenly. Papers released in 2017 revealed that Oswald’s CIA screener was Reuben Efron, a US Army lieutenant colonel and a Jewish Lithuanian immigrant.
What If He Had Lived?
WARMONGERING Vice President Lyndon B Johnson does not become the next President, and American lives are saved as Kennedy withdraws 16,000 US personnel from Vietnam before the conflict escalates into a full-blown war. Spooked by the Cuban missile crisis, JFK works with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to limit nuclear weapons and the Cold War ends early.