JFK50: Represent Truth
Fifty years. That’s how long it’s been since John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22nd, 1963. That’s how much time has passed since a coup d’état was enacted in full public view. Five decades of lies, mistrust, suspicion, and propaganda. My own interest in this subject has lasted well over a decade. Needless to say, I don’t believe the official conclusions reached by the Warren Commission in 1964. But I’m not going to repeat assassination details, facts, misconceptions, and theories here—there are many other sources where you can read that. I don’t have my own pet theory as to who did it and why, and I don’t have a book to sell or agenda to advertise.
I want the truth.
Before I go any further, let me clear up any assumptions you may have regarding me. I don’t believe JFK was a saint, or that his administration (‘Camelot’) was all that progressive. I do not subscribe to his ‘personality cult’ like others, nor do I agree with how John & Jackie have been romanticized in the years since 11-22-63. They were human beings, and thus fallible. Do I think JFK would have avoided the Vietnam War? Of course; NSAM 263 shows his intentions—and in writing, no less (1,000 military personnel home by Christmas 1963; all military personnel out by 1965). Would this country be any better had JFK lived? I think so, but not so much as others like to imagine. He was a member of the ruling establishment. A wealthy politician. Not a messianic figure that would have made the United States a perfect society.
I’m not a ‘conspiracy nut’. We did land on the Moon. The Holocaust did happen. World leaders aren’t reptilian aliens in disguise. There is no hard evidence for Bigfoot, Nessie, or of UFOs. Atlantean documents aren’t stored in a secret library beneath the Sphinx.
So why does this assassination interest me? Because it reveals the lie behind the American dream. An elected leader was slain in public and replaced by one with far different policies. The assassination was—and still is—covered up by our government. The depth of official lies, media acquiescence, and shoddy conclusions still anger me. Remember, to ignore the past is to repeat it. The JFK assassination is a true, ongoing lesson in state power vs. democratic principles. It cannot be ignored.
This year, I traveled to Dallas to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination. It was the first time I’d visited Dealey Plaza and the Trade School Book Depository (now the Sixth Floor Museum). It really is a small space, which made JFK’s murder all the more intimate for those who witnessed and survived it. Seeing these locations with my own eyes didn’t change what I think or what I know. I didn’t experience some grand epiphany as I walked up the Grassy Knoll. No chill traveled up my spine as I gazed out a window from the Book Depository. No tears dimmed my eyes as I passed the flower-studded memorial parallel with the street, marking the spot of the fatal head shot. The same shot as seen in Zapruder film frame 313.
I was in Dealey Plaza to represent truth, and the hope that it will be revealed one day.
There were hundreds of others in Dealey Plaza too—people who mourned JFK, and those still fuming over the Warren Report’s nonsense. I spotted a few who used the assassination to symbolize their own politics: anti-Obama posters, the city of Dallas and its trite treatment of the assassination (no original witnesses were allowed into the ticketed ceremony on the morning of the 22nd). Then there was the conspiracy nuts that make us real researchers look bad: Alex Jones, blabbing into a microphone in the Plaza; a man with a Carcano rifle slung over his shoulder, with a large Texas flag protruding from the barrel; a local radio station’s supporter carrying an Israeli flag. But there were many who I was glad to see: the guy holding up a sign that read ‘Coup D’état!’; individuals carrying blue signs reading ‘LBJ Done It’; a mother showing her toddler daughter the memorial plaque beside the street. Older couples visiting the Plaza, no doubt recalling a far different America than the one I live in now. People selling newspapers questioning the Warren Report, or the guy I bought Robert Groden’s ‘Case for Conspiracy’ from—maybe they’re trying to make a buck, but at least they’re asking people to question our government.
As I stood behind the concrete barrier on the Grassy Knoll, I felt sad. Dallas—and the world—continued around me, vehicles speeding through the streets, crowds bustling through crosswalks, individuals focused on their cell phones. And before me, dozens milling about Dealey Plaza, often discussing or arguing various theories. I was saddened by the murder of a human being—John Kennedy—and by people’s reaction to it today. They either ignore it, don’t care about it, or argue its points and possible tangents. Apathy or assumption.
I wish the JFK research community would stop all the in-fighting. We need to speak with one voice if we are ever to be heard. The pet theories need to die when evidence dispels that idea. These theories in particular hurt our cause: William Greer, the limo driver, shooting JFK with a pistol; George Hickey, accidentally shooting JFK with his AR-15 from the follow-up car; the Zapruder film being a fake; James Files as the Grassy Knoll shooter; ‘Badge Man’ claimed to be visible in the Mary Moorman photograph; Roscoe White being the Grassy Knoll shooter and the murderer of J.D. Tippit; and the worst, that organized crime planned and carried out the assassination all by itself.
The Zapruder film and the known wounds on JFK’s body, John Connally, and James Tague make it plain that at least five shots were fired: one shot through JFK’s throat; one into his back (doctors couldn’t probe their pinky finger all the way through it, thus it wasn’t the same shot as the throat wound); at least one shot into Connally’s back (that may have caused all his wounds, but unlikely); the missed shot that struck the street corner and cut Tague’s cheek with the resulting shrapnel; and the final head shot that killed JFK. I could go on with many more details about Oswald, the CIA, Clay Shaw, and others, but the basic facts stated above are enough to completely destroy the Warren Commission’s findings.
See? No crazy theories, no gunmen firing from sewers or with fancy ammo. No magic bullet. Just verifiable facts. Don’t take my word for it. Watch the Zapruder film. Examine the testimonies of Parkland and Bethesda doctors. Ask yourself why the best riflemen in the world still can’t match the shooting Oswald is alleged to have done, from the same height, with the exact same bolt-action rifle and faulty scope, with a tree blocking the first two shots, in six seconds (and no, that FBI test didn’t truly replicate the conditions Oswald was supposed to be shooting under—and the agent still failed the test).
But in the end, the number of shots, the direction they came from, Oswald’s CIA connections—that is all just scenery, as expressed by a character in Oliver Stone’s film ‘JFK’. We need to ask: why was JFK killed, and why was it covered up?
Why is our government still lying to us?
JFK is long dead, and so are most, if not all, of the conspirators involved in his murder. So why care? It’s more than justice I seek. For if the truth comes out, that day would be a victory of the people over state power. And state power dominates our lives as we come closer to Orwell’s nightmare. In many ways, we’re already living in the world of Orwell’s character, Winston Smith. Discovering who killed Kennedy, and why, would be the first step in reversing our transition to an Orwellian society.
So when I stood in Dealey Plaza on that cold, rainy Friday, pulling up the hood of my coat to guard against the wind, I wondered when the answer to that question will be known. When I signed the guest book in the Sixth Floor Museum, I wrote ‘we still want to know the truth’. Perhaps, should I live long enough, I’ll be in Dealey Plaza for the 100th anniversary of the assassination. If that comes to pass, I hope that my presence there will be in celebration of knowledge. Knowledge of who did this and why. I don’t want to visit that site again under the auspices of seeking answers.
It’s time that we demand them.
Ask not what your country can do for you…ask what you can do for your country.
What we can do for all of us.
I want the truth.
Before I go any further, let me clear up any assumptions you may have regarding me. I don’t believe JFK was a saint, or that his administration (‘Camelot’) was all that progressive. I do not subscribe to his ‘personality cult’ like others, nor do I agree with how John & Jackie have been romanticized in the years since 11-22-63. They were human beings, and thus fallible. Do I think JFK would have avoided the Vietnam War? Of course; NSAM 263 shows his intentions—and in writing, no less (1,000 military personnel home by Christmas 1963; all military personnel out by 1965). Would this country be any better had JFK lived? I think so, but not so much as others like to imagine. He was a member of the ruling establishment. A wealthy politician. Not a messianic figure that would have made the United States a perfect society.
I’m not a ‘conspiracy nut’. We did land on the Moon. The Holocaust did happen. World leaders aren’t reptilian aliens in disguise. There is no hard evidence for Bigfoot, Nessie, or of UFOs. Atlantean documents aren’t stored in a secret library beneath the Sphinx.
So why does this assassination interest me? Because it reveals the lie behind the American dream. An elected leader was slain in public and replaced by one with far different policies. The assassination was—and still is—covered up by our government. The depth of official lies, media acquiescence, and shoddy conclusions still anger me. Remember, to ignore the past is to repeat it. The JFK assassination is a true, ongoing lesson in state power vs. democratic principles. It cannot be ignored.
This year, I traveled to Dallas to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination. It was the first time I’d visited Dealey Plaza and the Trade School Book Depository (now the Sixth Floor Museum). It really is a small space, which made JFK’s murder all the more intimate for those who witnessed and survived it. Seeing these locations with my own eyes didn’t change what I think or what I know. I didn’t experience some grand epiphany as I walked up the Grassy Knoll. No chill traveled up my spine as I gazed out a window from the Book Depository. No tears dimmed my eyes as I passed the flower-studded memorial parallel with the street, marking the spot of the fatal head shot. The same shot as seen in Zapruder film frame 313.
I was in Dealey Plaza to represent truth, and the hope that it will be revealed one day.
There were hundreds of others in Dealey Plaza too—people who mourned JFK, and those still fuming over the Warren Report’s nonsense. I spotted a few who used the assassination to symbolize their own politics: anti-Obama posters, the city of Dallas and its trite treatment of the assassination (no original witnesses were allowed into the ticketed ceremony on the morning of the 22nd). Then there was the conspiracy nuts that make us real researchers look bad: Alex Jones, blabbing into a microphone in the Plaza; a man with a Carcano rifle slung over his shoulder, with a large Texas flag protruding from the barrel; a local radio station’s supporter carrying an Israeli flag. But there were many who I was glad to see: the guy holding up a sign that read ‘Coup D’état!’; individuals carrying blue signs reading ‘LBJ Done It’; a mother showing her toddler daughter the memorial plaque beside the street. Older couples visiting the Plaza, no doubt recalling a far different America than the one I live in now. People selling newspapers questioning the Warren Report, or the guy I bought Robert Groden’s ‘Case for Conspiracy’ from—maybe they’re trying to make a buck, but at least they’re asking people to question our government.
As I stood behind the concrete barrier on the Grassy Knoll, I felt sad. Dallas—and the world—continued around me, vehicles speeding through the streets, crowds bustling through crosswalks, individuals focused on their cell phones. And before me, dozens milling about Dealey Plaza, often discussing or arguing various theories. I was saddened by the murder of a human being—John Kennedy—and by people’s reaction to it today. They either ignore it, don’t care about it, or argue its points and possible tangents. Apathy or assumption.
I wish the JFK research community would stop all the in-fighting. We need to speak with one voice if we are ever to be heard. The pet theories need to die when evidence dispels that idea. These theories in particular hurt our cause: William Greer, the limo driver, shooting JFK with a pistol; George Hickey, accidentally shooting JFK with his AR-15 from the follow-up car; the Zapruder film being a fake; James Files as the Grassy Knoll shooter; ‘Badge Man’ claimed to be visible in the Mary Moorman photograph; Roscoe White being the Grassy Knoll shooter and the murderer of J.D. Tippit; and the worst, that organized crime planned and carried out the assassination all by itself.
The Zapruder film and the known wounds on JFK’s body, John Connally, and James Tague make it plain that at least five shots were fired: one shot through JFK’s throat; one into his back (doctors couldn’t probe their pinky finger all the way through it, thus it wasn’t the same shot as the throat wound); at least one shot into Connally’s back (that may have caused all his wounds, but unlikely); the missed shot that struck the street corner and cut Tague’s cheek with the resulting shrapnel; and the final head shot that killed JFK. I could go on with many more details about Oswald, the CIA, Clay Shaw, and others, but the basic facts stated above are enough to completely destroy the Warren Commission’s findings.
See? No crazy theories, no gunmen firing from sewers or with fancy ammo. No magic bullet. Just verifiable facts. Don’t take my word for it. Watch the Zapruder film. Examine the testimonies of Parkland and Bethesda doctors. Ask yourself why the best riflemen in the world still can’t match the shooting Oswald is alleged to have done, from the same height, with the exact same bolt-action rifle and faulty scope, with a tree blocking the first two shots, in six seconds (and no, that FBI test didn’t truly replicate the conditions Oswald was supposed to be shooting under—and the agent still failed the test).
But in the end, the number of shots, the direction they came from, Oswald’s CIA connections—that is all just scenery, as expressed by a character in Oliver Stone’s film ‘JFK’. We need to ask: why was JFK killed, and why was it covered up?
Why is our government still lying to us?
JFK is long dead, and so are most, if not all, of the conspirators involved in his murder. So why care? It’s more than justice I seek. For if the truth comes out, that day would be a victory of the people over state power. And state power dominates our lives as we come closer to Orwell’s nightmare. In many ways, we’re already living in the world of Orwell’s character, Winston Smith. Discovering who killed Kennedy, and why, would be the first step in reversing our transition to an Orwellian society.
So when I stood in Dealey Plaza on that cold, rainy Friday, pulling up the hood of my coat to guard against the wind, I wondered when the answer to that question will be known. When I signed the guest book in the Sixth Floor Museum, I wrote ‘we still want to know the truth’. Perhaps, should I live long enough, I’ll be in Dealey Plaza for the 100th anniversary of the assassination. If that comes to pass, I hope that my presence there will be in celebration of knowledge. Knowledge of who did this and why. I don’t want to visit that site again under the auspices of seeking answers.
It’s time that we demand them.
Ask not what your country can do for you…ask what you can do for your country.
What we can do for all of us.
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