The Grassy Knoll:
Many people believe that there simply could not have been a single shooter in the assassination. Witnesses reported hearing three shots fired in rapid succession at the time the president was shot. A bolt action rifle like the one that was found near Oswald's sniping position would have had a very tough time firing off three shots rapidly. This led many Americans to believe there simply must have been more than one shooter involved in the assassination. A number of witnesses reported hearing gunshots from a grassy knoll located in front of the presidential motorcade. This spawned the theory that there was a second shooter on the grassy knoll. In the investigation following the shooting, many pictures of the knoll were analyzed but conclusive photo evidence of a second shooter was never found. An audio recording of the shooting also seemed to suggest a shooter had be situated on the grassy knoll, but this recording was later shown to be a recording from the wrong time frame.
The "Pristine" bullet:
When president Kennedy was shot, Texas Governor John Connally was also hit by an assassins bullet. The bullet that hit the governor first struck Kennedy in the neck, then traveled through Connally's ribcage and into his wrist. The bullet shattered one of the governor's ribs as well as his wrist, which should have caused the bullet to become misshapen and malformed. However, at the hospital where governor Connally was taken a bullet believed to be the one which shot the governor was found on a stretcher. Strangely, the bullet was found on a different stretcher than the one the governor was transported on. The rifle marks on the bullet were found to match the rifle that was found at Oswald's sniping postition. It was believed that the bullet fell out of the governors clothing and onto the stretcher, but this story simply is hard to believe. The bullet traveled through the president, then broke two bones and yet was found in almost perfect condition. It is hard to believe that the bullet found at the hospital was the same bullet that hit both men. This led many conspiracy theorists to consider the possibility that Oswald was being framed. What do you think? Was there more than one shooter in the assassination? Was the bullet found at the hospital really the bullet that injured Governor Connally?
Nice Post. The questions proposed both in the video we watched and your post, not only further examine the topic, but also enter the realm of speculation. This conspiracy is based on a vague congressional reports, and coincidental evidence. Additionally, the idea of the pristine bullet that was found on the stretcher only exacerbates the claims that Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly in tandem with another shooter. The only way to close the file on the assassination is to accept that it happened and move on.
ReplyDeleteTo me, it seems extremely unlikely that there was a second shooter for the primary reason that this was the most documented assassination. As we saw in the movie, there were so many video cameras and photographers recording the whole procession. The notion that this "second assassin" could avoid all the cameras and hide himself without anyone noticing seems highly unlikely. This is just my opinion, feel free to disagree.
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ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, there is no question that there was a second shooter, nor that it was orchestrated by a group of individuals. This can be seen by the evidence tampering and events of the day. The fact that multiple people said that there was secret service around the grassy knoll however none were reported officially police reports and the footsteps and cigarettes found behind the fence where they believed that a shooter could have been. Lee Harvey Oswald, although militarily trained, would not have been able to shoot 3 times in 6 seconds because the bolt action rifle he was using would not be able to shoot in that great of succession. also the fact that his perch was almost to perfect does not sit right with me. the pristine bullet found on the stretcher could not even remotely be apart of the assassination because of its condition which arises the thought of a organized plot which I believe is completely possible. Presidential assassination in the past, such as Lincoln's would be evidence that such a act would have to be carried out by multiple people
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Peter. I'm glad we watched that NOVA documentary because otherwise I probably never would have paid attention to any of the sketchy facts surrounding President Kennedy's death. I think the most shocking and disturbing fact is that Lee Harvey Oswald was shot before there could be an investigation -- to me, this is the biggest clue that there was perhaps something bigger at work, and it also tells me that we will never know for sure what actually happened.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent summary and analysis of the information presented in the documentary we watched in class. What I found really interesting about the Kennedy assassination was the lengths that officials went in order to lay to rest the great mystery. The forensic analysis of the noises recorded by the policeman's radio were quite in-depth and thorough; the fact that the recording was made public via a pornography magazine was quite entertaining. It is frustrating to think that we may never know the true story of what happened that day because of a lack of reliable evidence and the contorted memories of eye (in some cases ear) witnesses.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of your opinions! Its unfortunate that we will never know for sure what really happened that day. It would be really interesting if new evidence or new video of some sort surfaced and revealed the truth of what really happened in the assassination.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Peter, the fact that Oswald was aiming at the back of JFK's head from his perch conflicts with the fact that there was an exit wound on the back of his head. In the video, it seemed like the bullet impacted the front of the head as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find interesting is that the government is actually waiting until 2017 to release all the documents. Until then, there's not that much information we can go off on to find out what really happened, but instead we can just speculate with theories such as the Pristine Bullet and the Grassy Knoll
ReplyDeleteThis was a very interesting documentary to watch. I always knew about the assassination, but I actually never knew anything specific about where the shooter was, or the two shooters for that matter, and this post sums it up very well. The conspiracies were interesting as well, and that no man was one hundred percent identified as the assassin in probably the most discussed murder in history.
ReplyDeleteWhat's really scary to me is the fact that the killing of a president can go unsolved. Like Mr. Stewart said, we like to think that we are safe, but in reality our safety lies only in the fact that no one wants to kill most of us. Our safety is only assured because of that fact, not because our government is good at protecting people.
ReplyDeleteSomething I wish the documentary had gone into more was the effect of his assassination on the people. Ms. Strauss was saying she still remembers the moment she found out. It seems like an event that profoundly affected a lot of Americans.
Anyway, it'll be interesting to see what comes out in 2017 about the case.