There are literally millions of conspiracy theories abounding today on almost any subject one had time enough to name. Nothing happens simply anymore, and the more horrendous the event, the more theories surface, ranging from the highly plausible to the completely outregeous.
Why are there so many conspiracies floting in the ether of human curiosity? Because we want to know the facts, just the facts, mam, and in that search to understand events in perspective, the journey from experiencing an event to understanding and coping with it evolves into a journey mirroring our own inabilities to believe what happened.
Take the John F. Kennedy assasination. A near mythical figure now, his death started what I believe to be the fall of our trust in governmental verasity. Before this particular Kennedy assanation, we, as Americans, believed what we were told by the government about almost anything. If before this event someone spouted theories about Franklin Roosevelt contriving our entry into WWII by tacitly allowing the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor, and perhaps with foreknowledge of the event making it easier for them to strike, the theorist would have been laughed at, perhaps ostracised, maybe locked up for his or her own good. After the Kennedy assasination and the convienent explanation to fit the facts started to unravel, the country slipped into a quagmire we have yet to recover from.
Kennedy's murder shook the very foundation of who we thought we were. These things may have happened earlier in out past, with the assasination of Lincoln, but surely this was distant and bore more resemblence to the days of frontier justice and the Wild West than the dealings of an advanced civilization global superpower with atomic capabilities under our belts. We were the nation that beat polio, fought in two world wars and beat back tyranny, we had all the modern conviencences at our disposal, and our national leader was the most powerful man in the world. How could it be possible for the most powerful man on the planet to be brought down by one of the most pathetic?
Just a quick study of the facts shows that nothing in it is exactly as it seems. The rifle Oswald used was of poor Italian design. The scope was not zeroed and had to be compensated for, thus making the tight timing, and moving target aspect probmatical. Oswald, while a Marine, was not one of the best on the rifle range. Lee came from a broken home, joined the Marines, and served in a sensitive spot at Atsugi, Japan, close to Russia, and persued Russian studies. In the Cold War atmosphere of post McCarthy America, this was a (pardon the pun) red flag activity no one could fail to notice.
Kennedy traveled in a convertable Lincoln down a street in downtown Dallas, Texas. His limo approached the building Oswald worked in, and there were numerous opportunities for a shot from the approach to be taken advantage of. It is not until the car slows down to 11 miles an hour to make an extreme left turn to pass directly in front of the building and head away that Oswald starts making his three shot journey into infamy.
Kennedy, and John Connaly were both hit by the bullets, Kennedy mortally, Connaly seriously wounded. Secret Service Agents sped the car to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where half an hour later, the 35th president of the mightiest nation in hisrory was declared dead.
John Connaly, wounded in the chest, wrist and thigh was rushed into surgery, and one of the most puzzling aspects of the crime was discovered on what they say was his stretcher.
Now known as Warren Commission Exhibit #399, a nearly pristiene bullet lay on Connaly's stretcher. This was the bullet that traversed through Kennedy, drilled through Connaly's back, blowing out a chunk of rib, continued out , pierced his wrist and out, finally lodging in his thigh. The ribs of human beings are very tough dense bone protecting vital organs (heart and lungs) from accidental damage. Could a bullet do all of the damage this bullet is supposed to have done and remain essentially intact, even if it was a full metal jacket type?
Studies have shown that it is possible, however improbable for this type of ammunition (7.65mm full metal jacket military type) to be fired into a tree log and remain intact. I accept that. What cannot be squared with this is the fact that a number of metal fragments were taken out of Connaly, weighing much more than what was missing from the bullet, and that not all of the fragments were recovered from Connaly, as he was buried with fragments from the bullet. This alone puts the single bullet theory to serious doubt.
The other troubling aspect is the identification of Kennedys throat wound at Parkland Hospital as an 'entry wound'. The doctors in Dallas were seasoned emergency room veterans, and working in a city hospital had seen their share of gunshot wounds. All of the doctors in Dallas identified the wound as an entry wound. It was later obliteraten and unidentifiable at the autopsy in Bethesda Naval Hosrital in Virginia, and in fact the doctors conducting the procedure, none of whom were forensic pathologists, did not know the wound existed until informed by the doctors in Dallas.
The doctors at Parkland also describe a different head wound than the doctors at Bethesda. The autopsy doctors identify a small wound in the back of the head from projectile entry, and a gaping wound more to the front of the skull, indicating shots from the rear and the Parkland doctors see the back of the skull blown away, indicating frontal assasins.
Now, there was a problem.
The single bullet theory was concocted by Arlen Spector, now senater from Pennsylvania, then counsel to the Warren Commission. A better name would have been Warren Omission, because while a great deal of evidence was compiled, including information on the dentures of Jack Ruby's mother, much was dumped, destroyed or never examined in the attempt to custom fit the evidence fit a pre-concieved notion.
There are several other troubling aspects, including the car itself, not preserved as a crime scene with evidence of bullets coming from in front of the car, flown directly to a Ford plant for restoration. This was a major blunder, but more evidence involving more than one shooter was not what the planners of this crime wanted.
Another aspect deserving attention is the role, if any, Lyndon Johnson played. Ascention through asassination is one of the most common avenues traveled throughout history. Johnson told a crony after being selected for Vice President that (at the time) one in four presidents had died in office from one thing or another, and he (Johnson) was a gambling man.
As evidence has been irretrivably been lost, tampered with of deliberatly destroyed, the answers we seek may never be known. But that should not stop efforts to make what we can know come to light, and I applaud the efforts of countless researchers who have continued these efforts since November 22, 1963.