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Despite four decades of exhaustive investigations devoted to analyzing the haunting assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the mystery remains obstinately undecipherable, the truth perhaps forever buried beneath the rubble of conspiracy theories and unsuccessful investigations. The questionable integrity of the investigations themselves form the omnipresent counterpart to this unsolved case - the suspicious nature in which many were conducted and the evident inconsistencies in their conclusions continue to be an issue of fascination for historians, students and the general public.

Fundamentally, the failure of the first official investigations, including those of the Dallas Police, the FBI and the Warren Commission, to allay the fears and suspicions of the public created a skeptical nation, a hardened nation embittered by their government's suppression of information and incompetent approach to the investigations. For instance, many aspects of their investigations are clearly without logic the Warren Commission's insistence of the magic bullet' theory implicates a single bullet had traversed through seven layers of skin, piercing muscle tissue and shattering bones, yet emerged virtually unscathed.

This lack of closure enveloping Kennedy's tragic demise has festered like a wound in national spirit, and the people gladly resorted to unofficially developed conspiracy theories. For instance, although Jim Garrison's infamous proposal of a homosexual thrill killing,' conspiracy seems preposterous and even fictitious, people desperately cling to theories such as Garrison's to supplement the absence of a resolute official conclusion. The burgeoning materialization of unofficial investigations or conspiracy theories was a testament to the nation's skepticism regarding the official conclusions and it is this diversity of theories that continues to fascinate modern historians, for they are also a reflection of the tensions existing between various political or societal groups at the time of the assassination.

However, in finally relenting to insistent public demand and approving the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) in 1976 and the 1992 Assassinations Record Review Board, the government had gravely miscalculated, for the publication of an overwhelming wealth of previously confidential documents only rekindled the public's interest. For example, the HSCA firmly contradicted previous official investigations, by stating four, not three, bullets had been fired,

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