History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time

by Meltzer, Brad

  Why the difference in outcome? The HSCA relied almost exclusively on an acoustical study (based on a recording presumed to have been made in Dealey Plaza), which was not examined by the Warren Commission.

  Our own government couldn’t decide what happened.

  Distrust for the Government

  How fast did conspiracy theories spread in the days before the Internet?

  Within days of JFK’s assassination, more than half of people surveyed believed there was more than one shooter involved.

  After the Warren Commission Report was released,a whopping 87 percent believed there were multiple shooters.

  As recently as 2003, 75 percent of people polled believe that the Kennedy assassination was part of a conspiracy.

  #8 Jack Ruby

  He’s the one to blame.

  I mean it. If Jack Ruby hadn’t killed Lee Harvey Oswald, we’d have our answers, wouldn’t we? Or we’d at least get to ask the hard questions: “Who were you working with?” “What do you mean by patsy?” “Were you the only shooter?” Instead, thanks to Jack Ruby, thousands of new theories were born.

  Most of them come from who Ruby was: the kind of penny-ante nightclub owner you’ve seen in dozens of cliché movies and novels. He hung around with strippers and gamblers, and was rumored to have connections to organized crime.

  Yet even though he wasn’t a deacon of the church, Ruby had a fierce patriotism and deep admiration for President and Mrs. Kennedy. So his motive? He didn’t want the First Lady to have to come back to Dallas and go through the agony of Oswald’s inevitable trial.

  Good story. Makes sense. But y’know what else is a good story? A guy with underworld ties steps into the police station and, with a few pulls of the trigger, closes the final loose end for everyone. And it’s even better when you think about this: How much did Ruby really admire Kennedy, considering he didn’t even watch the parade? At the time, he was at the Dallas Morning News discussing his weekly ad in the paper.

  In the end, it’s tough to tell which version is true. But let’s look at the actual moment: That Sunday morning, after taking care of some business at Western Union, Ruby went to police headquarters, where he was a known figure. People said hello, but no one stopped him or asked what he was doing. (Note that Ruby was at the Oswald midnight press conference that was held on Friday and could’ve shot Oswald then.)

  According to prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, whose Reclaiming History is the authoritative 1,600-page analysis of the assassination, had there been a line at the Western Union office—or even one person ahead of Jack Ruby in line—the transfer of Oswald to the county jail would have been completed before Ruby was finished at the telegraph office. To Bugliosi, Mafia hit men don’t take those kinds of chances . . . or cut things that close.

  Timing is everything. And no one taught us that better than Jack Ruby.

  On March 14, 1964, Ruby was found guilty and sentenced to death. Instead, he died in prison nearly three years later in 1967 (he didn’t die right after his act, as many believe). The official cause of his death? “Pulmonary embolism.”

  Ruby As a Goodfella

  Did you know that after he killed Oswald, Jack Ruby took a polygraph test—against the advice of his own lawyers—to prove he wasn’t involved with the Mob?

  He passed.

  In addition, both commissions found no proof that Ruby was ever connected to the Mob.

  Jack Ruby

  Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby hung around with strippers and gamblers, but despite what you think, was never proved to have connections to organized crime.

  #7 Who Isn’t a Suspect?

  When Abraham Lincoln was shot, it was easy to know who wanted him dead. But in JFK’s complex, interconnected world, the number of people who wanted him dead reads like a bad guy laundry list:

  The Soviet Union: Who better to kill our great leader than our greatest enemy?

  The Cubans and Castro: Right-wing Cubans were bitter over Kennedy’s abandonment of the Bay of Pigs invasion and could’ve killed him for revenge; left-wing Cubans were loyal to the Soviet Union and could’ve acted at their behest. (And Oswald, not coincidentally, was a Cuba supporter. See Exhibit 1D.)

  Right-wing conservatives and Texas millionaires hated Kennedy’s liberal stances on, among other things, race relations.

  The CIA and military-industrial complex were enraged at Kennedy for his stance on Vietnam.

  The Mafia was supposedly livid about the Kennedy administration’s ongoing investigations and prosecutions. The deaths of both Marilyn Monroe and Bobby Kennedy only added to this theory.

  And, of course, there are the Dallas police, the Secret Service, and LBJ himself, each theory with even more moving parts than the one before.

  The point is, whoever the finger gets pointed at, it goes back to the one belief people can’t shake: the idea that Lee Harvey Oswald couldn’t have pulled it off alone.

  #6 The Grassy Knoll

  The Grassy Knoll

  The most famous knoll in history—an elevated piece of land to the right of the presidential limousine—was thought to be the source of a fourth shot.

  On the day JFK was shot, the crowds in Dallas’s Dealey Plaza heard the sound of gunshots. For five decades now, the questions remain: How many shots did they hear? And where exactly did that fourth shot come from?

  The Warren Commission said three shots were fired, representing the three bullet casings found in the book depository. Then, in 1976, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (who had access to a sound recording that the Warren Commission didn’t hear), concluded there was a “ninety-five percent chance or better that a noise as loud as a rifle shot was fired.” They believe this to be the third of four shots—and that it didn’t come from the book depository. So where did the fourth shot come from? An elevated piece of land known as the grassy knoll—to the right front of the passing presidential limo.

  Why the change from the Warren Commission? According to Belin, the HSCA had originally agreed with the Warren Commission, deciding that Oswald had acted alone. Yet within a few weeks time, the committee flip-flopped. Belin said: “The committee’s abrupt turnabout was caused by the mid-December testimony of two acoustic experts, Mark Weiss and Ernest Aschkenasy. They said they were ninety-five percent certain that the oscillating waves on a Dictabelt recording of police channel communications from the presidential motorcade indicated the presence of a second gunman firing a fourth shot from the grassy knoll.”

  But here’s the problem. “Three years later, the acoustical-evidence testimony was refuted,” Belin explained. Bugliosi agrees, pointing out that in 1982, “Twelve of the most prominent experts in ballistic acoustics in the country were commissioned by the National Research Council to reexamine the recording. The panel found ‘conclusively’ from other concurrent and identifiable background noise on the Dictabelt that the sound which the HSCA experts believed to be a fourth shot actually occurred ‘about one minute after the assassination.’ ” That means that when the fourth shot was fired, the motorcade had already been told to go to Parkland Hospital.

  Today, the findings of those acoustic tests don’t matter. The damage has long ago been done. And that doesn’t even include the trajectory of . . .

  #5 The Magic Bullet

  According to the Warren Commission, Governor John Connally was wounded by a bullet that first passed through Kennedy’s back, exited from his neck, entered Connally below his armpit, exited below his nipple, wounded the governor’s wrist, then came to rest in the governor’s leg. That sounds like a lot of work for one bullet to do. Hence the term magic bullet—one that seems to violate the laws of physics and travel in a zigzag line.

  To this day, many contend that the so-called magic bullet was in “pristine” condition. But that word pristine is used—over and over—by p
eople who have never examined the bullet. In reality, the bullet is nearly flat on one side. It was found on a gurney believed to have been used to transport Governor Connally into the emergency room at Parkland.

  For that reason, most people believe that one bullet couldn’t do all that damage. But as Bugliosi argued, the bullet that struck Kennedy and then Connally was traveling in a straight line, just like bullets are supposed to. Connally was seated directly in front of the president, his body turned all the way to the right. As Bugliosi points out, because Connally had turned to face the president, the bullet could go nowhere else but into the Texas governor.

  And by the way, just to be clear, Connally’s entry wound was ovoid, meaning the bullet passed through something else before striking him. If it was a magic bullet—and didn’t go through Kennedy—that wound would’ve looked quite different.

  OK, then what about the fact that no other sharpshooter has ever been able to re-create Oswald’s shots?

  Kennedy’s Autopsy

  At the request of the Kennedy family, photos and X-rays from the president’s autopsy were withheld from the Warren Commission’s investigation. It was a detail that would haunt the commission forever.

  #4 What About the Fact that No Other Sharpshooter Has Been Able to Re-Create Oswald’s Shots?

  Magic Bullet

  Many people believe a single bullet would have to have been “magic” to have traveled what they believe to be an impossible zigzagging trajectory, as shown above. But forensics say that’s not the case.

  This is the one to pay attention to.

  To match the shots from the book depository, Oswald would’ve had to have fired three accurate shots in six seconds with a bolt action rifle.

  Sounds hard. In fact, an FBI marksman attempting to re-create the act required 2.25 seconds per shot, for a total of 6.75 seconds. That’s one point for the conspiracy buffs. Oliver Stone’s film JFK also reiterated that no one’s been able to make the shot. That’s two points for conspiracy buffs.

  There’s only one problem. It’s not true. The Warren Commission’s own marksman—Specialist Miller—fired three shots in as little as 4.6 seconds. Without a telescopic sight, the rate of fire was even faster. If that’s not enough, here’s the real kicker: A 1967 CBS reenactment gave the assignment to 11 marksmen. Their average time (without the telescopic sight) was 5.6 seconds.

  Oswald was good. But so are others. Don’t forget, Marines such as Oswald begin qualifying at 200 yards, then 300, then 500. That’s yards. The shot for JFK was at a distance of a mere 59 yards for the back shot and 88 yards for the kill shot. And how good was Oswald? For rapid firing, he scored a 91 percent proficiency rate.

  Assassin’s Alias

  At his arrest, Oswald was found with a fake military ID in the name of Alek James Hidell—the same name the gun had been shipped to. Who was Alek? That was the name his Russian-born wife called him, since Lee didn’t have a Russian equivalent.

  #3 The Zapruder Film

  Imagine a president being shot today. Between cell phones and regular cameras, imagine how much footage we’d have of the event. But on November 22, 1963, the entirety of our footage comes from 31 photographers and, most memorably, the home movie of Abraham Zapruder.

  The Zapruder film answers many questions even as it raises others. And one of the biggest: The film shows that the shooting and death of the president took eight seconds, not six, which means Oswald had even more time to make his shot.

  Yet the film also shows the president’s head appearing to snap back under the impact of the bullet—exactly the opposite reaction expected of someone shot from behind, as Kennedy was.

  I wish I could explain it. Actually, I take that back. I can explain it. Simply put, there is no standard reaction to being shot. This isn’t a Hollywood action movie. Human bodies react in different ways in the real world. The weight of Kennedy’s head, versus the weight of the bullet and the force of its impact, could explain the seemingly impossible physical reaction. And, enhancement of the Zapruder footage shows that Kennedy’s head did snap forward before moving back.

  Yet despite the explanation, this is one of those details that just, well . . . it just smells fishy, adding to the lore of what really happened that November day.

  Clear Skies—Why Does Someone Have an Umbrella?

  It was a bright clear day in Dallas. So why was a man in the crowd holding an open umbrella as the president passed?

  To some, the umbrella was a signal for the shooter(s).

  The problem is, it wasn’t. Though the umbrella—wielded by Louis Steven Witt—was a signal. It was Witt’s signal that he felt Kennedy was as much an “appeaser” as the umbrella-toting Neville Chamberlain had been when Chamberlain attempted to make peace with Hitler before war broke out.

  Umbrella Man

  An image of a man holding an umbrella on a sunny day gave rise to all sorts of conspiracy theories involving signals being sent to teams of conspirators. Sounds cool, right? The truth was more mundane.

  #2 Oliver Stone’s JFK

  Here’s the mother lode. An entire generation’s knowledge of the Kennedy assassination comes from one source: Oliver Stone’s 1991 film JFK. Using real-life figures and New Orleans DA Jim Garrison as its hero, Stone seems to start with the truth. Garrison did try to refute the Warren Commission. From there, the film walks you through convincing conspiracies, cover-ups, misdirections, and governmental wrongdoings. In the context of the movie, it all seems so credible. But it bears almost no relation to the actual truth.

  To list just a few of the claims made in the movie:

  Lee Harvey Oswald was completely innocent.

  There were six shots fired—and several shooters firing them.

  LBJ was in on it.

  A U.S. senator claims that no one has ever replicated Oswald’s alleged shooting.

  There’s more, but you get the picture. And so did 20 million ticket buyers, not to mention tens of millions more who have seen the movie on TV.

  Indeed, Oliver Stone himself calls his movie a “counter-myth,” created to rebut what he sees as the myths of the Warren Commission. And even Stone admits that much of his film is made up—fiction being used for dramatic effect. (The long scene where Garrison meets a high-level operative played by Donald Sutherland—who tells him everything that happened—was invented out of thin air. Kevin Bacon’s character, a key witness in the film—who ties it all together—doesn’t even exist in real life.)

  To this day, when it comes to Oliver Stone’s JFK, most people don’t remember Stone saying he made up parts of it. They remember what they see on screen. And even though the facts say otherwise, they prefer the version where this giant conspiracy somehow ties back to Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy’s vice president.

  Is it any wonder that Vincent Bugliosi said that Oliver Stone’s film “caused far more damage to the truth about the case than perhaps any single event other than Ruby’s killing of Oswald”? As for Bugliosi’s own conclusion: “It would be hard to find any criminal defendant, anywhere, against whom there was as much evidence of guilt as there was against Oswald.”

  And yet . . .

  Is it any wonder that Vincent Bugliosi said that Oliver Stone’s film “caused far more damage to the truth about the case than perhaps any single event other than Ruby’s killing of Oswald”?

  #1 Secrecy and Complexity

  Looking at the full picture, it’s easy to point scolding fingers at so-called conspiracy theorists for keeping this story alive for so long. But the truth is, our society needs someone asking the hard questions. It keeps us honest and forces us to find truth.

  Still, when it comes to the reasons why the facts surrounding the Kennedy assassination are such a mess, the very top causes of confusion come from these two areas:

  The secrecy the go
vernment shrouded this in.

  With hundreds of witnesses and thousands of exhibits, there’s a natural complexity inherent in the case—especially one this traumatic.

  Secrecy:

  As counsel to the Warren Commission, Belin said, “I believe that if there is a dominant reason why the Warren Commission Report has not been accepted by a majority of Americans, it is because all our investigative work was undertaken in secret.”

  Instead of open public hearings, the commission heard the evidence in private. As a result, they didn’t hear the key testimony of people like Howard Leslie Brennan, a 45-year-old steamfitter, who was staring right at the book depository—and whose testimony matched ballistics reports—and who reported seeing a man in the sixth-story window.

  Brennan then turned to watch the approaching limo with JFK in it. “And after the president had passed my position, I really couldn’t say how many feet or how far, a short distance I would say, I heard this crack that I positively thought was a backfire,” Brennan testified.

  “Then what did you observe or hear?” Belin asked.

  “Well, then something, just right after this explosion, made me think that it was a firecracker being thrown from the Texas bookstore. And I glanced up. And this man that I saw previous was aiming for his last shot. . . . As I calculate a couple of seconds. He drew the gun back from the window as though he was drawing it back to his side and maybe paused for another second as though to assure himself that he hit his mark, and then he disappeared. . . .”

  Brennan saw Oswald in that window. His report matched the ballistics. But the American people never heard the testimony.