John F Kennedy Essay Research Paper The

John F. Kennedy Essay, Research Paper

The term assassination refers to murder for political reasons. In the United States with its democratic ideals, change should be brought about through the ballot. However, American History has shown us that this is not true. Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy were all assassinated by supposedly troubled individuals that believed their ideals could not be brought about by a ballot. Assassinations are cruel, unexpected acts that often have enormous effects on the people of a nation. John F. Kennedy was young, handsome, vigorous, and the first president to be born in the twentieth century. America knew him as a naval war hero, the “leading man”(writer, Norman Mailer). To Americans it seemed as though what went on in “Camelot” could solve all the world’s problems. America put their trust in the president and in return he gave them confidence. As a democrat he inherited the New Deal commitment to the social security system. With programs like “The New Frontier”, the country was promised an end to racial discrimination especially in the South, federal aid to education, medical care for the elderly, and government action to stop the recession. Kennedy promised to place a man on the moon before the Soviets, contain communism, and reduce cold war tensions, and urban violence. Kennedy’s liberal policies however were not always successful, and conservatives argued that many were seriously flawed. So when John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963, he became a victim of a violent American mentality he sought to curb. America became grief-stricken, and remorseful that at a time of such optimism and hope, such a horrific event could occur. Countless mourners all over the world grieved the passing of a fallen hero, and the course of history never could have been the same. President Antonio Segni of Italy said upon hearing the news that it was a,” very grave loss for all humanity”. Journalist Godfrey Hodyson wrote,” In retrospect, people look back to Friday, November 22nd, 1963, as the end of a time of hope, the beginning of a time of trouble.” This was the cold demise of “Camelot”. Perhaps what was most astonishing was the amount of conspiracy fabricated after the assassination. From the culpability of federal organizations to aliens, American media indulged itself in fantastic thoughts, only adding to public hysteria. The assassination was like no other event in American History, and the cry of conspiracy provoked costly and arduous investigation that changed America forever. Explaining exactly how and why John F. Kennedy died is perhaps more difficult today that it was on Friday, November 22nd, 1963.

Lee Harvey Oswald was born in New Orleans, in 1939, into poverty without a father. Many of his whereabouts are unknown prior to his navy service. A turning point in his life occurred in 1954(L. Fletcher Prouty) when Ethel and Judith Rosenberg were convicted of being spies. As a result he became interested in Marxist philosophy. He joined he navy in 1956, and served in Japan, often working in top-secret areas. In September of 1959, he received an early discharge from the Navy, and moved to Russia. In 1962 the U.S. State Department paid for his passage home. To this day, no one knows why. While in the United States, he created an unapproved chapter of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC). It was a pro-Castro organization, which promoted a communist America. He printed and disseminated “Hands off Cuba” flyers. As a result he was brought to jail. While in jail he is reported to have spoken with an FBI agent. This is another oddity that occurred in his life. In 1963, he left his wife in New Orleans, and moved to Texas, where he often traveled to Mexico City. He applied for Cuban and Soviet entrance visas in the embassy. After Mexican Authorities recognize Oswald’s name from the assassination, they produce a picture of a different man. Could there have been an imposter. Why. One of the many questions that go unanswered. In October of 1963, Oswald returned to the U.S., and got a job in a warehouse in Dallas. It was here that he is reported to have killed John F. Kennedy.

Doctors at the Dallas Parkland Hospital pronounced President Kennedy dead at 1:00 that afternoon. At 2:48, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in aboard Air Force One as the nations 36th president. A week later, at his request, the Warren Commission was founded. Named after the current Chief Justice, Earl Warren. Four congressmen, a former Director of the CIA Allen Dulles, and a wealthy New York banker, Senator John Cooper, and J. Leo Rankin, the commissioner’s general counsel, were handpicked by Johnson. By September of 1964 the committee released the “Warren Report”. It was a “thorough” investigation of Kennedy’s death, totaling more than 800 pages. The commission heard testimony from 489 people who they thought could be potential assassins. Their conclusion, apparently very fallacious as most theorists say (Harrison E. Livingstone), was that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin. He pulled the trigger, and was solely responsible for the three shots fired in Dealy Plaza. The Commission, describing Oswald as “frustrated and confused political zealot”, blamed his “unstable childhood, and attraction to un-American philosophies” that drove him to commit murder. Many critics (Guss Russ