Lee Harvey Oswald

Lee Harvey Oswald (October 18, 1939 – November 24, 1963) assassinated U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, according to the conclusions of two government investigations into the assassination. The 1964 Warren Commission concluded Oswald acted alone; the House Select Committee on Assassinations, during the late 1970s, concluded that while Oswald was the shooter, President Kennedy "most likely was assassinated as the result of a conspiracy". Some critics of the official accounts have claimed that Oswald was not involved at all and was framed, and many conspiracy theories have been developed, but no single compelling alternative suspect has emerged.

The assassination of JFK

According to the Warren Commission report (1964) on the John F. Kennedy assassination, Oswald shot Kennedy from a window on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository (where he was employed during the Christmas rush), as the President's motorcade passed through Dallas' Dealey Plaza at 12:30 pm on November 22. (See lone gunman theory.) Texas Governor John Connally was wounded at the same time, along with an assassination witness, James Tague, who was standing some 270 feet (82 m) in front of the presidential limousine.

Related Topics:
Warren Commission - John F. Kennedy assassination - Texas School Book Depository - Dealey Plaza - Lone gunman theory - John Connally - James Tague

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However, critics of this account assert that photographic, film and witness evidence indicate that there were at least one or two shooters in an area known as the grassy knoll behind a picket fence atop a small sloping hill in Dealey Plaza, to President Kennedy's right-front. A number of witnesses reported seeing a flash of light, seeing a puff of smoke come from behind the fence, and hearing shots from that direction. Some also smelt gunpowder in the area when they went to investigate. In the 8 mm Zapruder film, it appears that the direction of President Kennedy's body was in a decidedly back and left direction after the shot. However, if the films are viewed frame by frame, it can be seen that there is a sudden forward-motion of the president, inconsistent with anything but a sudden stop of the limo, (which didn't happen) or a rear-ward shot, as from the book depository. Two frames after the forward motion there is a second, more prolonged backward motion. A large portion of brain matter was projected forward, but some protest that this is not evidence of a rear shot by Oswald, as blood and brain matter also sprayed backward, hitting the windshield of one of the motorcycle escorts. Jackie Kennedy can be seen in the Zapruder film crawling onto the rear of the car to retrieve a piece of skull which she later handed to Dr Marion Jenkins at Parkland Hospital.

Related Topics:
Grassy knoll - Zapruder - Jackie Kennedy

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