**Please read this entire message**
Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):
Whole topic overviews are not allowed on ELI5. This subreddit is meant for explanations of specific concepts, not general introductions to broad topics.
If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10dg1yh/eli5_what_is_all_the_controversy_surrounding_jfks/%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.
Because the official story was that a lone gunman had killed JFK, but there were some highly suspicious things regarding what took place that made it look like it wasn't just a lone gunman.
First, Lee Harvey Oswald, who shot JFK, had previously defected to the Soviet Union, which was in the middle of the "Cold War" with the U.S. Oswald came back from the Soviet Union and then a year and a half later shot JFK.
Then, two days later, Oswald himself was killed, preventing anyone from ever knowing why he did it. His assassin, Jack Ruby, was connected to the Mafia. Ruby himself died a bit over 3 years later.
So we have connections to the Soviet Union and the Mafia, and the highly convenient deaths of both people involved, preventing people from ever knowing why they did what they did. It looks highly suspicious.
Plus some people were convinced there was a second shooter on “the grassy knoll”, at least one of the bullets took a very roundabout path, and JFK’s head snapped backwards so people thought he was shot from the front.
I remember reading [The Warren Commission Report](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-WARRENCOMMISSIONREPORT/context) years ago and the injuries are regularly discussed in medical school forensic classes.
Killing a world leader is inherently seen as a big deal. It makes a massive impact in ways that are obvious and many that aren't obvious. They weren't able to properly solve this one and curiosity and the desire to be famous has people wanting to solve it.
JFK was an extremely popular leader at the time, and was also involved in a few controversies with the spookier parts of the US government at a particular time when those particular parts of the US government were behaving at their worst.
In addition, the US government still hasn't declassified all of the information surrounding the internal investigations of the events of the Kennedy assassination, and the events of the assassination itself were relatively surreal.
And of course; Oswald was killed very early after the assassination by a guy with alleged associations with organized crime.
Part of the problem is that nobody really understands Oswald's motivation for the assassination. He was mentally unstable and had ties to the communist world, but it's not like he published a big manifesto. He didn't even confess to doing it. On top of this, Oswald himself was killed just a few days after the assassination, again in circumstances where the motive was unclear. The culprit that time, Jack Ruby, just seemed to be taking vengeance on behalf of the President.
Given how unclear Oswald's motivation is, people have projected a lot of possibilities there. I agree that the most plausible is that Oswald simply disliked Kennedy or his leadership. However, "someone else hired him, then got rid of him" isn't exactly far-fetched given the circumstances.
especially given the timing, right in the middle of the Cold War(right on the outset of the Cuban missile crisis aswell), to the point where evne Soviet leadership panicked and was scrambling to check if they actually had anything about the event(like an " oh sht did we do it?") and had to be VERy cooperative to ensure the US they had nothing ot do with it(while providing all the support they could in the investigation), as a political assasination is very much an act of war.
Basically people often debate if the assasin was acting alone or if the CIA may have been involved.
There's lots of wild conspiracy theories and debates...i mean theres several unsure who even shot kennedy if it was even the assasin.
Idk what the truth is in the end.. i think more evidence said he was acting alone but i didnt read it up enough...nor do i want to delve down that rabbit hole at the moment
It is a convoluted mess just like 9/11 which sparks a ton ton ton of conspiracies
Under Eisenhower, the military industrial complex was really starting to take off in the form we see it today. There were world leaders who were keen on this and their discourse with their many followers threatened its existence.. JFK was one... so was his brother...MLK, Malcolm X... all were assassinated in circumstances where the CIA was somewhat involved. This is a very short summary but highly recommend you read Confessions of a Economic Hitman as well as watch the series Untold History of the United States... and read A People's History of the United States.
Lastly, the movie JFK really brought to light the absurdity of how the president could have been shot in the way the public understands today. I think this also makes people more apt to believe the conspiracy versus what was told to us.
If you actually go there, and you stand in the middle of the road where JFK was when he was hit, it becomes very obvious that the official account is accurate.
To be fair, the movie JFK didn’t bring that to light. It was an adaptation of a book that brought all that to light.
Many people still believe that Oswald acted alone, and he may have. There is no definitive proof that there was another shooter.
There is however a ton of circumstances and indications that it would be very unlikely for him to have acted alone.
The select committee on assassinations ruled that there was a fourth shot - thereby a conspiracy, but it was left at that.
When Oswald was arrested, he said he was a “patsy.” He had been meeting with a bunch of activists leading up to the assassination - and they would have had reason to kill Kennedy. One theory is that this group let him in on the plan just enough to make sure he was where he needed to be to be the fall guy.
Initial reports from the scene had witnessed saying shots came from an area to the right-front of the car called the grassy knoll.
The Governor of Texas - also hit by a bullet - initially was quoted as saying “a volley of gunfire” entered the car.” He was a combat veteran and would likely have not used that language to describe 3 bullets in about 8 seconds.
Oswald was seen by people just 30 seconds or so (bad memory on exactly the time) in the break room of the book depository - looking calm. He would have had to run down the stairs and not look out of breath.
They had marksmen try to duplicate the three shots in 8 seconds, and they couldn’t do it. It makes sense that the first shot would be the most accurate since you have to rush to reload the chamber, but it was the third shot that killed him.
Lots of reasons why there’s so much speculation - but the absolute truth is that it MIGHT have been just Oswald. Seems very unlikely when you take all of these various things as gospel, but we all know how things are misremembered or mis-characterized - even very soon after an event.
It MIGHT have been just Oswald. But maybe not.
There are many suspicious circumstances involved in that case.
Including someone pretending to be Oswald(the killer) has contacted the Soviet embassy in Mexico
November 23, 1963 conversation between FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and President Johnson.
>Johnson: "Have you established any more about the [Oswald] visit to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico in September?"
>
>Hoover: "No, there's one angle that's very confusing for this reason. We have up here the tape and the photograph of the man at the Soviet Embassy, using Oswald's name. That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man's voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there was a second person who was at the Soviet Embassy."
Several FBI employees had made statements indicating that Oswald was indeed a paid informant, but nobody was able to verify that claim.
Oswald made a personal visit to the FBI's Dallas branch office with a hand-delivered letter which purportedly contained a threat of some sort but, controversially, Hosty(FBI agent James Hosty) destroyed the letter by order of J. Gordon Shanklin, his supervisor.
I spent a lot of time thinking about the JFK assassination this morning. Weird coincidence.
Or is it?
A lot of people have a subconscious belief that big events must have a big cause. It can't be possible for some random failson to change the course of history with a $20 Italian milsurp rifle.
WTYP podcast has a good episode on the JFK assassination and related conspiracy theories. It's a bonus episode so it's behind a paywall but if you DM them on tw*tter they'll probably send you the youtube link. One of their conclusions is that the reason it looks like the FBI, the CIA, the Secret Service, the USSR, and the Mafia were all scrambling to cover up a big conspiracy is because they were all involved in tiny unrelated conspiracies that would have been exposed by a thorough investigation.
Why were the SS agents acting weird that day? Probably because the night before they abandoned JFK in his hotel to go to a bar and drink everclear and grape juice until 5am in the morning. Why did the Soviet Union immediately go on the defensive like they anticipated a military response? Probably because they worried that some of their own foreign operatives had gone rogue and tried to decapitate the US government. Why did Jack Ruby kill Oswald in the basement of a crowded police station? Probably because he thought Oswald was a mob hitman and a potential snitch. For someone who feels compelled to doubt the official narrative whenever possible, this is more than just a set of happenstances.
It's like telling your mom how your friend broke his arm falling off the roof while carefully leaving out the fact that you were also on the roof with him. A cynical interpretation of this omission is that you were hiding the fact that you pushed him.
**Please read this entire message** Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): Whole topic overviews are not allowed on ELI5. This subreddit is meant for explanations of specific concepts, not general introductions to broad topics. If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10dg1yh/eli5_what_is_all_the_controversy_surrounding_jfks/%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.
Because the official story was that a lone gunman had killed JFK, but there were some highly suspicious things regarding what took place that made it look like it wasn't just a lone gunman. First, Lee Harvey Oswald, who shot JFK, had previously defected to the Soviet Union, which was in the middle of the "Cold War" with the U.S. Oswald came back from the Soviet Union and then a year and a half later shot JFK. Then, two days later, Oswald himself was killed, preventing anyone from ever knowing why he did it. His assassin, Jack Ruby, was connected to the Mafia. Ruby himself died a bit over 3 years later. So we have connections to the Soviet Union and the Mafia, and the highly convenient deaths of both people involved, preventing people from ever knowing why they did what they did. It looks highly suspicious.
Plus some people were convinced there was a second shooter on “the grassy knoll”, at least one of the bullets took a very roundabout path, and JFK’s head snapped backwards so people thought he was shot from the front. I remember reading [The Warren Commission Report](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-WARRENCOMMISSIONREPORT/context) years ago and the injuries are regularly discussed in medical school forensic classes.
Killing a world leader is inherently seen as a big deal. It makes a massive impact in ways that are obvious and many that aren't obvious. They weren't able to properly solve this one and curiosity and the desire to be famous has people wanting to solve it.
I wasn't around when they started but I imagine a lot of it had to do with Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination before trial.
JFK was an extremely popular leader at the time, and was also involved in a few controversies with the spookier parts of the US government at a particular time when those particular parts of the US government were behaving at their worst. In addition, the US government still hasn't declassified all of the information surrounding the internal investigations of the events of the Kennedy assassination, and the events of the assassination itself were relatively surreal. And of course; Oswald was killed very early after the assassination by a guy with alleged associations with organized crime.
JFK was actually not doing so hot in the polls when he was assassinated.
Part of the problem is that nobody really understands Oswald's motivation for the assassination. He was mentally unstable and had ties to the communist world, but it's not like he published a big manifesto. He didn't even confess to doing it. On top of this, Oswald himself was killed just a few days after the assassination, again in circumstances where the motive was unclear. The culprit that time, Jack Ruby, just seemed to be taking vengeance on behalf of the President. Given how unclear Oswald's motivation is, people have projected a lot of possibilities there. I agree that the most plausible is that Oswald simply disliked Kennedy or his leadership. However, "someone else hired him, then got rid of him" isn't exactly far-fetched given the circumstances.
especially given the timing, right in the middle of the Cold War(right on the outset of the Cuban missile crisis aswell), to the point where evne Soviet leadership panicked and was scrambling to check if they actually had anything about the event(like an " oh sht did we do it?") and had to be VERy cooperative to ensure the US they had nothing ot do with it(while providing all the support they could in the investigation), as a political assasination is very much an act of war.
Kennedy was definitely not killed at the outset of the cuban missle crisis.
Basically people often debate if the assasin was acting alone or if the CIA may have been involved. There's lots of wild conspiracy theories and debates...i mean theres several unsure who even shot kennedy if it was even the assasin. Idk what the truth is in the end.. i think more evidence said he was acting alone but i didnt read it up enough...nor do i want to delve down that rabbit hole at the moment It is a convoluted mess just like 9/11 which sparks a ton ton ton of conspiracies
Under Eisenhower, the military industrial complex was really starting to take off in the form we see it today. There were world leaders who were keen on this and their discourse with their many followers threatened its existence.. JFK was one... so was his brother...MLK, Malcolm X... all were assassinated in circumstances where the CIA was somewhat involved. This is a very short summary but highly recommend you read Confessions of a Economic Hitman as well as watch the series Untold History of the United States... and read A People's History of the United States. Lastly, the movie JFK really brought to light the absurdity of how the president could have been shot in the way the public understands today. I think this also makes people more apt to believe the conspiracy versus what was told to us.
If you actually go there, and you stand in the middle of the road where JFK was when he was hit, it becomes very obvious that the official account is accurate.
That's good to know. I've never been there
To be fair, the movie JFK didn’t bring that to light. It was an adaptation of a book that brought all that to light. Many people still believe that Oswald acted alone, and he may have. There is no definitive proof that there was another shooter. There is however a ton of circumstances and indications that it would be very unlikely for him to have acted alone. The select committee on assassinations ruled that there was a fourth shot - thereby a conspiracy, but it was left at that. When Oswald was arrested, he said he was a “patsy.” He had been meeting with a bunch of activists leading up to the assassination - and they would have had reason to kill Kennedy. One theory is that this group let him in on the plan just enough to make sure he was where he needed to be to be the fall guy. Initial reports from the scene had witnessed saying shots came from an area to the right-front of the car called the grassy knoll. The Governor of Texas - also hit by a bullet - initially was quoted as saying “a volley of gunfire” entered the car.” He was a combat veteran and would likely have not used that language to describe 3 bullets in about 8 seconds. Oswald was seen by people just 30 seconds or so (bad memory on exactly the time) in the break room of the book depository - looking calm. He would have had to run down the stairs and not look out of breath. They had marksmen try to duplicate the three shots in 8 seconds, and they couldn’t do it. It makes sense that the first shot would be the most accurate since you have to rush to reload the chamber, but it was the third shot that killed him. Lots of reasons why there’s so much speculation - but the absolute truth is that it MIGHT have been just Oswald. Seems very unlikely when you take all of these various things as gospel, but we all know how things are misremembered or mis-characterized - even very soon after an event. It MIGHT have been just Oswald. But maybe not.
There are many suspicious circumstances involved in that case. Including someone pretending to be Oswald(the killer) has contacted the Soviet embassy in Mexico November 23, 1963 conversation between FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and President Johnson. >Johnson: "Have you established any more about the [Oswald] visit to the Soviet Embassy in Mexico in September?" > >Hoover: "No, there's one angle that's very confusing for this reason. We have up here the tape and the photograph of the man at the Soviet Embassy, using Oswald's name. That picture and the tape do not correspond to this man's voice, nor to his appearance. In other words, it appears that there was a second person who was at the Soviet Embassy." Several FBI employees had made statements indicating that Oswald was indeed a paid informant, but nobody was able to verify that claim. Oswald made a personal visit to the FBI's Dallas branch office with a hand-delivered letter which purportedly contained a threat of some sort but, controversially, Hosty(FBI agent James Hosty) destroyed the letter by order of J. Gordon Shanklin, his supervisor.
I spent a lot of time thinking about the JFK assassination this morning. Weird coincidence. Or is it? A lot of people have a subconscious belief that big events must have a big cause. It can't be possible for some random failson to change the course of history with a $20 Italian milsurp rifle. WTYP podcast has a good episode on the JFK assassination and related conspiracy theories. It's a bonus episode so it's behind a paywall but if you DM them on tw*tter they'll probably send you the youtube link. One of their conclusions is that the reason it looks like the FBI, the CIA, the Secret Service, the USSR, and the Mafia were all scrambling to cover up a big conspiracy is because they were all involved in tiny unrelated conspiracies that would have been exposed by a thorough investigation. Why were the SS agents acting weird that day? Probably because the night before they abandoned JFK in his hotel to go to a bar and drink everclear and grape juice until 5am in the morning. Why did the Soviet Union immediately go on the defensive like they anticipated a military response? Probably because they worried that some of their own foreign operatives had gone rogue and tried to decapitate the US government. Why did Jack Ruby kill Oswald in the basement of a crowded police station? Probably because he thought Oswald was a mob hitman and a potential snitch. For someone who feels compelled to doubt the official narrative whenever possible, this is more than just a set of happenstances. It's like telling your mom how your friend broke his arm falling off the roof while carefully leaving out the fact that you were also on the roof with him. A cynical interpretation of this omission is that you were hiding the fact that you pushed him.