Investigating
the Assassination of President Kennedy
Important
Issues
1.
The Warren
Commission claimed
that the actions of Lee Harvey Oswald
during 1963 suggest that he was preparing to kill President John
F. Kennedy.
Others have argued that these actions suggest that he was being set-up
as a patsy.
Read
Lee
Harvey Oswald in 1963.
(a)
Make a list of the evidence that suggests that Oswald was preparing
to kill President Kennedy.
(b)
Make a list of the evidence that suggests that Oswald was being set-up
as a patsy.
(c)
Study these two lists and explain whether you think Oswald was planning
to kill President Kennedy.
2.
Study sources B2-B4 of the Assassination
of JFK.
Who was involved in the planning of the trip to Texas and the presidential
motorcade in Dallas. Do all three sources agree on this subject?
3.
Study sources B4-B12. What evidence is there
that there
were gunman firing at President Kennedy from behind and in front of
the presidential limousine.
4.
How many of the witnesses in this unit supplied
evidence that supported the conclusions of the Warren
Commission (B27)? How
many of the witnesses contradicted the conclusions of the Warren Commission?
5.
How many of the witnesses in this unit supplied
evidence that supported the conclusions of the House
Select Committee on Assassinations (B28)? How many of the witnesses
contradicted the conclusions of the House Select Committee on Assassinations?
6.
Study sources C1-C14 of Murder
of J. D. Tippit.
Use the evidence to describe the murder of J.
D. Tippit.
Do you think Lee
Harvey Oswald murdered
Tippit?
7.
Read Jack
Ruby and the Mafia.
Describe the evidence
that suggests that Jack
Ruby was
linked to the Mafia. Why did Ruby kill Lee
Harvey Oswald?
8.
Study
sources E1-E9 of the
Mannlicher
Rifle. What evidence does the Warren
Commission Report (E4) provide to support the theory that Lee
Harvey Oswald used a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle to kill President
Kennedy? What criticisms do Matthew
Smith (E1
and E3), James
H. Fetzer (E5),
Michael
Kurtz (E8)
and Ronald F. White
(E9) make of this theory?
9.
Read Kennedy's
Autopsy. (a) Select those sources that suggest that President
Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman from the sixth-floor of the Texas
Book Depository. (b)
Select those sources that suggest that President Kennedy was killed
by gunman firing from in front and behind the president's limousine.
10.
Read Kennedy's
Autopsy. Select
those sources that suggest that John
F. Kennedy was
killed by a dum-dum bullet.
Who
Killed President Kennedy?
There
are several theories concerning who killed President Kennedy. In the
opinion of the Warren
Commission Kennedy
was killed by one man, Lee Harvey Oswald.
Other theories have involved different organizations and groups of
individuals. Eight of the theories are listed below:
1.
Lee
Harvey Oswald
2.
The
Mafia
3. Soviet
Union and Cuba
4.
Anti-Castro Activists
5.
Texas Oil Industry
6.
John Birch Society
7.
Central Intelligence Agency
8.
Secret Service and the FBI
Read
each theory in turn. Also look at the sources that are provided. The
questions that follow the sources should help you understand the relevance
of this information.
With
each theory do the following:
(a)
Describe the possible motivation for the assassination.
(b)
Comment
on how likely this theory is to be true.
(c)
Rank
the eight theories in the order you think they are likely to be true.
(d)
Explain who you think organized and carried out the killing of President
Kennedy. You can, if you wish, combine more than one theory in your
answer.
WebQuest
on the Kennedy Assassination
Open
Debate on the Kennedy Assassination
| If
you have ever been tempted to believe that President Kennedy
was killed by a lone, demented gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald,
then Assassination Science is the one book which will convince
you, beyond any reasonable doubt, that there was indeed a
conspiracy and a cover-up. Completely lacking the wild speculations
that have marred some books on the shooting of Kennedy, Assassination
Science sticks to the hard facts, interpreted by medical and
scientific expertise. (James
H. Fetzer, Catfeet, ISBN 0 8126 9366 3, £9.00) |
James
H. Fetzer, Assassination Science, Catfeet (1998)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
