JFK: History of the Conspiracy Theories

I. Overview and Analysis

JFK’s death began a new era in conspiracy theory:

	“Broadened the base” of c.t. beyond the anticommunist far right-wing
	Fears shifted from outside subversion to inherent evil of whole system

Close relationship of 1960s radicalism and JFK conspiracy theories

	Despite Cold War & LHO beliefs, communists rarely blamed for JFK murder, with exception of useful kooks such as Prof. Revilo P. Oliver.
	Left-wing origin of most theories. Argument that LHO was spy, not Commie.
	Rise of protest after JFK: The Berkeley “Free Speech Movement,” 1964.
	Deep distrust of established institutions pervaded both JFK c.t.’s and 60s radicalism. Example of Carl Oglesby, SDS leader & conspiracy theorist.

The “Sympathy for the Devil” thesis: JFK assassination as a distraction that turned ordinary citizens and radicals alike into ineffectual political paranoids.

II. How the Theorizing Began

The Manchester thesis: Crime and criminal did not balance.

Polls showed that most public believed in some conspiracy from the beginning, at least that Oswald did not act alone.

Truly, obviously bizarre/mysterious aspects of the case:

Jack Ruby’s mob background & police connections

Ruby’s murder of Oswald, entry & escape

Oswald’s “patsy” claim, plus failure to record what he said

Oswald’s strange, contradictory background

	Communist in the Marines at sensitive posts
	Defection to and undefection from Soviet Union
	Communist and anti-communist associations (Russian émigrés)
	Spy-like behavior: Post office boxes and aliases
	Too-perfect evidence trail (sightings, photos, mail-order rifle)

First real c.t.s came from European Left, seeing Dallas as a violent coup d’etat such as commonly happened in world history.

Defending “American exceptionalism”: US officials wanted to show that this could not happen here, that U.S. really was exceptional.

III. The Warren Commission

Rushed, sloppy investigation caused more problems than it solved.

W.C.’s paternalism, emphasis on calming fears, quashing rumors & protecting “our institutions.” Pressures due to 1964 election.
Members: Chief Justice Earl Warren, House leaders Hale Boggs & G. Ford, Senators R. Russell & J.S. Cooper, Chase Manhattan Pres. John McCloy, plus Allen Dulles (CIA director fired by JFK).

Problems with the investigation:

	Non-cooperation of the CIA & FBI. Warren’s failure to press. Members’ failure to attend meetings.
	Set up as prosecution of Oswald, but Oswald was allowed no representation.
	W.C. adopted “lone gunman” & “single bullet” theories despite contradictions in the evidence. Leads were not followed if they led to a possible c.t.

Mainstream media largely accepted the lone gunman theory, at first.

Early emergence of independent critics & lay researchers, or “buffs”: Mark Lane (Rush to Judgment), Sylvia Meagher, Harold Weisberg, Josiah Thompson, David Lifton, & others. Buff investigations (and c.t. in general) as “people’s scholarship.”

IV. From Marginal to Mainstream

Doubts about Warren Commission raised by mainstream media by 1966, encouraged by Edward Jay Epstein’s Inquest, a Cornell MA thesis.

Conspiracy theory in left-leaning pop culture: play Macbird! (1967)

Wide, quick public acceptance of the liberal martyr view of JFK: LBJ’s use of his legacy; Dion’s “Abraham, Martin, and John,” #4 hit in 1968.

Jim Garrison’s prosecution of businessman Clay Shaw, 1967-69: failed, homophobic, corrupt & baseless, but legitimated buffs & caused
wide distribution of Abraham Zapruder’s home movie of the assassination.

Film became centerpiece of a traveling roadshow that spread views of conspiracy buffs to local audiences, especially at colleges.
Zapruder film lent great power to “common sense” arguments of buffs, especially for a second shooter in front of JFK on the Grassy Knoll. One reason: apparent snap of head back and to the left.

Most popular conspirators: LBJ, Dallas police, right-wing oil men as early favorites, replaced by anti-Castro Cubans & CIA with FBI cover-up.

Military & arms-maker involvement, Vietnam motive emerged more strongly in early 1970s, after the Pentagon Papers scandal.

Factors that allowed JFK c.t.s to go mainstream: RFK & MLK assassinations, 60s/70s distrust of authority, Watergate (affecting public & media attitudes),
Church Committee exposures of CIA & FBI, national broadcast of the Zapruder film in 1975 by Geraldo Rivera.

House Select Committee on Assassinations (1978)

	At last minute, endorsed conspiracy in general, based on since-discredited auditory evidence of a 4th shot.
	Other evidence mostly supported W.C. conclusions. Led to wide public acceptance of a JFK conspiracy.

Emergence of the Mafia theory, a JFK c.t. for conservative 1980s.

Political impact of Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991): effort to release assassination-related records.

Problems of conspiracists recycling each other’s material, depoliticization of the JFK narrative.

V. The Best of the Worst of the JFK C.T.s

u The Multiple Oswalds (see above)

u The Changed Motorcade Route

u The “Magic Bullet” (CE 399)

u “Triangulated crossfire”: 6-8 shots? The vast majority of the ear-witnesses heard only 3.

uSmoke on the Grassy Knoll

u The Killer Hobos

u They Stole Kennedy’s Brain: David Lifton’s “body alteration” theory

u Umbrella Man and the Darts of Death

uEnd result of theories: a conspiracy too immense

uThe “Mysterious” Deaths: If they’re knocking off everyone Who Knows Too Much, who keeps writing all these books? Why were Mark Lane & Oliver Stone allowed to live?