The assassination of John Fitzgerald...

Chapter 8 W The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy 145

8The areas of focus for this author-developed case study are:

W� Kennedy in November 1963

W� Death of a president: Dallas, Texas, 22 November 1963

W� Impact and aftermath of the Kennedy assassination

W� The Warren Report — evidence and conspiracy theories

The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Source 8.1

A famous photograph of the Kennedy family at the funeral on 25 November 1963 of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. John Kennedy Jnr, on his third birthday, salutes his father’s coffin as it leaves St Matthew’s Cathedral.

* This author-developed case study of Kennedy’s assassination provides some background from which to embark

on the study of the History Extension topic on Kennedy’s presidency.

KEY CONCEPTS

Key concepts relevant to this chapter are:W communism W democracy

W racism

KEY DATES

1961

January John F. Kennedy becomes 35th US President

1963

22 November Assassination of President Kennedy24 November Jack Ruby kills Lee Harvey Oswald25 November President’s funeral

1964

24 September Warren Commission Report published

1967

DA Jim Garrison charges Clay Shaw with conspiring to kill Kennedy

1976

September House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) appointed to review evidence

1979

Committee delivers conclusions

1991

Oliver Stone releases movie JFK

1992

President John F. Kennedy

Assassination Records

Collection Act

T

T

T

T

T

T

T

T

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T

Retrospective146

Introduction

Where were you when you heard the news of . . . ?There are events in world history that are so

dramatic, unexpected, shocking and/or momentous

that people for years afterwards remember where

they were and what they were doing when they

heard the news, and how they and others around

them felt and reacted.

On 11 September 2001, there was

the terrorist attack on the World Trade

Center in New York. On 31 August 1997,

there was the car accident in Paris

that resulted in the death of Princess

Diana. In November 1989, people

all over the world watched in

amazement at the fall of the Wall

that had divided Berlin for over

28 years. On 5 September 1972, members

of the Black September organisation took

hostage, and ultimately murdered, 11 Israeli

athletes and coaches at the Olympic village in

Munich. On 22 November 1963, at 12.31 pm, in

Dallas, Texas, there was the assassination

of US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Source 8.3

An extract from a 2003 interview on CBS’s The Early Show in which renowned US broadcaster Walter Cronkite, around the fortieth anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination, recalls making the announcement on 22 November 1963

Most people old enough to remember the third week of November in 1963 can recall

the exact moment they heard that President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.

And for millions, the word came from CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite . . .

[The soap opera] ‘As The World Turns’ was interrupted by a CBS special bulletin.

The anchor, Walter Cronkite, said: ‘Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas,

Texas, three shots were fi red at President Kennedy’s motorcade in downtown

Dallas. The fi rst reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded

by this shooting.’ . . .

[Cronkite’s] composure wavered only once: at the moment when the

unthinkable was confi rmed . . .

His report: ‘From Dallas, Texas, the fl ash — apparently offi cial — President

Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central standard time, 2 p.m. Eastern standard time,

some 38 minutes ago.’

Cronkite tells The Early Show, ‘My gosh, the president’s dead. John Kennedy,

this young president, is cut down, is dead. And it hit me pretty hard, just for that

moment, while I gathered myself together, and went on again, beginning to think

about, now where do we go?’ . . .

Extract from CBS News, ‘Cronkite Remembers JFK’, New York, 20 November 2003.

assassination W�the murder of someone important, usually someone powerful in the political world. The assassin’s purpose might be the pursuit of an ideological or political goal or revenge.

assassination W�the murder of someone important, usually someone powerful in the political world. The assassin’s purpose might be the pursuit of an ideological or political goal or revenge.

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. What does source 8.3 indicate about Walter Cronkite’s attitude at the time of delivering the news bulletin announcing Kennedy’s death?

2. Where were you and what were you doing when you heard news of the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001? How did you feel about this?

3. Survey five people of different age groups, asking them to name two events (other than 9/11) that they remember as being momentous historical events. Ask what it was about these events that made them so memorable. Share your findings with the class.

Source 8.2

Photograph of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, New York, on 11 September 2001


Kennedy in November 1963President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the thirty-fifth president of the Unit

ed States. He belonged to the Democratic Party and came from a wealthy and

powerful Massachusetts family.

In November 1963, Kennedy had been in office for almost three years and

was beginning to campaign for a second term. He projected an image of style,

charm, wit, good humour and intelligence. At 43, he was a relatively young

president, married to a glamorous young wife, Jacqueline, with two young

children, Caroline and John.

Many Americans found Kennedy to be an inspiring leader. They admired

the values in his 1961 inaugural address and in his ‘New Frontier’ program;

his leadership skills, especially at the time of the 1962 confrontation between

the US and the Soviet Union known as the Cuban Missile Crisis; and his

determination to have an American on the moon by the end of the decade.

Kennedy was not universally popular. Many people in the southern states

of the US disliked him, partly because of his support for the Civil Rights

Movement. Many right-wing groups there (and elsewhere) judged him to be

‘soft on’ communism.

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. From sources 8.3 and

8.4, describe the general

reaction to news of John F.

Kennedy’s assassination.

2. Ask people aged at least 50

how they heard the news

of Kennedy’s assassination

and what they felt about it.

Source 8.4

A photograph from 22 November

1963 of New Yorkers crowding

around a convertible to hear

breaking news on the radio of the

assassination of the President

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. From sources 8.3 and

8.4, describe the general

reaction to news of John F.

Kennedy’s assassination.

2. Ask people aged at least 50

how they heard the news

of Kennedy’s assassination

and what they felt about it.

Source 8.4

A photograph from 22 November

1963 of New Yorkers crowding

around a convertible to hear

breaking news on the radio of the


SOURCE QUESTION

White House photographers

took sources 8.5 and 8.6 in the

White House in October 1963.

How do you think critics of

Kennedy would have reacted

to these photographs?

Source 8.5

Photograph showing President

Kennedy with his son, John, in

the West Wing colonnade of the

White House on 10 October 1963

SOURCE QUESTION

White House photographers

took sources 8.5 and 8.6 in the

White House in October 1963.

How do you think critics of

Kennedy would have reacted

to these photographs?

Source 8.5


Kennedy with his son, John, in

the West Wing colonnade of the

White House on 10 October 1963

communism W�a political ideology and economic system, developed by Karl Marx (1818–1883), in which people share equally the ownership of their society’s resources, contribute to its work according to their abilities and are provided for according to their neeeds

communism W�a political ideology and economic system, developed by Karl Marx (1818–1883), in which people share equally the ownership of their society’s resources, contribute to its work according to their abilities and are provided for according to their neeeds

Source 8.6

Photograph

showing

President

Kennedy

signing the

Limited

Nuclear Test

Ban Treaty

in the White

House on

7 October

1963

Source 8.6

Photograph

showing

President

Kennedy

signing the

Limited

Nuclear Test

Ban Treaty

in the White

House on

7 October

1963

Retrospective148

Death of a president: Dallas, Texas, 22 November 1963President Kennedy’s two-day trip to Texas in November 1963 was part of

a strategy, in the build-up to the 1964 presidential election, to improve his

popularity in the South. His Vice President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, a proud

Texan and former senator for that state, accompanied Kennedy.

At the time of the presidential visit, the John Birch Society placed an anti-

Kennedy advertisement in the Dallas Morning News. Other right-wing groups

distributed leaflets labelling Kennedy a ‘traitor’ for his attempts to improve

the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union and Cuba.

The Citizens’ Council of Dallas, dominated by businessmen active in the oil

industry, was very powerful. It wanted the US democracy to serve its inter-

ests. It resented Kennedy’s conciliatory attitude towards communist powers

and his agreement with the Soviet Union to ban nuclear weapons testing.

John Birch Society W�an ultra right-wing society founded by Robert Welch in 1958. Named for John Birch, who had been killed by Chinese communists in 1945, it was against communism, liberalism, civil rights, the UN and John Kennedy. In 1964, it employed 200 people and had a budget of US$3 million at its disposal.

John Birch Society W�an ultra right-wing society founded by Robert Welch in 1958. Named for John Birch, who had been killed by Chinese communists in 1945, it was against communism, liberalism, civil rights, the UN and John Kennedy. In 1964, it employed 200 people and had a budget of US$3 million at its disposal.

Source 8.7

Handbill entitled ‘Wanted for

Treason’ that Kennedy critics

distributed in Dallas at the time

of the Kennedy visit

Source 8.7

Handbill entitled ‘Wanted for

Treason’ that Kennedy critics

distributed in Dallas at the time

of the Kennedy visit

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. What was the traditional

use of ‘Wanted’ posters?

2. What evidence does source

8.7 provide of the author’s

attitude towards Kennedy?

3. Which groups in the

United States might have

supported this viewpoint?

Which groups might have

been hostile to it?

4. What arguments should a

newspaper editor consider

when deciding whether or

not to publish material of

this kind?

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. What was the traditional

use of ‘Wanted’ posters?

2. What evidence does source

8.7 provide of the author’s

attitude towards Kennedy?

3. Which groups in the

United States might have

supported this viewpoint?

Which groups might have

been hostile to it?

4. What arguments should a

newspaper editor consider

when deciding whether or

not to publish material of

this kind?


On 22 November, Kennedy’s day began with breakfast at Fort Worth, a

seven-minute plane ride from Dallas. He discussed the dangers he might face

and commented that the Secret Service could not really protect him against

an assassin: ‘All one had to do was get a high building some day with a

telescopic rifle’.

SOURCE QUESTION

What caption would you create for this photograph in view of the fact that Kennedy

was assassinated less than an hour later? What would this reveal about your

perspective?

Source 8.8


and Mrs Kennedy on their arrival

at Love Field airport, Dallas,

Texas, on 22 November 1963

Source 8.8


and Mrs Kennedy on their arrival

at Love Field airport, Dallas,

Texas, on 22 November 1963

Retrospective150

After a flight to Dallas and a motorcade through the town, the Presi-

dent was due to go to the Dallas Trade Mart for a luncheon with over 2500

supporters. The presidential party arrived at Love Field airport, Dallas, at

11.38 am. After meeting with local officials, the group took their seats for the

motorcade, which comprised over twenty cars and buses interspersed with

an escort of Dallas police on motorcycles.

The first car carried Dallas police observers. Then came the ‘lead’ car with

police officials and Secret Service agents. After this was the presidential car

— an open-top Lincoln limousine. President and Mrs Kennedy sat in the back

seat, Texas Governor John Connally and his wife sat in front of them and the

driver and another Secret Service agent occupied the front seat. Eight Secret

Service agents (two on each of the running boards) travelled with White House

officials in the next ‘follow-up’ car. Vice President and Mrs Johnson were in the

next car and after them their ‘follow-up’ car and the remainder of the group.

At 11.50 am, the motorcade set off. Many workers had come out at lunch-

time to see the President. People crowded the Dallas pavements, eagerly

waiting for the motorcade to pass.

SOURCE QUESTION

What does this photograph indicate about the difficulties involved in ensuring the

President’s safety?

Source 8.9


and Mrs Kennedy in the

presidential limousine with

Governor and Mrs Connally,

shortly before the assassination

Source 8.9


and Mrs Kennedy in the

presidential limousine with

Governor and Mrs Connally,

shortly before the assassination


In the downtown area, large crowds of spectators gave the President a

tremendous reception . . .

Mrs. Connally, elated by the reception, turned to President Kennedy and said,

‘Mr. President, you can’t say Dallas doesn’t love you.’ The President replied, ‘That

is very obvious.’

At 12:30 p.m., e.s.t., as the President’s open limousine proceeded at approximately

11 miles per hour along Elm Street toward the Triple Underpass, shots fired from a

rifle mortally wounded President Kennedy and seriously injured Governor Connally.

One bullet passed through the President’s neck; a subsequent bullet, which was

lethal, shattered the right side of his skull. Governor Connally sustained bullet

wounds in his back, the right side of his chest, right wrist, and left thigh . . .

Mrs. John F. Kennedy, on the left of the rear seat of the limousine, looked

toward her left and waved to the crowds along the route. Soon after the

motorcade turned onto Elm Street, she heard a sound similar to a motorcycle

noise and a cry from Governor Connally, which caused her to look to her right. On

turning she saw a quizzical look on her husband’s face as he raised his left hand

to his throat. Mrs. Kennedy then heard a second shot and saw the President’s

skull torn open under the impact of the bullet. As she cradled her mortally

wounded husband, Mrs. Kennedy cried, ‘Oh, my God, they have shot my husband.

I love you, Jack.’

Governor Connally was certain that he was hit by the second shot, which he

stated he did not hear ...

Roy Kellerman, in the right front seat of the limousine, heard a report like a

firecracker pop. Turning to his right in the direction of the noise, Kellerman heard

the President say ‘My God, I am hit,’ and saw both of the President’s hands move

up toward his neck. . . . Kellerman grabbed his microphone and radioed ahead to

the lead car, ‘We are hit. Get us to the hospital immediately.’

Special Agent Hill . . . jumped from the follow-up car and ran to the President’s

automobile. At about the time he reached the President’s automobile, Hill heard a

second shot, approximately 5 seconds after the first, which removed a portion of

the President’s head.

In the final instant of the assassination, the Presidential motorcade began a

race to Parkland Memorial Hospital, approximately 4 miles from the Texas School

Book Depository Building . . . the Presidential limousine arrived at the emergency

entrance of the Parkland Hospital at about 12:35 p.m. . . .

In the absence of any neurological, muscular, or heart response, the doctors

concluded that efforts to revive the President were hopeless . . . At approximately

1 p.m., after last rites were administered to the President by Father Oscar L.

Huber, Dr. Clark pronounced the President dead . . . the time was fixed at 1 p.m., as

an approximation, since it was impossible to determine the precise moment when

life left the President. President Kennedy could have survived the neck injury,

but the head wound was fatal. From a medical viewpoint, President Kennedy was

alive when he arrived at Parkland Hospital; the doctors observed that he had

a heart beat and was making some respiratory efforts. But his condition was

hopeless, and the extraordinary efforts of the doctors to save him could not help

but to have been unavailing . . .

At approximately 1:20 p.m., Vice President Johnson was notified by O’Donnell

that President Kennedy was dead . . .

Extracts from ‘The Assassination’, chapter 2 of the Report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (Warren Commission

report), US Government Printing Office, 1964.

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. Use the information in source 8.10 to create a timeline of the sequence of events it relates.

2. What information does source 8.10 provide regarding the nature and source of the wounds sustained by President Kennedy and Governor Connally?

3. Which witnesses does the source cite and what does it indicate is common to the experience of all of them?

4. What information does the source provide about the efforts and conclusions of the doctors treating Kennedy?

5. Which parts of this account appear to be fact and which opinion?

6. What do you think was the writer’s aim in the information provided on events in Parkland Memorial Hospital?

7. Go to the website for this book and access the Warren Commission weblink for this chapter (see ‘Weblinks’, page viii). Use it to read the full account of the motorcade and events at Parkland Hospital. What additional information does this provide?

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. Use the information in source 8.10 to create a timeline of the sequence of events it relates.

2. What information does source 8.10 provide regarding the nature and source of the wounds sustained by President Kennedy and Governor Connally?

3. Which witnesses does the source cite and what does it indicate is common to the experience of all of them?

4. What information does the source provide about the efforts and conclusions of the doctors treating Kennedy?

5. Which parts of this account appear to be fact and which opinion?

6. What do you think was the writer’s aim in the information provided on events in Parkland Memorial Hospital?

7. Go to the website for this book and access the Warren Commission weblink for this chapter (see ‘Weblinks’, page viii). Use it to read the full account of the motorcade and events at Parkland Hospital. What additional information does this provide?

Source 8.10

Extracts from the 1964 Warren Commission Report (see page 158) describing the events and journey of the motorcade through Dallas

Source 8.10

Extracts from the 1964 Warren Commission Report (see page 158) describing the events and journey of the motorcade through Dallas

Retrospective152

Kennedy had no chance of surviving his head wound. Hospital staff

declared him dead at 1 pm CST (Central Standard Time). At 1.33 pm CST,

White House Acting Press Secretary, Malcolm Kilduff, announced officially

that the President was dead.

At 2 pm CST, Secret Service men placed Kennedy’s body in a coffin and

delivered it to the presidential plane, Air Force One, at Love Field. Shortly

afterwards, Vice President Johnson took the oath of office, making him the

Source 8.11

A 1967 aerial photograph of Dealey Plaza in Dallas where the President’s motorcade travelled. It shows the Texas School Depository, a square brick building at top right (with the Hertz sign on the roof), and Elm Street, in front of it, leading to the Triple Underpass under the freeway

Source 8.11

A 1967 aerial photograph of Dealey Plaza in Dallas where the President’s motorcade travelled. It shows the Texas School Depository, a square brick building at top right (with the Hertz sign on the roof), and Elm Street, in front of it, leading to the Triple Underpass under the freeway

Source 8.12

A frame from the Zapruder film (see page 160) showing President Kennedy reacting to the first shot that hit him in the neck

Source 8.12

A frame from the Zapruder film (see page 160) showing President Kennedy reacting to the first shot that hit him in the neck

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. Use sources 8.10 and 8.11

to work out the route the

presidential motorcade

took on 22 November 1963.

2. Identify and explain the

actions you think security

personnel needed to take

to ensure the President’s

protection along this route.

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. Use sources 8.10 and 8.11

to work out the route the

presidential motorcade

took on 22 November 1963.

2. Identify and explain the

actions you think security

personnel needed to take

to ensure the President’s

protection along this route.

SOURCE QUESTION

In what ways does

source 8.12 support the

description provided in

source 8.10?

SOURCE QUESTION

In what ways does

source 8.12 support the

description provided in

source 8.10?


thirty-sixth President of the United States (see source 8.13). The plane then

departed Love Field for the journey back to Washington DC, where doctors

at the Bethesda Naval Hospital would perform an autopsy on the President’s

body. Dallas police had protested the removal of the body. They argued that

Texas law required that the Dallas City Coroner perform an autopsy on the

body before it left Texas jurisdiction.

From the time of the assassination onwards, the actions and motivations

of everyone around Kennedy that day potentially became the subject of sus-

picion, analysis and controversy. In the years that followed, people came to

question the role of the Secret Service; the actions of the doctors who treated

Kennedy; the accuracy of the autopsy report; the rationale for not having

it performed in Dallas; the nature and efficiency of police and government

enquiries; and the use made of eyewitness testimony.

The impact and aftermath of the Kennedy assassination

The assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy had a similar impact on the

public to that of the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. People

sat watching their TV sets for the latest updates on events. Regular program-

ming ceased. Television stations embarked on what became four days of

virtually around the clock coverage of the impact of the assassination and

hastily assembled tributes to Kennedy. Many (even those who had not been

Kennedy supporters), both in the United States and around the world, felt a

sense of shock and loss and felt that the world would not be the same again.

People had difficulty in thinking of Lyndon Johnson as the new President of

the United States.

Source 8.13

Photograph taken on

22 November 1963 showing

Lyndon Baines Johnson taking

the oath of office aboard Air

Force One at Love Field, Texas,

with his wife ‘Ladybird’ Johnson

shown at left and Jacqueline

Kennedy at right

Source 8.13

Photograph taken on

22 November 1963 showing

Lyndon Baines Johnson taking

the oath of office aboard Air

Force One at Love Field, Texas,

with his wife ‘Ladybird’ Johnson

shown at left and Jacqueline

Kennedy at right

SOURCE QUESTION

What messages could be taken

from this photograph?

SOURCE QUESTION

What messages could be taken

from this photograph?

Retrospective154

Lee Harvey OswaldThe Dallas Police Department (DPD) arrested and later released several sus-

pects. At about 1.50 pm, 80 minutes after the assassination, police arrested Lee

Harvey Oswald in a cinema. They believed he had killed a policeman, J. D.

Tippit, over an hour earlier. When they learned that Oswald worked in the Texas

School Book Depository, from where witnesses reported shots had been fired,

they began to suspect him of the Kennedy assassination. They found a rifle and

spent bullets on the sixth floor and claimed that these were Oswald’s.

At 7 pm on 22 November, the DPD charged Lee Harvey Oswald with the

murder of Tippit and, with FBI and Secret Service representatives, interrog-

ated him for several hours over Kennedy’s assassination. Oswald claimed he

was a ‘patsy’ — that he was innocent and had been framed. It was not until

days later that Captain Fritz, the main interrogator, wrote up notes of his

interrogation of Oswald. There were no written transcripts or voice record-

ings of Oswald’s interrogation.

Source 8.14

A photograph showing New York

commuters studying the

newspapers following the shock


Source 8.14

A photograph showing New York

commuters studying the

newspapers following the shock


SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. What could you conclude

from source 8.14 about

the way the people of

New York felt about the

President’s death?

2. What do you think was the

photographer’s purpose in

taking the photo?

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. What could you conclude

from source 8.14 about

the way the people of

New York felt about the

President’s death?

2. What do you think was the

photographer’s purpose in

taking the photo?

Source 8.15

A photograph showing Oswald in

police custody on 23 November

after he was arrested and

interrogated in relation to the

assassination of President

Kennedy. The photograph shows

him with a cut on his forehead

and a blackened eye.

Source 8.15

A photograph showing Oswald in

police custody on 23 November

after he was arrested and

interrogated in relation to the

assassination of President

Kennedy. The photograph shows

him with a cut on his forehead

and a blackened eye.

SOURCE QUESTION

What questions would you ask

the Dallas Police Department

in response to this photograph

of Lee Harvey Oswald?

SOURCE QUESTION

What questions would you ask

the Dallas Police Department

in response to this photograph

of Lee Harvey Oswald?


Oswald never came to trial on charges related to the assassination. On

24 November 1963, police (with NBC providing live TV coverage of the event)

were transporting him via the DPD basement car park to the Dallas County

Jail. Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner, came forward and shot Oswald

in the stomach. Oswald died following surgery at the Parkland Memorial

Hospital and was buried on 25 November 1963, the same day as the Presi-

dent. In the absence of anyone else, journalists served as his pallbearers.

SOURCE QUESTION

What different responses might people have had to the event portrayed in

source 8.16?

Lee Harvey Oswald was 24 years old when he died. In early October 1963,

he had gained temporary employment at the Texas School Book Depository

in Dallas. On 22 November, he carried a long parcel into work. He said it was

curtain rods. A work colleague later reported seeing Oswald by himself on

the sixth floor of the Book Depository, 35 minutes before the assassination.

Police, FBI and Secret Service sources suggested that he was emotionally

troubled with passive–aggressive tendencies and had trained in the Marine

Corps (from where he was dismissed as ‘undesirable’). Sources also sug-

gested that he spoke Russian, had lived in the Soviet Union for nearly three

years and attempted unsuccessfully to gain Soviet citizenship, had tried to

murder US General Edwin Walker (a member of the John Birch Society) and

was a committed supporter of Cuban communist leader, Fidel Castro. The

implication was that he had assassinated Kennedy because of his own mental

instability, or because he wanted to show support for the Soviet Union, or

because he was one of many people angered that Kennedy approved a 1961

CIA attempt to overthrow Castro.

Source 8.16

A photograph showing the scene (broadcast live) in the DPD car park as Jack Ruby (in right foreground) lunges forward to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald

Source 8.16

A photograph showing the scene (broadcast live) in the DPD car park as Jack Ruby (in right foreground) lunges forward to shoot Lee Harvey Oswald

Retrospective156

Source 8.17

Extracts from the 1964 Warren Commission Report (see page 158) outlining parts of the evidence regarding Lee Harvey Oswald’s movements around the time of the President’s assassination on 22 November 1963

Additional testimony linking Oswald with the point from which the shots were

fired was provided by the testimony of Charles Givens, who was the last known

employee to see Oswald inside the [Texas School Book Depository] prior to the

assassination. During the morning of November 22, Givens was working with the

floor-laying crew in the southwest section of the sixth floor. At about 11:45 a.m.

the floor-laying crew used both elevators to come down from the sixth floor.

The employees raced the elevators to the first floor. Givens saw Oswald standing

at the gate on the fifth floor as the elevator went by. Givens testified that after

reaching the first floor, ‘I discovered I left my cigarettes in my jacket pocket

upstairs, and I took the elevator back upstairs to get my jacket with my cigarettes

in it.’ He saw Oswald, a clipboard in hand, walking from the southeast corner of the

sixth floor toward the elevator . . .

Givens said to Oswald, ‘Boy are you going downstairs? ... It’s near lunch time.’

Oswald said, ‘No, sir. When you get downstairs, close the gate to the elevator.’

Oswald was referring to the west elevator which operates by pushbutton and only

with the gate closed. Givens said, ‘Okay,’ and rode down in the east elevator. When

he reached the first floor, the west elevator — the one with the gate was not there.

Givens thought this was about 11:55 a.m. None of the Depository employees is

known to have seen Oswald again until after the shooting.

The significance of Givens’ observation that Oswald was carrying his clipboard

became apparent on December 2, 1963, when an employee, Frankie Kaiser, found

a clipboard hidden by book cartons in the northwest corner of the sixth floor at

the west wall a few feet from where the rifle had been found. This clipboard had

been made by Kaiser and had his name on it. Kaiser identified it as the clipboard

which Oswald had appropriated from him when Oswald came to work at the

Depository. Three invoices on this clipboard, each dated November 22, were for

Scott-Foresman books, located on the first and sixth floors. Oswald had not filled

any of the three orders . . .

Extracts from ‘The Assassin’, chapter 4 of the Report of the President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy (Warren Commission report),

US Government Printing Office, 1964.

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. What is the message of source 8.17 and what evidence does it provide in support of this?

2. Identify the Warren Commission Report evidence in source 8.17 supporting the view that Oswald assassinated Kennedy. Visit the website for this book and click on the Warren Commission weblink for this chapter. What other supporting evidence did the Warren Commission Report provide? In particular, check what it said about:

(a) Oswald’s shooting ability and his willingness to use violence

(b) the weapon used and its links to Oswald

(c) inaccuracies in the testimony Oswald gave during his interrogation

(d) the reliability of the information provided.


The funeral of President John KennedyPresident John F. Kennedy’s funeral was an international event with rep-

resentatives of 90 countries, including heads of state, key politicians and

members of royal families all in attendance. His casket was placed in the

East Room of the White House early on Saturday 23 November and family

members, friends, foreign diplomats and politicians came there to pay their

respects. On Sunday 24 November, Kennedy’s body lay in state at the US

Capitol so that members of the public could file past. Despite bitterly cold

weather, 250 000 people waited as long as 10 hours for their opportunity to

show their respect.

President Johnson declared 25 November — the day of the funeral — a

National Day of Mourning, so that only people in essential or emergency

services were expected to go to work. One million people waited along the

funeral route and millions more followed the proceedings on their television

screens. A military guard took the casket first back to the White House, then

on to St Matthew’s Cathedral for a requiem mass (see source 8.1, page 145)

and finally on to the burial site at Arlington National Cemetery. Jacqueline

Kennedy lit an eternal flame to burn continuously over her husband’s grave.

SOURCE QUESTION

What image of Kennedy does this source suggest and what would be the value of linking him to Lincoln with the inclusion of the riderless horse following the casket? (Read more about ‘Black Jack’ by accessing the website for this book and clicking on the Black Jack weblinks for this chapter.)

Source 8.18

A photograph of Kennedy’s

horse-drawn casket and

funeral procession arriving at

Arlington National Cemetery on

25 November 1963. Behind the

casket was a riderless horse,

‘Black Jack’, with the boots

placed backwards in the stirrups,

symbolic of the death of a fallen

leader — one of many elements

modelled on the April 1865

funeral of Abraham Lincoln.

Source 8.18

A photograph of Kennedy’s

horse-drawn casket and

funeral procession arriving at

Arlington National Cemetery on

25 November 1963. Behind the

casket was a riderless horse,

‘Black Jack’, with the boots

placed backwards in the stirrups,

symbolic of the death of a fallen

leader — one of many elements

modelled on the April 1865

funeral of Abraham Lincoln.

Retrospective158

The Warren Report — evidence and conspiracy theoriesOn 29 November 1963, President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) appointed a nine-

member commission, headed by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Earl

Warren, to investigate the assassination. On 24 September 1964, the Commis-

sion submitted 26 volumes, known as the Warren Report, containing its find-

ings and sources of evidence (see sources 8.10 and 8.17 for extracts). President

Johnson ordered that the Warren Commission files remain sealed until 2039

— that is, 75 years later. The Warren Report concluded that:

Lee Harvey Oswald had killed Kennedy using the 6.5 mm Mannlicher-

Carcano rifle found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository

he had acted alone

Oswald had fired three shots, one of which had missed. The three bullets

had all been fired from behind Kennedy and from the Texas School

Book Depository.

the bullet that first wounded Kennedy had struck him in the back, exited

his throat and had then gone on to hit Governor Connally in the back,

from where it travelled through Connally’s chest and right wrist before

settling in his left thigh

another bullet was the one which caused Kennedy’s fatal head wound

one bullet missed its target

the Secret Service had failed to take essential security precautions and as

a result had facilitated the assassination

the open car in which the President travelled had not provided him

with any protection and he should have been provided with an enclosed

bulletproof car

Oswald, while trying to make a getaway, had killed Officer J. D. Tippit

Jack Ruby had shot Oswald in order to save Jacqueline Kennedy the

ordeal of Oswald’s trial

Ruby had not, as some conspiracy theorists claimed, acted to prevent

Oswald revealing that he had been hired by someone else to do the killing

Ruby had not needed any help to get into the underground car park

where he killed Oswald. He had just walked down the ramp.

Jack Ruby’s murder of Lee Harvey Oswald meant that there was no court

case through which evidence about Oswald’s actions could be put forward and

tested. Conspiracy theories flourished in the years following the assassination.

Critics accused the Warren Commission of having failed in its methodology

and failed to address the issue of why government officials had destroyed or

not retained some potentially key evidence. For example, staff members organ-

ised the cleaning of both Connally’s suit and the presidential limousine before

forensic experts could examine them. Some autopsy photographs have been lost,

as has the official record of Lee Harvey Oswald’s service in the Marine Corps.

Over time, a number of key questions took hold in the public imagination:

Was Lee Harvey Oswald guilty or just a ‘patsy’ as he had claimed?

Had gunshots come from more than one direction and therefore from

more than one shooter?

Did Jack Ruby kill Oswald to prevent him revealing other people’s

involvement in the assassination?

The growth of conspiracy theories challenging the Commission’s find-

ings was a symptom of the public’s increasing scepticism — especially in the

Vietnam War era — about the degree to which the US government could be

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conspiracy W�a secret agreement between two or more people to commit an illegal act

conspiracy W�a secret agreement between two or more people to commit an illegal act


trusted to tell the truth. This trend also reflected the fact that many people

did not believe one person alone could have carried out the assassination.

In September 1976, the US House of Representatives created the House

Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) to review the evidence and con-

clusions of the initial investigation. Its initial findings supported the Warren

Commission view that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone. Many of its find-

ings differed from those of the Warren Commission. It concluded that:

Kennedy’s death was the result of a conspiracy (possibly from within the

Mafia), not the desire of a lone assassin

there were four shots fired and that one of these, coming from the area

known as the ‘grassy knoll’, did not reach its target

the recording from the dictabelt of a nearby patrolman supported this to

the level of 95 per cent certainty. (Note that, in 1992, the US government

accepted critics’ view that this evidence was ‘unreliable’.)

Jack Ruby had possibly been hired to make a ‘hit’ on Oswald. Ruby

had links with the Mafia and therefore a possible motive to prevent

Oswald from talking.

Ruby entered the DPD car park from somewhere other than the ramp and

was perhaps assisted by someone on the police force itself

Ruby had frequently made telephone contact with and visited someone in

communist Cuba in the weeks preceding the assassination and had later

lied about this to the Warren Commission

the CIA, the FBI and the Warren Commission had all failed to investigate

all the evidence and theories that might have revealed the motives for

and perpetrator(s) of the assassination and, in the case of the latter two,

had failed to supply all the evidence available to them

security for the motorcade had been inadequate

the autopsy of Kennedy’s body had not been either sufficiently thorough

or well-documented

photographic evidence indicated that Kennedy must have been hit by a

bullet coming from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository,

even if the gunman’s vision would have been obscured by an oak tree at

the time the shot was fired

that one bullet had caused Kennedy’s back and throat wound as well as

all of Connally’s injuries

that Oswald killed Tippit.

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dictabelt W�a device that records sound for playback at a later time

dictabelt W�a device that records sound for playback at a later time

Source 8.19

Diagram included as an exhibit

for the House Select Committee

on Assassinations in 1976.

The diagram indicates the

Warren Report’s finding that

a single bullet had caused all

of Governor Connally’s wounds

and one of Kennedy’s.

SOURCE QUESTION

What is the lower part of the

diagram shown in source 8.19

indicating in relation to the

‘single bullet’?

Source 8.19

Diagram included as an exhibit

for the House Select Committee

on Assassinations in 1976.

The diagram indicates the

Warren Report’s finding that

a single bullet had caused all

of Governor Connally’s wounds

and one of Kennedy’s.

SOURCE QUESTION

What is the lower part of the

diagram shown in source 8.19

indicating in relation to the

‘single bullet’?

Governor Connally

President Kennedy Texas School Book Depository

Grassy knoll area

Governor Connally

President Kennedy Texas School Book Depository

Grassy knoll area

Retrospective160

Jim Garrison’s 1967 conspiracy caseIn 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison charged Clay Shaw,

a prominent local businessman, with having conspired to kill President

Kennedy. The ensuing court case is the only one in which anyone has

ever been tried on any charge related to Kennedy’s assassination. The case

attracted huge publicity and provided more sources of enquiry for conspiracy

buffs. While the jury acquitted Shaw, the case brought to public attention a

key piece of evidence — the Zapruder film.

The Zapruder filmOn 22 November 1963, Abraham Zapruder, owner of a Dallas clothing store,

positioned himself on a concrete pergola in the area of Elm Street known as

the grassy knoll. This elevated position enabled him to get a good view of

the Kennedy motorcade and record it through the zoom lens of his Bell and

Howell movie camera.

The Zapruder film, effectively an 8 mm colour home movie, contains the

clearest and most complete known footage of the assassination itself. It com-

prises 486 frames, each lasting about one-eighteenth of a second (see source

8.12). The film follows the presidential limousine turning into Elm Street

until the disappearance of the motorcade under the railway overpass. The

sequence lasts 26.6 seconds and the president’s car is visible in 18.7 seconds of

these. At the time Kennedy received the fatal head shot, the car was virtually

level with Zapruder. Researchers have since labelled every frame using the

letter ‘Z’ followed by the relevant number in the frames’ sequence.

Observers of the film argue about frames Z140 to Z313. Some say the film

proves the presence of two or more gunmen; others support the Warren

Commission’s interpretation that it shows evidence of only one. The HSCA

identified four places where the film showed evidence of shots being fired:

Z157–161, Z187–191, Z295–296 and finally the head shot at Z312–320. Had there

been a lone gunman, as the Warren Report concluded, the film shows that he

would have had between 5.6 and 9 seconds to get off three shots, depending

upon when the first one was actually fired. The Warren Commission believed

the first shot came at Z210 and that the second shot failed. This would mean

that the gunman had fired all three shots in 5.6 seconds — something others

argued required a better rifle than a Mannlicher-Carcano and a more skilled

marksman than Lee Harvey Oswald.

In the Clay Shaw court case, Jim Garrison used frames Z313–320 to argue

that the direction of Kennedy’s response to the shot showed that it had not

come from behind — thus suggesting the presence of another gunman on

the grassy knoll.

Zapruder originally sold his film to Life magazine for $US150 000 (now

nearly one million US dollars). Life sold it back to him for $1 in 1975 and

the US government purchased it from the Zapruder family for $16 000 000

in 1998. The film, deemed ‘culturally significant’, has been entered into the

National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Since 1963, writers, researchers, makers of films and documentaries have

all addressed the public’s ongoing interest in the subject of who had killed

Kennedy and what had been the motivation. Oliver Stone’s 1991 film JFK

based its plot on information provided in the HSCA report and also on Jim

Garrison’s 1988 book On the Trail of the Assassins and Jim Marrs’ 1989 book

Crossfire: the Plot that Killed Kennedy. Critics panned its allegations of a con-

spiracy involving Lyndon Johnson, the FBI, the CIA, the Mafia, pro Castro

supporters and weapons manufacturers.

Visit the website of this book

and click on the Zapruder

film weblink for this chapter,

to view each frame.

Visit the website of this book

and click on the Zapruder

film weblink for this chapter,

to view each frame.


[The] Kennedy assassination remains one of the murkier chapters of American history. Almost all the crucial ‘facts’ are open to dispute, with everyone from coroners who were on the scene to forensic specialists from across the country arguing over the veracity of the autopsy photos and the correct interpretation of Abraham Zapruder’s horrifying 5.6-second film of the mortal wounding of Kennedy. Much of what passes for evidence — such as the ‘magic bullet’ that struck Kennedy, changed directions twice and then hit Governor John Connally Jnr., who’d been sitting in front of Kennedy — defies logic . . .

If there was more than one shooter, there was a conspiracy of some kind, and consequently also a cover-up . . .

‘I believe the Warren Commission [finding] is a great myth, and in order to fight a myth, maybe you have to create another one,’ says [JFK director Oliver] Stone. ‘The Warren Commission [report] was accepted at the time of its release for its soothing Olympian conclusion that a lone nut committed this murder. I suppose our movie is a countermyth: that the man was killed by larger political forces, with

more nefarious and sinister objectives’ . . .

From Jennet Conant, ‘The man who shot JFK’, in GQ magazine, January 1992, pp. 61–7.

SOURCE QUESTION

What, according to source 8.20, were Oliver Stone’s goals in making his 1991 movie

JFK? How would this affect the value of JFK as a historical source?

Conspiracy theorists continued to question the validity of the Warren Com-

mission’s findings. They generally came to believe one or more of the following:

Lee Harvey Oswald had either not committed the assassination or had not

acted alone. They stated that he lacked the shooting ability to fire three

shots within six to nine seconds and have two of them hit a moving target

one shot had come from in front of the limousine perhaps from the

grassy knoll

several bystanders on the grassy knoll claimed to have seen gunsmoke

there and smelled gunpowder and believed that a shot had been fired

from there. This would at least mean that Oswald had had an accomplice.

that it was ludicrous to think that there had been a ‘magic bullet’ that

could travel in a number of different directions to inflict the damage that

it had supposedly inflicted on Kennedy and Connally (see source 8.21)

the autopsy report had covered up evidence of a large wound in the right

rear of Kennedy’s head. Many members of the Parkland Hospital staff

and security personnel had apparently witnessed this. The location of the

wound would prove that Kennedy had been shot from the front.

Oswald had been ‘set up’ over a period of months to prevent suspicion

falling on the real assassin(s). This had been done by having people

posing as Oswald to create the impression that he was pro-communist

and hostile to Kennedy’s 1961 attempt to overthrow the Cuban communist

leader, Fidel Castro.

the Zapruder film shows evidence of there having been more than three shots

officials had cooperated in a cover-up of the nature of the assassination

and the identity of the assassin in order to maintain the illusion that only

one assassin had killed Kennedy.

In 1992, Congress passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records

Collection Act (the JFK Act). Its purpose was to address public concerns that

the government was hiding the truth about Kennedy’s assassination,

especially in view of the allegations made in Oliver Stone’s movie JFK.

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Source 8.20

Extract from Jennet Conant’s 1991 article ‘The man who shot JFK ’, in which film director Oliver Stone provides his interpretation of the story

Source 8.20

Extract from Jennet Conant’s 1991 article ‘The man who shot JFK ’, in which film director Oliver Stone provides his interpretation of the story

Source 8.21

Diagram showing the path of the single bullet as interpreted by conspiracy theorists who labelled it the ‘magic bullet’

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think this gained the label of the ‘magic bullet’ theory?

2. What does this indicate that some people believed in relation to this aspect of the Warren Commission’s

The ‘magic bullet’:

1 enters Kennedy’s back, 14.5 cm below collar

2 exits through knot in tie

3 enters Connally’s back near right armpit

4 exits right side of chest

5 shatters right wrist

6 wounds left thigh.

1

2

3

5

6

4

Governor

Connally

President

Kennedy

Source 8.21

Diagram showing the path of the single bullet as interpreted by conspiracy theorists who labelled it the ‘magic bullet’

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. Why do you think this gained the label of the ‘magic bullet’ theory?

2. What does this indicate that some people believed in relation to this aspect of the Warren Commission’s

The ‘magic bullet’:

1 enters Kennedy’s back, 14.5 cm below collar

2 exits through knot in tie

3 enters Connally’s back near right armpit

4 exits right side of chest

5 shatters right wrist

6 wounds left thigh.

1

2

3

5

6

4

Governor

Connally

President

Kennedy

Retrospective162

Congress addressed these concerns by advancing the release date of sources

of evidence that would allow the public to decide for itself. All remaining

documents will be released by 2017. In 1998, the Assassination Records

Review Board reported this had made considerable progress in addressing

the ‘excessive secrecy of the past’ and restoring public confidence in the gov-

ernment. In the mid twenty-first century, the Kennedy Library will release an

oral history of the event that Jacqueline Kennedy made shortly before her

death in 1994.

Postscript: ‘Camelot’ and the shaping of historyJacqueline Kennedy was determined that history portray her husband as a

heroic president. She invited journalist Theodore H. White to write up an inter-

view with her for publication in Life magazine. The interview, on 29 November

1963, took place over four hours at her home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

The theme of the interview

was that Kennedy’s presi-

dency had been ‘one brief

shining moment’ in US

history. The phrase came

from the theme song of

the popular 1960 musical

Camelot (see source 8.22).

This play, based on the novel

The Once and Future King,

depicted the noble ideals

that united the legendary

ruler, King Arthur, and his

Knights of the Round Table.

At 2 am, after taking

45 minutes to put the story

together, White rang through

the article to the Life editors.

They had been holding up

publication, at overtime costs

of $30 000 an hour, so that

the story, ‘For President Ken-

nedy: An Epilogue’, could be

included in their next issue.

White later admitted that

he had allowed his work to be the vehicle for Jacqueline Kennedy’s attempt

to shape the historical interpretation of John Kennedy and his presidency. In

the ensuing years, many writers viewed Kennedy through the rose-coloured

glasses of the ‘Camelot view’. This view was well received in the atmosphere

of emotive pro-Kennedy nostalgia that, after the assassination, came to per-

meate many interpretations of the Kennedy presidency. For many historians,

the question of how and why Kennedy died developed into the question of to

what extent emotional responses to the tragic manner of his death mitigated

against objective analyses of the nature of the Kennedy presidency.

ARTHUR:

Each evening, from December to December,

Before you drift to sleep upon your cot,

Think back on all the tales that you remember

Of Camelot.

Ask ev’ry person if he’s heard the story,

And tell it strong and clear if he has not,

That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory

Called Camelot . . .

Camelot! Camelot!

Now say it out with pride and joy!

TOM:

Camelot! Camelot!

ARTHUR:

Yes, Camelot, my boy!

Where once it never rained till after sundown,

By eight a.m. the morning fog had flown . . .

Don’t let it be forgot

That once there was a spot

For one brief shining moment that was known

As Camelot.

©1960 Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe For Australia And New Zealand: Alfred Publishing (Australia) Pty Ltd.

ARTHUR:

Each evening, from December to December,

Before you drift to sleep upon your cot,

Think back on all the tales that you remember

Of Camelot.

Ask ev’ry person if he’s heard the story,

And tell it strong and clear if he has not,

That once there was a fleeting wisp of glory

Called Camelot . . .

Camelot! Camelot!

Now say it out with pride and joy!

TOM:

Camelot! Camelot!

ARTHUR:

Yes, Camelot, my boy!

Where once it never rained till after sundown,

By eight a.m. the morning fog had flown . . .

Don’t let it be forgot

That once there was a spot

For one brief shining moment that was known

As Camelot.

©1960 Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe For Australia And New Zealand: Alfred Publishing (Australia) Pty Ltd.

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. What message might

people take from this

song in relation to

Kennedy’s presidency and

assassination?

2. How would the

circumstances of

Kennedy’s death influence

people’s willingness to

accept this message?

SOURCE QUESTIONS

1. What message might

people take from this

song in relation to

Kennedy’s presidency and

assassination?

2. How would the

circumstances of

Kennedy’s death influence

people’s willingness to

accept this message?

Source 8.22

The words of the reprise of the

theme song of Alan Jay Lerner

and Frederick Loewe’s 1960

musical Camelot, based on

Terence Hanbury White’s novel

The Once and Future King. King

Arthur, facing battle, speaks to a

young boy whom he charges to

carry on his legacy.

Source 8.22

The words of the reprise of the

theme song of Alan Jay Lerner

and Frederick Loewe’s 1960

musical Camelot, based on

Terence Hanbury White’s novel

The Once and Future King. King

Arthur, facing battle, speaks to a

young boy whom he charges to

carry on his legacy.


Meeting objectives and outcomes

Key features, issues, individuals and events P1.1 and P1.2

1. Describe the role of each of the following in the aftermath of the

Kennedy assassination. (P1.1)

(a) Lyndon Baines Johnson

(b) Jacqueline Kennedy

(c) Lee Harvey Oswald

(d) Jack Ruby

(e) Earl Warren

2. If you were asked to write a news article for the first anniversary

of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, what features and/or issues

related to this event would you want to highlight? Give reasons

for your answer. (P1.2)

Change and continuity over time P2.1

3. Research and report on the extent to which there has been change

and continuity in the official findings on the assassination of John

Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The process of historical inquiry P3.1–P3.5

4. What questions do you consider to have been essential to ask

(and investigate) in relation to the assassination of President

John Kennedy? (P3.1)

5. Copy and complete the following table to identify and evaluate five

different types of sources on the Kennedy assassination. Be sure to

provide detailed information under each heading. (P3.2–P3.5)

Source Content Author and perspective Usefulness Reliability

6. Collect 10–20 visual sources that you can use to explain the main

events related to the Kennedy assassination. Present your selection,

with appropriate oral commentary, to a small group. (P3.5)

7. Conduct your own investigation of sources on the Kennedy

assassination and answer the following question: To what extent does

the evidence support the view that President John F. Kennedy was

assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, a lone gunman? (P3.1, P3.5)

8. The Warren Commission Report concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald

assassinated President Kennedy and that, in doing so, he had acted

alone. You can view the Report on the US Government’s National

Archives website. Go to the website for this book and click on the

Warren Commission Report weblink for this chapter.

Work in pairs or small groups to investigate different sections of

this Report using the following guidelines.

Retrospective164

(a) Click on ‘Chapter 3’ and use the references shown in brackets

below to find out the main points it provides in answer to the

following questions.

(i) What led the Commission to conclude that the shots had

come from the Texas Book Depository? (pages 61, 63–5, 68,

70–1)

(ii) What was the evidence that shots had also come from other

areas and why did the Warren Commission reject this?

(pages 68, 70–2, 76)

(iii) What evidence did investigators produce regarding the

weaponry and bullets used in the assassination and where

did they find it? What did the Warren Commission conclude

from this? (pages 79, 81, 84–95)

(b) Click on ‘Chapter 4’ and use the references shown in brackets

below to find out the main points it provides in answer to the

following questions.

(i) What led the Commission to conclude that Lee Harvey

Oswald was the owner of the assassination weapon and that

he had used it to kill Kennedy? (pages 118–19, 121–5, 127–31,

133–7)

(ii) What was the importance of the sixth floor of the Texas

Book Depository and what evidence from there also seemed

to incriminate Oswald? (pages 141, 143–7, 149, 152, 156)

(iii) What did the Report state that Oswald did in between the

assassination and his arrest? (pages 157, 159–63, 165–9, 171–2,

175–6, 178–80)

(iv) What parts of Oswald’s testimony to the Dallas Police did

the Warren Commission find to be untrue? (pages 180–3)

(v) What information does the Report provide about Oswald’s

‘Prior Attempts to Kill’ and what was the significance of

this? (pages 183–9)

(vi) What did the Warren Commission conclude regarding Lee

Harvey Oswald’s ability to assassinate the President using

the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found at the Texas Book

Depository? (pages 189–95)

(c) Discussion topic: Based on your shared answers to these

questions, if there had been a trial of Lee Harvey Oswald,

which case do you think would have been easier to argue

— the case for the defence or the case for the prosecution?

Give reasons for your answer.

Communicating an understanding of history P4.1, P4.2

9. Essay topic: Explain why the Kennedy assassination has remained

a source of interest for many people.

Your response should be about three A4 pages in length.

Remember to incorporate appropriate historical terms and concepts. (P4.1, P4.2)

The assassination of John Fitzgerald...

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