The Assassination: An Overview

During his electoral battle tour in the south of the States, John F. Kennedy visited Dallas (Texas) on November 22nd, 1963. At his arrival at 1140 hours, he was welcomed warmly by the people of the city. Kennedy, Governor John Connally and their wives sat down in the limousine of the President which lead the motorcade through the town.

When the motorcade arrives in Dealey Plaza at 1230 hours, it turns to the right from Main to Houston Street and just seconds later it takes the 120 degrees turn into Elm Street passing the Schoolbook Depository Building.

Just when the limousine passes the Stemmons Freeway sign, Mrs. Connally hears a kind of gunshots. As she turns to take a look to the President, she sees him taking his hand to his throat covering a shooting wound. The next second Govenor Connally feels a ache in his back which he recognizes as a shot. He said later:

...there were either two or three people involved or more in this or someone was shooting with an automatic rifle.

Just seconds later he can hear the third shot. Mrs. Kennedy who then believed she listened to firecrackers from the motorcade, heard this moment "terrible noises" and turned to Kennedy. She sees her husband being wounded by a headshot. This was the last and final, fatal shot at Dealey Plaza.

The moment when the first bullet strikes

The reaction of the Secret Service Agents was quite slowly. The most of them spent the evening before in "The Cellar" bar which was owned by an aquaintance of Jack Ruby.

45 minutes later, Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested in charge of murder to police officer J.D. Tippit. After hours of interrogation where no lawyer is present and no protocol is made, Oswald is accused of murder to John F. Kennedy. On November 24th, 1963, a sunday morning, he is supposed to be handed over to the State Prison. In the garage of the police building, he is shot in front of hundreds of jounalists and millions of TV watchers by Jack Ruby.

The one week later constituted Warren Commission declared after months of investigation:

1.Lee Harvey Oswald was the only assassin and acted on his own. 2.He shot from the 6th floor of the Schoolbook Depository Building which was behind the President's limousine at the time of the assassination. 3.He used the founded Italian Mannlicher- Carchano rifle. 4.Oswald shot police officer Tippit.

The crowd of witnesses in Dealey plaza saw the things differently from this official version of the Warren Commission, e.g.:

1.Many witnesses reported that shots were fired from the Grassy Knoll, not the Texas School Book Depository 2.Witnesses stated that a cloud of smoke was visible in the area of the Grassy Knoll 3.Even before the motorcade arrived, men with rifles were seen by people in downtown Dallas 4.There were unexplained reports of witnesses' encountering mysterious Secret Service men in Dealey Plaza.

Dallas Police Chief Jesse Curry in later years admitted to newsmen:

We don't have any proof that Oswald fired the rifle, and never did. Nobody's yet been able to put him in that building with a gun in his hand.

Oswald told Dallas Police he was eating lunch on the first floor of the Depository in what was called the "Domino Room" at the time of the assassination and there is some evidence to back up his statement.

The third wounded man doesn't fit to the version of the Warren Commission, too: James Tague. He stood near the Triple Underpass ahead of the motorcade and was wounded by a passing bullet. Because the first shot wounded Kennedy's throat, the second Conally's back and the third was the headshot, there must have been a fourth shot. This made the Warren Commission to change their version and create the "Magic Bullet" theory. This bullet was supposed to cause the seven wounds of Kennedy and Conally. This Commission Exhibit #399 was found later in almost pristine condition(!) at the Parkland Memorial.

On of the most known evidences is the film which Abraham Zapruder took directly next from the Grassy Knoll that day. It shows the assassination in full length. There one can also see the opened umbrella of the Umbrella Man despite the shining sun and cloudless sky.

More photos show two suspiciuos men behind the fence at the Grassy Knoll, one with a rifle, who have been called "Black Dog Man" and "Badge Man" because of their unknown identity. The Warren Commission never mentioned these men and never made any effort to find them.

In the three-year period which followed the murder of President Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald, 18 material witnesses died - six by gunfire, three in motor accidents, two by suicide, one from a cut throat, one from a karate chop to the neck, three from heart attacks and two from natural causes. In the late 1970s, the House Select Committee on Assassinations felt compelled to look into the matter. However the Committee was unable to come to any conclusion regarding the growing number of deaths. However, an objective look at both the number and the causes of death balanced against the importance of the person's connection to the case, raises concern.