November 22

Remembering the awful events. I have written about them previously. At one time, the truth was known by some, but I'm afraid that too many in possession of it have now died, and many of those would never have revealed it anyway.

November 22

This day in American history should never be forgotten, even though we can never know the whole truth about what happened, why, and who. Past observations here.

Nov 22, the simplest and most complex

The Crime of the 20th Century.

November 22, even the mention of the date will always make me sad. I am absolutely convinced that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy, and that there was more than one shooter. The only way there could have been a lone gunman would be if the "single bullet" fabrication was possible. Ballistics and other evidence from that day do not support it. Three shots: two hits and one miss. One of the shots hits JFK and Connally both, and manages to exit leaving more fragments behind than it was actually missing. When that 3-shot theory breaks down, then the lone gunman theory breaks down too. It's that simple. [JFK Lancer ballistics page] It's the only simple part of this whole incident though, and as far as I'm concerned, it's still unsolved.

Previous November 22 postings

My recommended JFK assassination reading list:

JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Plot to Assassinate John F. Kennedy by Col. L. Fletcher Prouty

Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy by Jim Marrs

On the Trail of the Assassins: My Investigation and Prosecution of the Murder of President Kennedy by Jim Garrison

Coup D'etat in America: The CIA and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy by Alan J Weberman, Michael Canfield

There are quite a few more that I've read and recommend, and lots that I haven't read too. Note: Oliver Stone had good intentions by bringing this stuff to the screen, but I dislike the fact that he changed things in order to make a movie out of it (as always must be done unless you are doing a documentary). This stuff is convoluted enough without making up composite characters, rearranging the timeline and stuff like that. Don't get the story from that. Consider the source, always.

The reason I could never live in Dallas

I still have vivid memories of that day. What really happened is something that history will never be able to document correctly. Too many people who knew things have now died. I have more in-depth commentary at my November 22 labeled postings.

Tags: JFK - assassination

The Day America Died

When this date rolls around, just seeing it is like a punch in the stomach... very much like seeing the date September 11, except that this event happened at a much more impressionable time for me, I grew a lot older that day... that four days. Last year I created a more extensive post, so here is a link to that if you want to read it.

Tags: JFK - assassination -
president - Kennedy

November 22

I always have some sadness on this day because it's the anniversary of the JFK assassination. An even sadder fact is that if I just call it the "Kennedy assassination" it needs to be distinguished from the RFK assassination. The Kennedys were very popular at our house. My mother loved them, including wives and kids, and so did I. I had scrapbooks filled with Kennedy clippings, pics from Life and Look magazine, anything I came across... Jackie, John-John, Caroline, Bobby... I was 7 when JFK was elected, and it was before the Beatles came along, so they, along with the Mercury astronauts, were my idealized heroes. I remember that day in 1963 like it was yesterday. Some things just get fused in your brain, they make deeper grooves and having more lasting impact than others. I was at school when we heard that the President had been shot. They wheeled one of those TVs on a tall rolling cart into the classroom, and after just a few minutes we were sent home. It was a shock that wouldn't wear off. For days we were glued to the television, watched Walter Cronkite tearfully report that the President was dead, watched Lee Harvey Oswald shot in the stomach, the swearing in of LBJ, there was the funeral march with the drums, Jackie in her black veil, John-John saluted his father's casket. I have never seen such dignity. It was all quite unimaginable and unthinkable. We cried until the tears were gone.

A few years later, conspiracy theories began to be formed and documented. My mother bought several books of this type: Six Seconds in Dallas, Rush to Judgment, The Witnesses, and more. A few years later I read these books and a stack more on the subject. Only one thing is really clear to me, that it was not the work of Lee Harvey Oswald, lone gunman. Alright, two things: that there has been so much evidence destroyed or lost, along with witnesses deceased that the whole truth will never be known. You have to decide if a partial-truth can be called a truth at all. The Warren Commission bases its conclusion on the magic bullet, the pristine bullet that supposedly hit both JFK and Connally, then exited their bodies with less of it missing than still remained in Connally.

The most intriguing and convincing theories to me are laid out in books by Col. L. Fletcher Prouty , Jim Garrison , Mark Lane, and "Coup D'Etat in America" by Weberman/Canfield. Forget Oliver Stone unless you're really familiar with this topic, there is enough bungled and confusing information out there for real without adding [another] deliberately embellished retelling... the same fundamentally, yet plot-twisted, embellished, edited and enhanced for the screen.

About 6 years ago, I visited Dealey Plaza. It was my first and last visit. I was amazed at how the area still looks very much the same as it did then. I walked all over the grounds, the Grassy Knoll, the picket fence, train tracks, the Texas School Book Depository. There is a museum and bookstore there now. The whole time I was in Dealey Plaza was spent crying hard. It still seems like yesterday, and walking that area was like being in a living nightmare. Since I've grown up (assuming I have grown up), the Kennedys have come to seem more like real people with real problems and fallibilities. It wasn't a storybook tale where there's a happily-ever-after. Yes, they are absolutely filthy rich and priveleged, and always were, but I've never been able to comprehend how people tolerated watching their husbands, fathers, and brothers killed over and over and over on television, having to relive the horror of that soooo many times for soooo many years. I doubt that I could survive all those things and keep my sanity. There are things that money and power will not buy.

- JFK - Kennedy - assassination -