The Kennedy Assassination: Five Decades of Controversy
The 35th President of the United States was shot dead on November 22, 1963 while traveling to Dallas. If the guilt of the killer Lee Harvey Oswald is no longer questioned today, the sniper scenario is still debated.
It is one of the greatest mysteries in the history of the 20th century. The assassination of US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy on November 22, 1963 in Dallas. More than fifty years later, the affair still fascinates and feeds the craziest conspiracy theories. While, this Thursday, are published thousands of official documents on his murder, Le Figaro looks back on this day which changed the history of the United States. But also on the many gray areas surrounding the investigation, and on which the documents could shed light.
On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was on a pre-campaign trip for the presidential elections the following year. He is accompanied by his wife Jacqueline, commonly known as Jackie. Presidential Air Force One lands at Love Field Dallas, TX at 11:40 a.m. They board the famous Lincoln limousine, the roof of which has been opened so that the presidential couple can greet the crowd that has come to welcome them. They are joined by John Bowden Connally, Secretary of the Navy and Governor of Texas. The vehicle is flanked by a large procession of law enforcement and secret services. The agenda is precise: after a walkabout, they are invited to a lunch at the Trade Mart, where more than 2,500 guests await them.
Jackie's bloodstained pink suit
12:30 p.m., Elm Street. While the official car platoon is almost at a standstill, slowed down by the crowd, shots are fired from the school book deposit building at the back of the procession. A first bullet wounds a spectator, James Tague, in the face. A second crosses the president's neck, then reaches the governor's chest, hand and thigh. Finally, a third bullet hits the president in the head. It is the latter which is fatal to him.
In the back of the Lincoln, Jackie hugs her husband, the blood-spattered pink suit, as the world looks on. After a few seconds of hesitation, the crowd threw themselves to the ground, while the presidential car already drove towards the nearest hospital, that of Parkland. At 1 p.m., despite numerous attempts by doctors to resuscitate him, the 35th President of the United States was pronounced dead.
Meanwhile, a suspect is already actively wanted: Lee Harvey Oswald, an agent for the book depository. He was seen by witnesses in the building at the time of the incident. After having fled, the latter kills a police officer, Agent Tippit, who had arrested him. He then took refuge in a store, then in a cinema before being arrested by the police at 1:50 p.m. Less than eight hours later, he was charged with the assassination of the president. Until two days later, he was questioned by the inspectors. During his transfer to the prison, the suspect is shot dead with a single bullet by a certain Jack Ruby, a crooked owner of nightclubs and strip clubs, close to the Mafia.
The day after the murder, Lyndon B. Jonhson, vice-president who became, in fact, president, opened a commission to piece together the puzzle of the crime. It is headed by Earl Warren, President of the Supreme Court.
Robert Kennedy, younger brother of the president is “Attorney General”, that is to say attorney general of the United States and carries out his own investigations. He is convinced that the procession was the target of crossfire. For its part, the Warren commission very quickly dismisses this thesis. The FBI and the CIA investigate for almost a year. Autopsy report, interrogation of more than 175 witnesses, reconstruction of the facts ... In September 1964, she submitted her conclusions: Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, without accomplice, just like his killer, Jack Ruby. A scenario globally confirmed by a second commission, the “House Select Committee on Assassinations”, in 1979.
But there are elements that weaken the theory of the lone wolf. First, 92 witnesses attest that the sounds of gunfire come from the front of the procession and not from the back. Assertions not taken into account by the commission, which favors eyewitness testimony. The trajectory of the second bullet, having hit the president, then several parts of the body of John Bowden Connally, is also debated.
Moreover, the very members of the Warren Commission did not have access to the photographs and x-rays of the president's autopsy. Judge Warren prevents them from doing so, on the grounds that they are too violent. Regarding the autopsy, the initial report was destroyed by the forensic pathologist, without explanation. Gerald Ford, member of the commission and chairman from 1974 to 1977, later told Valéry Giscard d'Estaing: “We came to a first conclusion: it was not an isolated crime, it was something organized. . We were sure it was organized. But we couldn't find out by whom. ” A thesis supported by Robert Kennedy until he too was assassinated in June 1968.
Lee Harvey Oswald's mobile continues to make people talk. Bad student, he joined the Marines at the age of 17 before hurrying to leave the army. Shortly after, he spent several months in the USSR. On his return, the secret services monitor him. He commits the murder as he prepares to join Cuba and dies at the age of 24. Having become a Communist in the midst of the Cold War, his profile was nourished by the scenarios of a plot fomented by the Russians, Fidel Castro, the CIA or even the Mafia. The 3,100 documents unveiled this Thursday to the public may answer these many questions that have remained unanswered.
