And now for something completely different: the assassination.

 There are few murder cases in modern history that have exercised more speculations and controversies than the killing of j f k. I would hazard a bet that this cold case and the identity of the perpetrator (s??) has warranted as much print as have the murders in white chapel. Perhaps the cases still fascinate because of their tragic qualities. 

 And yet there is also something of a guilty voyeurism in our preoccupation with the case of j f k. If you think about that November day in 1963, the whole affair was spectacularly dramatic, down to the way in which the president was killed, and to the blood stained pink designer suit that Jackie wore.

In thinking about the end of the Kennedy administration one naturally thinks about obvious things, like lost possibilities. The what would-have-beens of any situation.  There are a few cliches that illustrate, but I am particularly fond of one—a favorite show of the president’s was a musical production called “Camelot.”  This show was loosely based upon t h white’s “once and future king”. In the last song, by Arthur on the evening prior to his final battle with Mordred, the fabled king contemplates his coming death, while simultaneously remembering the importance of legends…

The death of John Fitzgerald occurred in the city of Dallas Texas on November 23, 1963. He was partially through a swing through the southern states, stumping for fellow democrats. Accompanying him was his wife Jackie. 

The events of that fateful Friday are etched into the consciousness of every American today over the age of 60. We all watched Walter Cronkite make the death announcement and nearly come undone on tv. 

We all watched LBJ take the oath of office standing next to Jackie on Air Force one. 

And just a short time later we watched on live tv as jack ruby executed lee Harvey Oswald.  

We watched as jfks tiny son saluted his fathers coffin at his mother’s behest. 

And we watched Jackie’s face of contained sorrow and rage behind her black veil. 

Since 1963, Americans have alternately raged and mourned about jack’s death. Who did it?  Did Oswald act alone? Was it a conspiracy? Was the warren commission full of shit?

And just how crazy or accurate was Oliver Stone?

I can only tell you what I think, based upon several years of study and a hell of a lot of guessing. 

One. Was Lee Harvey Oswald a patsy?  Yes. 

Two. Is the lone gunman theory as proposed by the Warren Commission crap?  Yes. 

Three. Who therefore killed JFK?  Well folks there is the $64,000 question. And no I don’t have an answer for you Dear Reader. 

Four. Were there more than three shots? Duh. 

Five. What about the shot coming from the Grassy Knoll?  Again. Duh. 

Six. Watch the Zapruder film people. That is all you need do in order to see what happened. 

Seven.  Arlen Spector should be ashamed of himself for his complicity in fabricating evidence and theories about magic bullets…

Eight.  The question you should all be asking is the basic one asked by all policemen in any murder inquiry:  who stood to gain the most by Kennedy’s removal?

And if your answer leads you in the general vicinity of the Pentagon? An interesting problem….

I think that historical reality is quite impossible to deconstruct, yet I feel safe to conclude that there was the presence of a conspiracy in the death of jfk.