Conspiracy theories over JFK assassination; one involves President Lyndon Johnson

Moneycontrol News

The assassination of former US President John F Kennedy gave birth to more conspiracy theories than any other event in modern history. The circumstances surrounding the assassination, the investigation into the killing, and the people connected with the incident are all variables that have changed over the years.

But President Donald Trump is set to remedy all that. Last week, Trump said he would not stop the release of the last remaining government documents pertaining to the Kennedy assassination. The documents are slated to be released later today and the world is waiting with bated breath to see what they might reveal.

On this momentous occasion, it is easy to forget some of the theories circulated over the years, especially for generations that came a couple of decades after the incident. The theories far outnumber known facts and have only grown in number as and when more details of the assassination were made public.

Let us now take a look at some of the most popular theories surrounding President Kennedy’s assassination.

Lee Harvey Oswald

When anyone mentions JFK’s assassination, it is this name that is bound to cross anyone’s minds first. Lee Harvey Oswald was the man arrested for killing Kennedy after witnesses at the scene recalled seeing a rifle extended out of a window and then withdrawn, moments after the shots rang out. He was in police custody for two days but was famously gunned down by Dallas-based bar owner Jack Ruby.

Many believe that Oswald was only the man on the scene and that he was definitely taking orders from someone. After all, Oswald was an ex-marine and not a very successful one at that. He was also known to have defected to the Soviet Union in 1959 and stayed there for around 3 years before returning.

The Umbrella Man

Barring Lee Harvey Oswald, who happens to be the only proven link to the assassination, it is the Umbrella Man theory that got the most takers. It was widely believed that multiple gunmen were involved in the assassination of the president. The Umbrella Man theory is about a figure mysteriously seen holding a black umbrella on the sunny day of the assassination.

There was some speculation that the umbrella man shot a poisoned dart at Kennedy, thereby immobilizing him and clearing the way for Oswald to take the shot. However, this theory was rubbished in 1978, 15 years after the assassination, when a man named Louie Steven Witt told the House committee that he brought the umbrella to heckle – not murder – the president.

Inside Job and Lyndon Johnson

When there are so many theories about an assassination, one of them is bound to be about an inside job. Kennedy’s was no different. There is a widespread conspiracy theory about the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and even Lyndon Johnson, who was sworn in as President after Kennedy’s death.

Although this theory has been refuted by many experts over the years, it made news when Roger Stone, the man who lobbied with President Trump to get the documents released, wrote in his book in 2013 that the facts he had uncovered in his investigation into the matter forced to make a case that Lyndon Johnson murdered John Kennedy to become the President himself.

After becoming President, Johnson ordered a probe into the matter, the results of which were made public some 10 months later. The Committee was headed by Chief Justice Warren and at the end of its investigation, it discredited all the theories surrounding the incident, declaring Oswald was acting alone and so was Ruby when he shot him.

However, when Americans’ faith in the system started deteriorating after the infamous Watergate Scandal during Nixon’s tenure in the White House, another probe was ordered into both Kennedy’s and Martin Luther King Jr’s assassinations. Over the next couple of decades, many such investigation would be conducted into the matter, giving birth to even wilder conspiracy theories.

‘Commies’

Another popular theory surrounding Kennedy’s assassination is that it was either the Soviets or the Cubans who gave Oswald the order to take the president out. Many experts believe that the around 3,100 unreleased files on the assassination, due to be released later today, pertain to Oswald’s 6-day trip to Mexico City a couple of months before the incident. They believe that Oswald might have received orders from either the Soviets or the Cubans while there.

This theory is one of the more plausible ones since Oswald was known to have defected to Moscow in 1959 and stayed there for close to 3 years.