The JFK Assassination
Script:
Today, I will be talking about the JFK Assassination and one of the conspiracy theories behind it.
How can someone have had such perfect aim to strike someone in the back of the neck from six stories high, was Lee Harvey Oswald working alone?
The conspiracy theory of the “Umbrella Man” proves that the time when JFK’s car rode by and the shots fired by Oswald are connected.
Shortly after noon on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. It is said that bullets struck the back of JFK’s neck.
By 2:15 p.m, that day Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for the assassination.
Oswald had purchased, by mail, a rifle with telescopic sight and a .38 revolver that year. According to the official investigation of the assassination, Oswald acted alone, firing three bullets from a sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Book Depository.
This was Lee Harvey Oswald. The conspiracy theory I will be explaining is called the “Umbrella Man”.
Why would someone carry an umbrella on a sunny day? Already this is weird.
Louie Steven Witt carried a black umbrella with him to Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963, and was caught in the Zapruder film raising it into the air as Kennedy’s car drove past. He opened up and lifted the umbrella high above his head, then spun the umbrella from east to west (clockwise) as the president passed by him. In the aftermath of the assassination, he sat down on the sidewalk next to another man before getting up and walking towards the Texas School Book Depository.
This conspiracy is troubling because you never know who you can trust. Nowadays with rallies and public gatherings (pre COVID-19) it is scary to be surrounded by so many people you don’t know. This theory causes harmful thoughts to do the fact someone could’ve been involved with a murder and gotten away with it. The propaganda that follows even still to this day in 2020 about JFK’s assassination is scary, “Today, 6 in 10 Americans do not believe the official version of what happened — specifically, that Oswald acted alone”.
This information gets you thinking like there had to be a signal on when to shoot. Oswald could not have just guessed what MPH the car was going, what if it stopped? How did he shoot JFK at the perfect time. Also, the fact that everything happened so fast and Oswald was arrested so quickly, it didn’t give the public any time to think.
Was the press wrong, should the Umbrella Man been convicted?
When you search “JFK assassination”, multiple conspiracy theories come up but the “case closed” story of Lee Harvey Oswald is defined, alone, as the killer. But I guess we’ll never know…
Short essay:
Leap 2 was interesting to create. I picked the JFK Assassination topic because I knew this was a topic that had multiple conspiracy theories behind it. I remember learning about it in history class in high school. It was so awful and such a sad day for our country. I can’t believe it happened along with all the other presidential assassinations that have happened.
The harmful propaganda behind the JFK Assassination is the fact that there is so many different theories. The main one though, I seemed to see the most when doing research, was the “Umbrella Man”. Due to how the shots were fired, it seemed too perfect. The fact that the shots fired by Lee Harvey Oswald directly struck JFK in the back of the neck in good timing in a moving car is sketchy.
John F Kennedy was riding in the motorcade route through Dealey Plaza because he was trying to get maximum exposure to local crowds before his arrival for a luncheon at the Trade Mart, where he would meet with civic and business leaders. He happened to be riding in an open car which led to Lee Harvey Oswald to have direct aim.
The harmful propaganda is still around today about the “Umbrella Man”. I think it is especially scary because no one was thinking about a man holding an umbrella open on a sunny day was odd, until after the fact. It sounds like something out of a movie, like giving the shooter a signal. It is harmful because it is still talked about. No one will ever know why or how it really happened. The “Umbrella Man” eventually came “forward” but who knows if he was telling the truth, probably not. With the world holding so many public events and being such a social place, pre COVID-19, you never know what could happen. 99% of Americans would’ve never guessed that would have happened that day. It is the fear of the unknown.
The pictures I chose are important. The second image is showing how open and exposed JFK was in the open car, with his wife. Being so exposed was the perfect plan for Oswald. The third image is Lee Harvey Oswald, his mugshot. It’s especially creepy because he is like smirking. Like you just killed the President of the United States…why are you smiling. Fourth, is where you can see the “Umbrella Man” through the crowd with his umbrella open. Lastly, is my featured image. This one is the most important due to the fact that it shows the action of the “Umbrella Man” with his open umbrella, raising it up, giving the signal.
Working through this was easy because there is so much information and detail of what happened that day, to an extent. For example, why JFK rode in an open car to Lee Harvey Oswald’s purchase of a rifle to the Zapruder film. There is a lot of information but not concrete evidence of the “why” and the “how”, hence all the conspiracy theories. So in the end, I could find images about it because it was basically a major holiday but the behind the scenes footage and the information of the actual action of shooting was hard to locate. With the internet now it has hundreds of conspiracy theories but it all comes down to what you as an individual choose to believe.
My struggle was the question of what more could I prove? Like the “Umbrella Man” held up his umbrella, on a sunny day, at the exact same time as JFK’s car rode by, then leading the shots to go off. It sounds like a perfect plan, almost too simple like is there more I should be stating? Once again, I like the creative process we got to go through as students because we were given the opportunity to choose your own topic. It allows us to enjoy the assignment more.
Work Cited:
History.com Editors. “Assassination of John F. Kennedy.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 19 Nov. 2018, www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/jfk-assassination.
“JFK Assassination: Why Suspicions Still Linger about ‘Umbrella Man’.” The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Nov. 2013, www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2013/1122/JFK-assassination-Why-suspicions-still-linger-about-Umbrella-Man.
“The Kennedy Assassination and Extremism: From Fringe to Mainstream.” Queen’s Gazette | Queen’s University, 21 Nov. 2013, www.queensu.ca/gazette/alumnireview/stories/kennedy-assassination-and-extremism-fringe-mainstream.
Zapruder, Alexandra. “The True Story of the 26 Seconds That Changed History.” Town & Country, 22 Oct. 2019, www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a8812/zapruder-film/.
