This lack of evidence was only made worse by the Kennedy family, who convinced Chief Justice Earl Warren to make a truly unfortunate decision. As Belin described, the Kennedys “persuaded the chief justice to withhold the X-ray and autopsy photographs of President Kennedy from introduction into evidence as exhibits. Not only was the commission deprived of seeing these documents firsthand, but the public was denied an opportunity to have them independently examined by anyone seeking to verify the conclusions of the autopsy physicians who testified before the Warren Commission.” Look at Exhibit 1E to see Kennedy’s actual death certificate.
X-Rays and Photographs
In 1975, Belin was able to see the Kennedy photographs and X-rays himself, to answer questions about whether the CIA had been involved with the murder—and whether shots had come from the front as well as from the back of the president’s limo.
“An independent panel of physicians helped to reevaluate all the evidence,” Belin said. “The photographs and X-rays were horrifying, but they showed beyond a reasonable doubt that all the shots that struck Kennedy came from the rear.”
Every medical panel—the independent panel in 1968 . . . the one in 1975 . . . the one in 1978—all agree. Yet the public barely knows these facts.
A Single Shot
This illustration accompanied the testimony of Dr. Michael Baden, a pathologist and chief medical examiner for New York City, before the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1978.
In The Crosshairs
A view of what Oswald might have seen, as shown in a subsequent reenactment of the crime.
Complexity:
On top of that, the complexity of explaining the case was beat out by those rushing to explain it first. As Belin pointed out, one of the first big books that blamed multiple gunmen was based on this detail: that President Kennedy had said, “My God, I am hit” after the first shot.
According to the Warren Commission, the first bullet had come through President Kennedy’s throat and then hit Governor Connally. But if the president had said those words after being hit, he couldn’t have been wounded in the throat—meaning that the direction of the bullet was all wrong and there had to have been another bullet, presumably fired by another gunman.
So logical, right? Especially when you see that it was Secret Service agent Roy H. Kellerman, riding in the front of the limo, who said he heard what Kennedy said. But as Belin points out, “The author never told his readers what the other four passengers in the limousine remembered.”
Secret Service agent William R. Greer, who was driving the limo, testified: “I never heard him say anything; never at any time did I hear him say anything.”
Governor Connally said, “He never uttered a sound at all that I heard.”
Mrs. Connally said, “He made no utterance, no cry.”
Jackie Kennedy said, “I was looking this way, to the left, and heard these terrible noises. You know. And my husband never made any sound.”
But rather than deal with the complexity of conflicting eyewitnesses (which is common in cases like this), the book planted one of the many seeds of doubt in the public consciousness. That seed—and so many more that came after it—are now a full-grown forest.
“It is virtually not assimilable to our reason that a small lonely man felled a giant in the midst of his limousines, his legions, his throng, and his security. If such a nonentity destroyed the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth, then a world of disproportion engulfs us, and we live in a universe that is absurd.”
—Norman Mailer, oswald’s tale
The Fatal Moment
A still from the Zapruder film, the most famous home movie in history.
Attempts To Understand
Statistics and a limousine photo from a reenactment that was conducted to make sense of the crime.
Today, no matter the evidence—no matter how many details point the finger at Oswald—the Kennedy assassination remains the one mystery that forever seems unsolvable. Why? Simply put: We just don’t believe that Oswald did it all by himself.
Then how about this: We just don’t want to believe that Oswald did it all by himself. We don’t want to believe that the entire government can be jackknifed by a high school dropout. And even when we do, especially with our distrust for the government, all it takes is one piece of evidence to put us back on our skeptical paths.
Listen to what Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose own father was assassinated, said in January 2013: “The evidence at this point I think is very, very convincing that it was not a lone gunman. . . .” Kennedy Jr. doesn’t say what his evidence is. But he does admit that his own dad, who as attorney general had been relentlessly going after the Mafia, felt that his actions might have caused the Mob to have the president assassinated.
Hard to shake, right? But for me, the most telling part of who killed JFK is simply this: Our history reveals our own biases.
In the 1960s, we blamed the Soviets, the Cubans and, of course, the Establishment: right-wing conservatives and Texas millionaires.
In the 1970s, with Vietnam and Watergate, it was the CIA who killed him.
In the 1980s, as the Godfather movies led to Scarface, it was the Mafia.
Decade after decade, the enemy we search for is always a reflection of our deepest fears—a perfect reflection of us. We are the Ahabs; JFK is our stunning white whale. And the harder we search, the more we reveal our own insecurities. Our own fears. Our own weakness. Never forget, the greatest battle we’ll ever face is the battle within ourselves.
To this day, it is perhaps the true legacy of JFK: The president who showed us the highest of our expectations also revealed the depth of our anxieties.
In the end, to me, this is what Decoded is all about: Not just counting down the top conspiracies through history—but reminding us exactly why these stories carve at our core—and what they say about us as people.
But What About . . .?
The Man in the Doorway
OK. I have to admit, I love this one.
One curiosity that seems to never go away is an AP picture, taken at the time of the shooting, showing a slender, dark-haired man standing in the doorway of the book depository. Some say it’s a picture of Oswald. If that’s accurate, obviously, there’s no way he killed Kennedy.
Case closed, right? Well, not really—considering that the man looks incredibly like Billy Lovelady, a fellow employee at the book depository, even down to the shirt that Lovelady wore that day.
The Man in the Doorway
Speculation swirled that it was Oswald in this photo, but it turned out to be another depository employee: Billy Lovelady.
The Babushka Lady
Here’s another one. In one frame of the Zapruder film, at the exact moment the presidential limousine passes and the shots ring out, you can see a woman standing on the curb of the street. The woman, identified by conspiracy buffs as the Babushka Lady, is holding something in front of her eyes. Some say it was a camera.
If it were a camera—based on her angle and how close she was—she’d have a far better image of the actual kill shot.
So what happened to the woman? She’s never come forth. Some say she disappeared. Or maybe she’s not holding a camera, skeptics argue.
For me, no matter what she was holding, it’s another one that’ll never be answered.
In 1970, a woman named Beverly Oliver claimed to be her. The problem? Her story didn’t hold up for a number of reasons. One, she named the wrong kind of camera used (it didn’t exist in 1963). Two, she claimed that agents seized her film (which is what many believe to this day), but don’t forget this: She also recanted that story on at least one occasion.
Dealey Plaza From Above
An overhead map of key points from the assassinat
ion.
The Secret Service Protocols
On the day of the shooting, many point to the fact that the Secret Service didn’t keep to their own safety protocols, as if to suggest that they did a bad job on purpose. Let me be clear: I don’t believe that. But I do believe in human error—especially when you’re trying to do a security sweep on one of the largest cities in America. To that point, when the House Select Committee on Assassinations looked at it, they concluded:
“In 1963, Secret Service regulations governing escort security for presidential motorcades provided that buildings along the motorcade route had to be inspected whenever the motorcade route was a standard one that had been used in the past. President Kennedy’s Dallas motorcade route had been the standard route for motorcades for years; President Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example, had visited Dallas in 1936 and traversed the same route in a motorcade (although in the opposite direction). Nevertheless, on November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy visited Dallas, the Secret Service’s own guidelines were violated, and no inspection of the buildings along the motorcade route was made.”
And want more proof of human error? The House got it wrong, too. Farris Rookstool III, a former FBI analyst who served as the bureau’s expert on the JFK assassination and additionally served on the FBI JFK Task Force, told us, “Roosevelt and Kennedy’s parade routes were not identical. They were similar. Roosevelt traveled by train and departed Union Station north on Houston Street and east on Main (traveling in the opposite direction of Kennedy’s parade route). FDR then used Commerce Street to return for his luncheon. Ironically, USSS Dallas Field Division SAIC Forrest Sorrels worked both Roosevelt’s visit and JFK’s.”
Mysterious Deaths
It’s one of the most persistent theories out there: that dozens of different witnesses connected to Oswald and Jack Ruby suddenly started dying mysteriously, as if some specialized hit squad was murdering them one by one.
Many point to the death of Dorothy Kilgallen, who claimed to interview Jack Ruby, and who was later found dead. Others point to the death of Marilyn Magyar, who worked as an exotic dancer in Ruby’s Carousel Club—or to Karen Bennett Carlin, one of the last people to speak with Ruby.
Yet when you look at the individual deaths, Kilgallen wasn’t found dead until 1965, Magyar was killed by her husband in a domestic dispute, and Carlin wasn’t even dead at all (she actually didn’t die until 2010).
Are there some deaths that are harder to explain? Sure. But this is hardly the work of a hit squad that fanned out days after the 1963 shooting. According to Rookstool, “The notion that there was a ‘clean-up hit squad’ to go around the country eliminating ‘people who knew too much’ has always been one of the most humorous notions. I have never encountered anyone who ‘knew too much.’ Most I know simply don’t know enough. Amazing that the number one killer of the people who ‘knew too much’ is heart attacks.” Which, yes, is a subset of heart disease, which is the number one killer of the general population.
Acknowledgments
This book (like the sTV show) wouldn’t exist without the hard work of so many people. So massive thank-yous to the following: First, my wife, Cori, who believes with me. My sister, Bari, who loves when the story gets scary. And in honor of my Mom and Dad, a special thanks for letting me watch All the President’s Men all those years ago. My agents on this, Jill Kneerim and Rob Weisbach, for cheering from the very first chapter. And to Rob, who is the real reason the HISTORY network found me. Hope Denekamp, Caroline Zimmerman, and all our friends at the Kneerim, Williams & Bloome Agency.
Needless to say, I couldn’t do this without the rest of my family: Bobby, Dale, Ami, Matt, Adam, Gilda, and Will. Or without Noah Kuttler. He’s the best believer of all. And the one who sends me the most obscure details in here. Also to Chris Weiss and Judd Winick, who still make fun of me the same way they did when we were eighteen.
Of course, none of this would be possible without our family on the Decoded television series and at the HISTORY network, starting with Nancy Dubuc, who was our fearless leader from the very start. David McKillop helped bring us life and Dirk Hoogstra kept us there. I admire them both so much. I also need to single out Russ McCarroll for steering every single episode we did. His impact cannot be overstated. I’m honored I get to work with him, but even more honored to count him as a friend. Special thanks also to Susan Ievoli, Kristen Burns, and every single person at HISTORY who built this dream with their own hard work.
Tina Gazzarro is my true sister and this show would be lost without her. We’re also so lucky to have Gary and Julie Auerbach, Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun, Jared Heinke, and the rest of the dream teams at Go Go Luckey and Berman/Braun. And to be extra clear, the work of Ron Brody, Charlie Cook, Bill Langworthy, Mark Cole, Bryn Freedman, and the rest of our incredible crew is what made it all come together. They are the true lifeblood of the show. Without production, there is no production.
Of course, without Buddy Levy, Christine McKinley, and Scott Rolle, I’d just be a guy in front of a green screen. They do the hard work and deserve the real credit. Let me say this clearly too: I feel honored to be part of their team.
Special thanks also to Joseph LaPolla, who brought me here; our Florida team at Sterling Studios: Roy Liemer, David Fruitman, June Czarnecky, Roger Prehoda, Robin Ryant, and Lori Smith; all the incredible experts and authorities who gave their time and brains to every episode; and, of course, my family and friends, who always stand with me.
Additional thanks to Farris Rookstool III, who lent us his incredible expertise on the Kennedy assassination and helped keep me honest about all the facts in there. Farris, you’re truly one of the best. Thanks also to Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero, plus Matt Fulgham, Miriam Kleiman, Trevor Plante, and all our friends at the National Archives. Want more amazing details about history? Go visit them.
Finally, let me thank the generous and amazing Keith Ferrell, my cowriter and voice within these pages. Plus Chris DeRose for his help with the JFK research.
I also want to thank everyone at Workman Publishing: As we were finishing this book, Peter Workman passed away. This all now exists in his honor. Huge appreciation also to Suzie Bolotin, Walter Weintz, Page Edmunds, Claire McKean, Doug Wolff, Carol White, Barbara Peragine, Jarrod Dyer, Jessica Wiener, Selina Meere, Courtney Greenhalgh, and Justin Krasner. A massive thank-you must go to Lisa Hollander, for doing such beautiful design work; to Michael DiMascio, who killed himself doing photo research; and to James Williamson, who made all the cool facsimiles. An extra thank-you goes to Bruce Tracy, the only editor crazy enough to try and take on a book with this many moving parts. And of course, I want to thank my friend Bob Miller, for leading us all on this endeavor. Thank you, Bob, for your never-ending faith.
Decoded Team
Buddy Levy is the author of recent narrative histories Geronimo, River of Darkness, and Conquistador. His website is buddylevy.com.
Christine McKinley is a mechanical engineer and is writing a book about how physics can be used to create a more glamorous and exciting life. She now has an arrest record thanks to her work as an investigator on Brad Meltzer’s Decoded.
Scott Rolle is the former States Attorney for Frederick County, Maryland. He is a graduate of the FBI National Law Institute, and a major in the U.S. Army Reserve. He lives in Frederick with his wife, Stacy, and their four children.
Photo Credits
Front cover: Library of Congress (left), Bachrach/Getty Images (right)
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History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time Page 18