The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

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Faculty lecture takes another look at the JFK assassination

Senior English Lecturer Tom Stone’s lecture on the conspiracy theory behind John F. Kennedy’s assassination raised many questions to the real reasons behind the fatal shooting in Dealey Plaza on Nov. 22, 1963.

“The problem started with the Warren Commission,” Stone said. “They had the one and only chance to solve the crime of the century.” J. Edgar Hoover’s biased stance on the investigation was made clear by his wish to “convince the American people that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.”

Another investigator of the Kennedy assassination was New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. His New Orleans office was located in the same building Oswald worked in the summer before he shot Kennedy. This was never taken into account during the investigation because the office building was on a corner; therefore their offices were technically on different streets. His suspicious connection to Oswald also makes his claims hard for Stone to believe.

“Oswald really knew [Garrison] and the FBI really covered him,” he said.

Lyndon B. Johnson’s signing of NSA 273 within a week of Kennedy’s assassination also fuels the conspiracy fire. NSA 273 allowed for covert military operations in Vietnam, but Kennedy refused to sign it.

Johnson himself felt that Fidel Castro had Kennedy assassinated as revenge against Kennedy for taking so many hits on Castro.

If Oswald was the lone gunman, he was most likely influenced by “right-wing Kennedy haters to set in motion a series of events that would result in the invasion of Cuba,” according to Stone. However, Stone wonders how “one bullet [can] cause seven injuries in two individuals?”

Oswald’s intentions will never be known since he was fatally shot by Jack Ruby just two days after the assassination. Ruby, with a two-digit IQ and serious IRS debt, was the mafia’s perfect candidate for the “nut” to take the blame for Oswald’s murder, according to Stone.

Most likely a premeditated murder, Ruby was seen at Parkland Hospital just 45 minutes after Kennedy was shot. Oswald was originally going to be transferred the day after the assassination, and Ruby made sure he was at the courthouse at the same time. When Oswald’s transfer was postponed a day, Ruby made sure he returned to the courthouse to shoot Oswald.

Ruby was most likely attempting to “silence Oswald to keep the guilt from being pointed towards the mafia,” Stone says.

The truth behind Kennedy’s assassination may never be discovered, Stone says. “Anyone who thinks they know the truth lacks information, integrity and brain cells.”

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