Thursday, November 21, 2013

JFK Assassination From The Perspective of a Dallasite

In the lead up to the 50th anniversary of the Assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas, let me set the record straight. Okay, for the record, I had nothing to do with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Yes, I was in Dallas, but I was 4 years old and probably taking a nap. There I said it. it wasn't me. I know you may think that it goes without saying, but growing up in the specter of the assassination and guilt that has been foisted on Dallas that has followed these 50 years, you may be able to understand the guilt I may or may not carry. But really, I wasn't involved. With that out of the way, I also have no direct memories of the assassination either [naptime, remember?].

All that out of the way, I can admit now that I have spent many years wondering why Dallas has been held responsible rather than one lone Marxist assassin named Lee Harvey Oswald. Other cities have hosted assassins:

Washington D.C:

President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 (died April 15, 1865).
President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau on July 2, 1881 (died September 19, 1881).

and Buffalo, New York:

William McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz on September 4, 1901 (died September 14, 1901) in Buffalo, New York.

Yet, neither of these cities has been held responsible. But then, the shooting in Dallas was different and I finally understand why. In each of the other shootings, it was obvious who did the shooting. Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley were all shot at close range and their assassins were caught almost in the act. Boothe was killed, but he was clearly the assassin having shot Lincoln in full view of an audience of a theatre audience at Ford's Theatre during a performance of "Our American Cousin". Guiteau and Czologz were tried and were brought to justice in a court of law, and both were executed. Cases closed.

Lee Harvey Oswald, on the other hand, shot Kennedy from a longer range with rifle from a window overlooking Dealey Plaza. He was arrested later in the day, but was killed by Jack Ruby before any investigation could be completed. Another unique aspect is the Zapruder film. Kennedy's assassination was the first caught on film. It isn't a stretch for me to believe that one lone, crazy gunman with a grudge could do this. There have been many unsuccessful attempts on other President throughout our history by lone gunmen (or women) yet the conspiracies persist with this one. But what do you think?

Here are some fun facts: My mother worked at Parkland Hospital and was at the hospital on the day Kennedy was brought in. She was the head therapeutic dietitian and was put in charge of Gov. Connally who was also shot by Oswald. She was almost fired because she fed the Governor chili. When he was able to eat, she went to his room to ask what he would like for lunch. Mrs. Connally asked what was on the menu and she told her that they were serving Texas chili. Mrs. Connally said then that would be just fine for the Governor. Later in the day, my mother's boss, Mrs. Lively, called my mother into her office and was furious that my mother gave the Governor chili! My mother, no shrinking violet, shot back (no pun intended) that it was what he wanted! Well, she wasn't fired...

A few years later, my mother was also assigned to Jack Ruby when he was in Parkland suffering from advanced lung cancer. My mother was so paranoid that someone would try to poison Ruby that she decided that she ordered that only one of her trusted cooks or she would personally make his meals. But, on January 3, 1967 she was late for work. She was driving to the hospital with the radio on when a breaking report came on that Jack Ruby has died. In a panic, she got off the highway and went to the first payphone she could find and called in. She just needed to make sure that Ruby had died BEFORE he had breakfast! He had...phew.

Truth in better than fiction, right?

52 comments:

T-Rav said...

Well, blast, I was going to write something about JFK and Dallas tomorrow. It would be perfect, since not only would it be the 50th anniversary exactly, but a Friday, then as now. Though I guess you're entitled to it, being a Texan and all....(grouse grouse grouse).

I've never given much credence to the conspiracy theories, just because I've heard all the evidence given a plausible Oswald-centric explanation before, and because I think the theorizing has more to do with people not wanting to believe such a charismatic leader could be taken down by such a whack job. Not saying it's impossible....but LHO almost certainly acted alone.

AndrewPrice said...

Wait a minute, so your mother shot Connally and poisoned Ruby with Chili? Sounds like you have a pretty cool mom! ;-)


T-Rav, Yeah, I don't buy the conspiracy theories either.

Tennessee Jed said...

very interesting, Bev. Blaming Dallas was because it was a southern city. There were two great shows on recently (one on Nat Geographic, and the other on Nova-PBS that used the most modern technology to show three shots, all by Oswald, and closer to 12 seconds than six seconds. They went to the Smithsonian and had Zapruder upconverted to Hi-Def. Oliver Stone, Jim Garrison are wacko's. Back and to the left indeed! Best books are by Vincent Bugliosi (of Helter Skelter fame) Gerald Posner ("Case Closed") and John McAdams ("JFK Assassination Logic) McAdams is pretty much king of the conspiracy debunkers, and has a great website

Tennessee Jed said...

I was in 10th grade at the time. We all thought assassinations were a thing of the past in our country. I think the reason people thought there was a conspiracy is because 1) Oswald had gone to Russia to live (Manchurian candidate?) 2) He was murdered before he could be tried 3) people naturally tend to believe in conspiracies. Good weavers of conspiracy theories take a series of unrelated facts that by themselves are not unusual, then string them together to make a seemingly overwhelming circumstantial case. Most conspiracy theories rely on witnesses who are the most unreliable evidence there is. The physical evidence points overwhelming to Oswald. There just is no strong evidence supporting that he was part of a larger conspiracy. Most people today were not alive, and believe there was a conspiracy because of the House commission in the 90's, and because there are so many hundreds of books coming up with new half baked theories.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed, True. Plus, believing in conspiracy theories makes people feel good because (1) it makes them think that everything in the universe can be explained as the result of plotting, and thus we can stop all evil if we just control all the plotters, and (2) it makes them feel like they are in control because they've seen through the conspiracy and they haven't been fooled.

That said, I am told by a certain British sci-fi comedy which shall remain nameless that Kennedy actually shot himself from the grassy knoll to protect his legacy. Link

Rustbelt said...

Wow, Bev! At least your mother wasn't accused of injecting Ruby with cancer cells in his shots! (Yes, that's an actual conspiracy theory that almost made it into Stone's movie, but was cut at the last minute.)

T-Rav, are you still planning to write about the assassination tomorrow? I've been annotating some stuff all week (media angle) that I was planning to post on the 50th anniversary and, now that Bev's written about it first, I'm not sure if I should post it now in this thread or just follow through with the plan and wait for tomorrow.

BevfromNYC said...

T-Rav - I see nothing wrong with you writing about the assassination too. It IS the 50th Anniversary. I presume you were not born for decades after, so to have your perspective would be interesting.

Patriot said...

Bev.....Fun fact II: My parents were good friends with the big, tall FBI man escorting Oswald when he was shot. He never talked about it, and when asked would just say he was doing his job. As far as I know he had no "inside" information on any conspiracy or plot to silence Oswald. But then, he was just one of the lead FBI guys in charge of O at the time.

I still remember where I was and what I was doing when we heard "The President has been shot in Dallas." Being only 9 years old, it really didn't affect me at the time. Only that my Mom whispered "Mon Dieu" and put her hand to her mouth. Growing up in Key West I had other, more important things to do, like snorkeling, catching longoustas and trying to spear fish with my homemade spears. All I knew was the President was an important man somewhere far away.

As an aside though......Are they going to release the Warren Commission findings, or some other "reports" that we were told would be released 50 years after the assassination?

Anonymous said...

Bev -

Are you sure you had nothing to do with it? I'm pretty sure Donald Sutherland's "X" character mentioned something about a napping 4-year old in JFK.

:-D

I went to the Sixth Floor Museum on a trip to Dallas four years ago. It was very interesting, though it obviously gets more depressing the further you go. At the end of the tour, there was a large poster on the wall that detailed all of the conspiracies and connections over the years - one could easily stand in front of that poster for an hour and not read everything.

And I said it before on another thread, but I'm a huge fan of Oliver Stone's movie. As history? No. But as a political thriller that happens to have characters based on real people, I enjoy the hell out of it. There, I said it.

And this website pretty much debunks everything in the movie.

Tennessee Jed said...

The Donald Sutherland Mr. "X" character is based on Fletcher Prouty. Here is a "link" from McAdams site: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/prouty.htm

Tennessee Jed said...

p.s. still love Commentarama "" it being beyond my computer skills to do a link in the comment box without jumping through hoops :)

tryanmax said...

Oh, I totally go for all the conspiracy stuff. Not that there was a second gunman or an assassination plot concocted by JFK's political enemies, but that the gunman was from the future. Think about it: "magic bullet." As Arthur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Red Dwarf was right!

Anthony said...

JFK died a decade before I was born, but I find him less interesting than the interest he inspires among others. This week I've read conservative websites rubbishing him and other conservative websites seeking to claim him.

Critch said...

I was in Mrs Hall's 4th grade class at Scenic Hills Elementary in Memphis. She always had one of those transistor radios with the little ear piece with her...She started crying and told us what happened. She had us say a prayer and then she took a black scarg and covered the little American flag on the wall. Shortly afterwards we were all sent home. When i got home, Walter Cronkite was on TV. My mom was crying, she really liked JFK. My dad was upset, he was not a Democrat but he was very worried that the Russians had something to do with it.

I really believe that Oswald acted alone, I can't believe that Castro would give the go ahead on a hit of JFK, it wouild be suicidal, even the Russians would not have come to his rescue. My first deer rifle was a 6.5 Carcano, it was very accurate, shot very flat and it was fast enough. Oswald was a proficient rifleman in the USMC, not the greatest but probably better than the average guy. That was an easy shot, 88 yards, my Boy Scouts could have done that shot. Jack Ruby was a Kennedy fanantic, he knew the Dallas Police Station very well and no one would have noticed him slipping in...

BevfromNYC said...

ScottDS - I swear it wasn't me...but I have never been sure where my father was exactly. He says "working"...yeah, right.

I have actually never been to the 6th Floor Museum, but I can tell you this. No matter what time of day or night, when driving by Dealey Plaza there is ALWAYS someone taking photos and pointing up at that 6th Floor window and at "the grassy knoll".

BevfromNYC said...

Rustbelt - It is commonly known that Ruby had lung cancer long before he ever met my mother. At least that's what she says anyway. ;-)

BevfromNYC said...

Tryanmax and 10J - I love the conspiracies too. If nothing else they are very entertaining. My favorite is the guy on street who opened and shut his umbrella to "signal" the guys on the grassy knoll when to shoot! There are million of them. I had not heard of the time-traveling angle before though.

BevfromNYC said...

Anthony - Kennedy has risen to the ranks of demi-god, but the more I read and study his Administration the less impressed I am. You know, Camelot and all that. He had wonderful, soaring, transcendent ideas that probably would not have advanced so quickly had he not been killed - the Civil Rights Act and the space program being the most important. However he also was the one who got us into the quagmire of Vietnam for which everyone blames Nixon for some reason.

Critch said...

The Kennedys are a myth started by the Kennedys and perpetuated by a gullible media. Camelot never existed.

Tennessee Jed said...

Anthony - I think the reason Kennedy creates so much interest is that he was very young and he was murdered. Would Janice Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, or Jim Morrison have been as interesting if they had lived. I also think presidents back then carried more gravitas because we didn't have 24/7 flame throwing on cable news or the net. sure, lobs still will glorify Dems and Dem First Ladies.

BevfromNYC said...

Critch - Jack Kennedy (and the entire Kennedy clan) had already risen to the level of mythological creature even before he was elected to the Senate.

T-Rav said...

Oh, well maybe I will write about it then. Thought two such posts in a row might get boring, but if there's the interest....

AndrewPrice said...

Anthony, I am utterly uninterested in Kennedy. He was an incompetent rock star president who lurched from one failure to another and whose personal life was a tabloid. He was in effect, the Love-Grandfather of Barack Obamaand Bill Clinton.

And I think the reason he takes on significance is because he died, leaving him somewhat of a blank slate. That lets everyone act as if he was just about to start representing their own views, so he can become everyone's hero. More importantly, he died right before a titanic upheaval in this country which resulted in the Democrats moving far left and the Republicans moving to the middle class, which resulted in decades of incredible government growth (i.e. the construction of a welfare state to rival what the communists had built), which resulted in a disastrous war for the us, and which resulted in a near racial civil war in the South.

So when you look at this guy who stood right at the doorway of all of that, and he gets killed before he does anything, it becomes very easy to play the "what if" game with him and to see him as someone who would have done it all differently and saved us a lot of problems.

AndrewPrice said...

Critch, Totally agree. And the MSM-Democratic machine pushes that myth and their followers lap it up. The Kennedys are the Kardashians without the big butt. That's it.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, That's always room for multiple articles on the same point. :)

Kit said...


You just don't get it do you? JFK was killed by the military industrial complex because he opposed US getting involved in Vietnam which was part of their plot. In fact, he was going to stop it so they killed him. Then they brainwashed Sirhan Sirhan to kill Robert F. Kennedy.

And John Lennon figured this out! He coded into his lyrics so they had him killed too! Just listen to "I am the Walrus"! Its clear as day that he was writing a secret code to tell us the TRUTH about

You see, he realized that the military industrial complex was just a small part of much large scheme. One going back 300 YEARS!!! The plot by the Illuminati, the Vatican, and the world economy owning Jews to erode the morals of the West through birth control, abortion, homosexuality, eugenics, mass immigration, Water fluoridation, vaccination, Communism, Sesame Street, mental hygiene, artificial food preservatives, genetic engineering of food, Dr. Spock's guide to raising children, PATRIOT Act, free trade, globalism, the NIV Bible, Socialized Medicine, the Star Wars prequels, Billy Graham, Fred Rogers, and who knows what else! All designed to destroy the morals of Western society and sap its precious bodily fluids and pave the way for a New World Order! The Vatican and their allies are winning! We must STOP them!

Reagan saw this too! And they tried to kill him with their pawn John Hinkley. And after he died they even managed to turn his wife, Nancy into one of their stooges and have her support Stem Cell research.

If you cannot see the TRUTH you are BLIND!

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." -John 8:32 (KJV*)

*King James Version, the only TRUE and PURE version of the Bible! The rest are filled with HERESIES written by FALSE TEACHERS working for SATAN to steer Christians away from the TRUTH.
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." -Matthew 7:15 (KJV)

Kit said...

:-)

AndrewPrice said...

Kit, LOL! Very nice. Sadly, you can also find each of those claims scattered across the web.

You did for get something. If I may...

How can you people now know that JFK was killed because they needed to fake the moon landings to hide the TRUTH (always in all caps) that aliens run the FED, and he was going to spill the beans! They killed him to keep him from telling us that the whole idea of a space program is just a conspiracy meant to keep us from realizing that the moon is colonized with beings who run our world!! When Atlantis comes back, you'll see!!

Bigfoot (Definitely Not Andrew) said...

I shot JR... er, JFK.

BevfromNYC said...

Kit - Hmmmm, or not...;-)

Kit said...

Andrew,

I forgot about that! And its all being orchestrated by Reptilian aliens!

Why didn't we pay close enough attention to what John Lennon was telling us in "I Am the Walrus"? WHY?!?!?!

Kit said...

On a slightly more serious note: Just about everything I listed except the Star Wars prequels I have seen put forth by conspiracy theorists as something created by conspiracy theories or at least shrieked about in a similar manner.

AndrewPrice said...

Because "I am the Walrus" is a false flag. Lennon was working for them! That's what Iggy Pop, who is really Lou Reed, was trying to tell us in "Perfect Day," which is really a hidden cover of Elvis's "Viva Las Vegas." It's all so clear!!

Kit said...

Andrew,

Never listened to "Perfect Day" but you may be right! God knows what "MacArthur Park" is telling us!

AndrewPrice said...

Perfect day is about taking heroin. You've probably heard it in half a dozen films and commercials by now. LINK

MacArthur Park? I thought that was a rant against the Baking Industrial Complex causing acid rain? ;-P

AndrewPrice said...

BTW, Bev, in all seriousness, I think it's really cool that your mother had a front seat to history. That's awesome. :D

Kit said...

Its annoying how the word TRUTHS is always in CAPS! It really disrupts the rhythm of the reading experience. And if its a nutty Christian hyper-fundamentalist ranting then expect the words "HERESIES", "HERETICS" and "FALSE TEACHERS" to also be in caps. Oh, and public figures who espouse differing ideas are always "FALSE TEACHERS", never simply wrong or mistaken. What is amazing is the term "FALSE TEACHER" is used far more often than "HERETIC". Just

(Notice how the near constant caps have disrupted the rhythm?)

I've actually realized that you have not become "Big" as a Christian preacher until you've been called a "FALSE TEACHER" and/or "HERETIC".

And, Bev, that is an amazing story.

Critch said...

The Kennedy Myth was very much the invention of Pop Kennedy. He was raising his son Joe to be the first irish Catholic presdient in American history. He got killed so it fell to Jack. Pop Kennedy is still one of the most ruthless financial/poilitical types in American history. When JFK was elected, Harry Truman said that he wasn't worried about the Pope being in the White House, he was worried about Old Pop being in the White House. My mom had a picture of JFK and Pope John on the wall in the living room....JFK was popular with us Micks...no doubt.

Tennessee Jed said...

sorry to have to let y'all down but ........ the walrus was Paul!

T-Rav said...

I don't understand the above comments. Are you saying that taking heroin makes for the perfect day? .....Very well.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, If you can't understand that above, that's because you're sane. Congrats! :D

As for heroin, that's what Lou Reed was writing about. I personally don't condone heroin use... though I do condone donut use. I can tell you however, that I've met several shrinks (in the criminal law world) who actually think the public should be given heroin and cocaine in regulated amounts.

AndrewPrice said...

Jed. Paul doesn't look anything like Elvis! ;-P

AndrewPrice said...

Kit, I've never heard the term False Teacher, but then I don't hang around on those websites.

AndrewPrice said...

Critch, I've read about Joe Kennedy and it's all bad. There are even people who say he cut deals with the Nazis. I'm not sure what's true and what isn't, but I know his kids suck.

Kit said...

"False Teacher" basically means the same thing as "False Prophet".

" I don't hang around on those websites."
Sadly, you don't have to. Just go to the comments of any youtube video of some (relatively) famous Christian pastor or writer and it will pop up.

Kit said...

Just watched that clip, Andrew.

I've probably seen that commercial a hundred times now. Or, rather, the first 4sec on youtube.com :)

AndrewPrice said...

Kit, It's a nice sounding song with very "up" lyrics, so advertisers and filmmakers love it. But it's about taking heroin.

The first 4 seconds. LOL! That's a very modern idea too! "You can skip this ad in 5 seconds."

AndrewPrice said...

As for false teachers, you and I have different tastes on youtube clearly! LOL!

Missouri State Police said...

Okay, folks--we've got some guy here whacked out of his mind, committing some public indecencies with his mouth stuffed full of donuts, and he keeps mumbling, "The bloggers made me do it!" You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?

Rustbelt said...

Uh, officers, this person may or may not be known to us on this blog.
However, there is this one guy who says he's from your state and claims that some goon, hired or unhired, (we don't know), returned from a trip to South America with a few tanks of untreated water from the Roosevelt River. This guy says that the goon, upon returning, accidentally-on-purpose dropped the tanks into a treatment plant, thereby contaminating most of the Missouri water supply and causing people to think to think they're Brazilians. And you how Brazilians get when they lose the World Cup. Well, the Cardinals losing the World Series may triggered an unforeseen side effect. So, if any of this is true, please don't think it was the result of anything that was said on this site. (It was the water.)
However, we can't account for anything involving doughnuts. Now, this guy claims to work in academia, and you know how those people get. So, let's just be thankful it wasn't Twizzlers. I'm sure we all how serious a situation like that can be. Okay? Thanks for your time, Bye.

AndrewPrice said...

T-Rav, Always have a spare box around for bribes!!

Critch said...

Pop Kennedy had his daughter lobotomized to keep her from embarrassing the family. She wasn't real bright and was having an affair and Pop took care of it his way...Appointing him as Ambassador to the UK was a slap in the face to the Crown.

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