Kennedy Assassination

9 Pages 2271 Words

“Kennedy Assassinated!” The headlines of the nation’s top newspapers splashed the horrible news of John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s murder. An American had gunned down the United State’s thirty-fifth president. The shocking event had an enormous impact on the nation. Businesses closed, school kids gathered around T.V. sets in cafeterias, and housewives cried in their homes. Radical political views had corrupted America.
How did this happen? How could such a popular president be gunned down on an American street? The American people wanted answers. The country wanted information and they sought it in earnest. Many tears were shed and the American people were overwhelmed by the many different theories behind the assassination. Who or what had really killed Kennedy? Was it really a radical extremist who had murdered the President? Or had someone else closer to home been at fault?
With the many conspiracies around the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK) it is hard to sort through them all. There are three that have received the most media coverage and are the most believable. They are: the single-shooter theory, the two-shooter theory, and the government conspiracy or multiple shooter theory.
Background
Why would someone want to kill the president? In order to understand the reasons behind the assassination one first has to look at JFK’s family background. This will give insight to why the presidency was controversial and dangerous in the first place.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was one of nine children born to Joseph and Rose Kennedy. He was a graduate of Harvard University and was ranked in the top 15 percentile. His family is heavily routed in the Catholic Church, and JFK was the first Catholic president. He was very youthful at only 43 years old. He brought with him to the Whitehouse a young wife Jacqueline and two children. This can all be found in a Website devoted to the history of John F. Ken...