November 20, 2025
Sixty-two years ago President John F. Kennedy was killed while riding in an open motorcade in Dallas, Texas. Now either Kennedy was murdered by some "lone nut" (Lee Harvey Oswald) as the Warren Commission determined or there was an elaborate conspiracy to assassinate JFK and cover up the crime. It's either one or the other. But which is it?
When I started my quest for truth many decades ago, l relied heavily on the research of Mark Lane, Harold Weisberg and David Lifton. All three wrote passionately of a conspiracy to kill John Kennedy. For Lane, there must have been a conspiracy because there were shots from the front. For Weisberg, there must have been a conspiracy since Lee Oswald was the figure in the Book Depository doorway (in the famous James Altgens photo) and, therefore, he could NOT have been on the 6th floor of the Depository firing any shots. And for David Lifton, there must have been a conspiracy (and cover-up) since JFK's head wounds appear markedly different at Parkland Hospital than they do at Bethesda; the wounds must have been altered in pre-autopsy surgery at the Bethesda morgue to hide shots from the front.
As a life-long libertarian and Rothbardian, I found all of this conspiracy speculation fascinating since I knew there were strong incentives for governments and governmental "commissions" (Warren Commission) to confabulate and cover up incriminating facts. To say I was hooked is an understatement.
But after almost 60 years of intense curiosity and mountains of additional reading, I've now concluded that there is simply NO "best evidence" for any frontal shots; that Oswald was NOT the figure in the famous doorway photograph; and that David Lifton's (and Douglas Horne's) theory of JFK "body snatching" and an "early entry" into the Bethesda morgue for wound alteration is, to be blunt, just plain NONSENSE. Ditto for several other other wacky conspiracy theories that continue to circulate on YouTube and mislead the uninformed.
In addition, I've also concluded that there is no smoking gun evidence that the killing was pre-planned by either Lyndon Johnson, the Russians, the Cubans, the Mafia or any of the various U.S. intelligence agencies- although the latter certainly withheld-and continues to hold-embarrassing information post-assassination. They all may well have despised JFK and some of his policies but they didn't kill him.
Finally, I've concluded that there is no definitive evidence that the assassination was part of any regime-change operation-although modest changes in U. S. foreign policy may well have been an unintended consequence of the murder. Alternatively, I have also concluded-somewhat reluctantly I might add-that the best evidence is STILL that Lee Harvey Oswald-acting alone-had the means, motive and opportunity to commit the crime (although Oswald's real target may well have been Governor John Connally.) The most famous murder of the 20th century could have been a tragic accident caused by a poor shooter.
Sometimes-not always-the lone-nut explanation for some historical riddle turns out to be the correct one. I believe that's the case with respect to the Kennedy killing. But unlike several of my less-gracious Warren Commission defenders and conspiracy acquaintances, I remain open to any new best evidence that would fundamentally alter our understanding of the events of November 22, 1963. Until and unless that evidence appears, however, there is a very high probability that the twice court-martialled ex-Marine with the "undesirable" military discharge and the cheap Italian-made rifle did the crime...and that he did it alone.
A closing note. I've written multiple commentaries on the Kennedy assassination for this website. Readers who require additional support for what I conclude above should reference those articles.