JFK ~ 3 Shots that Changed America

[Palehorse]

November 22, 1963 – Dallas Texas

Most of the people in this country know exactly what the above represents, and if you were alive at that point in time chances are you remember exactly what you were doing when it happened; the assassination of John F. Kennedy, President of the United States.

I was 5 years old on that date, and at home eating at the dining room table when the news broke. I was old enough to know it was horrible, but not yet old enough to watch the news coverage in any detail. 5 years later I'd deliver the newspapers that were splashed with the headlines and color pictures of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and the younger brother of the late president, Robert Kennedy. I watched the news coverage of both of those events in great detail.

This week the History Channel ran a two part series, "JFK – 3 Shots that Changed America"; which utilizes news footage, edited footage from the original filming of newscasts, for newscasts, and never aired footage, to tell the story once again. There is no new footage used, nor parts spoken. It replays the entire event, the aftermath, the developments, and the subsequent events over the years, with actual footage and the words of those who related the stories.

The main players are all there; Rather, Cronkite, Reasoner, and a host of local Dallas news reporters that would be unknown to most of us but for this program and the footage they shot back then. The entire two part program tells the story in the words of the news personalities and the actual people who were there when it happened. Stark at times, and very informational, it left me with the same feeling that Oliver Stone's movie of the event left me with; a surreal mixture of sadness, anger, regret, and at some level, fearful.

46 years after the event and here we sit no further than we were 2 minutes after the president was assassinated; and I find that more than a little disturbing to say the least. Despite a hard fought for "early release" of "sealed files", (Blacked out at key informational points), nothing new was released or learned; and droves of still sealed information remain sealed.

The conspiracy theories number in the hundreds, if not thousands by now, and more than a few writers have squirreled away a King's ransom by putting together a theory or two using evidence to support it; and some of that was perhaps bent more than a little bit in order to fit the theory.

Some years ago I read a book called "Best Evidence –David S. Lifton" in 1992, which contains 32 pages of photographs, including autopsy, and is in my mind one of the more credible of the theories out there but still unproven. Yet every single piece of evidence he presents is taken directly from the official records, official statements of eye witnesses, and even the Warren Report.

"JFK – 3 Shots that Changed America" even presents some of the very same evidence, and a lot of it in the words of the very people who provided it, and it just drives the point home in a manner I do no think the printed word can relate. When you watch, hear, and see a man/woman who was standing in the grassy knoll say what they saw and heard, and where the shot(s) came from, (And subsequently repeat these same statements with the very same steadfast conviction some 25 years later, on camera), you cannot help but feel that your worst fears surrounding this event are nothing but reality that has yet to be revealed.

I recall delivering the papers the morning after Robert Kennedy's murder, seeing a shot of him, in color, eyes glazed over, and his head being supported in someone's hands as the blood pooled beneath on the ground and feeling even then that this event, and the killings of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy were somehow all connected in some way. I feel it just as strongly now, although I could never support such a theory with any empirical evidence whatsoever. And I remember how everyone was outside very early that morning, waiting for me to show up with their paper, and talking to each one of them about what had happened. Many of them expressed the same suspicion surrounding a connection between these killings that early morning.

I had stayed up late watching the news coverage, and got up extra early that morning; I was standing on the porch when the man arrived delivering my bundled papers; I scared him because I was out there, bags, rubber-bands, and bike at the ready. I wanted to get the papers delivered because I knew everyone wanted to read about it. I wasn't wrong.

A lot of the old theories are in "3 Shots"; the grassy knoll, the Jack Rubinstein / Oswald connection, etc. In fact, an on camera interview with one of Jack Ruby's (Rubinstein), employees indicates that Oswald was in his club in the weeks preceding the event. And it even covers the MLK and Robert Kennedy assassinations in the same manner, while telling the story of how discoveries and developments have transpired along the way. That's what got me thinking about the connection thing again.

They show the famous Zapruder film too, in all it's nasty glory; the most important piece of footage ever filmed in American history.  (Here's a ink to a fame by frame copy of it if you want to see it. http://www.assassinationresearch.com/zfilm/  )

If you do view it frame 157 starts the shots in my opinion. 312 starts the kill shot and 313 starts the head explosion. Take a look at 344; who is the guy in the background with the camera and where is his film????

I guess in my mind this whole thing is indeed a conspiracy, and knowing what I now know about government and its ability to lie, cheat, steal, and kill, I cannot help but feel that the whole thing was and is being covered up by our government for some reason or another. Probably in the "best interests of national security", and probably because this country either did not have the means to seek justice from the perpetrators, or could not because they were our government. Even LBJ confesses, on camera well after the Warren Report, that he suspected an international conspiracy above and beyond the lone gunman official position; and this coming from the man who created the Warren Commission and fully endorsed its report.

46 years later and the theory developed within 2 hours of the event, which ended up being the official final word on the whole thing, still stinks to high heaven. I did not buy it then, I do not buy it now, and I never will buy it; it is nothing more than a cover up that is apparently going to go on through 2029 at a minimum. (2029 is the earliest date at which the sealed files will be available for public viewing; and even then I have to wonder whether America will be given a true and full accounting of what transpired that day; and possibly in the 6 years following it).

My best guess is that on the day the full truth is known surrounding these events, the United States Government will never be the same again. The reality that will be revealed will result in the complete removal of any semblance of faith in our government on the part of the citizens of this country, and may very well bring to an end the United States as we have known it. For what other reason would they keep these files sealed and the truth from us, if not because it threatens to bring it all to an end? How will we feel when we find out that not only do they know who did it, but they failed to bring the responsible parties to justice too? What if those responsible were an arm of our government, and what if all of these murders were connected, including the murder of Oswald? (I find it more than coincidental that Jack Rubinstein died of cancer just 2 years later. Makes one wonder whether he knew he was terminally ill and they took advantage of this fact. They show a couple of interviews with Jack, some after he was in hospital, and he alludes to knowing a lot more about the whole thing than was revealed).

I suppose the only thing "we" who starkly remember that day can do, is make sure this country never forgets what happened, instill the feelings of distrust and horror within those who weren't even around when it happened, and hope that some of them carry on those feelings long enough to dig into those sealed files when they are finally released. I'll be 72 years old by then, and either dead or too senile to even remember about it. That's why I wrote this; in the hope that one day one of my grandchildren will read it and care enough to find out what really happened.

[incognito]

*i* was freshly 18yrs old laying in the rack when when the alert horn went off. the word came that the president had been shot. no one believed it until total recall and roll out. *i* was freshly out off high school and basic training and on station for only two(2)months and all *i* could think about was going to war immediately and well,this is it. a very scary moment at the very beginning of *my*new adult and military life.

*I* BECAME A MAN VERY FUCKING FAST!

don carter
AMERICAN WITHOUT COUNTRY/PEOPLE(AMERICA/AMERICANS)

[Henry Hawk]

I was only three at the time, but I can remember discussing it in the first grade three years later, and the REALNESS and the TRAGEDY of this was STILL very surreal...it wasn't long after that, when MLK and Bobby was shot........I can remember my Mom and Grandmother being very upset...and I was trying to figure out WHY someone would be doing these things.......It made NO sense at all to me...My Dad was riveted to the TV every evening, watching the news...

As an adult, I am ALL over the place on this, as far as conspiracy theories.........you can watch one episode about it and they can make it seem as it was what it was.......Oswald did it and Ruby killed him because of his anger...THEN, you can watch other great stories that shines a light on other possibilities..........I'm thinking we will NEVER, EVER know what REALLY happened....but, we can NEVER allow something like this to EVER happen again..........but, it seems like it would STILL be somewhat easy, in this day and time, for this TO happen IF, someone wants it done badly enough.

[followsthewolf]

*i* was freshly 18yrs old laying in the rack when when the alert horn went off. the word came that the president had been shot. no one believed it until total recall and roll out. *i* was freshly out off high school and basic training and on station for only two(2)months and all *i* could think about was going to war immediately and well,this is it. a very scary moment at the very beginning of *my*new adult and military life.

*I* BECAME A MAN VERY FUCKING FAST!

don carter
AMERICAN WITHOUT COUNTRY/PEOPLE(AMERICA/AMERICANS)

Know exactly what you mean, Don.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

[Palehorse]

I think a lot of those who were "of age" when this event transpired became adults very quickly as a direct result. I have a good friend who was an Illinois National Guardsman during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He was in Grant Park cracking heads with the police, and to this day memories of that day haunt him. He speaks of it rarely, but when we see each other it is often a subject he brings up with me. It left him conflicted. . . His wife says our friendship is therapy for him, since he will not speak to any of his family about it.

[Palehorse]

. . . Take a look at 344; who is the guy in the background with the camera and where is his film?

He is James "Ike" Altgens and here is the photo he snapped:

[Palehorse]

And another:

[Locutus]

All those events transpired before I was born, but I have been to that spot a few times when visiting Dallas.

[Anne]

Therories are sometimes entertaining and sometime correct but sometimes things are just what they seem to be.

[Palehorse]

Therories are sometimes entertaining and sometime correct but sometimes things are just what they seem to be.

I do not believe it is applicable in this case.