IMPORANT EVENT ABOUT HISTORY

5

Assassination of John F. Kennedy

The jury is still out, and probably will be for a very long time, as to why in the world Kennedy had to die. There are loads of conspiracy theories, most centering on the Chicago mafia. Sam Giancana is thought to have rigged the election to get Kennedy into the Office, but why he did this is a long, complicated story. In general, Giancana believed his interests would fare better under Kennedy. The answer is almost always money.

However much the mafia might have thought Kennedy would be on their side, he definitely wasn’t once he took office, appointing his brother Bobby to be Attorney General. Bobby came down very hard on organized crime, especially in the Chicago area, and the conspiracy theory goes that Giancana felt betrayed and resolved to avenge this.

This lister is of the opinion that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone, but whether he knew or not, he was accompanied by at least one other gunman, possibly several. The important thing is what this event did to American morale: devastated it. Except for America’s avowed Cold War enemies, nearly the entire world sent its condolences, not in the least because if the most powerful and protected man in the world could be killed, what about UK’s PM Alec Douglas-Home? What about Charles de Gaulle? What about kings and queens?

And this was worse than the assassination of Lincoln, for the sole reason of modern security. Lincoln’s security was grossly equal to any assailant who might want at him: firearms were evenly matched to the best personal armor of the day. In Kennedy’s time, bulletproof vests were common and getting better all the time. But he made one serious mistake: he rode in a convertible.

The similarities between his and Lincoln’s assassinations are uncanny. Among them are that both spoke prophetic words regarding their deaths. Lincoln dreamed his death not long before it happened. Kennedy once said, “Look, if someone wants to sit up in a window and take potshots at someone as they ride by, there’s not a hell of a lot they can do to stop him.”