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... s (Beck 72). At this time, President John F. Kennedy had made his motorcade route for the Dallas trip. The motorcade route was published in the Dallas papers on the 19 th and 20 th of November (Beck 72). The motorcade route would ride up Houston Street, and then make sharp turn on to Elm street passing right in front of the book depository.
On the evening of November 21, 1963, Oswald asked Marina to move back in with him. She refused, she said she wanted to stay with Ruth. The next morning she woke up, and he was gone. He left his wedding ring and $ 170 (Beck 72).
On the morning of November 22, 1963, Oswald went to Buell Frazier's home. He was caring a long object wrapped in paper. He then put the object into the back seat of Frazier's car. Frazier asked him what was in the package, Oswald replied, "curtain rods" (Sniper's nest p 71). Frazier and Oswald always walked together to the book depository, but On November 22, Oswald walked swiftly to the depository. Other workers said that he did not follow his normal routine of reading yesterday's news paper (Posner 224).
Oswald went up to the sixth floor of the depository where he learned the direction in which the president would be coming. One of the worker, Charles Givens asked Oswald, "Boy, are you going downstairs? Is it near lunch time?" Oswald said "No, sir. " Oswald is now alone in the sixth floor of the book depository to assemble the Mannlicher-Caracano rifle and move the boxes of books into the position to make a three side shield so that no one could see him firing at the president (Sniper's Nest 76). Oswald was set and ready to fire at the President of the United States. During this time, the motorcade came up Houston Street and turned down on Elm Street. The first shot was fired; it misses the president.
The people around the motorcade think that one of the motorcycles backfired. The second shot fires; it hit President Kennedy. The driver then slows the car down to a near stop. The President's head tilts to the left where the final shot hit him on the right side of his head. Howard L. Brennan was watching the motorcade on Elm Street.
He noticed a rifle on the sixth floor of the book depository. He saw the rifle fire at the president's car. He later told the police everything he saw, this gave the police the description of Oswald (Warren Report 5). After Oswald fired the final shot, he leaves the sniper's nest towards the rear stair case. Oswald drops the rifle between two boxes on the sixth floor of the depository. He then proceeds down the stairs to the second floor.
He enters the lunch room where a police officer stops Oswald. Oswald's supervisor told the police officer that Oswald works here (Sniper's Nest 82). Oswald then stops to purchase a coke and figure out how he is going to escape. He decides to go out the front entrance on Elm Street (Posner 264). Oswald decided to wait for a bus, but he thought it would be to risky; so he walked east on Elm Street away from the depository to the next bus stop (Sniper's Nest 83). He got the bus at the bus stop.
Traffic was backed up because of the shooting. Oswald then asked if he could get off the bus, then asked for a cab (Posner 266). Oswald told the cab driver to go the 500 block of North Beckley. This was where his rooming house was. Oswald got off at the 700 block of North Beckley. He was now five minutes from his rooming house (267).
Oswald then went his rooming house. While at his rooming house, Oswald grabbed his jacket and a revolver. He then walked out of the rooming house, and started walking down the block. By this time, his description went over the dispatch to officers all over Dallas. Officer J. D.
Tippet stopped Oswald. He asked Oswald a few questions. Tippet then got out of the car; Oswald pulled out his revolver and shot him down. Oswald then ran to the Dallas Theater where he was apprehended (Sniper's Nest 86 - 87). Oswald was taken down to the police headquarters for questioning. The police made a strong case against Oswald.
They proved the rifle was his and they found the paper he had it wrapped in (United Press International 63 - 65). After the questioning, Oswald was being transferred. As Oswald and the police officers exited the Police station through the basement, Jack Ruby fired a shot into Oswald. Oswald died at a hospital in Dallas. Jack Ruby was then charged with the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. The evidence found in the last thirty years has shown some controversy over how Lee Harvey Oswald could have assassinated John F.
Kennedy. The contrasting ideas of experts causes many theories as to how the president was shot. The evidence that points to Lee Harvey Oswald is that his finger prints were all over the rifle and the boxes in the book depository (Sniper's Nest 79). This proves that Oswald was in the sniper's nest that he made. The second bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald that hit Kennedy and Connally has been debated because how can a bullet travel through a person and still come out looking like a unfired bullet.
In the movie JFK, Oliver Stone states a theory that one bullet went through Kennedy's neck through the front not the back. He also believes that governor Connally was hit by a totally different bullet coming from behind. In order for Oswald to hit the president and Connally; he would have had to hit Kennedy and Connally with one bullet. This has become to be known as the "Single Bullet Theory." The Single Bullet Theory" states that the shot fired from the book depository by Oswald went through the back of Kennedy's neck and came out just below his Adam's apple. Then the same bullet enters Connally through the middle of the back. It then comes out below his right nipple.
The bullet ratchets off Connally's wrist into his thigh. The bullet is later found on Connally's stretcher at Parkland Hospital. In order to prove the "Single Bullet Theory" an autopsy was performed on President Kennedy. The Doctors observed the wound in the neck around the Kennedy's Adam's apple. Dr.
Carried said, "With those facts and the facts as I understand it, no other bullet was found this would be, this was, I believe, was an exit wound. Dr. Perry .".. I believe it was an exit wound" (Warren Report 89).
Since the wound near Kennedy's Adam's apple was an exit wound, it would prove that the shot was fired from the behind Kennedy. This proves that the shot came from the book depository. The fatal shot to the head of Kennedy has been a strong point to many theories. In the Movie JFK, Oliver Stone states a theory that the fatal shot came from the grassy knoll.
He supported his theory by using witnesses who said they saw a puff of smoke by the grassy knoll. In contrast to Oliver Stone's theory, on the day of the assassination there was a 20 miles per hour wind which this would have caused the puff of smoke to have been blown away. Also modern ammunition is smokeless (Sniper's nest 86). Oliver Stone states that Kennedy's head moves back and to the left. Proving the shot came from the grassy knoll. In the Autopsy, the report stated the shot entered the lower portion of the head and exited out the right side of Kennedy's skull (Warren Report 109).
In the Zapruder film about the assassination, it shows at frame 313, the bullet strike Kennedy in the head. "It [Kennedy's head] moves slightly to the left and downward, just for two or three frames, which is consistent with a bullet striking it from behind and nowhere else, because the momentum of the bullet is imparted" (Cockburn 295). With the entry wound coming from behind, this would mean that the bullet had to have come from the book depository. The only unanswered question is why would Oswald assassinate the president. This question has not been answered by any of the top critics.
Most critics do not know that he came from a broken family with only one parent. In movie the JFK, Oliver Stone never shows an actual history of Oswald as child. He never states Oswald's mother's life or how Oswald tried to assassinate General Walker. These issues are important in how Oswald's personality is made up.
He was a child that never had many friends or had anyone real close to him. The only person he had was his wife, and she turned him away on the eve of the assassination. He finally broke down and did something that he would be noticed for. Lee Harvey Oswald was a man with a mission in life, to be noticed. He now is noticed as the man who assassinated the brightest president our country has ever seen. Our country should put to rest the assassination by releasing the classified documents that list the information of the FBI and CIA findings.
Although many people argue many points on this crucial event, after seeing these facts, it is indisputable in my mind that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated the President. Not only did he do it, but he acted alone. There are many possible reasons; First, he may have been doing it because he was upset about how the "American Dream" failed him. Second, he may have done it because he was in a state of despair from being shunned by his wife. A third reason, which I believe played a large role is that maybe Oswald did it to get the attention of the Cubans and the Soviets, who in no way, shape, or form cared for Kennedy. By doing this he may have hoped to be allowed into Cuba.
Cited Sources: Beck, Melinda. "The Mind Of The Assassin. " Newsweek. November 22, 1993. Cockburn, Alexander. "In Defense Of The Warren Commission. " The Nation. March 9, 1992. JFK. Directed by Oliver Stone.
With Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson, and Joe Pesci. Warner Brothers: 1991. Parshall, Gerald. "The Man With A Deadly Smirk. " US News And World Report. August 30 -September 6, 1993. Posner, Gerald. "Sniper's Nest. " US News And World Report. August 30 - September 6, 1993.
Posner, Gerald. Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and The Assassination of JFK. New York: Random House, 1993. United Press International and American Heritage Magazine Four Days: A Historical record Of The Death Of President Kennedy. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1993. The Warren Report.
President's Commission On The Assassination of President Kennedy: Associated Press.
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Research essay sample on Lee Harvey Oswald Single Bullet Theory
