posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 11:34 AM
On May 5th, 1979 an assassination attempt was made on President Jimmy Carter. Two men were arrested for the attempt.
Assassin Accomplices
The assassins were named Raymond Lee Harvey and Osvaldo Ortiz. The role of the men was to serve as a distraction by shooting blanks from a recovered
revolver, while two separate hitmen carried out the actual assassination. Both men confessed to these roles and gave the location of the hotel room in
which the other assassins were staying. Despite the accuracy of their testimony and their description of the conspiracy, both men were released due to
lack of evidence.
Event
Prior to the assassination attempt Carter was condemned by the media as well as other government officials for being “wishy-washy.” Understanding
the decline in approval, Carter scheduled a television spot in which he would describe major governmental changes and points of focus for his
re-election campaign. Before filming the spot, Carter made a trip to Los Angeles to speak at a Cinco de Mayo event, which was to be the setting of the
assassination. Following the attempt Carter went into seclusion and was reported to have said, "I have lost control of the government." Jimmy Carter
made no sweeping changes following the incident, and the country later elected Ronald Reagan as the next US president with George H.W. Bush as his
vice president.
Conjecture
The similarities between the names Raymond Lee Harvey and Osvaldo Ortiz to President John F. Kennedy’s assassin Lee Harvey Oswald are too obvious to
be dismissed as coincidence by some. Some have linked George H.W. Bush to this attempt as he was selected to be the Director of the CIA in 1976, and
it is possible that he was a member as early as 1960. There are also connections between George H.W. Bush and JFK conspiracy theories.
External Sources
Jimmy Carter's attempted assassination by Lee Harvey and Osvaldo
Jimmy Carter's attempted assassination by Lee Harvey and Osvaldo. What
really is in a name?
Skid Row Plot - Monday, May. 21, 1979 TIME magazine