Which JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theory Do You Prefer?

You know...at first I thought only three things to be possible. The thing is, 1) Robert F. Kennedy was the ONLY person with access who had ANY motive to take the brain for noble reasons. 2) It was plain carelessness. Almost impossible! How do you lose something so important stored under controlled conditions? 3) Someone other than RFK took it, meaning there was a conspiracy and coverup coming from some very high places! Plain and simple, it takes away the luxury of any possible belief otherwise!

Now, you know what, I take it back! At least four things are possible.

I based my statement that RFK would take his brother's brain only for noble and upstanding reasons on the assumption that RFK must (at least in 1965) have completely accepted the Warren Commission's account of the president's death...why else abscond with the most valuable piece of evidence in the case? Well, according to his own son, he considered the report "a shoddy piece of craftsmanship." www.salon.com...

At least three other threads about this subject can be found here on ATS.
www.abovetopsecret.com...&mem=Ginga
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

The conclusion has to be, RFK knew the whole official story was concocted BS, but drank the Warren Commission Kool-Aid so they wouldn't come after him! I'm not sure if he was killed during his presidential campaign to keep him from reopening the case but it's as likely as any other explanation.

Did the following on November 20 but forgot to post it here:

Okey-dokey, I found the reburial pictures online and it seems that the "Bobby put it in the casket" story doesn't hold up at all. But if one of you guys has the brain in your closet or anything, the Bradster will give you $10,000.00!

Spent a lot of time on the Kennedy brothers alleged brain reburial story Monday. Some stories say "a curious wooden box" can be seen near one or both Kennedy brothers in the reinterment pictures while others describe a "black, locker-type box." Both boxes are said to be on the ground, which would seem rather disrespectful if they really contained human remains!

Regarding Catholic bodies having to be intact, I have attended five Catholic funeral services, at least three of which were cremations. This is also true of JFK Jr. At the actual burial I attended, the box with the remains was placed on the ground but there was at least an artificial turf rug under it--it wasn't just plonked down on the dirt the way this "box" at Arlington is said to have been!

Okey-dokey, this guy posts a photo he says proves that the "strange wooden box" was nothing more than protection to cover a small plant so no one would step on it. There were never any brains in it. (It won't let me post the link to the forum where he says that, but here is the link to the photo itself which shows the box being lifted off the plant.)

the-puzzle-palace.com...

There are various, mostly bad-quality black-and-white, photos of the reinterment ceremony several places online. Here are the only color ones I've found, showing Bobby and Teddy with no "box" that I can see. It does show that JFK was not moved very far! cc157.blogspot.com...

Here is a forum with the most number of the poor-quality b & w images that I can find on one page. forum.assassinationofjfk.net... I do see what is almost certainly the wooden box in the photographs labeled 64 and 24, but nothing that resembles any other small box at all! Anyone with sharper eyes, have a look!

a reply to: Blue Shift

I believe the LBJ theory that he conspired with other presidents and the former CIA director to eliminate JFK. His mistress wrote a book about this. It's the only one that makes sense. How else would u cover up such a big conspiracy without a lot of help??

originally posted by: amfirst1
a reply to: Blue Shift

I believe the LBJ theory that he conspired with other presidents and the former CIA director to eliminate JFK. His mistress wrote a book about this. It's the only one that makes sense. How else would u cover up such a big conspiracy without a lot of help??

Nixon openly joked about this possibility and Bobby Kennedy is said to have suspected it. There is a photograph of Bobby confronting a startled LBJ where someone said the photographer told them Kennedy was directly asking why he had it done.

I still think that this series lays out such a complete view of the circumstances (using propriety footage that stopped a commercial release and the actual people telling their own story) that other theories are only secondary and tertiary aspects of "The Event", as H.L. Hunt described it.

Testimony from an informant that included hard documentation (receipts, cancelled checks, etc.) was being taken at the WH that directly linked LBJ with crimes up to and including murder simultaneously with the president's assassination. Articles of impeachment would have been in the immediate future of the vice-president had JFK not been killed.

Kennedy planned to fire Hoover like he had Dulles and Dulles's deputy director (whose brother happened to be the mayor of Dallas).

Right there you have the two men who had motive, the most to gain and the power to co-ordinate the coverup (Which included the Warren Commission),LBJ and J.E. Hoover.

Those that insist on the official story are in denial. It is hard to admit that our country had a military/intelligence/political coup d'etat.

originally posted by: blackthorne
-- snip --
in my own opinion, the book, "best evidence" is the best on this subject.
-- snip --

"Best" is a very subjective term, but we are kindred spirits when it comes to Lifton & "Best Evidence". Depending on your criteria, it may not be the Best but he certainly was the first to get a serious book on the assassination out there. I've read many posts (here and in other forums) that are quite sarcastic and condescending. The sad truth is that Lifton suffered worse as he tried to get his book taken seriously. I'd always respected Tom Snyder of the Tomorrow Show for the even handed way he did interviews. Even HE was rude and abrupt.

Anyone that has read "Best Evidence" knows that it is a labor of love. Virtually every page is foot-noted, some pages have half the page taken up by foot-notes. Far from being a nut, Lifton d@mned near has a reference for every single assertion he makes.

It was quite an accomplishment for a college student to find an anachronism in the Warren Report odd enough to get a promise from Warren Commision assistant counsel Wesley Liebeler to contact a fellow WC lawyer and get back to him.

Everyone that buys into the official line should think about what Liebeler was told:
"Wesley, our job was to close doors NOT open them..."

originally posted by: CoriSCapnSkip
Nixon openly joked about this possibility and Bobby Kennedy is said to have suspected it. There is a photograph of Bobby confronting a startled LBJ where someone said the photographer told them Kennedy was directly asking why he had it done.

Here's the story: www.youtube.com...

Check out the report of a select government committee which spent years on this. www.archives.gov... Where do these notions come from, that conspiracy theories are dreamed up by crackpots in basements who have nothing better to do? Why waste all this government time, money, and effort--to come up with such conclusions?

I subscribe largely to the theory involving the mafia, this linking Oswald and Ruby to the case, as well as linking Robert Kennedy years later as well. And lots more. I'm writing from my phone at the moment, so it's difficult to fetch a link, but I've got a lot of threads around the forum discussing this. I try to get a lot of information in each one to try and ba k up everything I say.

I'm really not a fan of theories involving the driver, Jackie or secret societies to name a few as well. These are pretty silly and deflect away from the facts, instead venturing well into fiction and pure specation. I wish they would stop.

In short, Oswald was involved, that much is honestly very obvious. Its the extent that he was involved where the discussion should lay, again in my mere opinon. I don't think he fired the final shot for example, if any at all. Evidence points to that. But involved he most certainly was.

C. I. A. lied about John F. Kennedy's assassination, indicating they had something to hide. Period. End of story. www.pbs.org...

originally posted by: CoriSCapnSkip
Check out the report of a select government committee which spent years on this. www.archives.gov... Where do these notions come from, that conspiracy theories are dreamed up by crackpots in basements who have nothing better to do? Why waste all this government time, money, and effort--to come up with such conclusions?

I'm a bit confused as to how to take your post, no criticism just a request for clarification.

Great link, I've bookmarked it.

Over the years I've read many, many books and transcripts yet I found something new digging around that archive... One of the doctors at Parkland testified before the WC that he'd noted an entrance wound in Kennedy's hairline to the Left-hand side! It is no mistake because the doctor was later moved to the president's right side. I'll admit that shocked me.

I've been very ill the last few days, but I think you can find it using a link at the archive that mentions an extra bullet followed by a question mark.

The whole thing was a sad, terrible mess for sure...

The book I'll be referring to has been out of print for a good while, that may explain why I'd never heard this mentioned before. It is critical to anyone trying to make sense of this tragedy because, imo, it shows that someone wanted the man dead so badly that they were willing to improvise at the last minute rather than attempt the assassination at another location at a later date.

In his book "Pardon My Grief" Penn Jones describes the ambulance run to near the front of the Texas School Book Depository on the day Kennedy was killed. A young man later identified as Jerry B. Belknap collapsed and was transported to Parkland.

Why is this important? Mr. Belknap was never registered at the Parkland ER. In fact, it was a former employee of O’Neal Funeral Home that contacted the FBI’s Dallas office to report the incident, adding that the patient “disappeared” after arriving at Parkland. The O’Neal caller stated he “felt that this incident may have been a planned distraction to draw attention away from the shooting that was to follow.” Unbelievably, Mr. Belknap was allowed to pay for the ambulance fee and walk away from Parkland without anyone saying a thing to him.

Although the FBI investigated the matter and included it in Commission Document 1245, it is mentioned nowhere in the Warren Report or any of its 26 volumes.

The ambulance driver, Aubrey Rike, stated that he had been asked by the Secret Service to stay there since the presidential motorcade was due at Dealey Plaza shortly.

In the two weeks leading up to the assassination there had been at least 12 faked ambulance calls spaced out over different shifts (probably to avoid suspicion), all to the area of the front of the TSBD. Rike theorized that someone had been timing how long it would take to get an ambulance to that specific spot.

Had the motorcade not been running about 5 minutes late, it would have been caught in traffic among all those tall buildings. As it was, Rike and his co-worker Dennis McGuire, wound up loading Kennedy’s body for the return trip to Love Field.

originally posted by: CornShuckerOver the years I've read many, many books and transcripts yet I found something new digging around that archive... One of the doctors at Parkland testified before the WC that he'd noted an entrance wound in Kennedy's hairline to the Left-hand side! It is no mistake because the doctor was later moved to the president's right side. I'll admit that shocked me.

I've been very ill the last few days, but I think you can find it using a link at the archive that mentions an extra bullet followed by a question mark.

That shocked me, too. As I understood, the hairline wound was on the right hand side, and either the wound, the autopsy photograph showing the face front-on, or both, were doctored, as in that (and any other pictures showing the face) the front of his head appears undamaged--the Parkland doctor and others said that there was a hairline wound not visible in the autopsy photographs. I did know the Parkland doctor initially said the throat wound was an entry, indicating he was shot from the front and Oswald could not possibly have been the only shooter. The doctor later backpedaled, saying he should not have speculated and started all those conspiracy theories, but unless I read wrong the doctor not only later went on record saying he'd swear the throat wound was an entry, he was absolutely adamant that it was substantially altered after he worked on it (cut through it to perform a tracheotomy). Why change the appearance of the wound after Kennedy was dead, except to hide something, such as maybe it was an entrance wound? The Parkland doctor did live to be old, so was not killed for these opinions.

originally posted by: CornShuckerIn the two weeks leading up to the assassination there had been at least 12 faked ambulance calls spaced out over different shifts (probably to avoid suspicion), all to the area of the front of the TSBD. Rike theorized that someone had been timing how long it would take to get an ambulance to that specific spot.

Weird! Since the trip was decided on back in June, www.archives.gov... plenty of time for somebody to talk to somebody! Connelly helped plan it but as far as I know has never been seriously implicated--as I or anyone would figure, no matter how big a problem you may have with someone, why agree to sit in an open car directly in front of a man you know is going to be shot from behind--or any direction? (Same for about one of 50 or so reasons Jackie had nothing to do with it.)

Add to that the fact that the route was changed pretty late to run directly past the Texas School Book Depository, but still early enough to make it look as if Oswald had time to carry out the crime on a whim. It was, of course, early enough for Zapruder and all the other people to know to be waiting around the grassy knoll and not on Main Street as originally planned.

originally posted by: CoriSCapnSkip

originally posted by: CornShuckerIn the two weeks leading up to the assassination there had been at least 12 faked ambulance calls spaced out over different shifts (probably to avoid suspicion), all to the area of the front of the TSBD. Rike theorized that someone had been timing how long it would take to get an ambulance to that specific spot.

Weird! Since the trip was decided on back in June, www.archives.gov... plenty of time for somebody to talk to somebody! Connelly helped plan it but as far as I know has never been seriously implicated--as I or anyone would figure, no matter how big a problem you may have with someone, why agree to sit in an open car directly in front of a man you know is going to be shot from behind--or any direction? (Same for about one of 50 or so reasons Jackie had nothing to do with it.)

This probably had something to do with it... From:
www.dallasnews.com...

On Friday, Nov. 22, 1963, the pithy headline of The Dallas Morning News read: “Yarborough snubs LBJ.”

As President John F. Kennedy read the story in Fort Worth, his veneer of easy charm dissolved. Before addressing a Chamber of Commerce breakfast, he found Yarborough in a corridor near the kitchen entrance to the Hotel Texas grand ballroom. His gray eyes were cold.

“For Christ’s sake, cut it out, Ralph,” Kennedy said, demanding that the senator ride with Johnson. When Yarborough would not commit, Kennedy threw down his trump card: If the senator valued the friendship of the president, Kennedy said, he’d get in the car.

Three hours later, as the vice president’s convertible rolled westward on Main Street in Dallas, its reluctant passenger played his part. He lived up to his nickname, Smilin’ Ralph, as he focused his friendly wave deep into the crowds and repeated, “Howdy there.”

originally posted by: CoriSCapnSkip
Add to that the fact that the route was changed pretty late to run directly past the Texas School Book Depository, but still early enough to make it look as if Oswald had time to carry out the crime on a whim. It was, of course, early enough for Zapruder and all the other people to know to be waiting around the grassy knoll and not on Main Street as originally planned.

I don't know which volume of the "Evidence of Revision" videos on YT to point you toward, but the night before Dallas there was a major "Meeting" that even Hoover flew in for and then flew back immediately after. You can watch the lady that worked for the family that hosted the get together describe it in her own words. Connolly was there as well as Nixon. There were more big names but I can't think of them off the top of my head. Johnson's mistress was there and is in the same video. She said nobody had expected Johnson to be there. When he showed up, all the important players went into a room and closed the door for a good while. On his way out she was shocked by his demeanor and she tried to talk to him. He looked at her and said (I'm paraphrasing from memory), "I promise you this... After tomorrow those G*d d*mned Kennedys will never make ME look like a fool again!!"

The next morning she telephoned him and he made the same remark again.

a reply to: CoriSCapnSkip

I'll dig around later and see if I can find it again. That amazed me. The is one photo that is taken back away from the president (at Bethesda) that is kind of back from the table so that you can get a good view of the underside of his chin and just barely make out the notch cut into the right hand side of his forehead hairline. Whoever did the drawing for the Warren Commission was just too d@mned good! I'm sure that the lion's share of people that have seen what is supposed to be the occipital entry wound next to a ruler aren't aware that is a drawing.

If a small entry wound barely into the forehead hairline on the Left was seen at Parkland, I'm gonna be totally messed up for a while. Just when you think you've halfway got a handle on what happened you learn something else!!

One thing though, the folks that talk about conspiracy "buffs" don't get it... This isn't a funny or a hobby, that man had his head exploded sitting right next to his wife! I just want to reach some kind of understanding of what really happened before I die (I'm 62)...

originally posted by: CornShucker

This probably had something to do with it... From:
www.dallasnews.com...[/qu ote]

"In seconds, carnage erupted in the presidential limousine as the president and Connally were hit by gunfire. Looking at the vice president’s car, Kivett saw the blur of Youngblood’s dark suit as he spun left, grabbed Johnson’s lapels and flung him to the floorboard screaming, “Get down! Get down!” Youngblood lunged at Lady Bird and Yarborough as he climbed over the seat and covered the body of the vice president."

WELL, #!!!

That's a hell of a lot more than anyone did for Kennedy! Notice in the film, the agent in the front seat did not jump over the back of the seat to cover Kennedy after the first two shots--Clint Hill had to literally jump out of another car and run to do that--by which time it was too late. Kennedy's own wife did not push or pull him down to stop his being a target (he couldn't duck himself due to his back brace). They had only seconds, but still.... The agent driving slowed down to look at the worst possible moment, allowing a perfect hit on that third shot--just the worst possible screwups overall--what later came to be known as "a perfect storm."

These conspiracy theories, as noted above, do not mesh. If several of them were true, there had to be more than one conspiracy going around between more than one group of conspirators at the same time. If Johnson was in on it, then he was obviously not a target. I don't know why the other guy didn't want to get in the car with Lyndon, other than that I wouldn't relish riding with him either,

but that doesn't prove the other guy knew anything about a possible plot, in fact, that in itself doesn't even prove there was a plot! If there was, too bad Kennedy didn't smell a rat

like, "Why don't you want to ride with Lyndon? Is it because you know someone plans to shoot us all?"

edit on 29-11-2014 by CoriSCapnSkip because: Fix formatting, or try to.

From what I've read LBJ and Yarborough hated each other with a passion long before Kennedy decided to come to Texas. Apparently, there weren't too many people Johnson actually liked!

originally posted by: CornShucker
From what I've read LBJ and Yarborough hated each other with a passion long before Kennedy decided to come to Texas. Apparently, there weren't too many people Johnson actually liked!

It would be funny (not funny funny but funny strange) if Yarborough wouldn't get into the car because he was in on a plot to assassinate both Kennedy and Johnson, and so then "they" wouldn't shoot at *that* car because he was in it, and Yarborough ended up saving Johnson's life!

Newsmax's reairing of JFK Remembered: 50 Years Later not only had Henry Repeating Rifles as a sponsor, but at least twice jumped straight from footage of Kennedy to the rifle commercial! They even did this immediately following a clip of one of his most inspirational speeches! (By the way, his error in this famous 1963 speech near the Berlin Wall was not nearly the blunder legend would have it. Kennedy had meant to say, "Ich bin Berliner" (I am a Berliner). Since nationalities in German are not preceded by articles, Kennedy actually said, "Ich bin ein Berliner" (I am one with the people of Berlin). The urban legend that it translates into "I am a jelly donut" is a myth, since the pastry is known in Germany as "pfannkuchen" (pan cake). To see that part, start around the 7:00 mark here: www.youtube.com... ) Not only were Henry Rifles a sponsor, but so was the National Rifle Association! Guys, that was tacky! If you had to air these commercials at all, you couldn't at least stick them in between others?

In all seriousness, I prefer the theory in which Lyndon Johnson was involved. CIA station chief and Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt admitted on his deathbed that he attended a meeting prior to November 22, 1963 at least discussing, if not planning, the assassination. Involved in the plot were CIA Director of Covert Operations in the Western Hemosphere, David Atlee Phillips, and CIA officials Cord Meyer and William King Harvey.

Although I did not make a detailed study of this, I did hear about it, and previously heard that many other Watergate participants were in Dallas that day (some proven, others suspected). There is also film of Nixon joking with an interviewer about LBJ having it done--trying to cast suspicion off himself, perhaps? I know they aren't the most honest people, but why would Hunt tell such a lie?

In his own words (on film), John Connally described turning around to look over his right shoulder after Kennedy was hit in the throat (frontal shot), and was hit by a separate bullet as he turned to face forward. Both he and his wife Nellie insisted to their dying days that Connally was hit by a separate bullet than CE 399. Conclusion: end of magic bullet theory!

For the "official" 50th anniversary observance in Dallas, no one espousing conspiracy theories was invited to the ceremony, despite the fact that the percentage of the population who believe Oswald did not act alone ranges from 70%-90%--depending on which poll and when it was taken--including people who were there!!! The only person who rode in the car (not counting the secret service agent who jumped on after the fatal "third" shot) still alive on the 40th anniversary was Mrs. Connally. She did maintain there were only three shots--according to what she witnessed. The secret service agent in the front seat insisted, would not let himself be bullied down by the Warren Commission, that when the president had four wounds, the governor three, and one of the "three" shots missed, there had to be more than two bullets, period! The only conclusion must be that Kennedy was hit by more than one round at the same time, so that only three shots were heard, total. Now, if at least two or three people who were in the bloody car stated this, you wonder if they would have been invited to the official observance! By the 50th anniversary, everyone who had started out in that car was gone, but the only other person wounded besides Kennedy and Connally was not invited, due in no small part to the allegations made in his book on the case. jtague.com... As it was, the conspiracy "nuts" had to have their own separate observance.

It was the Alex Jones video interview with James Tague where I heard of him being "banned" from the ceremony, but then I found the website about Tague's book jtague.com... and an article stating conspiracy theorists had their own gathering. I can't find that article in my history or by Googling, so I just posted the item about the book and didn't bother with the video interview or any of the print interviews. Tague is far from the first and won't be the last to blame Johnson. Here is one who must be taken seriously, and not simply dismissed: jfkfacts.org...

The first time I ever heard the "Johnson did it" story was at home, sometime between 1984 and 1997 (sorry, can't be more specific). My parents were discussing a review they'd read of a book blaming Johnson, describing how while everyone else was distracted out of their minds, old Lyndy sat and ate his chicken soup calm as you please. I thought, "Oh, pshaw!" and thought my mom would say the same, but she surprised me by saying, "Well, that makes sense. Johnson had the most to gain." I didn't automatically believe it but was impressed that she seriously considered it.

I remember Johnson's funeral well. I was home from school recovering from the mumps and my dad, obviously no Johnson fan, came home for lunch. He watched the casket being carried and said to my mom, "Now, wouldn't it be a fine thing if they dropped it." Then he turned around to the TV and yelled, "Come on, Lyndy, kick off the lid and yell at 'em!"

Yes, some of the stories are silly. Personally I kinda hope Johnson was guilty because some of my favorite people hated him and so do I.