Stan Geiger

JFK Day

November 22, 1963 is a day that lives in the memory of any American alive on that day. I was alive on that day, though I was but a wee lad. I celebrated my 5th birthday in February of ’63.

Well, I say I celebrated my 5th birthday. Actually, it was my 6th birthday. One’s 1st birthday happens a year after birth. The first one, the real one, gets tossed out for some reason. Let’s say I celebrated my 5th year anniversary of life as a human early in ’63.

I was enrolled in half-day kindergarten. I did afternoon sessions. The assassination occurred shortly after noon. Classes were cancelled. Mom was a working girl, so I stayed with my Aunt Flo in the morning and she would haul me to the school in the afternoon. Since schools were emptied, the older kids came home early. I recall my Cousin Jerry, five years my senior, coming into the house shouting, “Wow, Kennedy got it right in the head!”

His comment brought a quick motherly admonishment from Aunt Flo.

John Kennedy, in my view, is the most overrated president in U.S. history. He became an icon; he became a legend, by virtue of the last few seconds of his administration he spent in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

Part of Kennedy’s high standing in modern-day American opinion stems from speculation about what might have been. Some say, for example, there would have been no Vietnam War if Kennedy had lived. I doubt that. I think Kennedy, post reelection, would have done the same thing Lyndon Johnson did. He would have escalated. And that, of course, would have put the historical blame for Vietnam on Kennedy, not Johnson.

But perhaps the biggest contributor to Kennedy’s legend comes from the assassination itself. Conspiracy theories have been plentiful since the day the shots were fired. You may chalk me up as a conspiracy theorist when it comes to JFK’s assassination. I don’t think Lee Harvey Oswald fired a single shot; I don’t think Oswald---knowingly at least---had anything to do with the assassination.

I do not base my view on any wild theories that have been promulgated over the years. I’ve heard it said, for example, that Lyndon Johnson had Kennedy bumped off so he could be president---along with some underlying stuff about Vietnam. I saw a documentary on the matter once. It noted a political fight. Lyndon was from Texas. He argued for a spot in the presidential limo as it rolled through the streets of Dallas. John Connelly was governor of Texas at the time. He wanted the spot. Kennedy chose Connelly. Connelly was shot. I doubt Lyndon would have been trying to get a seat in a presidential limo if he knew somebody was going to be shooting at it.

No, I base my view on documented facts.

The official version says Oswald was a “lone nut.” He smuggled his rifle into his workplace one day and shot the president as the limo passed by. Later, he shot a Dallas cop to death, sought refuge in a movie theatre and was captured.

On November 22, 1963, Oswald caught a ride to work with a co-worker. The co-worker said Oswald carried a package into work that day---one covered in brown paper wrapping. Oswald said that package was a bunch of curtain rods. The driver said Oswald cuffed the package. In other words, Oswald had one end of the package in his palm and the other was tucked under his armpit. The rifle found in the sniper’s nest, even if broken down, was too long for Oswald to have carried it in such a manner.

No doubt, shots were fired from the sniper’s nest found in the book depository. But the rifle found---Oswald’s rifle---was a piece of crap. A good shooter would have found it hard to hit a barn with that rifle. And Oswald---though he had done a brief stint in the Marines---was not rated as a good shooter.

Oswald had a high school education---no more. He went from high school to the Marines. Yet, somewhere in that timeline, he learned to speak Russian. After getting a less-than-honorable discharge from the Marines, he defected to the Soviet Union. He married a Russian girl---the daughter of a KGB man. Then he “undefected” and came back to the U.S. Interestingly, the Soviets balked at Oswald’s “undefection” while the U.S. seemed to have no problem with it.

Oswald wanted to be a spy. That desire left him vulnerable to the setup. He was sent to New Orleans so he could be filmed passing out pro-Castro literature in the streets. Then he was moved to Dallas just months before the assassination took place.

The shooting itself didn’t go perfectly as planned. As Kennedy’s limo slowed to take a turn, the shooter in the book depository had his best shot. He fired. There was a big elm tree in the way, back in the day. It had lost its leaves, but it was still there. The first shot missed. It likely hit a twig and was deflected. It’s amazing how little it takes to send a bullet in the wrong direction.

The first bullet fired hit a curb up the street from the limo. A fellow standing in the wrong place got his cheek bloodied by the concrete fragments that resulted from the bullet strike.

Film of the motorcade’s progression further documents the missed first strike. A little girl was running after the presidential limo. Suddenly, she stopped, turned around and stared at the book depository. Kennedy, at the same time, flinched. There was a noise.

So, from there you go to three shell casings being found in the book depository, and witnesses saying they heard three shots. If the first one missed, we are left with two. Kennedy was hit twice. Governor Connelly was hit once. That’s three shots.

In addition, while experts have proven Oswald’s rifle---in the right hands---was capable of squeezing off three shots in the allotted time and hitting the primary target twice, it was physically impossible for Kennedy to be hit and Connelly to be hit in the allotted time.

The Zapruder film shows the gruesome impact of the shooting itself. A sign got in the way of the first Kennedy wound. That one came in the throat or back.

Much attention is focused on the head wound. Kennedy couldn’t have been hit in the back of the head and not fallen forward, many claim. That’s TV talking. Bullets pass through humans; they don’t send humans flying. The head shot came from behind. Every expert worth a damn that has ever examined the Zapruder film and autopsy report says so.

The throat wound, that gets less attention, is a different matter. The official version says a tracheotomy was done in the emergency room which made it impossible to tell if the wound in Kennedy’s throat was an entry wound or an exit wound. I consider that silliness. The doctors that did the tracheotomy had a good look at the wound before the procedure took place. And, on top of that, there is the back wound. I’ve seen photos of the shirt and jacket Kennedy was wearing at the time of the shooting. In addition to being soaked in blood, they show a large tear. Not a small bullet hole, but a large tear. The first wound to Kennedy came from the front. He was shot in the throat. The bullet hit his spine, deflected, and exited his back.

The “magic bullet theory” attempts to explain. According to that theory, a bullet hit Kennedy in the back, diverted to his throat where it exited, then took a major turn, hit Connelly in the back, passed through his chest, shattering a rib, then hit his wrist, shattering bone there, and wound up in his thigh. The bullet then fell out of Connelly’s thigh so somebody could discover it laying on a gurney. And, boy, go figure. The bullet in question is nearly pristine, showing very little damage at all.

Connelly, to the day he died, said he wasn’t hit with a Kennedy bullet. He was there. He was shot. I’ll take his word.

On the day of the shooting, a Dallas cop, just seconds after, encountered Oswald having a Coke in a second-floor break room. The cop testified Oswald wasn’t sweating, winded or nervous. Oswald, allegedly, had just killed a president by firing shots from the sixth floor of a building, yet he was quietly chilling on the second floor of the building moments later. Could you pull that off?

After the encounter with the cop, and learning of what had just happened, Oswald split. It seems something clicked in his mind at that moment. They say he first hopped on a bus. When the bus got bogged down in traffic, he got off and walked for a while. Then he flagged down a cab. He took the cab to where? Well, to his residence---the last place a person that had just committed an infamous crime would want to go.

Oswald supposedly went to his residence so he could drop off his wedding ring and some cash, and pick up his .38 revolver. Here’s a guy that, according the story, planned on killing the president when he headed off for work in the morning. But, after the act, he had to return home to tie up loose ends and pick up his .38 caliber revolver. If a guy planned on shooting the president when he left home, why? Why the loose ends, and why would a guy willing to take the risk of smuggling a rifle into his workplace leave a pistol behind?

Oswald, reportedly, left his residence on foot. He was challenged by a Dallas cop named Tippit. Oswald then, according to eyewitness testimony, pulled his pistol and put three rounds into the cop before running. Three .38 shell casings were found at the scene. But they were .38 automatic shell casings, not revolver shell casings.

Eyewitness testimony has been proven to be quite unreliable in the years since. Revolvers don’t spit out spent casings. So, unless one is to believe a guy would shoot a cop then take the time to dump spent shells and stand over the corpse while he reloaded, it’s hard to believe any shell casings would be found at the scene. Beyond that, revolver shell casings are easily distinguished from automatic shell casings.

After allegedly shooting the cop, Oswald ran to a movie theatre and entered without paying. The employee at the ticket booth called the police. Cops entered the theatre and confronted Oswald. The story says Oswald pulled his pistol and pulled the trigger, stating, “It’s all over now.” The pistol didn’t fire. Some assassin he was; he couldn’t even properly load a revolver.

After getting arrested, Oswald was exposed to the media. That was a mistake---a mistake that has taught current authorities a lesson or two. When Reagan was shot, the Secret Service buried the potential assassin in a protective shield and whisked him away as soon as possible. No footage I’ve ever seen shows that guy in public view. Oswald, on the other hand, was paraded before the media.

The media parade, though, provided some useful stuff. Oswald---the alleged “lone nut” never fit the profile. In the film of the day, Oswald never appeared as a guy thumping his chest. He didn’t seem to want to assume the role of a guy that killed a president so he could become a big man. Nor did he seem to want to be called a martyr. He denied killing anyone. He asked for a lawyer. He looked liked a man that was scared shitless.

Oswald was, of course, shot dead on live TV. He was shot by a wannabe mobster named Jack Ruby (Rubinstein). Ruby said he wanted to prove a Jew could show some guts. He also said he did it so Jackie wouldn’t have to suffer through a trial. Shortly after making comments that there was more to the story than people knew, he died in prison. The official version says Ruby died of natural causes.

My greatest compassion relative to the Kennedy assassination has always gone to Jackie. Her face was about a foot from that of her husband’s when his head exploded. His dead body collapsed in her lap. How does one get rid of that image?

That aside, Ruby’s words ring limp. I mean a Jew is willing to sacrifice his life to prove a Jew can shoot an alleged assassin? The runner of a nudie bar in Dallas has such great compassion for the first lady that he is willing to put himself in prison for life to save her some grief? C’mon. Ruby silenced Oswald. It’s as simple as that.

Oswald was interrogated for a good 48 hours before he died. The official word says there are no records of what he said during those interrogations. In that might lay my greatest skepticism surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy.

Oswald was allegedly the criminal of the century. He allegedly killed a president. From an historical standpoint alone, what Oswald said should have been recorded. Oswald was a detainee before the Miranda decision. Anything Oswald might have said would have been admissible in a court of law. And, keep in mind, the slain president’s brother was attorney general at the time. Still, the official word is, there are no records of anything Oswald said in the course of his interrogations. There are no handwritten notes; there are no transcripts from stenographers; there are no audio tapes; there are no films.

Uh-huh.

So, why do I think President Kennedy was assassinated, and who is to blame? In a term, I’d say the mob.

I think the Kennedys knew they couldn’t win without Illinois. So ol’ Joe went to his mobster buddies in Chicago. I think he offered up a deal. Mobsters were hit hard by the loss of Havana when Castro’s revolution took place. You know, gambling, whores and drugs. Mobsters wanted Havana back. So Joe offered to get Havana back in a Kennedy administration if the mobsters would make sure a Kennedy White House came into being.

A Kennedy White House came into being---largely because of a mobster-engineered Illinois win

Almost immediately upon becoming president, JFK authorized a Bay of Pigs invasion. Things didn’t work out. The Kennedys told their mobster buddies they tried, and that was that. The Kennedy mobster buddies weren’t impressed. They wanted more. A war of words ensued. Bobby Kennedy, attorney general, under orders from the president, launched an attack on the mob.

Then came the October Missile Crisis of 1962. That was a golden opportunity for the Kennedy administration to open a door that might have ended the Castro reign. The Kennedys balked.

That was the last straw for the mobsters. They determined the Kennedys had to go. It was a vendetta. It was also a business move. If there are any politicians out there considering climbing into bed with the mob, maybe they should reconsider.

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