Ah, Tucker you should be better than this:
Today we spoke to someone who had access to the still-hidden JFK files, and is deeply familiar with their contents. We asked this person directly: did the CIA have a hand in the murder of John F. Kennedy?
Here’s the reply: "The answer is yes. I believe they were involved." pic.twitter.com/3EURZcsaR2
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 16, 2022
Same old nonsense. There are undisclosed documents! (Oh yes, including the one that doubtless is entitled: We, the CIA, Killed Kennedy, and Here Is How We Did It. The idea that the CIA would leave a documentary trail if they killed a President is charming in its complete detachment from reality. Any documents produced in such a criminal enterprise would have been destroyed long ago.)
I love Tucker’s total reliance on an unnamed source he uses as a sock puppet to say the CIA killed Kennedy. With that type of “evidence” who needs facts?
Back to this frame of reality:
A trifle over 62 years separated the assassination of William McKinley and that of John F. Kennedy. The American people had grown perhaps complacent in the thought that presidential assassinations were a thing of the past, although Giuseppe Zangara could easily have assassinated President-Elect Roosevelt instead of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in 1933, and Puerto Rican terrorists came perilously close to assassinating Harry Truman in 1950. Nevertheless, the assassination of John F. Kennedy hit America hard.
Back in 1963 I was in first grade, but I was not in school. Sick with pneumonia, my mother had taken me to the doctor and he had prescribed penicillin. After getting my prescription filled my mother took me home. She turned on our television set and I planted myself on the couch to watch it. As we watched television we saw the initial news flashes that President Kennedy had been shot. This was on a Friday, and the remainder of that day and the weekend, my mother, father and I and my brother practically lived in front of the television set, riveted by the around the clock coverage, something unprecedented in this country before that dreadful day.
Conspiracy theories have flourished almost before Kennedy’s corpse was cold, a great many people unwilling to accept that a frustrated loser like Lee Harvey Oswald could have been the assassin of Kennedy.
Born in 1939, Oswald had a troubled childhood. A psychiatric assessment he received as a juvenile could be a summation of his life: Oswald, the assessment concluded, had a “vivid fantasy life, turning around the topics of omnipotence and power, through which [Oswald] tries to compensate for his present shortcomings and frustrations.” As a teenager he began to read about socialism and quickly became a convert to that doctrine.
Joining the Marine Corps at 17, he qualified as a marksman. His fellow Marines referred to him as Ozzie Rabbit and Oswaldskovich because of his Communist leanings. He was court-martialed after accidentally shooting himself in the elbow. He left the Marines on a hardship discharge in 1959, claiming that his mother needed his support. Traveling to the Soviet Union he lived there until June 1, 1962 when he left for the United States with his Soviet wife and their daughter.
He and his family settled in Dallas where his mother and brother lived. In March 1963 he purchased a 6.5 mm caliber Carcano rifle. On April 10, 1963 he attempted to assassinate retired U.S. Major General Edwin Walker at Walker’s home. Walker was a figure on the far right in Dallas. The attack failed and Oswald escaped without being discovered. Traveling to New Orleans in May 1963 he found work and attempted to set up a Fair Play for Cuba, a pro-Castro organization, chapter in New Orleans.
In September 1963 Oswald traveled to Mexico City and spent five fruitless days at the Soviet and Cuban embassies, attempting to get permission to travel to Cuba and the Soviet Union. The Cubans regarded Oswald as a nut and rejected his application to travel to Cuba.
On October 3, 1963 he was back in Dallas and on October 16 was hired by the Book Depository.
On November 22, 1963 at 12:30 PM, Oswald fired three shots from the sixth floor of the Book Depository, killing Kennedy who was passing by in an open motorcade and severely wounding Governor John Connally. During his attempt to elude capture, Oswald shot to death Patrolman J. D. Tippit with a revolver. Oswald was captured at the Texas Theater shortly before 2:00 PM. During two days of interrogation, Oswald sort of denied that he killed either Kennedy or Tippit, but he chose his words very carefully:
On November 24, 1963 at 11:21 AM, as he was in transit from the Dallas Police headquarters to the county jail, Oswald was shot to death by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.
With that, the conspiracy theories were off and running, with some 42 separate groups being blamed for the Kennedy assassination. I have seen nothing to convince me that Oswald was not the assassin and that he acted completely alone.
What was the impact of the Kennedy assassination on American history? Probably minimal. The economy was in good shape so Kennedy was doubtless going to be re-elected in 1964, especially with newsmen not covering his constant womanizing and his addiction to painkillers from a back injury he sustained during World War II. Contrary to the imaginings of some liberal commentators, Kennedy was a cold warrior to his core, and the idea that he would have avoided the Vietnam War is fanciful.
Assuming that Kennedy had slaughtered Goldwater, a fairly safe assumption, he would probably have embarked on something like the Great Society in 1965, many components of which were actually stalled New Frontier initiatives, made possible in 1965 by the sweeping Democrat gains in Congress from the 1964 elections.
It is interesting to contemplate how Kennedy would have confronted liberal criticism of the Vietnam War. It is possible that he would have fought resolutely against it, and based upon his views up to his death that is a logical conclusion. However, I suspect that he would have been just as much a political chameleon as his brothers Bobby and Teddy, and he would quickly have moved left as the Democrat party moved left.
However this is all speculation. Due to the inner demons that drove Lee Harvey Oswald, the tale of John F. Kennedy ended abruptly at age 46, all his possible tomorrows being rendered matters of fiction only, and outside the realm of history.
“What if JFK lived” seems to be a popular trope among alternate history bluffs – just behind “What if the Axis won WWII” and “What if the South won the Civil War”. But I recently discovered an fascinating timeline on the Alternate History Forum website called “Blue Skies in Camelot” that goes into great (and mostly plausible) detail with the ripple effects of JFK surviving and being elected to a 2d term. It also has ripple effects on the race to succeed him in 1968, on popular culture, on world history, and on the general direction of both parties. The author is still adding to the timeline and it’s now reached the late 1970s. It would actually make a respectable novel or miniseries as it’s written.
Agree. Too bad that Tucker is going down this road. Everything points to Oswald as the lone gunman, including his behavior in fleeing the scene, and shooting officer Tippit. His attack on Gen. Walker, helps prove that he was a lone nutter. IMO, anyone with basic knowledge of the facts should know that the Kennedy shooting has all the markings of a spontaneous act.
And, there is little to suggest that JFK would have acted differently in Vietnam. With JFK’s approval, we helped engineer the coup that lead to the murder of President Diem. Essentially the affairs of South Vietnam became pretty much our sole responsibility from that time forward. JFK knew that better than anyone. I can’t imagine him disengaging after that.
I admire Tucker his independence and am pleased he is there. He’s not error free. None of us are.
One wretched loss to good sense in public discourse and academic life has been the recent death of John McAdams, for many years a professor of history at Marquette. He’s been a source of good sense on this matter and built public compendia of information on the event.
I don’t really have a dog in this fight, but the one salient fact that Tucker has is that Congress unanimously mandated a complete release of all records related to the assassination no later than 2017–unless specifically delayed by the president, because of an identifiable harm to national security that outweighs the public interest.
Trump and Biden have both done this, which raises the immediate questions of “Which records?” and “What harm?”
I doubt if anyone believes Trump would be carrying water for the Deep State. I assume the papers held back would still have relevance as to methods of espionage that could still be relevant. The sources would almost certainly all be dead now.
The term “CIA was involved” can mean almost anything. Oswald’s move to Russia almost certainly triggered the opening of a file in him at the CIA. After all, this was the height of the cold war. What happened after that could be anything from observation to contact. No hard evidence has been put forth that would confirm the latter.
The sources would almost certainly all be dead now.
Marina Porter (formerly Mrs. Oswald) is still alive. Evidently, their landlady of the time is as well (at age 90). Cyril Wecht, the conspiracy peddler with the most informed opinions, is also still alive, as is Josiah Thompson, the most judicious and circumspect author of conspiracy literature.
You can’t prove a negative, of course, but it is rational to say (1) nothing in the steps Oswald took to kill JFK required assistance and (2) no evidence of assistance exists. But if JFK is Arthur in this liberal Camelot fantasy, why, his killer must be Mordred, just as Moby Dick can’t be a big whale that got lucky with a leg, but a demon of the deep.
On the other hand: the CIA has participated in so such c**p, it’s understandable that they raise suspicions. If Billy always snagging cookies, whose hands does Mom check for chocolate first?
Unlike today’s high profile, political assassinations JFK did not kill himself.
Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill himself.
Case closed.
On the other hand: the CIA has participated in so such c**p, it’s understandable that they raise suspicions.
If the operation succeeded, it likely wasn’t the CIA.
“Case Closed” was pretty definitive.
Unfortunately, even godawful losers can make history.
In fact, it’s remarkable how well Oswald fits the template of Leon Czolgosz, Sirhan Sirhan and their predecessor successful assassins of the 19th Century.
If you think Oswald killed Kennedy alone, I have some waterfront property in Arizona I want to sell you.
[…] Tucker Goes Down the Kennedy Assassination Rabbit Hole – The American Catholic Catholic True Crime: When Priests Were Hunted in Ireland – […]
If you think someone other than Oswald killed Kennedy, in defiance of all the evidence, you may have a profitable career in the Kennedy conspiracy theory industry!
In fact, it’s remarkable how well Oswald fits the template of Leon Czolgosz, Sirhan Sirhan and their predecessor successful assassins of the 19th Century.
Oswald was an All-American assassin in that he was a loner and a loser who decided that an act of violence would give his useless life meaning. He fits a well established pattern for American assassins.
If you think Oswald killed Kennedy alone, I have some waterfront property in Arizona I want to sell you.
He had a rifle (purchased via mail order that summer), he had a handgun (not difficult to purchase, either), he worked at the book depository, and the Dallas papers published the motorcade route. Just whose assistance did he need?
If I had been alive at the time, my ONLY fear would have been that this was an attempt to throw American leadership into chaos during a First Strike. It was not. What we are left with is trivia.
Really powerful groups, be they the Soviets or the Mafia, were almost certainly too smart to assassinate a US president. There is a LOT of risk and almost no reward. They would have learned from the mistake of John Wilkes Booth. If anything, the assassination would lead to an instant secular canonization, as actually happened with Kennedy and would later happen with Ariel Sharon. No, a smart enemy uses bribery, flattery, or blackmail instead of assassination.
“No, a smart enemy uses bribery, flattery, or blackmail instead of assassination.”
Completely agree.
and would later happen with Ariel Sharon
Sharon had a stroke. He wasn’t assassinated
Sorry. As my dad would say, “I’ve slept since then.” I obviously meant Yitzhak Rabin.
It really bothered me how Israeli politicians treated him like a prophet as soon as he was dead. It’s one thing to be honestly convinced by his arguments, but if you’re not — if you think he was dangerously naive and put his nation at risk — you should not change your opinion just because he finds his way in front of a bullet. Patriotism is love of country, not the servile adulation of elected officials.
When Kennedy was assassinated, I was minus two years, three months, and five days old. So I, needless to say, have no memory of the actual event.
Novelist Tom Clancy was asked who he thought assassinated JFK, he said he believed it was Oswald and Oswald alone. He went on to say that people want to believe assassinations are these sophisticated plots when in fact the history of assassinations say otherwise. It’s just an angry yeahoo being in the right place at the right time.
As for Tucker, this is the same Tucker Carlson who parrots the “Bush lied about WMDs to get us into war with Iraq” tripe. So, his spending a little too much quality time on the grassy knoll doesn’t surprise me.
I can’t be the only one thinking Tucker is trying to throw us off the trail of his involvement in JFK’s assassination.
Comment of the week Pinky! Take ‘er away Sam!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXeIxtI–uc&t=23s
It really bothered me how Israeli politicians treated him like a prophet as soon as he was dead.
You need to set better priorities.
OK, Art, the thing that really bothered me is that they cut away from the Notre Dame football game to tell us that Rabin was still dead. No new info was going to be released that night, because the Israeli police are not idiots. I was in Denmark at the time, so this was the only American college football game I would get to see that season.
The assumption that anyone able to die of a gunshot wound must be a brilliant statement struck me as remarkably stupid, but that was their problem, not mine. It was really just a mild annoyance, not even important enough to remember his name.
Feel better now? Not that my reaction to it one way or another is has anything to do with the point about assassination victims receiving secular canonization.
“I love Tucker’s total reliance on an unnamed source he uses as a sock puppet to say the CIA killed Kennedy.” If only! Kukla, Tucker, and Ollie might be worth a look.
OK, Art, the thing that really bothered me
You’re in a hole. Stop digging.
Not interested in your advice, Art. Never have been, never will be. Maybe someone else on this blog is; who can say?
“I can’t be the only one thinking Tucker is trying to throw us off the trail of his involvement in JFK’s assassination.“
Which would really be something given the fact Tucker wasn’t born until 1969.
Which would really be something given the fact Tucker wasn’t born until 1969.
… as far as we know 😉
curiouser and curiouser …
Excellent article. Tucker sbows the enduring fascination of conspiracy looniness.
Conspiracies are quite common. The trouble with Kennedy Assassination conspiracy discourse is that its promoters have an allergy to inductive reasoning. The two who do not are Wecht and Thompson, who are close to empty-handed after nearly 60 years of intermittent research on the question.
[…] Donald R. McClarey at The American Catholic prefers the official narrative — Tucker Goes Down the Kennedy Assassination Rabbit Hole. […]
Anyone who believes Oswald killed Kennedy is living in an alternate universe. JMHO
That alternate universe is the frame of reality the rest of us inhabit. There is not a shred of evidence, evidence as opposed to baseless speculation, that anyone but Oswald murdered Kennedy.
Anyone who believes Oswald killed Kennedy is living in an alternate universe. JMHO
A. Dr. Wecht attests that the three shots fired came from the rear of the limousine, but maintains the Warren Commission is mistaken in its assessment of the trajectories. Others disagree.
B. Among the buildings in Dealy Plaza in which a sniper may have hidden and fired at the limousine (from the rear) was the Texas School Book Depository. (An eyewitness is later located and attests to having seen the sniper firing from that locus).
C. Police search the depository and find a sniper’s nest and a discarded Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.
D. A foreman at the depository conducts a roll call of his staff. One member of his staff is absent – one Lee Oswald. As it happens, one of the men in Oswald’s car pool that morning noticed he had an odd package with him on his way to work. Oswald had told the fellow that they were curtain rods.
E. Police arrive at the home of one Ruth Paine. Mrs. Paine has a houseguest / tenant, one Marina Oswald, a recent immigrant from Russia with two children and an estranged husband no longer resident there (the same Lee). They ask Mrs. Oswald about firearms owned by her husband and she says he keeps his rifle in the garage here. They go out to the garage and the rifle is not there. It was later verified that LHO had purchased a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle via mail order that summer, using an alias.
F. Oswald, having booked from the Book Depository is spotted walking along a street in Dallas by one J.D. Tippitt, a Dallas police officer. Ofc. Tippitt calls him over to the squad car and asks him a few questions, to which Oswald’s response is to pull out a pistol and shoot Ofc. Tippitt to death. There are 12 witnesses nearby who see him do this. He flees the scene, then hides out in a retail shop for a few minutes, then enters the Texas Theatre to hide out. He’s spotted by witnesses who alert police, who arrest him there.
Just the unluckiest man alive, I guess.
G. Oswald is taken to the station and given a paraffin test, which demonstrates he’s fired a weapon that day.
H. The bullets and bullet fragments found with Gov. Connolly, the President, and embedded in the limousine are consistent with that used in a Mannilcher-Carcano rifle. The rifle found in the sniper’s nest and the rifle missing from Ruth Paine’s garage are later determined to be one and the same.
Vincent Bugliosi tallied up fifty discrete pieces of evidence which point to Oswald as the assailant. Evidently that’s not enough for conspiracy hounds (who cannot come up with five pieces of evidence pointing to anyone else).
Take this as a grain of salt as it is second hand hearsay (maybe some here may say heresy instead?) given to me. But I would be pretty close to a source as opposed to so many proclaimed “experts”. I would be 3rd hand to this comment section I guess. Due to the nature of my work, about 4 years ago I came to meet a 100 year old female who’s mind was sharp as can be and who could be described as nothing less than a “spitfire”. It was her body that was failing her, not her mind. In the multiple appointment times we spent together some general conversation ensued. Per her very clear statements, her first husband was a ballistics expert who examined JFK’s body after his death. He told his wife that his comprehensive written report did not match the narrative that was reported. She did not go into details but did say her husband did not believe the narrative. I don’t recall if that included a “lone gunman” narrative so I cannot say more on that. Maybe I should have written her statement down, but I was working and busy. I just want to point out that all is not as cut and dry as everything has been made out to be in this historical event (and many other historical events). Prior to her telling me her story I thought it crazy at some of the “conspiracy theories” running about. Since knowing that lady, I keep an open mind.
The truth is out there.
They lie about everything.
It’s really not fair to whatever you want to call them: the oligarchy, the deep state, the aristocracy, the Matrix. They can’t prove that they did not covertly participate in killing JFK.
And they lie about everything.
It don’t mean nothing. Whatever they did or did not do in 1963 is warmed over vomit compared to what they are doing to us now.
Per her very clear statements, her first husband was a ballistics expert who examined JFK’s body after his death.
Why was a ‘ballistics expert’ examining the body and not the gun, bullets, and bullet fragments?