John F. Kennedy Revisited - Stuff They Don't Want You to Know

According to a 2003 poll, 70% of Americans don't believe the official account of the Kennedy assassination. Various researchers have accused everyone from China to Cuba of killing the president, but what actually happened? Why does one author believe there was an entirely different conspiracy at play? Tune in for a new look at the continuing debate over the death of President Kennedy.

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[birds chirping]

[music]

From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies,
(text about Illuminati's conspiracy & "It starts here!" sticker)

history is riddled with unexplained events.
[doorbell rings]

You can turn back now,
(Stuff they don't want you to know - howstuffworks.com)

or learn the stuff they don't want you to know.

Here are the facts.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated

in Dallas, Texas, on November 22nd, 1963.

In the ensuing chaos, Lyndon Johnson was sworn in,

Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested, and the nation mourned.

Congress formed the Warren Commission

to discern the facts of the case.
(The Warren Report)

Although they concluded that Oswald was a lone gunman,

polls indicate that a majority of Americans today

either question or reject these findings.

In the decades since, historians, researchers,

conspiracy buffs and skeptics alike

have tried to tackle this story.

This story remains one of the most enduring

and controversial moments in American history.

Given the unreasonably combative, emotional tone

so common among both theorists and skeptics,

it's often been difficult for people with differing views

to listen to each other's arguments.

One author believes that both sides may be correct,

that there was a conspiracy at play,

but not, perhaps, the one you'd expect.

Here's where it gets crazy.

Conspiracy theories about the JFK assassination

finger everyone from the CIA

to the Mafia, (Search: Santo Trafficante, Jr.)

and even members of Congress

have appeared to sign on. (Names of Congressmen)

But, according to author Seymour Morris, Jr.,

most of these theories miss the true conspiracy at hand. (Search: American History Revised, Seymour)

In his book, American History Revised,

Morris examines some lesser-known facts

about the assassination and the ensuing investigations.

First, Morris notes that the Warren Report
(Warren's letter to the President, submitting the commission's final report)

missed some important points:

being both unable to establish a political motive

or adequately explain how Oswald managed the job.

Public distrust of the Warren Report led

to a new Congressional investigation in the mid-70s,

when Congress formed the House of Representatives'

Select Committee on Assassinations, or HSCA. (House Select Committee on Assassinations)

Between the Warren Commission's work and the HSCA investigation,

four other governmental groups exhaustively investigated the incident.

But the HSCA found a new piece of evidence:

a police dictabelt recording.

On this recording, it sounded like 4 shots were fired, rather than 3.

While it's within the realm of plausibility that Oswald could fire 3 shots,

4 shots were taken to be proof of a second gunman.

Although virtually every witness claimed to have heard 3 shots during the murder,

the HSCA still changed the report,

claiming that there probably was some sort of conspiracy,

although they could not name any specific conspirators.

The story of this mysterious recording doesn't stop here.

In 1979, a percussionist named Steve Barber listened to it,
(Search: Steve Barber, JFK, Zepruder)

and recognized that there might be a cross-over of sounds.

In other words,

that what sounded like 4 shots was actually noise from two different sources.

By the time this information came to light,

the public had already decided that the 4 shots were legitimate.

So, if as Morris argues,

the conspiracy theories based on this recording are flawed

then what - if any - real conspiracy was at play?

Morris names one that you might not expect:

After the assassination, he claims, the CIA and FBI

participated in an intelligence cover-up at the highest levels,

refusing to inform the Warren Commission

about the Kennedy brothers' secret operations

to remove Castro

Years later, the Select Committee on Intelligence

revealed these plots and concluded that the

CIA and FBI had lied by omission to another arm of the government

and that it was the Kennedy's obsession with Castro

that accidentally motivated Oswald (Bay of Pigs)

but is that the whole story?

Skeptics claim the majority of JFK conspiracy theories

are based on misunderstanding

but theorists claim that facts are being buried

One thing's for sure

according to Morris and Congress

there really was stuff the CIA and FBI

didn't want you to know about JFK

JFK: Let the words go forth

from this time and place

to friend and foe alike

that the torch has been passed

to a new generation of Americans

born in this century

tempered by war

disciplined by a hard and bitter peace

proud of our ancient heritage

and unwilling to witness

or commit

the small undoing

of those human rights

to which this nation has always been committed

and to which we are committed today

at home

and around the world