YouTube video uploads / At left is a copy of the Zapruder film of the assassination of President Kennedy, on this, the 50th anniversary of that fateful day that shocked the nation and the world. At right is a video recap of the TV network bulletins for ABC, CBS and NBC.
DAYTONA BEACH -- For many Americans who were home the afternoon of Nov. 22, 1963, the CBS television soap opera "As the World Turns" was in its opening 10 minutes minutes, when their world stopped with the news bulletin announced by Walter Cronkite: "Here is a bulletin from CBS News. In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting."
Here are the results of our poll asking visitors if they believed Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination of President Kennedy. An overwhelming majority, 86 percent (877 voters vs. 139 or 14%), believe more than one gunman was involved. Poll participants were only allowed to vote once, first asked on Nov. 11. The poll closed at midnight of the anniversary and the results were subsequently added to this story. The poll will continue for several more days as the 24/7 internet newspaper chronicles the events that followed JFK's assassination.
Headline Surfer® Community blogger Michael Visconti of Edgewater, FL, writes about his conspiracy theory regarding who killed JFK in his blog, 'American Patriot.' It is headlined, Theory on anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination: LBJ had JFK killed because he wanted to be president. Here is the link: http://headlinesurfer.com/content/412936-theory-anniversary-john-f-kennedys-assassination-lbj-had-jfk-killed-because-he-wanted.
Cronkite came back shortly with the inevitable: "From Dallas, Texas, the flash - apparently official - President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central standard time, 2 p.m. Eastern standard time, some 38 minutes ago."
The video at left is CBS' Walter Cronkite confirming JFK's passing. At right is a video purporting to be the very first announcement that Kennedy had been shot and killed.
Walter Cronkite, the CBS news anchor came back shortly with the inevitable: "From Dallas, Texas, the flash - apparently official - President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central standard time, 2 p.m. Eastern standard time, some 38 minutes ago."
From there, the story has been told over and over. Lee Harvey Oswald was taken into custody from a nearby movie theater after Dallas police officer JP Tipit was shot and killed by the alleged presidential assassin.
Here is a summary of the events of JFK's assassination as best described by Wikipedia:
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC) on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was fatally shot by a sniper while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie, in a presidential motorcade.
A 10-month investigation, from November 1963 to September 1964, by the Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, and that Jack Ruby also acted alone when he killed Oswald before he could stand trial.
Although the Commission's conclusions were initially supported by a majority of the American public, polls conducted between 1966 and 2003, found that as many as 80 percent of Americans have suspected that there was a plot or cover-up. A 1998 CBS News poll showed that 76% of Americans believed the President had been killed as the result of a conspiracy.
A 2013 AP poll showed, that although the percentage had fallen, more than 59% of those polled still believed that more than one person was involved in the President's murder.
A Gallup Poll in mid-November 2013 showed 61% believed in a conspiracy and 30% thought Oswald did it alone. In contrast to the conclusions of the Warren Commission, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded in 1978, that Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.
The HSCA found the original FBI investigation and the Warren Commission Report to be seriously flawed. While agreeing with the Commission that Oswald fired all the shots which caused the wounds to Kennedy and Connally, the HSCA stated that there were at least four shots fired (only three of which could be linked to Oswald) and that there was "...a high probability that two gunmen fired at [the] President."
The HSCA did not identify any other person or group involved in the assassination besides Oswald, but they did specifically say the CIA, the Soviet Union, organized crime, and several other groups were not involved, although they could not rule out the involvement of individual members of those groups. Kennedy's assassination is still the subject of widespread debate and has spawned numerous conspiracy theories and alternative scenarios.