Here’s the Foreword for my upcoming book, The JFK Assassination For Dummies.
At 12:30 pm on Friday, November 22, 1963, United States President John F. Kennedy was cold-bloodedly shot in the back by a lone nut with a cheap rifle from a tall building.
This straight-forward crime was solved in a few hours. Yet, five decades later, the facts of JFK’s homicide are doubted by over sixty percent of the American public. There’s no doubt that strands of fate caused Lee Harvey Oswald to squeeze the trigger, however misinformation about what really went down in Dealey Plaza still darkens President Kennedy’s legacy.
I was seven when JFK was shot. I was in a one-room school in Manitoba, Canada, and ‘Teacher’ was late returning from lunch. I remember how upset ‘Teacher’ was, telling us that President Kennedy had been assassinated. I didn’t know who JFK was, but figured he must be important as ‘Teacher’ was crying and dismissed us early. When I got home, people were gathering as we were one of few families with a television set. I’ll never forget how distraught the adults were.
Conspiracy Theories were starting by 2 pm. Who was behind it? The Russians? Castro? The CIA? Mafia? A military coup? Maybe even Johnson. Someone said that a Communist had been caught and I was terrified. I was sure the bomb would drop – after all, I’d practised Communist bomb drills under my elementary school desk. Then, on Sunday, I watched Ruby shoot Oswald – live on TV.
In 1973, I did a report on a conspiracy theory book called Rush To Judgement which was a harsh critique of the Warren Report. This ‘Teacher’ challenged me to look deeper as apparently the Warren Report came to a different conclusion. From then, I read everything I could on the JFK case and was fascinated by it. Problem was – all that was available was CT (Conspiracy Theorist), not LN (Lone Nut) stuff. Nowhere could you get this Warren Report, so I jumped on the CT wagon and became a life-long student of the assassination.
In 1978, I joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police – the RCMP or Mounties. Because I was a curious risk-taker, I worked my way into Emergency Response or SWAT operations and the homicide squad. Also in 1978, the US House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) re-investigated the JFK case and officially concluded that there was a high probability of conspiracy. That re-enforced my CT suspicions, but I was way too busy solving current murders and shooting guns to follow up on JFK. In the back of my mind, though, I kept wondering how such an important investigation like JFK could be so screwed-up and whether the LN finding just might be true.
By 1991, I’d become a recognized firearms expert and had the good fortune to work with an American colleague who’d personally handled JFK exhibits during the HSCA investigation. He gave me a ‘JFK Ballistics 101’ which opened my eyes on the science of the Single Bullet Theory. My CT suspicions changed.
In 2000, I got the Internet and downloaded the Warren Report. After reading the narrative and a good chunk of the Appendices, including witness testimonies, my response was Holy Fuck! They investigated the shit out of this thing! Okay. There’s way more to this than CT bullshit.
About the same time I left the police murder & gun business to become an investigative coroner. That’s an entirely different realm of science and the combination of disciplines solidified my ability to understand and impartially interpret evidence. In other words… cut through bullshit and determine what’s fact and what’s not.
So… aside from building my accreditations in firearms, homicides, forensics, and autopsies… I devoted the next decade and a half of free time to understanding the truth about what went down in Dealey. What I’ve found is that the facts are simple, but the root cause and scientific evidence is complex.
And fascinating!
I’ve come full circle in JFK culture – from LN to CT to LN. I’ve now evolved into ‘Teacher’ as I’ve the ability to instruct other students of the JFK Assassination on what truly happened and where to find credible information to understand the facts. Somehow I don’t think the JFK case is ever going to be closed and I don’t want future students to put in the time, and get sucked-in, like I have.
I agree with how absurd conspiracy theorists can get. But what is more astonishing to me is how people fail to question what is not clearly explained? That is where conspiracy theorists build their homes and reside permanently. When there are so many questions unanswered by the ones responsible, it is bound to instill doubt in the minds of the public. Conspiracy theorists create their own theories based on what they don’t know, just as how the lazy-minded average public accept the hole ridden theories presented to them, based on what they don’t know too, on a platter. One group wears tin-foiled hats, while the others are mimicking ostriches. All it takes to question is to discover motive. But then again, that poses the end to the dream they leave. The American dream, becomes just that, a dream.
Dear Sir, I do not lack common sense. The problem lies in the fact that you are nothing but a former government puppet to keep the lid on the truth of the psychopaths that rule over us. I wish people like you would spend your time hunting down the pedophiles in Washington DC and hang them along with the bankers. But, you are not capable because you have no backbone along with being weak-kneed and limp-wristed. HAVE A NICE DAY!!!!
And you, sir, are a certifiable crackpot. Enjoy the comfort of your tinfoil hat 🙂
I’m glad I checked to see if the ‘for Dummies’ rubric had been used for the Kennedy Assassination – had been thinking of using it for years – for a book of more of what you call ‘bullshit’. If I do something, it will probably end up ‘JFK for the Brain Dead’ – or something – to distinguish it. As I asked Gerald Posner of Case Closed for his background and he was gracious enough to reply, I also inquire as to your religious and/or philosophical background? Respecting your credential in law enforcement and forensics, submit that there is a much bigger picture here than you seem to have taken in. Like you, I was in my classroom when the news came over the loudspeaker, then following events as they transpired, and, even as an 11-year-old was struck by the absurdity and audacity of Ruby’s ‘motive’ for killing Oswald. Sure enough, Gail Raven, Ruby’s girlfriend, clears it up – 40+/- years later. The mountain of authentic-looking yet misleading literature (3,000+ books?!?) still being produced to lead people in so many different directions is no accident, and constitutes another artifact in a much bigger crime by itself. Oswald certainly was a critical player in the drama, and did his job well enough, until he realized he’d been set up – he did not call himself a ‘patsy’ for nothing. Comedian Mort Sahl – have you heard of him? – used the Warren Report as comedy material for years., e.g. “Here’s Oswald being escorted by 24 members of the Dallas Police Department – 25 if you count Jack Ruby.” Thank you for your consideration. Eric
Hi Eric. Normally I don’t respond to conspiracy theorists as I take pride in presenting DyingWords as a credible and professional presence. However, if Gerald Posner was gracious enough to reply to you, then I’ll do the same. I’m not sure what my religious or philosophical background has to do with understanding the Kennedy Assassination but if you must know, I’m not associated with any religious organization. Philosophically, I’m a no-bullshit type who has little time for ignoramuses.
The question regarding your background was intended to determine if you were or ever had been Catholic, possibly as in ‘raised as.’ Posner is, and since the CIA is the Vatican’s Gestapo – Gestapo is what Harry Truman feared it would become when he resisted signing its authorization in 1947 – in the United States. So,your having some connection to Catholicism is not an unreasonable suspicion. I will have to find another catchy way to title my blog, since the ‘Dummies’ stem is already copyrighted, and quite appropriately so since only the most hopeless ‘dummy’ would ever persist in deluding himself with such a myth as Lone-Nut-Oswald-and-his-Magic-Bullet. And top this off with Jack Ruby’s caring-for-Jackie’s-having-to-suffer-through-an-Oswald-trial, straight out of Joe Goebbels’ ‘Big Lie’ playbook. Congratulations on the publication of your *ahem* piece of work, but sorry, the ‘Dummies’ idea was already used 50 years ago: it was called the ‘Warren Commission Report.’
This, folks, is the mentality of a Conspiracy Theorist.
Here’s more: Julius Caesar, Jesus Christ and JFK at usaishistory.com You would also enjoy JFK From a 5th-Grader. Thanks for giving the true Dummies their own “safe space” in which to cower.
Eric V. Gonnason is a Conspiracy Theory nutjob who won’t let up sending me his rediculous bullshit. Here’s his email address – ericvgonnason@gmail.com – and his website – http://usaishistory.com/ – He’s a prime example of how unstable and stupid some people are.
Yay! It’s officially a ‘Dummies’ book. Congratulations, Garry. Sounds great!
Thanks, Sue 🙂 I’ve still got some work to do before this thing is out.