Modern History Essay: The Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone killed President Kennedy. Do you agree?

Essay by skyllinkaHigh School, 11th grade July 2004

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On November 29 1963, one of the greatest pieces of written irony was created. The Warren Commission, which within its introductory pages claimed it was written "in recognition of the right of people everywhere to full and truthful knowledge" concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy, was fabricated to convince the American public that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, assassinated Kennedy by firing three shots from the Texas School Book Depository. This lone assassin theory was simply false. Oswald did not act alone in killing the President, but rather, there was at least another person, if not an organisation, that also took a part in the killing. In saying so, the Warren Commission's lone-assassin theory was a cover up.

The first piece of critical evidence against the theory that Oswald was a lone-assassin, is that not all shots fired came from the Texas School Book Depository. There is solid evidence from witnesses, film, and medical records that at least one shot was fired at Kennedy from the Grassy Knoll.

There are countless witness accounts of hearing a shot coming from the knoll. Gordan Arnold, who was a young soldier on leave standing on the slope of the grassy knoll, declared "The shot came from behind me, only inches over my left shoulder. I had just got out of basic training. In my mind, live ammunition was being fired. It was being fired over my head and I hit the dirt." Furthermore, right after the shots were fired, several witnesses reported smelling gunpowder on or near the grassy knoll. Policeman Joe Smith, who had run to the grassy knoll and to the car park directly behind it, reported shortly after the assassination that "around the hedges, there was the smell, the lingering smell of gunpowder". It is impossible that he, or...