The assassination of President John F. Kennedy 50 years ago this month has captured the public’s attention for more than a generation. Remarkably, a majority of Americans still don’t believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone:
There are all kinds of conspiracy theories out there. Some suggest the mafia, the CIA, or perhaps even Lyndon Johnson himself was behind the assassination plot. The latter was described by one of his most famous and impartial biographers as an exceedingly ambitious man who desired the presidency above everything else. Could he alone have somehow orchestrated this infamous crime? Others, meanwhile, assert that perhaps the Soviet Union was involved -- a nation at war with the United States and a place Oswald himself had visited at least twice. None of these conspiracy theories, however, seem to withstand intense scrutiny. Slate’s Fred Kaplan explains why even the most plausible and convincing conspiracy theories out there are inconclusive at best.
Was Kennedy killed by a lone gunman or were there other actors involved? We’ll never know for sure. This is why the public will be obsessed with the Zapruder film, "magic" bullets, and Camelot for decades and decades to come.