JFK: The Death of a Conspiracy Essay -- History

JFK: The Death of a Conspiracy There is a plethora of conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. They range from the incumbent of the former Soviet Union to organized crime. Pro-conspiracy groups are in agreement with one theory; the United States government covered up the truth of the assassination. The premise of a government conspiracy to cover up of the assassination is laden with insufficient evidence and unproved theories. The truth of the matter is President Kennedy was assassinated by the lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. On November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m., President Kennedy was shot as his motorcade drove through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. He was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital and arrived at 12:35 p.m.. The awaiting medical team rushed the President into one of the trauma rooms. According to Artwohl, â€Å"the doctors were not aware of the massive head damage because the huge flap of frontal scalp that was loosened from the head was held in place by the clotting of the blood on the scalp. This concealed the degree of the wound. They were desperate to save the life of the President and examined him quickly without taking the time...to wash off the blood and debris† (1542). The doctors removed the President’s clothing to check the body for other wounds. While Dr. Perry began the tracheostomy, Dr. Jenkins recalled, that Mrs. Kennedy was circling the room with something â€Å"cupped† in her hands. As Mrs. Kennedy passed by, she nudged Jenkins with her elbow and handed him â€Å"a large chunk o!f her husband's brain.† Dr. Jenkins took the brain matter and handed it to a nurse (Breo 2806). The Parkland Hospital staff worked for twenty-five minutes on the President to no avail. Dr. Clark, who arrived in the trauma room at 12:50 p.m., pronounced the President dead at 1:00 p.m. (2804,6). The President’s body was then wrapped in sheets, placed in a casket, loaded onto a waiting hearse, and transported to the airport. The body was then placed on board Air Force One, the presidential plane, where Mrs. Kennedy and the newly sworn in President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, departed for Washington D.C. While the body of the President was on its way to Washington, Bethesda Naval Hospital made preparations to receive it. The three doctors chosen to do the autopsy were Commander James Humes, M.D., director of labs at the Naval ... ... condition. â€Å"...it was flattened towards its base† (1552). It is not unusual for this type of bullet to incur little or no damage when entering a body. One reason is, this high velocity, heavy-metal-jacket bullet loses very little velocity and does not, usually, tumble or deform when passing through a body (Artwohl 1542). Conspiracy theorists believe that the burning of Dr. Humes autopsy notes constitutes a cover-up by the government. This is not true. The reason he burned the notes was two-fold. One reason was he had stained the notes with the blood of the President, and two, the notes were to be submitted as part of the autopsy report. To have had blood on the notes, would have not been acceptable. Dr. Humes makes the point that he burned his notes only after he transcribed them â€Å"verbatim† to another autopsy form (Breo 2799). Many conspiracy theorists are unanimous in believing that the assassination was a cover-up concocted by the military, the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.), the F.B.I., the Secret Service, and other government agencies to disguise medical evidence that the President was â€Å"publicly executed† in Dealey Plaza by more than one gunman (Artwohl 1540).