Why the Simplest Answer to Kennedy's Murder Remains the Hardest to Accept

On a crisp November morning in 1963, a 24-year-old man left his wedding ring on a dresser and went to his job at a book depository in Dallas. He was a former Marine, a man who had lived abroad, and a person of profound contradictions. At precisely 12:30 p.m., as President John F. Kennedy's motorcade passed beneath his window, the sharp crack of a rifle echoed through the plaza. The President was struck. In the ensuing chaos, the young man calmly purchased a soda from a vending machine and walked out of the building.

That man was Lee Harvey Oswald, the individual history has charged with the assassination of one of America's most beloved presidents. The event sent a shockwave not just through the country, but across the globe, a trauma that was only deepened when the official investigation concluded that Oswald had acted entirely alone. For many, this conclusion was impossible to accept. How could a single, seemingly insignificant man fell a figure of such power and promise? This question opened the floodgates to dozens of conspiracy theories that continue to fascinate and divide people to this day.

The Charismatic President and the Inescapable Tragedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was more than a politician; he was a cultural icon. The youngest elected president in the nation's history, he possessed a smile and a charisma that seemed to captivate everyone he met. He and his rival, Richard Nixon, participated in the first-ever televised presidential debates, where Kennedy's confidence and quick wit left a lasting impression on the American public.

He was a product of a wealthy and influential family, a decorated war hero who had saved his comrades in the Pacific, and a man who ascended from Congress to the Senate before capturing the presidency. His time in office was defined by immense challenges, most notably the Cold War tensions that nearly ignited a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis. On the home front, Kennedy championed the civil rights movement and declared a war on poverty. He was preparing for his re-election campaign when he traveled to Texas in November 1963, a trip from which he would never return.

A Whirlwind of Doubt and Conspiracy

The official story felt too simple, too small for the magnitude of the loss. This gave rise to a powerful and enduring counter-narrative, one woven from suspicion and doubt. Theories emerged almost immediately, accusing a vast array of powerful interests: the CIA, the FBI, vengeful Cuban revolutionaries, or the Mafia, who were being aggressively prosecuted by Kennedy's brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Many questioned the physical evidence. Could a single bullet truly have wounded both the President and the Governor of Texas, following such an unlikely trajectory? Eyewitnesses reported hearing multiple shots—three, four, even six—casting doubt on the ability of one person to fire so accurately in such a short time. Some theories veered into the fantastical, suggesting the use of a special bullet, perhaps made of ice, designed to leave no trace. There is even a strange but persistent urban legend that the father of actor Woody Harrelson, a known contract killer, was involved. These theories all spring from the same emotional source: the need for an explanation as monumental as the crime itself.

The Portrait of an Assassin

So, who was Lee Harvey Oswald? The official version paints a portrait of a deeply troubled and isolated man. In his youth, he became enamored with Marxism and developed a sympathy for a prominent socialist nation. At 17, he joined the military, where he qualified as a marksman, possessing good, though not exceptional, shooting skills. He began studying the country's language, and shortly before turning 20, he defected.

The news of a former Marine renouncing his citizenship made headlines. He hoped to study at a prestigious university in the capital but was instead sent to work in a factory town. By local standards, his life was comfortable; he was given a nice apartment and a salary far exceeding that of an ordinary worker. Yet, Oswald grew profoundly disillusioned. His diary entries speak of "deadly boredom," complaining that there were no nightclubs, no bowling alleys, nothing to do but attend union dances. "I've had enough," he wrote.

Soon, he met and married a young student named Mary Ann Parker. He left the socialist country with his new family and returned to the United States, eventually settling in Dallas and finding work at the book depository. On November 22, 1963, he brought his rifle to work. After the assassination, he slipped away, went home to change his clothes, and was later stopped by a police officer, whom he shot and killed. He was finally arrested inside a movie theater. Two days later, while being transferred from the city jail, Oswald himself was murdered on live television by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner who claimed he wanted to avenge the president.

The Unsettling Truth of a Lone Act

Despite the enduring appeal of conspiracy, the official investigation was exhaustive. Ballistic analysis confirmed that the bullets that struck President Kennedy and Governor Connally were fired from Oswald's rifle, to the exclusion of all other weapons. Shell casings matching that rifle were found at the sixth-floor window. While Oswald was not an elite sniper, his documented military training was more than sufficient to make the three shots in the allotted time. Even popular scientific investigations have confirmed that a single bullet could have caused the wounds described.

Furthermore, a photograph taken just before the assassination shows Oswald holding the very rifle used to kill the president. Investigators scoured every inch of the area and found no evidence of other shooters. Months earlier, Oswald had used the same rifle in a failed attempt to assassinate a retired U.S. Army General, Edwin Walker, suggesting a pattern of seeking infamy through political violence.

There are no credible documents or sources that prove the involvement of the Mafia, foreign intelligence agencies, or the CIA. The intelligence services of the socialist nation he lived in did monitor Oswald, but they ultimately deemed him unstable and made no effort to recruit him. He was a man who acted on his own, a loner driven by a twisted desire to make his mark on history. This is perhaps the most unsettling truth of all: that history can be violently and irrevocably changed not by a grand conspiracy, but by the isolated act of a single, determined individual.

References

• Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1964.

  This is the official and exhaustive 888-page report, commonly known as the Warren Commission Report. It presents the foundational evidence and testimony that led to the conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. The sections covering the reconstruction of the shooting (Chapter III) and the biography of Oswald (Chapter VII, Appendix XIII) are directly relevant to the facts presented in the article, detailing the ballistics, timeline, and Oswald's background.

• Bugliosi, Vincent. Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. W. W. Norton & Company, 2007.

  This monumental work is arguably the most comprehensive defense of the Warren Commission's findings and a systematic refutation of nearly every major conspiracy theory. Bugliosi, a former prosecutor, meticulously analyzes the evidence. For the article's focus on the "single-bullet theory," Bugliosi provides an incredibly detailed analysis (particularly in Part Four, pages 465-508 of the single-volume edition), using forensic and photographic evidence to argue for its validity. He also offers a deep psychological profile of Oswald.

• Mailer, Norman. Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery. Random House, 1995.

  Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer provides a deep biographical and psychological exploration of Lee Harvey Oswald. Gaining access to former KGB files on Oswald's time in the socialist state, Mailer constructs a narrative of a complex and profoundly alienated man. The book supports the article's portrayal of Oswald's disillusionment with life abroad and his solitary nature, offering insight not into a conspiracy, but into the mind of the man who the evidence suggests was the lone assassin.