A documentary being released by Natgeo may once and for all close the book on the biggest mystery of the 21st century. When JFK was shot on November 22, 1963 it shocked the nation still embroiled in a bitter Vietnam War and a nation lost one of its most beloved presidents. But after the Warren Commission conducted their investigation many were dissatisfied with their conclusions, suggesting it relied on a near magical explanation for what happened. And now one group has focused in on the tragedy and suggested that we may be looking at the final piece of evidence to prove what really happened once and for all. But will any investigation answer all of the questions we have for this terrible event?
Historian Max Holland has thoroughly investigated the tragedy, but rather than focusing on theories, wants only the hard facts. Suggesting one of the many problems with the official investigation was the focus on the Zapruder Film, Holland has instead decided that the true question isn’t a matter of unreliable testimony, but creating a computer simulation of the event that could change everything we know of the Kennedy Assassination. Running simulations reconstructed from various tapes of different landmarks and locations, Holland discovered film that clearly shows someone standing in the book depository in the shadows on that fateful day. Someone that may actually be the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.
But will his documentary prove to supplant the official story and all of the theories surrounding the event? While we cannot know for sure just yet, it seems we may be able to tell eventually if this case. But this is essentially the trademark conspiracy theory with dozens of movies, and even more television programs and books made about the subject – not to mention being one of the moments that quickly came to shape the world of a generation. And with the official explanation by the Warren Commission so notorious for its shortcomings, quickly Oswald’s identity as a mere cog in a far larger sinister machine became a staple of the narrative.
Of course it should be noted that just before his assassination on he survived another attempt on his life just a month before he was inaugurated president. The terrifying closeness of the attempt by a deranged man was thwarted only by the fact that Kennedy’s wife and daughter appeared just before he went to mass on the day the plot was to go through. Kennedy, it seems, was in danger from the very beginning from one source or another. The Cold War was on, the Cuban Missile Crisis was brewing, and Kennedy survived all but a final mysterious shot from the gun of who many say is Lee Harvey Oswald.
Of course it seems likely the JFK assassination plot’s mythos is so incredibly large and multifaceted that some have proposed that no matter how overwhelming the evidence may be there will always be those with their own theory on just what happened that day.