Fred Litwin - I Was A Teenage JFK Conspiracy Freak

Fred in Dealey Plaza standing next to the pedestal where Abraham Zapruder shot his famous film.

I Was a Teenage JFK Conspiracy Freak is Fred Litwins second book. (You can find updates and pictures at conspiracyfreak.com.) In 2015, he published Conservative Confidential: Inside the Fabulous Blue Tent, detailing his journey from left-wing anti-nuclear activist to Conservative Party campaigner. Fred has also written articles for the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen, the Toronto Sun, C2C Journal, iPolitics, and the Dorchester Review. In 2000, he founded NorthernBlues Music, a cutting-edge blues label. The company has released over 70 CDs and garnered 12 Juno Award and more than 40 Blues Music Award nominations. In 2007, Fred started the Free Thinking Film Society to showcase films on liberty, freedom and democracy. The Society has shown over 100 films and also organizes book launches and panel discussions

O n November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy flew from Ft. Worth, Texas, to Dallas. It was the second day of a trip designed to shore up his political standings and to heal rifts in the state Democratic Party. The day before, the presidential party was in San Antonio and Houston. The Dallas plan was for a motorcade through the city, a luncheon speech at the Trade Mart, and then a flight to Austin.

Initially, it looked like it would rain but the skies cleared by mid-morning and there was no thought of using the bubbletop which would shield Kennedy from the weather. Kennedy sat next to his wife Jackie in the back seat, and the Governor of Texas, John Connally, sat in front with his wife Nellie. Secret Service agent William Greer drove and agent Roy Kellerman sat next to him.

The motorcade left Love Field at 11:50 am (CST) and proceeded downtown. The crowds were enthusiastic and Kennedy stopped the motorcade twice to greet people. It then proceeded on Main Street, a major east-west road and turned right on Houston Street. One block later it turned left on to Elm Street so that it could take an exit for the Stemmons Freeway which would take them to the Trade Mart.

At 12:30 pm, as the motorcade made its way down Elm Street, shots rang out. Kennedys hands moved up toward his neck and Governor Connally was hit in the back. A few seconds later, a bullet hit Kennedy in the head and he moved back and to the left. The motorcade sped off to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

A team of doctors frantically treated Kennedy and they observed a small wound in the front of Kennedys throat and a massive head wound. At 1:00 pm, they pronounced Kennedy dead and last rites were performed. Governor Connally was treated for wounds in his chest, wrist, and thigh.

It didnt take long for the Dallas police to centre their activity on the Texas School Book Depository (TSBD) as the source of the shots. They searched the building and found a rifle hidden amongst book cartons on the sixth floor as well as three spent cartridge cases at the southeast corner window.

Lee Harvey Oswald worked at the TSBD and was missing after the assassination. He had taken a bus and taxi to his rooming house. He picked up his revolver and left his house at 1:00 pm. About 15 minutes later, police officer J.D. Tippit was killed about nine-tenths of a mile away.

Right after the shooting, the manager of a shoe store, Johnny Brewer, saw a man stop in the entranceway of his store as a police car whizzed by. After the car left, the man stepped away and was followed by Brewer. He ducked into the Texas Theater without buying a ticket. Brewer pointed this out to the cashier who then called the police.

Police officers approached Oswald in the theatre. He pulled his gun and struck a policeman in the face. The officers then handcuffed and brought him to police headquarters. For two days, Oswald denied he was the assassin. On Sunday morning, the 24th of November, nightclub owner Jack Ruby killed Oswald just as he was about to be taken to the county jail.

On November 29th, 1963, President Lyndon Johnson set up a commission to investigate the assassination and named Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, as chairman. On September 24th, 1964, the commission submitted its report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK and that they could not find any evidence of a conspiracy. Jack Ruby was convicted of killing Oswald and years later won an appeal for a new trial (based in the inadmissibility of some testimony and the requirement of a new venue). He died in January of 1967 just as they were to set a date for his re-trial.

When I first started telling friends that I was writing about the JFK assassination, I received some strange reactions. Just about everybody I talked to looked puzzled and then asked whether there was really something to that, no? Was there a second gun? What about the movement of Kennedys head? How could Oswald have fired that fast? Will we ever know the truth? They had no detailed understanding of what happened, or what didnt happen, but they suspected that something was amiss.

There was a real thirst for more information. I remember one Wednesday calling my synagogue to reserve a couple of spots at an upcoming Shabbat dinner. I spent about 20 minutes talking about the assassination with the office manager. Tell me more about Jack Ruby. He was Jewish, right? I couldnt get off the phone.

Its been over fifty years since the JFK assassination and people still arent sure about what happened.

When I told most people that there was no conspiracy and that just about every issue could be easily explained, they just smiled. The conspiracy narrative was so deeply embedded that there was nothing I could say to relieve their doubts.

Its actually not that surprising.

Thousands of JFK conspiracy books have been published. College campuses have been inundated with speakers spouting poppycock about plots, treachery, and ultimately power in America. Oliver Stones 1991 fantasy film JFK exposed millions to unadulterated nonsense about a supposed cabal at the highest level of the U.S. government. And the Canadian Broadcasting Corporations (CBC) premier documentary television series,