JFK conspiracy theories won’t die – The Spectator

One of the most controversial things that can happen at any American table is to start talking about the JFK assassination and then say: ‘I think Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.’

Thanks to decades of theories, counter-theories and Hollywood movies, a majority of the American public have for many years believed that there was a conspiracy to kill the 35th president. In their view, even if Lee Harvey Oswald was the gunman (which some dispute) then he must have been acting as part of a larger plot involving the CIA, FBI, LBJ, KGB, KKK or KFC. OK, I threw in the last one to check you were still with me.

President Donald Trump’s decision to release the remaining classified US government files on the 1963 killing was always going to cause interest. But the results of the publication have so far been a lesson for conspiracy theorists everywhere – although it’s a lesson they are unlikely to take.

Continue reading the entire piece here at The Spectator (paywall)

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Douglas Murray is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor of City Journal.

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