Texas Wants To Know: Why did the Kennedy assassination spark many conspiracy theories?

Next week marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Texas Wants to Know is revisiting the event to explore how it impacted Dallas.

In this episode, we dive into conspiracy theories. Kennedy’s assassination was not the only historic event to spark theories, but it seemed to become the most mainstream.

So, why did Kennedy’s death spark so many conspiracy theories? One expert says it started with what happened two after the president was shot.

“Jack Ruby, who killed (Lee Harvey) Oswald, is the godfather of the modern conspiracy movement,” Michel Gagne, the author of Thinking Critically About the Kennedy Assassination: Debunking the Myths and Conspiracy Theories, said. “Because had Lee Harvey Oswald been put before a jury and tried, I don’t think there would have been any conspiracy talk.”

He said once people start to dig into the Kennedy assassination, it has the ability to send them down a path to other alleged plots.

“Kennedy kind of created a blueprint for conspiracy theories that would follow,” Gagne added. “It’s still, I would say and I’m not the only one to use this has become a cliche. It’s still the gateway drug to a lot of other conspiracy theories.”