All language subtitles for JFK.Assassination.A.New.Perspective.2025.720p.x265.aac.subs

[melancholy music]

[gunshot echoing]

[melancholy music]

MALE REPORTER: There's Mrs.
Kennedy, and the crowd yells.

And the President of
the United States.

The President is up to the fence
now, shaking hands with people,

the president and his wife.

This is great for the people
and makes the eggshells even

thinner for the
Secret Service, whose

job it is to guard the man.

[mysterious music]

BRADLEY KIZZIA: I think probably
a lot of people who weren't

around at the time probably
don't realize that on November

22, 1963, there was no
federal law prohibiting

assassination of a president.

And so the whole
thing became a disaster,

because Kennedy had rescinded
the original edict that

the B-26s were to take
off from Nicaragua,

and he was going to, quote,
"cut the CIA or break the CIA

into a thousand pieces."

So this was, again,
great motivation

on the part of the CIA to try
to eliminate John F. Kennedy.

The House also
found that the Mafia

had the motive, the
means, and the opportunity

to kill President Kennedy.

They were clearly
the leading suspect.

MARK LANE: For more than
one year after those

shots were fired, not one
word, not one word of dissent,

not one word of question was
permitted on a single radio

or television network show.

Not one word.

Believe what you will
about the JFK assassination,

who perpetrated it, what
the reasons were, et cetera,

believe what you
will, you've got

to be honest in saying that
the Warren Commission was

just totally inept.

JOSIAH THOMPSON: This whole
case is like this, folks.

Everywhere you look, you
pull on any single thread,

any single fact, and you're
soon besieged with a tangle

of subsidiary questions.

You can find features
in the Zapruder film

that substantiate the
analysis I've been

giving in frame 313, 314, 315.

Of course, you see Jack
reacting by falling to the left

and to the rear, as though
he had been hit by a shot

from in front.

Oh, I think he's a man that
planned this murder weeks

or months ago, and has laid his
plans carefully and carried them

out, and has planned
at that time what he

was going to tell
the police that

are questioning him at present.

The question is
not, can you get off

three shots in 5.6
seconds or 8 seconds

or any other number of seconds?

The real question, and the
one that they never ask

is, can you get off those
first two shots in 1.6 seconds?

[gunshot echoing]

MALE REPORTER: It appears as
though something has happened

in the motorcade route.

Something, I repeat, has
happened in the motorcade route.

NARRATOR: November
22, 1963, a date

that is etched into the
memories of most Americans.

Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas,
the 35th President of the United

States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy,
was assassinated in broad

daylight in front of
hundreds of spectators who

had turned out to greet him.

This program will
present various theories

about what may have happened
in Dealey Plaza that day,

a day that forever
changed history.

For years, many investigators
have painstakingly

reviewed volumes of documents
in the National Archives

and available evidence
to try and piece

together credible solutions
to the JFK assassination.

However, more than 40 years
later, many disputes about what

really happened still remain.

In 1964, a formal
government investigation

into the assassination
was conducted

by the Warren Commission,
chaired by Supreme Court Justice

Earl Warren.

Their findings indicated three
shots by a lone assassin,

Lee Harvey Oswald, fired from
the 6th floor of the Texas

School Book Depository.

The first shot hit JFK and
Texas Governor John Connally.

The second shot missed.

The third shot was a fatal head
shot on JFK and the term "single

bullet theory" was born.

However, many Americans did not
believe the original government

position supplied by the Warren
Commission of a single assassin.

In 1978, the US House Select
Committee on Assassinations

conducted an investigation
that determined that four

shots were fired by two gunmen.

One of the shots coming from
the grassy knoll area, which

would indicate a conspiracy.

Over the last four decades,
as many as 80% of Americans

do not believe in
the Warren Commission

findings of a single
gunman and no conspiracy.

Many independent
investigations have

led to numerous
assassination theories

about what really happened
the day JFK was killed.

The JFK Assassination
Theories Program

will cover the main credible
assassination theories

and let you decide.

Theory 1, the Warren
Commission Report, the JFK

was killed by a single
gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald.

MALE REPORTER: It appears as
though something has happened

in the motorcade route.

Something, I repeat, has
happened in the motorcade route.

And we agreed with the
Warren Commission, bottom line,

the Warren Commission that
determined that the only shots

fired came from the
Book Depository 6th

floor window where Oswald was.

NARRATOR: Theory 2,
the JFK was killed

by a CIA/Mafia conspiracy.

[tense music]

I think the government
is, for whatever reasons,

and I think it's obvious
to me that they're

covering up something here.

As people have said in this
case for many, many years,

if Oswald did it and did
it unaided by himself,

what is there to cover up?

Why wouldn't you
release everything?

If you had no confederates
and no affiliations

with the Cuban government,
the Soviet government,

our government, why not release
all this information if that's

all it's going to show?

NARRATOR: Theory 3, the Soviet
Union/KGB investigation.

[tense music]

ILYA SEMYONOVICH
PAVLOTSKY [INTERPRETED]:

Kennedy was shot by a
professional assassin hired by

French and Vietnamese agents.

Our group found that the
Corsicans hired French hitman

Michel Mertz sometimes
known as Jean René Soutre,

to carry out the assassination
with the cooperation

of the American Mafia bosses.

NARRATOR: Theory 4, JFK
was killed by Mafia hitmen.

PIERCE ALLMAN: There were three
loud, reverberating explosions.

Nobody moved.

Everyone seemed stunned.

A few seemed to look
around, wondering

who has the firecrackers.

They'll never forget the
afternoon that Nicoletti said,

"well, James, we are going to
have a big job down in Dallas."

It comes down to the
crucial moment in time,

and it's not clear
at all to Files

that there's been any major hit.

So he knew that it was
his job for a headshot.

NARRATOR: Theory 5, JFK
was killed by a CIA/Cuban

exiles conspiracy.

[tense music]

Kennedy did the deal with
Castro following the Cuban

Missile Crisis that
where we agreed

or the United States
agreed that we

would not continue our
attempts to overthrow Castro.

I think that as far as the Cuban
exiles in the United States

that were working with
the Mafia and the CIA,

that was what led them to just
turn around these assassination

teams they already had
trained and ready to go

to use against President
Kennedy, sad to say.

NARRATOR: Each theory has some
merit, but it is up to you

to decide what really
happened on November 22, 1963.

[film projector whirring]

[snare drums beating]

In 1963, the Soviet Union
and the United States

had begun a working
relationship.

President Kennedy and
Soviet Premier Khrushchev

installed a direct hotline
between Washington and Moscow

to establish better
communications

between the two superpowers.

On the home front,
President Kennedy

wanted to begin his
quest for re-election

by doing political fence-mending
among leading Texas

Democratic members.

Some Dallas
Conservatives objected

to Kennedy's peace
acts, labeling him

weak and a Communist Liberal.

Because of this,
Kennedy's aides were

against him making this trip.

But Kennedy enjoyed
public appearances

and wanted to win the
confidence of Texas voters.

Upon their arrival
in San Antonio,

the President and Mrs. Kennedy
were joined by Vice President

Johnson and Governor
Connally for a motorcade

through the city.

After speaking at a dedication,
Kennedy and his party

flew onto Houston
for another motorcade

and speech at Rice
University Stadium,

followed by a dinner reception.

In Texas and the nation,
change has been the law of life.

Growth has meant new
opportunities for this state.

Progress has meant
new achievements,

and we dare not look back now.

NARRATOR: In Dallas,
anonymous handbills

designed to look like
FBI wanted posters

began appearing on the streets.

The handbills used two
photos of the President

in full face and
profile, with the caption

"Wanted for Treason."

Before leaving
the hotel, Kennedy

noted that if anybody
wanted to shoot

the President of
the United States,

it wouldn't be a
difficult job to do.

[gunshot]

The presidential party
arrived at Love Field

around 11:22 in the morning.

MALE REPORTER: --and the
President of the United States.

[crowd cheering]

And I can see his suntan
all the way from here.

NARRATOR: Because
President Kennedy wanted

to be able to wave to the
crowds along the route,

the protective bubble on top
of his limo was not installed.

According to plan,
the motorcade slowly

moved West down Main Street,
passing cheering Texans

on sidewalks and onlookers
waving from windows

and tall office buildings.

At the corner of Houston Street,
the motorcade slowed to make

a 90-degree left-hand
turn onto Elm,

moving past the Texas
School Book Depository

and then the grassy knoll.

Pleased by the warm
reception, Mrs.

Connally turned to
President Kennedy and said,

"Mr. President, you can't
say Dallas doesn't love you."

[gunshots]

In the front seat, Agent
Roy Kellerman heard a sound

like a firecracker, and
the president saying,

"my god, I am hit."

Governor Connally thought he
was mortally wounded and cried,

"my god, they are
going to kill us all."

Mrs. Kennedy saw her
husband's skull blown

open by the bullet's impact.

Just after President Kennedy
was hit by the fatal headshot,

Special Agent Hill jumped
up from the follow-up car

and ran to the
presidential limo.

Hill recalled Mrs.
Kennedy turning around

to reach for a portion of
her husband's brain tissue

from the car's rear
bumper, but Hill

pushed her back onto her seat.

The presidential limousine
then accelerated quickly

and raced to Parkland Hospital.

Good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen.

You'll excuse the fact
that I'm out of breath,

but about 10 or 15 minutes
ago, a tragic thing,

from all indications
at this point,

has happened in
the city of Dallas.

Let me quote to you this,
and I'll-- you'll excuse

me if I am out of breath.

A bulletin, this is from the
United Press from Dallas.

"President Kennedy and
Governor John Connally

have been cut down by assassin's
bullets in downtown Dallas.

They were riding in
an open automobile

when the shots were fired."

NARRATOR: Motorcycle Police
Officer Bobby Hargis,

riding to the rear passenger
side of the president's car,

was sure the last shot came from
a short, sloping hill referred

to as the "grassy knoll."

Running up the hill,
Hargis was followed

by a crowd of about
200 witnesses,

who responded spontaneously.

Among the first to reach the
top were Dallas Police officers.

Others were met by men flashing
Secret Service credentials, who

told them to leave the area.

Patrolman Mary Ann Baker
also heard the shots

and observed pigeons
scattering into the air

from the roof of the
School Book Depository.

Baker rushed into the building
and was met by building

superintendent Roy Truly.

Running up the stairs, they
encountered employee Lee

Harvey Oswald in
the 2nd floor snack

room with a bottle of soda.

Truly identified
Oswald as an employee,

and he and Baker continue
to the upper floors.

Within that time frame, about
two dozen people in Dealey Plaza

were rounded up and
questioned in the aftermath

of the shooting.

[melancholy music]

At 1:00 PM, President
Kennedy was pronounced dead.

WILBORN HAMPTON:
I have just talked

to father Oscar Hubert of the
Holy Trinity Catholic Church.

He and another priest told
me that the pair of men

have just administered the last
rites of the Catholic Church

to President Kennedy.

I asked the Father,
"is Mr. Kennedy dead?"

And his quote, "he's
dead, all right."

And just a few
seconds ago, I talked

to Theran Ward, the Justice
of the Peace of Garland.

He's now here at the hospital
to apparently officially declare

that the Chief Executive of
the United States has expired.

President Kennedy has
been assassinated.

It's official now.

The president is dead.

[melancholy music]

NARRATOR: Aboard Air Force
1, Vice President Johnson was

sworn-in as the 36th President
of the United States,

with his wife and Mrs.
Kennedy at his side.

This is a sad
time for all people.

We have suffered a loss
that cannot be waived.

For me, it is a deep,
personal tragedy.

I know that the world
shares the sorrow that Mrs.

Kennedy and her family bear.

I will do my best.

That is all I can do.

I ask for your help, and God.

NARRATOR: In Dallas, police
discovered what they described

as a sniper's nest on the
6th floor of the Texas

School Book Depository.

At the opposite end of the room,
police later found a rifle,

which was identified
as a 7.65-millimeter

Mauser with a telescopic
sight, along with two bullets.

The description of
the Mauser was later

changed to a 6.5-millimeter bolt
action Mannlicher-Carcano rifle.

A third bullet was
later found nearby.

About 40 minutes after the
assassination and several miles

away, Dallas Police
Officer JD Tippit

was shot to death in the
Oak Cliff section of town.

At about this same time,
a short distance away,

Oswald was seen entering
the Texas Movie Theater.

Police were called
to the theater where

they confronted Oswald inside.

He was arrested at around 1:50
PM and taken to the Dallas

Police Department.

MALE REPORTER: Here comes
Oswald down the hall again.

Did you buy that rifle?

I don't know what dispatches
you people have been getting,

but I emphatically
deny these charges.

MALE REPORTER: Oswald is
hustled through a doorway.

LEE HARVEY OSWALD: I have not
committed any acts of violence.

MALE REPORTER: He says he
has nothing against anybody.

He has not committed
any act of violence.

Oswald makes this
claim as he is hustled

from the interrogation room.

NARRATOR: The rifle
discovered on the 6th

floor of the depository
was traced back to Oswald.

Late on Friday evening, Lee
Harvey Oswald was questioned

at a press conference.

Jack Ruby attended
the conference,

standing only a few feet away
with a loaded gun in his pocket.

Did you kill the president?

No, I have not been
charged with that.

In fact, nobody has
said that to me yet.

The first thing I
heard about it was

when the newspaper reporters in
the hall asked me that question.

You have--

- Nobody's said what?
- Sir--

- You have--
- Nobody's said what?

NARRATOR: On
Sunday, November 24,

Oswald was to be transferred
from the Dallas jail

to the county jail.

Oswald walked from the
elevator in the presence

of over 70 uniformed
police officers,

numerous reporters, and a
television audience of millions.

[overlapping conversation]

[gunshot]

[oswald grunting]

Jack Ruby stepped out.

[gunshot]

And shot Oswald once
firing into his abdomen.

Is this a confirmed report
as to who did the shooting?

MAN [ON PHONE]:
As far as I know,

I just got it from
Vic Robertson.

Vic Robertson from
City Hall reports

that Jack Ruby, the owner of
the Carousel, which is a bar

in Dallas, did the shooting.

That's a report from City Hall.

NARRATOR: At 1:07 PM,
Oswald was pronounced

dead at Parkland Hospital.

Within an hour of
Oswald's death,

the Dallas Police announced
the case was closed.

[film projector whirring]

Here's a piece of copy
that was rushed to me

and was torn off from the
United Press in Dallas.

President Kennedy has
been shot in Dallas,

has been shot in Dallas, Texas.

He was shot as the motorcade--

NARRATOR: Through the
unblinking eyes of television,

people of all races joined
together in witnessing

a terrible chapter in history.

An Associated Press
photographer James Altgens,

A-L-T-G-E-N-S, reports he saw
blood on the president's head.

The AP man said
he heard two shots

but thought someone was
shooting fireworks until he

saw the blood on the president.

NARRATOR: The
Kennedy assassination

was the first event
in American history

that we can call a
collective experience.

Millions across
the nation mourn.

Most Americans
were not satisfied

with the official position
of Oswald as the lone killer.

On November 29, 1963, one
week after President Kennedy's

murder, President Johnson
issued Executive Order 11130

for the purpose of creating
a presidential committee

to investigate President
Kennedy's assassination.

Politically, it
made sense for Lyndon

Johnson and the government
to put something together.

However, in December of '63,
J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI

had put together their
report on the assassination

that they submitted to Johnson.

And there was a lot of pressure
from Hoover to President Johnson

to just accept that report
from the FBI and release it.

But Johnson and his aides felt
that they needed to come up

with some independent,
bipartisan committee,

meaning the Warren Commission,
to evaluate the evidence

and look into it.

NARRATOR: Johnson personally
chose seven members

to undertake a
formal investigation

into John F. Kennedy's death.

The bipartisan blue
ribbon panel was

headed reluctantly
by Chief Justice Earl

Warren of the US Supreme Court.

Though he didn't want to
take on the responsibility

for the investigation,
Johnson persuaded him to do

it for the good of the country.

As the Chief Justice told
us, the president said there

is unrest around the world.

There are questions as to
whether the Soviets might

have been involved, whether the
Cubans might have been involved.

And it was a matter
that the President urged

the Chief Justice to undertake.

The Chief Justice told us,
"I said to the president,

I can't do it because the case
might come before the court

and I have very heavy duties."

And then, according to
Chief Justice Warren,

President Johnson said, "if the
commander-in-chief asked you

to put on the uniform of your
country in time of national

emergency, would you decline?"

And Warren said, "at that
point, I couldn't say no.

So I said yes."

And he undertook the assignment.

NARRATOR: President
Johnson told the nation

that the Warren Commission
would evaluate all the facts

and circumstances
surrounding the Kennedy

assassination, and also the
murder of alleged assassin, Lee

Harvey Oswald.

The group would then report
their findings and conclusions

directly to the president.

The commission was to be
assisted by all branches

of the federal government.

Behind closed doors, they
worked for 10 months,

relying on the FBI and CIA
to do their investigating.

The Warren Commission Report was
presented on September 24, 1964.

It was immediately
backed by the press.

This is the building
that the witnesses

said they had seen a man up
there and some with a rifle.

And also we found some empty
rifle shells on the 5th floor.

So he would have
been directly above us?

Directly above us.

Indications were that he had
been there for some time.

NARRATOR: The summary
of the findings

were: President Kennedy
was struck by two rifle

shots fired from behind him.

The shots striking President
Kennedy came from the 6th floor

window of the southeast
corner of the Texas

School Book Depository.

Lee Harvey Oswald, a
24-year-old former Marine,

owned the 6.5-millimeter bolt
action Italian-made World War II

surplus Mannlicher-Carcano rifle
that was used to fire the shots

from the 6th floor window.

Lee Harvey Oswald, shortly
before the assassination,

had access to and was present
on the 6th floor of the Texas

School Book Depository.

Lee Harvey Oswald's
other actions

supported the conclusion
that he, a lone, nut gunman,

assassinated President Kennedy.

GARY MACK: There is evidence
that there is more to it

than just Lee Harvey Oswald.

And in fact, when you
talk to the investigators,

the ones who were involved
in the original investigation

in 1963 and 1964, what you find
is it wouldn't surprise them

if someday it came out
that Lee Harvey Oswald had

some kind of assistance,
whether it was a getaway car,

or he was going to meet
somebody in some other city,

that wouldn't surprise them.

The problem is, there
just is no hard evidence

that there was a conspiracy.

So there's a difficult part,
because there certainly

is a lot of evidence indicating
that Oswald really did do it.

The question is, what did he do?

NARRATOR: The
Commission concluded

that there was no evidence
whatsoever that anyone else was

involved, or that
the assassination

was the result of
any conspiracy,

either foreign or domestic.

The Commission's most detailed
witness was Howard Brennan,

who sat about 120 feet away
from the 6th floor window.

He was described as 5'
6" to 5' 8", slight build,

brown hair, having on a jacket,
white shirt, and dark trousers.

NARRATOR: Later that
evening, Brennan singled out

Oswald in a police lineup as
the person who most resembled

the man in the window, but
he was unwilling to make

a positive identification.

As the president was coming
down from Houston Street

making his turn, it was
about a halfway down there,

I heard a shot.

And he slumped to
the side like this.

Then I heard
another shot or two,

I couldn't say whether
it was one or two,

and I saw his head
practically open up, all

blood and everything,
and I kept on shooting.

[film projector whirring]

NARRATOR: No one anticipated the
film by an ordinary bystander,

Abraham Zapruder, which
showed the sequence of shots

during the motorcade route.

[film projector whirring]

GARY MACK: Just an
amazing film, and as

intriguing and as important as
it is, the problem with the film

is you can use it to prove
most anything you want.

That fatal shot to
the President's head

is clearly one bullet,
but you can't tell when

the other shots were fired.

There's no specific movement
or action or reaction

in the film that tells you
when the first shot was fired

or the second shot.

It was clearly crucial to
investigators' understanding

of what happened,
but it also leaves

other questions unanswered.

NARRATOR: After viewing the
film and to account for only one

assassin, the Commission
needed to demonstrate

how only three shots were fired
from above and behind the limo.

The first shot struck
both Kennedy and Connally.

In order to make that first
bullet account for seven wounds,

two on Kennedy and
five on Connolly,

Warren Commission Assistant
Counsel Arlen Specter came up

with the single bullet theory.

Arlen Specter put together
a hypothetical question which

was as long as many paragraphs.

Assuming the gunman was standing
where Oswald was, basically,

a certain distance away, and
the bullet was going this fast,

and the bullet didn't hit
any bone on the way through,

is it possible, is
it at all possible

that the bullet could have
exited from the throat

and caused that wound?

Actually, the question
was even longer than that.

So it was a very hypothetical,
lengthy question.

And under those very, very
specific circumstances,

the Dallas doctors said,
yes, it was possible.

And the 399 matched
ballistically to that gun.

KENNETH A. RAHN: The pristine
bullet, when you look at it

this way, it looks pretty good.

When you look at it this
way, it is anything but.

Vice-like forces had
to deform this end.

It was used for
50 years routinely

in Africa, before
the assassination,

for hunting elephants.

Folks, if it can
hunt an elephant,

it can pass through
two men, especially

when the first passage
doesn't hit anything,

doesn't hit any bone.

ARLEN SPECTER: And that
was the essential beginning

of what I had, at first, said
was the single bullet theory.

And when ABC, on
a re-examination,

they came to the conclusion that
it was a single bullet fact.

That bullet came out of
that Mannlicher-Carcano

rifle by all ballistic
standards then and now.

I don't know exactly how
long he's been under question.

It's been intermittent.

It has not been continuous.

NARRATOR: The Commission also
concluded that Oswald lied

to the police after his arrest.

According to their
research, Oswald

had tried to assassinate
Major General

Edwin Walker on April 10, 1963.

The commission reasoned
that this murder

attempt showed Oswald's tendency
to disregard human life.

Witnesses at the Tippit shooting
also positively identified

Oswald as the killer, and
cartridge casings at the scene

matched Oswald's revolver.

As a result of these
findings, the Commission

concluded that 45 minutes after
the president's assassination,

Oswald killed Officer Tippit.

The Tippit killing
is a real mystery,

and it's one of those
unsolved portions

of this case that has
just a lot of questions

about what really happened.

The official record is that Lee
Harvey Oswald shot the officer,

took off his jacket,
and fled to the Texas

Theater, where he
went in without paying

and got arrested there.

Tippit was shot four
times, three in the chest,

once in the right temple.

According to the commission,
Oswald was responsible.

This led to a massive response
in force by dozens of police

vehicles and many
officers, who, during

their apprehension, called out,
"kill the president, will you?"

When they-- when we came
through the door with Oswald,

they begin taking
their pictures.

And in the ensuing
time that they

were snapping
pictures and talking,

I saw this man come
from the crowd.

And at the time he emerged
from this crowd of people,

he was not more than 6 or
7 feet from us, from me.

And I dare say that had I known
that he was going to be there,

the swiftness with
which it happened,

I doubt if anyone could
have prevented it.

NARRATOR: The Commission
also reasoned that Jack Ruby

killed Oswald out of
empathy for the slain

president and his family.

They found no evidence
linking Oswald to Ruby.

The Commission
concluded, as you know,

that Ruby did not have anything
to do with the assassination.

The events at the
Dallas Police Station

were bizarre, to say the least.

And you know his explanation
that he wanted to be a hero.

And you can draw
your own conclusions

as to the validity of it
when we were flying back

to BWI the next
day, Bill Herndon

said to me that he thought Ruby
was telling the truth when he

said that he had no
connection with Oswald

and was not part
of any conspiracy.

NARRATOR: Based
on their findings,

the members of the
Warren Commission

felt the case was closed.

I think had there
been a conspiracy,

we would have come to
light a long time ago.

My experience is that nothing
stays secret in our society.

And somebody would have told
him about it a long time ago.

Everything falls in place.

The physical
evidence is cemented

into an impregnable wall.

It remains highly unlikely
that there's anything

material left to be discovered.

We are dealing,
folks, in my opinion,

with 40 years of
failed speculation.

It's enough.

It is time to admit that
there was no conspiracy,

and it never was any
compelling evidence for it.

The real story of
the assassination,

one misfit guy, a cheap but
effective rifle, a good vantage

point, and some luck.

It's over.

And it's inconceivable to
many people that one nobody,

one nutty person, Oswald, could
single-handedly kill a president

of such great stature.

And I think that fits into our
concepts of conspiracy theories.

There's got to be a lot of
people involved to hurt a hero.

[film projector whirring]

The most shocking and
disappointing aspect of the case

was the lack of thoroughness
and completeness

of what the Warren
Commission had done.

It's mandated to tell the
truth to the American people,

and our government investigates.

I cherish our government.

I'm a believer in our system,
and I have spent my career

supporting our system.

And as someone who
serves in the government,

both as an assistant
district attorney

and as a mayor of a city
and on a city council,

it's incumbent upon
representatives of the people

to tell the people the truth.

And Warren Commission
didn't do that.

And that, to me, is
terribly regrettable.

The American people were
absorbed by television coverage

of the assassination that day,
which reported two shots, one

to the throat, the
other to the right

temple, which blew out the back
of the president's skull, which

had been fired from in front.

When the Warren
Commission was released,

however, those trajectories
had been reversed,

and now the only shots
that had been fired

had come from above and behind.

ZACK SHELTON: How can the
head of the world's best law

enforcement agency,
by the end of the day,

make the comment that we have
the lone assassin, Lee Harvey

Oswald?

Having worked big cases, having
worked murders, and particularly

on this one, it would
take weeks, maybe months

to really know the truth.

And this man is already
saying we have him.

Disregard everything
else, we have him.

NARRATOR: But was the
case really closed?

Most of the public
never thought so.

The House of Representatives
acknowledged the demand

by creating another
panel, the House Select

Committee on Assassinations.

From 1976 to 1979,
they conducted

a second hearing into President
Kennedy's assassination.

The House Committee tried
to track down his every,

I should say, aspect
of the investigation

into the assassination
of President Kennedy.

And that included an analysis
of the Warren Commission

to determine, from our point
of view, what the evidence was

to support it, if any, and
the culpability, if any,

of Lee Harvey Oswald.

There were no
preconceptions in our minds

whether or not it was
Oswald and he did it alone,

as the Warren Commission found.

Or it was Oswald with
others, or Oswald

had nothing to do with it, and
others may have been involved.

So we had a clean
slate with respect

to the manner in which
we approached this.

We also checked out
leads with respect

to so-called organized crime
involvement and any other group

or organization,
foreign or domestic,

that we were able to get
involved in during the months

that we were investigating
the assassination

s of President Kennedy.

NARRATOR: Representatives
from both the CIA and the FBI

admitted in sworn public
testimony to the HSCA

that both organizations
withheld evidence

from the Warren Commission
that would have led

to the findings of conspiracy.

It is very clear that
both the CIA and the FBI

had very good reasons to try to
mislead the Warren Commission.

And I found it interesting
that Senator Specter, who's,

of course, the senator now
from Pennsylvania, who wrote

a book, Passions for
Truth,indicated clearly

that in his own team
that here it was,

Allen Dulles, who had
previously been head of the CIA,

had misled the
Warren Commission,

and that J. Edgar Hoover
had withheld information.

I don't know if you need any
more information than somebody

on this so-called other side.

NARRATOR: In 1979,
the HSCA issued

its report reversing the
Warren Commission's findings.

Based on scientific
acoustical evidence,

the HSCA concluded that
President Kennedy had probably

been killed by a conspiracy
involving another gunman

on the grassy knoll.

And then as the car got
directly in front of us

with a gunshot apparently from
behind us, hit the president

in the side of the temple.

Do you think the first gunshot
came from behind you, too?

I think it came from
the same location,

apparently back
up on the knoll--

I don't know what you call it.

For the benefit
of nomenclature,

all you folks have gone
out under the viaduct.

And as you turn going under the
viaduct on the left-hand side,

there's some grass.

Do you think the shot came
from up on top of the viaduct

toward the president.
Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

No, not on the
viaduct itself, but up

on top of the hill, a little
mound of ground near the garden.

NARRATOR: The afternoon
of the shooting

at Parkland Memorial Hospital,
the doctors were interviewed.

Malcolm Perry, in
particular, a specialist

in ear, nose and throat, had
performed a tracheostomy.

He actually made a very faint
incision through the throat

wound, and he told
the press three times

that afternoon that
the wound appeared

to be an entrance wound.

In other words, the
shot to Kennedy's throat

appeared to have been
coming from the front.

So he said that
three separate times.

Went into trauma room 1,
and when I pushed the door

open, I immediately
saw that there

were a number of other
people, physicians,

who had arrived before me.

And in fact, Dr.
Perry and Dr. Baxter

had already begun performing the
tracheostomy on the president

when I entered the room.

And I walked by the cart,
the gurney that he was lying

on where they were
working on him,

and walked around to the side
and Dr. Perry said, "Bob," said,

"if you would go to
the head of the cart,

I'd like to hand you a
retractor and get you to retract

the wound here so we
can see we're having

a little trouble seeing."

So I was only about maybe 12
to 18 inches above the wound,

so I could see directly
into the wound.

I got, I think, the best
view of the wound of anybody.

Other people in the
room were not as close.

They were moving around
and doing other things.

And I was just staring
into the wound.

NARRATOR: The former Warren
Commission evidence was

found to have discrepancies.

Autopsy photos and
x-rays differed

from those seen by
Parkland Hospital Memorial

staff and the autopsy doctors.

I pleaded with Professor
Blakey, who was the Chief

Counsel of the House
Assassinations Committee,

to please show the Dallas
doctors the autopsy photographs

and get their comments.

For two solid years,
he refused to do it.

In the end, he
never did, so I did.

I took my copies.

I showed them to them.

And every single one, not
one, not two, more than 20,

have said that the photographs
that show the rear of the head

intact are forgeries.

That is not the way the
president's head looked.

It was obvious that it was a
very large and undoubtedly fatal

wound.

It was difficult to judge
the size of it exactly,

but it was in the back and
side of the head, as I'm

indicating here with my hand.

And it probably
involved the area

that I'm showing with my hand.

Although the actual
hole in the skull itself

was difficult to
judge its size, I

would say it's probably
was, oh, something like

2 or 3 inches in size at least.

And that may be
underestimating it.

That fatal shot was
fired from the front.

There's no question about it.

The autopsy picture
showed it, and that's

why they were suppressed
and kept from public view.

There's no question at
all, not just in my mind,

but in anybody's mind.

It became clear
to me that I didn't

want to be part of a
historical investigation that

would be anything less
than 100% disclosure

to the American people.

The House Assassinations
Committee came very

close to finding the truth.

And they could have.

If Richard Sprague
had stayed there,

they would have found the truth.

Even when Richard
Sprague had left,

Robert Tanenbaum, who took over
as the temporary chief counsel,

was doing a remarkable job.

Remarkable.

He called me into his
office one day and said,

"Robert, you were right."

I said, "about what?"

He said, "this conspiracy
goes to the highest

levels of government,
and we're going

to blow them out of the water."

And he meant it.

Had he stayed, he
would have done it.

NARRATOR: A further
investigation into President

Kennedy's assassination
was recommended,

but nothing was ever done.

All official records have
been sealed from public view

until the year 2039.

This is the most important
murder in our history.

Why can't we see
what's happening?

Every word taken was
marked top secret.

They worked in absolute
secrecy, to their shame

and to the degradation
of the media.

All of the media, not
one representative

of a media outlet in
America, said there's

something wrong with this.

I wonder who, in fact, decides
who reads unredacted documents.

I never saw one
document that in any way

not only should never have
been redacted, but in any way

should have been preserved
for the year 2080 or whatever.

What kind of show is that?

What are they afraid of?

There are no
sources and methods.

This was a murder case.

The only source and method
we would have found out

is who, in fact,
killed the president.

And that's what we
were supposed to do.

NARRATOR: Despite the report
of a probable conspiracy,

the members of the
Warren Commission

stand by their
original decision,

that President
Kennedy's assassination

was accomplished by a lone,
nut killer, Lee Harvey Oswald.

It became the first
time in history

that two different official
governmental reports existed,

each contradicting the other.

There is something that is
so appalling and disgusting

about this continuing
acceptance of the Warren

Commission as an entity.

The fact of the
matter is, believe

what you will about the JFK
assassination, who perpetrated

it, what the reasons were, et
cetera, believe what you will,

you've got to be
honest in saying

that the Warren Commission
was just totally inept.

NARRATOR: As the vast
majority of Americans believe,

perhaps the answer lies in the
beliefs supporting a conspiracy.

Well, as I've said
many times in the past,

and it's just as true
now as it ever was,

it may be too late for
justice in this case,

but it's never too
late for the truth.

[film projector whirring]

Let every nation know, whether
it wishes us well or ill,

that we shall pay any
price, bear any burden,

meet any hardship,
support any friend,

oppose any foe to
assure the survival

and the success of liberty.

NARRATOR: The CIA/Mafia
conspiracy, a theory suggesting

that President
John F. Kennedy was

killed by operatives of
the Central Intelligence

Agency and the Mafia.

Prior to JFK's
inauguration, the CIA

had entered into
a secret contract

with members of the
Chicago Crime Syndicate.

What you have to understand is
that prior to November 22, 1963,

the mob were in bed with CIA.

Years before, they
connected through a guy

by the name of Robert
Mayhew, who was a former,

or let's say, a retired FBI
agent that put the Chicago

mob together with the CIA and
came up with the operation

to kill Castro.

Through that
relationship, the plans

were made for the
execution of the president

on November 22, 1963.

NARRATOR: The CIA
had already been

successful in plotting
to overthrow other

foreign leaders in the 1950s.

But, you know, it was loose
cannon, to put it mildly,

for the CIA to be able to do
whatever they damn well pleased.

And there's no
question about the fact

that they were directly
involved with the assassination

of heads of state.

It is clear that
this nation, in concert

with all the free nations
of this hemisphere,

must take an ever closer
and more realistic

look at the menace of external
Communist intervention

and domination in Cuba.

The American people are
not complacent about Iron

Curtain, tanks, and planes less
than 90 miles from their shore.

NARRATOR: After the
Bay of Pigs fiasco,

President Kennedy then took all
covert military actions away

from the CIA.

He put them under the control
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

and shut down most covert
operations against Cuba.

JOHN R. HUGHES: Well, this
was Kennedy's big problem,

and it was a big
embarrassment to him.

So what do you do but
blame somebody else,

you blame the CIA.

So this was, again,
great motivation

on the part of the CIA to try
to eliminate John F. Kennedy.

NARRATOR: On October 3, 1963,
Arthur Krock of The New York

Timeswrote, "if the United
States ever experiences

an attempt at a coup to
overthrow the government,

it will come from the CIA.

The agency represents
tremendous power and total

unaccountability to anyone."

President Kennedy was
also intensely hated

by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover,
who served as FBI director

since its inception.

J. Edgar Hoover, who served
for nearly five decades

as director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation,

had a sordid and tawdry career,
running the FBI virtually

as a private police force.

The man was not above a
blackmail and eavesdropping

and wiretapping and other
surreptitious methods

within the United
States, regardless

of their degree of legality,
to extend his influence

over American life.

NARRATOR: During the
Kennedy administration,

Hoover realized that
he would be forced

to take a mandatory
retirement after the 1964

presidential election.

Hoover also despised
Robert Kennedy, who was

his boss as attorney general.

J. Edgar Hoover
had reached the age

of retirement, proper age
of federal retirement.

And the Kennedys, of course,
despised J. Edgar Hoover,

particularly John Kennedy,
because J. Edgar had

learned about his love affairs.

And so he even had lunch
with him to say, "listen,

I know about your love
affairs, and you want to be

careful that I may expose you."

So here was J. Edgar
Hoover and his dislike,

intense dislike, and
hatred toward the Kennedys,

and they were going
to remove him.

NARRATOR: The ties between
Hoover and the Mafia

were strong.

Although Hoover couldn't
stop Robert Kennedy's Mafia

prosecutions, after
President Kennedy's death,

the prosecutions
of Mafia figures

dropped to almost nothing.

If you watched the mob
and if you watched as far

as investigations against
them, the only time

they were really hurting and
they were being looked at

is from 1960 to 1963.

And that was by Robert Kennedy.

Upon the death of JFK,
basically, the day

after, all the heat was
off of them and the heat

was not back on until
after J. Edgar Hoover died.

NARRATOR: After
the assassination,

Hoover said to his
friend Billy Byars Jr.,

"if I told you
everything I know,

it would be very
dangerous to this country.

Our whole political system
could be disrupted."

The alleged assassin,
Lee Harvey Oswald,

was presented as a lone
nut, but actually had ties

to the intelligence community.

In fact, Oswald was an
ex-Marine and trained

intelligence operative.

The perfect choice for a patsy.

Oswald even recognized
he was being set up.

LEE HARVEY OSWALD: No, they're
taking me in because of the fact

that I lived in
the Soviet Union.

I'm just a patsy.

Whatever role Oswald
may have played,

we didn't find significant
evidence that would establish

a case, let's put it
this way, to prove

beyond a reasonable
doubt in a court of law.

So it was very questionable
the evidence against him

that the Warren
Commission had laid out.

There were a lot of explanations
for questioning the evidence.

The palm print on the rifle, for
example, the Mannlicher-Carcano

that was allegedly
found in the Depository,

the single bullet that
went through the President

and Governor Connally.

There are substantial
questions that

exist when you carefully analyze
the evidence against Oswald.

And at the time that I
was on the committee,

it was clear that
many of us believed

that the evidence was
lacking with respect

to Oswald as the sole gunman.

NARRATOR: How does
this conspiracy

tie back to the Mafia?

One obvious link is
the hidden background

of Oswald's killer, Jack Ruby.

Ruby was a shadowy
underworld figure

who grew up working for Mafia
leader Al Capone in Chicago.

Now, Jack Ruby certainly
worked for organized crime.

I mean, going back to the 1930s,
he was arrested for the murder

of a man named-- or involvement
in the murder of a man named

Leon Cooke, the
secretary of the Garbage

Handlers Union in Chicago.

Well, he was held and
eventually released.

And very soon after
that, he left Chicago.

But this was the mob takeover
of the Garbage Handlers Union.

And Leon Cooke's murder
was part of this.

And Jack Ruby was certainly
connected with that.

Ruby was well-known
to the police

and clearly had
assistance in being

in that position at that time.

MALE REPORTER:
There is Lee Oswald.

[gunshot]

[oswald grunting]

He's been shot.

Lee Oswald has been shot.

There's a man with a gun.

ROBERT MCCLELLAND:
You've seen the pictures

of the man in the big
Stetson hat standing

beside him when he was shot.

And he said, "well, you
know, doctor," he said,

"as soon as that happened and
Oswald had fallen to the floor,

I got down on my hands
and knees over his face.

And he was still conscious.

His eyes were open.

And I said, 'son,
you're hurt real bad.

Do you want to say anything?'

And he looked up at me."

Oswald did, "looked up
at me for a long time,

like he was thinking.

And then after some time,"
I mean, not some time,

but 20 seconds, 30 seconds,
something seemed like a long

time, "Oswald shook his head
slowly from side to side,

like that.

And then lost consciousness."

And that was the end
of his consciousness.

[melancholy music]

NARRATOR: After he was
convicted for the murder

and sentenced to death,
Ruby wanted to talk.

The world will never know the
true facts of what occurred,

my motives.

The people that
had so much to gain

and had such ulterior motive
to put me in a position I'm in

will never let the true facts
come above board to the world.

Are these people in
very high positions, Jack?

Yes.

Then "hey, Jack.

Here's a chance to be a hero.

Here's a chance to
go down in history.

You killed the
horrible evil monster

who murdered this young,
dynamic, popular president.

You'll be a hero, Jack.

Forget trial and execution.

They'll give you parades
and put wreaths on your head

and around your neck.

You'll be acquitted.

They'll say that you were
mentally insane at the time.

You just lost it
for that moment.

Don't worry, Jack, we'll get
you the very best attorneys.

You'll be out of there.

And nobody will be a bigger
hero in America than you."

They had a perfect setup.

Perfect.

But Jack Ruby was anything
but a little minor player.

The Warren Commission
said they could find

absolutely no links between
Jack Ruby and any member

of organized crime.

The House
Assassinations Committee

went to the extreme measure
of just simply looking

at his telephone records,
and found something

like 52 calls in the month
prior to the assassination

to major mob figures
all around the country.

Jack Ruby did not act
as a grieving US citizen

when he killed
Lee Harvey Oswald.

One of two things is
the probable answer.

Number one, either he was
ordered by mob superiors

to do it, and he did
it without any chance

of resisting this order.

He couldn't refuse, number one.

Or number two, Jack
Ruby had been involved

in this from the
very, very beginning,

and Oswald somehow
knew it and could

have blown the whistle on Ruby.

Now, if you were a Ruby
and you had been involved

in the murder of the
president, which would

you rather take the chance with?

Being accused of
shooting the president

or getting the guy
who was accused

of shooting the president?

The answer is very simple.

His easiest way out
is to shoot Oswald

and go for public sympathy.

It's that simple.

I think that in the
field of organized crime,

I think it's a very
serious situation

that's facing the country
at the present time.

I think a lot of steps
can be taken in order

to deal with the problem.

I think it's gotten
much more serious

over the period of
the last 10 years.

NARRATOR: Let's turn
to the Mafia's passion

to eliminate President Kennedy.

They certainly had plenty
of reasons for revenge.

Losing millions of dollars
through the closing

of their Cuban businesses
was bad enough.

But there were other
reasons, more personal ones.

When Bobby, as
attorney general,

ruthlessly cracked down on
organized crime, whose very

existence had been
denied in the past

by the director of the
FBI, J. Edgar Hoover,

the mob felt as though
it had been betrayed.

In the spring
and summer of 1963,

according to credible federal
witnesses, three major Mafia

figures were all
discussing plots to kill

John and Robert Kennedy.

NARRATOR: For Sam Giancana, his
connection to the Kennedy family

went back to the 1920s
when JFK's father,

Joseph Kennedy, kept a
secret bootlegging business.

While selling liquor
during Prohibition,

Joseph Kennedy crossed into
territory belonging to the mob.

Joe Kennedy made a lot of
money in the liquor industry

when he gained evidently
inside information

about the end of
prohibition, and got

a lock on the importation of
Scotch from the British Isles.

This made Joe Kennedy a
fabulous sum of money.

There are also a lot
of stories about Joe

as having been involved in
bootlegging during Prohibition.

Without any doubt, he was an
extraordinarily controversial

man, very powerful,
willing to put

his money where his ideas were.

And he, of course,
aggressively promoted

the political
aspirations of his sons.

NARRATOR: Members
of the Mafia were

offended and took out contracts
to eliminate Joseph Kennedy.

As a favor to
Joseph, Sam Giancana

was instrumental in
removing those contracts.

Sam felt that Kennedy
owed him a big favor.

When Joseph's son was
running for the presidency,

a new promise was made.

Joe Kennedy promised
the mob the White House.

You elect my son, and
the White House is yours.

Well, what do they did?

They thought they
elected his son

because Illinois is the one that
flipped it in West Virginia.

Well, who flipped
it in Illinois?

None other but Chicago.

And they felt like they
got Kennedy elected.

So when Bobby steps
in, they felt betrayed.

NARRATOR: Giancana felt he had
helped John Kennedy get elected

through the workers unions,
which were controlled

by the Illinois Mafia.

In return, Giancana felt
the Kennedy brothers would

honor their father's promise.

However, Attorney
General Robert Kennedy

increased Mafia crackdowns.

The Top Hoodlum Program
targeted leaders

like Sam Giancana of
Chicago, whose life

was made miserable with
the continuous monitoring

of his every move.

What happened in six
months is that when

Sam Giancana got up
to go to the bathroom,

FBI agents went with him.

And it was a
lockstep arrangement,

which was so over the top
that Sam Giancana got through

in the legislature,
as a matter of fact,

that this must not
ever occur again.

It was removing
his privacy rights.

There were a lot of
reasons why, of course,

Sam Giancana wanted to eliminate
Kennedy, but that started it.

ROBERT KENNEDY: Is there
any question in your mind

that Mr. Goldblatt is
a Communist, Mr. Hoffa?

JIMMY HOFFA: I don't know
whether he is or not,

but that isn't the question.

And I'm not dealing
with Khrushchev,

I'm dealing with Goldblatt.

And I deal with Goldblatt like
our Secretary Herter deals

with Khrushchev--

NARRATOR: Jimmy Hoffa, head
of the Teamsters Union,

also found himself pitted
against the Kennedys.

Although there might be some
question about Mr. Bridges,

there is absolutely no
question about Mr. Goldblatt.

Don't you say
that I'm a Communist

or even affiliated with one.

You said that enough
around this country,

and I want the American press
to know that I resent the fact

that there is any inference
that I'm a Communist,

that I'm associated with or
controlled by communists.

And don't use this
as a sounding board

for headlines for that purpose.

NARRATOR: Hoffa never forgot
Kennedy's public criticism

and carried a grudge.

Mafia Don of New
Orleans, Carlos Marcello,

whose territory also encompassed
the South and Dallas,

had plenty of reasons
to hate the Kennedys,

especially Robert Kennedy.

Marcello and his
lawyer were together

when he signed up, as
he had to every year,

in immigration office.

He walked out of the office,
and Bobby Kennedy and Bobby

Kennedy's guys picked
him, both of them up,

Mike Maorun was his name, and
took them to the New Orleans

airport, put on to a plane, went
a whole way to Guatemala City,

put onto a bus, and driven into
the jungles of San Salvador.

Left there to die.

NARRATOR: Marcello almost
did die, but managed

to escape and harbored
intense hatred and resentment

against the Kennedy family.

For Santos Trafficante, his
anger against the Kennedys

went beyond the millions of
dollars lost from his destroyed

Cuban gambling casinos.

He also didn't like
to see his associates

in trouble because
of the Kennedys'

crackdown on mob leaders.

And so Santos Trafficante
was real upset with Kennedy

for having made sure
that the Bay of Pigs

was a disaster and
therefore his fortune,

his empire still was
in the hands of Castro.

NARRATOR: Trafficante
confessed, "Bobby

Kennedy made life miserable
for me and my friends.

I think Carlos Marcello screwed
up in getting rid of JFK.

Maybe it should
have been Bobby."

In recent released
evidence, retired CIA agents

reported that a plot to
kill President Kennedy

was being planned.

An abort team, of which
Oswald was undoubtedly one,

was supposed to
stop the killing.

Obviously, it didn't work.

There is probable cause here
to go beyond the evidence that

is gathered.

There is reason for
a reasonable person

to believe further in-depth
investigation is required,

and that this
investigation is required

not only to answer the
questions that are in millions

of the minds of
the American people

to this very day
of what happened.

The impression that I
was under at that time,

we were flying a
team into Dallas

to abort the assassination.

And John Roselli was on
board that flight, as well as

a couple of other
Cubans and people

that were connected with
organized crime in New Orleans.

I said, "how come Johnny's
not going to be a shooter?"

He said, "well, he
doesn't want to go

against the orders of the CIA."

He said, "what he wants to
do, he wants to call off."

He said, "he flew in
here as an abort team."

He said, "they flew a plane
here, specially with him on it

to tell us to call it off."

We had been told that an
incident was going to be

created, which could
be laid at the door

of the pro-Castro Cubans.

The word "attempted
assassination" was never used.

We assumed that because of all
this light-loaded ammunition,

that probably somebody
was going to maybe

take a shot from somewhere.

Johnny's a little
bit paranoid on this.

He says, "the CH
called the hit off."

He said, "they don't
want the hit to go down."

And I said, "what do you say?"

Chuck's exact words
were, "fuck 'em.

It's going anyway."

The objective was
to stop the ambush.

We had prior knowledge that an
attempt was going to be made.

The information that
came down earlier,

that the attempt was going to be
made outside the Adolphus Hotel.

And for whatever reasons, it
was changed at the last minute

to the Dealey Plaza.

The Dealey Plaza would
have been the most

logical place to
make an ambush style

hit at cross triangulation.

At the time of the
shooting, the minute

all these shots
were fired, we knew

that something had gone awry.

We didn't know why, but from all
the screaming and carrying on,

we knew that there had been
one hell of a bad incident.

And at that time, it
ran through our mind

that, hey, we've gotten
ourselves into something

that's way over our head.

And then the shots
came out, and that's

when all hell broke loose.

And at this point right here,
I remember seeing Kennedy's

head go way back like that.

And Sergio turned to me.

He said, "oh my
gosh, we effed up.

Let's get the hell out of here."

And so at this point,
I turned like this

and then made a step
to come up and around.

And Sergio was about
right along here.

And we went up here.

There was a gentleman down
here in a parked car, a truck.

As we got to about this area,
he hollered something to Sergio.

Sergio was maybe
a little bit down.

He says, "it looks real bad."

And that might
have been something

how that story about the
conspiracy being called off

at the last minute may
have been something that

led Lee Harvey Oswald to
walk into the situation he

was in as a Patsy.

To be there that day when maybe
he wasn't going to be there

if the assassination was
going forward and other things

and probably led to him
leaving the School Book

Depository like he did, I think
that the original plot was

that he was going to be killed
there in the School Book

Depository, and he wasn't going
to get out and go, you know,

go to Oak Cliff or
to the Texas Theater.

I have felt--

I always felt a
sympathy for Oswald.

And I just don't feel it's
right that he would be--

or his children should be
stuck with that stigmatism.

That's all.

At the time Kennedy
died, a certain spirit,

a certain essence of
what it means to be

an American passed with him.

And has left an
impression on the psyche

of the American people that
exists to this very day.

[film projector whirring]

NARRATOR: The Soviet Union/KGB
assassination theory, a theory

that suggested President Kennedy
was killed by assassins hired

by French-Corsican drug dealers
who had the backing and support

of the American Mafia.

The theory's strongest
merit is that the Soviet

Union and KGB came
to this conclusion

about Kennedy's death.

VLADIMIR SEMICHASTNY
[INTERPRETED]:

My feeling is that
there were the big money

of taxes, the magnets.

But who was used by them
in the concrete situation,

whether that was
FBI or CIA, that I'm

not in a position to discuss.

But it was definitely
the result of Kennedy's

efforts to find better
relations with the Soviet Union.

You can call that an
American coup d'état,

but I would think this was
simply an effort to those forces

to substitute Kennedy with a
more forthcoming president,

and Lyndon Johnson was
exactly that kind of person.

NARRATOR: While the world was
in shock over the assassination

of President Kennedy, Premier
Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet

Union, stunned by
JFK's death, feared

there would be a
backlash against Russia

and that they would be
blamed for his murder.

He authorized the KGB to
perform their own investigation.

VLADIMIR SEMICHASTNY
[INTERPRETED]:

Judging by the footage,
it did look like the shots

had come not only from the
rear and out of the window

somewhere in the
Book Depository,

but also from the front.

Well, in my opinion, the first
impression that it was a very

well-planned assassination
in which participated

more than one people.

NARRATOR: The KGB discovered
that a contract had originated

out of Marseille, France,
with French-Corsican drug

dealers working with elements
of the American Mafia.

ILYA SEMYONOVICH
PAVLOTSKY [INTERPRETED]:

Kennedy was shot by a
professional assassin hired by

French and Vietnamese agents.

Our group found that the
Corsicans hired French hitman

Michel Mertz, sometimes
known as Jean René Soutre,

to carry out the assassination
with the cooperation

of the American Mafia bosses.

NARRATOR: It should be
noted that the KGB performed

their investigation and
came to a conclusion

about the assassination well
before the Warren Commission

issued their findings.

Then are you a Marxist?

Well, I have studied
Marxist philosophy

and also other philosophers.

But are you a Marxist?

I think you did admit on
an earlier radio interview

that you consider
yourself a Marxist.

Well, I would very definitely
say that I am a Marxist.

That is correct.

But that does not mean,
however, that I'm a Communist.

NARRATOR: They first
focused their investigation

on Lee Harvey Oswald.

Based on their knowledge
of his background

and their experience with him
during his time in Russia,

they did not feel that
Oswald had the competence

to pull off the assassination.

VLADIMIR SEMICHASTNY
[INTERPRETED]:

He was just a mediocre
kind of an individual.

He was just an
ordinary American.

ILYA SEMYONOVICH
PAVLOTSKY [INTERPRETED]:

My group, the special
section for analysis,

concluded that President Kennedy
was not killed by Oswald.

There was a lot of difference
of opinion in the KGB,

but one thing we all
agree that was Oswald

was too incompetent
to pull this off.

NARRATOR: But Oswald's
time in the Soviet

Union cannot be overlooked.

Oswald has a 201
personnel file with the CIA,

and of course, they don't
have files on just anybody.

They have files on people
that they work with.

But the purpose of his
mission seems to have been

to stop the Paris peace talks.

Khrushchev was a psychotic,
no question about that.

Oswald goes over there,
gives the Soviets

the information about
the U-2 spy flights, gets

Francis Gary Powers shot down.

This whole mess infuriates
Khrushchev so much he calls

off the Paris peace talks
and the CIA-backed Cold War

goes on and on and
on for years to come.

That seems definitely to have
been what the situation was,

and that was Oswald's mission
and why he was sent there.

And Oswald claimed, you
know, to people privately,

like Judyth Vary Baker, that he
was an agent of the government.

And it seems to me that he was
and that he had to be silenced.

I believe the original plan was
for Oswald to have been killed

that day, November
22, '63, in the Texas

Theater where he was arrested.

There was a scuffle and there
was some shouting and a gun,

and this and that, and
he just got arrested.

But I think he was supposed
to have been killed that day.

And when he wasn't, I
think these conspirators

were in a real panic.

And Jack Ruby was brought in
two days later to kill Oswald.

NARRATOR: The KGB also conducted
their own ballistic tests

using a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle
to duplicate the JFK shooting.

Their findings coincide with
many American experts' beliefs

that Oswald could not
have fired that many

shots from the
Mannlicher-Carcano

within a 5.6-second time frame.

Professional marksmen
of the highest caliber

were unable to replicate
Oswald's result.

And in my judgment,
he would have

been unable to
perform that feat even

with the world's best weapon.

The question is
not, can you get off

three shots in 5.6
seconds, or 8 seconds,

or any other number of seconds?

The real question, and the
one that they never ask

is, can you get off those
first two shots in 1.6 seconds?

The acoustics tape, their
sound recordings of the shots,

and the Zapruder film both
show exactly, completely

matching 1.6 seconds apart.

The FBI, the military, the
House Assassinations Committee,

every group that's ever
investigated this has found

that the minimum, the
very fastest, minimum time

to fire that weapon twice
without even taking time to aim

is 2.3 seconds.

What does this mean?

Two shots were
fired from behind.

Too close together to
come from that weapon.

NARRATOR: In 1963, America was
involved in Vietnam as advisors

and provided military
aid and equipment

to South Vietnam, headed
by President Ngo Dinh Diem.

When a CIA-backed
coup of the regime

resulted in the death of Diem
and his brother, Ngo Nhu,

the flow of heroin
was slowed, affecting

the lucrative drug trafficking.

And it angered the Mafia
bosses in Asia and the US.

Although Kennedy
backed the coup,

he didn't intend for
Diem to be killed.

As a result, President Kennedy
became their prime target.

Diem's death was
just three weeks

before JFK's assassination.

The Corsican Mafia
leader, Antoine Guerini,

upset by the flow of heroin
now coming out of South Korea,

turned to the American
mob for support.

He had close ties with Mafia
boss Santos Trafficante,

Carlos Marcello,
and Sam Giancana,

who also benefited and stood
to lose from the disruption

of the drug supply.

Any one of them would have
had no problem assisting

with the assassination plot.

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV [INTERPRETED]:
The Warren Commission,

I think, either was
unable to learn the truth

and to complete
the investigation,

or they decided to
conceal some of the truth

based on what they saw as the
vital interest of the nation.

Whatever has been written more
recently about John F. Kennedy,

about his personal life, and
some personal weaknesses,

I hold that he was
a great president.

He had great plans
for the future,

for the future of
the United States,

and the world that had great
promise for the entire world.

The world could have turned
out quite differently

if those plans were realized.

And my question
is, was this really

to the liking of some
people, both in your country

and perhaps in our
country and elsewhere?

That's my question.

[film projector whirring]

Over 60,000 documents
and records were

withheld from the American
people on the grounds

of national security.

They were bottled up by the
Warren Commission for 75 years.

But if the government's
official story is true,

if Jack Kennedy was
killed by lucky shots

by a lone demented
assassin, then there

was no national security aspect
to the assassination, which

can only lead to the inference
that those documents and records

were withheld because of
what they might have revealed

about the true causes of death
and the factors that were

involved in bringing it about.

[tense music]

NARRATOR: The Mafia,
a theory suggesting

that President Kennedy was
killed by Mafia hitmen.

Throughout the 1950s and early
'60s, the Mafia's relationship

with the CIA had
allowed them to be

incorporated with
coups and assassination

plots around the world.

The Mafia was
extremely powerful.

During the time of
the assassination,

they ran police
departments, cities, state.

They were-- their
network of corruption

went to the highest levels.

And I think it's
pertinent to note

that J. Edgar Hoover himself
had very suspicious direct ties

with organized crime.

I mean, this is well-documented,
accepted history

that Hoover met with
New York Mafia boss

Frank Costello, several
times around the years

of the assassination.

So they had penetrated
the head of the FBI,

and that obviously had
serious consequences

for how the investigation
was conducted.

NARRATOR: This
relationship with the CIA

provided easy
resources for the Mafia

to organize potential
teams of assassins

to help carry out
their own agendas.

It's really difficult for
an American to think this

and to say it, but there
was a period in our history

when you couldn't tell where the
CIA ended and the Mafia began.

The CIA utilized the
Mafia in assassinations

that the CIA planned.

NARRATOR: The Mafia was
originally working with the CIA

to try and eliminate Fidel
Castro under the program

called Operation Mongoose.

Well, Operation Mongoose
was the ill-conceived,

almost idiotic plan
to assassinate Castro,

in which they decided of
the plans that they had had,

the one that ended up with
Mongoose was the most ridiculous

of all in which they
started, they decided

they would use organized crime.

Feeling, I guess, that
organized crime is

skillful at that sort of thing.

They may be certain types of
assassination they're good at,

but other types they're not.

But never came to fruition.

I think that organized
crime entered

into it simply because
they wanted to get

little leverage on the CIA.

They had recruited, among
others, an Air Force officer

by the name of Edward
Lansdale, who had collaborated

with the CIA in
conducting assassinations

in many parts of the world.

In any case, these
repeated efforts

to kill Castro
were unsuccessful,

and there is strong reason to
believe that one of these teams

was actually used
in Dealey Plaza

to take out Jack Kennedy
under the supervision

of the same man,
Edward Lansdale,

they had recruited
to take out Castro.

NARRATOR: This
access to information

put them in a unique position
to take action against JFK,

with the confidence
they could get away

with it without retaliation
from any government

investigative units,
including the FBI.

When you speak of the mob,
they're one and the same

as far as the CIA at
that particular time.

They're more really
CIA than the mob.

I think it's my
opinion that the mob

utilized these particular mob
people for the hit on JFK.

NARRATOR: Over the
years, investigation

into the assassination
of President Kennedy

has resulted in the
declassification

of many internal government,
FBI, and CIA documents.

Unique and different from any
previously disclosed operation,

the plan for a coup in
Cuba was authorized by JFK

and run by Robert Kennedy.

The CIA's codename
for their supporting

role in the coup was "M-World."

The CIA arranged for a leading
figure in the Cuban government

to assassinate Fidel Castro.

The death of Castro
was to be followed

by an armed invasion of US
military-trained Cuban exiles.

These men would
have been veterans

of the Bay of Pigs operation.

The Senate
Intelligence Committee

documented that the
CIA and the Mafia

worked in partnership
to try to kill Castro.

The CIA enlisted the
help of the Mafia

in various assassination
plots, and they both had--

the mob certainly
had their own motive

for trying to get rid of
Castro based on the fact

that Castro had kicked them
out of their Cuban rackets.

NARRATOR: By linking Kennedy's
death to the top secret plan,

the Mafia chiefs could
present a proper investigation

into the assassination.

They were confident that
any such exposure could

push America to the brink of war
with Cuba and the Soviet Union.

I believe that historians
will conclude that Jack Kennedy

navigated this nation
through the most

treacherous shoals
in its history,

where nuclear war
was in the offing.

And without his wise
judgment, notwithstanding how

it may have been
interpreted as others,

he saved the world
to live another day

and avoided World War III.

NARRATOR: Within days
of the assassination,

associates of Robert Kennedy
said that Bobby thought

Carlos Marcello was behind
his brother's death,

but he didn't want to reveal
what he knew to the public

or to the Warren Commission
without C-Day being uncovered.

The role the Mafia may have
played in JFK's assassination

clearly had affected the
fate of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Lee Harvey Oswald has a
very, very long intelligence

background, going
back to officially

anyway, to the time when
he was in the Marine Corps.

He was sent to Atsugi Air Base.

He had a higher
security clearance

than his own commanding
officer, which is extremely odd.

When I wrote my book, The Search
for Lee Harvey Oswald,which

is his biography, the
hardest time I had

was dealing with his
military background

because he always appears
to be in more than one place

at the same time.

Sometimes thousands
of miles apart.

But the same guy, the same
Marine private, the same number,

the same Social Security number,
everything, but parallel careers

identically at the same time.

And some of that period of
time, he's in the Marines,

but he's also a
civilian and being paid

as a civilian in other places.

There's whole gaps within
his military career.

He becomes deactivated.

Then he comes back
to Dallas, gets

a job 5 weeks before the
assassination in the Texas

School Book Depository.

The motorcade route is
changed to put it to go

by the depository building.

Bingo, Oswald is
blamed for the crime.

The rest is history.

It's classic.

So it shows you this
thing, this entire matter

was programmed.

I don't need to get
paranoid and become

an incredible conspiratorialist
as Warren Commission

defenders like to call us in a
derogatory, denigrating fashion.

Just stand back.

Anybody who knows a
little bit about the law,

about investigation
of criminal cases,

and so on, anybody with
basic intelligence in America

knows that this is not the way
that things should be done.

And anybody who would think
a little bit about the case

for one moment would say that
it would not have been possible

simply from the standpoint
of accumulation of evidence

and the collection of knowledge,
vis a vis the entire case,

to have permitted them
to say within a few hours

that they had solved the case.

Anybody would know that.

I came into contact with a man
by the name of Joe West in 1992,

who was a private investigator
in Houston, Texas.

I read an article in
the local newspaper

here, discussing
the assassination

of President Kennedy and his
basic theory on what happened.

And in this article,
he mentioned

two individuals by
the name of Chuck

Nicoletti and John Roselli.

And this piqued my interest
enough for me to call

this particular individual.

At which time, I told him about
the comment of James Files,

and made the statement
to the effect

that if the American people
really knew what happened,

they wouldn't be
able to handle it.

To know what teams
were present there,

it's really hard to know.

There's been allegations
of Mafia teams.

There's a gentleman at the
time of this filming named

James Files who's in prison.

He claims to have been
the grassy knoll shooter,

and that he was working
for the Chicago mob,

in particular Sam Giancana
and Tony Accardo, who were

the head of the Chicago mob.

At the same time, he claims to
have had affiliations with David

Atlee Phillips and the CIA,
and that he was working

for both of these people.

Is he telling the truth?

We really don't know.

He could have been.

NARRATOR: To reinforce
the Mafia hitman

theory, witness the
confession from former Mafia

associate James Files.

Files states that
he was in Dallas

on the day of the
assassination, with Mafia

leaders Rosselli and Nicoletti.

Additionally, he claims
to have been the shooter

on the grassy knoll.

Motorcade come down.

I believe that's
Main Street there.

Come down on Houston.

Turn back around on the
Elm there, and come down

that little side drive there.

When they come down and
made this first right,

that's when I brought
the weapon up.

And then I'm over the fence
and as they come down,

made the turn on
down there, that's

when I started focusing through
the scope and following the car.

I've got this sign there for the
Simmons freeway that is fixing

to come into my field of fire.

At this point, either I shoot
or I can put it in a suitcase

and leave, one or the other.

I took the shot.

After the shot, I knelt
down, put my weapon back,

put the fireball back into
the case, the gun case,

closed it back up.

And as I stood back up to walk
away, I looked over the fence,

and at this point, I saw
Jackie Kennedy crawling

out on the back end of the car.

And when she picked up--

I figured she had to be picking
up a piece of John F. Kennedy.

But I've seen a lot
of people might say,

you can't see nothing
through a scope.

But I'm going to
tell you something.

When you see something burst,
his head like a watermelon,

you're going to see
pieces of stuff flying

in different directions,
and people are

going to be splattered by it.

Joe West died.

He passed away never knowing
that I was one of two shooters

there in Dealey Plaza that day.

Joe West never knew I
was on the grassy knoll.

But I believe Files and I am
a person that has been involved

with medicine,
with some accurate

kind of data, namely
electroencephalography

and epileptology.

And so I live a life of skill
and precision and accuracy,

and I have to, doing what
I do, and so I believe

100% of what Files says.

I do, and I feel
100% that he was

the man that really shot the
shot that really killed Kennedy.

There was a photograph taken
by Mary Moorman, a bystander

from the south
side of Elm Street.

Mrs. Moorman took this black
and white Polaroid photograph

at the exact moment of the fatal
shot to the president's head.

What it shows has been a matter
of debate for years and years.

It shows what may
be 2 to three people

on the grassy knoll firing
or potentially firing shots.

We're talking about a man who
was standing 8 feet to the west

of the corner of
the stockade fence,

and he's blocking
our view to the sky.

What's the irony there?

The irony is that the
acoustics evidence

that the independent blind
test of the sound recordings

of the shots show that a
man would be at exactly

that spot during the shooting.

When the scientists gave
their testimony about that,

they had not seen
the photograph.

They didn't know he was
there in the photograph.

This is the man who
killed the president.

[film projector whirring]

MALE REPORTER: The assault
has begun on the dictatorship

of Fidel Castro.

Cuban Army pilots
opened the first phase

of organized revolt with bombing
raids on three military bases.

Two of the B-26 light bombers
then seek asylum in Florida.

On the heels of the air raids,
landings were affected by rebels

at several places
on the Cuban Coast,

and the rebellion against the
red-tinged dictator was on.

To understand the John
F. Kennedy assassination,

you have to understand Cuba.

And that's not to say
Castro or the Cubans did it,

but that I believe the Cuban
connection in this whole case

is the key to understanding
what happened.

NARRATOR: The CIA/anti-Castro
Cuban conspiracy,

the theory that renegade agents
from the CIA and anti-Castro

Cubans could have worked
together in carrying out

the murder of John F. Kennedy.

When Kennedy did
the deal with Castro

following the Cuban
Missile Crisis, that where

we agreed or the United States
agreed that we would not

continue our attempts
to overthrow Castro,

I think that as far as the Cuban
exiles in the United States,

they were working with
the Mafia and the CIA,

that was what led them to just
turn around these assassination

teams they already had
trained and ready to go to use

against President
Kennedy, sad to say.

[mysterious music]

NARRATOR: Both groups were
upset with President Kennedy

over the handling of the
Bay of Pigs Invasion,

as well as other CIA-backed
anti-Castro actions.

[tense music]

During the Bay of
Pigs Invasion, Kennedy

realized the political
backlash that

would result if he
endorsed Nicaragua's air

support to back-up the
anti-Castro Cubans.

At 1:30 in the afternoon
on April 15 in 1961,

Kennedy issued an edict that he
was going to permit the B-26s

to fly out of Nicaragua
to support the anti-Castro

Cubans to take back Cuba.

And so the whole thing
became a disaster,

because Kennedy had
rescinded the original edict

that the B-26s were to
take off from Nicaragua.

NARRATOR: JFK resented the
CIA's military promises

to the Cuban exiles
without his approval.

He was angered when the CIA
not only misjudged the support

they'd received from the
Cubans, but also the effort

needed to get a foothold
into the country.

I am convinced that the
plan was a bait and switch,

that everyone knew the operation
had no chance of success,

but it was going to place the
young, inexperienced president

in the difficult position of
allowing the United States to be

embarrassed by its
failure, or by sending

in the United States Marines.

He wisely chose not to
send in the Marines,

but it was an embarrassing feat.

NARRATOR: He was also unaware
that Cuba's secret agents

had infiltrated the CIA.

They leaked information
to the Cuban government

that an attack
was being planned.

The invasion went forward only
because the CIA assured Jack

that there would be a popular
uprising to overthrow Castro,

and that the these forces
would almost certainly

meet only light resistance.

And if they encountered
difficulties,

they would disappear
into the mountains

to conduct guerrilla warfare.

However, they were
actually landed in a swamp.

Castro had obtained information
that Soviets had secured

at least a week in
advance as to the date

of the invasion,
which everyone knew

except for the
commander-in-chief.

The forces had not been
trained in guerrilla warfare,

and Castro handily
rounded them up forthwith.

The invasion was
an abject failure,

grossly embarrassing the young
president of the United States.

NARRATOR: Without
the backup by air,

114 Cuban exiles
were killed and 1,189

were captured and tortured.

The cause for the
CIA's anger was

that Kennedy's
actions threatened

the agency's survival.

In 1962, John F. Kennedy ordered
the CIA to stop assassination

attempts against
Castro, but the CIA

ignored the presidential order.

First of all, the CIA had
no known budget, meaning it

was unlimited many
billions of dollars.

nobody seemed to have any
knowledge of how much was ever

spent and how much was
ever given to them,

but it was open book for them.

But it became clear to a
certain members of Congress

that the CIA may have been
involved with the assassination

of heads of state.

So Senator Frank
Church from Idaho

decided that he would put
together a committee on this.

And so he had a
committee hearing on it.

And even General Schneider
of Chile was assassinated,

and we had Diem from
Vietnam assassinated,

and Lumumba of the Congo
was assassinated, all

through the efforts of the CIA.

NARRATOR: According
to Senator Smathers,

Kennedy said he had to do
something about the CIA

and warned that the
agency needed to be

stripped of its extreme power.

Kennedy's actions
infuriated both the CIA

and the anti-Castro rebels.

Even though JFK took public
blame for the failed invasion,

he privately blamed
the CIA and threatened

to destroy the agency.

This created shockwaves
throughout the CIA that

were just unbelievable
and did not

make Kennedy, who was basically
a brand new president,

very young, 43
years old, did not

make him friends with the CIA.

He privately told
people he was going

to scatter the CIA
into a thousand pieces

and scatter to the winds.

He was not pleased.

NARRATOR: JFK fired
Director Allen

Dulles, who later
became appointed

to the Warren Commission.

And discharged General
Charles Cabell, whose brother

served as the mayor of Dallas.

Cabell, a Lieutenant
General in the Air Force,

would return to the Pentagon,
describing Jack Kennedy

as a traitor to his country.

Ironically, Cabell was
born in Dallas in 1903.

His brother Earl was
born near Dallas in 1906,

and became the mayor
of the city of Dallas

in 1962, in which capacity
he not only supervised

ceremonial activities and
motorcades, but the police,

the Department of
Police, in which capacity

I believe he would have had
a role in determining what

route the motorcade would take.

NARRATOR: In August
of '63, Oswald

participated in a
pro-Castro campaign

in New Orleans that
lasted 12 days.

He was caught on television
cameras as he passed out flyers.

The flyers were
stamped with an address

that matched the same building
as ex-FBI agent Guy Banister.

The stuff that
Lee Harvey Oswald

was doing that summer seemed
to be intelligence-related.

Now, there's a lady that's come
forward named Judyth Vary Baker,

who claims to have had a
relationship, an affair

with Lee Oswald that summer.

She was a chemist and
she was a biologist,

and she's alive to this day and
she very strongly will tell you

that Lee Oswald was an agent
of the government on a mission

to help kill Castro.

So that his stance really
wasn't pro-Castro, and that

in conjunction with
the mob and the CIA,

they were planning on
getting rid of Castro.

And when that plan fell through,
it seems like the wheels started

turning and said, if
we can't get Castro,

we're going to kill Kennedy.

NARRATOR: These actions
created a public record

of an Oswald-Cuban connection.

But none of this information was
shown to the Warren Commission.

In order to create
a case against Oswald,

the Commission had to
believe in credible witnesses

and disregard
believable witnesses.

It had to accept evidence
that had been fabricated

and exclude evidence
that was genuine.

The Warren Commission,
unfortunately, did not

fully investigate this case.

Even President Ford,
who was a former-- who

was one of the commissioners,
indicated that they should have

involved themselves with the
anti-Castro Cuban connection,

which is a significant
connection to the case in that

anti-Castro Cubans had a deep
and abiding hatred for President

Kennedy, regrettably,
because of the whole Bay

of Pigs fiasco that occurred.

And they blamed
President Kennedy

for not giving air
support to that invasion

that was planned before
President Kennedy took office.

There were a lot of
connections of we--

we found out from
our investigation

of Lee Harvey Oswald involved
with anti-Castro Cubans.

And CIA personnel
involved with Lee Harvey

Oswald and anti-Castro Cubans.

So that was a very, very
important area to look into.

At the time I left
the committee,

that was probably
the most productive

area of our investigation.

And that doesn't mean that I'm
saying that the CIA was involved

with the assassination.

It simply means that that
should have been probed.

President Ford has so indicated,
and that was just one area,

a major area, significant area,
that the Warren Commission

didn't do its job
properly, and it

didn't really report to the
American people honestly.

And that, of course, to me,
was a big negative about what

the Warren Commission has done.

NARRATOR: By 1963, relations
between the US and Cuba

were improving.

Some anti-Castro forces
regained faith in Kennedy

after his conciliatory
actions, but rogue elements

remained embittered.

In September 1963, Castro
publicly warned the US

about American leaders
not being safe if they

thought they could kill him.

Without doubt, the
course of history

was altered by the death of JFK.

The principal reason
for taking him out

appears to have been to put in
place the policies of Lyndon

Johnson, in lieu of
those of John Kennedy,

apart from the motive of
revenge or retribution

on the part of
anti-Castro Cubans,

who believed they
had been betrayed.

NARRATOR: President
Kennedy took several more

steps to upset the status quo.

He shut down exile
activities staged from the US

and made secretive overtures
of peace to Castro.

These actions, combined with the
pent-up anger over the failed

Bay of Pigs operation
and the failure

to invade during the
Cuban Missile Crisis,

further enraged
members of the CIA

as well as anti-Castro Cubans.

Many officers felt
Kennedy had betrayed them

and their Cuban exile allies.

When he negotiated in 1962 the
settlement of the Missile Crisis

with Cuba, and found a
settlement with Nikita

Khrushchev that didn't
force us to go to war,

he was a hero to some people,
but to the right-wing Pentagon,

military people, and CIA people,
and especially the anti-Castro

Cubans, he really
blew his chance

in their minds and he
was portrayed as being

very soft on communism.

It is clear that the
forces of communism

are not to be underestimated
in Cuba or anywhere else

in the world.

The advantages of
a police state,

its use of mass terror and
arrest to prevent the spread

of free dissent
cannot be overlooked

by those who expect the fall
of every fanatic tyrant.

If the self-discipline of the
free cannot match the iron

discipline of the mailed fist in
economic, political, scientific,

and all the other
kinds of struggle,

as well as the military,
then the peril of freedom

will continue to rise.

There are many
reasons to believe

that the powerful forces,
institutional and otherwise,

that were responsible for
the death of Jack Kennedy,

continue to exert
their malevolent

influence upon American
government and world history

to this day.

[film projector whirring]

PIERCE ALLMAN: One
witness says he definitely

was shot, that he was hit
twice, that he saw the president

slump in his seat.

As I say, this is not
confirmed at this time.

From where I am, the
police have two witnesses.

They are bringing them in now.

I'm in the Texas School
Book Depository building.

They're bringing some
witnesses in now.

We will try to learn further
and relay word to this station.

Why is it so important?

It's so important because
if it happened 40 years ago,

it could still be
happening today.

Having worked people for
my career, I know people.

One lie leads to another.

If you lied about
it, then you got

to lie about it 10 years
later to cover up the lie

that you said 10 years before.

So it's a constant lie.

Texas still has an
unsolved murder case.

In my personal opinion, that the
attorney general for the state

of Texas should immediately
empower a grand jury,

giving them full authority
to investigate a murder case

and basically cover the
leads, gather the evidence.

If people need to be
charged, charge them.

And basically, what
I'm telling you is let

the chips fly where they may.

If there's evidence to show
that there was a conspiracy,

even if there was a conspiracy,
forget the government cover-up,

the American people
need to know.

It's part of their history.

It's part of being an American.

This man was killed in
front of God and everybody.

It was a public execution.

And they need to know.

And beside that, don't you think
John F. Kennedy needs to know?

Wouldn't you want
to know if somebody

put a bullet in your head?

From Dallas, Texas, the
flash apparently official,

President Kennedy died at
1:00 PM Central Standard Time,

2 o'clock Eastern Standard
Time, some 38 minutes ago.

[melancholy music]