He was the youngest man to lead the USA, his lovers might have included Marilyn Monroe, he was the first to use media in his campaigns, and the fourth president of the United States getting murdered. Ladies and Gentleman: the famous John F. Kennedy, as the guest star of our Most Infamous Assassinations series.
Originally from Ireland, the Kennedys escaped during the starvation in the beginning of the 20th century. The family earned a living quick, so the young John attended Harvard University. In 1960, he beat the much older republican politician, Nixon with just 0,2%, and started his regiment on 20 January 1961. He was the first president, who used the media efficiently: his radio speeches and articles reached millions. He was somewhere between politics and popculture, with his famous friend/mistress, Marilyn Monroe, singing Happy Birthday Mr. President, and his wife becoming a style icon and inspiring movies. He was beloved and he is considered to be successful ever since, except for his mistake during the Cuban rocket crisis, that almost led to a 3rd World War.
But all these facts did’t made him as famous as his assassination did, and the scandals surrounding it.
On his way to death
Kennedy got murdered in Dallas, Texas on 22 November 1963. His visit has been a part of his campaign, where he tried to establish his position and placate the different fractions of the Democratic Party. The president was going to a public speech in his open car. When they passed the corner of Elm and Houston Street, shots were fired. Jackie and the governor of Texas got injured, but John got shot on his back, and the bullet escaped around his gorge.
The perpetrator
An employer of the library, from which the shots were fired, Lee Harvey Oswald was suspected to have committed the murder. He got caught that night, in a theater, where he killed a cop too. He had no easy life: he grew up without a father, partly in a penitentiary. In 1963, he was 24 years old. He was known to have physiological disorders as well as a inferiority complex. He spent a few years in the Soviet Union, and ever since he was an active communist.
He never got to know, what the verdict was, since he got murdered two days following the attack. When the policemen brought him to the basement of the police station, a man called Jacob Leon Rubenstein (known as Jack Ruby) jumped out of the crowd and finished him off. He was a bar-owner with Jewish origins, who insisted that his love and respect for the president motivated him to become a murderer himself.
The verdict
Since this was one of the most famous crimes in the American history, a special corp, the Warren Commission was trusted to find out the truth. They declared that Oswald was a lonely murderer with no group or organization behind him. But we have to wait a few more years to be sure, since they encrypted the details of the investigation for 75 years.
However, this assassination was on the covers for years, and the CIA, the KGB and even mafia got accused by the media ever since.
