Essay: Lee Harvey Oswald

Lee Harvey Oswald is regarded as the person who assassinated one of our most beloved
president. Oswald in New Orleans, Louisiana was born. Oswald would serve in the United States
Marine Corps. He would later after discharge from the military defect to the Soviet Union where he
would try to renounce his American Citizenship and because he was refused did return to the United
States with a wife Marina and two daughters June and Rachel. Oswald would then obtain firearms and
plot an event so heinous that its effects were so profound that not one person in the United States at the
time cannot still to this day tell you exactly where they were at the time of the event.
The Event took place in Dallas, Texas and is regarded as the birthplace of where America lost
its innocence and is considered the pivotal point in which the nation realized we were no longer
immune from evil people. President John F Kennedy, Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy and Governor John
B. Connally were riding through Dallas Texas in the presidential motorcade when a shot rang out from
the sixth floor of the book repository which was fired by Lee Harvey Oswald. Governor Connally
would survive his wounds while President Kennedy would be pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital in
Dallas texas, He was 46.
Oswald would be apprehended and arrested after the first person to find him following the
assassination; Police officer J.D. Tippet was believed to be shot and consequently killed by Oswald.
He would later be arrested at a movie theater in Oak Cliff Texas after a massive manhunt ensued.
Oswald would be remanded to police custody where he would be arraigned and questioned over the
time period of two days. He would later be shot and killed on live television during his police
transport by Jack Ruby who was a nightclub owner in Dallas Texas who decided he would be judge,
jury and executioner.
The media played a large role in the portrayal of Oswald, Ruby, and other people involved in
not only the events after the assassination of the president but with the airing of the assassination of
Oswald himself. The media was a fairly new form of media that because of the assassination of the
president and the love americans felt for him was not only birthed but the major source of information
for most americans not living in Dallas Texas. The new president Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) was
sworn in beside Jacqueline Kennedy, as well as the receiving of the president’s casket was shown in the
media.
The day of the Assassination was a turning point for media. Walter Cronkite announced the
death of JFK and the media ran with the information. Americans began to tune in to the news as a
source of strength and information in the dark days that followed. America was no longer innocent
and the news helped to facilitate that ideal. Walter Cronkite was tuned into on television by Americans
and CBS was one of the first networks to carry what would be equal today to Fox News Channel or
CNN network. If information was disseminated of the assassinations then this is where most
americans would find information. CBS would air Walter Cronkite crying and announcing that
President Kennedy has died, (Cronkite, 1963).
According to the biological theory of crime, Oswald fit this theory well. It was widely viewed
that Oswald, who that because of a defect of the mind, shot and killed the president. He was seen by
Americans as the evil stranger who was considered to be psychotic. He was relatively unknown by
most Americans and his assassination to this day raises questions and conspiracy theories of his lone
actions (surette, 2011; Time, 1991). Oswald under this theory of crime was not only seen as a
psychopath that killed the president but it was widely viewed that Oswald suffered from something
wrong in his mind that caused him to do the unthinkable and that his problem was his and his alone
and not due to society and its failures.
One of the Frames in media coverage was a blocked opportunity frame. Those who would
write about Oswald would later recount that because of his ill education, wanting to leave the country,
dismissal from the military and coupled with his defection and the refusal of the Soviet Union to make
him a citizen, his inability to maintain substantial employment that he killed Kennedy as a result of
this all that was wrong with his life. The media added to this view of Oswald’s actions. The Warren
Commission would later recount that Oswald was the product of blocked opportunities in their report
and that because of events in his life he assassinated Kennedy as direct result (Surette, 2011).
The claims makers included the general public, people were in shock that president Kennedy
was assassinated and wanted viable answers as to how and why this happened. Walter Cronkite did his
level best to make sure that America knew what and why this terrible event happened which was clear
the night of his broadcast of the killing of JFK (Cronkite, 1963). Other claims-makers included LBJ
who established the Warren commission to resolve the questions of the assassination. In the Warren
Report it was established that not only did Oswald kill kennedy but he acted alone. However,
conspiracy theorists will point out that a shot came from the grassy knoll in Dallas and the the only
recording of the assassination of Kennedy was a film by Zapruder and made public which some
pruport shows the shot that hit Kennedy in the head and Jacqueline Kennedy covering the body of her
husband and Governor Connally suffering wounds. (Tapper, J; Press, 1964).
The consequences of the claims-makers of the general public, LBJ, The Warren Commission,
The news media and others such as Fidel Castro has lead to the establishment of conspiracies. These
conspiracies are still to this day debated on television and in books currently in print. Oliver Stone a
famous producer, Jake Tapper a news blogger and even the news today still buy into these theories of
Conspiracy that Oswald had not acted alone. That there had to be another person and because of the
significance of the event still today has people questioning the Warren report, theories presented
falsely in the Zapruder film and even the media today on the fiftieth anniversary of the assassination of
John Fitzgerald Kennedy contribute to the unrest of the event(Tapper, 2013; Time, 1991).
Social construction of this event has led to actions taken to keep our president being kept safer.
We no longer allow the president to ride in an open motorcade. The secret service has taken absolute
measures to change the motorcade to a safer environment for the president. Because of the
Assassination the president is now not only safer but restricted in his movements when appearing in
public by the Secret Service. (Time, 1991). The consequences of the assassination has not only
influenced public opinion but also contributed and facilitated and promulgated theories of more than
one shooter in the JFK assassination.
The media has and will always be used to suggest reasons as to why crimes happen. The media
itself is responsible for questioning everything and on this fiftieth anniversary of the assassination;
consequently because of the instant nature of media, conspiracy theorists are once again making
themselves heard. News media such as CNN, Newspapers and Bloggers are making their opinions
about the theory of the second shooter heard. This gives ordinary americans a reason to doubt the
Warren Commission Report and establish other theories such as the route of the motorcade was
changed, Fidel Castro killed JFK and other bogus theories. This is due to the fact that maybe
Americans cannot wrap their mind around the fact that not only did Oswald kill Kennedy and a police
officer, but he did in fact act alone.
In conclusion the assassination of John F Kennedy was not only traumatic for America as a
whole, but it ushered in the beginning of a turbulent time in America. The assassination came on the
heels of the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis and forced americans to look for an answer that
would not be found then but is not found now. People are reluctant to accept the facts of the events to
the point where refusal to believe the Warren Commissions report and what the findings present.
Because of this refusal the general feeling of the assassination is that of unfinished business and we
must find a reason why instead of accepting the factual record there has to be another reason. The facts
are: Oswald climbed the stairs of the repository, shot the president and left. He then killed a police
officer when confronted in the street not far from the repository and that Jack Ruby assassinated
Oswald for no other reason than to be judge and executioner (Associated press, 1964).
References
Associated Press (1964). The Warren Commission Report: Report of the President’s
Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
Cronkite, W (1963). JFK assassination: Cronkite informs a shocked nation. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
Surette, Ray. (2011). Media, Crime and Criminal Justice (4th ed.). Belmont, CA.: Wads worth.
Tapper, J (2013). Who killed JFK?. Cnn.com/Blog Retrieved November, 25, 2013.
Time Magazine (1991). So, you want to know, who killed the President and connived in the cover-up? Everybody! High officials in the CIA, the FBI, the Dallas constabulary, all three armed services, Big Business and the White House. Everybody done it ‘ everybody but Lee Harvey Oswald. Time Magazine, Dec. 23, 1991. Retrieved November 5, 2013.