Who Killed JFK? The Most Popular Conspiracy Theories About The 1963 Assassination

Since President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963, 58 years ago, many have posited alternative theories or conspiracies about what happened.

The official story is that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and fired three shots, two of which hit Kennedy, and one killed him on a motorcade route in Dallas.

Two days after the assassination, nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald while he was in police custody. Ruby was later sentenced to death but died of cancer on Jan. 3, 1967.

Most of the documents related to Kennedy's assassination have been released to the public, but few remain unreleased with Biden extending the deadline from Trump’s deadline of Oct. 26, 2021, to December 15, 2022, citing pandemic-related delays.

The Warren Commission concluded in 1964 that Oswald acted alone and that there was no broader conspiracy.

However, in 1979 the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that a broader conspiracy was probable. It is possible there were two gunmen, there were four shots fired, and those initial investigations by the FBI and the Warren Commission were flawed.

Still, the HSCA commission was unable to show the extent of the conspiracy or which parties were involved. Some groups named by the commission were the Soviet Government, the Cuban Government, anti-Castro groups, organized crime groups in the U.S., the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. All these groups are speculated by conspiracists to be involved in the assassination, and the commission could not rule out individuals affiliated with specific groups being involved.

The CIA conspiracy posits that the U.S. intelligence service was opposed to Kennedy's stance on Cuba and Communism, so they had him killed and used Oswald as a scapegoat. Another conspiracy states that the Mafia worked with the CIA and anti-Castro groups to assassinate Kennedy. That, or anti-Fidel Castro Cubans worked to assassinate Kennedy on their own.

Other conspiracies posit that Lyndon Johnson had Kennedy assassinated over possible plans to have him replaced as vice president. The KGB is also posited as potential perpetrators, due to Oswald’s connections to Russia, the Cold War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis around the same time.

There are many more conspiracy theories about Kennedy's assassinations, with most suggesting a big plot to remove a popular president for different reasons.

Most Americans believe there was a broader conspiracy surrounding Kennedy's death, according to a Gallup poll. On the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's death, a Gallup poll showed that 61% believed others besides Oswald were involved.