It’s been over sixty years. Honestly, if you walk into any bar in America and bring up November 22, 1963, you’re going to get a dozen different answers. Some people swear it was the CIA. Others are convinced the Mob did it because Bobby Kennedy was turning up the heat on organized crime. You’ve even got the folks who think LBJ had a hand in it to secure the presidency. But if we’re looking at what the official records and forensic science actually tell us, the answer is both simple and incredibly messy.
Who was the killer of jfk? Technically, the history books say it was Lee Harvey Oswald. But "technically" is a heavy word in this context.
The Official Verdict: One Man, One Rifle
The Warren Commission, established by Lyndon B. Johnson just a week after the shooting, spent nearly a year digging through files. They looked at 25,000 interviews. They combed through ballistics. Their 888-page report, released in 1964, was pretty definitive: Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
Basically, they concluded that Oswald took a 6.5mm Mannlicher-Carcano rifle up to the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository and fired three shots. One missed. One hit Kennedy and Governor John Connally (the famous "Single Bullet Theory"). The third was the fatal head shot.
Then things got weird.
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Oswald was killed by Jack Ruby on live TV two days later. No trial. No testimony from the suspect. Just a dead gunman and a nation left wondering why a former Marine who defected to the Soviet Union would suddenly decide to take out the President.
The Plot Thickens: The 1970s Shift
By the mid-70s, the public wasn't buying the "lone nut" story anymore. The Zapruder film had finally been shown on national television, and people saw Kennedy’s head move backward. It looked like he was hit from the front—the "Grassy Knoll."
In 1976, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) took another look. This is where the story splits. They actually agreed that Oswald fired the shots that killed Kennedy. However, they dropped a bombshell: they concluded there was a "high probability" of a second gunman. This was based on acoustic evidence from a police motorcycle's radio that supposedly caught four shots instead of three.
Later, the National Academy of Sciences looked at that same audio and basically said, "Wait, that’s just radio static." So we went from one shooter to two, and then back to one again, depending on which scientist you asked.
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Why Lee Harvey Oswald Still Fits the Physical Evidence
Despite the countless movies and books, the physical evidence against Oswald is kind of a mountain.
- The Rifle: The Mannlicher-Carcano found on the sixth floor was traced back to a mail-order purchase made by "A. Hidell"—an alias Oswald used.
- The Palm Print: Investigators found Oswald’s palm print on the rifle's barrel and on boxes near the window.
- The Tippit Murder: Shortly after the assassination, Oswald shot and killed Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit. He was caught in a movie theater with the revolver used in that shooting.
- The Walker Attempt: It turns out Oswald had tried to assassinate retired General Edwin Walker months earlier using the same rifle.
If he was framed, it was the most elaborate frame-up in human history. They would have had to plant his prints, his rifle, and somehow get him to flee and kill a cop.
The Nuance: Was He a "Patsy"?
Oswald himself famously shouted, "I’m just a patsy!" while being paraded through the Dallas Police headquarters. This is the seed for almost every conspiracy theory. Did he pull the trigger? Most forensic experts today—using modern 3D modeling and laser scanning—say yes. The shots are physically possible from that window.
The real question isn't usually "did he do it?" but "did he do it alone?"
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Even if Oswald was the trigger man, the files released over the last decade show how much the CIA and FBI were watching him. He had been to the Soviet Union. He had visited the Cuban and Soviet embassies in Mexico City just weeks before the hit. The government knew he was a potential threat and, for whatever reason, he wasn't on the Secret Service's radar that day in Dallas. That failure, more than a second gunman, is what fuels the fire.
What Actually Happens Next?
If you're trying to get to the bottom of this, don't just watch movies. Movies are for drama.
- Check the National Archives: They have been releasing thousands of previously redacted documents since 2017. Most don't show a "smoking gun" conspiracy, but they do show how disorganized the intelligence agencies were.
- Look at the Forensic Reconstructions: Modern ballistics studies, like those from NIST, have mapped the "stretcher bullet" (CE 399) and shown that the Single Bullet Theory, while it sounds crazy, is actually consistent with how those specific military-grade bullets behave.
- Read the HSCA Report: It’s more nuanced than the Warren Report and acknowledges the "conspiracy" possibility without naming specific names.
The truth is, we may never have a "confession" from a mastermind. But the evidence points to Oswald being the killer of JFK, even if the world around him was far more complicated than a single man in a window.
To dive deeper into the actual science, you should look up the 2021 NIST digital preservation of the assassination bullets. Seeing the 3D scans of the lead fragments really changes how you view the "magic bullet" myth. It’s also worth reading "Reclaiming History" by Vincent Bugliosi if you want the most exhaustive breakdown of the lone-gunman evidence ever put to paper.