Both of these videos come from an infamous series that aired on the History Channel, The Men Who Killed Kennedy. You're welcome to watch the other episodes on YouTube, if you like.
Episode 4, "The Patsy," examines the problematic evidence that implicated Lee Harvey Oswald.
Episode 9, "The Guilty Men," is no longer sold as part of the DVD collection. When you watch it, you will see why: It directly implicates Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and his Texas oil buddies in the assassination.
If you are wondering which of the other episodes to watch, might I recommend Episode 7, "The Smoking Guns"? :-)
In comparing Oswald's Ghost and these two videos it is very hard to believe that Oswald was the only assassin if he was in fact the assassin. Oswald's Ghost leaves out basically all the information said on these two videos, most importantly "The Patsy". The first video has a lot more hard evidence proving Oswald's innocence such as the "magical palm print" of Oswald on the gun found right after he died, versus Oswald's Ghost where the speakers try to make you see things from an emotional level. One of the women in Oswald's Ghost, Priscilla says its wrong for us to think that Oswald could not do this on his own and that he would take orders from somebody else, well last I checked that doesn't make somebody guilty of a crime.
ReplyDeleteConcerning LBJ killing JFK, that also does seem like a possibility if the speakers in the video are in fact correct. There does seem to be motive, means, and opportunity; but as said in class there could have been many other people like that. I think one of the biggest evidences is when the mistress of LBJ admits that he proclaimed that the Kennedy's would shame him again. That proves his hatred toward JFK, and that hatred plus all the crimes that he needed to stay buried could have definitely lead him plan the assassination of JFK.
In comparison to Oswald’s ghost, these YouTube clips provide more emphasis on Lee Harvey Oswald’s life story. The first clip refers to previous jobs that were held by Oswald and how they contributed to his possible association with the assassination. Guy Bannister was mentioned to be in constant contact with Oswald and Oswald was seen visiting him during his lunch hour. Oswald would sit in Guy’s office and browse through gun magazines. He was particularly interested in how to order guns which might suggest that Oswald was capable of carrying out a murderous act.
ReplyDeleteIn Oswald’s ghost it referred to the brown paper bag that Oswald was seen carrying. However, in the YouTube clip it stated that it would not be possible for Oswald’s riffle to have fit into the bag due to its length. An interesting revelation in this case was brought up by the mortician that placed Oswald to rest. The question arose as to whether or not Oswald’s body was the one actually buried in the casket. When they dug up the casket years later it appeared to have been disturbed and unsealed. The mortician noticed that there was no autopsy on the head of the corpse. He remembered clearly that when he laid Oswald to rest, there had been autopsy markings on the head. This leads one to question why anyone might have disturbed the body and what motive did they have to even do such a thing.
In the second YouTube clip, Linden Johnson was portrayed as the individual with the most motive to want JFK killed. Johnson was identified as being a ruthless character who would not stop at anything to become a senator. His political career was based on corruption which may lead one to question to what extent Johnson would go to achieve complete political domination. It was brought up that Malcolm Wallace who was known as being associated with Johnson, may have had a role in the assassination. Wallace’s fingerprints were found in the depository but disregarded by federal agents and were claimed as not being his. Ultimately, with all the different perspectives shown by individuals interviewed and the different evidence mentioned, it leads to even more questions as to who had the most motive to want JFK assassinated.
All these videos are quite convincing about that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone. Numerous of the evidences and the testimony from the witnesses have been manipulated in order to make the official explanations sound more valid. The video clips suggest that there must be some power force behind the scenes, and tried so hard to cover the truth of the assassination.
ReplyDeleteThe first video interviewed the people knew Lee Harvey Oswald, and let the audience know that he is one of the most ordinary people in their life. He enjoyed being a father and around his children. Even though he acted a little different when he heard the news, that president would come to Dallas, but it can’t demonstrate that he is the assassin. In the last video, the reporter’s article had been changed before the publication, and the changed article suggested that it was possible that there was only one wound in the president. It was contradict with what she had been told during the interview with the two principal doctors who examined the president Kennedy’s body. Also the windshield with bullet hole had been changed secretly. It is obviously that some secret power existed during the entire assassination, and tried to manipulate the public.
The key point is who can take advantage from the death of President Kennedy might be the actor of the conspiracy. If you believe the content in the second video, then this is your explanation of the assassination. In comparison with the film we watched in the class, the second video clip only focused on the vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and his Texas oil buddies in the assassination and kind of ignored the other possibilities of the truth.
It is tough to compare the theories in these videos due to the fact there are such a plethora of differing theories which claim unequivocally that they are right. There is such a wide spectrum of issues to look at to try and figure out the truth. Oswald's Ghost focuses heavily on the different mechanics before spewing many different conspiracy theories in order to seem the official story seem more plausible. The Patsy did a good job of telling the story form beginning to end before drawing conclusions. There are so many contradictions within many aspects of the evidence, it is nearly impossible to decipher the truth from the lies. Unfortunately eye witnesses are a dime a dozen and are very unreliable. These painfully ordinary and simple people have their moment of fame and tell their story which of course is what actually happened. "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell. I found The Guilty Man was off-putting at first because when speaking about an issue that has been and still is a mystery for so long that it was almost offensive that they so unequivocally believe they knew the truth. It is trying so hard to convince you that it paradoxically turns you against it. Most of these theories are based on real evidence, but from there are taken away form evidence and into opinion. What is difficult is that there is too much to be able to see the whole story, especially to do so unbiasedly. It is fascinating and frustrating to wonder if we will ever know the full truth about a tragedy that happened so long ago.
ReplyDeleteCompared to Oswald’s ghost, the first video (Episode 4, “The Patsy”) goes into more depth with what Oswald did during the day of the assassination and what happened after his own death. This episode goes more into depth with how Lee Harvey Oswald’s day started, and how he progressed through the day. They even had a few eyewitnesses from that day to go in depth with what they saw. The second video clip (Episode 9, “The Guilty Men) refers to a man named Lyndon B. Johnson and how he had the motive to eliminate Kennedy in order to gain more power.
ReplyDeleteFrom watching Oswald’s ghost, I would think that Oswald would have somehow been able to act alone. It seemed like he was capable of doing most things on his own even when some parts did not make sense. For instance, I kind of wondered as to how he was able to escape the depository building so quick after the shooting.
After watching the first video, I was starting to question as to how Oswald was able to travel around town quite fast. After watching the second video, I started to think that maybe Oswald did not act alone or he simply was not the culprit. Lyndon B. Johnson was connected to a man named Clark who was able to plan the assassination. Johnson did have the motive because of his hatred towards Kennedy, and he also wanted more power, so in conclusion he could have also been the assassin.
From watching Oswald’s ghost (and from the lectures we have in class), the video did not really go into depth with Lyndon B. Johnson, so when I watched the second video on the blog, it makes you think more about the possible suspects and it does not completely revolve around Oswald.
One of the biggest flaws of Oswald's Ghost was how they, not unlike the Warren Commission Report, place a large emphasis on Oswald's past. They set a background of Oswald to try and convince viewers that he was a man capable of pulling of the assassination of JFK. While that information is valuable and pertinent to argument, it does not provide any proof or evidence of the actual event that took place. It merely tries to make the viewer think, how was it not Oswald.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, Oswald's Ghost failed to acknowledge other theories on what might have happened. This has been a common theme for the 'lone assassin' theorists. These groups and individuals fail to acknowledge the witnesses who believed they heard another gun or that the pieces of the evidence do not add up to Oswald being the only shooter.
What makes the assassination so troublesome and so widely argued, is the fact the there are so many possible theories and explanations for what might have occurred and who might have been in on the assassination. Furthermore, most of these theories are able to provide very strong arguments to back their case. I personally am a believer that there certainty was more to the assassination and if Oswald murdered Kennedy, he did not do it alone. However in saying that, I find myself being so persuaded with each different theory I am exposed to. Oswald's Ghost, while bias, made some very strong points that could explain Oswald as the lone assassin. On the other hand, seeing what transpired after the assassination and who benefited from it, it certainly makes me question whether or not the CIA, President Johnson, the Mafia, etc. had some involvement.
With so much inconclusive and tampered evidence alongside the multitude of individuals and groups who may have wanted Kennedy dead, it makes it very difficult for me to grab on to one idea or theory and feel confident that it is the truth. There is so many different discussions and possible explanations out there now, that as soon as start to lean toward one idea, some other explanation refutes that idea, and another refutes that one in an almost ongoing circle of uncertainty.
With Oswald's Ghost they put a great emphasis on certain parts of Oswald's past that show that he could be capable of performing an act such as the assassination. It used parts of witness testimonies to back this up but seemed to mainly use testimonies that support the official story and were pssoibly influenced by it. The first video goes even deeper into his past and what he was doing that day and features more complete witness testimonies.
ReplyDeleteIt discusses how he was honorably discharged from the Marines before he decided to be a defector and move to the Soviet Union at which time it became a dishonorable discharge. It discussed his time it New Orleans and Jacksonville and how he was going for an electrical job at the mental hospital in Jacksonville. It goes on about what kind of man he was at home and how great he was with the children of the neighbourhood. It also highlights the fact that it would have been nearly impossible for Oswald to have done everything that he reportedly did after the assassination had taken place.
The Second video creates a very convincing case against Lyndon Johnson and his associates and makes it seem likely that Oswald was most definately just set up as an easy scapegoat to cover up what they had done. He had a large amount of hatred towards Kennedy as did his firends in the Texas oil business. There was also the matter of all the crimes committed that could of put LBJ in prison for a very long time that he didn't want Kennedy to let out. With such a motive and the power to pull of the assassination with the ability to easily cover it up and add it to his list of crimes, it makes it seem like LBJ and his people would be the most likely to have carried out the whole thing. This is mentioned in Oswald's Ghost but never really explored as if the creators of the documentary wished to dismiss it a an actual possibility.
In the first video, “The Patsy”, they introduce Lee Oswald as a suspicious looking man, maybe not of killing the president but of anything. But many people knew he was a nice man, very good with children. This idea of Oswald being “the patsy” of JFKs assassination is hardly even explored as a reasoning in Oswald’s ghost, moreover the idea’s that Oswald had every intention and capability to do so, although before his death he never got to express what he knew. The man who used to drive Oswald to work had made a testimony about Oswald that morning, including some information about the brown paper sack. Oswald’s ghost seems to not include the fact that the bag was said to be around 2 feet long yet the rifle, even when taken apart, was 3 feet long. The rifle could have not fit in the bag, rather Oswald’s ghost runs with the idea that this bag contained the gun he used to shoot the president with. Another thing omitted from Oswald’s ghost that is discussed in the first video, another employee of the school book depositary had seen Oswald on the second floor where she was just a few minutes before the shooting, yet the limousine with JFK and senator Connolly was a minutes late. If Oswald was not even waiting up on the top floor how was he able to know when the president would drive by? This video also includes some extra information on officer Tibet. In the Warren Commission report, it said that the man later discovered to be Oswald was walking East on tenth street, yet eyewitnesses had concluded he had been walking West. This idea creates an issue because to this day it is unsure exactly what happened to the officer, as the bullet did not correspond with Oswald’s gun. These types of details are abruptly left out of the Oswald’s Ghost video. Suspiciously there was a visit to the funeral home where Oswald was, later they found a smudged palm print on the rifle. Before laying him to rest they removed the ink off his hands that they used to get prints before he was put in the ground. Another interesting fact in the first video is the Barber Oswald went to, to go get his hair cut had mentioned at the time that he was looking for a job. The barber then sent him on his way and recommended who should talk to about getting a job at the mental hospital, both of these men said they had waited for the FBI to contact them or question them, which never happened. Later they used this scapegoat to say it was for the fact that Lee was not mentally well, this is false along with the fact that he was communist, as analyzed in the first video in this blog. This video looks at many facts of Oswald, the rifle used, along with many details that are left out of the video Oswald’s ghost. Many people consider the conspiracy if he was the lone gunman but it is never looked upon that maybe he was not the one who shot and killed the president. This video also does not take the stance that Lee Oswald was the murderer of JFK but rather that he was completely innocent, unlike the Oswald’s Ghost video.
ReplyDeleteI felt that Oswald's Ghost and these videos portrayed stories from complete opposite ends of the JFK assassination; one video focuses entirely on Lee Harvey Oswald and how he is the only possible suspect, and the other set focuses on how he wasn't the assassin.
ReplyDeleteI found that in Oswald's Ghost every speaker was completely dead set on how Oswald was the only possible assassin, it did hint that he may not have acted alone though. The conspiracies seemed to focus on whether or not someone had put Oswald up to killing JFK, nothing to do with how Oswald could have been innocent. The Men Who Killed Kennedy offered the idea that Oswald did not do it, or at the very least did not act alone. It was a different view, one that I felt was more sympathetic to the science at hand.
I also found that Oswald's Ghost portrayed a good relationship between JFK and LBJ whereas the other videos didn't necessarily take the same stance. Oswald's Ghost made LBJ look like he tried everything to get to the bottom of JFK's death, but the other videos made it seem like that was more for show.
I think that all of the videos provide compelling stories for both sides of the argument but that may not have been the main intention of the videos. I feel that the videos were trying more to get somebody to see a specific point of view, theirs, but instead shed light on a bunch of incoherent ideas that do not line up and end up providing more questions than answers.
The second video, The Guilty Men, is first introduced by Johnson’s attorney stating that Johnson did in fact kill JFK in order to become the next American president. Lyndon Johnson had be called Landslide Lyndon, also Lyin’ Lyndon. The reasoning behind this is because when he won the senate votes were added for him. This was the beginning of the corrupt politics by Johnson and his ruthless actions. The video looks at many aspect of Lyndon Johnson’s past before the assassination of JFK and the corruption of it. Including the murdering, not by him but by his friends, of people and how they were legally able to get out of it. This video evaluates that Lyndon assassinated JFK through Clark in the corruption for power. Lyndon in this video is analyzed as being involved with many influential rich oil folk, were as JFK wanted to decrease the allowance to the oil industry. Although JFK seemed like he was a very happy and liked man many, many people were against him pulling out of Vietnam; Lyndon and his corruption being involved in that. JFK did not want Lyndon to be the Vice President; in fact he believed he should be in jail. They had to save Lyndon by killing JFK. In many ways this video looks at many motives such as the one mentioned above that lead to the belief that Lyndon Johnson was completely associated with the assassination of President Kennedy. Johnson had said the words, “Those Kennedy’s will never embarrass me again”, to his lover and mother of his child. This women who declares that she knows that he was involved in the assassination of JFK as depicted in the second video. This video makes the audience believe it was in fact the Vice President and his affiliates who had every motive to kill JFK, in Oswald’s ghost it is analyzed rather that Oswald had every motive to do so. Although Lyndon Johnson does have direct ties to as to why he would have killed the president were Oswald would only do it because he could. These two videos are very different in the facts they point out, in my opinion the facts towards Lyndon and his motives behind the assassination are much more believable from the second film and how they depict the evidence rather than Oswald’s Ghost and how they depict Oswald’s motives.
ReplyDeleteThe video Oswald's Ghost we watched in class talked about many different theories that surround the assassination of JFK. There are many questions that people want answers to.
ReplyDeleteThe answers they would get would it be straightforward, they would just become a mystery.
With all the information given in the video it was almost like they were telling you who committed the crime and that he was the only possible person.
The video " The patsy" focuses on who Oswald was and his history leading up to that day.
The people that shared the information in the video were people that knew Oswald personal like his co-workers and the friend that drove him to work the day of the assassination. The video made Oswald out to be a good person and the way he acted that day was normal.
The video " the guilty man " talks and about a man named Lyndon Johnson and how he was the one who killed JFK. They made it seem like he did the crime so he could become the next president. This made it look like Lyndon Johnson was the one who also started the corruption of the politics. The information shared made it sound like Johnson and his friends could commit crimes and get away with it.
When you look at all the information shared in the three videos it is very hard to compare them to each other due to all the theories that surround the assassination of JFK.
In the first video "The Patsy" it brings forth many aspects of the JFK assassination that make it improbable that it was Oswald or at least that he did it alone. There are a lot of real facts that question if Oswald is guilty, and also the discrepancies between all the different eye witnesses. At the conclusion of this first video its seems as though most of the people feel Oswald was not responsible for the assassination. In fact many of them seem to believe he is absolutely and completely innocent with no involvement at all . The brown paper package he supposedly carried his rifle in was only 2 feet long when the gun was 3 feet so it wouldn't have fit. Nobody working with him noticed anything odd about him that day. And just minutes before the president drove by he was actually seen by a coworker on the 2nd floor when he should have been upstairs waiting for the president to drive by since they were actually late driving by. There are a lot of different variations on what happened by the witnesses. There simply does not seem to be enough time for him to be everywhere that he was supposedly seen at. There are varying witness accounts of many aspects of how Oswald looked and where he went after the shooting of the police officer. Also the rifle was never connected to him until after his death when a palm print was mysteriously discovered. There is a possibility that while he was in the funeral home that he was finger printed so it is possible that palm print was placed on there after his death. When Oswald's casket was brought up later to prove it was actually him who was buried there it seemed that the casket had been previously disturbed and there is a chance that it wasn't his head in there because there was no evidence that an autopsy had been performed and the head found within the casket.
ReplyDeleteThe second video "The Guilty Men" focusses on the possibility that it was all planned by Lyndon B. Johnson to get him into office as president. LBJ seems to have many connections to questionable situations throughout his career. Just the fact that it would be pretty impossible for such an average person like oswald to achieve something as huge as the assassination of the president on his own without the support of people with power sheds some guilt on LBJ. LBJ had many connections to rich and powerful people who definitely would be able to pull this off. Johnson's mistress seemed quite certain that he was linked to this. He was overheard saying "those Kennedy's will never embarrass me again. That's no threat that's a promise." I feel that this theory is possible but have trouble believe that it actually happened this way.
In comparing the two videos with Oswald's Ghost, it is shown that these programs have very polar viewpoints on the matter. In Oswald's Ghost it is shown that people were just looking for an intricate answer to the assassination, rather than the simple story of the lone gunman. In the end it is concluded that all of the conspiracy theories were beginning to get out of hand, and couldn't even be linked to important individuals without sounding artificial (such as the code breaking). Yet in the two videos, it is shown that many pieces of evidence are ignored in the case of Oswald's defense.
ReplyDeleteThese include character accounts from co-workers and neighbors, the misinterpretation and confusion of the events that transpired that day including officer Tippet (Killed my automatic rounds, not revolver rounds), and the impossibility of his actions such as proceeding to the lunchroom almost instantly after the assassination while keeping a rather calm and controlled demeanor.
Without looking at Oswald there is one more possible candidate for the assassination, and that is Lyndon Johnson. Johnson would obtain an increase in power, and many of his close allies and associates would be drastically hurt by the policies Kennedy was presenting. Not only this, but Malcolm Wallace had his fingerprint found at the book depository.
Putting these conflicting viewpoints together it is undeniable that this is case is highly mysterious. Many pieces of evidence are ignored in both sides, and that is not even including the evidence completely mishandled by the police. Where there is forensic evidence, there is barely a motive, and vice-versa. Adding all of these factors together we will most likely never find a clear answer until those classified files are eventually released to the public.
After watching these three videos, it became very clear that the general public was completely convinced that Oswald was the assassin of President Kennedy. I personally don't think Oswald assassinated the President, I think he was framed.
ReplyDeleteIn Oswald's ghost, he was portrayed to be the type of person that had the motivation and drive to kill someone. When he attempted to murder the retired General in his home and barely missed his head, it probably proved something to himself: the fact that he's only an average shot to start with, and probably shouldn't try something like that again. Another reason I think he was framed was that a different type of bullet was discovered on Governor Connolly's stretcher than the one that was presented from the Warren Commission. The "magic bullet" was round tipped, and had striations on the casing indicating that it had been previously shot. I don't think a bullet could pass through two bodies, make 7 wounds, break 3 bones, and still look perfect. Another reason that this was most likely a cover-up is the fact that the Warren Commission purposely discarded the testimonies of the 26 people that had physically seen President Kennedy the moment he was wheeled into Parkland Hospital and all of them saw a massive hole in the back of his head. They were told they were wrong, and yet the 3 pathologists that had next to no experience operating on bullet wounds all saw a hole in the top of his head. Those 3 and the rest of the higher ranked officers watching the autopsy were said to be correct in their assessment. While all of this was going on, Oswald was making his way to the movie theater, and was fingered for being the killer of a police officer, yet almost a dozen people contested that fact and said it was a different person all together. Yet these people were still proven wrong, and it was Oswald that was still the killer of both.
Combining the information drawn from the other two videos show that Oswald was most definitely framed as the assassin, but it can't be determined who framed him. It could have been the Vice President, a member of the CIA, the FBI, or maybe it was a family issue. The President's wife may have had a hand in her husband's assassination, maybe it was RFK that wanted his brother dead. The fact of the matter is that we may never know exactly how the events of the day transpired, but I do know one thing for sure: the general lack of proper handling of evidence, the contamination of a crime scene, and failing to uphold state laws on murder were all factors in allowing the true assassin to get away with murder.
The main difference between the two videos and Oswald’s Ghost is that the videos cover theories and point of views that Oswald’s Ghost doesn’t really seem to touch on. We are also presented with testimony from witnesses and people that were there, some of which were very close to Oswald. Also, Oswald’s Ghost, while it discusses possible conspiracies surrounding the assassination and Oswald, still maintains at its conclusion that Oswald acted alone. These two films from the History channel do not make such a conclusion, or any really, they instead portray the different possibilities along with interviews of people that were there and seem to let you make a decision on what to believe in the end. I found Oswald’s Ghost felt more like an exploration of the ‘culture’ behind the JFK conspiracy theories rather than actual proof and evidence of what happened.
ReplyDeleteIn the first film, Patsy, we saw a quite in-depth analysis of Oswald, including interviews with him and the many around him, especially during his time in Texas. There were also interview with some police from that day as well. It was particularly interesting to see the man who gave Oswald a ride that day to the Texas School Box depository talking about the package Oswald had with him (“curtain rods”) and that he thought it was about 2 feet long, and so not long enough to carry the gun that was found later. Also of interest was the fact that when the police found Oswald in the break room, he seemed calm and normal, despite the fact that at that time he was there he would only have had 90 seconds to hide the rifle, and then climb down 4 flights of stairs to get to that room. There were some matters regarding his personal life: the defection to Russia and the return to the US, especially during that time period, as well as the potential connection to Guy Banister, and other things. Essentially what I got from the film was Oswald wasn’t quite the person he was made out to be by the official story that was played through the media, and he seemed like he could have been the perfect patsy.
The film The Guilty Men was a look at Lyndon Baines Johnson and the men connected to him, along with the possibility that they were the ones who perpetrated the assassination. In Oswald’s Ghost, we didn’t really see much of that; there was an acknowledgement that he was seen as a more chief suspect because of his position as the successor of Kennedy, but that was about it. The History Channel film showed there was so much more to it than that. LBJ’s career in politics early on had some corruption and scandal involved, and the people he dealt with and who he kept close to were involved in a lot of it. These multiple scandals began to threaten LBJ and his career as they began to catch up to him in the early 60’s. The film then goes on to show that J Edgar Hoover, Johnson, rich Oil Men from Texas, as well as the CIA had a lot to lose if JFK stayed alive, so the suggestion is made that he must die. Some of the people interviewed such as LBJ’s attorney and mistress seemed sure that LBJ at least knew of the plot against JFK. The other curious matter was that later after the assassination, the people who could have been involved in LBJ’s circle died off one by one, perhaps before they were able to ‘talk’.