Where Were You-50 Years Ago Today....

This time of the year the question comes up about where were you on Nov 22, 1963. That was the day that President John Kennedy was assasinated in Dallas, Texas.

I remember that day very well. I was at Chico Elementry school in 5 th grade. My teacher, Mr. Hopkins came into class and his words will always live with me. He said "I am going to tell you something and don't let anyone tell you differently, the President has been shot". Then later he came in and told us that the President was dead. The little boys joked about getting the shooter and a couple girls cried. We were allowed into the library where a TV was set up and news was being shown. I think we were sent home that afternoon..

The next several days our family was glued to the television during the subsequent murder of Lee Harvey Oswald and then the funeral. I remember my dad telling my sister and I to pay attention because someday we may be asked about it.

Today, the news shows are recounting the events and interviewing people who were there when the assassination occurred. The questions always surface about how could Oswald do this and was there a conspiracy? The Warren Commission, established by President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the assassination, concluded in 1964 that Oswald acted alone. And then in 1978, the House Select Committee on Assassinations ended it's own inquiry by finding that Kennedy "was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy".  Who really knows.

So who was Oswald? He was a troubled youth and joined the US Marines in his teens. Trained as a sharpshooter, his time in the Marines was turbulent and after two court martials, he was discharged. He was impressed with Marxism and defected to the Soviet Union. After becoming disillusioned with the lack of opportunities, he returned to the United States with his Russian wife.  He protested against the Cuban blockade and was out spoken against the United States. Was his hatred enough for him to assassinate the President?

Following the assassination, Oswald fled into the residential neighborhoods of Dallas and killed a policeman before being apprehended. Two days later while being moved at the jail, he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby. The reason was never fully known why Ruby killed Oswald and with Oswald dead, his reason for assassinating the president were never discovered.

Could Oswald have acted alone? I think it is very possible. He was a sharpshooter in the Marines and had been seen at a rifle range practicing his shooting in the weeks before the assassination.