why was jfk assassinated?

[Garrison]

I think the problem is that if not well handled, it would simply degenerate into sounding like someone writing about an actual conspiracy theory from OTL. If everything was done secretely, you would assume that the timeline would bear little to no overt changes so it wouldn't be much of alternate history.

No sorry I mean a timeline where the conspiracy is revealed in the aftermath, something more akin to Watergate with some minor mistake leading to the whole awful truth coming out rather than the fantasy ubersecret versions the CT's put about.

 

[Snake Featherston]

I think the problem is that if not well handled, it would simply degenerate into sounding like someone writing about an actual conspiracy theory from OTL. If everything was done secretely, you would assume that the timeline would bear little to no overt changes so it wouldn't be much of alternate history.

Or alternately it might be a replay of the John Booth conspiracies against Abraham Lincoln in terms of conspiracies aimed at the life of a President.

 

[SergeantHeretic]

I could see writing such a story i nthe form of a death first, revalation in flashback narrative, of the conspirators in part one followed by part two in which the conspiracy unravels and the conspirators are found out, brught to trial and punished. The story could actually serve as a DECONSTRUCTION of "Conspiracy theories" as such by showing the sheer impossibility of keeping such a thing secret.

 

[hairysamarian]

The story could actually serve as a DECONSTRUCTION of "Conspiracy theories" as such by showing the sheer impossibility of keeping such a thing secret.

A nice idea, but keeping such a topic on the rails, so to speak, and out of banhammer territory probably requires a level of collective discipline from all involved that's, well, ASB.

WAIT! That's weirdly appropriate, isn't it? An AH topic that is itself historically unlikely,

 

[SergeantHeretic]

A nice idea, but keeping such a topic on the rails, so to speak, and out of banhammer territory probably requires a level of collective discipline from all involved that's, well, ASB.

WAIT! That's weirdly appropriate, isn't it? An AH topic that is itself historically unlikely,

Dang now that's some existentialism for your @$$.

 

[metastasis_d]

Fallacy the fourth, Occam's razor is for suckers and sheeple.

Unless of course the conspiracy theorists claim that Occam's razor is on their side.
I'm looking at you, flat earth society!

 

[Garrison]

A nice idea, but keeping such a topic on the rails, so to speak, and out of banhammer territory probably requires a level of collective discipline from all involved that's, well, ASB.

WAIT! That's weirdly appropriate, isn't it? An AH topic that is itself historically unlikely,

The big problem would probably be picking whodunnit; that does have the potential to drrail the whole thing if people start arguing over alternate conspiracy theories.

 

[Emperor Norton I]

• Oswald grew up a lonely child with an uncaring mother who told him he was a burden.
• Oswald was mentally unstable with an inferiority complex and a need to be important.
• This lead to him becoming a fervent Communist to become different and stand out, and hence be special.
• This also lead him to form the "Fair Play for Cuba Committee" so he could stand out against trend and especially conflict with anti-Castro Cuban exiles who would argue with him.
• Oswald's support for Cuba lead him to dislike Kennedy, who had attempted to oust Castro. Kennedy also represented the United States society and its government as he was President.
• Oswald was also a violent man due to his being a sad, lonely man as previously stated, and he beat his wife. He also attempted to kill General Edwin Walker, and was thinking of shooting former VP Richard Nixon when he visited Dallas once, partially from that violent nature, and partially because he wanted to do something to stand out in history to be special, and to be a warrior for his cause.
• Oswald shot Kennedy because of those mental issues and his need to be special, his violent nature, and his want to be a hero for Communism and to go down in history.

Had Oswald lived, he would have continued lying and saying he didn't do it, would have made the trial a soap box for himself and his ideology, saying he was only being targeted because he was a Communist and so on. And because he was lying, he would have been convicted, and either executed or rotting in prison today.

 

[SlickWilly]

Perhaps to lessen Bobby's power! Obviously he was still around but by all accounts the loathing LBJ and RFK had for one another was phenomenal!
Of course the Mafia may have seen it as payback for being turned against despite helping JFK get elected! I haven't really come across much to implicate the Soviets! The chinese in their main paper the next day apparently condemned JFK as a "Wicked, Wicked Man!"

 

[Teshuvah]

Because Lee Oswald killed Sally before Jake Epping could kill him, so the latter undid it.

 

[Wendell]

Every presidential assassin has been a lowlife thug of one sort or another. There's nothing more to read into this.

John Wilkes Booth: Stage performer, traitor, and egotist.

Charles Guiteau: Barrister, fraud, and egotist seeking glory.

Leon Czolgosz: Out-of-work loser.

Lee Harvey Oswald: underemployed Communist wifebeater.

 

[Meerkat92]

Every presidential assassin has been a lowlife thug of one sort or another. There's nothing more to read into this.

John Wilkes Booth: Stage performer, traitor, and egotist.

Charles Guiteau: Barrister, fraud, and egotist seeking glory.

Leon Czolgosz: Out-of-work loser.

Lee Harvey Oswald: underemployed Communist wifebeater.

Weird innit, how complete incompetents can get away with what every America-hating terrorist mastermind would probably give his penis and one eye for the opportunity to carry out? You never expect the stupid ones, do you?

 

[CalBear]

Weird innit, how complete incompetents can get away with what every America-hating terrorist mastermind would probably give his penis and one eye for the opportunity to carry out? You never expect the supid ones, do you?

These assassinations all happened in a simpler time (as did the serious close calls on Ford and Reagan) when terrorism wasn't really a going concern. The reality, however, is that you can always kill someone, assuming you are willing to die in the attempt.

Clinton came within a few minutes of getting blown up during a visit to the Philippines in 1996 by an AQ operative. All that saved him was some radio chatter. He also had the crazy bastard with the Cessna (who attacked the WH when Clinton and family weren't even home) who crashed on the lawn and the INCREDIBLY bold SOB who actually walked up to the White House fence and opened up with a semi-auto AK replica (still can't understand how there wasn't a Secret Service sniper on overwatch, although I bet there is now).

GW Bush also damned near bought in Georgia (the country, not the state) when a would be assassin tossed an anti-tank grenade at the stage where he was speaking. All that saved the world from a Cheney presidency was the fact that the moron with the grenade had wrapped it in a red rag and wrapped it so tight that the spoon didn't release when he pulled the pin and tossed the grenade.

If you spend any time thinking about the subject it is chilling how vulnerable the POTUS, who is supposedly the most well protected person on Earth, actually is.

 

[Emperor Norton I]

Weird innit, how complete incompetents can get away with what every America-hating terrorist mastermind would probably give his penis and one eye for the opportunity to carry out? You never expect the supid ones, do you?

Destruction of order is easy. Maintaining order is difficult.

 

[Grimm Reaper]

I seem to recall that the ultimate goal of the Secret Service detail is the protection of the president, up to and including throwing themselves in the line of fire to shield him even at the sacrifice of their own lives.

Also that if someone is absolutely bent on targetting the president there is far less that the Secret Service can do about it than most people would believe...

 

[Wendell]

These assassinations all happened in a simpler time (as did the serious close calls on Ford and Reagan) when terrorism wasn't really a going concern. The reality, however, is that you can always kill someone, assuming you are willing to die in the attempt.

Clinton came within a few minutes of getting blown up during a visit to the Philippines in 1996 by an AQ operative. All that saved him was some radio chatter. He also had the crazy bastard with the Cessna (who attacked the WH when Clinton and family weren't even home) who crashed on the lawn and the INCREDIBLY bold SOB who actually walked up to the White House fence and opened up with a semi-auto AK replica (still can't understand how there wasn't a Secret Service sniper on overwatch, although I bet there is now).

GW Bush also damned near bought in Georgia (the country, not the state) when a would be assassin tossed an anti-tank grenade at the stage where he was speaking. All that saved the world from a Cheney presidency was the fact that the moron with the grenade had wrapped it in a red rag and wrapped it so tight that the spoon didn't release when he pulled the pin and tossed the grenade.

If you spend any time thinking about the subject it is chilling how vulnerable the POTUS, who is supposedly the most well protected person on Earth, actually is.

I've yet to see a timeline with that POD.

 

[Imperator Novae Zealandae]

Weird innit, how complete incompetents can get away with what every America-hating terrorist mastermind would probably give his penis and one eye for the opportunity to carry out? You never expect the stupid ones, do you?

Make something idiot proof and the world will create a better idiot.

 

[JEDLC]

... I personally believe that JFK's assassin did have a reason to go through with his attempt and ultimate success at tragically ending the president's life.

Whether or not those reasons would be reasonable or intelligeble, to non-deranged individuals is a different matter all together, but still he probably had some kind of reasoning to support his apparent hatred of the President.

Or maybe it was admiration... I don't suppose we will never know...

 

[metastasis_d]

Or maybe it was admiration... I don't suppose we will never know...

Double negative aside , you're right. Fuckin' Jack Ruby.

 

[Wolfpaw]

These assassinations all happened in a simpler time (as did the serious close calls on Ford and Reagan) when terrorism wasn't really a going concern. The reality, however, is that you can always kill someone, assuming you are willing to die in the attempt.

I don't know about that. Radical Leftist terrorism was certainly a major issue in McKinley's day. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 Heads of State/Heads of Government were assassinated by Anarchists between 1890 and WWI.

Along with McKinley's death, we ought not to forget that events like Homestead, Ludlow, and the numerous streetcar strikes created some serious hysteria that became fully manifest upon America's entry into WWI.