Or was Lee Harvey Oswald the lone shooter, as the Warren Commission concluded?
The Zapruder film and an inadvertent recording made by an open microphone on a police motorcycle during Kennedy's motorcade into Dealey Plaza are the only contemporaneous records of events that day nearly 41 years ago.
They've resulted in nothing but theories, conflicting schools of thought, and the like.
In a way, it's a kind of 20th-century version of the Shroud of Turin: we have something, but what does it mean?
Now a new digital scanning technique is being brought to bear on the Dictaphone belt (above) at Dallas police headquarters that captured the sounds heard by the police microphone.
The Dictaphone belt hasn't been replayed since 1982 because each replay causes wear and damage to the original surface.
So, it sits quietly in a pitch-black, temperature-controlled room in the National Archives, awaiting more advanced technology.
That technology may have arrived, in the form of a digital optical camera which can scan electronically the actual individual grooves of the Dictaphone belt without physically contacting it.
This will create a digital image of the sound patterns, which can then be manipulated to remove extraneous noise and finally determine - perhaps - if there was a fourth shot by a second gunman from the grassy knoll, as the 1979 House commission investigation concluded.
Prediction: the result of the new analysis will not settle anything, but rather, will produce evidence that confuses things even more.
Read Michael Janofsky's story about the new undertaking, which appeared in this past Tuesday's New York Times.
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Tape of Kennedy's Killing Is Getting Digital Analysis
About a year from now, one of the most vexing mysteries in American history may finally be solved: Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone?
Scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have begun work on a digital scanning apparatus that they believe will be able to reproduce sound from the only known audio recording of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas.
The recording was made through an open microphone on a police motorcycle during Kennedy's motorcade into Dealey Plaza, where the president was shot to death.
The sounds were captured onto a Dictaphone belt at police headquarters, but scientific analyses of them over decades proved anything but conclusive, fueling arguments about how many people were actually involved in killing the president.
Article comments
1 - RJ
Personally, I believe there was a second gunperson. And that s/he was either Russian or Cuban. (Gee, why was the communist Oswald shot so soon after his detainment?) And that the Warren Commission came up with the "magic bullet" theory in order to prevent the truth from coming out. A truth that may have led to a nuclear WWIII.
But that's just my opinion.
2 - mike hollihan
The article glancingly mentions recovering sound from decaying Edison cylinders. This is really interesting. The cylinders are in such bad shape that any attempt to play them with conventional needles will destroy them completely. Many are thought to contain voices, speeches and performances from the late 19th century not heard for decades!
3 - TDavid
With the witnesses at the scene seeing smoke on the grassy knoll something happened there.
I think most reasonable people believe that Oswald didn't act alone.
4 - HW Saxton Jr.
Oh Dear God NO! Not more JFK conspiracy theory nonsense. Puhleeeeeeze! Besides,EVERYBODY knows that his murder was committed by a group of three headed ray-gun toting space worms from Planet X who just happened to be in Dallas on a mission to recruit nubile young Tejano high school girls for breeding purposes. They were pissed about getting stuck in traffic on I-35 and decided to blow off a little steam. JFK just happened to be in the way is all. Sheesh!!! Wake up and smell the coffee, Y'all.
5 - Hal Pawluk
To those of you who believe there was a seond gunman, then what?
What's the extension of that idea?
RJ says the second one could have Cuban/Russian, and if there were a second gunman that's certainly possible.
But how about all you others - is HW right?
If not, what? And better yet, why?
6 - RJ
To me, the "magic bullet" theory is laughable. So, there needs to have been at least one more gunman.
Now, why would the Warren Commission lie? There are more than a few possibilities.
They may only have wanted to cover up the fact that the second gunman got away.
Or, maybe they got info from Oswald that it was a KGB hit. And that's why they got Ruby to kill him before the truth could get out. Because, if it was the Soviets murdering an American President, the public would demand war. And that war would probably have gone nuclear. And the US would have suffered enormously (though I believe we would have "won").
After being embarrassed during the Cuban Missile Crisis, it is not impossible that Khrushchev demanded revenge. Or maybe Castro was still peeved about the Bay of Pigs thing. Whatever.
I have no proof, of course. But I suspect my theory is as realistic as anyone else's.
7 - JR
Now, why would the Warren Commission lie?
The "second gunman" could have been a secret service agent returning fire. Anybody in the know would be willing to keep that secret, if only to protect someone who was just trying to do his job.
8 - sam tebet
"Oh Dear God NO! Not more JFK conspiracy theory nonsense. Puhleeeeeeze! Besides,EVERYBODY knows that his murder was committed by a group of three headed ray-gun toting space worms from Planet X who just happened to be in Dallas on a mission to recruit nubile young Tejano high school girls for breeding purposes. They were pissed about getting stuck in traffic on I-35 and decided to blow off a little steam. JFK just happened to be in the way is all. Sheesh!!! Wake up and smell the coffee, Y'all."
Hey, a real comedian! Cool, dude. Now, instead of making a sort-of-comical op-ed, why not try explaining your point-of-view with some facts to back it up, and please, try an intelligent way of doing it.
9 - DrPat
You're a bit late for the party, Sam.
August 7, 2004: The Dictaphone belt hasn't been replayed since 1982 because each replay causes wear and damage to the original surface.
So, it sits quietly in a pitch-black, temperature-controlled room in the National Archives, awaiting more advanced technology.
That technology may have arrived, in the form of a digital optical camera which can scan electronically the actual individual grooves of the Dictaphone belt without physically contacting it.
Joe, do we have any news?
10 - john zdanowski
There are a growing body of people who believe that Gary Mack, is a "bought and paid for" type, and therefore discredits any website that uses his name and opinions. Just thought you'd like to know, if you don't already.
11 - Chris Kent
[edited] I know Gary and I assure you, he is not "bought and paid for...." *rolls eyes*