A page on the JFK shooting which is one of my hobbyhorses

This page largely but not completely obsoleted by The JFK shooting seen from 2022

One new thought and several old ones confirmed.

The new thought

Someone on Quora (I cannot remember who) recently pointed out that the cover-up (assuming one exists or existed) is itself a crime.

I do not know why this didn't occur to me right from the start. It seems so obvious. To participate in however small a way in the deliberate concealment of the nature or details of a crime is to become an accessory after the fact to that crime.

So, all of those involved are in point of law accessories after the fact to the murder of JFK. Am I missing something?

The Truth Commission

This has enormous consequences so far as the need for a Truth Commission is concerned. In order to get to the facts, it needs to have powers both of amnesty and of confidentiality.

Some old thoughts confirmed

The cover up

Is there really any doubt at all that a cover-up was organised quite soon after the shooting?

The conspiracy theories

There continue to be new theories on how the shooting was organised. These dispute the basic finding of the Warren Commission, that Oswald acted alone in organising the ambush which was to take the life of JFK.

I have even suggested one myself. that perhaps the attempt was intended to fail. This seems to be unique to me at this stage, and has no following. And it seems unlikely even to me. I do think however that when the possible scenarios are listed, this is one that should be listed along with the others.

It is important to distinguish all of these theories from both the cover-up and from attempts to reconstruct the shooting. 

• The shooting did take place, and its details need to be worked out by a credible inquiry. We have not had one yet. See JFK: The Enquiries.   
• The cover-up did take place, and appears to be continuing.
• There may have been a conspiracy before the fact, or Oswald may have acted alone. That's a different question. 

The smokescreen

What I call the smokescreen is really just the more recent parts of the cover-up. Those who wish the facts to remain concealed were still active in the 1990s when the Secret Service destroyed their records rather than present them to the ARRB as required by law. They are in all probability still active today.

And some of them probably have the best of motives. But the national security defence is far past its use-by date. The cover-up is now a festering wound in American democracy. You cannot have democracy without accountability, and nor can you have it without public faith in the system. And both are seriously eroded by the obvious complicity of public officials (including but not only those in the Secret Service who either destroyed their records or at least know who did) in the cover-up.