20 Fabricated U.S Conspiracy Theories from History People Actually Believe

20 Fabricated U.S Conspiracy Theories from History People Actually Believe

Steve - June 25, 2019

20 Fabricated U.S Conspiracy Theories from History People Actually Believe
President Kennedy with his wife, Jacqueline, and Texas Governor John Connally, along with his wife, Nellie, in the presidential limousine, minutes before the assassination (c. November 22, 1963). Wikimedia Commons.

1. The assassination of John F. Kennedy remains one of the most widely disputed historical events

Serving as the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy exploded to popularity in the 1950s following a glowing performance in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War. Elected at the age of just forty-three, becoming the second-youngest individual to win the Oval Office in 1960, Kennedy’s tenure was marked by a period of dangerous escalation in the Cold War which culminated in the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. During a visit to Dallas on November 22, 1963, however, whilst riding in an open-top motorcade, Kennedy was shot in the head by former Marine Lee Harvey Oswald.

Arrested seventy minutes after the shooting, Oswald was charged with murder before himself being assassinated by Jack Ruby the following day. Whilst the Warren Commission concluded Oswald acted entirely alone, as did a subsequent House investigation, sustained belief in a wider conspiracy remains prevalent. Believed by as many as eighty percent of the American public, despite an absence of evidence supporting these assertions, it has been widely alleged additional shots were fired, that bullet trajectories fail to match up, and that additional organizational support, often involving the CIA or sometimes organized crime syndicates, were responsible for motivating Oswald.

 

Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:

“The Day Reagan Was Shot”, Richard V. Allen, The Atlantic (April 2001)

“In The Secret Service: The True Story Of The Man Who Saved President Reagan’s Life”, Jerry Parr, Carol Stream Publishing (2013)

“An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King”, William F. Pepper Verso Books (2003)

“King Conspiracy Theories Still Thrive 40 Years Later”, CNN (March 28, 2008)

“The Roswell Incident”, Charles Berlitz and William Moore, Grosset & Dunlap Publishing (1980)

“Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO”, Stanton Friedman and Don Berliner, Paragon House (1992)

“The Party of Fear: From Nativist Movements to the New Right in American History”, David Harry Bennett, Vintage Books (1995)

“Catholicism and American Freedom: A History”, John T. McGreevey, W.W. Norton Publishing (2003)

“Hauptmann’s Ladder”, Richard T. Cahill, Kent State University (2014)

“Cemetery John: The Undiscovered Mastermind of the Lindbergh Kidnapping”, Robert Zorn, The Overlook Press (2012)

“The Robert F. Kennedy Assassination: New Revelations on the Conspiracy and Cover-Up 1968-1991”, Philip H. Melanson, Shapolsky Publishing (1991)

“The Killing of Robert F. Kennedy: An Investigation of Motive, Means, and Opportunity”, Dan E. Moldea, W.W. Norton (1997)

“The Other Guy Blinked: How Pepsi Won the Cola Wars”, Roger Enrico, Bantam Publishing (1986)

For God, Country, and Coca-Cola: The Definitive History of the Great American Soft Drink and the Company That Makes It”, Mark Pendergrast, Basic Books (2013)

“Conspiracy Films: A Tour of Dark Places in the American Conscious”, William Donovan Barna, McFarland Publishing (2011)

“Anatomy of a Hoax: The Philadelphia Experiment Fifty Years Later”, Jacques F. Valee (1994)

“Tecumseh: A Life”, John Sugden, Henry Holt and Company (1998)

“Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership”, David R. Edmunds, Little, Brown, and Company (1984)

“October Surprise”, Barbara Honegger, Tudor Publishing (1989)

“Trick or Treason: The October Surprise Mystery”, Robert Parry, Sheridan Square Press (1993)

“Suspicious Minds: The Bizarre, 40-Year History of Elvis Presley Sightings”, Kenneth Partridge, MentalFloss (August 14, 2017)

“Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner”, Michael M. Baden and Judith Adler Hennessee, Ballantine Books (1990)

“A Bullet for Lincoln”, Benjamin King, Pelican Publishing (1993)

“The Lincoln Assassination Conspirators: Their Confinement and Execution, as Recorded in the Letterbook of John Frederick Hartranft”, Edward Steers Jr. and Harold Holzer, Louisiana State University Press (2009)

“A Ship to Remember: The Maine and the Spanish-American War”, Michael Blow, William Morrow and Company (1992)

“What Really Sank the Maine?”, Thomas B. Allen, Naval History (March/April 1998)

“Marilyn Monroe”, Barbara Leaming, Crown Publishers (2000)

“The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe”, Sarah Churchwell, Granta Books (2004)

“The Strange Death of President Zachary Taylor: A Case Study in the Manufacture of Mainstream History”, Michael Parenti, New Political Science (1998)

“Killing the President: Assassinations, Attempts, and Rumored Attempts on U.S. Commanders-in-Chief”, Willard M. Oliver and Nancy E. Marion, Praeger Publishing (2010)

“A Standard History of Freemasonry in the State of New York, Volume 1”, Peter Ross, Lewis Publishing Company (1899)

“William Morgan, Or, Political Anti-Masonry: Its Rise, Growth, and Decadence”, Robert Morris, Wentworth Press (1884)

The Pearl Harbor Myth: Rethinking the Unthinkable”, George Victor, Potomac Books (2007)

“Betrayal at Pearl Harbor: How Churchill Lured Roosevelt into WWII”, James Rusbridger and Eric Nave, Summit Publishing (1991)

“The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X”, Karl Evanzz, Thunder’s Mouth Press (1992)

“Moon Hoax: Debunked!”, Paulo Attivissimo, Lulu Publishing (2013)

“Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race”, David Scott, Alexei Leonov, and Christine Toomey, Thomas Dunne Books (2004)

“The JFK Myths: A Scientific Investigation of the Kennedy Assassination”, Larry M. Sturdivan, Paragon House (2005)

“Six Seconds in Dallas: A Micro-Study of the Kennedy Assassination”, Josiah Thompson, Bernard Geis Associated (1967)

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