September 3rd, 2008: Part 2, Kennedy Assasination Conspiracy Theories

My next leg in this particular wiki-safari was the Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy Theories page. I knew a bit about Kennedy, mostly from high school U.S. History, and once when I read most of one of Howard Zinn's books, yet I was mostly lacking in proper Kennedy knowledge.

Side note: The picture to the right, borrowed from Wikipedia, shows Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, as well as Texas Governor John Connally (and I presume his wife) right before the assassination.

Back to Kennedy: there were a few little diamonds of info that really sparked me in this one:

1. First, and although I'd already heard this, the article really dived into the "Two Gunman Theory," which states that the way the bullets entered and exited Kennedy and Connally's body's, as well as the known position of Oswald (Lee Harvey Oswald, arrested for the assassination and murdered shorting after being arrested) when he shot Kennedy could not account for only one gunman. Based on multiple witness testimonies, a few reenactments of the assassination, and simple logic, many assume that there had to have been more than just the one convicted.

2. At the time of the assassination about a dozen people were arrested. Three of those arrested became known as The Three Tramps, were discovered hanging out around a local railroad and possibly in connection with the murders. However, they were soon released because of a lack of proper information to convict them. In the ensuing years, rumors have circulated supposing the involvement of The Three Tramps, and a few have come out postmortem or otherwise, including,

• Charles Harrelson, an American freelance hit man, often boasted to be the tallest of the tramps before his death, but denied it publicly.
• E. Howard Hunt, the CIA station chief and participant in the Bay of Pigs, denied connections to the assassination, but after his death his son released confession documents signed by Hunt.
• Frank Sturgis, also involved in the Bay of Pigs, was involved with Marita Lorenz who identified Sturgis as a tramp. He also confessed post-death, similar to Hunt.

There are a whole lot of other theories, some conceivable, most absolutely far-fetched, and please, you're welcome to check them out. However, I must continue onto the second-to-last leg of this safari: the Bay of Pigs!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_assassination_theories

September 3rd, 2008: Part 1, Watergate

Yesterday's search began with a headfirst dive into the 'great' (terrible?) Watergate Scandal of the 1970's. It all began when I was listening to NPR, and an offhanded comment was made in reference to Watergate. Offhanded though it may have been, but I realized that my knowledge of the political scandal was extremely limited.

Hence the Watergate scandal. Most interesting to me:

1. It all begin with a break in of the Democratic National Convention Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel Complex; thus the name. The break in was performed by five men from lower-to-middle classes, yet the deeper the scandal was revealed, the higher the scandal ran up the political totem poll, ending (as most of us know) with the man himself: Nixon.

2. There are a few different terms that reference the events of Watergate.

• The first, Deep Throat, was the pseudonym given to the informant who relayed information to the Washington Post about Nixon's involvement with it all. It was later revealed that the informant was W. Mark Felt, who was the FBI's associate director at the time.
• The tapes included conversations recorded in the Oval office and a couple of other rooms in the White House. They were subpoenaed in 1973 by independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Nixon refused to hand them over and ordered Cox to drop the subpoena.
• The Saturday Night Massacre happened because of the result of Cox's refusal to drop the subpoena. Nixon started firing random people, including Attorney General Elliot Richardson and deputy William Ruckelshaus in order to find someone in the Justice department who was willing to fire Cox. He found Solicitor General Robert Bork.
• The 'smoking gun' was a previously unknown tape that was released and destroyed Nixon politically. Basically the tape, which was recorded only a few days after the break in, had Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman plotting to have the CIA falsely tell the FBI that national security was involved with the break in. Crazy.

3. But what really got me was the "Alternative Theories" section (which is why my next leg was the Kennedy Assassination Theories page). It really gets into the nitty-gritty weird stuff of the whole affair, including a theory that connects to the Bay of Pigs. Apparently, the 'smoking guns' tape had a segment where Nixon mentions that the reason the CIA should put a stop to the Watergate investigations is because of E. Howard Hunt's ties with the "whole Bay of Pigs thing."

Check out the next post for where this safari went next...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal