Stories & Myths: The JFK Assassination, Vietnam, and Watergate

Learn how the assassination of John F. Kennedy led to nearly 20 years of tumult in the United States, including Vietnam and Watergate on this week's Stories & Myths with Dr. Craig von Buseck.

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Transcript

Good evening. Good afternoon.

Good morning. Wherever you are

tuning in from around the

world. We are so glad to have

you join us here tonight for

Stories and Myths yet another

episode of Stories and Myths.

I'm here with the uh Seafair

and Captain John C. Farrell.

So, John you decided to go with

the nautical theme this week.

Yes. I am that I'm my heart is

with those people who are being

affected with the by the

hurricane. Um oh, that's what

it was exactly. Yeah. It's kind

of your way. authenticity comes

through in a beautiful way. I

want you to know II. I'm glad

you appreciate that and have

noticed that um no. well,

you're always stressing the sea

so I was like, I don't I don't

want to just be boring and put

AC so I spelled it out for you.

I'm kind of like a pirate that

way. I'm stressing the sea

Alright, now, moving on. Yeah.

You know that voice you just

did. Yeah. Let's not revisit

that. You don't like my pirate

voice?

No. Well, it it will come out

when appropriate but for now,

we'll we'll it needs some work.

It needs some work. My pirate

voice needs some work maybe It

sounds like you just woke up

after like a long slumber and

you're you have like a fun on

my ship. The red pearl Yes.

Yeah. So, did you ever get that

fixed? That has the black

pearl? I have the red pearl.

Did you ever get that piece

that I was trying to help you

fix? that piece of on top of

your um of your car? Oh yes, I

fixed it that afternoon. Quite.

it took me all of 25 seconds I

think to finish and it took me

about 10 minutes to do just a

little bit. I have the I have

the pirate hands long of

gathering the jewels. It was a

really, really hot and that's

my. Oh, okay. That must be

it.

Yeah. Alright. What do what do

we have on top for the this

evening's episode of Stories

and Myths? Well, we are going

to talk about JFK and what he

meant to American history and

all the um his assassination

and um his involvement with the

Vietnam War as well as we're

going to

be talking a little bit about

Watergate and um some things

that have happened since then.

So, that's why on this program,

we've talked about the

nineteenth century and last

week, we talked about the

eighteenth century. So, I

thought it would be good for us

to come in to the twentieth

century Uh we're just a little

behind the times. We don't

know. It's it's a show about

history so uh. Right, right.

You never know where we're

going to talk about it. Yeah.

we're not talking about

yesterday.

Now this is uh before before I

were born. so Yes. So what What

is our first question? So, the

first question is um it's about

JFK. You say that he ran for

president If he ran for

president today, he would be

considered a conservative and

that is how much of the country

has shifted to the left. I was

wondering if you could explain

that statement a a little

Kennedy was a cold warrior. Uh

he believed in a strong defense

of the United States. uh

Kennedy. He cut taxes. Um he

believed in um in a strong

space program and he was a very

strong um he's very strong on

free enterprise. So, across the

board, uh Kennedy had positions

that are now considered

conservative that right back

then uh you know he was

considered a centrist or even a

liberal to a certain degree and

by certain members of the

country but today, Uh his

positions are the positions of

more conservative politicians

which shows how the country has

moved politically uh far to the

left Since that time. I believe

that part of the reason is uh

to his assassination which

started a series of uh things

in the country that uh broke

down the trust of the American

people in their own government.

and uh We are now really far

down that road to the point

there is distrust on both the

um both sides of the political

spectrum and it's a major major

problem but Ronald Reagan who

was a Democrat, he was a huge

fan Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Ronald Reagan was a Democrat

for most of his life. Oh, and

what he said in the nineteen

early 1960s. I don't remember

exactly what year that he made

the switch but when people ask

him, why did you switch from

the Democratic Party to

Democratic Party to the

Republican Party? He said, I

didn't leave the Democratic

Party. The Democratic Party

left me and um so today and

even during his presidency,

people called Reagan a far

right conservative uh but

Reagan's policies were not very

different from John F.

Kennedy's policies and they

were only 20 years different

That's what is hard to even

grasp. Uh looking back in

history because it seems like

Kennedy was so far before

Reagan but it was only 20 years

and if you count his

assassination, uh it was only

uh 17 years between uh

Kennedy's assassination and and

uh Reagan's um election uh 2017

and a half but still you know

um you know

it's pretty pretty remarkable.

Uh I take that back. No Exactly

seventeen because Kennedy was

killed in November of 73 or 63

and Reagan was elected in

November, November, 8 eighty.

So, 17 years Exactly. Uh we're

talking a little bit more about

about JFK assassination. So,

what are your thoughts on that?

Was it what was it a conspiracy

theory or um was there a lone

gunman? Well, let me ask you,

what do you think because most

people have an opinion

II. honestly, don't know what

to think II. think kind of like

what we're discussing today

III, think that there was

someone who was definitely

assisted um in the shooting. I

don't know if there was

necessarily more than one

gunman. Um I did read a

fictional retelling of it by

Don Delillo called Libra which

actually um so my my thoughts

on are kind of blurred with the

fictional retelling that Don

Delillo um wrote. It's

great, great novel. Um I read

it in grad school and um so

I've I don't I'm trying to

remember which which of the

facts are that and which of

them is part of the the Libra

book but um II think if there

if there was and I think

there's at least more than one

person involved whether there's

more than one gunman. I'd, I

don't know. Okay. So, my

opinion correct me, what's

that? I said, so, correct me.

Oh, no, no, no. I mean, no one

knows for sure. Right, Right.

Based on, I I've been to the

plaza. I've been to the uh

museum I've seen the snipers

nest there uh in the book

depository, I've stood on the X

uh which Uh pretty much they're

pretty sure that that was the

spot where Kennedy was killed.

I have studied and read about

the Kennedy assassination since

I was in college uh which was a

few years ago now and uh I am

convinced that it was a

conspiracy. I'm convinced that

there were at least two gunmen

and uh there are reasons for

that and I want to I want to

give some of those reasons and

and not just say well this is

my idea. So, First of all, um

there was uh it's pretty clear

that there was a gunman from

the back and most likely it was

Lee Harvey Oswald uh because

the first bullet went through

Kennedy's back and came out his

throat and um it hits uh

Governor Connolly in front of

him and uh they uh I'm sorry

the the the first bullet went

through his throat. The second

one went through his back and

hit Governor Connolly and

and that was considered what

they call the magic bullet but

then the headshot II cannot

believe that the headshot was

from the back and the reason is

that I have heard from almost

and you can can watch this on

YouTube. I've heard from almost

every medical doctor that was

in the emergency room at

Parkland and every single one

of them said the same thing.

They said that it was a fist

sized hole in the back of the

and then down the side of the

head, there was like a valley.

and there's a problem with that

in that the autopsy photos

don't match that and so you

have who's telling the truth Is

it the uh all the medical

doctors who all agreed and have

no reason to lie or is it the

government providing

photographs who possibly have

all kinds of reasons to lie and

There are a lot of things that

don't make sense. Don't add up

and look like conspiracy for

example, no one knows where the

brain of John F Kennedy is. Uh

no one knows. So, why was the

brain removed? Why were we not

able to examine the brain Um

the other major thing and there

are many different uh other

parts to this but without going

on too long, other major thing

that most people uh should

question is why did Jack Ruby

murder Oswald? Because there

was no way that uh Oswald would

be able to testify or give

evidence or led the government

investigators to any kind of

conspiracy. Um uh Ruby was

clearly connected to the Mafia

Uh he was a good old boy that

uh used to kind of uh take care

of the police in his uh very Um

uh there was a lot of

debauchery. Let's say that went

on in Jack Ruby's club uh with

uh dancers and prostitution and

drugs and alcohol and it was a

very seedy place. Why was Jack

Ruby allowed into that basement

of the police station II Don't

buy that. They just didn't have

as tight security back then. I

don't buy that. This was the

the so called murderer of the

president of the United States

and they let this bar owner who

owned a KanCan club just to

walk in to me. I just don't buy

that. It's just too convenient

for this man connected with the

Mafia to shoot and kill uh

Oswald on National TV Live to

shut him up. The other big

question that I have is When

you look the quote unquote

magic bullet which supposedly

some investigator found on one

of the gurney. It is almost

pristine and yet it went

through both Kennedy and

Connolly it hit Connolly Ribs

came out hit went through his

wrist bone and then went down

into his leg. Now, they have

reproduced that again and again

and again and never once have

they been to come up with a

bullet. that wasn't smashed to

hell, right? With all kinds of

bullet fragments all over the

place, right? Um so II think uh

you know, I think that it was a

conspiracy. I do believe that

there were people very high up

in the government who were

involved. I personally believe

that it was a combination of

the CIA and the Mafia because

the CIA Mafia uh in certain

places uh and you know, Whether

it was Italian Mafia, or just

organized crime, they would use

the Mafia to do hit shots to

keep themselves from being

connected to these

assassinations and so this is

something that we know this is

not conjecture. There's

evidence for that and so um

everything that I've heard and

and witnesses that I've heard

say that the plaza is your

classic triangulation that is

used in an assassination. It

was a perfect spot to bring at

least three shooters together.

So, I believe that you probably

had Oswald in the Snipers nest

in the book depository. You

probably had somebody behind

the picket fence on the Grassy

Knoll because immediately and

there's video of this

immediately after the shooting

policemen and a whole crowd of

people went running up that

grassy knoll after something

after someone. Who are they

going after? And you know that

those who believe the um the

Warren Commission report say,

oh, it was just echoes off of

the buildings uh but you know,

you had um they've been running

up the hill to get away from

the shots. Oh no. it was the a

police officer went up on his

motorcycle, laid his motorcycle

down and then kept running up

the the the uh this is all on

Youtube You can watch all these

videos are on Youtube and he

went after somebody and when

they got up there, uh somebody

flashed a badge and said, we're

with Secret Service and the cop

believed him and walked away. I

think they were probably

gunman. They're may very well

have been someone on the

overpass uh and then again,

there's a possibility that they

could have been in one of the

buildings either directly

behind or on the other side but

it was a perfect place to have

multiple shooters and um So,

who knows how that conspiracy

goes but I do believe that it

was a conspiracy and I think

that many people in um in our

country since that time you

know, lost faith. in our

government uh because they

believe that the government

lied that the government killed

the president. the the uh

elected president and that uh

the government has been

covering it up ever since but

the problem is is that in the

1970s a select committee of

congress opened up an

investigation on assassinations

and it didn't just include John

F. Kennedy and also included uh

Martin Luther King and Robert

Kennedy. I think possibly

Malcolm X and some others from

the 1960s but their conclusion

based on uh a recording that

came off of an open mic from

one of the uh motorcycle

officers. They had a sound uh

expert examine that and um

there were four at least four

and maybe five gunshots. Well,

there's no mathematical way

that Oswald could have gotten

off more than three. So if they

are Uh then there is a

conspiracy Now. um missus

Connolly uh she said that she

heard one gunshot then a pause

then another and another one

right on top of it. Well,

that's impossible if it was

just Oswald, he could not have

pumped and got a new uh bullet

into the chamber in that amount

of time and shut it off. So you

know her Her testimony was

ignored. There were dozens of

eyewitnesses in the plaza that

were never interviewed by the

Warren Commission. Now, anybody

with, you know, I have no axe

to grind on this other than I

want the truth and I want to

know that our government is not

lying to us that there wasn't a

you know, with with Lyndon

Johnson waiting in the wings

like like our friend said in

the JFK movie, right? Um I want

to know, I want to know that

our elections have integrity

and that our president isn't

removed by our own government

and so why were those people

who are eyewitnesses in the

plaza? Why did the uh

commission ignore them and

there's no answer that. And uh

and the arrogance that has been

shown not only by the people in

the uh commission but also the

the media. It's almost like the

media wanted to cover it up.

The media never really I'm

talking about the mainstream

media. They never really did in

depth investigations. They kind

of just swallowed the the uh

the Warren Commission hooked

the line and sinker but just

answer the question, why is

there a pic size hole in the

back of his head? You know, one

of the doctors. That's not an

entry word. That's an exit

wound. That's an exit wound,

right? You could not have an

exit wound in the back of the

head. If it was a lone gunman

up in the book deposit deposit,

one of the doctors said that as

he was uh as he came into the

room and was examining him a

large part of the brain fell

out of that hole and onto the

gurney Well, if it's uh an

entry room wound, it's going to

be this size. You can't have a

large part of the brain fall

out of an entry wound. So,

somebody to me is is lying.

Marlene Banks uh says could be

a lone gunman but a

conspiratorial act of more than

just one man. So. Well, that's

what I said. You know, who

knows but to me, there's far

more evidence of a conspiracy

than there is of a single gun

man, right? Um how did the

assassination of JFK? start the

country on the course? The

course of tumult for almost two

decades Well, uh I think it was

uh a series of things. One,

it's a shock. Uh it's a shock

to lose uh a not only your

elected president but also

someone in their 40s who has

two little kids who are running

around the president's knees

and everybody's in love with

this family. and you know, John

F. Kennedy and his wife,

Jacqueline, seemed to be young

and vibrant especially after

you know, you look at several

presidents before them. We're

all doy old men, you know, FDR

Truman to what, you know,

Dwight Eisenhower, they they

were not exactly the jet set,

any of them and all of a sudden

comes this, you know,

Forty-five or how old he was

young man full of Vim and vigor

with a great sense of humor. He

was one of our great

communicators and all of a

sudden like that, he's gone and

not only that but um many

Americans were very grateful

for the way that John Kennedy

handled the the Cuban Missile

crisis and they believe that he

uh most likely kept America

from getting into a war with

the Soviet Union which could

have turned into a nuclear war

could have have turned into

nuclear Holocaust and so Only a

year later, this young man is

gunned down in broad daylight

in front of hundreds of people

and thanks to the it was caught

on the film and so there's a

pretty good uh you know,

everyone pretty much has has

now seen this film or most

people have and so it was a

shock and I think that that

really caused a major shift in

the country but then what