The assassination of John F. Kennedy continues to draw the attention of Americans for myriad reasons five decades later. One factor persists: the majority of the public continue to believe that there was a conspiracy at work, and most have notions about who was behind it.
A Gallup poll has the numbers:
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61 percent of Americans believe that “others besides Lee Harvey Oswald” were involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; 52 percent believed that theory in 1963.
81 percent believed it in 1976, and again in 2001.
30 percent now believe that Oswald was solely responsible for the assassination; 29 percent believed that theory in 1963.
11 percent believed it in 1976; 13 percent in 2001.
13 percent think the “others” in the conspiracy were gangsters or involved in organized crime; 13 percent say it was “the U.S. government”. The answers were volunteered, not gleaned from a multiple choice list.
7 percent cite the CIA, 5 percent Fidel Castro, and 5 percent cite special-interest groups.
4 percent cite nonspecific “political groups’; 3 percent cite “racist groups”.
3 percent cite Lyndon B. Johnson and 3 percent the Soviet Union.
2 percent cite “foreign governments”, 2 percent also cite “big business.”
Source: A Gallup poll of 1,039 U.S. adults conducted Nov. 7 to 10 and Gallup historical data.
