Who Killed JFK?

(If you loved Rob Reiner + Soledad O'Brien's WHO KILLED JFK?, perhaps you'll enjoy this story from JFK's early years. Thanks for Rob Reiner for joining the Very Special Episodes podcast to help us tell it.)

Eighty years ago this summer, a young John F. Kennedy took a job as a journalist for Hearst newspapers, filing dispatches in the final days of World War II. His columns capture the mood of a changing world. In today's Very Special Episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Fred Logevall and legendary director Rob Reiner join us to explore the forgotten summer that helped shape Kennedy's worldview. 

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Go see Spinal Tap II: The End Continues in theaters this September!

Check out Fred Logevall's excellent book: JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century.

Today's episode was written by Joe Pompeo. Very Special Episodes is hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, and Jason English. Produced and edited by Josh Fisher, Jonathan Washington, and Mary Dooe. And thanks to our JFK voice actor, Tom Antonellis, for nailing another role. 

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Soledad O’Brien shares the first episode of her true crime podcast MURDER ON THE TOWPATH – you won’t want to miss this troubling cold case involving one of JFK’s mistresses. It was a baffling mystery. A socialite and artist with powerful connections was murdered on her daily walk in a posh DC neighborhood. Nobody knew what to make of Mary Pinchot Meyer’s murder. A Black man named Raymond Crump Jr. soon became the suspect – and in 1964, that was bound to capture everyone’s attention. But was he Mary’s killer or a scapegoat?  

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Secret Service Agent Paul Landis, who was riding in the car behind the President when he was murdered, joins us to talk about his memories of that fateful day. After years of silence, Paul opens up about the assassination, sharing details that may forever change our understanding of what happened on November 22nd, 1963.

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An extended discussion with Jefferson Morley about the thousands of documents the US Government is still keeping hidden from the public. We discuss why these documents are still being protected 60 years later, what information may be in these documents, and what hope we have, if any, of the authorities releasing these materials.

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Finally, who killed JFK? Rob and Dick walk Soledad through their theory of who killed President John F. Kennedy. They name the shooters, their locations, and who was behind the tragic, world-changing event.

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Who was Jack Ruby? And why did this nightclub owner and low-level mobster murder Lee Harvey Oswald? We look at the strange treatment of Oswald while in custody and the reactions to Kennedy’s death from leaders around the world.

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We revisit November 22nd, 1963, through the eyes of Lee Harvey Oswald. Through expert testimony and first-hand witnesses, we follow Oswald, starting with his strange behavior the evening prior to the shooting and ending with his famous declaration – “I’m just a patsy.”

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Who had the motive? We explore the three groups who had both motive and means to assassinate Kennedy: the Mafia, the Cuban Exiles, and the intelligence community. And we uncover the unexpected ways they were working together. 

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Who is Richard Case Nagell, and why did he mysteriously rob a bank two months before President Kennedy was assassinated? We’ll continue to follow Oswald’s movements, including how he got a job in a building that overlooked the President’s motorcade route. We’ll discuss a CIA plan that might be the smoking gun. The plan that exposes the conspiracy: Operation Northwoods.

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What did Oswald mean when he uttered the now-famous words “I’m just a Patsy!”, just hours before he was murdered? To begin to understand what those words mean, we step into the ‘Wilderness of Mirrors’ to see the world of counterintelligence through the eyes of James Jesus Angleton – a man known as “The Poet Spy.” In the Wilderness, confusion is a key weapon. We’ll trace Oswald’s steps from his return from the Soviet Union to his activities in New Orleans in the summer of 1963. 

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Who was Lee Harvey Oswald? We dig deep into Oswald’s story. Starting with his childhood, talking directly to people who knew him, we explore his time in the military and his curious defection to the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Was he just a disgruntled ex-Marine, a lone wolf who wanted to take down a president? Or was he part of something bigger?

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What does the forensic evidence reveal? We start at the scene of the crime, move to the hospital and end with the strange autopsy. And with breaking news from one of Kennedy’s Secret Service Agents, the Single Bullet Theory will finally be put to rest.

A big thank you to The 6th Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza and WFAA TV Collection.

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Was there a coverup? The Warren Commission published a report in 1964 that claimed Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole gunman. But over a decade later, the House Select Committee on Assassinations claimed that President Kennedy was killed as the result of a ‘conspiracy.’ Why the conflicting results? With revelations over the last 60 years, flaws in both investigations are exposed.

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Who wanted the president dead? And is the unexpected murder of the lead suspect the first clue in the answer to this mystery? Our hosts, Rob Reiner and Soledad O’Brien, discuss why the question “Who Killed JFK?” endures in the American imagination 60 years later. Did President Kennedy have a target on his back when he transformed from ‘Cold Warrior’ to global peacemaker? 

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In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination, Who Killed JFK? explores the pressing questions that still surround one of the most tragic moments of the 20th century. Award-winning journalist Soledad O'Brien and beloved filmmaker Rob Reiner team up to discover the truth behind the assassination, revealing how the ramifications of the 1963 tragedy still impact American society today.

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