A Sceptic’s Notes on Presidential Assassination Conspiracy Theories

In the spring of 1992, I conducted a survey for the International Psychohistorical Association (IPA) newsletter in which I included some questions about the various theories related to the assassination of President Kennedy. These questions were prompted by the controversy surrounding the recent release of the movie JFK by Oliver Stone, a film that had all the earmarks of feeding a rip-roaring American group fantasy. Eight years later, I am still astonished by the fact that far more many members shared in the group fantasy as presented by JFK rather than tried to analyze it (e.g., “Unworked-through grief creates conspiracy theories”). More than 60% of the respondents believed there was a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy—most of them opting for the most extreme forms of conspiracy involving the CIA, FBI, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, etc. It was the first time that I realized that I was in the minority on this issue not only among my fellow countrymen, but also within the psychohistorical community.