From Leon to Lee
Figure 1. Excerpt from Evidence of Revision
Just think! The President of the United States is coming to your home town. And the first thing that comes to your mind is....
...Assassination?
This clip, a kinescope featuring live coverage of President John Kennedy arriving at Fort Worth, Texas on the morning of his death, seems prescient beyond belief. This broadcaster started out by mentioning--as off-handedly as possible--that Kennedy had disobeyed his Secret Service protectors just moments earlier (how he knows this, we can guess). But then this reporter just so happens to have a laundry list of extensive details on the assassination of US President William McKinley. Moreover, he apparently feels this info has some relevance to JFK’s visit to Texas.
It’s clear that the announcer prepared this material beforehand. As such, it comes across as a rather strained foreshadowing, something even the worst novelist in the world would try to avoid.
Incidentally, there are many who suspected a conspiracy in the death of William McKinley. Among them were authorities of that time, who arrested eleven others (including writer Emma Goldman) in addition to their prime suspect, Leon Czolgosz, a prototypical lone, angry nut. Witnesses at the Pan-American Exposition, where McKinley met his maker, saw a man with a rifle on one of the balconies overlooking the room. Curiously, the bullet doctors eventually pulled out of the President was a .35. Czolgosz’s gun was a .32 revolver.
President McKinley lived for over a week after his fatal shooting. Over the first six days, doctors reported improvement in his condition. After it became clear that they would have to remove the bullet, doctors couldn’t find it. As luck would have it, the Exposition had on display a real, working X-ray machine. No one thought to use it, however.
Mind you, I’m not saying there was a conspiracy in the death of President McKinley. My point is that glib statements and unquestioned suppositions often gloss over troubling questions.
For more stuff on the JFK Assassination, click here.
Just think! The President of the United States is coming to your home town. And the first thing that comes to your mind is....
...Assassination?
This clip, a kinescope featuring live coverage of President John Kennedy arriving at Fort Worth, Texas on the morning of his death, seems prescient beyond belief. This broadcaster started out by mentioning--as off-handedly as possible--that Kennedy had disobeyed his Secret Service protectors just moments earlier (how he knows this, we can guess). But then this reporter just so happens to have a laundry list of extensive details on the assassination of US President William McKinley. Moreover, he apparently feels this info has some relevance to JFK’s visit to Texas.
It’s clear that the announcer prepared this material beforehand. As such, it comes across as a rather strained foreshadowing, something even the worst novelist in the world would try to avoid.
Incidentally, there are many who suspected a conspiracy in the death of William McKinley. Among them were authorities of that time, who arrested eleven others (including writer Emma Goldman) in addition to their prime suspect, Leon Czolgosz, a prototypical lone, angry nut. Witnesses at the Pan-American Exposition, where McKinley met his maker, saw a man with a rifle on one of the balconies overlooking the room. Curiously, the bullet doctors eventually pulled out of the President was a .35. Czolgosz’s gun was a .32 revolver.
President McKinley lived for over a week after his fatal shooting. Over the first six days, doctors reported improvement in his condition. After it became clear that they would have to remove the bullet, doctors couldn’t find it. As luck would have it, the Exposition had on display a real, working X-ray machine. No one thought to use it, however.
Mind you, I’m not saying there was a conspiracy in the death of President McKinley. My point is that glib statements and unquestioned suppositions often gloss over troubling questions.
For more stuff on the JFK Assassination, click here.
Labels: JFK
posted by X. Dell @ 11:25 PM
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