The Most Notable Assassins in U.S. History
Lee Harvey Oswald, 1963
He is the most famous American assassin of all time, partly for the belief that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't actually an assassin. On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas with First Lady Jackie, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife. Arrested for the crime later that day was Lee Harvey Oswald, who authorities claimed fired several shots at the motorcade from the sixth floor of a nearby building — a lone gunman. Two days later, Oswald was being led through the basement of Dallas police headquarters when nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot him in the stomach. Oswald died shortly thereafter. Then the conspiracy theories began. Many grew to believe that Oswald could not have fired as many shots as were fired that day, and that he had help from either the Mafia, the Cubans, rogue elements in the U.S. government, or all three. A 1976 House committee investigating assassinations and director Oliver Stone's 1991 grand conspiracy thriller JFK are also to blame for lingering doubts of Oswald's culpability.