Sputnik spoke with Calvin Schermerhorn, professor of history at Arizona State University, for more insight on the issue.
Sputnik: In your view, why are there still so many gray spots in the murder of JFK?
Calvin Schermerhorn: Good question.
There are many gray spots because Lee Harvey Oswald was never tried, never confessed, and the spectacular nature of the Kennedy assassination has lead to alternative theories of who assassinated him and why.
Calvin Schermerhorn: No, I do not think there is much more behind the scenes.
The Kennedy assassination has attracted conspiracy theories in part because it fits this classic conspiracy scenario: a small number of people in power exercise an in ordinate amount of control over events, which is actually a hopeful view of how things work because it assumes that people and especially leaders actually do shape and control events, rather than the less optimistic view that events are largely out of the control of discrete historical actors.
Sputnik: How would you say this tragic murder impacted the history of the USA?
The personal tragedy of the young president with so much promise being shot down suddenly makes for great drama, but his successor Lyndon Johnson was the first president to put civil rights high on the national agenda.
There is a possibility that the United States would not have been embroiled in the Vietnam war, but that is uncertain.
Sputnik: There are many conspiracies on the matter, what do you see as the most probable story behind the murder?
Calvin Schermerhorn: Unfortunately for conspiracy theorists, the most probable scenario is the one that we all know the best: Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating president Kennedy.
Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Calvin Schermerhorn and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
