I watched Jefferson Morley's press conference this morning on the Joannides files that he wants released. I was not impressed as I have heard this story before and there was nothing new. The ARRB reviewed the Joannides personnel file and found nothing relevant to the JFK assassination.
Of course, I still would like the CIA to release these documents.
But what interested me was the poll on Americans attitudes regarding conspiracy in the JFK assassination. Here is a Gallup poll published in 2011 which I included in my book, I Was a Teenage JFK Conspiracy Freak.
Here is what I wrote in my book: (pages 216 - 271)
Most people still think there was a conspiracy. But there’s been a sea change in the last 20 years—the percentage of people who think that more than one person was involved has been steadily declining. In 2000, only 13 percent of people believed that only one man was involved in the assassination; by 2013 that had risen to 30 percent.
I believe there are two reasons for this.
First, there are now many good books that support a lone gunman. I remember that, when I first went to the college library in 1975, I could only take out conspiracy books (with the exception of the Warren Report). People who now become interested in the assassination will find a much healthier mix of books in their local libraries. Mark Lane’s Rush to Judgment will have less of an effect when you also read Gerald Posner’s Case Closed.
Secondly, the rise of the Internet has also helped. There are several JFK debunking sites where you can “detox” after an allotment of conspiracy theory. John McAdams not only runs the best JFK web page out there, he also runs an excellent bulletin board. And on Facebook, there are many good JFK group pages (like Fair Play for JFK) that are reasonable. But what’s important here is that ‘lone-nutters’ can argue their case and can thus expose a lot of people to the truth. It’s no longer a one-way conversation—crackpot theories can be immediately rebutted.
Here are the results of the latest poll conduced by Bendixen & Amandi International:
Now, only 50% of people believe there was a conspiracy. And when you look at the numbers by age, you see the following:
Younger people are more inclined to believe there was no conspiracy. This tells me that the trend towards believing there was no conspiracy will continue.
Here is how the 50% of people who believe in conspiracy feel:
Source: Bendixen & Amandi International
When you combine the numbers together you come up with this:
Lee Harvey Oswald was responsible: 38.0%
Conspiracy but don't know who: 19.5%
The CIA: 15.5%
Don't know if conspiracy or not: 12.0%
The Mafia 6.5%
Cuba 3.5%
USSR 3.0%
Someone else 2.0%
TOTAL 100.0%
The one theory that garners the most support, by far, is that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK by himself.