Web Assignment 12
Assignment
Task: Submit to complete this assignment
Due July 21 at 11:30 PM
Starts Jul 15, 2020 12:00 AMEnds Jul 21, 2020 11:30 PM
Due July 21st (No late assignments will be accepted or graded).
You will be using the following websites:
https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/assassination-martin-luther-king-jr
https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Robert_Kennedy_Assassination.html
These are reports covering the assassinations of three of the most prominent political figures of the 1960s. Read through the reports, then in a minimum 500-word summary, compare and contrasts the assassinations in terms of how and where the assassinations took place, the proposed reasons, and the background of the assassins. Also, provide your analysis of whether you believe there is a bigger picture (coverup) and whether or not more people were involved.
Homework help – Write the summary in a Word document (.doc or .docx) and upload it to the Dropbox Web 12 (other forms of submission will not be accepted).
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Assassinations
The assassination of three prominent American political figures that include JF Kennedy, Martin Luther King Junior, and Robert Kennedy can be compared and contrasted based on how the assassination was done, where the assassination took place, reasons behind the assassinations and the background of the assassins. Additionally, the series of information surrounding the different assassinations will enable the analysis and determination cover-ups and whether more people were involved apart from the alleged assassins.
The Three political figures were through shooting while they were in the course of different political activities. In the case of JF Kennedy, he was shot while visiting the State of Texas as the president. J.F Kennedy had just left his hotel room. His motorcade was moving along Main Street at Dealey Plaza along the Texas School Book Depository gunshots emanating from the plaza were heard at 12:30 and bullets struck the presidents on the neck and head. He later died at Parkland Memorial Hospital (Manchester, 2013). Consequently, in the case of Martin Luther King Junior, he was shot while standing outside a hotel balcony at Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Before the assassination, King was due to attend a march on behalf of the striking Memphis sanitation workers (Starnford University, 2007). On the day King was shot, he had just stepped out of the balcony to speak to colleagues of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference standing below the parking when the assassin fired a single shot. Additionally, on the assassination of Robert Kennedy happened in Los Angeles, California, United States, while he was on a campaign trail just after he had won the Democratic primaries in California (MFF, 2020). RFK was shot at point-blank range by his assailant while at Ambassador Hotel, and he died the following day.
The different assassins in the assassination of JFK, King, and RFK, had different backgrounds. It is vital to note that the assassins in JFK and King’s case were identified through circumstantial evidence, but in the case of RFK, the assassin apprehended at the crime scene. JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, who had recently been hired at Texas School Book Depository. Oswald had been previously enlisted in the US Marine Corps. Moreover, King was assassinated by James Earl Ray, a 40-year-old escaped fugitive. Ray had previously been convicted for burglary, armed robbery, and mail fraud before he was convicted for King’s assassination. RFK was assassinated by a Palestinian named Sirhan Bishara Sirhan. Sirhan was born in Jerusalem, and together with his family, they had moved to the US. He was obsessed with mystical powers.
The three American political figures died for different political and activism related reasons. In this regard, JFK died from Texas’s political tension between different vocal groups of extremists and the fact that party leaders were involved in feuds escalated the political tension. King was assassinated due to his increased activism across the different cities of America. RFK had created many political enemies while at Washington, leading to his assassination.
Cover-ups characterized all the assassinations, and many people were involved and not just the assassins. In JFK’s case, the fact that the assassin Oswald was shot dead as he was being transferred to the county jail from police headquarters indicates that there was a cover-up. In the case of King Assassins, Earl Ray argued that he was framed to the extent that King’s Family supported his re-trial; he was not involved in the assassination, meaning that there were cover-ups. Lastly, in the case of RFK, a second gun was found at the scene different from the one the assassin was caught with.
References
Manchester, W. (2013). The death of a president: November 20-November 25, 1963. Little, Brown. Retrieved from https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/november-22-1963-death-of-the-president
Mary Farrell Foundation (2020). The Robert Kennedy Assassination. MARY FERRELL FOUNDATION. Retrieved from https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Robert_Kennedy_Assassination.html
Stanford University (2007). Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.:The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Retrieved from https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/assassination-martin-luther-king-jr
