The JFK assassination

The course starts from the Warren Commission and the lone-gunman account, then works through the later findings of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, Jim Garrison’s investigation, and theories involving organized crime, Cuban exiles, the FBI, the CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Danny’s syllabi, cast of characters and chronologies are below.

His later course, The Rulers of the Realm, places the assassination in a longer history of American covert power.

Lectures

1. The historical perspective (Oct. 1, 2013)
2. Critical thinking (Oct. 3, 2013)
3. Oswald, the lone gunman (Oct. 8, 2013)
4. The Warren Commission report (Oct. 10, 2013)
5. Discussion: the Warren Commission (Oct. 10, 2013)
6. Challenges to the lone-gunman theory (Oct. 15, 2013)
7. Later discoveries that challenge the lone-gunman theory (Oct. 17, 2013)
8. The undisputed facts (Oct. 22, 2013)
9. Contested facts that point to another explanation (Oct. 24, 2013)
10. Discussion: the House Select Committee on Assassinations (Oct. 24, 2013)
11. The House Select Committee, Cuban exiles and organized crime (guest lecture by Greg Smith) (Oct. 29, 2013)
12. Theory: the Mob killed JFK (Oct. 31, 2013)
13. The Garrison investigation and Oliver Stone (Nov. 5, 2013)
14. The Torbitt Document: Johnson, Hoover and the FBI (Nov. 7, 2013)
15. The S-Force, Santos Trafficante and Richard Helms inside the CIA (Nov. 14, 2013)
16. Theory: the CIA as an institution (Nov. 19, 2013)
17. Theory: a Joint Chiefs of Staff coup, the day before the 50th anniversary (Nov. 21, 2013)
18. Comparing the theories, and the Rulers of the Realm thesis (Nov. 26, 2013)

Course materials by Danny Sheehan

• Syllabus, 5 pages (PDF)
• Syllabus, 19 pages (PDF)
• Syllabus, 146 pages (PDF)
• The cast of characters (PDF)
• JFK assassination chronology (PDF)
• Extended chronology (PDF)

Related

• The Rulers of the Realm (2016)
• All lectures