The Men Who Killed Kennedy Season 1 Episode 3 The Cover-up
- March 17, 1996
In the third episode of The Men Who Killed Kennedy, titled "The Cover-up," the focus turns to the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The episode investigates the immediate efforts of the government to obscure any potential evidence that might refute the official version of events surrounding JFK's murder.
The program begins by discussing the central role that the Warren Commission played in the immediate aftermath of the assassination. This governmental body was tasked with investigating the shooting and ultimately concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing Kennedy. However, The Men Who Killed Kennedy presents an alternative theory—that there was a broader conspiracy involved, and that the government went to great lengths to conceal this fact.
The episode delves into the various ways in which the government worked to obfuscate potential evidence that could have contradicted the official narrative. For instance, the show examines several key alterations made to the car in which Kennedy was riding at the time of the shooting. These modifications were made in a way that effectively hindered any forensic investigation of the crime scene. The Men Who Killed Kennedy suggests that this was likely done intentionally to prevent any evidence from surfacing that would call into question the Warren Commission's findings.
Another important aspect of the government's cover-up was the complicit role played by the mainstream media. The episode argues that the press largely failed in its duty to provide a fair and objective analysis of the assassination. Instead, many journalists parroted the official story presented by the government without doing their own due diligence to verify its accuracy. The Men Who Killed Kennedy suggests that this served to further the cover-up, as it created a public perception that the government's account was beyond reproach.
The show also looks at the way in which key witnesses were silenced or coerced into keeping quiet about what they saw. One particularly compelling example is that of nurse Audrey Bell, who helped to treat Kennedy in the emergency room following his shooting. Bell later testified that the medical staff had noticed a small circular wound on the president's back that appeared to be an exit wound from a bullet. However, this information was never presented to the Warren Commission, and Bell herself was subsequently subject to a campaign of intimidation that left her too afraid to speak about the matter again.
Throughout The Cover-up, The Men Who Killed Kennedy presents a number of unsettling details that suggest that the government went to great lengths to prevent the truth about JFK's assassination from coming to light. From altering evidence at the crime scene to suppressing key information and even causing the death of certain individuals who might have presented a threat to the official story, the episode paints a picture of a powerful and corrupt establishment working to maintain its hold on the American psyche. The conspiratorial tone of the show may be off-putting to some viewers, but it is difficult to deny that The Men Who Killed Kennedy presents a compelling and thought-provoking argument for its alternative theory of events surrounding the assassination.