A New JFK Assassination Theory

In my younger days, I always ate up those books on conspiracy theories and I guess I still enjoy them now but perhaps with a healthier dos of skepticism. And, of course, the biggest ones in my day revolved around the JFK assassination and Watergate. So I was interested to see a post from Kevin Drum about a three-year old book from James Reston, Jr. that claims that John Connally was actually Lee Harvey Oswald’s target of that fateful afternoon in Dallas 53 years ago today. Reston argues that Oswald had it in for Connally because, as head of the Navy Department, he had denied Oswald’s request to have his honorable discharge reinstated. According to Reston’s book, “A Secret Service officer named Mike Howard was dispatched to Oswald’s apartment. Howard found a little green address book, and on its 17th page under the heading ‘I WILL KILL’ Oswald listed four men: an FBI agent named James Hosty; a right-wing general, Edwin Walker; and Vice President Richard Nixon. At the top of the list was the governor of Texas, John Connally. Through Connally’s name, Oswald had drawn a dagger, with blood drops dripping downward.” Of course, this doesn’t necessarily negate so many of the other Oswald conspiracy theories that say he was a CIA spy sent to Russia but then turned or perhaps not turned but continued to work for the CIA and colluded with the Mafia in JFK’s assassination, as well as many others. He could have been furious at Connally specifically because he believed he was still working for the US Government and deserved to have his honorable discharge reinstated. But Reston’s theory is one I’ve not heard before and the fact that another new theory about JFK’s death has only recently been formed shows just how searing that tragic day in Dallas still is.