Lyndon B. Johnson, The Person With The Most To Gain From Killing JFK
Public DomainPresident John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in August 1961.
As any American history buff can tell you, there was no love lost between Lyndon B. Johnson and the Kennedy brothers. Bobby Kennedy didn’t hide his disdain; John F. Kennedy, though civil to his vice president, was never close with him. And Johnson felt awkward in Kennedy’s “Camelot.” “Every time I came into John Kennedy’s presence,” he once complained, according to The New York Times, “I felt like a goddamn raven hovering over his shoulder.”
What’s more, Johnson was reportedly concerned that Kennedy would drop him from the ticket in 1964. Whether Johnson’s fears were justified is unclear. Jacqueline Kennedy later said that the president had no serious plans to replace Johnson before the election. But historian Robert Caro has suggested that Kennedy at least floated the idea.
But was this enough for Johnson to orchestrate Kennedy’s murder?
Public DomainLyndon B. Johnson taking the oath of office aboard Air Force One after the JFK assassination.
The book The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ by Mike Colapietro and Roger Stone (yes, that Roger Stone) even claims that Richard Nixon once alluded to Johnson’s involvement in the Kennedy assassination. They write that Nixon allegedly quipped: “Lyndon and I both wanted to be President, the difference was I wouldn’t kill for it.”
That said, there is scant evidence that Lyndon B. Johnson was actually involved in the Kennedy assassination. If he did become a JFK assassin to ascend to the presidency, the prize was hardly worth it — Johnson soon found himself mired in the controversial Vietnam War.
So who killed JFK? The answer, officially, remains the same: Lee Harvey Oswald. But questions about grassy knolls, second shooters, magic bullets, the mob, and the CIA continue to keep conspiracy theorists up at night.
After puzzling over the question of who killed JFK — if not Lee Harvey Oswald — see some of the most haunting photos from the Kennedy assassination. Then, learn about the four men in American history who assassinated a president.
