This document discusses the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and questions the official conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. It notes that Oswald claimed to be a "patsy" and was never brought to trial. The author was haunted by this and wondered what if Oswald was framed. Primary sources are discussed that plant seeds of doubt about the official investigation. The document suggests an historical fiction book was created that presents an alternative interpretation of the facts surrounding Kennedy's assassination with perhaps more truth than the Warren Report. The lesson for students is about exploring history through primary sources and questioning singular interpretations.

1. Recasting History:
Lee Harvey Oswald
on Trial
Keith Pruitt
Words of Wisdom
Educational Consulting
www.woweducationalconsulting.com

2. Let’s Start with a Brain Gym
• Make as many words as you can in 1
minute from the following word
•Historicity

3. What is the basic
difference between
fiction and
nonfiction?

4. The Kennedy Assassination
• On November 22, 1963, while on a campaign swing through Texas, the president
was shot dead by a twenty-four-year-old ex-marine drifter named Lee Harvey
Oswald. … Kennedy’s death was the isolated act of a single individual, the
commission concluded. --America Interpreted by Woods and Gatewood, p. 957-
959
• Then, on November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot down as his presidential
motorcade moved through Dallas, Texas. Police quickly arrested Lee Harvey Oswald
as the alleged assassin. Oswald had ties to the Marcello crime family, had once lived
in the Soviet Union, and had a bizarre set of political affiliations, especially with
groups interested in Cuba. Oswald declared his innocence, but he was never
brought to trial. Instead, Oswald himself was killed, while in the custody of the
Dallas police, by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner who also had links to powerful crime
figures. --Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People by Murrin,
Johnson, McPherson, Gerstle, Rosenberg, Rosenberg, p. 990
• Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963, an act that
shocked and saddened the entire world. –The American Profile by Borden and
Graham, p. 364

5. This is a work of fiction But so is much of this

6. The Zapruder Film

7. Who?
What?
When?
Where?
How?
What if?

11. • The conclusion of the United
States House of Representatives
Select Committee on
Assassinations determined that
there was ever reason to believe
that John F. Kennedy died as the
result of a conspiracy and that
there was reason to believe
there was more than one
shooter.
• But what they nor
anyone else has ever
done is prove
conclusively that Lee
Harvey Oswald ever fired
a shot at the President.

14. It was here that I was haunted by the
statement of Oswald
“I’m just a patsy!”
• What if he was a patsy?
• He never received a trial.
• Why are there still over 50,000
documents about Oswald being
withheld from the public?

15. Then I saw this!

16. Curry plants just
enough seeds of doubt
to make a researcher
want to dig further.
No one was closer to
the investigation in
Dallas than Curry.

17. Building on primary source materials we
began to fill in the “what if” blanks.

18. Beers picture of sniper’s nest in TSBD
Warren Commission Exhibit
Studebaker Picture of Sniper’s
Nest

19. Another Studebaker Picture from crime scene

20. What we created is an historical fiction book that has
perhaps more truth than the Warren Report.
An excerpt from chapter 9 page 68

21. The Lesson for
Students
• History as
exploration
instead of
singular
interpretation
• Primary Source
• Questioning
• Closer Reading
• Drawing
Conclusions
based on facts

22. Thank You
Keith Pruitt
Words of Wisdom
Educational
Consulting
www.woweducationalconsulting.com