Did the umbrella man kill JFK? Well, no, he didn’t. Since today marks the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, I thought it would be worth doing a short post.
The “umbrella man” is one of the many conspiracy theories about the assassination of JFK. Yesterday, Jeremy Shermak and I did a short podcast about the JFK assassination and conspiracy theory. You can listen to it here.
In fact, the umbrella man was a guy who just happened to be holding at umbrella right next to the spot where JFK was shot. It was one of many coincidences that happen in life, but conspiracy folks had a story to tell. They made the facts fit their story as opposed to really looking at the true.
In the words of Josiah Thompson author of 6 Seconds in Dallas, “If you had any fact [related to a historical event] that is really sinister…hey, forget it man, because you can never, on your own, think up all of the non-sinister explanations of that fact. A cautionary tale.” Basically, something may seem evil, but there may be many, many, many logical explanations for that fact. But, we choose to ignore those facts.
Here is a short video from Errol Morris on NY Times site about the umbrella man,
The Umbrella Man
On the 48th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Errol Morris explores the story behind the one man seen standing under an open black umbrella at the site.