PSC482G, Spring 1999
Assignment 18, due Wednesday 10 March 1999
Marrs’s "Crossfire"—Conspiracy theories 4–6
Read:
Jim Marrs’s Crossfire: Part II, "Means, Motives, and Opportunities," pp. 156–252 (as needed).
Answer these questions (briefly):
1–3. Write a paragraph on each of the three groups: Mobsters, Agents, G-men. First state the theory succinctly (1–2 sentences). Then consider (a) why the group might have wanted to kill JFK (motives), and (b) how the group could have done it and covered it up for 33 years (means). (Presumably the "opportunities" are the same for all groups.) Last, consider (c) the inherent plausibility of the conspiracy, (d) the nature and strength of the evidence presented by Marrs for or against each group, and (e) what his opinion on the group was and why. Try to be critical but objective, i.e., fair to Marrs.