JFK Author Discovered Eerie Incident That Occurred a Year Before the Assassination

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) in 1963 shook the country and sparked a myriad of conspiracy theories over the decades.

The official narrative is that on Nov. 22, 1963, sixty years ago this month, Lee Harvey Oswalt, acting alone, shot the president as his motorcade drove through the streets of Dallas, Texas.

According to Stephen F. Knott, a professor of national security affairs at the United States Naval War College, researcher and author, the president may have also been in danger in the fall of 1962.

There is no doubt JFK was both loved and despised. His charm, wit, wife and handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis wooed the country and world. His moves to diminish the growing power of the FBI, reign in the military provocations and support civil rights drew fierce resistance in the upper echelons of power.

In researching Kennedy’s enigmatic presidency, Knott discovered evidence in the JFK library in Boston, revealing that in October 1962, during an open-vehicle motorcade in Springfield, Illinois, a witness reported seeing someone in a second-story building pointing a rifle at the motorcade.

Knott shared his findings with Fox News: “… I learned was that there had been a previous near miss, let’s say, almost a year earlier at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, which would have been a disaster,” Knott said.

“President Kennedy visited Springfield, Ill., to lay a wreath at the tomb of Abraham Lincoln and then to deliver a political speech,” explained the professor. “And while he was parading in an open car through downtown Springfield, a police officer spotted a rifle with a scope on it, emerged from a nearby building under which Kennedy’s limousine was going to pass.”

Knott portrayed the incident as extremely serious, as the president was to return via the same route, giving the potential assailant another opportunity to strike.

“What made it even more frightening was Kennedy was scheduled to return on the exact same route,” Knott said. “And thankfully, this Illinois police officer spotted it.”

Knott shared that an Illinois Department of Public Safety employee reported seeing a person pointing a rifle at Kennedy. Police later reported detaining a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old teen. A .22-caliber rifle and a box of ammunition were in their possession. However, the two were never charged with a crime.

Though not explaining their rifle and ammunition, the two argued they were in the upper level of a building, without permission because they wanted to get a better look at the president.

“The Secret Service held these two individuals for a time,” Knott said. “They insisted that all they wanted to do was to get a better look at the president. And it seems to me kind of odd that you use a rifle scope to do that.”

Gerald Blaine, a Secret Service agent assigned to Kennedy’s Springfield trip detail, told GateHouse Media that using a rifle scope to view the president was unusual but does not believe JFK was in any danger.

“That would take an idiot to do that,” Blaine shared, noting that the incident was “thoroughly investigated” and not considered a serious threat.

Professor Knott disagrees and argues that the Springfield incident represented a true threat, which presidential protection agents should have studied and used to improve safety protocols.

Sadly, 13 months later, a similar, lethal scenario unfolded in Dallas.

Knott believes Lee Harvey Oswalt acted alone. Regarding a conspiracy to assassinate JFK, he shared: “Many believe] there was a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. I’m no longer in that camp. I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and that the evidence against Oswald is pretty damning. So I’m not of the school of thought that buys into some conspiracy.”

Disturbing video of the assassination is noted below:

https://x.com/TheeRyanFaber/status/1726638852495069636?s=20

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