America, indeed, the world woke up to a most intriguing episode in high profile murder on November 24, 1963.

On that date, a former US Marine, Lee Harvey Oswald, who had been arrested by the American Secret Service for allegedly killing President John F. Kennedy two days earlier was himself shot dead. He was killed by Jack Ruby, a Dallas night club owner, while live broadcast of his transfer from city jail to county jail was being telecast.

Before he was murdered Oswald had pleaded innocent, alleging that he was being made scapegoat. He had been arrested within 45 minutes of Kennedy’s assassination for the death of a Dallas police officer, J. D Tippit. The US government investigations, however, found him guilty.

Oswald’s arrest and murder within two days of his arrest triggered high level suspicions and conspiracy theories which, despite official US government position, remain a burning issue before the American public.

Did Oswald’s defection to the Soviet Union in 1959 at the height of the Cold War, and return to the US in 1962, make him a prime suspect? Did his disappointment and alleged shabby treatment by the US Navy which he served trigger a revenge mission? How true is the claim hat Oswald’s ‘green book’ wherein he had a list of people he wished dead may have been tampered with because it left a dent on one of the most visible arms of the US armed forces? And, finally, was J. F Kennedy killed in error, as it had been suggested that the shots that felled him were actually meant to kill governor of Texas, John Connally who was riding with him?

These intriguing questions were among the several that US investigators had to contend with J. F Kennedy’s death probe lasted. They, however, did nothing to sway decision against Oswald. While the US authorities hold him solely liable, polls still suggest that most Americans believe that Oswald worked in concert with others yet unidentified.