Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

What Americans Think About JFK's Assassination

Aired November 21, 2003 - 06:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Time was not long ago that everyone knew instantly what this symbol represented. It is the eternal flame burning at JFK's grave site in Arlington, Virginia at the Arlington National Cemetery. It has been 40 years since President Kennedy was assassinated. A moment there out of respect.
Well, JFK met his fate November 22, 1963. The president, Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connelly and his wife rode in the lead car of the motorcade and shots rang out. The president is mortally wounded. Governor Connelly is also wounded by the gunfire. The assassination is blamed on a single gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. But conspiracy theories won't be put to rest.

Gallup poll editor-in-chief, Frank Newport, joins us live with some new numbers on what Americans think about JFK's assassination 40 years later.

Frank, do people still believe in those conspiracy theories?

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: Absolutely, they do. We just updated it and really we found no change now for 25 years and more, Carol. Americans have disbelieved the Warren Commission that it was a lone gunman and said there were others involved, it was a conspiracy.

In fact, Gallup was on the spot after the assassination back in November of 1963. We already had 52 percent of Americans saying it was a conspiracy. Then, a couple of, a decade or two later, it was up to 81 percent. Since then it's that been that high, just recently, 75 percent in our update on the 40th anniversary. Americans say no, it wasn't a lone gunman, others were involved.

Now, who was involved? That's where Americans aren't sure. By the way, a lot of those people who think it was a conspiracy are under 40 years of age and weren't even around. But we gave them a list of the usual suspects, Carol. You can see the percent who said these people were involved. Lyndon Johnson has been in the news recently as a possible suspect. Of course, everyone around Johnson denies that totally.

Thirty-four percent say it was the CIA, 37 percent the mafia. But those are less than a majority. So it's kind of as if, Carol, the public says it was a conspiracy, but they're not sure who else was involved.

LIN: So how do Americans rate President Kennedy among the nation's presidents? NEWPORT: Well, that's one reason I think we're seeing all these specials. Like on CNN, there is an inherent fascination with the man and the American public continues to believe he was a great president. We just asked, "Who was the greatest president of all time?" And historians, I don't think, would agree, but John F. Kennedy ties with Abe Lincoln as the greatest president of all time in the eyes of the American public.

Interestingly, Carol, we also said if Kennedy had lived, would the U.S. have been involved in Vietnam? Historians speculate about that 44-44.

LIN: Wow.

NEWPORT: It really breaks down the middle. So about 40 percent plus of Americans think perhaps that the U.S. wouldn't have gotten into that quagmire had Kennedy lived.

LIN: And we'll never know.

All right, thanks very much, Frank.

Well, you can catch Senator Ted Kennedy's only television interview remembering JFK 40 years after his assassination tonight on CNN's NewsNight With Aaron Brown" at 10:00 Eastern.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 21, 2003 - 06:52   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Time was not long ago that everyone knew instantly what this symbol represented. It is the eternal flame burning at JFK's grave site in Arlington, Virginia at the Arlington National Cemetery. It has been 40 years since President Kennedy was assassinated. A moment there out of respect.
Well, JFK met his fate November 22, 1963. The president, Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connelly and his wife rode in the lead car of the motorcade and shots rang out. The president is mortally wounded. Governor Connelly is also wounded by the gunfire. The assassination is blamed on a single gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. But conspiracy theories won't be put to rest.

Gallup poll editor-in-chief, Frank Newport, joins us live with some new numbers on what Americans think about JFK's assassination 40 years later.

Frank, do people still believe in those conspiracy theories?

FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: Absolutely, they do. We just updated it and really we found no change now for 25 years and more, Carol. Americans have disbelieved the Warren Commission that it was a lone gunman and said there were others involved, it was a conspiracy.

In fact, Gallup was on the spot after the assassination back in November of 1963. We already had 52 percent of Americans saying it was a conspiracy. Then, a couple of, a decade or two later, it was up to 81 percent. Since then it's that been that high, just recently, 75 percent in our update on the 40th anniversary. Americans say no, it wasn't a lone gunman, others were involved.

Now, who was involved? That's where Americans aren't sure. By the way, a lot of those people who think it was a conspiracy are under 40 years of age and weren't even around. But we gave them a list of the usual suspects, Carol. You can see the percent who said these people were involved. Lyndon Johnson has been in the news recently as a possible suspect. Of course, everyone around Johnson denies that totally.

Thirty-four percent say it was the CIA, 37 percent the mafia. But those are less than a majority. So it's kind of as if, Carol, the public says it was a conspiracy, but they're not sure who else was involved.

LIN: So how do Americans rate President Kennedy among the nation's presidents? NEWPORT: Well, that's one reason I think we're seeing all these specials. Like on CNN, there is an inherent fascination with the man and the American public continues to believe he was a great president. We just asked, "Who was the greatest president of all time?" And historians, I don't think, would agree, but John F. Kennedy ties with Abe Lincoln as the greatest president of all time in the eyes of the American public.

Interestingly, Carol, we also said if Kennedy had lived, would the U.S. have been involved in Vietnam? Historians speculate about that 44-44.

LIN: Wow.

NEWPORT: It really breaks down the middle. So about 40 percent plus of Americans think perhaps that the U.S. wouldn't have gotten into that quagmire had Kennedy lived.

LIN: And we'll never know.

All right, thanks very much, Frank.

Well, you can catch Senator Ted Kennedy's only television interview remembering JFK 40 years after his assassination tonight on CNN's NewsNight With Aaron Brown" at 10:00 Eastern.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com