The intense news coverage of this week’s release of some 2,800 files related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy only serves as a reminder of how that event holds a special place in the American psyche.
In the more than 50 years since the shooting, scores of books have been written about that day in Dallas – about the assassin, the assassin’s assassin, the first lady, a patch of grass near the route. It has been referenced in movies, television shows, songs and plays for decades now.
A look at Google Trends data shows the staying power of the topic on American minds. Search data going back all the way to 2004 indicate that interest in the topic surpasses interest in more recent political events including the Watergate scandal and President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
And compared to those two topics, the JFK assassination has been a bigger source of interest in 49 of 50 states, according to the Google data. Only in Maryland did Watergate slightly score higher than the assassination as a topic of interest.
(Although, for the record, Watergate scored much higher in the District of Columbia, perhaps in part because this where that scandal unfolded.)
What’s behind the public’s obsession with the assassination of the nation’s 35th president? Most Americans doubt they know the real story of what happened on November 22, 1963. More than 60 percent believe gunman Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone – and they’ve been skeptical from the beginning.
Gallup has tracked the Kennedy conspiracy question since the day of the shooting. A poll taken immediately after the murder found that 52 percent of Americans believed “others were involved in a conspiracy” while 29 percent thought Oswald acted alone.
Related:
- ‘Call girl’ questioned about alleged sex parties with JFK, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
- JFK Files: J. Edgar Hoover Said Public Must Believe Lee Harvey Oswald Acted Alone
- A local newspaper in England got a tip-off about ‘big news’ from America, 25 minutes before JFK was assassinated
- Lee Harvey Oswald called Russia’s KGB department in charge of ‘sabotage and assassination’ before killing JFK
- Trump vows to release ‘ALL’ JFK files after bending to intelligence groups he mistrusts