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The Grassy KnollLast week was the 40th anniversary of JFK's assassination. They had a bunch of JFK specials on TV. One on ABC detailed the history behind the assassination, Lee Harvey Oswald, and all the conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories abound. I remember when I stayed in Dallas early this year. I happened to have a hotel at the Hyatt overlooking the grassy knoll and the book repository. It was amazing how much of a landmark this has become. Guys walk the street around there telling stories and selling books on the assassination.
Personally, I don't give conspiracy theories much weight. They may be interesting, but the evidence is shaky. These types of conspiracies are what I consider "extraordinary claims", and in the words of Carl Sagan, "extraordinary claims, require extraordinary evidence." Although Carl Sagan was usually referring to alien life, many other "extraordinary claims" exist such as these conspiracy theories.
Also last week, PBS had a great documentary series on the Kennedys that started with Joseph Kennedy and ended with Ted Kennedy's failed 1980 run for the President (web site link). The family definitely had more tragedy than the average family. JFK's oldest brother was killed in World War II and his older sister was killed in a plane crash after the War. Another one of his sisters was quietly moved into a mental hospital after a failed lubotomy that was intended to improve her mild retardation. In the sixties, Ted barely survived a plane crash early in his Senate career. Then of course the assassinations of John and Robert. The family was rich and powerful, but that can only do so much.
Coincidentally, I happened to borrow a DVD of the movie "In the Line of Fire" from a friend a few weeks ago. Clint Eastwood stars in this movie and plays an old secret service agent who was on duty at the JFK assassination. His regrets about "not taking that bullet" comes back as he tracks a new assassin played by John Malkovich. The movie was one of Clint's best action thrillers.
The Magic Loogey
Discussing about the grassy knoll, reminded me of the classic Seinfeld episode with Kramer's grassy knoll experience. This was a two episode series when Keith Hernandez became friends with Jerry. Kramer and Nueman believed Hernandez had spit at them after a game as they were walking out to the parking lot. But Jerry doubted this "theory" and provided a scientific analysis of the events to debunct it. As Jerry described it, the trajectory of the spit would require it to be "some magic loogey".
Shocking World Events and the Stock Market
One interesting thing I was wondering about was the short term impact to the stock market after shocking world events like the JFK assassination. Below is a list of shocking world events in the last 70 years, the close of the Dow right before the event and the close a few days after.
- Pearl Harbor 12/7/41: Dow on 12/5: 116, Dow on 12/10: 109 (-6%)
- N. Korea invasion of the South 6/24/50: Dow on 6/23: 224, Dow on 6/29: 207 (-8%)
- Sputnik 10/4/57: Dow on 10/3: 466, Dow on 10/11: 441 (-5%)
- Cuban Missile Crisis 10/22/62: Dow on 10/19: 573, Dow on 10/23: 558 (-3%)
- JFK Assassination 11/22/63: Dow on 11/21: 733, Dow on 11/22: 712 (-3%)
- Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait 8/02/90: Dow on 8/1: 2899, Dow on 8/7: 2711 (-6%)
- 9/11/01: Dow on 9/10: 9606, Dow on 9/21: 8236 (-14%)
