Most still believe in JFK assassination conspiracy

David Jackson | USA TODAY

Correction: An earlier version of this story, quoting Gallup, said Kennedy was "the nation's first and only chief executive to be assassinated in the 20th century;" President William McKinley was assassinated in 1901.

Some things will never die — and John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories appear to be among them.

Fifty years later, no less than 61% of Americans believe others besides Lee Harvey Oswald were involved in Kennedy's murder, reports the Gallup Poll.

This is the lowest percentage in nearly 50 years, Gallup notes, but remains a solid majority.

The suspects are many: The Mob, the government (including the CIA), Cuba, and various political interests.

Numerous investigations have failed to yield any determinative evidence that anyone besides Oswald killed Kennedy. But that message apparently has not penetrated with most Americans.

Gallup's analysis:

"The Kennedy assassination was a watershed moment in American life... the first president to be killed in the era of film and television.

"With numerous photos of JFK taken in his last moments alive, including the infamous "Zapruder film" showing Kennedy in the moments before, during, and after he was struck, Americans have long speculated not only about why the shooting occurred, but also how it happened.

"Could one man have fired three shots and killed Kennedy in a way consistent with his wounds? If Oswald actually acted alone at the Texas School Book Depository, was he funded or supported by others? These are some of the questions that have burned in the American psyche since that fateful day in 1963.

"It is possible that new evidence in the Kennedy assassination will never materialize. The JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, enacted in 1992, declassified 98% of the unreleased documents in the Warren Commission's investigation, with other unreleased assassination documents scheduled for release in 2017.

"Thus far, public documents not originally released in or part of the Warren Commission's report from 1964 have not demonstrated that there was any kind of conspiracy, yet clearly most Americans disagree with the official findings. Speculating about who was really responsible for Kennedy's death will likely remain a topic of fascination for the American public for many years to come."