Conspiracy Theories and Fake News from JFK to Pizzagate

April 28, 2017
(12 min.)
Has lesson plan

Retro Report explores decades of conspiracy theories – from the John F. Kennedy assassination to Pizzagate – and what they can tell us about how we view the world today.

Related:

Who’s Fueling Conspiracy Whisperers’ Falsehoods? by Clyde Haberman

For teachers
  • Producer: Miriam Weintraub
  • Producer: Jennifer Oko
  • Editor: Sandrine Isambert
  • Associate Producer: Victor Couto
Related Videos
Can You Spot Misinformation?
Get history in your inbox
Sign up for Retro Report’s news and education newsletters.
Sign up
Where’s That Photo From? Identify the Source.
How to Fact-Check History
Combating the Myth of the Superpredator
The Misunderstood McDonald’s Hot Coffee Lawsuit
How Fear of the Measles Vaccine Took Hold

For Educators

Subjects
Civics and Government English Language Arts Media and News Literacy U.S. History World History
Topics
1960s 2000s Bill of Rights Democracy  Media & Journalism Politics Social Media U.S. Presidents
Introduction

The proliferation of conspiracy theories across social media today may seem like a hazard of the digital age, but it has ties to a home movie taken by a Dallas businessman more than 50 years ago. Abraham Zapruder was among the thousands of people who turned out in Dallas on November 22, 1963, to catch a glimpse of President John F. Kennedy. Zapruder aimed his 8mm Bell & Howell home movie camera at the president’s motorcade as it rolled by, and by chance captured the assassination on film. Because the film appeared to show that Kennedy was shot in the front of the head, the film stirred controversy. The government’s official investigation by the Warren Commission reported that the president had been shot from behind. This confusion and weaknesses in the investigation led to an avalanche of conspiracy theories.

Background reading
▼

The proliferation of conspiracy theories across social media today may seem like a hazard of the digital age, but it has ties to a home movie taken by a Dallas businessman more than 50 years ago.

Abraham Zapruder was among the thousands who turned out in Dallas on November 22, 1963, to catch a glimpse of President John F. Kennedy.

Zapruder aimed his 8mm Bell & Howell home movie camera at the president’s motorcade as it rolled by, and by chance captured the assassination on film.

Because it appeared to show that Kennedy was shot in the front of the head, the film stirred up controversy: the government’s official investigation by the Warren Commission reported that the president had been shot from behind.

That contradiction gave rise to another one: The film seemed to indicate that there were at least two shooters, while the Warren Commission maintained that there had been only one.

These contradictions opened the door to countless books advancing one conspiracy after another about who killed the president and why. Conspiracy-thinking became a fact of American life.

Today, the blurring of the distinction between fact and fiction on social media seems to invite anyone to step forward with homemade “facts” to argue almost anything, for example that a Washington pizza restaurant was a front for a child sex ring.

But some historians believe that the tendency to fall back on conspiracy theories is evidence of a more disturbing trend: Americans increasingly mistrust government and their elected officials.

Lesson Plan 1: Conspiracy Theories From JFK’s Assassination to Today
Conspiracy Theories: From J.F.K.’s Assassination to Today
Conspiracy Theories: From J.F.K.’s Assassination to Today
Overview
▼

Students will learn about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, including surrounding conspiracy theories, to explore the deeply ingrained American tendency to mistrust government – a characteristic of our national political culture that is as old as the Revolution.

Objectives
▼

Students will:

  • Examine how conspiracy theories are connected to historical patterns and how they relate to mistrust in government.
  • Analyze how President Kennedy’s assassination and subsequent investigations led to conspiracy theories.
Essential questions
▼
  • How do conspiracy theories play a role in our daily lives? 
  • How can one identify fake news and conspiracy theories?
Additional resources
▼
Standards
▼

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
  • D1.5.9-12. Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
  • D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.
  • D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
  • D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.
  • D2.His.7.9-12. Explain how the perspectives of people in the present shape interpretations of the past.
  • D2.His.8.9-12. Analyze how current interpretations of the past are limited by the extent to which available historical sources represent the perspectives of people at the time.
  • D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.
  • D2.His.17.9-12. Critique the central arguments in secondary works of history on related topics in multiple media in terms of their historical accuracy.

Common Core Literacy Standards

  • CCSS.ELA.LITERACY.RH.11-12.7: Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.
  • CCSS.ELA.LITERACY.RI.11-12.3: Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequences of events and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact or develop over the course of a text.