Magneto spotted on the grassy knoll.
The Assassination of John F. Kennedy and Trial of Erik Lehnsherr, was an event that occured in the 1960s after the president of the United States of America was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. The Warren Commission later convicted Erik Lehnsherr of conspiracy, although the mutant maintained his innocence. As time went on, the Warren Commission, a task force created by Lyndon B. Johnson, was criticized for coming up with a final report that was rushed and inadequately researched. Due to the mystery behind th event, several conspiracy theories involving Lehnsherr were dubbed the Bent Bullet.
Background[]
In 1961, John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States of America. Unknown to many, several members of the Kennedy family actually had the X-Gene and several different powers. While pursuing a civil rights movement, something which gave Kennedy allies and enemies in the American South, he was also forced to deal with the fact that tensions between the US and the Soviet Union were at their breaking point. Sebastian Shaw, the leader of the Hellfire Club, secretly began to manipulate both nations so that they confronted each other at the Cuban Missile Crisis. In response, the benevolent mutants of America partnered up with the CIA to form Division X. At the Crisis, Division X defeated the Hellfire Club, but several members of both organizations joined up as a pro-mutant terrorist group known as the Brotherhood of Mutants under Erik Lehnsherr. Division X was then officially disbanded by the CIA and all evidence of its existence was sealed. Kennedy later authorized Project WideAwake to learn more about the X-Gene, and although it was mostly an identification and research project, it was also granted paramilitary access.
While most of the world did not believe in beings with superpowers, due to the experience of the naval officers, in both the US and Russia, rumours began to swirld about the mutant race. A few citizens believed and one such person, Edwin Partridge was in fact a former general present at the Crisis. The CIA continued their investigation into mutants in a series of actions that came to be known as the Summer of Hate. Partridge, privy to information from Project WideAwake, began to allude to mutants in his speeches and listed them as enemies of Christianity. Lehnsherr, aware of Partridge's influence, recruited Lee Harvey Oswald, a political dissident, to assassinate the general. On April 10th, 1963, Partridge was assassinated by Oswald with a headshot.
The assassiantion incensed Partridge's followers, and spurred them to join up as the Friends of Humanity and the Purifiers. Frequenting the Carousel Club, one of these group's were responsible for the murder of Arleen Adams. Azazel and Tempest of the Brotherhood of Mutants later attacked Project WideAwake operatives and were murdered in the ensuing gunfight. Days before Kennedy was set to arrive in Dallas, Texas, the Friends of Humanity began to campaign against him and mutants, furthering public speculation in regards to whether or not the race actually existed. Upon seeing these, Kennedy became primed to publicly reveal the presence of mutant humanity in his upcoming speech at the Dallas Trade Mart.
Bolivar Trask identified JFK as a mutant and sold the information to a female woman likely working for the Friends of Humanity. This woman proceeded to transfer the information to Oswald and hire him to kill the president. This placed him at odds with Lehnsherr, who personally decided to head to Dallas to stop Oswald. It was likely that the decision weighed hevily upon Oswald as he began acting like a very different person. While the woman's identity was never confirmed, it was possible that she was known as the Underground.
Overview[]
The Assassination[]
On November 22nd, 1963, President Kennedy was set to deliver a speech at the Dallas Trade Mart and then depart for Texas. Oswald was waiting in the Texas School Book Depositary, where had been working for five weeks. Lehnsher was spotted on Dealy Plaza's grassy knoll by Gavin Lindhardt and photographed by Marie Ellen Dodge. Oswald shot his first shot, but missed due to Lehnsherr's interference. The second shot, however, confused Lehnsherr and accidentally resulted in Kennedy being struck and seriously wounding John Connolly. During the time of the second shot, Dodge claimed to have seen a bullet gravitate in mid air before heading off to the direction of the limousine. As it was Lehnsherr's intention to save Kennedy, it was likely Dodge witnessed the first bullet veering off course amidst Lehnsherr's confusion about the second shot. The third shot resulted in the bullet striking Kennedy's head, ending his life.
Warren Commission[]
Kennedy, although dead, was taken to the Parkland Memorial Hospital. Out of several calls, one was made by Lehnsherr himself, alluding to Kennedy's status as a mutant and also referencing a possible reprisal against Oswald's leader. Although the call was dismissed initially, it was later confirmed to be Lehnsherr's. Another call was made a woman known as the Underground, whose words could be seen as taunting mutants and Kennedy's death. While this was occuring, Oswald left the Book Depository, returned home to gather his bearing and later escaped into a theatre. Caught by the police, Oswald attempted to deny all responsibility for the crime. Seven days following the assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson, now president, set up the Warren Commission to get the bottom of Oswald's reasoning and why Lehnsherr was present at the scene. The Warren Commission was being led by Earl Warren and Gerald R. Ford. During a police transfer, Oswald was murdered by Jack Ruby, the owner of the Carousel Club. Ruby, under custody, later claimed a loss of memory and claimed to have been infected by cancer cells when being given a flu shot. It was likely that Ruby, due to his association with the Friends of Humanity, was secretly infected by the Brotherhood of Mutants as not long after, he died from a pulmonary embolism with rampant cancer found in his liver, lungs and brain.
Ruby's sudden death forced the Warren Commission to reevaluate their investigation and placed more focus on Lehnsherr. The idea, however, that Lehnsherr had used his powers to "bend" the bullet only came late into the Warren Commission's investigations. Only in January, 1964 did the Bent Bullet theory gain popularity when CIA head John McCone offered the Commission full cooperation upon seeing Dodge's photograph of Lehnsherr. With McCone's approval, the CIA confirmed to the Warren Commission that the man in the picture was indeed Erik Lehnsherr, the man known as Magneto. The Commission then concluded that because the first shot had missed, Lehnsherr made sure the second shot would hit; a reverse of actual history was determined to be truth.
Trial of Magneto[]
The CIA then deployed Project WideAwake operatives to apprehend Lehnsherr. The WideAwake operatives never found Lehnsherr and he instead turned himself in to them while in rural New York state. The Warren Commission report was later released and contained the evidence to expose X-Gene mutants and damn Lehnsherr, and although it did not succeed in doing the former, did assure the latter. Nonetheless, the many mutants who had begun to believe in Lehnsherr's innocence sparked off Free Magneto protests. These protests were peaceful, although volatile, and marked the first schism between humans and mutant humans. The Trial of Magneto proceedings were kept private and out of the hands of the public. Brian M. Wein, the prosecutor, easily defeated mutant humans and Lehnsherr in the courtroom as the man known as Magneto offered little in his defense. Lehnsherr's public defender, Thomas Jarvis, quickly realized that no matter what, Lehnsherr would be found guilty. Lehnsherr then displayed to the entire courtroom a shocking event and at the request of Wein, bent a crowbar with his mind.
Nonetheless, as Jarvis believed, Lehnsherr was found guilty. Given two two life sentences, Lehnsherr was to be placed in a federal correction facility. For him, there would be no parole.
Aftermath[]
During the 1960s, Lehnsherr destroyed three of his holding cells. As a result Trask Industries was hired to construct a unique cell using industrial grade polymers and concrete to contain Lehnsherr. In the New Timeline, Lehnsherr was broken free to participate in the Battle for the Future. In the more dystopian Original Timeline, however, Lehnsherr was broken free by Charles Xavier. He was, however, often recaptured whenever he escaped and returned to his cell many times throughout the decades.