Jointly Sponsored By:
Allegheny County Coroner's Office
Allegheny General Hospital
Coalition on Political Assassinations
The Last Hurrah Bookshop
Pittsburgh Institute of Legal Medicine

Forty years ago this November, the 35th president of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy, was murdered as he rode in a motorcade during a reelection campaign swing through Dallas. While the horrific images of this event are etched into the minds of countless Americans, including many who had not yet even been born at the time, the facts of the case are far less clear.

Although the Warren Commission concluded unequivocally in 1964 that an apparent loner and disruntled Communist named Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the president, subsequent investigations have had far murkier results, and according to a CBS News poll conducted in 1998 on the 35th anniversary of the assassination, more than 3/4 of Americans believe President Kennedy's murder was the result of a conspiracy, with only 10% believing that Oswald acted on his own.

This November, on the 40th anniversary of what has truly become "the great American Murder Mystery," The Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law and the Duquesne University School of Law will be convening many of the caseÍs top investigators and independent researchers from the fields of law, medicine, forensic science, government and academia in an effort to clarify and advance our collective understanding of just what happened during those fateful seconds in Dealey Plaza four decades ago, as well as what we've learned in the ensuing years.

In addition, the symposium will bring together some of the worldÍs premier forensic scientific and legal experts to explore what might still be learned about President KennedyÍs murder based upon modern-day forensic scientific techniques and legal and investigative opportunities.